Reddish-Blue

Exactly having Poch in a cup final is like starting the game with 10 men. Where's the fear factor, where's the winning mentality supposed to come from? Just look at what Real Madrid did to City, they absorbed all the pressure, had 2-3 heart stopping moments when KDB should have buried the game, completed the 120 minutes and then got over the line on penalties.

It would hurt so much more if we actually beat City, take momentum in the final....only to be given a lesson by Ten Hag and his boys in the final. United will rock up for the final with only 1 game-plan, mark Palmer for the whole game and wait for counter attacks. United gets those 1-2 chances on the counter and bam, Garnacho/Rashford/Fernandes becomes a hero.

I think if City want it badly enough, they will take the game out of our hands. It really is a shame that we had momentum in the other cup leading up to the final and then we couldn't get over the line and just played into Klopp's farewell tour.

We should have gone for Simeone around the time we had Conte...there was enough hard workers in that side for Simeone to thrive. Imagine the current squad with Simeone in charge, he'd last about 3-4 games before the players down tools and walk into Boehly's office

That would have been solved if Nkunku and Lavia could stay fit for 10 minutes.... How did we manage to blow that much on 3 players who all appear to be made of glass 🤬

I feel like he's more Foden than KDB. That's what Pep was mentioning after being asked why they sold Palmer and he's like he didn't really want to sit and wait for minutes behind KDB/Foden. Just glad that we did sign him, what a talent. Wonder if City have any talent at LB or Defensive midfield in their academy? I remember other forums and fans of our rivals laughing at us spending 40-ish million on a kid from City's academy....and now he's got 20 goals in the season!

Which is interesting as their manager at the time didn't even care about him, he basically said they got Santos for cheap squad depth and their preference was to play their permanent players. I doubt Santos 'pushed' for Nottingham, more like his advisors or the club agreed to that loan as they were willing to pay wages/loan fee etc

Will probably be the same as every other game Either we score first and they get the draw or they score first and probably hang on for the 3 points as we can't break down a compact team that defends half-decent

They won't leave anytime soon. Just look how long it took the Glazers to give up a part of United to Sir Jim Feel like we'll be stuck like this for another 5+ years and by that time, all the actual talent at the club will leave for better opportunities (Enzo will be in La Liga, Nkunku will go somewhere, Palmer will probably go back to City).

Aren't we next on the FFP hit list (there were so many articles in the past few months saying that we can't buy anyone without selling assets) I don't see us getting a proper #9, may end up with Lukaku up front

I said it when we signed this guy, he's a raw talent for the future but he's not experienced enough to be leading the line every other week. We really went from Diego Costa/Giroud to youngsters up front. Would Jackson/Sterling/Madueke/Mudryk start for any of the top 6 in the PL? And that's part of the reason why we're mid-table and not competitive.

I don't think he can be dropped considering the price tag and there's no alternative either with Lavia being permanently in the treatment room.

Pretty sure Arteta wanted him badly and they were willing to pay 70-75 million (before he signed that new contract at Brighton to fend off interest). He's a system player, no different to Havertz at Chelsea. Look at Havertz at Arsenal, suddenly he's found his mojo again, he's creating chances, scoring every now and then, doing what Arteta needs in his system....I don't recall him being that consistent at Chelsea. Caicedo needs a good system to thrive (probably why he would have been better suited to Livo/Arsenal)

I would disagree, I feel a better manager would implement a more suitable system for the current group of players. Not saying that we would suddenly be competing for top 6 overnight but we should be 6-8 points better off than where we are at the moment. Maybe if we had 1-2 more experienced players in midfield, they would have steadied the ship and helped us maintain leads rather than going ahead and then watching our team go into panic mode and the opposition getting given easy goals.

Predicted scoreline 3-1 for United 🤬 We can't even beat 10 man Burnley....United will just pick us off on the counter

We sold off Werner and Havertz like they were dragging this team down....and yet they're doing perfectly fine in more organised tactical systems. Also, we're not helped by the fact that our most skilled signings are nowhere near the pitch (Fofana, Lavia, Nkunku)....all 3 would be starters in the current setup. I don't think it is, for Sterling, seems more like, he knows when he wants to give it a proper go and he'll switch on for that game....otherwise it's just another stock standard, run around and not really create much on the wings type of outing.

I do wonder what is being said in the HT team talks as we have no leaders in the dressing room and then you have Poch who hasn't won anything as a manager Feel like we need an old school Conte approach to get the team fired up!

Exactly, we were competitive for most of Roman's reign. Under the current ownership, it seems more like someone is playing Football Manager in real life and hoping that all these 'talents' come good.

As so many have mentioned on this forum...how the F*ck did we let Kante, Jorginho and Kovacic leave in back to back windows? Very poor squad planning is the reason why we are mid-table right now. Enzo-Caicedo may be a good pairing but I doubt we see the best of them till 2026/27

Clueless owners that don't care...as if Roman's helicopter wouldn't be seen around the training ground if he was still in charge.

This is the part that doesn't make sense, if you're going for young midfielders, you should get players that can play alongside each other...not players that will effectively be competing for the same role in the side. There was no need for Lavia, Santos, Ugo and Casadei to come in around the same time. 2 out of 4 is more than enough. Could have saved that money and spent on young attackers like Palmer. If he had a knock, how did he pass the medical or was he just waved through as the club were in full blown Football Manager mode (sign all the 4 and 5 star rated talents out there).

Compare young strikers to G.Jesus is just unfair, he went from the Brazilian league straight to City and played 5+ seasons for them. The one thing I like about Fofana is the raw talent, you can see he wants to make things happen. I don't know if he'll be ready to play for Chelsea week in week out but considering Boehly's youth movement at the club, he'd fit right in with all the other youngsters we seem to be hoarding.

The same could be said about Jackson...and Mudryk...and Madueke....and then we realise why our attack is so bad, they don't have enough experience to play week in week out at this level. Fofana should definitely be given a run in pre-season to see what he's got.

Even if we make the final, we don't have the experience to beat United.

Yes, Enzo is suspended. Get ready for a Gallagher-Caicedo panic midfield pairing! Think Casadei is cup-tied as well so the midfield subs will be academy players