Matt1892

The issue when teams sit deep will be rectified in other areas of the pitch, which appears to be on the right wing and through the middle from the positions we are looking at. I think Joelinton will start wide left and Willock on the left of midfield, the right is in for a makeover.

Gordon is the replacement.

There is a good chance that Joelinton will be first choice on the left next season, Gordon back up and Anderson in the mix as well so we might not even replace him. I wouldn’t be surprised if the money allowed us to sign youngsters to be loaned out to get that ball rolling, presuming we have the finances to sign the 3 or 4 players for the first team.

Chelsea can get away with crazy spending for a few more years yet but every time they do the pressure is on them every year going forward to raise their income. For example if they sell Havertz for £70m that is £40m that is booked as profit due to the remaining time on his contract, which means it will cover this year if they were to spend £200m and hand out 5 year contracts. Whilst this isn’t an issue in the short term they will also need to find another £40m next year to cover it, then the year after etc. That is my understanding of it.

Our press has definitely refined as the season has gone on, we do it less as a team but are much more intelligent when we do use it like against Brighton. The fear going in to that game was that Brighton are excellent against pressing teams, they happily play it around between the two pivots, defence and the keeper and wait for the press which creates gaps for them to exploit. We didn’t allow that as the midfield didn’t appear to press at all, only from goal kicks meaning Brighton had to go long which we could pick up and then go again. It was tactically excellent from Howe. Regarding a DM, I can see the benefit and would allow us to start with a 4-2-3-1 formation against weaker sides or switch it up if we struggle to break teams down. We seem to have very little going for us attack wise through the middle at times and they go sideways to the wide players that much that it become predictable.

https://twitter.com/centregoals/status/1665444345980530690?s=46

Selling off their home grown players so they can keep spending like crazy.

Maybe we are looking to do down the right what we do with Willock and Joelinton down the left, in that we have 2 players that can cover both positions which makes it difficult to pick up the runners.

The conversation didn’t go in to that level of detail but I would presume so. Castore are not stupid, they would rather get around the table and have a conversation about bringing it to an end by mutual agreement than get in to any sort of battle with us over this, considering who the majority shareholders of the club are and the benefits of a good working relationship with them.

Chelsea are particularly aggressive in the transfer market but all that has meant is that they have overpaid in most cases in terms of transfer fees and salaries to cut down on the negotiation time. That isn’t our style and I don’t think it’s Liverpools either.

That’s fine and as I said, people don’t have to believe me and I’m happy to keep titbits around this sort of thing to myself going forward. The source is impeccable. Castore are done after this season and adidas will replace them. All agreed.

I know people don’t believe ITK posts so ignore this if you want but I have it on good authority from a very high level source that we have told Castore that 2023/24 will be the last season they will be our kit manufacturer.

Fucking hell!?

It means that they are close to breaking FFP so UEFA will ask them to submit extra information to monitor how they plan on bringing their finances back in line.

Arsenal were put on UEFAs watch list last summer over FFP so they will likely have to sell to help balance the books if they want to sign Rice and Caicedo. https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/news/arsenal-financial-fair-play-warning-24919681?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

I think the context of the time missed is important, if you land awkwardly and dislocate your shoulder which needs an operation it is one of those things. We have seen with Trippier and Isak in the last 18 months that freak injuries happen. The problem with Tierney is that he has had 2 of these in the last 4 years as well as a few other niggles.

Tierney injury record.

Someone made a good point recently when they said that due to the wealth of the premier league teams compared to all of the other league in Europe, the top spending teams have little option but to sell to each other. That is why Man City were selling to Arsenal and Chelsea last summer.

I put this in here due to the cup final today but what do people think about this?

The Magpies will be playing Champions League Football next season which may sway the 21-year-old towards a move to the North East. However, the report claims that Forest are "certainly in the running" having "already probed" him "for some time". It is also pointed out that the Reds already have a Brazilian contingent in midfield with Gustavo Scarpa and Danilo among the 30 players to have arrived at the City Ground since Steve Coper's side were promoted to the top-flight through the play-offs in 2022. Another report from Globo Esporte claims that Sao Paulo are willing to negotiate his transfer if they receive offers in the region of €15million (around £12m). https://www.nottinghampost.com/sport/football/transfer-news/nottingham-forest-face-newcastle-transfer-8484688?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

Was it a case of one or the other? Otherwise I’m not sure how the deals relate to each other?

City didn’t loan out Lavia or Edozie either but they did Bezunu, all sold to Southampton for for over £30 million combined and a good chance all have some sort of buy back option. None of them played a league game for City either from what I can tell. It helps balance the books if you Can get it right.

That has been my feeling too, they will spend what they can get away with on the players on the shortlist.