The College Dropout

He’s going to stay and then have his pick of the biggest clubs in world football. Might as well now.

Ole will get them CL football if they get him in. They will never win the league with Ole though. Which is the main thing.

Edu is about to get the chop too

He mostly played RW for Everton mind you. Didn't seem to mind then. The England LW spot is up for grabs and he think he'll score more goals from there and has the leverage to start there so he's saying this.

Aye Barnes has like "moves" and they all work best from LW. Gordon has less "moves" and is more rounded he's better suited to RW in his play style.

Would be interesting to see him in the setup. Would change the dynamic. Would be a lovely addition to the squad mind. I think Gini & Sissoko would be plug and play. Disagree. He had a decent first touch and his passing was no worse than Joelinton, probably more consistent then Joelinton's passing. Ended up a useful player for a good Spurs side and over 70 caps for France. But that was it. A good player but not one that should be a teams best player. Especially not at RW. I love Benitez but not playing Gini & Sissoko at CM or in a midfield 3 was poor from him. Both seemed like good pro's

Pep is off at the end of the season if they win the league or CL

I need to see it. As you say - it reads piss poor from all but Barnes

The subtext is.. if they both insist on playing on the left, they both know Howe will choose Gordon 9 times out of 10. So for Barnes it's be open to both or only get minutes off the bench.

They aren't encouraged to do any of that especially when raised in England. And it's the coaches, managers and agents that do it. Young lad (even in their 30s they are young), earning great money, known, usually working class background, spent their formative years essentially training for their profession rather than socialising or developing interests outside of the game. Most will spend their time going out and womanising. So the culture is to encourage players to have a family young and stay home with the wife and kids. Game. Play golf. Stay out of trouble. I watch a lot of ex-footballer podcasts. Most of them seemingly go on nights out (Carragher, Micah), Golf (Shearer), run businesses. They are seemingly low on hobbies and interests but that's just the culture of British football.

Depends on the fee and level of player. If you can get a top-class older player at a discounted rate due to contract situation or age, you do it (Kane, Hazard in theory, Van Persie, Lewandowski). Or just straight up for free like the Real Madrid approach. A premium on the fee for a 29-yo I don't think you do. £55m for Watkins or Wissa is bad business imo. These aren't top talents. That doesn't mean they can't contribute well though. Less of an issue for Man U than us. Casemiro is similar - good player but bad business. Don't pay a premium for a player of that age. Where I think £20m for Martinez is good business. Fee isn't massive. Brings a lot of leadership to the team.

Could've struck a balance. I agree with the logic but you don't want to end up like Spurs or Chelsea.

Who is being negative? Where are the negative posts? Lad is super talented but he also has a lot to learn and develop. That's all people are pointing out.

I love an endless debate but why debate Froggy?

Win me another trophy and I’m calling my first son a Bruno

I love him like no other. The ultimate passion merchant (in a good way). A complete baller. Clutch.

TBF he's not played consistently as a striker in his career. He's not even played consistently in a top league. He's 23 but he has a lot of development to do. Before joining us, I believe he played fewer than the equivalent of 30 90-minute games as a striker in the Bundesliga. Like literally before Jan 2025 he was going between SS and CF and the bench. The season before that, he played more as a AM or SS than CF for Bremen. So there's validity when people say he doesn't look like he entirely knows what he's doing at ST/CF. He doesn't. It's valid when they say he looks more like a 10 (I think they mean supporting striker), because he's played a lot of football there. As far as who he can be compared too: The Teddy Sheringham I watched growing up. Eidur Gudjohnson. In this era? Kai Havertz maybe?

I really enjoy Cherki as a player. Reijnders I like a bit too. Maybe I’m just old but it feels like the quality of player they have has gone down overall KDB Fernandinho David Silva Sane Aguero Sterling Pure ability I don’t think they’ve topped this. Or at least better to watch, more aesthetic players.

Slot was also hired to be a yes-man to the decision makers. We are exiting the era of the brand name manager. Through history you’ve had 6+ brand name managers that rotate jobs. But few are being made now - it’s more about how good the clubs leadership is more than anything else. There’s only Pep in the PL. Conte in Serie A, can maybe argue Allegei wherever he is these days. Klopp out of work. Carlo and Tuchel at international jobs. Inzaghi was becoming a brand name coach but he’s in Saudi.

That Mateta moment was prime Virgil ‘slow down there laddy’ manoeuvre. Is he back in the German squad?

Posted about Guehi. Not sure if I mentioned him going to City but I thought about it. There’s a distinct lack of quality CBs at big clubs. Particularly of a good age. Guehi would be a good signing for everyone from Real, Barca, City, Liverpool. Everyone apart from Arsenal that I can think of.

I rarely read Froggy's posts and would like him banned from the forum. But he was spot on about Elanga.

Spurs have become a shit Chelsea.

He’s awful

4th and 5th atm only needs 60-61 points. Usually 4th is 68 points and 5th 66 points. Once teams start dropping out of Europe (us!) I expect an uptick in form