Bissouma is a good footballer but yeah the off the field stuff is worrying Kessie is out of contract in the summer I believe
Yeah that’s why I think Kessie will move in the summer. He’s at AFCON now and even though the fee would be nominal and he’d definitely contribute to a season, paying a fee now might not make sense to a lot of clubs.
Problem is in the summer there might be clubs that can offer champions league and/or bigger wages who might fancy him on a free.
Yeah I agree I’d rather just sort it now if we want him, he’d likely make a positive contribution when he’s back from international duty and it’ll get him settled and ensure we don’t lose him to a club as you describe. But I don’t think we’ll do it. I’m also not convinced he solves a lot of problems. He’s an upgrade on Skipp IMO but not the creator we need.
How do you manage to cross quote threads EDIT...........my **** up, thought Spurly posted that on the film thread
I’ve just got home mate and I’m about 9 or 10 pints deep and I still know what I’m doing on here better than you
A lot of us thought that after we lost to Palace 3 nil, then you lot 3 nil and had arsenal next...we were 3 nil down in 30 minutes! We have way too many players who are simply not good enough, or not fit enough or have no desire...we are simply a shadow of the Spurs teams from 2015-19. How we are 6th and in touching distance of 4th is a shocking statement about how poor the league is tbh.
Daniel Levy’s football brain this morning: Lost 1st leg 2-0 lost 2nd leg 1-0 signs of obvious improvement we dont need any new players
Did not see the game, but it appears that Chelsky managed it quite clinically (Spurs had not scored in the away tie, needed to score first yesterday etc) . It is what it is : the gap in squad ability/drive between the current PL top 3, and the likes of Spurs, is immense.
The gap in ability I can live with. Unless we have huge success in the market with gems or eventually get a sugar daddy of our own, it’ll always be tough to be on those sides’ level, we had the window of opportunity between 2015-2017 but couldn’t capitalise on it but the lack of drive and intent from board and players is something I can’t accept. We’ve got poor players not giving their all against our biggest of rivals (Arsenal away and Chelsea 3 times this season already) and a hierarchy that just seems so damn blasé about it all.
Agreed. City and Chelsea's investment always made it difficult to compete with but now they both have top class managers to go with that investment they look clear of everybody else bar Liverpool. United just look a mess at the minute, that's a total rebuild but it does mean CL Football is still realistic for Tottenham, Leicester, Arsenal and even West Ham.
I'm neither surprised nor too bothered by last night (outside of hating Chelsea more than Arsenal). We were never winning the tie, given we were 2-0 down from the first leg. We lost to a far, far better squad of players. Their entire bench would have been starters for us. We were without Hugo, Sonny, Skipp, Reguillon (and Sessegnon), Dier and Romero. 'Boy, oh boy' their absence really showed. Some of our best XI have question marks over how good they really are - Hojbjerg, Emerson Royale, Reguillon spring instantly to mind, but when their back ups are selected, you can see how threadbare our squad is. I don't see us doing major business this window. The quality's not there to be had and neither do we have the money to push deals through that other clubs aren't wanting to be done. That's no surprise. I'm just hoping that we can put up a more convincing and effective performance against Arsenal, because if we don't and there's still no additions, things are likely to become a lot worse with our fans and we've still got half a season to play with these players, this coach and these owners. Conte's been asking for patience and I'm hoping that he gets that. Despite my oft repeated and remaining scepticism at the sporting ambition of ENIC, whilst Conte's willing to work with Levy, I'm going to 'wait and see' what happens...even if it's killing me to do it.
Owners know from tribalism that you collectively will not do a financial "cut your nose off to spite your face" (mass return of STs, non purchase of merch etc) lest it pushes the club over the edge (more so in the case of supporters who lived thru the end of the Scholar era) . Players get paid huge sums per week regardless of the weekly efforts, when a more equitable deal would be a lower basic pay with all of the money coming as end of season bonuses based on tangible measures of worth (goals/assists etc) . So nothing you will do as a basic "consumer" , and they all know it.
I'm not so sure that this is still the case. I definitely agree that it was...but the effect of Covid, the increase in ticket prices, the disconnect between fans and football generally and 20 years of austerity management is taking its toll. I've had a quick reckon up and know of 14 people who have stopped buying memberships or season tickets and merch since the end of last season and more who walked away when Mourinho was appointed. I see Conte's appointment as an indicator of ENIC's concern at the level and potential impact of supporter dissatisfaction. In the summer, when all of the other realistic options had been exhausted, Levy didn't want to commit to Conte's squad rebuild demands. Before the booing started, he was happy with Zoro or Nuno and buying in some low cost young players and a centre half on loan. Anything he does beyond this is based on booing and fear of the fans turning on him. I'm still to be convinced that Levy is in any way bothered about winning trophies...but I'm certain that he's **** scared of the fans perceptions and responses getting worse.
