11 Mar 2024 12:27:20
Shots conceded in the last 10 games:

Arsenal : 79
Man City : 82
Liverpool : 106
Man United : 200

I know Martinez and Shaw are out but come on this is ridiculous lol.

1.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 13:30:25
Don't compare us to them it's not right to look at the clubs that are doing well and draw any conclusion apparently.

2.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 13:45:42
ETH needs to figure out how to properly set up a defence.

3.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 14:31:22
EtH needs a fully fit defence to do that. Our best defense is Martinez. It's not coincidence that whisky's he's been out, Utd have been well off the pace.

4.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 17:02:50
We are playing a deep defense because they can't play a high line.

But we are also pressing high to try to be proactive.

Imagine we parked the bus at home against Everton. What would people say then?

We need to keep possession better, but our players have been making individual errors. Cassemiro lost the ball alot. Lindelof is filling in at leftback, but is not accomplished there.

In those 2 games we conceded 2 against fulham and 3 against city. The only poor defensive result was the 2 against fulham. City was a decent effort with. Daft goal at the end when we were pushing to get back in it. The others were clean sheets, so can't be that bad.

5.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 17:03:06
Jesus that is such a silly stat. We haven't had our first pick back 4 all season.

6.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 17:39:16
Teams play through as they press when losing position and the defence is too deep as they have no legs.

We need to play to the style the players are capable of.

Personally I’d go 532 or 442 for the rest of the season. Defence and midfield aren’t right.

7.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 18:58:23
It's not just the defence though, we have very little to no cover in midfield ahead of that defence.

For me the most important transfers we need this summer is TWO CB's and TWO midfielders. After that then look at a back up to Højlund and then possibly a RW. But we can't even consider trying to fix/ improve the attack until we have a solid base/ heart of the team.

8.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 20:31:34
Shappy

So why when we needed midfield did ETH focus on Mount and Amrabat?

A CF is vital, our goals scored is a serious problem.

9.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 20:35:02
Shappy I agree. Our midfield is nowhere near good enough. Teams play and get straight through to our defence so it's no surprise.

10.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 21:07:35
Redman,

Amrabat was a loan with fee. Who else would we get for 10m?

Mount has been injured all season, so wasnis your point? We have no idea what he would have done with a fit squad, because we haven't had it.

11.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 05:47:53
Dodgy

A few days ago Shappy posted about how we had no midfield players and that Amarabat and Mount were not what we needed. I asked him why then did ETH push to get Mount and Amarabat, last summer, why was the position that Shappy highlighted, not seen by the Manager? He didn’t reply, hence why I asked him again.

On ETH, I think we should have seen far more cohesion as a team than we have, players, even the ones stepping in, knowing what they are doing, playing in a pattern. We haven’t and for me need to see something quickly.

12.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 11:38:09
Red Man, we needed a RB and a CB and a ST and a winger last summer as well.

We can't sign endless players for all of our weaknesses in one window.

I'd imagine a combination of factors played into the decisions to sign the players we did last summer.

Maybe the CDM player we wanted wasn't available, or maybe we could have only signed our 4th or 5th choice option for that position and felt it made more sense to sign our first choice option for another position rather than an option way down the list for another position.

We signed Amrabat on loan as we were strapped for cash, he can and has played as a deeper midfielder. Unfortunately he does not seem to be at the level required to play that role in the EPL.

Could we have signed a better player on loan or permanently for a similar or lower fee? I doubt it.

Maybe the decision was made that Casemiro was still going to be able to be a key contributor and they thought Mainoo was ready to step up.

If Casemiro was playing at the same level as last season and Mainoo had been available for the first half of the season then things would look very different.

Unfortunately Casemiro has struggled with injury and form this season, he's clearly declining and not able to keep up with the pace of the EPL. While Mainoo missed a big chunk of the season out injured.

Maybe exposing a weakness in the squad that didn't look as big a weakness last June.

I disagree that we didn't need Mount. I think he'll prove to be a very good signing for us. Unfortunately he has also been struck down by the injury curse that has plagued us this season.

If you look at his competition in the squad we have an aging Eriksen who is also declining and struggling to stay fit. Along with Bruno who turns 30 in September and there is a question as to whether he is the right kind of player for an EtH system. He probably doesn't have a long term future, and I wonder if that would have been clearer this season had Mount stayed fit all season.

As mentioned we needed a new CB, but when Maguire refused to leave we couldn't raise funds and replace him so we couldn't sign a player more suited to play the way the manager wants. Similar thing with McTominay in midfield, we couldn't arrange a sale which would have potentially brought in 30m or so. If we add that to the money spent on Amrabat's loan then maybe we could have had 40m or so to buy the CDM needed last summer.

The signings and rebuild of this squad have been and will continue to be severely impacted by our ability to move players on. Both to create space for new signings and to create the financial freedom to do so.

If the club was in the hands of INEOS last summer I'd have expected a very different outcome.

However, we had a bloated squad lacking quality and suitability to play progressive front foot style of football to the required level. An inability to trim that squad, in part due to the wages we pay making finding buyers difficult, but also due to the amateurish way the club was being run. Which was probably exasperated by the fact the club was up for sale and there was massive uncertainty over all decisions.

That led to us being unable to move on enough players to free up funds and space to make the required signings. As well as impeding our ability to sign the players we did have funds for.

That left us with unbalanced squad, making us particularly vulnerable to injuries to key players. Which unfortunately is exactly what happened.

The fact that EtH has had to rely on making more loan signings in 18, months than SAF made in 27 years tells you everything you need to know about the difficulties the manager has faced trying to reshape this squad into a coherent team capable of playing a good style of play consistently.

13.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 15:30:41
Redman

Fernandes and rashford can't.

Lindelof at leftback cant.

McGuire can't.

Mctominay cant.

If you play out from the back with a couple of weak links, the pressing team simply targets those players.

Successful football with these players is parking the bus and counter attacking. But when he does that, you come on here and slate him for being a small time manager and not utd standard.

You are literally expecting the impossible. He prioritised winning last year and he was slated for style of play.

He actually does play with a style of play now, but with the major concession of the defenders sitting too deep due to lack of pace. We often get the ball to our attackers in promising positions, but they have been awful, both individually and as a group, so we have not scored anything like the goals we should have.

We either accept that we need a full reset of this failed team, or we prolong the agony.

14.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 15:35:51
Stop talking sense and reason shappy incase it catches on ….

15.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 16:04:30
Dodgy - what style of play?
The football that we played last season was better than this season.

16.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 17:14:23
Wonder why that could be Simmo?

What possible reason could there be for a drop off in ball playing. Higher line back four?

Maybe playing Lindelof Evan's and McGuire more than we have played Shaw, Martinez and varanne?

17.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 17:42:25
We lost 11 league games so far.
How many did Shaw play in of those 11?
How many did martinez play in?
How many did varane play in?

18.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 17:43:47
Let's see what sense is talked by the experts running the football side of the business in the summer.

19.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 19:33:14
How many did they play together Ken, presumably you’ll know?

20.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 19:45:24
Shappy

You are missing my point. You said that Mount and Amarabat were not what we needed last summer, so why did ETH push for them?

You said “Maybe the CDM player we wanted wasn't available” and we signed our first choice option for another position rather than an option way down the list for another position. ”

What position was Mount first choice and bought for? If ETH bought Mount rather than the position you identified as critical that was surely an error?

21.) 13 Mar 2024
13 Mar 2024 09:37:03
Ken., those 11 games, Varane played in 5, Shaw 4 and 2 of them at CB, Martinez 3. The only time all 3 played together was against Tottenham 1st game of the season and since then there has never been a premier league game this season when at least 2 of them played in the same game.