robsblubot

Good list, but not even on his birthday Ederson can be better than Mendy. Think Ederson is a bit overrated tbh... I mean he can only be considered a top goalie in that City system. Think some of us have been saying how good Mendy is for quite some time eh. @Muzchap was being ironic there 😉

Mendy did alright.

That's exactly the problem with conspiracy theories: they usually ignore the other interests and parties involved. In that particular case, the insurance companies. A quick search shows the above ad as highly misleading by being extremely suggestive. quick facts: he wasn't the sole owner: he led a consortium of investors and lenders (which included yet other groups) he was obliged to have insurance there upon signing that lease at the time "terrorism insurance coverage" wasn't a thing and was included in most if not all policies by default Conspiracy theories are one of the many cancers in society today.

Good player with a "galactico" price tag

Can't help but imagine what this thread would've looked like had Alonso given away that Penalty against Southampton. 😅

Really good to see him playing well again. Looks like he can really help us unlock defenses with his runs. Kova and Ruben are both skillful and really good when dribbling past players. While kova is more skillful, ruben is more physical, and is a far bigger attacking threat. think he will have a big decision coming next season. He can be a rotation player for us, but I feel that he could be the star player for certain sides (and not talking small clubs). He’s a fairly rare type and even good clubs may lack that.

That and also the fact VAR has effectively become a time machine. They go back minutes after a goal, pretty much erasing all that has happened from that moment to the goal. It's a very silly thing and I hope they change that in the future.

Hope all officials (including VAR ones) involved in this match get a meaningful ban, because that was pathetic all the way through. Good game and with good performances and not so good ones. Really liked Mount as usual... and Werner is such an underrated player.

There could be a mental aspect to it, but I believe it's more lack of skill. Like his own goal in the Europa final still at inter. It just takes him a bit longer to control the football (first touch) and react when tightly marked. This is less of a problem against weaker sides, where poor defending allows him a bit more time on the ball, but against better defenders and defenses, his lack of skill has a cost.

Yeah quite a shocker, but palmeiras is one of those “solid teams” that can pull that off. Yet, flamengo is really a notch above everybody else in SA atm. Atletico comes close, but now they only have the brasileirao. We will likely be facing Filipe Luiz in the final. While they lost their best player in Gerson (24yo CM) - his second and last chance in Europe at Marseille - they've got Adreas Pereira from United to replace him. They've also just signed David Luiz, so a lot of familiar faces too. 😉

That was incredible! At some point it can't be just luck anymore. 😉 Think City has a squad that is fine-tuned to win the PL, but will always have a hard time in the CL. Their strategy of relentless pressure gives them great odds with a large enough sample (in the PL), but it's a different story in single-elimination where that one bad game, when they can't control counters, will send them home. Real, well their starting XI just isn't that impressive; there are lots of good players in the squad, but no game-winning material imo.

Hulk has been amazing in Brazil - yes a tier or two lower than Europe these days - but he's indeed dominant, while others who made the same move have not been able to deliver as much. Costa hasn't played much, but he's already scored and looked like the thorn he is (on the pitch that is )

yeah he did not work hard enough, which was really disappointing to me at least. And I'm just waiting to see what he will do when subbed off -- throw a tantrum? Although it seems the only way he gets off the pitch is on a stretcher. @ZAPHOD2319 I hope you are right, I truly do. Just don't see us beating them in the PL, sorry to say. Think we lost what made us difficult for them. One could say that the players who sit for lukaku are better than him... better footballers. I certainly think Kai is.

Mostly agree, although I don't necessarily consider Alonso a weak link, especially since we play with 3 at the back. He's often someone who needs stopping, which is what Pep did. Though perhaps chilwell should've come on once it became evident alonso was controlled. Chilwell must not be training super well atm. I think the balance was off and I have my doubts that we can match them at all with a luxury player on the pitch (dedicated striker).

They were overwhelmed because of the way city plays, by constantly outnumbering our players in all areas of the pitch. Hate to break it to you, but then we are not contenders. City (and Guardiola) secret sauce is exactly that every player is constantly involved in the build up. Or a more fair way to say it, they have more players involved in the buildup than other sides. Even their goalie was handpicked because he can pick a pass. And that's why we were able to match them last CL, because we also did that. If now we have a immobile striker who needs the ball at his feel, well, then we are fucked. Besides, those unacceptably poor first touches have little to do with how the team played and more to do with, well Lukaku's lack of skill. Lukauku's first touch is very popular on twitter right now, and I have to say deservedly so.

I actually watched him play a couple of times, and he's been playing well. It's not just goals, but his movement and pace are creating far more problems in Italy than they did in the PL. Or maybe he's just progressing well, but I suspect it's a little bit of both. This move was brilliant for him as a player.

Agree to disagree then. 👍 For me he killed so many counters with both bad, or lack of, movement as well as poor touches. He was completely absent in the build up, which does affect our overall performance esp going forward.

Could not cope with the quickness of city players. Hope it’s just early season form, but looked his age against city, I have to say. you know reading some posts today made me convinced I literally watched a different game. We actually played way better than city instead of been pinned down in our own half for most of the match. And we actually won! Silly me again.

Guardiola blocked alonso to stop us, and since we got nothing else going on, it worked wonders. Not really surprising, given how well alonso has been playing lately. Folks here really don’t understand Alonso’s role it seems. honestly thought the discussion would’ve been around lukakus United performance, but I guess…silly me.

Mostly agreed, but we play with 3 at the back, so alonso being attacked should be totally fine. The issue however, is that smart managers will block him from creating, which is what alonso is a creator in the team, which will render him useless. Then tuchel will prob bring chilwell back. that lukaku first touch (sic) in the first half is now imprinted in my brain. 🥺

Wasn’t the issue? He did not show up. I mean his first touch didn’t show, which means he did not either. Really poor showing by mr lukaku. this is what I was afraid of: against city at least, we appear weaker than last season and by a long shot.

The problem here is exactly with the bolded part above. We are challenging for silverware, and having a lesser option in goal for a significant amount of time can negatively affect our title challenges. I'm a big fan of Mendy. For me he's even better the Petr, but the fact that he will keep on vanishing to attend AFCON does make him a lesser option the other *top keepers* you've mentioned.

Agreed on Timo: he's very effective against their style of play. I don't think we need pace in all areas and slowing down the game worked very well in the CL final for example. It's very important to keep the ball, so that they don't have it at all times, therefore don't think Tuchel will be making drastic changes. City has immense quality, and so do we. Games like these are decided in a detail, so it's presumptuous to give too much favoritism either way. We may be slightly in better form atm, but both sides are still making early season adjustments.

I honestly don't know what Odoi's best position is. He needs to beat defenders and/or provide creativity to play as a winger, and he does neither these days. Worried about him.

Sure, and if Werner gets in the start XI someone else will have to leave and we will miss what he does on the pitch. Kai looks also less with Lukaku on the pith in my eyes. There is no win-win here because we had a VERY strong side last season already. Again, I agree that Lukaku helps a lot winning those physical PL matches, but he will always play due to the price tag. Also, the formation that we used last season (+ dedicated striker) was the one from the first half against spurs. We only became as solid as last season when added a 3rd CM with Kante. That's because the balance of the team was a bit off when facing a stronger side. Potentially because Lukaku does not "run like dog" like Werner. 😆 We will find out more as the season progress, but I'm still very curious as to what we will do against City and United, not to mention the later stages of CL.