Is it just misleading from highlights or was tadic playing in a more central 'number 10' role? I know JRod, Mane and Tadic can all be fluid but think Tadic could be very effective centrally, with Clasie and Vic behind him.
That may have been misleading, as he also was hugging the right touch line early in second half. I agree he could do the 10 role too. Going forward it is exciting with all the different combinations we could have. I'd still like an alternative to Pelle (unless Ron sees Jayrod as also being able to do that role - I think that's where Jay will end up), but can't see us signing another striker.
Nice piece on Sky covering our match yesterday. Koeman and his brother getting a lot of coverage in Holland....apparently their father also played for Groningen (sp?) and there is a stand named after the Koemans. Koeman thinks Clasie is a good replacement for Morgan...said: OK, he is not Schneiderlin, but he is young and will learn. Also said it was time for Morgan to move on...mentioned last season and added that Morgan had done everything for the club.
Damn! I must have just missed that. I sat down with bowl of cereal to watch the news over the last 10-15 minutes.
I just got round to watching the highlights from yesterday's friendly. I have to say I'm really looking forward to seeing Tadic back to his best, it's easy to forget how good he was in the earlier part of last season. Taking people on, deft through balls to Pelle who is always trying to break the offside trap. Tadic is first class, that Mane goal was a thing of beauty and Cedric seems like an absolute steal.
Koeman mentioned in his interview that Mane started behind Long and then Rodriguez behind Pelle. Tadic and Juanmi started out wide yesterday. It's encouraging that other than Pelle. We have Long/Mane/Jay/Tadic/Juanmi who are all capable of playing a minimum of two roles in the front four effectively and all offer slightly different problems to defenders. It's early doors, but I'm pretty confident we will score more goals this season
Totally agree unfortunately, but partly because our defensive record was so exceptional last season. I think regardless of who comes in to replace Toby, it's going to be very difficult to get the team unit gelled to the level of conceding less than a goal a game on average. I don't think we will suddenly become complete liabilities. Just back to a record akin to two seasons ago
It's not just down to Alderweireld, our defensive resolve took a notable dive whenever Forster got injured and although Stekelenberg may be an ample replacement, he's more than likely not as good. Every time you tinker with your defense it takes a while to adjust and we have a new right back, probably a new CB and a new keeper if he goes with Stekelenberg. I stand to be corrected and there is a small chance everything will fall into place from the get go
Too right. Forster was the best GK in the PL last season, and the best player in our team. Stek is good, but he won't be that good. Nothing more we can do except hope that Fraser gets back quickly. We'll just have to get on with it.
What Qwerty probably meant was that Forster would probably have got the golden gloves for clean sheets if he wasn't injured....as he was pretty high up the list even including missing a big bit of the season. I know that he had fewer shots to save than other keepers because of our defence, but still a good record. Not so sure about the statement that he was our best player as that's comparing chalk to cheese, but I do feel that his absence cost us in the run out. We were so close to Liverpool and Spurs and I feel that we would have just got those extra points if Forster had stayed fit.
