Tomo

Ironic thing is in 2010 we should have bulked the squad up but trusted youth (the likes of Van Der Vaart, Milner, Luiz, Neymar and David James as backup to Cech were available) but in 2017 we had decent youth but bulked up the squad. Tbf i would have been quite jealous of the AWB signing had we not got Reece coming through, he's Azpi level 1 vs 1. Given the dick measuring contest United/Liverpool fans and the media are doing with the AWB vs Trent hype it would be very satisfying if Reece comes from nowhere and gazumps them both (like a RB version of Conte catching a nation hyping up a Pep vs Jose title race napping) .

As it stands i think we are getting of very lightly, none of our rivals have really took advantage of our ban, infact if you class Mason, Tammy and Reece as new signings alongside Christian you could argue we've had a better window than Arsenal and United, infact Christian alone puts us better than Arsenal

Tbh I don't think he's done particularly bad in the domestic cups, every season bar one he's made atleast the semi in one of them. For me personally the mentality of the club is a much bigger factor compared to who the manager is when it comes to getting over the line (case in point Sarri breaking his trophy drought with us or City winning the league with Pellegrini who's best trophy in Europe prior was the intertoto cup). It's very rare a manager shifts the culture of a club on his own, whether that's for the good (Jose at Chelsea) or the bad (Moyes at United). Great managers will get clubs in strong positions to win trophies (as Pochettino has done) but that final push is mainly down to the nerve and mentality of the guys on the pitch.

I don't read too much in results as teams are often muddled up (for example had we lost 1-3 after bringing on the scratch side i would have been happy as our best side "won" 1-0). However performances and patterns of play can give us real clues in what is to come, for example the 15/16 pre season it was very clear we were in big big trouble and so it proved.

I could be wrong but didn't Josh, Kakuta and the rest of the group we promoted in 2010 all get rises to around the 40-60k mark. Considering inflation that's probably about 150k a week in today's world.

IIRC he only agreed to commit short term initially when it came to his first pro contract.

Because the club are usually in the strongest position. This time there was Bayern's interest alongside the fact we couldn't afford another KDB situation which meant Odoi held all the ace cards even with his injury.

No you can not name a single HG player if you felt fit but you would have to fill your squad with U21s outside of the 17 foreign player's. If having 8 HG players was a rule we'd have fallen foul numerous times already, I can't be bothered to check but I think we've very rarely had 8 registered HG players (not including U21s as you can register as many of them as you like HG or not) since the rule was implemented, if ever. Think at one point we literally only had Terry, Cahill and Cesc.

You don't need to have 8 HG players, you just can't have more than 17 non HG.

Oh I fully agree he has to step up all I'm saying is I don't blame him for playing his (very strong) cards to maximum effect.

I would say attacking wise from LB is the only aspect of his game that doesn't have me tearing my hair out but he's too bad going the other way to even contemplate making that a serious move.

Probably however that's our doing, on his side he sensed an opportunity and pounced, which I would expect 99% of people in a similar boat would do. If the club held all the cards and had a chance to shove him on a "modest" wage I'm sure they'd have done it without thinking twice.

Terry loves the club as much as anyone but still played chess with the board to get the best deal possible. Footballers have a short career and unless they go into management won't command such money again., I can't say I blame any player that uses their talents to maximize their income best they can.

My thinking on that subject is that it suits as it is at the minute. Mount starting for his pressing/off the ball actions while Barkley then comes on against tired legs to exploit the space as he's at his most effective when a game is stretched. Although that said it would be harsh not to give Ross chances to start after his performances, good headache to have either way and we're very lucky to have such after losing Ruben.

I was protecting as a general critique more than anything. Overall i'm very happy with him but that's the one thing he needs to fix to get to Allison/prime DDG level.

Kepa gets beaten from long range too often, he needs to work on that.

Mount starting then Ross coming on to run at tired legs could really work this season.

The only real negative is this side will be swapped for the scratch team at some point in the second half. The only question mark is Giroud or Tammy but beyond that this is the side we should see at Old Trafford assuming none of the injured lot return on time.

According to Scouse accountancy United are buying Dunk for Leicester.

We heard that last year and with almost every trophy lift this decade.

Leave him be until he's fully fit. Kovacic is more than adequate cover especially now it appears we're playing with a pivot.

Kovacic definitely is not fighting for number 10, he's a rotation option to Kante and Jorginho I'd put my house on that. Ruben won't be playing again till new year by all accounts so for the first half of the season it's Mount Vs Barkley and I think Mason will win out as his high pressing game is much superior to Barkley. Although that said Ross has very much responded to Mason's return with some strong performances in pre season so hopefully they push eachother. I'm not saying they are the same player but I am hoping Mount has a similar trajectory in his career after arriving in the PL.

Found this interesting. The year before Alli went to Spurs he scored 16 goals in 44 games playing in League One, Mason last year scored 11 in 44 playing a division higher. If Mount can have a similar impact to Alli's first season at sh*te Hart Lane (10 goals, 9 assists in the league and a further 2 assist's in Europe) that will come in very handy.

https://www.football-italia.net/141031/conte-perisic-not-suited-inter-role So two players he wanted us to get while here (who would have cost £100m combined roughly) he's now freezing out at Inter, yet we should have backed him a blank chequebook apparently https://www.football-italia.net/140988/conte-inter-need-start-selling Looks like the mask is slipping even earlier than usual this time, skipping the impressive title win and straight to the hostility.

Tbh I don't think Danny was particularly that bad from an individual perspective, he just doesn't have the skillset to dominate a midfield battle the way Jorginho and Kovacic were doing and that's before we mention he came on alongside Bakayoko. I can give or take him staying as a 4th choice filler for cup games but Bakayoko must be gone no matter what.