The College Dropout

You've seen Brighton for the last 5 years. Small club. Well run from the top. Decent managerial appointments, decent transfers. Established PL team. You've seen the outcome and it's solid.

Yes in comparison Marc Overmars is more exciting than Dan Ashworth. A lot of us remember him as a player and are loosely aware of what he's done at Ajax. You've got the big name players that have been sold for big money and deep European runs. Then you have a man called Dan. Expectations are immediately lower, you expect he's worked with (at best) midtable PL teams. Turns out it's boring Brighton. Their most exciting player is a Chelsea youth fullback.

He's Technical Director at Brighton. So there's that.

A lot of us were expecting a Marc Overmars type appointment (I don't know diff between DoF & TD). To see us go for the man whose club is 13th in the league, is called Dan and never finished in the top half of the PL is underwhelming.

There's clearly a risk like.

League has been like this for a long time. I remember Pardew in his last season strung 4-5 wins together and that pretty much kept us up when Carver took over. It's still the case now. 4-5 back to back wins probably keeps any team up.

Can’t stop conceding. Dont have a manager renowned for organising a defence. 3/4 good signings and we have a chance. But it’s 3 or 4 that’s needed, not 1 or 2.

How do people rate Smith vs Howe? Villa were saved by the most extraordinary technology failure we've seen in the PL in some time. Had goal line technology worked, Villa would've went down and Bournemouth stayed up. I think considering the investment of both teams, neither team should have been in that situation but moreso Bournemouth shouldn't have been in that situation. Also Bournemouth consistently looked vulnerable at the back in the 5 years they were in the PL. I don't watch enough of Villa to know how a Dean Smith side plays. They were pretty much as much a 1-man team as you'll see in the PL when things were going well iirc.

Manchester United have become more of a Conte club in this last window with the signings of Sancho, Varane and Ronaldo. Manchester United need to look to the Chelsea model of success.

It’s not so linear. Some clubs suit some managers better than others. Eg Poch would be a great Everton manager. Better than Ancelotti was. But I’m certain Ancelotti would do a better job at PSG than Poch is doing. I think Klopp and Liverpool is a perfect fit. Dyche at Burnley also perfect. upper mid table I have Vieira and Palace. Right club manager and time. Rodgers too. lower mid table I have Benitez. Benitez as we’ve seen is a bad performance away from boos despite being a good fit otherwise. That’s a cloud over his reign and I can’t see it changing any time soon.

Fully agree and that's my biggest issue. It's clear they had no decent plans from the start. They should have identified key footballing people before they bought the club to bring in for day 1. Or at least temporary football people.. even if it was bringing in Harry Redknapp as DOF, Terry as Lampard as manager and his dog as chief negotiator. It's a plan with good intentions and some level of joined up thinking. As it is.. I understand why Charnley is doing it though.

Long-term we'll spend enough money to be a fun side again trying to win things - great. But this poor outing could delay everything 18 months with a relegation.

Legit question - who else?

Yep. The takeover was a shitshow, took 18 months to complete. Delaying sacking Bruce was a shitshow. Appointing the new manager & DOF has been a shitshow. This doesn't bode well for transfers or anything else. The fact Charnley is still around is telling. He's the only one with experience in the football world in the club's hierarchy. Best thing they can do, is to bring in 2-3 key people from another club like City did Barcelona. Overmars, whoever handled the business side of transfers and whoever handled youth development at Ajax for example. Seemingly, they bought the club without a clear plan as to how to take it. IMO from the start they should have had a list of football people in mind to take top jobs and tapped them up.

There was a lot of talk early doors about the Saudi's not being as savvy in business as the Emirati's and it's showing. It's been a shit show.

Big chance here for West Ham. they’re the best team left in it that will play their strongest team. They’re better than Spurs. Leicester, Pool and Chelsea will play rotated teams. Pool and Chelsea will do so all the way.

They don’t want Rafa to succeed and he won’t succeed largely because of that. they’ll continue to be poor at Goodison because the crowd will be quick to turn.

Rodgers did what Howe did at Swansea -got them up and kept them up. Overall, he did a good job at Liverpool - they let him go primarily because Klopp was available and willing. Had they given him another year and smarter recruitment - he would've done a very good job. Overall - good job at a massive club imo. Celtic he was a massive success. At the very least he showed he was a very good coach and a step above the dross. The domination domestically, the goals, the style and competitive in Europe. The Celtic job proved he was a serious manager. Howe is all the way back to the Swansea days.

Howe will have us in the champions league.

We've got some Oil money and lost our sense of humour

We should go for ‘the best of the rest’ type PL players. Zaha, Raphinha, Bissouma, JWP etc. Players with something to prove. and young players from the continent with masses of potential. I wouldn’t mind youngish players from top clubs that haven’t worked out. Timo Werner types.

I agree with this.

Was on his way to become an England regular and a core component of this successful Liverpool side. Did his ACL after being brilliant in the Cl semi final against City.. missed both CL finals and has never been the same player or a regular since. He has his FA Cups and a league title. But he would have won more had he stayed fit. Unlucky lad. He has all the components to be an ideal Klopp midfielder.

Fair comment. Perhaps Guardiola’s playing career helps in this aspect. With Rafa it’s a clear line. At the biggest clubs he’s managed in terms of expectations - he’s not been terribly popular with the players. Inter, Real and Chelsea. His biggest successes have come with underdogs in Valencia and Liverpool. And even at Liverpool, the players like him cos they were competitive and won things - they all say he’s distant and cold. I think someone like Carlo is the opposite.

All that detail doesn’t work at the biggest clubs. You can’t tell Ronaldo where to put it or tell Modric how to pass. but for teams like us, Everton - he’s ace. Underdogs. At underdog clubs he’s most loved.