OneMoSalah

To be fair I think he’s not the same level as Fikayo was at Derby. He has actually done well in the championship this season with Swansea but still needs another 2 seasons playing reguarly, be it either 2 x 1 season PL loans or another championship loan then a PL loan the following season.

Played 10 mins or so, did alright not enough time in the game to really make an impression. Free kick given for their equaliser in like the 87th minute was piss poor. Depay was on the ground more than on his feet.

I think hes gonna do another season at Paris then leave on a free in all honesty to go to one of Madrid/Barca. He has one year left on his deal and personally I think he wants to go to Spain as has been talked about for ages, mainly Madrid when Zizou was there but Barca will have seem him up close and personal a few months ago and he was electric against them also.

Yes and no. Lets be honest only finishing top 4 isn’t going to be enough now after winning a CL this season, is it? I think closing the gap is an absolute must and would think TT will be looking to try challenge for the title. Plus we have all seen how what you do one season has no guarantees the next season, I am actually shocked to be honest people still think as simply as this (I mean particularly after 2015/16 and 2017/18, those should be used as evidence that there is absolutely no guarantee that we can just do what we did again this season). Hopefully Kai and Timo deliver more next season but we probably will still need more goals regardless. Especially to win more trophies or compete for the league. Be in from a number 9 (would be out safest bet) or another position. We will hopefully grab a few good players but if we are desperate for a top top number 9 we are fucked now. We more than likely wont get Kane or Haaland for different reasons - Kane for the fact its Spurs and Haaland for the fact he has just said he wants to respect his contract which after Dortmund got CL football next season, not surprised.

Yes and no for me. If we are honest, he didn’t really want David Luiz (Bonucci was first choice wasnt he?), Marcos Alonso (Alex Sandro), Michy Batshuayi (surely couldn’t of been first choice) and Ngolo Kante (he wanted someone else but at least we got him 😉) as first choices but got them and won a league title with them as he had good players in other positions also. Say Spurs keep Kane they’ve got him, Son, Ndombele, Regullion, Lo Celso and Hoijberg which isn’t the worst basis to start with. In fact probably playing with a 343 or 352 is what might unlock a way for them to get all those players in the same team. I do agree re finances though, unless Spurs change their model and get a few big players in he isn’t do anything as amazing as what he did here or at Inter that but top 4 should be achievable. He is probably one of the best coaches at stamping his identity on a team in a short period of time though but again there is a lot of deadwood and they need a new GK, 2 new CBs and a RB at least.

I get hes not your cup of tea but dont see why your shouting about him going nowhere. We urgently need a top CF.... So now the potential 4 big options who were potentially available/people felt were available (Aguero, Lukaku, Haaland and Kane) has now basically halfed in a week 🤣

I am sorry but what? I mean is this based on 3 seasons ago still re his first touch? And even then, did he really fail at United? I mean his first season he scored 27 goals and then his second season 15. If he failed scoring 42 goals in 2 seasons god help us. And even then you would think United were an amazing team when he was there also... Ah wait they weren’t, they were a team devoid of any real creativity for the whole time he was there under Mourinho. Aye he had a bad spell for a bit with United, was overweight for a period but Inter also diagnosed him with a serious bowel problem which they put him on a diet for to rectify and thats definitely controversially led to him being a lot sharper with Conte. Who knows how long he had that for because at United he looked slower, less dynamic, a lot more stockier for a period of time yet still got 15 goals that season despite going on a poor goal scoring run. Go and watch him for Inter, he has clearly improved his first touch, his back to goal play etc. He’s never going to be Lewandowski maybe or prime Suarez but to say he hasn’t improved that aspect is just painfully ignorant from someone who I am guessing probably hasn’t even watched any Serie A games he’s been played in. I still don’t think he will want to leave Italy though. Why would he? Hes proven himself in the PL, yes he hasnt won a PL title but from a personal point of view he scored 113 goals and made 35 assists in 251 games. Ironically more goals than his hero Drogba. Plus people complaining about the quality of Serie A, aye its not what it was but its not as bad as you would seriously think. I like the PL but lets no be as oblivious and make out it is the hardest league in the world when in fact it has as many shit teams as every other league and the only thing that makes the PL different from these teams is probably the finances available. It is as hard as many other teams in other top leagues because there is still clearly a gap between top and bottom tier teams. For instance mentioning Ibrahimovich being up near the top of goals despite the fact he joined Man United aged what 35/36 4 years ago and scored 17 PL goals in 28 games.... Then what about Mo Salah signed from Roma and scored 44 goals in his first season for Liverpool no? PL top scorer that season also? No? If Ronaldo were to rejoin United he would also piss the PL for goals. Is it the same for Ligue 1? Wait Cavani got 10 goals this season also in extremely limited minutes when he was apparently finished. Even Bale scored 11 PL goals this season. There is a theme here, if you score goals regularly in one country you can certainly do it in another..... Lukaku would do it again 100%.

To be fair, its not as if he has the pick of jobs. If you want to work these days without waiting forever you have to break allegiances, simple as that. Its not a lack of loyalty for instance as much as it is a lack of other opportunities as well. Plus we sacked him so its not as if he left on good terms is it? Thats maybe a motivation. As it would of been for Jose to go to United and Spurs also to try one up us and then United no? Players are the same now but in general, loyalty is hard to come by because clubs will bin a player/manager as quickly as something goes wrong/it doesn’t quite go well in some instances. I mean I have no doubts that the “Kevin de Bruyne and Mo Salah Chelsea reject talk” or whatever people wanted to use would of influenced their decisions to sign for big rivals of ours perhaps as well as wanting to prove them wrong.

Wonder if people still think she picks the team or transfer targets. Give it 6 months or the next Kepa appearance if there is one, they will be back.

Dont go Antonio.... Will be worried if he goes there.

Anyone here in the UK had their vaccine? What was the wait between dose one and dose two? Getting dose one on Friday. Hopefully this shit will be done with soon 😂

Maybe but I think WHU maybe be more interested in Lingard. Always been wee links for Ross to go to WHU with Moyes there but never materialised, this summer though who knows? Maybe Frank might take him off our hands if he gets a job somewhere 😂

Its not the “tarnishing” etc I am worried about. Being drunk a few times is hardly tarnishing a club, some people forget these guys are just humans and we all have flaws particularly when drinking is involved, particularly folk who probably get the opportunity to drink 3/4 times over the course of a season due to their professions. I mean end of the day if he wasn't a footballer and he worked at Asda for instance, not as if Asda's shareholders would be concerned that an employee was drunk and removed from a bar. My real fear is us trying to get 35m for him and pricing clubs out, which is why Villa aren't interested in buying him permanently which surprise surprise why would anyone pay 35m for him? I mean its almost as if we never learn. We should stop loaning these guys out and just sell them, clubs just loan them in show a bit of interest and then pull the plug every time, it does make us money but when we are probably paying a percentage of his wages we may as well just sell him no?

Offload. Bought for 15m, will easily get 20-25m for him. Don’t bring him back, another one who like Ruben has done nothing bar a handful of games with Maurizio Sarri. Would be a step backwards.

How is it irrelevant? It is like saying what any other player has done on loan is irrelevant when judging them which is frightening considering his last appearance for us was basically over a year ago and a sub appearance. And then the season beforehand when he came back he was comfortably off the pace (slightly understandable) and then never ever had a chance really. Yes 10 goals 5 assists in under 2000 minutes aye thats fair, looks good but break it down again, 6 league goals and 4 Europa League goals. Not sure on the assists. But again, was that not 3 seasons ago? I mean take that season out and well if Ruben had showed this at Palace and at Fulham, I could see the point. But he hasn’t. That is the point. Not consist enough, not done anything bar a 4 month period with Sarri. Aye maybe he lost a bit from his injury, maybe it was a purple patch? I mean outside of that season here, prior to that season and after, near 50 games making up 2 seasons out on loan and a combination of 3 goals at Palace and Fulham. Its difficult to see why you would think a top end Italian team would go for him based on something he did in 2018-19. Although I suppose weirder things have happened. And I doubt he has nice memories of RLC considering the gurning fucking fans who wouldn’t leave him alone for not playing RLC and CHO for weeks 🤣 surely reckon he would of smoked about 2000 cigs by then. Bakayoko was maybe part of one of the best teams Europe (aye I know, sounds ridiculous considering he couldn’t trap a sandbag yet alone a ball 90% of the time he played here) although still how he has played for France, us, Milan and Napoli baffles me but I suppose he has got that season and maybe a few ones before it of consistent performances to build it up and back it up in France no? Or at least something to fall back on... where as Ruben has under 2000 minutes throughout his whole career in mens football which spans 8 seasons. I mean who next? Juventus to sign Ross Barkley? I mean fair enough, if Sarri wants either he can have them but if you think hes going to make them his top choices or push for them at all, well I want some of what your smoking, because well.... its about as likely as pigs flying or unicorns being real. Re Higuain, Sarri wanted him in the summer after being appointed here... he chose AC over us. It was different, thats why he went for him still in the January. Plus he had worked with him to a great deal of success over a 3 year period. I doubt hes going to replace any of his star players with any of the Chelsea loan army if it comes to it 🤣

Would be wishful thinking but about as likely as pig flying or seeing a unicorn in real life. I mean I am sorry but why make these daft former manager wants former player assumptions when there is about a 0.00001% chance of these happening in all realism 🤣 I mean why would he go for RLC when Lazio have Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Luis Alberto? Why would anyone? Ruben could only get a loan move to Fulham who got relegated this season, where he played extremely poor, so why would Lazio take a gamble???? It would be one of the stupidest moves ever. Player who doesn't possess any real incision as an attacking midfielder joins one the most defensive/tactical leagues in the world .... dear god. I just hope we dont have him back next season at all costs also but I don't think we will be so lucky that Sarri or any other major Italian team will sign him either 🤣 Even if they lose one or both of those, I would be shocked beyond belief if he wanted either Ruben and if they could if they could afford his 120-150k wages and even more so if Lazio could afford 1/2 of Jorginho as these will start eventually (who is probably going to be getting a new deal and one of Tuchel's favorites) ... Well someone has to start them! Would cost too much. Not as bad as the RLC one though and at least more realistic 🤣

Yeah was funny he was done earlier in the season, last season and then the season beforehand. Nothing shocks me though, there were folk on here saying we should sell Kante for a big fee over the last 2/3 summers also because “he was approaching 30” and “had a spell of niggling injuries” 🤣

Aye he shouldn’t get any credit for me. As harsh as it may be for some, its daft and seems more like pity as opposed to for achieving/deserving something. He deserves credit for putting the young guys in. 100%. But for last season. Which he got in an abundance. If people want to give him credit for that this season they are being naive/overextending it from last season for me. I get its not a matter of just putting kids in and then they are perfect but bar Mason (and Tammy for maybe 6 or 7 games), the others didn’t really kick on this season until Tuchel came in. Reece looked poor at times. Fikayo Tomori never played and was loaned out in January due to a lack of playing time. Callum Hudson-Odoi was well on the bench/out the squad for probably half the season until Tuchel came in. I disagree, I don’t think we can really credit him. As mentioned on the previous page its like crediting Villas-Boas in 2012. How is it any different? Its not. Villas-Boas brought Ramires game to another level, bought in Mata, brought in Meireles, guys who contributed in the CL run up but nobody said he contributed/deserved any praise at any point. Which is correct as well. Conte was the one who gave Callum his debut actually. Then Sarri built on that eventually. Callum did play under Frank if you look back on the 18 months but nowhere near as frequently as the others did or what people felt he would have in terms of minutes. I find the Frank made the foundation of the team point a bit off considering he had basically benched Rudiger, Jorginho and Azpilicueta for the best part of the season before he got sacked who were huge parts of the team with Tuchel. He also played a totally different shape 90% of the time, the team had no clear identity and he had used Kai Havertz, Timo Werner and Ngolo Kante in probably 7 different roles between them. Havertz literally played as an 8, 10 and a right winger, Kante as a 6 and a 8, Werner as a 9 and a left winger. So again I don’t really see where this foundation your talking about came from.... unless you mean he bought the players and played the youngsters but that was it? Which is hardly as meaningful a contribution as many will give him praise for somehow? Playing kids last season, aye, absolutely he deservedly got credit and not only did he play them because he wanted to play them, he obviously trusted there talent but again don’t think it can be overplayed/overstated this season that bar Mason and James, he didn’t play them as often (which is fine I get it he brought players in) as alluded to above. He didnt find the way to maximise 250m worth of players. He didn’t find a way to give a team a clear identity. All the things in which Tuchel has done. So how is it fair to give him credit?

How has someone who has got Everton a 12th place and 10th place finish wound up back at Madrid after spending nearly 100m, honestly what the fuck..... I think hes done at top level and hes similar to Zidane as well. I thought Conte would of been nailed on there so where hes going to go now is weird, maybe back to Italy after the Euros depending how they do maybe? Also maybe now Carlo going back to Madrid opens up opportunities for Frank to be considered for Everton job? 😂

I don’t want to beat a man when he’s down as his successor has just pulled off an amazing feat but I get the feeling some of the praise by corners of the media, folk on here and even by Tuchel himself re Frank earlier on in the season in the run up to the CL final is vastly exaggerated. In fact I would say its more out of pity than merit if I were to be blunt and I am sure that Frank would of preferred to be given merit on what hes actually achieved as opposed to riding on the coattails of another manager who did the hard part. People will say okay he got us out the groups unbeaten - yes he did - but a group containing Sevilla, Rennes and Kransador... come on you’d think it was the group of death. I am glad someone mentioned Villas-Boas, as he got us out a group containing Valencia, Genk and Bayer Leverkusen but deservedly so, he never got any/much credit for the CL win in 2012 as his sacking was really a catalyst to change and the situation here couldn’t be more so similar for me. Frank deserves credit for using the youngsters 100% as its not as simple to say he had to use them because he clearly didn’t just use them because he had to. He did because he believed in them and for that, he deserved huge credit which he got last season. At the same time though, they’ve gone to another level as well as most of the team with Thomas Tuchel in a shorter space of time than what they did with Frank and that is unfortunate and perhaps a bit unfair but thats life. He will always be credited with giving those boys their debuts and signing the likes of Timo, Havertz, Ziyech, Mendy, Chilwell etc but again, getting the team out of the group stage whilst it helped lets not go over the top either and start saying we should send him a CL winners medal or give him a bonus. We got found out hideously against Bayern last season in the CL and high chances are, unfortunately, it would of likely been much the same with him v Atletico, Porto, Real Madrid and Man City in all likelihood as he was always pessimistic/negative towards what this group could achieve now. His spell here actually mirrors Villas-Boas’ spell much much more than I think many will admit to (probably just because of who he is and maybe the whole AVB-Frank situation that reportedly happened at the time also). Frank seemed to tick the boxes on long term planning with promoting and playing the kids, with wanting to close the gap gradually and get to being title winners eventually as opposed to going you know what we can do something this season that nobody would expect. He had his limitations (and so does every manager, even the Peps, Klopps, Tuchels etc) so maybe closing the gap and building the club up slowly/gradually whilst learning was all he could of done. Maybe its unfair to have expected more or what people expected/will expect of the Jose’s, the Conte’s, the Sarri’s, the Tuchel’s etc but they’ve done the hard work or yards to get to where they are and that was always going to be Franks downfall as soon as things started going, well, wrong, he doesn’t have the CV to buy him time or there were no obvious signs things were progressing in the right way. Still interested to see which job he takes next because managers tend to do not too bad when they get sacked here in terms of 1) getting a respected/decent job afterwards and 2) doing well in that job.

I still think if they'd beaten us in either of the two games we had played prior to the final it would of been a different game all together. One off games are weird to analyse maybe from outside of the performance point of view but I felt mentally, we had their number from the two big wins v them prior when nobody’s gave us a chance as well as the emotion and mental element for them in their first final perhaps being an issue/overwhelming them. Something I think that has hardly been mentioned is also it was Agueros last ever game for City and for guys like Kevin de Bruyne, Fernandinho, Kyle Walker, Gundogan, Mahrez, this may have been their best/one or their last chances to win a CL. It is that sort of nature where you might get to a final one year and then never again or it might take another 5-10 years depending on how lucky you are. Or less if your ever luckier. It just depends. I feel they just wanted it far too much after seeing Pep’s line up which, I just get the feeling the outside factors affected Pep’s thinking for the starting 11 as well as the obvious talk of City winning it in the build up maybe put extra pressure on or gave them extra confidence. Plus Pep’s had the pressure on him to win a CL outside of Barca since being at Bayern. Everyone knows he’s great and hes got all the leagues, the cups, the domestic records etc but hasn’t won a CL in 10 years at two very good teams whilst others have or have gone further with less resources/time. Maybe these things didn’t contribute as much or maybe they did more but I feel they cannot be discounted in any regard. And performance wise, I dont think its as if we did something that wasn’t obvious prior to these games beforehand or the final itself. City play a high line and have always done so with Pep, going back to under Conte when we beat them 3-1 at the Etihad and also I think Leicester stuck it on them also that season, maybe twice? We played the perfect game in the first half really but we didn’t reinvent the wheel by any stretch of the imagination and on reflection the only thing that didn’t make it a near perfect performance was the lack of a killer goal to relieve the pressure on us in the second half. Don't get me wrong there will be other teams who try this approach and fail, but there will be other teams who have the same sort of joy as there has been in the past just not in games of the same magnitude. I just don’t think Pep will get into a final in the next 5 seasons although again I doubt he will remain at City past maybe the end of the next season. I have this feeling he’s got some sort of mental block/problem since 2012 ironically enough. Every time since then, when they go out people seem to question his tactics or approach the majority of the time. He said after we beat Barca over those two legs and went through back then he would analyse his approach and make amendments if necessary or something along those lines after people were questioning how can a team that played that well, with that much of the ball, that many attempts not go through. I seen the highlights v Lyon last season IIRC and Monaco also a few years ago and also thought the same, I mean is he just overthinking things too much? Plus as good as City or Bayern are/were with him, they will never be at the level of that Barcelona team. Nobody will ever ever be in modern football unfortunately.

I dont think Kane will get them over the line. I really don’t. You need more than one player. Its a team thing. Plus, for me, Pep will never get it over the line with City or any other club because he will do what he did against us. He will always have that inclination to do something bold. I don’t know why but he just has this in him. This is why he failed at Bayern in Europe. Too much inclination to tempt fate and try be too smart. Sometimes they were deservedly beat but sometimes he was a huge contributor towards it

I will be honest, for me, I think now Carlo’s had his time at the top level. Not good enough anymore for a big club with the aspersions Real have. If they want instant success/impact, they should go for Conte. Not to say Carlo may not do a good job but at the same time, whilst he will be respected, is he really any different from Zidane? He really just lets folk get on with it. Tbh Zidane leaving just shows his shortcomings as a manager as well for me. They lost Ronaldo a few seasons ago and well he has more or less threw the towel in after getting the likes of Mendy, Hazard, Militao and Rodrygo in 2019. He won the La Liga and the Supacopa last season sure and also only lost to Atletico by a few points for the title this year but they were always playing catch up on top of Atletico stumbling and bumbling along the way towards the end. You’d think with that squad, they’ve still got plenty to offer and they don’t necessarily need a rebuild but just a few wee changes. A top manager would be able to do that.

Tbf if France have a good Euros he has to be in the top 3 at least and surely will win it? Luka Modric won it after having a good world cup for Croatia as well as winning the CL so thats the target for Kante. I dont think it will even be as easy as that though because normally attacking players always seem to be higher voted so we will see. Pretend CL 😂 Lewandowski definitely deserved it last season though, 55 goals in 47 games. Was an incredible season. He will probably be in the running again and deservedly so as he has 48 goals in 40 games this season.

Then it won't happen. Or City will need to pay extra cash up for Laporte not going. Also City getting rid of Laporte would be one of the stupidest things I have ever seen. Even for Kane. Stones has been rejuvenated but he is still vastly inferior to Laporte.