Unfortunately Frimpong just isnt good enough.
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Its also just not a good use of resources. We already have 5 first team CMs - Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones and Endo - so if you can supplement that group with a really good young player rather than go and spend Ā£80m on a new guy then youāre killing two birds with one stone youāve saved money for priority positions and expending the available CMs.
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And the fact its Jones. Some people are ready and waiting to have the most uncharitable view of everything when it comes to him.
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That only makes sense if those 5 are good enough and cover the attributes you need.
We could have 100 CMs but if they canĀ“t pass between the lines, they arenĀ“t doing the job properly
Curtis had a go a Will Wright in the Sunderland game and Rio in this, his head isnāt in it
They could do the job well in Kloppās last season and Slotās first. They didnāt all lose their ability, Slot fucked it up tactically. Its nonsense to suggest that group arenāt capable.
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https://x.com/Gosay20_/status/2082753006127190207
He really needs to spend more time at the gym and/or pay more attention to his diet. He looks completely out of shape, but perhaps he simply lost his motivation and things are now looking up again.
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They had the best winger in the world, the best passing full back in the world (doing their job), the best cb in the world, the best GK in the world and arguably a borderline world class left winger.
ItĀ“s not at all the same scenario.
They have none of that now and the onus is on them to make things happen AND be solid.
How many times we seen Virg give someone a shouting out? Henderson practically made a career out of it. Milner used to dish it out too.
Thereās a new system being implemented and weāll need players on the pitch to lead and hold those standards. Thereās no Virg, no Ali, no Salah, no Konate, no Mac. Basically Szoboslai and Jones are our only two established senior players out there.
You have no idea what is behind either of these but just assume itās because heās got one foot out the door rather than sat Iraola asking him to show more leadership on the pitch or him filling that vacuum and holding standards for the young lads.
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Curtis got into an argument with RioāI assume because Rio was doing way too many risky thingsāand if Rio was going to lose the ball, he should have at least gone after it and tried to win it back. But Rio just stood there- ball watching, and I think thatās what upset Curtis.
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If CJ wants to give out a tongue-lashing or two to help maintain focus and intensity on the pitch, Iām all for it.
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I have it on good authority that Curtis told Dom to stop giving it large on socials because @Redbj is pissed off with his antics.
Dom countered with at least @mattyhurst likes meā¦
It was resolved in the dressing room.
Nothing to worry about.
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Nothing to seeā¦
Just 2 me, me, me players throwing a tantrum at each otherā¦
I see a bunch of people making massive assumptions to confirm their feelings towards certain players.
Wish they all just walked round looking uninterested and not arsed. And if they could stop laughing in photos too.
All getting very silly.
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Without knowing what he was annoyed about and what he was saying it seems a bit pointless to speculate and either condemn or justify it.
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All the issues midfield had can be resolved tactically, because their issues stemmed from how they were used tactically. I said it many times during last season that our setup was weird and not conducive to good midfield play.
Iraola will setup completely differently. His midfielders at Bournemouth were Tyler Adams, Andrew Surman, Ryan Christie, Alex Scott and Lewis Cook - itās not like any of them are incredible passers to advance through the lines but he was successful with them. All of our 5 senior options, possibly apart from Endo, are better players than the Bournemouth ones.
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Lol, donāt get me wrong I am happy to accept this, just not on a baseball pitch, in a pre-season friendly and he didnāt score 
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But to his credit he also made some lung busting runs which he didnāt have to do on a baseball pitch, in a pre season friendly 
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If only we could find a horrible (for the opposition), irritating, defender eating forward to balance things out.
Ah I donĀ“t agree at all that it stemmed only from tactics. You canĀ“t magically setup midfielders with tactics to do things they canĀ“t do because of traits they donĀ“t have. You will never get players like Gravenberch or Szobo to become passing midfielders. The only senior midfielders we have remotely capable of playing like that are Jones and maybe Mac.
Correct, those players are not great passers and you wouldnĀ“t see any of those players playing at a team regularly winning titles and even CLs.
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Right, but my point is Iraola has tactically been working with players who are not the greatest at breaking lines with passes yet he made it work.
All four of our main 4 CMs were top 20 in the league for forward passes, progressive passes and passes into the penalty area and that was during a pretty awful season by their standards. I believe we will see much better versions of them under a man I consider to be a significantly better coach.
And I agree you canāt get them to do things theyāre not capale of but you can hide weaknesses.
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