Tomo

I think you're being a bit harsh there. The defending Champions when he took over Juve were A.C. Milan with Ibra, Robinho, Silva etc and he also had Napoli with the Cavani, Lavezzi and Hamsik trio to contend with. And that's before we mention Juve had two consecutive 7th place finishes prior to his arrival. With us, while it's undeniable Klopp and Pep were far from having their complete team he still took over a team who finished 10th the previous season. It's easy to say in hindsight we still had the core of the 2015 title winning team but no one fancied Conte to have us bounce back from the 15/16 horror show so quickly. I was one of the few that thought there was a minor chance (due to his previous of recovering a crisis) and was laughed at. As much of a cunt as he turned into the following season, he was next to flawless in the title season (and the 'next to' bit is only there because of the cup final). Inter is probably the closest to benefiting from other teams in a lull but at the same time I'd argue that's a strength to be the manager who will say "I'll take this" when everyone else plays like they're more keen to lose it, it's how Fergie won a good number of his titles (especially the last two). For example, if Conte was managing United last season you can be sure he was taking advantage of City "only" getting points in their 80s and us and Liverpool self destructing in the middle third.

He will certainly have them there or there abouts once again (unless the masks comes off before the success this time). Difficult to gauge how good his peak will be on this occasion, if he inherited their 2017 side I'd be seriously worried but with the current squad and Levy's backing (even if he heavily backs Conte for Spurs' standard it still won't be enough to compete with what other clubs can put on the table) I think the title will be a big ask even for him. From our perspective he's certainly better of at Spurs than United, I reckon he could have got the latter seriously challenging immediately.

My educated guess is the hostile atmosphere on Saturday has forced Levy's hand, they've made it clear they're at the end of their tether with him so he's panicked and meet Conte half way (possibly more).

I said what I said yesterday in jest (sort of) but you're right I won't lose a great deal of sleep if it actually happens. I'd say getting benched by Ole is closer to a badge of honour than an insult on their abilities. He's taken two of the most promising young players in Europe (Van De Beek and Sancho) and given them next to no minutes because he doesn't know what to do with them. If we weren't so stacked in midfield I'd happily have VDB here, he's a wonderful player in a proper system.

On another note, United fans must be spitting feathers. How glad I am we have an owner not willing to exploit our fans dropping their standards to accommodate Frank and Jose when they had us plummeting down the table.

Jol was pretty good, consecutive 5th place finishes with a bang average squad. Regarding Conte, he went to his beloved clubs major rivals so he was never going to spare us if the chance came along. I do think we'll smash them at The Bridge in his first return, I believe Jose's thumping on first return was karma for the way he behaved at the end of his tenure and I Conte's due some of the same.

Happy to hold my hands up on that one, most of the issues I had with Chilwell from Leicester are almost completely gone. Hopefully I'm saying the same thing this time next year just with "Lukaku from United" in the place or Chilwell from Leicester. That said, I do think the former two of those trio you named would be good in our system aswell, Ben has one big advantage over those two in that he's being properly coached.

Stick to the false 9 and get Raphinha in next summer. Lukaku can play a part till then then go wherever Conte is.

Completely different type of players, you may aswell compare Barkley to Mendy. Gilmour direct replacement in the squad was Saul.

Early days and still to be tested against top opponents sure but his tweak with the wingbacks is looking like a masterstroke so far. I wasn't really convinced by James or Chilwell as pure wide players in the back 3/5 but since they've been given licence to drift in they've both hit another level offensively and that's even before you bring the numbers in the play. Few weeks ago I was ruing the fact we missed out in Hakimi and lost Livramento, now not so much.

Yeah this sheer level or squad depth isn't sustainable in the long run but may aswell make use of it while it's here.

Absolute brain dead selection of wingbacks there. They literally have man made wing backs in Dalot and Telles and he picks probably the two most defensive full backs at big clubs.

Barkley and Ruben being unable to find a new home this summer is coming to our benefit now. They'd be good players to bring on with a fully fit squad let alone one ripped to shreds by injuries.

Who's getting golden boot then James or Chilwell?

The one he made just now was more impressive. That one from the free kick his positioning was piss poor which meant he had to stretch and do the spectacular.

This is Arsenal all over, stringing a few performances together when the pressure is lower.

Early sample size but based on his two penalties in the respective EFL cup shootouts I wonder if he may end up climbing the pecking order for the spot kicks in regulation play? Possibly even taking over from Jorgi when the time comes.

That's even worse then we can't go two weeks without playing the first Xl. Even Klopp went strong in a cup game against Villa's kids last season to avoid that. A weeks rest while sticking the scratch side in for the FA Cup is more than adequate (if we get knocked out then go full strength in the FA). On a slightly related note given Kepa will be first choice for that period I wonder if we will see Bettinelli for the third round if it does turn out to be in the middle of two semi's.

I think of the top of my head VVD, Robertson, Fabinho and Mane from his usual starters. BIB: It is but isn't the FA Cup game a few days before the potential semi first leg? I imagine we will play the scratch side there and if so I think it will be better to play the first Xl for the semi to keep up match sharpness, don't fancy a week and a half without the first Xl playing.

Would Klopp play his first team anyway? He didn't away to us in the FA Cup. But yes the quarter final is probably our big banana skin (so hopefully we get Sunderland) given our schedule but if we make the semi we should be able to play the first team from that moment on.

Unless Liverpool suddenly decide to roll out the first team we really should be winning this.

Strange thing is it probably suits them just as much but for different reasons.

I hope you're right but last two times we had to throw in a back up not named Cech into a title race both made crucial errors (*Hilario vs City and Schwarzer vs Sunderland) so for that reason alone I'm pretty cautious. *Hilario also had a MOTM performance vs Liverpool months earlier. But like I said hopefully I'm wrong.

If we're going to talk about him in the context of playing in the league, if last night's a league game that mistake for the goal costs us two points. Of course he deserves credit for recovering from the Lampard era and becoming a decent back up but I'm still not comfortable with him playing a run of league games, especially given (if we keep up the pace) he will be facing both our title rivals.

I doubt it. Moyes just couldn't adapt his mentality to being at a massive club.