Not really, since they demonstrate how KH's response of "Well that was three weeks ago" is actually the worst possible argument he could use considering his argument is we're being far too slow at making contact with prospective managers
One thing to mention, Ali G is going on a 2-3 day break after today Sod's law dictates that something will fall into place while he;s got his feet up somewhere
I will obviously get behind Pochettino but can't help thinking that we and he are about to make a monumental mistake if he returns. Dier, Dele, Winks, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Aurier, Sissoko, Lamela and Davies are not top 4 players imo. He will have to ditch players that he played week in and week out when he left. I am not sure he can do that tbh. He will also need to get in players very quickly. Bale seems very likely not to return imo. And on top of that, Kane seems hell bent on going. A slow start to the season is on the cards as the only options are... 1. Continue with the same players as last season or 2. Try to start the season with a new full back, a new CB (or 2), a new DM and a new striker and possibly a new creative midfielder. A slow start will create a toxic atmosphere at the lane. And toxic atmospheres never benefit the team on the pitch.
Always happens too, this is the second or third time in just a few months where relatively big news has broken whilst Gold's said he was going away. Spooky.
While it's FootMercato, it's not the first time in the last couple of days Paratici has been suggested as our new DoF in the last 2-3 days The two obvious takeaways from this are i.) We're going to get a bunch of lazy headlines about Conte, aren't we? ii.) The interesting thing about Paratici is he left Juve because they had a weird flip in mentality post-2018. After he arrived in 2010 they were bringing in a lot of smart signings with youth on their side like Arturo Vidal, Paul Pogba, Alvaro Morata, Kingsley Coman, Paulo Dybala, Alex Sandro, Rodrigo Bentacur etc etc and pairing them with the likes of Andrea Pirlo, Fernando Llorente, Dani Alves etc - but then in the summer of 2018 they signed Cristiano Ronaldo and then the average age of their squad started to tick up very quickly, and at the same time they started to slip at the top of Serie A In other words, doesn't his stint as Juve's DoF sound more than a little familiar to us?
I largely agree with your comment and I think that we should be looking to move most of those players on, but all teams have "non-top 4" players. Zinchenko? Fred? Keita? Two of them cost over £50m each, too.
Something else to note: we've unpinned the tweet about our new kit on our Twitter feed, which has a few people on Reddit and Twitter believing this is an indicator that an announcement is coming and we're clearing the deck Sounds like hope > experience, but it is what it is
I actually think Fred is a decent enough player, just cursed that United overpaid for him and that’s affecting the perception of him as a player.
The positive(ish) sounds of both Aurier and Sissoko looking elsewhere this summer are a good start Now, how do we sort out a commanding CB and controlling CM and just how much do we need to sell Ndombele & Sanchez for to get them?
Agreed but there are a lot there tbh and I missed out Aurier. I don't mean to sound harsh on them cos I think some have given their all and are on the downside of their careers. Our whole squad looks buggered tbh. As well as the 9 I named, (plus the possible/probable issues of Kane and Bale) there is the issue of Ndombele looking completely wrong for the Premier League, Joe Hart not looking like a number two keeper, and Lo Celso looking like he is made of glass. No idea how any manager sorts this mess out
By telling the Chairman to hire me as DoF. I'd sort this **** out pronto. This would be me once I've sold 75% of the squad: please log in to view this image
I tend to agree that hiring him would be a mistake. Objectively, he hasn't achieved what he set out to achieve when he left us. Not even close. I'm not even sure if the French League was the right place to prove anything anyway but that's another conversation. I do however think back to his comments about a 'painful' rebuild after the CL final; to Trippier's comments about stuff going on behind the scenes, to OS's comments about Poch falling out with people left right and center...I wonder if he was planning a far bigger clear out than we realise. For starters, he didn't expect Toby and Eriksen to still be at the club when the summer window closed, and I highly doubt the former and Dier would have been given new contracts in the winter. It would have been interesting to see who he'd try to shift in that January window too. We'll never know who he planned to get rid of in those windows. For all we know, most of the players you've listed might have been on the chopping block. I think one of his gravest mistakes (if what OS and others have said is true) is that he stupidly told them all right after the CL final that they weren't in his plans. If he'd bitten his tongue and waited to see how things panned out, I don't think the debacles of games like Brighton and Colchester would have happened. Games like those showed that loads of the players just weren't playing for him anymore. All in all, I still don't think he is right for the job we need right now. I'm sticking to my previous vote: If Kane goes, Conte. If Kane stays, Potter.
There were reports on Twitter recently that he was actively trying to offload Dier and Toby in that 19/20 summer window. If I'm not wrong, Dier didn't play much prior to Poch's sacking so that certainly seems plausible because even in the Amazon doc Dier's asked by Jose what the deal was. However Toby was starting pretty much every game whilst Vertonghen got a bit of the cold shoulder treatment in the first few matches before getting back in, so that was weird. We also know from the club that Rose and Wanyama were transfer listed as it was confirmed they were being left behind during our pre-season tour to explore options, yet Rose started 9 of the first 12 league games and a couple CL matches prior to Poch's sacking. Confusing us fans and I'm sure even the players. So maybe there is potentially a glimmer of hope that should Poch return, there will be some much needed culling but I do fear that the likes of Winks, Dele and Lamela may be given second chances (wait, second? Maybe third or fourth!), Sanchez may be another too. All in all though, like most, I hope for now it's not him. In a few years I'd definitely love to have him back but a part of me does fear if he came in now a good few will get reprieves when they should be being booted out the door with steel toe caps.
This is why I’d like Conte, no doubt it wouldn’t last long but he would be ruthless and clear out a lot of dross. Plus he’s one of the very best managers out there atm. In an ideal world, Conte until 2023 and then bring Poch back then if everyone still wants it to happen.
I'd say it's far more than just that. Have we seen evidence that Poch has what it takes to replace the dross with better players? No. Have we seen evidence that Poch has learned how to get his teams over the line in crunch games and win trophies? Again - no.
He didn’t win the french league with PSG, that’s quite damning. I feel he should stay with PSG for the next two years and then come back in 2023 with Mbappe as a replacement for Kane who will only have 1 year left on his contract then
He got 47 points from 21 matches which is a better rate than what they were doing before he joined. Lille got the same though and were already ahead when he joined.
