The College Dropout

All his 10m+ signings. There's only one clear success imo. benik afobe - €14m - FLOP Mings - €12m (massive shame for Howe) - FLOP for Bournemouth but sold for a profit Max Gradel - €10m - FLOP Ibe - €18m - FLOP Ake - €23m - SUCCESS Begovic - €12m - FLOP Lerma - €31m true forrin - PAR? solanke - €22m - FLOP for Howe. Long-term success. Rico - €15m true forrin - FLOP Mepham - €13m - NO IDEA (SUCCESS??) Brooks - €12m - INITIAL SUCCESS Billing - €17m - SUCCESS (I GUESS) Danjuma - €17m true forrin - FLOP Kelly - €15m - FLOP. McTominay is a Howe Bournemouth type signing (and so is Gordon). It seems to emphasis that we are prioritising physicality and athleticism. IMO that fits the Gordon & McTominary signings/links. And so does Botman & Isak but they are also technically great for their positions. JM doesn't fit that profile his physicality is a weakness. I think we need cuteness in attack. Isak has that. Not sold on Gordon having it.

To add, 20-40 years ago. Spurs consistently finished 8th-12th in the league. Historically no bigger than us, Everton or Villa but they've jumped into an elite bracket over the last 20 years thanks to Levy. They should have won a couple trophies tbf

"Size, speed and athleticism are being prioritised as key attributes for incoming recruits, alongside technical excellence." - this is a rare combination but sound s like the earlier ones are being prioritised. "There is a common theme emerging during discussions: that Newcastle, already one of the top flight’s most physical and athletic teams, crave even greater power, speed and dynamism throughout. Technical proficiency is also a prerequisite, but physical and aerobic attributes are key considerations." Smells like Gordon and McDominate. Would prefer us to focus on bringing in additional quality. "Long-term targets, most notably Leicester City’s England midfielder James Maddison, remain of keen interest." - love that for us. "an orthodox left-back, a centre-back (preferably a right-sided one), a defensive midfielder, a No 8 and potentially two forwards." I like it. Interested in the profile of the 8. Is it more Maddison / Odegaard (the AM in a 4-2-3-1) or Bruno / Cabaye " financial fair play (FFP) restrictions — which senior figures at Newcastle insist are a major constraint in their transfer plans — will affect their business." FFP Champs 23/24 "Yet there is a shared internal notion that Newcastle should make a push to regenerate to the furthest degree possible without compromising their financial position or upsetting squad harmony." Interesting. I think at some point, you have too. But I think this is when we are close and have a squad that only needs a little to get top 4. "There is a realisation Newcastle simply do not have the player pool to compete in Europe’s elite club tournament and the Premier League simultaneously, so a top-four finish at the end of May might expedite additional elements of their revamp." Would be a great thing. "Howe’s preference is for players with experience in Europe’s top five domestic leagues, especially the Premier League. But budgets and Ashworth’s remit to reduce the average age of the squad even further — according to Transfermarkt, Newcastle have the fifth-highest average age in the Premier League at 27.1 years — means that calculated gambles may need to be taken on imports from overseas or promising EFL players to bolster the ranks below the first XI." Thank God. We're not going to break into the top 4 abiding by FFP and signing young players with Premier League experience. Something will have to give and imo it should be the Prem league. We need our Yaya, Silva & Aguero signings at some point. "Howe is also a long-term admirer of Arsenal’s Scotland international Kieran Tierney, so his situation is being monitored. Antonee Robinson of Fulham has been watched too." Based on rumours and his record at Bournemouth, i'm not loving Howe's approach to transfers. Over-rule him. " Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher is a favourite of Howe’s and Alex Scott, a 19-year-old at Championship side Bristol City, has also caught Newcastle’s eye." I would welcome both of these at the right price however. "McTominay - Howe values his experience and physicality." c'mon man. "Midfielders in Germany and France are being watched extensively, too." Names would be nice Pretty quiet on the striker front. These have all been previously reported iirc? Not much is new here or things you couldn't easily deduce.

Love Big Al. But he stayed on at least a season too long.

Spurs have been fantastically well-run imo. They just don't win trophies but in truth, they are the 6th place in terms of top 6 but they finish top 4 more often than not. They haven't had a big hit in the transfer market for some time. But they had a great run from Modric, Berbatov, Bale, Kane & Son.

Bruno really helps with our progression. You can see 2 clear banks of 3 there. Schar's forward balls going to Wolves I see.

The Joe's have a lot of similarities to their game. Joelinton is more physical and gets stuck in more.

Wish he would make more runs off the ball. Loves it to feet.

Liverpool do not do what Schar is doing. No top ball-playing CB does what Schar is doing. And it's not a good thing. His actual defending has been superb and all things considered he's been better than Botman.

So where's the massive upside to the Schar ball straight to the opponent?

No top team does the chip pass not near any team mates to the extent Schar does it. Top teams do not tend to have CBs that complete that have 75% pass completion rates. None of Liverpool's CB's do. No top team has a player with such low pass % rate for his position that doesn't have significant upside to the passing elsewhere. Henderson's speculative balls are a feature of his game rather than a tactical idea from Klopp. Here's his speculagtive balls to Croatian players. It's not the mark of a top player. But he has other great attributes to his game. Even Bruno Fernandes.. he's not in that top bracket because other 10's can build possession (Odegaard for example) as well as create.

Not seen much of Barca this year tbf

Never seen this lad have a good game. Never looked a EPL CB. If Barca need money, let's have Raphinha or a kid.

In that first half he gave us something different and new. Throw in Gordon to the mix. In that 5th season, geting in Cisse and HBA emerging really gave the team a new edge. I hope we can get something similar from here.

I think he might in some games for Liverpool.

Liverpool have looked poor defensively all season. Spurs are Spurs. We have a chance. I just don't think we're good enough. Based on our squad, i'll be happy with 6th from here. If we can hit another purple patch led by Isak..... we can do it man.

A weakness of Henderson's game - is that he's not the best on the ball. That's not a strength of his game. Why are you bringing it up? TAA does do speculative balls that is true. But he also records league high progressive passes. So there's massive upside. There's not that with Schar. VVD's pass completion is 90%. Matip 89% it goes on. Schar's completion rate is noticeably lower and he pulls off long passes at a low hit rate too. Botman isn't doing it anywhere near as much as Schar so i'm unsure how much of it is tactical. But he also has the most assists or right up there. So you have to look at other things. The same applies for Bruno Fernandes. He gives the ball away loads but also creates bucketloads and is up there with the leagues best for shot creation etc. TAA also gives it away a load but has league high stats in assists, progressive passing etc. That isn't the same with Schar. He gives it away a bucketload and there isn't a massive upside elsewhere. It's a relatively small criticism but it's entirely valid. I raised this same argument early doors about Sissoko. Peopl eventually hated him for it.... but he always did what he did people just refused to see it.

The Liverpool CB's pass completion rate is considerably higher than Schar's. They're not doing the speculative ball thing or gain territory thing that Schar seems to do. Botman doesn't seem to do it nearly as much either. The game has come a long way from the Mourinho era.

Aye. And Schar is more exposed than Botman too. There's space in behind Trippier that Schar has to deal with. Burn is usually close to Botman which gives him some protection.

The best teams don't do that. It's very.... Big Sam esque. TBh... Schar has always done that. I think some of it is tactical but some of it is just his style and something that you think could easily be improved upon considering his talent. I'd like to see him carry it more often. He's good at it. Joel Matip does it over 2x as much, he's the benchmark in the league for it.

The Stevie G experiment really set Villa back.

Must be. Or to gain position for a counter press maybe. At least twice a game. He'll just chip it straight to the opposition fullback. Nowhere near another NUFC player. He looks comfortable on the ball so a lot of people ignore it but it happens a fair few times. For whatever reason I don't like it. If we are to become a top team we need to learn how to progress through midfield and defence against a compact block. I'd rather Schar only play those balls if he thinks something is genuinely on. Otherwise try to hit a winger or pass it through the lines. You look at other "ball playing" CBs in the league and they nearly all have much better pass completion rate.

Aye haha.

Yeh it’s not a massive deal at all. For someone so comfortable on the ball. He gives it away under no/little pressure a lot.

Another perspective is that Howe has his favourites and tends to stick with them. Once you’ve got the shirt, it’s hard to lose it. Dan Burn has started every game he’s been available for this season iirc. I believe Howe has the players and approach he really believes in and tends to stick with them when others might tinker. He’s not much of a rotation man either. Benitez was the first NUFC manager I’ve seen that did genuine rotation in a league season without European football.