ozboy

I’m taking a break maybe just a day or two, from the forum. I enjoy the chat and been a member for a long time now but the unending negativity gets me down.

We sold Nathan ake, everyone thought it was a good idea(too short). I’d have Guehi back. Tomori makes as many mistakes as Disasi. Abraham hasn’t done that well. Good sale.

It's pointless talking about RLC, Tomori, Guehi nothing to do with current owners. But sold for the same reason that all clubs sell homegrown talent. It's playing to the rules. They don't make the rules they just play by them I'll tell you who was better than anyone probably including Palmer at this stage of his career that was De Bruyne, Salah, Mata. All of whom were disposed of by Mourinho. Noone abandoned the club then, though that was when our period of being at the top really came to an end. There is just so much opposition to wealthy american owners. I am coming to think it is a class thing.

That seems to be a club message to Chilwell delivered by Maresca. Reminds me of when Mourinho made Mata sit on the bench prior to selling him when he'd been player of the season the previous season. Professional football has its fantastic rewards but it's a tough gig in other ways.

I noticed that in both pre season games. The optimist view is its just learning the system and when push comes to shove they will make the forward pass.

I haven’t done the work on fees, but he only has a year left on his contract. A year ago his contract would have cost nearly double what it’s worth today.

Gallagher would be a better 8 than Enzo but I don't think there has ever been any consensus on this forum that he was a certain starter. He does represent the club culture well though and I'll be sorry to seem him go, whereas I didn't miss Mount at all. It's not like we didn't know this was coming. Him leaving 's been talked about for 12 months. If he stays then Enzo has to play 6 and there's no room for either Lavia or Dewsbury Hall and Ugo and Carney get even less minutes. We have too many quality midfielders and not enough quality defenders.

Arsenal finished 2nd because they picked up White and Saliba. If we had them we'd be challenging for title. Well Saliba came through the ranks think he joined as an 18 year old. Best defender at the Euros. White is 26 and was 23 when Arsenal signed him from.... Brighton after one season. Really the talent spotting was good for L'Arse

If the pitch (in Atlanta I think) is any good then I think we can win this, which is of course not saying much. The squad will be fitter, Caicedo may get a few minutes, and understanding of the system and how to fit in will likely have improved. Notwithstanding the players are young and therefore will adapt to new ideas faster than older players it's still hard to learn new stuff. Hard doesn't mean bad though. I'd like to see Fofana, Lavia and Chukwuemeka continue to get minutes and see improvement. Ugo too. The time to have them on the field is now before Enzo and Caicedo take over in midfield. I've seen enough of Badiashile. Might just be a confidence thing but I dont think he has the head for the premier league. Disasi does have the head for it even if a bit lacking technically.

1.9 metres is not short (6' 4"). It's probably around premier league average. Reading about it wingspan is more important than height although I guess both matter.

Lavia, Fofana,Chukwumeka not looking that wonderful right now. So cant be definitive maybe they are cr** but equally can't be surprising that three players missing either one entire season or two are a bit tentative and out of form in jet lagged pre season games. Chukwuemeka was gassed at the end of H1 v Celtic. I think it's quite smart of Maresca, if they are not at risk of re injury, to give them plenty of pre season minutes.

Who is us here mate. They wont be making much money off me. How will they make money? Via the club value going up? Not if results are bad. Through player profits? Right now they are running at a loss. They are smart guys financially and I'm keen to learn how I can spend a fortune on a football club and start making a ton off fans.

The tour has been a sh** show so far and the inverted full back looks cr**. However game 2 was nevertheless a big improvement from game 1 partly due to Celtic attacking more but partly due to us actually playing better in the midfield. I won't be judging the team, the owners or management on preseason, but I'd be the first to agree it's been garbage so far. If we must have an inverted fullback Cucu is the only one that knows how to do it. James doesn't have the recovery pace to get back into position and frankly isn't sufficiently defensive minded to do the running work on turnovers. You can also argue that now is indeed the time to have the seemingly big weaknesses of the system exposed. The truer test of a team is not how you perform when things go well but how you deal with adversity. I know that's a trite saying but thats when you find out about character and mentality. No doubt things can get a lot worse yet.

More than happy to give Fofana time to get match fit in the broader sense but Badiashile needs to be moved on tomorrow. He is a coach and team killer, just too mistake prone like really bad mistakes that destroy confidence in the defence. Panics under pressure and really nowhere near the standard required. Maybe it is just confidence but there have been far too many mistakes not just on this preseason but in the league last season.

Ffs. I’m off to breakfast.

Most didn’t watch the Wrexham game. I missed the first 20 of this one (Olympics) but actually on what I’ve seen the performance is far better.

Gotta soft spot for Celtic myself after Viduka, Rogic, Postecoglou and a couple of others. Still I expect and require a far better performance than the last load of cobblers.

That is what I tried to say. It was hopeless. I think it's because everyone was standing still and the passes were all telegraphed but maybe there is some other reason. Reminded me of my over 45s

That must be the connections if they don’t have their own charter. It’s only 5.5 hours lax to LaGuardia (New York) and much less to Chicago which seems to be the closest big airport. Plus the three hours time difference. That’s the point as an athlete you are getting very screwed up I guess. Once I went marketing in NY from Sydney. When I arrived the evening before the hotel informed me the sales desk had arranged an extra upstate early meeting so I set the clock alarm for 6 am and crashed. The alarm went off I blearily got dressed and was about to head out when I realized the noise was a phone and what I read on the clock as 6 am was actually 12:30 am. A long time ago now but I haven’t improved unfortunately.

And Ancelotti came and managed an average team in the premier league for a season. Didn’t win but he did it. Pep has always managed at a club that basically has the best players in its league.

Who is better playing higher is one thing for sure but far from the only thing. Movement, space using the full pitch or condensing it, transition from defence to attack and vice versa just a few of the other elements. Where I do kind of agree is the players and the system have to mesh.

Some more jet lag heading over to Indiana is it? Dont want to underestimate the impact of jet lag on performance although I suppose for youngsters matters less. Good variety of competition though so hopefully the team will start to pick up some of the cohesion totally missing against Wrexham.

yeah. As played in that game I didn't like it, not only for the reasons you give, which I agree with, but also because we miss the corner triangles that lead to so many opportunities.

Yeah he looked quite good and Fofana’s pace and footwork also ok.