2 minutes ago, dermott said:

Ran himself into the ground yesterday.

Yes he is a willing runner. I can see him do well as inverted attacking fb.

Defensively it is a concern as he is quite slow when he need to change direction.

46 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Yes he is a willing runner. I can see him do well as inverted attacking fb.

Defensively it is a concern as he is quite slow when he need to change direction.

if he has good positioning, not really a problem. Preseason rustiness? He's Italian and theyre pretty good at defending. Remember when we signed Dave? People were not quite sure about him... turned out alright in the end. :-)

I think he'll improve in that regard, but ultimately he's going to be performing as a traditional winger most of the time, ala Hakimi.

Alonso knows this, so he'll likely address it.

14 hours ago, bluelightening said:

if he has good positioning, not really a problem. Preseason rustiness? He's Italian and theyre pretty good at defending. Remember when we signed Dave? People were not quite sure about him... turned out alright in the end. :-)

14 hours ago, bluelightening said:

if he has good positioning, not really a problem. Preseason rustiness? He's Italian and theyre pretty good at defending. Remember when we signed Dave? People were not quite sure about him... turned out alright in the end. :-)

Not sure Azpi comparison make sense as Azpi was quick.

Palestra is just very stiff, I thought this is just pre season thing so I youtube his highlight and it is the same thing.

He is fine, it is jus not what I expected

5 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Not sure Azpi comparison make sense as Azpi was quick.

Palestra is just very stiff, I thought this is just pre season thing so I youtube his highlight and it is the same thing.

He is fine, it is jus not what I expected

Wasnt so much the player comparison, more the fact people thought he was too small, not good enough. I just have a good vide about this appointment. Happy to see how he settles, got a long list of top quality players to live up to. Fingers crossed. Does make me wonder where Reece James fits into all of this.

5 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Not sure Azpi comparison make sense as Azpi was quick.

Palestra is just very stiff, I thought this is just pre season thing so I youtube his highlight and it is the same thing.

He is fine, it is jus not what I expected

Yep. I think you need to be explosive rather than fast to succeed out wide in the PL. He runs with power though - I can see value in that as a WB.

On 03/07/2026 at 17:04, markpitts said:

Do you want your defender (well most WBs are failed wingers) carrying the ball into the final third or a winger? It’s one thing getting up the field, the issue with WBs is what happens when they get there.

Personally feel if you want to play a 3-4-3 formation, you have to play in transition and not worry about controlling possession. Will be interesting to see how it pans out with most teams using a low block against us.

It depends on the situation. I don't think the formation dictates possession v counter-attacking, that's very much about mentality. Under Tuchel and Conte there were many games where we dominated possession, and others where we played on the counter.

The problem Alonso has to solve is that every team in the league bar Man City will concede possession to us, to sit back and counter. Our squad is built for a counter-attacking tactic but whether we want to or not, we have to learn to play in possession.

Part of countering that is having powerful ball carriers; previously we only had Estevao, as you want Pedro and Palmer near the box and Reece James in a position to cross or pass from deep. We also had the negative effect of players like Neto, Garnacho, Fernandez and Gusto in important ball-carrying positions despite being completely terrible at it. So it means that often we were easily slowed down, forced to turn back, or forced into a sub-optimal combo - eg Pedro playing in Neto, or Estevao putting Garnacho/Neto 1v1 with a defender instead of vice-versa.

A fullback that carries the ball changes that balance because it means that they can get to a passing/crossing position while your 3 best goal threats line up in the box.

9 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Not sure Azpi comparison make sense as Azpi was quick.

Palestra is just very stiff, I thought this is just pre season thing so I youtube his highlight and it is the same thing.

He is fine, it is jus not what I expected

Azpi quick? When?

1 hour ago, All Barco no bite said:

Azpi quick? When?

Think he is (was) quicker than Jorginho and Enzo. After those two I'm struggling.

Edited August 7Aug 7 by Nibs

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

Think he is (was) quicker than Jorginho and Enzo. After those two I'm struggling.

You're thinking of old Azpi. When he arrived he was pretty quick!

2 hours ago, Nibs said:

Think he is (was) quicker than Jorginho and Enzo. After those two I'm struggling.

Azpi was fast, one of the best RB that could overlap, cross and defend

It's just that his speed dropped off in his 30's

1 hour ago, Deino said:

Azpi was fast, one of the best RB that could overlap, cross and defend

It's just that his speed dropped off in his 30's

It was a rare occasion seeing Dave overlap.

He wasn't rapid, but he wasn't slow by any means. He was very positionally disciplined. In fact, Palestra and Azpilicueta are opposites in terms of what they provide at fullback.

Dave was never quick. Plenty in the tank but never quick.

Looks like he could be a great signing, looking forward to seeing how he does in the league.

I rarely watch the Serie A, but now I understand why all the Italian fans were furious that no club in Italy could keep Palestra there and lost him to the Premier League.

The slow pace of the game and of the players plus the conservative defense makes Serie A a tough watch for me. It leans boring and even the good teams let the lower clubs hang around by playing for 1-0 wins.

Marco Palonso down the wing.

On 09/08/2026 at 04:10, yemmik said:

The slow pace of the game and of the players plus the conservative defense makes Serie A a tough watch for me. It leans boring and even the good teams let the lower clubs hang around by playing for 1-0 wins.

Serie A isn't conservative at all, though. Slow-paced, yes, but the teams are so defensively poor it ends up with chaotic defending. It hasn't been a 'defensive' league for nearly 20 years and it hasn't produced a decent defender since Barzagli/Chiellini/Bonucci.

The Premier League is much more defensive, especially as roughly 50% of the league basically played for set-pieces last season. Serie A players just don't have the quality to transition into such a physical, defensive league where 17/20 teams sit in a low block and try to hit you on the counter.

On 07/08/2026 at 19:25, Nibs said:

Think he is (was) quicker than Jorginho and Enzo. After those two I'm struggling.

It's been a while so maybe memory got fuzzy for some but Azpi was pretty quick as a fullback. He couldn't be dubbed as the best 1 on 1 fullback without being quick. The drop off of his speed after he got old is too obvious for us to not remember him by but still better than ivanovic.

1 hour ago, BolaBall said:

It's been a while so maybe memory got fuzzy for some but Azpi was pretty quick as a fullback. He couldn't be dubbed as the best 1 on 1 fullback without being quick. The drop off of his speed after he got old is too obvious for us to not remember him by but still better than ivanovic.

No he wasn't. From the day we signed him, he was never quick.

2 hours ago, All Barco no bite said:

No he wasn't. From the day we signed him, he was never quick.

Didn't we get him on the cheap because he'd had half a season out having done his cruciate ? I'd imagine that would have slowed him down, mentally as well as physically!

Edited August 10Aug 10 by Sexyfootball

1 minute ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Gonna be like a new signing…oh wait!

Seriously though really looking forward to watching him this season.

Went too hard in pre-season, but can't really fault him for that. It shows that he has the right attitude.

When will he be fit again, need to see him more and Gusto less