TRon

Always a risk when we jump to make new threads based on hope more than anything more concrete.

I think we might end up sticking with Pope anyway tbh, if the budget for new players is limited. A lot will depend on who's available once the cartel clubs have done their buying, same as every year. I think our main priorities might end up being a right sided CB and forward. If we have money left over after getting those, then we might look at keepers.

I don't really care about the clash of egos to be honest, but it is getting tiresome that we keep having to appoint new DOFs every season, and then when it comes to rebuilding the squad, every summer we seem to be back to square one. It's not helpful.

Can't be arsed fretting about it tbh. Whatever the figure is we'll have to make it work. I am pretty sure we'd spend a lot more given some wiggle room by PSR, but if we are limited to £100m then I trust the club to make the right signings.

I hope they sign him, would be great to see him relegated along with the rest of them.

Man U have reportedly got the same figure and are signing Cunha and/or Delap. We could make a couple of big moves depending on contract situations, unfortunately our spending is restricted by league rules.

Think that figure has been bandied around for a couple of months now, him saying it means fuck all really. It's just an educated guess, but probably near enough the ball park figure.

Whatever. In the end it came down to the owners obviously decided they would rather lose the DoF than Eddie.

Full control or strong influence is just semantics at this point. Howe wanted more say than Eales envisioned, let's just agree on that. My guess is that Mitchell is more used to working with a different model where he does all the buying and selling, the manager just has to coach whatever he's got to work with. Again, that's not an absolute, just a general idea of how things would operate.

Agree Ashworth was more of an infrastructure man, I don't think he had so much say on transfers. Supposedly one of the reasons he wanted away, he felt he should have more input, although how much truth there is in that I don't know. I still feel Mitchell might work well at a club where the manager is seen as more of a coach. Just Howe is not that type, he wants full control, and with his record here, who is going to argue?

I saw it differently, Bruno for me along with Tonali, handled the pressure better than most. He was giving himself time and resisting the press well for the most part. I thought we missed Trippier's calm and eye for a pass as well. My view is that when you are denied space that is where technique is found wanting, and then you get players like Murphy or Burn wanting. Not having a go at either, they've had fabulous seasons, but this is where you will miss Lewis Hall or someone with a bit more guile out wide.

I think he's a good player like, much though I hate to admit it.

They were singing it with real venom though. Felt like they do have the scouse mackems persona embedded genetically now. A buch of fucking cunts as far as I'm concerned.

Agree. This is the downside of having a striker like Isak. Not many aspiring strikers would want to come here to sit on the bench behind him.

Would have been gutted if that paid off for them after we had to swallow the medicine and refrain from spending last few windows due to PSR. All's well that ends well.

He does come across as a bit of "Cockney Wanker", but that doesn't necessarily mean he's bad at his job. I just think Howe wants to do things his way and doesn't really want anyone else impacting it. I just think that made it the wrong club for Mitchell, who probably expects a lot more final say. The club had no choice but to back the manager given how successful he's been so far. I wouldn't be surprised if Mitchell goes on and does a good job somewhere else though.

The nerves from the crowd come when they see the players don't really look like they know how to break teams down who are sitting deep. I don't really agree that it was down to nerves from the players, the ones who have that extra bit of quality don't rush it and usually can produce something to unlock a stubborn low block. I think Howe knows that, and that is why he will keep trying to upgrade in one or two areas where we fall down in such scenarios.

He's had a great season. He's like our conductor, everything goes through him. We have quality in most areas now, but he is top tier and that's what we need to aspire to in every position if we want to kick on to the next level....which is PL champions basically.

It's not about knowing better than Eddie, we've clearly struggled against teams who defend deep with our current set of players. Especially when players like Hall and Trippier are missing, possible Joelinton too.

This is me as well. I quite liked the idea of having some separation from the manager in this regard, but I guess it has got to a point where Howe has proven himself on just about every level that the board just don't want to fix it if it ain't broken. Totally understandable. If Howe sees himself here for a long time, then you don't cut your nose off to spite your face by making him think twice. Let's just enjoy the ride while we can.

Can understand him going to either Man U or Chelsea tbh, they both really need a top class striker more than we do. But will they really sign Delap and pin their hopes on him being that striker? Chelsea I think would definitely look to sign a senior striker, maybe Man U under their skinflint owner would be more prepared to take a punt on Delap starting every game as first choice.

Knowing the way Chelsea work, he probably hasn't been told that.

Nevertheless, until we are able to compete in the same markets as the cartel clubs, we don't really have much choice but to take calculated gambles on unproven players. My understanding is that it's not a case of either/or anyway. Mitchell's expertise should complement Howe's approach. I don't see giving Mitchell a chance to prove himself as a rejection of the previous transfer strategy anyway. Just a necessary progression.

But hasn't Howe also targeted the sort of players Mitchell should be signing, AFTER they have proven themselves in the PL? I'm thinking Mbuemo and Elanga as examples. The whole idea behind bringing Mitchell in was to identify those players before their values triple or quadruple. I understand Howe's desire for proven players, but it was unsustainable with PSR. We need a mix of both until the PSR shackles have been kicked to the kerb.

Which was exactly what was needed against a packed defence. Having some pace also added to his threat, at least he gave the Everton defenders something to worry about.