A Tad Predictable: Premier League Transfer Window GRADED

0:00This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages. EPL index proudly brings to you the best prediction podcast in the world. A tad predictable. Your host, Rua Chana Kira. Your host, Rua Chana Kira. Your host, Rua Chana Kira. In 2026.

1:00In 2026. Oh, have we got a spicy one for you today? Welcome to a tad predictable episode 233. And I know, I know, I know, they are premier league games this weekend starting tonight with Ipswich versus Liverpool. What a tasty way for us to get into the weekend, especially with the slow start Liverpool have had this season. But the talk of the town this whole week after transfer deadline they had ended is where do the teams sit? How do we feel about them? Who's looking good? Who's looking prepared for the season? Who's built the squads? Who's given their managers the tools to go on and achieve their goals? So I do know usually on this show on Fridays at 2pm, we stand at time. We usually do the preview of the fixtures for this coming weekend.

2:05But there's only two times a year we get to grade what the teams did in the transfer window. Obviously with the summer transfer window and then come February when the winter January transfer window ends. So it's going to be slightly different on this episode. We are going to discuss all 20 teams. We're going to grade all 20 teams with regards to how they did this transfer window. And as you are joining in as you are coming into the chat, smash that like button and subscribe to EPL index on YouTube. Turn on the notification bell to make sure that you never miss a show. There have been a whole host of shows this week obviously diving in and out of the transfer window and the implications of what happened on transfer deadline day, right? Which was a bit manic. In terms of housekeeping. Obviously we're coming to you now on Friday at 2pm, a British stand at time. We will be back for this show on Monday evening at 10pm, British stand at time.

3:07I know there's no Monday evening game. Usually there's the Monday evening kickoff, but you can as you will see when we put it up and we probably can actually put it up Mr. producer man. There are a whole host of fixtures in the Premier League that started 3pm on Saturday. So it hasn't been spread out as well as we've seen in the first two game weeks, but in any event. There is no Monday game, but we will still be here 10pm, British stand at time on Monday evening. And then also huge congratulations to our August prize winner. And deselect won the prize. There was some controversy because when we did the first we'll spin my dad won it. And as we mentioned on the podcast, it was quite an interesting moment, but as we mentioned on the podcast. I couldn't give my dad the award for our first ever prize that we're giving away on the YouTube version of the show obviously having been audio only first.

4:10We've been able to sort my dad out, but deselect was the winner of the giveaway for August. We're also going to be doing a giveaway in September. As I said, the quicker the podcast grows, the quicker we can get to increasing the value of the prizes. I've been quite adamant that as the podcast grows, I think the giveaways need to grow as well in value. So hopefully that will happen. We are relatively new to YouTube and we are trying to grow this community. So welcome to all of you that have joined us so far and it's tele-friend. And bring them along to the live chat as well. Bring up the live chats because it's quite easy to get on the wheel. If you are new here and you're wondering prize giveaway, what happened? How do I get involved? Well, August, we had our prize giveaway.

5:10As I said, deselect won the prize. He's already been sent the Amazon give voucher and that's great. So for the month of September, we are going to have our September giveaway where once again, 20 pound Amazon give voucher that we're going to be giving away. And getting your name onto that wheel, we spin a wheel on the last, the last possible day of the month when this podcast is on, that's when we spin the wheel. It's worked out that it was Monday, this past Monday, the 31st of August. And I think it's going to be a Monday again as well. And if I'm incorrect, I'm sure producer will let me know. But I believe it is the 28th of September. So Monday, the 28th of September, we will be spinning the wheel live on a tab predictable and giving away that 20 pound Amazon give voucher.

6:10And the way to get onto that is pretty simple. If you join one of our live shows, any of the tab predictable live shows for the month of September, if you jump into the chat, if you like the podcast episode and you comment in the live chat, you automatically get your name on the wheel. And for those of you that can't necessarily join us live, then what, you know, that's not a big issue. All you have to do is find an attack predictable podcast episode on YouTube for the month of September. I mean, if you want to click on the August ones as well, please do. But we will only be checking the September ones. And if you go into any of those episodes and you like that episode, you comment on that episode episode as well, leave a comment on that episode. Your name will also be entered onto the draw. I know some of the people that were on the wheel this, this time around for August didn't do it by the live chat, but commented on the podcast episode, you know, they were watching it on, on replay.

7:19You can do it that way as well. But we do thank each and every one of you that I've gotten involved and that continue to get involved and hopefully we continue to grow. And as I said, as we grow, hopefully the prize will grow as well. So it's very easy to get on that wheel for the 28th of September. And hopefully this time it will be you, but congratulations to deselect who won our August prize. Right. And we'll move on to grading because there's a lot of teams to get through 20 Premier League teams. We're going to give them all a letter grade. I'm not going to bury the lead in terms of the grade. And I guess we will start off with the Premier League champions, defending champions. I did notice technically it's meant to be aFC Bournemouth at first, but it's okay. We'll start off with Arsenal as it is on my red sheet here. So if we can put that first letter grade up for Arsenal.

8:19And if you are watching us on YouTube, obviously we still have out about audio listeners, but come along to YouTube as well. It's a good time. You hang out in the chat with the community that we're growing and it's really fun. But Arsenal, they start off with an A minus grade. And I think a lot of you are probably wondering what? Not with the way a lot of people are covering Arsenal at this present point in time. You look at the fact that they didn't bring in that elite forward that everyone seems to think they want to bring in. And the reason why I've gone so high with Arsenal's window is because I think this is a Mikhail Ateca type of window. It might not necessarily be an Arsenal fans type of window. I feel I'm acutely aware of how Ateca wants to play football, how he wants to approach things, and he's got the tools to go on and do that.

9:20He's got the tools to go on and win the Premier League title again this season. Obviously next week on Monday, 10 p.m. on this channel, we are going to have the tie-products of predictions for the season in terms of league winners, European teams that are going to get those European spots. Relication teams and all of that find stuff. So it's predictions week next week for us. Now that the transfer window has closed, we've been able to grade all of the teams. And it's now a good time to project how everyone's going to do for the rest of the season. But for Arsenal, you look at the fact that they've solidified that defensive line again, bringing in Kwanzaa who has established himself now as an individual. And it's not just himself now as an England international, probably the starter in the England team. You'll imagine, I don't think there'll be much pushback with regards to that take.

10:20And yet he's your back up in the back that adds serious, serious depth to that defensive line that allows Arsenal to do what they want to do, which is compete on all fronts this season, trying collectors, many trophies as they possibly can. This is the time to strike. The rest of the Premier League is a good way away from you. No one has necessarily closed the gap. Some teams maybe build their have, but I don't think anyone's closed the gap enough. And if anything, other teams have regressed that maybe would have thought they were close to Arsenal. So it's a good time for Arsenal to try and build a dynasty, build a legacy for our tether and that team. And, showing up that defensive line, that's the foundation for our tether footballs being resolute defensively. And he's really, and he's sure that up. He's brought in more legs, more Premier League experience, more physicality in midfield with a Bruno Gamarash coming in.

11:20He's brought an upside player coming in on the left hand side. Yes, he looked really good on the opening day of the season. And you look at the next day, the next game, tallest kind of struggled. And that's going to happen with young players. Players coming into the Premier League for the first time, they're going to have successful games, they're going to have frustrating games. Within specific games, they're going to have ups and downs. Right. Yes, I can still hear the screaming. Arsenal didn't sign that and lead forward. My interpretation of it and my understanding of how our tether wants to play. I don't think our tether wants the type of forward that a lot of mainstream media and a lot of Arsenal fans want him to go sign. No one is going to be able to convince me that Mika, our tether, wanted Vinicius Jr. Yes, I know there was talk of Arsenal flirting with him throughout the summer and trying to bring him across from Real Madrid.

12:20Vinicius Jr. is the antithesis of what our tether football is. Our tether's football is you've got to be defensively sound first, then we will go and score goals. But we're not going to go and score goals until we put in the graft defensively until you're switched on defensively. Vinicius Jr. has no interest or very little interest in the defensive side of the game. He's worried about attacking football, scoring goals, entertaining the crowd and being electric and being a world-ploss attacking player that he is. But defensively he is a liability defensively you're going to have to carry him in your team. You're going to have to make sacrifices in other positions to accommodate a Vinicius Jr. And we've seen Ruma Dread have been struggling with both him and Bapet because similar players in that both of them don't necessarily always do the defensive work that is required from the team. So you have to end up carrying these type of players.

13:22Mika, Mika let it to doesn't play like that. We've seen the likes of Ezze being sub-dorf and being left on the bench for multiple weeks because they didn't apply themselves defensively first before they worried about how they're going to eat from an attacking perspective. So I don't see how Vinicius Jr. works for Arsenal. If anything, the profile of player Bradley Barcola is slightly leaning more towards the type of player that he would want. And if anything, if you're to believe what's coming from Arsenal side, they're kind of inquired but weren't really that interested in bringing him along. Certainly not interested at the price that he ends up going for is what we're led to believe from from you know the Arsenal side of things. But that's more a player who is willing to do some defensive work and then also is going to be electrifying from an attacking perspective. That's a dynasty type signing. If Arsenal get a Bradley Barcola who fits into their style, they're not going to have to accommodate for him.

14:23That makes them formidable. I think Sadio Mane in his prime is a perfect Michael Ateuta football player because he will do the defensive work. He will come back with the fallback and track them all the way and then burn them whenever his team wins the ball going the other way and be devastating doing that in transition football. So those are the more the type of players Ateuta would want very few and far between who are elite at this current point in time. As I mentioned Bradley Barcola probably one of the few that were attainable this transfer window that could fit Ateuta's mold, they weren't able to get him. So from an Arsenal perspective, it's an a minus. I think if they went and got a Bradley Barcola of this is an A plus plus, but I still think they've got enough to go and win the Premier League title, which is the goal for them this season. I know they want to go deep in the Champions League as well, but you don't have to worry about that until you know before the January transfer window.

15:28They can still go and sign players that are going to be impactful for the business end of the season, especially the Champions League. They can still go get that elite winner in January. They've got enough now to go and be one of the best teams in the Champions League until January. They've got enough now to lead the Premier League until January and then they retool in January if they feel they need to. So this is an a minus window for me. There's very few things that they did wrong in this window. They were able to sell players that maybe necessarily would have liked to hang on. We've seen, for example, with a Liverpool and we'll get to them, they're struggling to sell the key aces and these players that are basically mannequins in training. They don't feature for the team often. Arsenal have been able to sell those players. So it's an a minus grade for me. Let me know what you guys think with regards to as we're going through these grades. Give me your grades, give me your reasonings as well. I'm curious to hear those.

16:30Let's move on to our next team if we can. It is Eston Villa. I've gone with a C plus grade. I think it is a huge transition season for Eston Villa and you look at the fact that they've pretty much lost their spine. From goalkeeper going all the way up to Oliwak and the front, they've lost a striker. They're starting, let's go from the back, they've lost their starting goalkeeper. They've lost their starting centre back. They've lost their starting centre midfield, their tealaments. They've gone and lost more than Rogers. They're sometimes wide player but attacking type of forward. They've gone and lost Oliwak. Massive players to lose for Eston Villa, especially in a season when you're going into Champions League football. They've brought in some potential exciting upside players and you hope that they're able to acclimatise very quickly.

17:31Una Emre is a really good coach, one of the best coaches in the Premier League and if you do what my tears of coaches and where they all sit, just going to find the episode we did on Monday and I gave my tears of managers in the Premier League. I think he's a phenomenal manager but he's got a lot of work to do to acclimatise so many people after losing so many key players. In terms of what they did this window, it's a lot of upside. It's a lot of question marks. It's a lot of hope, more than expectation for the players that they've brought in in my opinion. You look at Ajago Meers, you look at Nicolas Jackson. These are players that have shown good spells in the Premier League but haven't been consistent maybe to the level we're expecting. You bring in Aliyam Garetska. I think it's the ghost of Aliyam Garetska personally. You lack of elements who has already an aging player even though he's not yet 30 but aging in football years with our monomunity has.

18:33And you bring in a Garetska who I think again is a player that's aged poorly, relatively speaking to the projections that were there with him. I don't know if he's the Garetska people think they're getting. Maybe it's, you know, people have watched him years ago and think that's the player they're going to get weak and weak out. You can get that level every once in a while but it's not no longer there from a consistent level. If we're not able to get it out of him, that consistency then fantastic. Again, that's the same for all their signing. Manzambi, phenomenal talent, huge upside. Ibrahim and I play that I was desperate for Liverpool to sign huge upside. But you're going to be able to get that out of you're going to have to need to get that out of them. I think Wayne Bessakka is a clever signing. He's a resolute right back and he brings stability to that side of the pitch. Obviously, Madi Cash is there as well. It's a great competition for them to have. So I think that that C plus isn't bad, but it's acknowledging the fact that they've lost their core and they're going to have to rebuild who they are from an identity perspective because of the amount of talent and experience they've lost this season.

19:51If we move on to our next team, I believe it's Bournemouth. Yes, as it comes up on the screen there. Bournemouth, I've gone with the B. A very responsible transfer window from Bournemouth. You look at the financial restrictions that they are under because of the infrastructure developments they're wanting to make. So they've got to be surgical with how they approach the transfer window. They don't have maybe the manager splash that many of the teams around them have because of the restrictions they have with what they're trying to do from an infrastructure perspective stadium building perspective or expanding perspective and all of that kind of stuff. I think the key point for them is last season, they lost a lot of their defensive line. This season, it hasn't been as much of a butchering of their defensive line as it was and they've been able to bring in a plug and play guy in Antonio Silver. I was very impressed that Bournemouth were able to get him. I think he's a talented player. I think he's one of those players that I would be very surprised if he's at Bournemouth in two years' time just because of how talented he is and he's now going to have the platform that is the Premier League to showcase that.

21:10But again, for Bournemouth, you get to benefit from him and they continue to bring in these really smart findings that just helped them take a long and I think that's so, so smart. You look at also the fact that they're brought in the young striker of Aurora Regis as well, huge potential for him. It's a clever signing. You know there's the potential that Ryan, a curpy could be sold very soon. You want to start bringing in players that could potentially take their places, give them enough time to bed and go from there. So I think it's a clever signing from them there. And then obviously the huge news for them. Unfortunately, it was the injury for Cookeby which we hope he's able to recover from. But I think it's equally important that they were able to keep both him and Ryan the season. Give them another season at Bournemouth. Allow Marco Rosa to have a platform to build on from what Andonia Eroola was able to do there.

22:13I don't know if they could reach necessarily the heights that Eroola reached because I mean he had been there for a couple of seasons. This is Rosa's first season there. It might take a little bit of time to get going. But I think he's got all the tools to have a respectable season this season. So hopefully for them, I think be be be great is is a good grade. As I said, nothing flashy, but very surgical and methodical in how they've gone about their their transfer window for me. The next team we're going to be talking about is Brentford is like my my love child. It seems this season they've wild me and we would me during the preseason. I thought they were phenomenal on the pitch in preseason. I think they've been phenomenal off the pitch in preseason as well. This is a systems team where every single part of the system is playing or is performing at elite level. Every cog is churning in the right way.

23:17Everything seems to be rosy for Brentford in my opinion with how they're being run. In fact, so rosy that I think they've overtaken Brighton as the smartest club in European football at this preseason point in time. And I know that's a dangerous thing to say because Brighton won't be reliquishing that title without a fight. And I think Brighton are one of those teams that every time we think they might have pushed it too much. They've got a whole crop of players that step up and elevate themselves and we will get to Brighton obviously next in terms of teams we're going to be doing. But Paul Brentford, I think it's a phenomenal transfer window and it's obviously got their flagship signing in Mama Ducengaro who's hit the ground running a player that I desperately wanted my club Liverpool to sign. But that's more from a selfish I know I needed a player of his mold in my squad.

24:18From a career perspective, if I'm looking at it from his eyes, Brentford is the perfect club to go to because it's a club that is constantly moving forward in terms of how well they run. And the club where he doesn't have to worry about anyone else, he doesn't have to worry about politicking for his role, he just needs to get his head down and perform to the best of his abilities, knowing that everyone else in the club on and off the pitch is also performing to the best of their abilities. It's a great environment to be in at this preseason point in time. Players are loving life in Brentford. Because of how well things are going behind the scenes, obviously when the cameras are off and yes, they get to showcase all of that on the weekends when the lights go on and the stadiums. But behind the scenes, day to day life at Brentford is a beautiful thing. And I think he gets to play way more games than he ever would play for Liverpool in the debut season.

25:19He's one of those players, Brentford, I know are probably licking their lips already, thinking of the amount of money they're going to be able to get for him next season in two seasons time. He's going to be a coveted player by bigger teams, no disrespect for Brentford, but again, phenomenal clever business that they're doing. Another clever signing for them is bringing in Alhajima Lake Juft. Just to show up that left hand side of the defense, I think he also brings in a long throw as well as they've got it on both sides of the pitch, which is going to be interesting. Maybe that also plays into the fact of the Premier League trying to stop people slowing things down their right back doesn't have to go all the way to the other side, but we'll see time will talk, time will talk. Yannick Schuster, who looks like a future Premier League center back to me is a smart signing and then obviously they bring in the experience of a Calam Wilson. Just to... I think it's such a smart signing. I think he can help elevate Tiago and what he's already done last season and you think of the phenomenal season he had last season.

26:26But I just think bringing in a player that's so well versed in the Premier League that is a pure goal scorer. Having him competing with a Tiago, yes, Tiago obviously going to beat him in a competition like that, but the veteran's going to have some tricks up his sleeve and being able to pass those on, I think it's a phenomenal thing for Tiago. That's what you want for your young striker who's done well last season is bringing someone that can also help him reshape his game. If, you know, Mo Salah was so good in the Premier League because every off season, what he would do is he would sit down, he would evaluate his game and see what he needs to improve on and he would work on that the whole off season. And that's why he kept coming back to the Premier League, slightly tweaked, slightly more improved, bringing a different side of his game. And that's why Defender struggled with it. He wasn't playing the same game every year and we see that what players in the Premier League, they come back and they the exact same player and they wonder why they struggle.

27:28This I think is going to be able to allow an evolution for their star striker. So it's, they're working at a different level. They've leveled up in my opinion and that's what I've gone with an A for them. Let's move on to the team that was the king of European football in terms of being the smartest people in the room. It is Brighton. I've gone with the C- and I'm very hesitant to give them a C- because we know every time you can't brighten up, they come, I mean, yeah, every time you can't brighten up, they come back stronger. Right. They've lost big names in the past as they've replaced them like they didn't even need them. It's incredible their recruitment and how well they do. And being the second smartest people in the room, it's still a huge compliment. They're still like years ahead of a lot of the Premier League teams, most of the Premier League teams. So it's not a huge knock to call them second. This is one and two, but obviously they weren't like the fact that they're not number one.

28:32And that's what they've been for many, many years since the collapse of Liverpool's recruitment system after the first tenure of Michael Edwards and his team. So what went wrong from my perspective? I think they've lost a lot of experience. I think this is a window where me, given the mercy minus, is definitely an opportunity for them to pime me and prove me wrong very easily because yes, I'm not as excited about the recruitment that they've done. I don't think Vyskovich coming in, he's a super talented player, but I was kind of expecting a bit more from them. I think, and maybe this is what will allow them to increase the value of this grading from a sea minus. Not for this transfer window to sea minus, but I do think they've had such great AA plus windows in the past that those players are going to play an impact this season, rather than necessarily a lot of the players they've signed this season.

29:47And look at the likes of a Gomez, you know, players that were already bought and brought into the system, players that maybe were out on loan for them coming back into the fold, those are the players that are going to shine. So I think it's going to be the signings from previous windows that are going to sign for them, not necessarily this window, which is why I have to give this specific window a sea minus. I think that grading the comeback that's going to happen with Brighton, but let's move on to a team that I think pretty much knocked it off the park, the transfer window. Obviously, they would have hit a grand slam if Deadline Day had gone differently, and that is Chelsea football club. I've given them an A minus. Obviously, the manager they brought in phenomenal. I love Javier Lanzar. I wanted him at Liverpool. My rankings were Cess Fabregas, Javier Lanzar and then Antonio Erole in terms of who I wanted to come in at Liverpool. Cess Fabregas, I've wanted since last October, and I've mentioned it on this podcast before and Liverpool actually inquired about him back then as well.

30:54I think later October, November time, they reached out to his team. But anyway, what's regards to Chelsea, bringing a manager who I think has brought maturity to this team, the setup. I think this is a grown-ups window. This is a team that's looking to challenge for a bleak title type of window from them. We've seen it in the past. It's been very scatterbrain. It's been very sign all the Wendell kids and throw them out there and hope that it sticks and works out. That's not been able to work out. They might have gone to the extreme by trying to correct that this season, the likes of a Henderson are well-bearing coming in. But I do think those players are important just to help with the culture of the dressing room, to help them build a culture in that dressing room that can go and facilitate a title challenge. I think Javier Lonson knew being a young manager, he can't necessarily do that on his own. He needs generals in that dressing room that can go and be his lieutenants or generals.

32:05Go and basically command that dressing room in a way that a coach can't necessarily command a dressing room. You've got a certain level of responsibility with the players to kind of manage each other from a culture perspective and then you've got what a manager brings. There are different elements to how far a manager can push. I think he's brought in a Henderson, he's brought in a well-beck to be those people that can go in. When people are messing around in training, they're the ones that are going to fix it. It doesn't have to be a Lonson that goes and fixes it. They are going to be able to identify when the team is varying towards things that aren't familiar to them with what champions do. It's clever from them. Some might raise eyebrows to it, but I get what they were doing from that perspective. In regards to obviously the elephant in the room in terms of midfield, they let ends of an end is go.

33:07They did everything from their end to get Lemme and Camara over the line. Another player I was hoping Liverpool would be citing. It's a super talented defensive midfielder. They did everything they possibly could to get that over the line. I can't knock them too much for not being able to get it over the line. If they get it over the line, it's an A plus window. Because they haven't been able to get it to the line and it wasn't necessarily there wrongdoing, that's why I've only pushed them down as far as an A minus. I think they're already working on resolving that Cam January and it's going to be a very early, I'm assuming January signing. They're not waiting until later to address that midfield position so to speak. They're going to address it pretty much very soon and that player will come in in January. But I think they've got enough with regards to bodies in midfield to get to January. So again, I think the platform they've built with JP Morgan up front, I know they don't like the nickname.

34:08I'm going to use it because that's the first one that came out and I kind of find it funny. I think they've built a platform for JP Morgan for the rest of their team to have consistent seasons. That's the question mark for them. Can they be consistent? We've seen Cop Palmer. He's not a consistent player. It's why to me he's not a world class player. World class players are consistent. Cop Palmer is a great player for nominal player, whatever description you want to give him. But I'm not going to give him the world class description. Very few players for me are world class and the world class comes in when you can deliver at a consistent level. Until he does that, not world class for me, but he's been given a platform to go and do that this season. If he and that JP Morgan frontline or three players who are not consistent, but can have purple patches like they are having right now, if they can build a consistent level this season, then this is the team that is going to be hunting Arsenal for that premier league title.

35:10And I think it's interesting later in the season, if they can hang on to Arsenal, when Arsenal need to stop making decisions on prioritizing different tournaments. This is where Chelsea can strike. Let's move on to our next team. It is commentary. I've gone with the D minus. I think from my perspective, the issue with their window and you look at the likes of Oanei coming in, he's not coming in. Yes, Premier League experience. But I don't think all Premier League experience is good Premier League experience. I don't know if these players are needle movers to help them stay up. And maybe Oanei is probably he's one of those players that's halfway between a Premier League caliber player and a championship player. I think he'll dominate in the championship. I think he is not quite there yet to dominate in the Premier League. So he's kind of in that halfway house, whether or not he can elevate his game under Frank Lamppard time will tell.

36:11If you're a promoted team, I see it this way either you go down home like a Sunderland and a leads and you go very aggressive in a transfer window and you side players to keep you up. Or what you can do is sign exciting young players who if you go down would be willing to go down to the championship and come straight back up with you and then you now find yourself in a better position in a you built a better platform to try and stay in the Premier League then the first go around. So I don't think Coventry have done either of those things. I don't think they've done enough to stay in the Premier League. I don't think they've done enough to sign players who can elevate them the next time around they come up to the Premier League. So which is why it's a bit of a disappointing window a D minus from that perspective. Let's move on to Crystal Palace who I've given an F. At the moment it's not looking good for teams right. I think the worry for me with Crystal Palace is they've gone away from what was working so well.

37:18This was the team that should have been signing Hayden Hackney not ever to because what we've seen from Crystal Palace in the past is every single season they go and they scour the lower leagues and they buy the best player from the lower leagues. We've seen it with Mikhail Alise. We've seen it with Adam Warton. We've seen it with Essay who obviously has gone out on loan and all those kind of things in the past. So those are the type of signings I was expecting for them and I thought Hayden Hackney was a no brainer for them. I think that's future proofing yourself or an Adam Warton sale is bringing a Hayden Hackney in whether you do so Adam Warton in this window that's just gone by or you sell them in the future. I think that would have been great future proofing yourself. They haven't done that. I think they've got issues obviously in the dressing room with players who wanted to leave that haven't been able to leave that are concerned for me as well. And Adam Warton as well. I think not selling in this window is a mistake. I don't know if the market is going to be as live as what we saw this transfer window with regards to midfielders.

38:31Are they going to get a hundred million next year for him? I know he's got a contract until 2029 if I'm not mistaken and so they've still got value in that contract. They've still got years to play with with regards to that contract. But you have to capitalize on markets like this. It's the same with and I always draw it back to Liverpool because I know a lot more about Liverpool. They are my team. Liverpool not selling to the Gakbo. I get why they end up not selling him but you're not going to get 85 million for Kodi Gakbo next time you do want to sell them. That's a missed opportunity there. Christopher Palace I think it's a missed opportunity selling Adam Warton especially because it looks like you were losing a lot of players in any event. You look at the likes of Munoz that have gone you look at Maxis Laquois who they've lost as well. That's two of their three bet you know two of their five if you want to call it better defenders right.

39:33So it's unfortunate for them to lose them. Yes you add in Quentin Timber you've got the coast of Ben Chil Chil while coming in. I know comes in as well as Goso and some of these players question marks like Dwight McNeil. He's not a needle mover for me anymore in the Premier League. Tommy Asu with his injury record. What does that really do. So it's it was a very frustrating window if I'm looking at it from a crystal palace fans person. I think there's a lot of pressure on their manager to go and execute. Let's move on to Everton who we've gone with a D grade. This is a team who was very excited about in preseason a team that I thought started the transfer window well you look at the signings of a no guard. He played in Hackney who I mentioned who crystal palace should have been getting role comes in Tyrick George who did well for them on loan.

40:35He gets secured you bring in a Brendan Johnson who Brendan Johnson who if you can revive him there is talent there there is a goal scorer in there. It's going really well they're elevating this team to be the dark horse team. This was the team I was going to pick as my dark horse to get into European football. Even a very tasty level of European football this coming season and then you go and run it. Illuminum Gi goes massive loss. Then you're thinking okay better better once to go we're going to bring in Balagun. You sell better you don't bring in Balagun you thinking okay maybe we'll bring in Turks to Xean instead oh no we're going to go back to Balagun. You end up not bringing anyone in now you're very very short upfront you don't bring it Rachelis and then either it's just it fell apart for Everton and that's kind of the sad sad thing about it is how many times does this happen to Everton where it looks like you know the sun is coming out it looks like we've made a turn it looks like we're going the right direction and then we derail ourselves we sell sabotage and this was a self sabotage for me it's a D minus for for Everton it's disappointing because I was very happy.

41:49I was very excited what they did to start the window but they've ended it abysmally and it makes me question there the prospects of what they can do this season which is annoying is I can just imagine for for for Everton fans as well let's move on to full him who's a team that have established themselves as a stable Premier League team I think that's under threat this season question marks over. Of course he's brought in a whole cohort of rumoured grid graduates and the brought in a lot of technically gifted players I don't know if we've brought in a lot of players that can handle the physicality of the Premier League that is the question mark with a lot of their signings and until I can see it. I think they're going to be in trouble from that perspective this season teams are going to be potentially able to bully them this season which is why I've given it a C minus but again technically gifted players can get away with it if you are super super elite or at least very very technically gifted and can play your way around the physicality time or time if they can do that but I think they've lost a lot of that losing Harry Wilson on a free transfer really.

43:03If you're a full him to be losing players like that on free transfers especially in the market we're seeing this window you could have gotten maybe even 40 million for the guy like that and think of what you can then go and do what that might mean if you're really clever so it's a very disappointing window for them and a lot of question marks with regards to what they can do. I want to haul city another team that I've been very fond of I'm very fond of their manager I've been outspoken about that for a while now right and I love the way the owner has approached this window very different to how owners usually do he's been outspoken he promised 15 signing and I do like him having that call back to the fact that you know the manager saying you know we wanted to do well this season I failed I got promoted to the Premier League right and he posted a tweet after the tweet. I was saying I quote tweeting that that that meme and he was saying I promised you 15 players this transfer I failed I brought in 18 he's such a charismatic owner he's such a flamboyant owner and it's so different to his very pragmatic manager very reserved manager and I think they play off of each other really well actually it's quite a fun environment.

44:22But in terms of what i was talking about with Coventry and their failures I think I'll have done it to a tee with regards to bringing a lot of super talented young players who can absorb a relegation if we do get relegated but I don't think they will get relegated but who can absorb a relegation come back with us the next season because we're going to we brought in talent that is above the level of a championship so we go and win the championship next season. And then the following season we now have this platform to build on that was better than the platform we came up with because remember this is a club that wasn't necessarily expected to be promoted last season so they had to do a lot of work 18 players is a lot of turnover but they had to do it because their squad wasn't a squad that necessarily was expected to be Premier League ready or ready to be promoted to the Premier League. So I think they've done really well to bring in some clever signings as I said I think they're not going down but if they do go down I think they've set themselves up really well to come straight back up and have a better platform to build on so I think it's a great window to be plus window for me will go to Ipswich and Ipswich we've gone with the B grade kind of similar to what how have done in terms of sending themselves up I think they brought it to me.

45:44So I think they've done a lot of streaky players the Enseysos who can disappear for months but when they're on they're really really on as we saw in the game against you know in previous games obviously struggling the last game but in previous games we've seen we've seen him be quite good. So I think the issue for them is whether or not those purple patches of all these Fatau and Enseysos and Luke Kitches you know Florentino Louise these are all guys that have high ceilings on their day but how often can they give you those performances all can we get at least one or two of you to give us those performances each week and the others may you know and you can rotate that nicely. Life doesn't work that way but if it could that would be great for them and to help their push to stay in the Premier League but yeah it's a B for me I think it's a solid window let's move on to leads a team that I've given an A minus they've kept a lot of the core players that they had to keep they bring in a Harry Wilson on a free transfer which I think is phenomenal business yes you still have to sign them a big assigning bonus then maybe you would if you were paying a transfer fee but you can't do it.

47:02But you're still paying a lot less than you would have if you were paying market value for a play like that especially in this market. Look at the fact that they've improved in in in goal with traffic coming in as well I think that's a clever sign for them and then obviously the likes of Tariq and Nico coming in these are players I think can handle the physicality of the Premier League quite well and then you bring dead pieces like barred Malvin bar coming in as well. I think it's a great window for them you know they set up their platform last season towards the back end really well and they've now got a better team than they had last season which is what you want going forward so I think it's a really great window for them not too much more I think they could have done but I do think it's a great window for them. Let's move on to my team oh my god Liverpool it's a D plus obviously barcola is doing a lot of the heavy lifting there with regards to the grade but the interesting thing for me with Liverpool is for me my expectations for Liverpool's that they need to every season give us a manager that's capable of winning a Premier League title or at least shows that they're heading in that direction.

48:20And also give that manager the tools to go and challenge for a Premier League title I'm not saying they have to go and win a Premier League title every season I'm not saying they have to go win a trophy every season I'm saying they have to put their hat in the race they have to give their team on the pitch a chance with what they do off the pitch in the transfer window they've not done that this season that's why I've given them a D plus because they've left a huge hole. In midfield a hole that's been there for four years since for being your left and they still haven't addressed it it's a position they acknowledge is a is a hole in the team because they've gone and tried to sign a chair many a kai say do or love you a superman so they know there's an issue there and they haven't addressed it still which is negligent there. Being negligent with the right back position Connor Bradley is not the caliber of player to be starting for Liverpool this narrative of they were waiting for Connor Bradley is absolutely disingenuous he's not at the level and they should have gone and got in a replacement.

49:29Brim Pong is not fit for purpose for how they want to play that position he is a wingback the assumption when you bring someone in like him as you're going to back three and he's going to play the way back. He's not the player that should be starting at right back so they've got a gaping hole there they've got a gaping hole in midfield the midfield dynamic is so wrong. Dominic Sabazal is probably best suited as a 10 he has to start so where do you play him. Wirtz they've said is a 10 he has to start so he starts in that 10 position. Gravenbert is probably best suited as a 10 maybe you can move him into an 8 position he's not a 6 stop saying he's not a 6 he had a good four months spell as a 6 in the title winning season the rest of the season was actually not that good but he wrote that first four months as we seen with a lot of players they play well for spells and then that's the narrative that we use it's it's it's very lazy that's the narrative we use for the rest of season.

50:30He's not a 6 so you've got three players there that are commanding heavy investment in terms of wages that probably all three have to start but all three probably want to play in the same position then you've got Michaelis there in there as well another player that demanding a starting position not a 6 not a defensive mind player the balance in midfield is wrong they needed to sell one of those players and bring in a defensive mind player to sort out the balance they haven't done that. Braddie Buckhuller obviously for normal signing I think he's got the potential to be the best left winger in the Premier League so that's what raises it but everything else they've done I think they've left themselves short up front as well. Isak can we trust him to be fit and firing all season I don't think so. Sugar a ticket it's going to be a while before he comes back it's going to be a while before he's firing an or cylinders they needed whether it's a stopgap situation alone player whatever the case may be they needed to bring someone in to help carry the load for isak whilst a ticket is gone.

51:39A lot of stuff that they haven't done this window obviously the fact that you lose a most out on a free transfer you lose an Andy Robinson or free stront for you only get 30 odd million for the Curtis Jones they've been poor selling which is something that was calling card for Michael Edwards in his first and deliverable there was so good at selling players. That's not been the case this season they still got players like a kiesa like an ender who aren't going to help the team much on the pitch maybe they're going to help them in training 11 on 11 they can be the opposition players and helping in training and be sculpt players but. Disappointed very very disappointing window from Liverpool as I said they've not done what I expected them to do which is give themselves a chance to at least challenge for the title not necessarily winner but challenge another team that. It has regressed in my opinion I think if we have regressed Chelsea have regressed but it's it's natural when you think of the amount of players that they lost the month big names they lost and i'm going to list them because you lose a Rodry you lose a Savio and Marmouche that coach Titanum you lose a right year one year in and out you lose a Nika Gonzalez green list goes out of known John Stone's leaves Bernardo silver traffic at a car G Caravan Phillips and the rest right.

53:00But there are a lot of big name leaders that have been gone from and stripped from that team obviously none bigger than Rodry but a Bernardo silver how key has he been for man city over the years that's a big loss for them I think they've done well to be able to rebuild the midfield in one window. And so Fernandez is fantastic signing obviously they're brought in Elliott Anderson and Bourdy as well I think all of them super talented players really high ceilings will see what they can do with them there and I'm in gy fantastic signing for them I think early Harlan's going to love playing with him I think the question mark for them is probably the manager situation obviously I mean replacing pep cordiola is an impossible task but they've got questions there let's move on to man United a team that I've given. And the D minus and we were flirting between an F and a D minus I think the believer signing has pushed them into a D minus a bit if it's the believer from two years ago not the believer from last season and time will tell there.

54:02And so as I mentioned in football years is in his mid to late 30s in terms of the amount of minutes he's played so he's not the player I think they expect to be getting and we're already starting to see that with his physical outputs at this present point in time they've not been able to address that defensive line which I think is a massive issue for them. 2026 and we're still playing Harry Maguire guys we got to be better 2026 we're still playing Luke Shaw we got to be better than that if we're man United and that's going to be part of their downfall I think as well upfront not being able to bring in a striker to help sesco out meaning a kunya and we're more probably going to have to play out of position at times doesn't facilitate things for them so a lot of holes that have been let a failure to exit. I think they had all the right intentions getting into the window as many teams do but they've not been able to execute it to a level we expect from a team that is man United and and the stature that they do have let's move on to new castle another one of those teams that are rebuilding they're in a rebuild and you've got to and you've got to give their.

55:19A bit of grace I think in the sense that they are. They lost two of the three midfielders that caused terror in the Premier League in Brunigame Ration Sanra Tanali obviously. Jolenton is injured at this present point in time but I think the issue for them is that it's a lot of question marks with the players that have come in it's a lot of potential. But and obviously a new manager that also has potential a lot of question marks coming but it is a rebuild and you have to acknowledge that it's a rebuild hopefully these players all perform well but we know that's not how it works some of them are not going to. For the levels we expect them to all at least reach the potential that we expect them to at least they were able to get decent money for the players that did leave so credit to them for that but I think the sea window just because they've definitely regressed as a team in terms of squad depth and and squad quality. We move on to nodding them first a team that I've given a B I think it's a solid window for them although I think they've overpaid for them to lap I don't think that that's a heart take it all.

56:28That bringing in the likes of Diamanda and Muaynios I think a smart defensive signings they've solidified that defense quite well and you look at a shlaga coming in on a free transfer is a clever signing as well as a few others that have come in. I think this was a very stable window a very mature window for notting them for us which was needed after the chaos that has been previous windows I think being able to keep a Morgan Gibbs white is important being able to keep a Morello is important these are players that are always being linked with other teams but they were able to keep them that consistency is going to help them moving forward let's move on to Sandeland a team that I've given a C minus this grade started really low. At the beginning of the window and as the window has gone on it's kind of gone up a bit obviously not gone up a lot but the C minus they're in European football they needed a bigger squad and I don't think they've been able to I don't think they've been able to execute to the level that is going to be required for them to handle European football and Premier League football which is obviously going to mean I in my opinion.

57:43Premier League football is going to suffer for them I don't think they've brought in players that can handle that workload from a not necessarily just from a physical standpoint but more importantly from a mental standpoint I can see the players getting up for the European games and dropping points in the fixtures that sandwich those European games and that's going to be a concern for for Sandeland this season obviously getting in a for far now towards the end there helps right I think he's a very inconsistent player but can be phenomenal on his day so yeah granite jack is staying I think helps with that culture in the dressing room I think he's the the one that sets the tone for that dressing room so that's going to be important to to watch but yeah I don't think they've done enough considering the amount of football they're going to have to play this season if anything if I'm them I'm hoping to get out of the caravan cup as quickly as possible.

58:43I know you what everyone wants to go and win every single trophy and want to stay in every single trophy as long as possible but I just don't think they've got the squad depth to be able to to to handle the domestic cups this season and be at the level they want to be in the league and in European football obviously you want to dream for those the last team is taught them the team that have been they passed a lot this the the transfer window I've given them a C plus I think this is more of a how I think Tottenham should have read the game and I think that's going to be a very good game for them. I think we built versus how deserving things Tottenham should have rebuilt from a deserving perspective is probably thinking a B plus a minus type of window right for me from a defensive perspective they brought in a lot of people that help with the build up play they've not brought in a lot of people that know how to defend that well and they were ready a team that was suffering from you know in that department so they've just compounded the issue with regards to the amount of unforced errors we're going to see from them defensively which means there's a lot of people that are going to be able to do that.

59:43There's a lot of emphasis that's going to be put on that attack and boy have they tried to you know stock that attack as much as possible and we'll see whether or not it works I think a strong attack can carry you to a top four top five a strong attack can't take you beyond that it so that's going to be the issue for them trying to get that balance between how poor they're going to be defensively to how much they're going to require from their attack this season a lot of exciting players that have come in but I think you got to be cautious if you are taught them and you've got to put pressure on deserving to fix things defensively because that's going to be a foundation you need to build on because of how top heavy you've gone from an attacking mindset in terms of the balance of the team. That is all 20 Premier League teams I'm glad we've been able to get through all of them and obviously you've been seeing the fixture that have been scrolling down at the bottom of the screen I'll let it go around if we can let it go around producer man for one more time those are the games that are this weekend some interesting ones obviously the Arsenal Chelsea game is the flagship game for the weekend but I think we've got some interesting banana skin potential games it starts with that Liverpool from the

1:01:02Friday game they've had two draws already it's not looking they have to win this game it's a must win game for Liverpool and obviously some other teams as well have must win games nodding them far as versus Tottenham is a tricky game for Tottenham way fans are going to be expecting for Tottenham but that's a tough game as we saw for Liverpool last week against nodding him. So I think if we do plan to send you all on your way definitely get your fix at epioindex.com for everything from match previous post match reviews player ratings all of the news that you could wish for if you want more long form analysis tactical writing deeper tactical writing go and check out the epioindex sub stack it's called it was always football. Tuning daily to the two foot of podcasts with Dave Hendrick where he does extra hottest topics in football on Sunday evenings catch the final whistle with Nina and Ben and then recap all the games from the weekend we've also added a whole host of new shows to the epioindex network we've got gold difference with lowland scarlet two twins ones and Arsenal fans ones a Liverpool fan they kind of discussed their teams and then also the Premier League as a whole we've got money talks with

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