Rival watch

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Spurs or Sex? said:
Although it's very early in the season, it's good to see Jose giving chances to the Utd youth like he said he would.

Love and McNair were sold to Sunderland while Blackett signed for Reading last night (thought he looked half decent and could have a good future).
Januzaj, Wilson and Jackson have been sent out on loan.
Rashford and Fosu-Mensah haven't featured in the Prem yet, neither has Lingard but he's supposedly injured.

Still, at least he's got the club to spend £89m on a player they released a few years back.
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The situation with Rashford is pretty much the same as the one with Joe Hart: if any of the other eighteen Premier League managers, or even the previous managers of both clubs, were dropping them in favour of their favourites they'd be crucified by journalists and pundits across the land even at this point in the season - but because it's Guardiola and Moronho the journalists and pundits don't think it's worth bringing up.
 
I posted what I referred to as the "amusing Villa stat of the week" yesterday.
Unfortunately I was wrong. It was merely the amusing Villa stat of the day.
Here's today's for you:
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If Spurs can keep in the CL then there is always the chance of picking up
talent like Rashford when the likes of Jose discard them.
 
Spurm said:
Rashford isn't at the stage where he should be able to demand CL football imo. Not yet anyway.
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Getting an England call-up couldn't have helped him. I recall Townsend saying shortly after he joined Newcastle how much it messed with his perspective being referred to as 'England winger Andros Townsend' when he couldn't get a game for love or money at club level. It takes a very down to earth, humble and well-grounded young mind to not get swept away by the media frenzy.
 
Spurs or Sex? said:
Although it's very early in the season, it's good to see Jose giving chances to the Utd youth like he said he would.

Love and McNair were sold to Sunderland while Blackett signed for Reading last night (thought he looked half decent and could have a good future).
Januzaj, Wilson and Jackson have been sent out on loan.
Rashford and Fosu-Mensah haven't featured in the Prem yet, neither has Lingard but he's supposedly injured.

Still, at least he's got the club to spend £89m on a player they released a few years back.
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23 year old Blackett was replaced by 22 year international Eric Bailly

McNair has had plenty of opportunities, but has not shown enough ability. Love has never come anywhere near making the grade. The fee for the pair would suggest neither are Utd first team standard.

Sending young players out on loan when they are not in first team contention is a policy all PL clubs adopt. Januzaj has been given chances. Wilson has done OK at Championship level, but he's not going to be picked ahead of Zlatan or Rashford. A 20 goal per season striker is essential for any team with title ambitions. Zlatan is that and more - who wouldn't play him if they had him?

Borthwick- Jackson, Rashford and Fosu -Mensah got first team opportunities ahead of schedule because of injuries last season, but all are clearly first team players for the future. Rashford, in particular, will play in many games this season. Lingard is already a first team regular - he scored in the FA. Cup final and Community Shield. Like all players at clubs with big squads, he might be rested from time to time - and he won't be rushed back from injury.

The fact that there are so many young players being discussed shows how healthy Utd's youth structure is. How many young Liverpool players are in contention for places - or City - or Chelsea? Far, far fewer.
 
littleDinosaurLuke said:
The fact that there are so many young players being discussed shows how healthy Utd's youth structure is. How many young Liverpool players are in contention for places - or City - or Chelsea? Far, far fewer.
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I agreed with most of what you said, but I'd disagree about your conclusion, as I think you've missed a couple of steps.
Chelsea have more youth talent than anyone in the country, frankly. It wasn't brought through.
I'm not as familiar with City's, but they have had Iheanacho and they've invested heavily.

Liverpool's youth system went to **** for a while, but Inglethorpe taking over there may well change that.
We'll only find out if they're any good if Klopp picks them, though.

Man Utd have a lot of kids that we know of, but that's purely because of opportunities brought on by injuries and senior players failing.
Van Gaal went with youth and had some success and some failure. That's the way it goes.
Will Mourinho continue this trend? History suggests not, but time will tell, I guess.
 
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Brendan Rodgers has just hit a minor pothole, though Celtic's progress looks extremely likely.
Former Chelsea youth player Ben Sahar has put Hapoel Beer Sheva 1-0 up on the night.
Sahar's coach during his time at Chelsea's academy? Brendan Rodgers. Oops.
 
Would love the Israelis to grab a winner here. Not only for the sheer delight I'll get out of seeing Brendan's crestfallen face, but it would serve their idiotic supporters right for trying to use sport as a political tool. Had enough of that ****e at the Olympics.
 
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2-0 FT
Close but no cigar for the plucky Israeli minnows.

I sincerely hope we draw Celtic and set some sort of champions league record for goals scored in a group stage game.
 
Citizen Kane said:
Would love the Israelis to grab a winner here. Not only for the sheer delight I'll get out of seeing Brendan's crestfallen face, but it would serve their idiotic supporters right for trying to use sport as a political tool. Had enough of that ****e at the Olympics.
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What have Celtic supporters done?
 
remembercolinlee said:
What have Celtic supporters done?
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Displayed thousands of Palestinian flags in the home leg and created a very hostile atmosphere for the Israeli team. Apparently their own defender Nir Bitton (who is Israeli) was subjected to a barrage of abuse on Twitter as well, which just compounds the levels of stupidity shown.

I've got no qualms with people who want to make a political point; just don't bring it to the football pitch. Sport is meant to bring people together and transcend boundaries, not push them further apart.
 
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