The fact is they’re evidently too good for U21 football regardless of their age. Donley and Dorrington were linked with Championship clubs but certainly could’ve got a L1 or even a L2 loan if the club was open to it. It was obviously felt that they’d be better off staying at the club but I...
Spare a thought for Scarlett now that Ipswich and Portsmouth have secured promotion. I’m sure he felt hard done by during and after both loans, but the managers were evidently right not to pick him. Securing loans at a promotion winning team must be the dream for a young attacking player...
Agreed. While it’s great that the academy is having a successful season, it seems clear that we have a whole host of players who have outgrown their respective levels. The fact that we topped PL2 at a canter with an exceptional GD should probably raise questions. Lankshear is the top scorer...
Yeah I would agree with that. There’s been links with other managers for weeks and it’s been an open secret for even longer than that that he would be gone at the end of the season. They’ve said it was a “mutual” decision but in that case I would have let Moyes lead with it so he could at least...
I don’t think we had many complaints back in November/December when we only picked up 1 point from 5 games. Yes we were in the middle of an injury crisis, but we were still playing attractive, exciting football and it felt as though we were still developing as a team. Fans are losing patience...
Objectively speaking, sacking Moyes seems very harsh after what he’s achieved there but TBH I think our fan base would react in much the same way as West Ham’s. And it’s not just the fans. Steidten is frustrated, Warburton left the coaching team as he didn’t see eye to eye with Moyes’ tactics...
“Conviction” and “belief” have been the key words in a lot of Ange’s press conferences of late. Qualities that I’m afraid Timo is sorely lacking. He performed well enough to keep things ticking along but TBH I think the injury has spared him in the last few games where I think he would’ve wilted...
If you look at the source of his goals/assists they’ve mostly arrived through Maddison and Richy, both of who have had disrupted seasons. He needs service or some sort of foil. He’s as always been excellent at forging those telepathic understandings with others (Kane, Eriksen, Dele) but our...
He’s out of his depth at the moment, but I appreciate the fact that he never hides despite of his or his team’s limitations. He has a lot of pressure on his shoulders but he tries to take responsibility and is one of the few players who has obviously improved with coaching and hard work on the...
I think we need to prioritise mentality above all else with the next phase of recruits. Ange pinpointed the problem in his post match interview - to play such positive, high risk football in a sustainable manner in such a competitive league requires unwavering conviction, courage and belief. I...
Lacking confidence turns to lacking conviction turns to losing faith. That’s where we are at the moment. A 4-0 hammering followed by two derby defeats against our biggest rivals is a tipping point if ever there was one. I imagine what’s happening on here is a fair reflection of the mood in the...
Billy Heaps is a name that belongs on a cigarette card. He sounds like a slick haired, mustachioed inside forward from one of our early cup winning teams. Shame.
I agree - I think rhythm will make an absolutely massive difference to our general play and we’ll be far better for it next season - but there are some pretty fundamental flaws in terms of structure, set up, positioning, patterns etc where the main gains are made in training. We should be...
I agree with everything you say and I’m still fully on board the Ange train mostly for the reasons you’ve mentioned, but the concerns for me are bigger than set pieces:
- We concede too many goals, period. Our attack is nowhere near good enough yet to compensate for how leaky our defence is, so...
27 G/A in 30 PL apps this season. Not bad for a player who’s in decline and doesn’t suit the manager’s tactics. Someone better tell Ange. He keeps selecting him for some reason.
The Rashford of last season definitely would. Whether he can recapture and maintain that form is obviously a huge question mark, but he would have to be worthy of consideration if the financials were right. At worst he is a HG upgrade on Werner and at best he is the successor to Son that we’re...
Ange generally speaks a lot of sense, but I found his reasoning for not addressing defensive set pieces quite concerning.
We have had more time on the training ground than we could possibly hope for with no Europe and virtually no cups. The scheduling issues we’ve faced have left us with...
I think we as fans tend to think quite rigidly about players and profiles and positions. The article below explains better than I could the importance of versatility in today’s tactical landscape. Think about Gudmundsson in this context and this link makes a lot more sense...
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