Magic Lamps

Those stats are misleading. Jackson got into tons of great positions and scoffed the finish. Can’t remember him trying any of shots from outside the box unlike vlahovic and Alvarez. Conversion rate alone means sod all.

I saw a couple of lazy rumours linking us with Dovbyk. We could definitely do worse, he is a smart player, good finisher, strong physique but I don’t see how he fits Marescas playing style with his heavy first touch and other technical deficiencies. That being said, Duran is pants and everybody can see Solanke is a one season wonder. He is an ok PL average striker, our club scouts should know him inside out. I doubt he will ever score as many goals again. I really hope we don’t jump the gun again and half-ass an other striker signing by going for meh quality that will probably still be vastly overpriced. IMO Jackson, albeit a dreadful finisher , has shown enough in his first PL season to demonstrate an upward trajectory and will start a significant amount of matches next season. Granted with us likely playing the highest number of matches by a PL club in history until the end of the CWC, we do need another striker. Hence the best solution would be to buy an experienced back up on the cheap in the demba ba/ Oli Giroud mould. Ideally someone proficient in the air and with his back to goal to help us break the plethora of parked buses we will face under Maresca. Plenty of those strikers available but our board is as obsessed with youth as our new manager with his outdated sideways passing snoozeplay, so I doubt common sense will prevail.

Not necessarily. Potential does not guarantee success . I believe getting all these young hyped up players with not enough experienced leaders around them actually will stunt their development. Wengers young gunners won nothing for 10 straight years bc he had mostly kids and no real leaders. It was no coincidence Drogba put them to the sword almost every single time despite them playing decent football. only when they brought in experienced players like Podolski, Özil, Sanchez, Giroud, mertesacker, cazorla they started winning the fa cup again at least. But by then a whole generation of superbly talented young players had gone to waste bc of poor squad planing. We have now basically invested 1bn to become Arsenal anno 2007 but with an unproven coach. Clownlake are running headfirst into the youth trap bc they have no clue. They are yanks who have been into ‘soccer’ for a couple of years and have no clue about generations of greatly talented teams that went to waste winning nothing bc of owners like them.

Agree. I have read rumours about him everywhere but would not even get excited .he would be an absolute shoe in with his playing style, straight upgrade on Sterling/mudryk for the left side + could easily establish himself as a leader with his attitude and workrate. Absolutely love to have players like this who play with intensity&passion plus have the technique to back it up. But these kind of transfers were always super uncommon for us, even under Roman. There have been many classy Italian players that would have fitted us well over the past 20 years. But from the top of my head, I only remember Jorginho, zappcosta and Emerson actually joining us during that time. many tend to stay in Italy and of those who don’t they usually prefer sunnier destinations over England. Ironically Newcastle, which is maybe the place that must look most hostile to an Italian, are among the favourites to sign him. If he does end up there I will absolutely pissed with out board cos it would mean they were willing&able to prise some little known 26 yo CB away from them but not a quality, proven international household name.

Bayern are apparently going for palinha again. Will be interesting how much they end up paying and if there is a no-PL discount for them. He would have been perfect over caicedo/Latvia last summer but now there is no real point for us anymore

I am honestly not too worried about Olise, sesko, Alvarez or any of the goalkeepers we have been linked with. They all have reasonable reputation, injury record and somewhat adequate price ranges. What I don’t want is dropping another 100m on some hype boy with dodgy knees or just one decent season. Also the links to meh players like Dobvyk, Calvert Lewin and Upamecano would get me wondering if our board have actually learned anything if there were any substance to it.

Apparently he has suffered an ankle sprain and had to be subbed off on Indy duty. Probably nothing serious as long as he recovers fully and does not get thrown back in prematurely but highlights our lack of depth at CF.

Lima is 17. He will be loaned out and sold for profit. Probably will only ever enter cobham once and with a visitor badge

From all I have seen and read so far he has the potential to be a great signing. He reminds me a bit of Van Dijk at Southampton. Being the full fackage physically & excellent on the ball. Just has to iron out the errors which are still too frequent for his level of experience.

One more reason the second fiddle argument does not hold water. Also the fact that City probably know they will be in the market for a striker next summer regardless will not entice them to put themselves in a position that will have them shopping for two

Alvarez is decent, no doubt. 80m would be expensive but not outrageous for a player who has won it all and is still to reach his prime. Definitely more justified than what we paid for caicedo, fofana, mudryk etc. would he be the ultimate solution to our striker woes and bag us 20 PL goals per season? Probably not. But does he add something we don’t already have? Definitely. personally, I prefer strong, tall, athletic strikers in 1 striker systems. But marescas football requires someone who has excellent technique, close control, an eye for spaces and who can win a 1 on 1. Alvarez offers all of this. there are plenty of good reasons why this can happen. The argument that does not count is the ‚playing second fiddle to Haaland‘ IMO. He has played more PL games and minutes than Haaland last season and I can see this trend continuing as Haaland will continue to pick up smaller injuries with how he is targeted by CBs and pep looking for alternatives within games where he looks out of the loop.

It’s not accurate. I walked that distance between the bridge and craven cottage a few times. It took me under 30 mins, it’s definitely less than 3km. More like 2.5. anyway, welcome Tosin! Hopefully he is the desired upgrade over trev, Badi and disasi and as successful as Cahill

While transfer front seems quiet atm, just out of interest, what would you guys think of the following free agents: CB: Hermoso, Varane or Matip loads of CL experience, possible mentor role as the senior cbs in the squad, but somewhat washed up. Maybe good enough when managed and motivated correctly? ST: Memphis, Martial, Iheanacho or Chris wood PL proven, technical quality, still in their best years ish, reputation a bit patchy but maybe useful backups that add sth different to Jackson?

Rather keep hutch around than buy Olise for 60m . The idea of having a left footed left winger providing width with the fullback being inverted has its place , surely he can’t be worse at this than muddy. We really don’t need a new winger, least a leftie, unless it’s a substantial upgrade in quality

Oh ffs pls no. There is a reason Bayern want to get rid. He is clumsy, error and injury prone

harsh. All those interviews of former players and Leicester fans around him painted a somewhat likeable picture. Esp his industriousness, passion and connection with the fans. Poch was devoid of any charisma in comparison. What I don’t like about Maresca is his eyesore brand of football sideways passing until the asteroid hits.

How are araujo and hummels interchangeable? Completely different types of CB Hummels is finished. He has had one last good season after years of decline. Hummels is now super slow probably slower than 40yo Thiago who was rapid when young while Hummels was always a snail It is not a vintage year for German cbs but if I needed to pick one apart from Toni it would be Tah and maybe koch. Both not perfect but one is a commanding presence, leader and good tactical brain, the other is PL proven, versatile and cheap Edit; just in, tah has agreed to join Bayern who ofc want to poach their main rivals leading figure.

When you play a pass like (carbon copy of that caicedo one last year )that , then you are not overall good .

Maatsen lost carvajal for the first and served them the 2nd on a silver plate. Absolute liability, single-handedly lost them the CL. It is often when stakes are high that is becomes clear who is the weakest link. Reminds me of karius

yup Maatsen has been terrible defensively today . Maybe bvb won’t buy him now at all

The oh so great Maatsen at fault for both goals

Well if you concede from tiny carvajal header with all that height advantage, you don’t deserve to win. It has to be a perfect performance to beat real in a final and today that was far from it. Still decent fight. Dortmund can be proud close 2nd like usually

Sensible of him to go back to the championship. He would probably have the best squad in the league. If he fails to get promotion he should reconsider managing. Being so well spoken and statesmanlike, I still think he would be a good sporting director or club executive. He clearly knows his stuff and his strategic vision for the club he had here is exactly what we have been trying to built since. Surely would be better than the clowns out in charge by eghbali. But it is exactly his reserved controlled personality that might not lend itself to coaching especially with squads full of gen Z ADD kids.

This buy high sell low transfer policy is killing me. Selling Trev when he has ages left on his contract and his stock is at an all time low is just stupid even if he were not good enough. At the same time buying perma injured players in the same position for record breaking fees. How are these guys millionaires? Football brains aside their business plan has been an absolute shitshow so far. I like these attempts at value for money signings but neither Tosin nor cauliflower are better cbs than trev so why the hassle

I am by no means a Gallagher super fan but losing him would be catastrophic on so many levels. He is one of the few leaders in the squad (we virtually have none now silva is gone), he is clearly respected by the other players, he is a fan favourite, one of own, selling him would exacerbate the disconnect between owners and fans even more. He has to stay based on merit. Enzo, Latvia or maybe even caicedo are probably more talented but Conor has easily outperformed them last season. He is the embodiment of a working hard and fighting for the shirt, squad morale will suffer without him. Clownlake set a dangerous precedent that loyalty and blue blood is not valued at the club with academy graduates only being seen as cash cows. Then investing that money into buying duds for outrageous fees adds insult to injury