iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

So even the guy the Portuguese FA got in to appease his ego won't deal with that bullshit. Incredible stuff. Going to doom a golden generation for one past it guy.

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

They can be part of a wider holistic policy of housing development, but not the catch all that some present it as.

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Excellent article featuring a Reo-Coker interview about when Villa (& Everton) were pushing the top 4 not City & how city were able to drain some of that talent. I ultimately think Villa broadly end up on the same journey, 2008 & divorce wiped out Lerner but that decline may have been slower.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

That & a "we're going to go through your books La Liga style to make sure you're not doing it again" probably does it.

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

In liew of actual Spanish speakers I know who'd suit the part I'm going with a shaved Michael Sheen opposite David Tennant's Klopp.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The monkey's paw obliges. "This is Grace, she's a British football columnist."

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Villa got a result against Spurs but the performance wasn't great. Feels harder to get out of our half. Understandable with our back 6 without Pau or Maatsen, reliant on Suzuki's long passes. Starting Harwood-Belis & adding wide options like Mbaye or Garnacho would help a lot.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

This is Liverpool Football Club just doesn't hit the same way.

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Plus we would absolutely recognise the old head producer as the show runner these days. It's a nonsense take.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Unai Emery sides need an outlet who can threaten the box, like Watkins last year Tammy struggles to do both. Against a back 3 though our 3 10s approach needs more natural width to find the space between the WBs and CBs, Alysson provided that Garnacho should have been on too.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Never been more wrong about a guy coming in. The technical limitations meant his production didn't translate at all despite having the physical side.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

May well just be them. Our opponents can obviously show up & play well on the day but we have a decent talent advantage over 5/8 of the sides we face & probably edge Dortmund too. Yeah I'd rather drop AWB but he's on a lot of money & I see how we come to that decision.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

We played Mings on the right with Pau during preseason. That's good enough for most of the teams were facing.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Makes some sense after thinking about it for a bit, our CL matches are fairly light. THB and Madjo get time to bed themselves into Emery's progression system and forward demands in tough PL matches before the business end of the CL.

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Reposted by Dan Pritchard

Unfitforpurpose @unfitforpurpose.net · 02/09/2026

Because Robbie Gibb has had years to reshape the reporting capability of the BBC and his efforts are bearing fruit.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I'm not paying for it though I probably would have cancelled it by now & gone appleTV for their actually good originals.

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I think Blackwells is, though speaking of dufunct in the UK; Mauve Woolworth is the matriarch of her family, while her bumbling Nephew Teal is the face. She's proud of Violet though, who was just made Durham's women's Lacrosse captain in the 2nd year of her Bachelor's in Art History.

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Clubs can't really carry 3 out & out CFs unless we play 2 up top. One of those forwards will have to cover some wing minutes or they won't get played. So Leao, who play across the front line and at striker, makes a lot more sense if we want Madjo to get game time.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

A Sorkin script can be made or broken by the director & Sorkin is not that director.

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

My baseless speculation is that the club like Madjo a lot & want a striker who will be happy to sit on the bench in a couple of year's time.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Hopefully just kicking the tyres before going for Jackson. There's a lot to do still, CB, RW/10 & now a forward with Martinez & Bailey out.

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Reposted by Dan Pritchard

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

"Yes, I'm still patronizing the social media site run by the white nationalist billionaire who vocally supports murdering immigrants, but you see, I have to go there for news about this minor league baseball team I like. I have no choice. I'm powerless here."

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I don't think it's that applicable in our situation. We got a big overpay for Rogers & already got a replacement in (but he's injured). Tielemans wanted a big club forever, Digne closer to home for his last big contract, Konsa too, for a big fee too. He, Watkins & Dibu have been there for 7/6 years.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Possibly, you'd have the freedom to go & get the best CB you can afford & not worry about the fit too much. You have to consider that for the partner but you're getting 2-3 CBs that summer so have some flexibility. It would be Arteta's dream.

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That I agree with. I like Zabarnyi, if he comes a year earlier than ideal then fine, puts the pressure to find aerial duels in a partner but if you want that player to be left footed that's even more difficult.

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They're about even in the data, but it was an issue with Konsa too. We were +2 GD for set pieces last year, conceded a lot more than previous years in part because he didn't have that in our defensive locker.

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He's not good in the air. The PL is set up for physicality & set pieces right now so I'm skeptical any CB without that skill will be a net positive even though he's good in other parts of his game.

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A year lets the market settle down, give Cissé development minutes or a BuLi loan. See where you are to a successor to Pau & a potential partner. Villa would have as blank a canvas as possible to target the best CB in their price range & find a partner for them.

Tosin isn't a perfect option but a good enough one for this transition year & a cheap enough one to be third choice CB when Mings & Lindelöf's contracts expire next summer, & we need to start considering life after Pau Torres. Cutting into the Rogers profit is ok when you sell Konsa at £51+.

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Tosin Adarabioyo then, who has already been linked, may be the best of the non-ideal, affordable options. A good enough passer for Emery's draw & transition style, good in the air & active. Though he struggles in large spaces, our now more functional midfield help that.

Other homegrown options would be the likes of Branthwaite, who is left footed, as is Callum Doyle from Hexham, James Hill who would be even more expensive, Quahsah would be too & doesn't fit the profile. If we break our U25 rule then Tomori or Lloyd Kelly don't fit with Pau either.

We also have a homegrown issue when Martinez leaves & if Watkins does, that would take us down to the 8 minimum. I am, as I have since the Twitter days, going to highlight Sepp Van den Berg. A better passer than he needs to be at Brentford & a product of Liverpool's academy. Probably expensive too.

Others that show up well in these metrics like Özcan Kabak (who is now 26) only have average passing numbers & have spent a senior career in the Bundesliga. Bit underwhelming to replace Konsa though it's more important they do a job for Villa, rather than be exciting.

That shows us part of our issue though, many who would have been available have already moved. Amenda, Jacquet, Vuskovic, the homegrown Cresswell. Those that haven't, have question marks; Jon Martín is 20 with few senior seasons, Salas' passing numbers are poor. Both jobs for traditional scouts.

@josesilva93.bsky.social's scoutlab saves me having to break out my code to look at those 2 starting points in a scatter. This is aerial duel win % Vs xThreat prevented (imo less subject to tactical bias). We can focus in on players that show up well & are available.

Konsa is gone. Villa need a new CB in a difficult situation; both Mings & Lindelöf have contracts up in 2027, Wan-Bissaka is just a loan with option. For now we ideally target a partner for Pau. An aggressive ball winning defender who is good in the air fitting our U25 summer signings.

Tim Keech @timkeech.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Reposted by Dan Pritchard

The Yan Diomande back story...I'm not alleging any wrong doing but a kid from Ivory coast doesn't just happen to end up in America, and then just sign for some random Spanish team. An African club/agency paid for him to go to America, he then joined a club who have the same ownership.

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Yeah, I think our floor is enough to get through, struggling to see us hit our ceiling early enough to get automatic placement in the next round though. Can't wait to draw PSG again 🙄

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Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Like you take £50m when Jackson is clearly keen & Watkins' downside risk is massive. The 👑. Don't expect us to be getting results until January though, which is a concern for the CL league phase.

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

She's a baddie. *Bonk* No, not like that.

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

No no he can't win now, 51% is a giant mandate, enough to deliberately collapse the trade economy of your country if your people were to vote for it. Signed by the UK government minister for Brexit, circa 2021.

Sigmund Freud is fighting to get out of his coffin to analyse this administration.

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Real Anakin energy to that skeet.

Maybe the reason the executives there come from the same handful of schools is because their pre-frontal cortex comes pre-cauterised. The institutional mandate to do that upon promotion to executive is a practice that has spread and been adopted by most corporations now.

From my understanding, a lot. It was also the driver of John Nathan Turner's stunts while running the show, pressure from above to compete. The Beeb executives have never understood Who's place & have consistently compared it to American higher budget effects Sci-Fi.

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

The original post was about library guys disappearing & what!? So long as there are Dads there will be guys reading Jack Reacher (or similar). Warhammer has an entire publishing arm slinging out 40 novels a year. That's just dude stuff, Ann Leckie or Arkady Martime's stuff cuts across gender.

Dan Pritchard @1874pritch.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Maybe citizens are less likely to do this if they're not frustrated by the poor deal they get from the authorities. A system where they don't have to flood the bureaucracy to claim what they're actually due.