OFFICIAL 2023-24 FOOTY THREAD ⚽️: Real Madrid does it again

[8pm at msg]

Fikayo Tomori should be getting more looks

 

[rolaholic]

Wouldn't take either of them but I think Grealish can at least offer something to the team whenever he's on the pitch.
He has amazing close control and is generally hard to dispossess, and he can offer that regardless of his form.
This is a Southgame team though, he's not exactly the type of manager to order his players to make at least 500 sideways passes per 90 minutes.

We must be watching different England teams if you think he's offered them anything different than the forwards they already have

Old fashioned PnP off the bench against tired legs >> whatever inverted LW ineffectiveness you get from Smokey Jack. It worked wonders in Qatar, why mess with that.

The funny thing about Southgate for me is that when Grealish was balling at Villa and one of the best players in the league, he was hardly ever picked or played for the NT. Now that he's a shell of himself and reduced to a background actor on a much better side he never misses the cut

 

[Beans]

Rashy hattrick final!! only way to show Southgate what he's missing..


Game still finished 6-3 for CIty lmfaoooooooo

 

[Beans]

Fikayo Tomori should be getting more looks

Southgate admittedly doesn't watch players outside of England... go figure. I also think Tomori had one bad showing in an England kit and was banished.

We must be watching different England teams if you think he's offered them anything different than the forwards they already have

Old fashioned PnP off the bench against tired legs >> whatever inverted LW ineffectiveness you get from Smokey Jack. It worked wonders in Qatar, why mess with that.

The funny thing about Southgate for me is that when Grealish was balling at Villa and one of the best players in the league, he was hardly ever picked or played for the NT. Now that he's a shell of himself and reduced to a background actor on a much better side he never misses the cut

THIS... Rashy> Jack for england

 

[Belgium]

We must be watching different England teams if you think he's offered them anything different than the forwards they already have

Old fashioned PnP off the bench against tired legs >> whatever inverted LW ineffectiveness you get from Smokey Jack. It worked wonders in Qatar, why mess with that.

The funny thing about Southgate for me is that when Grealish was balling at Villa and one of the best players in the league, he was hardly ever picked or played for the NT. Now that he's a shell of himself and reduced to a background actor on a much better side he never misses the cut

Wouldn't take either of them

 

[Beans]

Agreed but if you had to take one.. it should be Rashy


I'm not mad, MAYBE this is what he needs.. real summer off.. and a reality check.

 

[rolaholic]

Fair enough

Lot of youth in that midfield though gotta say, interesting to see what mix they end up with.

Was also surprised to see Reece James not picked with him back from injury. Shaw missed a bunch of time too but is there

 

[Beans]

Fair enough

Lot of youth in that midfield though gotta say, interesting to see what mix they end up with.

Was also surprised to see Reece James not picked with him back from injury. Shaw missed a bunch of time too but is there

Yeah that midfield is interesting.. I'm suprised to see TAA included in the midfielders.. just looking at that selection Mainoo is a lock.. i love that Wharton was selected.

 

[Belgium]

The funny thing about Southgate for me is that when Grealish was balling at Villa and one of the best players in the league, he was hardly ever picked or played for the NT. Now that he's a shell of himself and reduced to a background actor on a much better side he never misses the cut

There's a reason he became a shell of himself. Pep doesn't allow him to play like he did at Villa.
Like I said, he has incredible close controll and is hard to dispossess and Pep basically turned that into his entire job. No more flair, no more risky dribbles, ...

I'm not that shocked Pep bought Doku, after all Grealish was a dribbling machine at Villa, but I'm definitely shocked that he's actually letting Doku playing his game without noticeable restrictions.

 

[Armada]

Some players need restrictions to take their team game up and make them a more effective player some don’t. Grealish is very good at dribbling and taking people on Doku is elite at it. It reminds me of a similar thing in basketball. No one gonna tell Kyrie or Derozan or KD not to shoot midrange jumpers cause they elite at it. Others dudes that are just good at it? Better off focusing on other aspects of your game the stuff you are elite at or better at would be worth more to team success. Grealish focusing more on the other aspects of his game was/is worth more to our team success.

 

[Belgium]

Agreed but if you had to take one.. it should be Rashy


I'm not mad, MAYBE this is what he needs.. real summer off.. and a reality check.

Rashford clearly has it in him to produce something great, even across a season as evidenced below.

In the 22-23 season he clearly figured something out and it showed. He's had good seasons before, mixed with some of the worst.
Like a schizo Timo Werner, who used to have consistent good seasons and then never had one again after leaving Leipzig off a 28 league goal season

 

[mastamind89]

 

[Belgium]

Some players need restrictions to take their team game up and make them a more effective player some don’t. Grealish is very good at dribbling and taking people on Doku is elite at it. It reminds me of a similar thing in basketball. No one gonna tell Kyrie or Derozan or KD not to shoot midrange jumpers cause they elite at it. Others dudes that are just good at it? Better off focusing on other aspects of your game the stuff your elite at or better at would be worth more to team success. Grealish focusing more on the other aspects of his game was/is worth more to our team success.

I defiinitely agree Grealish being moved in a less offensive position and focusing very strongly on maintaining his team's ball control has been a huge and somewhat underrated part of City's success.
The success of City's team's performances I mean, not the team itself. For that I'd have to credit the lawyers.

Like you said though, Doku has plenty of weaker areas of his game to work on but he gets the license to just go dribble and taking on everyone in his way, both things he's already very good at.

 

[Armada]

I defiinitely agree Grealish being moved in a less offensive position and focusing very strongly on maintaining his team's ball control has been a huge and somewhat underrated part of City's success.
City's team performances I mean, not the team itself. For that I'd have to credit the lawyers.

Like you said though, Doku has plenty of weaker areas of his game to work on but he gets the license to just go dribble and taking on everyone in his way, relatively speaking. Things he's already very good at.

It is an underrated part of our play specifically the treble. He was great the second half of that season and we don’t pull it off without him and the level of control he helped give us over games.

I’m glad we have Doku you need diversity in skill set in a squad. Pep may have a preferred style of play and even style of player but he’s not dumb to ignore someone with a gift at one aspect of the game like Doku and Haaland as well if you wanna dominate. He’s more pragmatic of a manager then he’s given credit for at time he just has a high bar for letting a player do their thing if it’s not his preferred way you need to be next level at what that thing is.

 

[Armada]

Kroos will rightfully be remembered as a top 10 midfielder of his era. And he’s probably not 8-10. Phenomenal player

 

[mastamind89]

Terrible season for him. Hopefully next season is better but we need a new striker to lead the lines

 

[Beans]

lots of unhealthy seasons for him.... time to move on

 

[whtascene]

Why bother picking Shaw when he isn't gonna recover in time, even if he does what good can he do being out for so long.

 

[jking0821]

Just checking back in after City securing the title. Foden is currently on a different level. Good lord that first strike had me jump off the couch yelling.
Doku was a nightmare all game. He is scary quick man. Excited for his development

Of all the England players really the head scrachers for me are Quansah, Curtis Jones, and Wharton. I guess Southgate has plans for his midfield but didn't think these 3 were playing good enough to make the squad. Tomori over Quansah and Did Jones play well this year? Harvey Elliot wasn't better? Gibbs-white? Always thought it was a good idea at times to carry Ward-Prowse too for his exceptional free kicks. But i get not carrying him if he doesn't fit the planned play style. I know it won't happen but i think Dwight McNeil is playing at a good level and would like to see if he can do it on the National Team level.

 

[Coupé It]

Yea I’m going to have to agree.

No matter how much I’m on Rashford he’s absolutely better than Grealish.

That bum.

 

[MetalMario]

 

[Beans]

LMFAOOOOO they fired POCH

 

[Coupé It]

Chelsea keeping their cut throat ruthlessness alive when it comes to managers.

I respect it.

 

[AZwildcats]

I had a feeling with all those snarky comments Poch was making this would happen. He clearly wasn’t happy at Chelsea, and the board not happy with him.

Just please don’t bring back Tuchel

 

[Beans]

Poch ruining his rep.. thats another failed stint at a big club... dude gotta take a brighton job or something