Gonçalo Ramos

[The Butcher]

He knows fuck all that Almeida fella.

[Rich]

33 minutes ago, WarrenBartonCentrePartin said:

Was gonna say, I’m sure he was wrong about Fonseca. There’s also a tweet on his timeline from five days ago of the Dutch flag and black and white dots. 

Depay to Juventus.

[GeordieDazzler]

55 minutes ago, NWMag said:

Would like to think it’s about us but last time this guy did it, it was about Juve. 
 

wouldn’t surprise me if this was about Ronaldo going back to Juve.

Juve couldn’t believe their luck getting rid of him, they’d be insane to take him back.

[sushimonster85]

1 hour ago, The Butcher said:

He knows fuck all that Almeida fella.

 

You mean the Portuguese Sean Casey??

[The College Dropout]

22 hours ago, Rafalove said:

We need a striker more than we need a cm imo. Anyway Benfica are in by sport 2 if anyone is wanting to do a bit of scouting

Nope.

 

We really lack quality at CM/midfield. A lot of question marks over our CM's ability.

 

I dion't think we'll sign a midfielder anyway unless it's JM. It looks like we are after a wide player and striker.

[The Prophet]

The first two games of the season have really driven home how poor our front three are at linking up and keeping hold of the ball. It's obvious to see why we're after someone who can come a bit deeper and play, with alleged interest in Isak, Ekitike and Ramos.

[Rafalove]

16 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Nope.

 

We really lack quality at CM/midfield. A lot of question marks over our CM's ability.

 

I dion't think we'll sign a midfielder anyway unless it's JM. It looks like we are after a wide player and striker.

 

in midfield we have Bruno, Joelinton, Who are good. Below that we have Willock and Longstaff who it looks like Howe knows how to get a tune from, and Anderson who is an unknown quantity.

 

upfront we have an injury prone Callum Wilson and that’s it unless were relying on Chris Wood.

 

zero quality on the right wing.

 

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by Rafalove

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I think we can just about cope at CM (if Bruno doesn't get injured) but in the front 3 we are terrifyingly light. Even the starting players aren't really good enough.

[Gallowgate Toon]

I think our attacking ability is now on the verge of being a bit underrated, like  we outscored other good teams last year like Wolves and Brighton, contenders for our top half aim, and that was with some pretty big mitigating factors for the season. We're not wholly useless. I don't think it's a stretch to say that with another year of Howe coaching we could reach the 50 goal mark without any further additions (as long as we keep certain players fit) while retaining our defensive balance.

 

That said, we should still be looking to strengthen, obviously. If we want to compete for 6th then we should feel comfortable in the ability to score ~60.

[The College Dropout]

18 minutes ago, Rafalove said:

 

in midfield we have Bruno, Joelinton, Who are good. Below that we have Willock and Longstaff who it looks like Howe knows how to get a tune from, and Anderson who is an unknown quantity.

 

upfront we have an injury prone Callum Wilson and that’s it unless were relying on Chris Wood.

 

zero quality on the right wing.

 

 

 

We play with 3 midfielders. We have 4 fit ones, 3 of which aren't that good on the ball.

 

I agree RW should be 1.

[The College Dropout]

8 minutes ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

I think our attacking ability is now on the verge of being a bit underrated, like  we outscored other good teams last year like Wolves and Brighton, contenders for our top half aim, and that was with some pretty big mitigating factors for the season. We're not wholly useless. I don't think it's a stretch to say that with another year of Howe coaching we could reach the 50 goal mark without any further additions (as long as we keep certain players fit) while retaining our defensive balance.

 

That said, we should still be looking to strengthen, obviously. If we want to compete for 6th then we should feel comfortable in the ability to score ~60.

No it's not.

 

44 goals in 38 games, is poor in any season. 

 

This season already, we've only scored worldies but struggled for genuine creativity and fret.

[KDT]

We would've scored at least 2 more against Forest if Almiron had a right foot and ASM had squared it to Wilson rather than shooting. They were 2 good chances created as well as the the move shortly after Wilson's goal where he put it wide when stretching for it with his left foot. Joelinton's run and shot should be added to that as well.

 

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by KDT

[Rafalove]

10 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

We play with 3 midfielders. We have 4 fit ones, 3 of which aren't that good on the ball.

 

I agree RW should be 1.

 

I would argue they all offer more in midfield than wood offers upfront

[The Prophet]

Personally, I would have prioritised a CM over a CB, but Botman was a primary targets and became available at a fair price. It also gives us much needed depth at CB, so I can see why we went down that road. 

[The College Dropout]

2 minutes ago, Rafalove said:

 

I would argue they all offer more in midfield than wood offers upfront

And that's fair. I would also argue an injury to Bruno would leave us with a midfield of :

Joelinton - Longstaff - Willock

 

That's a lower bottom half midfield at best.

 

I understand Wilson's injury record makes his back-up a bigger issue than it might be otherwise. But I'd rather have a starting RW or CM than £50m of strikers on the bench.

 

I think all 3 are needed. And we'll get the attacking ones. I'd prefer the RW to be permanent and ST a loan but I can see us getting Ramos permanent and a Chelsea RW on loan.

[Groundhog63]

10 minutes ago, Rafalove said:

 

I would argue they all offer more in midfield than wood offers upfront

That's like 2 bald men fighting over a comb. 

Pointless and irrelevant comparison 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, The Prophet said:

Personally, I would have prioritised a CM over a CB, but Botman was a primary targets and became available at a fair price. It also gives us much needed depth at CB, so I can see why we went down that road. 

 

We need almost every player to be upgraded, so it's always going to be hard to prioritise. Letting Botman go somewhere else would've just meant needing another CB in the next window, he's a 10-year signing. 

 

Really we need a CM and a forward this window, two forwards if he can't play wide. 

[The Prophet]

Just now, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

We need almost every player to be upgraded, so it's always going to be hard to prioritise. Letting Botman go somewhere else would've just meant needing another CB in the next window, he's a 10-year signing. 

 

Really we need a CM and a forward this window, two forwards if he can't play wide. 

 

Aye, that's why it's hard to be particularly critical. The squad had so many gaping holes in it last January, it's amazing that we're only really discussing two or three positions. Everything will be upgraded in time, but I'm happy with the quality over quantity approach.

[The College Dropout]

Just now, The Prophet said:

Personally, I would have prioritised a CM over a CB, but Botman was a primary targets and became available at a fair price. It also gives us much needed depth at CB, so I can see why we went down that road. 

Same on both counts.

 

This is why I think the leadership currently prioritises value over the immediate needs of the squad/first team. As you say, I understand the route they went. Especially considering they thought Ekitike was in the bag. That would've meant RW was less a priority, back-up ST sorted so we could go after a CM.

[Keegans Export]

17 minutes ago, KDT said:

We would've scored at least 2 more against Forest if Almiron had a right foot and ASM had squared it to Wilson rather than shooting. They were 2 good chances created as well as the the move shortly after Wilson's goal where he put it wide when stretching for it with his left foot. Joelinton's run and shot should be added to that as well.

True, but we also scored with an absolute twatting from 25 yards and a deft finish from Wilson. These things work both ways. I'm in no way an xG truther but it can give a reasonable indication and ours was pretty much bang on 2 for the Forest game.

[Rafalove]

8 minutes ago, Groundhog63 said:

That's like 2 bald men fighting over a comb. 

Pointless and irrelevant comparison 

 

It’s not pointless at all, it’s a one you need to make if you’re trying to gauge which area of the pitch you are prioritising 

[madras]

2 minutes ago, Rafalove said:

 

It’s not pointless at all, it’s a one you need to make if you’re trying to gauge which area of the pitch you are prioritising 

Are we prioritising one over the other ? Possibly trying to find the best way to do both.

[Rafalove]

32 minutes ago, madras said:

Are we prioritising one over the other ? Possibly trying to find the best way to do both.

 

if we can do it all then there’s no real need for discussion. This conversation is about which areas we should prioritise 

[madras]

6 minutes ago, Rafalove said:

 

if we can do it all then there’s no real need for discussion. This conversation is about which areas we should prioritise 

We are prioritising attacking options over defensive. I doubt we will be prioritising a RW over a RCM.

[Rafalove]

I think we should. We don’t have any real quality at rw at all