The College Dropout

Let’s go get big Victor Osimhen. He reminds me a bit of Suarez and Demba

The Lloyd Kelly red looked farcical. Juve had their chances in ET. Ran out of gas.

They are alll good players. It’s the lack of leadership now. Mbappe joined and they can’t play as a team. The last 2 CL winning were super hard working. A lot of grafters. 2 fullbacks that can defend. Hard working midfield with experience and ability. Similar upfront.

Ascensio in bad shape. Might be out for a long time. My boy Alaba about to come on. Alaba is FINISHED.

Real Madrid attackers rarely make runs. I would fancy us against Real Madrid man. They stink. IMO we are a top 10 team in this competition. Maybe even 6-7.

Same tbh

Not to me - no. He's good technically, sure. In some regards so is Harry Wilson or a Sylvan Marveaux down a level. But gifted? I think of Berbatov or better. Wolte is better but yeh.. Zirkzee has a nice touch, feet and weight of pass. He has ability but is he gifted? Nope. He's closer to Zirkzee than Berbatov ability wise. Talented but he's not been at the level of Di Maria or Veron like someone else referenced. I still like him and think he can be a success here. But he needs to use his body better. I don't think he's so exceptional with his feet that he's worth having around just for that in any position. He's 24 but not tremendously experienced. Still learning.

I don't think he's technically gifted. He's got an excellent touch and great fit for a big lad. Somr of us talk like he's Paul Pogba or someone technically.

5 minites to go in the FA Cup final we are level. Heading to pens. Do we stick with Pope or bring on Ramsdale for the shootout? From memory Pope’s record is decent/good. But Ramsdale has been great.

Think he/Howe wanted him to get a goal. Not scored as much recently

It's a jarring experience to watch. He's literally a second or two behind where Pope would be when coming out of goal. Even though he gets the ball, there's a moment of panic where you think "where's Ramsdale?" Similar thing with crosses. It's a lot of defending to do with Ramsdale there. I forgot about the FA Cup mistake tbh. It's that type of delay which is constant.

Dubs last season was better than Ramsdale this season. If we win the FA Cup that doesn’t matter mind.

Not worthy of a thread. There's a long trend in football to less long shots because they are less likely to score. It's proven to be better to try and create a better goalscoring opportunity - obviously. Slight change in that trend with a few clubs. It's getting harder to create better opportunities in the PL. Defences are better by the man and better prepared to nullify by coaches. Players like Haaland are an unstoppable force. And even Semenyo is similar. Too big, too strong, too quick, too skilful and he's shoot on sight.

I’m not sure anyone is braking Barry’s minutes record. There’s not an active player that is on track to be close.

Thought he did some good things.

Not a push there?

If they win the league it will be themmthats made the difference. And I hate it

I think our CL league performances are under rated. We really slapped some decent teams.

Wouldn't go for Frank

I think the players (their profiles, their personalities) is the most important thing. Woltemade can't move like Joelinton, so it automatically becomes a different setup, even if he's told to move in the same way. He actually plays the role similarly. He's primed to support the striker most and get in the box. Beats his CM 1v1 (Wolte with feet, skill, strength - Joe bulldozes). Joe with his dribbling and pace pulls wide and will sometimes make runs like a winger, he also makes runs like a striker (that bendy one Schar finds him with). Wolte has different styles and attributes but largely the job is the same. From what I saw of the Qarabag game, Willock seemed more reserved. But we were up early and away in Europe. Probably sensible for one of the 8's to be more cautious. It's a big reason why managers talk about mentality so much. Even with positional play managers like Pep - what matters most is motivated players being placed to maximise their ability. Aside: I think this is why Pep has signed the likes of Cherki, Sememyo even Haaland. Modern tactics have made positional play less effective and players capable of overpowering or a bit of magic are a way to navigate that

Think there's a middle ground between Tino and Hall 1v1 like. He's 21, he should get physically stronger and faster and learn the subtleties of the position better over time. Trippier was get at-eable for 90% of his PL career imo. His first 2 years with us being the only 2 he wasn't. Think Hall is better at defending than Tripps has been for most of his career already tbf.

You think? I thought Dango, Salah and Man U, PSG had success up against him. Not that he was poor or a weakness but get at-eable. Moreso than Tino. I think Hall can go up another level in that regard and just cement himself as one of the best.

They are also more likely to rotate than us.

If it's stat padding out of Gordon and Trippier - it's Gordon all day

I think the goals scored chart is big for strikers. It's a +1 to the tally and brings them closer to their targets/goals. It gets the ball rolling again. If he scores a penalty he's now got 2 in 2 all of a sudden. Those little things add up. Goals make a big part of a strikers footballing identity.