oishiiniku_uk

6 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

Yes I think it’s partially deliverate but I think it’s also because, Watkins and McGinn aside, we don’t really have the players for it. And Watkins is pressing less than he can so that he gets in the box more, which has helped him because now he’s scoring more. 
 

We had the 10th most possession in the league last season out of 20 teams, against teams that press like mad our possession was generally very low (except against Newcastle). I suspect Unai wants us to have more possession against those sides. If we get better at pressing high up the pitch and winning the ball back quickly when we lose it we will do that, and Gallagher is one of the best players in the league for that.

 

Id like him but someone like Ugarte or Fofana is probably a better signing for us given Kanara’s injury. I don’t rate Gallagher as a 6. 

We were 7th for possession last season, although there is a fair jump up to Arsenal in 6th: https://fbref.com/en/comps/9/possession/Premier-League-Stats

1 hour ago, T-Dog said:

The player on the left played for the team that finished 18th this season, and played a deeper role than the player on the right, who played for the team that finished 6th, and were also one of the most in form teams in the league since January.

The hype for Gallagher is absolutely mental. He's really not that good. 

Equal on saves though... 

Seriously though, these are just the most basic of stats and there's a lot more to consider when buying a midfielder than just goals and assists. McGinn got 6 goals and 4 assists - does that make him only marginally better than Barkley? 

3 minutes ago, useless said:

I get the feeling Chelsea are feeding the media this story and the links to Spurs, so when/if he signs a new deal with them, they can make a bigger deal of that news by framing it as him having turned down their local rivals, and the chance to play Champions League football, to stay with them

I think he's definitely in the shop window, but probably behind others (Chalobah, Maatsen etc.). I don't think this current ownership at Chelsea knows (or cares) what would be considered a 'good PR move'. And they have to sell significantly before June 30th.

4 minutes ago, Zatman said:

He isnt a great player though. If he was a great player the elite teams would be after him

Gallagher measures up very favourably in pretty much all stats compared to our current midfielders. I think he has looked untidy in the past when he's just been pressing/chasing the ball continuously, but he started to play more intelligently under Poch this season and I think Emery can take him on another level, while keeping Gallagher's physicality and energy levels. Honestly, he's quite a bit like McGinn pre-Emery right now: Great work-rate but variable end product. I'd trust Unai to get the best out of Gallagher in our system.

1 hour ago, MaVilla said:

still overrated.

How excited were you about signing Morgan Rogers? 

1 hour ago, Wes said:

Bowen signed a 7 year contract last October. He would be ridiculously ridiculuosly expensive. I can't see anyone buying him frankly, due to that fact, unless there is some timed release clause/europe clause which has not been made public yet.

Paqueta's situation (and possible ban) means that West Ham probably can't sell him this summer and the money from that sale had already been factored into their transfer budget, apparently. Perhaps that means they're more likely to listen to offers for Bowen as a result?

25 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

I completely disagree. I think Diaby playing in a wide role more often and not as the 10 will see his form improve significantly next season 

How often will he start on the right if Bailey's fit though?

2 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

Why on earth would we sell Diaby, he's got a very high ceiling and was our 3rd best attacker in terms of output after Watkins and Bailey. He got a goal or an assist every 80 mins for Villa which is the exact same output Watkins had last season

Diaby's numbers are good, and I'm hopeful that he can kick on with another pre-season under Emery and his coaches, but he is currently pretty wasteful and his decision making is often questionable.
Given the choice, I'd take Bowen over him because he's been a consistently high performer in the PL for multiple seasons, can play up top as well as on the right or as a central AM, and has excellent pressing stats.

Just now, LondonLax said:

We did much better with Kamara than without him. We know we are going into a new season without him for half of it again.

We have an opportunity to cover his loss this time.

We would be foolish not to take it. 

The drop off started from the Brentford away game onward, when Kamara got his suspension and Torres got injured. We never re-found the same consistent form after that. DM is definitely a position where we're light.

21 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

Graham Potter   

Yeah, exactly! They've already tried this approach and now they seemingly want to do it again but with a manager with even less experience, none of which is in the Premier League! These Clearlake guys with their 'disruptive' football strategy are definitely providing a lot of entertainment (so long as you're not a Chelsea fan). 

There are rumours today that Newcastle are interested in signing Jarrod Bowen. Any chance we could flog Moussa to the SPL and gazump those Geordies? Bowen as the second striker with Ollie up top, Bailey right and Rogers/Ramsey left would be quite something.

1 hour ago, osmark86 said:

Them sacking Poch is just perplexing. It's like they're actively competing with Man Utd on who can be the biggest banter club.

It seems like they're looking for the perfect manager for their 'project' and that candidate has to be:

• Young & tactically progressive
• Willing to work within the structure with two sporting directors
• Happy to be involved in all transfer discussions (Tuchel didn't want this)
• Content to have no say in the chosen targets (Poch didn't like this).
• Open to losing any homegrown player that might need to be sold for PSR.

I'm not sure if there's anyone out there who fits all these criteria, and if they do, whether they will be good/impressive enough to win over the dressing room.

57 minutes ago, jacksonho said:

Anyone know how it would work for FFP if we say sold Duran for 80m and bought Gallagher for 90m compared to selling Duran for 20m and buying Gallagher for 30m?

 

Just wondering if we are trying to do something with Chelsea to benefit both of us. I feel like it would be the same otherwise others would have used the loophole if it was one.

I don't think you can inflate the valuation of players to suspicious levels: Juventus tried this move a couple of years back and got a 15 points deduction (reduced to 10 on appeal) and a European ban.

I guess 'Southgate finally sees sense and drops out of form players' wouldn't generate as many clicks.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cd11e0v7rlgo

32 minutes ago, AndyM3000 said:

Trippier off injured. Brilliant.

He's been pretty poor in the second half of this season so I'm not sure he'd be a great pick for England at the moment.

42 minutes ago, HeyAnty said:

I don’t like the rumours coming out of City are saying they are up to letting Edison leave.  
 

Out of all our players, Martinez is the one id least like to see sold.  

They already have Ederson's replacement in Stefan Ortega, IMO. So if Ederson moves on then they'll be looking for a young keeper to be the new backup, I reckon.

20 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

I'm almost positive Barkley is listed incorrectly as 6'2"

He's 6'2" pre-sweat. And about 5' 10" after.

Just now, Kiwivillan said:

He was actually really good for us in a few games, the 7-2 for one. Then he hobbled off with calf injury or something and that was that. I'm usually against bringing back former players but would have him x 1000000 over Tammy that I still see mentioned

He was also good in the 3-2 defeat against Burnley after his injury. He and Grealish were linking up really well and terrorizing their defenders in the first half as I recall. It was downhill after that though, I wonder if he had long covid or something because he just couldn't run in the second half of that season.

2 hours ago, est1874 said:

Who?? Are you okay? Anyone who was skeptical about the Tielemans signing needs a head wobble

This is not the same thing or remotely comparable, I wish people would stop relating the two.

He'd looked out of sorts for Leicester the previous season and it took him a few months to get into form for us. I think a fair few people were doubting whether he could still play at the top level. 

A fair number of people (myself included) were sceptical about signing Tielemans and that has turned out to be an astute piece of business. The Ross Barkley we saw in the second half of his loan with us was one of the most pitiful sights I've seen on a football pitch, but this past season he's had at Luton proves that there is still a real player there. He's been very effective as a playmaker against even the better sides in the PL, despite being in a very poor team. If we assume that he's a rotation option and that he could cover in 2 or 3 positions then I don't think there's much risk involved for a small fee and his wages. If he's the Luiz replacement then the conversation changes, of course!

32 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

 

I'm still gutted that his season was wiped out by injuries. I think he would have done similar goal & assist numbers to Anthony Gordon if he'd been fit. I really hope that we do keep hold of him because I think Ramsey in combination with Watkins, Rogers (playing more central) and Bailey could be devastating.

7 hours ago, nick76 said:

No idea.  Not sure how they’d say we’d overvalued a player to be honest with the market having quite a variation in values for players.  There is not set fee structure in football, it would be hard to prove I would think.

Quote

The problem arises when two clubs engineer a swap deal and inflate the value of the players involved. Officially, they're two separate deals, but in practice, they mirror each other and because no cash is changing hands, you can put whatever valuation you like on the player.

So in the example above, if you acquire a player for 100 million and move a player on to the same club for 100 million then -- presto! -- you've made 80 million (and so has the other club).

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/37635725/did-wrong-means

4 hours ago, nick76 said:

I don’t want to sell Ramsey but the concept of both selling a pure profit player at an inflated price from both sides to get slightly around PSR is a very good idea.  

Let’s say Duran is worth £30m and we agree to sell at £50m to them, and Gallagher is £50m but they sell for £70m to us…it gives more PSR room now.  Net effect zero in fees and the PSR committee can’t argue on the prices.

Genius.

Didn't Juventus get a massive points deduction and a European ban for doing something like this recently? 

15 minutes ago, Czarnikjak said:

Heh? When they played City they were ahead of them in the table, so draw away was very desirable result.

It's easy now to rewrite history with hindsight 

And yet those two extra points would come in very handy right now. The past several seasons have shown that Man City are close to perfect in the run-in so any opportunity to put a bit of distance between themselves and City was vital, it seems.

7 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

Any of Emi’s compatriots we should try and bring in?  

That little fella who looks a bit like Alexis Mac Allister is pretty decent.