English Premier League 2023-24 Thread

Well ok but he's only had four managerial spots comprising those two sackings and a) the caretaker role at Chelsea second time around, where he led them to their first bottom-half finish since 1996 and a record low tally of points and goals scored in the Premier League era and b) blowing promotion with Derby County.

So he doesn't keep getting sacked and walking into other clubs then. Glad we cleared that up.

Try to see the bigger picture. Chelsea were clearly glad he was going after his disastrous caretaker spell.

Even excluding that, getting sacked in 66.6% of his managerial appointments for being useless is some feat, so yes he does keep getting sacked and it is for being useless because he hasn't achieved anything as a manager.

Biggest match of the year is tomorrow and you talking about Chelsea.

I don’t disagree with you, but I also don’t think this hire should necessarily inspire confidence. You guys can easily be a yo-yo club (which isn’t a bad thing in all honesty) with the right manager. Especially as what Kompany did to change the side is/was pretty impressive. Time will tell, but Lampard hasn’t exactly lit it up with his managerial choices

Yes, Lampard wouldn't particularly inspire confidence (he definitely wouldn't be my choice) but I also wouldn't write him off straight away either. Think he did a decent job at Derby then went to Chelsea far too soon.

It's all speculation at the moment and nowhere near a done deal anyway. We all know what these next manager betting markets are like, it only takes a couple of quid put on them and they're odds on favourite.

After seeing the state of the Championship last time round, I doubt our choice of manager makes that much difference to our promotion chances. I reckon even Steve Kean could get us into the playoffs at least.

Maybe……

Not close to disagreeing with you, but the Championship is such a mosh pit and even a vastly better Leicester had a few stumbles in it this season. I do favor your chances, but you could easily finish 9th as you could 2nd and I do think getting the gaffer right-ish will make a difference. I’m just not sure Lampard ks that guy for you is all

You didn't win the league, you won a league. Only Rovers have won the league. You've never finished in the top half.

Well I guess it's the league to them.

Who knew it was possible to be wrong this many times in one post?

They were pretty good for a short time... in the early 1970s. Martin Dobson one of my favourite non-Arse players.

idk about before then - lots of now minor clubs won the old league.

They've won the league twice mate lol

Football was invented in 1992 mate

Don't make me sad, we've never even made the FA Cup final in this world.

SSL signs another 1 year loan for Spurs.

Guess its good for depth, but which area are Spurs targeting this summer? Midfield? Gallagher perhaps?

Still waiting on 3 to pay for the Euros sweep, i'll send another PM reminder

Areas we desperately need help in, in order of importance:

CM - we just don't have a good number 6 or 8, and those are two of the (if not the overall) most critical positions. Bissouma was dominant for about 10 games last year and then fell off a cliff, Sarr looks good but he's not a world beater. We also need Maddison to get back to pre-injury levels / add another creative CM if it's not Deki. Far and away the biggest miss is our deep lying central midfield. We need a Rice/Rodri type (which obviously grow on trees), top tier in that position adds the most win probability to a team....

Striker - we don't have one other than Richarlison (and some youngsters)

Winger - Son looks like he might be falling off an age cliff, Deki looks better inside/as a false 9 (and has no pace), Johnson is raw. Bergvall coming in but who knows if he'll be ready. Same with Mikey Moore. Solomon also coming back to be fair.

Amusingly despite us giving up a ton of chances I think the "pieces" are ok in the back 5, could do with backup FBs.

We're still at least 2+ windows and 4+ starters away from even potentially being "good", and 10+ players away from being very good. Nobody thinks we are going to be challenging for the league next year.

Most of this team aren't Ange's players to play his system so I'm expecting a pretty aggressive squad overhaul over the coming 18 months or so, not even saying some of the players that will leave are bad, just not set out for his system.

Rumours yesterday were that they’re open to selling Richarlison.

He’s been falling off an age cliff for at least 3 years according to some. Given his attitude, I’d be surprised if he significantly drops off for at least another 2 years, and baring injuries, I can easily see him being decent at 35. Otherwise, agree with most of your evaluation, aside from being “10+ players away from being very good”, unless we’re talking City good.

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One thing I’d like to see is Deki as rotation striker. Seems to have all he qualities to do well in that role for Angeball.

I hope Kevin Campbell gets well soon.

Always seemed like a top bloke whenever he was on TalkSPORT

I agree.

Not according to me. That said he was noticeably worse the last two years he's just an elite finisher.

Uh oh

LOL
Ok apparently he grew up there and that's where his name comes from, but man that's good. He's cooked, for less than a week's wages