The Fish

Yeah, I was just expanding on it.

Our best starting 11 would be €413m. Our starting 11 for the Man City game was €350m

1 means available, 0 means injured/suspended. dark green means started, light green means played from the bench, yellow means on the bench but not used, red means available but not in squad. I've taken market value from Transfermarkt. Our total squad value (inc used U21s) is €641.8m. In 9 out of 21 PL games we've been been over 30% down on the squad in terms of market value.

The hope is that Bruno can keep his cool for the next game. We'll need him for Villa. For the games he misses, I'd shift to a back 5 if Willock isn't back in time. Unless of course we can sign a defensive midfielder.

He's done. Over Ruined Finished

It's not just about the prize money though. Being in European competitions regularly makes us way, way more attractive to commercial sponsors. So while we might bomb out in the 1/4s and pull in £10m, we could sign commercial deals that eclipse that.

I wonder which clubs would vote to change it to a more meritocratic version? I can't see Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal or Spurs being in favour of opening up the valve any more than it is. I honestly think the PSR rules should take into account 2 things; 1 prevent megarich clubs from simply spending what they like, and (more importantly) ensuring bad owners aren't mortgaging the club's future on a whim. Debt should be taken into account, as should revenue obviously, but the capital available from the owner should be considered too. Us, yourselves and others could comfortably afford to make losses greater than £100m over a 3yr period without risking the future of the club, by virtue of having owners who can cover that loss by checking the back of the sofa. The rule as it stands is basically, you can get better, but only by a little bit every season. Of course that means the established elite can keep accelerating at faster pace. No club, regardless of their revenue stream should have £1bn owed in debt.

Like a bidet

I blame Batty and... Keegan.

Same has been true for so much of the season. Our starting 11 has been good enough to win most games, but as time wears on, our bench has proven too weak to manage the game.

If I remember right, our forward lines were in attack and they caught us in transition, then they played a pass through the lines into that pocket of space vacated by Bruno who had joined the attack. A true DM would not be so keen to leave his position and would likely be staying pretty close to De Bruyne. With a 6 you'd have a pressing trap further up the pitch, but the 6 only committing himself if the trap is sprung, or if the trap is evaded.

That's the problem though, we were getting away with it when Pope was fit. Get a proper DM and the gap you highlight above doesn't exist.

DM is priority, for me. Not only lessens the pressure on the defence, but frees up Bruno and/or Miley to play further forward. A sweeper keeper is great, but if everyone in front of him is so exhausted/tentative that we're camped around our own box anyway, what's the point?

Basically, yeah. If Pope is sweeping, everybody is playing 10yds higher up the pitch. Which means the defensive line if further forward, but more importantly, our press is performed further up the pitch.

This is goals conceded (red) vs chances conceded (blue). Pope got injured in the Man Utd game, before that you'd expect us to concede around a goal a game. After he got injured the average amount of goals and chances conceded leapt by about 2-3 each. So, we're gifting more chances and conceding more from those chances since Pope got injured. Pope made about 2 defensive actions outside the box every 90, Dubravka averages around 0.5 every 90. (Distance from goal of those defensive actions for Pope, ~20yds. Dubravka's is ~11yds.) Pope was making around 2.8 saves per 90 minutes, Dubravka has made around 5.35 per 90. The likelihood of those shots ending up in the back of the net has risen too. The Post Shot xG (the likelihood of the shot ending up in a goal given factors like area of the goal aimed for, power of the shot, keeper's position etc) has gone from 1.09 with Pope, to 3.01 with Dubravka. So Dubravka isn't just facing more chances, the shots he's facing are more likely to hit the back of the net.

We're creating a similar number of chances, but failing to put them away. It's not hard to spot when Pope got injured, we're nowhere near as stingy as we were with him between the sticks. We're still doing ok in attack vs the rest of the league But defensively? hoo boy. Still not in the dreaded top left box, but no longer bottom right which is the best one eva

Gave us ~£30m for Sissoko as well.

Be curious to see the dates of those transfers as well. I ask because I'm assuming there is a correlation between the regard that Man City was held in because of their league dominance and the fees they could demand for their youngsters. Same happened with Man Utd.

This is something we really need to accelerate. Right now, the fury that would follow selling Lewis Miley would be a sight to see, but we should aim to have 2-3 Mileys coming through a year. Sell 'em to fund everything else.

FFP (or PSR) is fucked and is protectionist, but who's going to vote for change? the top clubs have a nice moat and control of the drawbridge right now. The other clubs won't want Newcastle free to do as they please. We're the bad guys, and short of fighting it in the courts, or doing it regardless of the consequences, I don't see a way through. I definitely can't see anyone helping us out. (Except maybe our brothers in light blue.0

But our first 11 isn't under the same demands as they were. Regardless of injuries, I expect a good number of points.