Theregulars

He played really well at PSG….

Ah piss off man he’s been great under Eddie.

I don’t think your argument works - the lack of rotation early season has only become a problem because a severe injury crisis means he can’t now rotate. November and December were always going to be months where we needed to rotate: he hasn’t been able to. If he was able to and didn’t, you’d have a point. I think he always has stuff to learn improve, in particular on conceding on the counter and a lack of formation options, but I don’t really think what happened is caused by his views on rotation.

Not for me, Clive. He’s had his options either severely limited or obliterated for 2/3 of the CL games (Dortmund 1 onwards). Don’t forget that the 2 big assets purchased for this season (tonali and barnes) have not been available. Same squad as last year minus maxi and plus tino, essentially, plus a lot more injuries. I think he has limits and flaws but this is so obviously not on him.

I don’t understand the reluctance to change the team criticism - who could he have brought in recently? The players we signed and needed to rely on for this tournament weren’t available. Barnes didn’t play a minute; tonali played a big part of 2 matches, Isak missed a few, Botman missed all but one…

That’s devastating.

It’s on all of them sort of but it’s mainly on the literally unprecedented injury situation. We play a physically demanding way and our calendar has been as physically demanding as possible, then we lost a squad for 2 months without anything getting less physically demanding. It’s unpleasant but it’s so obviously contextually justified.

I don’t even think it’s a problem with the squad; you can’t compete with half the playing staff unavailable. All will do well to remember that.

But they don’t have to play all the games with the same 11 players, one of whom is 17

I don’t really know what he’s supposed to do, he has no option.

Trippier played him on! Hat trick

Stop this low rent frankenstein madness

I'd absolutely take De Gea, he's a better goalkeeper than Dubravka.

How is it then not a corner for Brighton? These fuckshafts haven’t even the postcode in which a clue resides.

That’s not a penalty

Home would have been better, they’d have melted as most of their players won’t have seen or heard anything like it. Away balances it up a bit and makes it an interesting tie.

Ah he’s absolutely majestic. Long live King Edward, sky’s the limit.

Monumentally corrupt again.

Even quicker than I expected. Saying he could barely walk is needlessly emotive and incorrect. Was his point not that he thinks Isak could get his fitness levels up and become better at hold up play? Learning from Tuesday, those would be positive developments for player and fans alike. Think of it as “yes he’s great but he could be even greater with more work and time”. It’s ok to say and hear negative things; it can (and often does) lead to positive things as a direct result. Questioning whether someone might be fitter isn’t saying that they didn’t put in a great shift or have 2 good games back from injury. It’s just saying that, with hindsight and just as a thought, might be something to work on (especially given our ambitions mean we want this many games or more season after season).

And yes he’s got great fingers

Can you conceive of a reality where he makes both positive and negative contributions to a match?

But it’s accurate to say that he didn’t contribute much in the second half. Yes, he has the excuse of fatigue, but it’s still an accurate comment to say he didn’t contribute much. Why does that have to be viewed as poisonously negative? He scored a goal, missed a sitter, and played quite well for 45 mins but not for the remainder. There is definitely a weird sense on this forum that criticism of player or manager means you’re not one of the team, you’re entitled, you’re difficult etc. for example - I love joelinton, but he’s been not as good this year as he was last year. I still love him and support him, but he needs to be better (particularly his close range finishing).

Or is it that any critique or dissonant thought is met with a persistently unimaginative allegation of blasphemy or entitlement?

Depends on the size / location but it can heal and you can rehab with some stretching.