Luton.

[bushy1987]

Nov 13, 2023 12:02:43 GMT caino said:

Maguire has been bang average. He performs okay against the shit teams in the league but that’s it.

Casemiro and Varane won’t be here in the new year they’ll both me off to Saudi

I think both definitely need moving on, shift varane and get a young Cb in and get luiz from villa in for casemiro,

[DedRevil]

Nov 13, 2023 13:37:36 GMT bushy1987 said:

Nov 13, 2023 12:02:43 GMT caino said:

Maguire has been bang average. He performs okay against the shit teams in the league but that’s it.

Casemiro and Varane won’t be here in the new year they’ll both me off to Saudi

I think both definitely need moving on, shift varane and get a young Cb in and get luiz from villa in for casemiro,

Sounds mad saying it, but I'd be happy fucking them both off. Only concern is we'd replace them with more overpaid, 1 season left wonders and not young hungry players.

[mightyez]

Nov 13, 2023 14:27:30 GMT DedRevil said:

Nov 13, 2023 13:37:36 GMT bushy1987 said:

I think both definitely need moving on, shift varane and get a young Cb in and get luiz from villa in for casemiro,

Sounds mad saying it, but I'd be happy fucking them both off. Only concern is we'd replace them with more overpaid, 1 season left wonders and not young hungry players.

This is the very thing that Rangnick was telling us not to do. He wanted us to get young, hungry talented players.
Players that would come in and try establish themselves and build their own legend.

Casemiro was excellent last season, his form this season has not been anywhere near that of the last season but I think playing him in a more attacking role or a role where he is not expected to be the DM would have helped him more.
If an offer comes in January from the Saudi's we'd be irresponsible to turn it down.

I like Varane, decorated player etc etc. If he is happy to stay and fight then I'd not try pushing him out but if an offer £30-£40 million came in, I'd allow him to leave more especially if we can spend that money wisely

[viking22]

Maguire and Scotty are starting because when injuries are making it difficult to field an unchanged starting XI they have the advantage of being bulletproof and also do not take their starting place for granted like so many of our other players.

Obviously in an ideal world we would buy upgrades. But sadly with the terrible recruitment that is now way down on our priority list and they will probably remain squad players.

When Martinez is fit again I think he and Varane will resume their partnership because it was so good last season. But Erik has said that he doesn't think Maguire and Varane can play together and Maguire is his first choice at the moment.

Casemiro's 2nd season has obviously been a massive disappointment and Mount and Amrabat haven't settled well (with Erik indicating injuries have been a contributing factor) so no surprise really that Erik has reverted to the Scotty Eriksen partnership. Problem is that Eriksen cannot keep up and Scotty looks more comfortable in an advanced position. But neither Mount nor Amrabat looks comfortable in the deep lying playmaker role which seems to be important to Erik's system. So no easy solution there except to hope that Casemiro comes back from injury looking more like his old self or Amrabat improves dramatically and forms a good partnership with Scotty or Mount.

[viking22]

Hojlund potentially out until the end of the month. What are we doing on the training ground that is making our players turn into glass?

[Stew]

Nov 13, 2023 21:18:04 GMT viking22 said:

Hojlund potentially out until the end of the month. What are we doing on the training ground that is making our players turn into glass?

Because he’s a big strong lad I think Erik might have been guilty of thinking he could play pretty much every game without much of a break. He’s still a kid.

[Kojak]

Nov 13, 2023 21:49:44 GMT Stew said:

Nov 13, 2023 21:18:04 GMT viking22 said:

Hojlund potentially out until the end of the month. What are we doing on the training ground that is making our players turn into glass?

Because he’s a big strong lad I think Erik might have been guilty of thinking he could play pretty much every game without much of a break. He’s still a kid.

Has he completed 90mins for us? I think playing every game has been out of necessity. The worry is the level of activity after the stories about his back in the summer. Although I think a lot of them were discredited.

[Stew]

Nov 13, 2023 23:36:29 GMT Kojak said:

Nov 13, 2023 21:49:44 GMT Stew said:

Because he’s a big strong lad I think Erik might have been guilty of thinking he could play pretty much every game without much of a break. He’s still a kid.

Has he completed 90mins for us? I think playing every game has been out of necessity. The worry is the level of activity after the stories about his back in the summer. Although I think a lot of them were discredited.

He hasn’t finished many games but I think he could have used a decent break. But unfortunately the likes of Martial is such a drop off there wasn’t much of a chance. A bit of ‘damned if you do…’ If Rashford wasn’t stinking the joint out he could have played a game as CF but no dice.

[viking22]

The risk is that Hojlund will burn out or pick up chronic injuries that will dog him throughout his career.

Clearly the intention was to reintegrate Greenwood into the team this summer and the U-turn has left us very light upfront. We don't want another Wout in January. So if SJR is serious about changing the fortunes of the club he should provide some funds for a versatile forward this January and try and get Antony, Sancho and Martial out the door if only on a loan move in the hope they find form elsewhere so we can flog them off in the summer.

[bushy1987]

Loads of teams in the prem are picking up injuries at the minute, unless your city who have a huge squad that you don't even notice the drop in quality, it's clearly the amount of games being played that the issue is, also the intensity of the prem now is surly a factor too, the league is so quick. The players these days are like super tuned up athletes it's no wonder they keep picking up muscle injuries.

[Tatty]

I said this ages ago, with the super quick turnarounds of the 'Covid' seasons and Euros. Then a mid-season World Cup, that you might see players careers shortened. Nothing will change unless the players go on strike, which will never happen, because the public opinion wouldn't be on their side, for the most part.

But questions have to be asked of the players themselves. Are the recovering properly? Are their diets on point? Are the sleeping well? Are they keeping all their physio and massage appointments? Are they employing professionals to make sure they're sitting properly in their cars/dining tables etc...

[seanie]

That's great news about Arnold leaving. I don't know which thread it should go in, but that's a serious move. I said a few back that if Arnold stayed this INEOS takeover of the football club running was BS. Jean Claude Blanc is widely tipped to take over later this year. That would mean a serious change in staff running the club and likely a new DOF to work with him. A serious change of direction

[viking22]

   Also implications for the manager and coaches. Dilutes the benefits of being a good coach because you cannot train players hard enough without risking injuries and incomplete recovery. But increases the benefits of being a good manager because game management/tactics are where you can make the biggest difference. 

Nov 15, 2023 12:36:08 GMT Tatty said:

I said this ages ago, with the super quick turnarounds of the 'Covid' seasons and Euros. Then a mid-season World Cup, that you might see players careers shortened. Nothing will change unless the players go on strike, which will never happen, because the public opinion wouldn't be on their side, for the most part.

But questions have to be asked of the players themselves. Are the recovering properly? Are their diets on point? Are the sleeping well? Are they keeping all their physio and massage appointments? Are they employing professionals to make sure they're sitting properly in their cars/dining tables etc...