Conjo

The universe thread in GC for me. Scares the shit out of me

Swear there must have been people in the old relegation-o-meter thread still rating our chances of survival at a 5 when we were mathematically safe.

Can't we just sign all the Thurams

Seems a very exciting prospect. Hopefully we get our Arda this time around. Seem to remember we were linked with Arda Turan from about 2008 to 2011 until he eventually went to Atletico Madrid.

If Leeds get relegated seeing if it's possible to get Gnonto for a reasonable price wouldn't be the worst idea. If he isn't deemed ready to be featuring in a fair amount of games for us, it would be easy to find a loan for him, possibly even in the PL to f.ex Burnley. Only 19. Crazy potential imo.

Feels a bit like the owners have gone to the school of Freddy Shepherd for problem solving.

Shades of Pardew trying to force Tiote into becoming Essien because he scored a goal.

That is some of the funniest shit The rain to set the scene is what does it for me. The players minds must have been so far away none of them would have heard a word of what that gobshite was spewing out of the PA system.

It's been such a fun and entertaining season not only for us but for the league in general. Crazy to think that it will end with Roy Hodgson, Sean Dyche, Sam Allardyce and Frank Lampard as Premier League managers

Imagine the level of professionalism you have to have in order to meet up for training as a Leeds player tomorrow. Poor fuckers.

I think it is intentional the way they set up that almost everything goes through him, and I think that is the way you get the most out of him. I don't think that is something we should do, and not something we are able to do the way we currently play.

Is there a stats page that shows Fat Sams managerial record against us after he was sacked here? Feel like he has an obnoxiously good record against us.

Iversen has been on the bench most of the season instead of Ward?

Sign him up! Sign him up!

Knew the Maddison circle jerk would start. Was a very basic through ball after a horrible pass by btec Joelinton.

DCL playing well.

Most of them were younger than Gordon is now is the only point I'm making. I'm not saying he won't turn into a good player for us, just that I think using his age as an excuse for him not hitting the ground running isn't a very good one.

Players start out at different levels, but at that age Wilson and Trippier sure made the best out of where they were at. Wilson was Coventrys top scorer and player of the season when he was 21/22, which earned him a transfer to B'mouth where he scored 2 goals in his debut and ended up their top scorer. He got promotion with B'mouth in his first season when he was 22/23 and scored a hattrick in his third PL game. Trippier at 22 had played three full seasons in the Championship, then got promoted with Burnley and did well in his first season in the PL which earned him a move to Tottenham at 24, but didn't get much playing time first two seasons because of Kyle Walker. Kane had his breakthrough season at Spurs at 21 when he scored 21 goals in 34 matches. Maddison joined Leicester at 21 after scoring 14 goals in 44 games for Norwich in the Championship. He was an instant hit at Leicester. Abraham earned a spot in the Chelsea side at 21 scoring 15 goals in 34 matches after a fantastic season on loan at Villa. Bowen got a move to West Ham January 2020 after turning 23 on 20th of December 2019 following 2.5 good seasons in a poor (Steve Bruce led) Hull side. He's actually a bit (hopefully) similar to Gordon in that he didn't light up the world the season he joined West Ham as far as I can remember (and stats indicate so too), but the following first full season he did well and has been a regular starter at West Ham since the day he joined them. Hopefully something Gordon replicates. Phillips had his break through season for Leeds at 21 in 2016 and was a regular starter for them from then until his move to Man City. Grealish at 21 had two seasons of PL football behind him and was regarded as one of the best talents in England. The following season he did enough at Villa to have Spurs come in for him with a bid that Villa rejected. Toney had a difficult start because he was unfortunate enough to join us. He exceeded expectations at every level from League 1 to championship to now PL after leaving us. I assume he had to go to a League 1 club as that was the level he had been loaned out to and done ok while under contract at Newcastle. The only outliers I see is Vardy and Toney (who had to overcome the odds of being a young player at Newcastle).

As I said, unless I've tricked myself in the way I worded it in the post you quoted, he needs to be given time to settle into a new club with new team mates, new coaches, new system, new culture etc etc. I don't think his age is something we should use to argue that he was never supposed to do better from the start though. 22 is not young in world of football, and in terms of experience he has played a lot at this level for someone his age. This is his fourth season of playing PL football.

Goes without saying really

Not that I disagree with the sentiment that he needs to be given time to settle in the squad, but generally speaking (looking past outliers like Joelinton) 22 years of age in football today is not an age you consider someone for the future. It's an age where a player should be able to make an immediate impact (especially if it's for a high fee) in the first team. If Gordon starts performing well soon, it'll more likely be more down to him getting used to the club, system, players etc rather than having improved as a football player mentally, technically and physically since we signed him. He did well against Southampton when he was playing on the left, but fell out of the game completely when he switched sides with Murphy which is probably why he ended up getting subbed as Isak was taking the left side.

Think they'll fold if we get the first goal after seeing Arteta with tears in his eyes on the sideline.

Nah, doesn't really track back or like challenges either. Nice to have in the team if you're 3-0 up and the other team has given up though.

Joelinton is the gold standard. Iwobi is the cheap Taiwanese knock off.

Have a feeling that Chelsea will take themselves to the verge of bankruptcy in order to out bid us for Oshimen this summer if we were to enter the race. Don't think it's realistic at all.