Erikse

It's true that the average has been going up historically due to the rise of Tottenham (compared to 20 years ago), Chelsea and City. But with the "big 6", the average has only risen by about 5 points in 20 years. It might go up with us in the mix aswell, but not by that much considering it's just 1 more team in the mix. Ofcourse it's not impossible that it will reach 80 in a single season at some point, but before last season a lot of people were saying that Liverpool would win the league and that Chelsea would be top 4. Next season those 2 disappointments could be replaced by someone else, or maybe some of them will fail again. I actually think that Chelsea will still be in a bit of trouble, too many new players (and too many flops).

So if Man United and Liverpool didn't underachieve, we would've needed 80 points for top 4? That has never happened before. The highest in latest years is 75p being Liverpool at 4th, 71p would be enough for most seasons. I don't get this "if every team would've performed" thing.. That never happens.

I think top 4 is better for the long term project, and could help us to win a trophy faster in the future. I don't think that winning a League Cup now would've helped us getting a top 4 finish any faster (if we didn't get it this season). Edit: I see now that someone just pointed that out

Winning it gave them a spot in the Europa League, that in itself is pretty neat for a team like West Ham.

Cool! Ajer is actually from my hometown in Norway, he played for our local team (IK Start) as a youngster.

Maybe you were just joking, but he has 10 caps for Italy at the age of 19..

Wouldn't even be that much fun to be honest. Feels better to climb up the ranks without limitless spending

I'd happily take Gnonto from Leeds

The most impressive is how he adapts. I was sure we were found out in that january/february period, but he managed to change things around a bit. Certain managers keeps going with whatever is not working, because they don't know how to change it up. People have been saying that we will drop off for a year for christs sake, it's allways the same. We might drop off, but I don't think that a top 6 placement would put pressure on Howe just because we got top 4 somehow this season.. Still don't understand the Moyes comparison either, he's literally a proof that previous success with the club can save you from getting sacked in tough periods.

This will not age very well.. Just like the rest of the things that talksport has said about newcastle after takeover. Saving this for later Howe did "too well" for Bournemouth for many many years.. And then he use Moyes as an example, West Ham had relegation form for more than a year with a good squad and same spendings as us. Ofcourse people started turning on Moyes after that, nothing to do with previous achievements or being victim of own success..

Pictures below from last season. I remember a stat showing that he had the most amount of dribbles out of all players in Europes top 5 leagues. We had a 39% possession last season, third lowest in the league. Yet he made this crazy amount of dribbles. In 20/21 we had the second lowest, and in 19/20 we had the least amount of possession out of all teams. In both of those seasons he was top 3 in attempted dribbles in the entire league. So, clearly our tactics relied a lot more on counter attacks by having Maxi dribble his way through. His decision making issues became more apparent this season when we were playing a different style of football, moving the ball around quicker. I mean his dribbling stats are impressive, but you don't get these number by passing the ball away quickly. And I'm not really hoping that he leaves, that's not my point. I just think that the old playstyle played to his strengths more, while the new playstyle suits the players that you mentioned more. I think that's why he hasn't progressed as much as the others with the new playstyle.

Just need to clarify, even though I don't think he fits perfectly in Howes system, doesn't mean that I want him gone! I'm sure he will be able to have some good run of games next season when called upon, and that Howe can work on him even more. And for sure his injuries has not helped him, because he needs consecutive games to get back into form.. When he finally hits form after a few games, he often gets injured again. Quite sad really..

It's not about that he should never dribble, Man City players also dribble a lot. But if they dribble when they should've passed, that's something different, and that can make Pep furious. The players that you mention are picking out dribbles at the right moments. Howe after the Man United game: “I thought he gave a really good all-round performance on Sunday,” he said. “He’s a natural dribbler, everyone knows that, but his decision making of when to dribble and when to pass was very good. He got an assist so the end product was there and defensively he was diligent so I am delighted with him.” I read from this that Howe has been working with him on his decision making. But also that the defensive part matters, which I don't think Bruce demanded too much of. He was allowed to stay higher up under Bruce. I'm sure Bruce gave him a lot more freedom in games, because he was our only threat together with Wilson.

I'd say same goes to Almiron as of late. Need to be more calm when finishing.

Tactic under Bruce was: send the ball to an isolated Maxi and let him dribble his way through a bunch of players. All he had to focus on is what he does best, because he didn't even have passing options anyways. With Howe we have to move the ball much quicker between players, and I feel like Maxi is the one player which doesn't suit the new style better. His eagerness to dribble when he can pass is what Howe has been trying to work on, he even talked about it. "His decision making in terms of when to dribble and when to pass".

It's scary to think about how good this season would've been if Willock and Longstaff were a bit more effective. Could add 2023 Almiron to that list, but he scored way above his xG before christmas.

I just realised that a team can potensially go down with 41 points over a 38 game season..

I'm pretty sure most of us believe in the Maddison links.. Players like Osimhen however are too expensive for us, especially considering we're not just going to buy a striker and nothing else.

Why would any club give us a deal that they consider favourable to us? With that mindset, might aswell never buy or sell players. There are times where a transfer benefits all sides.

This. He looks like Obertan. Very fast, but not a Premier League player currently. Keeps losing the ball. Enzo looks like an insane player though!

Yeah, like for example Mudryk, Sancho or Antony. That's the type of signings we need now that we're in the CL.

Anyone still wondering why we started talking about him again? We were linked with Gordon and Botman over 2 windows until they joined.

I feel like the only way to solve the criticism of the handball rule is by making it highly subjective for the referees, which means higher chances of inconsistencies. Which again will make people complain.

The problem is, how do you make a rule which doesn't allow players to purposely put their arm in the area where the ball can come, but doing it in a way so that it's difficult to decide whether it's deliberate or not? Without punishing some unlucky ones like this one.. They need a rule which can help them to be consistent aswell. Not easy.

Even Leicester got out of their group. If the group is not way too tough we have a good chance.