Cf

Had a sneaky look at the Spurs fixtures but I reckon we don't worry about that unless it's somehow on with a couple of games to go. 6th still the target.

What a guy.

Yeah do think we should take Bruno off to lock in his escape.

He's had a quiet game but Murphy has done a job today.

And that's why we sell neither Bruno or Isak.

Table looking sexy at the moment. I really shouldn't look in match.

Was thinking this and hope we don't regret it later on when we don't have a bench to call on.

Imagine Barnes and Isak were fit all season to really gel.

Good defending from Son there.

So was Schar's in fairness.

Minor case there but shows what we miss with Pope out. Simple pass back to Dubravka isn't on because he's not there to receive it. Could have caused us an issue that.

Fucking hell the state of that bench and starting defence.

Two mid table quality teams, home team will be favourite

I'm not a fan of the whole like a new signing thing but that's what it's going to feel like for so many of them just having our squad back.

Split him in half and sell the left side for 20m and his right side can go on a free.

Yeah, but my thinking is if we have enough options we have Gordon to cover if really needed. Or we get a cheaper backup striker to replace Wilson. But given the prices of good quality strikers, the need for CB/RW, and the limitations of FFP (especially if we don't sell Bruno or Isak) then I think our options might be limited.

Get this confirmed and have Isak and Bruno go on the record along with the club saying that they aren't going anywhere this summer and all of a sudden the summer window looks much brighter. At that point our main focus becomes RW/CB which hopefully we've got enough funds for. Get those sorted and I think our squad is fine for a non-CL season.

De Zerbi certainly can't be said to have done a bad job but it still seems to me that his main achievement is to consolidate what Potter had done - get them as a solid mid table team who can challenge for the European spots. Last season was job well done. This season there's time to achieve Europe still but very much hanging in the balance. I dunno. Just feels like he's talked about as if he's in the top tier yet at the same time it doesn't feel like he's had a transformative effect in the same way as Howe or Emery for instance. Different clubs, situations, etc, but I can't help but look at Brighton and think they'd be where they are or possibly higher if they still had Potter.

There is luck over a full season like. 38 games is enough to generally have you where you're "supposed" to be but it's still a relatively small sample statistically speaking. The top 3 have all had excellent seasons. Luck won't be the only factor in who ends up winning it but if they all continue as they are then it will end up being a big contributing factor. There's more to football than statistics and variance. But it's not an area to fully discount.

This is where I'm at. One of those games that can go either way as there's not too much between the teams. If we win then we become favourites for top 6. If we don't then we're still well in the hunt but the MU game becomes huge.

Can only assume people thinking Man Utd are a shoe in for 6th haven't watched them play this season. They're not a good team.

Like any stat it's not perfect and it's power comes from knowing how and when to use it. The thing I like about xG is there's no meaningful way to manipulate it. You get a higher xG by creating a larger number of good quality chances which is how you win games of football. And for the most part xG passes the eye test. There's flaws of course. Own goals as was mentioned above. The wood chance. Fernandes' chance on understat shows as 0.01 which as good a finish as it was isn't right. And whilst xPts can simulate based on chances created after the fact it can't take into account the effect of momentum on a game. But I overall like it. How can you not like the stats that understat currently have Man Utd as 15th in the table?

Understat have fractional xPts so whatever they do isn't as simple as higher xG = 3pts. 4th again for us on there. https://understat.com/league/EPL

That's an awful challenge.

Fuck off