KentVillan

Agree, he deserves to be there, and likely would have been if Emery had joined us just a little bit earlier. Feel sorry for him. Missing out on a big chance to win a World Cup.

He’s still playing as a DM. Just a bit more licence to roam now, and double pivot, so we see more of his all round game. Main thing that’s changed is a competent coach and benching McGinn.

Should be on that plane. Think a few of our players are good enough to be at the WC tbh, but will miss out because of Gerrard and Purslow. Nice one!

I don’t think Smith froze Sanson out btw. He generally liked to take his time to integrate new players into the team, and Sanson kept getting injured as that was happening. The issue with Gerrard was something personal. What might help with Unai is he’s managed in France before, so assume he speaks a little bit of French, and is more used to handling a squad with players from all over the world. (I think this is one of the reasons foreign coaches have started to dominate the PL - it helps if you’ve travelled about a bit, managed in different leagues, and speak a couple of languages.) Plus Sanson has a few French speakers around him now in Kamara, Digne, Guilbert, Konsa (Congolese father), which must help him feel more settled. Anyway, keen to see what he can do. I don’t think he’s the second coming, but he’s clearly good enough to deserve more game time this season, and he’s a nice composed midfielder with a great engine.

Cristiano Ronaldo. He's done. And he's a word removed

There are several better ball players (Stones, White, etc), but in terms of old fashioned CB duties, I think Mings is right up there, and this whole “mistake prone” thing is just par for the course in that position. People seem to think it’s unique to Mings, when you could do an embarrassing blooper reel of just about any CB.

In theory as a CAM, but the attacking 4 were very fluid - think Buendia, Bailey and Ramsey were all covering similar areas at different points in the game

I think you have to have that mix of players in your side, some who play it safe, and some who are constantly trying to make things happen. Emi is definitely the latter (like Bailey), and when it doesn’t work, it can look a bit shit. But there’s a lot of creativity there, and I think Don Unai will persevere with him. Also, he is excellent at pressing and tracking back, which gives him a bit more credit in the bank to have the odd dodgy game on the ball. I really liked the way he celebrated Ramsey’s goal. Think he’ll have some superb games this season.

Ref did everything he could for his friends in Manchester, but Unai’s charisma was too strong today UTFV

There were rumours of a bot farm in Small Heath, although unlikely they have enough staff to do this kind of damage Going back to Unai. I do feel a bit sorry for him with his English. It's actually pretty good, and he gets his point across, but now it's a "thing" you know it'll be the first thing he gets hammered for when we have a bad spell.

How‘s that ever stopped anyone

He could still get in the England squad if he wanted. Great player. Was gutted when he left. Saw a stat the other day that he has more Champions League assists than each of: Modric, Henry, Raul, Figo, Beckham, Deco & Ronaldinho.

This is why VT is undefeated for quality content, you just don’t get this level of analysis anywhere else

Elon doing great

Lee Hendrie has done a “Pub Talk” podcast with Alan Brazil and Ray Parlour (you can find it on Spotify etc). Sounds like an awful setup with those two pissheads, but actually a very good interview.

Jack is a very talented footballer who is I think just a bit too thick and a bit too old now to be playing for a master tactician like Pep who micromanages every aspect of the game and gives all his players detailed instructions. He’s definitely good enough to play for a top side, but unless he really turns things around in the next few months, I can’t see it being City. The thing that’s really noticeable about him at City is that he is half a beat off the pace when they press, and doesn’t make the quick moves into space that the other attackers make. So because of that, he gets a lot less of the ball than he wants, and he just ends up looking a bit lost. When he does get the ball, he’s fine.

Off at half time. Really not working out for him, is it

Hahaha excellent

I once saw Nitin Sawhney performing at the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in front of a very small early afternoon crowd. I'd dragged all my friends along because I love his music. Think they were fairly underwhelmed. Anyway, about halfway through, some lad in the crowd just decides he wants to climb the Pyramid Stage, and starts making his way up over the barriers, and doing a dangerous looking climb along ladders up towards the middle, as a camera tracks his journey. Nitin stops playing and gestures to security to sort it out. Then I think tells him to **** off as he's hauled off by security, never to be seen again. So, just saying, he doesn't have an unblemished record of welcoming people with open arms. Jokes aside, he's absolutely right, and I'm caught in two minds about "Godwin's Law" when we're talking about the rise of fascism, antisemitism and fracturing of Europe at the moment. It does feel a bit like history is threatening to repeat itself in a nasty way.

The whole concept of “integration” is based on the idea that there’s a static, authentic British culture, but there isn’t. Even within the white British community, the culture changes constantly. I’d love someone to explain what British culture is. What they usually mean is their own personal culture within their immediate social circle. I imagine my “indigenous” white British family wouldn’t have much in common with you culturally, but we’ve been here just as long as your family. People are quirky and have their own ways.

Lol at the 4D chess explanation of Braverman. The biggest trap she has set is for herself, by presenting herself as the person who can get immigration "under control". Wait a few months for the Kippers to turn on her.

If it’s blockchain based it’s total horse shit

This is a bit hysterical. I have my doubts about Purslow, but he’s done plenty of positive things for the club, and with a more experienced manager at the helm, we’ll probably make smarter decisions in the transfer market. The idea that we’ve got no infrastructure and have bought “bad characters” doesn’t really stack up with what I’ve seen. We’ve wasted a year on the Gerrard experiment. It’s not the end of the world.

I think that was already locked in tbh. Yes Emery will have to deal with it, but it’s a mistake Gerrard made. I doubt there will be any pressure on Emery to make it work. The Ozil situation caused him a lot of problems, which I don’t think he’ll face here.