**Official** English Football Season 2023/24

[GIMH]

Yeah, fair enough. Though tbh I think there are only three of us these days, unless I am forgetting someone. (Furball doesn't count).

There’s you, Brumby, Jarquis and duffer

 

[sledger]

There’s you, Brumby, Jarquis and duffer

Haha, the reason I didn't name any names was because I didn't want to have to admit which one I had forgotten

 

[Socerer 01]

Laporte has spent the last five years playing for one of the best teams in the world, and in so doing winning upwards of ten major trophies. Maddison is a player who, despite getting good write ups from various people for across roughly the same period of time has never had a big club come in for him, has won nothing, and has barely managed to get selected for his national side. The two are not really comparable.

As I've said before I don't even dislike him. He's perfectly ok. It's just that as mentioned before, Spurs is absolutely his level.

i mean the current version of Laporte that didnt get any big club bids despite doing all of that you have said which should have got more interest in him ideally. sometimes club needs and certain player preferences dictate transfers more than just ability like Maddison wanting a London based move as priority. Maddison got linked with Liverpool before they signed Szbo and there’s no way he’s worse than Paqueta and Nunes both of whom have been City targets since he moved to Tottenham. he’s also won the FA Cup which is more than what Tottenham have in a decade and holding the lack of national caps against him is weird when Southgate often makes dubious decisions like not picking Tomori or ignoring Grealish the closest parallel to Maddison when he was at Villa

 

[sledger]

Yeah constantly being linked with big clubs but never actually joining them is a surefire sign of a B+ player for mine.

 

[Jarquis]

It was me

Haha, the reason I didn't name any names was because I didn't want to have to admit which one I had forgotten

 

[sledger]

It was me

It wasn't actually.

 

[duffer]

Balogun to Monaco.

Poooooo

 

[sledger]

At least he isn't joining Chelsea I guess.

I do, however, suspect that this will be a sale that will later be regretted.

 

[Uppercut]

The "CW hates Maddison" narrative is getting a bit out of hand. My half-serious observation was that Spurs are exactly his level and exactly his style. I know Spurs are the butt of every joke lately but that wasn't me calling him dogshit.

I don't think he's good enough for City or Liverpool, but isn't that just what most people think? Socerer disagrees, which is fine, but I'd have said that's a case of him rating Maddison higher than most do, rather than CW having an agenda against Maddison.

 

[sledger]

Yeah, my thoughts exactly.

 

[duffer]

At least he isn't joining Chelsea I guess.

I do, however, suspect that this will be a sale that will later be regretted.

Better than Eddie by a fair bit. Would've loved to see him fight for the spot

 

[sledger]

Better than Eddie by a fair bit. Would've loved to see him fight for the spot

Yeah. Nketiah has actually done far better than I believed him to be capable of tbf to him, but he's still clearly a cut below Flo.

 

[Socerer 01]

Nketiah seems to play very often for a backup player so why does Balogun want to move out for chances when he could dislodge Jesus if he plays well

 

[Uppercut]

Eddie isn't much of a player but he gives Arteta exactly what he wants from a backup striker. If there are good offers then I don't think keeping Balogun around would be the right move.

 

[duffer]

Eddie isn't much of a player but he gives Arteta exactly what he wants from a backup striker. If there are good offers then I don't think keeping Balogun around would be the right move.

Fee reported to be 45m Euros. Like, it's not a pittance or anything like that

 

[duffer]

Weird that we've been linked with Ivan Toney recently though...

 

[Jarquis]

Might just be me trying to rationalise it but Balogun had one loan where he did well and scored half a dozen penalties and apparently wants to be a starter.

Think Nketiah is tremendously undervalued and underappreciated by a lot of fans and seems to be a much better fit for the role we are wanting to fill i.e. the 'no, you're not as good as Gabriel Jesus, lol' role.

I'd love to see every decent Hale End graduate make it at Arsenal but it can't happen. He might turn into an absolute superstar down the line but if he does it'll be in part due to the opportunities Monaco can/will give him which we can't atm if we want to seriously compete for the title.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah I think Nketiah being underappreciated is a big part of the story. When Jesus went down last season I thought it would tank your season, but the team's performance level hardly dropped at all. Saliba turned out to be the bigger loss. But I still hear people talking about Nketiah like his existence is a significant problem.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Yeah I think Nketiah being underappreciated is a big part of the story. When Jesus went down last season I thought it would tank your season, but the team's performance level hardly dropped at all.

Also had to do with Jesus being alright but not a top level player tbh.

On the Maddison thing - I mostly agree with Uppercut. I think he comes across as a bit of a **** as well which doesn't really help his case.

 

[grecian]

I think I've slated Maddison in an England context, we just have much better options ATM, IMHO, he offers little that we don't have and I would rather have JWP around on the bench for the set-pieces, l actually think he's a great signing for West Ham. He's clearly a good Prem player.