Good to see players are being written off after two games, only one of which was actually a poor performance. Some things never change.
Sounds like a great idea. Chuck in a 6 month return break claus in case we need him back. Plays well, value goes up. Helps take points from rivals. Comes back a better player. Doesn't play well, value doesn't really change. Wages are half paid. Comes back and sold or loaned again. If we aren't going to play him then send him up there.
Did you? Seems pretty odd for anyone to think Everton are a rival club to Watford. Their squad, spending power, European participation and history mark them out as being miles ahead of us. And they're quite clearly part of the top 7.
You might not think they are rivals but Im pretty sure Gino and Marco dont feel the same way. Besides , if they werent rivals, they wouldnt be trying to sign our 3rd choice striker.
Everton are in the same league as us, and given that our results since we have been in the prem have been 2-2, 1-1, 3-2 home win and 1-0 away loss I'd say that there isn't that much in it, so yes they are our rivals.
It depends how you define 'rivals'. If you mean it in the way you're angling at there then yeah of course they're an opponent we face twice in the season and 6pts are up for grabs. They're certainly our rivals for those points. And yes at times in the past couple of decades they've been mid-table fodder. But everything about them at the moment says their aims and ambitions, backed up by their final position last season, are miles ahead of Watford's. I wouldn't have thought that was a remotely controversial thing to write. They won't see us as rivals and that sort of says it all. I wouldn't worry too much. BigRossLittleRoss was referring back to an earlier disagreement we had on this thread and there's little point in re-visiting it.
Indeed. What's been ignored about Okaka, are the many games he played last season, where he sat on his fully formed A**e for half a game, complaining that the naughty No.5 had been beastly to him and touched him with his nasty pointy studs. He also had a couple of games where he looked like a world beater for 15 minutes of it, only to regress to 'beached-whale' mode for the rest of the match before being subbed.
I don't believe anyone thinks he's a world beater. Just that he's miles better than the two appalling players that are ahead of him in the pecking order.
Shall we get rid of the other 10 or so players who did nothing for 90 minutes in every game we played last season?
Apparently Wolves made a solid move for him yesterday but he rejected them: https://www.expressandstar.com/spor...rd-striker-stefano-okaka-shunned-wolves-move/
Going by their European participation, (particularly) their history they have been miles ahead of us, no argument. If you think those things make them clearly part of the top seven though you are clearly mistaken. They are comfortable mid table, finishing bottom half in two of their last three seasons. They've spent a lot of money, but they are yet to prove there quality. I would not ba at all surprised if tbey finished outside the top seven this season. Pickford's a very decent player, but paying £30m for him suggests to me a very naive approach to recruitment, rather than astute owners who know their business. Same with Siggurdson and Keane. It seems to me that the prices are enhancing the reputations, and the expectations, but still, decent players. I don't see a team that is potentially any better quality than anything else they've had in the last thirty years.
Pickford. I tend to agree 424. I think the players they have signed are good but not outstanding and,like almost everyone nowadays,overpriced. I'm not sure they have replaced Lukaku with sufficient goals and it reminds me a little of Spurs when they spent their Bale money. Pickford.
Glad he's staying too fight for his place. Should be ahead of Deeney in the pecking order and challenging Gray to start as it stands.
Bloody hell, Wolves the latest club to piss all over the FFP rules knowing they'll get a slap on the wrist at worst and a fine which their rich owners can afford to pay.
Impossible. Why would the PL want to affect the integrity of their competition for the sake of EFL rules?
?? Depends how quickly you apply the points deduction. No need to wait for audited accounts. Overspend in a season and get a points deduction applied that season. Easy to do with a return clubs would have to complete by end of the season to show they complied ? Every club has management accounts which will show if the complied or not pretty much immediately. Do you think the current system works ?
Probably still come 7th. BTW They have brought a load of foreign players using "connections" and changed managers a few times. Has Martin Samuels written a damming article about Wolves yet?
Well fines only apply under FFP rules to promoted clubs. Clubs who stay in the EFL get transfer embargoes. The returns you talk about have a deadline of December in the year of promotion, if I recall correctly, so teams are already well into the following season by then. Even if they took the approach you did I could see the inevitable legal action resulting in chaos as teams dispute what division they should be in. Do I think the current system works? Broadly, yes.
Wolves are a big club, they should be able to do what they want. It's only an issue when small, unfashionable upstarts like us try to level the playing field.
If anyone has the inside track on why Okaka has been suspended for over a month, i'd appreciate a DM.
He can't play the way Silva wants. Yes he's a handful but he can't defend from the front. He gets knackered after 30 mins.
Disagree slightly, i'd say he reads the angles better than Gray, but admittedly only for 60 mins or so. Not what I was referencing though. He's registered in our squad of 25, but according to transfermarkt (who are usually pretty reliable) has been 'suspended' since the City game. I assumed it was just a mistake, but my one measly source in the footballing world (in sports management, has worked with some W players but not Okaka) reckons he's been suspended since before the Southampton game. It would have to be a pretty serious internal suspension to last for over a month. Maybe a minor drugs infringement?