SpartyBlue

What do you find absurd? Brighton don’t think he’s good enough to be getting 30+ games for them as their primary striker as he has for the last 3 seasons. Their manager has suggested as much. He won’t be getting that game time here either in normal circumstances.

Yes it does. His work-rate was poor playing up top. His work-rate in games down the stretch last year suffered because he was physically worn down. I do think in general it’s a good quality of his, as we saw today, but that doesn’t change the reality that he’s been inconsistent there.

He’s been caught out now and then but you’d expect that at his age and experience. Some good aggressive defending and a willingness to get forward. Of Patterson and Myko I think Patterson has the higher ceiling.

That’s why I mentioned his playing out of position… I don’t think it’s really the system, he’s just not got the physicality or the skill set to play that position at this point. Richarlison could because he was a good hold up player, good in the air, and could hold his own physically. None of that is Gordon’s game yet.

It matters a little bit but you’re overstating it I think. A player is going to come here because he believes in the project, his opportunity, money. I doubt it matters if we finish at 45 points or 50. Financially it isn’t a big impact moving a couple spots unless it’s into Europe. Of course I want us to do as well as possible but the main thing is to develop our young core and to stay up, hopefully with some room to spare. The risk this season is that with a lot of changes and youth coming into the team we get dragged into another relegation scrap. If we can get through this season I think we will be fine in that regard going forward.

The first couple games playing up top his work rate was not particularly good. He didn’t press well, hold it up well or contest aerials duels well. Towards the end of last year he was clearly wearing down. I don’t question his desire but I do question whether he can physically sustain the effort we saw today.

Again, it’s just how you’re defining it. My point is that I don’t particularly care where we finish this year as long as we stay up since we are unlikely to challenge for anything. It’s about the longterm project and finishing 13th over 15th matters little. As long as we stay up we should be much better the following year. At that point I will want to see some real progress.

I think this is a bit of semantics. We stay up, we progress the young players. Whether we finish 10th or 14th doesn’t matter a whole lot towards our eventual goals.

Doucoure as well. This season is just about survival and progressing the young players. At that point we should be in a much better spot to push on. No bad away points this season, that’s for sure.

Certainly the first couple games he’s been poor up top. Has looked disinterested but maybe that’s just playing out of position. Was much more of a pest defensively today, still not great in the air or with his hold up play but did seemed to have more desire there as well. He’s gonna need to be able to physically show this same performance every game. Big test Tuesday, away again, with a short turnaround.

If he did as well every match as he did today I would start to believe he could be worth that. Hopefully we see that desire if he stays.

He had a couple of those. Exciting to see. That was a subtle ball in to give Gray an opportunity. Great to have guys that can turn and run into that space. I dunno that we will get Kudus but he also looks excellent at that. There is a video asking if you should even press him.

He also did it once and gave up possession. It’ll just take time. Most of his first thoughts seemed to be to play it backwards and he wasn’t quite as available as you’d like in that role for me. As noted though, very early and overall he was solid given circumstances with a couple moments that stand out.

Yeah he has some moments for sure. Was it him that played that clever little ball that gave the chance Gray fumbled?

Very safe today, which is understandable. Just gonna take time to build league experience and confidence. The 2-3 times he decided to be positive you could see the potential.

Easily Gordon. Perhaps the prospect of a big money move was motivating but in any case he was good today. Particularly liked the energy he showed defensively.

There has to be a Turkish team somewhere. Better than paying any wages at all to a player who won’t start even when we have no other options.

From what i’ve seen listed elsewhere positionally it’ll be Gordon up top but maybe that’s incorrect. I just think if Rondon isn’t starting in this circumstance then you might as well sell him for whatever we could get. Agree on Onana but I’m happy he will get to take his lumps.

I’m curious if the Maupay move makes Frank think Rondon’s head isn’t in it. Or perhaps he’s off, if possible.

Worth noting that when they say they have outgrown him they are almost surely talking about as a primary striker. He isn’t being brought to Everton for that so it’s not really a reflection of where either team is.

This would be a shame. Hard for us to attract players of this talent level at the moment. Might have taken some time but I think this would be a coup. I suppose, at worst, we’d have a bit of a leg up if he’s available in future windows.

Agree, Messi would probably look pretty good against us.

Doubtful given this means they will make less money on the deal.

Well he’s a midfielder. Shouldn’t expect double figure goals from any midfielder really. Like Onana he looks to have some tantalizing upside. I’ll be disappointed if we can’t get this one through.

Short video :). For sure he has potential but for his position it’s always going to be end product, particularly if you don’t excel at other aspects of the game. He may develop into a very good, even a great player but he’d have to for us to turn down such a huge price. It also might take years for that to happen. Years I’m not sure we have. I’d be much more inclined to hold and see how he develops if we were a comfortably mid table or better side right now.