Stottie

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?

Having Sterling, Foden, and Grealish at the same club is crap for England. It limits their playing time. They're players England needs on form and it's World Cup year etc. etc. After playing so long for Pep, I would have thought Sterling could play anywhere on the continent, but it doesn't look like he's interested.

Another example of player power at work. Sterling is only 27. A little disappointing he's not going overseas, just to see how he'd get on. Salah is heading somewhere on a free next summer, isn't he?

There is some terrible goalkeeping in the Nunez goal video from this season. He may be a fine striker, but was on the receiving end of some good fortune this year. It's transition time at Liverpool with Mane and probably Salah too heading for the exit this summer or next. Diaz has made a good start, but they are big boots to fill. Salah probably deserves the wages he's after, so I'm on his side, not theirs.

Great, pull no punches article. What a brilliant way to end. "Undeniably fascinating" stories are rare in English football. Howe was never going to get the Man U job, so its this way or not at all. Howe was Football League "Manager of the Decade", but all that does is make you a legend at one small club on the South Coast and a favourite of some nerdy stat boys. Reality says it does not earn you a crack at a big club.

I have high hopes for this one. A bit raw, but they all are at that age. 10 goals in a season as a teenager in a major league is a pretty good sign.

Some analysis of him here. https://statsbomb.com/articles/soccer/five-players-to-watch-at-the-2022-tournoi-maurice-revello/ Ekitike's xG per shot is very high. 0.2 is elite level. This is another way of saying he's getting into and/or working it into positions and taking high probabilty shots.

Great post HawK. The team definitely needs more goals to sustainably push on, but I'm unsure whether LB is of immediate concern as the place to get them.

It's interesting and overdue to see his stats when compared to midfielders and not forwards. ASM's worst trait is the same, losing the ball in bad areas, though in ASM's case he should not be expected to be working wonders there. We need to give him the ball higher up the pitch. Joelinton needs to be coached into being more careful with it now he's playing much deeper. It's interesting also that Kev at Statsbomb picked up on Joelinton improving under Bruce. The numbers even then showed that he was best suited to a defensive #10 role, like Mo Diame under Rafa.

Teenager outscoring his xG is a risk, but one I'd take. A high percentage (50%?) of those who get 10 a season in a big league as a teenager will be greats. One Anelka for every Frannie Jeffers. Ekitike in that red strip with the white shoulders has major Anelka/Henry vibes. Even if he's more Theo Walcott, let's see what Howe can do with him. For the selling club, what you want is a big chunk of any sell-on profit. 15M now and potentially another 30M in the future when he goes to PSG. Do that and It can be win-win for all concerned.

It may be tactically naive, but I'd rather have a full on AM in the midfield three than ditch Targett for more creativity from LB. It's not absolutely essential to play 4-3-3 in the same way as Liverpool. Just on the list of realistic wide forwards available in 2023 but I do not see why Rashford would not be "realistic" for us now.

All time Prem front three CR7 ------ Shearer/Ageuro------ Henry No Liverpool players.

They did in the FA Cup when City the City reserve keeper had a mare. City got it back to 2-3 from 0-3. Other than that though, no. Villareal did the hard work for them in the CL. Imagine if Pep had lost this game in this manner. He'd be getting pelters. Chelsea and City had no problem scoring against Real.

Five and a half hours of finals football - no goals.

If someone is for sale, they are for sale and if the player agrees terms with both clubs, top bid wins. An actual scenario where a foreign club says the price is 30M to Villa but 50M (i.e., not 31M) to NUFC is hard to believe. It is even harder to believe when clubs have just had a season plus whatever with no matchday revenue and need all the money they can get. If a player we've bid on looks like heading elsewhere for a lower fee, I don't see why the agent would not contact us and invite us to bid again. Any agent not doing that is not going to get the best package for the client. I'd love Paqueta, with the only proviso being that Willock was one of our most Brewced players and deserves a chance with the new setup.

Grudging respect to Villa's owners for them having a go. fwiw, like us, they only took four points off the Top 6 last season. The fewer easy wins the top teams have, the easier it will become for other teams to break in there.

I love Callum Wilson. I think he's great. So tough and determined! Look at him grill Miggy after blasting that one over. The man wants to score goals. When we got him, I thought Wilson was like Jermaine Defoe, but he's actually much better, much more than a smart-moving moocher. He's more like (post-peak) Jamie Vardy, who is himself underrated, basically because he plays for Leicester. If you look at the last four seasons, here's the chart. It's two seasons of Wilson under Howe at Bournemouth (one the relegation season), one and a bit seasons under Bruce, and the last two games for us under Howe. In those four seasons, he's only played 11% fewer minutes than Vardy despite the well-documented injuries. In the chart Vardy shoots more (Sh90) and scores more (G90), but some of that will be playing for a better team. Vardy is a better finisher, but only just.

5 of Toney's 12 goals were penalties.

Yes yes to Paqueta. I didn't know he played false 9 too, but I'm a big Cesc fan and that just makes it better.

He'll need to work on his shooting to get 10 goals but I also expect much more production next time. For the Wilson goal, look at where ASM gets the ball and contrast with where he has normally received it in the past. See also the decoy run to his side. Kev Lawson the Statsbomb guy reckons ASM hits more dangerous passes, especially cutbacks, when he plays on the right.