Harveys Barn

Hearing that we might be in for Roefs. I'd be really happy with that if so. Even if it does mean dealing with Sunderland.

That would still be 20-40m cheaper than Elanga 😆

Just have to be better. Recruiting is everything. Talent ID shapes football clubs. Bournemouth bought: Hill for 2m Truffert for 14m Django for 23m Semenyo for 11m Senesi for 13m Hujisen for 12m Kerkez for 15m Christie for 3m Tavernier for 10m Rayan for 28m All within the last 5 years and most within the last 2-3 years. That's one hell of a group of EPL-standard players. You either win by selling for profit, or win by getting great on-field outputs and winning games. Scouting is where massive effort should be directed.

I really hope to see us build our team around Osula, Hall, Miley, Wolte, Ramsey, Thiaw, Botman and Bruno next season. Give Park some game time too. That's our core - mostly quite young. Lots of natural improvement. Keep Burn, Barnes, Schar, Elanga, Joelinton, Willock for rotations and depth. Keep Tonali if he actually wants to stay for real. Sell the rest, and try to bring in 6 good players aged 23-26 (GK x 2, striker, winger, RB x 2). Osula will be a serious player.

Very much so. Not too bizarre: Liverpool beat Brentford Sunderland and Chelsea draw We beat fulham

This insta posts sums up how crucial it is to have that sort of recruiting mindset. It doesn't matter whether you're 17th, mid table, or top 5 - as a club you're being negligent if you're not scouting in that price bracket and aiming to sell some of them for profit. All those Bournemouth buys were absolutely EPL standard, and did not break the bank.

I wanted to like gordon, but never managed to. Bad attitude. Picks when to try. Insists on playing certain positions. Over rates himself. Argues over taking pens. And has a pretty a weak strike on him, in general play. Sell him for 75m and we have done very well. We want warriors who put in every week and love the club.

I don't get this mindset. Bournemouth signed Kroupi Jr a year ago for 10m. We need to build around Miley, Osula, Botman, Hall, Thiaw, Bruno G. Clear out the uncommitted and cash in on them. Get the scouting right and we can find all sorts of gems. The players are out there. Gordon is very replaceable with the right scouting.

Eddie has lost the plot

Yep. I'm now Howe-out, which I can't believe. But it's the reality of what we see each week that has taken me here. He has not made good decisions about how to use Woltemade, Tonali, Wissa, Hall, Elanga, Gordon, Murphy, Burn. Everyone has either been over-used, weirdly-used, under-used, or mis-used. No rhythm has been allowed to develop. Natural strengths have been blunted. Confusion has crept in. Tonali and Woltemade are totally different beasts when playing for their country. Gordon has been allowed to dictate terms and pick and choose when to try. We need fresh ideas and a vision for the next 3-6 years, where we build around the strengths of our best assets.

I don't agree. As we have budget to ALSO buy some elite players. We need to do both. If we take our Bruno, Hall, Tonali, Miley, etc - and then add a Roefs, Mukiele, KDH, Hujisen, and even a DCL, we are absolutely better as a team than we were this year. Our advantage can come through not being strictly limited to the lower budget range, as the other clubs I listed may be.

Every season we see Brentford, Bournemouth, Brighton, Palace, Everton (and this season, Sunderland and Leeds) sign relatively unheralded or unknown players, for 10-30m, who go on to be crucial, best-11, EPL players. So I can't accept rubbish claims that the players aren't out there, or that we must spend 50-80m just to be able to improve our squad. This has been one of Eddie's greatest errors in the past 18 months especially. It's a little bit of hubris. And not backed up by what we see every week in the league.

Passive, confused, directionless, wide-open, flustered, classless. Brobbey looked stronger and more threatening all day than anything I've seen from us all season. Zhaka looked classier than anyone we have, maybe bar Bruno. I refuse to buy the idea that we must spend 50m plus on premier League players to be able to have a squad. What are our defenders being taught to do? Coz it ain't working. Shite.

We bring it on ourselves. We slow the game down when we have the momentum. We take stupid risks. And we leave the middle part of the ground so open for them to run at us.

We get opened up SO easily! Why....

Exciting. I want to see: {New keeper} Livra - Thiaw - Botman - Hall Miley - Bruno G - Ramsey Wolte - Barnes {New striker} Subs; Wissa, Burn, Willock, Joelinton, Osula, Elanga, Schar, Park, Murphy, Pope Sell: Gordon, Tonali (if he wants out)

This is the first season under Howe where our overall performance matches our wage bills. I think we're 8th highest for total wage bill? Well, we will likely finish 8-10, which is within that range, accounting for luck/randomness/injuries. Throw in a possible visit to the final 16 of the UCL as a very nice addition. Howe over-achieved, and wrung out the absolute most from his squads, every season with us till now. What he needs is: - more backing from the scouts to find better players in the 10-20m pound range - a willingness to refresh his inner circle of staff and coaches (fresh ideas are needed, as we now risk staleness)

I think we really miss Schar here. He is so good at that.

I agree, especially given the dollars to be gained from simply getting 1-2 more wins in the UCL. If a loan signing saves Bruno G or Hall from fatigue injuries, then that's another big upside.

Just once, I'd love the journos at the press conference to ask direct questions. Not "how important is ...." But: Why is gordon always played on the left instead of Barnes? What instructions are given to players about long range shooting? Was that game played in the way you planned for it to be?

Gun gun gun. Love him. Build the team around him, Tonali and Bruno G as the senior players, and Hall / Thiaw / Tino / Miley / Wolte as the younger group. We should be very open to offers for Gordon.

It's classic that our lead-in for this is 125+ mins, high-energy, high-stakes. And theirs is a complete cruise with total freedom to rest and rotate. Also bummed that Wolves got to enjoy a confidence-boosting, extremely rare win, just in time to play us.

Yeah, I'd almost forgotten about Will! I want to see him, and Park, getting some minutes

Losing Anderson and Minteh could hardly have turned out any worse for us. Definitely should have sold Gordon instead.

Agree - but I do think Eddie is uniquely good at using training sessions to improve the players and the game style. Taking away some of that time therefore may hurt us more, relative to others. It's limiting a key strength of Howe's, I feel.