dmayne7

Not withstanding our own incompetence, this is probably the most backwards aspect of PSR in that you are often better off running down a player's contract than selling them at a loss/substantial loss as the contract goes on. Really promotes health financial practice that does.

No matter what they do off it? Interesting moral high ground to take.

Talk about twisting the narrative. Firstly, Hamza has been involved in the first team for the best part of a decade. In that team he hasn't even reached 100 league appearances and been sent out on loan twice to a lower division. Then the other side is that he has a catalogue of off the field misdemeanors, ranging from the ill judged to utterly reckless (and illegal). I agree that as a collective, we are shocking at giving young players a bit more leeway, as we probably end up judging them too harshly. But in Hamza's case, people actually cut him too much slack. He's never been good enough for what we have been aspiring to (or at least there's always been someone better), his behaviour has been crap and he earns far too much money. He's ok for now with the role he might play but very odd that anyone would actually defend him.

We can all agree that Zidane wasn't a patch on Junior Lewis though.

He definitely would be. His numbers are absolutely fantastic at Man City. He's without doubt the best player they've had on that right side in the Pep era. He didn't have amazing pace, no, but he was plenty quick enough and despite being so slight, it never really held him back. 1 important thing to remember won't Monga is that he's only just turned 16. He's got plenty of time to get quicker but importantly he's got great acceleration already which is what his game needs.

Soumare should be so much better than he is but I think it's safe to say he'll never unlock his potential. Doesn't have the tactical awareness for it, not the application. And yes, that pitch was shocking. Looked ok visually but I described it as an absolute pudding as the bounce was non existent.

Alves in for Page (who as good as he's looked, don't think he's quite ready to be first choice, and certainly not as a 10). And I think Ayew will actually be ok up top for now if people are willing to run beyond. Kasey not being tested out up front also kills that idea for now.

Can only assume you didn't watch the first game yesterday (good decision really!) because Soumare in particular was embarrassing. An absolutely dreadful performance. Skipp might have given a pen away and would hardly be shouting from the rooftops about his performance, but he was much better than Winks who couldn't have looked less bothered, and Ndidi also not brilliant but so much better than Soumare. We should be fine at this level but would like to see BEK play a bit deeper with a Skipp/Ndidi sitting in, or signing a new centre mid.

Would say it's the other way, and kids now onto judge people on their stats and not their contribution on the pitch. Can't see Monga scoring loads or assisting tons this season but you can almost guarantee he will cause absolute havoc and be integral in many goals we do score. Or even where he has the oppo doubling up on him (which happened today), creating space on the pitch elsewhere. Still got a long way to go but as with all young players, it comes down to decision making and his already takes him away from being a prospect to a player that'll make a massive impact.

To be fair, he had to play 30 mins earlier in the day. So from a perspective of warming up, physically and mentally he's hardly going to be at it. Looked classy in the earlier game though

Important point about Skipp v Winks. Skipp has hardly been great but he's looked far better than Winks has. Winks looks like he can't be arsed.

And the second really.

Would be so much better with white shorts if you've got the white on the collar

Not great from most of them but JV in an absolutely awful position.

Has anybody mentioned that this is the first choice team

Sure they'll get there but this is why I'd always enforce the follow on. Just gives you a bit more of a chance to force the win

Safe to say Rehan is over his injury if he's bowled 60 overs in the match

He was important yes, though he did have a ridiculously easy job where teams just sat off him and let him use his range of passing. But the reason he played instead of Coady was because Coady got injured. Make no mistake, Enzo would have picked him ahead of JV but he's not going to break up a successful partnership. Coady was regularly given the armband in pre season which I think shows he was ahead of JV.

Top 3? Not even close. He did have a good season, same as Faes, but it was so easy for them. Mads, Ricardo, Fatawu, Mavididi even Vardy all ahead of him.

Yeah. Fiorentina will be the more obvious indication, and even then it's not a concrete thing

I'm just being realistic. As I said, I would like him to move on and he's a fraction of the player he was, but he's plenty good enough for this level still.

Daka has actually been decent in this game. Some good hold up/link up play. Shows he can finish when he doesn't overthink it

Thing is, Ndidi does plenty of decent things and has the career to back it up (aware he's not the same player). If he's alongside somebody who can dictate the tempo, it's no issue but want him moved on as we need something different should we get promoted. And like Faes, it's easy to just rely on his reputation and pick them. Soumare needs a new brain to ever be effective at the top level

Worryingly that pen was still better than half of those in that shootout.

Right on cue