
verlaine1979
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Everything posted by verlaine1979
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Didn't actually think Che's hold up play was that good yesterday either. After winning plenty of headers against Tiago Silva and Koulibaly, he barely got a sniff out of the Wolves CBs.
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Not many better places to live in Europe though. Earning a few million a year on the cote d'azur is a pretty decent fall from grace.
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I hope we have clauses to prevent City just buying them back from us and selling on in the same window. It's fine for them to have an insurance policy in case they want someone back in their squad, but not to play market arbitrage at our expense.
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You can see why it took Che until he was 25 to score a professional goal with his head.
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That's spectacularly dire.
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I remember reading something a few years ago where Dortmund's sports science team had decided that players started their physical decline at 26. Specific to their recruitment model and playing style, but doesn't seem unreasonable. Sure you can win things with players older than that (much older in the case of Real Madrid) but if you don't have the big budget and are hoping to compete on energy and tactics, early 20s is probably the sweet spot.
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Best window in a long time, even if it is a shame to leave 30m burning a hole in our pocket. A January window post-World Cup is unlikely to be a high value shopping opportunity, so this is probably it until the summer. I don't think JWP will reach double figures for goals again, and we've lost Broja's six goals. So I'd say conservatively we've got to find somewhere in the order of 10-15 additional goals beyond what JWP/Che will get and the handful we can expect from the usual suspects in defence. Hopefully between them, Mara, Edozie, Aribo, AMN and Adam Armstrong can get that many - only need to get three each over the season to get us there.
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AMN looks like he could compete for a spot on the right in a 4231/4222
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I still can't figure out why Leeds want to spend big on two left wingers from Holland. Sinisterra plays exactly the same position as Gakpo and put up similar numbers last year. And neither have much prior experience playing other positions.
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Gakpo played all over the front line for PSV tonight. He's tall and good in the air and seems comfortable enough playing down the middle (on admittedly little evidence and against a very poor team).
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On the basis of their game tonight, PSV need Sangare more than they need Gakpo. Simons and Bakayoko give them plenty up top already.
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Yup - if he doesn't break the lines and go past his man, the space doesn't open up for the rest of the move. That kind of ball-carrying in centre mid is unfortunately what we lack when we've got JWP and Romeu in the middle (luckily Lavia seems to be able to do it too).
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Our front three/four just don't have the technique or physicality (in JWPs case) to make the ball stick up front. We saunter forward and lose it, occasionally getting a long throw or corner for our troubles.
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Diallo and Lavia look like a two with JWP further forward?
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Oof, Paqueta's weight of passing is something else. West Ham have spent serious money this summer, and unfortunately look to have spent it very well indeed.
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If we can't afford Gakpo, why not go for someone else on the dutch goals/assists list? We were linked with Karlsson a few weeks ago, and he seems more gettable. Unlikely that we've gone from the bargain basement last summer to buying PSV's best player this year.
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Bazunu, Lavia and Aribo were all in the press for ages before they happened. We don't do our business in the shadows, we just buy lots of players from clubs that don't have dedicated media correspondents. If we're in for someone from a big club or from the UK, 9 times out of 10 it gets reported in advance.
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Kvaratskhelia looks a bit of a steal for Napoli. Just seen the two goals he scored at the weekend - very different but both superb. Only cost them about 10m euros.
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Have you actually seen ABK? He's a giant.
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Sheesh, amen. Paper thin at FB, painfully low on creativity in attacking midfield and our only "proven" striker hits the keeper 9 times out of 10. Lavia, ABK and Bazunu look like good signings who are already settling in well, but they weren't so much strengthening the squad as plugging gaping bloody wounds in our first team.
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Scuffed it, apparently
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On the face of it, they seem to have recruited pretty well. Lots of players with experience of English football. As long as they're not fielding an unusual formation, why wouldn't good players be able to slot into place? It's presumably a financial gamble, but there's nothing that doesn't make sense about recruiting a squad full of decent players to replace a squad full of players you know aren't good enough.
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Should've made it clear I'm talking about players plotting careers towards Barca, Real, Bayern, PSG and the like. Those clubs don't tend to shop in lower level PL, for whatever reason whereas they buy from mid-Tier France, Italy and Spain all the time.
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These players also know they are more likely to get picked up by a big club from Sevilla or Villareal than they are from Saints. Bottom half PL is probably better for your short term bank balance, but unlikely (with given exceptions) to be better for your career if you're young and ambitious.
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Doesn't look like the promoted teams have come here to roll over, and the likes of Leeds and Brighton looking a lot more solid than many expected. Relegation places could be very tight this year.