Lush Vlad

TBF, I don’t particularly mind him. He seems nice enough. I don’t know the man. It’s not his fault and I do get it as they are one of the biggest clubs in the world. So they will get more air time. But I’m sick to death of listening to his depressing interviews on every podcast, sports radio show or sports channel. Followed by the pundits saying how shit his formation is, that it doesn’t work with the players they have and that he should change it. Usually with him saying he won’t change and then going off again about how shit they are It’s like groundhog day whenever Man U are mentioned. They’re fucking crap at the minute, let’s all enjoy it. But why not talk about other clubs a bit more. Or at least provide a bit more insight than what we are getting when they talk about Man U.

Less than 25 yards, I’d say. We just saw him when he was fresh and against tired legs, trying to make runs in behind and then giving up. Due to him not even being quick enough to run off the back shoulder of the Brighton defenders. It must be really frustrating that his body has given up on him. With even half the injuries, he’d still be a very good player. In reality, he is miles past it.

So even less control of the middle and one less runner in there. Bruno’s lack of mobility being even more exposed. Or Joelinton having to play very narrow/caught between two positions and doing neither. No tah.

I was lucky enough to see him live back in the day in the CL vs Werder Bremen. They rotated a lot of their team, as they had already qualified and I think it was when Xavi was out all season injured, achilles, maybe?. But Ronaldinho still played luckily. What a player.

We had to move Gordon more central to basically run for Wilson and do his pressing for him, whilst also trying to block passing lanes. Howe even alluded to this in a roundabout way with his comments after the match.

I wouldn't start with Barnes. But you'd imagine he'll be on the pitch at some point. There's another finisher.

I did digest it. It didn't make it any less ludicrous (IMO). Small sample size of Isak playing well quite a few times against Liverpool and not winning in those games. Which is fairly common when we play them. So let's shift him wide left to accommodate a player who can barely break into a jog these days. Also, you seem to be highlighting Isak's stamina as an issue in your frankly bizarre post saying he's a B ranking. Yet you want to shift him left wing. Where TAA will force him to go the other way, just as much, if not more, than Isak would do to him. As they will have a lot more of the ball. Just leave Joelinton to sort 2-3 players all the while then? Or is Isak expected to follow him and then get even more burnt out?! Make it make sense.

Because it is what Liverpool will be least expecting, or something like that. Sounds like one of Baldrick's cunning plans.

How many times have Isak and Wilson started together? I’d hazard a guess at not many. I remember games where they’ve ended up on the pitch together. Either as a 2, Isak left or just behind Wilson. But that has usually been off the bench, from memory? Fulham home, Brentford away, Everton away and the final all spring to mind. As for not beating Liverpool with Isak up front. What sort of argument is that He has scored 3 goals against them and had one ruled out for a ridiculous offside. He also got VVD sent off playing up top and is just about the only striker in the league who regularly worries him. The same can be said for the supposed best CB pairing in the league at Arsenal. How many times have we beat Liverpool in the Prem era? Not really sure what relevance there is between not beating them of late and Isak playing up front. I fail to see the correlation?

Ooh. Slim went for E instead of A this time. Arf arf.

I would give Isak an A+

It’s not been recent, either. It’s been what teams have been doing to him and then what he’s been doing all season. Moving the ball quickly and accurately and passing out from the back are certainly not what Burn’s good at. Not his game at all

5 at the back against Liverpool won’t work. They’ll just dominate the ball even more, overrun our central midfield even more and we’ll just be sat there dying a slow death. It wasn’t that long ago we gave them a hell of a game at SJP and were probably unlucky to draw in the end. Albeit with a couple of players missing this time. Also not sure it’s wise when we only have 2 out and out CB’s in the squad and our starting LB/LWB is out.

Something like meniscus surgery and he’d be back playing pretty sharp’ish, I would have thought? As in, this season. No idea what the time frames are like for a pro versus an amateur bum like me are, mind.

Krava had a goal ruled out as half his boot was offside. Konate should have been sent off. Alisson, who said it was the best game of his life. Made an outrageous save one on one, another that was deflected and went low, along with a whole other raft of top saves. One second half that was going too corner. A load of them he managed to palm/punch the ball out the box and away from danger somehow. Most keepers might have saved it. But probably conceded from the rebound on at least 1-2. 3-0 PSG would have been more than fair on balance.

So am I, really. Although It’s the same knee. So assuming it is linked.

Same knee as this, I think? As in the opposite to the ACL op. For all we know, they have taken their time with bringing him back so as to not rush him after so long out. He would have had scans and physio etc. Then by the sounds of it, something has gone in training when he was about to come back and play. Feel for him. His career is going the wrong way and it's not like he's a kid any more. 25 now and he'll end up sitting out almost a season and a half by the time he plays again.

Not that I'm comparing our attacking ability with PSG's. But I'm not sure they did. They should really have been a goal down and a man down after less than half an hour. They relied on some outstanding saves from Alisson, the best performance of his career in his words. Along with some wasteful finishing and badly placed cutbacks. It has no bearing on our game at all. But if they lost 3 or 4 nil last night. I don't think they could have had many complaints.

D.

I thought it seemed wishful thinking that he’d be back so soon and said as much on here. But he played in that U21 game, as well as 2-3 others behind closed doors games. He was back training a long time before that and all. It just wasn’t mentioned all the while. I’m sure our well thought of sports science, performance matey and his team of experts know a bit more than us on here. If he was cleared to play, how long are we supposed to leave it in the hope that he doesn’t get injured again? Also, I may be wrong. But when you injure one limb, knee, ankle etc. Isn’t it fairly common that the other side can overcompensate and you end up doing the other side to some degree? It’s shit news and we need to hope he hasn’t become the next Ledley King with his knees/injuries. But seems like people are just looking for someone to blame and piss and moan, like usual. Hardly feels like last year. When we clearly were gambling on fitness and rushing players back. A bit like Ange at Spurs did a few times this season.

If you choose to believe our new ITK. Who did call both this and the Hall injuries before news broke. It sounds like he did it in training recently. So he was back and seemingly nearing a return. The ‘not 100% right’ or whatever Howe said after he trained Saturday must have been his knee falling off

Bit harsh to take away his source of income, if you ask me. He might need a few more yellows as his retirement fund.

Is this a wind up? Where’s the evidence we rushed him back? Is it not his other knee, anyway?

Could make a shit version of that Craig David song with our bad news from the last few days.

Depends what the knee op is for, I guess. Hopefully not another ruptured ligament…..