OneMoSalah

Good feet for second goal which is surprising as he is often stumbling around in games as if he is wearing lead boots. Done us a big favour 😂

Actually, Jose did want to keep both but they wanted to leave as they werent playing and the Euros was coming up. He stated this during that window and in the next season. Plus if your going to turn around and say that selling those two to fund moves for Matic and Salah wasn't a good move at the time, then it wouldnt be true. We were arguably one of the most effective teams at maintaining the FFP rules in that time (ok its not exactly something to shout about completely but still...) and while they may have gone on to do very well (KDB and Salah as well a season later) you cannot keep players who do not want to stay 9 times out of 10, at any football club. De Bruyne was insistent on being sold and not loaned. Mata wanted to be played more regularly and got his move to United which after 2 seasons of playing regularly and doing well, looked a mistake in terms of how his career has gone IMO. Yes managers have gotten what they have wanted to an extent here in terms of players but you cannot say that the club havent also made inputs through Emenalo or others or made decisions that have ruffled a few feathers.

Ivanovic caused that for a reason that made sense to a degree until he started to decline rapidly and it is something we severely lack now: an effective aeriel presence which was useful for attacking and defensive set plays and a target for kickouts from the GK to get higher up the litchi when building from the back wasnt as effective or would take longer. Although I do feel we missed a trick not having Luis and Azpi as our starting fullbacks, as we did have plenty of height and physical presence in Cahill, Terry, Matic and Costa.

True although I do think overtime, he wouldn’t be the sort of signing that the likes of a Skriniar or Koulibaly or someone in that mould would be. It is true there is a lack of top top CBs throughout Europe and the ones that are top are either basically unattainable or aging out. I do think Ake would be better than who we have in terms of how we play with the ball but in terms of pulling the defence together and tightening the ship, so to speak, I dont think he really has that mentality or level to make a considerable difference.

He has pulled that shit everywhere he goes. Even at Celtic where he had huge domestic success and raised those levels, in European competitions he continued to use the same nonsense after getting pumped by Barcelona, PSG, Bayern etc when the harsh reality is he has no plan B when things do not work or for playing much better teams. I see that as a reason why someone, who is nowhere near as highly regarded as Neil Lennon who is back at Celtic, will always outdo him as Celtic manager in Europe as he can get teams to punch above their weight. Its not just at Celtic, look at Michael Laudrup at Swansea and look at Klopp at Liverpool, they were a bit more adaptable and that made them a better team - although Klopp needed more time to sort the Liverpool squad, which had really been carried by Suarez, Sterling and Coutinho, as they had invested poorly after selling Suarez. It is also why I feel Rodgers will never truly be as successful a manager throughout his career and win trophies with any other clubs at a more competitive level than Celtic. His stubbornness and one way attacking playing style at Liverpool was ultimately their downfall the season they finished second after looking like they could go on to win the league. He had also said some ridiculous things about defensive football being easy to coach, when we beat them 2-0 that season at Anfield although he has shown time and time again, his teams downfall is their defending. If he had adopted that ideology that defensive coaching is easy Palace would never score 3 goals at Selhurst Park and effectively scrap their title chances and probably made things clear to their best player of the last 10 years that he had to go somewhere else to win trophies. I mean yes tonight Bournemouth got some luck but some of the play for the last 2 goals, Leicester were dallying around trying to play out with ten men and getting caught very easily. They've been doing it all season, playing out and all it takes is a team brave enough to see that with enough pressure they can be rattled. I mean even when we drew with them earlier in the season in the league, our goal from Mason came from pressing them well when they played out and he robbed Ndidi outside the box before scoring.

Personally I think where we were with the 11 or 12 point gap we had much earlier in the season and where we are now, when the season ends regardless of where we finish if its 3rd, 4th or 5th we will look back with regret at the points we have dropped. Perhaps that seems harsh but in all reality we should have picked up at least between 10-15 points from the 11 losses and 6 draws. That would have us at either 70 or 75 points which would have easily secured top 4 and had us sitting second potentially. Even more frustrating when you see the points Leicester have dropped and the fact United may leap frog us as well as the fact the team has clearly regressed in many aspects that were working at the start of the season and havent gotten to grips with the errors that were continually being made at the beginning. Before a ball was kicked, yes absolutely, finishing 4th and getting CL seemed like it would be an achievement but basing how the season went and the scenario we find ourselves in now where its 3 games to go and we could still drop out the top 4, it is no surprise people are concerned. I also wouldn't say there hasnt been patience with the young guys, there has been plenty of good and bad performances but as it does with senior players it gets to a point where you realistically have to look at the performances and go some have dropped off hugely - James and Abraham in particular - and have been a hinderance in games making costly mistakes, not finishing chances or offering anywhere near as much as they could do comparing against previous performances that weren't even their best this season. Even Tomori who at times was caught out at times and using his pace to recover as opposed to originally being better positioned or reading the game better but again, at the time, he was still doing well enough that people werent hugely concerned. Or Abraham who wasnt holding the ball up as well in certain games but was managing to still score goals. If you want to be critical of any player, which you can still be even if the team keeps a clean sheet or the strikers score a few goals etc, its fair enough, that doesn’t mean that theyve played a perfect performance or done everything right. For a team to improve as a whole and a player, you have to look at these things although you have leeway for mistakes and inconsistencies with young players but again if you had thought Abraham and James would look so out of sorts after how they had performed earlier in the season as well as Mount and Tomori to a lesser extent at times, then you will have seen something many didn’t. I dont think anybody thought it would be plain sailing but since Reece made his debut I didnt think he would ever perform as poorly as he has in the more recent games he has played. Also, with Tammys lack of form, I didnt think he could end up playing as poorly as he has done but he has. Obviously some people take it to the extreme as we have seen before and also with very many senior players throughout the years but I think it is also fair to be critical of any player, regardless of their age, if they have dropped off considerably to the point where the standards you would expect aren't there. Obviously it is a learning curve still for many of these fellas and a tough jump from championship to PL but they have also shown a lot of promise in phases this year that indicate that they can perform better than they have been doing.

Personally for me, while we werent particularly solid at the beginning of the season and still fot caught on transitions, we still looked better with Jorginho, Kovacic and Mount in MF than we do now.

Fucking hell. Rodgers will be scathing after that. Leicester have fucked a few results since the restart. We have gotten an extreme bit of fortune tonight.

Which points at more for how bad our guys have been as opposed to how good he is. He is decent with the ball but defensively he is far from outstanding.

Soyuncu what a helmet. The fuck was that 😂 Even before he basically made Solankes mind up for him, very lucky to get that in though keeper has to do better imo.

He seems to have an instinctive thing for changing the team. Particularly to get Reece in at RB and moving Azpi over, which has happened a lot. Or changing the MF to get Kante in.

We thought Abraham has been bad revently but by christ Solanke is horrendous. Absolutely hopeless. Looks a championship player at best.

People talk about fluidity and creating chances then slag Jorginho off without remembering that him, Kovacic and Mount were all very good together at the start of the season when the team was flying. Coincidence we start looking poorer and predictable in MF when Frank changes things? Okay the transitional side has always been an issue but that 3 looked very capable of controlling and creating chances. Obviously it is a difficult position to be in for a young manager to have Kante available and out of the side but lets not forget he has his qualities and games he can be effective in also.

Shocker English media outlet blatantly ignore Ross Barkley. Realistically you could have those 5 plus Emerson, Alonso and Barkley if you wanted to but we will never offload 7 from our squad on top of Willian and Pedro who are going plus the several others who make up the loan scrapheap. Plus you could question whether or not James, Abraham or Hudson-Odoi will feature as prominently next season (they'll obviously still be squad players 100% as they are talented boys but you can expect that this season will have been a reality check for them in many instances that hopefully they grow stronger from).

Tbf I think Rashford showed plenty under van Gaal and even Mourinho playing from a wider position that our guys haven’t in terms of affecting games. In the same way Sterling did for Liverpool. Okay his final ball is maybe more consistent/better and his finishing is better now but hes more experienced. In my eyes, his general play was always good at United and he wasn't exactly inconsistent bar his finishing and final pass but with young attacking players those things are to be expected regardless of their talent. The other aspects of his game were always there and clear to see, his pace, his willingness to take players on, to always be positive, they were there when he started playing and are still there now. Now he has obviously been shifted back into a more central position where he was originally started under Van Gaal to greater effect.

Tough break but he will be back in 4 months. Its not too long. Maybe he will have grown an inch or two by then haha.

Tbf Chamberlain was wanted by Conte so he could mould him into a wingback, he had been playing there for Arsenal. While he may of gotten to play CM for Liverpool and won a CL and PL I wouldnt be surprised if they do not strengthen in MF again meaning he could be on his bike very shortly. Hes hardly been an outstanding player for Lpool hes done the same at Arsenal, fits and starts then injured most of the time.

Really has been a strange one. Seen him play so many times in France and he was a really talented player who could have easily gone to a Madrid, Juventus or Barcelona imo, he had that skillset and physical attributes. His impact in England has been disappointing. Regardless of who he plays for, we all enjoy watching talented players play very well and he hasnt really got going. Would be surprised if Mourinho wants to keep him for next season too. Lo Celso on the other hand has been great, really coming into his own, not scored the same amount of goals but he is able to do everything, play through the lines from a deeper position, dribble players, get into the box, recover the ball etc. Gutted we never thought of signing him.

Have really enjoyed watching Atalanta this season. Real fun to watch, score lots of goals. A team that is made up of a lot of players who aren’t necessarily superstars but understand each other very well and are willing to put the work in.

He is a goal threat... left foot... right foot... bla bla bla, he has scored 1 fucking PL goal this season. Okay he has 4 in the cups but 2 of them were against Grimsby and Forrest. The other two Liverpool and Leicester. He may be a ‘great soldier’ or show a good attitude but you need other things to be a top player at a top end club.

Its not a matter of what Jose or Pep did in their first clubs or what theyve done here/at other clubs. Or Sarri or AVB or Scolari or Conte or whoever. Its a matter of where we are at now and how the same themes have been recurring throughout the season time and time again. Be it players looking good one game and not looking interested in the next few, conceding goals from set plays and transitions far too often, general defensive play or in game management throughout. The top 4 is in sight still and we are in knockouts stages of the CL (although we are 9/10s out bar a minor miracle) and a cup semi final (against a team we haven't beat under OGS) but dont let that paper over some of the cracks that have been recurring all season. The players can take the blame for some of it, absolutely, but firstly, look at today and several other games against these lesser sides all throughout the season. We have lost 11 games this season. Here are who we have lost against Sheffield United, West Ham x2, Newcastle, Southampton, Bournemouth, Everton, Man United x2, Liverpool, Man City. Okay City, Liverpool, United, lets be honest their much better teams than the others and are further along but lets not kid ourselves and say if we finish top 4 that it has been all hunky dory either. The top 4 should have been sealed long long ago imo considering the gap we gave ourselves between United, Spurs and Arsenal so if we lose out, it is probably not good enough. Even more so when you look at the fact Frank maybe overplayed some of the boys and sidelined others who could have made a difference when others were faultering. Also it wouldnt matter if FL was arguably our clubs best ever player or not, he is here as a manager and people shouldn’t let his playing career cloud their judgement at all IMO. Okay its great he has been at the club as a player and has a real connection with the fans but football management is result based. We didnt lose or concede as many as we have under Frank under Sarri and people were ten times as harsh so lets not kid around here and say its harsh or cant believe people are turning against him. Its hardly turning, its just stating facts which if you look at these 11 loses where 7 of them really shouldn’t be happening as well as some of the draws we have had against the same sort of “lesser sides” if you will, with the manner of how these games have went, there is clearly a basis to why people have the right to say that he hasnt exactly inspired huge confidence this season. When you look at his Derby team as well, even here with a higher quality of player, the traits are similar: conceding too many goals and not scoring enough. For me, even with the arrivals of Werner and Ziyech there is still a huge red flag defensively and with some of these games as well as Frank’s persistence with continuing to use average or out of form footballers, these decisions will ultimately reflect on him. Thats the reality. I think we will still concede too many chances next season and its not just down to the quality of players, you can see when we play teams, particularly lesser teams so to speak, they just expect they are going to get chances from transitions and set plays and that is not good regardless of who the manager is. Frank has to learn fast because there is a clear history at this club, where the people upstairs look at situations that havent completely arisen and act decisively before they do. Many lost faith in Sarri for less IMO and while I doubt Frank will get sacked, there is plenty there that if it were someone else without his connection to the club, there would be many many more posts or worse than what we are seeing on here. Its a harsh reality where guys like Allegri and Pochettino are unemployed and both better managers than Frank. Its not as if the club hasnt had a interest in Allegri before or potentially thought about Pochettino either.

If we dont win this game, man.... Norwich have nothing to play for. Absolutely nothing.

Coaching? Motivation?

Usual story. Pathetic performance again. Cant believe with the amount of stories there was about OGS being mooted for an exit Lampard hasnt had the same pressure/stories this season. If this keeps happening to end of season I would very much like to see if the club consider approaching Max Allegri or Mauricio Pochettino who are out there and available. You can put it down to the players at times but the naive management in certain games we have seen throughout this season hasnt filled me with confidence that Frank is going to get it right on a consistent enough basis. For instance, beating City only to get beat by West Ham and Sheffield United on top of the amount of dropped points throughout this season is a huge red flag for me. Yes some of the players aren't good enough but it isn't all just down to them also: we have been over things time and time again this season about consistency, organisation, defensive set plays, being caught on transitions etc far too often. Plus if he cannot motivate these guys to get top 4, how is he going to motivate a group of these guys who will stay to compete for a title?

He is a very strange but wonderful player, Thomas Muller. He has no real singular outstanding quality but can cover several positions and does many things well. He has come off a season where has had the most assists he has ever had too.