MrExcalibur100

Was carrying an injury (spur?) deep in his hip last year. We can finally put that to bed now.

Doesn't play regularly for Betis anymore. How can he be ready for Chelsea? Anyway, unfortunately for Gus, he got sacked so maybe Musonda can get some more game time.

Verratti kind of a Guardiola signing in my eyes. Paredes has more quality than those players two players you mentioned and suits our current system more than Verratti does. I really rate him highly. I think he can become a world class player. He's also better without the ball. I find the fact we're linked to Verratti somewhat curious. I just don't see it for several reasons. The only way I see Veratti working with a back 3 is if we change to a 3-5-2, and that takes something away from us offensively. @Unionjack suggestion of 3-3-4 is too optimistic for Conte. Only Guardiola can try something that gung-ho in the PL.

If we limit Adama Traore's threat and we perform as we can, then this should be straightforward. I can understand the apprehension about making bold statements though. No one is trying to jinx it.

I like Verratti as a player but I agree that there are concerns. Will we change the formation to accommodate him? Will he paired next to Kante? From a strategic view point, that's risky (two very very small guys). If we want to bolster our midfield in the summer, I prefer we go for Paredes. He's very underrated and has a bright future. Top player

We tried to sign him from Palermo but he chose Juve. I want him as well, even more than Griezmann (I think he's more talented than the Frenchman and has greater potential). But Dybala is loved at Turin and loves Turin. It's mission impossible trying to get him.

I'm not writing him off, just giving an assessment based off his skill set. I'm not sure how his attributes translate to this new system. Obviously, Conte might see it differently. He knows much more than all of us put together. Also, give Cahill a chance, Muzchap. He's been really good in this new system. Who cares what happened last season at this point.

The video below clearly demonstrates the positional attacks Conte is drilling into his side. Watch as we attack United with 5 players. Our main striker, the 2 wide forwards, and the 2 wingbacks. When we have the ball in the opposition's half, Matic and Kante provide the screen in midfield, both being brilliant ball circulators. Azpilicueta and Cahill are wide-centrebacks, slotting into the positions vacated by our two wing backs. Luiz is the sweeper. 2 of those 3 are extremely fast by centre-back standards, and Cahill is not slow either. A stark contrast to slowpoke days of Terry and Ivanovic. Teams are struggling to get in behind our pacy centre-backs now. Our wingbacks are as wide and advanced as possible occupying the opposition fullbacks and Hazard and Pedro are narrow, creating an overload right through the middle. Azpilicueta sometimes even bombs forward, creating an additional overload on the right side, with Moses. Teams are seriously struggling to deal with the overload here, especially with Eden in constant motion. In the past, they could just simply clog the centre, knowing full well that neither Ivanovic or Azpilicueta could truly hurt them down the side. Now, they won't dare try that with Moses and Alonso tearing down the wings, threatening all sorts of unpleasantries. There's also this nice trianglulation I've noticed, (not in this clip necessarily) between Kante, Azpilicueta and Moses. The interchange between them is beautiful. What's sad and funny to see is Jose being more negative than ever. Playing a 6-3-1 with Lingaard and Rashford as auxillary fullbacks. United completely hemmed in their own half, in the words of Pellegrino, playing like a small club. The difference couldn't be more stark.

Mourinho is known for over-tasking his wingers. Jose ran Hazard ragged 2 seasons ago after the 5-3 Spurs game. The situation was excarcebated when he decided to shut up shop for the entire 2nd half of that season, become ridiculously negative and shift all the attacking burden on Hazard. Add that to the fact during this time period Azplicueta was playing as a Left back, mostly for defensive purposes and Hazard was double-marked every game, gettting tactically fouled and basically abused by thuggish premier league defenders who invariably went unpunished. It's not a surprise his body broke down and he became injury prone for the first time in his career. Eden might be strong as an ox when he has the ball at his feet, which is decieving since from the waist down, he's built like a tank, with some of the most freakish thigh muscles I've ever seen on a footballer. In reality he's not built for the punishment he was handed out in that 2013-2015 time span. Looking at his upper body, he's built like a regular guy, not a professional athlete. A similar thing also happened to Matic, having to cover for the defensively inept Fabregas all the time. The thing is Mourinho was never a player himself and struggles to relate to players who actually play the game. For him, players are nothing more than chess pieces, manuevered to suit his goals and ambitions. Conte on the other hand was a top player for Juventus and one of the most decorated Italian footballers ever. He puts Hazard in a position to maximize his talents, instead of forcing him to bend to his every whim like Mourinho did. And when the match is decided, Conte subs him out. Mourinho never subbed out Hazard, regardless of what the scoreline was.

Very interesting stuff I dug up on the internet, Pep on Conte. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3863010/Pep-Guardiola-saw-Antonio-Conte-biggest-Premier-League-threat.html

They don't defend in La Liga. Like Sevilla try and attack and Barca break, Sevilla's defense parts ways. And this is supposed to be the in form team? The surprise of the season? So naive. Anytime a Sevilla breathed on a Barcelona player, the ref blew. I just prefer to stick to EPL mostly these days. It's just by far the best league in the world at this point. Many great teams with great players playing great football. 4 maybe 5 teams can win it. Maybe I thow in some Bundesliga. The defending isn't great there as well but at least it's faced paced, the fans are amazing and the refs let them play.

I haven't paid attention to him recently but he doesn't seem to be playing to the level of about a year ago.

That's the common consesus here but isn't Griezmann a striker these days? Similar to Aubemeyang, it was the change in position that transformed him to a top player. I know Griezmann can play there as he's done for France and I know our system is fluid and constantly mobile and hypothetically, he won't be stuck out on the wings so much, but in a 3-4-3, i'm not convinced Griezmann will be as good. Unless we make an adjustment to a 3-5-2 and have Hazard in the hole with Costa and Griezmann as a conventional striker pair.

The change in formation and personnel means we now have the fastest backline we've had in a very long time. A welcome change from Ivanovic and it hurts to say, JT. The recovery is great. One of the reasons why teams are struggling to get in behind our backline.

Zouma isn't going to get a sniff in this current system. His skill-set, particularly his passing and ability to bring the ball out from defense doesn't mesh well with this system at all. You need to have at least a modicum of ball-playing ability.

This is the easiest game United will play all season. Swansea are a shit house of a football club run by mad men. Cluless American owners who know nothing about football and now they've put their puppet in charge. That's why Swansea are so shit. Zero pressure on the ball. I'm actually fuming watching it and I could care less about Swansea. It just rubs me the wrong way to see people with zero connection to a football club come in with money and do what they please with no regard for the fans.

Bob Bradley. The one who's breathed back temporary life to Mourinho and Manchester United.

Swansea just seem all over the place. They had a good, young manager in Garry Monk who preached good football and they looked like a decent outfit. They go through a bad stretch and sack him. Now they have a clown as manager, who doesn't play good football and they look very ordinary. They've taken two-three steps back.

What the hell is that line-up from Mourinho, lol. United fans must be pissed with that. I hope it blows up in his face.

Liverpool are in the form of their lives. Coutinho, now there's a class player. I'll take him over any player in both of the North London teams.

Honestly, can't wait to play the bastards at the Bridge already. The luckiest time in the season to play us when we were still at our weakest. Also, can't wait to face Spurs as well. I'm sure they'll come here and try and mirror our set-up.

There's a difference between depth and quality. United have a lot of depth but not a single world class player besides their keeper (and maybe Pogba when he gets it together) Spurs have no world class players. Maybe Lloris and Kane are top players but WC might be stretching it. Eriksen? You're having a laugh. Arsenal have a lot of paper "world class" players who aren't really. Cech and Sanchez are their only top players in my opinion. Courtois, Azpilicueta, Kante, Matic, Hazard, Costa have been central figures in championship winning sides. Those are world class, reliable players (excluding obviously what happened last season). Some might argue againt Matic being world class but he was arguably the best DM in the world before Mourinho ran him to the ground. I just don't see this so called quality in either north london team tbh. Now you look at City with the likes of Aguero, Silva, KDB, Gundogan. Tried and tested top players. You stand up and take notice.

Both of these teams are overrated garbage as I thought. Last season really gave people short memories as to the quality of our best players in contrast to what Arsenal and Spurs have got. From front to back. Most of the pre-season predictions i saw had Spurs and Arsenal finishing above us like.

Full MOTD for the hardcores still w***** off to that masterpiece Enjoy! http://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/2016/11/05/bbc-match-of-the-day-week-11-full-show-2/

There's no evidence Pep actually "said" that. You can't take what the media says as face value fact. What Pep actually said about our side (and the only thing I've heard him say about Chelsea so far) is that together with Liverpool, we're up there with his team challenging for the title. He said that AFTER Liverpool outclassed us at the Bridge and obviously before the formation and personnel changes. He obviously saw the potential in our squad. He also said Conte was an underrated signing for us in his introductory press conference as City manager. Bottom line is he never said we need 10 players. If anything, he's been complementary.