Pizy

Hopefully the strict diet still applies to Eden! 😂 Looking pretty chunky after the WC.

His distribution was woeful and he nearly scored an own goal playing a pass across his net. He gifted City numerous possessions in dangers areas trying to play out from the back. It's like they were trying to turn Petr into a ball playing sweeper keeper which isn't his forte at all.

I expect they'll be significantly better next weekend than they were this. Torreira and Lacazette will probably start and they may also bench Cech who looked terrible today. They'll also be in somewhat of a "desperation" mode knowing that they can be 6 points behind their rivals and under pressure already. Their fans have all been preaching about patience and giving Emery loads of time to change things, but if they lose their first two against top 4 rivals to open the season they may go into meltdown within the first two weeks. I wonder if Kovacic will be good to go for this. Unfortunately he probably won't.

Hopefully he kills it in Milan so we can wash our hands of him.

The bald head makes him look more intimidating!

Yeah, it's really weird seeing a smaller keeper in our net after watching Courtois for so long. I take comfort in the fact that DDG and Lloris have become world class in the PL despite being very slight. Kepa looks much more muscular than either of those two so I think he'll be fine. Might run into trouble against a side like United who have lots of giants. Can definitely see Mourinho starting Fellaini against us to stand right next to Kepa on every set piece.

I thought he was alright. Not great, not poor. He didn't actively make us worse like he often did last season.

Imagine how demoralizing it must be as an opposition player seeing Hazard come on when you're tired having chased us around all second half. 😂😂😂

Complete control in the second half. They could barely get a touch. Notice how Luiz and Alonso looked completely different players in the second half when we held onto the ball? That's how it'll continue to be I think. They'll look super vulnerable when we don't have control. I thought Morata did everything but score today. He was very good overall. Good hold up play, decent when receiving it from a Kepa long ball, few nice runs with the ball, and pressed all day long. Pedro was good, Willian decent but understandably rusty. Barkley better second half. Hazard dribbled their entire team effortlessly when he came on. 😂

BEAUTIFUL CHIP FROM PEDRO!

Significant improvement in this half. Far better on the ball and secure in midfield.

The problem with our pressing is that no one appears to know when to do so. As a consequence, maybe one player presses while others don't and the opponent easily passes through it. You MUST press as a unit in this system or you look foolish.

Yep. Neither of these two can start for us. Getting caught out repeatedly.

It's not what we look like on the ball that's so concerning here. It's the fact that we look clueless without it. Even our best defender Azpi is struggling here.

We look calamitous defensively and our midfield is totally invisible. Against fucking Huddersfield!

We look really, really poor. My goodness.

Huddersfield looking more comfortable pressing than we do...

Come on, then. Straight into them! No sluggish Conte/Mourinho start.

Think Willian will score here.

Just hope that left side of our defense with Alonso and Luiz keeps their head and don't make stupid mistakes.

Whatever XI we put out I hope we start on the front foot and press well as a team. Even if players like Hazard and Kovacic don't start we should have far too much for Huddersfield. Dominate the ball and make them very uncomfortable when they have it. Need a nice confidence boost to start the season.

No Cesc in the squad today by the looks of it.

As utterly terrible as their football is, United have Lukaku's goals and the ability to park the bus expertly when they need to. I think those things will carry them to a top 4 place. I think that 4th spot is definitely up for grabs between us, Spuds, and Arse.

He's right, of course. I think our raw talent will see us through the small teams in the first half of the season, but definitely think we'll be taking some lumps against the other big boys. With the exception of Arse they've al been drilled and coached for years in their systems. It will take us time. Even Arse have a months head start on us in preparation.

United look totally reliant on Pogba to be a beast for them to function. He singlehandedly saw them through there. Must say, Sanchez looks like he suddenly aged about 10 years since his move to United. Doesn't look anywhere near the player that was scoring for fun at Arsenal.