Tomo

God, we all (most) thought he did his European tour and was back to the place he loved for his happy ending turned out too good to be true didn't even cover it. Funny thing as i said a couple of pages back i think that was actually his intention, wasn't it the Everton defeat when we lost despite smashing them that he said he was going home happier than he would have had we done a 1-0 smash and grab? Ironically (in terms of the project we were building) we'd probably have been better off keeping Benitez on rolling contracts until the right man became available, ofcourse that's beyond extreme hindsight talking, but still.

Maybe we could offer a deal which includes a relatively low release clause should we fail to qualify again?

Sadly it sounds like they will cut his season short if it heads into Chelsea 15/16 territory (loss vs Spurs and failing to beat Burnley will signal as much), i was hoping they would give him even more rope to cling onto than we did but sadly it doesn't look like it will be the case.

But at the same time he was banging on about the proccess and how he was going to adapt to "the United traditions" when he first arrived, and they as a club often talk about how they value longevity with managers hence Moyes worming his way in. I don't have definite proof but as an educated guess im confident there would have been some long/medium term remit agreed when he took the job.

What i can't fathom is why they appointed him for the long haul when his long term ability was so brutally exposed here? You can forgive us our mistake because he wasn't proven either way long term and we had the emotional connection, what on earth was United's excuse? I have to also while your here hold my hands up and admit you were right and i was wrong about him, i feel genuinely embarrassed when i look back at some of my posts around early 2015 time

I would actually have to disagree there Iggy and say he actually has to stick to his principles if he's planning on going down this route, even if it means a few thumpings, Gary Neville made a point of while at Valencia the beggining of the end for him came in a match where he scrapped the philosophy he was trying to implement and played more basic stuff, the players instantly got back into a comfort zone and didn't really listen to him after that. The Derby squad are still channelled in Rowett ball (which from what i have read makes Pulis's style look open and expansive) it's going to take a while to drum that out of the squad and if he says fuck it and reverts to Rowetts style even for a brief period, the players will mentally get comfortable again and it will spell curtains for what he's trying to do. AVB with us is another example, for all the critics of his high line, it was reverting to the previous few gaffers tactics to get those results vs Valencia and City that ultimately saw to him. Although we won the CL thanks to it, winning it with a squad that flawed was a once in a lifetime anomaly.

For all his time in England he's been making United's life difficult, one way or another.

I will always admit when im wrong and i have done so on numerous occasions main case in points AVB, KDB, McEachran and Jose being back for the long haul, ive even laughed at myself for how embarrassingly wrong i got the last one. However this guy (reletive to our level) isn't very good and im yet to see much that suggests otherwise, funnily enough the only times ive liked his performances have been "out of position" at left back (going forward). And that line about me not wanting players to do well is hogwash, you have seen my comments on Mason Mount right? Im just not going to pretend they are the second coming of christ just because they are under 23. What does he even offer though? He has a poor first touch, not great tactically, can't defend well atleast right now (i think any even remote chance of him making it big is at LB so for me that matters) has limited football brain alongside woeful end product. He's decent at running into and making use of space afforded (which is why i believe an attacking LB is his best chance) but mark him tightly and he is brutally ineffective and im talking Torres at his brutal worst ineffective.

I don't know what was worse, his performance vs Cardiff or the fact i wasn't even remotely surprised. Absolutely tragic player.

Bit of a shit ground for us lately but a bit of context is needed, our last two visit's came during two awful periods of form (end of last season and during the 'Mourinho season') while the two prior to that was down to Pardew knowing how to play Jose tactically. We should have far too much for them this time.

Sometimes you have to go down when someone is charging at you to protect yourself from injury?

Alonso is the new Drogba to Arsenal!!!!!!!!!

If he was a board signing Conte would have ditched him early just like he did with Bats.

Letting KDB go was a mistake, but keeping any half decent young player on the off chance will be 1000000000x more damaging than letting KDB go could ever possibly be, we have numerous high quality coaches, they should be able to identify who has a chance here and who just won't make the grade.

We can't really judge without knowing the full story, the fact we are refusing to pay his compo must mean Conte done some heavy duty shit last season, even worse than what's being reported.

But that's what I mean, how often did Torres actually get the basics right? It seemed to me his praise came from people desperately clinging onto thin air (hence this false myth of him working hard when in reality it couldn't be further from the truth). Not that I wouldn't be up for upgrading on Morata, quite the opposite infact, but if he is to be compared to a striker in that era I would say he was closer to Eto'o than Torres.

I doubt Oblak will care about playing negative football, it probably brings the best out of him.

The thuggish physical tactics are slowly dying a death in the PL, out of the 6 teams that have come up in the last two seasons only Cardiff really fall into that category and even they will likely tone it down once Warnock gets the boot.

But thats where he differs from Torres, he actually gets the basics right. Torres just stood around like a prize lemon and defenders could ignore him and focus on Hazard, Mata etc because they knew he posed no threat not only on the ball but tactically aswell. Alvaro even when poor atleast gets the basics and doesn't get in everyones way, im not saying that's praise worthy in itself but we can still create chances and play good football with/around him because he atleast keeps the CB's honest from a tactical POV.

Torres obviously, he was the worst striker in the league while with us.

He's not even the worst Spanish signing of the Roman era.

Tbh i don't think he's going to be so vulnerable to the point Jose would consider him a weak link, but he certainly won't be running his own air traffic control system like Courtois does.

I feel more nervous at corners and set pieces with Kepa compared to Tibo, this is more a compliment to how good Courtois is on set plays than any slight on Kepa but the corner that hit the post wouldn't have happened on the Belgiums watch. However distribution was another matter, we could pass the ball back to Kepa even under pressure and play kept on ticking over, Courtois would have panicked in half the situations Kepa was in today.

Hey? Are you watching last seasons Huddersfield game by mistake?

https://www.totalsportek.com/chelsea-live-stream/ Take ya pick.