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Post by oscared on Aug 20, 2023 8:37:32 GMT
The spotlight will definitely be on ETH more this season, he`s made some signings and has to justify them as well as what he can do with the ones he`s inherited.
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Post by viking22 on Aug 20, 2023 9:11:19 GMT
People are forgetting how good Casemiro was for us last season and how ever present he was playing around 50 games for us. That gave our defence a lot of protection and stopped our midfield getting overrun the way it did in the first two games of the season. I wouldn't write him off as past it based on just a few early games in the season but if he does start losing his legs we are in all kinds of trouble.
They are also forgetting how good Eriksen was until he got injured and the way he pulled the strings in midfield in a deeper role. Mount simply isn't capable of doing that so is a downgrade and has disrupted the balance we had in midfield. But Eriksen is definitely losing his legs and even last season struggled at times with the intensity of games and clearly a midfield of Casemiro and Eriksen was another short term solution to paper over the cracks and won't be as effective this season.
Erik has been talking up Mainoo. And he's definitely an exciting prospect. But he's only had ONE senior team appearance for us. So it is a lot to ask for him to walk into our midfield and restore the balance and provide young legs alongside Casemiro. Scotty might be called upon in the first half of the season to do that but that will weaken us offensively and also limit our ability to play from the back because Scotty is crap in possession.
Also Hojlund's injury while not serious is a STRESS fracture. In other words from playing too many games too young. So we need to manage his game time. We cannot expect him to play 40-50 games a season for us. But that being the case Martial cannot be relied upon to be available when needed and Rashford is totally crap upfront. So that is yet another issue we face.
So we are again left scrambling for some kind of short term fix to paper over the cracks.
Amrabat would do wonders for our midfield and give our defence more protection so that it won't matter so much that Lindelof and Shaw are our back up centre backs. It would also allow us to play Mount on the right where he might be a more reliable option than Antony and combine better with Bruno. But after stringing him along all summer I really wouldn't blame him if he decided to join Liverpool or Inter or one of the Spanish clubs.
Clearly we do need some kind of striker. But they don't come cheap. Even Joao Felix would involve a hefty loan fee that we would probably balk at. And Barcelona seem a more likely destination for him.
So we may be stuck rotating Hojlund and Martial first half of the season. And hoping we can raise some additional funds in January through player sales to sign more reliable backup. Or better yet get the takeover done by then.
Martial is frustrating as hell but anyone objective can see that when he is fit he is a much better number 9 than Rashford. So it is bizarre that Erik is not selecting him if he is fit enough to play on the bench.
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Post by Kojak on Aug 20, 2023 9:34:27 GMT
Even last season, Casemiro and Eriksen didn’t work as a two in the big games. We were getting exposed away from home against the good teams with that as a partnership.
I’ve been saying since we were first linked with him that Mount cannot pull the strings in midfield. He has no passing range at all and has never ever played in a deep role in his career. He’s looked like he has no idea what he’s doing in the first couple of games.
Mount is too similar to Bruno in terms of the area he wants to play in. However, he’s massively inferior to Bruno in that he has no obvious attributes.
It was such a poor decision to push Bruno out to the right and leave Mount central. We were completely unable to get a foothold in those 15mins and by the time it was changed it was too late and we were scrambling.
Casemiro and Eriksen may well work again this season in games where we’re naturally going to have a lot of the ball and only really need to defend counter attacks or long balls. But we badly need a runner to sit alongside Casemiro who also has some ability on the ball for big games.
I can’t believe ETH spunked that kind of money on Mount without thinking he’d also be getting another midfielder. I assume he expected it to be easier to shift players on than it has been. If we have to sell to buy, then we need to start forcing the deadwood out of the club.
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Post by oscared on Aug 20, 2023 9:43:57 GMT
Probably good that Bestie isn’t on here he would have blown a fuse after watching that.
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Post by viking22 on Aug 20, 2023 9:55:21 GMT
I said from the start that Mount would be a squad player at best. And with the salary he is on if we don't find a good way to use him we will struggle to shift him.
Erik just doesn't seem to be able to prioritize properly and when he fancies a player such as Antony or Mount he insists on buying them. Even though last summer we should have signed a proper striker and this summer we should have signed a central midfielder. And Murtough/Fletcher are too eager to please Erik and apologetic over the crappy budget so just give Erik what he wants. And we do not have a more experienced more respected footballing director that can be the voice of reason.
One gamble is about all you can hope to get away with in one transfer window. We are already taking a big gamble signing Hojlund instead of a more proven goal scorer. But at least that gamble makes a bit of sense given the paucity of good forward options on the market.
But it is an unnecessary gamble to rely on player sales to fund an additional midfield signing when Mount was so unnecessary. Plus with only a year left on his contract and no other clubs interested we could have always come back in for him late in the window.
Why do we need Mount? Bruno and Eriksen are better number 10s. And probably Sancho is as well. We are stacked with wide players...Rashford, Garnacho, Antony, Sancho, Pellistri, Amad.
It just stinks of the stupid Woodward mentality of thinking it is some kind of coup to sign someone from Chelsea. Even though along with Havertz he was surplus to requirements and they've massively upgraded the money with the funds we and Arsenal kindly provided.
Erik knew the challenges he would face when he joined us. If he expects an unlimited budget and the ability to sign whoever he fancies as well as the players he needs then he should have waited for the Manchester City job to become vacant.
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Post by Stretty on Aug 20, 2023 10:22:10 GMT
I said from the start that Mount would be a squad player at best. And with the salary he is on if we don't find a good way to use him we will struggle to shift him. Erik just doesn't seem to be able to prioritize properly and when he fancies a player such as Antony or Mount he insists on buying them. Even though last summer we should have signed a proper striker and this summer we should have signed a central midfielder. And Murtough/Fletcher are too eager to please Erik and apologetic over the crappy budget so just give Erik what he wants. And we do not have a more experienced more respected footballing director that can be the voice of reason. One gamble is about all you can hope to get away with in one transfer window. We are already taking a big gamble signing Hojlund instead of a more proven goal scorer. But at least that gamble makes a bit of sense given the paucity of good forward options on the market. But it is an unnecessary gamble to rely on player sales to fund an additional midfield signing when Mount was so unnecessary. Plus with only a year left on his contract and no other clubs interested we could have always come back in for him late in the window. Why do we need Mount? Bruno and Eriksen are better number 10s. And probably Sancho is as well. We are stacked with wide players...Rashford, Garnacho, Antony, Sancho, Pellistri, Amad. It just stinks of the stupid Woodward mentality of thinking it is some kind of coup to sign someone from Chelsea. Even though along with Havertz he was surplus to requirements and they've massively upgraded the money with the funds we and Arsenal kindly provided. Erik knew the challenges he would face when he joined us. If he expects an unlimited budget and the ability to sign whoever he fancies as well as the players he needs then he should have waited for the Manchester City job to become vacant. Spot on. If we where awash with cash with a squad rammed with talent i could understand signing mount for squad depth. speaking of mount how good or bad was he yesterday? |
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Post by caino on Aug 20, 2023 10:29:41 GMT
a few weeks into the summer window and it all seamed positive.
nows its an absolute shit show from top to bottom. the whole club can get fucked
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Post by Jayrannasaurus on Aug 20, 2023 10:40:33 GMT
Last night was torrid, but I'm going to try and focus on the few positives - there were probably about 4/5 chances (incl the peno) that should have seen us win this game.
Ten Hag took over a squad in need of a total rebuild, finished 3rd and was one result away from a domestic Cup double.
I'm committed to giving him time, but he'll need to sort this lot out - as said, you'd hope to see us kick off the season strong in his second term, with more players he brought in and after a proper pre-season. Looking unfit/rudderless at times.
Clinging to the idea that Ten Hag is intentionally playing Rashford at CF to hammer home the shortcomings in the squad and force another CF signing.
Still time enough to bring in a few more additions, and for the most part the tactical issues can be fixed.
Massive game against Forest now, need a big performance.
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Post by smithy2 on Aug 20, 2023 10:43:31 GMT
Probably good that Bestie isn’t on here he would have blown a fuse after watching that. He leave? |
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Post by oscared on Aug 20, 2023 10:51:37 GMT
Probably good that Bestie isn’t on here he would have blown a fuse after watching that. He leave? Left or taking a break I think. |
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Post by Reduntildeath on Aug 20, 2023 11:09:12 GMT
Last night was torrid, but I'm going to try and focus on the few positives - there were probably about 4/5 chances (incl the peno) that should have seen us win this game. Ten Hag took over a squad in need of a total rebuild, finished 3rd and was one result away from a domestic Cup double. I'm committed to giving him time, but he'll need to sort this lot out - as said, you'd hope to see us kick off the season strong in his second term, with more players he brought in and after a proper pre-season. Looking unfit/rudderless at times. Clinging to the idea that Ten Hag is intentionally playing Rashford at CF to hammer home the shortcomings in the squad and force another CF signing. Still time enough to bring in a few more additions, and for the most part the tactical issues can be fixed. Massive game against Forest now, need a big performance. On another day we’d have been 2 or 3 up and yep, ETH is either exposing the lack of squad depth by playing Rashford up the middle, or being stubborn by not shifting him over and playing Sancho there instead. Either way, it to be hoped that Højlund pulls up forests of trees from his first game! |
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Post by bushy1987 on Aug 20, 2023 11:18:20 GMT
We can hold ETH accountable for certain things, but this all boils down to the club's not funding him in the market, city already have the best squad in the league by a million miles, pep gets who ever he wants, Chelsea have spent a billion quid in less then two years, yet we have to sell Donny to fund a 25 million pound deal for amrabat,no other top level club acts the way we do.
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Post by mightyez on Aug 20, 2023 11:24:58 GMT
We can hold ETH accountable for certain things, but this all boils down to the club's not funding him in the market, city already have the best squad in the league by a million miles, pep gets who ever he wants, Chelsea have spent a billion quid in less then two years, yet we have to sell Donny to fund a 25 million pound deal for amrabat,no other top level club acts the way we do. Somewhat agree but Amrabat should have been bought before Mount, that’s not the club, that’s ETH. Pellestri getting a chance instead of spending stupid sums on Antony. They are both equally to blame. Overspending and wrong priorities, all parties need to be held accountable. Where I can’t look at the manager is in the sales, that’s on the club really, whether it be high wages or high fees or whatever, the club has to get to shifting out players because there is no doubt they will end up causing problems |
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Post by mightyez on Aug 20, 2023 11:26:33 GMT
Btw, Onana yesterday gave us a glimpse about what he is about.
Passing, saves, mentality! That’s a proper proper signing there
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Post by Karma on Aug 20, 2023 11:31:44 GMT
Btw, Onana yesterday gave us a glimpse about what he is about. Passing, saves, mentality! That’s a proper proper signing there Shame there was no decent player to take advantage. |
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