Infinitely Content

Bigger club, better manager, better players, recent trophy win, recent Champions League football, a much more ambitious project, higher salary.

William Gomes you say? Nailed on for Wolves.

The back 4 going into next season is a concern for me, a Thiaw and Botman partnership is too fragile for the reasons you've stated. We need a Milenkovic/Ruben Dias type character to come in, a proper Schar/Burn replacement. To lose Trippier from the squad and Schar/Burn, even Pope from the 11 is a tough situation that urgently needs addressing.

I hope we can just show some signs of life in the last 6 games, I don't mean winning every game, but just not suffering the same demoralising defeats like Palace and Sunderland. I just want to see a shift in energy and signs that the players are still engaged - we're not really playing for anything anymore so there shouldn't be any heaviness or lethargy to the performances. We should be able to play freely, boost morale, build some momentum and see clearly that the players are still responding and Howe's methods are still inspiring. More of the Palace/Sunderland type defeats may spell the end for him and I really don't want that to happen.

Aye, sorry if I sounded harsh

We have to be talking forwards only as that's what he's supposed to be, and there's certain required attributes to be a successful forward in this league and frankly he has literally none of them. Hence why he looks so lost. It's not just Howe's tactics. You need at least one high level physical attribute imo, either explosive acceleration/high intensity sprints or physical dominance (Mateta). Without having one of those I can't see how any forward would work in this league at present.

Really strange list that, 6 of them are midfielders and all have tenacity to their game and also have completely different roles and functions on the pitch. Jimenez is physically strong, aerially dominant and works tirelessly.

They don't exist. Giroud and Berbatov are the only two who come to mind, neither of which even played recently though so there's question marks over whether either of them could succeed in the current PL environment. Regardless, Woltemade isn't really alike either of them imo. Berbatov made it because he was a technical genius, but even he was never prolific and ended up at Fulham. Giroud whilst not quick or particularly strong was physically dominant and had excellent aerial ability, which bizarrely is one of Woltemade's main weaknesses. He's pathetic aerially. A total write-off for me. Get whatever we can for him whilst other clubs potentially still have the benefit of doubt. Otherwise, another season like this one and we would barely get £20m for him.

And for being an apparent technical wizard, he fails to get the ball under control so often when he gets it to feet and loses possession so easily and cheaply.

Hard to know who that may be really, as you say the type of player he is probably requires an entire system being built around him to compensate his glaring weaknesses and shortcomings; and for me I don't think he's even close to being good enough to warrant that. Perhaps a team like Bayern, who could win their league sleepwalking most years. Maybe he can be the next Choupo-Moting.

Brilliant as a creator or as a goalscorer? I think he's still a massively unknown quantity in regards to his finishing. I don't know if he has the striker's instinct. It's not like we signed him after he tore it up in the Bundesliga, it was just 12 goals which isn't out special in that league.

Would take Almiron like.

Wonderful assist.

I can't have someone called Italiano as the manager, it's the kind of name a computer game would give you if you pressed "randomise" on the create-a-manager screen. See also Sportiello the Italian keeper.

Perhaps we'll get to see that, I personally sympathise with Howe a bit as I just think it's incredibly difficult to get a system working with Woltemade leading the line in this league. I can't think of another striker in the Premier League, both present and in recent years who has been successful whilst lacking as much as Woltemade is physically and mentally. Think he could have himself a decent career in Italy, Spain or Germany at a decent club, but I don't think he's cut out for this league. He needs far too much accommodating and compensating to be able to contribute.

His competition is Fullkrug and Denis Undav. Him starting for Germany means very little these days, and means even less when we're talking about his credentials as a Premier League player.

Fair play to Mateta like, quality when he came on.

He gets away with it because of both his price tag and being such an anomaly of a player which imo leads people to believe he's something potentially special - but on evidence he's nowhere near good enough. If he wasn't a £70m 6ft 6 German striker, he'd have been written off almost unanimously for simply being a bit shite.

I disagree, he went on an unsustainable scoring run when he first arrived, but I'm not referring to form - it's that he lacks pretty much every key physical and mental attribute required to be a forward in this league. Sounds harsh, but I think it's demonstrably true on evidence thus far.

Will take longer than a few weeks to integrate a forward who can't run, has no tenacity, lingers on the ball and has no strength into a premier league team.

Green kit, Elanga, Woltemade. Way to get the juices flowing.

If Arsenal lose this City just need to beat Chelsea, Bournemouth and Arsenal and they go top. It's tough but it's City and they're more than capable of getting those 3 results. They're chasing which is far less pressure, and they've been here many times before.

To be fair, Mathys Tel was tearing it up for them aged 17 or something, their league is terrible. Gordon could play for them in any of the front four positions and score a boatload.

Incredible goal. For me one which doesn't get spoken about enough is Valentino Lazaro's for Monchengladbach - I don't know if it's just because it was in covid times, because it's easily the most sensational scorpion kick I've ever seen. The way the ball spins off his heel is legit a thing of beauty.

I hope he's doing okay, as that level of misery and joylessness should only be found in the fictional world of Dostoevsky.