Chelsea 2020/21 - General discussion

[Mb194dc]

We gave up fewer xG than Liverpool did. The problem isn't the tactical setup or the defence in front of it, it's that Kepa is in with a shout of being the worst goalkeeper in Europe (maybe bottom 5 if you're feeling generous).

This is false in my view, if Kepa is so bad why didn't we notice the year before ? How did we win the Europa and finish third with the joint 3rd best goals against ?

Something changed and it wasn't Kepa, I've rewatched quite a few games from the last season and the statistics lie. He's had his confidence destroyed that is for sure.

Our whole team setup was often a shambles from a defensive point of view. The miracle is we finished 4th. Largely thanks to Arsenal and Spurs somehow being worse, mainly plus Leicester collapse. 66 points wouldn't usually be enough.

Personally now in favour of getting rid because of how the fan base views him, not his actual ability. Any mistake he makes will be jumped on and amplified by "social media" knee jerkers.

Problem we have is no team in Europe can afford his wages now. So we're stuck with him. We should get a new GK coach, Lampard should play him and get behind him 100% in all situations so he can get form back.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

This is false in my view, if Kepa is so bad why didn't we notice the year before ? How did we win the Europa and finish third with the joint 3rd best goals against ?

Something changed and it wasn't Kepa, I've rewatched quite a few games from the last season and the statistics lie. He's had his confidence destroyed that is for sure.

Our whole team setup was often a shambles from a defensive point of view. The miracle is we finished 4th. Largely thanks to Arsenal and Spurs somehow being worse, mainly plus Leicester collapse. 66 points wouldn't usually be enough.

Personally now in favour of getting rid because of how the fan base views him, not his actual ability. Any mistake he makes will be jumped on and amplified by "social media" knee jerkers.

Problem we have is no team in Europe can afford his wages now. So we're stuck with him. We should get a new GK coach, Lampard should play him and get behind him 100% in all situations so he can get form back.

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He was bad last year too. There are fundamental mechanical problems in the way he approaches shot stopping - namely he swings his arms behind his torso to try to gain momentum on his dives because he's so short. This causes him to have weak wrists.

Beyond shot stopping, he has zero command of his area. He literally went the entire PL season without catching a corner. He came out for a whopping total of 4 - punched 1 clear, punched 1 straight to an opponent, and completely whiffed on 2.

If you watch the way our team has to defend, the fullback at the far post has to pinch into the 6 yard box whenever the ball is on the opposite wing because Kepa cannot be relied upon to claim anything. This causes late runners to always be free at the far post. Get in a proper goalkeeper and the defensive setup will improve because we won't have to feature this ludicrous way of defending out of necessity.

 

[Bilbo]

This is false in my view, if Kepa is so bad why didn't we notice the year before ? How did we win the Europa and finish third with the joint 3rd best goals against ?

Something changed and it wasn't Kepa, I've rewatched quite a few games from the last season and the statistics lie. He's had his confidence destroyed that is for sure.

Our whole team setup was often a shambles from a defensive point of view. The miracle is we finished 4th. Largely thanks to Arsenal and Spurs somehow being worse, mainly plus Leicester collapse. 66 points wouldn't usually be enough.

Personally now in favour of getting rid because of how the fan base views him, not his actual ability. Any mistake he makes will be jumped on and amplified by "social media" knee jerkers.

Problem we have is no team in Europe can afford his wages now. So we're stuck with him. We should get a new GK coach, Lampard should play him and get behind him 100% in all situations so he can get form back.

I agree with the bolded part. Heard a lot of Chelsea fans referring to Xg type statistics and claiming that Kepa is the only problem. I understand why a fan would want to comfort themselves with that though, but I don't buy it. Chelsea have very often looked a defensive calamity whenever I've watched them and I think that will be a theme throughout Lampards time in charge.

Thats fine by the way. Nothing wrong with having an attack minded manager and it certainly wont be boring watching you, but I think we'll see a situation where defenders playing for him will end up looking like worse players than they are simply because he will always lean towards an offensive balance and these players will be left exposed. I havent seen a great deal of Thiago Silva recently but if his legs are struggling he could end up being a disaster for you

 

[blue blue]

So i'm guilty of giving up on Kepa, this season he's been a disaster, however after looking at his save percentage and performance over his career i've become less worried with Kepa and more worried with the bigger picture.

If we take his last 5 seasons save percentage we get:

15/16 - 77.8%
16/17 - 67.2%
17/18 - 68.9%
18/19 - 67.5%
19/20 - 51.5%

if you average his four seasons prior to this one you get 70.35%, that would put him 8th out the 25 or so keepers that played in the PL last season, so why the big drop off? To me it points to something more worryng than just Kepa being a bad keeper, and to a combination of poor defending and bad tactical set up. The system we play under Frank in my eyes is leaving the defence exposed in pursuit of attacking football. If we are more clinical this season this may be less of an issue (I remember seeing some stats to suggest we should be much more proflic, and i also remember games where we missed several chances only to drop points with the opponents first attack).

Based on the above i think Kepa deserves another chance this season, whilst he may never be a top goalkeeper he should be able to hold his own until it's viable to upgrade.

Apart from the fact you are not comparing eggs with eggs Chelsea really shouldn't be relying on the 8th best keeper in the PL. The first 3 seasons in your stats relate to La Liga which has substantially more poor teams than PL. I've seen nothing from Kepa in the last two years that leads me to think he's going to be a top keeper. Yes the defence and/or the tactics have let him down but he doesn't command the box and by the end of last season I just accepted that he wasn't going to save anything. It was both a surprise and a bonus if he did. I'm pretty sure a large proportion of the fanbase felt the same and that lack of confidence seemed to transmit to the defence.

If Chelsea can't get a top keeper this window they will have to give him another chance but they really should try their very best to replace him.

 

[Liver_bird]

They reminded me a little of us during klopps early years. Gung ho in attack and looking great but their defence was constantly exposed to high quality chances which made international defenders look like Sunday league players. However there is no doubt that signing better players in those positions will help, but they’ll need a shift in play style slightly. In the premier league every team will keep going to the end and with a home crowd and momentum it’s quite easy to give up goals.

Sometimes you just have to turn it in to a grind and trust the chances will come at the other end.

 

[Mb194dc]

Apart from the fact you are not comparing eggs with eggs Chelsea really shouldn't be relying on the 8th best keeper in the PL. The first 3 seasons in your stats relate to La Liga which has substantially more poor teams than PL. I've seen nothing from Kepa in the last two years that leads me to think he's going to be a top keeper. Yes the defence and/or the tactics have let him down but he doesn't command the box and by the end of last season I just accepted that he wasn't going to save anything. It was both a surprise and a bonus if he did. I'm pretty sure a large proportion of the fanbase felt the same and that lack of confidence seemed to transmit to the defence.

If Chelsea can't get a top keeper this window they will have to give him another chance but they really should try their very best to replace him.

Ludicrous to think la Liga is inferior to the PL. Less money yes, different style of play yes.

Lower teams in Spain are far superior technically to their PL comparables.

Not that easy playing for Bilbao either, lot of pressure on them as all Basque, no mercenaries. Totally different atmosphere to Chelsea that is for sure. Maybe part of the problem.

 

[Pow]

Ludicrous to think la Liga is inferior to the PL. Less money yes, different style of play yes.

Lower teams in Spain are far superior technically to their PL comparables.

Not that easy playing for Bilbao either, lot of pressure on them as all Basque, no mercenaries. Totally different atmosphere to Chelsea that is for sure. Maybe part of the problem.

Hes feckin shit. The sooner we get rid the better.

 

[Rajiztar]

They reminded me a little of us during klopps early years. Gung ho in attack and looking great but their defence was constantly exposed to high quality chances which made international defenders look like Sunday league players. However there is no doubt that signing better players in those positions will help, but they’ll need a shift in play style slightly. In the premier league every team will keep going to the end and with a home crowd and momentum it’s quite easy to give up goals.

Sometimes you just have to turn it in to a grind and trust the chances will come at the other end.

As much as tactics worked out by Klopp for better defensive stability the two personals added into your defensive unit namely (alisson and vvd) gave the lift to whole defensive unit to perform better.

Without proper keeper even if Klopp manage this team it won't be good enough to be defensively good.

 

[Pow]

As much as tactics worked out by Klopp for better defensive stability the two personals added into your defensive unit namely (alisson and vvd) gave the lift to whole defensive unit to perform better.

Without proper keeper even if Klopp manage this team it won't be good enough to be defensively good.

Theres a big difference when allison aint there like we saw with karius or even adrian vs atletico this season. You need a top keeper if you want to compete.

 

[Gringo]

Liverpool tried to stick with a poor keeper making excuses for him and got them nowhere. Kepa has to go.

 

[TheLord]

All great teams in the PL in recent times have had great goalkeepers: Peter Schmeichel, David Seaman, Petr Cech, Jens Lehmann...

Kepa’s confidence is shattered. Chelsea won’t win anything with Kepa between the sticks. The only question is how much of an economic hit would be acceptable to them? I don’t think anyone will bid more than 20 m for him after so much negative publicity.

Would they accept a 50m hit? That would easily be the “worstest” bit of business in the history football, money-wise.
A more sensible thing is to let him go to another club on loan for a season, and hope he regains some of that lost confidence, and then try to sell him off.

 

[duffer]

All great teams in the PL in recent times have had great goalkeepers: Peter Schmeichel, David Seaman, Petr Cech, Jens Lehmann...

Kepa’s confidence is shattered. Chelsea won’t win anything with Kepa between the sticks. The only question is how much of an economic hit would be acceptable to them? I don’t think anyone will bid more than 15-20 m for him with so much negative publicity for the last one year or so.

There's no way we can/will sell him in the next month. He'll go on loan to a Spanish side with a view to building his confidence/reputation back.

 

[TheLord]

Precisely.

 

[Mb194dc]

There's no way we can/will sell him in the next month. He'll go on loan to a Spanish side with a view to building his confidence/reputation back.

Staying by the look of it, mainly because we couldn't get any club prepared to pay his wages due to crisis I think. From transfer thread.

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Per post above, we already won the EL with Kepa as GK..

Yes his confidence is shattered and loaning him out would probably have been better. Big test of character for Kepa this season if he's benched or even if Lampard does give him the nod as any mistake going to be pounced upon. Might actually motivate him that Lampard and most fans think he's gash!

All the "top" keepers in the premier league have some pretty woeful howlers recently, just off the top of my head, De Gea Mount shot v us, Ederson spilling the ball v Lyon, Lloris 2 howlers v Leipzig ( also in the WC final, hard to forget that ), Alisson passing straight to Lacazette against Arsenal in July etc.

So Kepa shouldn't feel too bad about the situation.

 

[Pow]

Staying by the look of it, mainly because we couldn't get any club prepared to pay his wages due to crisis I think. From transfer thread.



Per post above, we already won the EL with Kepa as GK..

Yes his confidence is shattered and loaning him out would probably have been better. Big test of character for Kepa this season if he's benched or even if Lampard does give him the nod as any mistake going to be pounced upon. Might actually motivate him that Lampard and most fans think he's gash!

All the "top" keepers in the premier league have some pretty woeful howlers recently, just off the top of my head, De Gea Mount shot v us, Ederson spilling the ball v Lyon, Lloris 2 howlers v Leipzig ( also in the WC final, hard to forget that ), Alisson passing straight to Lacazette against Arsenal in July etc.

So Kepa shouldn't feel too bad about the situation.

Even with confidence hes gash.

 

[DDROGBA]

Kepa is total dog wank...willy caballero fo' lyfe at this point haha

 

[Mb194dc]

Even with confidence hes gash.

, guess we'll find out if he actually plays this season...

 

[Rooney in Paris]

Kepa is total dog wank...willy caballero fo' lyfe at this point haha

Wow

 

[Liver_bird]

As much as tactics worked out by Klopp for better defensive stability the two personals added into your defensive unit namely (alisson and vvd) gave the lift to whole defensive unit to perform better.

Without proper keeper even if Klopp manage this team it won't be good enough to be defensively good.

Agree completely, better personnel in those areas will dramatically reduce the quality of chances given up. Those two players also have the complete confidence of the rest of the side and backline which elevated the performances of those around them.

 

[Bastian]

All great teams in the PL in recent times have had great goalkeepers: Peter Schmeichel, David Seaman, Petr Cech, Jens Lehmann...

Kepa’s confidence is shattered. Chelsea won’t win anything with Kepa between the sticks. The only question is how much of an economic hit would be acceptable to them? I don’t think anyone will bid more than 20 m for him after so much negative publicity.

Would they accept a 50m hit? That would easily be the “worstest” bit of business in the history football, money-wise.
A more sensible thing is to let him go to another club on loan for a season, and hope he regains some of that lost confidence, and then try to sell him off.

Yeah, a loan move would be best for all parties. They did do a pretty horrible deal when they bought an injured-plagued Torres, mind. 50m at the time if I recall. When 50m would get you maybe 5 Freds.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Yes his confidence is shattered and loaning him out would probably have been better. Big test of character for Kepa this season if he's benched or even if Lampard does give him the nod as any mistake going to be pounced upon. Might actually motivate him that Lampard and most fans think he's gash!

All the "top" keepers in the premier league have some pretty woeful howlers recently, just off the top of my head, De Gea Mount shot v us, Ederson spilling the ball v Lyon, Lloris 2 howlers v Leipzig ( also in the WC final, hard to forget that ), Alisson passing straight to Lacazette against Arsenal in July etc.

So Kepa shouldn't feel too bad about the situation.

The difference is that Kepa also makes absurd howlers whilst simultaneously offering absolutely nothing in terms of shot stopping or command of the area. In fact, he goes beyond offering nothing as he's a genuine detriment.

Mistakes are inevitable, it's the fact that he regularly fecks up the routine due to his atrocious mechanics that's the problem.

We'll get one of Mendy or Maignan in, probably the former due to the connections with Lollichon and Cech (and his height).

 

[tomaldinho1]

They reminded me a little of us during klopps early years. Gung ho in attack and looking great but their defence was constantly exposed to high quality chances which made international defenders look like Sunday league players. However there is no doubt that signing better players in those positions will help, but they’ll need a shift in play style slightly. In the premier league every team will keep going to the end and with a home crowd and momentum it’s quite easy to give up goals.

Sometimes you just have to turn it in to a grind and trust the chances will come at the other end.

People always point to VVD as the big catalyst for you guys but I remember that window when Fabinho, Alisson & Keita all came in and remember thinking that was bad news (as a United fan) because previously I always felt Klopp overrated the defensive abilities/setup of his usual midfield. As soon as Fabinho came in, as well as Alisson in GK, structurally you were just so so solid.

I feel like Chelsea play a different way but have the same issue although they don't need to buy anyone, in that they actually have a genuinely world class DM in Kante, but refuse to use him in his role because Lampard wants to play his brand of football and have Jorginho at the base. Chelsea have the players to really close the gap but I don't think they can do it without changing how that midfield sets up

 

[Rajiztar]

People always point to VVD as the big catalyst for you guys but I remember that window when Fabinho, Alisson & Keita all came in and remember thinking that was bad news (as a United fan) because previously I always felt Klopp overrated the defensive abilities/setup of his usual midfield. As soon as Fabinho came in, as well as Alisson in GK, structurally you were just so so solid.

I feel like Chelsea play a different way but have the same issue although they don't need to buy anyone, in that they actually have a genuinely world class DM in Kante, but refuse to use him in his role because Lampard wants to play his brand of football and have Jorginho at the base. Chelsea have the players to really close the gap but I don't think they can do it without changing how that midfield sets up

That's simply not true. After restart Frank didn't name jorginho in starting 11 until he was forced to name him because of injuries.kante was played in his preferred CDM role ever since restart until he got injured. In fact he selected the team against city with kante in CDM and 2 number 8's in mount and Barkley that's what Frank's prefered formation and instead of Barkley, havertz will play the no 8 role.

For two no.8 s Chelsea have five players to fight it out.Mount , havertz, kovasic, Rlc and Barkley.

 

[Suedesi]

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He was bad last year too. There are fundamental mechanical problems in the way he approaches shot stopping - namely he swings his arms behind his torso to try to gain momentum on his dives because he's so short. This causes him to have weak wrists.

Beyond shot stopping, he has zero command of his area. He literally went the entire PL season without catching a corner. He came out for a whopping total of 4 - punched 1 clear, punched 1 straight to an opponent, and completely whiffed on 2.

If you watch the way our team has to defend, the fullback at the far post has to pinch into the 6 yard box whenever the ball is on the opposite wing because Kepa cannot be relied upon to claim anything. This causes late runners to always be free at the far post. Get in a proper goalkeeper and the defensive setup will improve because we won't have to feature this ludicrous way of defending out of necessity.

Why the fck did Chelsea buy him in the first place, for a WR fee? I know Thibo fecked you off with the contract, but surely the club must have been scouting a few keepers around. To end up with a guy that is so unsuited to the game in England and pay a world record fee smacks of poor planning/ panic/incompetence.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

Looking forward to see how well they do with so many new signings. Might have to wait to see everyone to be in the same lineup

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Why the fck did Chelsea buy him in the first place, for a WR fee? I know Thibo fecked you off with the contract, but surely the club must have been scouting a few keepers around. To end up with a guy that is so unsuited to the game in England and pay a world record fee smacks of poor planning/ panic/incompetence.

There was definitely panic - after assuring the club he'd stay and see out his contract, Courtois fecked us over by refusing to train with a week left in the window. The priority was signing a young(ish) goalkeeper who could play with his feet and ideally had a release clause to allow the business to be done as quickly as possible. We'd tried to sign Alisson but he preferred Liverpool's project given their continuity at manager and seeing as they'd secured CL football.

Kepa was never great for Bilbao, but he had been improving and he ticked the other boxes. Clearly the thinking was that he'd continue to develop; that has backfired spectacularly since he's in fact massively regressed.

 

[Jorsett]

This Chelsea team is looking completely cooked. At least on paper!

 

[DanClancy]

Pressure on Lampard this season, he's got a lot of strength in depth all over the pitch and probably more depth than City. Given the investment the last few years and what he's inherited they've got to be getting to 80 points otherwise he's failed.

 

[tomaldinho1]

That's simply not true. After restart Frank didn't name jorginho in starting 11 until he was forced to name him because of injuries.kante was played in his preferred CDM role ever since restart until he got injured. In fact he selected the team against city with kante in CDM and 2 number 8's in mount and Barkley that's what Frank's prefered formation and instead of Barkley, havertz will play the no 8 role.

For two no.8 s Chelsea have five players to fight it out.Mount , havertz, kovasic, Rlc and Barkley.

Ah I didn't realise he'd been injured - was he also injured pre covid delay? I thought earlier in the season Frank had gone with the Jorginho/Kovacic or sometimes Gilmour CMs?

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Ah I didn't realise he'd been injured - was he also injured pre covid delay? I thought earlier in the season Frank had gone with the Jorginho/Kovacic or sometimes Gilmour CMs?

Jorginho / Kovacic was used out of necessity because Kante was injured. At the tail end of last season he'd been battling a hamstring problem and over-exerted himself to play the EL final, which resulted in fitness problems for much of this season both pre- and post-COVID.

Gilmour was picked ahead of Jorginho when Kante wasn't fit. We've used several different systems this season depending on the personnel available, but once everyone was fit post-restart it seems the preferred formation is a 4-3-3 with Kante behind two 8s. This was also more or less how we played against Brighton in last week's friendly; albeit with the right sided 8 stepping forward into more of a striker role whilst in possession. The suspicion is that this is the system for the year; Havertz is basically the perfect player for that right sided 8 / striker hybrid role.

 

[WeePat]

Yeah Gilmour became the de facto Kante understudy as the season progressed. Jorginho only ended up starting a bunch of games post lockdown because both Kante and Gilmour were injured.

 

[B20]

Beyond shot stopping, he has zero command of his area. He literally went the entire PL season without catching a corner. He came out for a whopping total of 4 - punched 1 clear, punched 1 straight to an opponent, and completely whiffed on 2.

 

[Rajiztar]

There was definitely panic - after assuring the club he'd stay and see out his contract, Courtois fecked us over by refusing to train with a week left in the window. The priority was signing a young(ish) goalkeeper who could play with his feet and ideally had a release clause to allow the business to be done as quickly as possible. We'd tried to sign Alisson but he preferred Liverpool's project given their continuity at manager and seeing as they'd secured CL football.

Kepa was never great for Bilbao, but he had been improving and he ticked the other boxes. Clearly the thinking was that he'd continue to develop; that has backfired spectacularly since he's in fact massively regressed.

Also kepa was recommended by pepe reina to sarri who played under him for napoli. Nobody thought he would regress this much though. Feel sad for him but I won't let him near the squad because he had the attitude problem too. Loan him out to la liga for two seasons.

Soon to be 40 yr old Willie brought some confidence and calmness to Chelsea defenders gave the answer how bad was kepa clearly.

 

[blue blue]

I still have a niggly feeling Kepa should be allowed one more season to prove himself but that wouldn't be a guarantee of starting. The club needs to be signing a top quality keeper now and Kepa will need to compete for a place. They can't sell him at the moment and maybe he becomes a number two for a few years if they can't recoup his ridiculous transfer fee.

The club seem to be pursuing Mendy and from what I've seen he would be an upgrade in certain areas. Chelseas defensive problems aren't entirely the goalkeeper and Kepa did get caught with quick attacks on the break on few occasions last season.

The rumours seem to point to Mendy but just maybe if Marina could flutter her eyelashes at the Athletico board and offer Kepa or Jorghino or Kante as part of a deal, maybe Oblak could conclude the clubs best transfer window ever.

 

[Pow]

I still have a niggly feeling Kepa should be allowed one more season to prove himself but that wouldn't be a guarantee of starting. The club needs to be signing a top quality keeper now and Kepa will need to compete for a place. They can't sell him at the moment and maybe he becomes a number two for a few years if they can't recoup his ridiculous transfer fee.

The club seem to be pursuing Mendy and from what I've seen he would be an upgrade in certain areas. Chelseas defensive problems aren't entirely the goalkeeper and Kepa did get caught with quick attacks on the break on few occasions last season.

The rumours seem to point to Mendy but just maybe if Marina could flutter her eyelashes at the Athletico board and offer Kepa or Jorghino or Kante as part of a deal, maybe Oblak could conclude the clubs best transfer window ever.

No no no no no no no no.
Hes wank.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Jorginho / Kovacic was used out of necessity because Kante was injured. At the tail end of last season he'd been battling a hamstring problem and over-exerted himself to play the EL final, which resulted in fitness problems for much of this season both pre- and post-COVID.

Gilmour was picked ahead of Jorginho when Kante wasn't fit. We've used several different systems this season depending on the personnel available, but once everyone was fit post-restart it seems the preferred formation is a 4-3-3 with Kante behind two 8s. This was also more or less how we played against Brighton in last week's friendly; albeit with the right sided 8 stepping forward into more of a striker role whilst in possession. The suspicion is that this is the system for the year; Havertz is basically the perfect player for that right sided 8 / striker hybrid role.

Ok interesting - if that's how you setup for the coming season I think you'll be a real force and close to the top. I feel like Kepa is now the biggest issue for you but otherwise you've got amazing depth, good players everywhere although will be interesting to see how quickly Havertz, Werner, Ziyech etc acclimatise.

For United, I'm just sick of us persisting with the double pivot, or some variation of it, because we simply don't have a DM dynamic enough to sit on his own. McT might be able to learn the role and Fred is too erratic and more of box to box type. Matic does the job well, although you had him in his prime years, when we're at home and have a lot of possession but his fitness always seems a bit suspect and him, along with Maguire, Lindelöf & DDG might well be the slowest, least dynamic core to any defence in the league. Shaping up to be a pretty awesome season this year with City's project (ie buy another £200m worth of players), Liverpool being so good, you guys spending heavily, United should be much better, Arsenal and Spurs also look a lot more settled now we might actually have a tighter title race/some big upsets.

 

[Mount's Goatieson]

Official confirmation of Havertz deal anytime within the next few hours now. £71.8m initial fee rising to £89m with add-ons.

Also, Rennes apparently want €40m for Mendy. That's €5m more than Lille demanded for Maignan. IMO, very hard pass on both.
Maybe the club just don't fancy Donrumma or still refuse to do business with Riola, but I'd throw that amount at AC Milan for Donna who is in his final year contract and refusing an extension. AC would probably be okey with that in the current financial climate.

 

[blue blue]

No no no no no no no no.
Hes wank.

I assume you're refering to Kepa.
If Chelsea signed Oblak I would drop Kepa like a Covid 19 infected hot potato. The chances of Oblak coming are very remote so we have to look at alternatives and Mendy seems to be the preferred option. The problem is Rennes are pushing the price higher and higher. Chelsea had an offer of £20m refused and Rennes want £40m. That's a colossal sum for a mid ranking keeper and I ask myself will the club keep throwing huge sums of money at dodgy keepers?

It was only a niggle.

 

[UweBein]

Why not go for a solid, unspectacular keeper like Baumann from Hoffenheim?

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Ok interesting - if that's how you setup for the coming season I think you'll be a real force and close to the top. I feel like Kepa is now the biggest issue for you but otherwise you've got amazing depth, good players everywhere although will be interesting to see how quickly Havertz, Werner, Ziyech etc acclimatise.

For United, I'm just sick of us persisting with the double pivot, or some variation of it, because we simply don't have a DM dynamic enough to sit on his own. McT might be able to learn the role and Fred is too erratic and more of box to box type. Matic does the job well, although you had him in his prime years, when we're at home and have a lot of possession but his fitness always seems a bit suspect and him, along with Maguire, Lindelöf & DDG might well be the slowest, least dynamic core to any defence in the league. Shaping up to be a pretty awesome season this year with City's project (ie buy another £200m worth of players), Liverpool being so good, you guys spending heavily, United should be much better, Arsenal and Spurs also look a lot more settled now we might actually have a tighter title race/some big upsets.

Yeah we'll have to see! Totally agreed re: Kepa; I'm desperate personally for any goalkeeper to come in. And you're also spot on - we have dramatically improved our talent pool, the key for our success or failure this year will be how quickly our new players can settle and develop chemistry.

I think the 4-2-3-1 makes some sense for United, but part of the problem is your left side. Rashford is under clear instructions to stay as high as possible to threaten that left channel, but this can create problems behind him because one of the two CMs has to cover that space which leaves the other to try to control the entire centre. It'd be an easier fit with an 8 on that side, but at the same time I don't think Bruno can play there and it's a waste of his talents to some extent. At Sporting he played as an inside right forward from time to time as well, so that's a possible option at least.

Why not go for a solid, unspectacular keeper like Baumann from Hoffenheim?

He's not solid. Post shot xG over the last 3 years of -3.8, +2.2, -4.8. Not a great commander of an area either and likely would struggle physically at 187 cm. Pretty good passer at least but he's more or less an older and somewhat less shit Kepa in terms of profile.