Giroud as a target numer 9 is just too good. If he scored more, he'd be amazing. He bullies almost every single defender in the world in the air and was working really well on that yesterday, but Chelsea just couldn't break our bus too many times to try and cross the ball to him.
I don't think most Arsenal fans still love him, he has said a couple of bullshit things especially after destroying us in the Europa last year.
I don't think most Arsenal fans still love him, he has said a couple of bullshit things especially after destroying us in the Europa last year.
By Vini.lad Go To PostGiroud as a target numer 9 is just too good. If he scored more, he'd be amazing. He bullies almost every single defender in the world in the air and was working really well on that yesterday, but Chelsea just couldn't break our bus too many times to try and cross the ball to him.
I don't think most Arsenal fans still love him, he has said a couple of bullshit things especially after destroying us in the Europa last year.
What did he say?
I never loved him to begin with, but a player I never had a problem with and didn't begrudge him moving to Chelsea.
Always liked Giroud, very underrated link up man, just couldn't finish at times lol. Him and Auba would have been a very good pairing but I can't fault Laca too, his hold up play is really good for the team atm.
By Shanks D Zoro Go To PostWhat did he say?I don't remember exactly what, but it was something taunting us, that I remember well.
I never loved him to begin with, but a player I never had a problem with and didn't begrudge him moving to Chelsea.
I'll just never ever forgive for going on a 6 months barren run when we should have won the league. I blame him entirely. When I want to torture myself I rewatch his misses against Monaco that season in the UCL. He's good but hes never someone you can build your team around or lead the line for whole season. But when hes in good form he's brilliant for someone who seems so slow and quite immobile, that near post run is on the of the best in the prem and his hold up play can be delightful.
Great post, R4. Think you’ve got it spot on in terms of best contributions, although I do think Abraham is nowhere near good enough for a club of Chelsea’s aspirations.
Giroud is one of the main reasons why we didn't win the title back in 2016, then he had the nerve to go shit on us after winning the EL despite us being nothing but helpful in moving him out and tolerating his subpar performances for years, complete lack of class
By Vini.lad Go To PostChelsea need an #EliteStriker imo
Giroud is good but not as your main guy
Werner is coming m8
Werner, Pulisic/Mount, Havertz and Ziyech is gonna be their first choice front four next season.
By n8 dogg Go To PostWerner is coming m8I confess I know nothing about him
Werner, Pulisic/Mount, Havertz and Ziyech is gonna be their first choice front four next season.
By Xpike Go To PostGiroud is one of the main reasons why we didn't win the title back in 2016, then he had the nerve to go shit on us after winning the EL despite us being nothing but helpful in moving him out and tolerating his subpar performances for years, complete lack of class
By Vini.lad Go To PostI don't remember exactly what, but it was something taunting us, that I remember well.
Didn't know that.
Fuck him.
By Yurtlicious Go To PostI'm sorry Arsenal were gonna win the title in 2016?
We should of.
BTW, congrats to Immobile. Regardless of how many penalties he scored, ending top scorer in Europe and tying the Serie A record is an incredible achievement.
Shame he is shit outside of Serie A.
Shame he is shit outside of Serie A.
By Freewheelin Go To PostHaven't played it since April m9
Fucking hell lads, we actually turned a good loan signing into a permanent for once. Bailey Wright. Only played 5 times because of corona but we kept 4 clean sheets in those 5 games. Him and Willis are a very, very good pairing at this level. But we'll start the season with Grigg and Wyke so what's the point.
Yeah i enjoyed and agreed with that Chelsea summary. Where do you stand on RLC? Is Barkley good enough and do you think you'll strengthen your CBs this summer.
By Kidjr Go To PostYeah i enjoyed and agreed with that Chelsea summary. Where do you stand on RLC? Is Barkley good enough and do you think you'll strengthen your CBs this summer.
Barkley is shit
By n8 dogg Go To PostBarkley is shit
I think of him as the white iwobi but Frank seems to insist on giving him game time.
He stood out a MILE when we played Donny last season. Very rarely do I look up anyone I see playing in League One but I had to whip my phone out at the ground for him.
By Hixx Go To PostHe stood out a MILE when we played Donny last season. Very rarely do I look up anyone I see playing in League One but I had to whip my phone out at the ground for him.
By Hixx Go To PostFucking hell lads, we actually turned a good loan signing into a permanent for once. Bailey Wright. Only played 5 times because of corona but we kept 4 clean sheets in those 5 games. Him and Willis are a very, very good pairing at this level. But we'll start the season with Grigg and Wyke so what's the point.
I taught a kid called Bailey Wright something once
i hope it's him despite the obvious fact he's older than me
By FortuneFaded Go To PostAny good Arse lads?
great player m8
By Auto Simeone Go To Postgreat player m8Cushty
As expected, Benfica were quick to announce that they were presenting Jorge Jesus tomorrow so the media starts talk about that instead of how they only had 2 shots on target yesterday despite playing against a 10 men Porto for more than one hour and one of those 2 shots was a penalty.
arteta has more trophies than poch
you can say he wasnt supported etc etc but for their supposedly golden era they couldnt even win a carabao cup
you can say he wasnt supported etc etc but for their supposedly golden era they couldnt even win a carabao cup
By n8 dogg Go To PostGreat post, R4. Think you’ve got it spot on in terms of best contributions, although I do think Abraham is nowhere near good enough for a club of Chelsea’s aspirations.
Aye. I wanted to give Tammy his dues because he has had a good season, but the nagging feeling that he might just not cut it has never gone away.
Still, I'm hoping the presence of Werner might inspire him to take that step. If nothing else, you could do a lot worse than Werner/Tammy/Giroud in terms of a strike force, assuming the former hits the ground running.
By Kidjr Go To PostYeah i enjoyed and agreed with that Chelsea summary. Where do you stand on RLC? Is Barkley good enough and do you think you'll strengthen your CBs this summer.
I'll start with the simple one - no, Barkley is not good enough. He'll have the odd game where he dominates the match and shows the talent he has. Most of the time though, he is beset with poor decision making and even worse execution. There have been a number of times where a solid attack has been neutered by Barkley because of this. He never lacks for effort, but I think it's clear he won't amount to much more than a squad player at Chelsea - and we have enough of them already.
RLC is a little harder to pinpoint. This season was essentially a wash due to his recovery from that awful injury. Next season will be vital for him - I believe he has a combination of strength and technique which is unique in the Chelsea midfield. If he can get an extended run in the side, I believe he can stake a first team claim. I'm not convinced however he will become a regular starter - our midfield is packed as it is.
To be honest, if next season doesn't go well for him, I wouldn't begrudge RLC leaving. He would do well at most PL clubs I'd wager.
We absolutely must strengthen our CBs. At the moment we have a crop of three alright and occasionally great CBs + one talented but very raw one. We need a CB who can be simultaneously dominant and inspire improvement in those around him - ala VVD. These are a rare commodity, so I hope the club make sure they get the right player. I'd personally like Koulibaly, but that's not a controversial view.
As for Ole's first full season, with a guaranteed (you'd assume...) QF spot in the Europa League confirmed, two domestic semi-finals and a third place finish, it has to be regarded as a success overall. It's undeniable that we wouldn't have made it without Fernandes, but then we also had to deal with Pogba being missing all season, Rashford and Martial missing 15 games each, our godawful negotiators only getting us Bruno and Maguire moments before the transfer deadlines...
The real crime at United is that a club of our stature and resources has managed to find itself with such a mediocre squad; I think we have the third best starting eleven in the league, but I think our entire squad is severely lacking. That isn't Solskjaer's fault though; in fact, all five of the signings he's made have been successful to varying degrees. Maguire, for all his individual and high-profile faults, has brought organisation and leadership at the back. Wan-Bissaka is a brilliant defensive full back and has improved his attacking game, certainly pre-lockdown. James started promisingly and petered out, but he was only ever going to be back up to a Sancho in the first place. Fernandes has been a revelation, and Ighalo is doing exactly the job we brought him here to do.
If it was as simple as putting good players out on the pitch as some might have made out, then Mourinho would have got better out of the squad, or van Gaal. We can say he's just a PE teacher or that he's severely lacking in tactical acumen (and for what it's worth, I do believe he is never going to be as good as Klopp or Guardiola at coaching attacks and ultimately that'll be his undoing), but he's beaten the media favourite Lampard three times this season, beat Guardiola three times this season, were the first team to take points off Liverpool, looked better against Spurs, improved our record vs Wolves... he and his team are clearly able to coach and organise a defence, and our interplay going forward is faster, more ambitious and vastly more entertaining to watch. Part of me still wishes we'd be incredibly ruthless and go for Pochettino, but the club needs to trust that they have picked the right manager, because the squad are clearly playing for him; even during the dog days of Burnley at home, there wasn't the infighting and leaked snippets of training ground talk like we've had with our last three managers. He's got everyone on board and pulling in the right direction.
What's been most promising is the improvements a lot of our squad have made, and that's where we can make real judgements on the quality of Ole's work. There are a host that have improved from their showings last season, or been implemented into the squad in such a way that they have done extremely well overall - Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, James, Fernandes, Matic, Fred, McTominay, Maguire, Wan-Bissaka, Shaw and Williams have all improved over the course of the year. Some have stagnated - Pogba's injury issues, for instance, or Lindelof having a very obvious ceiling - and one or two have decreased in performance, but with the exception of De Gea, Solskjaer has side-lined them. It's been a very long time since I agreed with a manager about what our best team was - seeing Fellaini in the side for five years was a burden in and of itself - , but we all seem to be on the same page about who needs to go and what kind of players need to come in.
There are huge improvements still to be made; we need cover all over the pitch because when one or two of our best players are out, it shows. We don't have someone of the ability of a Bernardo Silva, an Oxlade-Chamberlain, even a Hudson-Odoi or Loftus-Cheek to come on and turn a game from the bench. We need Sancho to come in so Greenwood can be our game changer. We need Laird to be integrated so we can rest Wan-Bissaka. We need to start planning for Matic decreasing in ability and fitness now, and that is a job for Woodward and Judge. In terms of our performance this season, it's a solid 7/10. But we need to be bridging the gap between us and the top two right now, because the thing that gives me pause about our future - outside boardroom shenanigans - is Ole's ability to get us ever playing like City or Liverpool. He seems to be missing that extra je ne sais quoi that they have (hell, even Arteta has got me worried he's going to coach those fuckers into world beaters), and I would really love him to prove me wrong.
The real crime at United is that a club of our stature and resources has managed to find itself with such a mediocre squad; I think we have the third best starting eleven in the league, but I think our entire squad is severely lacking. That isn't Solskjaer's fault though; in fact, all five of the signings he's made have been successful to varying degrees. Maguire, for all his individual and high-profile faults, has brought organisation and leadership at the back. Wan-Bissaka is a brilliant defensive full back and has improved his attacking game, certainly pre-lockdown. James started promisingly and petered out, but he was only ever going to be back up to a Sancho in the first place. Fernandes has been a revelation, and Ighalo is doing exactly the job we brought him here to do.
If it was as simple as putting good players out on the pitch as some might have made out, then Mourinho would have got better out of the squad, or van Gaal. We can say he's just a PE teacher or that he's severely lacking in tactical acumen (and for what it's worth, I do believe he is never going to be as good as Klopp or Guardiola at coaching attacks and ultimately that'll be his undoing), but he's beaten the media favourite Lampard three times this season, beat Guardiola three times this season, were the first team to take points off Liverpool, looked better against Spurs, improved our record vs Wolves... he and his team are clearly able to coach and organise a defence, and our interplay going forward is faster, more ambitious and vastly more entertaining to watch. Part of me still wishes we'd be incredibly ruthless and go for Pochettino, but the club needs to trust that they have picked the right manager, because the squad are clearly playing for him; even during the dog days of Burnley at home, there wasn't the infighting and leaked snippets of training ground talk like we've had with our last three managers. He's got everyone on board and pulling in the right direction.
What's been most promising is the improvements a lot of our squad have made, and that's where we can make real judgements on the quality of Ole's work. There are a host that have improved from their showings last season, or been implemented into the squad in such a way that they have done extremely well overall - Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, James, Fernandes, Matic, Fred, McTominay, Maguire, Wan-Bissaka, Shaw and Williams have all improved over the course of the year. Some have stagnated - Pogba's injury issues, for instance, or Lindelof having a very obvious ceiling - and one or two have decreased in performance, but with the exception of De Gea, Solskjaer has side-lined them. It's been a very long time since I agreed with a manager about what our best team was - seeing Fellaini in the side for five years was a burden in and of itself - , but we all seem to be on the same page about who needs to go and what kind of players need to come in.
There are huge improvements still to be made; we need cover all over the pitch because when one or two of our best players are out, it shows. We don't have someone of the ability of a Bernardo Silva, an Oxlade-Chamberlain, even a Hudson-Odoi or Loftus-Cheek to come on and turn a game from the bench. We need Sancho to come in so Greenwood can be our game changer. We need Laird to be integrated so we can rest Wan-Bissaka. We need to start planning for Matic decreasing in ability and fitness now, and that is a job for Woodward and Judge. In terms of our performance this season, it's a solid 7/10. But we need to be bridging the gap between us and the top two right now, because the thing that gives me pause about our future - outside boardroom shenanigans - is Ole's ability to get us ever playing like City or Liverpool. He seems to be missing that extra je ne sais quoi that they have (hell, even Arteta has got me worried he's going to coach those fuckers into world beaters), and I would really love him to prove me wrong.
By Pennywise Go To PostUnited trying to go the "we're poor route".
Then they are stupid fucks
Poch should have won at least an english cup with Tottenham. Even Juande Ramos did.
Maurice can't blame that on the board. He had a good enough team to win a cup. He did a great job overall and all that, but he failed miserably on the cups.
Maurice can't blame that on the board. He had a good enough team to win a cup. He did a great job overall and all that, but he failed miserably on the cups.
By Xpike Go To Post
By Xpike Go To Postwhy are all british pops named like condoms
if you are buying twisters you're doing it wrong
By Xpike Go To Postwhy are all british pops named like condoms
By Xpike Go To Postwhy are all british pops named like condomsMost of those are named the same all over Europe.
By FortuneFaded Go To PostNah 😂
By n8 dogg Go To PostAs for Ole's first full season, with a guaranteed (you'd assume…) QF spot in the Europa League confirmed, two domestic semi-finals and a third place finish, it has to be regarded as a success overall. It's undeniable that we wouldn't have made it without Fernandes, but then we also had to deal with Pogba being missing all season, Rashford and Martial missing 15 games each, our godawful negotiators only getting us Bruno and Maguire moments before the transfer deadlines…
The real crime at United is that a club of our stature and resources has managed to find itself with such a mediocre squad; I think we have the third best starting eleven in the league, but I think our entire squad is severely lacking. That isn't Solskjaer's fault though; in fact, all five of the signings he's made have been successful to varying degrees. Maguire, for all his individual and high-profile faults, has brought organisation and leadership at the back. Wan-Bissaka is a brilliant defensive full back and has improved his attacking game, certainly pre-lockdown. James started promisingly and petered out, but he was only ever going to be back up to a Sancho in the first place. Fernandes has been a revelation, and Ighalo is doing exactly the job we brought him here to do.
If it was as simple as putting good players out on the pitch as some might have made out, then Mourinho would have got better out of the squad, or van Gaal. We can say he's just a PE teacher or that he's severely lacking in tactical acumen (and for what it's worth, I do believe he is never going to be as good as Klopp or Guardiola at coaching attacks and ultimately that'll be his undoing), but he's beaten the media favourite Lampard three times this season, beat Guardiola three times this season, were the first team to take points off Liverpool, looked better against Spurs, improved our record vs Wolves… he and his team are clearly able to coach and organise a defence, and our interplay going forward is faster, more ambitious and vastly more entertaining to watch. Part of me still wishes we'd be incredibly ruthless and go for Pochettino, but the club needs to trust that they have picked the right manager, because the squad are clearly playing for him; even during the dog days of Burnley at home, there wasn't the infighting and leaked snippets of training ground talk like we've had with our last three managers. He's got everyone on board and pulling in the right direction.
What's been most promising is the improvements a lot of our squad have made, and that's where we can make real judgements on the quality of Ole's work. There are a host that have improved from their showings last season, or been implemented into the squad in such a way that they have done extremely well overall - Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, James, Fernandes, Matic, Fred, McTominay, Maguire, Wan-Bissaka, Shaw and Williams have all improved over the course of the year. Some have stagnated - Pogba's injury issues, for instance, or Lindelof having a very obvious ceiling - and one or two have decreased in performance, but with the exception of De Gea, Solskjaer has side-lined them. It's been a very long time since I agreed with a manager about what our best team was - seeing Fellaini in the side for five years was a burden in and of itself - , but we all seem to be on the same page about who needs to go and what kind of players need to come in.
There are huge improvements still to be made; we need cover all over the pitch because when one or two of our best players are out, it shows. We don't have someone of the ability of a Bernardo Silva, an Oxlade-Chamberlain, even a Hudson-Odoi or Loftus-Cheek to come on and turn a game from the bench. We need Sancho to come in so Greenwood can be our game changer. We need Laird to be integrated so we can rest Wan-Bissaka. We need to start planning for Matic decreasing in ability and fitness now, and that is a job for Woodward and Judge. In terms of our performance this season, it's a solid 7/10. But we need to be bridging the gap between us and the top two right now, because the thing that gives me pause about our future - outside boardroom shenanigans - is Ole's ability to get us ever playing like City or Liverpool. He seems to be missing that extra je ne sais quoi that they have (hell, even Arteta has got me worried he's going to coach those fuckers into world beaters), and I would really love him to prove me wrong.
I'm going to return the compliment and say that this is a great summation of United as well. I think the point of Ole's signings being successful is a pertinent one. I think James is the only disappointment, and even that is only a partial one due to his age and obvious skill set.
Ole should get some credit for youth integration too. Sure, it might be easy given the quality of players like Greenwood, but actually playing them and using them effectively is a different thing entirely.
On a wider point, I think the aims of Chelsea and United are essentially the same next season: close the gap and refine/improve upon the foundations built this season. It'll be interesting to see if either Frank or Ole is capable of that.
By R436 Go To PostI'm going to return the compliment and say that this is a great summation of United as well. I think the point of Ole's signings being successful is a pertinent one. I think James is the only disappointment, and even that is only a partial one due to his age and obvious skill set.
Ole should get some credit for youth integration too. Sure, it might be easy given the quality of players like Greenwood, but actually playing them and using them effectively is a different thing entirely.
On a wider point, I think the aims of Chelsea and United are essentially the same next season: close the gap and refine/improve upon the foundations built this season. It'll be interesting to see if either Frank or Ole is capable of that.
I think Lampard’s proven he can coach an attack well, and you’re going to be improving your options tenfold next season. Issue will be defensively, and whether he does anything in terms of both personnel and his own coaching or team around him to help that. Mystifying how high a line you play sometimes.
By FortuneFaded Go To PostA magnum is not a "lolly"
Mint Feast GOAT