OneMoSalah

Whilst I am not surprised I do find it frustrating Tuchel has given Timo countless chances and hasnt tried Tammy a bit more. I suppose one cost 52m and one is from the academy. Looks like he will be off for sure this summer.

A win for PSG puts them one point behind Lille yea but its not exactly breathtaking for a squad of that quality to be 1 point behind a team that probably runs on a 25th of their budget. Even more so after their performances in those CL games v Bayern and at the Nou Camp, they must be thinking how are we second... but in all reality their domestic results aren’t that good with Poch. Theres a good chance they come back and win Ligue 1 and possibly the other trophy in France yes but I still fancy City to win the CL in all reality. I think if I were to look at PSG domestically under Poch and City with Pep, City’s domestic form bar the odd few game, has been pretty much outstanding where as PSG fans probably have seen Pochettino’s impact hasn’t been what they'd have hoped for as domestically they have dropped 14 points v Lille, Nantes, Monaco, Lorient, St Etienne since he came in. No doubt the CL games at the Nou Camp and also v Bayern showed the obvious huge promise and its knockout football but Id still put City as favourites for the CL. Much better coach and a much better side. If PSG get to the final I will be surprised in all honesty, I know they showed against Bayern what they are about but those sort of performances have been few and far between this season.

Aye its a sad day when footballers aren’t allowed to have a bit about themselves/be characters/show emotion/defend themselves or teammates or coaches etc. Some people need to toe the line a bit, not that Rudiger is bad. Look at Costa as well as Sergio Ramos and Pepe in particular over the years they needed to get involved in extra physical battles or be fired up to play at their best. Everyone wants robots now and its sad to see. Minute people take the adrenaline and emotion out of footballers and football games the game will become so boring. Even more so as it is with no fans.

Too much baggage? What do you mean? His agent? The agent is a problem but look at Ibrahimovic, Lukaku, de Ligt, Donnarumma, Verratti, all these guys who are represented by him and even past clients also. Unfortunately, you want to get the best players chances are you will be dealing with Raiola unfortunately. Or another agent. He gets a lot of publicity aye but agents in general always get a payout, I think we paid the most to agents this year again. The money yeah I agree, its too much, its a lot. Whoever gets him, will have a huge investment but also chances are they might have to lower their demands with the current market and financial plight due to Covid also. They risk jeopardising a move to a top top club. Bayern wont pay those huge huge wages. We probably wont. Barca definitely cannot afford to. Real may be able to and so may PSG but Real will probably focus on Mbappe you’d think if they wanted to make a statement under Zidane in the market.

I still cannot see it in all reality though particularly this summer again. I do see the point re Solanke, Brewster and Watkins but again I think the jump from say the near 20m, 24m and then the 28m prices for those players to go right up to 40m is massive and for those sort of clubs. I think if we get 30-35m offered, we will sell for that. Well thats if the plan is to sell and not loan (hopefully we stop this loaning out players who we don’t realistically see as first teamers or have been in and not made the grade - particularly the Drinkwaters etc), I don’t think many clubs will take us on at between 40-50m so at the risk of pricing ourselves out of a fee for a player who’s not part of the picture really, it might not be ideal.

People going to forget about what he has already achieved because of a wee bad spell on a average Dortmund team? I suppose Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho aren’t good players either then and shouldnt be considered? Christian Pulisic is also an example that having a bad run of games/few months in Germany (the season we signed him) doesn’t mean your a poor player, the fickleness in here is actually incredible. Is he worth the money and wages? Lets be real no player is worth those sums. Is he a once in a generation talent who will go on and become world class in the next 2/3/4 seasons and be one of the best in his position? Absolutely. A hot streak? Do you hear yourself? He has scored 20 CL goals already aged 20.... He has scored 43 goals in 46 games for club and country this season. It must be the longest hot streak in history because he has scored like 120 goals in 160 odd games as a pro with like 80 of these being in the last 4 seasons.... good god.

They might be interested but no way between 40-50m. Not a chance anyone’s signing him for that. 35m will be the max we get for him if we are lucky. Southampton? really? They are notorious for not spending big. Their record buy is £22.5m. They definitely arent spending 40-50m on one player, don’t know where you get that idea from. Neither are Leverkusen, Leipzig, Roma, Villa, Wolves, Dortmund... not sure what you think they are but loaded isnt the word. Particularly with Dortmund as well, who are only considering selling Sancho because if they miss out on the CL they need to recuperate funds and Haaland would only go for silly money 150-200 m sort of figures, which is debatable if anyone is going to drop that in one go this summer. Being HG means nothing for smaller clubs, it usually only adds more price for the top clubs who are daft enough to pay that bit more cause their squads usually have 60-70% foreign players and they need HG players to comply with the rules. If we get 40-50m from anyone for Abraham I will run a mile naked, thats how sure I am it will not happen. If Marina is asking for that and won’t budge then we may as well expect him to be in the squad next season or go on loan. @NikkiCFC the same guy who West Ham sold 2 seasons later for a loss greater than 25m? We can ask but we wont get it. Then it will be loan and lose value on him or keep him around... Honestly do people think clubs are going to be cueing up to 40-50 million pounds for Tammy Abraham.... not that he’s a bad player, absolutely not but it is almost delusion that people think he will go for that sort of fee.

I honestly don’t know what you people are on if you think we will get between 40-50m for someone with just over 2 left on his deal, who has barely played under the current coach and is clearly well out of favour. Arsenal are reportedly having to sell again before being able to buy this summer. Plus Lacazette and Aubamayang are better and even if they want a CF they are also heavily linked to Andre Silva who’s had a huge season to continue his impressive development the last 2/3 seasons (someone I would recommend we look at if we lose Giroud and Tammy not as a first choice option but an alternative) and also Eduoard from Celtic who will probably cost 15-20m also. Also Leicester are reportedly in for Eduoard from Celtic who as mentioned above will cost 15-20m max and has worked with Rodgers before. Plus he is a vastly superior footballer who offers more in terms of hold up and link up play. Tammy has interested Wolves in the past, although they signed William Jose on loan with an option to buy for considerably cheaper and also expect Jimenez to come back next season as he’s already in training. So I think it would take something drastic for them to spend 40-50m on a position they’re well stocked in. Yes he was at Villa before but no way they are stumping up between 40-50m for a player. Be real. And you think Spurs will replace Kane with Abraham? Or wont sign a better first choice striker? Wow. Or if Kane stays you think hes going to sit on their bench? West Ham maybe they could be interested after selling Sebastien Haller but no way they are paying 40-50m. They spent £45 m on Haller and look how that turned out. Plus every club in the world has been affected hugely by a global pandemic so clubs will probably not be as willing to spend 40-50m on the likes of Abrahams etc. Plus I don’t see why anyone would, really, it would be ridiculous. I mean honestly do people think we are going to get huge fees for him and then potentially for some of the other deadwood like Barkley, Zappacosta, Bakayoko, Emerson, Michy, Drinkwater etc in this current market? Really? We couldn’t get rid of them before so it will be even harder now seeing as budgets will be cut. Plus the Euro’s is coming up as always there will be breakout players from obscure teams that get moves off the back of an impressive tournament that will cost buttons in comparison to 40/50m. And regardless some clubs will have no choice but to sell players to make a profit, meaning that some good players may be on the move for a bit less than they would of been before.

Based on what? 7 games at the start of the season and a handful of games last season? Really? No doubt he is a good prospect but again, people throwing James under the bus for others is nothing new and it’s jumping the gun to say that Lamptey is better based on maybe what 15 games...? This is basically the Connor Gallagher v Mason Mount thing again, in all realism if Lamptey played here and James at Brighton it would be the exact same situation but your post would be “James is better than Lamptey why did we sell him”. Its not harder to play for Brighton or West Brom than it is for Chelsea because the expectations are so much more extreme and the level you have to be at it. Here a draw is basically a disaster 75% of the time and 2 points dropped the majority of the time, at a Brighton or a WBA it is a point gained. The lesser expectations also means that if a player has a bad game or two at a smaller club, you shrug it off or you say well its to be expected or we played a top team today, but at a big club obviously the managers and players demand much more from each other. Reece has put in some very solid performances in his near full 2 seasons here. Hes maybe lacking a bit of intensity and concentration at times in the games, you can see it but its something that will get drilled into him for sure because we have big players and a big manager. He could also be a bit more adventurous in the final third as he has excellent delivery at times and tends to be a bit predictable but hes also had games where he’s had these and played well. I think his development is going alright overall from the player he was at Wigan to now, the level has changed and he has still managed to come in, step up to the level, get called up to the English NT also and also look like he belongs there as well as here. Fully agree. The funny thing is, some of the people critising James now were probably shouting when he was at Wigan he was better than Wan Bissaka and definitely should be our first choice/come into the role ahead of Azpi. Obviously young players can be inconsistent, its what happens to most when they are young players, bar a select handful. Even Haaland or Mbappe will have a period where they maybe have a run of poor games. It happens. Wouldn’t worry about it. Next season it will be another young player ie. Connor Gallagher and someone else we’ve loaned/let go, for instance say if Gilmour left on loan.

I will be honest mate I think youve got a cheek 🤣 If it wasnt Varane it was maybe Nacho or Militao then. And how is Real’s domination and performance tonight? They're hit the post and Vinicus had a good chance but 2 shots on target as it stands and look like they have the know how but hardly special either, just solid. As I said before with Zidane this time round, they’ve became more pragmatic and if they want to sit off us and let us play against them then I’d rather that than Liverpool if they had their intensity. Granted Real are 3-1 up on aggregate but they’ve been much more organised under Zidane than they were when they had Ronaldo his first spell and their hardly this amazing team your making them out to be. Fear Vini more than Mane and Salah? Both who have good records of scoring against us more or less every game or second game whenever we play them? Other than the CL how many times have you watched Vinicius? Or Rodrygo? If you’ve watched them outside of the game last week you’d know their end product isnt consistent and thats why their starts are staggered also. They have got potential but there is no doubt Mane and Salah are much better players. Would agree Benzema is better than what they have in a 9 but Benzema is better than a huge amount of the strikers still playing and has been for years. Asensio as well is decent but hes never hit the heights since he broke onto the scene with Real and isnt better than those 2. We have Real now anyway more or less so we will see but I think its not as bad as people will think. We just need our attacking players to show up. They have the experience but honestly think if we play with the same intensity we seen v Atletico it will be close.

Not very expensive. Followed by 40-50m. In the same post. Hmm. That is very expensive, more so this season and more so for the level of clubs who would probably try to take him. I think we will be lucky to get anything over £30-35m for him. If we are lucky.

Seems to lack intensity and concentration. Still young enough and has got the potential, it just takes a bit of work to get those things, maybe through experience at the top level also. I mean look at Trent Alexander-Arnold, his intensity in defending and concentration hasn’t been there this season. Doesnt mean hes a poor player or that he cannot turn it around. I do think CHOs emergence at RWB with Tuchel should push him more though, Callum has sort of fined his defensive side of his game as we have seen at times and whilst he’s not a natural defender, he does the yards and he’s also more fearless and direct with the ball which can hurt teams where as James seems more reserved in that department, not looking to beat his man a lot.

To be honest I did think he would of done better. Or at least in terms of minutes played anyway, but I suppose if your managers picking Eric Lamela ahead of you reguarly or using him as a sub first somethings not quite right. Hes not set the world alight and probably would never have reached the heights he did at Spurs before and Real but he has 10 goals and 3 assists in 1135 minutes. Not necessarily a bad return considering its a goal involvement every 87 minutes or so. Fair some are in the Europa but also in 569 minutes in the PL he has 5 goals and 2 assists (more a purple patch though). Didn’t justify the huge wages and loan fee though... even funnier how hes basically fucking Spur off to go back to Real in the summer by sounds of it to continue picking up his pay check. Think the money he’s on and his treatment at Real now has probably killed his desire to try kick start his career. A similar sort of situation has occurred at Arsenal with Willian also, huge wages and not the level of output you’d expect after his returns last season (although probably more a one off as was best statistical season in his career for G and A), has 0 goals and 7 assists (5 in league).

This Yes the passes were good but a bit of pressure on the ball and Kroos doesn’t make them. Simple as that. Tbf they only had their 3 goals, one chance from another Liverpool mistake and maybe one or two half chances. Wouldn’t say they had 6 or 7 big chances. Liverpool also had a decent couple of chances, one that required some excellent defending from Varane and then Farlan Mendy. Real are a good team but have shown huge inconsistencies for the last 2/3 seasons plus have multiple ageing players who I think with some of our younger players and a bit of luck (which all teams need in the CL also) we could definitely give them a good game and shock then. I think Liverpool would be the worse opposition for us out of the two in all reality because they know us better and would probably be better suited to playing us than Real are tbf because Real aren’t really a high intensity pressing team either, they are a bit more pragmatic with Zidane. Liverpool may have a worse defence than Real in comparison to Ramos and Varane but I think bar Benzema, most would say Mane and Salah start at Real over the guys they have (Eden included right now because hes been shite for Real). Their MF is obviously superior technically but physically they also struggle at times and they look a bit leggy. Plus Kroos and Modric aren’t as interested in the combative stuff going back the way unlike Wijnaldum, Thiago, Henderson, Fabinho etc are. I still think if Liverpool get off to an an early goal tonight they have every chance of going through so hopefully Real do.

Real are pretty decent aye but what they have got is that knowhow in the CL and on their day can step it up. But lets not pretend that nobody else can step it up on their day to perform at a very high level or that Real are the force like they were the first time round under Ancelotti and Zidane when they had huge CL success. Without Benzema they would be nowhere in the last 2 or 3 seasons or if Atletico didn’t choke 2/3 leagues games in the same time period we played them they would be the 10 points clear they once were. Our performance v Liverpool was also impressive, bar it being only one goal. We were very complete I felt, solid defensively, good in building the game, had a few half chances which was the only disappointment. Tbf, 2 of Real’s goals v Liverpool come from real poor moments from Trent Alexander-Arnold, if he had tracked the run of Vinicius and tucked inside, the guy would never have scored the first goal. Thats not even mentioning Liverpool giving Toni Kroos the opportunity to get the ball under no pressure, turn around and get his head up to play the pass. Yes the pass and finish was quality but poor from Liverpool, particularly a team that press and play at high intensity normally, Jota (IIRC) just looks at him and lets him pick his pass, its a matter of 2 or 3 yards he doesn’t even have to go full tilt to put pressure on him and he didn’t. I mean how many times have people seen Kroos do that throughout his career? It is not rocket science, he has quality giving him time on the ball with no one trying to close him down is not good because he will hit forward runners all day long. Then again the second goal, Kroos again too much time and space, Trent mistake, Asensio goal. Then the third is a GK mistake. This assumption Real bossed the full game and destroyed Liverpool is a bit far fetched. They had another big chance that came from a Kabak mistake and a few other half chances but take the mistakes out and if it finishes 1-1 people are saying its not an amazing result for Real. Id fancy us against them also, probably more so than Liverpool, we have plenty of pace on the break and also legs in MF with Kovacic, Kante and Mount whilst they may have quality they have got ageing legs in MF and in defence. I wouldn't be surprised if Liverpool went and beat them later in fact, if they play with aggression and intensity and actually defend it will be a lot closer than many would think. Salah, Jota and Mane against anyone as well gives them as good a chance as they can get.

Jorginho's been one of our best players I felt? Recoveries, interceptions and tackles have been good. Needs to take a bit more control of the game but he’s doing the other side of the game well which people usually pan him for. I get the feeling we have another gear or two to go up though. Most of the players can do better though in midfield and attack.

Also this sort of performance is why I felt CHO would have been better suited, offers much more with the ball and has also shown defensive awareness. I suppose we have the 2-0 advantage so we aren’t desperate to be pushing for more goals but CHO would give us so much more I think.

Not been the worst start but still look a bit meh. That was a big chance and Chilwell done poorly there. Personally, Jorginho has been very good and very combatant so far lots of good interceptions/tackles whilst Kante hasn’t impressed.

If we get him in, its a huge signing especially for a free transfer. I mean look at Cavani at United this season as an example. And considering Aguero is also younger and a better player probably at current when he is fit and firing. His injury record as we’ve mentioned before is also hugely exaggerated. For 1 season, 18 months, 2 seasons, he would be better than hanging our coat on the ever decreasing chance we might get Haaland or on the chance Timo Werner or Kai Havertz are going to score those sort of goals we need next season. Yes I would hope their goal returns improve but we need a striker who can get 15-20 goals a season also on top of players who can contribute 10+ goals from other positions such as Werner, Mount and Havertz.

Would agree with that team bar Werner, would put Pulisic or Hudson-Odoi in ahead of him for sure. Unfortunately, can see TT using Werner v City, but again I would prefer to see that same front 3 v Palace line up v City. Would also imagine that Mount will play regardless.

Doesnt happen often enough though and thats what separates world class players from the potential world class players. No doubt winning a world cup etc plus trophies at Juventus and United, Pogba has achieved good things in his career but has never truly reached the heights he should have and thats on him more than anything. If he played like he did today, he would get in any team on the continent probably, but he will probably be average for 3/4 weeks now and churn out one other performance like this before the season ends. Then United fans will go why did we finish so far behind City and think that its purely down the OGS and not buying more top class players (which counts obviously for some of it) when guys like De Gea, Pogba, Martial, Maguire (yes hes overrated but clearly can play better than he has at times this season) have been so inconsistent costing them big points/lack of points from not being at it.

Honestly dont know who is going to finish top 4, its so tough to call. Leicester seem to be doing what they did last season dropping off a bit and then you’ve got the likes of us, Liverpool and surprisingly West Ham. Everton still have 2 games in hand also so its going to be an incredibly tight finish. The bigger games are going to make all the difference as well, we have to play West Ham, Man City, Leicester and to a lesser extent Arsenal in the league still. We have to win at least 3 of those remaining fixtures as the City game will be the toughest I think to give us the best chance (although I would take a draw at City as it wouldn’t be the worst result and if we take full points off Leicester, West Ham and Arsenal, it wont be too bad) and that is considering we win the other games v Brighton, Fulham and Villa. Arsenal not in the running but a big game none the less and we should be beating them and well if we drop any points at Fulham, Villa or Brighton we probably dont deserve to be finishing top 4.

Big goal from Cavani for United in the Spurs game. Something like 7 PL goals in under 1100 minutes. Maybe not hugely impressive but hes gotten some big ones and if he played more often from the start would probably have more. Must admit a very decent free for a player who still had plenty to offer and was saying that when we were linked in the January too.

Dont say that people will think hes Tuchel’s son next... It is mind numbingly annoying how people are seeing his value now because hes been playing under TT. Its quite embarrassing really. He may of had dips and games where hes not been at his best but it happens with young players. He is going to be a key figure here for the next 10+ years if he keeps going the way he is.

Typical. The Gary Neville’s etc of the world will say hes done an outstanding job also... United hypothetically could have been at the top/much closer if they had a coach who could tactically outmanoeuvre other coaches, they’ve had 9 draws this season. Or if they were better defensively. Crazy because the guys ex United they drop their standards/arent as critical, not saying they should be winning the league but even under Mourinho they managed a 2nd place finish and they were a considerably worse team probably. Every time they seem to look as if they are making progress with Ole they go and shoot themselves in the foot 😂