BlueLyon

That dude at liverpool, Salah or something would fit very nicely on our right side.... Good game, very even, but pool still has Mane and Firmino on bench, not sure whats our joker in second half. Hope we dont catch fatigue from midweek.

Even before 5th round, why was everyone cutting Napoli off already? There was only 10000 of 60000 people at san paolo, and they call themselves loyal napoli fans? Yes 6 points was a big big task, but they played shakhtar at home (and won), and they play feyenoord next, while shakhtar plays vs city in england. IMO napoli still has very big chance to finish 2nd. Hell even Atletico can still do it if they beat us, Roma are big bottlers and wouldnt surprise me if they dont win against qarabag.

I realy look forward to this game, it could be very entertaining. I think Morata, Eden, Mane, Salah will put up a good show. Realy cant predict, could go either way, though if I have to I guess Pool will press us heavily and we can do them on counter if things line up well for us in attack. Their defense is awful, we should press their back line because they will certainly break, but I think Conte will, unfortunely, do exactly opposite, sit back, let their defence get comfortable and they will press us out of the game through middle. Hopefuly it works for us on counters.

If he was able to finish off those chances in front of goal with feet, he would be at around 15-20 goals in all comps by now. He is quite shocking in 1v1 with feet, the fact he still scored so many goals hides that, but has to improve massively. Games for now have been quite simple, since there was always next time to improve, but knockout stages will have two games and Morata will simply get that one chance and he needs to score or we will be in trouble. Though that can be solved eventualy if we bring another poacher and play 2 upfront in future seasons if it doesnt work out with Morata as lone striker. Linkup and headers are amazing though, fantastic when it comes to that.

If we sell Tibo, there is Oblak.

Barry kicked Eden, ref did nothing, Eden lying in the ground, WBA players still playing, not giving ball away to pause the game and WBA fans whistle Eden for ''faking'' injury. Couple minutes later his shot ends up with Morata scoring the goal. Man, karma at its finest.

In an interview recently he said he hangs alot with Luiz and Willian, who helped him accomodate to england life. Pretty sure he have very decent chances if we ever decited to bid for him.

Mertens too old IMO, we need somone in the age around Eden and Morata to play together for couple years (hopefuly Eden stays). Bale is injured too much and too big risk considering his wages and fee Real would demand. I cant say about Draxler, he is sometimes good sometimes poor, but I dont watch him every week to judge. Sanchez IMO should be another pass. Frustrating player quite often and his tantrums at Arsenal, despite the team playing like shit, he is a professional and acts like a little girl everytime they are losingy a personality I wouldnt have here. We should go all in for either Dybala or Fekir, or maybe Lemar IMO.

Also you can say Sweden eliminated Italy in typical good ol' park the bus italian style. Irony.

Italy sweden was so weird...three clear handballs no penalty, Olsen punching the ball back in play instead of cathching it when he had all the time and space, and Thelin literaly passing the ball towards Buffon instead of taking the shot... On another day you could say it was match fixed to end with no goals... Feel sorry for Italy though, they were shit, but its still italy and they often spark the tournaments. Will be big loss not to see them in world cup. Kudos to Sweden, they fought well.

I must say some fans are so weird. Back then when RLC did nothing yet, everyone hyped him in the sky, now that he is actualy having very good season, majority says he aint good enough for us and we need to buy buy buy new midfielders. Hell, so many hypocrites, crying after De Bruyne and others we sold, blaming Mou and board for this, but if given chance now to develop RLC into very good player, most of those same fans would just buy top midfielder and loan RLC out again. Funny world isnt it. If RLC has whole season as good as past couple months, I think he deserves a chance in first team before we buy more midfielders, even if it hinders our success next season, its long term project, we could have english player in first 11 for maybe next 10 years. By no meaning he is good enough already, but he should be given playtime in this team to further develop under Conte instead of splashing big money on top midfielders who will limit his chances.

Chill, he is just tired of Martinez bullshit and wants to see Zidane as belgium coach together with Henry On serious note, I dont like these comments at all. Why he still didnt sign new contract? And Tibo? What is the board doing...

You cant provide proof black on white regarding Martial lazyness. But as long you watch the United games, you will see what Im talking about. There is no doubt Martial is extremely talented, I never said he isnt. His ball control is brilliant. But the reason he isnt playing ahead of Rashford is because Rashfors puts in a shift. Rash is prepared to press and track down, run entire game. Martial needs to develop better tactical understanding and workrate to suceed in PL. If he does that, he can be top 3 players in league. This is where he has to improve. But until then, I understand why Mou plays Rashford ahead of Martial as first choice and most of united fans see that aswell. The base in premier league is good tactical understanding and willingness to work hard. Then on top of that comes talent. But every talent from Hazard to Silva to Sanchez knows tactical requirements and the work shift required. Rashford knows it too. Martial as of now doesnt.

I wish we had backup striker that actualy stays at club for more years and proves his worth. Ba, Remy, Batshuayi...rollercoaster to continue with Benteke and in two years someone else... Bats isnt perfect, but if he is willing to be bit part player, we should just keep him. We also have Tammy as target man for future, I dont see one reason why splash cash on Benteke when we need other areas like wingbacks, rw and midfielder to improve.

Mourinho is far from only manager who does that. You exagerrate now. Its trend to throw stick at Mou on here, I get it people cant accept he decided to join United. That doesnt mean we shouldnt be objective. Hazard learned several very good things under management of Mou, he stepped to next level in 2014/15. Defending is part of the game and even Pedro was very important to that in Pep days at barcelona. He literaly tracked back to defense if needed. Off the ball, every top manager will demand players to run and chase opponent. The difference is the style of play. Pep plays possesion, Mou plays counter attacks. And obviously the difference then is Mou players defend for 60min, while Pep players only for 30min of the game. But either of the two will demand lot of running and tracking. Pochettino is killing his players with training, he demands excellent physical preparation and willingness to run whole game. The difference is Alli, Kane and others accepted that. You are naive if you think Pochetino, Pep, Bielsa, Sari, any other quality manager demands any less running than Mou does. Off the ball, everyone has to run. However some defend longer in game and some less. But for example Martial, every manager would want him to be prepared to track back and run when not in possesion. But he is lazy and he needs to improve if he wants to play.

We indeed made some big big mistakes letting players go. We bought Tibo, Salah, Kdb, Lukaku at very very young age for small money, not to mention Zouma, plus Christensen and Bertrand came from youth. I guess Baba will follow same path once we sell him. Our team could be like Tibo Azpi-Christensen-Zouma-Bertrand Kante-Bakayoko-KDB Salah-Lukaku-Eden Now according to transfermarkt, this team cost us roughly 160m Todays worth of these players is 463 milion! Our scouting department was amazing. We just had poor board and managers who couldnt get the most of the players.

Come jaunary 31st, we will be panic buying again probably lol.

Just a recommendation, never watch youtube videos like best skills and goals etc of xx player. If possible find videos for individual game(s) with all touches by that player. It gives much more balanced picture of the player, shows his mistakes, his runs, his marking, tracking back, and most importantly shows entire attacking/defensive action and not just 5 sec dribble or tackle by x player but cuts to next scene without showing how the previous action ended (for example excellent dribble is shown, but not wrong pass or lost ball after that). Unfortunely there arent such videos for every player. Pulisic is amazing though

Im glad Fekir is doing great again. I always thought he was the best product by ligue 1 after Eden. But that injury almost destroyed him, so happy he is fit again. Aouar though is on path to become best lyon product ever if he stays fit. I havent seen such technical allround skill from young player in ages. His vision, passing and ball control is superb.

I agree he is terrible in managing youth ie. unproven players; players who come from club ranks and never played in competitive matches. But here we discuss players ala Baily, Varane, Zouma, Kdb, Martial, Shaw. etc. who all played competitive games (and quite well too) before being managed under Mou. Thing is that people point out something like this; Shaw is not playing; interpretation: Mou is awful with young players. Mou doesnt play young players. No. Shaw is not playing because he had injuries, he was unfit and seems to lack work ethic. Martial doesnt play as much because he lacks work ethic too. Lindelof isnt playing either, because he is terrible atm. If they were good, they would play like Zouma, Rashford, Baily, Lukaku play(ed). Best players in world track back. Mou demands even more, but in current state, Martial or Shaw wouldnt play under Pep or Barca either. There is no place for whinny, selfish or lazy players in teams that want to win titles. Smaller sides are better for development of these youngsters. If they dont make it in big club, its often reason that they made too big step forward, not in manager.

You could say he was unlucky with injuries too. Wilshere is similar. Or Micah Richards back then. I agree with rest, but Shaw is not the best example here IMO.

Tbh best players in the world track back and work hard. Barca under Pep for example might be tiki taka possession based team, but off the ball, they constantly ran up and down, closing opponents. Martial, much as many other talents jog around these days. Obviously you dont play them. Fair to say Van Gaal played him, but United as whole was crap back then. Mou wants to win titles and there is no place for players like Martial who dont run enough, regardless of their talent. There must be some standards still. On the whole I agree Mou gives too much responsibility to attackers, but Martial realy isnt good example. Talented yes, but also lazy. RLC for example has plenty of talent too, but he will never play in quality side if he doesnt improve his work rate. Mourinho is a bad example but generaly, football doesnt work like you give chance to player who has talent. You give it to those who are willing to leave their heart on ground. Those will play. Tricky players who only see goal will not. There are things like team work, intelligence, maturity, hard work, determination. Players like Hazard are tricky too, but they have other departments fixed too. He is team player, decent worker, runs quite alot. All best players in the world do that, including Ronaldo or Messi. Nasri, Ben Arfa,...all have or had talent, but so far lack everything else. You cant build team around them. Even Pep didnt give Ihenacho proper chance despite he was extremely promising. Not saying Martial is in same class, but he will have to improve big time. As far I know when Ibra arrived, he was very dissapointed as he was ''forced'' to give number 9 away. The fuck is that? Crying over number that was rightfuly given to a man who earned much more in his career than Martial? Often players move to smaller or different club when they cant suceed in current. It just shows they made too big step. Nice example would be De Bruyne. Nasri on other hand never managed to reinvent himself anywhere he went. Arfa was excelent in Nice, but doesnt even play for PSG. He obviously has talent, but lacks everything else, thats why he doesnt play. Same is with Martial. Talent is not everything and he will have to work much harder and become mature if he wants to play for top team. Honestly nothing to do with Mourinho here, many United fans will admit he is talented, but lazy, selfish and gives ball away too many times. Again, Mou is bad example here, but there are so called talented players who get hyped over their skills, and fans think they are super players and demand them to play, but in reality they lack many other qualities to make a team player and oftenly thats reason they dont play.

He could be 100m. the point is people say Mou doesnt give young players a chance. Truth is he gives it to those that are good. If you are quality you will play, if you are 5m, free or 100m If you have potential to be good, but not yet, Mou wont play you, you will be loaned and if or when you improve elsewhere, you will then play Kdb had potential, but apart from one top game, he was average here. After he turned good, he decided to leave, nothing we could do here.

Honestly, at this point I wouldnt take anyone from Arsenal at all. Theres plenty of players elsewhere, players who can become our legends without any pressure being ex arsenals. Not to mention their mentality is terrible. I wouldnt touch Ozil on free tbh, he just dissapears in games. Awful player cuz you cant count on him, and I truly truly liked him back in Real. Somewhat he could be Fabregas type of player, great vision and playmaking, but fails short in everything else, for midfielder thats absolutely unacceptable. To have another Fabregas? No thanks. We should buy someone thats actualy allround, can play when not in possesion and LEADS the team as general. Ozil isnt answer at all, but he would still have to play etc, taking valuable minutes from others. No thanks. We need a player with balls in midfield. Its unbelievable what desire, passion and strong mentality do in football matches, talent is often secondary. Lamps was not at all as talented as Cesc, Ozil but he had that grit about him, nevermind love for club. Ozil or anyone similar doesnt have neither grit or love for Chelsea, I cant wait we actualy buy a midfielder who will dictate tempo, give teammates orders and lead by example. shame football turned to shit in this aspect, very few players are still in mould of Lamps, Gerrard, Alonso, De Rossi, Keane,...if any at all. Take a look at RLC, has everything to become that, but somehow I question his working and thinking methods, I guess he has too much of everything at this young age. But hopefuly miracle happens and he steps up, I would kill to have him as captain in 5 years. English, club youth, physical presence, technique, kid has everything.

Haha yes I was about to mention that, but forgot it. Interestingly given the importance of defenders in his system, I would expect him to throw experienced players at back and one or two youngsters in attack. I guess it has to do with his great understanding of defending and its easier for him to spot talented defenders and their qualities, but he ultimately falls short on spotting talented attackers, hence he couldnt see KDB potential.