The College Dropout

A lot of right footed contributions too.

Isak has always been a striker. People invent weird narratives. Sometimes more withdrawn. But he’s never been a left winger or regularly played wide. Isak was widely regarded as a talented wonderkid striker but he flopped at Dortmund and had a bad season at Sociedad. I like Woltemade but his career or reputation prior to joining us wasn’t that high until 2025. He was always going to require a lot more development than Isak. Woltemade wasn’t regarded as the same level of talent at all.

Dango looks such a layer. Strong and quick. Dribbling ability.

Brighton have been a boring side for so long. Their whole style of play is boring. Mitoma looked great that one year they had a proper attacking manager. My boy Minteh is wasted over there. Bring him hyem

Yep. Brentford it’s stark and a big example but it’s increasingly becoming the way that the way the club is led upstairs is by far the biggest indicator of success. Also similar is true for some of their players. Wissa bagged goals but nobody thought he was elite. Thiago and Schade are scoring a lot of goals. Nobody thinks they’re elite either. It’s something about Brentford’s style that gets their attackers high Xg opportunities.

But they are not. Their revenue is higher than Chelsea’s and their wages to revenue % is the lowest in the league. Spurs is 42%. Ours is 68%, Liverpool is 63%. Spurs could try a lot harder to compete if the people controlling their club wanted too. Nothing to do with the rules or their revenue.

I’m an armchair follower of Spurs and PL financials. Spurs position is entirely self made. Even when they spend big money they cheap out.

But Levy is a shareholder himself and he was empowered by the major shareholders. They would know Spurs have the lowest wages to revenue ratio in the league for years and had no issue with it. Is there evidence of some grand ambition from the larger shareholders? They were happy enough with Levy’s approach for what.. 20 years? Again. Spurs are not limited by PSR. Their ceiling is self imposed.

I don't think this is true or it wasn't true. What's held Spurs back is Spurs is run for business profitability right now. They had more revenue than Arsenal for 2 or 3 seasons and have one of the lowest (maybe the lowest) Wages to turnover ratio in the entire league. Their owners have put an artificial wage cap on them. The thing with Spurs is that they have already been to their owner's targets. New stadium, champions league football, profitable club - that's the height of their ambition - their maximum growth. Liverpool owners see Liverpool at the top table of European football - competitive for winning titles and CL as their ambition. That's their ambition and targeted maximum growth. Arsenal owners are similar. Their revenue is higher than Chelsea's pre-transfer activity. It's not PSR stopping them paying bigger wages. The ambition and competence (and PSR) of a clubs ownership is the main factor in success. Ours are ambitious but are they competent?

All of our signings have issues and concerns tbf. it seems all Brentford attackers get G/A - it’s good data but not the be all and end all for me. I think a players ceiling is reliant on their technical ability. I’ve seen nothing from Wissa there at all. Zilch. I think a players floor is more dependent on their mentality and athleticism. He’s decent at best in both. Some good movement at times but no composure, sometimes a bit lazy looking. I can’t see both he and Wolte being a success here and I hope/believe one of them will. But I don’t know who is more likey. One seems to have ability but no real track record. The other has a small track record but not seen any ability. Bad situation.

I said in another post I think Wolte is a bad fit. I’m not arguing that he’s going to be a success with us. But with talent and ability there’s a chance. I doubt he can succeed here as a 9 but he does have a chance.

Woltemade has at least shown some ability for us though. Not seen ability from Wissa. Ramsey has always shown decent technique - first touch, turn, small dribble, nice weight of pass etc. Just doesn't stamp authority on games or impact until now. But Wolte looks a bad fit which is concerning.

Ramsey fits the team on paper. He's athletic enough, he needs to stamp his authority on games and maybe be stronger. Nick doesn't fit on paper.

Not at all. Nowhere near. Ashley took a mean 5 season rolling finish of about 7th to relegated twice average rolling position 16th or something. Forest have gone from 30-40 something in the pyramid to top 17. Nothing alike.

It's all coming up Anderson coming hyem

Needs to have played in the PL for both teams. Lejeune doesn’t count.

Saw a video about thinking of 5 players to play for NUFC and Man City in the PL. He was the second person I thought of behind Given.

Yeh Levy was first to cry to PL to stop us getting sponsorships. Day after the takeover IIRC.

Unless your Didier Drogba with a 10 foot leap and a chest that's a magnet to the ball, strong as hell, hold up is going to be difficult for any striker in our system. It's too isolated a role. Hold up is much easier with another striker or a supporting striker/10.

"So you believe there's endemic corruption in officiating and using a computer removes that corruption ?" I never said this but you tried putting words in my mouth.

Don't think this is PSR driven from geography. Brighton & Brentford success can be attributed to a data-driven approach to recruitment and extensive owner investment (Brighton). Brentford have the second lowest match-day revenue in he league I believe. Brentford were reliant on player sales in the Championship (Watkins, Benrahma etc.) and are reliant on TV now Bournemouth - lowest match-day revenue in the league I believe. Largely owner-funded and the new owners seem v. astute. Palace - geography has helped them utilise one of the best catchment areas in world football but this is mostly via transfers It does seem the smartest/most ambitious owners tend to focus on midland and southern clubs. But we have PIF, Sunderland's owner seems competent. That matters more than pure geography for match-day income.

Still wouldn't describe it as a strength of Wilson's. But aye he was better at battling defenders than Isak. Isak was better at coming deep and linking play. Although often it seemed like a tactical choice to keep him high and not drop deep. Other times he would drop in a lot. I think the ideal Howe striker has the stamina to do both or have rotating strikers to do it for 60/30 each game. Far more important is the ability to run in behind to through balls and score goals in the box.

Wouldn't describe hold-up as a strength of either

I never said all that. The use of VAR for offside is both more accurate and fair. That's it. Some of the decisions are still dodgy, fans still feel cheated. But it's a fairer system than "gaining an advantage" or just using the old linesmen who would make horrific mistakes at times.

No it didn't