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1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

I don't get the Lukaku/Dybala swap. Don't get where he fist for them and don't get where Dybala fits for us. Like sure we need a creative forward and he is one but especially if we do by Bruno Fernandes and keep Pogba, we're almost definitely playing a midfield 3. Unless the idea is Dybala as a false 9 with Rashford and whoever else - Martial, Greenwood, whoever- coming in as wide forwards ahead of him, which seems a gamble.
 

I think it's clear that we had no intention of signing a #10 which is why Mata was given an extension. But Lukaku wants to leave and Inter kept lowballing us. Now Juve have made a proposal that is acceptable so we're taking it even though it seems the two players aren't quite a right fit for the respective clubs. Wouldn't be surprised if this ends up like the Sanchez/Mkhi swap with both clubs regretting it.

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1 hour ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

Hopefully we get back to winning ways tonight.

 

Don’t get too excited yet.  The starting line-up for Liverpool against Lyon is all the players who won’t start in the Community Shield.  It’s good to finally see Salah, Firmino, Alisson, Keita and Shaqiri get their first minutes in pre-season, but they’ll be building fitness slowly.  I expect the Lyon team will be much closer to a competitive pace than us.

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35 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

. Wouldn't be surprised if this ends up like the Sanchez/Mkhi swap with both clubs regretting it. 

I dunno, are Arsenal as unhappy with Mkhitaryan as you with Sanchez? I think they got the better end of that deal, realtively of course. With Mkhitaryan they at least get a good performance out of him once in a while, While Sanchez is just sitting out his contract.

Anyway to respond to the both of at ones

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

I don't get the Lukaku/Dybala swap. Don't get where he fist for them and don't get where Dybala fits for us.

Relatively speaking, I can roughly see where Juve is coming from. Assuming Sarri wants to play 4-3-3, he can deploy Lukaku as a wide forward. The CF is blocked with CR9 anyway. And he might have figured he has no real use for Dybala in that system. No, idea if that was the thought process, and if it works, but there's at least some logical progression there.

 

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I agree that Lukaku always looked best in a role similar to Salah.  I don’t understand why United kept using him as a target man, especially since they didn’t have a good option at RW anyway.

But I’m still not convinced he’ll fit Sarri’s style, even if used as a RW version of Ronaldo around Mandzukic as a target man or false 9.

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Lukaku won't be used on the RW at Juve because they have better options for the RW i.e. Bernadeschi and Douglas Costa. 

 

9 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

I dunno, are Arsenal as unhappy with Mkhitaryan as you with Sanchez? I think they got the better end of that deal, realtively of course. With Mkhitaryan they at least get a good performance out of him once in a while, While Sanchez is just sitting out his contract.

It's not a question of which club is more unhappy. The point is it's pretty clear that the swap turned out poorly for both clubs.

 

12 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Relatively speaking, I can roughly see where Juve is coming from. Assuming Sarri wants to play 4-3-3, he can deploy Lukaku as a wide forward. The CF is blocked with CR9 anyway. And he might have figured he has no real use for Dybala in that system. No, idea if that was the thought process, and if it works, but there's at least some logical progression there.

Ronaldo is going to play off the left. Sarri even said that he sees that as Ronaldo's best position and it is. 

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I can recall an interview where Sarri said he expects Ronaldo to outscore the goalscoring record of one season in Serie A, so, I think he'll be more used as a 9. So, Lukaku on the right and Costa on the left ?

If anything, Dybala moving to Utd makes a bit more sense that the Lukaku stuff I think. Dybala will probably not be used by Sarri, and we do need a creative to work alongside Pogba. A 4-4-2 with Pogba & McTo in midfield, with Dybala & Rashford on the front line would be mad... except it doesn't make sense that we are trying to sign Fernandes then.

So in the end it is just a merry-go-round to find the better wage really. Maybe there's no real tactical approach anywhere. I just kinda hope that if Dybala do come, he's not gonna be the Di Maria 2.0.

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15 minutes ago, Ser Glendon Fireball said:

I can recall an interview where Sarri said he expects Ronaldo to outscore the goalscoring record of one season in Serie A, so, I think he'll be more used as a 9. So, Lukaku on the right and Costa on the left ?

If anything, Dybala moving to Utd makes a bit more sense that the Lukaku stuff I think. Dybala will probably not be used by Sarri, and we do need a creative to work alongside Pogba. A 4-4-2 with Pogba & McTo in midfield, with Dybala & Rashford on the front line would be mad... except it doesn't make sense that we are trying to sign Fernandes then.

So in the end it is just a merry-go-round to find the better wage really. Maybe there's no real tactical approach anywhere. I just kinda hope that if Dybala do come, he's not gonna be the Di Maria 2.0.

Sarri said that Ronaldo is good enough to play anywhere in attack (which is true) but he's going to use him off the left (which is his best position). So far in pre season, Ronaldo has been played exclusively on the left with Bernadeschi on the right and Mandzukic and Higuain rotating at CF.

Dybala could work as long as we don't use him on the right wing because he is useless there. As I said before, Solskjaer has been using a 4-2-3-1 in pre season so Dybala would slot into his preferred position provided Solskjaer sticks with that formation. If no other signings come in then I expect we will line up as following:

                            De Gea

    Wan Bissaka  Lindelof  Jones  Shaw

                     McTominay  Pogba

      James/Greenwood   Dybala   Martial

                                Rashford

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31 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Thing is Ronaldo doesn't go up and down the line anymore (like a more conventional winger) so not having the legs for it is not an issue. He's more effective when drifting off the left than as a central striker. 

Ronaldo basically plays in the same space and style as Hazard prefers, which frustrated Sarri's preferred team shape last season.  Sarri would much prefer both to play as a withdrawn striker centrally rather than a left forward who won't defend.  But I think he knows he won't be able to dictate to Ronaldo, so Sarri is just going to accept him in that left forward role and add other cover to compensate.

Of all the Juve players, Dybala seems best suited to the Dries Mertens role at Napoli, which was incredibly successful and central to their attacking play.  I'm surprised that Sarri would give that up unless I'm overlooking someone else who could fill that role while Ronaldo cuts in from the left.  Mandzukic seems a bit old and immobile to play that role.

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10 minutes ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

Lallana looked good as the No 6 :o

Keita looked sharp.

Hoever.... what a player he will be for us in a few years more if he keeps developing in the right direction.

Give the ball to Bobby and he will score. :D

So he wasn't get caught in possession each time as he made a fifth Cruyff turn?

Hoever looks really, really good.  He reminds me of Gomez, but with more flair.

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5 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Ronaldo basically plays in the same space and style as Hazard prefers, which frustrated Sarri's preferred team shape last season.  Sarri would much prefer both to play as a withdrawn striker centrally rather than a left forward who won't defend.  But I think he knows he won't be able to dictate to Ronaldo, so Sarri is just going to accept him in that left forward role and add other cover to compensate.

Of all the Juve players, Dybala seems best suited to the Dries Mertens role at Napoli, which was incredibly successful and central to their attacking play.  I'm surprised that Sarri would give that up unless I'm overlooking someone else who could fill that role while Ronaldo cuts in from the left.  Mandzukic seems a bit old and immobile to play that role.

One has to wonder how much input Sarri actually had in the Dybala situation though. Managers don't have free rein at Juve and Agresti, who is Juve's mouthpiece, said it was Juve that proposed this deal to United. So maybe the board decided Dybala has to go and Sarri just has to go along with it.

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2 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

 

One has to wonder how much input Sarri actually had in the Dybala situation though. Managers don't have free rein at Juve and Agresti, who is Juve's mouthpiece, said it was Juve that proposed this deal to United. So maybe the board decided Dybala has to go and Sarri just has to go along with it.

I agree with that.  I wonder why a DoF or board believes Lukaku would be better than Dybala?  I do like Lukaku as a player and I think he has been misused at United, but he also looks sluggish/overweight and his first touch and link-up play are still poor.  He is much better suited to counter-attacking than to gegenpressing or possession.  And he has effectively missed out on an important three years of his own development.

Perhaps Dybala had become a problem they need to shift, or perhaps Juve are paying more attention to Lukaku's form for Belgium than for United. 

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Looks might be deceiving there, wrt overweight/sluggish Lukaku.

I mean Rooney tended to look overweight and sluggish like forever. However it's hard to imagine Juve making such a move without consulting Sarri first. Or they needed to dump some salary and Lukaku is playing for less than Dybala. I doubt that's the case, however if Lukaku really wanted that badly out, he might have been willing to take a pay cut.

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9 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Nice to see the young American get two goals, even if it was just a friendly. 

Go Blues!!!

Only saw the first half but Pulisic looked very good. He made some great runs off the ball and his finishing was cool. We are going to need goals from all over the team with no obvious main striker and the loss of our main goal source in Hazard, so I hope Pulisic will continue to chip in when the season begins. 

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