MotoMkali

4 hours ago, nick76 said:

I like the round badge but seeing as that is dead in the water under Heck I’m just wanting to focus on this shield version going forwards.  The detailed lion is much better than this yellow because it’s too yellow, it clashes with the light blue and it is very basic lion. So that’s my issue with the lion but I have other issues with the badge. I actually don’t care which way it faces now to be honest but I know others do.

My personal preference would be our current lion, on a unique crest whether it be the heck proposed one, the Lerner crest or a gaslamp one.

Theb preferably the lion is not yellow. Just doesn't work unless the badge is claret which then doesn't work on the shirts. 

Wonder whether we might be interested in singing someone like Modric on a 1-2 year deal. He's 38 so obviously a bit of a risk, but others have pointed out we do lack experience and control when we've been in Europe. Modric could impart his knowledge and be a model professional whilst not being asked to play too many games but still being able to play at the highest levels here. Obviously wage demands could be an issue. 

2 hours ago, lexicon said:

Yeah, I think so too. I have a feeling that the plan will be Torres - Mings - Konsa - New RB next season - with the RB taking the 'Moreno' role as we switch from back 3 to back 4 dependent on possession. 

I'd much rather it be the LB doing that. Torres as the LB doesn't inspire any trust in me. Whereas Konsa as the RB is good defensively. 

15 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Not to nitpick, but "vs midfielders"?  Is that Leon Bailey compared to the likes of Youri Tielemans rather than, say, "Att Mid/Wingers" which would be more Phil Foden or, rather, where Bailey actually plays?

(He's still playing fantastically well, though).

Yes, if you click on the attacking midfielders/winger comparison though

He's 94th percentile for goals, 98th percentile for expected assists, 74th for shot creating actions, 75th for progressive carries, 80th, 82nd and 83rd for Take ons, touches in opposing penalty area and progressive passes received. 

Foden is - 97th, 85th, 77th, 51st, 53rd, 88th, 76th in those categories respectively. 

2 hours ago, 479Villan said:

Working at a place where he might get 2 years at the longest, 3 months at the shortest. And no freedom or creative control. And reprogramming a bunch of diva players into your system or dying as a result.

Sounds like the kind of thing that would drive ME to LinkedIn.

He already experienced a dressing room like that at arsenal. I doubt he wants a repeat experience. Maybe once some of the more influential players have left he might consider it. But I doubt he's going to go now considering how nagelsman got fired. 

7 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

Ha , Onana gets two yellow cards in the game … guess what , he’s allowed to play in the final , FA have different rules to UEFA

spawny manc rocket polishers 

You can't get suspended for a final via accumulation. 

11 minutes ago, paul514 said:

With you for the first three, then you lost me

Mings is returning from a big injury and Carlos has been injury prone this season. We need at least one more player who can cover CB, because otherwise if torres gets injured we could be left with 1 fit CB for a decent stretch. Hell it doesn't even have to be torres getting injured but if the new RB, Mings and Carlos are injured then that means we'd only have 2 players to cover 3 positions. And so we would have to play a youth player or a player out of position.

Hermoso has been rumoured on a free for instance and he can either play in a similar full back role to Konsa, or he can play as a centre back too.

If we are in the champions league next year it's not just a question of depth but a question of quality in depth. We could end up playing Bayern, Real, Barca, Bayer, Lille, Sporting, Stuggart and Bologna in the group stages. 

And if we don't go out with a whimper in the league and fa cup as we did this year we are talking somewhere in the region of 52-54 games vs significantly better competition than we had the extra games this year. 

At minimum a 5th CB is necessary whether it is keeping chambers or whether it is having a trusted youth player sit on our bench all season, bringing back Lenglet or signing someone on a free. 

15 minutes ago, Nabby said:

Went off with Hamstring ,they haven't said if it's serious yet.2 week break between games should help him.

A derby game so form can go out window but coming off a 4-0 loss that's a tough game .

 

Chelsea for both of us is hard to call.Out of FA cup now so might effect them as at best they could scrap into Europa league so what motivation will they have ? 

I don't know how true this is for football. But in basketball when a player is forced off with a muscle injury it's usually because they will have to miss 2-3 weeks. Obviously with basketball you can a sub a player out to let them recover, and then bring them back in so it's different. But it could easily be a week or 2 for porro.

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

He’s got the same number of goal involvements as KDB’s best ever season. Salah has only ever had one better season. Son and Fernandes have never had a season that good. 
 

He’s the player of the season. 

Last season Harry kane had 30 goals and 3 assists, Watkins is hopefully going to better that this year with zero penalties. It won't have been since 20/21 that Kane will have had more goal involvements than Watkins in a premier league season and not since 2017 before that.

I think it's fairly reasonable to begin questioning whether it should indeed be kane starting upfront despite his prolificness in the bundesliga. 

47 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

**** superb tracking back for that equaliser. Outstanding.

THAT is why Emery continues to big him up.

Attitude>>>Application 

Totally fair to say not a great debut PL season...

Keep going moose. Tough old league over here. Take us home to 4th.

I think it's unfair to phrase it like that. It hasn't been great in the sense of like a genuine world class player and he's a number of poor games. But despite that he's got 13 goal contributions which is tied for 23rd in the league. He also forced 3 own goals. He's also only played 1850 minutes. He gets a goal contribution as frequently as Julian Alvarez 145 minutes per goal or assist each, Solanke is only at 1 every 140 minutes, someone like havertz is at 156.

Diaby has overall been very impactful this season. And had Bailey been a lesser player this year I'm sure diaby could have been pushing for 10 goals and 10 assists himself. 

16 goal contributing actions in just 16 games worth of minutes in the prem. Been massively influential. 

40 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Oh it's definitely Kamara plus another. 0% hesitation.

Unai Emery is a **** outrageous miracle worker.

Kamara and Mcginn and Kamara and Tielemans is still a mile off Luiz and Kamara. 

It's Luiz and Kamara by a mile. 

Personally for Chelsea I think I might put Luiz further forward. Tielemans and Mcginn seem to have developed a nice chemistry as a duo in midfield that Luiz doesn't have with Mcginn or Tielemans for whatever reason (probably because Tielemans isn't physical enough and Mcginn never drops to receive the pass which prevents Luiz from being higher up himself to make the passes he wants). 

Either way though Luiz is the best player of the 4, the question how we can unlock him not whether or not he shouldn't be starting. 

3 hours ago, WallisFrizz said:

We’re in such a strong position but we can’t forget that 2 of Spurs last games are against Sheff Utd and Burnley who will probably already be relegated. That’s the 6 point gap made up. We need a couple more wins to be sure. 

Yes but we play Chelsea before spurs play again. If we win that game, spurs might capitulate as it will be a nigh insurmountable gap. That being said we need to go out and beat Chelsea. 

3 hours ago, Tayls said:

Very tricky. As I thought we looked flat as hell against Lille. 

Even trickier thought… how does Kamara fit into all of this?! Recent performances and progress makes me think we actually only need one of Luiz or Kamara…. 

We absolutely need both. Do you forget how great we were before Kamara got injured. 

We won 13, drew 2 and lost 4 from 19 games he was fully available for (lost United game after he was injured so won't count that). 41 points in 19 games. That's looking like it might be enough to win the league this year. Plus we will have champions/europa league next season, which is against harder competition. And I would prefer if we weren't so pathetic in the cups. Plus Kamara won't be back until December so we will be without both if we sell one in the summer until January basically. 

On 20/04/2024 at 11:56, bannedfromHandV said:

Let’s assume that we don’t have to sell one of our top players in the summer, and let’s also assume that none ask to leave and/or are the subject of a crazy bid that we just can’t turn down.

What do we need in the summer? This season has been somewhat helpful in that regard as we know where the gaps are. Definitely need a defensive midfielder to compete with Kamara, I think another centre midfielder (perhaps more versatile a la Tielemans) and then a forward (to play across the front positions), don’t think we need anything more with a new backup GK already here and the new RB inbound.

In order of priority - 

DM - We have a bunch of players who can play the 8 role Luiz normally fills but without Kamara they all have to play in position worse for them. We also lack physicality in the middle and signing a more imposing DM could help us a lot on set pieces and vs more physical but less technically gifted teams like those we faced in the conference league.

RB - For Obvious reasons, Cash is our weakest rotation player, and signing a better RB gives us more CB depth to as we can then play Konsa either at RB or RCB. 

LB - Digne and Moreno are both in their 30s. Now is the time to sell at least one. We don't want to end up at a point in 2-3 years time where they are both regressing and we can't find any buyers for them. 

5th CB - Depending on where the club think Mings is, this one may need to be more regular than we might think but if Mings is good we only really just need one for depth (specifically Mings and Carlos injuries). Potentially if we sign someone like hermoso on a free he could fill in as both a LB and 5th choice CB, and would free us to sell both digne and Moreno and sign another attacking LB without compromising our defence. 

AFAIK we will also be forced into signing Ramsey and Archer and perhaps we can bring back philogene. If that is the case than that is probably all the attacking reinforcements we need. 

1 hour ago, duke313 said:

I thought Diaby, Rogers and Bailey linked up really well today, along with Watkins in front. Definitely need to see these 4 on the pitch as much as possible.

Think the only time we should see diaby through the Middle is when Bailey is also down the right otherwise I'd prefer him to be more of a true winger and have Rogers in the centre who can use his physicality to battle the CBs and come short. 

23 minutes ago, paul514 said:

He was far superior to Bailey at Leverkusen.

He will make a proper nob out of the doubters.

I mean statistically that's not true. I can't profess to have watched enough to say whether it's exactly true or not. 

His last season at Leverkusen Bailey averaged a goal or assist every 110 minutes in all comps, 15 goals and 11 assists in 40 appearances. This year he's averaging a goal or assist every 103, 14 goals and 13 assists in 43 games 

For diaby last season it was 142, remarkably close to his record in the prem at 144, 14 goals and 13 assists in 48 appearances. He was better the previous season with 17 goals and 14 assists in 42 appearances making a 115mins per g+a ratio, the year before that was 123 minutes per contribution with 10 goals and 15 assists in 3076 minutes. 

Baileys best season at Leverkusen he produced at a higher rate than diaby, and as we know is a better dribbler and more of a threat to start counters with his long passing. Diaby may have had a better all round game though.

They are still remarkably similar statistically of course. And I would mot be shocked if diaby makes a big improvement next season as he can really drill into emery's tactics and gets more used to the physicality of the prem. 

1 hour ago, Pongo Waring said:

I feel sorry for Boro. We've absolutely robbed them here why did they sell him so cheap?

What a signing. What a bargain!

It was like 5.5+Azaz+like 7 mil in bonuses. 

Certainly he comes straight back in. I imagine for Diaby but it could easily be Bailey against Chelsea if he is injured or Rogers if we want to put mcginn on the left. We are gaging for depth right now especially with Zaniolos injury. 

It's a very rare quality for a winger to be such an excellent passer on through balls. It's part of why he looks so dangerous when he has Rogers or Diaby ahead of him their ability to run in behind gives him more options. Cut inside himself, drive down the touchline, or pick out one of the 3 other forwards ahead of him. 

Despite a bad run of form he's still averaging a goal or assist every 169 minutes in all comps (plus he forced 3 own goals too). A Goal Contribution every 144 minutes in the prem. 

His feet are so much better these days too. Did a lovely roullete between 2 defenders in like the 87th minute. 

2 hours ago, villan95 said:

Probably gone a little under the radar with some of the other performances but I thought he was immense today. Does way more defensive work than I thought he would. Anyone who thought he couldn't play in the midfield 2 must be eating their words.

He's so good at reading the game there was a moment where outtara won the ball off of digne and was charging on with a counterattack and Tielemans placed himself perfectly to intercept the through ball to Kluivert which pwuod have otherwise been a 1 on 1. 

13 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

I really don’t get Matty cash as a player. 
 

defensively he’s too stand offish, shit at tacking and doesn’t intercept much.

Offensively he does take any on, never beats his man, his crossing is poor  

he sort of works in the grand balance, but as an individual I rarely see what he offers 

Cash is pretty much average at anything which on paper is fine, but it makes him very tactically weak. You aren't as strong defensively as if you had a pure defensive RB for instance when we play Konsa at RB. And he's not good enough going forward when Kamara used to drop into RB position.

If you replaced him with a more capable full back we'd look so much more dangerous going forward or much more solid defensively