mrfahaji

Agree, although obviously hope he is great as no 10! Tadic seems to enjoy being 1-on-1 with a defender, turning them inside out and beating them. You have chance to do that as a winger but not so much centrally.

It does seem a bit ridiculous that Kazakhstan are part of UEFA. I'm sure someone will have more info on why it's a good idea, but from the little reading I have done on it, it sounds like countries can apply to whichever federation they like. Israel is more political (and nowhere near as far), but it sounds like Kazakhstan just wanted to be in UEFA.

It was pretty obvious to me that your comment was in jest...!

Picking up where he left off then

Well yes, there are of course huge question marks (or maybe not even question marks, just black marks or red crosses) over his defensive organisation. However for the majority of the games Belgium will be trying to break teams down rather than defending. And Martinez has a good record of equipping teams well for one off big games, which Belgium will obviously have now and again. Almost the opposite of Wilmots, whose team looked pretty impressive against the weaker sides and as soon as they faced a test they ran out of ideas.

Expect to see him sign a new contract with West Brom shortly then

I said a while (when thinking about the next England manager) that I thought Martinez would make a good national coach. Of course I could be wrong, but I think there has been a massive overreaction to his appointment on social media.

A bit unfair to write off the season as a disaster if line 5 doesn't come to fruition though

Hopefully "these things even themselves out" and Dean gives us a penalty during the season when we need it

Yep, I'd say that was more a 4-4-2. The only player who I think will be better suited to this system is Steven Davis, as when we play the 3 CMs I'm not sure he offers enough as a creator & goalscorer to be a guaranteed started in AM. However as one of the central pair, his box-to-box style and ability to start counter attacks could be ideal. Possibly Hojbjerg and Romeu as the defensive midfielder, but not sure there's room for both which is a shame as I think they are looking like our two best defensive-minded midfielders. Long could do well as a second striker but not if he's spending most of the game chasing back full backs.

You'd have thought so anyway...! Don't think it looks like Debayo - surely most likely a member of the backroom staff or stadium team. Back on topic - a friend who went to the game said we played 4-3-3, with Long on the wing and Tadic centrally for part of the game. For those also at the game, is that right?

I remember going to see us play Espanyol in our final pre-season friendly in the first ever game at St Mary's. Perhaps the most worrying half of football I've ever seen! Imagine the meltdown on here if we'd gone 4-0 down this evening...

Disappointing that one, he seemed the sort of player we go for.

Well actually, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Same, not least because I think Tadic and Redmond are two of our most dangerous assets and that's where they are best suited. Quite happy for us to try this new system and use it as an alternative in certain games, but hope that's all it is.

13 July - "Southampton's derisory contract offer for Nice man Jeremy Pied sees move collapse" - so who cracked?! My guess is that Pied (or his agent) initially thought that by virtue of being in the Premier League we could be negotiated into paying astronomical wages...

For a while United seemed a palatable alternative to Chelsea and Man City (for me at least, even though I hated them when I was a kid). Now it's hard to justify seeing them like that!

I've never liked Reade. I remember reading some of his atrocious articles about us around the time we sacked Dave Jones.

Perhaps even anxious was strong, but the reason I said I felt as such is because I think our team is weaker, albeit only slightly, than last season. I'm not overly worried or pessimistic yet because there is plenty of time to bolster our squad. However, there is a chance the management overestimate how good some of the players are and try to make do. That, in my opinion, would be a mistake under any circumstances, but certainly in a season where we also have Europa League to contend with.

Agree with this - I'd describe my current state as "anxious" but a long way from hysterical. Ideally I'd like to see us get new players in for a decent chunk of the pre-season, but it doesn't seem to be how it works (due to players & agents wanting to weigh up options and play the game a bit I'd imagine). I think Redmond may prove to be an adequate replacement for Mane if you compare them as wide players. I'm just not convinced Redmond will be anywhere near as dangerous through the middle, and although I'd love him to prove me wrong, I can't see Tadic making a full time and effective switch to the No 10 role. Hence why I'd like to see us bring in someone there.

The fact that we've been without our two first choice full backs in pre-season so far may go some way to explaining why Austin in particular, who feeds off good wide play, has struggled to impress. I think it's good to have an alternative system of play but given that the club supposedly wants to play 4-3-3 throughout the entire structure, I'd be a little surprised if Puel never played it, especially as our players seem to suit 4-3-3 more. I'm hoping that we are playing the 4-4-2 to a) get as much practise as possible with it and b) see what (or who) works and what doesn't, rather than being a sign that we're going to be playing it every match.

Or maybe we shouldn't conclude how our season is going to go based on the first two matches? Football regularly throws up unexpected results, probably even more so at the start of the season.

I had a similar point of view until I read the link in alex2001's post #24.

We've been drawn in Group E with Charlton, Colchester & Crawley.

Portsmouth have got Reading, Bristol Rovers & Yeovil. Possibly the least glamorous of all the options.