TomC

On 20/05/2024 at 12:09, MaVilla said:

he would suit everton tbh, low block, compact, he doesnt need to move much, i think he would do great there tbh.

I think donks problem is that he doesnt suit any form of expansive game, at Everton he would be great as a pure deep holding DM.

Donk's bigger problem for Unai's system is that he just isn't good enough with the ball and you can't trust him not to give the ball away in his own third.

That probably won't be a problem for him at Everton, either.

Well, that delays Chelsea's recovery for another year. (If they're ever going to recover under their current ownership.) I'm not complaining. One less team competing with us for top 4 next year.

On 16/05/2024 at 11:45, Tom13 said:

Apologies if this has already been posted somewhere, but, damn impressive for 23/24:

On 16/05/2024 at 12:00, briny_ear said:

Doesn’t look so impressive though if you do a top 6 mini league or top 10. We did exceptionally well against the top 3 and next season we need to spread that consistency down to teams 5 - 10

briny_ear hit the nail on the head. When you look not only at  City's results in the table above, but also the rest of the top 6 (one draw against fifth-placed Spurs, which might have been two had it not been for a glaring Son miss last week, and two draws against sixth-placed Chelsea) and at their performance in Europe (i.e. Real Madrid), they are plenty vulnerable against other top teams. It's their consistency against the bottom that makes the difference...against the bottom 14, the lost only once (Wolves, without Rodri in the side) and drew only once (Palace). That's incredible.

Beat the teams you're supposed to beat and good things happen.

On 15/05/2024 at 18:44, Pongo Waring said:

Here is how I see the race: 

Man City - Settled and strong.
Arsenal - Settled and strong 
Liverpool - No Klopp, new manager, not stable, unpredictable. 
Villa - Settled and will get stronger 
Chelsea - Finished strongly, more settled. Will be our biggest contenders for 4th.
Newcastle- They're strong at home, if they keep their best players they will challenge
Spurs - Ange interview yesterday was odd, seems unsettled club.
Man United- Not worried about them,
Bournemouth- Dark Horses
Brighton - Not worried about them 
 

I agree with all your assessments except...

1. I have a bit more respect for Postecoglu than some around here. Spurs won't be title contenders but will be realistic CL challengers again.

2. Of the mid-table teams, Palace's strong finish makes them more likely than Bournemouth to challenge for Europe.

EDIT: That's based on current squads. The transfer market could change things.

He had a better first half of the season. My guess is that, like certain midfielders, he was fatigued by the end. Arguably LB is the most demanding position in Unai's system when he uses the asymmetrical system with the attacking LB and stay-at-home RB. Having two LBs is key.

A full strength Digne with a full strength Moreno should be good enough at LB. Whether both of them will be full strength next year is the question.

2 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

We'd have got nothing today had we needed it. Just so glad spurs fell apart as well. 

They will always be Spurs-y-er than us. They're Spurs, after all.

I know that we'd have a different XI out there, and the match would have an entirely different character, but...it's a good thing we didn't leave it until the last day.

Palace are a different team right now than they were earlier this year.

On 14/05/2024 at 09:37, DJBOB said:

The Kamara replacement has been beat to death. 

Only because it's true.

Why risk playing him? We have nothing to play for and you don't want him getting re-injured. Keep him healthy for next year when it counts.

Just now, CroVillan said:

Where do you think this leaves KKH? Loan out or sell? He’s 3 years older than Kosta and still struggling to get minutes? 

On one hand, I haven't seen KKH play enough to have a really strong impression of him.

On the other hand, given that Unai hasn't played KKH even when Cash has been hurt, it's clear that Unai doesn't trust him. The question is whether that's because he has written him off or just doesn't think he's ready yet. This summer may tell us the answer.

8 hours ago, Jas10 said:

Said exactly that… quite surprising.

At the time I thought… come on John, no need to speak on the lad so much and negatively… but, it suggests there are difficulties with him.

“He can be a nightmare”, was pretty strong too…

Agreed. Even though he's captain, he's never called out any other player in public, at least that I can remember.

Maybe Unai can't get through to him and he asked McGinn to say something?

7 hours ago, CVByrne said:

He comes into squad. Gets time like Iroegbunam has got. He'll play EFL Cup etc..

Given that Cash seems to get injured at least once a year, Nedjelkovic may start some PL matches if he does well.

37 minutes ago, Wurzel said:

 

I remember when we signed Collymore many years ago...some people questioned whether he was really a Villan growing up as he claimed to be.

Question answered.

1 minute ago, Tom13 said:

It was not three managers!!! For the millionth time.

I guess I'm forgetting something? Sorry, I haven't been following the thread in a few years.

He was clearly signed while Deano was here...

On 12/05/2024 at 15:58, I Make Pies said:

I don't think I have disagreed with as many people on this forum as I do about Sanson. He has been a terrible signing, completely unsuited to the Premier League, and it's a relief to get him off the books. He is good at dribbling through midfield but has shown no end product with us. His passing wasn't great either and he got muscled off the ball too easily. Maybe he's one of these players who shines when he has more time on the ball like in France, but you don't get that luxury in this country. Not surprised he wan't picked by three managers.

I still don't know what to think about him. On one hand, he never really got a long run in the side, which makes it hard to judge him. On the other hand, three straight managers didn't see fit to give him an extended run. Something must have been wrong.

I admit, I was hoping for a draw.

City were there for the taking tonight. Spurs disrupted their play very well, especially in the first half.

One cringeworthy bit of defending was punished, one shocking miss from Son let City off the hook.

But hey, Villa is going to the CL, and we can always hope for West Ham to pull off a miracle on Sunday.

59 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Defence has been shambolic this past while, needs sorting in the summer. We’ve no issue scoring, so spend the budget on defence.

Buy another DM to cover from Kamara and we'll be fine. We've given up almost half a goal per match more since he's been gone.

12 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

So even if Tottenham beat City and Sheffield. We could still get 4th on goal difference now?

Ohh hang on, just worked out the maths, maybe not.

The combinations are...

If Spurs fail to win both their matches, we qualify.

If Spurs win both matches...

We qualify if we win on Sunday.

It goes to GD if we draw.

They qualify if we lose.

Take away one of the Emi or Diego howlers and we're in the CL right now.

5 hours ago, TRO said:

and those are more suited to attacking than defending......who is going to stop marauding opponents, every time we lose the ball?....and who is going to win it back , when we do?

I am not sure what the " true" means......for me there are 3 types of midfielder....defending, central and attacking.

I also believe, we are painfully thin on the defending versions.

By "true midfielder" I simply that some sort of midfield is their natural position, rather than deploying Diaby or Bailey or Cash out of position.

On 09/05/2024 at 16:51, Delphinho123 said:

Good footballer, rubbish defender. 

Rubbish is an overstatement. Clearly Mings and Konsa are better defenders, however.

16 hours ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

Dougie is playing his unfavoured position with Kamara out; you cannot criticise him too much.

This is the key point to me.

It's important to distinguish between the fatigue problem and the out-of-position problem (and not just with Dougie). Dougie has played a lot of minutes, and the fatigue problem has some truth to it, but got a bit of a break because of his suspension. The bigger problem is that he doesn't have Kamara next to him and he has to adjust his game accordingly. As others have pointed out, McGinn and Doug have never worked well together in the double pivot.

His defending impressed me.

1 minute ago, Davkaus said:

I'm sorry to pick you up on a single point when I generally agree with you post, but I have to comment on this, because tonight I've read others saying our defence has been poor all season. Our GA is the 5th best in the Premier League. We've very slightly underperforming our 4th place league position.

No worries, that's what the forum is about...throw your ideas out there and let them be tested...

I'm comparing our GA to the top 3, who are all at least 15 better than us in GA. That's the level of competition we're going to face in the CL next year.

Furthermore, the point remains that we miss Kamara. Before he got hurt, we gave up 30 goals in 23 PL matches, or 1.30 per match. (If you take out the 3 where he was suspended, it might be even lower.) Since then, we've given up 23 in 13 matches, or 1.77 per match.