Colonel Bumcunt

It turns out that the Portuguese league is utter dog shit. So much so that Gyokeres, the former 25 year old Coventry useless lump, is top scorer and won player of the month for 5 fucking months in a row. We got done. Someone's head has to roll.

I'm going to be pissed off if we don't pursue Jobe Bellingham from Sunderland. The signs are all there for a massive talent.

I hope Richard Tice gets outed by a black tranny rent boy.

There was nothing to stop him trying, was there? He chose not to, Slot may do. Its always common for managers to dip back into previous teams or leagues for players.

Agree on both points 1 and 2. It's lazy to assume Slot will be a attracted to Dutch players, but someone like Frankie De Jong would be interesting and Barca always need cash. I'd even consider a swap for Darwin and Lewandowski.

I don't doubt it, but equally it's every new manager's rite of passage to buy a new centre back. It's just a fucking shame that we get a Dutch manager when they have terrible players. There's no fuckers like Bergkamp, Van Nistelrooy, Van Persie, Overmars, Seedorf, Davids, Sneijder, Robben. The good news is Shaqueel Van Persie is 17 and in Feyenoords youth team...

Still think a genius number 10 is that we need most. It's hard to know where we are in the food chain right now though, are we genuinely in for players like Osimhen or are we still a rung below. I love Eze, but can he stay fit. Lautaro Martinez is my wildcard.

Gakpo and Diaz seemed like the same player at previous clubs. Almost all their highlights involved cutting in from the left and hitting corkers into the net from the edge of the area. Neither of them seem able to find the same space or time to do that in this division, and when they do they're up against a much better level of goalkeeper than they found in the nets of Heerenveen or Boavista. But, you don't know until you sign them. Suarez being the prime example. But we have signed them and they're not actually top level. Decent, but not top level. Have to sell.

I did, thankyou for posting it.

Perhaps add 'by Adam Crafton' near the top? I refused to read a long piece unless I first know who it's written by.

Great, so we should get excellent offers for him. Let's see what Slot thinks. Van Dijk divides opinion among the Dutch I think. Some see him in a colder light than we do. Personally I think he's still very good, but too often he seems in 3rd gear, I can't remember the last time I saw him actually sprint. You can argue that's a sign of a good defender, but you can argue that we've gone 1-0 down far too often under his watch. As I say, for me it's a Slot decision. If VVD backs Slot completely then great, but if VVD is less enthused then he needs to be gone. Slot must be given a blank canvass, 100% buy-in. If he wants to sell Alisson then I'd back him. You have to actually back the manager, no questions, in year 1 especially.

Same goes for Virgil, at this age you sell. Someone may get another good year out of them, but ultimately it's the right decision for our future.

No, I want a decent fee for him, we don't want to seek like we're desperate to offload.

If Slot is a decent manager, and it's a big IF, then he'd already be on the phone to Rami and telling him to find his client a new club before he arrives. It's been a while since we've been in this position around new managers Vs player power, but we forget how toxic it can be. I was listening to John Terry being interviewed by Simon Jordan, and Terry explained what happened under various managers at Chelsea, and we forget that it's a long list. Vialli, Ranieri, Grant, Ancelotti, Mourinho twice, Villas Boas, and Benitez. In each case, the success of the manager was intertwined with their popularity with the established players, these being Terry, Lampard and Drogba. I don't want that. And Mo should be sent packing before Slot even gets here. I'd also cash in on Virgil, and I'd move along Thiago, Adrian, who are also seen a senior players within the squad. A new manager has to have complete control and player buy-in.

I would agree, and I'd fine him a month's wages and he can forget about playing for us again, we don't need the circus. TBH, I've not been impressed with him since that bullshit he pulled with the contract extension while on holiday in wherever the fuck he was. Messiah complex was in full view then. I'm very wary of false prophets ever since Torres. Players are decent lads until they get agents in their ear. They are grown lads, do not feel sorry for any of them. They are work tools, and when they get blunt you either sharpen them or you replace them.

Sliding doors moment. Remember this lesson boys, you never, ever, turn down a bid like that for anyone.

Should have sold him last summer.

They were watching Emerson's shot that Alisson saved at the time. Klopp then said something snide to Salah, which can only have been "that's how you hit a shot Mo". It can't have been anything else to illicit that response from Mo. It's not as if Elliott was defending well and he says to Mo " that's what I want you to do".

Klopp being 'tired' isn't an excuse unless he's very ill. As such, I'm starting to think we're bringing Slot in before the season ends. We've been far too aggressive and noisy in securing a successor during the season. None of this makes any sense.

Maybe, but our key players were younger and fitter and perhaps more hungry at that time. We also had naturally fit players in Mane, Salah, Firmino, Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Robbo, Trent, Virgil, exceptional athletes at great ages.

You'd surmise that they'd give MORE effort than usual, and he'd demand it. I don't think this is the problem. If anything there is more impetus to impress an incoming manager now, the favouritism is ending.

It's not JUST injuries, but it's a factor. So currently in the PL there are 131 injuries, though this is a bit cute because for example it doesn't list Doak, Bajcetic and Gordon for us. But let's skim over that for a moment. So, 131 divided by 20 clubs = the average number of injured players per club is 6 or 7. City and Arsenal have 1 injury each.... Now, there's a couple of questions that need asking here. 1. Do those two clubs have a medical team with knowledge or skills superior to other PL clubs? We don't know, but I don't see why they might have more resource than Chelsea, or Newcastle, very rich clubs with unlimited reach. Even us or Spurs, are we recruiting from a different level of staff? Don't think so? 2. Do they have better facilities, and does this even matter? I mean, it's debatable, but I'm sure that many PL club physio and gym facilities now look largely the same for the top 8 clubs in the PL. Sizes may vary, that's likely the biggest difference. 3. It can't be a number of games issue. We play roughly the same number of games as they do, and I don't see a need to differentiate between CL and Europa, both are high level and comparably scheduled. 4. Is it a risk appetite threshold when signing players? IE, do we sign higher-risk players because we see value in taking that risk? I haven't looked into this, but it's worth a look. You could argue that Arsenal took risks on Partey and Jesus considering their past injuries. We certainly took risks on Thiago, Jota, Alisson, Konate. City took a risk on Haaland. I think City definitely are ahead of us and Arsenal in this regard, they pay the premium for players with elite body mechanics. 5. Intensity of gameplans? I don't have access to data like number of sprints per game, but this would answer that, along with distance covered per 90. I'll say this though, we're almost in May and Arsenal look much more intense than us. We look cooked, it's a stark difference. 6. How good is drug testing these days? Dunno, it's a shadowy area. There's nothing transparent about it to the public, we don't even know if drugs test happen, we only know of anecdotal tests being missed for example. I mean, do they collect samples and bin them? How rigorous are the checks and balances on this stuff? We take this on enormous levels of trust, and we really shouldn't, the regulators haven't earned that trust. 7. PGMOL. It's a cabal, it's full of flawed humans, and they aren't paid as much as footballers. It's a soft target. Regulators are always targeted and tested in any profession. They are capable of making absurd decision and they are protected from direct adversarial questioning of decisions to a quite improbable and odd point. They have a more protected personal life than a royal child. They don't get papped, they don't get called out by MPs, they don't get dragged in front of interviews, and their in-game chats are protected. You couldn't design a softer target for criminals to target.

Don't get that mate, the ground our full backs cover is vast, they aren't lazy. Trent has it all, it he bulks up a bit and gets the right coaching then he can be a brilliant physically dominant midfielder. Just let him wander around like KDB does, pops up wherever he likes.

The closest thing there is to KDB in terms of chance creation. Any other manager builds a midfield around him. Chances are he doesn't sign a new contract now, let's be really honest here.

All that coaching, you'd hope we'd have a better plan than to try and focus all shots through the bottleneck of the 'D' on the edge of the area where Everton have 4 men at all times.