The College Dropout

I always thought Szob was intended to play RW. Our RW will be so interesting next season. Currently our Murphy doesn’t a lot more dog work than Barnes or Gordon. Even yesterday Murphy was pressing the wingback so would find himself deep in our half. Think Barnes was pressing Maz the RCB so much closer to goal.

I didn’t say Barnes was a better player but he is better than Gordon at a lot of things. Gordon’s physicality and mentality can make him a real force.

I’d take Zirkzee for £20m if he could work harder off the ball.

Pep would struggle tbf. His technical floor for players is so high. Not struggle as bad as that tbf.

I’m just talking ability. Players capable of magic or top draw ability. Other than Fernandes you’re then looking at Diallo, Garnacho, Mainoo, Zirkzee. I like all of these and you would hope the first 2 can go up the levels. Defensively it’s similar. None of the CBs are better than prime Maguire. All the fullbacks are solid, none special.

I like Zirkzee. But he’s a poor man’s Berbatov. Think he struggles to start for half the division. He would start for Fulham. Bench at Palace. Is he better than Evanilson? Obviously he’s much younger with room to improve but I’d take Welbeck over him. A fully fit Welbeck is a nightmare for teams. Bench at Villa. Would suit Chelsea tbf but also sit on the bench. Is he better than Strand Larson? Would be handy at Brentford imo but I prefer Wissa Hes better than the £60m guy they have though.

He’s the one. That’s it. Ole’s team had 4.

I’ve changed my thinking about our transfer approach. We should keep it as is or close. More Tonali’s please. In general I’m happy to keep the physical monster + high floor technician like Tonali. Those don’t come cheap mind. Opportunistic quality when we can find it. So we need the CL money. Our big signings have been massive successes.

He’s better than Gordon at a lot of things tbf. He’s been crucial to us. Maybe a bit like Wilson when we finished 4th, he’s coming up big in the final games and getting us over the line. Overall his game is a bit more classy than Gordon’s. Better finisher. Knows when to play in his fullback better. Doesn’t work as hard off the ball, not as aggressive or tenacious but is clearly trying. Has a decent chance of an England call up you would reckon too.

We need a mix of youth and experience. We can’t replace all the old heads with kids. Which is why we’ll keep a few of the older heads. If Trippier goes I do think we should sign a RB. Trippier’s still a massive part of the squad with his quality. Being able to call on him and Harvey Barnes (and Dubs tbf) has been crucial to our success this season.

How many of these are top players or close? Rashford, Cavani, Pogba, 27 year old Maguire, 25 year old Shaw, De Gea, a decent Martial, season prior they had Lukaku. They are a long way away from that. None of the players you named are as good as Tonali, Bruno or Isak. The side that finished 3rd had a top class Rashford and Casemiro. One has left, the others legs have gone. It’s lost the goals and control in midfield. Overall I don’t think it’s that hard to build a competitive PL side. But this Man U side has the least ability of a Man U side that I’ve ever seen. They are still capable of putting it together in one-off games but it lacks players with real class. Agree Ratcliffe has been awful. The summer was awful and they let ETH buy some more guff.

Good point on Miley. At our best all of our players are sharp. On top of the opposition’s first touch. Aggressive. Miley doesn’t have that. I think a lot of it is physical but also it’s a mentality. I thought as a whole we weren’t as on top of Man U in the first half as we could be physically. Thats why we are often good against teams that come out and play and try to meet us gun for gun. Thats why I was so confident against Man U and confident against Chelsea - they’ll come to play but they’re not good enough physically or technically to beat us at our best. Actually more likely to get blown away.

Think we got 71-72 points that season. I think we should get 68 points. Very different types of seasons though ending roughly in the same place. We got 60-63 points last season - no?

Yeh I would hate for you to win it tbh. I’m just trying to see silver linings. I don’t think you need to spend crazy amounts. It’s not that difficult to build a good PL side. I think Crystal Palace would have a great chance of winning the Europa League.

Honestly think his crossing with his left is better than his right. Those little dinkers. With his right he seems to smash them in. Think he crosses from further out on the right which doesn’t help. That overlapping run on the edge of the box from Barnes into him is unstoppable. Barnes also uses his fullback much better than Gordon.

Not totally against them winning the Europa. No im lying I am. But they wouldn’t be able to cope with the games. The squad needs too much work. No Europe. All the time on the training ground. They might form a decent league season and be a European contender.

That might help them. The signings under ETH have been awful. Last season under Ole too. I never rated Mason Mount that highly but it’s sad to see him look so out of sorts yesterday. If he could get back to his level that would be a massive thing for them. All those injuries may have wrecked his physicality which was a lot of his game. At his best he was a ‘sharp’ player. First to the ball. Aggressive. Press. Quick passer. Man U don’t have that at all.

Nah the squad is shit. How many that started for them start for us at the top of their game? Generously it’s no more than 3. I would say 1. Dressing room is bad aye. That’s more a function of the entire organisation and the poor performances. And obviously the manager.

That Hojlund is one of the most fortunate players ever. He escapes a lot of criticism. I’ve never seen anything to his game bar a bit of graft. Zirkzee has got more stick but Zirkzee has something. Not a top PL striker or even a particularly good one. But he’s got a god touch and technique about him. Hojlund is completely off the level. Thibk they’ve made a lot of poor decisions. They’ve regressed so badly from the McFred days. The season they finished second the team had so much quality. It’s all gone now.

Don’t really care about other teams. We are 2-3 players away from being a top side. We can probably only get those players with the CL boost. So that’s all I care about. We are still on track for the 68 points that will ensure we’ll get CL football no matter what else the others do. Think Palace is our toughest home game. Get past the

What a player

This forums purpose is to speculate. I don’t want to overplay it, we don’t know anything. But if it was minor like gallbladder’s you would assume they would communicate it. It also seems he’s not communicated a lot in recent days with the team. Don’t know want to overplay it. We don’t know anything.

I am but genuinely concerned about him. Grown men don’t get hospitalised over trivial things. Sounded like he didn’t talk to the players at all either. Hope it’s all as minor as can be. Get well Eddie.

Not concerned by any team below Villa. Think both Fulham and Bournemouth play Villa so hope they play well and avoid injuries

They’re not very good either.