timeEd32

Kind of confused why you're only looking at his passing contributions. He's obviously not De Bruyne. Despite the fact he's a negative passer and an average dribbler, his OBV is 94th percentile largely because his defensive action OBV is 99th percentile. He offers something you will not find just about anywhere else. And per Statsbomb, defensive action OBV doesn't just mean he's cleaning things up in our half of the pitch: "some defensive actions higher up the field could add value by making their team more likely to score, and the player will be credited as such." I think these stats are quite representative of who Joelinton is and why he's been so important for us. The perfect player does not exist and we're unlikely to get players without flaws, so in that case give me the one who is elite at something.

Only because everyone else is being regulated and they provided an outlet in the summer. I think they’ve actually made the problem worse, at least temporarily. A natural reaction to these rules would be downward pressure on transfer fees and wages, but they are creating the opposite environment.

That’s funny. I had all the opposite takeaways as there are a number of positives in there and the negatives just seem like he’s not right for City / Pep.

There’s a big gap between not being able to step in for Rodri and improving our current midfield. Also, Pep himself: “When we need a game with transitions or games with chaos, Kalvin is perfect.” That suits us a lot more than City. Good character, great teammate, the overweight stuff a bit overblown. He would have been a very good addition for us.

This makes me regret not getting Philips even more: https://theathletic.com/5226888/2024/01/26/kalvin-phillips-manchester-city-guardiola/

There are quite a few bad teams, plus Everton and possibly Forest getting docked points, but Brentford's fixtures until early April... Spurs (a) City (h) Wolves (a) Liverpool (h) City (a) West Ham (a) Chelsea (h) Arsenal (a) Burnley (a) Man United (h) Brighton (h) Villa (a) Sneaky relegation contender.

It’s pretty clearly impacting everyone. It may feel worse for us because we are decimated by injuries and could really use a couple new players.

Said it a week ago

UEFA's has three components around Stability, Solvency, and Cost Control. The main one that is new and different is squad cost ratio, which has elements of a salary cap and luxury tax. Basically the cost of the team will need to be at most 70% of a club's revenue (phase in as 90% in 2023/24 and 80% in 2024/25). Costs include: Wages of players and head coaches Player amortisation and impairment Termination payments for players and head coaches Agents’ fees and cost of other intermediaries Revenue includes: Operating revenue (adjusted for fair value, if required) Profit from player sales Other transfer income/expenses The penalty for exceeding this threshold is a fine that escalates based on how far over a club is and how many years they've been in violation. Though it sounds like the penalty for the other pillars can include sporting sanctions as well.

Pretty disappointed we didn't get Phillips, but honestly not sure if we could afford the loan fee + six months of wages.

I'm pretty confident the public outcry at a closed Premier League would blow away the reaction to the Super League.

I think we'll sell Miggy to buy someone if we can get one of these financially impaired clubs to blink first. That's about it though.

What are we worrying about now?

The only way this is true is if we don't want to accrue £60-70m in losses again.

I agree if there was ever a time for Eddie to pull something new out this feels like when it’s needed.

Could be wrong but my assumption is that deal is done if we want it to be. All depends on if we can get someone that we want.

At least they have to get on with it at HT.

Confidence is clearly low and maybe as big of an issue as fatigue at this point. I think adding someone this window could galvanize our whole team, especially if they improve the quality of our midfield and have an energy about them. MGW would be perfect.

The explanation could be as simple as we like him at LB, but we have Burn and Tino there, and he’s atrocious in the midfield.

He looked promising to me at Chelsea. If this isn’t related to a clause in any way then there must be something the coaching staff is unhappy with. It’s a weird situation given the position we’re in.

Can’t wait for the draw. Maidstone home or away, otherwise anyone at home.

We must be trying to keep Hall below some clause. Only explanation that makes sense.

I’d love for them to go de Zerbi over Alonso.

Would be incredible to play Maidstone at SJP.

We’re going to win. 3-1