Lush Vlad

I’m not sure Joelinton is the long term answer in midfield. Especially if we are trying to become a team that has more possession. He is great in that destroyer/box to box role, mind. Shelvey should be a backup at best next season. He isn’t mobile enough or good enough winning it back to play as a genuine DM Bruno seems decent in a number of different roles centrally. But with how good he is on the ball and with his vision. I would like him a bit more advanced. It feels like we haven’t had a proper DM since Tiote. I would really like to see us go after a genuinely top class quick, strong and combative midfielder. Kante would be nice

As I was saying

I think the squad depth is pretty poor. So many nothing players and plenty who are regularly playing. Who should be on the bench or shipped out. All that said. I do think you could really improve the starting XI on its own with 4-5 players. I think a striker, wide man, DM and a CB would be great. But as I keep saying, I can’t see us spending £40m-£50m plus on more than a couple of those signings. So you still need to supplement that with some that cost a bit less.

Fair enough. I went to a few games at home and away vs them and never noticed any biterness. But when they got Allardyce. I really noticed they really hated us for some reason.

But I listed those players and they cost considerably less than £30m. I’m not saying target those kind of players. I’d also say Trippier and Bruno are a bit more than just decent and solid. I also don’t think we should be going for freebies or options that are perceived as being cheap. I’m just saying there will be some good players available who clubs can’t afford to lose on a free. So we may be able to get before they wind their contract down. I don’t for one second think we will penny pinch. But I also think there are too many areas of need for us to be spending £50-£60m on too many players.

Obviously a ridiculous 100/1 bet builder that somehow looks good on paper. But will only get about 3/7 up

I’m sure there will be players from Europe and/or in the last year of their contract that we can get and not get ripped off. We have wasted money and over-spent previously But also got some bargains. I don’t think it’s that unrealistic. Targett is going to be £15m, supposedly. He’s not far off decent and is far better than what we have had of late. Burn was £12m and is decent, if not spectacular. Trippier was £12m, albeit with different circumstances to most transfers. Bruno was low 30’s plus add ons, wasn’t he? Depends on your definition, I guess. I originally typed top class and then realised that’s not going to happen for those sort of numbers.

I think we’ll get one marquee name, similar to Bruno, but perhaps higher profile. A couple of decent players in the £20m-£30m sort of bracket and then a couple of younger/developmental types. I suppose they will look at the free agent market, as well. But I don’t think we’re going to spend £150m-£200m and get half a new first team in right away. I think it’s a striker as priority, winger/wide forward type who could perhaps cover up top. Then a DM and a CB. Assuming we sign Targett permanently. New starters in those positions would make a world of difference. Not even going to attempt to guess on any names. As we’ve been linked with too many, I don’t watch as much European football as I used to and I don’t play FM or FIFA.

I thought there was a good article (may have been Swiss Ramble?). Saying we could spend about £200m a season for a while and we’d be ok? Due to Ashley being so tight for so long. I may be getting the numbers wrong. But I remember being quite surprised at how much scope we had and to still be complying with FFP.

Yeah. Win/win, really. Sick of Burnley now. But Everton since Allardyce have seemed to hate us for some reason. So fuck them and all.

Great finish at The Emirates. Just a shame for Arsenal that they waited until the 88th minute to start playing.

Aye. Quite a few mates and family support them. I know it isn’t a fair metric. But Arsenal twitter is the worst. All fans think certain pundits, refs and whoever are against them or biased. But they seem to be conspiracy theorists the way they carry on.

Doesn’t look 6ft and seems pretty slight. Not a short arse like Cabaye, though. What was he, 5ft 8”?

Cabaye hit a ball a lot cleaner and harder. Would be a set piece threat as well, unlike Bruno. I also remember him being less mobile and not as sound defensively or dribbling with the ball. The main comparison to me is that they are small’ish centre mids, signed from Ligue 1 and that Cabaye is probably the last top class all round centre mid that we had. So it seems natural that they are going to get compared with each other.

I’d agree with that. Even his long range passes are kind of lofty and slow. He doesn’t seem to strike the ball cleanly a lot of the time. Whilst simultaneously being outstanding on the ball

TV.

Still outrageously good at dribbling. Just didn’t have a lot of support when we had the chance to counter and was reluctant to go down the left, when he had acres of space there. Someone mentioned about it taking him a while to get back up to speed. I agree with that. He has lacked that explosive pace that sees him ghost past players. I mean, he is still rapid. Just not as fast or sharp as he seemed against Everton, for example. Pretty promising second half, mind. If we can get a lead more often in games. He is going to be even more important for the team than he already is.

It’s usually result dependent. The internet does seem to deal in extremes and nuance is dead. No issue with a bit of balance. I am genuinely interested for LFEE to elaborate on the fitness point and him taking breathers though. As I must be missing something. I was actually surprised at his engine and how hard he worked the whole time he was on.

Which mini breathers, though? His heat map seems to go against what you are saying and I don’t get it? He was regularly supporting attacks, pressing high and also appearing behind Krafth to help out defensively. Thought it was hell of a shift, personally. Even ignoring how good he was on the ball.

He has that Fabregas acceleration over a couple of yards that gets him some space. He isn’t quick over a longer distance. But his touch and burst of speed often gets him away from tacklers. It Only got him into trouble once in our half and also when he should have passed inside to ASM on the edge of their box. Worked basically every other time. Just really sharp and quick thinking on the ball. Those little early, hard 5-10 yard passes into feet to get them turned or sometimes getting it back with a quick one-two. What are they, exactly? Never seen us do that before

“Worrying” FFS

I can’t remember which character did the sweep the other way, like Bruno did. May have been Tekken. But I was howling when he did it. Just thought of Mortal Kombat on the Mega Drive straight away

Futsal touches when he rolls the ball and little short passes that nobody else seems to see or attempt. Inject it.

Krafth played really well. Wanted Manquillo in for him for ages. Then we somehow missed Krafth on Sunday. Bit of an unsung hero tonight, I thought.