CVByrne

Make no mistake, if we qualify for CL the new format will take a big toll on our League Performances. The schedule is insane especially as we will most likely end up between 9th and 24th in the Group stage and thus play CL 10 games by the 19th Feb. with game weeks 22nd Jan, 29th Jan, 11th Feb, 18th Feb. Smack bang in where the FA Cup is. 

I think we are ceding the domestic cups in all seriousness while we compete in the top 2 European competitions for now. Europa League is the same format

We need a better squad than this season for CL if we qualify. We'll have to play 10 games be end Jan. As we would likely be in the 9th to 24th places and end up in a 2 legged knock out after the 8 group games. We need near full strength teams played in these games or a squad full of first team level players.

Europa League is the same format, but we could end in the top 8 sides there and avoid the 2 legged playoff and then be seeded for the knock out stages. But all this additional high level European football next season will take a toll on our squad more than this year where we played what 4 domestic cup games? 

9 hours ago, bose said:

He’s 20. Obviously not ready and he might never make it at this level but maybe a bit premature to write him completely off?

Not every 20 year old fits in straight away with one of the best teams in the country.

Philogene was older and he would have made it here if he'd stayed or maybe he needed to be in the side where he had the chance to be the key attacking player, play every game and get more of the ball. It's hard to know. 

Emery will know and every player has their price especially if we have the buy back option. We seem to make squad decisions which work out, even under immense time pressure like Lenglet in after Mings injury

17 hours ago, pas5898 said:

Where do you think you need to be running distance wise in training to complete a marathon? 

I ran 2 marathons in my early 20s on no training, but I played football 3 times a week, was 20kg lighter, 15 years younger and not shaped like a wonky potato.

I'd like to set myself a target of running one next year. 10k is about my limit at the moment. 

You just need to increase the volume (ie the amount of running you do)

Max distance you need to run in prep is around 30 or 32k. It depends on how fast you can run. The key to it is building aerobic capacity, which is just lots of easy running, the speed where you can hold a conversation or if you've a watch hear rate zone 2.

Getting up to two 45 mins easy runs and a long run that progresses to 32k is the main work. The best part of aerobic or easy runs is it's called the fat burning zone as the body breaks down fat into ATP for the body to use as fuel instead of the stored glycogen in the muscles and Liver. So you'll lose weight and get fitter (it basically is a workout for your heart and strengthens it, which is the key to the health benefits of exercise).

2 minutes ago, GlobalVillan said:

Yep and anything we get is pure profit so if we could get a 2 or 3 million bid from someone like Bolton, an upper table League One side, we should take it. And we would I'm sure.

I don't think he is at Championship level yet (nor does my QPR mate) but he may be one day. 

We'll be getting double figures for Tim if we sold him. We got 12m for Aaron Ramsey, 18m for Archer etc.. players with no PL experience. 

1 hour ago, AntrimBlack said:

Is there talk of Archer coming back?

I have no idea how he has performed this season.

Sheffield seemed to be a difficult choice for a young striker.

He was doing well, then Wilder was brought back as coach. They decided to get Diaz in on Loan to suit the way Wilder wanted to play and Archer was immediatley benched. The view being he's going back to Villa so he's just a Loan player who it's not worth investing more time in

6 hours ago, duke313 said:

The last player we signed from Leicester did okay.

He's a good player and versatile CM 

Napoli have been in terrible form and Dendonker can't even get a minute off the bench. Obviously we didn't know Kamara was going to do his ACL like 2 weeks after and Tim would be only CDM cover we have. 

If we can achieve our goals this season, Tim will have learned a lot and we can see how he progresses next season or if we get a suitable offer we can sell him. 

34 minutes ago, Czarnikjak said:

85% limit for non European clubs will still stay with this hard multiplayer cap. This is not bad news for us at all...the whole 85%~70% cap is terrible for our competitiveness though.

Yes agreed on the latter point. However it's better than no cap of PSR. Most clubs who are in Europe one of every few years will have to keep an eye on the 70% limit. 

Key in the UEFA one is it's calculated on a calendar year method. This allows clubs to include the income for the group stages into the calculation. So you could be at 80% the previous season outside of Europe and then get to 70% because of the prize money boost the next season. 

ECL is just the nightmare tournament now. Hit by 70% threshold and not enough prize money. 

I think we'll sell Duran if there is a big offer. Carlos might be allowed leave if we have a plan to bring in a replacement. Interesting what we do if we are resigning Archer. Also what we do with Iroegbunam, could do a sale with a buyba option. 

I think Dinge, Chambers, Sanson, Dendonker will be sold. Cash might be of we are buying a new Right Back.

We do need that versatile forward who can play centrally or wide. We need a right footed winger also. 

I think Ramsey stays 

Just now, Tony said:

Is unfair to put European clubs all in one category. The financial advantage gained from champions league is vast compared to conference but both will be limited on spend in the same ways. A stepped approach would have been better I.e 70% champions league, 75% europa, 80% conference. 

You may be right but UEFA control their rules. 

9 minutes ago, Alakagom said:

It's not  really capping top clubs spend to the bottom one. The most favoured proposal is 4x the bottom one, giving 466mn as hard salary cap if used this season. 

It will be 5x though 

19 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Because we’re one of the few clubs it **** over entirely. No enough revenue to not be affected by it, but in Europe so we have to adhere to Uefas stricter rules. We’re stuck in the middle.

Ah I assume we voted against the 85% limit because we have to comply with the 70% UEFA limit. We wanted it to be 70% for PL same as UEFA. 

It's the hard cap which we would be in favour of. Capping the top clubs spend to that of the bottom one. 

So assume we think the former is more of an issue to us than the benefits of the latter. Which is probably right 

18 minutes ago, wishywashy said:

Should be back by the 2nd leg. Good news.

Great news 

I would really love to know the thinking behind voting against the hard cap. 

Any update on his fitness? Assume we will find out in press conference for ECL game.

32 minutes ago, wishywashy said:

Might be able to make Brighton if all goes well...

Fingers crossed he is fit for Brighton. It's a massive game we need him for them all

2 hours ago, est1874 said:

Worried about Brighton now.

Build up is very important against Brighton. So he's a loss. He's a loss regardless of what game he's missing for. 

Let's hope this rumour he's out for 2 weeks isn't correct 

1 hour ago, Pinebro said:

Spurs game against Chelsea will be massive

If they lose that they allow us to have a free hit

Yeah they lose that is huge. Liverpool at home will play for their fans and want to give a performance. They are very very hard to beat at Anfield. Then City going for the title it's hard to see Spurs getting a win in that.

So if Chelsea beat Spurs on Thursday we can say Spurs at best 8 points from their final 4 games and we need 2 points to guarantee. If they manage to get 10 we need 4. 

The performance we had against Chelsea feels like ones we've had this season, a bad day where we couldn't get it right and ceded any attempts of control on the game. 

The Spurs game we lost 4-0 seems similar. Where first half was fine from us but it just collapsed in the second half. I think the home crowd is a negative in these big games at the moment.

Hopefully it's isolated performance and we are lucky we got a point and Spurs lost. Brighton are not playing well and are conceding a lot of goals. We can surely be confident in our game plan 

21 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Crazy. I think it will be interesting to see how that plays out in reality. 

Players will want to beat City despite that handing Arsenal the league. 

No Spurs fan at all wants Arsenal fans jeering them for winning them the League. That's the nightmare scenario 

11 minutes ago, fightoffyour said:

Fair point about Sheffield Utd but I’ve already included the other swings in GD (by one for a win) for the other assumed results.

Well if they draw with Chelsea, Liverpool and City game and beat Burnley by 2 goals. We win against Brighton and lose to Liverpool. They'll be 3 goals behind and 2 points behind.

So if we draw they need to win by 3 or 4 depending on goals scored. 

Same as above except they lose to Liverpool let's say. If we lose to Palace and they beat Sheffield.

Lots of permutations. I just worry a bit about them turning up for a big performance against City in the middle game. 

We just need to keep picking up points in the final games. We land a win and we should be good for 4th.

3 hours ago, fightoffyour said:

If we beat Brighton, even just one draw for Spurs against Chelsea would leave them not only needing to gain 9 points in 2 games but also having to overturn a GD of at least 6 (assuming a one-goal winning margin in each of the assumed results) or more likely 7 with our GF. So they'd have to beat Sheffield Utd, City, and Burnley by 2 goals each on average.

Goal difference is easy for them to overcome with Sheffield United to play. Most teams hitting 4 or 5 on them. Plus 6 goal difference will be less if it ends up going to level as we'd have lost and Spurs won games. 

Another win for us is needed and we've three opportunities to achieve it. I think 4 points will be enough. 

11 minutes ago, tinker said:

I think there's a few turns left tbh and can see it going to last game us needing a point or something along them lines. What ever happens we have done exceptionally well given the small squad and the injuries we have had.

Yes, totally agree. If we can get 4th or win Conference League or both. It'll have been a season beyond expectations. Like we're nearly at 70 points which is a monumental effort given how bad our injuries have been.