Much like we all are, I'm waiting for Paulinho to produce goals. He was meant to be our Frank Lampard and in his early games he would shoot on sight. Granted he's been unlucky not to be scoring but he does get into good positions, like that miss against Chelsea at home.
And talking of misplaced passes, SOS won't thank me but before Utd won their penalty, we was on the attack and which bright spark plays a pass into no man's land and gifts Utd the ball to go up field. Chadli!
That was just surprise that Lennon was going off and not Chadli, our right side was causing lots of problems and Paulinho too. I don't care if Paulinho lost the ball more than Chadli, we need someone trying to open up the opposition like Paulinho did. I saw Paulinho causing United lots of problems, getting closer to Soldado and generally doing the things we've been missing from our play. There was a lot to like about how Paulinho performed, in my opinion.
Paulinho may not be playing the same as he did when he first joined the club. However, he is the only midfielder who busts a gut going forward and is regularly sniffing around the box to score. I really like Paulinho and I am a firm beleiver he will be a big player at Spurs and contribute a great deal of goals from midfield over the next few years. Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible if he gets a long term injury at the weekend
Paulinho was copping quite a bit of flack from my section - which I think is needless as bollocking at the players won't help - and as I said, a lot seemed a bit peeved that it was Lennon's number and not his up on the sub board. A few moaned at Chadli too don't get me wrong (despite the fact I thought he was one of our better performers) but I feel he's just becoming a scapegoat amongst fans at the moment. What annoys me with Paulinho is that he started off brilliantly, he looked the best of the summer signings in my opinion yet the past 6 or so games, I thought he's looked terrible. I also think he's looked absolutely shattered in games, baring in mind AVB usually rests him in the cups, I'm a bit worried as to why he's tiring too quickly, does you/ anyone else think this? In terms of natural ability, Paulinho is arguably our best midfielder by a mile yet at the moment, I just don't feel he's playing to how we know he can. Sandro and Dembele look like they maybe rekindling their impressive partnership from last season if Utd is anything to go by and I think while Paulinho hasn't personally impressed, the likes of Gylfi or Holtby could/ should be given a chance.
Boss, Chadli is God. DEAL WITH IT! To be fair we shot ourselves in the foot with both of their goals, Walker gifted Rooney with a great assist and Lloris did clip Welbeck on his way down which wasn't helped out by the bright spark Chadli.
Was that his superb vision, seeing passes no one else can see, but you never told us that involved passing to phantom players!!
If he has a well balanced squad it is perfectly reasonable to rotate - Ferguson hardly ever put the same team out twice running. If he knows his best XI then we don't have a good squad
Soldado concerns me more than anyone to be honest now, he's not even getting into decent positions to be able to say the players aren't creating enough. So many times against Utd he was running out wide to get the ball, while I appreciate he's working for the team, when we playe a 4-5-1/ 4-2-3-1 whatever it's called, the striker needs to be up front and not drifting into other players positions. About 3 or 4 times, Lennon/ Chadli/ Walker whipped in decent crosses and no one was on the end of them, which is where Bobby Soldier should be!
You can tell he's frustrated with the lack of ball he is getting and he's trying to hunt it out. Lots of players do it and look worse players when they do (the obvious one is Rooney). I wouldn't be surprised if he's so fed up by january that he wants to leave.
I'm not against rotating. Knowing your best 11 but having players who give you selection headaches and also need time, is for me the ideal situation. Avb is still unsure on how to play through the middle, does he go with a creative thinker like Holtby or a more nimble player like Paulinho. That's just an example of where Avb hasn't decided on his best team setup. Sure Fergie changed but he had the luxury of picking from the leagues best and when you have a group of 7-8 players each game who are the best in the league(when playing together) then switching a few players to keep them happy won't make much difference.
That is exactly why the selection should depend on who we are playing. Holtby or Eriksen should destroy the weaker teams but playing Paulinho there is less risky against the stronger ones.
Neither would I. You can tell how frustrated he is via his body language. Kind of feel sorry for the guy in a way, he blossomed in the system Valencia played and has come here to a completely different system in which thus far, is just not suited to a player like him.
But there are negatives to changing that system, as the striker and his partner (or support) should be consistent so they can perform an understanding. If Avb likes Paulinho behind Soldado, let's use it against Fulham as they linked up well and if they can link up well against Utd, it should be effective against Fulham.
Has anyone heard of Rose's situation yet? Will he be in contention or is he still just in the "90% chance of playing" category, as he has been for the past 2 months...
