The College Dropout

If he stays the whole season we finish above them. Keep him there.

We need ETH in a job. He’s awful.

My boy keeping ETH in a job. Love that.

Harry Maguire is better than De Ligt.

I hope so too. I was expecting a bit more than we’ve seen.

Walker should be done with England. Low-key he’s been below par for 6 months. Of course it was him playing AG on.

For a reported £100k-150k I would hope for someone a level up on Dan Burn. If he’s on squad player wages that’s fair enough. But I would still want to see more from him. I’m hoping he improves.

Our first choice LB is 20 yo and will need to be rotated. our first choice LCB has an ACL injury. As does our backup RCB. Our current backup LCB and LB is 32. For this season Kelly shares minutes with Hall at LB and is our backup LCB. Long term he’s the Dan Burn replacement as backup LCB and LB. We’ll aim to replace Schar with a more aerially dominant RCB which would make Kelly a better option at LCB too. He’s a perfectly capable prem player. He just doesn’t start for us with everyone fit. Nor would he start for any other top 8 team. We do need to raise the floor of the squads quality and he does that.

It’s in the data as a CB (same for Schar and Guehi) and in the eye test.

Thing is though - the physical bar for our midfielders is so high. Are we going to allow ourselves 2 CMs that aren’t super mobile? I think to myself - Barkley would’ve been a nice pickup. But we’ve not really looked at those types of transfers. And would he have a position for us?

I don’t want either at LB tbf. Happy for Kelly to share some minutes with Hall. And ideally neither play at CB too. But Burns ability to win headers is invaluable when we have a relatively small backline that’s weak in the air. You don’t need pace to press attackers. Neither Schar or Botman are quick themselves. Aggression, bravery, anticipation. Burns been poor at that at times this season but so has Schar. I can see Kelly’s use at CB if we need a goal due to his betttee distribution. But then again Burn is a bigger threat from set pieces. It’s early days for Kelly. He might prove himself a much better player than I’m giving him credit for. Maybe I read the game too basic but I like to see players with standout attributes. And the rumoured wages are scary.

Think in some niche instances he could work at CB. Like alongside Lascelles or an aerially dominant CB. Or a back 3. At LB he’s just competition for Hall but not a proper long term option imo. I prefer Burn at CB. I haven’t had to see Burn at LB for awhile. But I might prefer prime Burn at LB too from what I’ve seen so far.

Kroos was so crucial to their ad-hoc build up play. French lads in the middle need to step up. And Mbappe causes more questions than answers.

He needs to play to develop. He’s 21, not a 18 or 19 yo. Lads similar to his age have played a full season of Champ football and getting Regular minutes for Forest. This season will be great for Eliot Anderson’s development because he’s going to play.

Most of us knew in advance that the front 6 would struggle. In fact that whole line up had 1 progressive passer and he’s at CB. Nobody else has the ability to break a line with a pass consistently. IMO it was good that Bruno didn’t start. But we needed to see our best midfield options without him. Particularly with the passing. At least one of Tonali or Hall should’ve started at 6 imo.

Think yesterday was a missed opportunity to try Hall in midfield. 6, right sided 8 mirroring the Joes on the left or as a left sided 8 (less need to see that tbf). He would’ve got lots of the ball with time. But also tested physically. A positive of him not starting is that he’s almost certainly starting at the weekend.

Barnes is a £45m signing on 80-100k p/w. Howe was always going to prefer playing Barnes in his best position over starting Osulu. I thought Osulu might get a little more minutes off the bench. But overall - he’s exactly where I expected him to be.

I never thought for a second he would start ahead of Anthony Gordon at ST. AGs played there for us and England U21 decently in my view. It allows Barnes to play in his favoured position too.

I didn’t sign him, I don’t know. Perhaps if Wilson was fit we would’ve loaned him out? perhaps they thought he would be third choice? I doubt that though. i like him. He’s got positive attributes but he needs to develop those with minutes. Minutes he’s not getting here despite injuries to the frontline. Why did he come? Bigger club and more money. That’s an easy one.

It’s not good for the lad to be a 4th choice striker in a team without European football. He needs minutes to develop. I like him.

Looks like he needs minutes and develop. Won’t get that here. He’s in a tough spot. He looked good to me but not good enough to regularly contribute. Could be wrong.

Joelinton the deepest CM. Hmmmm

How do you watch it on Sky Stream or Sky Go?

I don’t think he’s ‘better’ than Ederson. But he’s better for us. Ederson barely has to make any saves. Distribution is much more important for City than pure shot stopping. He’s good enough for them at shot stopping but is great at the things that matter most to City. Our GK has to make a fair amount of saves. Martinez skill set is similar to Pope. Less nervous with his feet but still pretty basic. Pickford is good at long passing. That’s it. I hated how he booted everything in the Euros final. Lad has no brains.

Apparently we want to renew his contract. Unless the wage is low. I would let him go.