Mexal Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 2 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: However there's also the rumour of Arsenal trying to sign S. Khedira. Which would not be a great piece of business imho. Yea I saw that. That's all based on him watching Arsenal play during the Emirates Cup. Not sure if there is any truth to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Never played FM. Started with CM - the first one - and played through to about 2000, then quit. Tried looking into it when my brother was playing, some seven-eight years later, but decided the detail level was far above what I was interested in - would eat too much time, and I had other games to play. In the news section, Sky now reports us in talks with Mainz over Gbamin. So that's good, as Gana is gone. Also hope any move for Zaha falls through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Harry Kane scoring just as July ends in preparation for his shitty August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 nowt wrong with that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 At least the reports that Pogba was going to miss today's game turned out to be false. He came on in the second half and was the best player on the pitch. Results wise it's been a good pre season but each game has highlighted the glaring holes in the squad that have not been addressed. We desperately need midfield reinforcements and a CB. Our midfield has zero creativity without Pogba. Matic is finished while McTominay has been excellent - he is far better than Matic now and it's not even close. Don't know why United have been so intent on getting fleeced by Newcastle for Longstaff - it'd be a total waste of money since Longstaff doesn't do anything that McTominay can't and having watched both players, McTominay is the better player right now. If Lukaku is sold then we should be very worried about Rashford leading the line - he's still a selfish player who keeps making the wrong decisions. Greenwood has looked good and I'm really hoping he can make the step up to the first team - he's only 17 but is way more talented than Rashford was at that age. Gomes has been another bright spot. Hopefully he gets some game time this season as his contract runs out next year and he might consider leaving on a free. It'd be a shame to lose such a promising player. ETA. Solskjaer also confirmed that Bailly is expected to be out for 4-5 months after undergoing knee surgery today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Is this Lukaku-Dybala swap really about to go ahead? Lukaku doesn't seem like he would suit Sarri's system at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 All of the most reliable journos for Juve and United have reported that the clubs have reached an agreement. United are still in negotiations with Dybala. I agree, Lukaku does not fit Sarri's system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Crows Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 12 hours ago, Mexal said: Looks like Arsenal are actually going to get Pepe over the line. This should be fun at least. Gonna be fun too watch if you're a neutral. Lots of goals going both ways in Arsenal's upcoming season. As a Gooner myself, I'm going to spend a lot of this season covering my eyes as we beat the bottom half of the table 4-2 and lose to the top half also 4-2... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Villa clearly did not learn the lesson of Fulham from last year. They should have spent 120 million on 3 or 4 quality players, not buying a whole team. I haven't played Football manager since the zx spectrum, has it changed much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 15 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: Smart move, staying clear I mean. And that'S from one of the addicts. Got hooked ever since a friend shoplifted an older version of the game mid-nineties (CM as it was called back then). Hockey version? You don't mean EHM, do you? Yeah, it was CM when I tried it. Too much data, too little going on visually for me. I got addicted to other stuff back in the day, and am still playing some very old games whenever I get the time, which is nowhere near often enough. I don't remember what hockey version was called. It's been over a decade since I tried it out, and have only played it for maybe an hour or so. 15 hours ago, Rorshach said: Tried looking into it when my brother was playing, some seven-eight years later, but decided the detail level was far above what I was interested in - would eat too much time, and I had other games to play. That's my problem with most games nowadays. I have played games at one point then stopped playing for a while and now most of them are too evolved for me to catch up quickly. I'm sure I could catch up if I invested some time into it but there's never enough time to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Our wage bill is already totally fucked up and our strategy seems to be "let's fuck it up even more". Also our strategy for a CB seems to have boiled down to "Maguire or bust". One could be forgiven for thinking that United is being run by Liverpool fans. I'm not sure how Dybala would fit in - Solskjaer favoured a 4-3-3 last season but has been using a 4-2-3-1 in pre season so Dybala would slot in at #10 ahead of Mata and Lingard should Solskjaer stick with that formation. Dybala is wank on the RW though - his best performances for Juve last season came when he played either CAM or false 9. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan La Cabra Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 If the Lukaku-Dybala swap deal goes through, it will be interesting to see how Sarri uses Lukaku next season. On face value, Lukaku doesn't seem like the type of striker Sarri would look for. Last season, Sarri gave Morata plenty of opportunities ahead of Giroud, which indicated that he preferred Morata's style to Giroud's. While they both shared the strength of being good in the air, their general play was very different. Morata excelled at making runs off the shoulder of the last defender, but could time them poorly, often ending up offside. Giroud's main strength was his link up play and ability to bring others into the game, but lacked the pace and movement of Morata. I think Sarri likes a combination of both - a fast striker who can make clever runs but also has the ability to drop deeper and link up play with his team-mates. Hazard was able to do both at times when he played as a centre forward (also, Sarri mentioned often how Hazard playing on the wing effectively left us a man short on that side in the 'defensive phase'). Higuaín didn't have his best spell in front of goal at Chelsea, but I actually thought he played well at times; he just lacked the stats to go along with the performances. You can tell why Sarri liked him and wanted him at the club, as he was able to combine the strengths that Morata and Giroud shared into one player. With regards to Lukaku, his strengths appear to be when he has space to run into. His movement and physicality appear superior to his link up play. One of the best performances I've seen him put in came in the 2018 World Cup (perhaps it was against Japan or Brazil) where he played almost as a right winger and was able to cut inside, having plenty more of the pitch to move into. Sarri was married to 4-3-3 at Chelsea last season, and it was his preferred shape at Napoli, too. However, he did mention in his opening press conference at Juve that during the tail end of last season, he played a 'disguised 4-4-2'. Perhaps a system where he had two strikers with Ronaldo coming off the left and Lukaku coming off the right might be something he will try at Juve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 If this swap deal goes through then I think Higuain will be sold. While a 4-4-2 could work, Sarri will definitely stick to his 4-3-3 initially. Juve are also stacked with midfielders so this formation would make better use of that resource. I think it's guaranteed that Ronaldo will play off the left, Bernadeschi off the right with Mandzukic and Lukaku rotating at CF. I completely agree on the take of Lukaku being much better when deployed as a wide forward - his biggest strength is when he is facing the play and running at the defence from wide areas while his biggest weakness is playing with his back to goal. Despite his physical attributes, Lukaku makes a poor target man. In short he is much better suited to a fast counter-attacking system which is a far cry from what Sarri plays. Lukaku's off the ball movement and ability to find pockets of space isn't that good. Combined with his poor ball control, he just isn't a good fit for a possession based system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Tierney to Arsenal seems all but done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 3 hours ago, Consigliere said: Also our strategy for a CB seems to have boiled down to "Maguire or bust". "VVD or bust" worked pretty well for Liverpool, didn't it? United's not buying a player to improve squad depth and use him in rotation, so if any new signing is not a significant improvement it's just a waste of time and money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 24 minutes ago, polishgenius said: . Don't get where he fist for them and don't get where Dybala fits for us. Can he play as an inside forward in a front 3? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncalagonTheBlack Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Hopefully we get back to winning ways tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 55 minutes ago, baxus said: "VVD or bust" worked pretty well for Liverpool, didn't it? United's not buying a player to improve squad depth and use him in rotation, so if any new signing is not a significant improvement it's just a waste of time and money. It's fine to bide your time for a top player but Maguire isn't that. VVD at Southampton was still far better than Maguire has ever been. To have put all our eggs in one basket for a slightly above average player with no plan for an alternative is pretty pathetic planning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 54 minutes ago, Raja said: Can he play as an inside forward in a front 3? Dunno, I don't think it's really been tried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.