OneMoSalah

I dont get why. It will take a lot more than people with higher IQs to make such a huge difference all around the world when you consider all the shit such as poverty, racism, disease, addiction, crime, lack of clean water etc that plague different parts of the world. I mean lets be honest these problems are not going to be lessened or solved by one or twenty highly intelligent persons. These problems are only going to be lessened or solved if they are tackled by a large number of people, regardless of high IQ or average IQ. Even then, it is not as straight forward as that.

But they also added Wayne Rooney, who has had a huge huge impact as well not only performing well himself but making the others around him look better as well as the fact Philip Cocu’s made wee tweaks that have helped their team. As I said last season finishing 6th with Derby wasnt a huge achievement but if he got them up through the playoffs, it would of been. The strong finish for Derby this season will be pointless unless they have something to show for it.

I know but still Paredes was always going to be a backup. Which is different. Plus I think its fair to say Arthur is a better player than Jorginho. Or so I would say. I know there is the fact Arthurs played with Busquets in a more advanced position with Barcelona which is possible but I think Sarri wants him to play at the base of midfield. He is a replacement for Pjanic who played there. Plus they have got plenty of depth in MF and Bentancur is a very exciting prospect who has shown he can compete at the top level so I doubt theyd want to stifle his development.

Juventus and Sarri in particular wanted Arthur to play him in that position Jorginho plays, even if they didnt go and sell Pjanic to Barcelona. I doubt Jorginho will be a option for Juventus now. Even then, Rabiot is a different player entirely. I do think if Juventus were able to keep him and give him more games he would be a very good player for them. Even more so when you consider Khedira and Matuidi are in their 30s, Pjanic was as well. Juventus also have Bentancur. That left sided role in a 433 would be very ideal for Rabiot with Arthur and Bentancur. Ideally they could have one of either Khedira, Bentancur or Ramsey to the right of Arthur and Matuidi or Rabiot to the left of him. I think theres a higher chance Ramsey leaves Turin than Rabiot. Due to his 400k a week wages. Still absolutely mystified Barca sold Arthur, he has real ability and would have been the heart of their side for another 10 years.

Its not like it has to be Kante or one of those in that one role. Kante can play with those guys in a 2 or a 3. Its more FLs persistent of using Kante as a holder and not having someone in that mould in the MF. Particularly against the likes of West Ham, Watford etc. these teams where we are going to have to move the ball quicker through midfield. While Kante isnt limited with the ball by any stretch of the imagination, he has tended to play a bit more reserved or slower in that role with the ball. He also isnt as demanding in terms of getting the ball from the CBs or FBs so we can get it forward. Even at the start of the season the MF of Kovacic, Mount and Jorginho was undoubtedly our best bet for playing those smaller teams.

Great post. At the start I was skeptical about his exclusion but FL introduced him back in and that paid off as he got a chance to play without that immediate pressure of being one: a direct replacement for Eden and two: being fully rested as he featured in the Gold Cup for the US NT after a season where he was in and out and injured at Dortmund. I do feel the lack of end product thing at Dortmund is a bit over the top though. Considering his age when he broke into their squad and the seasons that followed, the fact he was involved in 45 goals (19 G 26 A) in 127 games (which imo is still a decent contribution for a winger of that age playing in one of the top 5 leagues and European competitions such as the CL and EL), I think it was always obvious he had something but the consistency needed to come a bit more frequently to bring him on more. Its not only the same with Pulisic, I think if you look a but closer say at Raheem Sterling prior to his move to City there was similar concerns, had shown in streaks and spells he had talent but the consistency or the end product wasnt always perfect but it was there at times. Not to say FL hasnt had a hand in improving Christian, I think he has obviously and you can see that this season he has more goals and assists this season than he has had in a single campaign at Dortmund so the signs are promising but I think they were always there that he could do this regularly be it here or at a Dortmund with a little bit of fine tuning. Obviously there are the freaks of nature such as Mbappe etc who have amazing stats from 18 onwards too but not everyone can be them or end up that good. He has got everything to be a top top player though. Undoubtedly. Cant believe there were huge concerns at the start.

Interesting. If you come across these let me know, quite intrigued, didn't think he would be anywhere near it. Particularly successful tackle rate. Can maybe understand the high key passes as he started the season well and was always quite high up when we had the ball.

Courtois had a offseason when Jose got sacked (probably similarly to what Kepa is having this year) though and not the best start at Real prompting a majority of the people on this forum to say shit like they thought he was finished or never would be as good as he was before. It just shows how fickle football can be. I would say as good as Alisson is, Courtois is on his level. 100%. He is and always has been undoubtedly one of the best GKs in Europe since he started making real headway at Atletico playing every week. That is why I am also going to keep saying regarding Kepa that this season is a one off imo. We have to give the guy a chance, he will be better next season and if we can improve our defensive approach in phases of games and set plays, everyone in the back 5 will look better not just him. Its no secret that I keep banging on about the organisation and that helps a lot. As weve seen in various games this season and in the past with other managers. Maybe Kepa will never be world class or achieve anything near what Courtois and Cech did before him but he is still a good GK. The price tag will always bring scrutiny and he has been inconsistent this season, although Cech and Courtois also had similar moments in their spells here but I don't think he is a second rate GK. I mean our consistency all over the pitch has been really bad. Bar Kovacic perhaps. He is the only one who has done consistency well over the course of the season. Although again, his goals and assists can still go up because he should be very capable of getting a total of 10 goals a season at least through scoring and assisting imo. I mean Matic (okay different players) got what 8 or 9 assists under Conte the year we won the league and he has half the natural ability and skillset Kovacic does imo.

What stats are those? Because I doubt they exist. He hasnt had a good season in terms of consistency or stats since the year before he did his ACL. In Serie A.

I know Frank said Jorginho in his plans but he has to feature a bit more prominently now to the seasons finished. Kante injured so higher % chance but who knows.

Tbf for all the talk of the Bundelisga being one sided, dont forget Dortmund were at the top for ages and blew the lead, the one real chance they had to win the title for years.

Why would that matter? If thats Franks thinking its even fucking stupider. Even if he wants to leave, which I doubt, he should still play as he os one of our best players. Eden had made it clear he wanted to leave us when he came back from the 2018 WC last season but did we bench him or exclude him? No. Willian hasnt committed past the end of this season either but he also plays.

If Lampard is going to consistently keep picking Barkley over Jorginho and shoehorning Kante in that role then he may as well start packing his bags. It makes no sense against West Ham or against Watford. None whatsoever. And people thought Sarri was stubborn with Jorginho in that role and Kante to his right last season but I dont think its so hard to see it is absolutely a better option than Kante sitting and Barkley in the team. If FL is trying to convince people he knows what he is doing, it isn’t working. Azpi at LB as well. Fuck sakes. Must win regardless but I do think this constant omission of Jorginho is so stupid. I mean is he trying to make Kante Makelele?

Talking about a lack of height is just a poor and lazy excuse that sums up the naivety he has shown as a manager as well as the shit to do with in game management. Liverpool and City don’t particularly have height throughout but defend set plays much much better. Its not just down to Ederson/Alisson, Van Dijk/Laporte/Gomez/Otamendi or Fabinho/Rodri either. He would be a fool to think our organisation has been good enough and that we only concede because of a smaller players. Its not as if Pep or Klopp are regarded as defensive coaches either. I mean even Pep’s Barcelona werent great at set plays but they werent exactly weak either and other than Busquets, Toure, Pique, Zlatan among a few others during that period he was there he didnt have a lot of tall players in his team. Again Klopp didnt have to the biggest team either at Dortmund but they were generally good at defending set plays.

Its not that the physical side why people felt he should of been included. Regardless, are you saying as well he hasnt shown that he can read the game and make interceptions as well through positioning? He has done it in several games this season. If your able to read the game or see something you dont need to be a freak athlete either. Look at Busquets at Barca or Kroos at Madrid. There are countless others. Was Xavi a freak athlete? Was Pirlo? Was Scholes? Was Roy Keane? Is Rodri? Is Fernandinho? Is Fabinho? No but they are/were good at reading the game and could recover the ball. Regarding his inclusion: It was more about controlling the game when it got frantic. He has got composure others dont, always offers himself to take the ball and is also a lot better at moving the ball forward and faster in the role Kante played the other night. I mean would you rather watch Kante or Rudiger or Christensen try force those passes or play sideways or have Jorginho who keeps the ball moving quickly, has a more adventurous passing range to drive the team forward? West Ham had men behind the ball, you need to move it faster to move them around And having someone who can get it off the CBs do that than piss about getting the ball from the CBs to Kante to the fullbacks and eventually to Ross/Kovacic/Mason/Willian/Pulisic or whoever gives us a better chance of breaking them down surely? Or do you disagree? As bad as we were defensively your not going to tell me that we created several clear chances or got a lot of opportunities to isolate their players in 1v1s or find runners in behind are you? 73% possession resulted in 6 shots on target. We looked ordinarily predictable bar when Pulisic had the ball.

I agree that he will be a mainstay in the long run. I was a bit annoyed that the club caved and gave him a lot as it does set a bar for others to pressure the club into these sort of demands (Tammy allegedly wanting close to that amount as well) but in the next 1-2 seasons, if hes fit and healthy, playing very regularly, he has an excellent chance of becoming a very very good player. As does Reece James, Mason Mount and Billy Gilmour. I think what United have had and probably will continue to have is that with their home grown youngsters, they have never really given into these guys agents who demand excessive wages. And even other than Pogba is it that frequently that these very talented young players leave United? I mean Ferguson let Pogba go on the principle that he believed his agent was trying to strong arm United to giving him a contract on bigger money than what Juventus offered IIRC. I dont think they've changed their mentality in regards to their academy. I mean I would hope we would follow suit, we are a massive club if you dont want to be here, then it is ultimately your loss. I know United stand to lose Angel Gomes but again, it is very rare that they lose these guys because they integrate youth and have been for 25+ years. Ok the scenario was slightly different but again, there was still a while before CHO resigned after Frank came in... The examples with United in recent times: - Rashford started out, got his foot in and played a lot over the 3 or 4 seasons before he got that huge bumper deal he is on now to reflect his status at United. - Jesse Lingard again same idea, played regularly over a period then got a bigger deal as a reward. - McTominay to a lesser extent, played over the course of a few seasons and they've given him an improved deal but nothing to the wages Rashford is on or Lingard if what I am reading is correct. I think the likes of Mason Greenwood and Brendon Williams will follow the same path, I cannot see United being in a poor position like we were with Callum. Plus their playing regularly. I think if it wasn't so clear and was unlikely Eden would of left, I do think we wouldnt of been as desperate to give Callum that huge contract to get him to commit his future imo. Regardless of what he could become.

Has to go imo. Hasnt done anything in the shirt bar a handful of games with Sarri. We have got Mason and Ruben as well as Ziyech arriving who can play centrally in a 4231 or 433 so surely has to be one of the first casualties this summer? 3 assists all season. 0 league goals. Ziyech I would imagine will probably be able to hit the ground running or as close as can do when he comes in so depending where he plays - if it is centrally - that will mean that one of Mason, Ruben or Ross wont play anywhere near enough minutes. I don't see Ruben as a left sided player and think once he gets fully fit he will return to a more central role. Kovacic, Jorginho and Kante wont be binned either from the squad so in all reality Ross would probably be the most vulnerable.

For all the criticism of Willian over the years and this season too, the harsh reality is he has more goal involvements than all our other wide and attacking midfield players this season in the league. He’s currently on 8 PL Gs and 5 As. While they aren't fantastic numbers the closest is Pulisic with 7 Gs and 2 As. Hudson Odoi hasn’t really done much this season (1 G 4 As) although his recovery from a long term injury always meant he would need more time same with Ruben so not really taking them into account. In terms of goals or assists Mount hasnt done better than Willian (6 Gs 2 As) but again those stats of his paints a false image, he has 1 league G and 2 A in the whole of 2020 (13 or 14 games) so to be fair to Willian, who has been involved in 6 league Gs since the start of 2020, while that isn’t fantastic its a lot better than the majority of the others again. Take into consideration, Barkley hasnt got a PL goal this season either and only has got 3 assists. Pedro has 1 G and 1 A. Yes some haven't played as frequently but Mason and Willian have played a lot of games. Pulisic has started to be a regular more and the harsh reality is if we didnt have Ziyech and Werner coming in you could see why the club and coach would want Willian to stay because statistically he has more goal involvements than anybody bar Tammy this season. Ziyech and Werners arrival cannot come soon enough. They will allow the likes of Mason and Callum to maybe grow into the team a bit more without being overly depended on to they find their consistency. Losing Willian is what it is but if he hadnt stayed to the end of this season we would be struggling a bit more imo. I mean his goals maybe were pens or dodgy FKs or whatever but they are goals and we have lacked those in those wider and central areas this season. Obviously stats dont paint the full picture but in terms of productivity it shows that he has done more than certain others we have in the squad.

Lautaro likely to go to Barcelona. They are extremely keen still even with the financial impact of Covid. Think their was talk of player swaps, Umtiti, Semedo, Rakitic etc but Inter were really keen on Arthur whos off to Juventus. Still they will be much better next season. Has Tonali been confirmed?

He scored career high league goals in the PL under Jose IIRC.

He would never score that many goals. I am pretty sure many people thought that as well. He isnt as selfish or as ruthless in front of goal as Messi or Ronaldo. Or even to a lesser extent Bale and Neymar. I think fully firing he should be looking for 25 goals a season at Madrid though, someone of his talent should be able to do that when you consider the other guys they have around him. Its not been an ideal season for him but I dont think people ever excepted him to score the rates Messi or Ronaldo did. Thats an unfair ask for many players, not just Eden.

Hakimi and Emerson at wing back is an improvement on what they have perhaps. Emerson has struggled in a back 4 for us but he suits a wingback role more. Will be keeping an eye on what Inter do in the market, they have got a good nucleus of a squad and will make some big moves. Interesting to see who they replace Lautaro with when he goes to Barcelona as well, if they can arrange the deal.

Honestly think he still can turn it around and his performances last season as well as parts of this one are proof that he isnt as bad as people are making him out to be. I do get some will disagree and I do get he has made mistakes yes and in terms of his consistency he has struggled this season but out of our squad this season, who hasn't struggled for consistency? Who hasn't made mistakes? If we didnt make mistakes in games all across the team we would be better off than we are. Its not as if we were miles better last season in terms of what we had in the squad bar Eden. The fact that we have changed our CBs so often and LB as well this season just shows that there is nobody in the backline who has really got passmarks this season. Kepa is also unfortunate than Tibo and Cech before him were both top top level, world class goalkeepers during their spells here. He will always be compared against them or their reputations or it will always be his strengths aren't what theirs were etc. He took a risk but if he pulled that pass off Alonso/Emerson (cannot remember who played think it was Marcos) would of had space to go into as opposed to if he played that slightly safer to one of the CBs, Sterling and Mahrez or whoever were wide would of been able to make it up and pressure them. The willingness of us playing out under pressure or against pressing teams really has dropped since Sarri left. I dont think it was a huge issue that pass, nothing came of it, sometimes Alisson or Ederson or De Gea take risks with their kicking etc too and for all the amazing passes or whatever they provide youll find there will similar ones that didnt come off or were recovered by the other team etc. Its not as if it was a bad idea because if the ball was a foot or 2 foot higher Alonso would of had it and we would of been in their half.

I think if FL wanted to get JT in he would of when he arrived. In all fairness as well, Villa arent exactly a shining beacon of being a strong defensive team and Mings was maybe more just needing to play more often to develop as he was always very talented. it has to improve obviously though.

Exactly. Lets not forget that Conte revitalised Cahill and Luiz’s performances here that first season as well as Matic’s as well in midfield and managed to give Eden, Willian and Pedro that freedom that they weren’t really afforded with Mourinho. I do think the fact that he made David play in a position where he maybe didn't have to engage players in 1 v 1s in wider areas as often as he would of perhaps done so in a back 4 and gave him a more disciplined position in the middle made a difference without even mentioning the midfield. I mean how many times have we seen Luiz be out in wider areas trying to cover his fullbacks and get beat? Conte also gave him a bit more freedom to come out with the ball into midfield at times which suited him as his use of the ball is a plus. Matic and Kante also gave a lot of protection in the middle which did help but I do think that their individual performances were so consistent. Obviously there was the organisation that Conte drilled into the team too, something he has been renowned for doing for years, it gave us a real platform. Everyone knew their roles, where to be, the distances to be between each other etc when defending. In general it was a very complete team I felt, we had goals in attack as well as creativity in midfield with Cesc once he got in and the wingbacks, despite lacking obvious top level quality, created real width that freed up pockets for the likes of Eden and Willian in central areas too. It did mask some of the flaws of these players as you mentioned. We really should have built on that foundation with Antonio but Bakayoko, Zappacosta and Morata (still annoyed he started so well and then faded and is now likely to never become the player he should have been) were poor signings. Things obviously soured with him too but I do think what he has already done at Inter as well as what he did with Juve, Italy and here shows how good he is. I am also sure Cesc said on Twitter that Conte was the best manager he had ever worked with at giving a team such a clear and obvious identity in a short period of time. I would like to see us go back to using Jorginho, Kovacic and Mount. There was such a real connection and chemistry with those guys at the start of the season. I can see why hes trying to fit Kante in but it hasnt always worked. I think he has to play with a Jorginho or Kovacic in either a 2 or on the right of a 3 with Jorginho as a 6. He isnt necessarily in one fixed position he can get up and down a bit more as well as hunt the ball down in those areas of the pitch. Obviously he is top quality but shoehorning him into that fixed position in a 3 man MF in front of the defence isn't always going to suit his game or ours if we play smaller teams and have much more of the ball.