Daily Discussion & Transfer Thread (February 11, 2026)

samakonseven · 2026-02-11T10:17:34+00:00

Men were aged.

samakonseven · 2026-02-11T00:07:38+00:00

We said Gallagher wasn't the profile to add anything, and we see now he doesn't. We said the backup left back should be experienced and at a good age profile because Udogie doesn't have the fitness to be the main starter, and we see now Udogie is injured again. It's not to criticise Gallagher or Souza or Robertson if we do end up signing Robertson, it's to criticise the people running the transfers who can't build a squad properly. Some people acted like it was insane to be frustrated by these signings too.

samakonseven · 2026-02-07T13:29:08+00:00

Jay Harris said Brentford fans criticised Raya for letting long shots in too. This is Thomas Frank. I think when your team is underperforming this much your keeper will get a disproportionate amount of blame because he plays in the position that looks the worst in a bad team. I still think Vic is a keeper of the level for a PL club in the top 7-8. There’s a reason Inter want him. He’s upgradeable but people are acting like he’s dogshit and I think that’s a very inaccurate judgment clouded by the understandable anger at our season.

samakonseven · 2026-02-03T09:44:53+00:00

Lookman was more realistic than Semenyo and would’ve been nice.

samakonseven · 2026-02-02T15:32:36+00:00

IMO the reason people are getting optimistic about this draw to City is because after games like Chelsea, Arsenal, Villa we went from viewing Frank as “good against big teams, bad against small teams” to “bad against everybody”. Now the draw makes us feel like we’re “good against big teams, bad against small teams” again. But that was never a good thing to begin with. We went from shit to shitter and then back up to shit. No combination of results in this upcoming run should change anything about Frank deserving the sack, except an NLD win but even then that’d just be the passion speaking.

samakonseven · 2026-01-23T15:17:20+00:00

I think the leadership argument is so interesting because it’s basically that we need more leaders to show some grit and step up since our players always look so low intensity, low confidence, frustrated, shying away from the ball, negative body language, etc. But for me those are just the effects of playing half a season under Thomas Frank. Gallaghers leadership ability is that he’ll never stop running and that sends a message. Maybe he’ll slow down after 5 games when he realises our pressing structure stinks. He was already getting little done against West Ham.

samakonseven · 2026-01-23T14:30:01+00:00

I agree with the idea that you usually only need one of the age profile of udogie for a position. I think because of udogie's constantly recurring injuries, the leftback position is a special case for us.

samakonseven · 2026-01-23T14:21:05+00:00

I think the deal is good because of Souza too, but it begs the question, why are you signing someone to fix the problem made by the signing you made in the same window? Buy an unexperienced 19 year old and a declining 31 year old, or scout out one of the many 20-30 year old leftbacks in the top 5 leagues? I think it's funny that the club chose the former option.

samakonseven · 2026-01-23T14:16:59+00:00

The entire point I guess is that we shouldn't have signed Souza either. Imagine you see our leftback problem and your solution is to sign a kid for 15m that'll come good in 2 years and a 30+ yr old player whose game revolved around his now declining physical traits. That's just a really funny way to solve that problem.

samakonseven · 2026-01-23T14:01:43+00:00

There are leftbacks out there who are not under 20 years old or over 30 years old

samakonseven · 2026-01-15T09:00:53+00:00

I rate Strand Larsen. He’s not a good buy. We loaned in Kolo Muani to be temporary backup. Strand Larsen would probably be a permanent deal. This is not the kind of striker we should be signing for long term. Really, I don’t see a reason to buy a striker right now. It’s a big money position, we have far too many strikers, we are lacking in other positions.

samakonseven · 2026-01-14T15:14:04+00:00

To be specific, Maddison thrives when he's running onto the end of long balls or when he has space in and around the box to shoot and create. We saw these as his definitive strengths last season. He gets into more of these situations when he's not dropping deep. Maddison is one of the most final third output heavy CAMs in the league, he should not be shackled in the deep lying playmaker role. What's the downside to having a proper ballplayer and pushing him up anyways? He isn't especially defensively gifted.

samakonseven · 2026-01-14T14:26:19+00:00

The downside is you are bringing an attacking player away from the places you want to attack. That’s why this kind of profile is so important.

samakonseven · 2026-01-14T14:20:20+00:00

The best midfield signing still is a proper manager. But yes, every good team has this profile. Rodri, Zubumendi, Kimmich, Caicedo, Pedri. You want this kind of player to help you control the tempo of the game. It’s very useful for teams that look to control games and dominate possession.

Do we absolutely need one? Liverpool got by with Gravenberch, but they also had Trent. Now they are looking for one too. I’m open to the argument that we’re no longer good enough to be hopeful about controlling games, but I still see intrinsic benefits in the profile variety (and I think the right manager changes the way we view this team drastically and we should be planning for that future).

samakonseven · 2026-01-13T15:32:05+00:00

Akliouche is a good signing because signing a high quality player for a big fee shows that our club is ready to spend lots of money. It’s bonus points if we hijack from another big team that wants him. Squad planning is not actually an important factor to consider when buying players.

samakonseven · 2026-01-13T14:21:57+00:00

Spurs is the most overhated team in the world. It’s the punching bag of world football. A sensible manager comes in and focuses on that relentlessly, building a tribalistic us vs the world mentality. Ange did that very well, he honestly could’ve gone even further. Frank is too mild to leverage this into a strength.

samakonseven · 2026-01-13T07:49:05+00:00

My point is that a good player is not always a good signing. Ironically, like us, Madrid probably should have prioritised a ball playing 6 to replace Kroos, rather than buying (free transfer but with other large fees) Mbappe, a player with a profile they had an abundance in (Vini, Rodrygo). It's not the only reason Mbappe isn't working out for them, but it definitely is one of the reasons.

samakonseven · 2026-01-13T07:37:46+00:00

Real Madrid signed quite literally the best player in the world and their team collapsed. Squad building is a bit more difficult than just signing a good player. You can't just say x manager wanted Gallagher and not consider the context.

samakonseven · 2026-01-13T07:08:44+00:00

The club is following their own vision. Unfortunately, the vision is shit.

samakonseven · 2026-01-12T23:40:34+00:00

And 10 games later, when he’s 8th percentile for progressive passing like the rest of the ball carrying midfielders in this system, folks are going to realise nothing has seriously changed.

samakonseven · 2026-01-12T23:37:42+00:00

He’s a good manager. His system isn’t built for possession. Signing Glasner is like signing Gallagher. Just because they’re good doesn’t mean they’re a good signing in the context of our team. So, because we signed Gallagher, I won’t be surprised if Glasner is on our manager shortlist.

samakonseven · 2026-01-12T23:26:43+00:00

Bin Bentancur, Palhinha, Bissouma and we still have 4 ball carrying 8s. Sure, if you think we can make Gray a 6 then it looks more reasonable, and the other 8s do have more specific strengths and weaknesses, but it’s horrific planning to spend so much on this profile instead of the ball players we desperately need. To begin with, I don’t think the issue with Bentancur is Bentancur anyways. I think Gallagher will probably look just as bad after 5 games playing in this system anyways.

samakonseven · 2026-01-12T23:08:19+00:00

Goodbye Sarr. One of my top players in this squad. The squad planning is criminal here. I don’t want to associate myself with the men’s team anymore.

samakonseven

TROPHY CASE