Lotus

Feel very bad for Sean. He’s just been offering anything significant for a while now. We’re out of options for the rest of this season though. I really hope he plays well at home.

I felt at the time Burn was directly responsible for their goal. Schar was already there and Burn rushed forward leaving the space behind him for a simple pass. Think he was way too over eager. Haven’t watched it back since.

Amounts to same I suppose but I think contractually you would imagine it's the lack of a CL bonus as opposed to penalising players individual contracts because the best post war Man U manager can't string some results together.

It's a shame because he can strike the ball well (when passing).

Defo remember Longstaff.

is it just that some of them may have performance related contracts and they wouldn't be receiving the bonuses due to them for finishing higher? I mean, there's no way they're voluntarily taking a 25% cut just cause they love the club soooooooo much, like....

Longstaff seeing the pass and then not playing it, messing about, they get more men back then he passes it.... He can make the pass so I guess he's a little low on confidence.

I’m sure I remember ManU fans telling me ETH was the best manager they’d had post WW2…

C’est possible…..

Yep, and for that I’d run a mile. Madness to think he couldn’t improve us though.

Bruno is my favourite player. I think he’s awesome. Gallagher seems a bit weirdly underrated on here. I think he’s better than a lot,of,you are giving him credit for. Fwiw, for my own tastes I’d rather we were looking at players with excellent ball skills and vision over monstrous athleticism but it doesn’t look like the direction we’re going in atm.

Has done owt to look like he could genuinely contribute?

Don’t know how I feel about that tbh. If another midfielder goes down we’re looking at……who?

I mean, clearly wrong. None of us expected the Lyon Bruno to transform into the Newcastle Bruno. Gallagher wouldn’t have the flair or silky ball skills (from what I’ve seen) but he has a better physicality. Mentality, no idea. Bruno is obviously better. But let’s not make out they have a completely different profile as a player. That’s nonsensical. Xavi was a better player than Bruno. Same/similar roles in their respective teams though.

I think that the footballing profile of Gallagher is very similar to both Bruno and Sandro. In terms of determination and leadership he’s probably equal to Bruno (can’t say yet for Sandro). If we were losing one of those then Gallagher would be worth considering as a replacement.

Thought Liverpool played well on the night. Was nice to see a team just go for it. Didn’t see the 1st leg but quite aware they put themselves in a position where they had to. Still, plenty of teams can be cagey despite a desperate need. On that front I did enjoy Liverpool’s play. Fwiw, I also enjoyed some of Atalanta’s. Their passing was a times very very crisp and clever. Paid close attention to Ederson due to the links. He’s faster and has a good touch but doesn’t have the dominant character Bruno has.

Odd to have so little possession but have a much higher expected goals stat. It looked that way as well. We left a couple of goals out there tbh. 6-0 wouldn’t have felt like a robbery.

He’s got the pace, stamina and attitude to reduce a good few wingers into misery, I reckon. Ultimately doesn’t have enough about him to be a modern FB but he can apply himself to the WB role pretty well.

Will be a huge boost if we can get him back.

Left side of a back 3 is clearly his best position.

Barkley had amazing balance and control. Wasn’t great at getting his head and passing the ball though. Elliott is decent running with the ball but scans the field well and looks like he makes good early decisions.

He’s a better footballer than I expected. I think he’s better with the ball, passing and striking it than Gordon, actually. Not necessarily a better player but has better technique and very good vision. Delighted he’s contributing as much as he is. Should be fresh and raring to go for the run in.

You can’t judge his input from the one game though. He doesn’t do progressive passes, the stats show that. He also only really makes his tackles in our defensive 3rd. The running thing for sure seems a Howe preference. He clearly likes players who can run the ball up the field rather than those who pass it. It’s a trade off, running it is less risky in that a pass can be intercepted, but passing it quickly through the lines is a much faster way of attacking. Better teams than us do this. Over time, we may change. It’s early days for us so far.

I think Joelinton is an unusual player. He’s attacking midfielder. He does next to nothing in the middle 3rd of the pitch. He doesn’t do passes and the majority of his tackles are actually him showing the desire and get back and help out in our defensive 3rd. He does get involved in our attacks though. Running with the ball (although he does lose it a fair bit) and receiving passes in dangerous attacking positions. He’s also very low on the assists numbers. So when people say we have more control over the midfield with him in there it’s not because he makes tackles there, because he doesn’t and it’s not because he’s spraying the ball around from there either. But he definitely does bring a level of combativeness and intimidation that we clearly miss.

Maybe he and other Ukrainian sports people donate a proportion of their wages to the war effort ?