Summer Transfer Window 2023

[Tommo_b]

Didn’t poch say he would only manage a champions league team… money is a powerful thing 

[Rich192]

46 minutes ago, paul514 said:

Real, Barca, Bayern, PSG and our top 6 is the top ten in the world.

Wow. Just wow. The arrogance of the English has no limit. No point even debating with someone like you about this anymore. 

[Philosopher]

3 hours ago, bobzy said:

Higher xA suggests that the chance created is of better quality but the chance isn’t taken, rather than poor quality (that would be a lower xA). 

Not necessarily. Volume can also contribute to that. If Buendia creates 10 half chances don't you think that will add up to more than kne good chance!? If Buendia was creating so many great chances do you really think there would be such a disparity between assists and expected assists. He has one of the best strikers in the league in front of him last season, and the likes of Ramsey and Bailey alongside side him (both of whom are good finishers), but it's everyone else's fault Buendia hasn't got more assists. What a load of rubbish. 

[Jas10]

45 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

So he won’t want to join Chelsea or Spurs then.

[maqroll]

39 minutes ago, RicRic said:

Oh one million percent!…and how does it work negotiating with future players who want champions league straight away , does he tell them we aim to be there next year. 

He'll likely inform them, under NDA compliance, of the club's planned transfer expenditure and what players they are targeting and poised to sign. 

The players will be aware of Emery's pedigree and some of the higher profile players already at the club. There will be the Conference League, which is better than no Europe at all.

And finally it will also come down to the gaffer's charisma and power of persuasion. His enthusiasm and dedication is infectious. 

[maqroll]

30 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Didn’t poch say he would only manage a champions league team… money is a powerful thing 

So is the allure of a top floor penthouse in Kensington. 

[alreadyexists]

There has to be more to it than just ‘wanting European football’ though, that’s often stated as a players motivation. If so, just go to Celtic, get CL every year, get six group games and lose most of them. Unless it’s a by word for ‘want to be in the top teams who have a chance of winning the CL’ in which case there’s only really 3 or 4 teams that have a chance each year. 

[macandally]

6 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Both. He will  no doubt want to go to a champions league team

Absolutely no doubt

 

 

 

 

 

Just like Pau Torres

Edited July 1, 2023 by macandally

[gwi1890]

8 hours ago, paul514 said:

To be honest I’m surprised he chose inter with the clubs that were after him.

He could have been second choice at some of the biggest clubs 

Why not? Following in the footsteps of greats like Ronaldo (the real one) Baggio, Vieri, Eto  and so on. Inter is an amazing historical club in a great city and are likely to win trophies.

[bobzy]

37 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

Not necessarily. Volume can also contribute to that. If Buendia creates 10 half chances don't you think that will add up to more than kne good chance!? If Buendia was creating so many great chances do you really think there would be such a disparity between assists and expected assists. He has one of the best strikers in the league in front of him last season, and the likes of Ramsey and Bailey alongside side him (both of whom are good finishers), but it's everyone else's fault Buendia hasn't got more assists. What a load of rubbish. 

Volume can contribute to that, but it likely doesn't.  Buendia has made fewer passes than Watkins, Ramsey, McGinn and Luiz.  He's made more than Bailey out of the attacking options, that's it - and yet Buendia has a higher xA than anyone in the squad.

So either Buendia is constantly playing passes that result in opportunities at goal but they're generally half chances, or he's creating good opportunities.  Either one is pretty good to be fair  

[holteendhero]

Makes me laugh when a player says they will only play for a team in the Champions League. Go play for Celtic, they are in the CL every year 

[MWARLEY2]

1 hour ago, useless said:

Z Club announced the transfer of its young player, Omar Khadr, the star of the team, born in 2006, to the English Aston Villa ranks.

Alaa Nabil, head of the Zed youth sector, said, in exclusive statements to Laila Koura, today, Saturday: “Omar will become a professional in Aston Villa, so we previously signed a twinning with the English club, and during the course that we organized last Ramadan, they saw the player and were impressed with his abilities, and he actually traveled and went through a week-long cohabitation period and will travel the next period.” to sign an official contract with the club

The star of the Egyptian junior national team has a story with football that started with Zamalek Club and almost witnessed his professionalism in Portugal before turning his destination to England.

Khader was born on the 25th of May 2006 in Alexandria Governorate and started his football career at the Emberkab Sports Club Academy in his hometown and defied the supervision of his father, Khader Ismail (Chico), before going, at the age of nine, to the tests of the Border Guard Club.

The young player caught everyone's attention in the military club's tests, to be directed to Zamalek club, which I tested, and Sami Al-Shishini got his signature.

Khadr gave a wonderful performance that caught the attention of everyone, whether the coaches of the youth sector in Zamalek or the coaches of the competitors, so that his colleagues called him Al-Hawi and described him as “Ahraf”, a player in Egypt

Khadr, who occupies the position of the left wing and playmaker, became in January the most expensive player in Egypt in his senior year, after he moved to Zed for 4 million pounds.

Alaa Nabil said about Khader, "He is a distinguished player and has a European (style), and he must become a professional during this period, because he has the capabilities and he is a distinguished player.

The young player, who was expected to ascend to the first team for Zamalek this year, had a period of living in the English club Aston Villa, then he was a step away from moving to Vitória Guimaraes, before the friendly Z tournament that was held last Ramadan contributed to the settlement of the English club, which concluded an agreement Twinned with Z for his stand

 

I can't be bothered to post a link, ciao.

Obviously never watched the Daniel Day Lewis classic My Left Foot.  He is the most right footed player i think i have ever seen ! 

[Philosopher]

25 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Volume can contribute to that, but it likely doesn't.  Buendia has made fewer passes than Watkins, Ramsey, McGinn and Luiz.  He's made more than Bailey out of the attacking options, that's it - and yet Buendia has a higher xA than anyone in the squad.

So either Buendia is constantly playing passes that result in opportunities at goal but they're generally half chances, or he's creating good opportunities.  Either one is pretty good to be fair  

From watching Buendia I can say that this guy rarely play a sideways pass. His game is get the ball, look for the throughball. That's what he does everytime the ball ends up at his feet. To such extent that he often loses the ball because he is still looking for the throughball, and gets closed down on all sides.  The majority of his attempted passes are penetrative balls. He doesn't assess the situation, doesn't want to just keep the ball moving, he just looks for the throughball. There needs to be some balance. He is a poor decision maker because his mind is already made up (look for the throughball, force it even if it's just giving the ball away)! The only time he makes a sideways pass is if he can't see any forward passes, and he somehow managed to keep the ball while looking for the throughball (which isn't often).

So I'm certain much of the disparity is volume, rather than poor finishing. However if someone puts together a video of all his created chances and it shows a load of great chances not getting the finish they deserve, then I will stand corrected, and hold my hands up.

If we are desperate for a goal, he is good to bring on, but if you want to control a game you need a number 10 that's a little more thoughtful. And better at retaining possession.

We can't just chalk up the disparity between assists and expected assists as all down to poor finishing. (As has been claimed)

And we can't say when looking at creative players, assists don't matter, but Xa is the most important stat to look at (as has been claimed). Assists is what creative players are judged on and what they are hired to do! 

De-Bruyne is the top creator, not because he has the highest Xa, but because every season he has the highest assists.

I'm just stunned that people actually type such claims, and expect to be taken seriously!

[Don_Simon]

37 minutes ago, holteendhero said:

Makes me laugh when a player says they will only play for a team in the Champions League. Go play for Celtic, they are in the CL every year 

Gareth Barry did this. Went to City, should have gone to FC Cluj. 

[bobzy]

11 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

From watching Buendia I can say that this guy rarely play a sideways pass. His game is get the ball, look for the throughball. That's what he does everytime the ball ends up at his feet. To such extent that he often loses the ball because he is still looking for the throughball, and gets closed down on all sides.  The majority of his attempted passes are penetrative balls. He doesn't assess the situation, doesn't want to just keep the ball moving, he just looks for the throughball. There needs to be some balance. He is a poor decision maker because his mind is already made up (look for the throughball, force it even if it's just giving the ball away)! The only time he makes a sideways pass is if he can't see any forward passes, and he somehow managed to keep the ball while looking for the throughball (which isn't often).

So I'm certain much of the disparity is volume, rather than poor finishing. However if someone puts together a video of all his created chances and it shows a load of great chances not getting the finish they deserve, then I will stand corrected, and hold my hands up.

If we are desperate for a goal, he is good to bring on, but if you want to control a game you need a number 10 that's a little more thoughtful. And better at retaining possession.

We can't just chalk up the disparity between assists and expected assists as all down to poor finishing. (As has been claimed)

And we can't say when looking at creative players, assists don't matter, but Xa is the most important stat to look at (as has been claimed). Assists is what creative players are judged on and what they are hired to do! 

De-Bruyne is the top creator, not because he has the highest Xa, but because every season he has the highest assists.

I'm just stunned that people actually type such claims, and expect to be taken seriously!

I don't think you understand how xA works.  If a player gets a ball, attempts to pass but just gives it away then it doesn't count.  It has 0 impact on xA, it doesn't provide a 0.10 benefit.  As I've already said, Buendia makes fewer passes than others in similar areas.  So, as much as you want to be certain much of the disparity is volume, it's very unlikely to be that - he's making fewer passes after all.  That said, it's fair to say that a player could be a good creative player but also gives the ball away too frequently - and this is probably true of Buendia.  He does always look to progress the ball quickly, most often through the middle of the pitch, where it's tighter and he ends up relinquishing possession.

The reason that it matters about finishing, though, is that it's indicative of whether or not an "expected assist" becomes an actual assist.  Picking out De Bruyne actually shows a decent example of this.

At Man City, they have arguably the greatest striker in the World up top aided by a lot of elite class attacking players around him.  De Bruyne is a phenomenal passer of a ball.  Not only will he find a teammate but, with alarming regularity, that player will also score.  De Bruyne had 16 assists last season, against 13.7 xA.  He's quite obviously an elite player but he "outperformed", which is pretty likely given the set up at Man City. 

Let's go across the city to Man Utd.  Compared to Man City's 94 goals in the season, they scored only 58 (just 7 more than us) - yet they also have a very good creative player sitting in the middle of the park in Bruno Fernandes.  You'd expect to see him near De Bruyne at the top of the assists chart yet, whilst his haul of 8 isn't bad, it's half of what De Bruyne did.  Interestingly, though, Fernandes' xA was higher than De Bruyne's at 16.7 (the highest in the league).  Despite Rashford hitting a very good purple patch at whatever stage of the season it was, Man Utd struggled to score goals yet had the "best creator" in the league in their side.  Rashford scored 17, Fernandes 8 and Sancho was third best with 6.  Fernandes obviously can't create for himself, so it highlights likely poor finishing (or great defending), rather than saying it was Fernandes "fault" for not getting more assists.

[Enda]

7 minutes ago, bobzy said:

De Bruyne had 16 assists last season, against 13.7 xA.  He's quite obviously an elite player but he "outperformed", which is pretty likely given the set up at Man City. 

Yep. He outperformed his xA by about 20% because he had Haaland in front of him The year before, he *underperformed* by about 20%.

xA isn’t perfect by any means but it makes a lot of sense.

[TheAuthority]

xActly

[Philosopher]

4 hours ago, bobzy said:

I don't think you understand how xA works.  If a player gets a ball, attempts to pass but just gives it away then it doesn't count.  It has 0 impact on xA, it doesn't provide a 0.10 benefit.  As I've already said, Buendia makes fewer passes than others in similar areas.  So, as much as you want to be certain much of the disparity is volume, it's very unlikely to be that - he's making fewer passes after all.  That said, it's fair to say that a player could be a good creative player but also gives the ball away too frequently - and this is probably true of Buendia.  He does always look to progress the ball quickly, most often through the middle of the pitch, where it's tighter and he ends up relinquishing possession.

The reason that it matters about finishing, though, is that it's indicative of whether or not an "expected assist" becomes an actual assist.  Picking out De Bruyne actually shows a decent example of this.

At Man City, they have arguably the greatest striker in the World up top aided by a lot of elite class attacking players around him.  De Bruyne is a phenomenal passer of a ball.  Not only will he find a teammate but, with alarming regularity, that player will also score.  De Bruyne had 16 assists last season, against 13.7 xA.  He's quite obviously an elite player but he "outperformed", which is pretty likely given the set up at Man City. 

Let's go across the city to Man Utd.  Compared to Man City's 94 goals in the season, they scored only 58 (just 7 more than us) - yet they also have a very good creative player sitting in the middle of the park in Bruno Fernandes.  You'd expect to see him near De Bruyne at the top of the assists chart yet, whilst his haul of 8 isn't bad, it's half of what De Bruyne did.  Interestingly, though, Fernandes' xA was higher than De Bruyne's at 16.7 (the highest in the league).  Despite Rashford hitting a very good purple patch at whatever stage of the season it was, Man Utd struggled to score goals yet had the "best creator" in the league in their side.  Rashford scored 17, Fernandes 8 and Sancho was third best with 6.  Fernandes obviously can't create for himself, so it highlights likely poor finishing (or great defending), rather than saying it was Fernandes "fault" for not getting more assists.

I understand xA. You're being disingenuous by asserting so.

I never said a pass that doesn't find it's target counts towards xA. I said a player can create a chance  with a lower probability of being finished off and it will count to xA.

I also said that Buendia creates a lot of chances with less passes because he always goes for the throughball. A far higher percentage of his passes with be throughballs compared to JJ for example who often plays the simple pass, however  JJ had more assists. Yes JJ played more passes, but a far lower percentage of his passes will be throughball attempts.

My point from the beginning is simply Buendia's poor assists to xA is not down to simply poor finishing and nothing you or anyone else has said has come close to proving that.

Last season Trossard got 12 assists with an xA of 10.25, most of those were for Brighton. Not top striker there. Mo Salah narrowly exceeded his xA with 12 assists also and he had Nunez missing everything. Saka and Maddison very narrowly missed out on their xA by less than .05. That's the top five assisters (with De-Bruyne) all either exceeding xA or matching it. One of them did it at a relegated club. 

Jj, Bailey, and Watkins all were very close to their xA (within 0.2 for Jj and Bailey), and Watkins actually bettered his xA. 

Buendia's xA is 4.12 compared to Bailey's 4.09, but Bailey got 4 prem assists, and Buendia got 2.

So the reality is Buendia's xA is low, and his actual assists is even lower. His assists is less than half his xA. This is the supposed great creator. The guy Paul514 called our best forward! Lol! 

Buendia's supposed brilliance at chance creation is clearly a myth!

The at Norwich stuff is crap, he had one season as prem player there, and took all the set pieces.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Philosopher

[Jas10]

A myth? Crap? Set pieces for Norwich? Pfft!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jas10]

There’s a reason he was our record signing

Making up shit to suit an agenda…