andyD

Aye, and Depay only scored the once..

He's come on in both and was directly involved in the goal that got them a point against Bournemouth. United play in a particular way that i think players coming in need to get used to. Plus the manager is showing faith with the guys that got them promoted, and rightfully so it seems. Of the 7 new players they bought in, only 1 started the last game.

true!

The club's only played 2 matches.

Not shooting you, but would be very strange to leave out McTominay at this point in time. He and Pobga are the first choice pair in the middle for United.

Ryan Jack showed next to nothing when we tried him at right back. I'm certainly not eager to see him play there again, let alone regularly. As popular as it is for some on here to do down O'Donnell and to write off Palmer after a single game where everyone was poor.. the facts reaming that right back spot hasn't done an awful lot wrong in the last year or two. The goals we concede come from elsewhere on the field, so I'd not be in a rush to replace the right back, especially with someone who hasn't played there for a handful of years. O'Donnell and Palmer are perfectly good for games where we're likely to be in control and looking for an overlapping option that can also do the defensive work when needed. For Russia/Belgium the obvious choice is Tierney. He's the most solid option we have to play there, and the main problem with playing him at right back (his inability to contribute going forwards) is unlikely to be a problem against those opponents. Why reinvent the wheel when the one we have is perfectly good for our needs? The decisions in the squad are mostly in central midfield: McTominay + who? And up front.. The finisher Griffiths or the gegenpressing Fletch? I back Armstrong to play along side McTominay because there's no other standout option. McGregor's ok.. McLean, Fleck, Bannan and even Shinnie are probably fine I there too. But none are a standout and all ave their flaws/concerns. Armstrong has been the most consistent performer for us when he's played. So if we just need a steady performer to show up, do the job and get a 7/10 then Armstrongs the guy. I'd probably then opt for McGinn playing behind Fletch, as their workrates compliment each other.

Well, if you listen to his manager talk, then you wouldn't think he was being left out due to 'lac of ability'. Hassenhuttl talks about having attacking riches and bemoans having to leave someone out. It's always better to do a quick google, rather than write your own narrative with half the information.

Fraser - Christie - Forrest McTominay - Armstrong It's super close for me between Christie and McGinn tho.. I think Christie just edges it right now due to his form infront of goal, and that hopefully we'll see Griffith back up top. For me, Fraser, Forrest and McTominay are nailed on. And Armstrong is still our most consistent, most reliable guy to play in the middle, next to McTominay. McGinn can be fantastic, but should be used as the head of the midfield trio for me, while McGregor has a tendency to go missing in big games. Fleck, Cairney, Bannan, Turnbull and McLean all on the fringe.

Not sure many didn't rate him. There were very valid questionmarks about the defensive side of his game, and his awareness and decision making in defensive areas. He's always been tenacious and capable of doing something special going forwards, and he showed that against spurs. Spurs allowed him a lot of time on the ball in midfield, which let him pick passes, and he made those bursting runs forward that are so effective. And in general he was kept as far away from Villa's defense as possible. I don't think it's coincidence that he's the forwardmost member of Villa's midfield 3. It's a case of letting players play to their strengths, so I'd maybe take a leaf from Villa's book, and look at McGinn as an alternative to Christie in the attacking mid role behind the striker.

Also, Liam Palmer.. Assist last week, clean sheet this week. Looks like he'll be playing left back for the foreseeable future tho, so not sure that's helpful for us.

Just wanted to say credit to McGinn. I'm not his biggest fan, given his defensive frailties, but going forward against spurs he was a standout for Villa. Took his goal well, Rose helped him out, but he was still calm enough to make the most of it. Played a beautiful defense splitting pass that deserved a finish at the end of it. And should have had a pen, cast iron.. no idea how that wasn't given with VAR (having video is great, but if you've got chumps watching it then its useless). So all round a great performance by the guy. Hope he keeps it up.

Being strongly linked to Sheffield Wednesday now. https://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/football/sheffield-wednesday/latest-owls-news/nicknamed-the-ginger-ramos-who-is-sheffield-wednesday-linked-david-bates-489094

I don't think Klopp would 'tell' him to play wingback, just like Klopp didn't play him at fullback until he was ready. He's a good enough manager to know that you don't just shove players into a system and hope for the best. But I'm sure you're right.. what doesn't Klopp know.

I get the feeling you're choosing to be obtuse. You can agree or disagree with Kirk, but it's not hard to understand what he means.

And yet Andy Robertson, one of the best left backs in the world, was complaining about the difficulties of playing left wing back. You must be right and him wrong tho, after all, what does he know.

It's the chin-strap beard.

It seems fairly obvious that there was something specific they're talking about.

Can't imagine it's just to do with less 1 on 1 time. Was there maybe an agreement over playing time? Prior to Lennon coming in Burke played in every game and started most of them. Once Lennon arrived Burke didn't even play in half the matches and only started 2. Maybe there was a gentlemans agreement from Rodgers to give him game time, which Lennon didn't honour?

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/west-brom-hit-out-at-neil-lennon-over-celtic-s-treatment-of-oliver-burke-1-4953409 Weird one. West Brom technical director: “Oli Burke will not be going anywhere near Celtic with the current manager, They (Celtic) will know what went on. Oli obviously knows what happened. It is a mutual decision that he will never return to Celtic. We sent Oli to Celtic in good faith with Brendan Rodgers and (head of recruitment) Lee Congerton – really good people up there. They wanted Oli and I am sure they would have made him a better player. Once Brendan left to go to Leicester, the treatment he got from the manager in place – well, subsequently we do not expect any of our players to go anywhere near Celtic Football Club." So seemingly Lennon mishandled him Burke in some way. It's noticeable that in the league Burke scored 4 in 7 prior to Lennon's arrival, but 0 in 7 following. I know Celtic fans weren't impressed with Burke's latter performances, so maybe there's a reason why. Either way, it seems Burke will not be returning, but hopefully will be starting for West Brom under Bilic given that there's a bit of a revamp going on there. With Rondon and Rodriguez both likely to be moving on, could he end up starting up top for them?

Lots of press linking Turnbull with Sheffield Wednesday over the last 24 hours. Would rather see him go there than Celtic, as every game's a challenge and he's likely to be a starter. Wednesday did well under Bruce the last few months of the season, so are probably dark horses for promotion. Would be great to have another young Scottish midfielder going up to the big league. Only problem with the story is i didn't think the club had anything like 3m to throw around.. but maybe at 19 they figure Turnbull's enough of an investment to be work finding the money from somewhere.

I get the idea of playing deep, looking to shut Belgium out. Essentially playing for the draw and hoping for some Faddy-esque magic to produce a win. But if that was the plan.. then why Russell? He's a wide forward if anything and certainly wasn't managing his man as well as he should have while he was playing out wide. Playing Shinnie in front of Taylor and McGregor on the right would make more sense. or put Palmer on at right mid, as he's played there a fair bit at club level and has much better defensive instincts than Russell, while still being able to put a cross in. Fraser came on, worked harder and looked more energetic than Russell did.

He and the ball were going in very different directions, I don't think he could really have got close. McLean on the other hand just stops and starts appealing for it being a goal kick when he could have got there and pressured Hazard.

Didn't see you reply to him as well.

https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/Regulations/uefaorg/Regulations/02/54/36/05/2543605_DOWNLOAD.pdf 52.02In case of repeated cautions:a. in the qualifying competition, a player is suspended for the next competition match after three cautions in three different matches, as well as after the fifth and any subsequent caution; So yeah, the article was wrong, no worries.

Did he make a good save? He made saves that if anyone had let in we'd be saying it was embarrassing.. But I'm not sure h made any actual good saves. And he spilt a few which seemed straight down his throat. Combined with repeatedly punting it out of play.. Soo.. glad to be rid of Gordon. Jeez.. THAT guy.