Doctoroncall

Don’t tell me, McCarthy got injured 🙏

Yes and @trousers will show you how to correct it

Champions: Arsenal (recruited well to fill the gaps and don’t want City) CL: Man City, Liverpool, Man United Europe: Villa, Spurs, Brighton Saints: 17th (more in hope) Relegation: Leicester, Forest, Brentford Chelsea - first to sack their manager but too late to recover. Boehly employs puppet manager but is really in charge until fans find his HQ and force him out.

Signed by Danny Rohl for Sheffield Wednesday a few weeks ago.

A translation from Fermín de la Calle who reports in El Periódico (Spain). Seems an accurate interpretation of England’s performance so far: Seduced by the attacking exuberance of Jude Bellingham in La Liga, Spaniards had England down as one of the strongest candidates to win the European Championship. On top of the Real Madrid player, who has arrived in Germany looking mentally exhausted, there were other interesting ingredients such as Phil Foden, who shone for Manchester City, Harry Kane, who comes from a Bayern Munich team obliged to win every week, and the emergence of Cole Palmer. As the Spanish phrase goes, Gareth Southgate had plenty of wicker to weave a basket. But yet again England have proven to be a collection of football stickers, star players, with no footballing empathy among each other. It is jarring to see Trent Alexander-Arnold in the double pivot position in midfield, a vital role for which he does not have the knowhow. And although Bellingham thinks he can do everything well, he is not Toni Kroos. England lack a “quarterback”, a Rodri or Vitinha who can manage and make sense of the resources they have. It’s heartbreaking to see England play with no clear idea, no pattern, no mechanism. The antithesis of Luis de la Fuente’s Spain, they have too many pianists and no one to carry the piano on to the stage. Southgate’s tactical plans have made average players of stars. There’s still no sign of an England team.

That’s fair to a point but it would be hard to switch over to expansive football for the knockout stage. We’ll likely play trying to emulate the Greece success at euro 04 by playing a disciplined, safe way.

Disagree. It’s still utter wank. Shape hasn’t changed.

Still relying on individual brilliance rather than team play to create an opening.

More of the same. Passing is really bad.

although nothing criminal, Hoedt was a wankpuffin. Guly’s details on his misdemeanour.

Yep, wanted to dictate on the domestic league front as well as having a closed shop European league. Although in the ‘old days', before clubs went bankrupt, owners could and did put money into the club to take advantage of signing players, it wasn’t as exclusive as of now. It’s a hard one to solve since the PSR has tied clubs to their own levels of set income.

I agree that it would be great to have more of a level playing field where talent has a bigger say in success. however, I think it would be hard to kick any team out as they would have the financial muscle to tie up any expulsion for years. Even a set up of a new league would be problematic. It would seem to the situation is only going to get worse before it gets better.

With Man City’s legal action against Premier League over sponsorship rules and there by how much states/owners can pump in cash, how much longer does anyone think the PL will last?

Maybe if he said a cheap seaside B&B, he would have got it 🤔 CB’s response: After an unforgettable 18 month journey with Southampton Football Club, I am delighted to be handing the baton to Saints’ new Chief Revenue Officer, Greg Baker. He is inheriting a talented Commercial team that has been doing phenomenal work and has big ambitions for next season in the Premier League and beyond. Having worked closely with Greg throughout my time with the club, I can’t think of a better person to help the team realise those ambitions. Thank you to all my colleagues and our fans for their warmth and kindness while I have been with this wonderful club. It was so special to be part of our promotion journey this season. Once a Saint, always a Saint 😇 I am looking forward to taking some time with my family over the summer while I consider what comes next.

More neuroscience nerdy stuff for those interested here.

Castien collaborated with two Dutch neuroscientists to develop a test that would attempt to capture some of this magic. The test is now used by more than 25 clubs, from PSV Eindhoven to Real Sociedad and newly promoted Southampton, as a tool for talent identification. Read more here.

One reason why Poch left is Chelsea’s desire to use the young players they bought for multimillions which includes Lavia. We’ll have to look elsewhere.

The trouble is he has to sell before he can buy. Although CP seem to be currently a better prospect, selling a club where Parish has influence will likely add to the process. Everton are probably paying out huge amounts on loans and interest so let’s see how much of their squad will need to be sold to stop costs rising.

Moshiri extended the takeover deadline to the end of May for 777 to complete the deal. However, 777 are in financial trouble themselves. it is all a bit murky and Everton called in accountants which specialise in financial distress situations. Everton cannot continue trading a loss beyond their means and it’s getting close.

At least they have started to bring some money in.

A 22 year old CB with 33 bundasliga games under his belt. These youngsters sure are expensive!

Seems the Absolute Radio is on an annual repeat… stuck in a time warp.

Interesting news on the style of play being very different. I was expecting some player exchanges as part of their development especially considering there is one recruitment/scouting department. Easier to identify players if all the clubs have similar way of playing.

He does not say when although considering this is the beginning of a ten year plan expansion will be many years off and only if the club improves both on the pitch and commercially.

It was no secret of how the club changed around after Marcus Evans sold out to Gamechanger, nor how they pursued McKenna. They were one of the best backed sides in League One and had decent quality along the spine of the team which they added to in both transfer windows. No surprise that they were up there all season.