The College Dropout

I'd be getting rid of Otamendi instead of Stones personally, theres hope of salvaging stones while Otamendi is 32 and not that good to begin with Seems like Pep has zero faith in Stones

Good article. Interesting that the squad turned on him. I think it would take a Bobby Robson type manager to consistently get the best of him. Hilarious that it seems many would challenge Pardew’s tactics. Cabaye straight calling Pardew out. The Anelka comparison is apt. High self value but sensitive. Except.. worse.

Net spend says as much about your previous transfers as the ones accounted for in that period. For the last decade, Liverpool have had a star player they’ve sold at maximum value and used that money to buy someone who would go on to do the same. Everton have sold 1 player on to a bigger club since Fellaini and they only got £30m for him. Liverpool got more for academy graduates Solanke and Ibe.

If you’re in it, you want to win it. Man Utd. have won 2 trophies post Fergie. They lost mostly because they are losers and Sevilla are winners. Few of this team know what it’s like to win competitions. They lost all their semi’s to teams that win trophies. A club their size won’t win the league without winning a cup first.

He's played them together 24 teams this season prior. What are you talking about? He starts them in a lot of the big games together - Real Madrid, this game, Liverpool. The one he didn't against Arsenal - they lost. There's a good article in the Athletic about it a few days ago. It all stems from poor recruitment. No proper replacements for Fernandinho, Kompany & Silva. Interesting, appears I had that wrong then. Ultimately their midfield 3 look their best with one of Fernandinho, Rodri or Gundogan holding and DeBruyne and David Silva with more attacking responsibilities. I had presumed Bernardo Silva was going to pick up David Silva's role through the middle as he got phased out, but Gundogan seems to be getting more of a nod there and he's nowhere near as dangerous going forward. You say that, they did that at Arsenal in the semi’s and got well beaten. Olympiakos beat Arsenal in Europe. Pep is used to winning 88% of matches. This season that’s been much lower. So he doesn’t trust his best side. Or thinks his best side includes Gundagan and Rodri. Their best results this year has them both starting Real, Man U in the league cup and Liverpool. That’s a long way from the team that beat Liverpool 2–1 that ultimately decided the title. Laporte at left back and Danilo at RB, Kompany and Stones (who Pep is done with). Bernardo Fernandinho Silva (2 of the legs have gone, the others been poor since the racismo trouble). Sane and Sterling upfront. They win it with a ball in behind and a pacy attacker finishing it. Imo a bigger issue than the tactics is that he hasn’t improved many players. Players of the year for him gotta be KDB 1, Sterling 2. Nobody else had a great season. Not signed by him. Over the same period Liverpool have bought all of their star players or developed them

Rashford has been very poor since the re-start. Needs a break. saw quite a good sub headline this morning that summed up the game (i saw) for me, it was along the lines of "momentum is not a tactic" also i found it interesting; switched on start of 2nd half and the weird thing about that 10 minute period where you were all over them was how exposed you were and how they failed to exploit it, better teams would have cut you to shreds as you were basically playing 4-1-5 and the space in between was unreal Fatigue is a huge issue in these European games. Sevilla subs seemed to be "take off the most knackered players" and those fresher legs won them the game. Ocampos looked tired from minute 1. Whenever he fell to the ground, he stayed down for awhile - knackered (and possibly carrying an injury). They say back, somehow got through the first 10 minutes of the half and the fresher legs and minds won it. Man Utd emptied the tank in that burst and Ole refused to freshen it up earlier. Wan-Bisska looked knackered from minute 1. Rashford off pace all game. I think Man Utd. have an old school approach to attack. Get loads of good attacking players on and let them work their magic. Martial, Pogba and Bruno are excellent around the edge of the box and they just do what they do, probably get a foul somewhere. But not a defined pattern of play. Unlike that first Sevilla goal - that looked like a Sevilla goal based on the system, tactics and players. It was risky but they looked to do that time and time again. Man U just freestyle it. Playing first is a big advantage as well. English, Spanish and Italian sides have looked knackered. Banega was excellent. As was Pogba.

This is a good point. The core of the great City team was already there. Kompany, Fernandinho, Sterling, KDB, Sane, Aguero. He's added Ederson and Laporte to that list. He hasn't brought any players through either. A city friend of mine said the logical conclusion of a Pep team is loads of technical CMs and that he had the perfect ones at Barcelona to make it work. But it's the first great side at Barca that he built that is more replicable - Henry, Eto'o, Yaya etc. But the City leadership also take responsibility. Didn't even try to replace their best ever CB. Pep takes some responsibility in getting in Rodri. Too slow on the ball and too slow in general. Too much focus on height and technique. Needed a more dynamic player. Everyone is responsible for not replacing Silva. Pep rarely plays Bernardo or Foden there Even Mahrez wasn't the right signing. Another one that wants it to feet.

He's played them together 24 teams this season prior. What are you talking about? He starts them in a lot of the big games together - Real Madrid, this game, Liverpool. The one he didn't against Arsenal - they lost. There's a good article in the Athletic about it a few days ago. It all stems from poor recruitment. No proper replacements for Fernandinho, Kompany & Silva.

Where's Demba Ba and Remy? Those are 1 and 2.

Aye wide forwards are counted as Midfielders. Eden Hazard played a lot in a front 3 for Chelsea. But he's definitely a midfielder imo. Same as Bernardo Silva. So if they're midfielders, so are Mane and Auba who play the same position nominally but do it in a very different way. I agree that it makes the third striker option less appealing.

This loss is not so much down to Pep’s tinkering. But moreso Terrible squad building over the last 2 years. He’s been playing both Rodri and Gundogan in midfield because each is too slow, immobile to hold the midfield together by themselves the way Fernandinho could a few years ago. If he plays Rodri alone with Foden and KDB they get overran in midfield. Never replaced Kompany. That back line lacks pace, power and leadership. Fernandinho at least gives you the latter. Mahrez is an excellent player. But they’ve missed Sane. That ability to play super vertically is gone. Too many of their players want the ball into feet.

Neymar and Mbappe are joyous to watch. I despise PSG and hope they don’t win it. But Neymar is next level. If he came to the PL he would be the best and most entertaining player by a country mile.

I’ve mentioned this before on here. It’s worst for dark skin African players. Even world class ones like Eto’o, Yaya Toure or even Pogba. There’s not a pass KDB or Silva can make that Pogba can’t but Pogba is oft labelled a ‘great athlete’ without true appreciation for his technical ability which is legitimately second to none.

Won that game by going route one a lot. Couldn’t cope in midfield. Love Poch but I don’t think his football is anything special.

Maybe the only post of yours I’ve ever agreed with.

Most premier league owners are billionaires. We should be looking at them first and foremost. How much tax do these people pay? And between the pfa and the fa they should be organising some type of collective action from the players. Most pl footballers will be paying 45% in taxes anyway. Why not introduce higher taxes for high earners and asset holders? Rather than this weird targeting of football players. Last week it was landlords.

Not even 23 yet. Has got it all. If he can stay fit next season. Get 10+ goal contributions he’ll get a move to a proper club.

Imagine Graeme Souness managing Nicholas Anelka.

Just missed out on 100k OR. Top 20 on NO. Solid green arrows for the last 4-5 weeks

TAA triple captain went decent. Salah exploded. Mane injury sucked. Might remain in NO top 20 this GW.

Don't fall for it TCD. You found it really difficult to come back from your years of misplaced Pardew appreciation. I would not like to see you go down that road again with Bruce. In my lifetime we’ve had 3 genuinely good managers. Pardew wasn’t one of them. Nothing I’m saying is appreciation. I can just see why he’s managed to get a number of promotions now. I already know how he’s gotten teams relegated too.

I do think you create a fair bit of your own luck. Managers like Bruce and Pardew can sometimes build really great team spirit and morale, with determination you get the rub of the green more often than not. You make good chances harder for the opposition. Make the most of yours. Often it’s by not over complicating things. That’s where our biggest failures like Souness and SMC failed. One couldn’t build team spirit because he fell out with players. The other over complicated things and couldn’t motivate and build momentum. For Bruce It’s when they’re genuinely unlucky. Heads drop. Players start questioning their methods or the motivation wanes they can’t turn it around. But for now it’s working and he deserves credit for it. Worse managers would be in deeper trouble.

Bramble had it all physically and technically imo. But he would drop semi ricks that would make the whole team nervous and unstable frequently. Those were better than the times he would be imperious and then just throw one in the back of the net.

This is Pardew-esque. He’s done well to keep morale high but boy are we getting the rub of the green. This season will be enough to get him another PL job when we get relegated next season.

If he’s smart he’ll string the club along all spring then decide what he wants to do in the summer. This club is going nowhere fast. If we are still in the PL it’s worth staying awhile as we won’t pay for more first team CMs than needed.