King Kante

I dunno, but it is getting to the stage were he must have some Mr. Robot level hacking skills to get the dirt he does.

Buddy you cannot be offside if the opposition play it to you.

I wouldn't worry, I am smelling a Donnarumma transfer this Summer. He has our fingerprints all over him

Yeah, this is exactly why it was absolute insanity to play Zouma of all people in the CCB role against Soton. 2pts flushed down the toilet for that selection. As for the game, got to be happy but felt we should've push for the 3rd, as AM were there for the taking. A second away goal is worth 1.5 goals effectively so I would've risked it even if it meant a 1-1. As for the players, I felt all of them put a shift in. Jorgi really annoyed me with his final ball but he did keep it moving. Alonso again, was nowhere near as bad as some posters on here were trying to make out he was. AC actually gets my MotM and is now ahead of Rudi and Zouma. That said, still a lot to play for and this tie is far from over but it is always nice to get an away CL KO stage win.

Yes, he could've done better but the real culprit is Rudiger. What the hell was he doing over there and then why the hell did he not deal with the ball. So, initial fault by Alonso, that was compounded by first by Rudiger's poor positioning and secondly his failure to clear up. As for the game, it is clear AM are trying to get a player sent off and the ref initially brought into it. That yellow for Mount was an utter joke. I think he is one of our better players today but I would take him off for Harvetz as he could get sent off for blowing on a player now. As for the game, Jorgi and Kova are killing us with their poor balls. Around three to four times they had a option and over/under hit it. It may be risky, but I would consider reaching for the 🐐. As for the rest, Werner is looking good and building up some confidence, whilst AC is looking composed. Just need to get a player in and around Giroud to get some quick one twos.

I have a funny feel we may win, so expect a 3-0+ defeat. Sorry lads and lasses.

Yeah, I could also do with a trusted one, if at all possible.

Personally I wouldn't be keen on giving up on Puli yet. Sure he hasn't been great this season but I think that is due to injuries which he may be able to recover from.

Is he related to Puli?

Agreed. If I see Zouma or Rudiger as the CCB, I will literally be doing this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DDLpKrTVJKc

Moses was indeed emergency cover for him at Inter. Moses is now at Spartak on loan with a compulsion to buy if they qualify for the CL.

I do not think Kloop picks many of the signings to be fair, I think Liverpool's signings are largely decided by their analytics team.

Prefer Neto to Jota to be honest. I think that boy could be something special. Top work rate and very good close control.

No Zouma please, AM are far too a wily side to have him on the pitch. He will be dragged all over the place.

Knew there would be state money involved somewhere if they had 😅. That said, not sure this still covers them. There 1bn renovation of their stadium plus existing contracts has really put them in a corner; not as much as Barca but I still don't see them going mega money on Haaland, as their principal target by all accounts is Mbappe. I could be wrong but I am still confident Haaland ends up in England and mostly likely at City.

Isn't he out of contract this year?

Well said.

We have to play 3atb as we only have funsized CM's who get outrun and our CB's, outside of Silva, either constantly get caught out of position (Zouma/Rudi) or get bullied (AC.)

Be interesting game this one. AM are on a bit of a blip but they are a very good team at grinding results out I can see a 0-0 or a 1-0 AM win, which would keep the second leg alive. Whatever happens, please do not allow Zouma or Rudi to be playing the CCB role, if both Silva and AC cannot play, give it to Dave. No way, are we going to get away with their lack of reading the game against a canny operator like Surarez or Simeone.

Yeah, to be fair to TT he has clearly stated why he did it and this is similar to what SFL and Sarri (although they were more indirect) have said about CHO. Personally, I wasn't happy with the sub at the time but if it was due to TT feeling that CHO wasn't doing as instructed or not doing what was instructed because he had an attitude for some reason then I 100% support the decision. Far too long have we had the players here rule the roost.

Poor game all around. The CHO decision wasn't good, however we did create more than they did (Alonso Volley, James half volley, CHO taking an extra touch when he should've just played it in) and only conceded because Zouma is an absolute clown in reading the game; after going walkies for their goal he also gave away two corners for no reason in the second half because he didn't know what was around him. Mount was, again, the only one that really stood up. MotM.

He could've pressed the ball a bit more, but you're not expecting your CCB to be taking up that position. It was laughable he allowed a simple forward pass completely to take him out because he has yet again failed to stick to his correct position. As I have been saying in the AC thread, it is all great when Zouma pulls off tackles like he did against Palace last year, but the reason he has to do it is because he gets caught out from not doing the basics properly which means either this happens or he has to do risky challenges like that one. That isn't good defending.

Zouma's positioning was absolutely shocking for their goal. As I have said elsewhere, AC is really the only one that can play the CCB role when Silva is out as Zouma and Rudi get caught he poor positions and do not read the game well enough. As for the second half, we are going to need to get Ziyech and CHO on as we are far too static at the moment as Kova, Mount and Werner are the only ones moving off the ball properly.

Personally, I think it is quite clear that SFL was very poor tactically at instructing the team what to do without the ball. Further, as I stated in a back 4 he is a bit of an issue but if you want to pin it all on Alonso, then fair enough.

Alonso has always been a very good LWB, his stats when he plays there do not lie. The problem however is that too many people got caught up on his lack of pace (which is more of an issue in a back 4 admittedly) and he got scapegoated.