vicente_14

Leicester won the league in their new stadium, although have to balance that with the mess they find themselves in now

I think there are striking similarities between Nick and Kai Havertz, similar languid stride, upright posture, and a smooth touch that makes everything look effortless. Both tall, technical attackers who drift between midfield and forward lines, using intelligence and timing rather than pure explosiveness to influence the game. There’s a deceptive quality to their movement, they don’t always appear explosive, yet they consistently arrive in dangerous pockets, comfortable receiving the ball on the half-turn, linking play with quick combinations, and drifting between the lines rather than pinning themselves to the last defender. Neither is a traditional target man despite their size, and operate almost as hybrid attackers, part midfielder, part forward. The he looks weak or is lightweight narrative seems a little lazy and too simplistic, physical effectiveness isn’t always about crunching tackles or visible aggression, it’s about balance, timing, and knowing when to engage, it’s easy to equate elegance with fragility, and looking weak and being weak are entirely different things. The Premier League will expose truly lightweight players very quickly the fact Big Nick has scored and contributed early on suggests there’s more steel there than first impressions suggest. The bigger question isn’t whether he’s aggressive enough, it’s whether the system maximises his strengths. Havertz flourished most when given freedom to drift and combine, not when asked to play as a traditional battering ram. If Woltemade is judged purely on how forcefully he contests aerial duels, he will always divide opinion. It’s clear given the pursuit of Pedro, Ekitike & Mbeumo that we we very keen for a different profile of striker, rather than a traditional number nine type, so with some time, patience and potentially some training ground work, we will hopefully see Big Nick flourishing in a more withdrawn hybrid ,midfield/attack role like the weekend at Aston Villa. People should judge him on what he actually is as opposed to what they expected him to be, dismissing a technically gifted player says more about impatience than potential and football history is full of players who looked underwhelming early on until suddenly they weren’t. See Joelinton, and arguably, Isak, Gordon, Sandro and many more.

Kind of backs up what Davies was saying on his podcast and the point I was getting at. I was also thinking that when I was growing up, strikers didn't really score crazy amounts of goals, and strikers who could get you 20 goals a season were few and far between and really sought after. Ronaldo, Messi and to a lesser extent, Haaland have really skewed those figures and because people can get a striker to get 60/70 goals a season on Fifa/Football Manager, they seem to think real life should replicate that and seem harsher on strikers (see Big Nick still settling into a new country/league/culture) yet the figures and stats you have attached show that less chances are being created.

Alan Davies made some interesting points on his Tuesday Club podcast about the state of modern football which seems to resonate when you watch us every three days and see how we struggle away from home. He mentioned that the game is slow and dull, teams take ages over every single corner and throw in (including Arsenal), strikers with very few exceptions (Haaland, Thiago, Calvert-Lewin etc) struggle for goals because the game is now slow and teams just pass side to side constantly, full backs are getting much of the ball and often the furthest forward and often in the opposition box the most but don’t score. The bigger sides spend most of the game in the final third and the opposition are camped in their final third too so the game is tight and compressed so finding spaces and gaps is challenging and another negative for strikers as chances are very limited. The biggest sides are playing every 3 days, and playing sides like Manchester United who play once a week and come fresh to a game and can go all out (see the Manchester derby). And now Manchester United have a clear 8 days to prepare for the away game to Arsenal. Nobody really flourishing in open play, see Liverpool and there huge spend on attacking players yet struggling to score or do much and absolutely boring to watch. The top strikers having played every few days have run about a million miles and are knackered and constantly having to fight against big lumps like Murillo & Milenkovic. Lots of low scoring games, lots of so called lesser sides relying on centre halves to pinch headed set piece goals, and the sides not having to play every three days, West Ham beating Spurs, Wolves drawing with us, Everton beating Aston Villa, Burnley drawing at Liverpool. I think it’s all quite relevant to us, we do look tired, we do lack ideas, rotation of players can freshen things but the other sides are fresher and having had full weeks to prepare are well drilled and hard to break down. I do think our business has been pretty poor in regards to how we play and as Eddie doesn’t seem to want a plan B and just wants plan A done better, so to play our intensive high press, we cant rotate Bruno/Tonali/Joelinton with Willock or Ramsey as they are not the same profile, Elanga seems the perfect fit for how we used to play but well, say no more. The choice of Big Nick (love Big Nick!) and Wissa doesn’t overly compliment the high press and big energy style of play and weirdly Osula seems the best fit for that style but not trusted/injured. The only sensible piece of business seems Thiaw who seems a logical, quicker swap for Fabian. So in a nutshell, Football is sh*t now, Eddie is great but stubborn and he may or may not sort it out, Sean Dyche looks ridiculous in a tight fitting tracksuit, Elanga will probably trip over his own feet next time he tries to cross a ball, Spurs will fire the gum chewing PE teacher with two first names and will not be much better off because they have far bigger issues, Arsenal will bore their way to the title, Liverpool will just bore, Man Utd will probably pinch a Champions League place because they have very few games and forever to prepare for each game, and yet we all still love football.

Yedlin must be in with a shout for speed, absolutely rapid.

Marcotti mentioned on his podcast last week I think it was and this is a very rough recollection as wasn't paying too much attention, that at the end of each season the player has a small window (maybe 15 days) that he can essentially tell the club he isn't playing for them anymore and join another club, compensation will be decided by a tribunal and will only include stuff like wages outstanding over the remainder of the contract, and that the tribunal ruling would take somewhere in the region of 18 months, so if we don't sell for max value, we are playing dangerous game, or something along those lines, as I said, wasn't paying too much attention, but it's a newish ruling

Assume we go with Hall/Tino & in extreme emergency Burn

No argument needed. He is. Love him.

Isak is elite, that can’t be argued, not the best striker in the world as many seem to say he is but also not far off and absolutely in the top group of strikers and with the obvious potential to be the best. That being said, for parts of the last season he wasn’t great or even good at times and the whole time he has been here i have never been convinced he is totally connected with the club, doesnt seem to have gotten under his skin like it does to some and he seems quite cold and like its just his job so not overly shocked he wants to leave. The way he has gone about it leaves a bad taste and it’s deeply frustrating the way some mistreat our historic, iconic and unique club and see it as some sort of stepping stone. The invention of ffp has made the game i love a farce, it’s tiresome and rigged for the biggest clubs to get bigger and keep the rest at arms length, this era of football truly stinks. And just to add to this, people like Romano are absolute parasites. Anyway, Isak, get rid but get rid at the maximum price, don’t be treated like a doormat by Liverpool or anyone else, 150 minimum, with a huge upfront payment, not installments across the next ampint of years, they want him so bad make them pay and then we must reinvest the money well to take us another level higher, which is easier said than done.

Julien Laurens says his agent is in Newcastle to strike a deal.

John Carver was awful as well, talked a great game but was useless.

Also fails the no dickheads policy and is on huge wages.

Think it's more motivated by his girlfriend having health issues and him having been spending a lot of time this past season supporting her in England and then returning to France for games.

This 100%, some of the takes on here about him are way off.

Trippier, Burn, Longstaff, Miggy.......