News: Team captains are the best players - OTT [R]

The way I see it, Matuidi's presence would give license to Allegri to spare Khedira a lot more and save him for the big occasions. I believe he still has something to contribute, but he probably can't deal with the week in, week out grind anymore.

 

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Rumors of Man City going in for Jonny Evans. I'm not even mad, just disappointed. I still think he belongs at a top club and would immediately become their best CB, though that isn't saying much.

 

Couldn't blame him, tbh. We ********ed up with him and don't deserve his loyalty.

 

A fit Kompany (big ?, I get it) is still the best CB City would have. Paired with Evans, it could make a solid partnership as he's better than anyone else they have.
As far as I'm concerned, Evans is the one who messed up when he proved incapable of really stepping up to the plate after Rio and Vidic stepped down. That season prior to his departure was pretty horrible, by his standards. Perhaps, we should have stuck with him a while longer, but he didn't deserve to have the backline built around him at the time.
Would have been a different matter had he reproduced his incredible form of when he deputized for Vidic, a few years prior...

 

Good luck to him tbh, he has discarded over worst CBs.

 

John Brooks will out for 3 months with Wolfsburg, after tearing tendons in his thigh. Not an injury you hear about very often. Hope he makes a full recovery and comes back strong. The US need him at the back.

 

No Balotelli or Sneijder available for Nice today vs Napoli, who themselves look at full strength. A hard tie already promises to be much more difficult for Nice.
Seri is the guy to keep an eye on, in this team.

 

The Evans love on these boards has always been ridiculous. People act like he wasn't given a fair shake here. He was. He didn't take his chances. We saw time and time again that he's a good CB when he has a better, senior CB holding his hand. When it was his time to be "the guy" he folded under pressure.

 

I find it funny that Klopp continues to be a fan and media favorite while doing things that would get Jose blasted in the media. If Jose came out and said the reason we dropped points was the ref, like Klopp just did, he would get suspended or fined immediately.

 

What the British media think of Klopp, Wenger, Mouriho or whoever on any given day isn't particularly important.

 

Tbf his time to step up came when the squad as a whole was in rapid decline. He would be a monster for us with our current midfield options in front of him.

 

Would be curious to see Insigne in person, just to comprehend how short he actually is. He looks diminutive next to Mertens, who is pretty short himself.
Still a terrific player I wouldn't mind having at United though.

 

Nicely taken goal from Mertens. Another player I would definitely have at United, if he were a few years younger...

 

Sure, he would be a lot better and a lot of it wasn't his fault. The the fact remains is that he performed worse than guys like Jones and Smalling when he was supposed to be "the guy" and that in itself is telling.

 

Napoli are all over Nice. This tie could be over by half.

 

Well if we keep rotating like we did back then than he probably wouldn't. Can't expect a player to pick up form when he only plays 17 and 14 league games in each of the seasons after SAF left.


Don't expect much from Nice against this Napoli side.

 

Mertens dribbling thru the Nice defense. Would have been a spectacular goal, had he finished.

 

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📅 2017: £45m buys you Gylfi Sigurdsson.

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So... you don't understand why the media treats Klopp and Jose Mourinho differently?

Jose is a gigantic asshole. Why would you be surprised the media is hard on him. The number of laughable/paranoid/insane statements he's given could fill a matchday program.

 

You're buying into the media rhetoric too much. In his younger days, Jose was very outspoken and a huge prick. No argument there. But since he joined United, he's been relatively tame. Klopp and Arsene have been more outspoken towards refs and Arsene even pushed on last season. Yet both are still loved by the media. Meanwhile, Jose kicks a water bottle and the media roasts him for it. The bias is very clear.

 

Napoli really should have up at least a couple of goals by now.

St-Maximain is a pretty dynamic player for Nice.

Jorginho finally makes it 2-0 for Napoli...