tajjuk

All the best clubs in the world recruit to a certain style and identity. If they don't its because they dont plan very well and are a bit of a mess structurally (Man Utd for example). A response to poor form is not to rip up the style and try something completely different, that would be bonkers, that is how we are are where we are, multiple managers in multiple years, a messy squad full of players bought for different styles.

5 of Toneys IIRC were pens, several of Pukkis were as well IIRC. If you add 5 pens to Che Adams, he gets 12 PL goals. It's JWP takes our pens. Finding an outfield player to score like 15 PL goals on our budget is quite hard, someone like Toney had Brentford not gone up would have probably cost £25 million or more as an unproven PL player. We only got Armstrong for around £15 million because he had a year on his contract left and he's not worked out yet in the PL. ------- Also going to add everyone was cooing about Villa's signings last year btw, didn't do them much good, sacked a manager, spent over £100 million, finished mid table. Pretty sure previous years people have made noises about Evertons summer transfers (got them far) and West Hams summer transfers under Pellegrini (didn't work out so well either). Diego Carlos is a 29 year old whos never played outside Spain/France, who is Brazilian, but has no caps for Brazil when they cap anyone. They have also called up a 37 year old Miranda recently ahead of him. He could be good of course, just as high chance he's another expensive flop to add to their list.

Yeh it's the question of losses written off due to Covid, they have written of something like 3 times the amount Villa and other similar sized clubs have, and pre-covid accounts only had around £14 million in match day revenue for a season, so not having fans can't have impacted them that much. Something dodgy going on, Athletic reckon it'll be the biggest PL legal issue since the Tevez/Mascherano affair with West Ham where I think West Ham ended up paying £20 million to Sheff Utd.

No this is rubbish from start to finish. He's changed shape multiple times, and changing shape is not some magical device that makes bad players play better. I mean Man Utd have changed shape multiple times, their squad has failed under 3 separate managers (or more), they still getting poor results and underperforming, how about maybe its the PLAYERS. He's made subs early and changed things round in game, what are you talking about?, he gets bemoaned for not making changes and then moaned at for making changes, he gets moaned at for not playing X player and then moaned at when he does. Smallbone is not good enough, why is there this obsession with players not playing magically becoming better and better? What treatment of Armstrong? The guy has had injuries all year, are you his physio? Do you have intimate knowledge of his fitness? No, but you can somehow instantly blame the manager for him not playing, 100% talking out of your arse here. Blaming the manager is LAZY, it's one person as opposed to the people who make the biggest difference, THE PLAYERS. We've had multiple managers fail with this squad and the same old faces let us down over and over. We also have a bottom third of the league budget, spend basically nothing on players, have near zero net spend every year but we are like 5 points away from top half. What exactly are your expectations for a manager to do with a bad squad, that has a weak mentality and gets very little investment? --------------------------------------- As for Rose, he's made Dortmund finish yet again too far off Bayern, who haven't even been that good this year (by their usual standards), with probably the best squad Dortmund have had for years and some of the most spending they have done in recent times. All this with one of the world's most in form strikers. They have also conceded more goals than anyone in the top 8 in Germany, I seriously doubt he would do any better with our current squad than Ralph has. Ralph finished 2nd in the Bundesliga with a far less talent and wealthy team than Rose has just had at Dortmund. And I'd bet that March would have been high up our potential managers list, but has struggled to save Leeds. People seriously over rate what a manager can do. Good scouting and recruitment is generally what makes clubs over perform in modern football, getting talented players who play above their initial value. That is how we finished 6th with a clearly mediocre manager in Koeman, we had very good players cheaply assembled.

They don't win away so I find it unlikely they will in away to Arsenal anyway, but not really seeing how it would be 'incredible', they have spent like £600 million over the last 5 years, they should be nowhere near us.

Broja has scored 1 in his last 15, I don't think the team particularly has helped. The no.10s don't create enough, our most creative player is our cente-mid because he takes set pieces, something Armstrong doesn't benefit from. He's only had 16 games, which have been very stop starty, and had more chances recently when the team as a whole has been awful. I'd personally not write him off yet. But we need another striker anyway because we are losing Broja, losing Long and Che has the same issue, he goes through periods of just not scoring.

We have changed manager multiple times over the last what 6-7 years and not much has changed, IMO our best performances and runs since Koeman have come under Ralph. Koeman also highlights that even though that was one of our successful periods in recent times, he has since proven he is not a very good manager, what he had was good players. We need better players, not to change the manager, I am not sure what people are expecting the manager to do with the some old failing faces throughout the squad who have proven they are not good enough.

We already had the replacement, it was Salisu. The issue is that I think Bednerak has gone backwards so that has caused issues and Salisu is obviously young so will still have some bad games in his locker. But I just don't think we had the funds, we had 3 first team centre-backs, so they prioritised spending the cash on other areas like the fullbacks where we needed more depth and quality and got a squad filler to fill that 4th place with the hope that he might prove to be a hidden gem. It looks like from the noises coming out of the club that centre-back is on the shopping list this year, hopefully recognising that Bednerak is not good enough.

I think we have a squad of players who have been here for a long time and are basically associated with repeated failure. We also have a lot of players that are streaky as all hell, they go from looking very good and talented, to then having periods of looking like complete clueless cloggers. Getting rid of some of the older failed and clearly not good enough faces would be a good idea IMO, the likes of Stephens, Redmond, Forster, McCarthy, Long have been here a long time and are probably considered 'senior' players but they are not very good and its difficult for them to lead the team when they are never confident in their own form. Could probably add Bednerak in there as well, and as the article states JWP is a lead by example captain not a shouty one, but the other 'characters' or 'senior' players in the dressing room are either bad (the players mentioned) or quieter like say Romeu or Armstrong who are solid reliable players, but seem more reserved individuals. I kind of wonder if you get rid of those sort of players that probably dominate the dressing room dynamic, some of the others like Salisu, KWP etc. might step up and we see a better mentality. 100% as well Ralph needs help, a second set of eyes. The Athletic article on the U18s success this season comments on how well the two main coaches have done, and how they have differing strengths and personalities that compliment each other well. We really need some ying to the yang I think, he needs a trusted assistant.

100% agree, we'd need silly money IMO or him going on strike. Our position should be similar to West Ham's with Rice, £100 million or get lost, plus we are in a stronger position because he has longer on this contract. This summer is massive for us I think, new owners should bring a little more financial stability and flexibility in the funds we can pay, probably the first summer for 5 years we have not been hamstrung by terrible signings we cant get rid of on high wages. Plus a whole host of players either contracts ending or having a year left that we are unlikely to renew. Many of whom have proven they are just not really good enough for a top 10 team (where we supposedly want to be). Stephens, Forster, Bednerak, Djenepo, Walcott, Long, Redmond, and others could be gone freeing up a lot of squad spaces and wages. Whatever you think of the manager, I am not sure you could argue he has been majorly in the transfer market, and even if you think he's a 'buster flush' or whatever, and even if he gets sacked next season, I don't think signing a load of hard working, disciplined, young, improving players with the ability to play a high tempo pressing game is going to hurt us, most new managers coming in would likely play a similar style and like those players. We need better players IMO, the manager can only be blamed so much, people criticise him for not being tactically flexible, yet he has been this year, people criticise him for playing one way and demand the other, he does the other way and he gets criticised. I think there is only so much he can do with the players we have, most of whom are not good enough for the top 10 squad. We need 4-5, maybe more players that are going to be around the JWP, Romeu, Salisu, Armstrong and KWP sort of level. If we get that then we have a much better first eleven and hopefully some of the younger players will start coming through as it finally looks like the academy might be producing again.

Yeh they won like 13-0 recently I think and 6-0 vs Spurs U18 side, they invest heavily in their youth teams.

It's a European registration thing, they need a certain amount of homegrown in nation players in the squad for European games. That then frees up a space for a player they are more likely to use rather than wasting a foreign slot on a back up keeper. Its why Man City had Scott Carson.

Probably pretty high and it was always a gamble with his health issues. Plus they likely won't have him next season. Good signing yes, best deal of the season? Can't see that, 1 goal, 4 assists, 10 games. I mean that alone, that he's only managed 10 games is a pretty big factor why its not that amazing he didn't play until like nearly March. As MLG says Tino is clearly a better signing, £5 million, made a huge contribution to our team, likely future England right back, could be a key part of our team for a while and we are likely to make a big profit on him. Broja as well probably better Then you have people like Odegaard, Luis Diaz, Guehi, Kulusevski etc.

Exactly. People seem to forget that the biggest contract we have ever given out in the club (which essentially was earmarked for Ings then went to JWP), most of those clubs you mention there will have half their first teams on those sort of wages or more. I mean who knows what level of contract Coutinho just got (considering he was on £400k a week at Barca) and we know with a decent amount of certainty that Ings is on more than anyone here is paid because it was clearly the only real reason he made the move. West Ham just offered Rice more than £200k a week for 8 years. All those clubs also probably have doubled or more our record transfer, they will spend £35-40 million on player if not more. I think only Burnley, Brentford, and Norwich have lower record transfer fees than us. We are by PL standards poor relations, amongst the bottom third financially by pretty much most metrics you look at.

Fabinho, Robertson also doubts apparently. I mean if there ever was a time to beat them its after they had to play extra-time 3 days ago, with their eyes on Champs league final and have basically most of their first team out. Still think we will lose though, just want to see a committed performance and some fight, all this talk about finishing the highest possible in the league but we have basically been on the beach for weeks.

Wolves have really trailed off over the last couple of months, really looked at one point like they'd be in those European places but have in recent months lost to Palace, lost to Leeds, lost to Brighton, lost to Burnley, lost to Newcastle, got smashed by City and only managed to draw to Norwich. Only won 3 of their last 12 games, with only really hard games against City and Chelsea. The middle of the league is really a much of a muchness. Considering how utterly awful we have been, we really aren't much behind the likes of Villa, Palace, Leicester, Wolves etc. 2-3 win here and there, which can really come down to to a bit of luck with a goal or a decision.

Yeh a goal and good performance from him today would be great, I still think there is a good PL striker in there hes just found it tough but he has the raw ingredients for it. But Adams struggled first season but has turned into a decent player.

Not going to happen, you know what our signing policy is and it's a sensible one. We cannot financially compete for ready made good experienced PL players, they want absurd wages and have little re-sale value. We go through this little dance every year, people suggesting a load of has been 'experienced' players that are often not that good anyway and would cost a lot of money in wages, like this is suddenly going to fix the team and propel us up the league. Also its not like our team is full of youngsters, our starting centre-mid pair are like 27 and 30, Stu Armstrong is 27, most of the rest of the team are in their early to mid 20s. Like Perraud, he was 23 and had two seasons in Ligue 1, Lyanco was 24 when we bought him and was playing regularly in Serie A. Salisu had a full season in La Liga and had excelled against people like Messi and has been an excellent signing. Che Adams had 3 full seasons in the championship, Adam Armstrong the same. Where are all these 'youngsters' we are supposedly buying? You make out like we buy a team full of 18 year olds, we don't, we generally buy like 20-23 year olds who usually have a decent amount of first team football under their belts. Also the 18 year old we bought this year has been excellent and KWP is one of our best players and he'd played barely 10 games in the PL before we bought him. So it makes a nonsense of this 'experienced' players claim, we don't buy unproven youngsters generally anyway and the few times we have they have excelled. He's not because they have working legs and can actually play football. The guy has played about 2 games in 5 years and is 30 years old already, his injury record is unlikely to get any better. I will be surprised if he manages to get another PL club to sign him, I reckon he'll end up in Turkey or the MLS.

Like you say Spurs won't pay that, Newcastle might but I don't see him leaving for them, it's not like they are suddenly going to be top 4 challengers next season, if it does happen then it'll take 2,3 maybe even 4 seasons, certainly took City about that long and they had to go through a lot of transfer fails to get there. Not sure JWP will be waiting on that. I really think we only have to worry if Klopp or Guardiola come knocking. I'm sure people will say JWP isn't worth £80 million, but when West Ham have been asking well above £100 million for Rice then I'd say £80 million is a minimum, I mean that is basically Harry Maguire money and he's better than Maguire was for Leicester and even more important to us, probably more important to us than Rice is West Ham.

ACL is not that sort of injury, if anything not being match fit and not having full strength in the surrounding muscles would more likely cause injury rather than overuse, you can't overuse your ACL, it just breaks, usually due to a sudden twist or stopping motion. If he'd torn a hamstring or something similar after having hamstring issues then yes you could make a case for him being rested or eased back into action more gently. But an ACL is just bad luck, its was the action he did at the time that caused it, not any previous injuries or needing rest etc.

The last one is the best one, strength and balance to hold off the defender and the strike is the sweetest. We need a goalscoring no.10.......

He should but I also have a feeling he has in recent times or at least I feel he is getting into those spots a little more and is willing to take the shot on, he was doing it for England as well. Main issue is the 4-2-2-2 systems means its often the no.10s who get into that 'red zone' as Ralph calls it, and only really Armstrong is good at long shots. But he seems to be improving all areas of his game, his penalties have got better IMO, he's striking the ball better from distance (hasn't he scored two outside the box this year?) and he's adding to his free kick ability.

Yeh he's the sort of fullback you need for a specific role, like maybe he backs up a very quality attacker who is a defensive liability, like a Messi type player for example, someone who would never track back. In most modern formations the fullbacks provide most of the width and are important attacking wise, but he just isn't that. Though I think had he gone to a more stable club with a decent manager they probably would have developed his game on that side more, players going to Utd seem to go backwards in their development and play. If Tino's injury was really bad I'd presume we'd get someone on loan rather than a permanent transfer. Providing he is not out for ages fullback is probably where we are strongest.

Their level of target might shift now they are out of a relegation battle but its still very hard to suddenly get champions league level players as a mid table premier league club, they are not going to start just picking off the best players from the likes of Dortmund, Milan, Valencia, Atletico, etc. just because they waft some cash as these players to push them to the next level will be wanted by clubs already at that level. Plenty of clubs can afford him, but he'll like be £70-80 million, especially as West Ham are talking about keeping Rice for one more season and then selling him for £100 million plus with 2 years left on his deal, so clubs can pay that money but they have to want him, need him (as in don't need to spend that sort of money elsewhere) and he has to want to go. Like I said JWP strikes me as someone quite happy where he is, seems to love the club, is captain, enjoys playing for the manager and gets better year on year. I think he has said he wants to finish his career here so I think it would have to be a special opportunity for him to move, so somewhere with a top manager likely to win trophies in the next 2-3 years. Really doesn't leave many clubs IMO, like City, Liverpool, maybe PSG, maybe Bayern, maybe Chelsea, he's not 'galactico' enough for Real and Barcas finances are a mess. Then you have to wonder what priorities those clubs have. City look to be landing Haaland (whose wage is likely to be massive), Liverpool have issues with contracts and keeping their best players, Chelsea look like they are going to lose 3 of their best defenders for nothing and we don't know how much financial backing they will have. I just can't see an Arsenal or Spurs level sort of club paying what we want for him and him being that bothered about leaving. Maybe Utd could be a worry, Ten Haag could maybe sell him the project but I get a feeling he'll have his own targets in mind. I think he'll be here next season, I can't see the clubs that will tempt away will have him as a priority signing or wanting to stump up the cash. Like I said Rice is a pretty good comparison, he's been touted to leave pretty much every season, but no one has come in the money West Ham have been asking, they recognise now they might have to sell end of next season because he won't sign a new deal and will only have 2 years left on his deal. Something we don't have to worry about with JWP, he has 4 years left on his contract. I reckon a similar thing could happen, we'll have him till 2024, and then probably entertain offers and relax our asking price a little then if we can't get him to sign a new contract.

Don't see him going to Newcastle, he's 27, if he's going to leave us he is going to want to leave for basically a trophy hunting team now, not one in 3-4-5 years. Newcastle can splash all the cash they like but they saw in the Jan window a lot of targets will turn them down, so it'll take a while for them to be a challenging team and by the time they were he'd be in the latter end of his career. I think unless Pep or Klopp come calling then he'll be here next year and I think those clubs will have other priorities.