OneMoSalah

Top performance. No passengers. Midfield battled well and controlled the game. Both Jorginho and Kovacic really didnt have any issues. The pressure on the ball by the team set by Mount, Willian and Giroud throughout was also very good. Alonso also another very decent performance offensively and defensively. Same team v Liverpool bar change the GK and include Christian. Game management also very good, wouldnt say they had any big big chances and despite getting a penalty it was very comfortable. Who said we shouldn’t put out a strong team? Final is an excellent opportunity for these guys particular the new players and academy graduates to buy into the big winning culture the club has had when Frank was here as a player.

No chance the guy got the ball first and it hit CHO then went out. Was risky but was a good tackle imo.

87th minute Jorginho excellent harrying. Lot of quiet on here regarding his performance has been really good today too.

No need CHO. Azpi was basically touch tight showing him outside...

Great ball from Alonso. Get in. Fantastic play beforehand by Kovacic too before the corner. Own goal?

Him and Jorgi have done everything well so far. Proper midfield performance. Third goal would be nice. Mason has to hit the target with that chance that Willian pulled back for him. United still have 30 mins to do something. Just takes one goal for them to be right back in this.

Rudiger whats the need? Youve done everything right there, matched the run, got close, why fucking push him over?

Roy Keane more than likely “Taxi home for De Gea, dont let him on the bus” 😂

Shit dnt know why this is in this thread 😂😂😂 woops

Incredible 🤣 De Gea horrendous. Well done Mount good anticipation and gifts us a real foothold now.

Great interplay between Azpilicueta and Willian then a fantastic centre. Well deserved goal.

I know we've made a recurring joke about United and fouls I think Zouma got away with one there. Jesus Christ. No idea wtf him and Rudiger were doing.

Martial on. Shit. also forgot to say before KO why did they refer to OGS as a young/up and coming manager? Hes been a manager since like 2008 or 2011 if you dont consider Utd reserves.... he may only he later 40s but hes been coaching for over 10 years....

Yeah hasnt been in the game. Hasnt been all too bad this season though but not top top quality.

Fernandes and Fred going down for nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Decent start. Need a bit more cutting edge in final third. Azpi having a bit of joy on the right when we push up.

Despite him playing for Arsenal I am delighted he has shaken off the injury issues at the start of the season and beginning to cement himself as one of the top fullbacks in his age bracket. Having seen him make it through from a kid at Celtic to playing there, for Scotland and now looking very comfortable at Arsenal, it is exciting to see how far he can go. He has huge talent and his mentality and leadership which was developed at Celtic is the sort all top top players have and any young player should aspire to have. He is almost an old school footballer in that sense. Trains hard, plays hard, a real man in comparison to some of these other modern day youngsters. He will turn out a real bargain if he can keep going on top of what hes done with Arteta. He is a player with so much experience and leadership skills for such a young age and you can see he is becoming more influential at Arsenal now as well in that regard imo. His workrate is also fantastic as it has always been. If Guendouzi had this mentality and work ethic he would be a great player for them too. But he has been slowly walking down the wrong path since Arteta walked in there.

Chinese shareholders bought a 20% (I think?) share in Atletico few years back before selling them after IIRC. They made Simeone is one of highest paid managers and gave bumper deals to Oblak and a few others at the time.

For all the talk of blocking path of Callum I have been disappointed most of the time hes played this season under Frank. I know he had the injury but still felt he could do more. And with Ruben. They were at higher levels last season with probably similar amounts of game time prior to Sarri giving them a proper run.

No it wont but getting a taste for trophies is also a much needed step for some of this group.... it will give some of these guys a taste of what its like to win trophies here which is essential for the likes of Mount, James, Tomori, Pulisic, Tammy, Billy etc to progress here and shape how they are as senior players/leaders in the future, as I think they will still be around 5, 6 or 7 years down the line if they keep making improvements. Its all well and good developing, becoming good players but you need to be hungry to be successful and trophies, be it FA cups or carabao cups or league titles or CLs or Super cups etc give them the experience and hopefully make them want more and the want the bigger ones. I mean Drogba, Lampard, Terry, Cole, Cech etc were all in all top players but they were winners too. Plus its always nice to get a trophy regardless. Even Sarri getting the Europa last season, we knew it wasn't the best of marriages so to speak but that trophy win brought him his first managerial trophy and this cup can be the same for Frank. It shouldnt be written off. And nobody is saying it would make up for no CL Football but it is also a step in the right direction. I am sure OGS will be telling the United boys how serious it is as well this game and that an opportunity to play in a final is big. At big clubs you want to be competitive across the board, league, CL, the cup competitions. Its no surprise the likes of Ferguson, Mourinho, Pep... some of the world’s most successful managers, have all take/taken these cups in the past seriously be it in England or Spain or Germany or Italy. All serial winners.

Would be some team but pretty certain Dani Olmo is Spanish and has been capped/called up.

Ferran Torres? Apparently City bound. Desperate to work with Pep.

Tbf Juve fans didnt want Allegri at first and only warmed to him after his first season. I don’t expect them to change manager anytime soon particularly when they win Serie A. I think someone like Sarri as he said about when he was in Napoli and also here, he needs a season or whatever to embed the principles of his football and then build on it after. I have seen some of the games and they are very predictable but I think theres been glimpses of what they could do if they keep going down that path and next season, Id imagine it would get better. Plus they have an aging squad, regardless of manager, they need to freshen it up.

Just going by what was reported by several papers.

I still think selling Jorginho will be a mistake. Regardless of if we end up signing Declan Rice or not. I don't see Rice as an outstanding midfielder or central defender, good perhaps but he still needs to do a lot more for me to be considered as someone who will come here and make a huge huge difference and warrant the fee. Also I do hope that Frank and the club arent going to go mad and sign up every half decent English player for crazy money when there is clearly better value out there in foreign players still as we’ve seen with Werner and Ziyech. As we could potentially see with Tagliaco or Onana or Van der Beek or whoever else. I mean what are we talking Rice - 70m, Chilwell - 75m, look at how much Maguire went for as well - 80m. Good players but hardly worth that sort of outlay at this present moment and you could probably find a handful of guys in other European leagues just as good for half the price. I mean we have been linked with signing Nick Pope, which would be a shrewd move if he is our number 2 as he has proved himself in the PL and is very very solid but again I dont think he would make a real difference in the starting 11 week in week out and be a big improvement on Kepa - who people seem to want to throw to the wolves without remembering he has had good performances this season also as well as a very good debut campaign last year. I mean I don’t grudge us paying 70/75m for Havertz because he is an outstanding talent but those guys mentioned before arent going to be on the sort of level he is in the next 2 or 3 years if he keeps following this trajectory. This may be the Scotsman in me but realistically there aren’t many English players I would say are worth 70/75m or more at present bar Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Joe Gomez, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Raheem Sterling. Maybe if Jordan Henderson was 5 years younger he would be valued at that in present day. I get having a homegrown core in the squad but surely the academy boys should be that core and a few exceptional homegrown players if we can get them. Rice has more of a chance than Chilwell IMO but I think he still has to prove himself more. He has played virtually every week with West Ham as a DM or as a CB and their league position shows that they have been poor at keeping the ball out. So how people think signing him for 70m will make a massive difference to our backline or midfield when he cannot vastly improve West Hams is odd, if he was playing to the level Virgil van Dijk was at Southampton or Kante was at Leicester then I could see the argument but for me he hasnt been anywhere near close. They have conceded 59 goals, the joint 4th most goals conceded this season. 4 more than last season.