Stottie

Given how strongly he came back in at the end of last season, I think Wilson has looked at bit subdued in these two games. He's playing in Mickey Mouse lineups that give everyone a game, but it hasn't stopped Bruno looking class or Joelinton rushing about like a mad bastard. I'm a big Wilson fan, so I hope and indeed expect there is more to come. Though there has been lots of focus on injuries, it would be good to have a backup just for any potential loss of form.

Great to see him click straight back in on Friday. He's total quality. It's a great problem to have, but he is showing so much in the attacking third that it's giving us a conundrum about his best role. They is way more to his game than what the stats said when we bought him. They said neat and tidy recycler, ball winner, and progressive passer, and he was good value for one of them when we paid the money. It sounds like Nickson had to convince Howe to buy him. However, we've ended up with a box-to-box monster capable of dominating games and scoring winning goals. He's blooming into another player, like Yaya did when he joined Man City. Yaya for Barca, six goals in 118 games, for Man City, 79 (!!) in 318 games. One in four is Steven Gerrard output from a former DM.

Almost all of Wilson's recent stats are from playing Bruceball, so they don't tell us very much. Due to injuries unfortunately timed under Howe and Steve fucking Bruce, we do not know a lot about several of our existing players. Some are clearly have a higher ceiling than what Bruce got out of them.

It's not obvious but another weak point is Wilson, who averages about nine passes a game. This is basically because he plays on the shoulder and doesn't drop deep to link play like a forward with #10 skills, an easy example being Harry Kane. Kane probably does it too much for England, who don't get Sancho, Sterling, Foden etc ahead of Kane as often as Spurs do with Son.

If WyAyeScout Kev Gordon is excited by this, I'm excited!

That's a lot of goals for someone still 22. He must be good.

It looks like Cornet can play on both sides, but I'd be up for playing him left like at Burnley and switching ASM to the right. If money is no object and there is no actual need to come up with combos of players to hit a certain budget, just get Diaby. And Paqueta too if he'll come.

They stalled and messed us around but fair play to them for pulling this off. The higher we aim with acquisitions, the harder it'll be to get deals done, especially if we're not in Europe never mind the Champions League. With him being a one-player operation, I thought Ekitike's agent was a know-nothing chancer, but it looks like he's played this one well. Apparently the bid we had accepted was 26 million quid, so that's what is burning a hole in some FFP-friendly structured package thing in our pocket.

I would say cult status is much more likely here. Do Arsenal fans have Hawaiian shirts with players' faces on? PEA was just about fastest to 50 goals in the PL and they were happy for him to walk away.

I think it would be wise to see more of Bruno in the Prem before spending big bucks on another midfielder. We need to establish his best role and then buy others who'll complement it. We also need to see how the team is going to set up when (hopefully) not battling relegation. It may be a different system.

Man Utd's big problem last season was conceding goals. There should be a route for them to score more by getting more out of Rashford and Sancho.

As a LW under Howe, Fraser scored one and got two assists in 529 minutes, most of which can't have had Wilson on the pitch. Full strength for us now is Wilson, Bruno, and Trippier, who never appeared together last season. Put those parts out there, and perhaps there is a useful wide player in Fraser and a useful AM in Willock. Howe is originally a manager known for attacking play, but has probably been distracted so far by defensive disorganization and inadequate fitness issues. Now we are not conceding goals left right and center (we did get the Premier League calendar year record in 2021!), we may/should get to see a more Bournemouth-like Eddie Howe.

Great move from Liverpool to resign Salah. I was hoping it wouldn't happen. I wonder if Man City tried tapping him up with an offer of more money. In their situation I would have. fwiw, Mahrez is also out of contract next summer.

I quite like Shelvey and think we have to keep him at least as Bruno backup. He doesn't provide the full Bruno package of course, but is our next best progressive passer in midfield, the only one who comes close. Lets hope the targets next season are Wilson or better, ASM no more than 40 yards from their goal, and a new signing who gets the pulse racing.

There was talk of West Ham rewarding Bowen will a new deal to try and tie him there on a long term deal, but if he has any sense he'll wait and see what happens with Declan RIce and any summer signings they make. Any deal for Danjuma will likely affect at least those two.

If its five subs next year, Wood could come on and do his pressing in the last 10 mins if we are holding on in a game. I know that's not going to set the pulse racing, but every contribution helps. Whether we do that or not, five subs will definitely change things up a bit.

I suspect Sterling needs Pep's system far more than Mane or especially Salah need Klopp's, a common claim from Liverpool fans. Salah scores what can only be described as individual goals. When he's not dribbling past two or three, a simple long ball over the top may be enough to put him in. Tuchel's a great manager and can probably get a tune out of Sterling, but I wouldn't expect as many far post "tap ins".

If a big club comes in for him, then fair play to him and his agent. If another non-big club does, presumably they're going to get the same runaround we got, and its unlikely he'll sign. It sounds like Reims want to cash in, so presumably he's got to go somewhere. Ashworth has arrived with so much credit in the bank that I'll assume we're playing this one correctly and are right to walk away.

If there was no money, we wouldn't spend 10M on a keeper. In 2020, we are fifth best in goals against per 90. We are eleventh in goals scored, and only one goal better than Leeds, who were nearly relegated.

Liverpool nearly missed the CL when VVD was injured. That season Man U finished second. It was only the season before last but neither of those sound likely now. Things can change quickly. Arsenal had everything to play for and we dominated them. Coming after the form we showed in 2022, you have to be optimistic going forward.

I like Ziyech. Just on the fantasy/galactico level, our owners would obviously have to okay any big splurge. We keep being told about sportswashing, and from a PR perspective for them, perhaps it would be best if the headline grabber they sign is a Muslim, like Mo Salah or Benzema. Both are available on a free next year.

Get this over the line and we're only one signing off this, which I'd be confident for top eight. It's too defensively strong to finish bottom half. Howe got a good tune out of Krafth and Burn, so there is even strength in depth. In goal too, of course. Ideally we sign a dedicated wide forward in addition to Ekitike or whichever striker we buy instead of Ekitike. Do that and a West Ham level challenge to the top six looks possible. It may be possible with just better conditioning to avoid muscle\soft tissue problems with Wilson. The injury against Man U was a broken foot.

Great signing! I'm a fan of Dubs but he's not been the same against crosses since getting injured. Or maybe its age, I don't know. He's definitely not as good as when he first started for us and would wow the crowd by plucking the ball out of the air. For other goalkeeping skills, I think Pope and Dubs are pretty much even stevens. I don't know who's better at organizing those in front of him. As with all our other defensive signings, another solid and eminently sensible one that I expect will reap rewards on the pitch. The big need for this summer is actually attacking players, so I'm (more) excited about what happens there.

I wonder if Ashworth is handling this. Either way, having him at a club now reassures me that we are handling this the right way. If only one journo is reporting it, maybe its a deliberate leak to communicate something to Reims or Ekitike himself.

Wouldn't DCL cost close to Paqueta money?