Mike Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 Clear the players who can't contribute out. Narrow the bridge between the reserves and the first 11 Buy for competitive reasons as well as speculative. Keep Eddie at all costs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabster Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 For everyone mentioning the academy, I think this is it. Let Suds see what he can do here. Recruit the best youngsters with a target of one, ideally two a year to make the step up to the first team. It takes time, but if you can't compete at the top end, then compete from the bottom. If Newcastle had Cobham, would we be in a better position? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazzy Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 (edited) You can do everything right (improve the academy, improve the training ground, keep your best players, sign two XIs worth of top talent) and still fail to break into the top 4 or challenge for the title. What you actually need is ALL of those things plus a huge amount of luck on the top. Because the odds are stacked so incredibly high against anyone trying to do what we are doing it's almost impossible to achieve without everything going your way. Edited October 31, 2025 by Mazzy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibierski Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 A superstar winger. If we had a legit top 5 winger, we’d be challenging for league IMO because of how we set up and compete. A winger that comfortably slots in 25 G/A whilst being a constant threat to opposition and requires doubling up is what you need. Every side it feels like that has won / challenged for league even going all way back to Leicester with Mahrez had it. You obviously can’t just get one of those, but you need to unearth one that can grow into that. Elanga 100% won’t be that, neither will Gordon. Both will be efficient over time for us, but neither are that player or will be. Can have many other good players, depth, academy etc. don’t have that star player out wide, there will be a ceiling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 9 hours ago, gazza ladra said: What exactly have Spurs achieved? Have the financial room to challenge if the owners really wanted too And got everything in order. They can be competitive and make bad decision after bad decision. They have consolidated competitive advantage. We can’t and don’t. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 There’s a big question whether we can afford to pay our top talent continually. And a big question about keeping our hit rate in the transfer market. Eventually having to consistently go for 2nd and 3rd options is likely to come back and bite us Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingxlnc Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 Yes salaries is a big one. Would Isak have gone if we could go to 300k sooner? Even the likes of Bruno and Tonali could probably command that elsewhere eventually. So competing starts there Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingxlnc Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 In terms of transfers: World class goalkeeper who can use his feet - Mike Maignan for short term or a Diogo Costa longer term Two full backs, a replacement for Trippier, back up for Hall. Not sure who.? A replacement CM for Willock - ideally a pure DM. Baleba, or an Anderson or Wharton. A world class winger - a Rafael Leao or Kenan Yildiz Depending on how Wissa does, and if Woltemades position in the team will be at 10, would still love a world class striker that guarantees goals like Osimhen Obviously unrealistic but if Suds and Ross do their work well over the next few seasons these are the main gaps to fill. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nucasol Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 Build the new stadium. Overhaul the Academy. Keep Eddie. Do those, we’ll get there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JigsawGoesToPieces Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 Need to be better selling too, players need to be moved on when they start showing signs of decline to maximise fee and to help with PSR. Something we have never been fantastic at. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 52 minutes ago, kingxlnc said: In terms of transfers: World class goalkeeper who can use his feet - Mike Maignan for short term or a Diogo Costa longer term Two full backs, a replacement for Trippier, back up for Hall. Not sure who.? A replacement CM for Willock - ideally a pure DM. Baleba, or an Anderson or Wharton. A world class winger - a Rafael Leao or Kenan Yildiz Depending on how Wissa does, and if Woltemades position in the team will be at 10, would still love a world class striker that guarantees goals like Osimhen Obviously unrealistic but if Suds and Ross do their work well over the next few seasons these are the main gaps to fill. How are we going to pay the wages for these players? And the fees? It’s difficult to surpass the top clubs consistently when we can only sign players they don’t want. And struggle to keep the players from us they do want. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vedder Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 A big thing for me is improving the technical ability within the team without losing our athleticism. These are top priced players admittedly if you go for the finished article. But the likes of Joelinton, Gordon, Elanga struggle with end product an ability to retain possession, particularly against the best sides, as well as not making the most of the positions we get into in the final third. This is really difficult, particularly with the constraints we have mentioned above. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HayDen Traces Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 Fundamentally "competing" = raising revenues that are comparable to the elite. That means further significant investment in infrastructure, the academy and the playing staff. Also, Eddie. Tie that man to a radiator at the Malmaison and never let him leave 🤣 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STM Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 Im not going to talk about the overall financial/PSR side of things because im sure some of the negative boring bastards have already covered it and used it as a stick to beat the club with... So I will talk simply about football... The answer is that we arent a million miles away. We know that because last year we beat the current champions in a final and the likely new PL champions 3 times in 4 games. Id say from a players point of view: A goalkeeper who can both play with his feet and be commanding (a unicorn). A world class winger, weve got 4 good ones but the reality is that we dont have a Saka or a Salah or a Mane or a Mahrez, these players will chip in with vital goals and be the difference in big games. Throughout the squad we likely need one or two more to cover vulnerable areas: LB, CM, RB. One of the most important things we need to compete is a good start to a season. Weve never really got out of the traps under Howe and won 4 or 5 of our first 6 games. We always seem to be chasing. We are a momentum team and if we can start well, it could snowball and you could see us going well into a title race. Weve done incredibly well to get within touching distance and from just the eye test, there are only 2 sides in this league who I think are better than us, Arsenal and Man City (even they have frailties). Liverpool, nobody knows what's going to happen. Incredible squad, shite manager. Don't tell me that Chelsea, Man United, Villa etc are better, im just not buying it. In terms of this season, some of those sides with good starts are about to start slipping up as we go through the gears. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronky Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 I'm not sure we're that far off, because we have a manager who is worth 15-20 points a season to us. I'm very intrigued to see how the current squad will develop over the course of this season. Once the injury situation improves and the team starts to gel more around Woltemade, I think we'll make real strides. Thereafter a couple of top-class players may be all that's needed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 12 minutes ago, Cronky said: I'm not sure we're that far off, because we have a manager who is worth 15-20 points a season to us. I'm very intrigued to see how the current squad will develop over the course of this season. Once the injury situation improves and the team starts to gel more around Woltemade, I think we'll make real strides. Thereafter a couple of top-class players may be all that's needed. I love Eddie - but this isn't true. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
manorpark Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 52 minutes ago, Cronky said: I'm not sure we're that far off, because we have a manager who is worth 15-20 points a season to us. I'm very intrigued to see how the current squad will develop over the course of this season. Once the injury situation improves and the team starts to gel more around Woltemade, I think we'll make real strides. Thereafter a couple of top-class players may be all that's needed. 38 minutes ago, The College Dropout said: I love Eddie - but this isn't true. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
manorpark Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 1 minute ago, manorpark said: It cannot be proven, but I agree that he gives us a MASSIVE number of extra points every season because of his personal coaching / player improvement, abilities. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curva Sud Milano Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 Maximize Woltemade's enormous potential by eliminating the wingers and adopting a 4-3-1-2... the German is too technical to be used as a lone striker like Isak, his ability to control the ball and quickly exchange passes with his teammates can be devastating. He could become a 20-goal and 15-assist player if paired with another striker. Buy a 10 like Nico Paz and you would have enormous and high-quality offensive potential. Joelinton can't play in a team that aspires to be among the top 4 or 5 in the Premier League. I know he's beloved by the fans, but I don't understand his use. The defense is already excellent in my opinion. Maybe just a goalkeeper. Find young players abroad rather than invest in players like Elanga. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curva Sud Milano Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 (edited) 8 hours ago, kingxlnc said: In terms of transfers: A world class winger - a Rafael Leao or Kenan Yildiz Leao is not world class, not even close.... and he never will be. Edited October 31, 2025 by Curva Sud Milano Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 30 minutes ago, manorpark said: It cannot be proven, but I agree that he gives us a MASSIVE number of extra points every season because of his personal coaching / player improvement, abilities. Yeh - 5–10 which is massive. 15-20 is finishing 14th or lower. We should aim to be a 66-70 point team. You would hope that 60 points is the floor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magpie Mover Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 The big question I think is how far can we go with a big athletic high pressing monster of a team, but with a distinct lack of top technical players. Is there a limit to what the type of team we are can achieve? We saw with a top technical team in Barcelona that it didn't matter how physical we were, how aggressive, how much we were in the faces, they were just so much technically better than most of our players. We don't have or play with a defensive midfielder, we don't have an attacking midfielder, no number 10, we don't have technical wingers, is that going to stop us getting to the next level? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazza ladra Posted October 31, 2025 Share Posted October 31, 2025 15 hours ago, The College Dropout said: Have the financial room to challenge if the owners really wanted too And got everything in order. They can be competitive and make bad decision after bad decision. They have consolidated competitive advantage. We can’t and don’t. So in the past 20 years they have bypassed us in terms of earnings and they're ensconced themselves as a member of the Big 6. But what has that got them? What have they actually achieved? In all that time, they've managed 6 Champions League qualifications. Six. We're on 4. With a huge Ashley-sized gap in the middle. Fuck off with this nonsense about not being able to compete with Spurs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain Posted November 1, 2025 Share Posted November 1, 2025 Bribes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conjo Posted November 1, 2025 Share Posted November 1, 2025 9 hours ago, Curva Sud Milano said: Leao is not world class, not even close.... and he never will be. He would be here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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