"If" seems to have prefaced many of the posts on here over the past few days/weeks. But if you want to stick to the cold, hard facts and save on the waffle, Leicester have 7 more points with 5 games left.
Tetchy! Aguero was fabulous but City have rushed him back many times from injury and it looks like it's taking its toll. He may recapture those days but I reckon he's more likely to suffer that type of disrupted season on an ongoing basis, like Michael Owen did. Same as Les Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler, etc. Lots of players don't have the careers their talents deserve. Will Pep build a team around him now?
True enough. Some players are just injury prone - it's a reality that shouldn't be held against other players. Hoddle once said that, but for injuries, Darren Anderton could've been the best midfielder in the country and I'm inclined to agree. Does that mean he should be rated above Scholes out of sympathy? Nope. 'If only Aguero had a more robust body' is like me saying 'if only I had Bale's pace'. Tough luck ultimately.
If LDL had actually looked at the full PL stats, he would realise that only two strikers have actually achieved his Aguero "if" . Two very special strikers indeed, having productivity AND robustness (actually in their case TOP striker each season - not just 20+ goals) . IF Kane does the same next season as the past two, then he too has that very rare combo.
We could have not played again after our game against Newcastle in November and we'd still be out of the bottom 3.
That's simultaneously impressive and pathetic, depending on how you look at it. Newcastle have spent £75m this season and they still don't have a defence good enough for the Championship.
Why am I thinking about what will happen when the leaning tower of Pisa finally topples over? Also--that's right, Kane couldn't find the other net until Lamela put one on a platter for him against Man City...
Kane has 22 league goals, but one of Villa's was scored by Souare of Palace, so he's currently got as many as their whole squad. Can he overtake them on the run-in?
"Marcos Rojo: 2 Had an excellent view of Toby Alderweireld, as Spurs' centreback jumped without impediment to score the second goal, and we can only hope that Rojo treasured this glimpse at what an excellent Premier League defender looks like. Because he won't be seeing one in the mirror for a long, long time." From the best angry fan player ratings I’ve ever read at http://thebusbybabe.sbnation.com/20...tings-tottenham-hotspur-3-0-manchester-united. Aso: "Matteo Darmian: 1 (on for Fosu-Mensah, 68') It's difficult, we assume, to come on as a substitute and immediately go from 0 to frenetic. And this was a frenetic match. But when you look at a substitute's performance, see that they were involved in all three goals conceded through various acts of negligence or sloppiness, and start to wonder if perhaps it might not have been best just to play with ten men, then it's clear that things haven't gone well."
Excellent! My favourite Anthony Martial: 6 Playing Martial on the left isn't necessarily a problem, as long as the team manages to get him the ball in useful and dangerous areas. The edge of the box, say, with one defender — or, dare we even think it, none at all! — between him and the goal. Then he gets to use his tricks. Then he gets to have the occasional shot. As it is, he spent most of his time marooned out by the touchline, facing the wrong way, and had to manufacture United's only shot on target himself by dribbling past four defenders. Yes, he missed. Yes, he could and maybe should have scored. But he would have been entirely justified in dribbling into the box, stopping, picking up the ball, turning to the United bench and shouting "You see what I have to do just to get here, you ingrates?", before hoofing the thing halfway to Seven Sisters, walking off the pitch, and catching the first plane to Madrid.
Martial is a talent. So is Rashford. So is Lingard. So is Depay. They have pace, touch and a lot of energy. It's quite an achievement that these players can be employed in a way that all their talents are stifled most of the time. How has van Gaal managed it?
