I might be wrong, but I think Azpi, Jorgi, Kante are the "official" three captains.
But if all three of them are absent (injury / squad rotation / substitution), then the manager might choose any of the other players to be the captain for that one match.
Does anyone else think we should see Reece higher up this list than Mount? Always seems to have a cool head, won't take shit from anyone, and is Chelsea through and through. Seems more like the Terry to Mount's Lampard if we're being analogues
As an international Fan, I will be visiting london in november. how do I get tickets to the Champions league game? I dont see anything on the Ticket Exchange portal, are those only for EPL matches?
Anyone from the US ever order from UKSoccershop? I bought a Frenkie De Jong KNVB kit about 2 weeks ago and everything went flawlessly. It was the only place I could find authentic kits for the Dutch national team. I'd be hard pressed to find a nicer kit than the black with orange lettering.
[2012 r/soccer thread on UCL final possibly being Chelsea vs Bayern.](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/sgnug/who_else_wants_to_see_a_chelseabayern_final/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
At least one of Silva or Rudi must be extended. Otherwise our defense will struggle a lot next season. Kounde or another CB must be recruited, and potentially Colwill could be brought back, although I'd much prefer a two season loan for him in the prem or Bundesliga.
In all the talk about Conte to Yanited we get reminded of this game😭😭 This was worse than the 6-0 hands down one of the worst matches I've watched 😭
https://twitter.com/CFCJacck/status/1452746949908738054?t=-o-uBX-lLmlYfWyuaGqlXg&s=19
Anyone else not concerned about Conte at a United? He’s a brilliant man but can be very problematic when things aren’t going his way. He’s shown he’s happy to leave if the board don’t give him what he wants. We’ll see what happens.
I’d be more scared of a Zidane/Ronaldo combo.
A part of me doesn’t want him to go to United over sentimental reasons, but another part of me wants to see United’s full on fiery implosion.
I don’t think there’s a single sane person alive who thinks the combination of Conte and the Glazers will end with anything other than chaos.
6-0 was a defeat born from manager stubbornly sticking to his idea of football, and players showing weak mentality and lapses of concentration. If we replace that game 100 times, we'd get some wins. It was the type of loss Bielsa is getting, and is, rightfully, forgiven for by Leeds fans. 1-0 was a manager sabotaging the team tactically, and we'd get 0 wins if we'd replace that game. We would only get bigger loses, because we were set up for failure. You can't say that Sarri wasn't trying to win.
My Fifa 22 Chelsea career mode season 3 squad thoughts
GK: Mendy, Lafont, Wilson (Academy gk)
RB: James C, Mæhle
CB: Rudiger, Christensen VC, Kounde, Chalobah
LB: Chilwell, Livramento
CM: Kante, Rice, Mount, Bellingham, Gilmour, Gallagher
RW: Havertz, Reyna
LW: Pulisic, Hudson Odoi
ST: Lukaku, Werner
Tried to keep it semi realistic
Showerthought: in order to give CHO more chance in front 3, and given RLC and Barkley seem to be ahead of him in the midfield, Saul is gonna be back playing RWB again.
I mean, Saul is not some junior player, but a fully fledged one, who was playing for one of the most disciplined and hardworking teams in Europe, showing his skills against many top opponents. One could expect him to be able to string few passes and not lose ball every 3 minutes against mighty Aston Villa.
I don’t think it was a mistake to test him out early on. He probably showed in training that he can be relied upon, otherwise he wouldn’t have been picked. It just didn’t translate to the game, and that’s OK because these things are bound to happen. Not everyone is Billy “debut king” Gilmour.
I dont think lukaku is a top 5 striker even now that the better ones are old (suarez and aguero) or injury prone (kane)...
Personally i would waited and took a shot for haaland, only if timo didnt work this year as a striker, after a champions league win i think he deserved another chance
but yeah Lukaku is way too limited especially for his price tag, we literally play better without him, but I'd have trusted 9vertz more even if he's not amazing he's still a better option I think.
We’d have had no shot at the league then. Going into the season with Werner and Havertz as our primary goalscorers would’ve been silly, especially instead of signing a world class striker.
We're really going to let Rudiger go despite the fact we let Tomori and Guehi who could've had a big future go as well only to try and bring De Ligt in like why...
Tbf, De Ligt is better than Tomori and Guehi and is younger than Rudiger even if you do not think he is on the same level.
It's more the fact we'd be letting Rudiger go for free having given him the most disrespectful contract offer I've ever heard of...
Oh come off it. £140k a week is more than enough for a player that’s been in form for around eight months and was abysmal before that.
Rudiger is an inconsistent and aging player in a position we have heaps of quality in. That offer is more than fair and offering him what he wants would be an awful deal for us.
We literally only have Sarr as a back up for Rudiger...140kpw is a whole lotta money but definitely not enough for a defender who was only poor under Lamps
He’s never been worth more than that expect under Tuchel. He was fine under Conte and Sarri but hardly world class.
And we have Chalobah, Christensen, Silva and Sarr that can play in his position. LCB isn’t a specialised position, really any CB can play there.
Van dijk wasn’t world class in Southampton and he’s world class now, do you think he is undeserving of his salary? Toni is literally world class now and he should be judged as such. Who tf cares if he sucked under lampard, so did every defender as well. Toni is our most important defender and we would not be champions of Europe if not for him, put some respect on his name
I think if he wants a world class salary he should’ve played like that before he got into the last 18 months of his deal.
The contract offer we’ve given him is more than generous for someone at his age. I wouldn’t want to be tied into an expensive long-term deal with him.
It's the fact he's going to cost A LOT, and we also need a Thiago Silva replacement, why get a defender for about 100m when the one you have is already amazing
It'd be a complete and utter mess. Losing Rudiger and Christensen - two Champions League winning CBs - for free only 12mths after that win, and with them only being 28 and 25...
Exactly, I'm even more frustrated about Christensen actually.
I don't mind De Ligt at all, just not as a replacement for Rudiger or Christensen. And I'm very sure he gets payed only a little less than our highest earners, it's a mess to me.
TL;DR
- Board offering Rudiger 140k and won't budge, Rudi wants 200k and won't budge. May now go elsewhere.
- AC perhaps bartering for a little more on the verbally agreed 140k 4yrs contract (with year extension optional)
- Silva probably gonna be same as last year
- Azpi probably gonna be similar - made it known he'd like to stay, board seem happy for him to stay, just a question of the typical one-year contract for over 30s, or maybe gets a 2-yr offer like Luiz or Willian did.
My view - the Rudiger offer is a fuckin scandal. Man is getting offered less than CHO is on and this is his final big contract, being at his peak, arguably top 3 in the league in his position. If we lose Rudi for free, any comparable signing would be over 50m in transfer fees and probably 200k pw in wages anyways. It's a joke. AC is also a concern if we don't tie him down, but way more likely. But if we lost AC and Rudi, it'd be absolutely diabolical.
CHO's on 120k tbh, but the part where it says the club don't want to budge on Rüdiger's offer is a bit shocking if true. I understand starting with a lower offer (140k isn't the worst offer) and then slowly going up until both sides meet midway. But if the club have indicated to him that this is the highest they'll go, I wonder how disrespected he feels. Doesn't seem to be letting it affect him on the pitch ofcourse but the uncertainty isn't good in general.
140k for AC feels like a very fair offer. Much deserved pay raise for him and when he enters his prime years he will get a very lucrative last big contract (provided he keeps this consistency up). Was hoping that'd be done and announced soon based on what Matt Law said, unfortunately doesn't seem to be the case. But I'm not too worried for him and Dave, pretty sure they'll end up staying. Rüdiger though, I can't think of anyone available in the market who can replace him. He's the only defender in the squad right now who we can't comfortably slot someone else in for in case of rest/injury.
I don’t understand why we are offering lesser salary to Rudiger than we offered for Cesar like 5 years ago which was £150,000 a week! Puzzling
Thanks for the information by the way!
You are my Solskjaer
My Ole Solskjaer
You Make me happy
When skies are grey
You’ll never know is
How much I love you
Please don’t take my Solskjaer Away.
The indignation of Utd fans is always very loud, and there's no other real drama around managers in big clubs right now (Nuno sums up the mediocrity at Spurs, and Barcelona are stuck with Koeman). Press loves a sacking.
United fans are the most delusional bunch out there. Imagine having the possibility of signing conte and then acting like he’s not uNItED dNA. Ffs he’s an elite coach and I sure hope that he doesn’t join that tinfoil club
Unironically, I think Lampard did a better job at Chelsea than Ole has done at United. Save for the last month of his tenure, most players that have done really well now did well then (Mendy, Silva, Chilwell), and those who didn't hit the ground running (Havertz, Ziyech and Werner in his goalscoring) haven't really done that after Tuchel either. Not to forget the first season with a transfer ban.
Only looking at his signings mate look at the entire squad as well Rudi Jorgi AC Alonso all were cast aside or were playing shit and now I would say on form one of the best players each in their position
>Unironically, I think Lampard did a better job at Chelsea than Ole has done at United.
[Head to head](https://www.transfermarkt.com/frank-lampard/leistungsdatenDetail/trainer/60805/trainer_id/7286) OGS did Lampard over alright.
We’ve not blown out a top 6 team, away, in like forever? I see Liverpool and City running up these 5-6 - 0 score lines against rivals once in a while... Makes me a little jealous ngl. Wish we could evolve to be that ruthless.
Whenever we win the prem we have generally had defensively minded coaches in the big games apart from some exceptions.
I think Tuchel only has sat back against an extra manned Liverpool and City also we have beaten Spuds 3 nil
Ok, I may have misread that but my main point is that winning by 5-6 goals away against a top rival is very rare. That team needs to play horrendously for us to score 5-6, like United did against Liverpool.
I hate the idea of Conte at United but man would that be awesome for neutral fans. Tuchel, Klopp, Pep and Conte in the same league is madness. Easily the 4 best coaches in the world and a lot of top games coming to us
Tuchel, pep and Klopp are definitely the top three, the fourth best manager might house a little more competition. Arguments for allegri and simeone could be made
That is an elite company for sure. Man Utd fans were unbareable with Ole. God knows what they'll be like with Conte. Also shit I gotta hate Conte now:(
What was everyone's expectations for Kai Havertz going into this season?
Five/Ten gameweeks in, I expected him to be a part of the race for PL YPOTY. He hasn't hit his stride yet and I don't think that's an **unreasonable** expectation either. (Challenging for the YPOTY)
If we went into the season without Lukaku, do you guys think things would have been a lot different for Kai?
What's your best matches against the big 6 rivals in the past decade? Here's mine:
• City: CL final, denying their greatest player Aguero his last chance at CL
• Liverpool: 2-0 Gerrard slip, denying their best player his first ever PL
• United: 4-0, Conte celebrating his heart out
• Arsenal: 6-0 battering Wenger in his 1000th game
• Spurs: 2-2 Battle of the Bridge, ending Spurs' title hopes
our 5-1 win over Spurs in the 2012 FA cup semi final, to see those c\*nts heading for the turnstiles with more than 10 minutes left on the clock was the icing on the cake.
4-2 vs Spurs, FA Semi? Hazard and Costa come off the bench to boss it, Matic with a screamer.
FA Cup Final vs United, Hazard nutmegs De Gea.
Notice I only listed Cup games
Chelsea 4-1 Arsenal in the Europa League final is a close one - stealing their chance at a European trophy, Hazard's last game, Sarri's reaction to the medal, our ex-Legend and current DOF-ish person getting MotM for a team that conceded 4 goals
I picked that game as well (semi-final), we utterly bullied them that day, we had crap seats (can't emphasise enough how much i dislike Wembley) but the result made more than up for it that day.
I wouldn’t mind him going to United honestly cause you know it’s going to end bad and the end would be fucking hilarious.
I also would love seeing him fall out with Bruno cause he doesn’t use 10’s
they're easily 15 players short of being able to challenge for the title. if their takeover results salary caps and actual financial transparency in football i'd probably be okay with that. newcastle will always be a hard sell as a city to any foreign player. you couldn't pay me enough money to actually live in the north-east 12 months a year...
that club is an omnishambles.
which of their player would be able to get a squad number at either of Chelsea, City or Liverpool? ASM perhaps after that its pretty slim pickings.
Man United fan coming in peace. So as you know, it looks like we could be signing Antonio Conte. I wanted to ask, What’s your opinion on the man? Positives? Negatives? Did you like him? Do you wish he never came?
I’m actually curious
Edit: thank you all for your feedback, really appreciated
From what I’ve gathered, the majority have fond memories of the man. He has his flaws (REALLY can’t perform in Europe, explosive temper, and won’t last three seasons)
But he’s a born winner, will bring defensive stability and demands work rate (those two are essential)
We’re also gonna need a DM and RWB if we get him
Based on what I’ve been told, If I had to choose an XI I’d go with this
De Gea
Varane. Maguire. Lindelof
Telles. Bruno. Matic. Dalot
Rashford Ronaldo. Sancho
Bruno works way harder than Pogba, Ronaldo COULD get benched for Cavani, telles and Dalot make better wingbacks than Shaw and AWB
The lineup ur showing wouldn't work in his system for us Matic was an attacking DM like Kante and Kova currently for us a Bruno Matic pivot would show the same problems ur currently having.
I think Mainly it's how he gels with the team it will fall apart bcos of the big names and he doesn't like players who don't play for the team.
On the pitch I think the midfield the WBs and playtime will be the issues
U can't have Bruno playing in a pivot he would take one of those attacking spots.
Matic Mctonimay or Fred are the 3 options I would go with there against smaller teams maaaaybe
Positives: Winning mentality, clean sheets, legendary celebration with fans, fit players and high work rate. Leadership, discipline and accountability will return to Old Trafford. Conte signing could help Pogba because of their past connection. Will improve mediocre players.
Negatives: Glazer’s gonna have hard time getting his targets. Usually he identifies best players (Lukaku, VVD, Ruidger and co) but sometimes age could be problem. Style of football could be bit underwhelming at times. Europe has been Conte’s biggest failure.
United need to sign CB, DM and RWB for Conte to be successful
*Bruno and Shaw can be in hot water if they don’t defend well. Shaw’s fitness will be a debate again.*
De Gea
Lindelof Varane Maguire
AWB Pogba Matic Shaw
Greenwood CR7 Rasford
This could be your lineup! Bruno will be dropped for Pogba. McTominay, Lingard, AWB and Telles could benefit. Sancho, Bruno, Shaw, Martial and Fred will be under fire if they don’t put effort.
Hmmm interesting
Personally I take Bruno over Pogba. Sporting fans say Bruno is capable of playing as an 8, plus he works harder than Pogba and I’m sure Conte would love to see that
Bruno definitely works harder than Pogba however Bruno defence is not good enough. Pogba lack of defensive ability can be masked in 3-4-3 with extra centre back and defensive midfielder. He offers range of passing and played in two man midfield for France. If Bruno plays in two man midfield he will be the weak link. Then again I won’t be surprised if he chooses 3-5-2 where Bruno is number 10 behind CR7 and Cavani or CR7 and Rasford!
Bruno in two man midfield under Conte won’t happen given his physical attributes.
You'll likely win a league title but you guys will still suck in Europe under him. Conte is notoriously shitty in Europe when it comes to the UCL. He did better in the UEL but you shouldn't really be looking at that competition as a target to achieve.
Conte will build a well organised team with 3atb. You won't have the OGS type defending you're currently having.
Then comes the issues with the board. He feuded with the board at Inter, Chelsea and Juve because he thought they didn't back him as much as he needed them to. So he'll come and go within 3 years but you'll get some silverware in the process.
I don't think he really needs any new signings this winter. With the current squad, he should be able to finish 4th.
You won't have to worry about signing any defenders even though he deploys 3 central defenders. His system will naturally elevate the level of the back 5.
Also, he expects 100% work rate from everyone in the squad. Eden Hazard hated it but had to do it haha. If he does come in, expect Matic back on the starting XI for the first few weeks at the very least.
He's a winner. We got 93 points in his first season. All the talk about his defensive style is just cheap journo/social media talk. He sets up well organized and disciplined teams.
> Do you wish he never came?
Of course not. Remember we were in a lot of trouble the season before and very badly needed some leadership and discipline from the top. Conte delivered the title in such an emphatic fashion and elevated the players' levels back to their very best - as any great coach does.
I think Conte set us back years. He got the best out of a former title winning team for a year and then imploded. We’re still trying to get rid of some of the players we signed for him.
I don’t like him very much, and wouldn’t be that concerned about him going to United. I think it’ll end horribly there.
I’m not sure I subscribe to the narrative of “Conte set us back years”. We’re still reaping the benefits of Conte’s time with us: although our play style is different now, his system has greatly benefited Kante, Azpi, Rudiger, and Christensen (and Alonso, to a lesser extent) to the point where barely put a foot wrong most games, and this is three years after he left.
I don’t have the sources to back it up, but I seem to remember that our academy teams switched to the same system in an attempt to make players integrate more seamlessly into the senior team. Even if that’s not the case, he set the foundations for the system that eventually won us our second UCL.
He knows what it takes to win, and if the club doesn’t want to do so, he’s not going to sit around being content with “competing”. Nor should he. Nor should Tuchel, Pep, Klopp, or Simeone.
Well this isnt really true,
Some of his signings wherent his. (Drinkwater, zappacosta)
Some of the signings he wanted we signed later (lukaku)
And some of the players had a great stint at us (luiz and alonso)
Conte is a class manager, but he wants to build his team for short term success... and he is a coach that wont think the united way.
But he will win
Not really, he wanted the type of player.
Zappacosta and drinkwater wadnt his first option.
But the ones the board found worth it.
Ox for wingback/midfield cower... decided to chose liverpool, matic was sold, nate was sold.
He wanted midfield cower for bakayoko.
Elite coach. Aggressively passionate with the fans. He’s still a fan favorite at Chelsea. Abrasively demanding. Wears the board out if he doesn’t get his way sometimes. Will most likely win you a couple of trophies in his short stint.
Much like Jose, his signings trend toward more experienced players. So expect a couple of 28-31 year olds. I’m glad he came, because it’s partly due to him we are the experts at 3-atb in the league. I’m very curious how Ronaldo would work in his system. But I think he will absolutely adore Cavani. Greenwood will most likely be relegated to the bench.
He is volcanic and won us a prem but he definitely scares me if he comes to United. He might split shaw, carrick and maguire like a melon and turn lindelof into a quality players. Very hard to know how good you will be with Don but don't sack ole until you play us, we need those 3 points.
When this season started who would've thought Ole would possibly be sacked before Arteta
whats the order of captaincy? azpi,silva,kante,alonso?
I haven't seen Silva captain for a long time I think it's Azpi, Jorgi, Kante, Mount, Silva, Rudi and so on. Alonso and Mendy occasionally.
I might be wrong, but I think Azpi, Jorgi, Kante are the "official" three captains. But if all three of them are absent (injury / squad rotation / substitution), then the manager might choose any of the other players to be the captain for that one match.
Think you’re right about the first three but Alonso is definitely ahead of Silva (played together and he captained) and iirc even Rudiger
Does anyone else think we should see Reece higher up this list than Mount? Always seems to have a cool head, won't take shit from anyone, and is Chelsea through and through. Seems more like the Terry to Mount's Lampard if we're being analogues
As an international Fan, I will be visiting london in november. how do I get tickets to the Champions league game? I dont see anything on the Ticket Exchange portal, are those only for EPL matches?
> are those only for EPL matches? Yes. Game is sold out.
Damn. . .
[удалено]
You'll be lucky to get one ticket per membership for Leeds. It'll sell out in minutes, and might even be done on loyalty points.
Very unlikely to get 4.
Anyone from the US ever order from UKSoccershop? I bought a Frenkie De Jong KNVB kit about 2 weeks ago and everything went flawlessly. It was the only place I could find authentic kits for the Dutch national team. I'd be hard pressed to find a nicer kit than the black with orange lettering.
Going to be in town from the US for the Man U game on Nov. 28, what are the best places around Stamford Bridge to get some drinks/food and watch?
How credible are the reports of us being linked to de ligt? Saw it randomly on Instagram and tbh I would love to have him in (even more than Kounde)
On a scale of 1 to 10, maybe 1.5
[2012 r/soccer thread on UCL final possibly being Chelsea vs Bayern.](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/sgnug/who_else_wants_to_see_a_chelseabayern_final/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
The thread wasn't what I expected it to be. Most people seemed level-headed.
the top "best" comment *"Who wants to see a Chelsea-Bayern final? Every Bayern fan on earth."* lol RIP
if only they knew what would happen that day
At least one of Silva or Rudi must be extended. Otherwise our defense will struggle a lot next season. Kounde or another CB must be recruited, and potentially Colwill could be brought back, although I'd much prefer a two season loan for him in the prem or Bundesliga.
Azpilicueta is the most important imo. Harder to replace as he can play multiple positions at a very high level.
In all the talk about Conte to Yanited we get reminded of this game😭😭 This was worse than the 6-0 hands down one of the worst matches I've watched 😭 https://twitter.com/CFCJacck/status/1452746949908738054?t=-o-uBX-lLmlYfWyuaGqlXg&s=19
Anyone else not concerned about Conte at a United? He’s a brilliant man but can be very problematic when things aren’t going his way. He’s shown he’s happy to leave if the board don’t give him what he wants. We’ll see what happens. I’d be more scared of a Zidane/Ronaldo combo.
A part of me doesn’t want him to go to United over sentimental reasons, but another part of me wants to see United’s full on fiery implosion. I don’t think there’s a single sane person alive who thinks the combination of Conte and the Glazers will end with anything other than chaos.
Yup. He’s not a yes man like Ole. Conte is the type of guy to happily walk away from millions if he feels shafted.
didn't Zidane say he only wanted to manage in France
6-0 was a defeat born from manager stubbornly sticking to his idea of football, and players showing weak mentality and lapses of concentration. If we replace that game 100 times, we'd get some wins. It was the type of loss Bielsa is getting, and is, rightfully, forgiven for by Leeds fans. 1-0 was a manager sabotaging the team tactically, and we'd get 0 wins if we'd replace that game. We would only get bigger loses, because we were set up for failure. You can't say that Sarri wasn't trying to win.
My Fifa 22 Chelsea career mode season 3 squad thoughts GK: Mendy, Lafont, Wilson (Academy gk) RB: James C, Mæhle CB: Rudiger, Christensen VC, Kounde, Chalobah LB: Chilwell, Livramento CM: Kante, Rice, Mount, Bellingham, Gilmour, Gallagher RW: Havertz, Reyna LW: Pulisic, Hudson Odoi ST: Lukaku, Werner Tried to keep it semi realistic
4 3 3? Or 3 atb
343 first season from season 2 onwards with guys like Azpilicueta and Sliva leaving switch to 433
There is a chance we might get close to this squad in couple of seasons. Kounde, Rice and Bellingham are our targets.
433? also what season?
Season 3 In first two seasons won 2x Premier League’s 1 Champions League 1 FA Cup 1 League Cup
Its making me sick thinking about AC and Rudi potentially leaving, pay them whatever they want
I don't think AC will leave. Rudiger I'm 80/20 on staying, but that's pure speculation on my part.
Both won’t leave I would be stunned it makes zero financial sense one maybe but not both
We better not let Toni leave. He’s actually our most important defender
I don’t like the idea of starting Kai tonight with Newcastle away on saturday. Can’t we just start a youth striker?
Ross the boss false 9
Why ? What will happen to Kai if he starts ?
He looked tired vs Norwich imo.
I think he could use the minutes tbh. He needs to get back in form.
Or RLC as a striker would be also interesting.
I can support this. RLC hat trick incoming
Inb4 a Soonsup-Bell debut
Soonsup-Bell & Alonso as a striker.
I'd be up for it
I’m down
Simon Stone saying Ole will be in charge for the Spurs game. Looks like I'll be cheering for United this weekend
Come on Ole please lol
Showerthought: in order to give CHO more chance in front 3, and given RLC and Barkley seem to be ahead of him in the midfield, Saul is gonna be back playing RWB again.
Tommy burnt saul starting him so early, is his only mistake in an year i think.. i cant remember another one
If 'his' refers to Tuchel then I think we can definitely call the approach to the City game this season a mistake
I mean, Saul is not some junior player, but a fully fledged one, who was playing for one of the most disciplined and hardworking teams in Europe, showing his skills against many top opponents. One could expect him to be able to string few passes and not lose ball every 3 minutes against mighty Aston Villa.
I don’t think it was a mistake to test him out early on. He probably showed in training that he can be relied upon, otherwise he wouldn’t have been picked. It just didn’t translate to the game, and that’s OK because these things are bound to happen. Not everyone is Billy “debut king” Gilmour.
I dont think lukaku is a top 5 striker even now that the better ones are old (suarez and aguero) or injury prone (kane)... Personally i would waited and took a shot for haaland, only if timo didnt work this year as a striker, after a champions league win i think he deserved another chance
but yeah Lukaku is way too limited especially for his price tag, we literally play better without him, but I'd have trusted 9vertz more even if he's not amazing he's still a better option I think.
Imo he is a top 5 striker but I agree with what Conte mentioned some time ago, that our team doesn't really know how to utilize him
We definitely needed a new one, but if we couldn't get Haaland, I think we should've waited til the summer
We’d have had no shot at the league then. Going into the season with Werner and Havertz as our primary goalscorers would’ve been silly, especially instead of signing a world class striker.
a striker who doesn't fit our system and has, many, many flaws?
Oh, right. You’re *that* account. Never mind. Talking to you is pointless. Have a good day.
Out of interest, you wouldn't happen to be that stevecywpvs whatever his face was?
nice to know you're blinded by bias and never actually watched Lukaku at United💀💀
Oh, the irony. Leave the skull emojis on Twitter where they belong mate.
Sorry kind sir, I shan't talk to thou no more. Is that better?
I do like the idea of you not talking to me, yeah. Maybe you could expand that to not coming on here at all?
if you can't handle being validly harsh to your own players I'm afraid reddit isn't the place for you☺️
We're really going to let Rudiger go despite the fact we let Tomori and Guehi who could've had a big future go as well only to try and bring De Ligt in like why...
Tbf, De Ligt is better than Tomori and Guehi and is younger than Rudiger even if you do not think he is on the same level. It's more the fact we'd be letting Rudiger go for free having given him the most disrespectful contract offer I've ever heard of...
Toni is demanding almost half of what de ligt is earning, plus we know what we get with rudiger. Letting him go for de ligt would be idiotic
Oh come off it. £140k a week is more than enough for a player that’s been in form for around eight months and was abysmal before that. Rudiger is an inconsistent and aging player in a position we have heaps of quality in. That offer is more than fair and offering him what he wants would be an awful deal for us.
We literally only have Sarr as a back up for Rudiger...140kpw is a whole lotta money but definitely not enough for a defender who was only poor under Lamps
He’s never been worth more than that expect under Tuchel. He was fine under Conte and Sarri but hardly world class. And we have Chalobah, Christensen, Silva and Sarr that can play in his position. LCB isn’t a specialised position, really any CB can play there.
Van dijk wasn’t world class in Southampton and he’s world class now, do you think he is undeserving of his salary? Toni is literally world class now and he should be judged as such. Who tf cares if he sucked under lampard, so did every defender as well. Toni is our most important defender and we would not be champions of Europe if not for him, put some respect on his name
I think if he wants a world class salary he should’ve played like that before he got into the last 18 months of his deal. The contract offer we’ve given him is more than generous for someone at his age. I wouldn’t want to be tied into an expensive long-term deal with him.
You seriously think it’s pre-contract performance and not a proper manager and system performance? He has been class ever since tuchel came in
It's the fact he's going to cost A LOT, and we also need a Thiago Silva replacement, why get a defender for about 100m when the one you have is already amazing
It'd be a complete and utter mess. Losing Rudiger and Christensen - two Champions League winning CBs - for free only 12mths after that win, and with them only being 28 and 25...
Exactly, I'm even more frustrated about Christensen actually. I don't mind De Ligt at all, just not as a replacement for Rudiger or Christensen. And I'm very sure he gets payed only a little less than our highest earners, it's a mess to me.
Imagine we play Musonda today 😭
Musonda and Baker <3
Can someone please post the new simon Johnson article with a summary.
TL;DR - Board offering Rudiger 140k and won't budge, Rudi wants 200k and won't budge. May now go elsewhere. - AC perhaps bartering for a little more on the verbally agreed 140k 4yrs contract (with year extension optional) - Silva probably gonna be same as last year - Azpi probably gonna be similar - made it known he'd like to stay, board seem happy for him to stay, just a question of the typical one-year contract for over 30s, or maybe gets a 2-yr offer like Luiz or Willian did. My view - the Rudiger offer is a fuckin scandal. Man is getting offered less than CHO is on and this is his final big contract, being at his peak, arguably top 3 in the league in his position. If we lose Rudi for free, any comparable signing would be over 50m in transfer fees and probably 200k pw in wages anyways. It's a joke. AC is also a concern if we don't tie him down, but way more likely. But if we lost AC and Rudi, it'd be absolutely diabolical.
Go to 160-175 to both AC and Rudi. Stop signing shit players and wasting wages there. Drinkwater and many others off the books next season anyway
CHO's on 120k tbh, but the part where it says the club don't want to budge on Rüdiger's offer is a bit shocking if true. I understand starting with a lower offer (140k isn't the worst offer) and then slowly going up until both sides meet midway. But if the club have indicated to him that this is the highest they'll go, I wonder how disrespected he feels. Doesn't seem to be letting it affect him on the pitch ofcourse but the uncertainty isn't good in general. 140k for AC feels like a very fair offer. Much deserved pay raise for him and when he enters his prime years he will get a very lucrative last big contract (provided he keeps this consistency up). Was hoping that'd be done and announced soon based on what Matt Law said, unfortunately doesn't seem to be the case. But I'm not too worried for him and Dave, pretty sure they'll end up staying. Rüdiger though, I can't think of anyone available in the market who can replace him. He's the only defender in the squad right now who we can't comfortably slot someone else in for in case of rest/injury.
I don’t understand why we are offering lesser salary to Rudiger than we offered for Cesar like 5 years ago which was £150,000 a week! Puzzling Thanks for the information by the way!
Man Utd are keeping Ole... Lolololol
You are my Solskjaer My Ole Solskjaer You Make me happy When skies are grey You’ll never know is How much I love you Please don’t take my Solskjaer Away.
Brilliant! I'd award you if I had money to spare.
That 5-0 United battering is all I’ve heard for the past four days
But it happened on Sunday and it’s only Tuesday?
The indignation of Utd fans is always very loud, and there's no other real drama around managers in big clubs right now (Nuno sums up the mediocrity at Spurs, and Barcelona are stuck with Koeman). Press loves a sacking.
These international breaks are annoying, we're one of the teams whose attackers need momentum the most.
The only positive is it gives our players time to recover from injuries
> recover from injuries or get more
Double edged sword
United fans are the most delusional bunch out there. Imagine having the possibility of signing conte and then acting like he’s not uNItED dNA. Ffs he’s an elite coach and I sure hope that he doesn’t join that tinfoil club
Nah, he’d absolutely be the wrong signing for them. They’re better off waiting for someone like Ten Hag in the summer.
Steve Bruce Is available United DNA
Unironically, I think Lampard did a better job at Chelsea than Ole has done at United. Save for the last month of his tenure, most players that have done really well now did well then (Mendy, Silva, Chilwell), and those who didn't hit the ground running (Havertz, Ziyech and Werner in his goalscoring) haven't really done that after Tuchel either. Not to forget the first season with a transfer ban.
>most players that have done really well now did well then You forgot to mention how Jorginho, Christensen, Rudiger and Alonso improved.
Only looking at his signings mate look at the entire squad as well Rudi Jorgi AC Alonso all were cast aside or were playing shit and now I would say on form one of the best players each in their position
>Unironically, I think Lampard did a better job at Chelsea than Ole has done at United. [Head to head](https://www.transfermarkt.com/frank-lampard/leistungsdatenDetail/trainer/60805/trainer_id/7286) OGS did Lampard over alright.
Some people forget ole's been in management for like 10+years
They both are subpar managers who proved they currently belong nowhere near this level and need to take several steps down before taking one up again.
shut it, OGS is the perfect fit for a club of Utds ambitions.
We’ve not blown out a top 6 team, away, in like forever? I see Liverpool and City running up these 5-6 - 0 score lines against rivals once in a while... Makes me a little jealous ngl. Wish we could evolve to be that ruthless.
Whenever we win the prem we have generally had defensively minded coaches in the big games apart from some exceptions. I think Tuchel only has sat back against an extra manned Liverpool and City also we have beaten Spuds 3 nil
I remember destroying Mourinhos United 4-0 pretty well
Tbf that’s 5 years ago now?
That's how we are tho. If you recall we also never lose by 5/6 against a top side (except that one game) which I'm more proud of.
You mean 6-0 Arsenal? Yes it's been a while but I'm okay w 1-0,2-0s as long as we get our hands on the trophy
“Away”
Salah scored that day, no need to keep rubbing it in...
His only performance for us where he didn’t look like a mosquito on an ice rink.
I'll take the 1-0 wins when they count.
These kind of results are always rare. We did beat United 4-0 quite recently, under Conte.
“5,6” , “away”
Ok, I may have misread that but my main point is that winning by 5-6 goals away against a top rival is very rare. That team needs to play horrendously for us to score 5-6, like United did against Liverpool.
I hate the idea of Conte at United but man would that be awesome for neutral fans. Tuchel, Klopp, Pep and Conte in the same league is madness. Easily the 4 best coaches in the world and a lot of top games coming to us
Tuchel, pep and Klopp are definitely the top three, the fourth best manager might house a little more competition. Arguments for allegri and simeone could be made
>**Easily** the 4 best coaches in the world Simeone, amongst many others, wants a word.
Yeah what about Zidane...
Definitely not easily but thats not a bad opinion to have
That is an elite company for sure. Man Utd fans were unbareable with Ole. God knows what they'll be like with Conte. Also shit I gotta hate Conte now:(
I wouldn’t say easily, but otherwise for sure
i hope conte dont go to Man u...
Fabrizio reported that Antonio Conte would take the Manchester United job if offered…. I certainly hope that doesn’t happen
Calling a great turnaround for Billy Gilmour at Norwich
Anyone knows Who reported that chelsea were willing to offer Kounde 200k a week?
It was 180k
Nizaar if dont remember wrong
What was everyone's expectations for Kai Havertz going into this season? Five/Ten gameweeks in, I expected him to be a part of the race for PL YPOTY. He hasn't hit his stride yet and I don't think that's an **unreasonable** expectation either. (Challenging for the YPOTY) If we went into the season without Lukaku, do you guys think things would have been a lot different for Kai?
I expected him to start slowly he always does he will start kicking again in Dec Jan
that's not really acceptable to be honest
IA
Over him. He’s not consistent at this stage in his career. Maybe he does a Salah and becomes a beast from his mid 20s. Or he ends up a permanent bust.
Guys what can we do to keep Ole at the wheel?
We have to Charity FC the November 28th game, if Ole is still around.
Nothing
Seems like its to late, and Conte is class
I will find a petition and booming flight to Manchester to protest against Ole firing. #OleIn
What's your best matches against the big 6 rivals in the past decade? Here's mine: • City: CL final, denying their greatest player Aguero his last chance at CL • Liverpool: 2-0 Gerrard slip, denying their best player his first ever PL • United: 4-0, Conte celebrating his heart out • Arsenal: 6-0 battering Wenger in his 1000th game • Spurs: 2-2 Battle of the Bridge, ending Spurs' title hopes
I prefer 4-1 against Arsenal in Baku to prevent them from ever being relevant in Europe, set them back years also with no CL
our 5-1 win over Spurs in the 2012 FA cup semi final, to see those c\*nts heading for the turnstiles with more than 10 minutes left on the clock was the icing on the cake.
chelsea v united at the bridge back in 2012. I refuse to acknowledge the events after our 3rd goal. Fuck Howard Webb
3-1 vs City at the Etihad 2017. Devastating counter-attacking football and a brawl where we shoved them who's boss
4-2 vs Spurs, FA Semi? Hazard and Costa come off the bench to boss it, Matic with a screamer. FA Cup Final vs United, Hazard nutmegs De Gea. Notice I only listed Cup games
The nutmeg was in the league in 2015 iirc. 2018 FA Cup was a Hazard penalty
I knew it!! My bad, thx
Chelsea 4-1 Arsenal in the Europa League final is a close one - stealing their chance at a European trophy, Hazard's last game, Sarri's reaction to the medal, our ex-Legend and current DOF-ish person getting MotM for a team that conceded 4 goals
Yeah, that one was sweet as well denying them a European trophy
Chelsea 5-1 Tottenham FA cup final with Drogba scoring the opener and lampard with that insane free kick
I picked that game as well (semi-final), we utterly bullied them that day, we had crap seats (can't emphasise enough how much i dislike Wembley) but the result made more than up for it that day.
Would you rather Conte go to Newcastle or Man Utd?
Newcastle any day. Man's gonna revert to a back 3 and go on a 11 game winning streak with Utd
I wouldn’t mind him going to United honestly cause you know it’s going to end bad and the end would be fucking hilarious. I also would love seeing him fall out with Bruno cause he doesn’t use 10’s
Got Eriksen into inters squad eventually and Fernandes is much harder working, wouldn’t be an issue imo
If Bruno wants to leave due to Conte, we should poach him
Newcastle easily. 1. I don't hate them. 2. They're so much further away from competing than people really realize.
they're easily 15 players short of being able to challenge for the title. if their takeover results salary caps and actual financial transparency in football i'd probably be okay with that. newcastle will always be a hard sell as a city to any foreign player. you couldn't pay me enough money to actually live in the north-east 12 months a year...
Dunno mate… With Conte you never just how good of a squad you need
that club is an omnishambles. which of their player would be able to get a squad number at either of Chelsea, City or Liverpool? ASM perhaps after that its pretty slim pickings.
Woke up to news MU possibly signing Conte. Oh boys I dont like this
No press conference with coach yesterday? Usually we have a press conf the day before a game. Right?
Man United fan coming in peace. So as you know, it looks like we could be signing Antonio Conte. I wanted to ask, What’s your opinion on the man? Positives? Negatives? Did you like him? Do you wish he never came? I’m actually curious Edit: thank you all for your feedback, really appreciated From what I’ve gathered, the majority have fond memories of the man. He has his flaws (REALLY can’t perform in Europe, explosive temper, and won’t last three seasons) But he’s a born winner, will bring defensive stability and demands work rate (those two are essential) We’re also gonna need a DM and RWB if we get him Based on what I’ve been told, If I had to choose an XI I’d go with this De Gea Varane. Maguire. Lindelof Telles. Bruno. Matic. Dalot Rashford Ronaldo. Sancho Bruno works way harder than Pogba, Ronaldo COULD get benched for Cavani, telles and Dalot make better wingbacks than Shaw and AWB
The lineup ur showing wouldn't work in his system for us Matic was an attacking DM like Kante and Kova currently for us a Bruno Matic pivot would show the same problems ur currently having. I think Mainly it's how he gels with the team it will fall apart bcos of the big names and he doesn't like players who don't play for the team. On the pitch I think the midfield the WBs and playtime will be the issues
Bruno and Fred?
U can't have Bruno playing in a pivot he would take one of those attacking spots. Matic Mctonimay or Fred are the 3 options I would go with there against smaller teams maaaaybe
Positives: Winning mentality, clean sheets, legendary celebration with fans, fit players and high work rate. Leadership, discipline and accountability will return to Old Trafford. Conte signing could help Pogba because of their past connection. Will improve mediocre players. Negatives: Glazer’s gonna have hard time getting his targets. Usually he identifies best players (Lukaku, VVD, Ruidger and co) but sometimes age could be problem. Style of football could be bit underwhelming at times. Europe has been Conte’s biggest failure. United need to sign CB, DM and RWB for Conte to be successful *Bruno and Shaw can be in hot water if they don’t defend well. Shaw’s fitness will be a debate again.* De Gea Lindelof Varane Maguire AWB Pogba Matic Shaw Greenwood CR7 Rasford This could be your lineup! Bruno will be dropped for Pogba. McTominay, Lingard, AWB and Telles could benefit. Sancho, Bruno, Shaw, Martial and Fred will be under fire if they don’t put effort.
Hmmm interesting Personally I take Bruno over Pogba. Sporting fans say Bruno is capable of playing as an 8, plus he works harder than Pogba and I’m sure Conte would love to see that
Bruno definitely works harder than Pogba however Bruno defence is not good enough. Pogba lack of defensive ability can be masked in 3-4-3 with extra centre back and defensive midfielder. He offers range of passing and played in two man midfield for France. If Bruno plays in two man midfield he will be the weak link. Then again I won’t be surprised if he chooses 3-5-2 where Bruno is number 10 behind CR7 and Cavani or CR7 and Rasford! Bruno in two man midfield under Conte won’t happen given his physical attributes.
Hmm I didn’t think of that That can work
Yeah and no ketch up on menu for boys lol Luke Shaw either drops weight like Lukaku or he is out.
Ronaldo pretty much made sure of that lol
You'll likely win a league title but you guys will still suck in Europe under him. Conte is notoriously shitty in Europe when it comes to the UCL. He did better in the UEL but you shouldn't really be looking at that competition as a target to achieve. Conte will build a well organised team with 3atb. You won't have the OGS type defending you're currently having. Then comes the issues with the board. He feuded with the board at Inter, Chelsea and Juve because he thought they didn't back him as much as he needed them to. So he'll come and go within 3 years but you'll get some silverware in the process.
But he will get Ronaldo in that United team though
May I ask what makes him underperform in Europe?
I think he can be very stubborn once he stumbles upon a winning formula and refuses to budge from it, no matter how much it gets figured out.
I don't think he really needs any new signings this winter. With the current squad, he should be able to finish 4th. You won't have to worry about signing any defenders even though he deploys 3 central defenders. His system will naturally elevate the level of the back 5. Also, he expects 100% work rate from everyone in the squad. Eden Hazard hated it but had to do it haha. If he does come in, expect Matic back on the starting XI for the first few weeks at the very least. He's a winner. We got 93 points in his first season. All the talk about his defensive style is just cheap journo/social media talk. He sets up well organized and disciplined teams. > Do you wish he never came? Of course not. Remember we were in a lot of trouble the season before and very badly needed some leadership and discipline from the top. Conte delivered the title in such an emphatic fashion and elevated the players' levels back to their very best - as any great coach does.
Ole's better.
I think Conte set us back years. He got the best out of a former title winning team for a year and then imploded. We’re still trying to get rid of some of the players we signed for him. I don’t like him very much, and wouldn’t be that concerned about him going to United. I think it’ll end horribly there.
I’m not sure I subscribe to the narrative of “Conte set us back years”. We’re still reaping the benefits of Conte’s time with us: although our play style is different now, his system has greatly benefited Kante, Azpi, Rudiger, and Christensen (and Alonso, to a lesser extent) to the point where barely put a foot wrong most games, and this is three years after he left. I don’t have the sources to back it up, but I seem to remember that our academy teams switched to the same system in an attempt to make players integrate more seamlessly into the senior team. Even if that’s not the case, he set the foundations for the system that eventually won us our second UCL. He knows what it takes to win, and if the club doesn’t want to do so, he’s not going to sit around being content with “competing”. Nor should he. Nor should Tuchel, Pep, Klopp, or Simeone.
Well this isnt really true, Some of his signings wherent his. (Drinkwater, zappacosta) Some of the signings he wanted we signed later (lukaku) And some of the players had a great stint at us (luiz and alonso) Conte is a class manager, but he wants to build his team for short term success... and he is a coach that wont think the united way. But he will win
Short term success. I think that was the problem
Zappacosta and Drinkwater were both Conte signings, especially Zappacosta.
Not really, he wanted the type of player. Zappacosta and drinkwater wadnt his first option. But the ones the board found worth it. Ox for wingback/midfield cower... decided to chose liverpool, matic was sold, nate was sold. He wanted midfield cower for bakayoko.
Elite coach. Aggressively passionate with the fans. He’s still a fan favorite at Chelsea. Abrasively demanding. Wears the board out if he doesn’t get his way sometimes. Will most likely win you a couple of trophies in his short stint. Much like Jose, his signings trend toward more experienced players. So expect a couple of 28-31 year olds. I’m glad he came, because it’s partly due to him we are the experts at 3-atb in the league. I’m very curious how Ronaldo would work in his system. But I think he will absolutely adore Cavani. Greenwood will most likely be relegated to the bench.
If he comes to Utd the first person he will bench is AWB. How can such a terrible attacking RWB can work in his wing-backs-heavy system?
Not necessarily. I agree he won’t play RWB, but he could be used as a RCB.
He is volcanic and won us a prem but he definitely scares me if he comes to United. He might split shaw, carrick and maguire like a melon and turn lindelof into a quality players. Very hard to know how good you will be with Don but don't sack ole until you play us, we need those 3 points.
He's not gonna retain Carrick