The College Dropout

Ba delivered one of my favourite PL moments at Chelsea tbf. I hate the stick players get for their salaries. If it’s not them, it’s the owners that will get the money. The Barca thing is interesting. Real Madrid specifically need a competitive Barcelona. Other major European clubs need a competitive Barcelona. There’s so much value in that brand that is mutually beneficial. I can’t prove this but I feel as if the City and Chelsea CL final would’ve produced less £££ in football than say Bayern vs Real Madrid. The people in the world with more £££ care more about those brand name football teams than the new brand names. They want to keep it in that little group of clubs. One thing I despise about football in England is how serious the pundits take the game. Souness and Neville particularly. It’s just a fucking game. You’re all making a killing from it. Even if Manchester United are terrible, it’s not that serious.

It’s unlikely to happen but Modric’s contract is up in the summer. Get him in. Show the lads where we need to be.

No. Maybe the person replacing Woodward can.

What’s the current wage structure? Bruno is our highest paid player. If we are secure in the PL we could go for an even better calibre of player. Raphinha or Nunez would smash our transfer record and subsequently our wages. I think any player we sign now should have the potential to be a top 6 player unless they’re coming to fill a gap.

Specifically - the board. The owners don’t know what they’re doing. The people they’ve entrusted to run the club don’t know what they’re doing. they’ve let Old Trafford decay too.

Rashford’s pen hit the inside of the post right? Inches away from being the perfect penalty. He did the same stutter and disguise to the bottom left penalty in the Europa league final and it went in. Just one of those things. England have never been so blessed with attacking talent.

I would sell any Ashley era player in the squad with a good offer if we’ve identified and confident of getting a significant upgrade.

Less than 25m per player doesn’t typically get you very far these days.

It enough Raph links. £70m quick deal please.

I don’t like a short CB. You get your Cannavaro’s and Ramos is hardly tall but unless he’s got a massive jump I’m not a fan of it

See:

Central Midfielders shouldn’t be judged by goals and assists. Im not living or dying by Pogba. I think mentality is #1 but will let the football people decide on that. I think we need to be aggressive in the transfer market. It’s a rich, difficult league. I look at West Ham, £30m £120k on Zouma. Good business. Dan Burn is an excellent character but there’s a quality gap to Zouma. They’re going to finish 7-8th. You can fill a squad with Matt Targett’s for 15m-30m 80k per week and finish 11th.

My question with transfers is - is he good enough and has the right attitude to help get us into the Champions League? If yes, get them in. If his wages are 350-400k on a year deal that’s £70m. That’s maybe £10m more than Bruno G over 3 years.

there’s a lot of talented players available for free that I think we should heavily consider. Pogba is an easy yes. Tolisso too. Obviously Modric. A lot of big clubs have limited financed and are also investing heavily on free transfers.

That Brazil performance was beautiful and soul destroying for Brazil. He was like a matador on the ball. He owned that game. But he didn't form much of a relationship with Henry. Didn't play him in so many times.

I think Kasper is a little over rated. At least at this point. He’s a weak spot in that team. its Kante, Mahrez and Vardy coming to fruition at the right time when nobody knew. The manager and the rest doing enough to get it over the line in the right era.

Just saying it’s a commonly held view in a particular crowd. Zidane does get extra points for being a showman, one of the most elegant players of all time and for those iconic moments. He’s also terribly handsome but had a stupid haircut throughout his playing career.

Football hipsters consistently place Iniesta above Zidane.

That Juventus side got to 3 Champions League finals in a row and the semis in the next. Winning it or losing to the winners. That midfield was consistently better. Neither Deschamps the water carrier or Davids are as valorised as players as Keane, despite greater success. Again Gattusso is not valorised as the best central midfielder Serie A has ever seen. I remember Redondo milly rocking all over Old Trafford. Keane was scoring own goals.

Why do people get annoyed by stats? He’s v. good at those things.

That midfield was rated as arguably the best in Europe for at least 3 years. Beckham, Scholes, Keane, Giggs. 1 Champions League final. 1 semi final. Over 6 years. Ability-wise he wasn't in that top bracket. In Europe when less aggression was allowed they couldn't dominate midfields. Keane didn't have that ability. Could he have gone to Serie A or La Liga and performed? Yaya Toure was a better footballer. Also that Invincible team were a little under-rated. IMO if the refereeing was better and protected players more they would've defended the league title.

His headers don’t go anywhere but nobody is ever near him anyway. But the direction is usually poor. Son’s second the other day, he was close to Kane. He’s Chris Wood init. Been playing in the bottom half of the PL for a reason.

I think Keane is over rated. Very much a premier league legend. But would he have been so successful abroad?

Like who? Some players genuinely perform better for country than club and get caps that outsize their talent (Klose, Podolski). Or they are in weak generations (Robinho). I don't count England because they haven't been very good for a long time. But Brazil, Germany, Italy have had long periods of competitiveness. I think amount of appearances and length of service at a top club is a decent signifier as well. With Carlos - he's done everything. Club and international football he had amazing heights and longevity. Literally the best in his position, for a decade. He was important in those teams. Technical ability. Phsyical ability. Like people talk about Cole. Cole wasn't nearly as good as Carlos going forward. Like ability wise, he wasn't close. Carlos, Alves, Marcelo, TAA (a long way to go) made their opposite winger forget about their attacking game. Cole was good going forward but he was best as a pure defender. His best moments came when defending against elite players in counter-attacking teams. I think Cole was over-rated because he was one of the first footballers of his ilk to come through England. But he had to conform to make it work. Also gets extra points for being good for England when others were not. Similar to Joe Cole, ahead of his time by England standards. Tbf to Cole he was top 5 in his position for long time but he was never as devastating as Roberto Carlos, TAA, Alves, Marcelo etc. I think Gerrard was over-rated. Some of it not his fault. Played a lot of "hero-ball" and became uncoachable. A 10 with a tackle, graft and energy. Would've liked to have seen him under Fergie or prime Mourinho or at a top side. Influencedd a lot of tactically undisciplined players but at least they were good fun to watch (Fabregas, Ramsey to name 2). Once his athleticism went he wasn't able to compete at a decent level. Xabi Alonso. He gets put into that all-time Xavi, Pirlo list by some but he was more Carrick. Still an exceptional player.

Nonsense. If anything he’s under rated. People focus on the freekick and his general freekick abilities that were not brilliant. Doesn’t get the accolades for his ability.