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The Official 2023/24 Premier League Thread

What was that like?

How high up was the rail?
It was fine. I watched it for a bit. The camera height is more or less the same as the usual TV camera position but the camera moved left and right tracking the play, but within a certain range. This allowed it to zoom in a bit closer to the action which was good. The comparison to the FIFA game is bang on.

While I was watching the camera nearly tipped over twice !!! Teething problems I guess but it does show some promise.
 
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I don't think he's off from he just is totally dependant on supply.

Pep has decided to rip all the creativity out of the team for some reason, there isn't really a passer of the ball anywhere yet he's playing with two up top.
 
For those wondering about Arsenal's easy start to the season - 5 of 8 games at home - it's simply good business for the Premier League to give certain clubs a bit of a soft schedule early on. Gives them a better chance of a good start, pushes them up the table - even if artificially so - generates media buzz, heightens excitement when traditional top 4-5-6 clubs eventually meet and gets fans excited and buying tickets or TV subscriptions. And gambling.

Spurs-Arsenal, ManU-Liverpool, Chelsea-City matches, to create random examples, being played in week's 2-3-4 don't serve that purpose.

Now, Seeing ManU and Chelsea currently flounder isn't ideal but the league has done it's part to help with scheduling. Chelsea's opening eight games are as soft as Arsenal's, plus they fortuitously got both Carabao Cup games at home.

The league doesn't give the first flying fcuk about us in relation to such clubs because we don't generate the same level of social media followings.

And then there's the awkwardness generated by the Yid chants.
 

Or playing one game a week could mean we won’t be as reliant on squad depth as we would if we were in Europe, and that a bit of luck with injury/fitness would allow us to field our strongest 11 for most PL games - thus making us far more competitive in the league. A bit like Arse last season.

I agree we'll likely not be competing for the title come April, but that's a pretty uninformed analysis IMO.
 
Or playing one game a week could mean we won’t be as reliant on squad depth as we would if we were in Europe, and that a bit of luck with injury/fitness would allow us to field our strongest 11 for most PL games - thus making us far more competitive in the league. A bit like Arse last season.

I agree we'll likely not be competing for the title come April, but that's a pretty uninformed analysis IMO.
Especially as we COULD go out in January and drop a load of cash on some quality players
I did say could
 
I think Ange taking the tinkle out of Neville’s Pep comment has irked the taco somewhat

I think that’s it's because we are making them all look stupid.
Spurs will miss Harry kanes goals, we're top of the league on goals scored.
Every statement they make we throw back in their face.
It won't last of course because we don't have the squad depth, yet, but give us credit when it's due, and at the moment it's due.
They are to self important though to say they might have got it wrong.
 
I don't like him but i dont think he is wrong.

Firstly, lack of quality depth. We need better than Dier and Davies on the bench. Thank goodness we haven't needed them yet. Not so worried about midfield ot attackas Bentancur and Brennan looks to be ready soon and fully. But you can't build a confident attacking team if your defense is porous. But fixable in the upcoming transfer windows by upgrading on dier and Davies.

Secondly, I have noticed two situations where we are vulnerable in defence. The most noticeable is when Porro gets outnumbered at the far post. Either Kulu tracks back faster to help or shift people from the near post back...but has implications on structure etc.

Another is when facing quick counters. So far vdv has been outstanding in snuffing out quick wingers however i can anticipate teams trying to beat this (e.g. dragging him out of position deliberately to cross/pass behind in the space he has vacated ).

To be clear this is not a critique about Angeball but highlighting that every system has its pros and cons. Also the Angeball system (fullbacks nartow in attack etc) is new to the epl and teams take time to adapt. Also we've recruited somewhat obscure players like udogie and vdv and their superpowers are just being uncovered now.

Also like how teams realised Conteball could not work because we leak goals easily and approached us differently in the 2nd half of the season with updated intelligence (dier does not defend aggressively etc) ...same would happen, but I expect it will be vastly different this season as the team is full of streetsmart ballers now and we are much more threatening in possession or in attack compared to conteball.
 
While I'll agree with your early point about our current depth, it's not a complete tragedy. Davies is still a steady player to bring in after an hour and Ange rates him highly. We haven't seen enough of Dier or Sessegnon in this system to properly assess but I'll retain hope for the latter. We have to consider that if we're still up around the top placings come January, we're bound to see some incoming additions.

Not sure we can add many more central defenders until we restore our CL status, but our great start will have alerted agents and players alike. Both VdV and Romero have been excellent this season and their energetic styles aren't taxed by our light fixture list. And Emerson has established himself as a decently reliable depth player who can get forward or defend in the back four/five.

It'll be interesting to see if Lo Celso can get enough playing time to either make an impression or get himself sufficiently framed in the transfer shop window. At his best, I like him and he offers useful playmaking depth for Maddison. Not afraid to run with the ball either which suits our style. It looks like Solomon has got a bad injury so there's a spot that needs shoring up. Is Gil up to that task? Need to see more of him to say. But he fits the role you define as 'streetsmart baller'. There's definitely something there with him, but is it enough for Spurs?

Gonna be a far more interesting season than what we've endured in recent years, that's for sure.
 
While I'll agree with your early point about our current depth, it's not a complete tragedy. Davies is still a steady player to bring in after an hour and Ange rates him highly. We haven't seen enough of Dier or Sessegnon in this system to properly assess but I'll retain hope for the latter. We have to consider that if we're still up around the top placings come January, we're bound to see some incoming additions.

Not sure we can add many more central defenders until we restore our CL status, but our great start will have alerted agents and players alike. Both VdV and Romero have been excellent this season and their energetic styles aren't taxed by our light fixture list. And Emerson has established himself as a decently reliable depth player who can get forward or defend in the back four/five.

It'll be interesting to see if Lo Celso can get enough playing time to either make an impression or get himself sufficiently framed in the transfer shop window. At his best, I like him and he offers useful playmaking depth for Maddison. Not afraid to run with the ball either which suits our style. It looks like Solomon has got a bad injury so there's a spot that needs shoring up. Is Gil up to that task? Need to see more of him to say. But he fits the role you define as 'streetsmart baller'. There's definitely something there with him, but is it enough for Spurs?

Gonna be a far more interesting season than what we've endured in recent years, that's for sure.
Not replying only to you, just in general. Think offensively, this system will suit Sessegnon. He's good on the ball, and is a threat in the final third. Defensively he's miles behind Udogie. Udogie is a hard ass motherfudger. Sess definitely isn't. We're a bit vulnerable at CB, but hopefully that can be sorted in January. Otherwise, I think our squad and bench is every bit as good as Arsenal, if not better, and we don't play in Europe.
 
I don't like him but i dont think he is wrong.

Firstly, lack of quality depth. We need better than Dier and Davies on the bench. Thank goodness we haven't needed them yet. Not so worried about midfield ot attackas Bentancur and Brennan looks to be ready soon and fully. But you can't build a confident attacking team if your defense is porous. But fixable in the upcoming transfer windows by upgrading on dier and Davies.

Secondly, I have noticed two situations where we are vulnerable in defence. The most noticeable is when Porro gets outnumbered at the far post. Either Kulu tracks back faster to help or shift people from the near post back...but has implications on structure etc.

Another is when facing quick counters. So far vdv has been outstanding in snuffing out quick wingers however i can anticipate teams trying to beat this (e.g. dragging him out of position deliberately to cross/pass behind in the space he has vacated ).

To be clear this is not a critique about Angeball but highlighting that every system has its pros and cons. Also the Angeball system (fullbacks nartow in attack etc) is new to the epl and teams take time to adapt. Also we've recruited somewhat obscure players like udogie and vdv and their superpowers are just being uncovered now.

Also like how teams realised Conteball could not work because we leak goals easily and approached us differently in the 2nd half of the season with updated intelligence (dier does not defend aggressively etc) ...same would happen, but I expect it will be vastly different this season as the team is full of streetsmart ballers now and we are much more threatening in possession or in attack compared to conteball.

Lets legitimately discuss that

1. Depth, every team has the problem, KDM & Rodri has seemingly fudged City who probably has the deepest depth of anyone in league. Reality is do you get lucky with injuries in areas you can cover? for us, most of our injuries are LW, where we have Perisic, Son, Richi, Solomon, Johnson who can play there, so 3 out actually was manageable. Being in only two competitions helps, and we will probably add to squad in January, so it's really short term risk

2. Liverpool is way more vulnerable, City & Arsenal are vulnerable, attacking sides are vulnerable, it's nature of being committed to attacks. I'd argue that the speed of our defenders (VDV, Udogie, Porro) and the fact that we make the center of pitch very congested protects us better than say Liverpool.

My view of concerns

- We still don't have experience, if this team made this start a year from now, I'd be a lot more comfortable. Son, Romero & Decki are the only ones with more than a full season playing for us and in PL. Manager similar
- We haven't figured out our style completely and how we adapt to each type of team we come up against
- Striker issue, is Son the answer?

The only difference between us and the "legitimate" top 4 contenders is the unknown factor (new squad, new manager), but even there, Spurs has been pretty consistent in/around top 4 for more than a decade, at this point it's disrespectful at best, ignorance at worst.
 
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