TWar

I'd say we've been poor (and a bit unlucky) since the Norwich game, but looked quite good for the previous few games, if that answers your question.

The idea is that the fullback height is not symmetric and the central midfielders push up asymmetrically. Also one striker will generally stay central and the other will run the channels in a freer role and drop back deeper. In the modern game very few formations are symmetric anymore, and most change heavily throughout. Here are the average positions for every club this week for context

I remember last time we had a bad swing you said our manager was worse than the that of san marino and that we were worse off than pompey. Of course YOU don't think people are overreacting 😂

Oh sorry, forgot the forum was overreacting at the moment. Let me try again: We are just going through a permanent period of regression wherein relegation is inevitable, our manager is the worst we've ever had, and Gao is about to to sell us for asset stripping. Is that better?

Works well for a number of sides, nothing is inherently wrong with it. It has worked well for us in the past, we are just in a lull at the moment.

In the 4222 the middle two often play very centrally, normally one in the "in the hole number 10" and one wider.

You too

You're right, next time I'll come to you on all things Delli Ali 😉

Where did I say he was smashing it up at spurs last year? Reading comprehension can be added to football, maths, and basic words like "wane" as things you struggle with (Also spelling, it's a little embarrassing that you say I don't "know my subject matter" when you can't even spell the subject matters name properly). "Everyone knows that" I think this conversation has been done for a while and you are bringing out all the "I don't have a leg to stand on" lines. As you say "no shame in being wrong now and again". For you I'd change "now and again" to "again and again". Either way, this has gotten embarrassing, you have steadily been getting less and less coherent so maybe a good time to end this.

Oh yeah, no european megaclubs would be in for him within the last two years... https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jan/26/dele-alli-psg-move-hinges-on-tottenham-finding-replacement Give it up mate, you think showing he was good in 2017 means he wasn't in 2019? I don't even know what point your previous post is trying to make. Apart from that you read the sun, which given your mental capacity and socio-political views does make sense.

Oh excellent, glad you decided that. The trying to pivot the conversation was an embarrassing move but this "I'm right, and there isn't even a discussion to have" is a bold move. I dunno mate, seems like beyond "But Southgate dropped him" you don't have much going for you at all in this argument, and if someone uses the "I'm right definitely because the infallible Southgate agrees with me" card then I tend to assume they are a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

What's this "we all" business? I'm not talking to anyone else, I suspect basically everyone on this forum knows Deli Alli used to be atleast 4 times as good as Elyounoussi and Djenepo. I think you are embarrassing yourself, bringing up Ralph and Benitez in a completely unrelated conversation because you know you are losing this argument so trying to pivot to a different one. Also, you seriously use the england squad as a mark of quality? Grealish wasn't in the England squad that season either when Jesse Lingard was... The England squad is meaningless, full of dreadful decisions. Mings and Coady better than White, Konsa and Tomori? It's a stupid argument. Not as stupid as "well you are probably wrong because we disagree on the quality of Benitez" but still pretty stupid.

Alli was amazing 5 years ago and was still very good 2 years ago, only deteriorating after a little while of being coached by Jose then being dropped. In fact Jose joined Spurs basically two years ago so saying he was good "a couple of years ago" is pretty accurate in pinpointing when he was last a quality player. You were thick at the start of this conversation, and I pointed it out, you are still thick now and I'm still pointing it out. Glad I can clear these two things up for you.

I started off insulting you mate, my first post called you thick.

No not really, you are right, no sale means probably no signings in January. If you want some hope, Ralph said that the striker and GK situation might prompt a January move I think somewhere, but I haven't seen a credible link in ages. We are instead just discussing available players in general as it's all a bit boring and Turkish is keeping us entertained with his lack of knowledge of football, maths, and what the word "wane" means.

When have I ever said that I know more about football than everyone else? I would suggest you know less than everyone else, and you using Southgates England selections as a mark of quality is pretty quick way to prove it. Also in 19/20 (actually two seasons ago... as it is currently 21/22) he got three more goals and 1 more assist than the season before. So if by "on the wane" you mean "actually had improved from the previous year" then yeah you are right, but are an idiot who doesn't know what words mean.

I doubt it is the sole reason, or even the main reason, but if the money is right and the team is the right profile it probably helps. You quite often see in the intro vids for signings them saying they gave an existing player or ex player of their new club a call and were convinced. Perraud reportedly spoke to Diallo, for instance.

Alli 2 years ago was a phenomenal talent. Easily 4 times better than Elyounoussi. I don't need to quote statistics, anyone with half a brain should be aware of that, but here we are.

His expected assists per 90 were 0.05 lower than his actual assists per 90, so he was more than pulling his weight with regards to his goal contributions (which were primarily goals and not assists incidentally). He also had an 18 goal season a couple before, so he was perfectly capable and if Ralph could get a tune out of him even to 25% of the player Real Madrid were considering a massive move for then obviously he is better than Elyounoussi or Djenepo. I didn't expect this to be controversial.

25% of the quality, not 25% of the appearances... Two seasons ago he got 12 goal involvements in 1800 minutes, or 0.6 per 90. A quarter of that is 0.15 per 90. That is higher than every attacking mid in our team not named Redmond. So yes, I'd take him even if he reproduced even 25% of what he did 2 years ago. Of course I meant it more in terms of quality than actual output, but you decided to try to be pedantic but were too thick to pull it off.

Would take Alli in a second. Excellent player. Has been poor of late for Spurs but even if he reproduces 25% of what he had a couple of seasons back he is miles ahead of what we have right now. Reminds me of Lingard to West Ham last year, but better. As said by others, little chance we get him. Wages will be huge and we are one of the least well off clubs in the league. Everton, Newcastle, West Ham, or Leicester may have an eye on him.

Myself included. I was complimenting Arsenals business (White, Tomiyasu and Odegaard are great players for building for the future) but even I was a bit down on Ramsdale as a signing. In hindsight, looks like Arsenal had a fantastic window. Ofcourse they need about 4 more like this to get anywhere near the likes of Chelsea, City, United, Liverpool but it's a great start.

Maybe, but he is much less valuable to how we play. Adams makes that through ball to Armstrong in the first half putting him through 1v1, he also presses more effectively meaning Arsenal are under much more pressure on the pass out. After Armstrong came off Broja was a passenger both in possession and against the ball. The someone who can supply the ammo can be Adams, as well as scoring a couple. We need Armstrong to get his shooting boots on, and more quality from attacking mid. Ideally, that is Stuart Armstrong, but I don't know about his fitness. Our tactics are hard to change as we have a team built to play this way. A 3atb won't help us score more goals imo, three in midfield isn't possible as we would need an attacking 8 (Think Mason Mount style) and we don't really have anyone who can play that role except Stu who is out. One up top doesn't work as our two best forwards both are not good target men and play much better as a two.

I think he was injured? There is no way he is only playing now as we have "no other options". Salisu has been exceptional this season. Last season Salisu was injured for ages and then when finally fit he trained for a month or two to get used to our system. At the end of the season he was forced to play left back as our only fit left footed defender. Vesty played and Ralph got him playing well too, which is a pretty good endorsement of him as Rodgers can't seem to do so, but Salisu is better in pretty much every way. To say he is some flop and Ralph doesn't rate him is wildly disingenuous.

Also he described Livramento as his number one target, so he probably had some role in one of our best signings in years.