The College Dropout

We'll need to spend the money we received for Anderson & Minteh for their replacements IMO. We need another physical beast in midfield, that's not Miley and Longstaff/Willock aren't good enough although I expect one of them to stay.

Howe would be pushing him too aggressively and want too much control. It would never have happened. Anyone with ambition and sporting integrity didn't last with Ashley. This season is giving Howe even more power IMO. If we get CL as well pretty much everything he's done (and Staveley + Ashworth) is vindicated with a genuine opportunity to continue to invest in it. The strategy is the right one, we just need more players. Get me a Howe style foreign purple for big money (Isak, Tonali), a couple high ceiling youngsters (Minteh, Hall, Tino) , a solid PL player (Barnes), keep our best players and we have a great chance of doing big things next season. Over to the commercial team to increase revenues with another CL campaign and a trophy to shout about. This approach of being too big and strong for most other teams + quality is a winning one. If we can tinker the intensity properly it can take us to the top with a bit of luck.

Anyone willing to work hard would succeed under Howe. We forget Howe had Shelvey sitting in front of the defence making tackles and playing balls through the lines. I would have Shelvey as a relatively lazy and unathletic player but he was tops for those 6 months. Lots of great shouts - Lejeune. Perez would've been more consistent - Perez was weak but incredibly fit. Gini, Sissoko. As mentioned, a Cabella or someone would be great too. This is under Eddie and PIF though. Eddie under Ashley is an entirely different club. Knowing you could be part of something massive is a huge motivator for everyone. I don't think someone like Eddie even takes the Newcastle job under Ashley. I shudder to think what happens to Eddie's career without us too you know. Maybe he gets a Forest, Brighton or West Ham type job but not one of the top 8. We've been as great for him as he has been for us. This has been a once in a lifetime opportunity and he's seized it. No other club would've given him this chance. As bad as most English managers are, few got good opportunties.

Ok. From his actual playing time, there isn't any evidence he was signed to play RW.

They've speculated again in January (for 6 months) to give them a fighting chance of qualifying again. We need that speculation to fail.

My memory it was a player brief but could be wrong. in any case where did he play in his starts in that first season for us?

A piece of scouting software saying Gordon is a RW doesn’t mean we signed him to play RW. In his rare starts in his first season he started at LW right? Eddie always intended to play him there.

It looked awful at the time. Anderson always had the potential to be worth £35m at some point - he was probably worth half at the point of sale. Our lad wasn’t worth the £5m Forest paid. Let alone 4x… at 30. And will never be worrh that. Not even half. It’s been a great move for Anderson and I’m delighted for him. Managing to stay fit the entire season has been crucial. A couple seasons back I thought he might not ve athletic enough for the PL. Then last season he stated sharply and looked too physically. Got injured and bar a couple games (Spurs he was great) he never hit those heights again. He’s gone to Forest and kicked on a level or two. Playing in a double pivot often.

Pep went to OT to draw. He started all the controllers and no wingers. He doesn’t have faith in this team. He doesn’t think us/Chelsea/Villa will keep going.

Chelsea are pants. They were really excellent for the first 16 games or so. But been average to pants since. If we can keep players fit. I’m so confident we’ll beat them. That’s why I’m annoyed they Villa are still in it. Historical results still favour Chelsea imo. City too. City’s form over the last 20 games isn’t top 5 form. Similar to Chelsea a good start is keeping them in the running.

My point was that while the other teams aren’t performing great. Neither are we.

Title race and relegation battle aside the only bad thing about this season is most of the top 6 have been super bad and boring but they still dominate so many of the live games and the wider football discourse.

Yeh they play City next weekend. He’s going to miss it.

Such a shame Guehi will be suspended next week. Palace are usually good away from home.

The gap between the PL and Champ is now ginormous. But the thing you mentioned is the least interesting thing about it. The one positive about it is that it’s making the established PL teams less risk averse. More progressive signings and managerial hires. Like Fulham sold their DM and decided to become a more fun side.

We shouldn’t forget we’ve not been playing well in the league either. We are doing teams with hard work and quality players coming up big.

We could finish 3rd but I’m only concerned about 5th. Which is why I’m not bothered about Forest, they’ll finish no lower than 5th imo. 68 points is my target. That will probably get 4th or better at this rate.

He would have got plenty of minutes man. We have 1 actual right winger at the club.

His contract is up next season. It’s I’m everyone’s best interest that he is sold in the summer. He’s currently playing himself into a big money Saudi move at worst.

Thats the point though. We 100% need to finish above Villa. We don’t need to finish above Forest. Yes. He’s surprise to requirements at PSG - if anything he’ll be extra motivated. Remember Lua Lua ending or CL hopes? Remember Morata knocking Real out of the CL for Juve when he was essentially there on loan. Good depth and got momentum. I expect PSG to dent that momentum mind. But the PL game couldn’t be easier.

I don’t want Villa thinking they have a chance of CL when we got to Villa Park. I don’t expect they can get to 67 points. But that does require them to drop points. The sooner the better. Forest or none of my concern. They don’t play any of our other rivals for the rest of the season. I expect them to get 68 points or more though. If we get 68 points we should get 5th. But we do need to keep an eye Chelsea, City and to a lesser extent Villa. A draw today would’ve pretty much ruled Villa out the race.

If if if I want as few clubs involved as possible.

The fundamental issue with Tottenham is the ownership.

Fans can add and takeaway points to a team. The atmosphere around a club has an impact on the team. All managers have a point when they say this. But usually it’s the ownership that’s at faul.

CL increases revenue by £50m. And justifies bigger sponsorships. It's a massive deal. It will allow us to give next season a proper go.