Laughable Chimp

Looking deeper into the stats last season, I suspect he's not as bad as people as some people are making him out to be. His defensive stats are better than Trez and El Ghazi's. Better assist rate and key passes rate than those 2 as well. The only part where he clearly lags behind the other two is goalscoring(which admittedly is a big issue) but he looks a better winger than Trez and El Ghazi in near every other aspect. A reason to be optimistic on the goalscoring front is that last season, it seems like it was a problem with finishing and it was only last season where it had fallen off a cliff. The couple of seasons prior, his goals scored had been higher than his expected goals, its really only last season where its dipped. Could be a confidence issue? I know the Lyon fans don't really like him all that much, but at least in terms of stats, his last season really isn't that bad. Both smarterscout and whoscored had decent ratings for him last season as well. In short, I'm cautiously optimistic on him and expect him to be above Trez and El Ghazi in the pecking order.

Looking through this guy's stats quickly from last season, it seems like he's assets if he comes to us will be his crossing ability and key passes.

We should give him his old birmingham jersey number while we're at it toom

Just checked out the playoff result. Benrahma's back on the menu boys

Nakamba isn't very good, but it'd be a bit silly to ship him off without having some kind of replacement. We are however very likely to get in at least one CM during this window so I'm not too worried. I'd start the worrying if we get to the end of the window with Lansbury as our only midfield cover.

I'd be more worried about his low rate of interceptions than tackles tbh

That was the case at first, but later on he was definitely putting in lots of effort on thr pitch prior to his injury.

No, I wonder why he hasn't scored more than one goal(in the PL).

I would think the sporting director deals with more than just incoming transfers though. Sporting Director sounds like a job that would cover a more wide range of things than just solely be on transfers, just on the name.

FM might be a bad place source of reference here but if it works in there like it does in real life, I'd imagine that the scouts all have specific jobs and report their findings to the sporting director. The sporting director then, is the one who makes the final decision on transfers, after taking into account all the scouting reports.

I don't think top 10 was the expectation. But I do think the owners expected more than being in the relegation zone for a significant part of the season.

Well that theory hinges on whether we do have someone who'd undoubtedly higher profile than Suso lined up. I don't think they'd risk getting rid of the guy if they thought he did an acceptable job, but there was someone not at least more than marginally better available. If its someone who's of similar profile or lower, then I think its much more likely that they were just unsatisfied with how our money was spent on recruitment this season and pinned the blame of the season on him.

Its because, despite what some fans and even Dean Smith may insist, with the amount of money we spent the owners expected more than just barely surviving relegation. Someone had to get the blame for our season. In between Smith, Pitarch and Purslow, they felt Pitarch was the most to blame. So he got the ax.

Its the exact same defence people gave Wesley back then. I assume because its probably true, but its a very low bar to clear. Any striker can do that consistently so long as they put the work on the pitch. And I suspect this is what Dean Smith emphasized this both to Wesley and Samatta to concentrate on doing because they weren't really contributing anything else.

What does it even mean for a signing to be a "big-money signing" anyway?

He "occupies defenders and harrys them". Gee, where have I heard that before?

I don't think this is entirely true, unless they're also stating this with a minimum cutoff to the amount of minutes played in the PL. Angelino, Joao Cancelo, Leighton Baines, Cezar Azpilicueta, Emerson and Oleksandr Zinchenko all have higher xA per 90 than Targett in the pL this season at left back as well as possibly Ashley Young, Matt Ritchie and Nacho Monreal(they likely are, but their sub appearances complicates the data I can see and I can't be bothered to check each individual match where they came on as a sub). I suspect they excluded all these other players because they didn't play enough minutes at left back in the PL this season for one reason or another(only Zinchenko exceeded 1000 minutes in the position), but that minimum cutoff minutes should be stated. Otherwise, its a bit misleading. Targetts numbers are still high mind you, especially since he managed to get them despite playing so many minutes relative to all these other players. Edit: Also, interesting stat. Elmo might be the second top right back in terms of xA90 in the entire league, only behind Trent Alexander Arnold. But he could barely get into our starting 11. Some of the other left backs I listed at the top are also of a similar case. I think managers for the most part don't really put much weight into the creativity of their left backs or right backs if they don't have enough defensive solidity.

I just a saw a picture ranking the top 10 quickest players in the PL this season, showing their top speed they managed to achieve and when they managed to achieve it. Apparently Trezeguet is number 4 on the list with a top speed of 23.6 MPH when we played Liverpool at home. Would never have guessed it.

When did Solanke play as a midfielder?

The point of looking at relegated teams is that they have players who we already know how they're going to perform in the PL, may be available for a cut price and the players themselves are likely to be keen on the move. You're not going to find another place where so many players fit all 3 of these criteria, so it makes sense to focus our efforts there. Yes they might not be the best quality but they're the best place to look for value signings.

**** hell, let the lads celebrate. We've just averted 200m pound disaster when it seemed like we were dead and buried. I may be in the minority here, but I don't think football is all about winning accolades. We're not a team that is at that level and dare I say, we might never become one for a long, long time. In the meantime, "minor" successes like this should be celebrated instead of looking down on such successes because we're constantly aiming for such high dreams. Its not as if survival is just some tinpot achievement after all, it has massive ramifications for the futur.e

Sign Reina as second keeper(if he's willing to sit on the bench). Take your pick between Nyland and Steer as third choice and boot the other out. Kalinic should be gone. No idea how good Sarkic is, but if he is good enough than I am willing to have him as third choice. Get rid of Taylor and bring in another left back. Get rid of Bree Get rid of Nakamba and Lansbury and get in at least one more CM. Preferably a big, bruising destroyer who's also aerially dominant.

Have we ever had a thread with such a funny and wholesome beginning?

Screw doing a Fulham. Now its time to do a Leicester.

Technically VAR didn't screw us over there. Atkinson did.