robsblubot

Does United count? Sorry not really interested in convincing you that Matic is a good player - think there is plenty of evidence of that regardless of your personal preference. My disagreement was around the (imo crazy) idea that the club does no miss Matic... that just defies all logic esp considering the replacement does not know how to play football. We can go into crazy what-ifs into different players with diff characteristics as replacements and we wouldn't know whether they were avail at that moment. The fact remains a proper replacement wasn't brought in, which makes us miss Matic. You see, Matic, regardless of your personal opinion and preference, was a nail-in started for all managers in all our wins of late. The only time he did not start (he was indeed in terrible form as many others) we finished 10th. So, for us NOT to miss him, the replacement would have to be - at the very least - a nail-in starter. That's really the only disagreement I have, since we all have our own preferences, which may also involve the style in which the team plays.

However one might rate Matic (irrelevant), he had several MotM performances for us - some of them in very big games too! His replacement, has already had several "Worst Man of the Match" performances for us - some of them in very big games too!

yes we know better than to value goals and assists. How silly of them! We know what's really important in the game.

I actually disagree with the notion that he doesn't give 100% on the pitch (talking to the press and contract aside). That "he only plays when he bothers to show up", etc. That implies he's a messi-like player and the only reason he does not light the world on fire is because he can't always be bothered. I think a more realistic reason is that he has limitations (in technique and mentality both) as most players do. He merely has specific weaknesses that sometimes prevent him from influencing the game in a way fans would want him to - e.g. when the conditions on the pitch don't play to his strengths. This happens more often in CL matches, which are typically very physical and tight.

How were Hazard's comments after the City game not similar & warrant the same action? Did not hear them, but the same applies. Caveat that the star player is usually managed a bit differently - even his contract can be different than the other players’ (hence why we should be more critical of him not less).

Comments like that are an invitation to stay home... it’s not only disrespectful to the manager, but also to his teammates. It implies hes so much better than the the other cbs in the squad, so if he’s fit he should automatically play. manager is right in dropping him. Talk it over, but the comments are Not OK.

Hold on a sec... so we hand them our starters no problem, but they won’t sell us rotation/fringe players?! Something wrong there...

Sure then go for rashford and marcial because with Richarlison there they will never play...

Should definitely target United young strikers who rarely play. Jose is vulnerable in that regard as we know too well. lukaku always plays which limits playing time for others. Both rashford and Marcial have much higher ceiling than lukaku. btw completely agree regarding the CM area. Both the Most important position and our weakness.

everybody wants that - even if I don't think Eden is as good as you say, I'd rather add quality players and keep him. But what if the club, for one reason or another, cannot do that? Would you then say Hazard should be sold? Perhaps that's the problem? Perhaps this club does not have the luxury to have a player like Hazard at the moment, so it might be more beneficial to have 2-3 good players instead of one star. I know that for Hazard FC fans this is crazy talk, but for Chelsea FC fans it should be something to consider.

heh there is nothing average about salah these days (further proof to be coming in the summer): he makes everyone around him better. And FIrmino is an excellent striker - bulked up nicely which allied to his good technique makes him a handful. Good players with good technique who can move and be physical makes them a good side. I still think it's a one-player team. If Salah is suspended or injured, they will be in big trouble. Out of the 5 goals they scored against City, he scored 2 and assisted another... and the most important ones at that. Roma showed that you can only win a game if you play to win. Give yourself a fucking chance to be in a special day....

That's one (valid IMO) criticism Guardiola gets: his teams only play one way and there is no plan 'B'. Thankfully for him, it does work most times, esp in long championships where these slumps only cost a few points. The issue for City however, is that despite all the money they spent, and having some great players (some quite young too), they also have a few duds. Fernandinho for me is a 'no'. I'm brazilian (originally) and dislike his game very much so. Otamendi is not good enough on the ball at this level, and like Cahill, it hurts him at times. Sometimes it's not about the number of mistakes one makes, but rather the skill level to handle difficult situations. Walker, so far, has been a complete flop at this level - looks completely out of his depth.

While I don’t completely disagree on Matic, just the way he was replaced - not really talking bout the name but rather how uneventful it was. I’m not a betting man, but could go all out on salah.. salah will score until he retires... but if you only see the scoring, then well my point exactly. Have you ever seen hazard give so much in a game, run so much, and chase so much being the key player? I have not.

You kinda contradict yourself here, well to me at least. Your reasoning is that the players are easy to replace, if the board were good. I find that line of thought entirely unrealistic for the mere fact that however inapt our board may be, replacing quality players is NEVER easy. Matic was also an established player who was working well in a system, which makes him more valuable to the club. If it were that easy, then our inapt board would've replaced at least one of them adequately. It's much easier for Barca to replace top players, because the aspiring top players all want to move there. They already signed Arthur Melo (21) for 30+ mi just because he wanted to go there so badly. They bought an option of sale, because the transfer market is closed... Reading folks here talking about Salah is frankly sad.... Yes if you thought he was average when he was at chelsea (some of us did not!), just accept you missed it (I've plenty wrong about other players - Oscar for ex). Now not seeing what Salah is doing on the pitch is just the worst kind of blindness. The club, esp its coaching staff should have had the quality to both see the potential and hold to the players. Managers, esp transient managers (which is what they are for us) should never have the last word on transfers.

they will bring Jardim into our side of the fence, so that he we will play to Bakayoko's strengths. Jardim would be the polar opposite of Conte, and of every other manager we've been linked with.

yup, though Kane seems to be pretty injury-prone. At least it doesn't take him long to get it going when back. Unlike Aguero who's also injury-prone and takes forever to regain match fitness.

While I also dislike Conte's tactics, there is the plan and there is the execution of the plan. It's much easier said than done. It takes a certain set of players to execute high pressure for a 45min like Liverpool did today. Their attacking players have much higher work rate than ours and can keep on chasing and hustling the opposition. Besides, while that prevented City from playing, and also gave them the football in good positions, Liverpool still had the quality (esp Salah) to both create and finish the chances. It doesn't matter how well you play or execute a plan if you can't finish off the chances and win the match.

True. wouldnt use the word average for Fernandinho, otamendi, walker, and sane though. Need a goal here to make second leg interesting. As much as I think Liverpool is not good enough without salah, they will not concede 3 goals in the second leg.

Liverpool is done for: looks like a groin pull for salah. They will have a shot if they don’t concede otherwise I’d still go for city to go through...

Right back to you

Salah is literally twice the player. Coutinho is a great player, but salah right now is a top player, luiz Suarez level... can’t really understand how some here don’t see it - will they see it when salah is at RM next season?

Nah they have Salah who is unplayable at this time. if salah is off Liverpool simply cannot compete at this level. Aside from the remarkable effort from all players, most if not all key moments come from salah. That’s key player right there who make and average team a much better team. City will come back and prob play better. They will Move around more and finally connect some passes. Though folks are seeing how their D and middle crumble under pressure... can’t mske people unsee that.

Fernandinho is playing the same way he did against Germany ... another 7 goals?!

Well we did have Salah at some point, like you said, so replacing Hazard can't be that out of this world as you suggest. We also did have Kevin De Bruyne too, btw. That's how you replace a key player: you sign a number of prospects until one ends up delivering. You don't go for a Neymar or Dybala which would indeed be unrealistic. That's what Liverpool does since they don't have the cash to buy key players. Now, I don't disagree with you considering how bad our decisions concerning transfers have been lately, so we might end up selling Hazard to PSG (also can't see him RM going for him) and failing to replace him with anyone remotely as good. I actually think Eden is going nowhere.

My feeling is that even when youngsters get a shot, this club doesn’t do it right. Andreas should have played a few games while his good run of form lasted and then gone back to rotation. Throwing youngsters in a struggling starting xi is as bad as not giving them minutes. it can hinder their development.