The College Dropout

Under £30m for Bakayoko sounds like a great deal.

They might have CL play offs. It’s them I want. Id fancy us against Spurs or Arsenal in a final mind. We’ll lose to Liverpool at any stage.

Tyler Dibling will cost £40-50m. Lad is going to the top.

I've been saying this for months on end (FWIW we are more 7th/8th). It's 7th/8th by a distance from 6th too.

PSR won't allow an Isak level signing. It has to be a Joao Pedro type.

I didn't - I did say he had good raw attributes. Quick, size, can use both feet, worked hard, aggressive. Didn't see a high technique, creativity or the ability to consistently get into goalscoring opportunities then finish them off. Poor 1v1 against defender stats. I was wrong about the goalscoring, and getting into positions - his off-the-ball movement, mindset and aggression is great. And I under-rated his ability to draw fouls, bookings, sending off, win penalties etc. But I was right that he's not great at attacking his fullback 1v1. He's not creative. His lack of elite technical ability on the ball stops him from becoming an elite player or even just an elite finisher. But he's also solid technically at the same time but a step below Barnes. He is genuinely one of our best players. I accept his limitations. I guess I'm saying, I do rate him... but not like that. A lot of my issues were fair. And he's scored 2 goals from open play in the league

Me too. It's been start-stop for him with niggling injuries and others playing well. Needs to stay fit and get minutes and develop. A big part is you look at Minteh, about 6ft but a stringbean. 5-10lb of lean muscle and he's stronger and faster. I do think Bakayoko is more developed and would be more consistent from the off. Phsyically, technically - more experienced.

My favourite type of winger for Eddie Howe is an inside forward type. Someone super direct, has excellent movement and is a finisher. Like Mbeumo, Jota when he played off the left, Son and my personal favourite Sadio Mane. That's the type of player I can see Minteh becoming. Gordon and Barnes are kind of in that mould. Then my other favourite is basically sticking a 10 on the wing or just the crazy ballers. Palmer, Silva (both of them), Iniesta, Kulu, Olise, Eze. Bakayoko from the little I've seen (entirely from last season clips and stats none this season) he's not got that killer directness and box instincts or super creative. Cut in, link it up, quick feet, try and curl em. That's how I Madueke and even Saka to a degree who is levels above (who I love). But Saka is both inevitable and decisive. He's too strong, too fast, too good - you can't stop him hurting fullbacks. I'm not sure Bakayoko can get close to that level. But this is biased because I always compared Bakayoko to Minteh. I didn't compare Amad Diallo who I really liked the look of from Sunderland - wanted us to sign him in the Barnes summer. Edit: Bakayoko underlying stats didn't suggest he's a workhorse while Minteh's always did

His underlying stats were not as impressive as Minteh despite being a little older, a lot more experienced and a more polished and technical (less raw) player. Minteh obviously played for the better team which helped. The big difference for me is Minteh had the double cheat code of electrifying pace and eery composure in front of goal plus workrate that I thought would translate well into the PL. I wondered if Bakayoko had the raw pace to trouble fullbacks in the PL to the same degree. But he did look technically superior. Good feet. More Madueke vibes who has done a good job at Chelsea. I just don't love his profile of winger. A similar fee would be a good deal.

Son has scored 121 PL goals with his feet. 72 with his right foot, 49 with his left. That is impressive. I think he scored more goals with his left than right the year he won the Golden Boot. For comparison Jamie Vardy has 125 PL goals with his feet. 91 with his right, 34 with his left. Which is actually pretty good. Aguero has 150 goals with his right foot and 34 with his left or similar.

Martins was fast in behind the defensive line but didn't see him beat players 1v1 through pace the way others did. His most impressive attribute was how two-footed he was. Not seen a more two-footed player for Newcastle and must be top 5 in the PL. Short and uninspired PL career. But I loved how Ivan Perisic could take inswinging and outswinging corners whenever he wanted.

If Dubs had let in 2 of the goals Kelleher let in against us - we would be fuming. Let the scouts do the scouting.

He was getting targeted and bullied at LB for a good stretch. That period after Joelinton got injured was super bad. Agreed Schar has often been poor this season. Worse than Burn defensively for sure. Schar has played A LOT of football in recent years mind. Throw in international football. You think that might not impact a CB but it's a lot mentally too.

The game is too advanced. Gerrard spent a hateful at Villa and had them in the bottom 5. Emery took that same squad to the Conference League then CL. That's a bad indictment.

That team had 3 all-time PL greats when nobody rated them. By the end of that season, people knew Kante was the real deal and he was sold. But Mahrez & Vardy ended up being legit top players themselves. This isn't the case and we need to stop the false narrative. The PL is the gravy train. At a point there were 2 clubs that didn't care to make money from it and 4 other clubs wildly successful that wanted to remain in the top 4. None of those top 6 would likely get relegated. 14 others just wanted to stay on the gravy train. They voted in rules to ensure no more than 6 clubs could become relegation-proof. 14 other spots are up for grabs. Us & Villa's owners could make our clubs unrelegatable. They both still might. That's bad news for the other 12. Less seats at the table. All the other clubs voted for their own self interest.

Long term I need NFO EVE LIV ARS in my defence. I haven’t checked the data but their managers and players respect the clean sheet the most. Chelsea, Fulham et al might have good defensive data. But they don’t live for the clean sheet like Dyche does.

Probably end up with another small green arrow. It’s not much but the champ will take it. 1FT. Sensible transfer is a FUL defender I think for Ait-Nouri. If Cunha is suspended. I might just play Greaves or Lewis. Gakpo (minutes risk), Wood, Wissa, Evanilson all picks that I like. Probably go back to Wood. BUT…. Sou (H) must be great odds on a CS. If I go Robinson there’s decent chance of an assist and then with BPS it’s a small haul. Great fixtures for Fulham too just a nice long term pick. Althoufh Fulham only have 2 CS this entire season. Everton have 6. Might just get Mykolenko, bag the cash and pray Dyche-ball does its job.

AC Milan were banned from the Europa league for much less.

Yes I think so. But we don’t know the uefa punishment for breaching them. It’s difficult for clubs that don’t consistently finish in Europe to be compliant. You’re allowed to have 85% ratio when not in Europe. But you need to reinforce the squad when you qualify but also expected to reduce the ratio???? Villa are fortunate that us, Spurs and Man U are having such poor seasons. Super low 60-62 should secure top 6 this year. Top 4 might be as low as 65-66.

The Leicester & Leeds wages are wild. Obviously.

People always say "we don't want to be Brighton or Brentford". Brighton + £60m in smartly invested wages is a powerful outlet that would challenge for Europe every year. It is impressive from Arsenal. But also a big reason they falter when they get a few injuries. It also points to Liverpool & Chelsea being the natural heirs when City falter. They do have by far the strongest squads from the rest.

Lots of love for Burn.

Gordon's usually pretty bad at linking with teammates. He doesn't really have any good relationships with anyone. Glad he's starting to develop one with Hall.

At our best Schar/Burn is right up Vardy's bum as the ball is played. But we are not as aggressive anymore.

Such a poor signing for Palace is Nketiah. ESR was right there. That’s a Palace player. He’s from Croydon. They should’ve brought him home. Nketiah is bang average. Inferior to Mateta.