Mole_Toonfan

This is it. Obviously we play in such a way to compensate for our lack of wingers; flood the middle of the pitch, give the full-backs acres of room, dominate possession. It works against the opposition we've faced so far, and it's only a s**** sub and a switch-off that sees us with four points instead of six. But there's gonna come a time where Rose and Walker aren't afforded that amount of space, and the whole gameplan goes out the window; with no wingers on the bench to take the heat off em and change things up. It'll be our undoing. We're going to be repeating this on the night we go out, I've no doubt. At the same time though we only won due to good subs, two of which should be starting IMO. I don't think the starting team is right, majority of the team that ended that game is fine though.

I don't really like Rooney in the midfield because personally while he plays well himself it imbalances some others in the team to fit him in. But if you have to do it then scrap Kane and Sterling and bring Sturridge and Vardy. I like Kane i really do but with how this team is set up i don't think he fits, Vardy and Sturridge both have great movement, instincts and pace which lends really well to Rooney strengths in his midfield role. Can do what ever you like with Lallana's place i really don't care.

Not just that but pace and movement, if you have to play Rooney deep and all this over s*** at least give him something to aim for. Well yeah exactly, forwards have the instincts that playing Lallana/Sterling upfront you're going to miss. Kane's been hard done by here, as he's not had the chance either Vardy or Sturridge just got. Mint though, glad we got there. I think Kane's class, but i don't think he's particularly a good fit for this side. Vardy and Sturridge are both better suited to what we have imo.

Not just that but pace and movement, if you have to play Rooney deep and all this over shit at least give him something to aim for.

Good point.

While i understand where you are coming from, are you going to say this every time they buy a player?

Called it pre-tournament and got a load of s*** for it You got a load of s*** because you said their squad wasn't great which isn't true. Belgium were good once they made the subs Said Lukaku has 3 in 6 months, shown nowt to reiterate the hype. Was s**** today. Said Hazard was s**** this season. Was s**** today. Alderwiereld & Vertonghen are top defenders. De Bruyne is class. After that, it's a load of good to just above 'good' players, nowt special Hazard was good in the second half IMO. De Bruyne was about a million times worse. Mertens and Carrasco are very good players, Dembele is very good and should be starting. Courtois is class. The manager is the problem not the players Disagree, manager is s*** but to say the players aren't the problem is far too simplified and is taking attention away from the fact they don't have that great of a team. All their players are overrated as s*** . They don't have a single good playmaking CM or decent DM, no good fullbacks, Lukaku has like a 1 in 5 record at international level and most of their CBs are poor defenders but get hyped because they can score. ( the Spurs ones deficiencies get hidden because Pochettino is so good at protecting them) There's just zero balance or changes of pace in this team and as alluded to they lack goal threat, yet somehow they are treated as some amazing team. Not to mention Hazard has hardly had a big match great performance in his career really( only one i can think of is against City when Demichelis played in midfield ), De Bruyne is probably their best player and even he isn't of the level required. The rest are nowhere near as good as advertised and especially not good enough to make them a legitimate international threat.

I wouldn't really surprised, paid 15m for him and he scored in double figures in his first PL season. With that said you'd have to be nuts to pay that, but that's probably the point.

Jesus christ

I thought the name was familiar.

Shinned it imo.

Right i couldn't be arsed to come on last night so i'll give my thoughts now. I thought in general we played well, but the final ball was disgustingly bad. Sterling looks like someone with absolutely zero confidence right now, takes far too many touches and 2nd guesses himself. Drop him for Vardy or Sturridge could really care less which one, i'd also be inclined to get Wilshere in the team somehow as he's clearly our best passer, dribbler and probably the best technically probably for Rooney as at least he's a fucking midfielder. The Russia goal was completely predictable, because of how many idiotic lapses there were near the end. To the point they were always going to get in positions before the game ended and it was just a matter if could they take one. Also i have said this before, i don't like Danny Rose. He can't defend unless he's being covered 24/7 and as the goal showed his lack of height is an issue at this level. Although i'm not too fussed about the defence as no matter what 4 we pick it's likely to be bad so it's whatever, but i do think the makeup of the midfield and attack can be improved. Do i trust Hodgson to make the right calls though? not a chance.

Well yeah but i get the feeling that if he keeps coming out publicly he wants to go Rafa will just cut ties, absolute no basis for it other than my own assumption but i imagine he'd rather just move on than keep an unhappy player.

One of the stupidest posts on here for some time, that too from someone who claims a football coaching and business background. I wouldn't, based on his performances for us, want to pay good money for him. I hope he goes to Arsenal because he will be found out big time. He lacks the brains and technical ability to play actual football. He can run I'll give him that... Aye but if we are actually going to base it on performances then most of the players who go for 20m+ wouldn't actually do so The amount of players who have gone for ridiculous amounts over the last few years who actually haven't deserved it doesn't bear thinking about. I mean there's talk of Troy Deeney going for 20m ffs, wouldn't be surprised if we get decent money for him. Not that i care as i just want to move on from it all now and build around a different set of players but if he's still here come the end of August i'll be surprised just considering how football seems to work.

The reasons that is key as well is because if he comes out and says we are desperate for a striker then clubs will ask for more money straight away. Whole thing smacks of intelligence and professionalism, which we haven't in god knows how long.

FFS

Always knew De Gea was a weirdo when he joined Man U and stole a donut from Tesco.

Perfect.

True Only semi reliable center back they probably have is Smalling, although I have no idea who this new lad is.

To a point I agree, a collective organisation is more important for the defence than any individual. Can't hurt to have defenders who are good individually though, it's not enough by itself though obviously.

Impossible to judge whether Saivet was good or not, still though it was clearly another signing where the manager had zero input on it. But like with all the outgoings i trust Rafa completely.

As if having a billionaire owner means anything anyway, the league is full of them.

Probably, when you think about it they need him though. Outside of Aguero who on that City is a genuine goal threat? just in general not just strikers, Silva, Sterling are not on their best days maybe De Bruyne at a push but that's it. Not to mention Aguero is constantly injured anyway and if Pep's past is any indication then Toure is off.

Of the players from last season who actually started who i wanted to keep he was one of them, as was Townsend so that's good news. Hopefully the likes of Perez, Mitrovic and Lascelles follow suit.

Disagree, i think he does. Problem is he's young and being young he makes mental mistakes. Also i'm not going to judge him too harshly under Martinez who obviously doesn't have a clue how to coach defence. Reckon he'll have a better time of it under Koeman, assuming he stays of course.