Saint-Fred

I thought he was a bar man?

We sold too early in the window let alone a year early..look at the prices now? Sadio from West Broms value seems to rise daily. We sell easily and quick. It's my gripe with the current policy. We should have held out for 40 million at least if that was our price and let Liverpool have him on the final day of the window..instead we strengthened them and gave them the whole of pre season to bed him in, whilst we are a week away from the season without our "major" signing being on board.

From memory I think the teams which had the highest points lost from winning positions were those which are known to play high pressing games (Spurs and Liverpool were up there)..so high press is not without a cost/risk later in the game.As you say it's the balance that is hard to achieve and pressing at the right time was more what we did under RK than the high press game of Poch. Both,however, achieved despite the two different ways of playing. The top teams do have higher possession as they dominate games so it's important that they can break down those stubborn defences, The inability to do that might have contributed to the high number of away wins we saw at the front end of last season. I can see a number of teams coming to us next year sitting back, giving us possession so I think we will see some more of the possession, passing back and forth across the field as we search for a way through? As is said above Tadic has the ability to create chances in that situation and perhaps Austin who is capable of taking the half chances will be an asset in those matches?

I am sure against the top teams that what's we are likely to do..I though I read Puels teams were good at that? We have a good goalie and defence and Pace up front. The issue may be against the "lesser" teams..have we got the guile to break down a team which just sits back? That's something we have struggled with for a few seasons IMO.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion!

True but now all of those have got a different Ferrari for each day of the week instead of one for week days and one for weekends.

Thanx for sharing!

Ultimately I suppose this shows its really about getting the ball in the net! And yeah Poch likes possession so that win was sweet!

My post related more to those saying RK liked his teams to keep possession....Leicester are the perfect example of how effective a team can be without playing possession game and Man Utd I suppose the opposite, how to have a lot of possession and not be effective. However it is noticeable that 4 of the top 5 (except LCFC) appear high in the average possession table...

http://talksport.com/football/leicester-city-arsenal-every-premier-league-teams-average-possession-season-revealed?p=18

RK didn't value possession.. Our average possession per game fell massively from Poch's time to RKs and I am sure that last year we were about mid table for possession. I thought it was less than 50%?

K But at least 6 other clubs have significantly shed loads more money than us-arguably West Ham and Leicester will also be significantly better of turnover wise than us as well..We are in the next group and our final position, like last year, will depend on those bigger clubs under performing.

Mid table 9th plus or minus 2 places is acceptable to me given the competition in the league. A cup run in any competition. A decent, clear style of play. Staying in the top 4/5 of the league for least goals conceded.

Mann The biggest thing I noticed with RK in charge was the drop in % possession we had from previous seasons. Now obviously possession doesn't win you games (look at Leicester who almost actively gave possession away!), Poch was well into the possession game so it was high and despite the drop in possession we finished higher than previously. The number is this list is irrelevant (opinion only and I bet two years ago RK wouldn't have been ninth!) but comments about the way Puels teams play and that the club improved in his time theire are very positive for us! With a good set up and a few quid to spend perhaps he can achieve something good with us!

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwos-50-best-football-managers-world-2016-35-31 Couldn't see this posted.Number 32 in four four twos ranking but some positive rhetoric relating to him and his teams!

Just wondering if any other of the more successful nations have that rule, to be able to compare if that actually works...an alternate view might be that our players are not as good as we think and have had poor managers, so you could have 11 players in each team English and still have a rubbish national team. As an off shoot of that would be the premier league brand would be destroyed!

Why would we not? We still discuss the Keegan signing or Lawrie Mac, Rickie etc etc and have a 100+ page thread on players who left at the same time as NC!

Actually I don't believe he was responsible directly for any signings be they good or bad..Osvaldo had links with Poch and why would he randomly buy Gaston? Of course he was accountable and it's well documented that there were issues with him/his leadership etc etc but air brushing over anything positive he did isn't really cricket..it's also why he gets debated after so long as sometimes an individual's view will only represent one side and if stated enough becomes a lot of people's reality!

Can there not be middle ground? Cortese achieved at the club and everyone keeps talking about the 7 years of improvement..well how many of those was he in charge for? Yes he had faults and I think the club is better now but like everyone else, who leaves, it seems everything they contributed is forgotten..and in his case the work he did is credited to the current board as people quote that we should be grateful to them for 7 years of improvement! If he was picking the players and making the signings (gaston and Osvaldo was personally his fault apparently according to some) then Rickie and Fonte were two of his personal better signings and he should at least get the credit for them!

I think most people accept this but when we sell players this doesn't seem an issue? They go very quickly? I am unsuccessfully trying for that to not sound negative as this board have given us the strongest squad I have known and for that I am eternally grateful!

Really? post me the quote where I said we DID have them please..instead of putting words in my mouth? Nice that you resort to insults as usual!

I don't know the details of the contracts which is why I have never stated it as fact. Can you please give details of the contracts which you know as fact, prove that we don't have any please. As soon as you do this I will be happy to admit my mistake in assuming it was a possibility.

I am not sure we can say he has had his head turned yet as its only a paper report at this stage? But I agree if that offer comes in for him, how could he not "have his head turned"..as many have said we are a stepping stone to bigger things..we offer people that step up to champions league and they say it's one of our biggest selling points for getting people in... That must apply to every member of the squad..the issue for me is Fontes age..we can't say one more year, as the offer may not be there next year and yet we have already sold our quota, where we would normally bring the trap door down? Again hopefully Man U will land another target!

Morgan and Wanyama..sorry you lured me in there and I fell for it! I don't know and never stated that we have definitely..you stated we didn't ..I said (in previous posts) I think we may have but never that we did have! However it is clear we had an agreement with both those I named about leaving the following summer.

We have set a precedent for people leaving our club to follow their dreams..who could blame Fonte for wanting to join Man Utd now..who at the club could say.."hold on we make people stick to contracts and see them out?" Fonte has seen so many progress that I can't see how we would be able to stop him if he wanted to go... Hopefully he is happy and will stay or maybe Man Utd will get another of their targets so it's not an option for him!