Stottie

I don't know how much Havertz brings the attack, but Arsenal were five points ahead of Man City off the same games played when Saliba got injured. There were 11 games to go. Rice will obviously improve them defensively and that's where the improvement needs to be. Their title challenge crumbled with them losing leads, not them failing to score.

I have a feeling the dark horse in the Maddison situation is Man City depending on the Gundogan/Bernardo situation. Arsenal/Man U don't need Maddison, and Chelsea is a shit show. I think there is too much flux at Liverpool (new midfield trying to accommodate TAA) and Tottenham to make them sensible destinations for him at this time.

Did we actually bid for Maddison twice last summer, or was that just paper talk?

Respect to Walker if he's leaving to get playing time and not just somewhere that will pay massive wages.

Tough start. City away is a freebie, but the others are games we want to be getting points in and not giving points away to rivals. If the club does have its transfer targets identified, I would suggest getting them in early, even if that means paying a few million more than we'd like. Only two months and ticking.

Nice goal. Hmm, Joelinton on the right....

Yeah, Eddie and JT got 192 appearances and 22 goals out of Dan Gosling. Maguire was quite good at the WC, certainly not a liability and justified his unpopular selection. Can't say I've seen him much since.

Nice design! Best one in years.

Two glamorous signings would do me, say Maddison and that Kim Jae CH or a good DM We had a strong second half to the season and got to a major cup final, so the team is strong and only lacks depth or plan B options. Keep the faith!

I basically switch off when I hear analysis from Tifo etc. that does not mention that Trippier hits 30% more crosses than the next biggest crosser in the league, never mind our team. Its the fundamental feature of how we play. It is mostly through him in a 3-4-3. We manage do to this without exposing the defence like TAA at Liverpool. I would imagine set piece conversion would be high on any wish list for a Schar replacement. Our CHs have been very poor at converting them this past season. Lascelles is best at it by miles. We also led the league in hitting the woodwork, some of which was from set pieces, so maybe it will right itself with better luck.

Mount? I think he's a better fit for them than Mac Allister, he offers more goals, and they can afford the wages.

As an AM, I think Maddison is a bigger bargain. Mac Allister is a fine player, but his output is seriously bumped up by the penalties. Aside from them he had 4 goals from 74 shots. I suppose it depends on Bernardo and Gundogan, but I could see Maddison disappointing us and going to Man City.

So fresh and so clean!

Kovacic to City must be curtains for Kalvin Phillips. They're bound to have some wunderkids in their academy too, all playing the Pep way. He'd better get out of there. His wages might be too high, or he mightn't be what Eddie wants, but I doubt training with CIty's first team for a year especially "damages" the goods.

First Bellingham and now Mount not joining Liverpool despite being nailed on from some pundits and their fans. To misquote Oscar Wilde "To lose one England midfielder, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." Mount gets slagged off so much I think you can call him "underrated". Eriksen replacement/upgrade?

It's mostly forgotten, but Eddie Howe signed Dan Gosling for Bournemouth from us. He cost them coppers and played nearly 200 games for them, scoring 20+ goals. I bet few NUFC fans at the time were saying "what a great signing for Bournemouth". He also signed Josh King, a Man U reject, for a very low fee from Blackburn in the Champo. He did great and would have been worth 20M or so at one point. I'm not saying it should be McTominay, but I do want to see a Bournemouth Eddie Howe signing. Someone unexpected and who no-one rates, but can come in and do a great job. I'd feel a bit short-changed if we don't get one. Dan Burn has been the closest so far.

Arguably our game plan is already evolving. We finished the season as joint top scorers in the 12-game form table, where our record was W7 D3 L2 F29 A14 GD+15. That includes Bruno carrying an injury and damp squibs against Leicester (woodwork three times) and Chelsea (reserves/beach mode).

I would assume Pedro signed for Brighton so early in the window because we've not been back in for him, and the reason for that is we must have other striker targets lined up. Even if Pedro's first choice were Brighton, Watford would want to maximize the fee and not accept the first offer. It may well be someone old or young and versatile enough to play anywhere in the front three, but I would expect us to sign someone.

Liverpool have regressed this season, but are still very attractive to 90% of top players. Image rights for their players will be huge. To be competitive next year, Liverpool need two new midfielders, to somehow regain stability at CB, and to sort the TAA problem out, probably with a good new RB. We went from nineteenth to fourth, and Villa have done something similar, so lots can be done in a short time. The main concern for Liverpool is them going from second to eleventh in expected goals against. Without heroics from Alisson, they would have been nowhere near Top 4. Even with them, they still conceded the same number of actual goals as (hapless, bottom half) Chelsea.

Maddison was scoring way above xG earlier in the season, which suggested a hot streak, but he ended up just above it for the season as a whole. The good thing is that he has now exceeded xG for four seasons in a row. This confirms the obvious eye test that he is pretty bloody good at shooting. We already score more than anyone from outside the box, hard to believe with some of Willock and Longstaff's efforts, but this would be more sustainable with someone of Maddison's quality in there.

If Pickford gets a move to say Spurs, Everton could be in big trouble again next season. FFP means they won't be able to get many new players in. Given how good the rest of their recruitment is, its likely Brighton will find a good keeper and will challenge again. Getting a better keeper could be more of a plus than losing Mac Allister is a minus.

Theoretical question for yous and slightly OT, but if Leicester had sold us Maddison last summer with Dubravka in part exchange, would they have been relegated? Bad goalkeeping is a major reason why they (and as it happens, Soton and Leeds) could not get results and went down. I think Dubs and a signing with Maddison money would have helped them more than Maddison did with that clown in goal. That's even with the good season Maddison's just had.

I don't know how it works, but I get the impression that its better/easier to pay money in transfer fees than in wages. Maybe because there is a wages as percentage of turnover calculation for FFP. Something like that.

I get the impression wages spend and transfer spend are almost different things, not the same "money". In theory, a free player on 200k wages for four years would be the same spend as a 20M fee 100k wages player if that 20M value is likely to disappear in four years, say with a 28 year old. However, it doesn't work like that, does it? The fee gets amortised, with whatever accounting chicanery than involves, and the lower wage means there is no effect on squad harmony or the FFP wages angle. It almost seem to be like the burden of wages spend is a multiple, I dunno, 50% more or something, of transfer spend. Am I right to think that? Does it work like that in simulation games like FM too?

Thanks Smal. Looks like we'll have to get an ex keeper back in and use Anderson and youth players. I can't say I know anything about the youth team, but Bondswell, the lad that played in the last preseason, sounds like he would qualify on that two year thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Bondswell