I doubt we’ll sign him to be honest. Hard to see the point in him, he’s not terrible but he’s not as good as a prime Vorm backup nor Gazzaniga, strong argument to say Hart weren’t any worse too. If Johnstone’s gonna be free in the summer then verbally get a deal with him done. Give Lloris another year and then focus next season on finding the long term successor to the Frenchman.
I can sort of understand Rodon getting subbed because his distribution was noticeably poor compared to his previous appearances, and in the sweeper role he needed to get the ball to Skipp/Ndombele far more reliably than he was - although the obvious question that throws up is why we didn't reshuffle the back line and move Rodon to LCB and either Sanchez or Tanganga (personally, I'd have gone with the latter) into the sweeper role For me the worst decision was reacting to Bergwijn missing through illness by leaving Markanday and/or Clarke out of the squad, because that decision did have various knock-on effects starting with us lining up with Gil on the right and Dele on the pitch when realistically we should have had Gil on the left and Lucas on the right with Son and Markanday/Clarke on the bench for whichever eventualities happened Ndombele as DM, though, that's worryingly similar to the ubermensch playing Lo Celso as a DM and Winks as the ball carrier in a couple of our Europa games last season
I'm still convinced that loaning in Gollini was part of the terms of the deal for Romero It's also worth noting the Swedish season wraps up a week Saturday, so we'll have Alfie Whiteman back soon - and it has to be said, as dismal as Degefors have been this season, Whiteman's been keeping them in a lot of their recent games by doing this thing known as "moving" when the opponents are trying to score
So apparently Mura have a similar Euro Club Index to Accrington Stanley (whatever that is). Accrington Stanley? Who are they?
I don't disagree with a word of that, but constantly changing the coach means that we're perpetually going through the new coach having to assess this debacle of a squad. Players who, we the fans, all know are done, keep getting chance after unwarranted chance. Is there really a commitment from the owners to do what's necessary and gut the thing and rebuild? I still have my doubts.
He certainly shouldn't get off lightly but we still had more than enough on the pitch to beat a mid table Slovenian team. Tonight didn't really teach us much we didn't already know (aside from more question marks over Bryan's head), but it hopefully taught Conte a great deal. It hopefully taught him that in Dele, Doherty and Ndombele we have 3 players who we've waited month after month, and in some cases year after year for a competent performance, and it just isn't ever going to happen. We essentially started the game with 8 men, then went down to 7.
Rodon was partly to blame for their first. Positioning was far too deep and he should have anticipated the attacker cutting inside against his colleague who was playing on his weaker side. As a result, Rodon is nowhere and ends up serving as a useful totem pole around which the attacker can bend his shot.
All Conte will have seen of some of these players is a few days on the training ground, it's a bit unfair to start criticising his team selections at this stage. We have to go through this as Brian says everytime we have a new manager especially one fresh from another league with no current knowledge of the PL.
I'm not suggesting that we should get rid of him, just that he made a right mess of this game. It's early days and he's still getting to know the squad. I expected it to be **** from the lineup and knew it would be as soon as I saw Gil on the right, though. He should've done enough research to know it too.
January will tell us all we need to know 3-4 in and deals agreed for the summer too. I really hope it’s not the usual case of only buying once the dross is sold because we know how they turns out. Get in Conte’s targets in the first half of the window (easier said than done I know) then spend the last part of the window getting rid of the likes of Dele, Winks, Ndombele et al
I agree that Conte made some mistakes but tbh it is a damning indictment of the players that they performed so badly against such poor opposition. Dele and Doherty need to be told they are having their squad number taken off them in January so needs to find other clubs now. Ndombele, Bergwijn, Lo Celso, Sanchez and Sessegnon need to be told they won't be starting games so should look for other clubs. Clarke and Rondon should be sold if we receive any kind of offer. That's 9 players ... we won't make loads but could make £50m or £60m and release a lot in wages. Would rather promote under 23 players than see these play for us any more. And I ain't actually being mean...they are just not the future for us. Sessegnon was poor for Fulham in his season in the Premier League with them in 18/19 and has not progressed. Clarke and Rodon simply are not trusted or wanted so should be gone. Ndombele and Lo Celso are huge failures for me. Can not remember them having more than the occasion decent game at best. Sanchez is a car crash of a defender. Dele ain't been good in 2 years or so and Doherty ain't been good since he joined us. When I am not including Winks, Davies and Dier on a list of the first out the door and still have 9 on the list you know we have issues.
I'll repeat what I said in the transfer thread this morning: an admittedly ****e source says Conte wants Ndombele out the door one way or another in January I get the feeling we'll be getting more reliable sources saying similar by this time next week...
I said it before and I'll say it again, we should consider ourselves lucky that we won't be playing in the ECL five years from now Nor will anyone else
When Dele, Doherty, Winks, Sanchez, Ndombele, Lo Celso and Bergwijn leave… and that’s just for starters. So 2022 could be a bit hopeful…
