One thing said by (I think) Alastair Gold is far more accurate: where have the 30-40 yard passes that he would run onto gone? His best form coincided with Toby (or, to a lesser degree, Dier) chipping the ball over the top and he'd either run onto it or chest it down and control it, yet this season we're using that ball less as a weapon in our locker but as a way to clear our lines Of course, having that weapon in our locker also coincided with our being able to lock down midfield with the Dier/Dembele or Wanyama/Dembele pivots that would screen Toby or Dier so they had that extra half second to pick out the exact pass they wanted - but with us losing press resistance that reduces the time Toby has to pick out the pass...although with Gazza being able to send it long, we may be able to add that weapon to our locker once again
Apparently, Emery wanted to take the captaincy off of Xhaka. Xhaka was advised to apologise and is refusing to do so. But the senior Arsenal players said they want him to retain the captaincy and will revolt if it is forcefully taken off him. I just don't even know where to begin.
Bochum v Bayern in the 2nd round of the DFB Cup is live on Youtube in English, for some reason: Strange. Trying to appeal to overseas viewers, I guess.
Although not the cups, I loved watching German football from around 2008-2012 so I was about 18-22, was such a good period as a bunch of teams were up there challenging for honours and so many players were shining. Neuer was making a name for himself at Schalke as the new breed of keeper. Dzeko banging in goals for Wolfsburg in which one season they won the league. Ribery and Robben starting their reigns of terror on the wings for Bayern. Hummels and Subotic forming a two-man brick wall as they also won league titles for Dortmund... Class days. Can't imagine it's as good now, Bayern tend to walk it and that "anyone can win it" factor seems lost.
I think Trippier (on form) is a big miss. I can picture Kane coming deep, taking a couple of defenders with him, Trippier overlapping and crossing for an unmarked Alli who had run beyond Kane into space. That dynamism seems to be lacking and it's probably unfair to blame Alli for not making those runs if the service is no longer there.
I'm not blaming, Alli, though. I'm blaming the fact we're not making the passes he used to thrive off of, and suggesting why that could be Blaming Alli for not having the passes provided to him is not for me. I can think of one poster who'd probably blame him for that, though, given his weird obsession with howling at Harry Winks or failing to understand that a tactical tweak is what won us the game against Villa...
On this day in 1938, Utd named an academy graduate in the first team matchday squad. And have continued to do so in every one of the 3,937 games since.
...although in the cases of Ryan Giggs and David Beckham, not necessarily products of their own academy