robsblubot

He is and yet he helped his team got a point at SB. So, not really sure what we are celebrating here. For me warts and all, he's still twice the player Mudryk is, esp in tight contested matches like this. Yeah, we all want to know what Nkunku can do, but it is Mudryk who ends up playing, not Nkunku.

Pretty sure it was the second "outstanding" game--he had another in the upper 8s rating as LB. He also had a couple/few? others in the good rating (~7), if memory serves. His value as a player only goes up if he can play (def) LB even if not as comfortably as he plays CB. It also only makes him more likely to get a callup; being able to play in multiple positions is extremely important for international duty esp WC for obvious reasons.

While the way he hits the ball reminds us of Mata, I'd be very disappointed if Palmer does not surpass Mata in every regard from what I see from him thus far. I'm talking key player for England and all that. His age only makes him even more impressive as a player. Imagine his movement a couple of years from now, for example.... It's already pretty good!

Don't waste time burning your shot at a great manager with this roster. It's not the time.

😆 it could actually have some truth to it... I wonder if there are significant differences around transfers and, say agent behavior, in American sports vs Football. It could be that there is a certain naiveté in their approach right now. they will learn in time. 🙂 We will eventually look like a top team again, it may just take a few years though--according to Frank Leboeuf.

Even Brazil has a better solution: very basic health care for the poor, and (much) better health care for whoever can afford it. It's really not rocket science, but if you'd hear republicans (and some dems -- also bought and paid for) talk about it (like during the Obamacare discussions back then), one would think it's a difficult problem the world is yet to find a solution for. 🙄

I think Antony has a better chance than Sancho. Antony is "just" decisions, he seems to have everything else avail in his tool box. Sancho, I just don't see it... looks pretty average to me. Caicedo is playing more or less of what I was expecting of him. Folks above are talking about awareness, and I would point out to big fish in a small team factor, where he can run everywhere because there would be more positioned players covering him. Now he is the one covering.

And just like Nkunku, Lavia may be a wonderful player, but completely useless if he does not play. we aren't worse than Fulham. We are about the same, which makes us fair game, and there lies the problem. We shouldn't be fair game for the likes of Fulham, Brighton, but the owners worked very hard to make it happen, so here we are.

Weapons is big business for the US gov. It makes tons of money from it. None goes to the people, of course. I feel very strongly about this one as I actually live downtown. Yes, people should be taken care of, some even belong in some institution given their mental health. The better solutions involve something in the city. One thing that is plainly obvious to me is that you can't lose the city... period. SF downtown business are in trouble because of that--many stores closing (small and big). This is really not about ethnicity: in certain regions of the US most homeless people are white. Yes, poverty and ethnicity are linked in most regions, but I think that's a different problem and a much harder to solve one. Lack of a public option health insurance in the US is key here as well. I just don't see how letting tents, shit and garbage, proliferate everywhere helps anyone. Eventually, like it's happening in SF, the business will close down and even the homeless people living there will end up isolated.

Not disagreeing with your points before, but this one is actually a non-issue IMO. Managers will always protect their players, and that takes whichever form necessary. You will only see otherwise when the manager wants out, and/or lost the backing of the players.

If Trump gets full "presidential" immunity like he wants, does that mean Biden could order Trump's assassination the in the following day? 🤣 I mean the actual president right now is Biden, so he'd have the immunity Trump claims he had.

Brazilians with misspelled American names are the best! 😆 That's actually how one (or rather his folks) would make his name be pronounced David in Portuguese.

The rebuild is definitely a good point, the unmentioned "how" wasn't. Several teams had to rebuild in this, or previous seasons, and they did not all go for 19-22s with 5+ year deals. This was a very novel approach for a big club--hope folks would emphasize that aspect more.

I don't particularly care too much about whether Poch remains or not. He's a decent manager which is fine for this squad--a better manager would be wasted here and would just come to collect his paycheck. Poch organized the defense in my view. The conceded goals are mostly individual mistakes, some down to inexperience (including the goalies here too). Up front is mostly down to player quality. "developing" attacking mids and forwards is down to no more than tactical tweaks and adjustments. It's up to them to have enough quality to execute the attacking tasks. That's precisely the difference between City having an option like Haaland vs not. So, while I understand the disappointment with the manager, esp when he protects the group of players with ridiculous statements, IMO the manager is almost irrelevant with this roster. Was merely suggesting that players can be affected by physical game -- not necessarily a straight out bullying. Many defenders/DMs use the subterfuge of throwing very hard tackles in the beginning of the match to intimidate players. The idea is that it may remain in the player's subconscious and throw off their game--even if just a little. Heck often players sitting on the bench can be intimidated by just watching what is going on on the pitch.

Yeah it's probably in the bag, but this was really terrible. opponents may want to look at what Boro did here and repeat. Frank remains very pissed on my screen here. 😆

Sure, but I'm not talking about misses, but the overall performance. Physicality affects the opposition in a number of different ways: attacking players may try to apply the finish quickly to avoid contact for ex. Bullying the frail attacking players isn't really anything new.

Ah thanks. That makes sense--he was super pissed!

Yes, there is that, but there is also the physical aspect. He's very frail and easily outmuscled out of plays. He's got enough skill to avert that most of the time, but this was a VERY physical game without VAR. Not surprising he struggled in such situ.

Announcer here (don't know his game French accept maybe) claims Chelsea will struggle for years to come.

You can't improve a turd. Whatever you do it's still a smelly turd in the end.

Think he's good defensively--don't see him as an attacking FB myself.

yeah maybe Gusto...

Middlesborough is playing with a low block, so we can now have a glimpse of what some of these players can do in tight spaces... not much. Conor on the ball, for ex.

Which is totally normal for a 20yo. Having to rely on these young players for tough PL matches is the issue for me. also, let's not forget that both Salah and DeBruyne did not get a lot of play time under Mou, which was and is one of the biggest criticism of Mourinho as a manager: does not develop young players. How many starts and minutes has Madueke got? Mudryk must have more minutes than KDB in the past 2 seasons!

poor shot by Mudryk