ponsaelius

The whole point of the double touch rule is to stop players taking the ball on and dribbling with it towards goal. The accidental double touch has always been an unfortunate punishment for this, but ultimately a necessary evil I guess. I really don't think a double touch penalty should mean it gets re-taken. However I would lean towards a rule that means it doesn't get ruled out if it's clearly all one movement/kick. The Alvarez one was the case in point here. To the naked eye it was demonstrably no different to a clean hit and shouldn't have been ruled out IMO. It was particularly egregious in this case because it was in a shootout where the ball is immediately dead anyway, and there is actually no reason to have the double touch rule enforced in that context.

If you discount LCL who were a bit of an anomaly last season given the level of investment and ambition they have, we only have 7 points to make up to be going for promotion this year. Seems very achievable with good recruitment.

Brownhill scored 18 goals from midfield and didn't get in the team of the season? Championship has gone woke.

He's a Brighton player.

A winger who is completely two footed and rapid will be effective in all kinds of games. The fee he'd cost would be overpriced but I have absolutely no doubt Elanga would be class under Howe.

How grim

Mine expired like, didn't know autorenewal was a thing

Finding a genuine back up to a guaranteed starter and world class striker is genuinely quite difficult even for clubs bigger than ourselves TBF. Spurs had this problem for years given Kane played every game. They found a solution in Son who could also play through the middle when he was out but even then they always also had some experienced jobs body CF to fill a squad place as rotation - e.g. Llorente. If we signed a top quality wide player who can genuinely also play through the middle as well as sign quality in other positions then I could just a out accept this knacker as a Wilson replacement.

It's so they can sign and register players to play at the tournament that starts next week. Obviously it means other teams can do signings too if they want - but there's not really any benefit to doing so given players are on the holidays and pre-season isn't until July anyway. Teams could historically make signings now anyway and just formally complete the signing when the window opens.

To be fair the transfer window is basically irrelevant to clubs not at the CWC. It's not uncommon for clubs to deals for players around this time which are then formally completed when the window opens anyway.

Rightly or wrongly there's no way Eddie Howe is ever going to be signing a 5 ft 8 Korean floating playmaker type for the RW slot unless the club does it for some marketing purposes over his head. We'll be getting a physical animal there who will run themselves into the ground, no doubt about it. I'm sure there will be an improvement on the ability level too but we won't be getting the kind of technician some people are seemingly hoping for.

Elanga's ability to beat a man in a stationary situation is better than Madueke based on what they've actually shown in the PL. He is also completely two footed as well (his assists and goals are basically evenly spread between both feet), while Madueke is extremely left footed. This is one of those situations where a player is seemingly actually getting devalued because he can kick it and run past players (actually a perfectly reasonable and very effective tactic). The only thing I would say Madueke has over him is close control and aesthetically he's a better dribbler.

I think this season might finally be the one that catches Wolves out and allows one of the promoted three to stay up.

If Elanga had been signed from the Eredivisie direct to Forest, and Madueke was a Man Utd youth product that had been pied off, the opinions on them would be completely reversed. Elanga is not only faster he has better final ball and that is reflected in the creative output. If you take away Madueke's early season hat trick against Wolves he has done almost nothing in the PL this season really. I think Chelsea would swap them in an instant if offered. Would Forest?

Based on this season Elanga has been far better than Madueke. And I quite like Madueke as a player.

I went for four days when we played them two seasons ago. Thought it was vibrant and busy, good places to eat and drink, loads of nice independent shops. Different areas each had a distinct feel to them. Nice long promenade. Was a bit like Blackpool and Bristol had a big gay leftie baby together that doesn't want to grow up and get a real job so can see why that might not be to everyone's taste but definitely more interesting than 90% of these isles in my expert opinion.

No I think they've changed since back then, but may be wrong. The rules do make sense when you think of them logically - otherwise clubs could sign a player and farm them out endlessly but still then benefit as a club grown player. This way it encourages youth integration earlier on, but still allows a bit of flexibility to keep them in the B list if they've been out for a year. It explains a lot of what City have done with the likes of Foden, Mcatee, Palmer, Lewis etc make sense. They haven't really been loaning them out.

Actually A list seems to be cumulative rather than needing to be continuous, so as long as it adds up to 36 months total then it's okay. But I think like you say his year at Falkirk and then 6 months at Carlisle means he was only ever at NUFC for 2.5 years between 15-21 as he turned 22 at end of that Carlisle season.

Nice and thorough post! I think you're possibly right here. The B list allows for 3 years interrupted by a loan, but A list club trained qualification seems to require being at the club for three years without any break (even on loan). Perhaps that's counted against us bringing him back previously (it was mentioned on here by somebody that it was between him and Ruddy last summer).

Loved Brighton (the place) when I went like.

Fwiw I don't think getting players from Europe is necessarily that much cheaper. Akliouche was one that was floated as a right sided option (I think this might go by the wayside with Mitchell being pied off) but I think he'd still be 40 million+ Khusanov ended up costing City 40 million euros in the end and he's hardly hit the ground running (another one Mitchell was determined to get). The wages are often less initially - this is definitely true - but recruitment is a small world these days with all the data available.amd most clubs know the values of their players. If you want quality you have to pay it.

Not on the face of it, but you'd be amazed if not indirectly given it's a club that has been bought by, re-named and moved MK Dons style to the new white elephant city.

Apparently Leon Bailey to Neom SC for 25 million

Mbeumo joined Brentford from Ligue 2 for pennies when they were in the Championship mind. He's a class act but it's taken a long time for him to reach this level. I think there's clearly a middle ground between us blowing all of our money on peak age players and recruiting at a much lower price point with what are effectively spread bets. There's of course many players these clubs sign that don't turn into CL level players. At the end of the day while we can say 'trust the scouts' every club now has data and scouts and knows which players are available - but clubs operate in different pools and have different targets. They also have different propensities for risk, particularly if CL qualification is a factor to take into any recruitment model. Paying slightly more and getting them once they've proven themselves is not a bad policy for a club that wants to compete for CL places, IMO. Liverpool basically built their success on doing that.

Don't be daft like, Onana would be an absolute beast in an Eddie team. He's not my kind of player at all but he's a very effective PL player.