TWar

Luis to Monaco official. Also, just because Mckennie went to juve doesn't mean he is any good and therefore Anka was wrong. Big clubs make bad signings all the time, see Hojbjerg.

I don't have much hope of us signing this guy as our only link was from the Sun, but I wouldn't take this to mean he is definitely going to Monaco. RMC reported that we had lost the race for Salisu and that he was basically at Rennes twice so they are not the most reliable of sources either.

Mixed feelings on the tactics for this one. The high line wasn't necessarily bad against Palace, if we had our shooting boots on and Romeu could reliably make 10 yard passes we probably would have won that one. Against spurs the high line was suicide as they had one of the best passers in the league (kane) and one of the best and fastest forwards in the league (son) and between them they tore us apart. Burnley don't have that sort of firepower and prefer to sit deep and defend deep. Really this is the sort of game the high line would flourish at. I wouldn't blame Ralph for giving it another go but am aware if we lose again with the high line people will be fuming at him, even if it is more due to player underperformance like at Palace rather than tactics like at spurs.

Yeah, 3 goals a game. They have conceded 3.66 on average. And we got smashed in one game. Put it this way, not of the promoted sides have managed to concede less that 3 in a game. I really don't think they are that good.

I don't think this is true to be honest. Between them the promoted teams have conceded 22 goals between them in 6 combined games averaging a goals conceded of 3.66 goals per game, which is appalling. Also the only one of them who has not lost a game yet is leeds, and it was against Fulham, and it was an absolute shitshow where Leeds almost threw a three goal lead. On top of this West Ham struggled last year, are doing dreadfully behind the scenes, and have almost certainly weakened. Burnley have been weakened, Brighton haven't meaningfully strengthened aside from signing an injury prone bench warmer and bringing back a youth player on loan for a position they are already over stacked in. Palace have improved and look good but could still easily lose Zaha which would land them in a lot of trouble. Villa have spent a lot of money but not on prem proven players and their new squad could easily struggle to gel. I think the top of the league has strengthened considerably and making top 8 will be much harder than last season given Evertons spending spree along with most of the established big 6, but the bottom 6-7 teams have most likely gotten weaker.

The idea is, not that I agree with it, that over shorter distances our CBs should have the awareness and acceleration to track Son. If the ball is put sufficiently far past the center backs that it becomes a foot race that the forward would have a chance to get past them then it becomes the sweeper keepers responsibility. The issue is if the center backs are slow then the keeper has to be very alert and high up and if the keeper is deep the center backs need to be very quick in order to match the forward in a foot race over 20 yards or so. We had slow center backs and a keeper who was no where near alert or proactive enough leaving a massive void between the two that if a forward timed their run correctly lead to 1 v 1s basically every time. And their forward was one of the best in the prem so he scored 4 goals. My point in the original post was saying tracking Son for the goals was in no way on KWP. It was a joint responsibility between the CBs if Son was receiving the ball shorter and our sweeper if it went longer. Both were awful at this.

You are missing something a bit. At Palace the goal was in no way KWP's fault. It is his job to play that high when we are on the ball, for him to have been in a position to stop Zaha he would have had to have been about 30 yards farther back that he is clearly being asked to play. Today we were being done by Son running from a position in line with the CBs when being played through, both KWP and Bertrand are clearly playing much further up than the CBs as requested. Responsibility in a high line system for covering the ball over the top falls to the CBs and the "sweeper keeper". For two of Sons three he started from a position between our CBs. If anything JWP and Romeu have more responsibility for covering Son's runs. Fullbacks in this system are basically wingers and our double pivot makes up for this in the defensive line. KWP did his job pretty well, was a constant headache for Davies and got an assist. If our CBs and goalie had done their job then this would be being talked about as a great game for him.

We still have a number of targets (Mangala, Ntcham, choudhury) that haven't gone anywhere yet and probably even more behind the scenes that haven't hit the media. No need to panic that there is no one left.

I think Adams has been a rare bright spot in both games. He played well in the second half of the palace game and his great strength and tenacity almost lead to an assist if Ings hadn't of uncharacteristically skied it. Also in the Brentford game he came closest to a breakthrough with his shot being turned onto the post by an excellent stop. Would be very uninclined to drop him at the moment. If we were to do anything different aside from the changes enforced by injury I would bring in Djenepo from the start instead of Smallbone or Tella as I think he can be a game changer.

Sounds like they inquired and we said "not for sale". This has been reiterated by Tom Barclay. Could cause issues next summer but I think I'd rather us lose out on ~20m on transfer fee and sell him cheaper and not risk going in to a season without him personally. Plus I think we can convince him to stay, especially given most sources reckon we will likely have a take over in the next year or so.

I mean yeah, a bit. I'm a little confused by this comment, are you just bringing up that I enjoy NFL? I think, if you insist on using NFL lingo for some reason, our style of play relies on many "quarterbacks" ie. players who can play the ball forward successfully and break the lines. I don't think it is a coincidence that we brought on Vestergaard at half time at palace and he immediately started playing those high diagonals. Problem is, Vestergaard is marketedly worse defensively than Bednarek. This kind of leaves us with few options: We could hope that Salisu is an all purpose wonder-player who has greater defensive qualities than Bednarek with the passing range of a Vestergaard, which would be handy but from reports he is great defensively but nothing special with the ball at his feet. Secondly we could try to funnel everything through JWP and have him be our sole "QB", but if he is well marshalled in the middle it means we are reduced to playing long hopeful balls with players who can't really pass so not ideal. Or thirdly we buy a second "QB" and replace Romeu with him. People complain about our attacking endeavour and how our wingers aren't doing well enough, but to continue the NFL analogy, our "wide receivers" (RB, KWP, NR, ect.) are getting open in good positions we just don't have the quality to break the lines to find them. A similar situation to OBJ at the browns, all the talent, often free, not getting good enough service from a mediocre Mayfield. They do need to work harder defensively though, they have clearly come back unfit and are not pressing nearly as well or aggressively as last season. That will hopefully be sorted by a few weeks of brutal training drills from Ralph. All I'm saying with any of this is that a single first team player could fix everything, we don't need a big overhaul we just need another deep lying playmaker to play Ralphs "long speculative balls into high-press" style. Would be helpful if he could run with the ball too (though that doesn't make him a running back, quarterbacks rush too, there is no real running back equivalent in football, maybe 1v1 dribblers like Traore, but running backs don't pass. A running back that passes is a quarterback).

I think we need someone who can progress play up the pitch next to JWP as we kept giving it away having to play the long switch to the high up fullbacks, we need another option who can carry the ball. I think Redmond is an excellent player but he has definitely had a slower start and him going down injured has shown what could happen if both him and Armstrong are out and it isn't pretty. I think neither Tella or Smallbone is up to pushing them at the moment and we need a depth signing at winger to put pressure on Redmond and Armstrong. Bednarek has been surprisingly poor too in the last two games with his positioning being very questionable. I think as soon as we can get Salisu in and fit we need to play him. No need for another cb until we see how he does though.

Our reported interest was almost certainly rubbish, given we have heard nothing since. Can always hope though.

Hopefully our takeover will have materialised by then and we can win him over with a display of ambition and a 120k a week contract!

NFL is a surprisingly fun sport if you give it a go. Not a coincidence that the superbowl is one of the most watched sporting events in the world.

In my NFL whatsapp group the americans, especially women, are really excited about this. They don't follow real football at all but they were chatting about spurs and, strangely, Harry Kane due to this. Womens football seems pretty good for marketing yourself across the pond and you don't even need to splash out on a Pulisic.

This is a shame as he is a good bench option but I personally think Djenepo has much more about him than Boufal so if anyone is going to be competing with Armstrong and Redmond it should be him. Also, I like that we have a path for youth with Smallbone right on the cusp of coming through too. Boufal is a good squad player but it he doesn't want a bit part role he should head off.

Mental price, but villa were desperate. He will get 5-9 goals or so I imagine and people will complain about what a waste of money he was.

I don't buy this reading at all. The way he spoke recently to Blackmore saying things like "We do not need to sell to buy" and "[With COVID] there will be opportunities to get players who we normally wouldn't be able to" very much seems like we may buy someone a bit special.

Worth noting that when Ralph arrived he said he wanted to work with a first team squad of around 20. As it stands we have McCarthy, Forster/Gunn (counting this as 2 as one of Gunn or Forster will likely be out) Bertrand, KWP, Valery, Vokins Stephens, Bednarek, Salisu, Vestergaard JWP, Romeu, Smallbone Armstrong, Djenepo, Redmond, Boufal Ings, Adams, Long, Obafemi So that is 21 players. I think if we ship out Boufal and Vestergaard and bring in a CM then that is probably the ideal squad size with Smallbone being able to cover both the CM and AM positions. Don't personally think Boufal will need replacing. Also, good to try and leave a path for youth.

Judging by how quiet we were about the friendly with Fulham our first team is probably playing lots of friendlies behind closed doors as that seems to be our preference.

You are so boring to be honest. The ITK stuff is like an embarrassing joke someone keeps telling because they got a laugh once and crave the attention so keep retelling the same tired joke until everyone around them is absolutely sick of it. And this strange argument, no one cares about your petty "typo" argument weeks later, grow up. Finally the joke in question was quite clearly a joke. It was a joke that had been shared widely on twitter, MLG was just regurgitating it most likely and you decided it was an opportunity to bring up a boring old argument and try to have a pop at him. Just wanted to let you know as an impartial observer, you come across as insufferable.

What is derogatory about this post? Seemed very polite and restrained considering the other guys views.

1) Person says something stupid. 2) Others react with a mixture of ridicule and disdain. 3) "People have a right to think whatever, why ridicule? what about free speech?" Thing is, reacting someones speech with your own speech calling them a fool is, in of itself, free speech. People crying that MLT is being widely attacked for having a view which is equal parts stupid and dangerous are themselves trying to silence people who have very valid reactions. Also the argument of "Others hold the same view as MLT so it isn't that bad" those people are equally stupid and equally deserving of ridicule they just don't have a platform which allows it to be done on a mass scale.