The College Dropout

I think he just fell out with Cancelo and no other fullback can play that role well and Stones is the next up. And then with a pure 9 they don’t control the possession as well because they have 1 less player contributing to keeping the ball so they need more players that are actually good at defending. And lastly I think Pep considers Ake and Akanji the most ‘hungry’ of his players. City keep winning but the personnel does evolve as par for the course.

I think it’s much deeper than that. They would need to change their entire perspective on football.

That’s just money. And the owners are foreign. I mean the actual culture of English ‘footballing men’. I think the Brighton owner is innovative in his approach to footballing administration and ownership.

When you listen to English footballers talk about managers - even the elite ones - it’s nearly always about man management. Gerrard and Carragher don’t have many nice things to say about Rafa because Rafa didn’t massage their ego’s. Lampard gushes about Carlo because he’s the master man manager. Carlo is a Don of course but it shows what they value most from a coach and what their takeaways are.

I don’t have concrete evidence or proof. But there is a lack of thought and application to the managerial approach of 99% of English managers. There’s not been a genuine world class English manager in my lifetime. There’s something deep rooted in the English footballing culture that is not curious about innovating ANYTHING about the game on the pitch. Direct opposition to Italy where it seems like every decade a manager or team popularises something that changes football management in some aspect. Call it laziness, lack of intellectual curiosity it’s something. I don’t even think it’s just tactically - it’s every aspect.

Only if Spurs beat us. If we beat spurs and get good results in the next 2 - there’s no battle.

Yeh didn’t like him out wide. Also we can’t play that front 3 again from the start. Gordon and the other dude are wingers that want to stay pretty wide and get crosses in. Neither really look to make those out to in runs or terribly interested in linking up with the main striker. Maxi likes to cut in and link up with the main striker. Almiron looks to run in behind defences and when he cuts in that’s an obvious pass to the striker when free. Gordon and Murphy are just wide and left Isak isolated. Isak needs someone to link with Almiron, Maxi or Wilson

The worst thing about his performance for me was his pressing lacked direction and intensity. Because he’s meant to be good at that.

I think the team that started Man Utd is the strongest one we have but with Miggy on the right. Joe or Joel depending on the fixture.

Perhaps. I think Longstaff and Bruno would be the best double pivot we have. I think Longstaff starts next week to have more protection in that inside right position. Probably goes Joe over Willock at LCM for the defensive protection.

I think we are better off ourselves having a double pivot in midfield sometimes rather than a back 5. A back 5 means a slow CB still has to come out and engage while vacating a space. A double pivot has central midfield Players that can drop into half spaces defensively quicker. Or bring our wingers right back to form a back 6.

Spurs have played that 5 at the back even without Conte I believe. Spurs are doing Spurs. If they are on job we are susceptible to the balls through to Son. But we are more likely to steam roller them out the game. It’s Brighton that have that 2 man defensive pivot. Direct balls behind the defensive line into Mitoma and March with athletic strikers. a lot of the other teams don’t have the personnel to try the Villa route.

Bournemouth are in decent form. Everyone assumes they are awful but they have been steady and picking up points

Yeh a relegation battle you can win or lose it based on one off games. Top 4? Teams are good… but not that good. You need to be consistently good but the odd slip is fine.

If we beat spurs their season could implode. We would need to avoid defeat to Brighton and win another 3-4. IMO we can win the next 3 and cruise to the CL.

Brighton also play a double pivot and try to get their wide players in behind fullbacks and defenders. We need an actual plan for that.

We need wins as to not let the others get into the race. Need to get 7 points from the next 3 and a W against Spurs.

Vieira’s last 5 opposition: Arsenal Brighton City Villa Liverpool Hodgsons first 5 games: Leicester Leeds Southampton Everton Wolves Thats top 8 for Vieira and bottom 8 for Hodgson.

Young wasn’t getting that far forward. They have a lopsided system like ours. They played a midfield 5 of Buendia, McGinn, Ramsay, Luiz, Dendocker. All of which want to get on the ball centrally. Playing 3 in there we were always going to struggle. Trippier kept getting dragged in by the wide 10 because there wasn’t a central midfielder to pick them up. We needed the wide players far more deep and engaged in their defending. Or a different shake entirely.

Everybody wants him to succeed. He’s had a slow start. We all hope he comes good. Many didn’t rate him before he joined and he’s done little to change their minds. I wanted him to start today. But tbh I think he’s better off the bench. He was up against a 37 year old former winger today and got nothing from him. Young is someone he should look to emulate in his professionalism, dedication and application. Never a world beater himself but was a really effective winger at his peak and has had a great ans long career at the highest levels.

I think this is more on Eddie than the players. You would need Rice, prime Kante and Bellingham in there to compete against the Villa 4 today.

Good discussion in here today lads.

It’s also a numbers game. Villa had 4 or 5 in central midfield areas, we had 3. There’s always going to be an open pass in that setup for them to play around us.

Aye. Usually the midfield is competitive and solid. Teams usually have to rush that ball over the top so the quality isn’t good and we can deal with it with Pope’s aggressive sweeping. Today those Vila wide players kept having loads of time to time and weigh their passes. At times they are playing with 5 central midfielder and we are playing with 3. There was space to attack Villa in behind and wide but we never had the quality to lay a glove.

His blend of pace and power is fairly unique and he’s in great confidence and is making consistent penetrative runs. He used to make more selfless runs before in the channels. They also play with wingers who are technically strong and are more 10s than actual wingers. Play that narrow box midfield where they can play balls in behind from half spaces and they had no pressure today for 90 minutes. And obviously the defenders are human. Their heads must’ve been rattled from 30 seconds in. Their composure went out the window but imo that’s because the setup was all wrong