The College Dropout

Still don’t look a well coached side imo.

Commentators not going to mention that it wasn’t offside?

Isak looks knackered.

I agree about having a mix. Even Villa have Tielemans and Barkley who aren’t the most athletic or mobile. But then also have lots of legs around them in Onana, Rogers, Ramsey, McGinn in a compact team - not a lot of space between the lines not a tremendous amount of ground for them to cover by themselves.

Isak said himself he likes playing with us in the PL because the games are more fast, transitional and direct. The slower nature of Spanish football wasn’t always to his strengths. Yourr arguing the other points with feelings and not facts. Tonali’s passing ball rentention is not a major strength. We knew this before he joined. Gordon doesn’t even need to be explained. They are talented players and have flexibility. But they are not the players to turn a transition team into a possession based team. We do not have the personnel to play like that effectively. Our squad is tilted to athleticism and power so we should play like that more than we’ve been trying. Aye - we could try doing it in bursts. Or certain areas. I dunno. Exactly this. When I saw clips and read all about Tonali I knew we were doubling down on the press. Tonali increases the technical floor of the midfield substantially (Longstaff) but the aim was to give nothing away physically. Earlier that summer I suggested Kovacic - that to me would represent a shift in style. A bit slower, more focussed on control, secure on the ball etc. but we doubled down on what was working with a player who was potentially elite in that mould. Ok no problem that makes sense.

The crossed out are all better suited to transitional, athletic, vertical teams. They are the 3 most expensive signings too. When we were calling out from a creative attacker to playmake - we signed a direct goal threat in Barnes. When we could've signed a more ball secure, technical CM we signed someone who is more physically gifted than technically gifted in Tonali. It's a side built to press and run. That's fine, it's more of a Klopp side than Guardiola. Bruno is a fairly classic 6/DLP in the European mould. Pirlo, Jorginho, latter day Kroos, Busquets. Initiate attacks from deep, press resistant etc. Close that gap between midfield and defence would show evolution. I've become "it is what it is" with that issue. Sometimes CBs are aggressive and clamp down that space other teams we just get abused there. I've stopped caring. But when people talk about Eddie the tactical mastermind, the coaches' coach, I just can't buy it.

Based on the profile of player he has purchased for quarter of a billi.

Yeh we are going to have to sell a purple buddy. I don’t disagree that we need to let go of some of those players. But it’s the purples that will give us PSR space. I also think we need to change our entire transfer approach. And change our goals and plan. A lot of our squad building issues are driven by the requirement for European football

Is that because we want to spender 100m on 2 PL players? We need to focus on a rebuild with youngsters imo.

We don't look as fit, strong and motivated as we should.

Isak can press - but he can only do it for an hour.

Yep. If they pair down their ambition I would be disappointed but at least my expectations will be managed. We still have ‘we want to be #1, best in class’ rhetoric but the actions don’t align. Like I say, it’s really early days though. Villa are 3-4 years ahead in their takeover and are reaping the benefits from the academy and a strong squad pre-Emery and the DOF. As others have said - I’m happy to go through a rebuild. But it seems the club want to pursue a ‘we are only 1 or 2’ players away mentality. We need to get the talent ID of a Brentford, Brighton, RB rather than trying to sign players from those clubs. I like Howe but he needs to accommodate the DOF model or we bring in someone that will. But it’s all a learning curve.

New stadium will close the gap but it’s not a silver bullet. Not even close. An academy as productive as City or Chelsea would make the biggest difference. That’s quality players with no fee and starting on low wages. And it generates £20-40m in player deals each season for both clubs. Pure profit. City pinch a bunch of lads at 14-16 from other academies. Obviously trying to circumvent the rules would be best. But there’s no appetite for that.

Howe’s not the man to make us a possession based side imo.

The average/mean quality of coaching in the PL has increased exponentially over the last 5 years. The division doesn’t have many Steve Bruce’s anymore. Removing the promoted sides - who are the worst 3 managers? I’d argue someone that managed Real Madrid and Spain in the last 10 years, maybe Dyche, O’Neil, Glasner, Maresca perhaps. It’s a far cry from yesteryear. These are all decent coaches and fairly tactically astute. I always thought Eddie’s strengths was motivating players, giving them confidence, and putting them in positions to succeed. We don’t look a super motivated team either.

Schar, Hall, Botman, Bruno, AG keeps the ball pretty well. But that’s it. In the entire squad. The rest are best on the transition.

Couldn't agree more. I said it last summer - we double down on pressing, direct football in that transfer window. Tonali & Barnes signings in particular. 2 direct and athletic lads. Reupped Joelinton who is similar. Only player to add significant ball playing prowess the team is Hall and he's a kid.

We have higher revenues than Aston Villa. The PSR cost of Rogers, Tielemans, Kamara, McGinn, Ramsey, Onana is comparable to what we have in those positions. Brighton have Joao Pedro & Rutter in those positions. Brighton even have the luxury of loaning out Facundo Buonanotte in that role. I can blame PSR for not having a RW or CB. But not having a creative midfielder is a choice the people responsible for squad building have made. Lots of us have been screaming this for over a year and we are barely ever linked to players of that profile. JP is one (but that was more as a striker) and Szob.

And my point is we don’t have those players. City - Foden, Silva, KDB Arsenal - Odegaard Liverpool - Szob, Jones Villa - Rogers, McGinn, supplemented by Tielemans and Barkley deeper Chelsea - Palmer, dude from Atleti Spurs - Kulu, Maddison

Can you name another ‘top’ side that has zero players at 10? Longstaff gets loads of minutes. In many games I would prefer Barkley to Joelinton. A much cuter footballer. He’d be more effective than Tonali has been so far too.

Would help our build-up tremendously. Can do a job at 6 or either of the 8 positions. More ball secure and press resistant than Joelinton, Longstaff and Tonali.

His data at Milan suggests going for the Hollywood pass is just his style of play. Him and JL in a flat 3 is just too loose on the ball imo. Aye. I wonder if Joelinton could play 10/supporting striker for us. Feel like Rogers has better feet in tight spaces. Rogers effectively replaced a £60m transfer. Smart recruitment. Villa used their summer transfers in and out to reduce the squad age dramatically. I was never a big fan of Anderson and selling Joe would at least help make us a better footballing side. Barkley would’ve been another great pickup. Different dynamic to what we have.

The whole Ashworth thing has really hurt us. Locking in Joelinton and selling Minteh and Anderson has hampered our tactical flexibility. Even if we only got £30m for Joe and keep one of Anderson or Minteh. It forces the squad and tactics to evolve a bit more. We need to get better at moving on the 28+ players.

Wouldn’t mind a 343

We have zero 10s in the squad. No quality at RW. No depth at CB. Squad is wielded to 433 pretty much.