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Sandro Tonali


The Prophet

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5 minutes ago, joeyt said:

 

Ah the Pardew/ Ben Arfa treatment

Same happened with Arsenal away last season. People were calling out to change the system. He did, and that was that. Back to the same next away game. Totally different I know, but would not surprise me at all.

 

 

Edited by nufc123

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10 minutes ago, Ikon said:


He’s more or less our only in form and 100% fit midfielder at the moment. None of our CM have been particularly good. No matter how I try to angle it then Tonali should have started. Just can’t see past it. Very poor decision imo. Unless there was something we didn’t know, but I doubt it fitness wise since he came on. 

TBH mate, I thought the team we went with at the start was strong and likely to give them a hard time / us a comfortable win.

 

I'm saying he got it wrong in retrospect. Which is obviously easy. Tonali should be starting versus City it seems to me. I'd probably have something like the below (based on them all being fit).

 

Burn free and coordinating at the back, sweeping and clearing the lines (or potentially Schar as he has more mobility and could step into CDM with Burn slotting at CB to prevent them playing through the lines).

Livramento and Trippier playing as part of a back 5 without possession and as wing backs with possession. Similarly 4 across midfield with Gordon dropping in without possession and a low block to give us the chance to break out on the counter.

 

Joelinton to follow Rodri everywhere and muscle him and hopefully free up Tonali and Bruno to coordinate play.

 

Isak as always the threat up top.

 

Wouldn't be pretty but versus Man City and away from home I think this makes us more compact and less likely to concede, witht the ability to control the game more versus lesser teams.

 

Probably not for this thread, I know. I think Tonali will be huge for us in time but he needs given game time now and we need to stop leaking goals and controlling games.

 

I'm not sure intensity is our correct identity at the moment, not unless the players hearts and heads are in it. Whatever has happened at the top, has rocked the boat all the way to the bows in my opinion.

 

It's the fans', players' and Eddie's job to steady the ship...and we can.

Screenshot_20240918_221156_My Lineup.jpg

 

 

Edited by Heron

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I do think it was a bit strange he didn't start, especially with Willock only just coming back from another injury. He's the only midfielder we have that can genuinely rotate in-game with Bruno - I would've thought Howe would be all over that considering all of the other tinkering he's done so far this campaign.

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1 hour ago, toon25 said:

Willock was/is incredibly ineffective in a midfield three. He was fucking buzzing interchanging with Big Jo on the left about a season and a half ago

When he was part of a midfield 3 ?

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Not related to the game, but Tonali has restricted his insta comment sections. Must be tired of all the Milan fans with all their overly emotional comments begging for him to come back.[emoji38]

 

 

Edited by Erikse

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Plays 180 minutes for Italy in the space of three days and looks very good in both games.

 

He then has a 6 day rest before our game after Italy. Yet we only play him about an hour over 2 games, with a 6 day gap between those two games as well.

 

Come on Howe, start him !

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Not a game where he can control the midfield obviously but it’s so good to have a player in there who’s very comfortable receiving the ball in all sorts of areas and who’s looking for a positive pass to release people 

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Played a lot better in the second half when he seemed to switch to the right side of the three to my untrained eyes. 
 

Was actually physically sick when ****staff came on for him. 

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3 minutes ago, gbandit said:

Not a game where he can control the midfield obviously but it’s so good to have a player in there who’s very comfortable receiving the ball in all sorts of areas and who’s looking for a positive pass to release people 

Obviously an upgrade on Longstaff. 
 

I thought he was poor in the first half. But second half he imposed himself physically and showed his quality on the ball.  Needs to keep playing.  Lad will improve us so much. 

 

 

Edited by The College Dropout

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1 minute ago, gbandit said:

Not a game where he can control the midfield obviously but it’s so good to have a player in there who’s very comfortable receiving the ball in all sorts of areas and who’s looking for a positive pass to release people 

 

 

You can see how good he would be when we are playing a high pressing game, his game is ideal for that, win the ball high and release into dangerous spaces at pace.

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2 minutes ago, gbandit said:

Not a game where he can control the midfield obviously but it’s so good to have a player in there who’s very comfortable receiving the ball in all sorts of areas and who’s looking for a positive pass to release people 


It’s his tactical discipline in games like this - it’s off the charts - that’s his role for us

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It's those tiny touches he takes under pressure which sets him apart.

 

This is just the beginning. Remember he's not Bruno, he doesn't have the natural swagger but as time goes on he will become more confident in his surroundings and in his role.

 

He was tactically superb. Never left the gaps that some of our others have done in recent times. His recovery pace is what we've been missing, he can press and drop into shape.

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