The College Dropout

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.

Agreed. I think it has been harder for an oil, state etc. Banked club to win the CL because there’s no history of success in that competition. Now due to finances they will dominate. Chelsea, PSG and City have been competitive for what? 10-15 years. And have 2 CLs between them, both belonging to Chelsea who have a first mover advantage. Until now CL has largely remained in the footballing aristocracy Real, Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester United, Bayern. while they still have capital I think the Super League will happen in the next 5 years or the CL revamped even more. The pandemic has put footballing aristocracy 10 years behind PL and funded clubs.

Arsenal Arteta and Edu are horrendous. one thing I like about Klopp. He makes sure his defenders are big lads. Win their headers at the least. White is not the business. you knew they would get rolled over today.

He’s not a top player atm. If he has a leg break, he’s toast (financially). 4/5 year contract. £50m release clause, higher if Arsenal have sell-one. First team wages. I think is fair for all parties. if he does well here, we’ll look to sell him anyway. The club sees itself as a stepping stone. he would be a fool to stay at Arsenal imo. Maybe a loan would be in his best interests if he thinks he can outlast Arteta but I’m sure Arsenal are demanding a sale. A poor 12 months and his value is entirely destroyed.

Can get people far in all walks of life.

I remember Dyer, Jenas, Parker, Emre, Tiote, Milner getting loads of stick on here. Million miles above the shit we've endured since. That Arsenal lad is a breath of fresh air. He's no better than Jenas was for us but seeing a midfielder that can run, with a first touch and some ability is a rare combination for us these days. Hayden's a bit of a clogger too but he's as good as we've had since Cabaye. We used to criticise Cabaye's athleticism, Shelvey makes him look like Patrick Vieira.

Colback and Anita played way too many games. Mike Williamson. Smith. Gouff. Paully D. Shlevey. It's only really Shola I can think of, who played too many times when we were good/decent but he was a back-up and did some useful things on ocassion. I remember one season he scored 9 premier league goals mostly as a backup/sub. Think he's a top 5 European goalscorer for us and obvious Mackem slayer. Dummett, Shelvey, and co. proper first-choice players for us for far too long.

Nah Fulham are just bad. We'll get no more than 36 points. 34-36 imo. It looks like Fulham will get less.

Fulham are shit.

He's 30. Bad injury record. It's a pandemic. This secures him a high-end Champo or low-end PL contract until he's 34.

Yep these are things that make you go ‘oh that’s a player’. He needs to move to a better club obviously. But I’d like to see what he could do at CM in a decent setup. Perhaps a bit lightweight. But I think he could have a very good career at CM. A bit of the Gini Wijnaldum in terms of athleticism, technique and ability in tight spaces. Without the invisibility cloak.

He's good again

I did like what Lampard did with Mount, James & Tammy by giving them a proper chance at a big club. He's having to learn on the job in a rebuild which is a massive challenge and his lack of experience is showing. I sometimes think - Zidane wasn't qualified for the RM job either but in a way, I respect that there was no secret he would be given an opportunity at the job. Iirc he got to wear a suit as Carlo's #2, managed Real B. He also took over a team regularly running deep in the CL coming into their prime years when Lampard is doing a rebuild. Also - you can tell Zidane spent a lot of his career under the tutelage of Italian managers. His instincts are boring as anything

Kanoute. Aspas.

He usually comes in and spends big in January to keep a team up. They’ll go down unless he gets money to spend.

Could John Terry play for these City & Liverpool teams? Terry was a brilliant defender and leader. But he could not play in a very high line. Vidic & Terry needed a Ferdinand and Carvalho Think Campbell and Ferdinand were better and could play in different styles of teams. VVD is absolutely the best of the lot. As dominant in the air as anyone. As big a goal threat as anyone. Quick as anyone. As good a passer as anyone. Reads it as good as anyone.

Aye. Larry Robert seemed a very difficult character lol. You can see how years later played would refuse to play. It was building up to that. Robert threatened that away to Arsenal. Came off the bench scored and won a penalty.

Very easy to say a player like ASM is inconsistent. Black, quick, French winger playing for a mid table PL club. For me - he’s been consistently good for some time now. In this team if he can score and assist 13+ he would be doing superbly and would suggest he could perform at a higher level.

Fulham look boring too. Wolves are defensive but pass it about nicely. Man U are boring but have some wonderful players that produce moments.

Palace definitely deserved their win btw. They wasted so many counter attacking opportunities. Man Utd were shit and looked devoid of a game plan. Forever wasting time with Ole. Get Poch in you idiots.

Palaces 4-4-2 looked much better than ours. They kept their shape much better. Up against different systems. But within 5 minutes we had wingers making tackles in the box and giving away penalties. We often had our wingers pressed all the way back into a back 6. Palace didn’t do that. We also had massive spaces between the lines. Palace were compact. In the modern era 442 is a counter attacking formation. We play it to ‘express ourselves’ with the big man small man combo. Bruce is of the Pardew ilk. That relies on team spirit and determination to get results and clean sheets. He’s not actually good at organising a defence or team shape. Roy is a limited manager. But he knows how to work a counter attacking 442 on the training ground. Without Zaha, Palace won’t get relegated.

That’s where England’s problem is. It’s probably the easiest role in football. Too many decent at ‘keeping things ticking’ but no one capable of doing anything. Ward Prowse possibly. I actually disagree. England struggle badly for these players at the elite level. When the pressure is on they can’t keep playing it simply and progressively. It’s what Carrick was great at but never utilised for England. Type of situation, 1-0 down with 5 minutes to go. Need someone to progress it from midfield to attack. At the WC when behind Henderson kept looking for an ambitious ball and lost it time and again. Something Fernandinho is great at, nothing flashy. 1,2 touches, lateral pass into front players. Push up. Let’s build pressure. I moan about this a lot but English players always look for the Gerrard killer pass. Sometimes keep it In advanced areas and work an opportunity.

Think Hakimi has beef with Zidane. No idea why. They could’ve had both Carvajal and Hakimi for a year without Hakimi’s value dipping significantly if they wanted to sell him.

For genuine academy products I don’t have much of a problem with it. Carvajal, Hakimi, Morata & Reguillon all from the Madrid academy. Hakimi just went out on loan to Dortmund. Dortmund probably spent millions in loan fees and get no fee back. Real have just sold him to Inter. Carvajal is a first team regular. Morata was a good backup striker upon his return and they sold him after a year. Madrid do tend to use their academy as a cash cow. Saying that I don’t know why they brought back that Dominican lad. He doesn’t play and they haven’t sold him. He did well at Lille. Whole time the players have a choice to return I believe.