The College Dropout

Few years in the championship and some new owners has changed the game you say?

It’s not like. Arsenal fans have a superiority complex with Spurs. Many would have never expected in their entire lifetime to be better then Arsenal or for Spurs to be in the CL final or for Spurs to be the first to bring the CL to North London. Plus they’ve already won 2 European competitions that isn’t the big one. You have to say Levy’s done a spectacular job in the last 10-15 years. Spurs are giants now.

Liverpool have been tremendous in the transfer market and every deal for the last few years looks like a good deal. Excellent business all round. But they do have the most expensive GK and CB in the world. City have bought welll but they haven’t been as smart. Liverpool have made sure to sign their first targets no matter the cost. But sometimes their first target is £10m and severely under rated with a high ceiling. City spent 60m on Mahrez. He’s a top player but they barely use him. He’d be closer to Liverpool’s XI

It’s hard being a NUFC midfielder. The quality is always lacking. We could have 3 ex midfielders in the CL final and all 3 had some very rough patches here. I go Faye. Anita. Butt Smith Colback Bobby wanted to sign Carrick rather than Butt but FS wanted Butt Dyer Jenas Carrick Robert. Could’ve been decent for us.

I’m enjoying hating Liverpool rn. They are so good. Barcelona are a shambles. No legs. Any leaders? Coward I’m the dug out.

Aye conceded the most from set pieces in the league. Disappointed that Lascelles was beaten 1v1 against Origi mind.

I think the average across players makes it a more interesting and meaningful stat. Me and my Arsenal mate were discussing Laca vs Auba. He said Laca was a better all round player and I agreed. I said Auba is a better goal scorer because he’s a much better poacher, better instincts in the box (likely to have more chances). He agreed but made the point that he thinks Laca is a better finisher and that Auba wasn’t a great finisher at all. I wasn’t sure about that but the xg backs up his claim. Laca has 13 goals but an expected xg of 11.2 or something. He’s scoring more than you should expect but his xg isn’t that high. Auba’s Xg is something like 19.8 and he’s scored 19 goals. So he’s getting much better chances (pens included) but he doesn’t tuck them away above average. My friend said 1v1 with the goalie he’d take Laca and I think those stats bolster his claim. This is why I was so mad when I dropped Deulofeu from my fantasy team the week he scored a hat trick. For the season he’s been trending an xg of .35, 1 in 3 which is excellent for his price and position. But he wasn’t scoring. Didn’t score in the 5 games I had him. Dropped him ‘this lad can’t finish’. Scores a hat trick. Goes back to something closer to his xg. The stats indicated goals would eventually come.

I don't think that makes sense as the sample size would be too small for most players under 25 for it to be effective. Lots of the goals Cisse scored in his purple patch might indicate he could score goals for fun forever. But when you look at it, he was scoring goals with a very low chance of going in - in terms of the wider game which is an indication he was over-performing and you can expect his goal return to reduce. Some players e.g. Kane and Messi tend to consistently over-perform their xg and that's fine. They're tremendous finishers and score goals others don't. I think a penalty is 0.8. 4 out of 5 penalties go in and I think that works well. Adding in how many a GK saves or the history of the shooter doesn't help imo. Also as an older metric, shots within the box was a good indication rather than shots in general. Shots in the box tend to be of a higher quality than outside.

Did we sign Perez in the same window as Riviere? That little purple patch with Ayoze kept us in the league. I think that was the worst team we put out that season. Absolute bargain basement shit.

Yea, if you score early in games you are likely to have less shots as you try and defend the lead etc. Biggest issue is the quality of chances. This stat would suggest City are over achieving in terms of goals scored. Man City create quality chances. A lot of their goals are ultimately tap-ins. Shots from within the 6 yard box. They don’t take that many speculative shots from distance. Expected goals is a better indication of fret.

He’s got 4 assists which might put him first in the team for them. Most of them seem to be from pressing the opposition high up the field and winning it.

I’d they get to the final. They will conspire to lose. Still no trust in Tottenham’s mettle.

There’s something to it though. Not so much personally about Pep but about his system. Defensively it tends to fold when questioned. He’s had highly competitive teams (best 2-3 in Europe) for about 9/10 seasons. He’s had 2 finals. consistent denominators include losing away from home. Not scoring away from home. And at Man City, conceding a lot of goals.

Liverpool look the most reliable team in Europe. They’ll spark Barcelona imo. Too good in defence. To dynamic and quick in midfield for Busquets and co. I only fancied Juve to beat them. Ajax are the only comparable team in terms of athleticism and technical ability. Fancy City to go out.

Benzema’s CL record is sublime. I would think he’s scored more Qf, SF and Final goals than any players bar Ronaldo and Messi. Maybe Raul. Suarez is way better in the league. But Benzema is the man for the big moment. Has he not got himself ostracised from France he would have all the international trophies too. He’s like a clutch Giroud with pace.

Ajax outplayed Juve and Real. Real are having a bad season so people under rated those performances. But now they should get their credit. I think they can do it. They look physically magnificent too. The closest to Liverpool in that regard.

His aggression and ability on the ball reminds me of Luiz aye. And the propensity to fall asleep while defending. Luiz is much better in the air mind.

An excellent CB for a back 3. Defensively one of his greatest attributes is his aggression which is much riskier in a back 2. If he maxes his potential, he will be too good for a Mike Ashley team.

Why would it be better for football? Liverpool have the most expensive defender and GK in world football. Fairly certain their squad cost more than every other team in Europe besides City and Man Utd. Their money doesn't come from slave owning murderers I agree with this but that’s not a ‘football’ issue. I feel like Leicester winning the league was a great moment for the sport. Not to underplay how terrible City’s owners are.

I’m sure it’s to come. But one crap thing about this run-in is how uncompetitive the league is. Few twists and turns. These guys just win week in week out. They will both get 90+ points easy.

Why would it be better for football? Liverpool have the most expensive defender and GK in world football. Fairly certain their squad cost more than every other team in Europe besides City and Man Utd.

Think RWB is a major weakness area in the team.

This is the thing. He's such a major component of the team. Since Rafa came in.. maybe even since he's joined. I can't recall many periods of good form without him in the side. Sure, we've had bad runs, taken him out the side but I can't remember many patches of the good stuff without him contributing (in the PL especially). So I don't know what a decent run of games without him looks like. He's rarely injured and that's a massive thing. Since he's joined he's played a minimum of 33 league games for us. No matter the perspective on his performances up or down he's a key figure for us and him leaving will make a massive difference to the entire team. He's been fundamental to how we play for a long time now and we've not had to go without (for good and bad). He's so ingrained into the DNA of the side.

The amount of times he runs down blind-alleys has reduced significantly. Since Almiron came in he's played facing the goal much more. Loses it way less and he's scoring his goals. On pace for another 9-10 goal season but more importantly, he's really benefitting the team with his performances.

Great goal. We look so dangerous on the counter. We actually look up for this one