Sandro Tonali

[aimaad22 4587]

He's going to get better too as he plays more and proper sharpness kicks in. Man's hardly played for a year and still absolutely stands out. He could be as key for us as Bruno/Isak/Gordon in no time. 

[Dr Gloom 23385]

It gets better. What a thrust 

 

[wykikitoon 22507]

20 hours ago, Kid Dynamite said:

Tonali kept drifting over to the RW and joining in triangles in tight spaces with Trippier and Murphy. Made a big difference in helping to keep the ball against a high press. 
 

Got no idea why Howe has been reluctant to start him with Bruno and Joelinton. They looked class today 

I suppose it's only early. Not as if it's been 12 games is it. But agree  he needs go start and he's class. 

[Toonpack 11160]

8 minutes ago, wykikitoon said:

I suppose it's only early. Not as if it's been 12 games is it. But agree  he needs go start and he's class. 

 

He's not been at peak fitness, that'll be the only reason he's been held back. He got cramp on Saturday, sort of shows he's not quite there yet.

[The Fish 11306]

On 28/09/2024 at 22:48, Kid Dynamite said:

Tonali kept drifting over to the RW and joining in triangles in tight spaces with Trippier and Murphy. Made a big difference in helping to keep the ball against a high press. 
 

Got no idea why Howe has been reluctant to start him with Bruno and Joelinton. They looked class today 

 

What I was saying when he'd first joined. The triangles that were created between Almiron, Trippier and Bruno were so vital when we were playing well. Tonali was bought to have that available on both sides.

[wykikitoon 22507]

What's the SP with him?

He can play 90 mins for Italy, yet he hasn't played 90 minutes for us yet this season.  

[Dazzler 11461]

3 minutes ago, wykikitoon said:

What's the SP with him?

He can play 90 mins for Italy, yet he hasn't played 90 minutes for us yet this season.  

Howe's on a spice rattle at about 60 minutes whenever he's not started Longstaff, I think that's definitely what it is.

[wykikitoon 22507]

I.e he's got loyalty to someone who isn't good enough

[Gemmill 49279]

Oooo oof wykiki has got the claws out for Howe now. There's no coming back from this. We've seen this before.

[GrahamTaylor5 1161]

I think there is a massive disparity between playing 90 minutes at International level as there is to playing 90 minutes at Premier League Level. Styles of play are vastly different and demand different levels from the body.

[David Kelly 1328]

Has Tonali played a good game for us yet?  I've seen flashes of his ability but I'm yet to see a good game.  I thought against Brighton when we were dominating he would shine but he was hardly involved at all.  We need more from him to justify his place in the team let alone playing a full game.

[PaddockLad 18807]

1 hour ago, wykikitoon said:

I.e he's got loyalty to someone who isn't good enough

We played better when he went off when Longstaff and Willock came on and Joelinton moved to left wing… I think Howe likes Joelinton because he likes what he imagines to be the physicality the player formerly displayed but pretty much no longer does in the middle of the park at the start of games. 
 

Tonali doesn’t fit. Hes a slightly more spatially aware and combative Hugo Viana. I think he was offered to us due to his upcoming betting issues… 

Edited October 28, 2024 by PaddockLad

[aimaad22 4587]

I do agree that him, Bruno and Joe don't seem to be working well together. The midfield doesn't seem balanced.

 

Then again, it's difficult to make sense of anything with the team these days. So many of the things we expected to have an impact have had next to none. 

 

Tonali coming back - average at best, although of course he was out for so long

Willock - been shite

Isak - Unfit/inconsistent

Bruno - been shite

Joe- inconsistent, one of our better players in patches with moments of wtf was he doing there sparsed in between

Barnes - shite except inside the box

Gordon  - inconsistent, half arsed at times

Defence - all shite, except maybe Hall who's looked good at times

Trippier - no idea what to put here

Miggy/Murphy/Longstaff - less said the better

Osula/Kelly - what have we signed these for exactly????

 

Difficult to judge individual players when so much seems to be wrong. Is it just many players being out of form at the same time? Or is it something with the system that's causing them to be shite? Who the feck knows. 

 

[Holden McGroin 7416]

6 hours ago, Gemmill said:

Oooo oof wykiki has got the claws out for Howe now. There's no coming back from this. We've seen this before.

I dunno about that. When Burn and Longstaff had a rare upturn in form he was banging the drum for them to play for England.

[wykikitoon 22507]

At the time they deserved it. Especially considering Mongo wasn't even playing. 

[Holden McGroin 7416]

1 minute ago, wykikitoon said:

At the time they deserved it. Especially considering Mongo wasn't even playing. 

They simply have never been good enough to have ever played for England. 

[wykikitoon 22507]

And Connor Gallagher is? 

[Holden McGroin 7416]

The Conor Gallagher that’s just signed for Atheltico Madrid? I can’t imagine Diego Simeone having Longstaff on his radar.

[RobElliott 1769]

13 hours ago, Holden McGroin said:

The Conor Gallagher that’s just signed for Atheltico Madrid? I can’t imagine Diego Simeone having Longstaff on his radar.

 

If Longstaff was at Atletico he would be the new Ciggyone

[wykikitoon 22507]

13 hours ago, Holden McGroin said:

The Conor Gallagher that’s just signed for Atheltico Madrid? I can’t imagine Diego Simeone having Longstaff on his radar.

Gallagher was dour for a large period at Chelsea yet was getting picked over an inform Longstaff.  I know you have a serious hard on for Southgate and it must be difficult for you to criticise him, but he was picking players at 'Top 6' sides rather than inform players. Burn also having an oustanding season.  But nah, let's keep Harry Maguire who's played absolutely no football at all.

[Alex 36551]

If the Longstaff move to Man Utd had materialised he’d have 100% been in next England squad. 

[Holden McGroin 7416]

Maguire gets a lot of stick but he has never really let England down (not that I care much) and gets massively over analysed. He is a decent player. 
 

whilst I agree that clubs like Spurs seem to  be an automatic fast track to the England team, Longy and Burn just aren’t international class and never will be, no matter what comparisons are made.

 

 

[Holden McGroin 7416]

1 hour ago, Alex said:

If the Longstaff move to Man Utd had materialised he’d have 100% been in next England squad. 

He looked superb when he broke on the scene to be honest. I had massively high hopes for him. He seems a different a player to then.

[Dr Gloom 23385]

14 minutes ago, Holden McGroin said:

He looked superb when he broke on the scene to be honest. I had massively high hopes for him. He seems a different a player to then.

his passing range definitely didn’t live up to the early promise when he looked like a young Michael Carrick at times 

[Dazzler 11461]

47 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

his passing range definitely didn’t live up to the early promise when he looked like a young Michael Carrick at times 

I think he never recovered from that Declan Rice jealous rage tackle tbh. Once he got back on the pitch he was always nervous on the ball, and has gone down too easily.

 

He looked head and shoulders above Rice for me up until that point.