Finnegan

I know you're half making a joke but I wouldn't have tackling at the top of my priorities for a CB in all seriousness. Aerial duels won is vital in the Premier League. Beyond that, reading of the game, spacial awareness, strength/use of size, blocks and in an ideal world some pace are all bigger priorities than actual tackle success. You could almost argue that if a CB needs to rely on their tackling, something else is going wrong. Players with the highest tackle numbers in the league will nearly all be full backs and central midfielders.

The more I think about it, the less I agree with this. Given how little money we probably have to spend, I don't think it should go on attacking options at all. Obviously you have to cross your fingers and hope they stay fit but a front four of Vardy, Bilal, Buonanotte and one of Mav/Ayew/BDCR playing in front of two of Ndidi, Skipp, Winks and Soumare is probably enough to keep us in the league this year with good enough coaching (over to you, Ruud.) What isn't good enough is the defence. Vestergaard's the only one I'd happily keep playing and even that's because he's so good on the ball, he still needs babysitting by a competent defender. The CB that plays next to him needs to be dominant, strong in the air (you don't survive in this league if none of your CBs are dominant in aerial duels), have eyes in the back of his head and be fairly mobile. It's the number one area we need to invest in. Then we also need full backs, badly. JJ has probably cost us more goals this year alone than he has in the rest of his career to date, it's becoming Ward levels of meme. Ricardo's never going to be fit and VK is average at the back and poor going forward. The attack can just about hold itself together but if we don't sort the defence out we are gone.

It's moved.

He just got Ayew (and possibly Edouard?) I assumed he had a contact at the Palace end to be honest. This is objectively false. If I wasn't so tired, I'd literally go and trawl back through the 540363087 Alan Nixon rumours that absolutely didn't happen. He writes more meme-level drivel by volume about us than Indykalia and that's not hyperbole for comic effect, it's actually true.

Think this bit is harsh. I don't think talent identification is a snigificant problem, in fact I think we've done pretty well at that in the last couple of years. I'd go so far as to say scouting and player identification is one of the reasons we've got to be optimistic. One of the few things Maresca was impressed with here was Glover. The problem is the decision making above it. You allude to it yourself but we don't really have a conventional DOF, we have a long-term employee in the role who largely delegates responsibility and gives a lot of freedom to the manager to dictate transfer philosophy, which most successful clubs aren't now doing (to be clear, when I say successful, I mean Brighton, Brentford, Bournemouth, Fulham, Villa - not just the big six.) We didn't sign Ayew, BDCR and Skipp because Glover and a selection of scouts convinced Top and Rudkin they were a brilliant long term investment. We signed them because Steve Cooper's one guiding light was "just get me Premiership Experience." This is partly on Cooper but it's mostly on Top, he needs to commit to going and finding an actual Sporting Director to navigate the club through financial uncertainty and build and develop a squad while doing it. It's hard, it's specialist, it'll cost Top money but you need elite staff that can handle elite pressures.

I can't be arsed doing the entire squad but I definitely wouldn't give Bounanotte an 8. I'd probably put both him and BEK on a strong 7, Bounanotte got off to a stronger start but he's been outshone a bit since the team has collectively shown a bit more cohesion. I'd have Vardy join them on 7 and Soumaré would get one for recent showings but probably a 6 currently overall. Mads comfortably player of the season so far, won't even be a contest at this rate.

Got newly promoted Sassuolo written all over him.

Couldn't get in our team in the Championship. Now we don't play 8s. This isn't happening.

Poundshop Dzeko

Pace

Bouba Soumaré. BEK was possibly just growing in to English football anyway and the team having a bit more freedom to attack has given him more opportunities to show off what he can do. I'm not suggesting there hasn't been improvement but that he was probably always quite decent. Soumaré was an absolute train wreck however and has looked like one of our best players, consistently, for a few weeks now.

For **** sakes, Enzo.

Also, after a bright start, the idea that FB is an 80m footballer I still like him but he looks increasingly like someone we could afford to buy every week tbh.

We don't deserve BEK.

VK went full Faes. You never go full Faes. But I'm sorry, if you're a centre back and you're playing Man City and you let Erling Haaland - easily the best outright 9 on the planet - wander around your box unmarked? Should just be grounds to have your contract terminated. Christ we need some defenders.

If we can somehow gain confidence from some of the good work done against Man City and Liverpool, I fancy our chances of actually going on and picking up some wins. It's been a lot better in the last two games regardless of us not winning.

Don't be an idiot mate.

Don't think that's true. If you played: Mads JJ, Faes, Okoli, VK Ndidi, Soumaré, BEK Ayew*, Daka, Mavididi We might get absolutely thrashed but there's no way that's the slowest team in the league. (*ideally Fatawu obviously)

No, it's definitely something else.

Stolarczyk wasn't fit when he arrived and Iversen isn't good either. As soon as he's been able to drop Ward he has.

Faes is better on the ball but Cags was a better defender. Cags had a habit of snowballing errors when his confidence and his head went, it always stopped him being consistent when things were difficult. But Faes just routinely gets complacent or brain dead and does utterly stupid things making a lot of the same mistakes consistently. Neither are perfect but Cags would walk in to the team this year, don't really want Faes anywhere near it tbh.

Anyone have Patson Daka long throw on their 2024 bingo card?

I 100% stand by what I've said before. I'm still for VAR being used for offside but there should be a 30 second cap on it. If it isn't obviously offside after one view at 1/2 speed then it isn't offside. I don't care if goals like that get given. They probably should. Whatever happened to benefit for the attacker.

Oh who ****ing cares just give them the goal what does it ****ing matter

That's about the Christmas schedule more than bravery imo. Just resting BEK. Odds are we aren't winning this regardless.