kingxlnc

Forest had a team with their key players all loanees, Spence, Garner, Davis, Lowe and Zinckernagel. Any team would miss their spine being ripped from them so they have to replace, the team is extremely weak otherwise. I’ve been quite impressed with the standard of olayer they’ve been trying for, Henderson, Williams, Richard’s, the striker from Germany etc. Gives them a fighting chance at least, and they are also buying young players that can grow with the team and not be too expensive wages wise. I think Bournemouth might be in trouble personally.

Almiron is actually decent, he transformed Rafa's workmanlike team in an instant to become a fast paced counter attacking team with flair. Some of his link up play with Bruno last season was very good too, they were on the same wavelength. Think he is hugely underestimated here - he just hasn't found a position, unsurprising given Bruce. This season he could have a similar redemption arc to Joelinton, if given half a chance.

It's unlikely we'll sign all three. But if we did this is what a first XI would look like. Pope (Eng international) Trippier (Eng int) Schar (Swiss int) Botman (one of Europes best young prospects) Targett (solid 7/10, even NI int Lewis could become first choice with work) Guimares, Joelinton, Pacqueta (trio of Brazillians, one int starter, one regular and one is our player of the year) Diaby and ASM (French wingers, both hugely fast, tricky and talented with best outputs of their career last season) Osimhen (1 in 2 fearsome striker). As backup Dubravka Krafth (Swe int, much improved), Lascelles (captain), Burn (solid performer), Targett/Lewis Shelvey, Longstaff, Willock (decent English players who would be excellent backups to the Brazillians) Fraser, Almiron (Sco and Par int) Wilson (top scorer) It's a very strong squad all round if it got to that stage and I believe it would certainly give the likes of Arsenal, West Ham, Leicester, Villa and even Man U a challenge for top 6. That first XI would probably be our strongest in the PL era. We may even top it up then with youngsters like Anderson, Sucic and the like to keep competition solid without taking up squad places. It shows we are potentially 3 first team players away from an extremely formidable team. P.S with Almiron, we're living in a time where Gordon is worth 35m, Almiron who has achieved more is certainly worth 20m. Can see Atletico Madrid or someone paying that for sure.

I think for Murphy, Almiron, Shelvey and Manquillo you could probably get there or thereabouts. The rest probably would be free transfers or on loan until the contracts run out. Almiron in particular is probably worth 20m in todays climate.

Osimhen would be the best signing we could make in terms of statement and to make the world take notice. Diaby is probably the biggest need in terms of current gaps in the team. Pacqueta is the perhaps least needed but most transformational on the pitch. All three between now and end of January would be insane and would make us top 6, easy. But that’s an additional 150m worth of players easy. Who would/could you sell to make up the shortfall? Murphy, Almiron, Shelvey, Hendricks, Gayle, Clark, Fernandez, Murphy, Ritchie, Manquillo. You might get 30-40m for that lot. That’s ten players out. Too much activity for two windows perhaps but is what I’d love to see by end of January.

This whole Gordon thing is worryingly like Andy Carroll who was also coming off the back of one good half season. We all know how that ended up. We don’t know if Gordon is professional enough etc to maximise his potential so it all seems a bit too much too soon. With Ekitike you could make a case for to beat off the competition and also because he plays for a tiny club in France who he is not necessarily loyal to so is bound to move elsewhere. Whereas with Gordon he already plays for the club he loves, is going to be overpriced English tax, plus not enough data beyond a good half season. I know Howe likes his Brits, if so I’d rather he sign Hudson Odoi as we’ve seen more from him over the years. Sarr seems an obvious alternative to Diaby though, not sure why we’re not all over that.

Looking at it logically, Man City, Liverpool are top 2. I think Spurs under Conte are going to challenge, he is formidable. Chelsea I'm unsure about under new owners but I rate Tuchel highly plus a strong base set of players. Man U will have a better season, plus Sancho and VDB are like new signings Top 6 could be doable, Arsenal are an unknown entity as of yet, they still seem too soft. So could definitely challenge for top 6 for sure.

Our team next season if all goes well this summer First choice, second choice GK - Pope, Dubravka RB - Trippier, Krafth, Manq CB - Schar, Lascelles CB - Botman, Burn LB - Targett, Lewis, Dummett CM - Bruno, Shelvey CM - Joelinton, Longstaff, Sucic AM - Pacqueta, Willock RW - Diaby, Fraser, Anderson LW - ASM, Almiron ST - Wilson, Wood, Zirkzee/Broja I actually think it's quite realistic - I do think there will be a big CM signing towards the end of the window, a Pacqueta or Haidara, depending on where they plan to play Bruno. The good thing is that a lot of the attackers are interchangable, Joelinton can play LW, Almiron AM, Diaby/ASM can switch, etc. For me, this is a top 7-8 side, better than West Ham, Villa and Leicester on paper.

If we get Diaby, I think the midfielder might be Sucic the 19 year old who won’t have to be registered, and perhaps Broja who is 20. Perhaps looking at those under 21 for the reason of registrations alone due to the overbloated squad. If we get CHO or Sarr or someone lesser for right wing, then we may go all out for a bigger name upfront (Isak, Osimhen) or in CM (Pacqueta, Tielemans) instead

I'd like to see signings this summer in these positions. In terms of order: RW: Diaby, Raphina, Zaniolo, Sarr, McNeil ST: Osimhen, Isak, Calvert-Lewin, Ekitike, Cornet CB: Badashille, NDicka, Botman, Demiril CAM: Paqueta, Eriksen, Fekir DM: Haidara, Sangare, Fofana, Zinchenko GK: Oblak, Pope, Areola, Kepa, Henderson Getting even 1 of the first-choice ones would be amazing and would constitute a successful summer, 2 would be a game-changer.

Give a deadline of say, 21 June - if not, sign Badashille or NDicka - options 2 and 3 in January.

Yeah it’s quite bad that Keegan and Shearer aside, there’s no one associated with the club primarily could be considered for such a role. You have native countrymen, eg for a young Peruvian Solano would have a word, Asprilla for a Colombian, Coloccini or Jonas for an Argentinian, Ba or Cisse for Senegal but there’s no one on that world class level that I can think of that is NUFC through and through that would genuinely represent prospects in the same way as Maldini does for Milan. Means that Shearer absolutely should be approached for the next few years at least, side by side with his media role.

Would anyone swap him with Fred at Man U? If no, then he is good enough

This is a very good point, same in the 90's, we had a plethora of top quality strikers whereas today we have Kane, then there's a big drop off to Abraham, Wilson, Calvert-Lewin, and then another big drop off to the best of the rest - who I can't even think of. Compare that to Shearer, Fowler, Collymore, Cole, Sutton, Ferdinand, Wright, Sheringham, Le Tissier.

I do understand this to an extent. I watched a documentary on Brian Clough's Forest, and they were very well organised and hard to break down, with some flashes of quality but honestly, even in terms of his approach to management, it's very hands off, Steve Bruce-esque you could even say. Obviously that is a huge insult to the great man, but it was purely man management, the culture was very laissez faire, they'd do a bit of training, a bit of the pub, I recall one of the players smoked like a chimney. And yet they won the European cup twice and a whole lot of other trophies too. Money does this to an extent, you can afford everything to be bigger, better and therefore you start micro-managing every last ounce of performance. Wenger revolutionised the nutrition side, I believe Keegan was one of the first to focus on the sports psychology side. So naturally as money has taken over, and with the internet, everyone is more informed therefore you can get away with a lot less. Bruce is case in point - his approach largely worked for him ten years ago, whereas now he's getting called out for it.

Ben Arfa vs Everton debut Martins vs Spurs (any time)

Paqueta, Diaby, Etikite and Botman potentially could be like the 2001/02 year where signing Laurent Robert, Craig Bellamy, Distin and Jenas took us from 11th to 4th

Would Paqueta be our 'next-level stratosphere' type of signing or are we talking like a Diaby, Isak, Osimhen or even higher like a Dembele, Nunez or Dybala? Just keen to understand what constitutes next level for people given where we are today

There's no benefit to the sponsor for it to be Aramco - global awareness for a company that doesn't sell direct to consumers anyway isn't going to make a difference. But Saudia / Saudi Golf/ Vision 2030 / NEOM all have benefits for the sponsor in needing awareness for these burgeoning projects. So it's way more likely to be one of these.

Liverpool are well run at all levels, that's why it appears so. For example, you have home-grown youngsters like TAA that have become world class, then you have cheap buys like Robertson who have become world class, then you buy young potential like Carvalho with the potential to be world class. Even their main players, Salah, Thiago, Mane - were in the 30's - whilst now being worth at least double. This allows them to then buy a transformative signing Van Dijk or Allison once a year to really move forward. So there's that element which is true, which is it's a club that increases value of their players on the whole, whereas a Chelsea or Man U is often the opposite. They often buy high, and then sell cheap or let go.

The one thing some of the Bournemouth posters have said on here is that Howe has always had a mean eye for a young player, he tends to get most of these decisions right and he knows who he can work with and improve - and to be fair he's got a very good record in doing so. Even some of the so called flops such as Solanke eventually came good. Ibe is the only out and out flop I can think of. Usually a player being 19-20 and not having any history in any of the international youth teams would suggest there's not much of a pedigree and we're paying the premium for one decent season and therefore taking all the risk. But Howe knows the score and will have gained a lot of goodwill from his work so far.

Pug nosed gimp, lard boy. And i go yeah? what have you ever done in football? So don’t. Absolutely flabulous

Oh have you not seen that… that’s a classic

Mitrovic is a very good player. A tad slow but he has scored internationals, the champions league, everywhere he’s gone to be honest. His decision making of clubs perhaps underrates him as he would definitely score big numbers at a Napoli or a Leipzig or Villarreal. I hope next year he proves his calibre

Player of the Season: Joelinton Most Improved Player of the Season: Joelinton (Krafth second) Most Disappointing Player: Willock Signing of the Season: Bruno Goal of the Season (feel free to rank your top 3): Almiron v Palace Game of the Season: 2-0 vs Arsenal On the pitch Moment of the Season (we all know the takeover was the off-field most important): Battering Everton at home Manager rating out of 10: 10 Season rating out of 10: 8