[Mihai]

Stop putting the names in that order you bellends

Exactly.

 

[Pexbo]

Scott McTominay is banned for all the people asking why he is absent. 5 yellows = a ban

he served that ban against Newcastle.

 

[poleglass red]

No surprise, as I said. People need to use common sense a bit.

Mctominay is Casemiros backup. Fred is eriksens. You can't just pick one up and put them in place of the other. Ten Hag needs players that suit the roles best, not necessarily always the best performing players if it means shoehorning them out of position. You compete with your competition, not all 11 players.

I'd personally start McT and Casemiro.

 

[Hammondo]

You can say that about most teams? Take Salah and Diaz out of liverpool and its a prerry average team. Haaland, KDB out of city and they would finish midtable too…..

I think city would still be favourites to win the league without those 2.

 

[always_hoping]

Fred starting again?

 

[Sweet Square]

Not too confident on this one. Can see us holding the ball well but getting done the counter. Spurs are awful too watch as well.

 

[Scottynaldinho]

I think city would still be favourites to win the league without those 2.

And who'd replace the goals and chance creation with Sterling and Jesus no longer in the squad?

 

[Scottynaldinho]

Fred farting again?

Fixed.

 

[One Night Only]

Scott McTominay is banned for all the people asking why he is absent. 5 yellows = a ban

love when this happens. Someone is extremely confident and is telling 90% of the forum they're wrong when infact they're the fool.

Didn't know you were allowed on the bench when banned.

 

[Robindinho]

Scott McTominay is banned for all the people asking why he is absent. 5 yellows = a ban

Who's that Mctominay chap on the bench then?

...he served it vs Newcastle.

 

[Strelok]

I did see him. Played like shit. Still is stylistically the only suitable Eriksen backup. Can't just ask McTominay (who is Casemiros backup) to play as a more creative player, doesn't end well.

Fred is the last player I'd consider to be Eriksen backup. Eriksen is about touch, pass, brain. Fred simply has none of those.

 

[Chief123]

Scott McTominay is banned for all the people asking why he is absent. 5 yellows = a ban

You are 1 game too late. He’s available.

 

[Chief123]

And who'd replace the goals and chance creation with Sterling and Jesus no longer in the squad?

Alvarez and Grealish? Alvarez is good enough to walk into most teams in the league.

 

[Speako]

Fred obviously shouldn’t be anywhere near the starting line up, but fully understand we’ve got to also manage Chelsea away at the weekend, when he surely won’t play.

 

[NewYorkRed]

Are you serious?

Liverpool would still have VVD (best defender in world), Alisson (arguably best keeper), Robertson, Thiago, Fabinho, Trent, Jota all world class on their day.

Can’t believe you could even suggest City are bang average without KDB and Haaland. They literally just won the league without either of them the season before last. Very silly comparison.

You said spurs would be midtable without those two. Liverpool would absolutely be midtable without Salah and Diaz (heck they’re midtable just without Mane).

City ok maybe I jumped the gun I will admit but they still would not be near as good without those two.

 

[bosnian_red]

Fred doesnt play 8 for Brazil and those bloody numbers are the legacy of football in the 90's. Try applying those to Man City or Liverpool team....

It applies even for them. Pep wouldn't put Rodri in one of the more advanced positions nor would be put Bernardo or KdB in the holding position.

Fred plays as an 8 for Brazil, what are you on about? He plays next to Casemiro who is the defensive midfielder.

 

[NewYorkRed]

I think city would still be favourites to win the league without those 2.

No you’re right I admitted that I jumped the gun on the city comp in my other reply.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Whilst Eriksen provides us with creativity from deep, I believe we were able to finish stronger against Newcastle because we had the legs of of Fred, who was running tirelessly from start to finish.

With Spurs going with a 3 in the middle, I feel having Fred in the engine room with Casemiro will hopefully work in our favour.

 

[2 man midfield]

This place!!

Two weeks ago the most vocal posters wanted Casemiro and Fred Midfield with Eriksen in place of Bruno. We have 2/3 of that midfield and the moaning is non-stop.

Understandable that Fred had a poor game on Sunday, but that was only one game. Nothing says he can't play a great one today. Give the player a chance FFS!

What about everything we’ve seen for the past 4 years?

 

[Chief123]

Whilst Eriksen provides us with creativity from deep, I believe we were able to finish stronger against Newcastle because we had the legs of of Fred, who was running tirelessly from start to finish.

With Spurs going with a 3 in the middle, I feel having Fred in the engine room with Casemiro will hopefully work in our favour.

The problem I have is Fred can actually seriously hurt us today with his tendency to give the ball away so often. His poor passing and decision making could lead to fatal counter attacks which Kane and Son specialise in.

I just don’t trust Fred with the ball anywhere on the pitch.

 

[bosnian_red]

Fred is the last player I'd consider to be Eriksen backup. Eriksen is about touch, pass, brain. Fred simply has none of those.

Ok but we are looking at positions/roles and the players we have. Casemiro is the DM. Ten Hag uses a ball player next to that position. Someone who can move forward with it, link up in attack... Mctominay doesn't provide any of that in terms of on the ball. He's better defensively than Fred, a better ball winner... But that's Casemiro. So Fred plays.

 

[Borys]

Don’t love that lineup but not really sure he could’ve started with a better one. We really are missing Eriksen and I never like it when Rashford’s playing up top. Lets hope we still smash them !

Yep. With Eriksen and Martial out, this is as good as it gets. Maybe McTominay for Fred, but considering Casemiro plays with Fred regularly, I trust ETH on this one.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Scott McTominay is banned for all the people asking why he is absent. 5 yellows = a ban

He served his suspension against Newcastle at the weekend. Keep up.

 

[lex talionis]

Should we sssime at this point that Donny Van De Beek was seriously injured in training?

 

[Redderp]

We need to score the first goal. Spurs don’t want the ball. It’s Conteball. But if they score first they will park the bus. They will hit us on the break. We are at home so they will try and play like we did against Liverpool and Arsenal. Really hate how Conte wants to play football.

 

[criticalanalysis]

This is exactly the type of game you need Fred in. It's going to be a proper midfield battle with lots of backs and forths, turnovers and transitions.

 

[crossy1686]

Roll on next summer so we can see some of these names benched.

 

[Loon]

I used to like Son, until he was a massive prick against us.

 

[Strelok]

Ok but we are looking at positions/roles and the players we have. Casemiro is the DM. Ten Hag uses a ball player next to that position. Someone who can move forward with it, link up in attack... Mctominay doesn't provide any of that in terms of on the ball. He's better defensively than Fred, a better ball winner... But that's Casemiro. So Fred plays.

Personally imo on the ball Fred is as bad as McT or even worse. Both have a shit touch, no brain but McT actually can pass a bit. You don't see him misplacing passes often like Fred. Tbh imo Fred is the backup of Eriksen as much as McT is.

And atm McT has much better form than Fred so this is so weird imo. Anyway I trust ETH he definitely knows much more than me. Let's hope Fred can have a good match today.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

One good thing about Prime is that you can watch the game with no commentary and just the stadium noise. With Shearer on commentary, it’s certainly worth it.

 

[Litch]

It applies even for them. Pep wouldn't put Rodri in one of the more advanced positions nor would be put Bernardo or KdB in the holding position.

Fred plays as an 8 for Brazil, what are you on about? He plays next to Casemiro who is the defensive midfielder.

He covers the left side covering behind Neymar. Thats my point, Pep wouldnt cause they dont play in that position. We play Fred further forward then criticise him for not being able to do it.

 

[FireballXL5]

11/11 But it was the obvious team.

 

[No Idea For Nickname]

Fred to score and MOTM!!

 

[Eplel]

Finally, we're not the biggest shitshow in this country, let's prove it tonight.

 

[NewYorkRed]

Time to be positive ! 2-1; Bruno and Shaw score with a Casemiro masterclass.

 

[sullydnl]

There's only so much you can rationally complain about Fred starting when the alternative is McTominay starting, the latter being a player who the large majority on this site seemed to think was a worse player than Fred before the season started.

The crucial, crippling factor is that we have to start either of them when Eriksen is out. But there's not much ETH can do about that right now, it's an issue of further recruitment.

As is this is pretty much the best team he can put out.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Spurs have come for a 1-0 job. Go behind and we are in trouble.

 

[Adisa]

Looking at twitter, there are actually people who support players instead of clubs. It's a real phenomenon. There are people openly saying they hope we lose cause Ronaldo is not starting...incredible.

 

[lex talionis]

One good thing about Prime is that you can watch the game with no commentary and just the stadium noise. With Shearer on commentary, it’s certainly worth it.

Seriously?

A few years ago there was a malfunction with the commentators and all that could be heard was the crowd. It was fecking glorious.

 

[Rightnr]

Can't believe I'm saying this but I am surprised McT is not starting ahead of Fred.