Niall1905

Although you could argue in hindsight that if we did sign him, we would have been worse off as he would have been banned for most of the last 24 months.

England squad is almost what I would have picked from his 33 training squad. Wouldn't have taken dunk and probably would have put branthwaite in instead but its refreshing to see some new faces. Especially as, if it is his last tournament, it would have been easy for Southgate to have stuck with the tried and tested. If England can get to grips with their defence, that squad looks set for a long while yet.

Reports from who? Havent seen anything credible suggesting its happening. Although I also don't see how this wouldn't support the comment I made that he wont get a top prem move and that he'll end up in Serie A or Bundesliga

Okay sure, lets not ignore them. He was solid. A decent player for Dortmund in the Bundesliga, a league that in recent years has conned us into transfers of players who were tearing the place up, only to come and be nowhere near the physical and technical ability required for the prem. Pulisic, Werner and Havertz all looked great over there and simply didn't here. We've got a fairly modest release clause of £35m in Maatsens contract, which for a 22 year old who has just taken his team to a CL final and set the Bundesliga on fire, is surely one of the best deals on the market? Oh thats right, no one wants to pay it. I think Maatsen is a decent player and I also think it is a shame he didn't get more a chance to prove himself here. But just as you have said people were waiting to jump on him and highlight his failure, many are also too keen to jump on the club and decisions that they have made. He won't get a top English side interested in him and will end up in Serie A or the Bundesliga where he will continue to have a solid career but that doesn't mean we've made a mistake.

Im fully behind City on this. Once the league started getting involved with who and how clubs are allowed to get sponsorship deals then everyone was in a sticky wicket, but they'll only realise once it gets round to them. The league blocking Paramount for our sponsor was our indication of this. I understand the notion that backing City opens the door for the likes of them and Newcastle to spend unchecked but I would much rather that as a reality in which any club can also do so if/when they get significant investment. We had Roman and now we have Clearlake, who as every f**ker in the media keeps reminding us has already spent the best part of a billion. Villa have found their way into Europe this year, they should be free to try and kick on to cement that place. Having a system where the league and even the other clubs get to decide what is a reasonable sponsorship deal is wild, restrictive and prevents innovation. How can it be that a club, who have potentially discovered a way to boost sponsorship by maybe altering what is a part of the package or finding an innovative new selling point that squeezed more money, then has to be scrutinized and potentially rejected by those they are competing against. The only purpose of FFP/Profit and sustainability should be to prevent clubs going under after overspending. This shouldn't be achieved by punishing clubs, but rather safeguarding. Legal contracts with owners, sponsor businesses and other stakeholders with commitments to funding in set circumstances. Points deductions for clubs that have overspent, thus making them more susceptable to relegation and fincancial collapse is the worst of all options.

negotiation tactic maybe? Brief the media that our new ball playing manager is happy with his options, despite concern we were going to desperate for one. Easier to play off interest in other keepers as 'nice to have' and not as desperate as a week ago

Doubt that ever happens to be honest, footballs different to how it used to be. The players and their agents know that a youth set up as effective as ours is good to be around, wether you are going to make it at the club or not. Yes, im sure all parties would have liked a scenario where things went well and he broke into our first team but this is hardly a disaster for anyone. I'd go as far as saying its the type of success story you would dangle in front of new talent e.g We give you x y and z chance of getting into our team with this pathway but if things dont go well, look how good the 'failure' scenario is. Omari has spent a year with the academy, we've picked out a decent loan for him which will likely lead to him getting a first division transfer (England or Europe). Ultimately, thats a success for him. He's got his foot in the door at the top of professional football and, if he's as good as im sure he and those close to him believe he is, he can then kick on and show that with regular football.

Not going to pretend to know much about him, hope he is a solid addition. If nothing else, he is probably an avenue to some more 'pure profit' next summer if needed which is probably going to be an aspect of our business model now. Pick up players that stand a chance of contrubuting/young players who could make it, who are out of contract.

We can't have an attitude of 'This isn't the type of football we are known for histrocially'. United have been stuck in that loop for over a decade with their fans and pundits pressuring the existing set up and comparing to what came before. Football is massively diffferent to what it was when we last won the league, to when Jose first rocked up and long before. Whilst you could be correct, football may get stuck in a period of everyone playing a 'boring' style of football. But it will evolve again. Either someone will tweak it slightly and it will be much of the same or someone will come in with something completely new that exposes weaknesses in the possession style of football.

This is a bit different, you are providing a scenario where Enzo is playing further forward at the expense of another creative player e.g Enzo is 1 of 4 attacking players With an inverted fullback, Enzo would be pushing up to join 4 other attacking players, becoming 1 of 5.Theres a huge difference in him being played as a 10 with only wingers and a forward around him, compared to playing as an 8 thats expected to go forward but having the ability to affect play from slightly deeper. There is an argument to be had that if he has the support of players such as Nkunku and Palmer (+Another winger and forward) it takes the pressure off of him to force passes and be out main creasive outlet. The lineup you have picked from, he is playing with Mudryk, Jackson and Sterling.

I really hope this is Southgates last tournament, regarless of your thoughts on if he should or shouldn't have done better with the squad England have now it feels like the end of the cycle with him. Bookies have England as favourites going in but given the near misses of the last 3 tournaments (and i count the last as a near miss as I think they win it if they beat france), I think another would begin to build a bit of a mental block within the squad under the same management.

Yep, we can stop him if we want to. I hope we do and he sees the logic behind doing so. Big summer ahead with a new manager to adapt to with Fernandez likely to be vital part of the system he tries to implement.

Our very own bald fraud, what more could we want 😍

Having had a bit of a think about this appointment, im glad we have gone for Enzo over McKenna. For me, the fact that Leicster didn't walk the league and the fact he isn't the hottest prospect in the world comforts me slightly. McKenna would have been a 'flavour of the month' appointment. He's been getting all the media attention and praise for what he has done, and rightly so. But that can often lead to people getting carried away with themselves and ignoring flaws or simply buying into the hype. Maresca is clearly highly thought of, but in a similar way to how Bayern have decided on Kompany, we're hiring him based on his philosphy, how he's interviewed with the board and what we percieve his strengths to be. That is scary given our current set up's track record, but at least they have gone slightly against the grain with what could have been seen as an 'easy appointment' with McKenna. Wether people like boring Sarri style football or not, the board clearly want more control in our performances with the money being spent. I do get that to an extent, you dont want to spend 1bn and have to play sufferball evertime you play a top team. It would be nice to be the team on the front foot and in control. I wanted RDZ once the 'shortlist' came out. But now the dust has settled a bit, we were right to not go with him if there were concerns about how he would work within our set up. Wether you agree with the set up or not, I can only imagine the meltdown if he got us top 4 but fell out with the board and we started this again next summer after sacking another manger for 'non sporting' reasons.

f**k me, here we go then. Once it’s confirmed, I’ll give myself 24 hours to get my moaning out of my system and then do some sort of spiritual cleanse to try and be positive going into the season.

Prettty numb to this all now to be honest, which is probably what the board wanted. Given the other names being thrown around, at least there is evidence of RDZ putting together a functioning premier league side in the last 18 months, which is more than can be said about the rest. Here’s to hoping his football is just crying out for a billion pound squad and that his end of season collapse was all for helping us get him aye. f**k me this club annoys you sometimes.

Probably not what the club wanted financially, but even in the mess we are in we should be winning that comfortably. At least we’ll be able to sing champions of Europe and piss off Arsenal again

There is definetly a blend, I have mentioned elsewhere that this obsession with tactical battles has got out of hand, with microanalysis of every facet of the game. My personal opinion is that a teams structure and tactical direction is simply the framework to support individual play. If the framework is weak, it won't support those that need support. Some players will still be capable of performing in this framework, but its not ideal. However, if the framework is strong, all within it are supported and elevated to a level that their decision making is enhanced by security and comfort. Like City for example, there is a clear confidence in the ideas that Pep has installed, both in how they counterpress after losing the ball but also the instructions of players to provide options for the player on the ball. It empowers the players to express themselves without fear of consequence or failure. Its easy for Rodri to demand the ball when getting 2 man pressed, if he has confidence that he will imediately have an option to play a pass to because of the system that has been installed. Closer to home, you see this with Caicedo and how he became more prominent and reliable as the season went on. Of course, a lot of that is down to him. But early in the season, he was looking for passes that would have been there under RDZ at brighton, particularly when being pressed on the turn. The team hadn't learnt their structure nor gained familiarity and confidence which led to frequent errors. But as we saw at the end of the season, Caicedo was able to more freuqently play out of the press and link up with players. Wether that was down to the system change or just simply increased cohesion within the squad is open to debate. There is a reason Pep is able to continually adapt and tweak his system to maintain results (and 115 probably helps). He has always admitted to providing a template and structure for his teams to progress the ball through the first 2/3 of the pitch before allowing more creative freedom in the final 1/3. The principle remains the same, how its achieved is all that is tweaked.

Im absolutely fed up of this narrative of Poch stumbling on a winning formula because of Enzo's injury. Are we actually turning a scenario where a manager lost his £100m midfielder for the business end of the season and managed to adapt and finish strongly, into a negative? Whether you believe he should have moved to that earlier or not, many other managers would have got it wrong. Would have said, "No I will drop connor in and give one of my young exciting new attackers a run out further forward, keeping Cucu as a standard LB". Poch had a decision to make and made the correct one. There not a single oracle on this website that has the answer to where we would or wouldn't have been if it had been done sooner or later or not at all. To answer your question on wether he would have changed it without the injury? Probably not. But what qualifys you to dictate that this would have meant we would have finished mid table? As far as I am concerned, even with our league breaking inverting full back system, we were still pushed VERY close in multiple games on the run in. Who can categorically say that Cucu at inverted full back was what got us over the line? There is a reason why we are all sat on our asses watching the game and why all these journalists who 'expertly' break down tactical shapes and decisions are not sat in the dugout of even a non league football team. Its almost as if theres slightly more to it.

The lists of names being branded around by some of the more historically accurate/reliable journalists are just depressing. Im mentally back to where I was when we hired TFSW, genuinely can't believe the stupidity.

I am at a complete loss, I just don't understand how this makes sense in any world. Wether you thought he was the right manager to take us back to the very top or not, there is no denying that we did better this year than last. And that we finished the season beginning to show signs of a team capable of achieving top 4. He was laying the foundations of a squad that in a couple of years could have been extremely well place to begin to compete at the very top, maybe with the right manager at that point. We have invested almost a billion into a young squad, that needs a stable structure to grow and develop. The worst thing we can possibly do is throw a new manager with new ideas in their face every 6-12 months. I've been stubbornly supportive of the new owners, I have really believed that they had good intentions and made a series of early mistakes whilst trying to establish a sporting structure. But now I have nothing good to say, they HAVE to get this right now otherwise things are going to go very very bad.

This f**king stinks, these clowns have no idea what they are doing. I wish Roman never stuck the clause that they had to stay for 10 years

Thought Levi might have got a pick for that reason. It’s probably out of Southgate’s tactical scope but it does seem like he’s banking on having a centre half play on the left and potentially inverting Trent into midfield. Gomes has played on the left for that scenario for Liverpool and Levi could have done it as well

This is a great point. Of course there would likely be some teams that inevitably have good years and become problem like Frankfurt last time we were in it and Luka Jovic turned into Fat Ronaldo for a season, but on the whole the new CL format does probably make it more achievable.