OneMoSalah

If we are going to move Jorginho on for Rice that is probably as close to undoing some of the good work of this window in terms of squad building we will get. Personally I know many wont be thrilled to watch Rice passing it sideways 90% of the time and small teams just letting us have the ball because he isnt progressive enough to play through the lines. Also under pressure he isnt great so imagine him v a City or a Liverpool? Unlike Jorginho. Unlike Kovacic. Even unlike Kante. So if Frank goes to this heralded 433 like City played last season, which many believe with Rice holding, Havertz and Mount more offensive, does that mean those two will have to come a lot lot deeper to get the ball out of our own half into the more forward players? Unlike at City where De Bruyne and Silva where always positioned in half spaces because Rodri and Fernandinho could find them further up and find other players also?

Disagree. In recent times: Diego Costa, bit of a prick for opposition teams but on song, ice cold and we probably got the best football of his career out of him with Mourinho for 6 or 7 months and then another 6 months with Conte. Although he was also v good at Atletico prior to signing here for a season and a half. Fabregas - one of the best midfielders in PL history IMO, just look at his stats his career will always be underrated but he has 350 PL games, 50 PL goals and 111 PL assists (2nd highest behind Giggs IIRC). Pretty much tells you everything you need to know, CM player getting that much assists is rare, more than Lampard and Gerrard also. De Gea - arguably best GK in Europe for a few seasons regardless of how you look at him now David Silva - wasn’t a flashly player but top top player, spacial awareness, final pass, close control everything Azpi - rock solid and that fee makes it even harder to argue how good he is and the buy, not many better defenders over the period hes been here. Torres (Liverpool) - no words needed he used to score against us and United for fun every time we played them. Xabi Alonso - another hugely underrated MF when he was here IMO, top top player and his successes at Real and Bayern proved that. Just a pity he didnt play under a more offensive minded manager in the PL. Pepe Reina - love him or hate him very good for them cunts for a period, not everyone’s cup of tes or world class as such as some in this list could be considered but pretty good. Santi Cazorla - another underrated buy, two footed, excellent in close areas, final pass, very good signing maybe if he was a few years younger people would of realised how good he actually was. Mata - pre United move one of the best playmakers in league and Europe. Just a pity he lacked pace or the ability to keep the ball better under pressure at time as he could have adjusted to playing as a wide forward or wide 10. be a few others who did well but not as well as those.

City getting Ruben Dias will be a good signing for them. Potential to be an excellent CB with a bit of fine tuning. Also Arsenal going after Aouar is also a good signing for them. Very gifted technically and will provide a more offensive threat to their midfield. Spurs getting Skinriar will also be a good signing. Mad Man United haven’t looked at him or even us earlier in the window. Both of us are crying out for a long term CB with potential to grow into a key figure in the team and already at a very good level. Interested to see how Koeman does with Barca too. Depay, Dest and Garcia would be decent signings as well as the refreshing of their squad getting rid of Vidal, Suarez and Semedo among others and focusing more on building their midfield around De Jong in a deeper position compared to where Valverde played him. Actually think Koeman will do a good job there and may tempt them to hold off on appointing Xavi, I know Koemans not exactly a top top manager but his experiences around various leagues with varied levels of success and his past experiences as a player there will give him a good platform to go from. I really think they are too driven on this Pep approach of football and also the promoting from within, footballs moved on from Pep’s style then, he has slowly altered it and became more tactically flexible to the point where City look different to his Bayern and his Bayern looked different to Barcelona while also retaining the basic principles of his philosophy.

Barkley maybe. Hes made an impact in every game hes featured this season. Ruben hasn’t. it is only like the 4th or 5th game of a season, lets hope Frank doesnt heavily rotate as our new players clearly haven’t gelled yet. If we were 20 games in and had played the same guys week in week out for weeks on end yes can see why he would rotate but 4 or 5 games in I hope he doesnt rotatet too msny players. Hopefully see a few swaps maybe but nothing crazy. Mount has to play based off tonights performances as does Havertz, Thiago Silva and Werner because they still need to fit into the team and accumulate minutes. Pullisic and Ziyech if fit would he nice to see some minutes for also as well as Callum who probably showed with his goal tonight he can do more. But hopefully the team will be similar bar maybe Jorginho in for Kovacic or Kante as I feel he will give us more control and maybe see Callum start.

Barkley and RLC? No thank you.

Hopefully they do rotate in attack but again, I don’t think they will change that frontline too much plus predominantly they have Lucas Son Kane Alli Lamela and Lo Celso with Bale out injured so it will be a strongish attack somehow compared to a team of kids. Even if it is mainly a B team in other positions attack theyll be relatively strongish. And yes Frank has outdone Jose but if we play anything like Brighton and today Spurs will exploit those weaknesses and tactically naivety. Sunday league teams would exploit those mistakes thats how bad some of them are. Even with a back 5 as weve done both times we beat them. These are the sort of things Mourinho’s teams analyse and look to exploit in their game plan and based on how proficient they were v Southampton who played a extremely high line I wouldnt be surprised if its same again v us because they will entice us to have the ball and dictate the game so we will push up and play into their hands. Was same when he was here both times round as well as at any other club. We need to tighten up a big deal. Or we really do risk them putting us out. Franks set up and tactical naivety is arguably looking worse. From last season I didnt think it was possible.

Bet Mourinho cannot wait to play us on Tuesday after watching that. Bale against Alonso if hes fit. Fuck me. Could be a cricket score

The plan is rely on individual quality hut we don’t have a Hazard or even a Cesc or Diego Costa to make it work and Pulisic and Ziyech arent fit yet. He will be found out if he cannot make a team with players like Havertz, Ziyech and Pulisic play effectively as a unit as opposed to individuals. And the he needs more time argument is an even worse excuse. He’s had almost 10 months of us playing football which is so predictable in attack and relies solely on individuals doing stuff off the cuff as opposed to coordinated patterns or movements. We never even went for Thiago. And would not because of his age. Bar Silva when have we ever signed anyone 29-30 or over in recent years?

Give the guy a bit of time. Even for his age its still a change. Even then, what do you want a 36 year old guy to do in a team thats continuously exposed without the ball?

I dont know. A squad full of hugely promising young players, for me he would be the obvious choice. Just look at the players he improved during his time in England, like 10-14 players made NT debuts for England having worked with him. His brand of football may be slightly overrated but its an improvement on what we are seeing, definitely defensively. Only issue for me is his disregard of domestic cup competitions. If he were ever to work here at any point that has to change.

This continues next month or two and he’s gonna be getting sacked. 100%. Horrendous.

Would of liked to have seen Jorgi-Kovacic today. WBA gonna pack the middle of the pitch dont see the need for Kante as much. Suppose never know. They did look alright on counter v Everton but still Mount Kova and Jorginho last season at beginning was really good and fluid.

Tbf the pressure is on him to perform if he likes it or not. If he has a shite start the pressure will get worse because the expectations is that he should be much better than Kepa. If he doesnt start well, the pressure will be intense.

Hardly as it Ruben has done anything to put tree ups under Frank. I get he was injured but even Callum after a long lay off had a foot in and did much better at the start of the year. Ruben is the same sort of player as Pogba or an Ozil, not playing style wise or stature wise but he is effectively a luxury player and only useful if you have the ball. If he doesnt affect the game in the offensive actions, what does he do? Really? When we don’t have the ball he is liable to be a weakness highlighted by other teams in terms of his languid style and lack of effort or intensity off it, be it pressing or getting back into position. It may be a bit unfair to brand him as this but even under Sarri I felt the same, he was an issue if we pressed teams because his intensity wasn't the same as the others and he would be on his heels as opposed to going on the triggers. Little things like this can affect your pressing hugely. Its all good everyone has to go together but its got to be coordinated. The links to Southampton is weird also because they are a high line, pressing sort of team....

100%. Or selling Loftus-Cheek full out. When Havertz gets up to speed in the 10 role and Mount keeps earning his spot in the team Ruben wont play. He will get less time than Ross. Why are people celebrating this? He is a huge improvement on Xhaka and the fact Arteta, who was at City when Pep wanted him, wants him would indicate that he would very much be a key signing for them. Even more seeing how they are playing with the ball, it baffles me people think selling our only controlling midfied player is a good idea also? Would rather watch Arsenal with Xhaka play, where he slows the game down than give them someone who can play one and two touch through the lines as well as dictate the tempo. Selling him to sign Declan Rice would also be typical wouldnt it? Are we trying to turn into England? We have got enough HG players, why are we chasing severely overpriced players? Rice is decent as is Chilwell but both 40m players top. In a much more realistic market these days, that would be their max fees.

Jesus christ. Barkley 🤣 Stevie Wonder would of scored that one for fuck sake or even worse, Fernando Torres would of. Great play though. Mount so much better centrally than outwide.

Tomori-Silva v WBA please. I know its only Barnsley but after Liverpool and tonights performance Tomori warrants a start for me.

Individual pressing is pointless though if your not gonna do it as a unit. Wouldnt matter if it was Taz the Tazmanian devil or roadrunner doing it if nobodies gonna do it with you your gonna get passed round 99/100 times 😂. So dont see how his pressing being on another level will be a positive if we decide to sit off teams and be passive.

Mount’s work rate there was great. Tammy s awareness there too, very good. Havertz hattricks on. Hudson-Odoi falling over and staying on the deck after giving the ball away tryna knock it over somebodies head though 🤣 doing his best to try make an impression, not working out too well

Good goal Barkley. If he could learn to play with his head up every now and then thought he might actually be a half decent footballer on a regular basis despite the standard of opponents tonight. Wait and see starts v West Brom and just puts the head down running into folk 24:7.

Bit of a daft comparison, no offence. Hazard had achieved something here and also in France, he had shown he was potentially an outstanding player who would be world class with a little push or two after he led Lille to a league title and even after 2 seasons here it was so so clear to see Mourinho would help him get to that level. Comparing Callum to him in this situation or any would be a disservice to Eden. Even then, on hard work and desire, considering Eden played in a Mourinho team for 2.5 seasons which required hard work that someone of his ability obviously didnt necessarily want to be doing to focus more on offensive actions higher up the pitch. Even then the game plan was sit deep and pass to Eden to let him do it all which obviously required a lot of hard work as he was the look to guy if Cesc or Costa didnt do anything. Conte free’d him up and so did Sarri but not because he was lazy as such, because he was undoubtedly the best player in the PL and earned much more freedom but he still had to work hard in some games particularly without the ball also. Its not the work rate and desire in games either I was meaning, its the willingness to put the work it in training and fight for his place. Frank wouldnt be saying Callum has to keep training hard if he was already doing so IMO. Plus Callum isn't good enough yet where he can afford to throw the toys out of the pram after not playing regularly 2 games into a season and request a meeting over his future due to playing time for the 2nd season running and third time in 3 seasons hes been talked about leaving. He has potential yes but if that means he thinks hes earned some sort of god given right that he should start every week he is sadly mistaken. If he wasnt an academy player there would be a lot less leniency towards this in my opinion. Just as there was a bit of dislike with the whole will he go will he stay shit Eden had sort of pulled in an interview with some Belgian journalist midway through the season betore he left. Or it annoyed me anyway. Alongside the several interviews that same dickhead journalist had done with Courtois also about maybe leaving etc. And thats two guys who were world class, who had been key in 2 title wins, won a few domestic trophies and others etc. Not somebody whos played under 50 times and luckily managed to pressure the club into giving him a huge deal.

Youd think so but you could easily question Callums work rate and his desire, which Mount has clearly shown since coming in even if his limited ability is there (and that pathetic attempt at closing down the Brighton player for their goal). Every time he’s not playing these stories come out and they are obviously coming from somewhere, either his agent or someone close to him. Why else would they report that he is considering his future here for the 3rd time in a very very short career? Hes already handed in one transfer request under Sarri, who again could have not played him at all. He must of expected when he renewed he would be given a automatic spot - it doesn’t work like that - even more so when you change your manager again so everyone starts from scratch and gets a chance to prove themselves. Its only 2 games in to the season also which sums him up as a person in my eyes, a spoilt brat who expects everything handed to him and expecting more and more without doing anything in return. Franks right, work hard in training, get picked. Look at Tammy, Tomori, Billy, Reece... Frank could have easily stuck with experience last season as most others probably would but those guys earned their shot and alongside Mason attained lots of minutes. Callums like 19 or 20 and yes hes on 120k a week but hes not done fuck all yet to be making these sort of power plays like he did for contract or the okay im considering my future as Im not playing and you strengthened the area of the pitch I play in. Do you think Mason Greenwood would do the same if United sign Sancho? Or a bit further off topic do you think Lucas Moura, Son etc at Spurs are doing something similar because they signed Bale? Or the young guys at Arsenal such as Saka and Martinelli at Arsenal because they signed Willian? No they arent.

Wish this guy would just stop and put the hard yards in. If he is good enough, works hard he will play regardless of who is in the squad. Linked with leaving now for what the third time in two or three seasons as he is said to be “considering his future”, even more ridiculous after the shit show prior getting 120k a week on a 5 year deal when Lampard came in after making maybe 20 first team appearances. Spoilt brat if you ask me. Yes we’ve signed some top players but that is how top clubs progress and how top players improve, with competition. If he wants to go let him go, I dont see him ever eclipsing Pulisic or Havertz at all. He would only get better here I think playing with the various types of attacking players we have also. Plus Bayern links? He doesnt start ahead of Muller, Coman, Gnabry or Sane in any of those attacking positions. So a waste. Also the KDB comparison? Their situations are different because De Bruyne had 100 games in Belgium, a season in Germany, played for his NT regularly before we sold him. He was further along in his development and needed regular games to push from a talented player at an established level who was also pretty experienced for his age to progress to the player he was for Wolfsburg for 18 months before he left. I dont think Callums got that level of experience or consistency yet where hes waiting to bridge that gap and go from a talented player at an established to a top top player like Kevin did in 18 months (although he is a surprising example). In fact none of our academy players are at that level where they are a season or 18 months off turning into that sort of top top level players unfortunately but they have time still and it doesn’t necessarily take 1, 2 or 3 seasons.

I think going back to Juventus may do him some good. He did well there first time round. His manager is his former teammate, he will know his faults, Buffon also said he was shy and if he changed his mentality he could be a top top player at the time. Time to see if he can.

Would say I am happy we are getting another GK but we are still going to concede big chances from set plays and transitions. As mentioned last season and in that guardian article on Kepa also, its a recurring theme of Lampards teams. Lets hope Mendy - or Kepa if this pushes him on to improve tenfold and re-establish himself (doubt it but never know) - can make a difference but wont pretend that I know who the guy is or what he is like.