Men's Soccer (Football) Thread Soccer • Page 772

Seems like a lot but I guess that’s the price for an attacking player now. 60m for Kudus is right in line and I rate him a good bit higher.

 

Did Elanga mature enough last year to be able to play a completely different play style at Newcastle? They don't hit teams on the counter at pace like Forest, he'll be expected to unlock defences that sit back.

I personally think they've signed him to keep Isak happy.

 

This would have been fucking fascinating. Although, I guess they would have edited out the stuff that shows what’s really going wrong there.

 

I would assume he's a serious replacement for Murphy. No real opinion on him as a player, as I didn't play close enough attention to Forest's good run to see what individual players were like.

It looks like we've let Wilson go as well. I'd hope we're going to bring another striker in (since we basically have Isaak and sod all else), but I wonder if there's a hope that we can use Elanga or Gordon in a pinch to play up. I really hope that's not the case, but given how tricky the striker market is...

 

It's a shame for Murphy as he had a good season himself. I know competition is healthy, but Murphy deserves a run next season too imo.

Hopefully Osula gets more appearances. He had a good u21 Euros. Also, don't sign DCL

 

I've not seen anything of Osula. Seen a lot of conflicting things. I've heard some say he's good, but a bit green and that he needs a run in the team. I've seen others say he's actually more of a winger and then others again say he's just crap. Fingers crossed he gets to prove himself. Our recruitment has generally been decent the last few years, so I've some hope we didn't sign a dud.

I saw a DCL rumour last night and cringed. He makes absolutely no sense for us. He takes ages to get back up to speed, he wouldn't be first choice unless Isaak gets a bad injury and even if he did get a run, chances are he'd just break down again anyway. I'm not even sure where would make sense for him now.

 

So he’d be the perfect 1:1 replacement for Wilson then

 

Depending on his wages, I'd actually like United to take a look at Callum Wilson as a free agent. I know he's always injured, but as a back up or different option from the bench, he's one of the better opportunities. Certainly more so than Calvert-Lewin.

 

It appears we've sold Goodison Park and "fiddled the books" like Chelsea and Villa.

 

If DCL actually scored goals, then maybe!

(It's best to ignore last season, since he scored a whopping zero from his 16 sub appearances and 2 starts. If anything, that makes his overall goal/games ratio at Newcastle more impressive...)

 

Regarding DCL, even his peak season was under the guidance of Carlo Ancelotti. A lot of Everton fans think he played better when games were behind closed doors during COVID for a reason, too. I mean, he has scored in front of crowds before, but when he misses a chance and the crowd get on his back it shows.

 

I'm not sure he's an off the bench player. Certainly, this season at Newcastle has suggested as much. Suspect he'd be better off going somewhere where he'll be a starter. The trouble is that he's kind of best as your main man (although one of a front 2 works, but fewer and fewer teams do that now), but you also know for sure that he's going to make like 25 appearances, at best. So how do you plan your squad around that?

 

When a guy realises they have it made until 2029.

 

I know I’ve said this before…but I’m really excited to see what Spurs look like under Frank. Everyone knows I loved Ange but his flaws were very apparent. Frank’s strength is kinda exactly what Ange was missing: adaptability.

And I’m starting to feel better about this window being a little more on the quiet side. I think 3 signings would be plenty if done properly. Which sounds crazy after finishing 17th, but I really do like the squad as a whole. Just missing a couple pieces. Not saying we’ll be competing for the league title. But we have too many players that we need to give minutes to and let develop. Frank should be perfect for that.

 

I've been watching Spurs' latest videos on their YouTube * , as you probably guessed by my joke about Bryan Gil, and what I've noticed is Frank seems like a very methodical man manager. He's not just overseeing training drills, he's in with the players having fitness tests, etc. He certainly seems the type who wants to develop players from their very core. In fact, I already know he is, he's even managed to get Neal Maupay performing.

* I do this for a lot of clubs

 

Very interesting. In fairness, I didn't realise he had contributed so little this season. Feels like he's the sort of player that always chips in when called upon, but possibly that's hindsight/ before he got properly crocked. Ignoring availability issues, is he still good enough to lead the line in the Premier League do you think? Like mid-lower table, or is he going to have to drop down the divisions?

 

Spurs not working on any other deals until Kudus is done is frustrating considering West Ham are being purposefully difficult with us. I don’t expect a ton of moves but I’d still like to get them done quickly!

On the other hand, I’m fine being patient if Kudus is the top target. He isn’t as flashy of a name as some of the other options floating around but I think he brings a skill that our wingers were missing in a big way, dribbling. I think he has the most successful dribbles in the PL since he came into the league.

 

Getting a potentially better player than the one you just sold and at a lower price? Good work.

 

So maybe we actually can multi-task…just saw Spurs are in talks with Burnley for Maxime Esteve. Would be an awesome signing. No chance that Van de Ven can play all the league and CL games. Definitely need a quality backup there.

 

Or not, it seems

 

welp.

 

Honestly not sure. He was still decent as support to Isaak the previous year, but Isaak himself was a bit brittle and Wilson wasn't dealing with any major injuries himself. This year, Howe seemed to near enough freeze him out. He got very little in the way of meaningful minutes, whilst also coming back from an injury. Not sure he was ever really match sharp.

If he hasn't massively dropped off in that time, I'm pretty sure he'd do a job for the likes of maybe Brentford, Palace or Fulham. None of those teams are super reliant on a single centre forward, so his questionable availability might not be such an issue.

A promotion chasing Championship side would make a lot of sense. I'm curious to see where he rocks up. It'd be good to see him get at least another solid season in. This last one at Newcastle isn't at all a fair reflection of him.

 

This could protect a lot of clubs. Trust 86 of the noes being by Tories.

 

Lol, and 3 no votes from "The Party of the People" Reform. Gremlins.

 

Let’s go Fluminense