Tomo

Spurs have lost more games than what we did in 15/16.

I saw him at youth level and wasn't sure he would make it, his moments of brilliance where to few and far between and worse, when they came he almost got too satisfied as to say "that's my work done for the next half an hour". I also felt our midfield was a better unit without him playing even though he was the most naturally gifted player there.

De Gea was born after his time, he's a quality shop stopper but his overall game doesn't fit with the modern times. Even last season when he was getting all the hype he was not close to being the best GK in the world (that's been Ter Stegan for quite a while).

I think his biggest issue is in his head, when he's at his best he reads the game so well he doesn't have to rely too much on his physical edge. We saw those early days after his return from loan that he has the potential to be in the same league as JT and Ricky but at the minute lets any set back get to his head, the Barca game last year turned him from one of the best young CB's in the world to a Titus Bramble parody who at his lowest point had to get took out of games for his own good (Anfield league cup this year). He has recovered from that phase now however In a peverse way im looking forward to his next mistake, because how he reacts this time round will tell me a lot about how his career will pan out.

Can't speak for anyone else but I stand by the comments back then. He was barely impacting games atall and had little to no tactical nous. His improvement this season has been excellent but previously he looked every bit like one of those "still a prospect at 30" players.

Emerson's just as bad at defending. The one thing he has over Marcos is his ability to run up the byline which can help speed up attacks, but anything else he's either just as bad or even worse.

So we have Alonso who tends to do allright in the final phase but can't get up there quick enough a lot of the time vs Emerson who can get up effortlessly but once there makes Moses look an ice cool decision maker. I would say fullback not striker is the position that needs THE urgent upgrade, put Alexander Arnold and Robertson in this team tonight we win easily even with Giroud playing like an amateur.

Yeah IIRC the clean sheet at Goodison end of April was our first since like early January and i'm sure i read it was our worst run without a shutout since 94.

In the 13 match winning run we did but either side i thought we were average (especially on Alonso/ Cahill's side) defensively. 29 goals in 25 games is Brendan esque numbers and we went on our longest run without a clean sheet for 22 years.

I actually agree with Jason on that case. We played the same brand of football under Carlo as we did Jose, the difference being Jose would see a game out after it's won to reserve energy whereas Carlo had us maintain the same intensity till the end.

We haven't been a good defensive team since Mou's first season back bar isolated periods.

From what I'm hearing from Wigan fans we would be criminally wasting James playing him anywhere but midfield, Aina is gone and Baba just isn't good enough.

Think you're being a bit harsh there. It's pointless in the context of the game just gone, but is actually a good indication of what will happen in the near future, for example United over performed their XG rate at both ends last season and it was clear it would eventually catch up with them, and It did. A reverse example would be City in Pep's first season.

Im sorry but nothing compares to 15/16 especially the Mou half of it. We were fighting relegation for half of it and never got above 9th. This season is a Pep Barca esque season by comparison.

If he was surr

If he was surrendering to fans, then why isn't Kante at DM? I think he started playing league games because he improved his discipline off the ball (which is important when the other winger is Hazard).

When did I say enjoyable per se? I said compared to last season and 15/16, which I should be in the majority with.

CMs shouldn't be judged on "end product", would be like saying ditch Hazard because he can't defend.

It isn't even the worst in the last four years, let alone since Roman took over

In many ways this is worse than the other big six games. Atleast in them we got beat outright by a better side on the day, United basically gifted us this in pink fluffy wrapping and we still only drew.

That's the biggest gift we've received since John Arne Riise.

He's not average, he's just been playing in a position that exposes his weakness (end product), he's actually the exact type of player we were missing for Jose's double pivot and especially Conte's midfield two. However he must be signed as a Jorginho and Kante cover and not as a cheap solution to the attacking position of the 3. As for Ampadu, his future's CB, he's an odinary midfielder but a (potentially) elite CB if/when he cuts out his rash tackles.

But on the flip side it worked out well appointing Mourinho and to an extent Hiddink the first time (his stock was high after his great work at Euro 2008). It's up to the club to identify which managers are riding the crest of a wave and which aren't, and if the remit (which it should be given the circumstances we find ourselves in) is to build a future around the best youth we have while playing good football then he fits the bill.

I'm sorry but that's hyberbole. He leaves we still finish no worse than 6th. Even without him our team is still better than the states Liverpool and Spurs got themselves in a few years back and they always finished top 6/7 apart from one exception with Liverpool.

Would we? I think part of the reason we have tried to move to this style of football is because how badly we did the previous season and two years before that playing to our supposed strengths. The problem with pragmatic machine like football it's is very much fine while competing for the major trophies and getting the results but when we're not it's absolutely soul destroying to watch (last season, 15/16 and 10/11 prime examples). If we can successfully build this style of football then we can always have enjoyable games to fall back on even when we aren't challenging for the big one's. Even this season with the project probably not even 20% implemented i prefer these games (bar about a month in the winter) to 95% of what was served up in those season's mentioned above.