KaKa

Almiron look so much better with a quality attacking full back outside of him on that right side, because he looks to link play with players around him, rather than taking people on more directly. Fantastic stuff.

Just now, GEFAFWISP said:

FS, we won't buy a right winger now!

We'll get McNeill in to back him up, sorted 

Fakin' ell!!!

It's Miggy's year man

Beautiful relationship with Trippier developing.

Just now, Wilson said:

Maxi putting the graft in tonight. 

He does look a lot more energetic. Definitely better physically.

Wish ASM had the side foot controlled shot in his locker. Tends to go for the wallop shot each time.

Botman is going to be so good man. Great defending to cover for Lascelles just then.

Just now, xLiaaamx said:

Anderson is handling it better than Longstaff. Longstaff is really out of his depth here. 

They've been okay. This is a heck of a team they're going up against. 

1 minute ago, David Edgar said:

I wonder if this is Howe showing the board that we need to sign more players? 

 

Seems suicidal playing Longstaff and Anderson in a midfield 3 against Benfica.

Howe doesn't need to show them anything, he will be in discussions with them all the time man. This isn't Mike Ashley anymore

Howe likely wants to see how they react to playing against such a quality team, to get more of an idea of what level they are at exactly.

2 minutes ago, Lenny said:

Bit of both IMO, ASM probably waited a touch too long.

Think ASM did well, he had to cut in to beat the last man that was closing on him, but Wilson then took off to early.

1 minute ago, xLiaaamx said:

Lascelles is so out of place in the back 4 now

 

Not the ideal team for him to be going up against, lots of nimble players and movement.

There'll be games he'll be useful, against the likes of Ivan Toney for example.

The one thing I've noticed from the matches this pre season is he's looked a lot better with the ball though, I swear he's been working on it.

Unlucky ASM, that was a poor run from Wilson, had to hold that run.

1 minute ago, Gawalls said:

Great finish, almirons looking decent pre season 

Imagine if Miggy does a Joelinton this season man

ASM is so sloppy man. My God.

Fucking brilliant from Almiron. 

The initial picking up of the ball, carrying it, and getting it out wide to Trippier who returns it magnificently.

Lovely goal!

Great starting position from Pope just then. Not used to seeing our keeper that high.

ASM man ... yikes.

Just now, Tsunami said:

Poor decision by Pope, awful

by Lascelles. 

Lascelles wasn't at fault there. Trippier never picked up his man.

That was Trippier's man. He wasn't marking anyone.

Lascelles had to come off his man to try and help and was too late.

4 minutes ago, Kanji said:

 

I get that but he's played like 80% of his last 50 matches as left sided player. We never consider moving Maxi the opposite side and have always almost gone with someone else there. 

If you look at his overall career though he's played loads of games on the right too. He's played on the left a lot more recently because they had Raphinha on the right.

Maxi never gets moved because we have no one worth moving him for. Maxi has been just as good on the right on the occasions he has played there though IMO.

2 minutes ago, Kanji said:

Do we plan on moving Maxi to the right? Jack Harrison has played nearly the majority of his career on wide left. 

Most of these guys can play either side nowadays. Really rare that a wide man will only play one side.

5 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

What’s the point of him then ? Genuine question btw but if he doesn’t score or assist what does he do ?

He got 9 goals and 7 assists last season.

However, it's impossible to project how this will carry over into a different league anyway.

I'm sure they'll be digging deeper into his data to get a better idea of that. However, his numbers from last season were good.

9 minutes ago, gdm said:

6 assists & 9 goals In 45 games in all competitions for Monaco last season 

 

 

 

Weren't a lot of the players that got them up loan signings?

They seem to have a pretty decent recruitment team because they are getting some decent players for really excellent value, which is great going for a team that just came up.

He had 9 goals and 7 assists last season. Season before 7 goals and 2 assists.

He's more of an emerging player really. Didn't really start games or play too many minutes prior to the last two seasons.

1 minute ago, Bompeter said:

MediaFoot is complete bollocks. It’s basically a Marseille fan blog that farms for clicks. 
 

Marseille have been after Diop but were hoping to loan him initially as they can't afford him, so maybe that's why this has popped up on MediFoot's radar.

Guess we'll see if there's any truth to it. Looking at Diop's profile though, it would make a lot of sense if we are interested.