The College Dropout

I was talking about signing Diallo last season. Think he could be a player. Has half a chance of signing him at that time. Grewt talent at the top academies and in the football league.

We’ll aye they have good revenues and maybe the best academy and youth recruitment in Europe. Even then Roman was paying Vitesse to develop their players on loan illegally. Id love us to have an academy like Chelsea’s but actually keep the players. What a team that would be. Defence would be crazy, Hall, Ake, Christensen, Livra, Lamptey, Guehi etc.

He’s a player though.

It’s Spurs/Man U that will go hell for leather to win it. Spurs played what looks like their strongest team against City. Would’ve preferred City to go through.

Yes.

Didn’t look it to me.

Only 8 teams qualify automatically. At least one of them will need to keep winning. And the load is so heavy for those teams. IMO they only go full strength in the final.

A lot of his positive stats in Serie A came from set pieces iirc.

Not even much of a premium for some of them. Delap looks a great deal at £20m. Livramento went to Southampton for £5m. Palmer for £40m is a bargain. Rogers £8m. Watkins £20m.

Top clubs have dominated this competition for a long time. The last couple non top 6 winners were Birmingham and Boro no? 10+ years ago a pop. The squad depth is so deep they can get to the semis playing heavily rotated teams and take it from there.

Spurs/Man U would be the one to avoid in the semis if we get there. CL clubs have so many high quality games in Jan/Feb they will have to heavily rotate. I would expect Spurs and Man U to play their stronger sides.

Why not? Liverpool did. We did. It doesn’t even have to be 90. 60 is great. That passive low block away from him isn’t going to work consistently.

I’d like to play a double pivot of some type. Maybe 442. But a narrow Villa type in midfield. Willock or Joe on the right but close to Bruno. Get the width from Livra. Tonali and Bruno have complementary skills on paper. As a single pivot, I can see Tonali losing the ball in deep areas trying to move it quickly. IMO he would need a close option in Bruno at all times. Latter day Kroos and Casemiro/Tchou - would dovetail closely a lot. Sometimes Kroos would be deepest to progress play and Case would get forward more. But Case would also often be the deepest defensively and could screen more through the middle. Better defensively on the transition - Kroos went through a 3-4 year period of being awful off the ball. Couldn’t run. Tackle. Got better towards the end at blocking passing lanes but for awhile it was awful (tangent).

Some great discussion in here boys and girls. Sometimes I get annoyed when we talk about players as simply ‘class’ or ‘shite’ - especially our own players. These are professionals with certain skills, drawbacks and potentials. Saying that - that Enzo is shite. Chelsea have been robbed.

No Haaland does not suit a possession based side. But City have 9 or 10 other players that are so he adds a different dimension. He’s also the best in the world at what he does so that helps the clash of styles. Im not agenda driven at all. If you look at this thread and others I’ve defended Howe a lot recently. I’m not even saying this to attack him! I just want him to play the style that he has built the squad for. Tonali might prove to be an excellent player. He has ability. He can bring great physicality to that position in the press, recovery runs etc. but he’s not going to be as good under pressure on the ball as Bruno. I think a double pivot with them both could work excellently tbf. With just the one of them deep you lose legs or quick feet.

Just got more footballing ability than Tino. Tino can defend though. So there’s that.

Agree again here. Overall the performances were similar. Today was better but not significantly so imo. A lot of the negatives remain from Sunday. As are some of the positives. And we had some bonus positives like Krafth, Kelly at Cb, Joes working well again, Tonali deepest and Osulu. Can’t keep the ball for toffee and are easily played through mind.

Yep I thought they had a couple great chances and a few more where better quality would’ve seen a goal or a good opportunity. We were dogged and determined as they were half arsed. But I don’t think that structure/setup is a strong one. This too.

Such interesting posts back to back. I lean towards Chelsea were naff but we had some excellent performances and some nice ideas. Don’t like how deep and passive we were for large parts of the game. Not compact either.

Yeh aye it’s intentional. But it’s not good. delighted with the win. Some good ideas that worked well that we might see again in the league hopefully.

Never seen him play well in my life.

Oh so you mean the passive low block that lets opposition build and create attacks however they want is intentional and a sign of good coaching. Ok. At least we agree that it’s naff.

Yeh they might be top 5 with him in it.

You just said we looked well coached

It’s a nothing side without Palmer still imo.