Pre-season friendly thread

[PuntsWolf]

That sentence disqualified any further 'input' you could've made

Classic Lycan

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Neves would suit United’s midfield tbh. They need someone who can start attacks from deep and defend. They would improve a lot with him in their team I think

Think that all depends on Pogba, if he's there then you need someone who can do all the defensive work alone because he's always prone to going a bit rogue. Neves would be left horribly exposed if he was sharing midfield with Pogba and Fernandes and then had fullbacks pushed well up too. Would be a good pairing with someone like McTominay though I think and then let the third man in midfield go completely cavalier in front of them.

 

[YoungWolf]

Neves is excellent defensively though? I think the immobility thing is overdone. He covers plenty of ground generally. Pogba was playing off the left more and more last season for United from what I saw.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Neves has been good defensively for Wolves playing in a very organised team with very little space around him. It's a completely different proposition going to a top club and being left back with just the centre halves for company and having to halt any counter attack that comes at you. Wolves got exploited far too easily the few times they played that openly last season, Liverpool struggled to make it work without Fabinho, City approach things differently now Rodri has taken over from Fernandinho. I don't think Neves has what it takes to be that one man covering the full width of the pitch against all comers.

 

[YoungWolf]

We got exploited because we positioned both centre midfielders ridiculously high. If played in front of the defenders properly and we didn't over-commit (was weird, if kinda entertaining in a way), he'd be fine in a double pivot for us if played properly. United don't leave their DM like that anyway. Wan-Bissaka doesn't play that high and Shaw has the ability to come inside too. He'd probably be playing behind one shuttler, and Fernandes higher up.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

That comes back to my first comment, it depends who he's got in that midfield with him. Someone like Pogba who can be unpredictable and I think you're liable to see Neves isolated at times by his team mate, where I think he'd struggle to cover the ground to make up for it. Stick him with someone like McTominay, or even Fred, who are more reliable with putting in the dirty work and I think he does the job pretty well.

I think his mobility means he'll never be a player who can go and be a real attacking force, he just doesn't get about the pitch in that and so if he ends up at a top team he'll been seen as the steady defensive option by default. Then I think the same hindered mobility means you can't leave him to the sole defensive contributor in your midfield in the way Fabinho or Fernandinho could. He's a double pivot player for me.

 

[Carsy]

think it was asked whether raul won a header at all yesterday. I didn’t watch the game but reading player ratings, apparently he ‘climbed to win a header like he would’ve 12 months ago’ so theres your answer.

watched the highlights and cutrone actually looked quite sharp.assuming the highlights are misleading?

 

[YoungWolf]

Raul wins a flick on in the highlights!

cutrone looked like he always does, gets in good positions, movement decent, final touch lacking (though he was unlucky not to score I thought)

 

[The Bear]

It was tough for Cutrone to score from that angle with his right. A left footer might have done better.

 

[The Bear]

After seeing the first half yesterday, defending down our flanks is going to be a key area for us against counter attacks. Particularly if the wingers have tucked in when attacking.

We're going to face a lot of crosses and balls across the box, so the CBs are going to have to be good in the air and read the game well.

 

[Deano]

I think this might be another pre season where it's going to be hard to completely change style successfully. Players joining back up with the squad at different times because of the Euros doesn't give much time to work on things - Some of the players are only going to have 2 or 3 weeks before the start of the season.

 

[Throbber3]

I am checking to see if this man is a Mendes client.

 

[Carsy]

I think this might be another pre season where it's going to be hard to completely change style successfully. Players joining back up with the squad at different times because of the Euros doesn't give much time to work on things - Some of the players are only going to have 2 or 3 weeks before the start of the season.

Stick or twist isn’t it. May be it takes untill October/November for the players to fully hit their stride with the new tactics and way of playing. Fingers crossed the first month or so isn’t filled with pain!

 

[Tony Towner]

I'm not that concerned about adapting per se. It's not a particularly sophisticated system. If you don't have the players to do it then it doesn't matter if you have 2/3/6 weeks. It's the signings which are key

 

[Carsy]

Signings are key Ofcourse. But if you’ve played the same started for 3/4 years which the core of our squad it can be quite difficult to snap out of a habit/what you’re used to. That’s why I think it could be 2/3 months before we are up and running with the system

I'm not that concerned about adapting per se. It's not a particularly sophisticated system. If you don't have the players to do it then it doesn't matter if you have 2/3/6 weeks. It's the signings which are ke

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Raul wins a flick on in the highlights!

cutrone looked like he always does, gets in good positions, movement decent, final touch lacking (though he was unlucky not to score I thought)

I thought Cutrone looked pretty sharp, his movement was good and there was a decent instinctive effort 2nd half that was well saved. His run for when he went clean through was good too.

His attitude was 10x better than against Chorley, I guess he is one of the few players that may improve as a result of Nuno leaving.

 

[Throbber3]

His attitude was 10x better than against Chorley, I guess he is one of the few players that may improve as a result of Nuno leaving.

That would be a real bonus if the Cutrone we thought we were signing turned up this season.

 

[Tony Towner]

It would be a real bonus if I woke up tomorrow with a 12" cock. That's not going to happen either

 

[Throbber3]

It would be a real bonus if I woke up tomorrow with a 12" cock. That's not going to happen either

 

[Kenny]

It would be a real bonus if I woke up tomorrow with a 12" cock. That's not going to happen either

[Insert pic of Warwick Davis here]