A brain dump after that ****show and a sleep...
I find it interesting that people appear to hyper focus on the new signings, to pick at them, rather than afford them time
Onana - had a terrible game, he went down early on the chip. the pass before the penalty... His fumble before the second goal was awful too. However his first couple of games were safe and secure when he had a more reliable back line. Does this excuse his flaws, no, but i'm not going to witch hunt after 3 bad games with a terrible makeshift defense and midfield in front. Just like I didn't go after DDG when the witch hunt started in his first few games. Dear god I recall the media and this forum when he was fumbling crosses and passes.. 'he's a light weight, stick thin, scared' etc... DDG remained flawed but he adapted his game and became a solid keeper and remained a good shot stopper due to his agile foot positioning.
Mount - I thought he was ineffective in his first couple of games, last night I saw someone working across the pitch and creating space playing insightful passes. Did they create direct chances, not from what I recall, but the contribution was there more than most and personally I'd be starting him over Bruno if this was classic FM and I wasn't dealing with egos and real life knock on effects around the club.
For me, why isn't more or anyone really...pointing to the 'experienced' squad members for their absolute ineptness and contributions to the performance? Because it's not funny? Because it's all been said? Are we then disregarding it, when it's a massive piece of context that comes down to the contributions of 11 (and problems that were there last year), not 2...
Bruno - I don't mind that he tries an fails at ambitious passes, however you can see when his selfishness kick in, blazing snap shots being impatient, screamed at his own teammates in the aftermath, and once booted the ball at the fans out of frustration. He's the captain
Dalot - Average at best, always has been, always will be. I don't doubt he cares and I don't doubt his work rate but he's below average for a team looking to compete.
Lindelof - Let's be honest, he isn't great but he's better than Maguire.
Casemiro - You can see he's frustrated having to cover roles in the middle. He shouldn't be on his own yet due to injuries he is. He's stretched and it's showing badly as it would for any player completely exposed. was a world of difference when he had support from Hannibal in the first half. Not ideal but was still more combative support to work with him.
Rashford - never will have a footballing brain. He's instinctive at best and unfortunately completely lazy because he's too busy in his own head. 350k a week... jesus christ...
Varane - Just looks exposed amongst this team and finds himself having to stretch his legs all too often. Tried to find a risky pass out at times which often went wrong - but appreciated the efforts try to make quick transitions which I imagine would work in a more stable and predictable team.
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Hojlund - absolutely brilliant for his experience and time at the club, he's ultimately raw, he will be overcome by more experienced defenders, but he can grow (literally) to be a bit of a beast if his promise maintains the trajectory. Was well impressed given how young. And of course he's not a Haaland, but nobody is and it's unfair to use that as a barometer. Excited to see how he can come on over the years, and I pray to god he stays fit because the club/fans are going to begin to lean on him.
Amrabat - Can't wait to see him in the centre with Casemiro... Will he be a world beater, unlikely, but he's a work horse and he'll free Casemiro to go forward where he was at his best last season.
Hannibal - Raw energetic potential - It's hard to see where he fits in - appears to be a bit of a machine in the middle to disrupt and get possession back and then provide forward reinforcement. I quite like it, but he's also worryingly rash - said during the match, just before half time he made another two rash lunges in quick succession. Which could easily have turned the tie into a nightmare - which it did in the end anyways...
ETH - Has to take some responsibility for how we've ended up with a centre that is so fragile and exposed too - I never rated McTominay or Fred to go up against proper opposition, but he's sold one and the other looks completely shot of being a player from being dropped by ETH... i think he's made a poor judgement here and left us very light in an area that is showing a lot of class across most teams now. He's also holding onto egos who are not performing, we can make assumptions why that is which i've posted about plenty before. At the moment he's hamstrung by injuries but at the very minimum I think Bruno and Rashford should be dropped. Bringing in midfield of Casemiro, Hannibal, Mount (like we had first half) and Antony / Hojlund and Garnacho as the forward three.
Some words for what it's worth amongst the bashing
Btw, we didn't drop off when VVD got injured. We were still towards the top of the League (if not top?) going into December but then literally all our CB's were out with 6+ month injuries by Jan. Because of the defensive crisis it gets forgotten that our first choice midfield 3 (+ Milner & Keita) all missed 3 months of that season too.
