OneMoSalah

Project is to generate as much profit as the club can. Sporting wise - not got a clue. Top 4 at all costs?

The more and more I see and look into us enquiring about Semenyo, the more and more it feels like one of three possible things. One: a PR stunt. For the sakes of shits and giggles. Because well who’d be surprised. Two: Them trying to make us look relevant; to show we are willing to pay top dollar to rival/attract the top top players the likes of Liverpool and City are after a long spell of questionable recruitment of younger/lesser known players - we know its been mentioned by the media & fanbase about the strategy at this club far and wide. Three: Maybe to try please Maresca, the fallout from this outburst the other week has mentioned he reportedly wants some more experienced, top level players in the squad to push the team on. As opposed to youngsters that need time to develop. Enquiring about him before realising we don’t need him as we are already stocked in wide areas though? Why even bother picking up the phone in the first place 😂 Also again. Another attacking linked but not one link to a top GK or top CB - when will they fucking learn….

Yep. If we hadn’t brought Gittens be a different story perhaps. But yeah. Top player wouldn’t of come here regardless probably. Why enquire though? Thats the bit that makes 0 sense if there was no intentions of pursuing a deal. Just looks amateurish.

Probably has worked out better for his development also. He got jeered by the Villa fans earlier in the season against Bologna after a tough start and Emery kept playing him through that patch to toughen him up. Looks as if its worked wonders. Also would say Tuchel has put a lot of faith in him with the national team which will have no doubt given him a boost, particularly as his direct competition for that central role is Jude Bellingham (and if you believe the media as well as consider Tuchel’s publicly stated intentions on picking the best team as opposed the best names, he looks to be ahead of him as it stands for the starting 11). Think this summer will be interesting, even more so after the World Cup. We have been linked but it would also be something that I think the player himself may be wary of because he could have the likes of City, Arsenal, Liverpool also if he continues like this and has a good WC. He will be £100m easy if this form Continues.

Was he not absolutely shit in Spain & wanted to go back to Brazil because he was homesick? Screams Clownlake tbf.

His first club in Europe also! Will finally make an appearance for their first team 20+ years later 😂

Salvaged a point but won’t manage to scrape back a 2-0 deficit every week. Anyone saying Maresca is the right man should watch that first half back, ok there is a reaction in the second half but the first half was absolutely spineless. Could even possibly have ended up with 3 points if we were lucky but be harsh on Newcastle, particularly given Sanchez’s saves & not to mention the Fofana hand ball that wasn’t given. This isn’t the first or last time under him we have been talking about Jekyll & Hyde performances. Its every week more or less. Shite first half then get a reaction, improving second half. Or vice versa. His obsession with Reece in MF is getting ridiculous though. Pick the best team. If it means you only play one of Reece or Malo at RB, go for it. Ok maybe we another top midfielder to come into the side to partner Caicedo long term. Fernandez makes a bit of a difference today but then you watch some weeks and he is an absolute passenger. Throw in the fact that Lavia probably gets injured thinking about playing football. I do fear if Caicedo were to get a big injury also, he is the only player you can actually rely on week in week out to perform to a high level. Would throw all the money in the world at Newcastle for Sandro Tonali to be honest, not even based on today, top midfielder who is coming into the right age, has plenty experience, very rounded, physically has great attributes too.

Would it be a disaster? Really? Maresca replacing Pep at City? Do people think he’s really gonna be able to live up to & improve upon what Pep’s done there? And is he really that good a coach/manager? Regardless, I don’t think City would actually appoint him if I am honest. There is definitely something off between him & our board/ownership group on top of the fact Pep has been linked with walking away from City at the end of the season for the second or third time in successive seasons. If he does go there, can we give them Tosin as well for free? Won’t see many folk too upset if Maresca leaves here for City either. He is an insufferable fucker at the best of times. He would probably end up playing Haaland on the left wing and Rodri upfront.

We will get shagged by any of the PL sides in the semi finals if we perform like that. Definitely not a good performance. Good result though yes.

Still a bit shite in terms of it only being 10% because it only works out at like 500 tickets for Scottish & English fans in the group games being at that price. Should’ve been a much higher % in my eyes, 25% would’ve been good. I suppose if each of the nations participating get that minimum 450-500 tickets at that prices for the groups then yeah it is better than before but its still quite shite. FIFA as well as the USA, Canada & Mexico are going to make an absolute fortune, like probably be the most profitable football tournament to date, so they should be trying to make it a bit more affordable. I went to Germany for the Euros & whilst it wasn’t cheap, it wasn’t extortionate. Particularly the costs for accommodation, food &drink in Germany but the WC over there is going to be another level for sure.

Still time for us to blow this lead. I mean based on tonight, I think we’ve got Stevie Wonder playing at CB with Badiashile although hes been terrible also (Hato can’t be good at CB either based on Badiashile playing CB ahead of him). Hopefully Tosin off for Trevor. Nope never mind, Trev on at RB 🙄

Absolutely deserved. Like I said before, for the cost of this squad, the level of performance is absolutely pathetic. Someone has to answer for this because it happens too often - be it the sporting directors and/or the manager. The players clearly are not that good (shock horror who’d of thought?!?!?) so in an ideal world, sporting directors need to be held severely accountable. They also hired the manager. Irony is, the Cardiff manager was an ex Man City EDS coach who worked with Maresca so if they go on & win this, he’ll probably become favourite for the Chelsea job 😂

Looks like that goals just gave them even more of a lift 😂 We have got better but still so poor. The cost of this team & to get this level of performance is abysmal.

List is poor but what do we expect? De Zebri is too volatile for BlueCo. 100%. Good coach with huge upside when things are going well but has shown at Brighton he will speak his mind & not bite his tongue when it comes to it. Howe has shown some good things at Newcastle, trophy win & CL qualification but they have also shown the same issues that his Bournemouth side did; can go on poor runs & conceding poor goals too often. Although could argue FFP has hamstrung him also with improving on what they have. Iraola & Glasner would be interesting moves but are they strong enough or just going to be yes men that would let the sporting directors go unchecked? Can they deal with the demands that this club should have? Glasner is an avid lover of playing a back 3 which is probably a formation the sporting directors haven’t built this squad for too. For Fabregas, it looks like he will do very very well but similarly with Rosenoir, who has done alright in France, needs to keep plying his trade and developing as a coach before making a jump. Lower level clubs in Italy & France are a different kettle of fish to what should be a top 4 team. But in all honesty, if we had to, Fabregas would be my preference out of all of those names if he’d be willing to move, even if he is very inexperienced as a manager. I think his career as a player gives him huge respect in the dressing room & sounds like he isn’t a manager who will be inflexible. He has spoke in great depth about trying to take things from all the managers he’s played under & that you cannot just be one dimensional effectively. Which is the polar opposite to what we have now.

How has he hooked George & not Gittens? Then left Buonanotte on? Like Gittens & Buonanotte have been the worst players on the pitch by a mile (thats saying something), lost possession 20 times between them in the first half….. Maresca’s decision making there & in general, how he sees the game is absolutely atrocious.

Buonanotte was brought in because he played for Brighton & under 21. Horrible game so far, Cardiff look miles better than us. Gittens is fucking wank, Dortmund laughing at us.

Tbf looking more into it, it seems the manager has noticed the sporting directors are a nightmare. But so is Maresca - 100% both need to go but the owners will only back one side if it comes down to it, the sporting directors. The argument for this youth based model really bearing fruit is a bit of a joke as well, isn’t it? All it has done really is drastically reduced the wage bill. Unless scraping into the CL on top of winning a trumped up pre season competition & 3rd tier of European football with a £2.5 bn pound squad (should of walked it) is all this mob has aspirations for there needs to be a shift in mentality at all levels. After the Maignan deal not going ahead & not signing a CB on top of trying to force the likes of Felix, Veiga amongst others on Maresca last season - I can see why he feels the need to be butting heads.

Interesting presser after game. Worst 48 hrs of his time at the club so he reckons as people didn’t show him & the team support 😂 Ironic, we finally get a win after 4 or 5 games without one & he comes out with that. Now everyone is talking about his presser & what he could’ve meant as opposed to the win. The guy is an absolute bellend, cannot wait to see the back of him. Moaning about not playing without players due to injuries & suspensions, injuries happen but he can easily stress to the player’s about their discipline record - we had countless red cards on the trot at one point and he said it wasn’t a problem. Seems he wants to be applauded for winning the Club World Cup & Conference League as if they were massive achievements but then he wants to be judged as if he is rebuilding the team. Make your mind up - cannot have it both ways.

This club getting a transfer ban wouldn’t be the worst thing. Save us signing utter dross for a period.

Won’t compete or win trophies penny pinching though - been saying it for seasons now. Everyone at the club seems to think that we’re going to find top quality players we need aged 23 & under on moderately low wages. Guaranteed that’ll never happen. Would paying his salary & bonus demands really have been that bad either? He’s reportedly on 250k per week, that isn’t outrageous for a player of his quality in this day & age. Given his pedigree on top of the fact he has been earning £10m+ a year for the best part of nearly 10 seasons since his Milan days - would anyone really have expected him to be asking for a small contract? Previous regime would’ve paid it no questions asked. Regardless, even if we had offered, no player who has the chance to pick from us or City, is coming here at the moment - but we should’ve been pushing a deal given his availability, quality and playing position ticked all the boxes. Or a competent sporting department would’ve been. Look how immense he was for PSG last season & plenty of big moments for City so far. Not to mention big international performances over the years. Would’ve been worth every penny & more.

Both City & Liverpool been heavily linked for probably a year now though. Would be a great signing for either club. Given our track record, there is no chance we will enter the race given he is; 1) a very good player & 2) over 21 years old. Shame because he would be a instant starter but we spunked £100m on Gittens & Garnacho.

They’ll never go for De Zebri, I know he has Brighton ties but he’d potentially be too volatile a personality for BlueCo. He would want a lot more say than Maresca & Pochettino got in terms of recruitment also. He was extremely critical of Brighton’s recruitment in his second season which led to their desire to part ways with him. Could you imagine dumb & dumber’s egos here if he called them out for shockingly poor recruitment (despite most of their signings being gash)? He has never lasted longer than 2 years at the 8 clubs he’s been at other than at Sassuolo, which is alarming.

Not specifically. His name was mentioned in another thread by other members also. It is 100% a case of ex player doing well elsewhere vs our players (mostly of a similar quality) in the same position are struggling. I don’t think Veiga would be the answer or a real improvement on any of our defenders. Hato also has the same flexibility in terms of positions he can play so his versatility, if it was ever an argument/consideration for some, isn’t something we don’t have either. He is probably on a similar level and has a similar ceiling - which unfortunately isn’t what we need - to the likes of what we’ve already gotten. I agree with some of the CBs you’ve listed as they are top quality, which is what we need. I have been waiting to see if this ownership group are serious enough to go out and buy top top players. For instance we needed a GK & CB, Donnarumma & Guehi were available for less than what it would’ve cost us to sign Garnacho & Giitens this summer. Yet they weren’t serious enough.

He never looked that brilliant either in any of the variety of positions he played anyway. Was he a LB? A CB? A 6? And whilst folk will say he’s doing well or is better than player X Y or Z, in all likelihood he’d of been just as much a bag of shite as the rest of them here. Thats just based off of our recruitment strategy & the success rate these sporting directors have had with 75% plus of their signings. If we want to replace players like Tosin, Badiashile & see a huge improvement in the first 11 then the replacements need to be TOP TOP players who are lightyears ahead of them. Not more average/similar level of players - which is 100% what Veiga would’ve fallen under. Anyone saying otherwise is just lying to themselves. Hato was apparently a good signing in the summer now everyone’s going on about Veiga & saying he should’ve been kept. And if we loan/sell Hato & sign another player of similar profile/level it will be the same again 100% 😂

Maybe not getting to the next stage of the CLs is the wake up call BlueCo need. They said they thought they’d assembled a top CL quality squad when they got rid of Poch & it’s clear they thought the Europa Conference League & Club World Cup was some sort of vindication & proof that what they were doing was working as well as with Maresca’s tenure. How wrong. Still think that to spend £2bn & other than a handful of signings (Caicedo, Palmer, Estevao as well as Neto, Cucurella & Fernandez - when he can actually be arsed to run back - to a much lesser extent), it should be studied at Harvard as how not to do a squad build.