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There’s no way we’re paying this much for him and Minteh for one of them to be back up to the other! He’ll play 8 or 10 then be used on the wing if Minteh is injured or out of form.

My guess is that Milner will slowly be phased out, but at this stage of Fab’s tenure it is very important for him to have an experienced pro in the XI from a tactical viewpoint and from a managing egos/commanding respect of the wider squad perspective. If you’ve got buy-in from Milner, Welbeck...

There’s also not really any basket case clubs this year. Question marks around Chelsea and Man U but they’ve both still got better squads than us. Newcastle and Villa will still be strong, then you’ve got Palace/Bournemouth/West Ham who will fancy their chances just as much as us. I can’t see...

Solly was also a player of the season contender the year Potter had him at wing back until he suffered that injury at Anfield. Impossible to know what he’ll be like after this injury but given the signings we’ve made, I think even Solly himself must be on the treatment room table contemplating...

Lol. Stick a boomer in front of that, they’d lose their nostalgic head. Absolute dog shit.

And, although he’s not the same type of player as Gilmour, I suspect it may tie in with his potential move to Napoli.

I’ve said similar before and I’ll say it again, if Igor Julio from Brazil was actually Ian James from Wales with the exact same skillset/previous playing history, he’d be looked upon far less favourably than he is!

It seems to be becoming clearer that this is the guy we view as a Gross replacement given his versatility.

I do wonder how current players feel when new guys who clearly have better pedigree come in. Does Van Hecke predominantly think ‘what an opportunity for me to learn from a recent great’, or does he think ‘crap, there goes a fair old chunk of my playing minutes’. Probably a bit of both with him...

As it stands, - Gross gone - Gilmour could be gone - Buononatte could be gone - Moder not in FH’s plans - Dahoud not in FH’s plans - Yalcouyle FH is uncertain on - Milner in reality not good enough to be a starter in a top 10 push - Ayari in reality not good enough to be a starter in a top...

Slightly odd that Rushworth didn’t get any minutes isn’t it? I think that’s as clear an indication as you’ll see that he’s going out on loan again this season.

I found this quite educational - read the whole thread.

Is one of the central 4 in that system operating as an 8 though? Gross did it often enough and Buononatte might work there. I guess Enciso or Pedro could work there from a final third point of view but they both have question marks in other elements of the role. Not to mention the fact I don’t...

@Gabbiano @Han Solo So one of the potential successors to Gross is leaving and Gilmour could well be as well. Still confident that we don’t need a signing with a Gross type profile?

I think you’re stretching the definition of established, experienced players with Igor and Fati. Or at least deliberately missing the context in which they were signed, which was not as established, experienced players expected to be in the first XI every week. Fair enough if you think Ferdi...

Unfortunately none of those guys have the tactical intelligence, off the ball movement, precision of passing, stamina, out of possession press or the ability to shift from a cm position to an am position. They’re not really suited to that first phase/second phase build-up area. Only really...

The club had been after Dahoud before RDZ got here so I assume he must’ve been showing up on the database. Igor felt like a panic option because we didn’t get Colwill. RDZ got Fati because Kudus went to West Ham. The model has to be tweaked slightly if PB/TB do have genuine consistent top 10 or...

It is a thing yes and sometimes it goes wrong or sometimes the succession isn’t ready yet for the aims of the squad. The succession into Alexis and Caicedo was when the expectations were to stumble around in lower mid table. The expectations now are to be in the top half and maybe push for...

Sigh. The name someone argument is a pretty lame on, isn’t it? You’re right in that we won’t be able to find someone who can cover all the bases that Pascal did, and that’s because Groß himself developed those many roles over his time here. However there will be plenty of players out there who...

When I see stuff like this, I find it further flabbergasting that some people seriously think we don’t need to sign a replacement who has a similar profile to Gross.