Season review, what needs to be done and expectations

I think Winks in a Klopp or Pep team would thrive but that’s just me

Yeah took me a while to ‘get’ Lo Celso, glad to be wrong about him and hopefully next season he will push on and really become like a hybrid of Eriksen and Modric

If Spurs pull off that deal then I’d be massively surprised and massively impressed. Wouldn’t Coutinho’s wages be an issue though

 

Winks with our attacking trio circa 2015-17 would thrive, as he'd have that little bit extra time and space because of how hard we were pressing further up the pitch

Winks of 2018-20 doesn't thrive precisely because nobody is screening him, which is why Poch adopted THAT BASTARD DIAMOND to try and remedy this, only to neuter our width in doing so

 

I doubt he'd make the bench of either of those. He'd probably do well at Luton though.

Yeah I think Gio can be like a Modric for us too, I've made that comparison quite a few times already. It's why we need either Ndombele to buck his ideas up or bring in someone like Coutinho to play in the ten role and set up like how we used to when we had van der Vaart there in front of Modric.

 

Gareth Ainsworth improved all the young loan players wycombe had so I suggest skippy ccv and parrot on loan would do nicely especially now they are in the championship

 

If they're not going to be involved in the Europa squad next season I'd really like to see something like that happen. I think CCV will be sold actually but Skipp and one of Parrott/ Etete could definitely do with moving to a club that'll give them game time, Clarke too.

It's like I said yesterday, we need to go back to that era of where we sent multiple players to the same club, helps them settle in and also allows them to be in a senior set up with team mates.

 

They would get game time at wycombe but there seems to be a relationship with millwall and QPR on loaning their players although that might change now they are all in the same division.

 

I imagine Coutinho is on a massive wedge so probably a similar situation to Bale, where there are very few clubs who he can go to without a pay cut.

 

=========== Shooting the Messenger Amnesty Certificate =============

Last summer, it was widely reported that Ndombele was on the same money as Harry Kane - i.e £200k per week...if so, that should do Coutinho very nicely indeed.

As the certificate indicates, it's not my fault and I'm only repeating what I've heard.

You didn't hear it from me, okay?

=========== Shooting the Messenger Amnesty Certificate Ends===========

 

I’d forgotten how much Tanguy was on, ‘kin hell. You’d have thought he’d at least be able to cut out the post training Maccies for that. No idea how much that is relative to Coutinho though.

 

I think Coutinho's on £250k a week with Barca so it's definitely doable on our part, especially if he's as desperate as reports claim to come back to England, that could sway negotiations to force him to take a cut.

It's just whether the club wants to persist with Ndombele in the hope he reaches his undoubted potential, or take the older yet tried and trusted option in Coutinho.

Coutinho in front of Gio would definitely give van der Vaart - Modric vibes. It'll then just be about getting that Scotty Parker equivalent to complete the triumvirate, still not keen on Hojbjerg though if I'm honest.

 

If Coutinho wants more than Harry Kane, it's too much!

 

Makes him even more of a fat flop

 

Ndombele is on £120k p/w according to Football Manager, which makes him our third-highest paid player, after Harry and Toby, it also means he's paid only a fraction more than Hugo, Son and Dele

I do like how, in the space of a season, the Narrative has gone from Levy not paying players enough to Levy paying players too much...

 

Not everything is a conspiracy or narrative...just observations

most of our players are being paid well now on par with their peers at other like sized clubs...there was a time when the wage structure was truly embarrassing for a club our size or maybe I just imagined it

Ndombele is on 10.4 mill a season that’s 200k a week

 

Narrative?

let’s be clear here, nobody is pissed off at Levy, Poch or Jose for Ndombele turning out to be a fat useless lazy flop, the only person we’re annoyed at is the player himself. If he’s one of the top earners then that just shows his attitude is even worse than originally thought as he can’t even be bothered to try half as hard as players on less than half his salary

 

We need another keeper to keep Hugo on his game. As much as Gazzaniga is a good plater he is not good enough imho.

We need another LB and RB.

We need another central defender.

We need a defensive midfielder and a striker is a must.

6 players imo.

In order of priority...
Defensive Midfielder
Striker
CB
RB and LB
Keeper

I think the first two will happen but the other four will be filled from our current squad and reserves unless we sell more than N'dombele and Rose.

 

Why would they swap there guy (admittedly not worth it) who they bought got 120m out whatever it was for your 60m and give you cash. I don't ever see that happening bro. You will be lucky if they even offered a straight swap in my book but i suppose it's Barca and they live paying over the odds

 

The media are the ones running with the story.

They’re claiming Barca want Ndombele and there’s been different articles involving different players. Umtiti, Semedo and then Coutinho depending on where you read.

It’s why I mentioned it in that post. I wasn’t just “football managing” it and thinking of a random scenario, lol.

 

Leave Gazza alone! I think he’s a decent understudy.

RB bigger priority than CB I’d say. Doubt a LB will happen either unless Sess goes out on loan.

 

CM has to be number 1 priority for me

I understand the need for a better RB than Aurier however, our defence with its limits has still managed to get organised and solid, the improvement is obvious. Yes, Aurier makes errors but I honestly believe his errors are highlighted more than the individual errors of our other defenders. How many of the goals we concede can you say are great play by the opposition? most goals are due to error...every goal or majority goals we concede are not due to Aurier. I’ve seen Dier have many brain farts, I’ve seen Toby playing like he’s not got the legs anymore. I’ve seen Davies get skinned on the left before a goal. I’ve seen our most expensive defender stuck on rookie mode ever since he turned up to be honest with the odd clanger thrown in for good measure on a regular basis. The mistake isn’t always obvious like a poor pass, sometimes it’s subtle like not anticipating the second ball, being out of position or leaving your man about 2 stages before the assist.

After our locksmith midfielder I’d say we need a striker. No way can Kane play Thursdays and Sunday’s and judging from his tenure at United I think it’s fair to say the manager will rotate and give other players game time. No doubt I expect the big hitters to come into the team if we get to the latter stages but up until then I think we need someone other than Kane to be playing. It’s fair to say Kane has got dodgy ankles...let’s hope Jose gets other options or I expect much of the same and another injury to our main man.

3rd would be the right back...we are mooting Aaron’s, is he going straight into the team? I am doubtful so even if we do buy him...I expect there will be someone he needs to displace whilst proving himself. A bit like Sess has had to do this season. I could be wrong and he could go straight in...I suppose we will know more about that depending on how quickly he is signed by us, if at all. If he comes in late like most of our transfers usually do then he’s already behind and no way walks straight in...he will need a few months of counselling, I mean coaching to get that shower of **** mentality he will have picked up defending for that bag of ****e he currently plays for