OneMoSalah

Surprised he went with a back 5. Thought he would of played Colwill LB and used a back 4 if he was concerned with height at set plays or numbers, similarly to what Pep does. Chilly finally off but absolutely poor performance. Finally going 433.

Maybe but still think Walker is as close/as good as most of the RBs these days. Pep said about him not being able to play in his system but still has/will pick him pretty regularly. He has also got/is getting rid of Joao Cancelo, who was pretty outstanding for them 2 seasons ago and probably would of been contender for the best right or left fullback in Europe at that time. Would say Walker edges Reece playing in a back 4, defensively at least thats for sure. Its no surprise Reece has always been much better as a wingback when we’ve lined up with a back 3, particularly with Tuchel. And you could see it again v Liverpool, when he’s got a bit of protection behind him, it allows him to engage higher up the pitch and also means that he or the team isn’t necessarily as exposed as he could be caught in these positions in a 4. RJ is really solid in 1 v 1s though but Walker is just as good if not better there too. Reece has got time to go another level or two yet though where as Walker will wind down eventually. Like I said surprised at Walker’s longevity. Thought he would struggle after 2/3 years with Pep and be replaced ironically by the likes of Hakimi or even Kimmich or someone now with this insistence on using inverted fullbacks. But has looked after himself well and would not be surprised if he is still playing regularly for another 2 seasons (including this one just started) there.

If Nkunku was fit I’d like to think Poch would of used him as a 10 behind Jackson/a CF. Or you’d hope thats the sort of end game for it. Him in that 10 role with 2 pacey wingers (whoever from Sterling, Noni, Mudryk) on the sides and Enzo and Caicedo dovetailing to make up the midfield. Would be a pretty good team with a regular goalscoring CF, a top GK and if our back 4 stayed fit. Re Gallagher, on paper he is the only other really advanced attack minded midfield player we have though as the likes of Enzo, Caicedo, Santos and Lavia are much more suited to box to box or deeper roles. Gallagher has a real tendency to get in the box a lot although yes, you wouldn’t rely on him starting every week for a top top team. A MF 3 of Caicedo, Lavia and Enzo is pretty defensive minded or it seems that way on paper, considering Caicedo and Lavia are much more renowned for their defensive attributes and theres no obvious signs of the 3 of them chipping in with goals. Enzo again really only the creative one out of the three of them also but again, not a regular goalscorer and wouldn’t say its in his game to be one where as say you could see it from the likes of Jude Bellingham for example. Yes Enzo showed he can affect the game more in that box to box role v Liverpool than he did as a more disciplined, deeper lying midfield last season but I still think people expecting him to play as an out and out 10 or the most furthest advanced in a midfield 3 of him, Moises and Lavia are expecting something very unrealistic as I don’t think that Poch will use that MF at all barring maybe the tougher games where it will be a bit more scrappier/tougher.

I think will be Caicedo Enzo and Gallagher as a 3 in MF. Don’t think Lavia will start. Plus Gallagher turned a pretty bad first half performance around last week and played quite well second half which probably merits him staying in the team IMO. Would give us a nice blend in there too bit. Lavia, Enzo and Caicedo as a 3 v West Ham is too defensive minded IMO. Would say in bigger games yes use it but most weeks would say Enzo Caicedo and Gallagher until Nkunku’s back fit should be the go to. Then Lavia can rotate/play in cups to get a footing in the team. Would say going with a back 4 of Gusto, Disasi, Silva and Colwill at LB would also be a good move to give us more height and aerial presence at set plays. Disasi especially, he is 6 ft 3 and his effectiveness aerially in both boxes is meant to be a huge strength. Plus Colwill at LB gives us the flexibility to push Gusto right on high and wide and have Levi tuck in centrally a bit to go to more of a back 3 in possession. Be interesting to see what Poch does either way.

No I think you mean if he was really that good why are Juventus so keen to get rid of him, for Lukaku of all players….. questions need to be asked

If they play on using him and Fernandes as 8’s with Casemiro holding they are fucked. Frank also tried this with Mount and Havertz with Kante holding and it didn’t work. Tuchel also used Mount in the double 6 a few times and it didn’t work. EtH clueless if thats his whole reasoning in signing Mason. As a 10 perhaps with Casemiro and a more box to box/defensively astute player, I could see it having some success but two 10’s as 8’s. Hopeless.

Spurs and Bissouma outstanding second half really. Like totally stepped up. Only thing is they will concede chances to they gel that backline. United poor also but I think Spurs will play that style against everybody. Like at Celtic, Spuds back 5 (which is pretty new) needs time to adapt to how Postecoglu plays and maybe need reinforcements still but certainly be fun to watch them for neutral fans this year. Have been to a couple of Celtic games over the years with guys I went to college with and would say if he can replicate that sort of high octane fast paced attacking style of football that Celtic fans enjoyed, I think he and Spurs will surprise people. Still a good few quality players short but I think the impression he made on Scottish football and Celtic in particular in his 2 years was huge.

Postecoglu having an instant effect as I felt he would. Same at Celtic. Yes that is an average group of players he has but the style of play and patterns are there and with a bit more quality and time defensively to develop that back 5, they will get better. They will concede goals though as they’ve conceded big chances today, took Ange 7 or 8 games to get things going properly at Celtic after overhauling a huge part of their squad but some of the football they played was outstanding when they got going so be interesting to see what he does at Spurs. How? Because he didn’t save that? Martinez takes any chance of him getting that away… 🤣 Onana’s distribution has been outstanding all game. And hes made some big saves.

The deal was vetoed because Poch didn’t want him though. Nothing to do with price as I’m sure we had agreed to pay it.

Some rumblings about a return here on a short deal to cover for Nkunku. Not sure how true, maybe just bullshit doing the usual. Probably just because he was at Liverpool game. If was any substance in these no disrespect but no thanks. I mean he was pretty keen to go to Madrid - his dream club - but just because that didn’t work out and what he was here before, shouldn’t even be under consideration. Somebody who’s lack of commitment to training has always been publicly verified by ex teammates like JT, Frank and John Obi Mikel - would be a disaster under Poch.

Respect him for going that way and saying that (wouldn’t expect any less tbf) but it will be much easier said than done when your talking about guys who maybe end up in that boat with 5, 6 or 7 years left on their deals as opposed to 1, 2 or 3 years left. It will inevitably happen at one point as there’s that many of them with these length of deals and it will be a tough situation for a manager and the club if these sort of scenarios unfold. I mean just look at last season alone with a lot of guys unhappy about not playing irrespective of contract lengths - ok yes we had over 30 players but 3 or 4 unhappy players is all you need sometimes irrespective of squad size

I dont think us, Man City, PSG or even Liverpool who were linked heavily at one point, would of walked away from the chance to sign him for £34m (think that was his release clause) if he was really that good. Or thats what I think personally. And surprisingly, Madrid, Barca and Atletico weren’t even linked which says a lot considering they are for all the big talents in Spain. Nothing against Napoli but I wouldn’t say they sign the sort of players top top clubs sign, more like they sign players who have talent and make them into players that top top clubs want to buy.

Not completely as I think Walker still does an impressive job for City despite getting on a bit. His longevity has impressed me, I thought he’d be done after 2/3 seasons under Pep. Plus defensively he’s actually really really solid also. Reece needs to get that consistency and fitness sorted. Hopefully it comes this season.

No midfielder in the world could really though when he plays he is so good so he has a point although “couldn’t lace his boots” is a bit of a over exaggeration as Enzo is at a pretty good level - still has time to grow too. The two of KDB and Luka Modric are still exceptional and the best out there albeit different players, realistically nobody is that close to them. I think Murphy was critical of our spending on that TalkSport interview and wanted to point out nobody we’ve signed would of gotten into Man City’s team (not sure was it this seasons or last seasons treble winning team) barring Chilwell. I do think Enzo would do so and Thiago Silva but not entirely sure about anybody else. Kovacic did go there right enough too.. Would say there is a bit of bitterness from him though bet if Liverpool signed the two of Enzo and Moises be a different story.

This was the same thing when asked of Kante this summer (ok Ngolo was older yes) and look how many said bin Kante. So wonder if it will be same approach if this persists for another year or two with Reece? Doubtful but never know on here. Maybe his new contract is incentive based but again, I don’t know I am sure his basic is around 200k easily. Plus 7 or 8 year deal to consider.

Yeah have to agree, completely radical fitness regime and approach compared to last year so it will take some prisoners particularly the more fragile players as they adjust to what Poch demands. But think he had this at Southampton also but then the likes of Shaw, Lallana etc all seemed to get into it and kicked on fitness wise.

Suppose we will see now if Gusto is as good as people thinks he is now. Big opportunity for him - shame for Reece but not to be unexpected. Trev can step in for Gusto to give him a breather also.

Olise signing didn’t make sense as he was another right sided attacker where we already have Sterling and Noni. Not to mention Angelo. And even then its funny the change in how Olise went from a great talent to nothing because he didn’t come here…. Fickle. Would say avoid Kudus at all costs too, average. The bigging up he’s getting after one good season at Ajax. Does nobody remember how Ziyech turned out after 3 good seasons there? Or does nobody find it alarming that West Ham seem to be the only club with concrete links to him? And thats only if they sell Panqueta? Big fish small pond. Would say £30m or around/more for Hall is exceptional business too. Brennan Johnston would be a joke too.

Played much much better second half but in the first half, he was a disaster, was so clear when he got the ball that was a trigger for Liverpools press.

Not good enough to be number 1 for an elite club which is what we are aiming for. Good number 2 but so was Kepa. And we’ve seen that having a top elite GK is absolutely essential to being successful. I mean people wanted an upgrade on Kepa but Sanchez is hardly that big of one if at all, baffles me. Look at Arsenal with Ramsdale last season and now arguably again with Raya - not truly elite GKs. Liverpool before Alisson, City before Ederson.

He should of stayed at Barca. He had 2 outstanding seasons in terms of returns under Luis Enrique before leaving IIRC giving he was playing with Messi and Suarez who has outstanding years too. He would of naturally been Messi’s heir so to speak at Barcelona and really fucked up. He would of gone strength to strength and no doubt Messi would of left Barca anyway given their financial constraints so he would of naturally became the main man there. Still, Saudi’s can sign whoever they want, the league won’t be in top 5 watched this season. Still too volatile to see if this will turn out a long term success or not because there really seems to be a lack of investment in coaching and infrastructure, compared to players.

Sterling will be going nowhere for a few seasons I would think. Olise and Noni both young enough but questionable marks over both their fitnesses. I am surprised we aren’t going for a more left sided attacking player though. Sterling and Noni then Mudryk and someone for 2 wide roles would be good. I know it was only one game but felt Raheem and James were very good v combining on that right side and I’d hope that Poch builds on that to get more out of the pair of them. Plus he has shown at City under Pep, in teams with clear defined attacking patterns, he is a very good option to have so lets hope he can get in amongst the goals this season. Plus Saudi? Really I don’t think so. IIRC he wanted to move back to London specifically for his family. He doesn’t strike me as the sort of person who’s going to trade London for Saudi, or someone who’s going to have his head turned by mind blowing money given the wages he got at City and now gets here.

Here? Maybe this is the most but we’ve had a lot of foreign contingents in our squads before of 4 or 5 of the same nationalities at the one time. Had like 5 from Brazil under Jose 2nd time round - Filipe Luis, Oscar, Ramires, Diego Costa and Willian off the top of my head. As well as a lot of Portuguese and Spanish in the past. I think it’s going to be interesting to see what happens with Ugo - I think he will get loaned. Wouldn’t write out City coming in for Olise yet but as we’ve seen with the squad build and Caicedo & Lavia maybe we will beat them to him too

I hope he has the personality to not let his price tag affect him negatively if he doesn’t have the greatest start here. Thats one of the two major concerns I have, that and if he does a Cucurella. I mean hopefully neither of these are issues and he hits the ground running but its a big big big price tag for a 21 y/o who really has only got 12-18 months of high level of football under his belt. If he hits the ground running we are in for a potentially delightful long term partnership between him and Enzo though I reckon but it’ll need some work too. Both really can do a bit of everything to a certain degree so it will be interesting to see if we stick with a 2 or play a 3 or whatever (depends on Lavia/Santos as well I suppose) and how we utilise both their strengths. I don’t necessarily think Moises is a 6 although he did play there for de Zebri at times but at the same time pinning him in a more disciplined role, you lose some of the he can bring in transition and in high pressing situations, similarly to Kante when folk were adamant that he was a holding midfielder and should of been playing as the pivot in our MF 3 instead of Jorginho.

As a whole United were poor and made Wolves look pretty impressive which normally is easier said than done. Wolves outdone them and had superiority in midfield, particularly when Matheus Nunes got going. Pity Wolves didn’t have a half decent striker because they would of won the game if so. Casemiro, Mount, Fernandes is going to leave them very unbalanced based off of tonight (although still early). Not getting Rice/Caicedo/someone of that moulds going to be a mistake on their behalf, particularly in bigger games. And a good job too because having one of them types of players with Casemiro and a Mount/Fernandes, they would be a totally different proposition I think. I do think if Fernandes didn’t make the pass before the assist, United fans would be slating him as badly as Mount though, he was extremely poor and went missing. Always great to see obscure or smaller clubs in South American/European leagues getting such a huge payout from these sort of deals. And what a great way to use it. Maybe buy them for the multi club model 😂 ? Just need to get a top GK and maybe a CF sorted, if Lavia is coming in. Few loans on the outgoing side too and we will be good to go I think