KaKa

Piss poor from Musiala.

Bayern look really good.

The pace and ball carrying ability in that Bayern front 4 man. Yikes.

1 minute ago, kocunar said:

That would depend on the price, probably too expensive for what he would be worth to us right now. But it would make sense to me, if we are buying a forward, might as well buy a centre forward (which is the main position of the guys we are linked with anyway) and have Isak be the one to play anywhere in front 3.

I think Isak is going to be our main forward though, with Wilson still around for depth. Would we sign someone like Hojlund to be a third striker? Not sure we would as he isn't versatile to fill in other positions. Think it's more likely we bring in someone like Joao Pedro that can play in a lot more positions.

Just seen Renato Sanches is being linked. Apparently not happy at PSG. I'm guessing his salary will be prohibitive though.

Just now, kocunar said:

I'm surprised Hojlund isn't linked with us.

He has been, but not sure the signing makes sense for us. 

27 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Barnes is a finisher and has great movement. I don't rate his all-round game much.

 

I like him but would prefer a left-footer

Harvey Barnes is a strange one for me too. He can look so dangerous at times, but then also be quite wasteful and poor with his decision making at times too. I wouldn't be mad at the signing though, as Howe and his staff tend to get the best from players.

I'm with you on preferably getting a left footer in for the wide positions, as we only have Miggy at the moment. I actually really liked the look of that Brazilian (Tete) they bought from Lyon when he was over in France. He started well for Leicester too but not sure if he's still been playing.

19 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

I haven't written anyone off.  Just saying most of them have been shite this season.  I am aware that good players can be plucked from relegated sides, but usually the narrative is around one or two of them - particularly if they've played well despite the circumstances around them.  Wijnaldum had a decent season for us that year.

I think Leicester could end up having a lot of good players to pick from that have had multiple good seasons in the league and we should try to take full advantage, and not overreact to this past season, which has certainly been a strange one for them.

2 minutes ago, Bishops Finger said:

Ita an opinionated so and so who knows everything 

The arrogance is fucking incredible man.

24 minutes ago, Chris_R said:

 

Same with vaccines. And Brexit. And Trump. And 5G. And flat earthers. And racism/homophobia/transphobia. Religion (Yes, that's bollocks too. All of it.). And so on. We continuously are told that they're "entitled to their opinions" which results in them being given a platform to spout bollocks to the detriment of society as a whole, when really we should deplatform them and ignore them, and let them just scream into a void somewhere rather than legitimising utter nonsense by lending it even a slither of credibility.

 

 

What the fuck is this shit.

18 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

It's striking how many of Leicester's players every top half club's supporters are looking forward to signing, given just how shite they are and have been this season.  Tielemans in particular hasn't looked much cop for some time to me.

The same players that won a cup for them you mean? And have had so many good seasons in the league? You write them off after one season?

It's the kind of thinking that allowed Liverpool to snap up Robertson from Hull and Gini from us while others were snoozing, and go on to win a Premier League title and a Champions League with both playing major roles.

7 minutes ago, Ikon said:

 

He is correct though so anything but nonsense.

 

Shelvey did  Like a cone.

 

 

 

Rubbish.

Just now, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

No he didn't, he just about coped. 

Nonsense. 

1 hour ago, Kid Icarus said:

Literally everything being said is an ahistorical, incoherent, inconsistent load of shite like. Fucking hell, it's actually impressive

 

 

 

Can't believe folks are still engaging him. Something seems a bit off.

1 hour ago, TheInfiniteOdyssey said:

If we do get European football, we will need quite a few bodies through the door. I would expect the club to secure two ‘high-value’ targets e.g. Maddison. Another 3-4 will be more opportunistic, such as from teams who have been relegated or free-agents.

 

I don’t think Tielemans would succeed in an Eddie Howe team, fine player mind. 

But Shelvey did. And so I disagree.

Enjoyed the football under Bruce much better. My God man, try another sport

38 minutes ago, cubaricho said:

This just isn’t how it’s done anymore at the top level, unfortunately. Rafa has moved into dinosaur territory because he didn’t adapt. 
 

I hope he can find something again though. He’s one of my all time favorite Newcastle managers and gave me hope when nothing else could. 

Having a DOF structure doesn't guarantee anything man. A lot of clubs are just jumping on the bandwagon and still making a mess of things. Everton have  blown a bunch of money on terrible signings and the wrong managers using the structure.

There are still a few managers that I would have with greater responsibilities ahead of some of the clowns being given these DOF positions.

3 minutes ago, kingxlnc said:

Yes definitely a West Ham, they've let old skool Moyes have a heck of a lot of control - Rafa would be doing way better with the kind of players they have. 

 

This is why I previously mentioned Forest as a good fit - a city who would appreciate him and a big club trying to get back to glory days, decent players but need a system to be moulded. They love Cooper though so it may be a tough act to follow. We loved him as we had Pardew, Carver, McClaren so we could recognise greatness. But if your previous manager is popular (e.g. Everton) then it's a tough one. 

 

Sad to see his reputation in tatters though as it's clear he is a great man and manager. Poor choice of jobs has come back to haunt him. Him and Mourinho were very similar as managers, but Mourniho has insisted on only top clubs who can have a chance of silverware. It's kept him relatively undamaged. 

100% agree with you.

Weirdly enough I've always respected Rafa's willingness to take even the jobs that weren't at top clubs, I think it's a sign of how much belief he has in his ability. However, he has proved to be really unfortunate due to us having a lunatic in Mike Ashley when he was here, and then the decision to go to Everton despite the uproar was just a terrible move.

7 minutes ago, rgk_lfc said:

 

This is the part I don't like about him. The folks he surrounds himself with, like Owen Brown, aren't exactly the most distinguished scouts. Rafa's record is good, but you can't beat specialized folks running the footballing side of things.  As much as I respect the guy, I don't want to go back to the one person who controls everything model. The way most clubs operate nowadays with Ashworth, Edwards, and their type being in charge of transfers, scouting, and having youth setup independent of the manager makes a lot of sense. 

 

It took us three to four years after he left to wean ourselves of his legacy and move in a different direction, as he practically had control of everything. When Klopp, Howe, or Pep leave, the disruption to other aspects of the club will be minimal. 

It's a fair point. Especially for clubs that know what they're doing as far as actually putting together a viable setup.

However, I think there are a lot of clubs that could benefit from a manager like Rafa still. West Ham and Leicester don't seem to have that kind of setup but have spent a decent amount of money, which Rafa would have done much better with in those circumstances IMO.

Leroy Sane man

4 hours ago, rgk_lfc said:

 

Love Rafa the manager and respect Rafa the person even more. But this is an important aspect that is going to deny him jobs. Everywhere he goes he demands 100% control. Even if signs the contract to a club with a DOF, within six months it becomes either back him or back me. And more than often, this gets played out in the press, and one of them has to leave. This happens almost everywhere he goes including Everton. I am betting this is an important reason why someone like Marsch is getting more interviews than him. 

 

Most club owners are clearly complete morons then, IMO.

Looking at Rafa's record of not only finding great value in the market, but also managing to get the best out of pretty mediocre players, I don't see why you wouldn't afford him the opportunity to just get on with things.

He's one of the few that actually can handle that level of control and do well with  it. Just let him bring in his own recruitment people that he wants to work closely with and get out of his way.

6 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

I'm 99.9% sure Kenedy never played as a wing back.

 

We didn't have the quality to allow for any passengers in our XI either, they were all extremely hard working and had to be 

He didn't

Only covered at left back on four occasions for us.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/kenedy/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/281404/verein/762

This must be Mike Ashley's kid or something man 

Kennedy's best stint in his whole career was that loan spell with us under Rafa

4 minutes ago, andycap said:

He bought championship players to get outta the league. When we got the Premier league Ashley wouldn't part with the money to improve us  so we were left with piss poor prem players, yet the man had us comfortable which is a feat in itself. 

Rafa had been planning months ahead for our return to the Premier League and had lined up and agreed loan deals for Tammy Abraham and Loftus-Cheek to come in from Chelsea, using his contacts from when he worked at Chelsea.

Guess who vetoed the deals ...