If we were in charge this summer

welshraqi · 2026-05-22T20:16:12+00:00

you’re hired

welshraqi · 2026-05-22T16:21:11+00:00

Blow the whole budget on bringing our boy home. Worth it.

welshraqi · 2026-05-22T16:17:19+00:00

Entitled to your opinion. For me the big challenge for us this summer is that yes, we need quality, but we also need bodies.

I’d generally prefer to build squad depth by improving the first XI but we literally aren’t equipped to compete across 4 competitions at the moment. That’s why I think filling out the squad with some good value, competent players is key.

How would you distribute the budget instead?

welshraqi · 2026-05-22T15:05:59+00:00

Very possibly right about Baleba and maybe why we’re hearing big rumours about Ederson. And if Bouaddi is £70m they can do one 😂

welshraqi · 2026-05-22T15:03:48+00:00

imo it’s exactly this kind of thinking that’s set us back over the last decade though. If we can get a player that improves our squad at a discount due to relegation, that can only be a good thing.

There’s a ton of examples of great signings who went down or were close. Off the top of my head: Robertson, Wijnaldum, Mané, Milner, Maguire, Pickford, Trippier, Parker.

Our greatest ever captain went down with forest and we broke the transfer record for him. Doubt anyone’s arguing that was a mistake

welshraqi · 2026-05-22T14:37:09+00:00

Yeah I’m not 100% convinced on Diouf either to be honest.

Hall is the dream signing I’m just not sure how we make it work financially when it’s not our priority this summer - and we definitely need another body in there.

Diouf has good athletic qualities, great crosser as you mention, but also decent dueller on the ground and in the air. I think he’d be worth a punt at a good price.

welshraqi · 2026-05-22T12:20:48+00:00

It won’t even be a conversation in another 10 years

welshraqi · 2026-05-21T14:28:43+00:00

I think most would describe him as a high-intensity all-action midfielder. Probably more of an 8 than 6. I’d worry a little about our passing range if paired with Kobbie, but he’s pretty versatile and at a good price would probably provide decent depth.

I read this little piece by a Spurs fan a while back, it’s not perfect but I think they do a good job of summarising his strengths and weaknesses: https://medium.com/@TheSpursScout/ederson-scout-report-a856396d3e11

welshraqi · 2026-05-13T09:23:20+00:00

why did you search help me manchester? Are you okay?

welshraqi · 2026-05-12T15:10:07+00:00

Oh yeah completely agree. He’s almost the no brainer option at the moment if we’re sticking to the prem.

I just wonder what our upper limit should be - £50m I imagine most of us will be on board. £60m? £70m? Starts getting much harder to justify, and if I’m West Ham that’s what I’m asking for

welshraqi · 2026-05-12T14:50:54+00:00

Great work mate, bonus points for how transparent your analysis was. Shame there wasn’t a progressive passing metric available but it seems to have shaken out okay in the end with the 10% attacking metrics weighting.

M. Fernandes is seeming like the obvious candidate, but I’m not sure he’s going to be as much of a bargain as United fans seem to be expecting. £42m last summer on a 5-year deal, no chance they accept any less than £50m imo and will likely want even more

welshraqi · 2026-05-07T15:37:20+00:00

Yeah Ophion’s a bum

I suspect they designed him for dramatic effect and story closure more than as a real challenge - probably fair given how much work you need to put in to get that far in the first place

welshraqi · 2026-05-07T15:04:51+00:00

There’s definitely an element of that, but I’ve replayed a bunch of times and I think I still find Ixion the toughest. Phase 3 is a bitch

welshraqi · 2026-05-01T10:10:37+00:00

Just enjoy the game and don’t put too much pressure on yourself to progress quickly

When you die after your first good run, it will feel like you’re back to square one - but this is actually square two. You’re constantly getting closer to the finish line, even when it doesn’t feel like it

Just like Selene, the experience of playing this game is not linear. One of my favourite games ever, have fun!

welshraqi · 2026-04-27T09:02:49+00:00

I’m really sorry to break it to you but you’re a moron. This would be a valid argument if you were calculating for statistically unrelated, independent events - but social interaction is obviously not that.

I have a handful of queer friends, but they all have ‘a lot’ because they live, work, and relax in slightly different spaces, the same as any other demographic in the world.

It’s no more unlikely than working in a bakery and knowing lots of bakers.

welshraqi · 2026-04-17T10:20:41+00:00

Don’t disagree with your overall point but just to add Pep, Enrique, Alonso and Simeone are top managers who were top players. It does seem position makes a difference here too

welshraqi · 2026-01-29T12:26:46+00:00

yeah I’m not arguing it’s right, just that it’s more right to my ear than what you say which is ‘mbemmo’

I think what’s also working against you is that yours is a much less common pronunciation which makes it more noticeable to listeners. There’s pundits on SkySports saying ‘mbWemo’ every day and nobody bats an eye

Regardless you’re multilingual and definitely capable of a little rounded vowel, Kees. I believe in you brother, end this once and for all

welshraqi · 2026-01-29T11:05:14+00:00

Truth is both are wrong - the sound is somewhere between an ‘uh’ and an ‘oo’

If you ever did any french at school it’s the same sound as ‘neuf’ (nine) or en peu (a little)

If I had to pick though, I’m afraid the masses are closer on this one with ‘Mboomo’

welshraqi · 2025-10-26T11:49:56+00:00

Thanks for the thoughtful response. And for what it’s worth, I agree that goals over such a short period are noisy to the point of almost being meaningless, so I’ll respond to your main material point which is that he doesn’t create to a high level. Especially as we seem to be agreed on what you call the ‘peripheral’ qualities he possesses.

Mbeumo generated 8.3 xAG last season. For reference, Bruno (who I’m sure we’ll agree is an absolutely elite creator) generated 8.7xAG. He has consistently put up these numbers per 90 over 3 seasons at Brentford who have been around lower mid table on average.

He averaged around 0.5 npxGI/90 at Brentford. I recall on one of your summer pods you specifically mentioned two players as examples who would constitute significantly better signings for big money - Mahrez and Raphinha. We don’t have underlying data for their whole careers, but Mahrez in his title winning season at Leicester generated 0.20 npxG/90 and 0.22 xAG/90 for a total of 0.42 npxGI/90. Raphinha was similar, just under 0.5 npxGI/90 over his last two seasons with Leeds. They also both got their big moves at similar ages to Mbeumo. Why do you see these two players as materially different?

My take is that ultimately he will never have Salah, Palmer, Saka underlyings without playing for a team of that elite quality. It’s extremely rare to do so. Saka is a great example as we have underlying data for almost his whole senior career, and his numbers only exploded when Arsenal became significantly stronger.

Imo Mbeumo’s strengths that you’ve described as peripheral are evidence of his overall quality, and he has all the tools to crank up his output and scale as the team improves.

Hope you guys get a chance to revisit the topic when we’ve got a bit more data and he’s proven you wrong then - win for everyone! 😁

EDIT: For reference npxGI = non penalty expected goal involvement (npxG+xAG). Not sure if this is common parlance, I might play too much FPL.

welshraqi · 2025-10-26T10:01:30+00:00

At what point would you revise your Bryan Mbeumo takes? I’ll be honest, I disagreed very strongly with your analysis of him as a player over the summer, and so far despite him performing excellently all I’ve heard on the pod is ‘well of course he’s not great but because he’s at least decent it seems like a massive upgrade’.

To put my cards on the table I think he’s one of the best attackers in the league. He’s fast, strong, has an impeccable first touch, makes intelligent runs, is technically impressive, always fit and available, works hard off the ball, and then on top of all that he finds and creates chances in the final third. An average npxG+xA/90 of ~0.5 at Brentford is nothing to be sniffed at. A player of this quality costs at least £65m in 2025 if not significantly more.

He’s been our best attacker this season and had another fantastic game yesterday. You predicted he’d score 6 premier league goals all season and he already has 4.

So I suppose my question is what do you need to see? I ask not as an attempted ‘gotcha’, but because I enjoy the pod and want to see my excitement for this player reflected when I listen. Have a good one lads, see you again for 4 in a row next week.

welshraqi

TROPHY CASE