Mole_Toonfan

Arsenal, as always excelling in the game after the game they should have been excelling in.

It's quite an open tournament imo, not many stand out teams. Germans start as heavy favourites. Which says it all as they have been quite poor since the WC, i would consider France favourites based on talent but they are blatantly going to choke at some point. Germans have always saved their form for tournament.s In general true, this time i think they will miss the likes of Lahm though.

It's quite an open tournament imo, not many stand out teams. Germans start as heavy favourites. Which says it all as they have been quite poor since the WC, i would consider France favourites based on talent but they are blatantly going to choke at some point.

Was gonna say the midfield is crap, although Europe as a whole isn't very strong at the moment.

Never will understand this relegation experience lark myself.

Would definitely lol. lol.

Vieira isn't a defensive midfielder though IMO, he could do it because he was great but in general he was a lot more offensive minded.

Goes without saying but Yaya is miles better technically and miles better as a passer.

So why do you think all our previous managers have always had one (and sometimes two) defensive midfielders in the side? Do you think Rafa will be any different? The problem is the likes of Wijnaldum and Shelvey probably aren't going to be as disciplined or combative enough to perform like the players you mentioned. Same goes for Sissoko, he's a big fella but pretty crap at tackling. Colback's a little fella and just as bad. It's best that we don't pay attention to what the other managers did I just think the 442 worked quite well for a period against Leicester and they could hardly get out of their own half, just a shame we have absolutely no confidence in front of goal atm, not saying he will do it btw but i see no actual reason why he shouldn't and why it would get overrun. Don't see why it would be any weaker defensively than Anita protecting the back 4 anyway.

Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City etc etc. But i don't consider the likes of Carrick, Can and Fernandinho defensive midfielders personally, to me it's more important that the team as a whole is organised with or without the ball than to have one player with a particular role I will concede that Shelvey will have to show he's capable of being disciplined enough to not run around like a headless chicken, but it's very possible that we could overrun them and not the other way round if we are organised like we were against Leicester. After all Leicester didn't really overrun us and the only real difference is Anita coming out and it's not like Anita did anything special to prevent Leicester from being able to overrun us.

Yep, no protection at all in front of the back four which is fragile enough to start with. Protection from what? They've only got one half decent player. I say we go out and try for double figures. Even so I'll be amazed if Rafa goes in without a defensive midfielder. You just don't see it in the premier. Uh? Plenty of teams do it, depends what you're definition of a defensive midfielder is though.

That midfield didn't get overrun against Leicester for the 20 mins or so it was used, if anything Leicesters was. Obviously it's debatable whether it's something that can apply to a week to week basis but it's not absolutely certain that it would get overrun. From what I have seen from the first game I doubt any Rafa midfield would get overrun anyway, he cares too much about tactics and general organisation for that to happen.

Atletico have been dealt with very easily by Barca ever since that front 3 was put together, they just stretch their organised back 4 around and they literally don't know how to stop it. It won't even be close, just like the other ties won't be sadly.

Would be happy with the 442 and personnel above, thought we looked quite good for the period we used it against Leicester personally. The question marks would be is it something that translates every week or just situation moment in a match, also does Shelvey have the necessary discipline to make it work as he's the one whose role changes the most imo.

Who that went out would've made it that much better? Gasping for Gent? It's just feels like the same old teams. s****. Would've liked Juve to beat Bayern but that's barely any different. None of the teams that got beaten were particularly interesting like Personally though i wouldn't have found it very interesting to see someone like PSV get smashed by the usual powerhouses, at least this way the quality will be high as it was in the semis last year. I will admit though that it isn't great for the long term of it all.

If anything Bayern has more injuries though.

Been critical of him in the past like everyone else has but he would have scored at least one of the times we fluffed a shot in the box against Leicester.

Love that quote man, taken to him already. Better keep us up.

Pretty easy to understand tbh, they have a two point lead and if Defoe is the difference then he's made two points worth of difference If we win which I think we will he'd have made zero difference in the overall scheme of things. Considering the doom and gloom reactions to a two point deficit and certain to go down etc I shouldn't be surprised.

I did but apparently most of the forum don't seem to share that sentiment. Do you wonder why? We've lost 6 in a row with this useless lot even after a confidence boosting 6-2 win the week before our last game against Sunderland Yeah I understand completely but that doesn't mean I can't separate the two. I went into last night expecting to lose, but we looked we gave a shit, knew what we were doing from a tactical point of view and while devoid of any confidence in front of goal we did create moments where a more confident team would have scored from. Maybe my expectations were so low that I came out of it looking positively and believing that translate that to the Derby and we'll win.

I did but apparently most of the forum don't seem to share that sentiment.

I think we should f*** them all off and go 442 tbh. Thought we looked a lot better with Shelvey and Wijnaldum in the middle, Sissoko and Townsend on the wing and Mitrovic-Perez upfront. Although I'm undecided if Shelvey has the discipline and if it was just one of those in game adjustments that won't apply every week. But it is probably worth giving it a go IMO.