Erikse

I agree. I don't think many other teams has felt the need to play a CB like fullback just to allow the other one to attack? It has worked, but that doesn't mean that having 2 fullbacks that can attack doesn't work just as well, if not better.

Right, I guess I misunderstood what you were saying then.

And I believe that Tosin is a quality player who can fight for the spot, his price means that we can spend more on quality in other position. We don't need him to be a superstar. If he is better than Burn and Lascelles, then it will help us a lot. Again, Trossard is quality, but he is still fighting for his spot, and not really a regular. Just like I expect Tosin to be here, who knows, maybe he will be a starter. What's the big difference here?

Like who? Arsenal, who both has more spending power and can attract better players, when they got Zinchenko and Jesus? That has been two of their worst signings in the last years. Palmer is an exception. Who are we going to buy from the top clubs?

Do you think Liverpool expected Endo to be the new Fabinho? Or that Arsenal expected Trossard to be better than Martinelli? Maybe he has been lately, but usually Martinelli is the main guy. He has had a dip in form. Both of these signings has done okay, like expected. Trossard has helped them a lot with rotation. I expect Tosin to be better than both Burn and Lascelles.

Why do you think that signing these players will get in the way of signing quality? If that was the case, we probably wouldn't sign them. It's not like we would spend a fortune on these.

Ofcourse, but we don't need every single signing to be another Bruno or Isak. That's the unrealistic view that some seem to have. Almost seems like we become victims of our own success if the expectations have become this high due to it. Every club want to buy players for the sake of coverage and rotation if they are cheap enough. Especially if they are good enough to fight for the starting spot.

So the extra money we could spend from that was already free to use summer?

I wonder how big the CL boost will be. That kicks in aswell now.

Oh, actually I know it.. Frimpong has a habit of winning.

How many players with a habit of winning can we afford? Are we going to sign players from Real Madrid or City?

Ah, here we go again.. Remember last window when the opinion was that we should've bought less and more expensive players instead? Yeah, we've been playing Krafth and Matt Ritchie this season. Lets put our entire budget on 2 players and end up playing Ritchie and Krafth again, because we need elite players only!

https://www.premierleague.com/news/3978045 Okay, looking at this, saying more than 15% may have been a bit much, but there was VAR last season aswell, and the seasons before that. You also have to consider that the last 5 minutes will be the toughest on the players, as demonstrated in terms of the amount of stoppage time goals and the % of goals scored in stoppage time. "But as legs tire in the second half, and as the tension rises when that board goes up, teams are actually more likely to score and concede in added time compared with regulation time." Edit: I actually found the real numbers for ball in play https://theanalyst.com/eu/2024/03/numbers-behind-premier-league-goal-explosion/ So, that means 6,5% more football being played every game on average. Lower than I thought, but still noticeable.

1 year of training with us, I expect more than Pirlo.

It all went south after we smashed them..

So you think that playing 10-20% more football each game doesn't impact the amount of injuries that happen in the PL? Haven't looked it up, but I'm pretty sure this seasons amount of injuries is quite high compared to earlier season in the PL.

I think you have just gotten used to the extra minutes, because what you are saying is simply not true.. The rules are still there in use. https://www.ft.com/content/f4584a58-df20-4bdb-bd71-f485e590d0c6 Couple this with the fact that there is way less timewasting in general due to the new rules, which may also have gotten increasingly better during the season, we are probably talking around 10 minutes more ball in play per game. Which again means more than 15% more football being played. Over time, that will have a real impact on player health.

Again, nothing to do with what I said. Having 14 injuries all at once is not something you see every day, regardless of the team. That is not an opinion, but a fact. No reason to discuss it. How much it impacts the team has nothing to do with my post. Despite us getting used to having around 10 injuries per game, 14 would still be a crazy number. Just like 13 was a crazy high number.

On another note, I had a look at number of injuries in the PL compared to the other European leagues: Premier League - 126 injuries Bundesliga - 87 injuries (18 teams) La Liga - 65 injuries Serie A - 61 injuries The new stoppage time rules for the PL must be a factor imo.. It would make no sense for it to not have a real impact in terms of the amount of injuries.

Yeah, and that's why I am saying that 14 would be abnormal, even for us, who has had way more injuries than anyone else thoughout the season. Why are you bringing in depth and player material when that wasn't my point?

We all remember what having noty a bench was like, when we had a decent starting lineup. The schedule was tighter back then so it hurt us way more though.. But, they won't have any good options in terms of fresh legs.

I am purely talking about the amount of injuries. Did we ever have 14 injuries for a game? Give me an example, and I will have look.

14 players injured today for Chelsea. That's wild, it would even be wild for us this season. Betinelli must be the only player I have heard of on that bench.

Well, it's all PL for them now until the end of season. Out of CL, and the FA Cup final is 6 days after the league finishes. Carabao is finished, and we knocked them out at the start of the season anyways.

This doens't help us much. May have to buy a GK from a different team now instead, if this is all we're getting.