The College Dropout

Pulis job there was more impressive tbf. Palace were also a Champo side at the time. Not even a proper yo-yo club. We are a bigger club with higher expectations. And we spent a lot of money on players that won us points. Trippier, Bruno & Wood all have match winning goals. Best part of £80m there.

I think it's Frank. Start of the season a good season for Brentford is 17th, most would've expected 18th-20th. They'll finish higher than that certainly. Otherwise aye it's Moyes or whoever wins the league.

I would think it's a bit of both, At 50k per week, Lingard's a very good signing. Almiron and Fraser will be on similar and Lingard is a step above. At 100k... not so much. Especially if we have targets at decent buy, sell and wage values.

Fingers crossed - they don't see Lingard as a "blue chip" player so we won't give him the 100-150k he might be after. He's a good signing for a West Ham. Likely to be in Europe so need the squad depth. Only need to sign 2/3 players of sufficient quality so can take this risk. Don't think it's greed. Lingard should get as much as he can. I just don't think we have the luxury of signing him on 100k+. Don't want him. This is an Everton transfer. We should look for the next Coutinho. I like Arsenal's approach to trying to get back into the top 4. Going for the likes of Odegaard. Arsenal are fortunate that their academy has pumped out 4-6 decent to elite premier league level footballers though.

This is my thought. Every player we are credibly linked with is going for at least half of that and most around 50m.

Aye it all depends on investment. A lot of the player links are for £40m+ targets so I think we'll spend big. The club are putting out "modest" budget so we don't get fleeced imo but we'll see soon enough

Get results or move on. They want to make elite football a closed shop. I like Howe too - hope he does well.

Not guaranteed to sign Targett because we think we can do better and I love that for us. Fundamentally - in practically every department we could do with an upgrade to make the top 8. Dubs - don't think he's top 8 quality but not far off Fullback - Targett isn't Central defence - absolutely not. At least 1 needs replacing. As a back 5 - it has zero pace. Central midfield - nope. I think neither of Bruno's partners are top 8 quality. Either they have it physically but not technically. Or vice versa. At least 1 needs replacing. Wide players - nope. At least 1 needs replacing. Striker - Nope. Need a new one. Would happily bring in 6 to start as a minimum.

He's 30 and only played in 30 league matches or more in 2 out of the last 6 seasons. Only an idiotic coach would rely on Wilson being fit enough to lead a charge into the top 8. Happy for him to be in the squad and an option. But not as our primary striker.

I'd be v. dissappointed if all 4 started. Any more than 2 starting would be a dissappointment imo. I don't think any of these are top 8 material.

Exactly. We'l be ok if we aren't starting Wilson, Almiron, Shelvey, Schar, Targett & Joelinton next season. We'll survive the transition.

So?

Not true. The takeover happened late in August and they finished 9th - in the first season with new ownership. They did most of their business in January because of the late takeover. The next season, with a full transfer window and a change of Manager they finished 5th. Narrowly missing out on 4th and would have got 4th if they had Mancini in from the start of the season. The rest is as you say. City were in an almost identical position to us in the league when they charged right up (they did have better players already on staff but an inferior manager). Most of these did a good job for Chelsea - Duff, Geremi & Makelele in particular. They scraped 4th the year before. First year under Roman they finished 2nd and went to the CL semi-final. Ditching a lot of the players that helped them get 4th (Hasselbaink in particular). We signed 5 players in January and it worked fine.

Prime Danny Welbeck was a v. good player

Our results have been better than our football. Look at our goal difference. We rarely beat decent teams by more than 1 goal. We have not been as good as our results suggest - quality wise.

Aguero is an out and out striker. He seemingly had to fight to stay though. Mbappe will join Real. The 3rd wave of modern Madrid dominance is coming up.

Wholesale changes I’ve worked for Palace, Chelsea and City.

He's 37.

Bit of a false economy here. Camavinga was literally the hottest teenage prospect in the world when Real signed him. He only had a year left on his contract which is why he went for 30m. Had he had 3 years left on his contract, Real would've paid close to double to sign him (Rennes were insisting on 60m until they realised he wasn't going to re-sign). Thats 60m price tag on an 18 year old with less than 100 professional appearances in France. I'm always blaming Ragnick. But Rudiger looked a joke and wasn't getting in the team under Lampard. Now he's in a 3 he's thriving. Maguire looks great in a back 3 under a semi competant manager himself. Ragnick is not even semi competent. Never worth 80m mind but he's a good player. An English tax exists true. GK CB LB CM RF ST About right. Think there could be some decent loans from Chelsea, City or Real Madrid (dreaming?).

Will only get worse with time because of his own deplorable behaviour. Keegan as a footballer is under-rated.

Roy Keane.

Kaka was really a physical specimen in his prime. Pace, power, agility. When that went he went largely.

Prime Kroos got loads of praise. Aye Aaron Hughes is a great shout. Raphinha is slightly under-rated atm. Can go to the top that lad. Matip has it all. Just injury prone.

But that's patently not true though. Athleticism and mobility - no. Quick feet, close control - no. Scholes was better than Xabi. Scholes did what Xabi did when his legs went. I can definitively say. Modric is the best Real Madrid central midfielder of the last 15 years. Better than Khedira, Kovacic, Xabi, Kroos... all of them. Btw i'm pretty sure if you remove penalties- Mane has outscored Salah in at least 2 seasons that they've been together. Mane's timing of runs in the box from crosses and the way he attacks them and can hit a 1 or 2 touch finish is unparralled. I think Mane is a better finisher. Salah's more run, dribble, shoot and he's more relentless when it comes to goalscoring. His game is more 2-dimensional is Salah but it's harder to stop.

Oh. Modric's way better than Alonso (specifically) and Scholes. I was literally just about to say Alonso was over-rated. Simply not in the class of Modric. Alonso was never an athletic player and he couldn't handle a stretched game. That's why he often played with hard-runners alongside him to compensate (Mascherano, Khedira, Modric). You could also press Alonso out of a game. He had slow feet. He wanted a little bit of time on the ball and couldn't jink his way out of a high press. When he was swapped with Kroos I immediately saw the improvement in the teams fluidity. Kroos could play every pass Alonso could but he was more athletic (at the time) and could move around the pitch more and he was better when pressed. Having spent some time at #10 his close control, agility, shift of balance was better. Modric has better mobility at 36 than Alonso had at 25. Obviously way better feet. I say this as someone that has followed Real Madrid semi-closely for 15-years. The Scholes thing is not an argument either. Scholes never turned up for England. Put any Scholes in Croatia 2018 and they don't get out the group.