venom2011

I must not if you're repeatedly stating it as if I'm a Spurs supporter. // Note, you originally responded to a tongue-in-cheek comment. Mata was great for us and I'm well aware of his achievements. (But Silva was better, wanted to join us, and is the one we should have signed from Valencia)

Don't believe everything you read in 'The Sport Review' - incredibly unreliable.

Apologies. I only meant that Mata was a complete waste of space.

Comparison and Mata's contribution is irrelevant. We were seriously looking at Silva but hesitated and then grabbed Mata as a consolation.

Well when you see your team to two trophies, two cup finals, a CL quarter, and 3rd in the league - and there would have been legitimate concern that his job still may have been on line.... It's not surprising that we've ended up with Torres instead of Aguero, Mata instead of Silva, Lukaku instead of whoever. No manager would wait for the better option while Roman was around.

Yes, after the FA cup final injury he has pretty much lost his acceleration. His close control is still better than most but you can't beat players without acceleration in this league. For the first 6 months after he came back (including another injury) I swear Alonso could've given him a fair race. At the end of the day he's just another talented and inconsistent 23 year old. He shouldn't be starting, nor should he be complaining about not starting.

Yes, after the FA cup final injury he has pretty much lost his acceleration. His close control is still better than most but you can't beat players without acceleration in this league. For the first 6 months after he came back (including another injury) I swear Alonso could've given him a fair race. At the end of the day he's just another talented and inconsistent 23 year old. He shouldn't be starting, nor should he be complaining about not starting.

Good times 😄 To be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing it now in a one-off as both Mount and Havertz are better defensively. Havertz is also settling now and is not getting bullied on the ball to the same extent.

None of the attackers have pulled their weight this season. Quite simply I'd keep anyone still young and developing - Kai, Mount, Odoi, Pulisic. The rest can leave with my blessing.

Yes, everyone has an opinion but they're not all equal. It's like someone saying Terry was the worst defender in the PL era. It completely defies logic, eye tests, and statistics. You saying all you see is defensive football when other than man city, and arguably Liverpool, no other teams dominate games like we do. Meaning controlling the game (mostly in the opponents half), majority of possession, and creating more chances than the opposition. Chelsea under Jose and Conte played defensive football. And then you say other teams outside the top 3 play better football - which then includes Arsenal, Tottenham and MAN UTD. That's an utterly ridiculous take. City played 180 mins against Madrid and never matched our second leg performance. Injuries 'don't come into it for you' (again for some reason defying logic) but it's been the worst injury season for about a decade and worse than Liverpool were hit last season when they crawled into the CL spots and finished with a lower points total than we will this season. This is not opinion, I could gladly provide you with the data. You don't enjoy the football, that's fine as that is personal to you. Hopefully it will be more to your taste going forward.

Genuine question - how is it possible that you apparently watch the team 'week after week' and are judging what you see as 'defensive sh*t'? I would just love to understand how such an opinion is even possible.

We essentially have that role covered but it's split between the three of Cech, Marina and Tuchel. It seems to be working well and there are obvious benefits over having a single decision-maker. If you look at Pep and Tuchel - these two are pretty much mad geniuses who live and breathe football, and their philosophies. There is no sporting director in world football capable of doing what they do. So all you really need is people around them supporting and helping to implement their vision.

Ah I see, yeah it's quite different then. I guess there's still fun to be had in you having some ability to shape a team's destiny without doing the daily grind. As I said, Daniel Levy is one of the closest you'll get to a hands-on owner but still nothing like what you mention with the Colts. If you take a club like Liverpool, which is quite possibly the best run club (of top tier clubs) in the world at the moment, there is almost complete delegation of duty in every facet of the business - a submission to people who are far more qualified in their area of expertise. Which makes sense as well on the highest of levels. If you're the owner of a smaller club in a lower division, like Gary Neville at Salford, then sure. I must say though that I'm quite amped to see Boehly be a more involved personality at club.

Not really, as the commenter above alluded to, they plan and execute all major club decisions. The owner is simply the one who ratifies it. It's quite rare to have a very hands-on owner these days - although Daniel Levy is pretty much one of those.

Pretty much the only thing that should be considered. The guy knows him well and if he wants him then that's good enough. People can lean into conjecture as much as they want regarding his mentality, worth ethic etc but TT knows what's up. He has been Barca's best player for a bit and that after he was roundly boo'd by most of their fans. Werner needs cheers every game to get a shot on target.

Are they needing say 5mil each to survive? There is not a huge difference between what he would have made here and at Real. All I now see is a fool who, when he leaves, provides 0 benefit to the club who made him and poured resources into his development. Jumped ship when everything became chaotic. And didn't even have the courtesy to wait until the end of the season to finish the deal and medical. And some still want to pat him on the back for simply doing his job as expected while earning a truckload.

It's the foundation for his style of play. If things are going badly you can knock it down as you like and it remains a baseless observation. Jose - death by bus. Klopp - death by high press. For efficiency it's probably better to be careful with considered opinions...

You can flip that as well and say our main targets (TT requested or not) were Hakimi, Kounde, and Haaland. That would've been a great window. The mistake was going for the third choice option - as we did with Torres before. But I never blame the coaches here because at other clubs the coaches have/had the luxury of time. City could patiently wait for Haaland/Kane with no threat to Pep's position.

So even after his direct commentary on the state of our play, the visible frustration you see on match days, and the constant mentions about our lack of being decisive; your conclusion is 'he must be okay with it'? You compare tactical abilities with coaches who had world class players in a number of positions. And no matter how horrible the football actually was, and the poor tactical elements of attacking phases - all we needed was a Fabregas ball to Costa, a Hazard moment, Drogba magic, Lampard screamer. At our best in this mad season we've played better football than Liverpool. And still after a rough patch you can be guaranteed to come to this thread and find an untold number of moronic hot takes.

Definitely and he is a much better fit for the system compared to Alonso. We should be looking to strengthen the starting XI this window, not the subs. I would be pretty happy just with James, Sterling, Chilwell and Emerson.

Yeah not too bad, he did a few nice things today but definitely needs to go up a gear or two. He still doesn't have the same acceleration that he had before the FA cup final injury. The saddest thing for me though was that assist - a simple, quick through-ball that, most importantly, was well weighted. That is such a rare sight this season. We've mostly seen delayed passes or definitively overhit/underhit.

Salah and KDB weren't good enough for title challengers once upon a time...

Tuchel's job is to get these players into the right positions both offensively and defensively. A large part of what comes next is down to individual quality and experience. Having 6 Kantes in attack failing to create is no poor reflection on the coach. As much as you claim no one has improved, Odoi, Mount, and Havertz are better all-round players now than they were before. Kovacic has had way more impact in attacking phases and has played his best football under Tuchel.

Seems to be a more apt description for the football under Lampard, not TT. We very often get the ball to players in the right positions, what they then do with it is a matter of individual quality and experience. Tuchel can only do so much. Do people think it's just random coincidence that we had such a great 2nd leg against Madrid?

Jesus christ the bar must be incredibly low. KDB, Bernardo, TAA and Pogba must seem godly...