1.) 27 Mar 2019
27 Mar 2019 14:15:23
Thanks a lot ed1. Reading your views on Ruben Dias and now this profile on Milenkovic, it seems the club has been looking for ball playing centre back to partner Lindelof. At this stage who do you think is more ready to step up to the PL ed1, Dias or Milenkovic?

{Ed001's Note - probably Milenkovic is more ready physically, but Dias looks to have more potential for the long term.}

2.) 27 Mar 2019
27 Mar 2019 14:23:03
Wow so fast reply!
In your opinion Ed who do you think we should try and bring in to partner Lindelof, who has earned his place at the centre of defence by virtue of consistently good performances this season. I am a bit sceltical about Dias or Milenkovic because they are playing at a level or 2 below what we hope to be doing, are quite young and thus inexperienced so might not hit the ground running.
Thanks.

{Ed001's Note - well it would be Gimenez of Atleti, but he is also right sided, like Lindelöf. Really you want a left sided centre back, such as Romagnoli of Milan or Zagadou of Dortmund. If you wanted one with Prem experience there is Diop of West Ham as well, who would be my other suggestion.}

3.) 27 Mar 2019
27 Mar 2019 14:48:44
Both Dias and Milenkovic look good long term options. Ed001, what do you make of Joachim Andersen who is supposed to be the next big thing defensively in Italy?

{Ed001's Note - I haven't seen him play to be honest Shaps. I will add him to the player profile list so I will watch him play a few times then. I had to do the same with Milenkovic as I had seen so little of him, it is a nice way for me to learn about a player.}

4.) 27 Mar 2019
27 Mar 2019 15:10:41
What is your take on Conti Ed1? The Milan Rb. And Tah of Leverkusen. How has he come along.

Also great shout with Jimenez, he had escaped my thoughts. I think he is one of the best CB right now. And when you consider his age, experience and the years he has in front of him, I don't see many better players around at CB right now.

I personally believe there lack of genuinely great players in the 24_28 age group in lots of positions so when clubs want to sign players either it's older short term players or young players who may not be quite ready to fire right from get go.

{Ed001's Note - from what I have seen of Conti he looked good, but I have not seen him up against the best of opposition to be honest. I like Tah personally, but not sure he is quite good enough for the step up to United and the Premier League all at once.

There are very few top quality centre backs around in general, at least ones who are top quality at defending. We seem to have an era of midfielders playing at the back and the big requirement is an ability to pass a ball.}

5.) 27 Mar 2019
27 Mar 2019 15:25:23
The bigger problem in my view is that clubs seem to want to replace the good defenders with non-defenders, case in point Barcelona with Umtiti and De Ligt. There is genuine lack of good defenders, period. CBS these days can't defend, FBS can't defend and DMs aren't defensively sound either. Long gone are the days of Maldini, Stan, Ferdinand, Nesta, etc. It's all about looking flashy and getting on the highlight package these days.

{Ed001's Note - I miss Baresi. I used to love watching him, though none of my friends back then could understand why I raved about him. They all wanted to talk about the flash players rather than the ones who could defend.}

6.) 27 Mar 2019
27 Mar 2019 16:09:39
Paul mcgrath was better than baresi. In fact probably better than most.

7.) 27 Mar 2019
27 Mar 2019 16:24:57
I am too young to comment on them properly guys. McGrath is a name I very seldom seem to prop up in these kinds of discussion though.

{Ed001's Note - McGrath was incredible, ken is right.}

8.) 27 Mar 2019
27 Mar 2019 16:26:05
Possibly ken but for his knees and liver.

Baresi was great. I said earlier how good that Milan side was. Two of my favourite players were Baresi and van basten.

9.) 27 Mar 2019
27 Mar 2019 16:59:30
Ed001, Romagnoli would be my choice to partner Lindelof. He ticks so many boxes, great on the ball, left sided, a leader and a good defender.

Deependra, Conti has hardly played for Milan this season. Davide Calabria has taken his place and done very well at RB. I would gladly swap Darmian for Calabria in the summer. Although my preference is for a RB who is between 27-29 years old rather than someone who is more for the future. We have Dalot who looks like he should be challenging for first choice RB next season, but also looks like he needs games to iron out the flaws in his game. Someone slightly more experienced would be ideal. Thomas Muiner, Cedric Soares or Kevin Malcuit would be ideal.

10.) 27 Mar 2019
27 Mar 2019 21:44:44
Maldini is one of my fav players of all time mort.
Mort i'd say he was better despite his knees and liver.
One hell of a gentleman one hell of a player. A quite and unassuming man who bryan robson said he was the best player he ever played with, and the best player he ever played against.
He couldn't even train but was superb every week.
Sadly he was/ is an alcoholic.

11.) 28 Mar 2019
28 Mar 2019 07:00:43
I searched YouTube but didn’t find anything that did him justice as a defender. He was one of those players who read the game superbly. Positioned himself excellently and was able to nick the ball away from attackers time and time again. I recall one exhibition game with Utd against a rest of the world 11 which had some great players maradonna included I think and he had them in his pocket. It was a masterful display. It’s just a pity about his knees and being at United at the time when there was a bit of a drinking culture in the squad.
One player I have very fond memories of watching in a United shirt.

{Ed001's Note - I don't think there is any way to do justice to his abilities to be honest. Even watching him live, because he made it look so effortless.}

12.) 28 Mar 2019
28 Mar 2019 07:13:51
Perthredmike. Watch the world cup opener 1994 ire v italy he was a one man barrier in a 1 nil ire win.

13.) 28 Mar 2019
28 Mar 2019 07:30:52
He was incredible. Doesn't get the credit he deserves. A gentleman too, just has too many demons to face.

14.) 28 Mar 2019
28 Mar 2019 07:46:39
True angel. An incredibly difficult childhood and upbringing were major contributory factors in that regard.

15.) 28 Mar 2019
28 Mar 2019 08:44:32
Anyone that can make Phil Babb look world class deserves a medal 😂😂.

{Ed001's Note - very true. Maybe that is what knackered his knees, carrying all that excess weight around?}

16.) 28 Mar 2019
28 Mar 2019 10:38:40
Saw him at Celtic Park last season Ken when he was over for a game, i loved watching him play for Eire and United.

17.) 29 Mar 2019
28 Mar 2019 22:36:01
Have you read McGrath's autobiography ed001?

{Ed001's Note - no mate, any good?}

18.) 29 Mar 2019
29 Mar 2019 07:32:11
It's a cracker. But a tough read at times, whatever you think he went through, it was worse.

Just cannot fathom how he functioned as a man let alone a footballer.