The College Dropout

I sold DCL just before the good fixtures ended fully expecting him to finally get a return. He didn’t. Watching Everton & DCL was a nightmare. He’s not played well for 4 years. He had a purple patch under one of the best managers of all time. His mind body and spirit is broken. There’s no circumstance where we should sign him. Not for free. Not for anything. I never want to see him again.

He’s the best in the 1 up top era. We’ll never know if he could handle a young Lukaku x Shane Long double up.

Aye he and Arteta are the worst in the division for it.

Can't secure a top 50k finish in December mind but you can throw it away doing too much! Think those transfers could've waited IMO. The year I finished 56k I was top 10k-20k for most of the season but did too much, went too early on risky transfers, tore up a winning team through confidence. The year I finished 7k, got a good base and slowly ticked on to the next good asset. Never trying to get ahead of the game too much. Common sense transfers every week. Still tempted to sell Isak. The last 2 performances and the aggregate attack over the opening 13 games isn't good. It's now or I keep him for the foreseeable. The short-term fixtures are too good to sell after Liverpool - that's what killed me with DCL. Isak will definitely score eventually but the variance vs Jackson is high. Jackson will almost definitely justify his price tag. Isak could go either way. Think I'm selling for a hit.

Turns out I have to sell Mbeumo anyway. It was Rogers I could move on but price rises have taken me out.

Folks I can either do: Mbeumo out for Saka. Start Isak. - If he misses out I've got Dalot off the bench which is weak. - we are a bad attack. But historically (as in last 2 seasons) a good attack. - I don't trust our attack against Leicester or Ipswich who will sit back and defend. - Losing Mbeumo ahead of a good fixture +Great fixtures the next 4 +Isak fixtures pretty good well into Feb. + Gives me funds for any defender (likely TAA/VVD/Konate/Gomez) going forward. + Isak to play 70 minutes each game minimum if fit + Isak on penalties + no hit. Can do Isak out for Jackson, Dibling out for Saka (-4). +Gives me 8 strong attackers heading into the busy period + Chelsea a good attack + Good fixtures for a long time to come (March) + good minutes - Benching nightmares - Decent short-term fixtures. - Jackson 1 yellow from a suspension - coming in for a hit - Not on penalties - Can't afford premium Liverpool defender but could get any VVD partner My mantra is choosing good players from good teams. I don't know if we are a good team. I've doubted them but Chelsea seem a good team. Jackson feels a safer bet for as long as I want him. Isak and us as a team could stink it out. What do you think?

In FPL circles, Howe is a known liar regarding player fitness. As is Mikel Arteta. Maybe liar is strong they would both say things like ‘it looks promising for x player to make the next game’ and the player will miss out - sometimes several weeks. Then will do the opposite with ‘hasn’t trained all week, doubt he can play a part’ - lad starts. It’s intentional misdirection and a continual pattern of behaviour. The rest are largely honest with what they say. Someone like Ange is upfront

I disagree a bit. When fully fit Wilson is able to get through more pressing and physical battles and has more in the tank come the end of a game. Likewise Gordon and Wood when he was here. The lack of stamina is a fair criticism. He’s a top player but the stamina isn’t elite.

Let’s be honest most people that follow Abrahamic religions wouldn’t be vocal advocates for LGBTQ+ even if they were themselves part of that community. I assume he didn’t want to cause offence by refusing to wear it like the Ipswich captain. And maybe isn’t ’anti LGBTQ’ or doesn’t want to be seen as such but he wanted to make the statement. It’s messy because football mixed politics all the time. We had a whole bunch of stuff for Ukraine war. The rules should be more honest and say you can only support political or religious beliefs that align with our agenda.

Which is by design. Only 6 clubs are allowed to have a wage and transfer budget that can sustain a squad to be competitive in the CL and PL. Imagine Villa could keep Diaby and Luiz but still sign the players they did like Onana.

His stamina is so poor. There’s so many goals to be had late in a game. Feel like Salah scores loads of late goals. Lad is made out of granite. Isak is skinny and soft yet doesn’t have stamina. Howe is a notorious liar as well which doesn’t help. Him saying he’s out makes me think he starts and plays 90.

Very tempted to take him out my FPL team for a hit.

Think he scored a late brace against Forest one time. But aye he’s usually blowing by 60 mins. immobile by 75 minutes.

Howe’s such a fucking liar man. Him and Arteta are the most dishonest when it comes to player fitness.

Again - I don’t follow Golf. But is it not a case similar to boxing that you come in with lots of cash and get your way? Similar to the boxing. There’s like 5 major boxing promotions and they are all selling to the highest bidder. It doesn’t take elite business acumen to take over the game. It’s easy to build momentum. Football in 2024/25 is far more competitive than boxing and I assume golf. Write a big cheque in boxing and the biggest enemies will hold hands together and smile. Agreed. That to me would be ‘doing everything they can’.

TBF Wilson and Wood were proven PL strikers.

No fear of training ground and stadium costs being incorporated. These materially improve the economy.

How much is Yasir running things? I would prefer a Yasir underling that can talk to him everyday than some suit he’s hired. You can’t win in this football game being slow. Opportunities will pass by. If you’re going to be slow working with a UK council - you will waste millions and months/years. Staveley and co. made mistakes but at least they were dynamic. You would’ve thought the Reubens would’ve helped expedite building infrastructure

I’ve had a good idea of what my team should look like for a number of weeks now. Not getting there fast enough has cost me more points than the hits i would’ve taken. And now I see new problems beginning to open up. So I have to take some hits anyway. The. Move from position of strength. Isak is a big issue. If he’s not fit I probably hit him out (for Jackson) and I have a super strong attacking 8 (but can only choose 7). If he’s fit, I keep him, I think he has a good record against Liverpool if memory serves. Swap a good asset in midfield (Mbeumo) for a better one (Saka). Upgrade midfield later for free. Jackson has good fixtures for the long term so don’t mind the hit. I must say - we’ve not been scoring. So maybe Isak out is the common sense move. Isak of last season was a brace magnet but this season he’s only really scoring tap ins with regularity and single goals. But he has a good record against Liverpool and the next 4 are excellent fixtures. What do you lot think?

Any pictures of him in training? Any news?

Agreed. But we have to actually use him. I said the same thing. Liverpool have the most quality in depth attack in Europe. City have 1 striker. They had a good understudy who moved for more football. I would like us to use Osula more. I also don’t hate Gordon up top when he’s in form. this is one of the Eddie quirks I’m used too.

Chelsea have alaways operated like that. Managers have input but a lot of the action was dictated by the club/Roman. Spurs are also largely run like that. A fair number of signings are happening no matter what. Similar in Europe. Thats why owners want coaches like Slot, Maresca And Ange. They’ll use and be happy with the players bought for them. Someone like Conte only uses who he wants. Liverpool didn’t sign the CM they’ve needed for years, not a peep of discontent in the media from Slot. Their owners are also fairly happy for them to finish level with the investment.

Delap wouldn’t have been a world away from the Osulu fee by PL standards. But I guess he needed guaranteed minutes. The idea of proven, fit PL player for a backup is tosh though. It’s a young player, old player, or shit player. I always thought Wood was as good as you can get a proven PL backup that might be happy to sit on the bench for a club like ours.

Need to be more aggressive. Didn’t take the -8 point hit I was considering. Which would’ve paid off. Will get there mind.

Ok cool. Sat perfectly midtable. With a talented but unbalanced squad. Didn’t sign anyone in the summer to start. Constant talk of needing to sell to buy. No plans in motion that will significant increase revenues. Maybe waiting for another club to win a court case. Atmosphere in the club has soured in the last 4 months. Hired a DoF in July, not on the same page with manager in August. Want a top 6 finish on a top 8 wage bill. Let’s see where we are come May and June.