alexf

I said "he looks a liability to me" I respect not everyone will agree but that's just my opinion. Even this season when he has played, I personally feel he looks slow and nervous to press. He also barely gets forward anymore which was the strongest part of his game. When I say he's been poor I'm speaking in relation to his previous standards he had set. The first few months of last season he was still one of, if not the best RB in the world the way he was playing. Something changed and when the injuries to the squad started mounting up and like others he was playing every few days with little rest, we started getting performances like the one away at spurs, the Everton away game, Chelsea in the cup when he came on etc. He has struggled ever since the mid way point of last year and I include his England appearances, albeit I felt he was hung out to dry being asked to play left back. Couple of steady appearances when he came back in early this season. However I feel the expectations and standards of his performances had dropped off so much by then that it was a little over hyped. I don't think anyone would say we were playing well in any early games despite winning. And yes Tino struggled in early games as many others did but he's starting to come back into form thankfully.

Don't care about what he does in his private life really but his performances for a good year or so now have been poor. He always looks a liability to me now which is so sad when he used to set the standard and barely put a foot wrong. Whether it's decline physically due to age, off field issues or a combination of both. Whatever the cause, it's resulted in a player currently not of the standard required.

The yellow Schar got against Arsenal was ridiculously naive.

Neville on commentary needs to stop being a thing. He's awful.

Got the feeling eventually we will see... Tonali Bruno Willock Gordon Joelinton Isak But perhaps Longstaff has cemented his starting place for a while again in Eddie's eyes.

Was Barnes on the bench Vs Chelsea? Seemed odd he got no minutes. Might be a message from Eddie as he was really poor in the reverse Chelsea fixture. However that shouldn't undo alot of the good things Barnes has produced already this season.

I'm struggling to remember the last time this guy lets us down or had a noticeable bad game? Must be going back to the Bruce era no? Definition of a solid squad player who is reliable and always puts in a steady performance. However I think that might be underselling him, as he's had some really strong games for us in recent years.

I like him. Far from the finished article and will likely always have defensive weaknesses, but he brings a lovely balance to the side. It's helped put an end to the Burn at LB nonsense. I know we got top 4 with that, but the rest of the squad was operating at a completely different level, plus he had the 2 Joe's helping lock down that left side plus Botman next to him to support. Burn at LB in this current squad would be a car crash, as we saw many times last season. That's no slight on Burn either, he's a better CB than he is LB and suits that role better. Although, with no disrespect to him, to move forward we need the old Botman back fit and and firing and young athletic partner to succeed Schar.

Have to expect Man U will have a considerable upturn in performance. New manager bounce, dark cloud lifted. We all have experienced the same here previously and it can really help the confidence and momentum. Just need to hope this new guy is gonna be another Ten Hag rather than a Pep or Klopp level manager.

We could play really well and still lose unfortunately such is Arsenal's quality these days. But it would be nice if we can try and put a run of form together and get the season back on track.

Liked the look of him last night. Seemed abit of a natural game for him where he wasn't looking lost tactically. Made a few errors here and there like getting caught in possession that almost led to something dangerous. But don't mind that too much, Bruno has plenty of moments like that too so it can happen. Would like to see that set up with Bruno taking up a number 8 role instead, could work nicely.

Yeah last few games, his lack of legs have been massively evident. But it's almost that aging thing where in his head he can still get there but his body is a yard slower. Needs to retreat more and cover the space instead of being as aggressive is the only thing I can think of, unless we can partner him with someone that can cover for this lack of mobility. But that isn't happening with the current personnel available. Like I wonder if we concede that first goal against Chelsea if he just backed off and tried to slow Neto down instead of going all or nothing. Probably still concede as Burn was never catching Jackson either. It's tricky because being aggressive is what actually helps his lack of athleticism normally by not getting turned and running the wrong way and nicking the ball high instead. But just like Trippier, once you lose a bit too much from the legs, those split seconds being late to the tackle cost you massively. Either you get booked for a late tackle or you miss the player completely and they are in behind you.

Was nice to see him stretch those legs and show he still has that power. Will hopefully do his confidence alot of good as he looked scared to sprint since he returned. Did say before the game will be interesting to see how he looks starting a game instead of coming in as sub so he can feel his way into it. Was definitely an improvement.

First semi difficult away draw for ages and he pipes up

Who's the co-commentator? Mentioned he used to play for us but I wasn't recognising the voice?