Pizy

I think the only slim shot we’d have at Bellingham is if we show considerable improvement and finish the season extremely well. Prove to him that we’re stable and that the project is 100% heading in the right direction. Despite all the noise about him and Liverpool I still find it impossible to believe that they’d pay the required fee. I can never see cheap ass FSG putting down €150m or whatever it’ll be in any player. Perhaps if they rapidly change ownership which doesn’t appear to be happening with any sort of pace currently. I was of the thought that City would be heavy favorites for him but I wonder if that mountain of financial breaches affects their spending this summer. Imagine United will also try hard for him.

There’s no chance any of the 3 that were chosen were going to be left out. All 3 are potential match winners. Mudryk in particular was extremely impressive in the UCL with Shakhtar and can be a game changer if we can actually get him the ball in space. Which should happen if Cucu doesn’t start today.

What are the better alternatives, though? Chalobah hasn’t played in a bit now and I don’t trust him not to make a silly mistake or two. Fofana being thrown straight into the biggest match of our season thus far having been out for 4 months is surely not going to happen. I think Potter will trust that a hugely experienced KK will be okay now that he’s been dropped for a while.

Think Koulibaly will 100% start here. Potter will want to give him a mental boost and if he starts and plays well it could get him back on track. I’d actually be okay with a back 3 for this as well. Dortmund probably won’t expect and prepare fully for it since we haven’t been using it much lately. Reece and Chilly are MUCH more dangerous in that formation and it could cause BVB all sort of headaches.

Bayern are basically playing without breaking a sweat and are comfortably controlling PSG. The PSG front 3 is of course always capable of magic at any moment but the rest of their team is pretty average despite having some really good players.

Depending on the XI we choose I think this will be a very tight match. Dortmund are in excellent form, yes, but they won’t have faced a team with our talent outside of Bayern in their league. Especially our attacking talent. Koulibaly coming in from the cold is a big concern but it looks like Kova and Chilly should be good to start so LB & midfield should be much improved from recent performances.

Weird. Then why have I been seeing constant rumors about him finally wanting out?

Maybe. Plus, I think Oblak’s contract is up this summer and he’s heavily rumored to be leaving. So perhaps they could be interested in Kepa? Whether they would be interested in any of our players or not we need to buy Felix. Once the team are settled and heading into next season he can be the centerpiece of our team.

Wonder if the bridge was burned with Tuchel btw. What would happen if we asked him to come back? I have heard Simon Jordan on TalkSport say several times that he knows what happened behind the scenes between Tuchel and Boehly and that if we the public knew what it was they wouldn’t blame Boehly for sacking him. So my guess is Tuchel was very blunt with ownership when they were going to him with various targets (CR7, perhaps?) and he basically told them to fuck off.

His whole demeanor and personality gives off the vibe that he’s a contest winner or something. Like a guy who can’t believe he’s in the position he’s in. And honestly, that’s fair enough because in his wildest dreams he couldn’t have imagined himself in this job so soon. But it’s so obvious that he is treating the job as though there’s no fire under his ass at all and he’s still at Brighton. Where he can lose or draw games and it’s no big deal because they weren’t ever expected to do much other than play some nice of football and stay in the PL. I’m sure the players don’t mind him and think he’s a genuinely pleasant guy (and you can see that from the outside) but he doesn’t seem like someone with the CV or the reputation to imprint any kind of personality on the team. The job is simply too big for him. Nice guy, solid coach for a specific level of club, will go on to have a nice career building up some other small or medium sized club. But we need a big personality who can connect with the players, get full buy-in, and someone who can create an instantly recognizable identity.

As angry as I am at least the positives are there. All of the January signings look to me like they’ll be very good. All have shown flashes of excellence so far. We just need a manger that can get the most out of them. Enzo and Felix in particular already look so comfortable together.

Perhaps a bit of Bayern DNA with Flick is the answer? Enrique for me is a big question mark but he at least knows attacking ethos.

I thought he was very solid, actually. Ran at defenders numerous times and won several fouls in dangerous areas. Almost got that assist for Kai. He’s going to be excellent for us when he’s up to speed. which he clearly isn’t judging by the limited minutes he’s getting.

The attacking players we have are fantastic, the squad is phenomenal. We have all the ingredients to be a very, very good side with Enzo, Felix, Mudryk, and Madueke in there. But Potter looks like a ghost out there and isn’t getting ANY sustained improvement out of them. If Dortmund midweek goes badly we need a change. We need an accomplished manager who can develop clear attacking identity. It’s disgraceful to have such a squad and be laboring through large parts of matches like this.

That is quite possibly the most disgraceful decision I’ve ever witnessed.

WHAAAAAATTTTTT????!!!!

Suddenly all our players can’t release the fucking ball when they should… Stop holding on to the ball!

Sadly starting to look that way. Appears overawed.

That’s the puzzling thing, he WAS tenacious, tough in the tackle, and relentless bombing up and down the flank for Brighton last season. That’s why we were so keen on his signing. It’s why Pep wanted him at City. I can’t explain wtf has happened to him other than him being in the gutter confidence wise. Very similar to Timo Werner.

In this form and with this confidence level Cucu looks like an 18 year old youth player. He’s so terrified of making a mistake with a forward pass that he’s just passing it 10 yards sideways to one of the midfielders or he passes it back to Badiashile. He needs a long spell out just like Mount to get his head right.

Did basically everything right except the one mistake. They’re clearly targeting Cucu with their press. They were totally demoralized after our goal but are now full of confidence. And for a team like WH who are all about energy and belief that’s dangerous.

Could have had 3 goals ourselves, totally dominant and not giving them a sniff. Now they have confidence and belief again out of nothing.

Cucu gives the ball away cheaply and then just stands there and let’s him put an uncontested cross in. Such a stupid goal. Totally out of nothing.

Felix is world class on the ball, man. One of the most elegant dribbler I’ve seen. We must buy him for good in the summer before someone else gets any ideas.

Passing in the final third WAY more crisp thus far.