wong989

Scouting, recruitment and development to compete with the best at it right now. We need value signings who can develop to displace players in areas we aren’t at elite level. Need value signings to replace Joelintons. Need more technical players who can develop athletically rather than vice versa. With PSR in place we need to consistently find undervalued young talent, like Minteh, and improve grassroots development and scouting, more Anderson’s and Mileys coming through. Only way i see bar cartel changes

Agree think Beckham got so overrated he became underrated. Brilliant player, brilliant attitude, apart from pace and heading, he did everything well.

I’ll throw in Sane and Coman as well, punditry seemed to rate them as world class wingers , think Bayern would have won 1 or 2 more CLs if they’d recognised they weren’t hungry or reliable enough. Fine for bundesliga, not to the relied on in the big CL Games. Oh, Bellingham, think hes well overrated, has his talents, but the hype machine would make you think hes going to be Zidane with more goals.

VVD for me. When he’s hungry and Liverpool are clicking, excellent defender, at times best CB in the league. But if he’s been there 6 seasons, there’s been big chunks of 3, where hes lazy, waits for others to stop danger instead of positioning himself, only sprints at the end when there’s no chance to stop it and slides into the net and blames Trent or Konate or whoever. That trait alone rules him out of best ever CB lists. It’s the opposite of what a captain does.

Agree, but when they’re leaking goals or look shaky, I always notice VVD. Never known a more over-lauded defender. He has a couple top seasons when the team is clicking perfectly. When there’s any problem, you see how lazy and willing to let others take the blame he is. Amount of times he sees danger, jogs, now they’re being countered, hes screaming at lads who are trying but failing, finally, far too late he sprints and slides into his net and throws his hands in the air, everyone else’s fault. This will be his 3rd season where it’s his standout trait.

I might have agreed had we not signed Elanga, any time you can pick up a player for cheap that improves your squad, or will likely improve it in a season or 2 you have to take it. Sooner spend it on youth though. Either way, our squad planning the last 3 years has eroded the edge we had given cartel underachievement. No youth coming through that can improve our 16. If the Saudis want to make money and win, scouting and investing in local youth football go hand in hand with commercial deals.

One option we’ve got is when the opposition tactic is stop Nick from moving at all costs is to play a pass through instead of into feet where they expect it. He goes to turn falls, ref can’t not give a free. At the very least it can’t continue. Think he’ll have to threaten at times to run behind as well, it can work if it’s unexpected.

It was obvious last year that in games where we needed composure and attacking threat thru the middle that he wasn’t the guy. We conceded a few and many moves broke down due to his lack of technical ability and consistently good decision making.

This is where our inability to match the clubs with top tier recruitment shows. It’s true the likes of Red Bull, Forest, Brighton, certain German clubs have more scope for blooding prospects, but we need to be building relationships with clubs with a view to loaning out and buying in players. Our 18 man squad has slightly improved for the years and money spent. Our U18s,21s are the much better. When we were hamstrung thats where we should have focused. Maybe we’d have a prospect ready to show his worth, our depth is nowhere near the cartel top 4, we’re falling behind not catching up.

Isak is an absolute rat. He's irrelevant now. If it is the case that he wasn’t at least offered an improved contract when it became clear in the last 24 months he was a top tier striker and also highly coveted, constantly linked in rumours; that would be short sighted and not the business model of a big club. Expecting Isak to accept not just less that what he could earn but not offering a bump would be mental. Possibly Isak/his agent may have said ‘Ivan get better elsewhere, I’ll sign this but I want a(80-100mil) release clause with it. If he wasn’t offered anything it was bound to end this way, if not with Isak with someone else.

Seemed to me we were going to struggle this season, unless somehow we were able to upgrade some of Joelinton/LW,RW, DM, Forward and Goalie. Teams flaws in regards to technique have been plain as day for a good while. We've got fairly good players mostly who've been coached to the max. Once the cartel starts clicking even at 85% most weeks 4th place is unattainable. We may have slightly improved in the window, but we needed to improve massively.

I'd like to see that with big Joe, but don't know if he has the decision making or passing ability. Feel like when we need him as the midfielder to be released forward by Bruno/Tonali, passes get misplaced or he runs into trouble as often as he's effective. Hopefully Ramsey can stay fit

If I'm, JSL or his agent and I'm asking for a release clause and new contract, 75 is way too high. I have to score 15+ and look very good doing it, Cunha and Mbuemo went for less. Cant be more than 50-60, dont see why he'd set himself up for no move unless he's as in demand as Cunha.

Interesting about the fines for being late etc, because he does not look like he cares at all. Body language is shocking, if he's been like that, surely the thing to do was move him for whatever and sign a youngster from abroad. Because Willock offers nothing but a slappable face.

Advocating for constantly looking for ways to upgrade the team, moving players on who may have had great seasons, but the ceiling isn't high enough. Point being that Eddie seems to prefer minimal squad overturn in a given time, I jus think he's a bit conservative with it

Need a bit of wheeler dealer like Arry, if Barnes could have been sold and someone with someone younger with a higher ceiling brought in, ideal. Kevin looks good for Fulham, albeit in flashes. Barnes attacks space well, shoots well... but he's never a lad gets in a top 4 side

Team is crying out for a few players with better technical ability. So many unforced errors breaking down promising moves and putting us under pressure. Hopefully we can prioritise signing some mode and forwards with more composure and technique

Hes taking charge here like, great character

Even a loan to a less physical league, maybe he’d look a player then sell him…but we needed another mid, especially with Ramseys record.

😅well he is faster than Nick I spose, I meant like genuine counter threat either Elanga or Gordon…unless I’m massively underrating Murphy’s pace. Seems like he has decent acceleration but pace pretty average

Please God he goes in a 6 game tear so we can sell him. Far more likely his hamstrings tear from his legs completely

Just occurred to me, why did we not start a player with the pace to go beyond big Nick

If he pulls this off, fiat play to him, I did not expect that type of lineup. Shows how far we have to go

I don’t get why we go for Ashworth, who oversaw Brightons 5mil - 100mil in 2 seasons transfers, but have, as far as I know not brought in a much broader scouting team. The position we’re in, we need at least 2 for France probably 3 to watch U21s, 2 for Spain, 1 for Germany who attends U21s semi regularly, 1 for Belgium who does 8/20, 1 for Czech/Hungary/Austria, 1 for Italy, 1 for the Baltics and Turkey, and a couple for South America. That’s how you find Caceidos l, Alvarez’s, de Bruynes and train em to take over the first team. Only way we make it. Unless the league says we spend what we want. I’d rather we did it through smart scouting

He'd have been an excellent rotation option for Joelinton or cover for Bruno. We lack threat and link up centrally as Joelinton is lacking technically, especially in attacking aspects. Anderson would have been a good option instead of Joe in a few matches last year. You'd imagine in our midfield he'd have the least defensive responsibility, given his strength is more in link up and making space. Bruno and Tonali holding, when they go forward he holds back.