Consigliere

The best description I've seen of Ten Hag's tactics this season said that he wants the team to press high but with a low block. Basically, he's sending the front 3 + Bruno and usually one midfielder to push up to press but the rest hold a deeper line. This has resulted in big gaps in the midfield and whoever plays as the #6 (Casemiro mostly but McTominay, Amrabat and Mainoo have all filled that position at times) getting torched. The whole point of a high press is to compress the pitch to win back possession in the opponent's half so you have to fully commit to it and not just be half in like Ten Hag has been doing - that just makes the press easy to play through because of the big gaps in midfield while also exposing your midfield and defence. If Ten Hag is not confident that his defenders can play a high line then he should be pulling the lines back. It's pretty amateurish to be setting up the team with such a big gap between the lines.

Yeah, all this pearl clutching over the danger posed by Iran is rather funny. They've tried very hard NOT to escalate things into a wider conflict going back to when the US assassinated that Iranian general and Trump trying his best to antagonise them. The Ayatollah and co. are theocratic nutjobs but not ones without any sense of self-preservation it would appear. They seem to understand that they would be out of power and hanging from meat hooks very quickly if they step out of line. Israel are the ones who are far more likely to escalate things in the Middle East or drop a nuke since it's been proven time and again that Israel has free rein to act with impunity with any disapproval amounting to nothing more than a little tut-tutting while continuing to receive billions of dollars in aid.

Yeah, I think Ten Hag is gone at the end of the season. Last season he implemented a more compact setup but the chaos element showed up from time-to-time. Judging by this season and the fact he's persisted with a tactical setup that leaves the midfield and defence exposed, it does suggest that the chaotic setup is what Ten Hag is actually going for which is clearly not sustainable. Also think that the setup is at least partially responsible for all of the injuries we've had. United players spend a lot of time chasing the ball and because we're so open the team has to be constantly running all the way up and down the pitch.

War crimes apologists don't get the benefit of the doubt.

Might as well get ahead of it and change the thread title now.

I think that if Spurs make good transfers suited to Postecoglu's system then he wouldn't really need to vary his tactics too much. We've already seen enough this season to say that Postecoglu has a very clear idea of how he wants to play and is pretty stubborn about it. It's been more beneficial than detrimental to Spurs this season and the football has certainly been much better to watch on the whole compared to the turgid football under Conte and Mourinho.

That would also depend on how well Spurs do in the transfer market and also how your direct competition fares next season. Spurs have had an advantage this season though with no European football and bombing out early of both domestic cups so your fixture list has been light compared to the teams around you which also made it easier to cope with injuries.

Replace Iran with Israel or Ukraine and the person posting such a thing would've gotten a warning and their post deleted at the very least if not banned.

Liverpool can put Atalanta under pressure if they can get the first goal. Problem is this Liverpool team does give the opponent a chance on the counter as they are easier to play through. The midfield of Fabinho-Henderson-Wijnaldum/Milner were pressing monsters who could suffocate opponents in a manner that the current midfielders cannot. Still fairly confident that England will finish top 2 in the coefficient standings and get an extra CL spot. Would have been a near certainty had one or both of Newcastle and Man United gotten out of their groups or even dropped into the Europa League. Newcastle is more understandable as they were in the toughest group whereas United's performance was particularly disgraceful finishing last in a group containing Copenhagen and Galatasaray.

Sheffield United didn't breach PSR or FFP spending rules but rather they defaulted on payments to other clubs during the 2022/2023 season. A further two point deduction has been suspended until the end of next season but will be activated should they default on any payment due to another club under a transfer or compensation agreement for more than five business days from the due date for payment. The club has also agreed to pay the EFL's costs totalling £310,455.

Premier League clubs have approved the use of semi-automated offside technology for next season. eta. https://www.premierleague.com/news/3962262

Kane elbowed Gabriel deliberately imo. He's a dirty player but one who's very adept at making his dirty play look innocuous/accidental.

The Saka one is 50/50 as far as I'm concerned. It's one of those situations that whatever the original on field call was that decision should stand.

Yeah, I think the Gabriel one was ultimately the right call. It is something that Arteta might want to address though since that play is something Arsenal regularly do so their CBs need to be more aware or just refrain from picking the ball up in the box for short goal kick plays. The whistle can clearly be heard on replays when Raya passed the ball to Gabriel and he picked it up. Another ref on another day could have easily called that a pen.

Bayern have not been all that good either. They've basically been gifted two goals but their general play has been poor and it's hard to see them actually creating anything of note off of good play rather than Arsenal shooting themselves in the foot.

Martinelli hasn't really gotten into the game. Good thing Arsenal have a very good alternative option on the bench in Trossard though.

Yeah, Liverpool's squad looks to be really good. They did well to sort out the midfield and for a very reasonable amount of money as well. Some academy players coming through this season has been a huge boon. They probably need a replacement for Thiago and another DM to rotate with Endo so MacAllister can stay in his best role. A clinical forward would be nice but easier said than done to find one plus there's still Jota who fits that bill - honestly think that if Jota was fit for most of this season, Liverpool would've had a bit of breathing room at the top of the table.

Wonder how much Saudi Arabia are actually willing to piss away going forward. There's been some reports that they plan to curb spending - they spent around £900m just on transfer fees and significantly more on crazy contracts. Their strategy looks to be a failure. Apparently attendances in the Saudi Pro League this season are down compared to last season.

Everton club statement:

Everton given an additional two point deduction for breaching PSR.

That's got nothing to do with luck or the moronic notion that referees are favouring United. The main reason that United are 6th is because Chelsea and Newcastle have been just as shit. United, Chelsea and Newcastle have been so shit that even 5th place is out of reach for all 3 clubs with 7 games left to play (8 games for Chelsea).

United have been on the end of a shit load of poor refereeing decisions all season. This belief that United have somehow had so much luck throughout the season is a delusion of the biased.

Hendo is injured so wasn't in the squad.