TWar

Unlikely that we end up with no English players, as we have home grown rules and stuff. Also smaller teams will probably always have a lot of english lads from the academy/lower league development. Big sides might not have many English players but they haven't for decades. Regarding English managers, doesn't really bother me tbh. The best guy for the job will get it, generally speaking.

Agreed, definitely not the methodology I would have used.

I've been quite impressed with Benitez tbh. Everton are obviously a bit fucked moneywise. They went from dropping £100m on three midfielders in one window to signing two wingers (Gray and Townsend) for a combined £3m or so to replace James Rodrigues and Iwobi (who were both big money). They are bargain shopping to the extreme and Benitez is kind of making it work. It's not perfect but they are higher in the table than when Ancelotti left (and he is a great manager). Been pretty unfortunate with injuries too, losing both DCL and Richarlison for long periods so far. Agree with this, that spurs united game might be the most costly win united have had in years!

Absolutely. So Broja is an excellent finisher, like the best in our team by a good margin. He, however, doesn't make a lot of chances for himself or make a lot of chances for others. In another thread I described this as being a "poacher" to mixed reception. You can accurately say he is more a "finisher" than a creator or a one man force. Adams and Armstrong are both reasonably good creators and OK at being in the right spot. Adams is average at putting the ball away, Armstrong less so. Redmond is an excellent creator but doesn't score so much and is rarely in a position to do so If one played one of Armstrong/Che with Broja then you might not see many goals as there won't be much creativity. This is obviously a very simplified view as if we have a more creative midfield (eg Diallo + JWP), a more creative attacking mid (Stu comes back), and/or a more creative set of fullbacks then less pressure would be on the forwards to create and then maybe we could see something like Broja and Armstrong as a pair. Or we could change our formation a bit!

Couldn't find where to post this to discuss it but it seems Spurs have brought in Conte and Newcastle are on the verge of hiring one of Emery or Howe. Wondering everyones thoughts on these. I think both Conte and Emery would be good pick ups, Howe not so much. Seeing rumours both are about to go huge in the January window. Also who is the next manager to go? Has Ole saved himself? And what of Dean Smith?

Yeah to be honest I think a lot of little disputes on this forum often come down to differences in how people use certain football words. I think we fundementally agree on Brojas skillset and the fact that skillset is definitely of use to us. We just differ on what we'd name it. I personally think long term Armstrong will be of more use to us but that is a highly subjective view and we probably won't be able to test that hypothesis for a few years probably!

The Leeds goal was a goal scored from fairly close range as a result of being in the right position no? The Burnley goal less so, but still one where put through without much beating of defenders required (one defender not getting close enough to him to block a shot). I think a lot of his chances (Volley from Livra cross in the Burnley game, shot from centre of the box when ball dropped to him in same game) tend to come from good positioning in the box more than actively beating a man. Which I why I say he functions more as a poacher. He rolled a man and hit the post against West Ham but that I think is the only time he's made his own chance I can remember, maybe the one where he skied it although can't remember the game. I also don't recall him ever setting up a team mate. I think for Albania he has made chances but I question the quality of opposition. It is more that his threat mainly comes from being well placed to score and putting it away is why the poacher label fits so far. If he adapts his international game to the league then he could be a great all round player.

I thought that too but didn't want to say anything! 😂

Big emphasis on the slowly! I am not all the way round on Lyanco at all tbh, I still think he is a poor signing. But I have to admit that there are a lot more ticks in the pro column than when I first judged him. It is important to change your views based on new evidence imo, its a key part of learning. Regarding the perception, I was a pain in the bum at school, used to sit at the back and talk over the teacher all the time and forget my homework. I like stats, but I hated school. I didn't really get into stats and numbers and that till Uni and post grad stuff.

I'm not saying every element is visionary. Old tactics are part of the modern managers quiver alongside newer ones. I'm beginning to question if you can read. Also you don't have to be a genius to know more about a thing than you. There are a lot of very very intelligent older people who know a lot more about a myriad of topics than the vast majority of young people, including football. You, unfortunately, are not one of them.

I think some older people think their not understanding or liking of new tactics goes both ways. It doesn't. Older tactics still work in certain scenarios and any good coach should have them as an arrow in their quiver, but it should be alongside newer ideas. No one is calling it "visionary and new". (Also it's four pacey widemen with the fullbacks as well as wingers. Also CDM who basically adapts into a back 3 half the time, alongside 8s who both play as forwards when the fullbacks are back or CM's if both fullbacks are advanced, or split one one way and one the other. It's a very fluid system, moreso than a 442 or 451 of old. But that's fine, it is the same basic idea.) For the record, this is that "old person thinks young people don't get books because he doesn't get computers" effect all over again. It's amazing how often you fall into that.

Against Villa I think the lads on TSP actually made a really good point that Villa are dreadful in the air and against crosses. They also look to dominate midfield and break you down. Owing to this, I think it is prime time to play a 4141 again. Our best crossers at fullback (Tino and Perraud), our speedy attacking mids who can cross on the wings (Stu and Djenepo) running at Cash and Targett who are weak links. And the big man Broja up top heading in goals, feeding off crosses, and scoring. Against Norwich the following game however I would play our 4222 with Armstrong and Adams in front of Ely and Stu. They have slow defenders, are weak down the middle, and try to hit on the break more than dominate midfield so that strat works better against them. Also KWP at LB as he is a better 1v1 defender and they are pretty threatening through Rashica on the right. This is an excellent problem to have, as our forwards, wingers, AMs, and fullbacks are all in competition and all have different strengths, we should use this to adapt to the problems at hand.

I think, like Tino, we should maybe wait and see. We have our opinions and I respect yours. Maybe "just a poacher" is unfair as he does make goals well internationally and it's not really fair to expect him to immediately start doing the same in the big leagues, he is still only 20! I concede that. Right now though he doesn't create much in the prem, either for himself or for his partner. That was my point really. Again though, being a good poacher is a complement, and I do think he takes up good positions and finishes well which are important traits for that role. I still believe Armstrong is better right now and more promising but I would be very happy to be wrong about Broja and for him to become a world beater (and preferably we sign him). I was negative about Lyanco too and he is slowly bringing me around. Maybe the correct take this summer is "all our signings were awesome".

To be honest if you don't think the goal against Leeds is a poaching goal I don't know what to tell you. It was put on a plate for him, about 8 yards out, unmarked with just the keeper to beat. Seems like you have a very low threshold for what counts as a "self made goal". Regarding the opponents, it kind of does. He dribbles well against poor opposition, beating men left and right. In the premier league he doesn't do this nearly as much, having under half the successful dribbles than Adam Armstrong and and a pretty woeful 28% dribble success rate, lowest in our entire team who have attempted atleast one dribble. The quality of opponent definitely does matter, is the point, he might be a player who makes his own chances in other leagues but his shot creating actions are real low in this one. None of this is an insult btw, being a good poacher is a very valuable skill and a useful thing to have in the team. Finally, regarding being in the minority. That's fine. If you are confident in your opinion then merely being in the minority doesn't bother you. If other people have good counter arguments then those are valuable (and really the whole reason to be on a forum as you learn more through this) but people just saying "I disagree". Not bothered. People disagreed about my take on the quality of the Tino signing and now look where we are.

His shot creating actions is the lowest of our three main strikers, both his goals were assisted, and both goals were shots from inside the box, albeit one was well taken dribbling into the box mostly unopposed with a defender not getting tight near the end. The stats aren't ridiculous because you can't understand them. For his two goals for us, one past a defender (who he didn't beat, they just didn't get close enough) and one was pretty much an unmarked tap in with only the keeper to beat. He seems to be good at making goals against much lesser opposition like for Albania and in the dutch league but in this league he creates very little and I can show you the stats to back that up. You are basing it off like two games you've watched, how is that more valuable than stats throughout their respective careers?

True, but he is also low for chances created. Broja is quality but he's a bit of a poacher. I could see a world where he plays well with Adams though as said previously.

Well goals need to be made as well as scored. Having someone who can set up goals is valuable.

That's fair enough, I dare say a couple of other things were at play. Firstly, much easier opponents, obviously making us look better. And secondly, we transitioned over to playing Broja as more of a lone forward with Redmond in a free role and I think that was more fluid than the first games of the season (JWP featured in that formation too but mostly he was in the more standard 4222 with Armstrong and Adams).

Already posted it Wasn't much difference except JWP was lower on prog passes.

Some bright spark on the subreddit has drawn up a comparison between how we have done with these last 10 fixtures in our last five seasons. Looks like we are doing well!

I'd be interested to see what you mean here. Do passes matter less than dribbles? Yes JWP has the lowest successful dribbles but it is only 0.4 to Diallos 0.5 so hardly a massive difference. When it comes to passes leading to shots he almost doubles his contemporaries, would you not say that is more valuable?

I'd argue that this would be less of an even playing field as Diallo has only played 3 games and they were against markedly easier opposition than those JWP played against. Either way, I am not one to let you down, so as requested here is the data for this season (but don't ever say I don't do anything for ya 😉) Similar results really, JWP is still the best as an attacking outlet, Diallo still struggles a bit, Romeu is still the best defensively. JWP prog passes are pretty low compared to the other two but I suggest thats because our average possession was lower when he played (again likely due to quality of opposition).

I agree. I think if we play our current system (one defensive mid, one box to box) then Romeu will always have to start as we basically have no competition in that role. I would like to see us adapt to play Diallo and JWP without a full DM, I think having a mobile intelligent CB in Salisu would help it. To be honest though, it probably has been tried in training so if it isn't being used I assume there is a reason behind that, similar to the KWP behind Livramento idea.

You are right, it is a very small sample size. I think the xA of Broja does stand out though.

From my perspective I usually moan when people blame Ralph when recruitment is the issue. So in this circumstance I feel obliged to point out that, whilst Ralph has done well integrating them, a huge amount of credit needs to go to whoever scouted out and recruited our two best players this season, Salisu and Livramento, both for under £16m combined, and with an average age of just over 20. Excellent, excellent work.