Tom12345

I much rather Alves.

Remember that time when a player tried to tackle him while he was dribbling on the left (which led to a goal), and the other player just bounced off from him? Amazing strength and control. He has definitely woken up. Having said that, I really do think many fans were too quick to criticise him before when he was never bad in my eyes. Remember he had Brendan and then briefly Smith - in a system where even with Barnes, Maddison, Tielemans, Evans, Soyuncu, Ricardo, Perez, Nacho, etc on the roster (let’s be honest we would love to have any of these back and they would improve us) and we still managed to play so shxt under Brendan and it was not because of Soumare.

To be fair, it wasn’t his mistake. He was one of the few players who came out and said he would stay to help us to go back up, but then Enzo didn’t think his quality of being a traditional full back suits.

Fair point. Though as Enzo didn’t fancy him, it was better for him to play first team football on loan elsewhere, which he did.

I always wondered why all the hate before when he played so little for us yet he has always shown glimpses of brilliance; much better than some players who were consistently picked. Typical FT. When Cooper picked him, Cooper was crucified. Now RVN does the same and he is a genius.

He was not even playing for Maresca last season.

And then really changed it when Daka came on and we had 2 strikers.

Should have been given the corner. There should have been extra time for the goal restart and also the freekick.

ndidi is getting himself red carded

I knew he retired 🤣 But I didn’t know he went back to Villa as a coach. A shame as he has a lot to offer to our coaching team, especially on how to deliver crosses early avoiding the marker.

Haha. I meant if Albrighton is still around he could well play a role unlike under Enzo when he was barely used.

Mitoma vs Justin 😱

Oh yes of course 😅

Ok with me except Facundo. He has been our best player this season. Can’t drop him after one game.

With RVN and his wish to attack with speed and space, I think having Albrighton would suit him perfectly. His early deliveries are what we need. He can even play RB. Can’t be worst than Justin at the minute.

RVN pre-game interview was great. Shows he knows what he is doing, where he wants to get to but is also flexible enough to work with the existing group of players and coach staff. Some managers can only work with players and staff of his own choosing and are so stubborn they cannot work well with others. Rudd on the other hands seems smart and adaptable enough to be able to see strengths and weaknesses of each and use them in the best way within his vision. Very early days but I am increasingly excited about what RVN can do over the coming months.

This is it for me too. And if he is out on the bench, I suspect he is a whiner and becomes a source of negativity in the dressing room. Coady sat out for a year yet still appears to be congratulating and encouraging teammates.

I like him from the moment of his first interview. He clearly has a winner’s mentality. His achievements as a player no doubt explains this (also explains his achievements). What I thought he could bring is some Fergie style toughness and discipline, which he seems to have and is already talking about. Plus, what I was hoping he can bring is part of the Man U Fergie style attacking playbook. They used to be so simple and so direct. This is what we immediately saw in the game against West Ham. With Bilal, Bounouette, Kristiansen (second half), Vesty and Soumare, we were trying to go forward when we can with intent and purpose. We were not just hoofing it, but trying to hit it into the right areas for players to run into - that was what Man U did very well back in the day. Yes we were rusty as he only had a few days to work with the team, but look at the result - we created more clear cut chances than I can remember for a long time. Passing out from the back is fine, but to create chances we need to attack with speed and open space. How we failed before was that we try to pass about at the back SO slowly and then when pressed with crappy ball players at the back and Ndidi adding to our own pressure we just end up hoofing it up and losing the ball. Against West Ham, we tried to just hit it up to, but into good areas. Kristiansen for example cut out many of his aimless passes down the line to no one close. Go Rudd.

Absolutely. I like him from the moment of his first interview. He clearly has a winner’s mentality. His achievement as a player no doubt explains this (also explains his achievement). What I thought he could bring is some Fergie style toughness and discipline, which he seems to have and is already talking about. Plus, what I was hoping he can bring is part of the Man U Fergie style attacking playbook. They used to be so simple and so direct. This is what we immediately saw in the game against West Ham. With Bilal, Bounouette, Kristiansen (second half), Vesty and Soumare, we were trying to go forward when we can with intent and purpose. We were not just hoofing it, but trying to hit it into the right areas for players to run into - that was what Man U did very well back in the day. Yes we were rusty as he only had a few days to work with the team, but look at the result - we created more clear cut chances than I can remember for a long time. Passing out from the back is fine, but to create chances we need to attack with speed and open space. How we failed before was that we try to pass about at the back SO slowly and then when pressed with crappy ball players at the back and Ndidi adding to our own pressure we just end up hoofing it up and losing the ball. Against West Ham, we tried to just hit it up too, but into good areas. Kristiansen for example cut out many of his aimless passes down the line to no one close. Go Rudd.

Well he has gotten and will get very good experience this season, as part of his development. 30 shots by West Ham just in one game. If he can stay mentally strong, he will be an awesome world class goalie.

RVN has brought in a bit of his winning mentality to this and we played a bit like Man Utd with our forward attacking intent. Before the game I wrote that it would be great if RVN can teach the players how to pass forward into space with the right weighting for players to run into. We see a lot more of this. We still have players who when put under pressure just hoof it up turning over possession straight away. Most notably Justin and Kristiansen. So if we want to improve this, we need another ball playing midfielder to help them out - one of Winks or Skipp to replace Ndidi to partner Soumare. I think Soumare can go on from here under RVN. I know some of you think Ndidi is still ok - but it is a choice we need to make: do we rather have a half decent destroyer to help the defence OR have a player who lacks ball skills who constantly pass back and put otheres under pressure so on the whole we end up being constantly under pressure like we have seen. The choice is clear to me from years of watching us. But I like how RVN finally started more attacking players at the top so we can string a few passes together in the final third. Great signs under RVN today.

Ayew - look and play forward. Daka and Mavidid were open

I like how Rudd has come in and instilled a winning positive attitude. RVN is a winner himself.

Enjoying one … haha

Another example. Mads to Ndidi. Ndidi in space and should have moved forward. He passed to Faes. Went back to keeper who can only hoof its up. So Ndidi making the choice to pass to Faes was effectively a turnover of the ball. He is a midfielder FGS. If he doesn’t have the skill to move the ball forward, don’t play him there. Just not good enough.