Alone in the Park - it's the Prem 2020-21 thread

Someone who's just left their job after 20 odd days for not getting backed on transfers obviously going to fit right in at Spurs

So as I understand it (but let's be honest it could change again because it's Spurs) Gennaro Gattuso was Fabio Paratici's preferred choice and he wanted him at Juventus before he left, but he wasn't available for Tottenham. (Contd)

— Alasdair Gold (@AlasdairGold) June 17, 2021

i love Gattuso so much

Gattuso to Spurs?

Well, at least he has a good understanding of the club… pic.twitter.com/kMHJYapCqw

— Transfer News (@TransferChecker) June 17, 2021

Wolves have signed a curvy Colombian centre half

hoping we sign Daryl Dike, but only selfishly cos that'd still give me the opportunity to watch him when he leaves Orlando

we do need a back-up RB

I always get left backs and right backs mixed up. I can't remember which side Williams, Dalot or Telles play, but at least one of them must be RB?

Telles is the back-up LB

Williams is the current back-up RB but he's not even close to good enough

Dalot doesn't seem to be rated by the current management and will probably go back to Milan on loan

Can't believe Youngy's come home 😭😭😭😭😭

🚨 EXCL: Tottenham have decided against appointing Gennaro Gattuso to their vacant managerial position. Conversations were held with the 43yo after his surprise Fiorentina exit but he will not be getting the Spurs job. Search continues @TheAthleticUK #THFC https://t.co/Gcl6D2PrW4

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) June 18, 2021

Hard to imagine anyone decent joining happily as eighth choice, or whatever we are up to now, so it’s either going to be Levy throwing even more money at a statement hire like Ten Hag, giving the job to someone who desperately wants it but shouldn’t be considered (Klinsmann) or Mason starting the season and I can guess which two of the three are most likely.

Paul Mason?

I believe his only experience in the sport was attempting to broker a move for an experienced Serb star to AEK

✓

lol

Spurs now rumoured to be selecting from a shortlist of Nuno and Potter, pretending the last six weeks haven’t happened.

no shame in being 4th choice for a shit job!

Milot Rashica to Norwich

glad someone signed him!

Nuno to Spurs?

Increasingly looks that way

Can't help feeling this will be disastrous and my heart aches for Nuno and the ILX Spurs massive

my heart aches and a davinson sanchez pains my sense

It’s a really weird decision, given that they were briefing that he had been considered and thought to be a bad fit a few weeks ago, but Paratici appears to like him.

You really are gonna not hire Potter huh

Dont look at me

#Spurs ruled out a move for Nuno after he left Wolves at the end of the season but Fabio Paratici admires the Portuguese coach and has a good relationship with his agent, Jorge Mendes [@Dan_KP]

— The Spurs Express (@TheSpursExpress) June 25, 2021

A good relationship with Jorge Mendes, you say?

various rags saying City are going to pay £100m for Grealish

if I had £100m spare I would spend it on something else

I would mostly buy cheeseburgers

they could spend that on the construction of an alternative "angel of the north" 300ft statue of Shaun Goater next to the Etihad, to always remind them of when they used to be a proper club!

As silky as grealish is, moving with the ball, I refuse to believe his qualities are in the 100 million category player. His desire to fuel the 'grealish is the next gazza' brit fantasy is totally naff. Juries out, for me, on whether he's the gazza (chasing one eyed, criminals with snacks) or the gazza (sublime and ridiculous on the pitch). He doesn't seem to have Gazza's excesses, but watch this space....

Less of the Brit there.

Isn't he more Beckham anyway?

only the hair

Are Animated Dads Getting Hotter? (Tom D.) at 2:31 26 Jun 21

Less of the Brit there.

well, thats me told, no more britbantz about britball, going to listen to some britpop and britrock to chillax

on a serious note, who does grealish replace in the man city squad, is it a death knell for G.Jesus, his performances seem to pass me by, but was surprised the other day when looking at the prem team of the season on 'whoscored' and G.Jesus was rated as the best player in the league last season in his position.

As silky as grealish is, moving with the ball, I refuse to believe his qualities are in the 100 million category player.

you are so wrong but it suits me for people and pundits to keep repeating this - maybe he'll get slated for being shit for England this Tuesday and City will lose interest! i doubt it though. he is the best player in the vast majority of games he plays in. possibly you need to be watching Villa on the weekly to appreciate how consistently excellent he is.

idk if "replacing" someone in the City lineup is necessarily the right way to think of it - he will be an option on the left wing or in that left-sided number 8 role, and i guess he could probably work ok out wide on the right, although he rarely plays there for Villa. In other words he could probably fit in somewhere instead of Sterling, Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, all of whom are apparently free to leave to raise some cash?

praying he doesn't go but it's looking increasingly likely.

idg the Gabriel Jesus point - what is his position according to Whoscored? as a first choice striker he feels like a busted flush at this point, hence the overtures to Kane

He's a bit of a false 9 isn't he? Drops deep a fair bit whenever I watch them, maybe he's just looking for the ball but he defo no longer appears to be the out and out goalscorer he looked when he started out with city

He often kinda seems a bit lost

Windsor Davies at 3:20 26 Jun 21

"idg the Gabriel Jesus point - what is his position according to Whoscored? as a first choice striker he feels like a busted flush at this point, hence the overtures to Kane"

an idle, off the cuff point, badly made *hands up*

I guess while reading the posts about the Grealish to Mancity thing, just remembered that g.jesus anomaly on whoscored, I mean, grealish is more of a replacement for an 'out of favour' Sterling or Bernardo, for sure...G.Jesus getting enough good ratings over the season to be considered top 2nd striker position in a team of the season seemed to contradict my thoughts over the season, but they are not my club and I guess I don't watch enough!!

any needle about the brit thing is a bit of a take on the latest tabloid fueled hype beast of an english born player that seems before they really have convinced consistantly on the pitch, I see grealish as a talented performer but the gazza comparisons/fanboying/ 100 mil valuations seem off to me..he scored 6 goals last season

Grealish is overwhelming

I was the other way about him when spurs were linked initially, going way back, but i had an eye on him thereafter and there just aren't any other players with his combination of positive characteristics out there as a ball carrier, creator, nuisance, end product.

100 million isnt what it was and hes every bit in that range

Scored six goals but created how many chances? Anyway you don’t get the whole picture from stats with Grealish, the key thing with him is how rarely he fails to do something good and positive with the ball when he receives it. This has a multiplier effect on even his most mediocre teammates who visibly gain confidence by feeding off Grealish.

Idk I’m torn cause obviously I believe he is secretly the next best player in the world and people still haven’t quite caught up to it, otoh there is much to dislike about his current explosion onto the wider national consciousness and yeah the Gazza comparisons and all that stuff is tedious

Basically can you all fuck off and leave Aston Villa to enjoy the greatest player of his generation in peace, thank you

Yeah, think notably all his mercurial aspects are off the pitch w/r/t his potentially degrading shins and disgraceful antics; he very consistently causes something positive to happen when he gets the ball at his feet, although this is frequently "going to ground easily" to "win a free kick" because some cunt clatters him

His finishing isn't great and he's not that much of a crosser so much as he gets into such dangerous positions in the area and pulls so many players with him that a simple square ball puts somebody else in with a great chance

I wish he would just actually score the Maradona goal at some point though

lol at Windsor, I'd like grealish a lot more if he stuck by villa a while long, in their resurgent moment.....darragh, well, I think saka is a player as talented as grealish and maybe more... but crucially, he isn't as palatable to tabloid journo's..... I wish he played for Nigeria.

before they really have convinced consistantly on the pitch

you're missing the point tho, he has been the best player in c. 90% of games he's played in for the last 3 or 4 years. he has convinced consistently on the pitch, no one moreso. you've just not been watching.

he's also stuck with Villa longer than many players would've done already

Yeah I mean he signed a new five year deal last year after we finished 17th! I assume there's more to that which may shake out this summer but he didn't have to

I just wish we weren't so broke and shit for so much of the time he was establishing himself, the idea of him going now just when he would have finally had another potentially deadly creative player on the other flank to share the load is :(

you know what, I do watch, I'm not a villa fan but I see a player who has great close control and dribbling ability, who can create some chances and score the odd goal, he draws fouls regularly with his dribbling style, etc....i am super happy to be the guy who says Jack grealish is a good, sometimes great player but is also riding his own hype train to nowhere......

in real terms..i'd like actually week in, week out, match winning performances terms......for a season or two...I mean, just get jack to double figures goals for a season or two...and then I, too, will shave the "i <3Jack" love heart in my pubes....

Saka?

A hoy hoy is that you?

saka at 19 has it all, he will just get better and better, he's ozil meets bergkamp, he's that crafty a playmaker and he will score consistently...ahoy, nope, wrong poster, tho recognise the name from old posts on ilf and footie threads of yore