jonny kills. still one of my favorite players in the whole game. just seems like a genuinely great guy. i'd take him back as well. he could do some real damage at the top of our formation the way it is lined up now. but not going to happen.
I think United have had a tough run in to be honest. They have had a lot of away games and got some big games out of the way. I expect them to pick up. Jose is still figuring out the team and the fixtures have not allowed him to. That said, Jose has lost a lot of his sheen. He is too stubborn and keeps playing his tried and tested method. Fergie was intelligent enough where he kept changing his tactical coaches and he was just a "manager". Jose needs some fresh ideas. His defense first attitude in all big games has become really old and teams expect that now. Once the opponent scores, his teams are never able to overturn the lead as they have been set up to bunker.
Why Statistics are such garbage: Possession Home44% Away56% Shots Home14 Away16 Shots on Target Home6 Away5 Corners Home5 Away7 Fouls Home7 Away17 These statistics seem to suggest an evenly matched game with one team winning by a slight narrow margin, but the reality was not like that at all. Chels dominated that game of football and it could easily have been more than 4-0. What about Hazard being taken down on the edge of the box/in the box by an outstretched back leg. That should have been a free-kick/penalty with the United lad seeing red as he was already on a yellow. Media outcry? FA going to look into that retroactively?
Many thanks mate, Jose is starting to look very bitter and twisted, he simply can't take losing and when he does he becomes bang out of order.
Mata is a great guy, but he wouldn't fit well into a Conte side. Where would he play? He's not fast enough to be a winger, he clearly doesn't defend enough (see Hazard's goal yesterday) and he's not big enough for the type of second strikers Conte typically likes. He'd be a sub for us at best - a Fabregas who plays further up the pitch. He needs to go to a slightly lower table side where he can run the show a la Mahrez without the defensive responsibilities. He'll look great doing that.
Advanced statistics tell a very different story of the same game (i.e., shot location, expected goals, etc.) Just because extremely basic statistics don't show the story of the match doesn't mean all statistics are bad.
He no longer has Claudio Marchisio to do the grunt work for him. Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo didn't hurt, either. But Marchisio's presence, in particular, allowed Pogba to play to his strengths while compensating for his weaknesses. Pogba's never been able to consistently carry the midfield by himself for either club or country, and even where he should play in the midfield has never been clearly defined. When you're supported by two world class box-to-box midfielders, that team can afford to wait for flashes of brilliance. But when you're supported by Marouane Felliani, flashes of brilliance aren't enough. Also, it's often forgotten that Antonio Conte basically made Paul Pogba. He was the one who convinced him to move to Juve in the first place, and he was the manager who made Pogba into a starting player. So Conte understands his strengths and weaknesses as well as just about anybody.
The best goal was Kante's goal because Kante never scores and he weaved United's defense like a Native American basket. The second best goal was Hazard's goal because of the passing beforehand from Hazard, Kante and Matic and then the move to the final strike from Hazard. The third best goal was Pedro's opener. Great anticipation and pace to muscle onto the ball. The fourth best goal was Cahill's goal. It fell perfectly to him off a corner and he nailed it off Blind's arse. Though he did his best to miss it. Four goals past De Gea speaks volumes to how poor United's defense was and how much better our players were at exposing their weaknesses. There is Buffon, Neuer, Cech, Lloris, and De Gea as the top 5 keepers in the world.