Alex Collings

Too often we judge players on moments rather than momentum.

Hahaha yeah fair very jealous of that 😂 at least now I know who to keep an eye out for, hadn’t even heard of Said El Mala!

He’s shot hungry - and will favour that - but never blind to his other options in front of goal. That balance is pretty much exactly what we need from our centre forward.

Wasn’t expecting it but the thing I love most about Gyokeres’ game is his ~final action decision making.

(Also tbf we joked about this elsewhere but it’s a bit strange how similar Billy’s list and mine ended up being. Because otherwise there appears to be a good variety of picks across the SCOUTED50 participants this year)

If I’m striving to be one step ahead, Alex is already two haha. The original Tifo hipster king for a reason !

A PL scout friend of mine has been urging me to watch Yan Diomandé for a minute now.

The @scoutedftbl.com 50 is here.

I voted in part with my heart and in part with my access to elite level scouting algos.

Sub to Scouted. It makes sense.

Anyways, SCOUTED50 is as good a time as any to pay homage to an incredible football publication run by brilliant people. I actually found my onto twitter (“the other place”) after coming across an online version of Scouted’s first handbook years ago.

Please support their work if you’re able to 🫡💫

As always with me, I couldn’t help but tweak the definition of ‘breakout star’ to a slightly longer term outlook.

Guys further down the list like Yirenkyi and Bazoumana are personal faves I had to include. Though two I suspect I’ll regret not fitting in: Kader Meïté and Bahoya.

Honoured to have been asked to be part of SCOUTED50 again.

Tom told me to go with my heart this year, so I did.

Annous getting 20 mins to strut his stuff at CF would send me to the moon.

Anyways, Port Vale:

Setford*
White**, Mosquera, Hincapié, Myles
Ethan, Nørgaard, Eze/MM
Max, Martinelli, Trossard

Sub Eze, Max and White by ‘60. Give Annous his debut.

*ik it’ll be Kepa
**start Nichols if BW isn’t ready

uhhh is it too late to un-give up on Martinelli?

Yeah, so Arteta is really using his squad this season and looking to reward form. Exactly what we’ve been asking for for years, can’t hate on it

Side note: Wirtz really came alive around the same time Curtis Jones came on.

Could well be circumstantial but I think there’s something in that, particularly as a ‘counter balancer’/‘counter tempo’ to the rest of the team. He could be key to extracting the most from Wirtz this season.

😂

I’ve been a massive fan of his for years! He’s superb, have a sneaky suspicion he breaks through as a starter for them this year (replacing Macca).

I guess Zubi, Øde and Ethan do all of those things? But tbf not quite the same (and in the same circumstances) as Jones does. Great profile.

For sure, though I have to say I come away feeling pretty positive about us - and particularly the quality of our squad - this year.

Yeah I was very impressed by him! Thought he held himself well under lots of pressure, bodes well

Ah gotcha! Mb misunderstood initially haha, think they came into it but agreed were were better. Particularly in the first half

Agreed. Ode/Eze ten minutes sooner when it was clear that we were no longer controlling the game. By 55 mins we no longer pressed.

Free kick 2 inches to the right and it is saved. 2 inches to the left and it bounces off the post & back into play (maybe off Raya, though). A truly worthy game winner.

argh frustrating tho

Momentum swung their way around 55 mins (partly as a result of Zubi waning). Imo then was the opportunity to bring on Ødegaard and Eze to regain stability, add creativity. Instead, Liverpool bring on CuJo to stamp control on the game. If we lost it tactically, we lost it there.

I don’t even think we were largely crap! Enjoyed the first half, they outplayed us in the second but think we were arguably the better team overall. Some poor individual performances on both sides though for sure

Øde + Eze subs were late, but otherwise I’m not taking issue with today’s performance. Missing key players (Kai, Saka, Ø from the start), lost Saliba early, outplayed them on their patch for periods, ultimately beaten by a brilliant free-kick. Loads of positives, we go again.

Let’s bully this midfield and score the most disgusting goals. Calafiori son you have the 10 on your back (metaphorical) #coyg

Our squad depth, btw.

Been said a ton already but bears repeating. After Leeds there was chatter over whether Merino was already fading from the first team picture, and now he starts one of our biggest fixtures of the season. We have options!

Not a bad thing. As I said on the pod, happy with Martinelli starting.

Was hoping Ødegaard would be ready to play, someone to put a foot on the ball and manage tempo to avoid a basketball game. A counterbalance of sorts. Merino is definitely not giving us that. Up to Zubi to take on the mantle now.

LIVERPOOL vs ARSENAL ANFIELD, 31.08.25 Starting XI: RAYA TIMBER SALIBA GABRIEL CALAFIORI ZUBIMENDI RICE MERINO MADUEKE MARTINELLI GYOKERES

Oh, it’s going to be one of *those* games.

Martín Zubimendi by the way, fantastic player

We’ll see if/how it works itself out but right now I think Rice is a bit of a lost man between Calafiori and Zubimendi. Both in terms of role and on field positioning.