Confirmed Signing Cenk Tosun

[BlueToff]

Leicester don't use a midfield. They whack it long to vardy and mahrez.

Nah, since Puel came in they've played Mahrez as a 10 with Gray on the flanks and it's worked well.

But, I'd like to see us go with this:

4-4-1-1: Pickford; Kenny, Holgate, Williams, Martina/NEW LB FFS; Bolasie, Gueye, Rooney, Sigurdsson; Walcott; Calvert-Lewin.

Subs: Schneiderin, Jagielka, Tosun, Niasse, Davies, Lookman, Robles.

 

[dannyboy]

Who tracks midfield runners anyway???

We need to attack. We're at home.

It doesn't mean surrendering all of our solidity. Defend deep - as we'll have to do anyway - but have Gueye in front of the defence with Rooney there to get on the ball.

Gylfi to play wide left and offer support to Martina (if he plays) because ultimately it's needed.

Bolasie on the right to offer pace and width. Walcott off Tosun to offer that quick link between midfield and attack.

And yes, you're spot on with the full-backs, which is half tactical and half one of them being so abysmal it's akin to us playing with a stroke.

I agree we need to attack but it's less to do with the amount of attackers we play and more to do with the philosophy of the manager.

 

[OnlyBlueWillDo]

I think he's got something about him and in no way should be judged until we start playing anything approaching decent football.

Not one chance to shoot yesterday.

 

[BlueToff]

I agree we need to attack but it's less to do with the amount of attackers we play and more to do with the philosophy of the manager.

It's both mate.

We've been crap going forward all season. Before Sam was here.

We're now even worse, so we have to get players around the area.

Tosun drifted wide yesterday and put a brilliant cross in the area.

We had one player - Gylfi - going for it, against three WBA defenders.

That's simply not up to scratch and, as . many faults as Allardyce has, he isn't telling our players not to get in the box.

It's a huge mentality issue with this squad and they are all crap. But getting players in the final third helps.

Look at the goal.

Walcott is at the back post, and Niasse is there for the knock down. We had four players in the area and WBA couldn't deal with it.

We should be doing that every time.

 

[Tez]

I think he's got something about him and in no way should be judged until we start playing anything approaching decent football.

Not one chance to shoot yesterday.

Might paste this in the Klaassen thread.

 

[kenada_blue]

I agree we need to attack but it's less to do with the amount of attackers we play and more to do with the philosophy of the manager.

Or a player that can pick a pass.

Rooney can but needs space. Sigurdsson can't as he doesn't have the vision.

We're lacking any creative vision on the field.

 

[Jags]

Looks to have some decent touches and works hard. I wonder if hell get a chance to score this season?

Not his fault, we need to support him more, because at the moment he is being left hung out to dry by a lack of support

 

[kenada_blue]

It's both mate.

We've been crap going forward all season. Before Sam was here.

We're now even worse, so we have to get players around the area.

Tosun drifted wide yesterday and put a brilliant cross in the area.

We had one player - Gylfi - going for it, against three WBA defenders.

That's simply not up to scratch and, as . many faults as Allardyce has, he isn't telling our players not to get in the box.

It's a huge mentality issue with this squad and they are all crap. But getting players in the final third helps.

Look at the goal.

Walcott is at the back post, and Niasse is there for the knock down. We had four players in the area and WBA couldn't deal with it.

We should be doing that every time.

We had players in the box against Spurs 1st half but zero quality in and around it.

 

[BlueToff]

We had players in the box against Spurs 1st half but zero quality in and around it.

I agree - but we pushed Spurs back.

In fact, barring 2 minutes where our entire defence fell asleep and they scored, we restricted them to very little in the first half and that's because we actually offered a semblance of a threat up top.

What we lacked there was pace getting up in support of Tosun quickly - we had Bolasie wide and then Rooney and Gylfi trying to 'bomb on'. Now throw in Walcott to that and suddenly you have a very quick player who can get us up the pitch in central areas.

I've said it before with Lookman. Players like that should be played centrally - look at the impact it had with Gray and Mahrez at Leicester.

You can't deal with pace down the middle. And neither Lookman or Walcott are classic wingers in the sense that they want to get to the byline and cross.

So play them centrally - as the link man between defence and attack.

Another great example of that this season is Lingard. Slightly different in the sense he probably works harder defensively, but in terms of playing style he's a very quick, nimble player who provides that 'transition' player for United.

 

[Paulie]

I thought with what little he had to play with he did well. Couple of neat flick ons and chest downs. The rest of the time he watched the ball go over his head. At one point Kenny smashed the ball over him and straight to the keeper and you could see how wound up he was. Why he signed for us I have no idea. Should have stayed at Besiktas until the summer. Suppose we may have been his only hope of playing in the PL.

 

[Killerloop]

A crap league, what else would I mean?

I can understand farmers mean, which league you talking about?

 

[marnie]

...we’ll certainly have to defend deep against Leicester or Vardy will run in behind us all game.

Vardy will be ours by then so no need to worry about that threat @Eggs

 

[Carlito]

He doesn't mind leaving one on a defender; I'll give him that.

 

[Aar_the_Toffees]

I feel sad for him. Why leave a Champions League team to come play for Fat Sam?

 

[jinkyali]

Absolutely zero chance to succeed right now in this current team.

Feel sorry for him. In approx 120 minutes of football he hasn’t had a single chance created for him.

Taking him off after an hour is beyond me too. You pay 25m, you play the guy.

New to the country, team etc and he gets taken off after an hour both games without a semblance of a chance or even any support at times.

Feel utterly sorry for him