robsblubot

Agreed. The caveat being that I fully expect KDH to needing some time to adapt given that he's now playing against better players, who would provide far less time on the ball than what he was enjoying before. I keep hearing better/same when talking about KDH and Conor, but I think it's more about characteristics than anything else. Had we hired a different manager, with a different philosophy, and he might have asked for Conor to stay and become an important player for him (Poch?). Maresca clearly needs a different type in midfielder, which is why KDH is here.

I think the missing piece of the puzzle here is the system. In that positional game the defenders have to be very mobile and good on the ball; pace and skill are more important than physicality as you can see City's defense line. I'm suggesting that he's very much a Maresca signing. I used to hear the same about Stones, even though I always rated him. I could totally see Stones not doing as well in a low block direct system (say England eh), but he does a really good job for City.

He does not look like a physical Cb, which might be a good thing if he's really good on the ball as well as reading of the game. Best of luck.

Now that he's signed, the very best of luck to him. Hope Maresca's eye on his potential pans out and he becomes the goalie we need.

these mean very little when you compare apples to oranges. They don't play the same opposition, and have a very different style of play, which is why this is important. Not so much now given that we don't have CL, but hopefully soon enough.

tbF, they may actually improve having Alonso as their #9. 😅

I have a hard time with this argument regarding numbers alone. I mean take aside any personal take on both players (I think Mount is a lot of more skillful and plays in a different role too), but accomplishments alone should make you pause when making this comparison IMO. One can say that Conor has time to accomplish the same, but it's a very tall order given Mount's numbers in that CL run. I'm OK with Conor leaving tbh. The fee does seem low esp for nowadays.

Agreed. He's by far the better fit for Maresca's system; Alvarez is even already adapted to that system.

You see Kepa was an obviously great name for a goalie, and it did fail miserably, so our savvy owners are trying the opposite approach with flip (flop). 🙂 It kinda makes sense in some bizarre world of baseball.

Given the ownership, I'm sure it's The Curse of the Bambino at play here.

Well, W. Fofana is playing without legs, so gotta give him some credit for that. Now, "can they do it on a cold rainy night in Stoke"? 😆 City moved the target way beyond our reach. Then Arsenal followed suit. We have no choice really as the positional game is simply better for the PL, so we either simply give it up and focus on cups, yup even CL, or we embrace Maresca's way and try to implement it here. Nope not with these players I'm afraid, so it needs some tweaking over a window or two. I can see a lot of disappointment from people who believed in the strategy so far: it was not really that good for Maresca's way of play. Positional play defending isn't all about the CBs. So, I'm not that worried about that atm.

Enzo Fernandez could help with that. They spent a lot of time together not long ago. I think that playing nice football becomes a possibility once you have multiple skillful players in your team, and signing Alvarez would def move us towards that direction esp considering what the manager intends. I honestly think a signing of this caliber would put us back at the top. Yes, we'd still have weaknesses, but IMO players like Alvarez raise the overall level of play of a team. I'd not be surprised if Enzo himself improves having Alvarez around, and the club may be thinking that as well given the investment on Enzo. His xG is irrelevant in my view, because he's a player who can help increase the 'x' (expected) variable. Oh well, let's hope.

Qualifying for the Champions League used to be a lot cheaper back in the day. 🙂 No wait, didn't Aston Villa qualify for the Champions League? https://www.transfermarkt.us/aston-villa/transfers/verein/405

For me, the pre Clearlake success ratio is frankly fairly normal at this level. After all this is supposed to be the Elite, and not everyone makes it -- even good players may not. Now, I honestly see a single disappointment of over 25 signing during the Clearlake regime: Sterling. The others were just over-the-hill, free, Loans. Disasi just a bad signing from the get-go -- nobody rated him and he does not even look the part (heavy). Goalies should not count given that you can count in one hand Elite sides playing with a U24 goalie (our next goalie signing will likely be over 25). Nkunku yet to be seen depending on fitness... injury history is not a mystery tho. Ironically the list does not include the absolute worst signing so far: W. Fofana -- big money for someone with such a troublesome injury history. All I see from the list above is incompetence.

We are way beyond all that; we are now into whether sex is good, bad, or just a mass delusion. 😆

That we can agree on. With the caveat some of us think getting a couple of more experienced players, with renown, could actually help in the development of these younger players. Now, the complicated part is "the bar." It's so freaking high here. Say, take Jackson for a sec, he's a very good player in my book. I think he improved quite a bit and became more of a team player towards the end of the season. Now, maybe this is it for him -- this may be as good as he will ever get. If that's the case, is he good enough? maybe... maybe not. It's hard to say for sure, but I think the opposition would then have better options. Of course, I hope he keeps on improving. Yeah I cannot comment on what other people wanted back then. Folks get upset for a number of different things. I certainly did not want Kai and Mount out. Mount with a single leg shits on Mudryk IMO. Disagree, Kova had a lot of important starts and performance. How about Enzo's or Caicedo's goal ratio? Trev has done shit tho. He's a good squad player, I agree, but that's about it. So, I know that some people may think that the current team is better than the CL winner one. It makes no fucking sense in my mind tho. In the end though, it's all about achievements; if in a few of years this crop of players don't win anything, that's how they will be remembered.

Fair enough, like I said, we all have our own preferences... this is entertainment after all. Incidentally, I think the only over 30yo player who started that final against City was Thiago Silva, who was signed on a free deal. That was a pretty young side esp with Kai and Mount at 21-22. The buys were Jorginho (well under 30 and still in his prime), and Kovacic who was 25-26 and very well in his prime. kante was 30, but obviously not acquired in that season.

Love when people conveniently ignore the biggest silverware a club can win. 🤷‍♂️ For the record, I certainly don't. Like I said earlier, to each their own I guess. Also, what is exactly *better* right now? You can argue that it's likely to get better in the future, but right now there is no competitive advantage from the time you complain about.

It's probably wages again. 😢

Don't get me wrong, I haven't seen enough of him (Lavia), so I trust the multiple opinions stating that he's a very good player. My point is that from that "very good player" (for his age) to an elite player who gives you a competitive advantage against CL or PL powerhouses should not be taken for granted however promising a player may be.

Fair enough, but "amazing for us" is a tall order considering what this club has accomplished in the past. Not long ago we had prime Kante having MotM after MotM performances in CL knockout stages. We won a CL outplaying Real Madrid and then City. Nowadays we don't even play CL. From experience here, but the idea that a player who is 20-22 and, is a good player, will automagically become much better later is simply wrong. I'm probably with you on D, and am more worried about the attack esp our dependency on Nkunku remaining fit. On the other hand, Maresca demands different characteristics from his D players, I also fail to see that in our group.

Heh, I'd actually say the same for the people who celebrate young (development) signings instead of silverware. To each his own, I guess. 🤷‍♂️

I don't think Lavia should be added to any success list until he plays for a season esp considering he apparently had some issue at the time we signed him. Nkunku would also deserve a mention on the "let's hope" list. We have historically signed good players, but ultimately a group of players is evaluated based on their success. Reckon it is just too early to know how well the transfers will turn out to be, esp given the development time involved with many of them.

I'm wondering what you find surprising about 👆 We've seen trump and cult operate, so it's just going to be more of the same. I personally think she's going to be a harder target for them. Former prosecutor and all that. She's always been smarter than Trump, and she's likely a lot smarter these days, so I wouldn't be surprised if he gets embarrassed in debates. Going to read about it afterwards given I think they are a waste of time. Voter turnout decides the elections here; if kamala can mobilize the base, like Trump does his, she wins.

Thought you didn't want to make it a "sex thing"... oh it's because she's a woman. Silly me, now I see it. 😆