isaid

I could watch that second goal on that video all day long.

He starts off quite deep in his own half without the ball and keeps running without knowing if the ball will even come to him. And some call him lazy...

Scored 11 premier league goals in 13/14, we're not a club where you can really turn down that goal ratio.

 

Pretty worried he didn't play a whole lot last season. We've signed big players before who've hardly played for their previous clubs for ages like Sidwell and Ireland and they've been disasters but actually that 11 goal season Adebayor didn't make an appearence until November 21st so maybe he dosen't need loads of games to get into swing of things.

With Kane playing like he was last season, even benteke would have played very little in their team last season.

I love this new strategy of investing in true quality youth, Amavi signing plus the links to Oulere, Martial, Darder etc are the most exciting for many many years.  But for us to be a success next season we could do with just a few older, more experienced heads in the side to help them.  Personally i think this is why we've done so badly in recent years despite having players who are capable of more.

 

I think a few from the likes of Williams, Cambiaso, Adebayor etc who are 30+ could add that extra steel/resolve we've been missing.  

Plus Adebayor isnt the type of striker that relies on pace or anything. So if he loses any pace with age, thats not going to be a problem. Its very likely he can score 10+ goals. Id take that (if its not costing too much).

Only 5ft 7in.

No chance he could do it on a cold night in Stoke.

 

Next!

Well theres another 37 league games too...

Surely its sherwood's fault!

 

 

 

 

Keeper is literally the last position that needs strengthening. Unless we have truckloads to spend,...it's a waste of our transfer budget

I also agree. If we improve the players out on the pitch it will make Brad's job easier and won't be faced with a rediculous amount of shots at him each game. We were one of the worst for preventing shots in the league last season weren't we?

Well this is a fallacy, we are pretty much bang in middle in terms of shots faced. But 3rd/joint 2nd worse in terms of shots faced to goals conceded.

 

 

Stats. Yawn.

 

I prefer to watch the matches and make an opinion. 

 

Maybe you saw specific matches which left an impression on you but based on the whole season a  better goalkeeper + better defence should definitely be a high priority as its showing other teams need to shoot the fewest times to score a goal against us than against any other team (except newcastle).

If we end up with Richards, Sinclair, Begovic, Townsend and hopefully a leftback in the window, thats a successful window.

Sinclair and Townsend speeding on the flanks with Huddlestone pinging balls for them to run on to. That seems to be the thinking. Not so sure on huddlestone though

No way is Townsend worth 7.5m, and why should we take less than 32.5 m .?

25m + Dembele. That would work for me.

 

 

 

Total waste, a quality player who would make a big difference. Nice one Tim!

 

He didn't make much of a difference when he was playing, as we lost every single league match he played in.*

 

 

 

*Please note: under no circumstances am I saying that that us losing those matches was purely down to Gil, but it cannot be said he made "a big difference" as in the 6 league games he played, we scored two goals.

Best player on the pitch when he came on against Liverpool, giving us much needed cutting edge and nearly contributed to us scoring by creating chances and openings for us, plus an excellent assist against Chelsea. Yeah, didn't make much of a difference at all did he?

Not really, we still lost.

 

Exactly. We still lost. Now with Tim and no Gil, we won a whole lot more. If anything Sherwood 'made the big difference'. With Gil there was no 'big difference' being made. There was a little more creativity but not a 'big difference' at all as we only scored 2 in 5 matches. If we had to look at a player who made the 'big difference', it was Grealish whose pace and running started opening thing up. Now of course Gil can still be useful, but he is not as important a difference maker as Grealish, Benteke, Delph or even Bacuna.

goals in 5 matches. Without Gil

 

 

Look on the bright side though, under Sherwood we've started beating teams like Spurs, Everton and West Ham again, all three teams who we had ridiculously bad records against under Lambert.

 

Those are the sort of teams we need to be beating if we're to finish in the top half again.

 

And Liverpool 

 

 

 

Dembélé and Townsend are good players but I'd want them plus the full £32M.

not sure how that would work with the clause being 32 mill

cant see them just giving us 2 players

Tough luck to Tottenham then, we can't just give them Benteke in exchange for a load of players that they don't want and at the same time help them out with their wage bill. Maybe we could give them longer to pay £32M than we usual would. I think selling Benteke to Spurs is the last thing we should be doing, if we're ever to catch up with them.

32 mill yes...that makes more sense than 32 mill plus players

dembele and townsend would improve our squad which is why i would be happy with the 2 of them and 20 mill as we'd have a cm a winger and 20 mill for a striker

yeah itd help there wage bill but it also help us to try avoid a relegation scrap but i dont see there priority being a striker where as plops would be but would they meet the clause i doubt it

 

Dembele and Townsend would be definitely worth 12m ..if not more. If we ever get that offer, which we wont, id grab with all limbs possible.

Not a fan. Surely theres lots of CMs around who are better and not happy at their clubs.Maybe sherwood can use his connections and get a cm from spurs, theyve had lots of decent cms who might be on their way out . Dembele, Paulinho, Capoue, Carroll, Bentaleb, Mason , Stambouli . Surely 6 arent going to be very happy.

Daime from Hull City aint bad either.

 

the bottom line is that the only way we'll ever get to compete at the top end of the table is with a lot of outside investment from a rich backer.

Have you missed the whole ffp thing that prevents the owner from putting money in, no matter how rich he is, due to our previous losses?

Lerner can't put money in. A new owner can't put money in. we need to generate money independently of ownership to spend

 

Is it not possible for a new owner to buy something worth nothing for a 100million from a friend and then this friend buys a similar 'vip seats season package' for a 100 million? Or is that sort of stuff being stopped.

 

High line vs Southampton we get screwed

No highline vs Arse we get screwed.

 

What would the impact of no highline be on the Southampton game? Our midfield gets screwed, they create chances after chances. Maybe not as good as the one that are created when a highline is destroyed but certainly a lot lot more. Chances of us having a good game vs Southampton was always going to be low no matter what 'tactics' were used because southampton were on fire that day and their players are whole lot better.

 

Not that simple though, the reason a high line is "good" is that you squeeze the whole game into a smaller area up the pitch and can keep compact and press high and win back the ball further upfield. If you don't play a high line there is no reason to not be compact, Against Arsenal we were strung out all over the place, you can still keep the game "small" and compact but you have o invite them on in order to not leave space behind. In order for this to be effective though you cannot just look to hit Benteke in the shortest amount of time possible, because you lose the ball 9 times out of 10 and they are right back on the edge of your box again.

 

If we weren't going to press high up the pitch then we shouldn't have been looking to go from front to back so quickly if there wasn't a counter on. We should have kept it and played out from the back and got out slowly. We've seenthese players play keep ball and they can do it well.

 

A high line can work too, horses for courses, neither extreme is "right", but as countless humiliations of a traditional English press high type game have shown us both at club and interntional level, a good technical team with pace will rip you a new one if you insist on defending the half way line.

 

Most of that makes sense. However tis very unlikely that our team can actually play out from the back effectively especially against teams like southampton who are very very good at pressing. in the attacking half. 

 

High line vs Southampton we get screwed

No highline vs Arse we get screwed.

 

What would the impact of no highline be on the Southampton game? Our midfield gets screwed, they create chances after chances. Maybe not as good as the one that are created when a highline is destroyed but certainly a lot lot more. Chances of us having a good game vs Southampton was always going to be low no matter what 'tactics' were used because southampton were on fire that day and their players are whole lot better.

 

And Sherwood reacted badly, by thinking the best thing to do is to sit back and try to frustrate Arsenal. So he made the mistake of doing a Lambert, post-Chelsea 8-0.

 

Completly agree. Having said that, if he had stuck to the highline against Arse, we'd probably have seen a similar scoreline as 4-0. The reason being, our defenders and goalkeeper are generally very poor. I would have liked Sherwood to play the same way we played when we beat spurs and liverpool. Hopefully he gets in some better quality defenders for next season and gets them ready in the preseason.

High line vs Southampton we get screwed

No highline vs Arse we get screwed.

What would the impact of no highline be on the Southampton game? Our midfield gets screwed, they create chances after chances. Maybe not as good as the one that are created when a highline is destroyed but certainly a lot lot more. Chances of us having a good game vs Southampton was always going to be low no matter what 'tactics' were used because southampton were on fire that day and their players are whole lot better.

New players.

 

 

 

Think the game last week against Burnley wasn't the case of a cup final on their minds as we thought. Nor did Southampton look a one off bad day like some claimed. If the season had another couple of weeks left don't think it's exaggerating to say we probably wouldn't have survived.

Yep. I think the new manager honeymoon period had simply worn off.

And the players we have are simply not good enough.

Better than the past three results.

 

You mean the same players including the great Gil who had served up  2 goals in 10 league games? 450 minutes per goal. Hahaha yea they are really good players.

 

Players really let him down today. He can do very little about so many players giving no effort.

Wrong, he takes full responsibility for his players playing like headless chickens.

 

Completely wrong. These players are really rubbish. He's performed a small miracle even getting us to the final and saving us from almost definite relegation under the previous manager.

Theres probably something going on between the manager and the player. Its also likely that Gil was centre of attention for Lambert and took offence to Sherwood giving more importance to Benteke, Delph, Sinclair etc . We dont know all that goes on in training either. Maybe Sherwood doesnt feel Gil is trying his best. One way or another it will be resolved sooner or later. Im sure there must be a good reason why he isnt playing. Would a manager deliberately try to get rid of a player who would make a positive contribution without any good reasoning and in turn hurt his own chances? Its unlikely.

In any case people jumping on the managers back and some £%"%$ actually wanting him out over this Gil thing...thats just not intelligent. We have a manager who has just saved us from relegation and got us to the FA Cup Final, and we want him gone already beThe level of importance between the two is there for all to see.

Hopefully it just a case of injuries and no time for 'icing on the cake' players until the new season starts.

 

 

 

 

Man City - unlikely they bought Boney as a back-up striker. (10%)

Liverpool - Balotelli is a fail so they may well be in for him but a non-champions league club splash that kind of money? (20%)

Arsenal - possibility but may not be perceived to be good enough on the floor for them (a wrong perception i might add). (30% chance)

Man Utd - another possible depends if Van Gaal likes him or not, would love Ashley's crosses that's for sure and their strikers aren't great/injury prone.(30% chance)

Chelsea - very possible he's better than any of their back-up strikers and would fit the Mourinho mould. (60%)

PSG - another very possible with Ibrahimovic leaving , they need a replacement striker. And France is next to Belgium (50%)

Atletico - they need a striker too, Mandzukic is just not that great. As per Liverpool cost maybe an issue. (10%)

Real Madrid - if Chicharito is good enough for them then Benteke most certainly is. If Chicharito goes they could come in for Benteke as back up. I don't see it mind (5%)

**Percentages based on where he would go if he were to leave.

That adds up to 215%

 

Seriously? Each possibility is rated out of 100%

 

Seriously, that's not how percentages work - you can't have a 50% chance of going to PSG and a 60% chance of going to Chelsea.

 

You could argue the case that there's a  50% chance of PSG making an offer and a 60% chance of Chelsea.making an offer.

 

 

There was a similar Guardian article yesterday that came up with a 460% chance of Raheem Sterling playing football somewhere next season:

 

Liverpool (60%)

Man City (70%)

Man Utd (30%)

Chelsea (60%)

Arsenal (50%)

Bayern Munich (40%)

PSG (70%)

Barcelona (10%)

Real Madrid (30%)

Inter (10%)

Milan (10%)

Juventus (20%)

 

Absolute gibberish. 

 

Whoever came up with those numbers should be sacked right away. Its an insult to anyone who pays for that newspaper.

 

I had my doubts, then I loved him, then today's result happened and I was sad but now I'm happy again.

I'm still a little cautious going forward but for now let's just enjoy it. He has tried to bring a feel good factor back and has (just about) succeeded.

Thanks Tim.

 

Even world class managers like Fergie and Wenger have been hammered in the premier league, Mourinho once lost to Barca 5-0, there's no law to say you can't win the next game and we can v Burnley so response is what happens next week and of course on May 30th.

 

Mourinho lost 5-3 to spurs this season. One bad game can happen. Sherwood's done his job of keeping us safe + bonuses like good football and the fa cup final. Keep it coming!

 

I remember talking to some friends after Tim was appointed, I was not just underwhelmed, I was angry, really didn't want him.

Now, after turning the most boring, painful to watch team in the league, (who were IMO certainties for relegation) into one that plays with passion and purpose, I am for the first time in along time feeling optimusi about the future.

With Tim leading the charge.

same. i was so annoyed because i thought Fox would have gone for some foreign manager like pochettino type

 

So glad we didnt.  These foreign managers usually need lots of new players to fit their own 'systems'. Then these complex systems of theirs needs lots of time to actually work if they ever do. Sherwood's just seen the squad and and quickly adapted a system that suits the players we've got. Top man. Wouldnt exchange him for any other manager out there.

Cmon Sanchez!!!