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Football: Remain in Europe


Iskaral Pust

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1 hour ago, Raja said:

Man, Lacazette is *way* better than I thought he was going to be. Rob Holding was good too. Maybe some day we'll start a game well. 



It's becoming increasingly clear that under Wenger Lacazette was simply being misused. Now all those runs he makes are being found with some regularity.

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3 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I wonder if the Jorginho-Kante positions will persist.  I know Jorginho’s possession is crucial to Sarri but he doesn’t provide great defensive cover, while Kante looks less effective further forward.  Could Jorginho not be a play-maker as a withdrawn #10 closer to Hazard, Willian and Giroud, with Kante behind him?

Milner plays a role similar to Kante’s current position but it works for Liverpool because we focus on a high press more than sustained possession, and because Milner can make dangerous crosses.  

I think Kante's role is something that Sarri has gotten wrong. He's taken one of the best defensive midfielders in the world and pushed him into a more advanced role where he is simply not as effective as he does not possess the creative ability to play there. Kante-Jorginho partnership would work just fine if Kante plays as the defensive screen while Jorginho dictates play from deep. Conte did exactly that when Fabregas played - Kante would provide the defensive cover while Fabregas sprayed passes from a deeper position. Kovacic or Barkley can the play as the AM. 

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2 hours ago, polishgenius said:



It's becoming increasingly clear that under Wenger Lacazette was simply being misused. Now all those runs he makes are being found with some regularity.

I don't know. I think 1. The team is used to the runs he is making 2. He's come back *way* better after his injury last year, he's been playing like this since his return 3. It's actually not his runs that have been impressive, it's his build up play. He's holding onto the ball way better because he's way more physical than he was when he got here ( something Auba can't do, but again, Auba is relatively new)

I don't think it has much to do with wenger or emery, I think it's more down to him getting used to the league & the team. 

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Hard night for Marseille fans, as they trip in Lyon ends up in a 4-2 win in favor of the hosts. Fair play to Lyon, their squad is just so loathed with talents. One can expect many of them to land in PL someday. Fekir, Traore, Aouar, Ndombele, would all deserve a top 6 PL squad.

Considering our need for a RW, I'd sign Traore in a heartbeat. No doubt he'd be better than Lingard /Mata there.

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12 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

What’s going on in the SPL?  Hearts are comfortably top of the league already, and Celtic have only ten points from six games. 

Could there actually be a competitive season ahead?

Hearts' situation is odd, in that the club pushed hard for a model of a head coach under a director of football (Craig Levein), a model both the owner and Levein really believe in, and which was central to their takeover. But then we had some bad results, and wound up sacking the head coach midway through the season. We were unable to find a suitable replacement and under pressure from the fans, Levein had to take over as manager: ever since we've been getting better and better. So Levein is busy making a huge success of a role he doesn't believe in or want to do. He was also hospitalised a week or two ago with a heart problem and missed a match, but even that failed to slow the team's momentum. 

Celtic, well, Rodgers looks frustrated. His comments to the media suggest he's not getting the backing from the club's board he wants. They've spent quite a lot by Scottish standards, including a record £9m on Odsonne Edouard, and failing to qualify for the CL group stages means they won't be spending any more this season, but Rodgers may feel he's done as much as it's possible to do. 

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I'm with BFC on this. There was a time when Modric was underrated but the pendulum has swung completely in the other direction and he is now being overrated. Yes, he was an integral part of Croatia getting to a WC final but being  on the easy side of the draw certainly played a huge part in that as well. I'd also argue that he isn't even the most important midfielder at Real Madrid - Casemiro is. When Kovacic or Isco played in place of Modric it didn't make a huge difference to the balance of Real's midfield but when Casemiro isn't there, Real tend to get overrun in midfield. 

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Modric was the most deserving of the shortlisted three, though as ever Messi has been the best player over the last year.

More surprising was Salah winning the Puskas award, I thought Bale had it sewn up. Other than it being in a Merseyside derby (hardly a Champions League final), I don’t see what is that special about it. Also Dani Alves still being in the team of the year over Kimmich and Walker for starters is pretty funny.

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On 9/23/2018 at 2:21 PM, polishgenius said:

It's becoming increasingly clear that under Wenger Lacazette was simply being misused. Now all those runs he makes are being found with some regularity.

I don't know. I'm not feeling like he's being found with his runs. I think he's just finishing well. Still think the Arsenal attack is mostly stagnant with our inability to build out of the back and maintain possession.

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9 hours ago, Corvinus said:

Led Croatia to the WC final, for which he won the Golden Ball. An integral part of Real Madrid's CL and title winning team. Mind you, I don't like Real, but I don't understand where the travesty is.

He might just about have been top 3 on his club team. Top 3 in the world is absurd. Number 1 is ridiculous. 

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On ‎9‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 8:17 PM, Consigliere said:

Kante-Jorginho partnership would work just fine if Kante plays as the defensive screen while Jorginho dictates play from deep. Conte did exactly that when Fabregas played - Kante would provide the defensive cover while Fabregas sprayed passes from a deeper position. Kovacic or Barkley can the play as the AM. 

Mourinho did it, too - with Matic and Fabregas. In 14/15, Fabregas was able to play as the deep lying playmaker while Matic cleared things up in the middle of the park and helped protect the back four. I would like to see Sarri try a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Kante in alongside Jorginho, and with more emphasis on Kante providing defensive cover and less emphasis on him getting forward. 

The thing about Kante is that he will always put in a shift, no matter where he plays. He hasn't been playing badly in his new role under Sarri; it's just that he is probably the best defensive midfielder in the world, and we aren't playing him as one. 

The counter attack was on for West Ham on Sunday, so we will need more defensive cover against Liverpool, who will look to win the ball higher and spring forward quickly. Kante isn't much use to us if he up high in a wide position when we lose the ball; we need him around the middle of the park, so that we can have him available to stop the breaks. 

Like Matic in 14/15, Kante isn't just a good tackler or interceptor; he can pass, dribble and get forward, but it seems like that shouldn't be his main role. 

 

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I'm not all that surprised tbh. Pogba has been regularly taking digs this season. Looks to me like Pogba is trying to engineer a move by making the situation untenable. I expected something like this to happen ever since Barca sounded out their interest. Once one of the Spanish giants come knocking you might as well just start negotiating a price because they usually get their man and aren't opposed to advising players via their agents to start acting up. 

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Even Suarez biting people until he got his move (and I'm convinced the WC bite was exactly for that reason) didn't create a toxic wasteland in the dressing room.

Mourinho's right to do it, but was a significant part of the problem in reaching this point.  And Poggba is transparently maneuvering for an exit.  I doubt the other players will stand behind him anyway.

I wonder how many top creative talents would be willing to sign for Utd right now.

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