Preseason 2024

[Gecklund]

I haven't been on Twitter yet but I assume Man United fans are already welcoming Sancho back with open arms?

The only welcoming United fan I’ve ever seen is Jussi.

I mean, what's the point at that point? Only a couple of minutes left and City were putting on penalty takers.

0-0 is still tied. He didn’t come on at all. He should have been on at the 75-80th minutes if he’s on the bench.

 

[Jussi]

Playing him if they're behind is way more risky than playing him when they're in front or level, lmao

I mean what's the point from a tactical sense?

 

[spintheblackcircle]

I don't think Vicario is it. He's...fine.

 

[luiginb]

I haven't been on Twitter yet but I assume Man United fans are already welcoming Sancho back with open arms?

Sancho and missing pens at Wembley, a match made in heaven.

 

[Jussi]

The only welcoming United fan I’ve ever seen is Jussi.

0-0 is still tied. He didn’t come on at all. He should have been on at the 75-80th minutes if he’s on the bench.

I guess you missed the "Ugh, Sancho..." post?

As was said before he's had two team training sessions this week, meaning a huge tactical risk DEFENSIVELY and questions about match fitness.

Edit: this is what ETH said on Friday:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821567660833870213

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Ange really needs to do something about these defensive set-pieces.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Watching Roma and Everton nasty glare on the telly.

 

[Venkman]

Thought United played well. Finishing wasn't good though.

 

[Gecklund]

I guess you missed the "Ugh, Sancho..." post?

As was said before he's had two team training sessions this week, meaning a huge tactical risk DEFENSIVELY and questions about match fitness.

Edit: this is what ETH said on Friday:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1821567660833870213

Okay if he gives that many questions and is that big of a risk he shouldn’t be on the bench.

My opinion is he was on the bench and in theory should have come on and helped us. If he wasn’t actually fit and/or couldn’t train and EtH thought he was a risk then he shouldn’t have been on the bench.

 

[Evilo]

So Onana really thought he could do a Landreau ?

Nah André, you suck.

 

[luiginb]

So Onana really thought he could do a Landreau ?

Nah André, you suck.

He was really clowning around on the first shots. To his credit he stopped doing it after about three

 

[Savant]

He was really clowning around on the first shots. To his credit he stopped doing it after about three

He’s makes a lot of saves but he is so damn goofy

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

He’s makes a lot of saves but he is so damn goofy

He’s just bad and never worth the $

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Welp Chelsea defence is still Swiss cheese.

 

[Savant]

He’s just bad and never worth the $

I’ve seen too many bad goalies to say he’s a bad goalie. I think he is the same as like Pickford
—
LFC playing last two preseason games today. Split squad. MW1 squad already played this morning and won 4-1.

Backups and fringe guys playing in a couple hours probably not watching.

Lessons from preseason
- This team goes as far as healthy Diogo Jota takes them. I’ve gone in depth on this before, so just going to leave it like that. And they still need another striker.
- They are going to score a lot of goals, they are going to score a lot of nice goals. If you look at highlights you can probably see what a trademark Slot goal is going to look like. It’s going to the replicable, it’s going to be their bread and butter.
- This team is going to give up some BAD goals. I’d prefer if we didn’t start every game down 1-0 like last year, but we are still going to ship goals. Zubimendi would exponentially help versus this because we need his buildup to mitigate some of this, but Slot is going to be all about buildup play and we are going to give up ugly goals. This will probably get better over the season but if can keep that under control it’ll be a big deal
- Even if they sign Zubimendi, they still need some 2-3 signings. If they do not sign Zubimendi they need to find someone else who can help build from deep. Maybe that’s Varela, maybe that’s a guy like Angelo Stiller, I don’t know. They are really shooting the moon with Zubimendi because it’s an extremely difficult transfer to close and not a lot of people on the planet does what he does
- 17 year old Trey Nyoni is going to get minutes. He is going to be good.
- Quansah might (still) be ahead of Konate on the team sheet
- The core guys are going to be fine in this system I think we might see more Gravenberch and Jones and less Szoboszlai and Bajcetic than people may think. Szoboszlai will get a ton of minutes at multiple positions either way though.
- This is still going to be a high ceiling team. It’ll be interesting to follow all season. I think Slots style is kind of a middle ground between Ange and RDZ and we will see how it plays out. Still think this is no worse than the 3rd best team in the PL

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

I’ve seen too many bad goalies to say he’s a bad goalie. I think he is the same as like Pickford

Who’s also bad lol.

the Barca kid for Chelsea seems decent. Work rate Alvarez like

 

[Savant]

Who’s also bad lol.

the Barca kid for Chelsea seems decent. Work rate Alvarez like

Aggressively average

You know when I was watching La Liga in the mid 00s to early 10s you had those goalies like Victor Valdes (especially early career Valdes), Carlos Kameni, etc that made spectacular saves but either let in dumb goals and/or made the easy look very difficult. That’s what I see when I see Onana

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Aggressively average

You know when I was watching La Liga in the mid 00s to early 10s you had those goalies like Victor Valdes (especially early career Valdes), Carlos Kameni, etc that made spectacular saves but either let in dumb goals and/or made the easy look very difficult. That’s what I see when I see Onana

I wasn’t a fan of early Valdes.

Cucu still looks all over the place for Chelsea. Got bailed out on an offside he would’ve been sent off for a nasty challenge

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Enzo becoming captain after everything this summer is a choice

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Enzo becoming captain after everything this summer is a choice

If he is wearing the armband on opening day I will not be watching

 

[Blender]

Enzo becoming captain after everything this summer is a choice

Not like he's been a great player for Chelsea either, so can't even say it is merit.

 

[Peen]

Enzo stuff doesn’t need comment, I’ll just echo the sentiments of wbs

Anyways, apparently Veiga was very good today. Cucurella usual tire fire. Chilwell not even utilized.

Pretty clear to see where this may be heading.

 

[Jussi]

Forgot to post this earlier but but looks like the rumors of Casemiro being injured most of last season, even while playing, are looking to be true. In the pre-season he's looked leaner and much better than last season. Not saying yet that he's in 2022-2023 form. But he looks healthy.

Also from the Community Shield match, United left city with an xG of 0.55. Their lowest since 2016.

 

[luiginb]

Real starting all their stars against Atalanta in the Supercup

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Real starting all their stars against Atalanta in the Supercup

Gotta get Mbappé his first trophy