Tomo

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.

Unfortunately Lampard's confirmed he wants Zouma to stay.

One good thing Hazard's departure will bring is better collective pressing, as we are seeing today. The pressing and ball retention has been a real plus point although the lack of clear chances is a bit worrying. Michy looks like he's majorly improved in his hold up play but going wait until the real stuff starts for a proper assessment. Mount looks like he's made for a Chelsea shirt, should be starting over Ross for me.

We won't replace Hazard directly but as Lampard alluded to in his presser there's more than one way to skin a cat. While Hazard was here and especially on the pitch he was the talisman, the one players looked too to make things happen. The way to go now will probably be a more collective effort going forward which is what we saw for the most part last season when he was not playing.

Yeah the last summer has given the illusion that Klopp has always been backed with expensive first choice targets which couldn't be further from the truth.

The Ajax and Monaco teams i was talking about would have comfortably made top 4 in the prem. I'm not saying we should play an U21 team (and neither did those teams in question, Ajax especially had a lot of experience to balance it out) however with City over the hill for atleast two more years and prices going through the roof, there's never been a better time to build up this new generation.

I'd prefer Bundesliga.