Tomo

For all the talk (correctly) about how badly United are run one thing they do get right is they put an extra year option on players contracts.

He's probably our only untouchable at the minute with the outfielders. Anyone else we can lose and the team performance by in large won't be too highly affected (even Kante as has shown) but I don't think we will be able to control games the way we have lately even against the likes of Newcastle if Jorginho wasn't playing. Hopefully Gilmour is being moulded into an alternative because "Sarri's pet" is just as crucial to Lampard's brand of football, if not more so.

Remember being so jealous when they got him aswell, genuinely believed he had Thierry Henry esque potential.

I know things can change quickly in football but right now Spurs and United look so unbelievably bad that our only threat to top 4 seems to be Leicester doing a poundland 2016 season and grabbing a top 4 place.

On another note were the Longstaff brothers really made to look that good against United or were the media hying them due to the romance of them playing together? I thought they were both absolutely terrible today.

Unless they are all happy to rotate in perfect harmony we could end up in a position where we have to sacrifice some youth because too many are coming through

Defensively especially transition it is still very concerning. Newcastle looked very dangerous in transition. Don't think we will commit so high up against better teams than this, while on the ball we we're practically playing 2-5-3/2-3-5. Yeah there was a couple of hairy looking moments on paper but we gambled on Newcastle not having the quality or speed of thought to take advantage, which they didn't.

The pleasing thing about recently is we've not only conceded two goals in four games but given very little in terms of clear chances also. We're starting to control games a lot better now compared to the basketball type matches we saw early on. Odoi gets MOTM but mentions have to go to Kovacic and Pulisic, completely changed the dynamic of the game after coming on. The fact we can have an injury crisis yet still bring on two players of that calibre speaks volumes as to how strong our squad is now. I think Christian should be starting at Ajax on Tuesday as the type of open game we will likely see will suit his ability's. Full value for the win, would have been a catastrophy if Newcastle got a result, they did absolutely nothing going forward and despite playing defensively they still allowed about 5 clear chances, absolutely hopeless side.

If we're going to play that game Brighton gave City a good game (4-0 was very flattering to City) and battered Spurs by an even bigger score yet we comfortably kept them out. At the end of the day we only have the Brighton game to go on (so far) to access that midfield three and it's very much so far so good.

The whole idea is to dominate the game alas not having to do much defending. We played this exact same midfield vs Brighton and we won with a clean sheet.

I swear we're the only club on the planet who don't have players willing to fight for their place. It feels like the only non starter who hasn't allegedly or otherwise complained about lack of starts this season is Caballero.

Little different. Lampard's genuinely concerned for Kante's welfare whereas Deschamps wants us to drop our top scorer to accomodate one of his player's.

Ten years time they'll be no celebrations due to VAR turning everyone insanely paranoid.

Mount has form on this score, he 'hushed' the Elland Road crowd after scoring their in the playoffs. While i do agree with you in principal i can't say i wouldn't love it if he did something similar at Anfield or WHL (assuming we go on to win that is).

Given Michy will be a sub in the world cup, wouldn't it be more useful for Martinez if he's also playing that role here?

Our squad depth has low-key become really strong this season. Our benches this term have been full of game changing options (as Lampard alluded to himself in a recent match) even though we're still yet to have a fully fit squad available. Think this is the first time since 2009/2010 we have had such a deep squad in terms of quality, recent years it's always been about 15 first team players and the rest scratch players to make up the numbers in domestic cup games (like Kenedy and ageing Ferreira).

I do as a rule but I will enjoy watching our lads get in the England side one by one, especially when they cause media and opposition fans to have meltdowns after replacing their favourites (it's already starting with Mount getting in ahead of Maddison).

Everyone says he improved so much but I don't see it, he was already very good. The only reason people (some fans and especially pundits) are starting to acknowledge his class is because Lampard done the very awkward thing of playing him and Kante in the exact same positions Sarri did, meaning it's easier to say he improved as opposed to admit Sarri was right all along.

Wonder if Reece James will be played in CM for England? He will certainly be a massive upgrade on the current options. Only question mark will be if he can maintain a high level switching between RB for club and CM for country.

Certainly puts it into perspective just how good we've got it with Kante, Jorginho and even Kovacic.

My only slight paranoia with Lamps is he may over prioritize English players in the market. Apart from Sancho any English player worth having is either unattainable or already here.

Small consolation is we atleast have the cover to cope now compared to his first couple of seasons where our CM options were brutal apart from him.

Must be avoided at all costs. Although he's lasted a bit longer than I thought he would at some point he's got a Torres/Alexis decline written all over him.

Really hope not. We need a new LB but I would rather wait till we get a bonafide top class one if there's none available next summer. Chilwell falls into the same "good but flawed" category our current two LBs do, would be a waste of resources.

Apparently he's going to get some chances when Leipzig have a run of bottom half sides in a few weeks. While his lack of chances are frustrating so far I'm not going to press the panic button just yet, Mount was in a similar position at Vittese this time two years ago now look at him.