tom1988

With Wilson out for the foreseeable we should try and get Alexander Isak in. Is he realistic? 

5 minutes ago, Doctor Zaius said:

I'd take Alli, still relatively young. Lingard i'm more wary of. 

 

The thing is with the likes of Lingard and Trippier, approaching or at the wrong side of 30, coming from top teams. We used to have a reputation pre Ashley for signing overpaid, past it cast offs. I dont think Lingard or Trippier would fall immediately under that bracket, but you have to question how much longevity we'd get out of them - A season? Two perhaps? They'll be 30 and 32 this time next year. It wouldn't matter so much if we could spend what we want, when we want but FFP basically means we're going to have a budget and stick to it. If they were to keep us up, it'd be shrewd enough mind, but we need to have one eye on potentially moving these players on when their legs go.

 

Everton are prime example of the situation we do not want to end up in. Buying players that would in theory have improved the team somewhat, but a few years down the line they're utterly stuck due to overspending and FFP constraints and an inability to get rid of high earners. 

We're 19th in the league, have conceded 11 goals and scored 1 in the last week and we've only won once this season. I think we're probably past the point of being fussy whether we will get more than a couple of seasons use from a new player. To start with, we literally only need 6 months of value from them.

As players based in Spain tend to have buy out clauses in their contracts a lot more than in the UK I was wondering if there is anywhere that you can see this information and if there are any other countries where it is as prevalent? I looked on Transfermarkt but couldn't see anything.

Would be good to see who we could potentially buy without having to get the owning team to 'accept' the bid

Would love us to take Ben Godfrey from them but Holgate is probably more realistic, not that I rate him

For me, the worst part about yesterday was the damage to the goal difference. Once that 2nd goal went in we should have changed our approach. At that point, despite how 'even' the match appeared the last thing we needed was further damage to our already shite GD. 

Looking at our next few fixtures I think he'd be better off taking the caution is the better part of valor approach. If we're going to lose, which, judging by yesterday's capitulation, seems highly bloody likely, then losing 1-0 is infinitely better than losing 4/5/6-0/1. 

I'm all for playing it his way until the tide turns and our defence goes AWOL again at which point it really needs to be damage limitation. 

End of the season a few goals here and there could make all the difference. 

I went to AS Monaco v PSV a few weeks back (fucking awful game btw) and we had to scan the QR code on our health pass after scanning our ticket on the turnstyle so was pretty seamless. I guess the problem is when you get some muppet doing it wrong holding everyone up 

Here in France we've had to show the vaccine pass for about 6 months now and it really isn't an issue like. No different from showing your ticket to an inspector on the metro or the train or your ID to a bouncer. I really don't get what the beef is with in the UK. As to it's effectiveness.. well that's a different argument.

Shelvey is never going to be more than he currently is and will definitely regress once his initial enthusiasm wears off. If he's not replaced in January then he sure as hell needs to be in the summer. Unless we get relegated of course.

Have thought about this a bit through playing FM over the years but I'd go with a 2-3-2-2-1 or basically a fancy 4-3-3

               GK

    CB1 - - - - - - CB2

RWB - - - DM - - - - RWB

      CM1- - - - CM2

RW - - - - - - - - - - - LW

                ST

The idea is that groups of players working in groups/pods are responsible for certain areas of the pitch at certain times so that overloads can be gained in attack and a tight press in defence. 

GK needs to be commanding and a bit of a prick (eg. Kahn, Donnarumma, Dida)

CBs ideally would be on the prickish side too as well as physically strong and athletic (eg. Ramos, Puyol or Cannavaro)

I'd want the WBs to be able to cross really well and chip in with goals too as well as have the stamina to get up and down all the time (eg. Dani Alves, Marcelo, Ashley Cole or Cafu)

A DM like Cambiasso, Pirlo or Kimmich, someone that could read the situation, make interceptions and then ping a pass from back to front to kick off a quick attack.

The 2 CM would be constantly rotating going forward or covering with an emphasis on arriving on the edge of the box for the pull back, guys like Iniesta, Ballack, Nedved or Sneijder 

RW and LW are the flair players, the ones that the other team shit themselves about facing and who have a pretty free reign to terrorize as they see fit - grew up watching Ronaldinho so him and someone like prime Robben.

ST has to be an all rounder, good in the air and with decent pace, if he has a bit of devilment in him then all the better. Henry, Drogba, Raul or Batistuta.

My bench would be full of pace so that they can be brought on for the last 15-20 minutes to shred the oppo defence to bits. 

15 hours ago, Abra Dubravka said:

 

Agreed, arm round the shoulder was used more turn of phrase on my part there. Howe will no doubt, like you say demanding performances and application from him. 

 

Hopefully it does click for him, not many players in the league have the technique in passing range he does, but just think it's come 3/4 years too late for him.

 

He looked finally what we always thought under Rafa 17/18, playing in a two, but he let himself slide again. Years on now, he's physically gone I think, and has never in his career had any sense positionally in defensive transition. 

 

Any side in league should be looking at isolating that space behind him, and be running at our defence. Countless goals have come that route under Bruce, that will always be a weakness even under Howe

 

He's better than what we ever saw him with Bruce and Bruceball, but it does speak to him and many other players they have it within themselves to be that consistently shit for over 3 season.

 

 

 

Personally hope that Howe is just trying to get a song out of him for the next few months as that is what we need. Bollocks to his long term usefulness, we need results now and if pushing Shelvey gets better performances for a few months then great. Still needs to be binned as soon as we can get a half decent replacement. He's a throwback to our former era of adequacy rather than ambition. Onwards and upwards and I'm sure we'll see Shelvey at Turf Moor next season.

I think early part of the window we have to be looking to bring players in from abroad, no way any team in the PL deals with us until the end of the window. If they can keep us weak for another month of games then they will especially if we're still in the drop zone then. 

Anyone seen the BT Sport advert for the game against Brighton on Saturday? Has this playing when we're on screen. So good  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeXatquVqAc

4 minutes ago, Rich said:

Just a nod of appreciation to the boy Craig Hope, who posted this back on 14th October. I think this was the first official link:
 

 

From what I have heard McParland and Owen Brown are doing a lot of the work behind the scenes on behalf of the consortium so reckon Hope might have a line to them for his info.

I think that the speed at which the takeover went through after such a delay is why we now have such a large list of options. It's obvious that Rafa was their guy from the start and everything was set for him to stay/come back as manager and build the club as he saw fit with full backing from the Saudis. Obviously the delay has resulted in him going to Everton which now leaves him (supposedly) unavailable and the consortium a bit stuck/ on the back foot.

They want someone that will handle the football side, Rafa would have done both the roles of DoF and Manager so I think the 'delay' now is figuring out whether they need one guy or two and whether said guy or guys have the right type of vision and plan for the development of the club as a whole - as Rafa did.

This is why I can't see Fonseca coming unless they have a DoF lined up too who specifically wants him. We're either going to get a Rafa type that will do both jobs or a package a la Overmars and Ten Hag. Either way, I'm happy for them to take their time and who knows, if Everton get spanked again this weekend they might just be a bit more willing to answer the phone. 

8 minutes ago, Manxst said:

Overmars will want to bring Ten Hag with him…

 

http://sportwitness.co.uk/dof-will-honour-request-interview-newcastle-plans-specific-manager/

This needs to happen. Fonseca, whilst a different echelon to Bruce, is still a bit meh for me - Spurs decided against him after all. Ten Hag for me like. 

Would love us to go in for Henk ten Hag, my boss is Dutch (Ajax fan) and says he is too good for them and that he learned a lot from Pep at Bayern

White socks always remind me of getting butchered at the Charity Shield. No ta, striped kits should be matched by striped socks IMO.

Striped/hooped socks all the way

van Bronckhorst

tshabalala

James Rodriguez

and possibly Ronaldinho

(definite world cup theme going on there)

Shaqiri would be class like plus I'd take ward-prowse and cedric from southampton.

Turns out Ashley's son founded some radio station and former staff are making accusations of "organisational racism" there.

 

http://clashmusic.com/news/further-allegations-made-against-radar-radio

Woah! A friend of mine works here.. I'll do some digging.

Should play over christmas and then have the break in January. Have the break when the transfer window is open, then shut the window and bring back the footy.

McCarthy responding to rumors that he's the next West Brom manager:

 

“The Albion? That would p*** a few people off wouldn’t it?" said McCarthy. "But you know me, I like p***ing people off.”

 

So good. Love a bit of Mick.

Oh and Pardew is a c***, and that 365 stat about scoring first in six out of ten games but only getting one win and a draw is shocking even for him.

We should make a concerted effort to get a journo to ask him about this stat in his next presser

I am a little surprised this hasn't gotten a bit more coverage bar the occasional article in The Guardian. They were in the Premier League for a decade and have imploded in spectacular fashion. Darron Gibson was driving drunk hours before a game and hit his club's own supporters' cars Just seems like it's ripe for the media to talk about, but I guess they really are that unimportant.

The media may want to write more about their plight, but that would require readers/viewers to have an interest... which they don't. They'll disappear with a whimper and 95% of the football world won't even notice. But, you know, 6 in a row marra

We sold this utterly tall c*** yet?

Not that tall

 

189cm isn't "that tall"

5'10" to 6'2" normal. Anything above/below that tall/short IMO

 

Average height of a man in the UK is 175.3cm.

 

Even in Serbia he's higher than the average, which is 182cm.

So many short people dragging the average down! I'm 193cm and don't feel particularly tall - where are all the midgets hiding?