Still I think if it had been Newcastle or Everton that had done all the leg work on Sanchez when we came in we’d have got him. At the time it was debatable which team was doing better and their manager had a better reputation.
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Amazing how many outlet ran with such verifiable bollocks.
Bodgers has just bought a house 10mins drive from Carrington…!
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Not familiar with the source material, so dont know how reliable any of this is.
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he report states that Rodgers has fallen out with Foxes director of football Jon Rudkin. The club’s recruitment in recent times is said to be proving a particular issue.
If its fake, then the above is an easy thing to write and have people believe it.
However, if it is true, then this has happenened at his last 3 clubs at the very least…
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It’s a bit like his time here. Rogers is a pretty good coach (outside defending set pieces) but terrible at recruitment and apparently terrible at working with those who are tasks with recruitment.
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Rodgers… being Rodgers
I’ll grab me coat
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Poor Gini is getting hammered again for his performances at PSG. Was terrible against Nantes yesterday apparently. The signs were there last season, he was lucky Thiago was the whipping boy because his poor performances went largely unnoticed. The club appear to have got it right again.
On a more positive note, Pedro Chirivella bossed it by all accounts.
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He’ll probably rent it out to the in coming manager.
You can bet your bottom dollar if Rodgers ever managed United that he’d be carrying himself around like Matt Busby had returned, similar to the Shanklyisms when he was appointed as our manager.
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I noticed his pressing stats in his last year with us were way down compared to our league winning season and those stats have dropped even further off the cliff in France.
Possibly he’s just done at the top level.
I’m guessing our stats department had highlighted this during contract negotiations.
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Yeah, but even as not a fan of Gini, it’s still a bit weird how it went so far.
It’s like that PSG midfield went too much into the dogs of war way in midfield in last years. Never thought after a decade of Qatar money in that club, they’d had the likes of Danilo, Gueye, Herrera and Wijnaldum in one season, all competing for the same places. A bit too much I’d say. They’re all in their 30’s. Plus others of different style, but not in great form either in last years, like Paredes and Draxler. Poor Verratti, I say.
By looking for better balance, they perhaps went a bit too much on the opposite side and it now lacks… quality? Not to mention a more in sync style from back to front, more cohesion, better partnerships. But not one of those hard working midfielders are better than what Matuidi played for them at his consistent best.
I can only imagine the likes of Messi, Neymar and Mbappe simply not liking what’s arriving to join the final third out of that midfield, in order to combine with them. Especially technically. That’s not Verratti’s game (even if he’s a natural #8), not what he’s best at (final third, threatening the goal, etc).
Maybe Gini’s best period as the working midfielder at a top side will remain somewhere between 2018 and 2020. Who knows if he can replicate it somewhere else.
As for Chirivella, I often look at Nantes’ results/XI to see if he’s still keeping his starting place. So happy for him, that some of those performances out of nowhere (when he was almost forgotten) for us earned him a move somewhere in the top 5 leagues as a regular starter.
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You have got to be very careful to interpret changes in pressing stats when changing teams. Despite Poch being there, PSG aren’t exactly set up to press. I think Zoran’s take on it is the right one…a desire to flood the midfield with hard working attack dogs to make up for the lack of defending their front 3 do. But if you’re not starting that from the attack then the midfield is a bit of an island and if they’re going to be over run if they try to press. Think what we did to McTominay and Fred in the 5-0. The result is everyone sits in a bit and picks and chooses the opportunities to put pressure on the ball.
Agree PSG don’t press much and have too many lazy players to make it work properly. It follows a trend for Wijnaldum though, even for us he slowed down the year before he left.
Pressures per game
2021/2022: 11.38
2020/2021: 13.01
2019/2020: 14.99
2018/2019: 14.90
2017/2018: 14.52
I think the moment those numbers started dropping off for us we probably decided he wasn’t worth an extension anymore.
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I agree with your general sentiment so dont mean to be too argumentative, but I wonder if those stats dont also reflect a change in the dynamics of our game, one in which teams engaged us less and less and let us have more and more of the ball.
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It’s not easy to compare other midfielders and see if they had a similar drop because of the number of injuries we had. Henderson’s numbers dropped remarkably from over 20 pressures per game down to 9, but he missed much of the campaign with injury and when he did play he was usually at DM or even CB which would obviously mean fewer pressing actions.
202/21 Pressing Numbers
Jordan Henderson: 9.77 (down from 21.39 in 19/20)
Curtis Jones: 17.86 (first season)
Naby Keita: 24.92 (up from 23.52 in 19/20)
James Milner: 17.58 (up from 16.23 in 19/20)
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