OneMoSalah

What was it about Gotze that made you never rate him out of curiosity? Still think those 2 seasons at Dortmund where they won the Bundesliga he looked like one of the best youngsters to emerge in a long time. Just looked like he oozed quality in everything he did. Wilshere also, was clear to see at Bolton and that game v Barca he was outstanding for Arsenal. But injuries and continuously not having a designated position ruined him - was he going to ever settle and be either a 6, a 8 or a 10? played in all those roles over a period and never settled in one.

All well and good saying he has size and athleticism but he has clearly regressed since his injury. Mount wont be going anywhere and Havertz is going to be number 1 option in that more advanced midfield role. Look at Ross, has all that things too, size, athleticism but is too inconsistent and lacks the spark he had before his injury trouble. Ruben looks the same. More to football than size and athleticism. He has to do something truly amazing to have a chance of coning back next year. Hes 24 now not a kid. 25 in January. Times running out so he doesnt have the luxury of having a mediocre season and coming back to fight for his place in my eyes.

Real interest to see how he deals with these players that wont feature as often as we failed to offload them. Likes of Rudiger, Emerson, Giroud (didnt try offload him) and Alonso for instance. All these guys are established guys who are international players who will want to be playing, regardless of their relationship with Frank, nobody likes sitting on the bench. Even more so this season where there will be a international tournament at the end of it. The whole situation with Alonso after WBA too might have put extra strain on his relationship with him perhaps. Even more so now as well as Callum seems to pipe up every 5 games if he doesn’t play every week wanting to discuss his future.... keeping squad players happy is always difficult but if he manages it, it is a good sign of his capabilities as a man manager. If they dont exactly play and get frustrated, it isnt good for the group.

Will see plenty minutes in a team that may go down yes but the fact that they try to play good stuff will be beneficial. Not as if hes going to a Burnley or a Southampton of a Palace where they play more directly with less of the ball in counter attacking teams although Southampton do play a high press and think he could do with buying into that to improve his off the ball work.

Fair. I think Rodri is a decent player anyway but the comparisons to Busquets when he played in Spain were a bit far fetched for me. Busquet’s positioning and quality on the ball is much better and was much more key to that system Pep used at Barca than what Rodri is to City now. Rodri maybe a bit more of a physical player who will win more duels compared to Busquets and as you’ve said going from Atletico to City was always going to be a change for him. If Fernandinho was younger there wouldn’t be a starting place for him in Pep’s team in my opinion. Plus he played in 442 teams predominantly with Villarreal and Atletico than 433. For 45m I dont think theres many players as good as Thomas that were available in that sort of position though and felt we maybe missed a trick not considering him as opposed to Declan Rice. I suppose come January or next summer we will be back for him again as it seems to be Frank really wants him and nobody else.

I know its a YouTube video of highlights but I do remember watching the game and thought he was very good.

He still stood out for me individually that night, despite them playing poorly as a team, tidying up in midfield and getting interceptions/tackles in at times. Couldn’t do it all himself though and Liverpool basically ran over the top of them and as you said Oblak was key to them going through but he wasnt poor by any means and played better than the majority of the others. His performance at Anfield was better though (first leg was at Anfield IIRC?) and you got to see much more of his ability on the ball as Atletico were much more effective on the break. Think he will surprise a lot of people in a much more progressive team. £45m is a snip these days as well for a proven player at his age with lots of games in La Liga and CL experience.

If we are so set on getting another defensive minded MF I dont see why we weren't in for him. Top top signing for Arsenal. Performances in both legs of the CL knock out games against Liverpool last season more than enough proof to show he good he is.

Yawn. Surprise party or not he was still there and didn't object to it or tell people to call it off after finding out. Irresponsible. Do these guys think they are above the rules everyone else is following in the country? Obviously theres a minority not following it but when your representing clubs like Chelsea and Dortmund as well as your national team as well as being in the public eye, really really should have more sense. Not as if their brickies, IT consultants, sparkies or whatever that wont end up in the paper for such an event is it?

When will these guys learn? Definitely should be fines. Perhaps dropped from England squad too? Only way to drum it into them. Just because they are young guys who are millionaires doesnt mean they are above the rules everyone else is following. Extremely arrogant and stupid. Sancho has been dropped for Dortmund as he broke covid rules to get a haircut and the next international break after Foden and Greenwood thinking they could get away with inviting girls round, the three of them do this? No wonder people think English footballers are arrogant braindead twats 😂

I think it will be after that. Could argue signs were there v Leeds. Makes it even more maddening that we tried to sit in and didn’t make any real forceful attempt to impose ourselves and go at them in our match prior to going down to 10.

It was more than likely but again Leeds exposed Liverpools defence on their first game and other teams will again. Also still better finishing from Villa and they would of been on 10 goals or plus. Easily. Barkley had decent chances, Grealish also could have sealed his hattrick and then Watkins hit the bar. It was bad enough but imagine it got even worse.

Could have easily scored a hattrick if he was clinical enough. Clear signs of why he is never going to be a key starter for a huge club competing for trophies where these moments are the difference between a top player and a good one. Or winning a big game in a title decider or cup final, or losing it. But promising debut.

Dont agree about clubs being banned from buying players for instance but the point he is trying to make is right. These billionaire owners and clubs should be trying to help lower league clubs out. To preserve these leagues and these clubs.

“I dont promote the violence” did he not kick a fan in the face pre match after the warm up 🤣 the guys a clown. The passion is good but him and Neville continuing to not mention Ole’s obvious short comings is a bit of a shambles. You could break that game down tactically as well as the Palace game and Palace game and its clear That despite player performances that tactically there are huge issues. United could be sitting 12th with 5 games to go and they still wouldn’t be criticising Ole who is an average manager who only kept his job with that his 18 or 19 game run last season if I am honest including when Bruno Fermandes arrived. They were a mess. Could give that guy 5 of the best players in the world and theyd still be a mess. Suppose when your ex team mates are pundits on your game you get some leeway.

95m for Pogba and 80m for Maguire.... Maguire thinks hes a midfielder and the other cunts hopeless unless you let him stroll around as a luxury player which for a club like United, horrendous.

Lampard played in two Jose Mourinho teams and a Rafa Benitez team here. Its not as if he’s never seen or heard of tactical fouling being used by top managers when these situations arise. So to credit it purely to a new coaching addition doesn’t sit for me, I think Frank’s realised you can’t try and play like we do and win the fair play award also because we will leave spaces. I think he’s learned that the hard way through last season and the players also have. Pep encourages his players to make fouls if necessary to prevent these situations, Jose does, Klopp does.

Robertson still head and shoulders above but the battle between Chilwell, Regulion and Tierney will be intriguing. All young and all talented. Tierney for me, as a fellow Scot so maybe biast, has a huge influence on that Arsenal team IMO in terms of his mentality and approach. He’s said himself he isnt a leader who shouts or that in an interview on a Scottish football podcast but in terms of leading by example, he is a huge influence as well as being a serial winner having won trophies every season he has played. Plus he can play. Think hes the best of the rest in the league in my eyes in that LB position. If Benjamin Mendy wasnt a clown and fit, it would be him though.

Mourinho masterclass at Old Trafford. Regullion has looked very good, as has Ndombele. Ole’s out of his depth. Men v boys.

An improvement in using tactical fouling is hardly something you can solely accredit to Anthony Barry. Its the players being a bit more cynical and realising that its stop it here or concede a chance more or less. I think Frank has maybe said it to them. I mean that Spurs documentary on amazon showed the situation at Spurs, they were too nice according to Jose and not horrible when they had to be. City do it, Liverpool do it, we've done it in past title winning teams, United have almost certainly done it with Ferguson. Maybe he’s highlighted we were caught on transitions too much last season but a blind man could see that if I am honest, I mean when you have both fullbacks and 3 attacking midfield players pushed up as well as a CF almost all the time that tends to happen. Plus if Frank and Jody couldn’t see that we were caught out on transitions and they needed this guy to show them then I really would be surprised and shocked as it was a major downfall to our season. He is known for a lot of work on set piece analysis, maybe we will see an improvement over the course of the season, too early to say we have improved that already IMO. I am hopeful that will change because two of our biggest weaknesses last season was defending set plays and transitions.

An improvement in using tactical fouling is hardly something you can solely accredit to Anthony Barry. Its the players being a bit more cynical and realising that its stop it here or concede a chance more or less. I think Frank has maybe said it to them. I mean that Spurs documentary on amazon showed the situation at Spurs, they were too nice according to Jose and not horrible when they had to be. City do it, Liverpool do it, we've done it in past title winning teams, United have almost certainly done it with Ferguson. Maybe he’s highlighted we were caught on transitions too much last season but a blind man could see that if I am honest, I mean when you have both fullbacks and 3 attacking midfield players pushed up as well as a CF almost all the time that tends to happen. Plus if Frank and Jody couldn’t see that we were caught out on transitions and they needed this guy to show them then I really would be surprised and shocked as it was a major downfall to our season. He is known for a lot of work on set piece analysis, maybe we will see an improvement over the course of the season, too early to say we have improved that already IMO. I am hopeful that will change because two of our biggest weaknesses last season was defending set plays and transitions.

Personally I don’t see how it does. Klopp overhauled their squad but it took him longer due to not having the same finances we have if I am honest but before he got Alisson and VVD At least you could see his clear identity on the team and how they would play, with the signs that they were short of two key positions: CB (VVD) and GK (Alisson). Would you not say the additions of Mendy, Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz on top of using Mason, Tammy, Reece, Billy and Tomori last season is basically overhauling the squad so to speak plus Kovacic joining permanently and Pulisic joining up last summer also. Thats 13 changes to the squad in 1 and a bit seasons. Plus the club allowing Ross to leave, David Luiz to leave, Gary Cahill to leave, Eden to leave, Willian to leave, Pedro to leave etc the squad has been refreshed and we really should have built a platform of some sort last season but after December we didn't make any real progress and regressed due to poor performances and questionable tactical/in game management. Klopp had to take 2 or 3 seasons really to fully overhaul that squad but the identity was always there and we have basically done an overhaul in 18 months in my opinion without a clear identity or way of playing. If he has to spend another 200m or 300m to be successful in some regard thats proof enough Frank isn’t the right man for this job in my eyes because a squad with this quality of players now, the Ziyechs, Werners, Havertz, Chilwells, Jorginhos, Kantes, Kovacics, Thiago Silvas, Azpilicuetas, this should be enough for any reasonable manager worth their salt to make a formidable team and this season if it doesnt happen then questions should definitely be asked. 100%. How long has it taken Arteta to put an identity on Arsenal? Or win a trophy? Or how much spending did it take him? Those players we have signed are definitely good enough too to be aiming a bit higher than just finish 4th now. Or waiting another season so we can spend another 200m and make a go for the title or push them closer than last year. If this were a Jose Mourinho, an Antonio Conte, a Maurizio Sarri - there wouldn’t be the same attitude. That is a fact. He has to deliver a trophy and we have to be in that top 3 being much closer with a much better GD also.

Even more so the give him time to build a squad. Hes spent just north of 200m this summer on Mendy, Werner, Havertz, Chilwell, Silva (free yes), Ziyech and Sarr (another free) and wants to spend more on Rice. If we get Rice thats what 8 players he’s added to the squad. Plus he okay’d the signing of Kovacic also so can put him down to one of his buys if you want to. Getting time to change say 14 players in a squad isnt a valid excuse for me if a sign of progression in 1 and a bit seasons is hard to see. Klopp spent a lot then won when he spent 75m on VVD and 67m on Alisson in space of a season. After realising they needed them. Guardiola won after spending 200-300m his second year. What more do they want him to do? Spend another 200m? The backings there he has to turn it into wins and trophies. Cannot keep spending 200m every season and use this as an excuse. Same with Pep now again, hes spent near 400-500m on CBs and FBs alone if he doesnt win anything with City this season he will have failed this season.

Have to disagree, think he’s shown more than enough in his spell here, even in some games last season with Frank he can be more than just a good CB with a bit of fine tuning. He still can be rash, give away stupid wee fouls for wanting to get too tight to players at times but the defensive problem here isn’t purely just down to him. Also I think Mourinho’s set up would suit him immensely, playing 20m deeper, he would probably try coach him out of that over aggressiveness and rash decision making we see at times. As he has done with Eric Dier. Selling/loaning players to other PL teams with similar goals or targets to us for me is still daft. Get him sold abroad. PSG apparently want him. Letting Arsenal sign Willian as well for me was a bad move, regardless of how much people didn’t rate him or did rate him etc. Luiz and Cech only recent examples I would say were acceptable in recent times.

Good performance. Keep this up all season and 50m will look a sound investment.