Ronaldo's Mum Eh?
Ronaldo is shite
He's a liability for me. Him and De gea have been terrible. Needs to step it up next season.
They really do, otherwise our defensive record would be much worse.Our biggest problem is that we don't have a centre half pairing that compliments each other. Maguire and Lindeloff are both very good players. Problem is they are very similar. What we need is a left footed defender with a bit of pace to partner Maguire. As it stands right now, Maguire is playing out of position. He should be playing on the right side of centre half, not the left. But because he's the better player, he goes to the left. I'd like to see Ake come in and be Maguire's partner and Lindeloff to become a fantastic 3rd option and to rotate in...
Some of the micro analysis is just terrible, some of the posters just want to blame him for the sake of it.He gets huge amounts of criticism on here for simply being very expensive and not being Van Dijk, who has made plenty of errors this season, but people like to ignore those for some reason.
Our defence looks much better for having Maguire in the centre of it.
Yep theres about 4 or 5 of them who need the whole summer off and these 2 are included in that list. Bruno basically came from carrying Sporting to carrying us back into the CL. He looks dead on his feet.Everybody is talking about Bruno but this guy badly needs a rest too.
Don't think it's that because he's prone to the hesitation on his other side, too.You do wonder whether he's so slow to release the ball because he's playing on the left with no left foot. Whatever it is, someone needs to train it out of him.
I'm not a big fan of his and there must have been significantly better defenders we could have gotten for that money, but it's really obvious his aerial dominance and reliable fitness have made us a significantly better team this year. Here's hoping we can find a partner to elevate his game next season.
Which defenders would have been better? Koulibaly (apparently, I haven't seen much of him) but he was getting touted at 130m.You do wonder whether he's so slow to release the ball because he's playing on the left with no left foot. Whatever it is, someone needs to train it out of him.
I'm not a big fan of his and there must have been significantly better defenders we could have gotten for that money, but it's really obvious his aerial dominance and reliable fitness have made us a significantly better team this year. Here's hoping we can find a partner to elevate his game next season.
In fairness.......who else stands out at CB?Garth Crooks being Garth Crooks:
Is it such of a surprise? United have conceded 20 less goals this season, are 3rd in the PL for clean sheets, are third for least xGA (only one goal in it between 1st & 3rd), have the most clean sheets in Europe across all competitions, he's the fifth highest rated CB in Europe on whoscored.com and as one of our Noggie posters informed us, he also made their PL team of the year drawn up by their panel of experts.Garth Crooks being Garth Crooks:
Yeah I just can't remember much of him on the right side. I reckon it came primarily from that game against City and a few England games. In fairness he has shown for England and us that he could play in a team that builds out from the back. He can't do it very well but he had the basic competency to allow Southgate to play that style, which was what set the reputation in the commentators' minds and filtered down to the fans. Someone like Vidic would have been obviously exposed in that scenario. I just wish someone would help him accept his own limitations and work around them. It's OK to give the ball to Lindelof because he's the only one who can pass it through the lines, but just defer to him a bit quicker!Don't think it's that because he's prone to the hesitation on his other side, too.
He's gives no impression of being a ball-playing CB to me, so it makes the label more curious as he neither shapes himself or plays out like one with decisiveness being one of the traits you expect to see even if the pass doesn't come off. He second guesses his range vis-a-vis his ability to hit whatever the mark is and then chooses a different course of action. But you can see it happening in real-time, which is just not something associative of ball-players out of the back.
Yeah I'm not much into watching much footy beyond United games these days but if Bayern and Dortmund are getting Pavard and Hummels for the £30m mark and De Ligt is going for sub-£100m then it seems reasonable to believe there's better value out there. I do understand Ole's desire for an English backbone and it's entirely plausible Maguire will be the 2nd best English CB this decade, with Gomez obviously off limits. It just a puts a limit on how good we can be though. All of our best teams had better CBs than he'll ever be.Which defenders would have been better? Koulibaly (apparently, I haven't seen much of him) but he was getting touted at 130m.
The De Ligt transfer cost a lot more than the Maguire transfer when all was said and done. He's had a very up and down season numerous own goals and big errors from himYeah I'm not much into watching much footy beyond United games these days but if Bayern and Dortmund are getting Pavard and Hummels for the £30m mark and De Ligt is going for sub-£100m then it seems reasonable to believe there's better value out there. I do understand Ole's desire for an English backbone and it's entirely plausible Maguire will be the 2nd best English CB this decade, with Gomez obviously off limits. It just a puts a limit on how good we can be though. All of our best teams had better CBs than he'll ever be.
That's just one clip, here are few more and this is ignoring the mistakes like against Atalanta or Sassuolo where he was turned easily.The De Ligt transfer cost a lot more than the Maguire transfer when all was said and done. He's had a very up and down season numerous own goals and big errors from him
He actually suffers from similar weaknesses to Maguire as can be witnessed in this clip
What a twat. Henderson over Bruno and Sterling is not a midfielderGarth Crooks being Garth Crooks:
Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if he made more mistakes this season. He's 20 years old moving to a much more difficult league, while Maguire's 27 playing in the same league. He has the same deficiencies with more aerial dominance and genuine ball playing ability so is much better value, assuming he can adapt. That's not a small assumption but it's a much better deal than settling for a pretty good defender from my perspective.The De Ligt transfer cost a lot more than the Maguire transfer when all was said and done. He's had a very up and down season numerous own goals and big errors from him
He actually suffers from similar weaknesses to Maguire as can be witnessed in this clip
There's absolutely nothing wrong with this for what it's worth, pre-lockdown Henderson was driving Liverpool to results they didn't deserve consistently and only the most imbalanced Man Utd fan couldn't admit that.What a twat. Henderson over Bruno and Sterling is not a midfielder
I agree, and Bruno has only played 14 games, he hasn’t done it over the season in the PL. Some fans just can’t look objectively at these things.There's absolutely nothing wrong with this for what it's worth, pre-lockdown Henderson was driving Liverpool to results they didn't deserve consistently and only the most imbalanced Man Utd fan couldn't admit that.
Yeah it's hard to justify it over how brilliant De Bruyne has been but I'm all for not giving sportswashers awards tbh.I agree, and Bruno has only played 14 games, he hasn’t done it over the season in the PL. Some fans just can’t look objectively at these things.
We all know Crooks is an awful pundit, but he’s right on this. He deserves to be in the team of the year, I wouldn’t give him player of the year, but that’s a different argument.
Exactly. This is the problem when fans watch the highlights of the great bits he has done. This is exactly the same with Smalling.That's just one clip, here are few more and this is ignoring the mistakes like against Atalanta or Sassuolo where he was turned easily.
I don't even think he's Liverpools most important player when they weren't playing well, it's Mane who constantly bails them out. I also don't think it's as clear as you make it out to be, Bruno has put in twice the numbers in half the games played, and his impact doesn't need stating, he literally turned a season around. Some fans like to bend over backwards just to show they aren't biased but I'm not one of those, i just find it surprising that Henderson has been getting so much hype and recognition over something Fletcher has been doing quietly for years.There's absolutely nothing wrong with this for what it's worth, pre-lockdown Henderson was driving Liverpool to results they didn't deserve consistently and only the most imbalanced Man Utd fan couldn't admit that.
Strange argument considering Mane was also in his team of the year?I don't even think he's Liverpools most important player when they weren't playing well, it's Mane who constantly bails them out. I also don't think it's as clear as you make it out to be, Bruno has put in twice the numbers in half the games played, and his impact doesn't need stating, he literally turned a season around. Some fans like to bend over backwards just to show they aren't biased but I'm not one of those, i just find it surprising that Henderson has been getting so much hype and recognition over something Fletcher has been doing quietly for years.
Bruno is an attacking midfielder who takes every set piece, Paul Merson put in double Roy Keane's numbers in 98-99. You don't measure a central midfielders success by goals and assists. I don't give a feck about Liverpool, I'm just not blind.I don't even think he's Liverpools most important player when they weren't playing well, it's Mane who constantly bails them out. I also don't think it's as clear as you make it out to be, Bruno has put in twice the numbers in half the games played, and his impact doesn't need stating, he literally turned a season around. Some fans like to bend over backwards just to show they aren't biased but I'm not one of those, i just find it surprising that Henderson has been getting so much hype and recognition over something Fletcher has been doing quietly for years.