OneMoSalah

Yep, the back 4 argument for me is pretty pointless because we are a bit toothless in attack either way. We could playa front 7 and we would still be the same I think because the players aren’t ruthless or perhaps good enough (some of them anyway). Plus in a back 4 we are considerably less solid, the likes of Azpi, Rudi, Thiago and Andreas end up much more exposed and also we are severely worse in terms of structure for building the play. So aye dont really get the 3 CBs, 2 DMs and 2 WBs stifling us, if anything with the wingbacks role changing in the last months, we have 5 players who are always in the opposition half in advanced positions, our attacking play should improve. But the players and decision making stifles/fucks us more than the formation and tactics.

Dont see the issue around us being interested in Ruben Neves if I am honest, he’s a good player, although a CM in January surely isn’t a necessity is it?

Yep another good point. This stance was the same with Jadon Sancho too, he wanted out a season earlier but they made him stay and sold on their tetms. Also in the past they weren’t scared to let Lewandowski’s contract run down even if it meant he left on a free.

Wouldn’t necessarily call it a mistake because how does anyone know they’d be sitting well in 2nd right now (which is where they’d be expected to be getting either way) without Haaland? Not as if they are an amazing team with him (pretty average team) so imagine them without him? They’d be considerably worse. 100%. Plus they get 1 more full season out of a world class player and will still be getting the best part of £70m when they sell him, perhaps more depending on if this £68m clause is real or not. They also sold Sancho for £73 million in the summer that will be paid in instalments that are structured in a way they pushed for to make it happen so its not like they were/will be extremely short of cash. Everyone will assume that they are fools for losing that additional amount of money but lets assume Dortmund will be securing CL qualification for next season, they are still in the cups domestically and have the Europa League this season to contend with. And did anyone actually make a >£100m bid? I don’t think anyone did officially. I don’t think anyone could of afforded it.

But there’s also been a lot of conflicting reports/rumours recently that he was offered less than what Mount’s going to get offered to renew which is 140k p/w. The 300k p/w talk tends to be if he were to sign for other clubs on a free transfer than what he actually wants to renew here. I suppose it depends which source you believe. I doubt he is stupid enough to think we will pay him 300k p/w which would make him the highest paid player at the club.

Clean sheet at least. Not sure where we go from here as in the title race, we are probably out of the running now or one more draw/loss from being out of it. Suppose stranger things have happened but we also have to worry about whats behind us too as the gaps decreasing.

Definitely quality related. I don’t think its actually in doubt re quality, our guys have potential (CHO, Kai, Pulisic) but Sane, Muller, Gnabry, Coman all have got proven quality. I don’t buy that our guys would have similar numbers there and using Sancho as a comparison when he has played in one of the most dysfunctional PL footballing teams of the last 10 years with those quality of footballers is hardly a good barometer either. Even then we have seen good numbers don’t necessarily mean players will fit a style or system at other teams (Ziyech, Lukaku and Werner here) but at Bayern those guys, they are clearly in the mould or philosophy of players that suits a clear philosophy and project. On Muller again, he has probably been the most written off footballer of the last 10 years, or one of them. I mean he has been a huge part of every successful Bayern Munich team he’s played in since 2009-10 playing virtually every position from number 8, number 10, on the wings and as a CF and Gnabry is well, Gnabry, his record since leaving Arsenal speaks for itself. Those attackers they have, they have quality and they have consistency. And they suit the philosophy. Re Muller again - I don’t think people actually realise how much he has actually achieved. Like he isn’t maybe the best footballer in terms of his technical skills (not bad either though) etc but he has obviously got ability, huge footballing intelligence and almost 300 career goals for club and country, being a regular under every manager since van Gaal at Bayern. Winning a world cup, several CLs, several league titles etc. If Kai achieves half of what he has he will do very well. All good talking about Kai as a potential heir/generational talent/highly rated etc but we have also seen long term success isn’t a given for anyone (which whilst we are talking about Germany, Ozil is the perfect example- a player who I think is to this day is one of the most talented footballers that I have ever seen or for instance, in the PL, Wayne Rooney who started to go off the boil before he was 30 when he should of really continued and cemented his place as one of the best of his generation). You have to start doing it and keep doing it every season. Plus on Sane, the season City won PL with record points, most wins, most away points, most goals and best goal difference, Sane played virtually every game and had double figure PL goals (10) and assists (15). That to date is renowned as Pep’s best team at City and one of the best PL teams of all time.

Could see Alonso maybe considering but not so much Dave - although in midst of a time where Chilwell is out and has been since whenever, why would Alonso look to move now and not in the summer for say? Considering we are still on course for a title challenge, still in the cups, CL and have the Club World Cup coming up which he may never experience again. Simon Phillips is about as reliable as a chocolate fire blanket.

Honestly I would disagree. Wolves tend to have much more of the ball this season under Bruno Lage as opposed to being a more predominantly counter attacking team like they were with Nuno so there is definitely more spaces/opportunities to open them up than someone with 10 men behind the ball. Obviously we had enough chances with the Everton game but Wolvrs will try and play more than they would last season, meaning we might have more opportunities to pick them off if we let them come onto us a bit. We might not but I don’t think it will be as difficult as v Everton perhaps.

Jesus you took offence last time someone suggested you were hinting at Tuchel could get changed out and here we are again, reopening the next manager thread 🤣 Think some people are a bit forgetful in how much of a shambles we were as a collective prior to his arrival last season. Ok this season, we’ve hit a rocky spell but we are still third, still in a very good position to be in the title race imo, wouldn’t panic. Without Tuchel this team wouldn’t be anywhere near as good. Not surprised either when you’ve got 6 attackers who are inconsistent, not ruthless and somehow a few of them struggle to play together, you’re likely to drop points.

Again, not the point, not even close. Eto’o was experienced, played for big clubs, worked with top managers and had led the line where as Lukaku wasn’t ready back then to do that for us. Same with Broja not being ready as of yet. He might not even be ready next year either for all we know.

The guys got 10 PL goal involvements in 797 minutes playing as a number 10 this season (6 goals 4 assists). Him playing higher up in that positions, its working, and as mentioned above, is he really out of position? I’d say his role is sort of comparable to that of KdB and Silva under Pep. They weren’t really 8’s for say but they weren’t purely number 10’s, they were sort of asked to be a hybrid of both positions but they tended to drift into half spaces/between the lines. Obviously the formations different, the coaches are different and the players are different but I don’t think Mount’s role is too dissimilar.

City absolutely dicked Leeds. Leeds defending was league 1 standard the whole game and I am surprised it wasn’t 10-0 but at the same time, I suppose City can do that sort of performances when they want to, instead of just toying with teams. 7th straight win for Pep and City.

I felt that he didn’t really affect the game enough though. Their CBs seemed to deal with him pretty well throughout whenever he tried to get behind them or away from them in and around the box. Granted, he did have 2 half chances/reasonable chances I think (sidenetting one and a header) but he didn’t really pose a big enough threat, was really only when he was drifting out in the wider areas or coming off their back line that he seemed to contribute towards the game more and got a bit more joy and more touches. I will admit physically he looks a bit sturdier than last season (although it was hugely infuriating how lightweight he seemed last season so that always has to improve either way) but he still has huge tendencies to give the ball away very easily, happens when going to dribble (gettijg caught under his feet) and if your going to play as a false 9, in the box you have to make the difference in one way or another. Firmino is the perfect example, I know he went on a goal drought last season but even then his link up play, touches in around the boxes, movement, everything is always crisp, always done for a reason and always noticeable. Maybe having the Mane’s and Salah’s is better for him but theres also just much more of a consistency and threat with him. The stuff outside the box helps the play, granted but between the goalposts/in the box he has to be more, even if he’s playing as a false 9 or not. Be it touches in and around the centre of the box, making clever runs, getting goals/assists/key passes. We can’t hide away from that he seems to drift in and out of phases where some weeks he contributes more and then some he does next to nothing unfortunately. I did also allude that he is still younger than the others who are older, more experienced, have achieved more throughout their careers who really aren’t contributing. But the fee, the hype, the expectation, its always going to be there.

I am surprised with the mixed results there wasn’t more from the usual suspects.

Hopefully see Callum get a start here all things being well. No doubt we’ve struggled in attack since he’s come out of the starting 11.

I do agree. He’s still hard to pigeon hole as in is he a false 9? Does he need to play as an actual 10? Will he score/assist enough to be playing as a false 9? Does he need to play with other players who can score X amount of goals to compensate for him not being that player? 18 months later its still difficult to answer those questions but he’s still young enough to maybe be given the benefit of the doubt - which is maybe why he won’t get the same sort of treatment Timo/Rom/Hakim all get on numbers/performances because their older and much more established players who should coming up to or be in their prime years. The general opinion is we play better when he plays (last season yes 100% with TT - this season its been mixed results) but recently, against Leeds, West Ham, Watford and even Malmo, when he’s started as a false 9, he has been very ineffective majority of the time. Even against Leicester, he did do bits in phases of the game but I think he maybe was let off because as a team it was such a good and complete performance so he maybe got away with a bit, although for some that could be seen as harsh.

Jorginho never really played in a 2 prior to Lampard being in charge here. Neither did Kovacic. You saying its not possible? Wjinaldum isn’t a championship player…. he’s a top player. Wjinaldum and Mount are nothing alike so I don’t get the it would be the same as when Mount’s played there. It would be nothing alike if I had to be honest. Wjinaldum is definitely much better suited to playing a the double 6 than Mount who is a number 10. True and for me, thats the biggest thing that’s disappointing, even with the obvious limitations (although hes an improvement on both of Tammy and Giroud in terms of ability) because barring his first few games, his goal output won’t justify his playing at times (although same argument for the others - but 3 players out of those bunch have got to play - Mount’s only one who is reliable). I don’t buy that its improbable for him and the others to somehow work together though and do much more than they’ve done so far this season. Illsuited buy or not. Tuchel is a top top coach and I don’t think its a matter of starting from scratch with his system so theres got to be something that will make more happen from those guys if they play together.

Aye, Conte leaving situation was weird and has backfired on him now significantly but he also signed a lot of them guys and left Inzaghi a championship winning team/group. Like the team/group he left Allegri at Juventus. Always helps. I’m impressed with their recruitment of Dzeko, Dumfries, Correa and Calhanoglu too to replace Lukaku and Hakimi and boost their squad depth. I sometimes wonder if Conte felt that Hakimi and Lukaku wouldn’t just be the only big players to be sold so the club could balance their books. Could be wrong but I think if he knew that they’d sell Lukaku and Hakimi and replace with them Dzeko and Dumfries he might of actually been a bit more likely to stay as he wanted Dzeko here and the other summer at Inter IIRC prior to Dzeko renewing his Roma deal.

True, valid points and I have seen some other posts from you and other guys about him not fitting and the system being affected etc which I agree with points from (too big a can of worms to type out probably could post something that would take all day to type) but lets not beat around the bush here, we needed a striker. This striker, regardless of if it were Kane, Lukaku, Aguero or whoever else, was the one thing we needed to go and push City and Liverpool. We got Lukaku, many pundits, journalists, fans etc thought Lukaku to Chelsea, thats the move they need, they will be right up there come the end of the season because he will score them goals. Don’t want to take anything away from the way we won the CL without that sort of numbers from a CF but the CL is different (because we had some excellent games and fully deserved to win it outright in my opinion based on the majority of the knockout games), its knockout football, not nearly 40 games over the slog of the best part of 10 or 11 months or so and promising system or tactic or not, those guys wont do it enough so thats why we better hope Lukaku or another attacker can get a lot of goals to compensate for that. And lets not pretend that running the gap close/trying to win the title wasn’t going to be the objective this year after what Tuchel did with this group in a short space, so to do that, we needed a CF and well when looking at a CF, one thing tends to stand out more than anything else - how many goals did/do they score? Stats do overshadow things in football but even then, I find it hard to believe a manager as good as Tuchel cannot find a way to get goals and more out of Lukaku as well as keep the other good things we’ve seen from others than what we’ve seen so far. Even if he has got limitations.

I think its all good saying that in hindsight but we would of been laughed out of the title running before a ball was kicked if we didn’t sign a recognised CF and used Broja instead - regardless of how well he would do or wouldn’t do. There was a clear problem with conversion and you’d of thought a proven 25 goals a season man would solve it.

You really don’t like Conte do you 🤣 Inzaghi is definitely surprising a lot of people outside of Italy though and that will continue again if they progress past Liverpool in the CL. Most probably thought Inter would struggle to maintain their position without Conte, Lukaku and Hakimi but their signings have worked and they’ve found a really good run of form recently, think they are unbeaten in their last 9 league matches.

Well there is that also 😂 seems to be a reoccurring theme with offensive players here

All that complaining and people saying ‘Sarr cost us our CL campaign’ ‘Tuchel cost us the game v Zenit’ and the other worrying/stupid nonsense only for us to get a reasonable draw in Lille 🤣 Wont be a pushover but a good draw to get. Plus theres some good ties, 3 good level teams from the United/PSG, Inter/Ajax and Atletico/Bayern ties will go out when the last 8 comes so it certainly is a very good draw for us.

I think Tomo or perhaps it was someone else had mentioned that the attack and results have gone pretty badly since CHO was taken out of the team in another thread and its hard to disagree based on what we’ve seen.