10 goals and 3 assists in 21 appearances now for Vini which by all accounts is impressive on the outset. It’s even better though when you realise he’s only played about 930 minutes for the club which is the equivalent to just over 10 full games.
I’d keep him in a heartbeat if we can get the price down to about 20m, the full 40m is a bit much considering how much overhaul the squad needs in other areas though, not to mention the potential cost of getting rid of Jose if/when that happens. We’re not City and can’t spend that money on a backup.
Yeah £40m is definitely too much for someone who’ll be second choice but I agree I’d definitely love to sign him if the price was right. Question is would he want to stay? Been severely under-utilised despite the fact he’s generally been one of our better “B team” players.
I find it difficult to understand why Tanganga could not get into this team before and Vinicius is also good enough to have had a lot more time. Have to mention Lucas who was fantastic today in everyway.
Just had a look at the sky summing up, nice to see the Iinput from Dr Crippen, took a second look and it was Paul Merson , would have preferred Dr Crippen to be honest
My other surprise from the coverage yesterday was it took until the 85th minute for them to start to realise we were on the pitch and at that point it was time to start the " sell Harry Kane " bollox
...and Rodon. He and Tanganga are defenders...proper defenders...who like defending and want to do it properly. I haven't worked out what Doherty, Aurier and Dier are, other than bloody awful, but they ain't defenders. Not picking Rodon for the EL was a huge mistake, so would be dropping him between now and the end of the season. Give the kid his shot. If he's got anything about him, he'll be our first choice next season (if he isn't already). The same goes for Tanganga. They need the manager's full confidence and a proper run...not binning at the first mistake for the alternatives that were rightly and finally(?) discarded yesterday. Vinicius is a more difficult problem, as Sonny will be fit again soon...and in decent form, he is the better player and we need every point that we can get our hands on. It's just bloody frustrating that we've wasted the bloke's abilities this season, when Kane should be so much fresher, if he'd been rotated more. As well as using these players, Mourinho needs to commit to the shape that we played yesterday...and start coaching the squad to play it effectively. Yesterday, there were times when we couldn't move the ball out of defence and the midfield were struggling to find available passes ahead of them, particularly Ndombele. Finally, I'm really pleased for Lucas. He's a lovely bloke, who has always given 100% and has a lot of talent. At last, a manager is believing in him and he's doing great for us.
Pass map time please log in to view this image Obviously there's no other games to compare this to, because the last time we played 442 it was because an Portuguese manager was effectively forced into it as opposed to...anyway, moving on So my immediate thought is it turns out we weren't playing 442, as this looks a lot more like 4312 (and the only reason I'm not saying it's a variant on a diamond is Hojbjerg is too advanced for that), and with Lo Celso cutting in so much that almost makes it a 4222, especially since it took me a moment to find Lucas on the damn thing Also, one thing that does stand out is there's a better flow of passes around the back, as the players have multiple out balls (Sanchez and Tanganga have Lo Celso/Ndombele, Rodon has Hojbjerg/Regi in an advanced role, Regi has Hojbjerg/Lucas) which is a million miles way from the December-January period where you could guarantee the one player each of our defenders would pass to, and if we can our opponents sure as hell could too It's also worth mentioning the Rodon/Hojbjerg/Regi triangle, which was an effective combination - mainly because it's worth mentioning that it's usually Dier in that combination, meaning that Rodon has slotted in seamlessly, at least for this game
I’m more or less having a party inside my head knowing I’m likely never going to see him kick a ball for us again. My 4-5 years of torment is potentially over.
Stupidity is the only reason I can think of. Tanganga missed most of the first couple months through injury but he’s been fit since roughly December. I can understand wanting to get use out of a new signing like Doherty but there also comes a time where you have to call it quits and acknowledge he’s a terrible signing, easily the worst RB we’ve had in about 15-20 years, it’s taken Jose far too long to realise that. Same applies to Joey Rodon. We’ve given countless chances after numerous mistakes to the likes of Dier, Sanchez and Toby yet barely given Rodon a sniff. There’s no doubt he and Tanganga will mess up from time to time too due to their age and inexperience but you’d think (or like to think) that they’ll improve over time. Was just a shame one of Scarlett or Devine couldn’t get on yesterday but hopefully they’ll have chances between now and the end of the season. Injecting some youth is really needed, squad is so stale at the moment, these young lads will give 100% for every minute they’re on the pitch.
I really don't get this hatred of Winks. We would have been through in the Europa had we not played worse after Winks was substituted. Hojbjerg on the other hand is a hero despite his errors knocking us out of the FA Cup and his yellow card preventing him playing in Zagreb. He has also given away more PL goals than anyone other player.
Because he’s absolute ****ing **** and has been for years. There hasn’t been a worse player who’s played 100+ times for us in god knows how long. Truly awful footballer that belongs either in a bottom three or championship side.
I hadn’t noticed this at the time, that’s really poor from Sissoko, massively shown up by Tanganga there (and Davies). After his (along with the rest of the team’s) performance on Thursday, you’d think he’d be wanting to show some determination for the cause.
