TWar

Average position map is a little misleading as Elyounoussi changed positions when Djenepo came off and Diallo dropped deeper after that with Armstrong ahead of them.

I disagree with this, Elyounoussi played centrally most of the game in my opinion, Diallo played higher than Romeu and Broja played most of the game as a lone striker. Redmond drifted all over the place so it made it hard to stick it down to a clear formation in the front three (Djenepo, Redmond, Broja), but it was definitely a midfield three for me. Maybe a 433 I guess. When we brought on Stu then Elyounoussi went out to where Djenepo had been playing and Stu took his role but I don't think we ever played a 4222, and certainly not a 442.

I did, Romeu was definitely significantly further back than Diallo and Elyounoissi, both played narrow with Redmond and Djenepo mainly playing off the wings and Broja was most certainly a target man imo. Could be a 433 I guess but I'd definitely call it a 4141.

I actually don't think Broja was that great, maybe a little controversial. He didn't have many chances and his goal was all Redmond with a superb run and then a ball to put it on a plate for him. I would rather see us go back to Che and Armstrong when Che is back fit. But the 4141 was super effective against such a press heavy side like Leeds so good to have in our arsenal. Against Burnley and Watford I'd revert back to two forwards though.

Salisu is incredible, Ralph's move to 4141 was inspired and directly led to our victory, and Elyounoussi looks really good at the moment as does Diallo. Also Stuart Armstrong is back! Good news across the board imo.

Ralphs decision to move to a 4141 with three players in the middle of the pitch completely nullified Leeds. People often say that managers (especially Ralph) get out tacticed when their team simply let them down with individual errors but that was definitely a tactical victory for Ralph, 19 shots to their 3, reducing them to not a single shot on target. Excellent. And the result of changing formations, will remember this next time the "tactically inflexible" line comes out...

Looks like a 4141 or 433 to me. Great shout the guy who called this line up mid week by the way. I guess Leeds are a team all about controlling the mid, playing what is in essence a midfield 3 could be a clever play. Feel bad for Armstrong, but he is no lone target man.

Very much doubt we drop Armstrong. Could be though.

I agree that McCarthy is having a better season this one than last and seems to be bouncing back a bit. He is a confidence player imo and the united game did him no favours. He seems to have a spring in his step since winning the number 1. I will say, he is still average at best even back on this form. He is still 13th for xG prevented per 90 in the league (out of 26), 20th for save % (out of 26), 22nd for long pass completion % (out of 23). But last season he was dead bottom or near enough for all three so he is definitely on the up. And is second in the league for crosses claimed which is actually rather impressive and 3rd for % of crosses faced vs claimed which is a more valuable metric. Needs replacing for sure but he is definitely doing better than last year!

Wouldn't pay it much mind. In the last hour they have announced Real Madrid are after Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool are after Dembele, Barca are after Luís Maximiano, Belotti is off to Seville, and Pogba is being considered by Juve. Either they have the best sources in football and they all happen to have come through with these massive stories in quick succession or they just make stuff up for clicks.

Maybe, I think Newcastle are in limbo as to exactly how much of a megaclub they are going to be. Will they be another Everton/Spurs/Arsenal level side (unlikely), will they be a Chelsea/City level side (probably imo), or will they be the biggest club in the world (maybe). If they are in that first category I guess Johnstone could be ok, he's a great keeper, is only 28, and can probably compete at a europa league level. For me it is more likely Newcastle go fully down the city route and start replacing their squad from least to most effective and by the time they get round to replacing their keeper in the summer or in the following summer they will be dropping £50m+ and bringing in someone a higher level than Johnstone, maybe like Emi Martinez, Navas, etc.

I doubt Newcastle would want him to be honest. They have Dubravka, Darlow, and Woodman who are all decent keepers. They will want to improve the rest of their squad before spending on arguably their strongest position. Also, I think they can aim higher, have seen them linked with Kaylor Navas.

Full strength I fancy us to get something here but with JWP, Stephens, and (potentially) Adams out I think we will struggle. 0-2 Leeds. Assuming Adams is out I'd play Macca Livra Bednarek Salisu Perraud Romeu Diallo S. Armstrong Djenepo Armstrong Broja Adams in for Broja if fit.

I'd say new attacking mid required. We have had hard fixtures though, if we consistently struggle to break down fellow bottom half sides ill be more worried.

Haha that's brilliant!

Oh no I've been got 😂 The North is a foreign land to me

I guess the idea is they are the biggest club in that area (and it's a big area) plus a bigger stadium and arguably a bigger prexisting fanbase. We have a smaller stadium and are a little close to London I guess. Not sure though, as City were bought and they literally share a City with united.

My nappy changing technique is coming along! I'll enjoy the good times while I have them thanks! I'm what they call the total package, good at stats and very handsome 😉 Not so good at video games though, haven't really been good at one since those old guitar hero games over a decade ago! And even those I got stuck on medium difficulty!

Thanks all!

Great points here. I think it is also worthy of note that JWP was in the squad allegedly until Maguire got injured. At this point Southgate felt it made more sense to bring players more used to the 343 with two defensive midfielders and extra CB's. JWP was doing well as one of our two 8's sat in front of Rice but Southgate clearly liked him less in the two. Southgate then did play a 433 against Croatia and Scotland and simply played Phillips out of position leading to us not having much forward momentum and struggling to score goals (albeit Phillips did set up a goal against Croatia but that was one of our very few chances that game). He then converted it to a 4231 with much more aggressive fullbacks and that worked really well.

Goals don't come out of nowhere, if you wanna understand why a team is not scoring or is conceding too many then it's worth looking further. If not and you feel " we need to score more and concede less" is the sum of your analysis for understanding the game then you can do that by all means. Reminds me of that classic Michael Owen bit of commentary "if they can keep a clean sheet and nick a goal they'll stand a good chance here".

I suspect it shows poor sample size. How did the three compare last season? Also it depends on how they weight the stats to get that overall number. Not all attributes are equally important so sometimes these websites will overweight things, goalkeepers who face a lot of shots often do better than those who correctly marshal a defence and claim balls before they have to save the effort, for example. EDIT: to answer my own question, jwp was 37th best in the league (players overall, not just mids), Phillips was 52nd, Mccarthy was a long way down. About what you'd expect. Romeu is our second best played and 66th over all in the league, Vestergaard was our 3rd and is 80th. I don't use who scored but these rankings do seem sensible. Top 5 in the league are Kane, De Bruyne, Grealish, Bruno and Soucek.

Indeed indeed! I hope it does, I hope more sleep soon. She is our first so all very new! A little off topic, sorry mods!

Thanks very much, I won't. The stuff I post has always had a few detractors, some to be fair to them are genuinely clever people with good reasons to dispute and are pretty polite and well meaning with how they put themselves across, some are not. I am arguing back more than I used to but that's mainly as I am grumpier than I used to be. Due to personal situations (all happy!) sleep is a little more scarce!

I don't need to tell myself that, it's patently obvious. I thought you were basing the "people who use stats are computer gamers" thing off some comment someone made at some point or some other poster but it has become clear you genuinely don't understand that stats are used outside of FIFA, FM, etc. Honestly, if you think I have very little clue that is more of an endorsement than anything else, you strike me as the sort of person who might need a relative to work their DVD player. Bit dim, but a bit old to do anything about it.