Football: of great teams having an exceptional season and exceptional teams having a great season.

[Rorshach]

Makes sense to attack down Liverpool's right side - Salah doesn't really track back all that much. 

[Heartofice]

Spurs are really going to struggle with Kane out, their season could be over. I know they managed to scrape that 1-0 but Kane really changes the way they can play in a way that Llorente or Son or Lucas don't. 

The Spurs squad looks really threadbare right now, and has done for a while. Sissoko has done pretty well considering but there needs to be far more depth in midfield. When Trippier picked up a knock yesterday, looking at the bench and there were almost no options to come on for him. 

I do hope Summer brings a boat of new players.

[Rorshach]

So, as our season now is all about that very important mid-table finish, I started looking ahead. Spesifically, I was looking at players out of contract come summer. 

For Everton, that means:

Maarten Stekelenburg. Let go, I say. Backup at best, but I don't fully trust him, and his wages are probably more than what should be spent on a backup.

Leighton Baines. I'd keep him for now, as he is still good. Lucas Digne has claimed his position, but Baines - while not the player he was - is still a good left back, has a lot of experience and a great left foot. If he is happy enough with the status quo/thinks he can regain his spot, I would keep him.

Phil Jagielka. Same as Baines, really. Perhaps just an extension for a year - he's 36, after all - but he is still capable. 

Ashley Williams. I see absolutely no reason to keep him. Whoever wants to sign him on a free should be granted the opportunity.

Kieran Dowell. Hard to think of him as part of the first team squad, as he's only ever played a couple of matches. He is skillful, but from what I've seen of him, he drifts in and out of games, and he hasn't really got the pace. I would like to see him take a step up and show PL standard, but I doubt it'll ever happen. Might offer a short contract if there's still some hope of him improving, but perhaps best to let go.

Then, there's the case of our loanees - Andre Gomes and Kurt Zouma. Short version - keep, if possible. Both have been convincing this season. Doubt we'll get to keep them, though.

 

[Jordan La Cabra]

Hazard's performance the other evening against West Ham will go down as one of the best he's ever produced in a Chelsea shirt. Take away the wonder goal he scored to put us 1-0 up, he was still marvellous.

I think he is just about coming into his peak as a player. His overall game is becoming more complete. The way he dribbles and shields the ball has never been questioned, but now his finishing has improved, his final ball is getting better and the volume of chances he creates seems to be increasing, too. 

What I have been most impressed with, though, is the leadership qualities he has developed. He isn't the type to bark orders, but what he does do so well is no matter how badly we are playing as a team, he always takes the ball and tries to win the game, even if it means sometimes it looks like he is trying to do it all himself. It has probably helped him having the experience of captaining Belgium at the Euros and leading them to third place at the World Cup.

Right through this season, simply having Hazard playing has given us a chance of winning games. It is fair to say that we wouldn't be sitting where we are without him, anyway.

The only pity is that it looks like Real Madrid are going to see the absolute best of him. Given his obvious affection towards Real Madrid as a club and his clear idolisation of Zidane, along with our recent slump in ambition and quality, it's hard not to see why this is the best time for him to finally move on. 

[Iskaral Pust]

@Jordan La Cabra Hazard really is in incredible form, and has carried Chelsea this year.  I’m very worried about what he could do to Liverpool on Sunday.

I’m not sure how Chelsea replace him though.  CHO looks like a fine player but I doubt he’ll be immediately able to score as many as Hazard, or offer such a reliable outlet for the midfield no matter how closely marked.  Just like Drogba and Costa were so hard to replace.  Some players do so much that they’re almost like having two players in the team, and it will always be difficult to replace their role in the XI with any one player.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

7 hours ago, Rorshach said:

Maarten Stekelenburg. Let go, I say. Backup at best, but I don't fully trust him, and his wages are probably more than what should be spent on a backup.

Leighton Baines. I'd keep him for now, as he is still good. Lucas Digne has claimed his position, but Baines - while not the player he was - is still a good left back, has a lot of experience and a great left foot. If he is happy enough with the status quo/thinks he can regain his spot, I would keep him. 

I know different position and stuff, but I just find it amusing, that you think that Stekelenburg are too high for a backup, whle you want to retain Baines as a back up (status quo thingy). If I had to make a guess, I'd think that Baines is earning way more than Stekelenburg.

[Rorshach]

1 hour ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

I know different position and stuff, but I just find it amusing, that you think that Stekelenburg are too high for a backup, whle you want to retain Baines as a back up (status quo thingy). If I had to make a guess, I'd think that Baines is earning way more than Stekelenburg.

Probably he does, yeah, but he also a lot more consistent. Sure, he would be a luxury backup, but he would be quality - unlike what I've seen from Stekelenburg.

 

[ljkeane]

That might be Shaw's own goal actually. Not that it made any difference, Coutinho would have scored if it didn't hit him.

[Philokles]

Love the ironic cheer at Suarez celebraing prematurely from the United fans 

[Rorshach]

United would always struggle with this Barca team. 

I am kind of surprised that Fred looks quite okay, actually.

[ljkeane]

In fairness Barcelona do look kind of vulnerable to a counter. They don't press like they used to and Busquets isn't the defensive midfielder he used to be either.

[Philokles]

Good performance from United (McTominay in particular was impressive) as their pressing stopped Barca from ever establishing a rhythm after the goal. But they never really looked like scoring themselves and Barcelona were still able to create some good chances, despite Messi having about as poor a game as he will.

[Daemon the Leaner]

44 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

Barcelona have been pretty crap, but they're still in the lead. United need to get something out of this as they can't rely on Barcelona being so poor again in the second leg.

Yeah, that will definitely not happen. Barca at home is a different beast, Lyon appeared like they could pose some problems to them out there but they eventually got sunk by 5-1.

I fear quite the same thing will happen to us: we've seen today that we are able to play football against Barca, and we'll probably try to press them at the Nou Camp, but it probably won't be enough.

[Consigliere]

Better than I expected as we've been poor at home in the CL this season managing just one goal (Fellaini's goal against Young Boys which should have been ruled out for handball). When the draw was made, I thought this would be 180 minutes of damage limitation from us. McTominay was good again and hopefully Solskjaer doesn't go pulling a Mourinho and drop him for Matic as McTominay has performed much better in the DM role than Matic has this season.

Fred had a good game as well but Young was pants as usual - if Solskjaer doesn't feel Dalot is ready to take over at RB then he needs to make a signing in that position because Young is nowhere near good enough. In all likelihood we will be eliminated but hopefully we can avoid a hiding at the Nou Camp. 

In transfer news, Simon Stone is reporting that Herrera has agreed to join PSG on a free transfer as United were refusing to meet his 200k/week salary demand.

[Iskaral Pust]

I didn't watch the game (I'm at work) but was the United formation the right way to go? 

Shaw as a LCB in a back five seems to waste his attacking ability and move him too close to his own goal where he's not used to playing.  I understand doubling up on Messi but it seems an awkward way to go about it.  Dalot was out of position too on the left and Young is a faded player to have on the right.  They could have just assigned Fred, for example, to man-mark Messi and then have McTominay and Pogba as "fixed" CMs in front of the usual back four.  Then Lingard (pressuring Busquets), Martial and Rashford ahead of the CMs.  I don't know that it would have gone any better, but they might have been more balanced and able to make a counter-attack work. 

[Corvinus85]

The officiating for the United-Barca game was pretty poor. The VAR did its job again. 

[polishgenius]

Travesty if we lose Herrera to PSG coz of the wages. The man should be our captain.

[Consigliere]

12 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I didn't watch the game (I'm at work) but was the United formation the right way to go? 

Shaw as a LCB in a back five seems to waste his attacking ability and move him too close to his own goal where he's not used to playing.  I understand doubling up on Messi but it seems an awkward way to go about it.  Dalot was out of position too on the left and Young is a faded player to have on the right.  They could have just assigned Fred, for example, to man-mark Messi and then have McTominay and Pogba as "fixed" CMs in front of the usual back four.  Then Lingard (pressuring Busquets), Martial and Rashford ahead of the CMs.  I don't know that it would have gone any better, but they might have been more balanced and able to make a counter-attack work. 

Our attacking play is heavily biased towards our left side but we ended up hamstringing ourselves on the left out of fear for Messi. To try and compensate for that we should have swapped the positions of Young and Dalot and moved Pogba over to right midfield. I'd have also started with Lingard up top with Rashford instead of Lukaku - Lingard's movement and pressing is better than what either Martial or Lukaku offer and that would have been more useful to us in a game where we were always going to have less than 40% possession. 

I'd also say this highlights the biggest weaknesses in the United squad. We need a quality CB and RW (someone capable of actually stretching play rather than what we currently have i.e. players who just further congest the middle and offer no width whatsoever).

Liverpool (Barca's next opponents) have a much better balance and attack equally well down either flank. I don't see Klopp having to take special precautions over Messi since you have Robertson and most importantly Van Dijk down that side. At most I could see him playing a workhorse like Wijnaldum at left midfield so Mane doesn't have to drop too deep. 

 

6 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Travesty if we lose Herrera to PSG coz of the wages. The man should be our captain.

We might just cave and pay him. Honestly, I don't know why his contract has been such a struggle. We've been deadlocked in contract negotiations with Herrera since 2017. 

[Consigliere]

Arsenal were very good in that 1st half. Should be more than 2-0 up. Napoli were proper shite. Their passing in particular was the worst I've seen from them and they look at sixes and sevens at the back as well.

 

ETA. Spurs' website posted an injury update saying that Kane has suffered a significant lateral ligament injury to his left ankle and Dele Alli has fractured his left hand as well and will be assessed to determine his availability for Huddersfield.

[Philokles]

Benfica vs Frankfurt has been all it looked like it would be on paper. Joao Felix playing like a super star in the making for the hosts. An even game so far and Benfica are slightly fortunate to be ahead, with a goal wrongly ruled out for offside with the last kick of the half.