Matt1892

Back in March the Athletic had us having a three man shortlist for left back of Tierney from Arsenal, Lodi from Forest and Robinson from Fulham. There is a good Robinson compilation on YouTube but he has been linked with Man City sporadically since January, some of the footage will be from the Championship season but you get the idea of what a natural left back can offer.

Brighton won’t sell Ferguson yet, they will build the team around him for the next two years and then sell him when he’s an established Premier League striker for big money.

In theory we could but it doesn’t solve the issue of what we do if Bruno is injured, unless we pick up Lerma on a free too as a DM.

He plays as a wide attacking forward in a team that has qualified for the Champions League yet has only managed one goal all season. We need better if we want to push on.

I think a tweak to the formation might be needed next year to a 4-2-3-1 when we play the majority of the league teams as we offer very little through the middle in terms of attacking threat, we can always start with a 4-3-3 formation against the better teams if we want to keep it tight. This season has far exceeded expectations but I’m sure Howe will have an honest look at our weaknesses and look to rectify them over the summer. We need a left back who is comfortable going forward to being balance to the team, more pace at the back for when we are hit on the counter and preferably two midfielders with ball playing ability and creativity as a minimum.

I thought he had a decent game and did what was expected of him, I don’t think he was any better or worse than Longstaff who also had a decent game. The benefit Longstaff had is that he had Trippier and Almiron to the side of him who know their roles and have great interchanging link up play, you can put Bruno in to that too as when we are on possession he links up better down the right. Compare this to the left hand side which was all over the place, Burn doesn’t really get forward and even when he does he offers little, Isak is wasted out there and is rarely played in behind instead constantly having the ball to his feet at a standstill before he tries to run forward. It was predictable and the same over and over again. Watching Elliott last night I could see him potentially working well with Joelinton or Willock when they occupy the left side of the team and constantly rotate position, he was looking to go out wide left at times but Isak wasn’t moving in field meaning there was little space with the bus parked.

If Leicester were going to stage any sort of fight back against relegation they would have done it against Liverpool with the home fans behind them, yet they had a decent opening 10 minutes before completely wilting under the pressure. The atmosphere and occasion will hard for some of these players to take I would have thought, they could easily crumble if we get an early goal.

He would be a decent squad player, the issue is we have lots of squad players out wide but not that player with star ability, compared to Liverpool who have Salah and Diaz.

I didn’t realise Mbeumo was 23, he looks like he’s pushing 30. Hopefully the result is an incentive for Villa as Europe will be more achievable if the score stays the same.

I think the issue we have is that we don’t have many expendable players that have a low book price that would be worth much money, which is why Wilson, ASM and Almiron get mentioned. If we could get £25 million for Wilson which potentially we could, it would leave us with £20 million profit we can book. That offsets a £100 million spend this summer over 5 year contracts, although we will need to find the next instalment next year and those that follow. The flip side of not having many players with book value that are expendable is that we have a huge amount of potential to grow the club’s finances commercially, so to plug that gap until we get there is that manoeuvring. It reminds me of Howe’s comments around the cup final that some of those players won’t be here next season or words similar to that, it is all about getting the club from A to B.

I don’t think there is any doubt about Wilson’s ability, we just need to manoeuvre in the transfer market to free us up for FFP. A player sold every season would make a big difference in the short term.

If we score early I can see Leicester capitulating like they did against Liverpool.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65443681 I found 6th and 7th difficult to predict, it is a three way race between Brighton, Spurs and Villa.

Liverpool’s ability to invest and rebuild will be hampered more by missing out on Champions League than Man Utd.

One that was linked with us quite a bit over previous transfer windows. Bayern Munich have backed out of a move for 25-year-old Ajax and Mexico midfielder Edson Alvarez, who could instead move to Borussia Dortmund.(Sky Sport Germany)

It would mean that we could only be caught on goal difference.

I would guess a similar budget to the last 2 seasons so between £100m and £150m net. The reassuring thing is if they do feel they can spend without breaching FFP then they will, while trying to maintain some sort of balance for future years.

https://twitter.com/fabrizioromano/status/1659620844400721925?s=12

Leicester still have 6 points to play for so a maximum of 36 and if Everton and Leeds win on the weekend they will have 35 and 34 points respectively. I was hoping they would too but I can’t see how it would be possible.

Pressure penalty for Sheffield Wednesday to go to Wembley.

I look forward to the video of them showing Caicedo the clip of Joelinton going hulk smash when he signs in the summer.

I took my boy to Coventry vs Stoke this season and they were abysmal! Stoke beat them 4-0 and it could have easily been more than that so it’s hard to believe they are one game away from getting in to the Premier League. A good bunch of fans and atmosphere from that experience.

If we do get Champions League I would be tempted to look at a loan with an option to by for Joao Felix, even if the loan fee was big money.

Pope Trippier Schar Botman Burn Anderson Bruno Willock Almiron Isak Joelinton

Mackems clearing off the line again.