The more interesting question is what Jose does if we find ourselves in a pk shootout with Ajax. Romero starting makes perfect sense. And no, notwithstanding the libelous claim that De Gea has been "far too sloppy" lately, De Gea would be a fantastic starter if in the end Jose changed his mind. I don't recall seeing Romero handle pk's but we know about De Gea's fantastic execution in dealing with pk's. It wouldn't be orthodox to switch keepers (and that option isn't usually available anyway by the time you get to a pk shootout) and it would be risky, but it may be a risk worth taking.
Whether he's better than Dave in that dept could be debatable, but he certainly has a knack to save pks. See the shoot out in the WC semi final vs Holland, where he stopped 2 of them to help Argentina go to the final.
Good to know. Dave seems quicker but Romero has nerves of steel. How bizarre that we have the starting keeper for two of the top ten national teams. But apart from Pogba and Miki, no other player on the squad has any appreciable role for their national team. The dropoff in quality from our keepers to our outfield players is remarkable.
LVG subbed Tim Krul in for a shootout to good effect, I think he saved 2. Juergen Klinnsman (idiot as a coach) tried to save a sub for the same reason in the Copa Americana. US lost in extra time. Does the 4th sub in extra time rule apply in EL?
"appreciable role..." Of course we have internationals on the squad. Even Rooney is still a full international, I think. Smalling, Jones, Lingard and Shaw are officially members of the England national squad (at least I think they are), but none of them at this time would be considered nailed on starters or key players in any sense for their national teams. I should have clarified for a top national team, such as top 10 team. Apologies. I'll give you Rojo. His role for Argentina is appreciable. Bailly...Ivory Coast is ranked 59. I don't consider Fellaini to be a significant player for Belgium, at least he's nowhere close to the significance of Hazard, De Bruyne, Lukaku and several others. Valencia...Ecuador is ranked 63. Martial is not a regular starter for France. I don't think Rashford can yet be described as a key player for England. Blind is somewhat marginalized for his national team, which is now ranked 32. Where I'm going with this is that our squad isn't as amazing as some here, who would like to pin most of the blame for making top 4 on Mourinho, portray it as. Yes, we have gobs of internationals on the squad, but apart from De Gea and Pogba we have no one who makes a meaningful contribution to a top 10 (maybe top 20?) national team.
I'll have to check it out. Whatever the case may be, I hope in training Jose has the boys work on set piece defending, taking pk's, studying the tendencies of their likely pk takers, their keeper, and working both our keepers in pk's. All the things we seem to not have paid much attention to during the season.
That rule does not apply yet within UEFA or really in general within word football. It was a done on a trial basis by FIFA last year at the Copa. Whether it becomes law remains to be seen. We've got 2 very good goalkeepers and Jose really can't go wrong with either. I remain of the thought that Dave not playing in this game could seriously mean that he'd edging close towards the exit this summer. Just don't believe that Jose would have made that choice if he still did not know about Dave's intentions and his future was still in the balance. And that's why Dave is "accepting" of that decision.
You included Mkhi. I forgot what a powerhouse Armenia is. Also, that's a bad way to evaluate a squad. Just because a player doesn't happen to be from a top ranked country doesn't mean they aren't world class.
Typo on my part. I don't consider Armenia as a powerhouse. On the second point you're absolutely correct. But I still don't think any top club would salivate at the prospect of bringing in the likes of Fellaini, Valencia, Darmian and Blind. These are players who, despite Teso's repeated and quite insane insistence, wouldn't even make Chelsea's bench.
Fellaini is 4th in our depth chart compared to Chalobah/Loftus-Cheek for Chelsea. Valencia and Darmian are better than Moses. Blind is trash but would still be used in their rotation given the system Chelsea use.
Sorry, but there's no chance Conte would take any one of Fellaini, Valencia, Darmian and Blind over anyone he currently he has on his squad. Would Conte go with De Gea over Courtois? Possibly, but maybe not. Would Conte go with Ibra over Costa? Probably not. Would Conte go with Pogba over any his central midfielders? Probably. Would Conte go with Carrick over Kante? No chance. Would Conte go with Bailly over Cahill? Very unlikely. Sorry, but I just can't see Conte dreaming that he had Valencia and Darmian in his squad.
hazard and costa are so far ahead of any of our attacking players that it's pointless to compare the two squads - and they play every game.
Not at all, Sherlock. However, if you're suggesting that Conte would like to have some of our regular starters as squad men for Chelsa that's hardly an endorsement of our squad. And hardly a reasonable way to look at it. De Gea as Courtois's backup instead over Begovic, of course. But who would ever argue such an absurdity? Ibra as Costa's backup? Sure, how many seconds do you think it would take for Ibra to tell you to fukk off with that idea? Carrick as a squad man for Chelsea? Probably not. Bailly as cover for Cahill? Absolutely. But again, it's absurd to compare our starters with their non-starters. The one player you could argue that Conte would absolutely take in a heartbeat from United and would probably start -- and would never be a squad man for -- is Pogba. Not Herrera, not Miki, not Bailly, not Valencia, not Ibra, not Rojo, not Martial. He'd be intrigued by Rashford but Marcus is one for the future, not the present. You cannot argue that in any way that United have a stronger squad than Chelsea. The gulf in class -- both in the first XI and in the squad itself -- is just too great. Our squad men -- Lingard, Mata, Fellaini, Smalling, Jones, Blind -- would be laughed at by Conte. I'm not saying this to run down our players as each of them have put in some solid performances during the season but they're just not of the quality that Conte has come to rely on with his squad. That said, there's no question that Conte has benefitted from not having to worry about Europe this season. He could run his clearly superior XI all season long. Even so, with the exception of Ibra, Pogba and De Gea the gulf in class throughout the squad between Chelsea and United should be obvious even to you.
Could Jose's decision actually push Dave out the door? www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/manchester-united-sell-de-gea-13036778 As previously mentioned, I hate the thought this could be it, but I think Dave's mind is already made up and Jose knows it (doesn't hurt they share the same agent in this case I suppose). Makes it way simpler to justify sticking with Romero for the final. Something he would not have been able to do if his future still hangs in the balance I think.
Dave has played his last game of the season according to Jose if all goes according to plan. Pereira will get the start vs Palace and we know that Romero is slated to play in Stockholm. Jose has mentioned he will return in preseason vs the Galaxy. I honestly think he's close from being done. Hard to see, if he's not injured, that his season is effectively over. Anything can happen obviously, but it's odd to say the least.
Goodbye, David. Thank you for helping to keep Manchester United above water during these tough years.
Maybe not. It's been reported that Real will be offered Navas a new contract. De Gea to Real makes perfect sense, but we were in the same place 2 or 3 seasons ago when the entire world thought it was a metaphysical certainty that De Gea going to Real.
David De Gea set to leave Manchester United and a Swedish swansong is the least he deserves http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...er-deserves-europa-league-final-a7743516.html
He deserves nothing. We put up with his early erratic form and build him into the player he is now. We also put up with his Real Madrid shit. We owe him nothing.