Mário César 1,483 Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said: We spent around 240m euros on Sterling, Mudryk, Gittens and Garnacho. Sold Pulisic for 20m. We downgraded. For me, that’s the most unbelievable mistake by the board. I can still understand Garnacho because he came from United and has shown some decent things, but the Gittens signing — especially for the price paid — represents everything that’s wrong with this board. Sterling, despite everything, came from City, and Madueke, who’s already been sold, was cheap. Mudryk has also been a disaster, but honestly, the Gittens signing is by far the worst of them all. Vesper and bigbluewillie 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesper 31,110 Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 https://football-observatory.com/WeeklyPost532 Thanks to the data exclusively produced by our partner Impect, the 532nd CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the ball-friendliest teams in the world. The ranking was established according to four indicators: the proximity of passes (the shorter, the better), the pace of passing during possession, the duration of possessions and the percentage of balls received in the opponent's third below knee height (on the ground)*. Of the 915 teams in the 58 leagues analysed, the highest score was recorded for Bayern Munich (Vincent Kompany). The Germans are ahead of Paris Saint-Germain (Luis Enrique), with FC Barcelona (Hansi Flick) in third place and Bayer Leverkusen in fourth (Kasper Hjulmand). Among teams outside Europe's big-5, Columbus Crew (5th overall) are ahead of Denmark's FC Nordsjælland (7th) and French second division’s AS Saint-Étienne (8th). Manchester City (6th), Celtic FC (9th) and Olympique de Marseille (10th) round up the top 10. The top 20 also notably includes Norway’s Bodø/Glimt (Kjetil Knutsen) and Spain’s Elche CF (Eder Sarabia). At the opposite end, the least ball-friendly teams out of the sample analysed are Irish sides Galway United and Drogheda United, ahead of Belgium’s Patro Eisden, Portugal’s CD Feirense, Austria’s SKU Amstetten and Czech Republic’s FC Zlín. *The data is presented as a ratio relative to the average recorded across the 915 teams analysed (current or last completed domestic league matches only). Ball-friendliest teams, 58 leagues worldwide Domestic leagues matches, current or last completed season until 30/01/2026 Proximity: proximity of passes Tempo: pace of passing during possession Duration: duration of possessions Ground: % of balls received in the opponent's third below knee height snip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesper 31,110 Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 4 hours ago, Fernando said: Maybe if Quenda becomes like Estevao then all is well and Gittens and Garnacho become subs. wrong side of the pitch Quenda is a left-footed RWer we need a right-footed (or ambipedal) LWer a pretty extensive list (some are pipedreams, some are dice-rolls and some are youth) some are more AMFs than wingers (in italics), but I wanted to be as maximal as possible, and all of those types listed deffo play winger: Vinicius Junior Jamal Musiala Kenan Yıldız Khvicha Kvaratskhelia Désiré Doué Morgan Rogers Bradley Barcola Yan Diomande Fermín López Rafael Leão Nico Williams Rodrygo Anthony Gordon Dani Olmo Said El Mala Iliman Ndiaye Ibrahim Mbayee Crysencio Summerville Rodrigo Mora Malick Fofana Jesús Rodríguez Assane Diao Kevin Dan Ndoye Antonio Nusa Jean-Mattéo Bahoya Matías Fernández-Pardo Bazoumana Touré Oskar Pietuszewski Jeremy Monga Kerim Alajbegovic Fernando 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesper 31,110 Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 2 hours ago, Mário César said: For me, that’s the most unbelievable mistake by the board. I can still understand Garnacho because he came from United and has shown some decent things, but the Gittens signing — especially for the price paid — represents everything that’s wrong with this board. Sterling, despite everything, came from City, and Madueke, who’s already been sold, was cheap. Mudryk has also been a disaster, but honestly, the Gittens signing is by far the worst of them all. Both look like busts atm, especially Gittens over £92m in toto likely down the shitter £52m for Gittens (MADNESS) £40m for Garnacho, AND we lose 10 per cent on the sell-on 🤬 bigbluewillie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duppy Conqueror 1,584 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 10 hours ago, Strike said: So the brief from the board is we are a defender, midfielder and attacker short after being in charge of the last seven transfer windows 3 players is pretty standard reserved summer window tho.for even if a club has been highly successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesper 31,110 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Expansive CF target list (I just did this today for right-footed LWers) I do not think we are set at CF, even with Emmanuel Emegha coming in some of these are pipe dreams and some are older stopgaps, but like the other list, I want to be maximal this is simply off talent, both potential or current in order of valuation Alexander Isak (rumours are out there Pool will sell him) Julián Alvarez Lautaro Martínez Victor Osimhen Harry Kane Marcus Thuram Samu Aghehowa Ferran Torres Nicolas Jackson (keep him?) Moise Kean Serhou Guirassy Gonçalo Ramos Pio Esposito Ange-Yoan Bonny Vitor Roque Santiago Castro Igor Thiago Dušan Vlahović Jhon Durán Fisnik Asllani Amine Gouiri Joaquín Panichelli Charalampos Kostoulas Rayan Endrick Mikel Oyarzabal Patrik Schick Conrad Harder Christian Kofane Eli Junior Kroupi Franculino Santiago Gimenez Franjo Ivanović Ivan Toney Eliezer Mayenda Kauã Elias Francesco Camarda Ricardo Pepi Adam Hlozek George Ilenikhena Aleksandar Mitrović Luca Meirelles Kader Meïté Robinio Vaz Jhon Córdoba Ricardo Mathias Robert Lewandowski Sidiki Chérif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pizy 19,282 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 9 hours ago, NikkiCFC said: We spent around 240m euros on Sterling, Mudryk, Gittens and Garnacho. Sold Pulisic for 20m. We downgraded. I was perfectly ok with us selling Pulisic. Always injured and inconsistent when he was fit. What’s super maddening about our current situation is that 95% of our fanbase KNEW that we shouldn’t have gone near Gittens and Garnacho. Everyone knew these guys were bang average or even worse than bang average but for some strange reason people at our club were obsessed with both. If I’m being fair, if we had an amazing beast of a starting LW I actually would mind having Garnacho as that player’s sub. As infuriating as he is, he’ll still pop up with goals here and there. Gittens is the one that was a horrific mistake. Dortmund were literally shocked that we were willing to pay that price and their supporters were actually laughing at us for doing so too. We’ve now bought 3 high priced LW’s in a row that have all either been gigantic flops like Mudryk and Gittens or disgustingly inconsistent like Garna. bigbluewillie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluepower777 57 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 On 17/01/2026 at 00:43, Reddish-Blue said: It just sounds like the board didn't want to keep Maresca for that long but they gave him time due to the club world cup win. Maybe similar to Di Matteo staying after the UCL win So instead they have downgraded on Maresca probably due to financial constraints. Im hoping these people kmow what they doing but tbf it certainly doesn't look like they do. I think its really sad times, all you have to do is look at the utter dross being connected to our club whether true or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesper 31,110 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 On 03/02/2026 at 15:37, Strike said: Aguero refers to summer 2018 when Costa and Conte had fought and Costa was on his way out No, It was not the summer of 2018 It was the summer of 2017 that Conte told Costa (via text, ffs) that he was not wanted anymore. see this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Costa#Club_career 2017–18 season "Hi Diego, I hope you are well. Thanks for the seasono [sic] we spent together. Good luck for the next year but you are not in my plan." – Antonio Conte informing Costa by text in June 2017 that he would no longer be involved with Chelsea[131] In June 2017, Costa was told by Conte that he was not part of his plans for the coming season and that he was free to move to another team via text message.[131] Although Costa was linked to potential moves to the likes of Milan, Monaco, and Everton, he stated that he would only be open to moving back to his former team Atlético Madrid. Costa attempted to find a legal solution through his lawyer in pushing for a move back to Madrid,[132] and said that Chelsea were treating him like a "criminal" by demanding a high transfer fee for his exit.[133] He was excluded from training with the first-team, but was named in the Premier League squad, yet left out of the Champions League squad.[134] On 21 September 2017, Chelsea announced that Costa would return to Atlético at the start of the next transfer window in January 2018.[135][133] On 26 September 2017, it was announced that after passing medical tests Costa signed a contract with Atlético. He was registered and became eligible to play after 1 January 2018, due to a transfer ban imposed on Atlético.[136] Strike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special Juan 28,765 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 The amount of money we have spunked on that left hand side for Gittens, Garnacho and Mudryk is sickening. For that total amount we could have had a Barcola and had spare change. It's like they can't do the math and think three players is great as opposed to one quality one and a decent back up. If we can get good money for Neto I'd send him packing, but come the summer it has to be striker, CB and keeper. We say this every window/year but they are the three positions without doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mário César 1,483 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 18 minutes ago, Special Juan said: The amount of money we have spunked on that left hand side for Gittens, Garnacho and Mudryk is sickening. For that total amount we could have had a Barcola and had spare change. It's like they can't do the math and think three players is great as opposed to one quality one and a decent back up. If we can get good money for Neto I'd send him packing, but come the summer it has to be striker, CB and keeper. We say this every window/year but they are the three positions without doubt. what striker? We already have 3 - JP, Delap and the guy from strasbourg that come in the summer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special Juan 28,765 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 1 hour ago, Mário César said: what striker? We already have 3 - JP, Delap and the guy from strasbourg that come in the summer Delap is shite, the bloke from Strasbourg is your usual stop gap and Joao Pedro is too up and down, whilst he is currently scoring he's not an out and out 9. We have to get the striker right no matter who is available this summer, and we have to pay very good money to obtain one. I'm not talking about a stop gap, a side shuffle to Strasbourg but simply a top quality striker. We fucked about over Osimhen, he would have done a job for us and ticks all the boxes. But like I have said for months we aren't paying big money anymore for either wages or transfer fees, the stop gaps are the issues and why we are falling away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pizy 19,282 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 The thing with Delap is that I think there IS a very good striker there. He’s got all the tools physically. For whatever reason he just hasn’t developed at all since arriving and seems more focused on getting in scraps than he is desperate to score goals. Even though we only paid £30m for him he has been so poor that we may not even get our money back on him if we decided to move on. I guess maybe Ipswich would if they’re promoted back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special Juan 28,765 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Delap will be another classic case of loan on loan on loan, he's behind JP in the pecking order, Tuesday night was an anomaly, we won't be using him like that anytime soon and really cannot see him scoring 5 goals between now and the end of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesper 31,110 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 3 hours ago, Special Juan said: Delap will be another classic case of loan on loan on loan, he's behind JP in the pecking order, Tuesday night was an anomaly, we won't be using him like that anytime soon and really cannot see him scoring 5 goals between now and the end of the season. Well, IF we want an actual world class (proven, not potential) CF this is all there are out there. Some are simply not available. Isak has a broken leg atm and has had (besides that, a horror start at Pool, but he still is WC in my book). in order of valuation (there are only 9 atm, plus 3 ancient ones) the ones in bold are potentially doable in terms of their club selling them (but some of those, especially Kane, may not want to come here, and CR7 would want INSANE money he is making £175m a year now just in salary. Lewa probably would not come either and is our board goin gto buy a player who turns 38yo right as the season starts?) Erling Håland Kylian Mbappé Alexander Isak (IF Pool sells him) Julián Alvarez Ousmane Dembélé Lautaro Martínez Hugo Ekitiké Victor Osimhen Harry Kane and the 3 ancient ones Cristiano Ronaldo Robert Lewandowski Karim Benzema end Who would you choose? Julián Alvarez, Lautaro Martínez, and Victor Osimhen are the only 3 remotely possible options IMHO, plus maybe (IF they sell him) Isak, but that is a WILD gamble until we see how he recovers. We also would absolutely need to sell Nico Jackson for a fair price. BTW Here are the top 10 CFs (valuation-wise) who are 32yo or older (other than Kane, Córdoba, and Lewa, the oldest on my original list in my maximal CF target list post last night was 31yo) Harry Kane Romelu Lukaku Cristiano Ronaldo Jhon Córdoba Robert Lewandowski Álvaro Morata Chris Wood Niclas Füllkrug Mauro Icardi Karim Benzema end Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vytis33 1,378 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Should’ve bought Osimhen or Alvarez already. Would take either here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special Juan 28,765 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Alvarez is class, Osimhen would do a great job here and Martinez will die at Inter And if there is any sniff that Kane wants back to England for one year go get him, he wants to break the scoring record and he would still do in this league, his intelligence is exactly what we talked about with Terry, not blessed with certain things but made up in other areas with the brain and movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pizy 19,282 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 The only way I think Julian Alvarez would come here is if we had a free run at him. If he signals that he wants a move he will have a long list of suitors offering him wages we refuse to go near. We probably have to accept that our 3 strikers next year will pretty much 100% be João Pedro, Delap, and Emegha. Strike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkh 760 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 (edited) 🔵💥Liverpool to pay max £6.8m for signing of Rio Ngumoha from Chelsea. @David_Ornstein states Tribunal rules LFC owe CFC initial £2.8m + £4m in potential bonuses relating to senior appearances, contracts & England honours. Chelsea will also receive 20% of the profit if he is sold. Edited February 5 by mkh Reddish-Blue 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesper 31,110 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 49 minutes ago, mkh said: 🔵💥Liverpool to pay max £6.8m for signing of Rio Ngumoha from Chelsea. @David_Ornstein states Tribunal rules LFC owe CFC initial £2.8m + £4m in potential bonuses relating to senior appearances, contracts & England honours. Chelsea will also receive 20% of the profit if he is sold. So, IN THEORY, if Pool one day down the road sells Rio for big money (say £50m to £70m), we could bank, at the end of the day, around £17 to £21m in toto. Downside to all that, Pool are NOT a selling club often, BUT Luis Díaz gives me hope. They got £65.3m from cheap-arse Bayern this summer for a close to 29yo winger in Díaz, who turns 30yo in the middle of this coming season, AND, in 3 and a half seasons there at Pool, only scored 6, then 5, then 13, then 17, in ALL COMPS, only averaging 8.3 EPL goals per season, ie 29 EPL goals total, divided by 3 and a half seasons. 2024/25 was the one season at Pool he was really great overall. He is now killing it at Bayern. 12 goals, 15 assists in only 2369 minutes. Bayern, in Olise and Díaz, have probably, atm, the 2nd best starting pair of wingers on the planet, after only Barca. PSG go 3 deep, but atm, their best TWO (KK and Désiré Doué, then Barcola as the 3rd) are not the equal IMHO. Only 2 wingers on the planet, ATM, that I would take over Olise are Yamal, and IF you play him as a winger, Mbappe. Hopefully Estêvão soon gets there too. mkh 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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