Sandro Tonali

[David Kelly 1260]

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 17646]

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 by PaddockLad

[aimaad22 4222]

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 6783]

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 20713]

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

[Holden McGroin 6783]

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 20713]

And Connor Gallagher is? 

[Holden McGroin 6783]

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

[RobElliott 1568]

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 20713]

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 35572]

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

[Holden McGroin 6783]

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 6783]

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 22147]

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 10371]

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.

[Holden McGroin 6783]

7 minutes ago, Dazzler said:

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.

Aye. I remember us playing Wolves away and he looked like a Rolls Royce in the DM position.  He dominated the game and seemed to have an extra yard in his head.  I even recall Lineker waxing lyrical about him around that time.

[PaddockLad 17646]

11 minutes ago, Dazzler said:

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.

I was at that game and I hadn’t thought about how it may have affected him. Declan Rice is a v good player but not a 100 mill player . You sign a player for that money you’ve got to win a title. Perhaps Rice will once Pep fucks off but that just makes a mockery of the 100 mill…

[OTF 7485]

2 hours 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.

 

It's testament to how shit our youth system was under Ashley that we were properly excited about Longstaff. He did have a good spell under Rafa but never was he ever an exciting player. Worked hard and gelled well in a midfield with Isaac Hayden (ridiculous I know). Hayden was a good player once upon a time but his body wasn't up to his combative nature. Because this was under Rafa the focus was on defensive stability and compressing space so it suited him. In a more expansive game Longstaff doesn't have the athleticism to keep up, he covers a lot of ground but at what seems a snail's pace. I don't see any future for him here and wish we sold him instead of Anderson. Miley is a superior player already with a better range of passing, more physical presence and never gets caught on the ball like Longstaff frequntly does.

 

And that's my rant for today.

[Dr Gloom 22147]

i like longstaff but he isn't a technical player. tonali is an upgrade because he works hard like longstaff but he can also pass the ball forwards as well as sideways 

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3965]

33 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

i like longstaff but he isn't a technical player. tonali is an upgrade because he works hard like longstaff but he can also pass the ball.

Fyp

[David Kelly 1260]

On 28/10/2024 at 11:10, David Kelly said:

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.

I've seen him have a good game now.

[ohhh_yeah 2991]

 

   🎨 90 seconds drawing.

 

 

[wykikitoon 20713]

2 hours ago, ohhh_yeah said:

 

   🎨 90 seconds drawing.

 

 

Aye but Anderson is a better sub

[The Mighty Hog 526]

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[Gemmill 46027]

He'd already won everyone's hearts by booking a table at Wetherspoons.