Tomo

Mendy going to the ACON could well derail our season.

What's he done? (Not been watching the second half).

You mention you don't rate Lampard but for all his faults he achieved top four with Kepa, Zouma, Alonso/Emerson, Willian and Tammy/Giroud. Tuchel has clear upgrades on all of them plus better versions of Kante and Mount and you think he's not even going to manage what Lampard did with his full season.

Yes there's probably someone out there but I think the main point is, are they anymore likely to hit the ground running than our last summer signings improving in their second season? Have any of these strikers to come in and "guarantee goals" even scored more last season than Kai/Timo the year before we got them? Why is Havertz improving in his second season unlikely but Daka and Sancho defiently going to hit the ground running?

If we do that would make Tuchel worse than Lampard domestically.

I'll do an account bet that we won't sign Phil Jones. Deal?

Apparently Arteta has convinced Xhaka to not only stay at Arsenal but sign a new deal. This guy....

And one of the reasons United have now got "reliable scorers" is because Rashford and Martial naturally grew from 10 ish goal a season players to 20 ish goal a season ones. Why is that possiblity beyond any of ours?

For all his greenness Lampard achieved top four with Kepa, Zouma, Alonso/Emerson, Willian and Tammy/Giroud. Tuchel has clear upgrades on all those players not to mention better versions of Kante and Mount. It will be an absolute failure on his behalf if we're scrambling for top four again, the only mitigating circumstances would be if we had a major injury crisis or the standard was so high 4th place took a points total in the late 70s. Ole managed to secure United a comfortable top four finish despite "standing still" in the market, with the quality in our squad that has to be bare minimum for Tuchel.

If we make a meal of top four then that would make Tuchel worse than Lampard domestically. I think you're falling into the trap people did with Liverpool under Dalglish and looking at the name of the club rather than the squad.

I seem to remember there was this similar argument two years ago as why to why Mount "couldn't be better than RLC". I wouldn't be against Tammy staying as a rotation option in alternative circumstances but not only does he not fit Tuchel's system/plans he doesn't want to stay either (the repeated reluctance to sign a new contract even when he was playing says everything).

What about Villa, Everton and Leeds? If you're counting Arsenal surely they have to be in too 4 consideration too?

This is exactly what I mean. He's a good possibly very good player but jeez.

He's a good player but this 'hype' only happened because people want(ed) to use him as a stick to beat Mount with, and even then he was the 2nd choice (after Maddison fell off a cliff).

So long story short hurry up and get the chequebook out Pep.

What they don't seem to realise is they effectively back the Glazers anyway by turning up to matches, buying merchandise and backing players/managers that wouldn't be there under real ambitious ownership. Likewise with Arsenal/Kroenke.

Third choice keepers are always vulnerable to banter as they look so out of place on the rooster but from what i read on a Fulham forum they are shocked he's settling for such a role. That must mean he's actually pretty decent relitevely speaking and he will probably actually get some cup games aswell as Kepa will become a league keeper for a month (when Edou goes to ACON) which means this guy will likely get the cup games in that period. Speaking of Kepa, if we can by some miracle find him a new home to suit all parties ì wouldn't mind looking at two other ex Fulham keepers for the new number 2 role, Sergio Rico or Areola, atleast one will be made available by Paris given Donnaruma's arrival, both if Navas stays.

The funniest thing is, if he was still at his 15/16 level the race for CM4 (if we don't use the market) would be a one horse race.

Maguire went from playing RCB at Hull to LCB for England and as already said Cahill adapted to it relatively comfortably. Fairly certain any of our CB's bar Silva can play that role.

Fucked in what context? Fight for top 4? If that happens that would make TT worse than Lampard (domestically) unless 4th requires mid to late 70's points.

While i agree there's question marks over his suitability to the PL calling him bang average is just wrong on many levels.

They can't be much worse than some of the 'experts' floating about.

Sterling and Broja really made a claim tonight, the latter looks a lot more suited to this system than Tammy.

All this with Bettinelli still to come. Exciting times ahead.