Stadt

There's 96 teams in Europe's top 5 leagues, we're... 94th for xG 87th for xGA 94th for xGD 95th for shots 85th for shots on target 3rd most shots against 6th most shots on target against 4th shortest shot distance conceded (this is incredibly alarming given the volume) Dead last for corners as well and the German clubs have only played 6 games instead of 7. We're 7th for xG over-performance per 90 though so we've been shit AND lucky still . Get this clown out

I’m away this weekend so didn’t go. Once I’m in the ground naturally I want us to win but I want what’s best for us long term - pretty obvious Cooper with 1 win in 7 isn’t that.

During 22/23 I wanted to lose every game if it meant Rodgers got sacked. We did the losing part but not the sacking until it’s too late. If Cooper is here all season we’ll be lucky to win 5 or 6 games - wanting a loss bad enough to warrant a sacking is quite rational.

Cool

Phonetic Scouse is difficult

He’s always been better than Coady but he’s noh a leeeadeh with you know, what I will shay is the right mentality, you know with the right exshperience of the premier league and doenst noh warra it means to keep a footbaall club in the premier leeague

He needed this loan, he's a bit raw still so he wouldn't develop sat on our bench watching Edouard get 11 minutes.

They’re pretty dense if they think the sustainability thing flies. Whilst the owner doesn’t give a shit about the administration of the club nothing will ever improve.

Ok I can keep going, Burnley's (absolutely shit side, 24 points, 5 wins) expected goal difference per 90 last season was - 0.78 per 90 Luton, even worse than them - 0.94 per 90 Sheff United - third worst PL side ever -1.01 per 90 What are we at? -1.34 per 90 !!!!

There's lots of stats we're bottom of the league for including xG and xGA against but the one that made me laugh the most is we're bottom for corners. We've had 16 in 6 games, next fewest is 21. Even Southampton have had 30.

You'd think our DoF also being the academy director would be boon for our young players getting chances. It's bizarre to build the world's best, or the most expensive at the very least, training complex and then appoint managers who don't play younger players. The idea Steve Cooper is good with youth comes from his successful spell as u17 manager - where obviously he couldn't play 30+ year old has beens like Ayew.

I find the irritation with Guardiola misplaced. He's one of the best managers ever with incredible resources and recruitment behind him, everything is so methodical. Ok, he might take some exciting players and tone down the more hair-raising, high-risk elements of their game but it's demonstrably successful. If Russel Martin wants to play an ersatz costcutter version with relegation favourites he's a f ucking bozo. That's not Guardiola's fault.

I was dead set against the appointment in the first place - it was classic Leicester, cheap, out of work, already managed in the Premier League. It's not even as if Cooper is underperforming, this is just what he does. Besides the 3 at the back this exactly what has happened. We clearly didn't place any emphasis on analytics when appointing a manager, that's where the footballing decision makers should be starting the managerial search. These stats profile him quite well, i'm not having the 'well Forest were a circus' line either, the Boly, Aurier, Shelvey etc signings are him all over. His Forest team were 19th for xGD in 22/23 Joint 4th fewest wins: 9 (with us) 38 goals for Joint 4th for most goals conceded: 68 (with us again, shock) They basically drew their way to safety with a 9-11-18 record, hardly the right fit for a side with a points deduction. If he was appointed with a view to going down anyway - why spend over £50m net on the likes of Skipp, Ayew and Reid - clearly not players who are suited to being promotion favourites? It was all so avoidable, our strategy is shit, the processes are shit, half of the people involved are shit.

I find the incredulity about the wrong bap/roll/bread cake etc etc stuff so weird. It’s pretty obvious what people mean

Hopefully it means Braybrooke distributed via Everards, they don’t tend to push their own lagers too hard so it’d be a great result

If that cob was crusty you’d be chewing it forever. Some Americans completely missed the point, droning “it’d be ok if the onions were caramelised” it’s a £2 pub snack ffs.

That’s the one I was thinking of, those are two of the best domestic sides ever as well.

If him and Fatawu start it gives us the ability to get up the pitch and create something. They both work incredibly hard of the ball too so there's no excuse from Cooper.

There were far more loose touches, misplaced passes, bad efforts at goal, less pressing etc. Gardner's goal is weird as a 2024 viewer, it looks like it's 3 on 1 at the half way line but no the West Ham defence are about 30 yards behind the play. It's entertaining but it's low quality. I get more random games are more entertaining as there is less control but the quality its worse - it sounds like you'd be happier watching lower league football to me.

The median player is better now. Even controlling for technical ability they're much fitter, more tactically aware and composed in possession. You're right every era has its bad layers but a bad player in 2024 is better than a bad 2004 equivalent

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Watch a game, there's lots of aimless hoofing (AKA losing the ball time and time again) - even in the Champions League. There's very little pressure on the ball which is jarring as a modern viewer. It's romanticism, look I'm not a fan particularly of slow build up football, especially for the below average teams in the league. But football is better now, the quality is higher, the likes of Savage wouldn't have a top flight career. It's a totally valid thing to say the quality then is shit compared to now.

The quality is far higher nowadays. Watch a game from 15 years ago and you’ll be surprised at just how shit it is. The atmosphere, ticket pricing, VAR, FFP/PSR suck the soul out of the game though.

Cooper is a points deduction. Vardy/Edouard/Daka Mavididi/BEK/Buonanotte/Fatawu Skipp/Winks/Ndidi VK/Okoli/Faes/Vestergaard/Ricardo/JJ Hermansen Is a good enough squad to stay up, the manager is so below par

Already can’t wait until he’s sacked, whenever that may be