Magic Lamps

The difference is that Real paid 60m for Vinicius and thus have to play him^^

No we concede midfield and try to beat them on the counter. we have no chance to win the midfield battle anyway. Jorginho is not really a proper midfielder either cos he is useless without the ball.

Exactly. Posession game vs City is a bad idea. And in general overrated.

One can dream. Give Conte the squad we have now and we would still be in the title race

He should not even play imo. Has absolutely no value in such a game and just will be a passenger. We need someone in the defensive mid position who can actually defend. I would actually play like this -----Rüdiger--Luiz--Christensen--- Azpi-----Kovacic---Kante----Emerson ----Pedro-----Higuain------Hazard----- which is obviously never gonna happen but we need to load the channels with players on both ends to stand any chance against them. Also set pieces. They have conceded 50% of all their goals from set pieces. So get the cavalry up for every corner and please do not let Willian take them.

yup. tap ins galore, they attack the flanks in numbers, one of their quick players will be found by one of their great passers in the channel, ball across to agüero to tap in empty net. fairly obvious but hard to defend. We need to track back like hell vs them, better even shift back to back 3 ( lol obviously not gonna happen). arsneal , apart from the goals actually played it well in the firs thalf attacking and defending in numbers, But pep with his idea to have fernandinho in defence when not in poession and having him walk into midfield when in posession sussed that and eased their transition. I wish Jorginho was capable of that flexiblity too. Gündogan the little cheat, deserved yellow.

I think the shot would have been even more impressive because the deflection took out some of its power and Lössl was late to see it anyway. But yeah that is what we need, shots from outside the box have been missing this season and will make us less predictable.

Pefect fit for a side like Palace. Traditional CFs like Benteke have thrived there before so a classic poacher like Bats might very well succeed there.

Erm wut? If anything he will be more expensive on deadline day

I don't get why peeps leave it so late. EVeryone knew Michy would be looking for a new employer for months and Crystal Palace have monitored him since 2016 and still wait till the last hour of the window to make a deal. Surely they must like the drama.

well obviously many thought just tossing out Willian and Alonso from the starting XI and playing a proper striker would magically solving all our problems. TBF i thought it would to some extent. But actually, nothing can change a shit manager and a shit formation. Time to get rid. of both.

Nothing to do with Emerson. Sarri is just a shit coach. Cant make a team attack nor defend.

Lol. Thats why i always wonder why players consider managers as major factors in tgeir move decisions.

Ha thanks Ves! Working in investmwnt banking myself i usually know a deal when i see one. In an other life we'd run the club together

and that's what you need. Someone who is rutheless. who kicks the shit out and brings quality in. Who sees players for what they are and not what they are hyped up to be. Someone who knows the market inside out. If you can't get the absolute top players, you come up with a viable alternative. Keeping the deadwood is just as bad as not brininging in quality as it costs tons of money and blocks space.If a gamble does not work out fine, get the fuck out and a new one in. If a player you want is available at a price, shut up and pay up. Not rocket science. But you need both, business and football knowledge.

I actually don't think Roman is in charge of it tbf. But I dont doubt the people who run the club for him are similar in this. Business men with no clue about football. They give Alonso this stupid 5 year deal bc all they see is the player has played a lot, scored a few goals, has gone up in market value, Barca Real shown interest, called up for spain - alright must be a good player give him what he wants when all it takes to see what a fraud he is a look at the pitch. But all they see is numbers, they are doing money ball and not even doing it right.

Felix Magath would be the perfect manager for you, Vesper!^^ Make him manager, dof and main negotiator for transfers like he was at Wolfsburg and the door would never stand still The guy was crazy on the transfer market. He brought in 113 players between 2007 and 2012, almost 6 per window. At Wolfsburg he had two spells of 2 and 1.5 years bringing in 23 players in each of them. And he did that with a very modest net spend, brought players no one ever heard of before, some hits some failures c'est la vie. Also an absolute grinder on the training ground too. Players would either follow him or he would just sell and find a replacement in an instant. Biggest success surely when they absolutely smashed Bayern for the title in 2009, humiliating them 5-1 in the deciding game. Shame he lost his touch with both transfers and tactics/training methods but surely I would love to have a guy like him in charge who knows the market inside out, knows how to get deals done fast. Someone who can transform a whole squad in a matter of weeks.

how many fucking pens have Utd been awarded this season? nvm i counted them. 9! NINE at a bit over half the season they have had nine fucking pens. Look alone at Paul Pogba, one of the most overrated players on the planet he has scored 5 pens in the prem and 6 overall. So more than 60% of his goals are pens. The real Penaldo. Anyway points dropped for Utd and City. Liverpool surely now odds on to win the title. But they were due to do it at some point so rather with a relatively likeable manager. Thinking about it if City had won the title this year again, they might have built a dynasty. If we can't win it ourselves at least keep the balance of power. Lets just win it next year ourselves again with a few quality signings and a better manager.

sure but would we have taken PIatek if Sarri was not here? I doubt it. The board would have tried to sign an experienced striker. Maybe even Callum Wilson or Arnautovic. We somehow always get stuck in the middle with these kind of signings. NOt a proven worldbeater for a huge sum, nor an up and coming youngster for an ok to mid-sum. Rather an average, overpriced player because of some shitty reason like having previously worked with the manager, knowing the league or having had a good partnership with another player in our team. I wonder when we are gonna make quality the first and foremost priority in our signings. From a business perspective the way the board works often makes sense but more often than not it goes wrong because they do not really care about the football. I think fans sometimes have clearer view of what is good for the team than the board. Fans really care about the club, what happens on the pitch and also might well be more passionate about football than whoever Roman put in charge. Secondly, fans have less information about players, mostly just videos and streams of games but this is per se the most relevant part of information you need when judging a player. The board have so much more information they base their decisions on more than footballing reasons. in some cases this can avert disasters but it is no guarantee as many flops have demonstrated. But in most cases this limited information helps to concentrate on what a player really is about. That does not mean every fan is always right but often fan choices are more grounded by footballing reasons than the board's I usually make my call whether I want a player here or not early and many guys on here usually agree with opinion. Honestly, if we would just let a poll on here decide who to sign and who to sell, I doubt we would be worse off than we are now squad-wise. Sure we probably would have a few shit players on here but we would have been rid of Willian, Alonso for sure, never would have sold KDB and probably Salah. The worry is Higuain felt like an underwhelming signing since the moment Sarri became our manager. I hope that I am wrong but I would be surprised if he is the guy to save our season.

Everyone said no one could score for AC Milan and now Piatek socres 2 out of nothing. Worrying signs, HIguains time is quickly running out so he needs to be adapting asap. Still would have taken the Piatek dude over Higuain 100% but the board nowadays is reluctant to make these kind of deals.

The first was a clinical strikers goal after a defensive error by Napoli but the second one was sublime, holding off two defenders and scoring from a difficult angle. Superb goal. Would have loved to take Piatek and not Higuain. Would have been cheaper in the end too. But yeah Sarri knows Higuain for whatever that's worth. Even if Higuain hits the ground running in his next game, it is stil a short term solution. Striker's like piatek are so overpirced nowadays, he was an absolute steal for 40m.

draw would be fine, ole purple patch somehow has to end. just hope cardiff do something too

can Nucastle put up even less of an effort. conceding in the first minute? do they even give ashit about staying up.

They would be mad to let him leave esp on loan..with cahill not an option wr have only 2 real cbs and would not a replacement 2 days beofore the deadline. Aame with zappacosta. Weakening the squad further is just dumb af. Stupid stupid board

Only going downhill the poor lad. Joining us was the poorest deal for all parties..including us and augsburg. The amount of money we lose on this ex-ante obviously shit deals is just amazing...at least none of his add ons got triggered