Football (Soccer)

[BlackFox]

0-0 at HT. Rather scrappy so far and Wolves have had the best of what few chances there have been so far. Our passing has been poor and found it hard to create anything of real note. Still finding our feet it seems.

 

[BlackFox]

Neymar transfer news: Al-Hilal agree deal with Paris St-Germain for Brazil forward - BBC Sport

I had a feeling he would end up there soon (if it goes ahead). Feels like his career has only taken advantage of 50% of the underlying talent he had. Also that would be pretty much all 3 of the PSG superstar attack being replaced by next season (if Mbappe stays another year).

His career has been one whole enigma to me. Never really been the player he gets hyped to by at times. Such a waste of potential.

 

[Iceman]

His career has been one whole enigma to me. Never really been the player he gets hyped to by at times. Such a waste of potential.

As soon as he left Barcelona it felt like the rest of career has been a coast. Could have achieved a lot more at both club and international level with the work ethic of Messi/Ronaldo.

 

[Iceman]

0-0 at HT. Rather scrappy so far and Wolves have had the best of what few chances there have been so far. Our passing has been poor and found it hard to create anything of real note. Still finding our feet it seems.

Need to start well at home against a team that’s expected to struggle this season. Wolves are still getting chances too.

 

[Iceman]

Varane finally scores. Utd needed that!

 

[BlackFox]

Varane opens the scoring, Wolves should have had 2 or 3 now but they missed their chances and we have taken the one we have created. 1-0. Not pretty but effective.

 

[Iceman]

WTF is Onana doing?!

 

[Iceman]

Utd get 3 points but I wouldn't be surprised if Wolves fans are upset about not getting more out of it. Onana is not doing much to calm worries about him being another Barthez in terms of unpredictability and crazy moves.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I didn't realise the other thread was closed and accidentally posted in it earlier

Lively start to the season, Arsenal pushed close by Forest but City and Newcastle had impressively comfortable wins, as did Brighton who donn't look to have missed a beat despite having lost their engine room.

Liverpool vs Chelsea in the Caicedo derby was pretty good, both teams had spells of decent attacking play and Nunez looks like he's trying to morph into Zlatan.

The transfer window will thankfully be shut in a couple of weeks, the craziness of Chelsea's spending is hard to understand, does FFP not apply to them? Caicedo is a good player but £115M is ridiculous, so was the £105M they spent on Enzo, both talented but that's absolute elite player money, for that type of outlay I'd want a prime Matthaus/Beckebauer/Robson/Rijkaard/Redondo level midfielder.

So which news players to the PL is everyone looking forward to seeing? And which players progress are you interested in this season?

Of the new additions I'm obviously interested to see Hojlund and Tonali got off to a great start so it'll be interesting to see if he maintains it across the season. I'm also looking forward to seeing Dahoud at Brighton and Timber at Arsenal, while it'll be fascinating to see how Gvridol evolves under Pep's system.

The players who I'm looking to see progression from are Antony, Sancho, Isak, Darwin Nunez and Enzo Fernández, and outside the big clubs I'm checking for Morgan Gibbs-White, Matheus Nunes, Jacob Ramsey and Evan Ferguson.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Utd get 3 points but I wouldn't be surprised if Wolves fans are upset about not getting more out of it. Onana is not doing much to calm worries about him being another Barthez in terms of unpredictability and crazy moves.

Obviously it was good to get off to a good start with 3 points but we were terrible, Wolves were the better team, I know I'm a broken record but that midfield 3 is not going to work, they were running through us with ease as Mount and Bruno left Casemiro isolated constantly. We only got a foothold in the game when Eriksen and Sancho came on, two players who actually look after the ball, and positionally Eriksen is just so much more astute than Bruno and Mount.

The front 3 weren't much better, Rushford is not a striker and can't hold the ball up, while Antony and Garnacho just ran into dead ends, Antony in particular has no awareness of what's around him, Garnacho is younger and at least looks up sometimes to see if there's a pass on. Bruno doesn't seem to know whether he's coming or going with how unbalanced we looked in midfield and he was anonymous for long spells.

I felt Varane, Shaw and AWB were the only bright spots performance-wise, and the best two players on the pitch were playing for Wolves, Matheus and Neto.

 

[BlackFox]

Held on for the 3 points in the end. Not very pretty but effective. Used up a large amount of luck this season already in that one game, Wolves really should have been a couple up before we scored and not quite sure how they didnt get a pen when Onana came a flapping at the end.

Need to improve a lot and not many performances to shout about, Sancho did well when he came on but its the first game and it was rusty but at least a much better start than last season.

Tougher games coming up soon though so need to sharpen up and get our new striker fit and ready to go.

 

[B]

That was f-ing dreadful. Wolves should have had at least 2 goals tonight but realistically had 3 or 4 good solid chances that they quite easily could have taken on another day.. and they should have had a penalty because that was a foul all day long by Onana IMO. He's done nothing to put me at ease with him, he's going to be a constant source of heartburn all year.

I've only seen it once in a proper game & I'm already convinced Casimiro - Fernandes - Mount won't work as a midfield trio, not that there's anything wrong with any of them, none of them really stepped out of line or technically did anything bad, however visually it just looks like a bad combination of traits among them. Against even a semi-competent opposing midfield they'll either play right through or just run through us as we looked so light in the middle.

I'd really like at least 1 but preferably 2 central midfielders brought in before the window closes as this is still a problem area, I don't think we're going to go far if that is our starting midfield trio.. and it gets no better, arguably worse, inserting McTominay in there.. so yeah. 1 CM PLZ.

Garnacho was poor tonight & was lucky he wasn't hooked at half time for Sancho who did more in the 30 odd minutes he got than Garnacho did in his near 70. Everybody else was average, didn't do anything wrong really but they didn't do anything to set the game on fire.

Very poor, nervous performance, but we've somehow got 3 points. They need a boot up the ass for Spurs & they really do need some central midfield reinforcement.

 

[BlackFox]

Utd get 3 points but I wouldn't be surprised if Wolves fans are upset about not getting more out of it. Onana is not doing much to calm worries about him being another Barthez in terms of unpredictability and crazy moves.

Dont wish to write a player off after one game but there is a 100% chance we are going to concede some hilarious goals this season. Just have to hope we 3 or 4 up by then for it not to matter but yeah Onana is not from the "stable" school of goalkeeping.

Still a clean sheet on your debut will hopefully give him confidence and he clearly is decent with the ball at his feet but there's a lot more to keeping than just that.......

 

[Hunter Rider]

That was f-ing dreadful. Wolves should have had at least 2 goals tonight but realistically had 3 or 4 good solid chances that they quite easily could have taken on another day.. and they should have had a penalty because that was a foul all day long by Onana IMO. He's done nothing to put me at ease with him, he's going to be a constant source of heartburn all year.

I've only seen it once in a proper game & I'm already convinced Casimiro - Fernandes - Mount won't work as a midfield trio, not that there's anything wrong with any of them, none of them really stepped out of line or technically did anything bad, however visually it just looks like a bad combination of traits among them. Against even a semi-competent opposing midfield they'll either play right through or just run through us as we looked so light in the middle.

I'd really like at least 1 but preferably 2 central midfielders brought in before the window closes as this is still a problem area, I don't think we're going to go far if that is our starting midfield trio.. and it gets no better, arguably worse, inserting McTominay in there.. so yeah. 1 CM PLZ.

Garnacho was poor tonight & was lucky he wasn't hooked at half time for Sancho who did more in the 30 odd minutes he got than Garnacho did in his near 70. Everybody else was average, didn't do anything wrong really but they didn't do anything to set the game on fire.

Very poor, nervous performance, but we've somehow got 3 points. They need a boot up the ass for Spurs & they really do need some central midfield reinforcement.

I think we'll have shuffled off this mortal coil before United ever fix the midfield mate, what was adding to the worries tonight was how leggy Casemiro looked, his mobility was really laboured. I'm honestly not sure what we'll do, Amrabat is a decent player but I don't think he's the answer to the midfield issue, more of a good squad addition. Problem is i don't think we have the money to go for better options, especially with Maguire being such a greedy ****.





We also need some guile in attack, Sancho is the only wide player we have who looks to create but I think he physically struggles in the PL. I'd be keeping an eye on Florian Wirtz and Gibbs-White this season with a look to bringing one in next summer.

 

[Iceman]

Dont wish to write a player off after one game but there is a 100% chance we are going to concede some hilarious goals this season. Just have to hope we 3 or 4 up by then for it not to matter but yeah Onana is not from the "stable" school of goalkeeping.

Still a clean sheet on your debut will hopefully give him confidence and he clearly is decent with the ball at his feet but there's a lot more to keeping than just that.......

I'm sure there are many modern benefits to this style of goalkeeper but it’s definitely not my preference if it comes at the expense of being reliable. Getting beaten by 3 saveable but good shots is not as painful as totally giving one away to the opposition out of the blue or getting yourself unnecessarily sent off.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

We looked terrible today, but we won. In part because Harry wasn't there to gift a goal.

 

[B]

I think we'll have shuffled off this mortal coil before United ever fix the midfield mate, what was adding to the worries tonight was how leggy Casemiro looked, his mobility was really laboured. I'm honestly not sure what we'll do, Amrabat is a decent player but I don't think he's the answer to the midfield issue, more of a good squad addition. Problem is i don't think we have the money to go for better options, especially with Maguire being such a greedy ****.





We also need some guile in attack, Sancho is the only wide player we have who looks to create but I think he physically struggles in the PL. I'd be keeping an eye on Florian Wirtz and Gibbs-White this season with a look to bringing one in next summer.

I agree, from what I've seen/heard about him he seems decent but as you said, more of a squad player & not really a significant upgrade, if one at all, over Fred. From what I recall from the WC, he looked like a big, strong tackling, hard working central midfielder, solid short range passing & relatively composed on the ball under pressure. Small sample size for me so it's hard to really judge, but beggars can't be choosers & we do need some alternative options in the middle as the Mount - Fernandes - Casimiro midfield I think will only work in certain circumstances IMO.

I think Wolves inadvertently countered a lot of things EtH had wanted to do, plus they played well & made calculated decisions on what areas of the pitch they would press us, which didn't really create the holes in the middle for Casimiro, Fernandes & Mount that I think he thought were going to exist.

I read the other day that if he takes a pay cut & goes to West Ham, he'll effectively lose around £12m in wages, bonuses etc over the 2-3 years he has left on his contract to run at Manchester United so that's probably what the 'pay off' he's looking is for. Although the article I read said that West Ham were going to pay half & United pay the other half as his signing bonus. I honestly don't blame him for wanting the difference/gap at least closed, after being stripped of the captaincy, benched & ridiculed during his stay, he's probably in no rush to do the club any favours.

Sancho for me should almost always start as not only is he tricky, quick & agile enough to wriggle past people, but he's got a brain, gets his head up & actually looks to play in other players regularly. I think he'd be a better balance in almost all cases but that's just me, Garnacho I'd continue to primarily have off the bench for now as an impact player as I don't think he's ready to be starting every week yet. I'm also not against Mount playing in wide areas which I've seen him do a few times at Chelsea, he's got that sort of head up, who can I play in mentality that I think Rashford, Hojlund or Martial will need if they're to be effective.

Against Spurs I'd go with Sancho - Rashford - Anthony.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I agree, from what I've seen/heard about him he seems decent but as you said, more of a squad player & not really a significant upgrade, if one at all, over Fred. From what I recall from the WC, he looked like a big, see Rashfordas a , hard working central midfielder, solid short range passing & relatively composed on the ball under pressure. Small sample size for me so it's hard to really judge, but beggars can't be choosers & we do need some alternative options in the middle as the Mount - Fernandes - Casimiro midfield I think will only work in certain circumstances IMO.

I think Wolves inadvertently countered a lot of things EtH had wanted to do, plus they played well & made calculated decisions on what areas of the pitch they would press us, which didn't really create the holes in the middle for Casimiro, Fernandes & Mount that I think he thought were going to exist.

I read the other day that if he takes a pay cut & goes to West Ham, he'll effectively lose around £12m in wages, bonuses etc over the 2-3 years he has left on his contract to run at Manchester United so that's probably what the 'pay off' he's looking is for. Although the article I read said that West Ham were going to pay half & United pay the other half as his signing bonus. I honestly don't blame him for wanting the difference/gap at least closed, after being stripped of the captaincy, benched & ridiculed during his stay, he's probably in no rush to do the club any favours.

Sancho for me should almost always start as not only is he tricky, quick & agile enough to wriggle past people, but he's got a brain, gets his head up & actually looks to play in other players regularly. I think he'd be a better balance in almost all cases but that's just me, Garnacho I'd continue to primarily have off the bench for now as an impact player as I don't think he's ready to be starting every week yet. I'm also not against Mount playing in wide areas which I've seen him do a few times at Chelsea, he's got that sort of head up, who can I play in mentality that I think Rashford, Hojlund or Martial will need if they're to be effective.

Against Spurs I'd go with Sancho - Rashford - Anthony.

Amrabat would paper over the cracks while we see how Mainoo develops and look for a top #8 next summer, when he might transition into a squad role. We've also been linked with Onana from Everton who would be a waste of money, he's basically a defensively better McTominay with poorer mobility.

I have zero sympathy for Maguire, he's a delusional egotistical prick who has never accepted any responsibility for his shortcomings and has now screwed us in the West Ham deal because of his greed as the deal is off. Football is the only job in the world where you can fail to do your job and expect a multi million pound pay-off.

I like Sancho's awareness and quick footedness in close spaces, but I think his lack of physicality and average speed are an issue in the PL, and I don't want to see Rashford as a #9. Against Spurs I'd go with Rashford left, Sancho as a false 9 and either Bruno or Mount RW with Eriksen back in the midfield with Casemiro. Personally I think Pellistri should be ahead of Antony right now.

 

[B]

Amrabat would paper over the cracks while we see how Mainoo develops and look for a top #8 next summer, when he might transition into a squad role. We've also been linked with Onana from Everton who would be a waste of money, he's basically a defensively better McTominay with poorer mobility.

I have zero sympathy for Maguire, he's a delusional egotistical prick who has never accepted any responsibility for his shortcomings and has now screwed us in the West Ham deal because of his greed as the deal is off. Football is the only job in the world where you can fail to do your job and expect a multi million pound pay-off.

I like Sancho's awareness and quick footedness in close spaces, but I think his lack of physicality and average speed are an issue in the PL, and I don't want to see Rashford as a #9. Against Spurs I'd go with Rashford left, Sancho as a false 9 and either Bruno or Mount RW with Eriksen back in the midfield with Casemiro. Personally I think Pellistri should be ahead of Antony right now.

That doesn't fill me with confidence in him that you think that off him, we've had too many 'paper over cracks' signings in recent years, even during SAF's final years. I'd rather just take the money & instead overpay for someone who we know, at least on paper, can do the job we need. I saw that Onana link & I honestly hope we don't spend £60m on him, I'd go with Amrabat if it was a choice between them.

I don't really have sympathy for him, but I think the club should be punished for being so stupid with not only paying £80m for him when we could have had him for half that the season prior, but also for giving out lengthy, high earning contracts to players that are undeserving given talent level, you should have to earn your payday.

I don't mind that idea because Sancho looked comfortable doing that a few times in pre-season, it also opens the door for the pair to chop & change as the game dictates. We need more from Anthony, I think he & AWB looked like they have started to develop some chemistry, still not Neville/Beckham like but it was one of the few positives from last night that the pair played off each other promisingly. I like Pellistri but much like Garnacho, I'd stick to having him come off the bench against tired legs.. however if poor/good form dictates either should start, I wouldn't argue.

 

[B]

Referee, VAR taken off Prem duty after Onana penalty error

While they're on a roll, take the referee/VAR from the Chelsea/Liverpool game off duty as well for not giving a penalty for handball.

When you have access to every angle of an incident, with the ability to slow down & speed up play, there's no excuse for getting as many decisions wrong as they currently are. They need to mic up the referee & VAR referee so the viewers can actually hear what their reasoning & logic is behind each decision.

The decisions do typically balance themselves out over a season, but it shouldn't be happening so much.

 

[Iceman]

Referee, VAR taken off Prem duty after Onana penalty error

While they're on a roll, take the referee/VAR from the Chelsea/Liverpool game off duty as well for not giving a penalty for handball.

When you have access to every angle of an incident, with the ability to slow down & speed up play, there's no excuse for getting as many decisions wrong as they currently are. They need to mic up the referee & VAR referee so the viewers can actually hear what their reasoning & logic is behind each decision.

The decisions do typically balance themselves out over a season, but it shouldn't be happening so much.

Other sports that have done this like cricket and rugby have seen big improvements in the relations between players/fans and officials. Everyone likes the new systems where we see the reasoning. I think VAR executed correctly will improve the sport. At the moment it is being executed terribly too often.

 

[Iceman]

Kevin De Bruyne: Man City midfielder to miss up to four months and could require hamstring surgery
Wonder how much impact this could have on the title race.

 

[Iceman]

https://www.skysports.com/ipad/liveArticle/12476234?postid=6292449#liveblog-body
Chelsea activate Olise release clause

How much are Chelsea spending! It was over £800m in just over a year after the Caicedo deal and it looks like they still have an eye on Lavia and £35m more here if it goes through.

 

[Hunter Rider]

That doesn't fill me with confidence in him that you think that off him, we've had too many 'paper over cracks' signings in recent years, even during SAF's final years. I'd rather just take the money & instead overpay for someone who we know, at least on paper, can do the job we need. I saw that Onana link & I honestly hope we don't spend £60m on him, I'd go with Amrabat if it was a choice between them.

I don't really have sympathy for him, but I think the club should be punished for being so stupid with not only paying £80m for him when we could have had him for half that the season prior, but also for giving out lengthy, high earning contracts to players that are undeserving given talent level, you should have to earn your payday.

I don't mind that idea because Sancho looked comfortable doing that a few times in pre-season, it also opens the door for the pair to chop & change as the game dictates. We need more from Anthony, I think he & AWB looked like they have started to develop some chemistry, still not Neville/Beckham like but it was one of the few positives from last night that the pair played off each other promisingly. I like Pellistri but much like Garnacho, I'd stick to having him come off the bench against tired legs.. however if poor/good form dictates either should start, I wouldn't argue.

The problem is that we apparently don't have enough funds to buy a top CM as we spent that money on Mount, and now we won't even have the Maguire money, so Amrabat is kind of the Nicky Butt option to tide us over.

The contract and wages situation at Unuted has been a shambles for ages no doubt, but you look at the likes of Fred and Donnie just wanting to move to play regular football and try to get in their national teams for next summer, meanwhile Maguire is just acting like a spoilt greedy brat.

Sancho did quite well in the role on tour i agree, and Rashford plays best on the left so I think until Hojlund is ready it's the best we can go with. I just find Antony very frustrating and one dimensional, to me him, Pellistri and Garnacho are all similar just Garnacho has the moments of brilliance as a sub and is the youngest with most room to develop.

I look at our best case scenario midfield and attack options for this season......

Midfield
#6 - Casemiro/Mainoo
#8 - Eriksen/Amrabat
#10 - Bruno/Mount

Forwards
LW - Rashford/Garnacho
RW - Antony/Sancho
ST - Hojlund/Martial

Top 4 is going to be a struggle, I'd say 4 of those need replacing, 3 at the minimum.

 

[Zantera]

Not a great game at all but sometimes you just gotta get the 3p. Definitely a lot that needs to be worked on though.

I'm more worried about our attack than our midfield honestly. Mount is still fresh and with time our midfield will look better and more cohesive but Garnacho was shocking and Rashford is unfortunately invisible more often than not these days. Antony the best out of the 3 but that's not really saying much. Garnacho wants to be a starter but he seems to only really play well as a sub, Rashford out of position but he just looks mediocre for like half of every season and then he has a purple patch out of nowhere that papers over the cracks.

But the most worrying thing for me is the talk around possibly bringing Greenwood back into the team. I honestly don't know if I can support the team moving forward if that happens and it could be something that just makes me not support any team. But we'll have to see how it develops.