Consigliere

Might as well get ahead of it and change the thread title now.

I think that if Spurs make good transfers suited to Postecoglu's system then he wouldn't really need to vary his tactics too much. We've already seen enough this season to say that Postecoglu has a very clear idea of how he wants to play and is pretty stubborn about it. It's been more beneficial than detrimental to Spurs this season and the football has certainly been much better to watch on the whole compared to the turgid football under Conte and Mourinho.

That would also depend on how well Spurs do in the transfer market and also how your direct competition fares next season. Spurs have had an advantage this season though with no European football and bombing out early of both domestic cups so your fixture list has been light compared to the teams around you which also made it easier to cope with injuries.

Replace Iran with Israel or Ukraine and the person posting such a thing would've gotten a warning and their post deleted at the very least if not banned.

Liverpool can put Atalanta under pressure if they can get the first goal. Problem is this Liverpool team does give the opponent a chance on the counter as they are easier to play through. The midfield of Fabinho-Henderson-Wijnaldum/Milner were pressing monsters who could suffocate opponents in a manner that the current midfielders cannot. Still fairly confident that England will finish top 2 in the coefficient standings and get an extra CL spot. Would have been a near certainty had one or both of Newcastle and Man United gotten out of their groups or even dropped into the Europa League. Newcastle is more understandable as they were in the toughest group whereas United's performance was particularly disgraceful finishing last in a group containing Copenhagen and Galatasaray.

Sheffield United didn't breach PSR or FFP spending rules but rather they defaulted on payments to other clubs during the 2022/2023 season. A further two point deduction has been suspended until the end of next season but will be activated should they default on any payment due to another club under a transfer or compensation agreement for more than five business days from the due date for payment. The club has also agreed to pay the EFL's costs totalling £310,455.

Premier League clubs have approved the use of semi-automated offside technology for next season. eta. https://www.premierleague.com/news/3962262

Kane elbowed Gabriel deliberately imo. He's a dirty player but one who's very adept at making his dirty play look innocuous/accidental.

The Saka one is 50/50 as far as I'm concerned. It's one of those situations that whatever the original on field call was that decision should stand.

Yeah, I think the Gabriel one was ultimately the right call. It is something that Arteta might want to address though since that play is something Arsenal regularly do so their CBs need to be more aware or just refrain from picking the ball up in the box for short goal kick plays. The whistle can clearly be heard on replays when Raya passed the ball to Gabriel and he picked it up. Another ref on another day could have easily called that a pen.

Bayern have not been all that good either. They've basically been gifted two goals but their general play has been poor and it's hard to see them actually creating anything of note off of good play rather than Arsenal shooting themselves in the foot.

Martinelli hasn't really gotten into the game. Good thing Arsenal have a very good alternative option on the bench in Trossard though.

Yeah, Liverpool's squad looks to be really good. They did well to sort out the midfield and for a very reasonable amount of money as well. Some academy players coming through this season has been a huge boon. They probably need a replacement for Thiago and another DM to rotate with Endo so MacAllister can stay in his best role. A clinical forward would be nice but easier said than done to find one plus there's still Jota who fits that bill - honestly think that if Jota was fit for most of this season, Liverpool would've had a bit of breathing room at the top of the table.

Wonder how much Saudi Arabia are actually willing to piss away going forward. There's been some reports that they plan to curb spending - they spent around £900m just on transfer fees and significantly more on crazy contracts. Their strategy looks to be a failure. Apparently attendances in the Saudi Pro League this season are down compared to last season.

Everton club statement:

Everton given an additional two point deduction for breaching PSR.

That's got nothing to do with luck or the moronic notion that referees are favouring United. The main reason that United are 6th is because Chelsea and Newcastle have been just as shit. United, Chelsea and Newcastle have been so shit that even 5th place is out of reach for all 3 clubs with 7 games left to play (8 games for Chelsea).

United have been on the end of a shit load of poor refereeing decisions all season. This belief that United have somehow had so much luck throughout the season is a delusion of the biased.

Hendo is injured so wasn't in the squad.

Can we all laugh at Ajax? They got obliterated 6-0 by Feyenoord today. Their heaviest defeat ever in the Eredivisie.

Also want to give a bit of praise to Kambwala. He was thrown into the deep end (only his second start in the PL) with all of our CB injuries but stepped up today and put in a solid performance.

It looked a bit soft (like the Madueke one against Chelsea) but I'm not a fan of VAR getting involved unless it is blatantly obvious that something is or is not a penalty. Both of these cases are neither stonewall nor a case of 'definitely not a pen'. For 50/50 calls like these two the on field decision should stand. Unfortunately for United the on field decision was for a penalty both times.

Kompany has shown his naivety this season. Poor game management and the team are constantly giving away daft goals all in the name of a doomed philosophy when Burnley would have been much better served by a more pragmatic approach. On a separate note, from what I've seen of Burnley this season, Trafford is not ready for this level. He's still a young keeper so there's every chance that he can improve but right now Kompany was right to (belatedly) drop him as he should not be the starting keeper for any club at Premier League level let alone getting England call ups.