The College Dropout

Spurs are a bit naive defensively but they are brave on the ball. Goal. Maddison and Son with that bit of quality.

You also need to be tight and compact. The gap between defence and midfield we have is massive.

Ange getting a lot of credit so far as a manager. But you can’t leave Saka 1v1 against a fullback that is not elite defensive. He is inevitable.

Aye that’s what I’m reading now. Nothing on Hall. I fully expect Burn to start tomorrow.

Rumours that Botman and Hall haven’t travelled with the squad.

To Burns credit. Those other players I’ve named often look awkward themselves at fullback at times too. But they are also better athletes and defenders in general.

He’s targeted defensively one on one and that’s a massive weakness of his. And he’s totally ignored by opposition (and some of our own players) when in attacking positions. And his distribution is sometimes poor. He’s great at centre back things (for a fullback) like defending the box, fully committed and he gets his head on a lot of set pieces. But he’s not a good centre back (for a team with ambitions of playing in the CL consistently) Ben White, Gvardiol, Ake, Akanji - these all play fullback for their clubs. But they are genuine class CBs. Ake is one of the reasons Botman barely has an international cap. He’s an almost top level CB and uses those skills at FB. Burn is a limited CB who is an even more limited FB. I like Burns profile as a fullback. The 2 best teams in the country play with players of that profile. Real Madrid won the CL with a ‘stay at home’ FB in Mendy. The problem is he’s not that good at it. Defensively and offensively. He still brings a lot to the team. I’ve assumed Sheff like to play direct and will be a threat on set pieces so Burn will be very useful there. But I’d like to see Hall play and maybe even invert into midfield. Play passes into the CMs pushing up and the attacking players in dangerous positions.

I must’ve missed that. Getting outpaced by a 37 year old Olivier Giroud is funny more than anything.

Against Brentford I think they were told to stay wide to pin the wingbacks.

I think 1 lad has said he's not been impressed with him. Everyone else thinks the kid is a talent... he and the coaching staff just need to work it out.

Aye it backs up the eye test. He doesn't look like he knows what to do himself. And he's seemingly focusing on that and unable to sync with his teammates. Lots of work for him and Howe to do.

What do you have against Onana?

Dubs is an idiot if that's the case. Zero chance we would be rotating keepers in the CL. He'll get League and FA Cup games.

Xg does mean something though. Within context. If the performances were reversed. Yes, I would be disappointed with the draw. I would've taken it before the game but based on how things played out... we should've had one of the greatest results in our history. And if we played like that at Sheffield United, we would win the game comfortably. I would've been delighted aye. Imagine going to the San Siro and Milan having 1 shot on target in the 94th minute!

Did a search of the phrase "know ball". I used it when talking with LFEE who described James Maddison as "a more mobile Shelvey" who, when he was at Norwich LFEE wouldn't have touched with a barge pole. I can admit - that was a cheap and reductive comment. I didn't have time for a proper response, so just said something cheeky. I wanted to say Maddison is a fantastically talented footballer and if he had joined straight from Norwich in 2018 or whatever it was, he would've been our best player. For someone not to rate him at all as a footballer.... I just don't see it. Off the ball he has weaknesses, sure but he's a fantastic footballer to watch and is effective. Since that interaction with LFEE (who is a good lad, the comment wasn't meant as a personal dig) I've not used it to talk about anyone else on this forum. But KI saying "Posters regularly get told they 'don't know ball'" is not true. I've used it once about another poster. Nobody else has said it about other posters.

And why was he shit at his job? If people don't want to talk about football. I ignore them. I'll keep talking about football and they can do whatever it is they want.

*shrugs*

This is what I expect too. Less sure on Anderon in. But the rest yeh.

And it is. But people - specifically Graeme Souness use that phrase to dismiss talking about ideas in the game. Which is a large part of why his management career ended in his early 50's.

Maybe. I would be hoping Hall starts at LB, but I really can't see it happening.

This is all in people's heads, and it's their own personal problems imo. You'll get called names because you talk about football and various ideas about the game.

Aye a lot of emotional energy went into Milan. Massive result in the end.

No. If you don’t like it. Put me on ignore. I got half the page blocked on the Tonali thread. It’s improved my experience on this site.

That’s fine. You don’t have to engage with my posts. You can ignore if you like. I want to talk about football. I don’t attack others for their footballing opinions. I just share and discuss mine. If someone else talking about double pivots and low blocks makes you annoyed - that’s your own personal problem.

I enjoy analysing the player and manager's development (or lack thereof). I enjoy the process. That's why I ask questions in threads, i want people to share ideas that can be discussed. Whether I agree with their perspective or not. And that's why I block people that want to focus on insults. I'm just here talking about football.