Flight

Isak will thrive once Frimpong and Kerkez are bombing down the wings and putting balls in to him. It's many a year since we played a traditional centre forward and we're still often defaulting to how we've been playing for a decade.

I read a week or two ago he's off to Real, then FNB said on here the other day that his agent has been speaking to them. He's playing like he's decided he's off. edit : I wondered why they'd been so upfront about not wanting Konate. Maybe they're being nice because they want to negotiate for Mac.

Not sure if this link will work but apparently Slot plays the piano in his down time. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17LkeuS41w/

Joe bursting through the middle in a 2 on 2 then giving up and pulling the ball back was bizarre.

Agree with this but I think we desperately need a proper no 6, especially with Macs head in Madrid already. Unsure too how much more Virge has got in the tank. Kerkez spent a couple of months overlapping Gakpo only to be ignored. I've never once seen Gakpo pass to him down the wing. Easy to forget Kerkez is younger than Bradley btw (only 6 months). He'll come good.

Still together. The one I split up with was 30 years ago.

I talk to my ex missus and speak well of her. Doesn't mean we didn't fall out big time. They fell out at the side of the pitch when Mo was coming on as a sub. Jurgen says they sorted it out next day but journos claimed they were being briefed that if Klopp stayed Mo would leave. All the s*** Jurgen was dealing with and Mo was helping push him out of the club because he had the temerity to bench him. Mo has been our best player for many a year and it will be genuinely emotional to see him leave but no one is bigger than the club. For all that Carragher is a gobs***e and is bang out of order.

You need to stop calling Case names mate. Seems like everyone has it in for him today.

City clearly targeted him. It worked. Konate wasn't just responsible for Leeds first, he gave them their second as well.

He did the same to Klopp remember. Fell out big time with Jurgen.

If Ancelotti is out of the question after the World Cup Enrique would be a win. His PSG are the best side I've ever seen us face. Guardiola said the best teams he's ever faced were us under Jurgen and Enriques Barcelona.

Tactics have changed significantly in the last 12-24 months. The 4 3 3 we were playing under Jurgen has been countered. Look at how City struggled last year and the restructuring Guardiola has done. Top teams are all playing 1 or 2 up front, 2 defensive midfielders and width from the back. Not to mention how the lower teams are finding new ways to pressure defences. Note I'm not claiming to be some tactics guru here. Lots of folks on the forum like Earl etc know more than me. This is just from googling around what tactics teams are playing so I may be talking rubbish. If it's true though we're half way through a rebuild of the team and a move to different tactics front to back. Slot is too inexperienced to navigate it but they won't want to bring in a new manager before the summer when Virge and Robbo will probably be off to pastures new and we rebuild the defence. Ideally they'll want to speak to a potential new manager before they identify targets. As an aside if we'd conceded 1 less goal in each game recently we'd be 8 points better off second in the table, 2 points behind Arsenal. It's consistently Konate and the defence letting us down.

We didn't sack Heitinga. He left in the summer to manage Ajax. He left them by mutual agreement last month so he's available. Van Bronckhorst is probably a significant part of the problem. The players got on really well with Heitinga as well.

Wouldn't be surprised if we sacked off Van Bronckhorst and brought Heitinga back. Might even make a positive difference.

Just had to google her for my old man brain, then did a Mr Sulu.

We did this from August to November. Mo had his poorest run of form since he joined us. This run didn't start when tragedy struck in the summer, it was months before the end of last season so I'm not convinced it's down to grief. What's getting missed in this debate is we put three goals past Leeds. We didn't miss the win because Mo didn't start, we missed the win because Konate is a b******s and Slot made poor substitutions. Granted Mo or Chiesa should have come on instead of Endo.

What I think is happening : Given Edwards history with Jurgen there is no way he comes back unless transfers are a strategic decision which Hughes has the final say on. We're part way through a full rebuild of the team back to front. Over the next 12-24 months practically every senior player at the club will move on, Mo first. Hughes will be happy with discontent in the club because it's the perfect environment to move on senior pros and disrupt the player hierarchy. We're moving to 1 or 2 up front, with a traditional 10/playmaker and more width from full backs/wingbacks. Which by the way practically every big club in the world has moved to in the last year or two. This season was always going to be a write off given our transition. Given all that : 1. Hughes et al are probably surprised at how poor Slot is outside of his tactical comfort zone and how bad his man management is. Although Slot was never their plan in the medium term they'd prefer him to see out the season. Possibly more important to Hughes than CL qualification. The above issues aren't going away no matter who they bring in. 2. Some of the players need to wind their neck in. Mo is bang out of order throwing a strop and going public. Nobody has earned a place on the pitch for what they've achieved in previous season (and he's off for two months next week and still earning 400k a week from the club). His time at the club is over and Hughes will be happy to sell in Jan if possible.

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Kerkez biggest strength is getting down the wing and putting crosses in - and he puts a good ball in. He's overlapping time and time again. Another one of the mysteries at the moment is why Gakpo refuses to pass to him every single time he does it. Kerkez bombs past him into loads of space and Gakpo will every single time try to get some space and shoot and if he can't get a shot of he's squaring it into the middle. It's part of why Kerkez isn't seen to be being more effective. Chiesa is one of the hardest working most skillful players in the squad. How he's not getting a game ahead of Gakpo is just bizarre. Anyway, the main thing is Isak and to a lesser extent Ekitike need balls into the box and I believe Kerkez and Frimpong were both bought to do that.

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The players we bought last summer aren't suitable for 4 3 3. We bought wingbacks, forwards who need service from wingbacks and Wirtz. One or two up front and Kerkez and Frimpong bombing down the wing. That's almost certainly where we're heading. That we're in such a big transition tactically is one of the problems we've had since summer. I'm fully onboard the Ancelotti wagon, but obv he isn't available until after summer.

Is his book out yet about how he transformed Man City ?

Gakpo for Endo ??? Closing up shop and inviting them on while we were on top ? And no reason why Ekitike had to come off. He's had plenty of rest.

Abysmal game from the manager. Subs and tactics shockingly bad. f*** off trying to close the game down.

Sozaboj !!!!!!