2019/2020 Premier League Discussion: Chapter IV

Jay29 wrote:

Glory wrote:So can I low key hype up Mason Greenwood now?  
Seriously tho, he has to be a starter now next season with Marcus and Martial. The kid IS ready. So spending like 100 million on a Sancho, I dont know, whether that would be a good idea.

Greenwood is good but he is still a teenager. Don't want to be overplaying them at that age otherwise they have injury problems later in their career.

Not that I want United to sign Sancho at all but targeting him is still a good idea imo.

Yea thats true. However if we sign someone for big money that player will automatically be slotted into the first team. Greenwood imo has surpassed that odd cup game appearance and gradual development phase. He has bulked up during this lockdown and can legit hold up against physical defenders already. He has to be given a great deal of game time now. I am not saying we dont reinforcement, ofc we do. Like you said, overplaying him would be an issue. So, I would rather we go for some pound shop option instead as a cover for that front 3. For example a Buendia or someone like that.

City getting owned again. KDB playing like shit. For the world class performance he put in against Liverpool he looked like a reserve team player today.

It is all Mahrez's fault doe.

It's dead rubber games for them. Liverpool was a special case.

You could argue it was a dead rubber game for Liverpool too.

Be it as it may, by far the worst season of Pep's career in terms of league results

Man City have lost more games than Arsenal this season lol

Sané missing is the main reason

danyjr wrote:City getting owned again. KDB playing like shit. For the world class performance he put in against Liverpool he looked like a reserve team player today.

It is all Mahrez's fault doe.

but but he's the best midfielder in the league

man has more off games than he does quality ones smh

yea i imagine City are only trying to focus on the oncoming CL knockout stages now

Didn't watch the game but KDB came on in the 60th minute. Why is this forum acting like he had a 90 min disaster class? Either way, City have had glaring problems this season hence them being 20 points behind. Some oil tap turning is coming this summer.

Dany makes the same tired Mahrez remark every week. This sly call out is bordering on obsessed. Nothing I say about Mahrez is wrong you weirdo. He's a silky winger who is inconsistent. For every game he can win you on his own, he'll mess up the final action in the next 3. He has a good performance against Arsenal, then drops a 2/10 against Chelsea, gets benched against Liverpool, and supposedly drops another 2/10 against Soton. I'll put money on him getting a G+A next week. Then the same kind of form will repeat itself as has been the case since he's arrived.

Casciavit wrote:Dany makes the same tired Mahrez remark every week. This sly call out is bordering on obsessed. Nothing I say about Mahrez is wrong you weirdo. He's a silky winger who is inconsistent. For every game he can win you on his own, he'll mess up the final action in the next 3. He has a good performance against Arsenal, then drops a 2/10 against Chelsea, gets benched against Liverpool, and supposedly drops another 2/10 against Soton. I'll put money on him getting a G+A next week. Then the same kind of form will repeat itself as has been the case since he's arrived.

I'm merely giving you a taste of your own medicine. You used to make the same tired Mahrez remarks every week. Never mind that you would scapegoat him every time when half the team was playing was shit

So how long until Mason Mount is undroppable for both Chelsea and England? I'd say he'll be there next season for Chelsea.

He is a fantastic B2B CM who makes everyone else play better. Put him in a midfield next to Rice and Henderson/Maddison and you have a very balanced and solid midfield

danyjr wrote:

Casciavit wrote:Dany makes the same tired Mahrez remark every week. This sly call out is bordering on obsessed. Nothing I say about Mahrez is wrong you weirdo. He's a silky winger who is inconsistent. For every game he can win you on his own, he'll mess up the final action in the next 3. He has a good performance against Arsenal, then drops a 2/10 against Chelsea, gets benched against Liverpool, and supposedly drops another 2/10 against Soton. I'll put money on him getting a G+A next week. Then the same kind of form will repeat itself as has been the case since he's arrived.

I'm merely giving you a taste of your own medicine. You used to make the same tired Mahrez remarks every week. Never mind that you would scapegoat him every time when half the team was playing was shit

You've made more "BuT MAhReZ's FaULt" posts than I ever have regarding Mahrez. Your non-stop attempt at trying to make it a meme is cute. Based on my post history I only called out Mahrez after his performances against Madrid, Spurs, and one back on December 15 which was against Arsenal. I credited him for his Leicester performance but said he'd go back to his usual ways which have been the case since.

As for scapegoating him when the team plays like shit. Well, everyone already knows the likes of Otamendi, Stones, and Mendy are a bunch of klutz. Gundogan playing worse the higher up the pitch he has to play has been said for 4 years. Rodri has been underwhelming. Sterling's form took a dive because he plays every game. From what I've seen those guys tend to get a lot of flak already.

Either way, City has the ball for 70% of the game. There's going to be a bigger magnifying glass on underperforming attacking players since they get more opportunities. The games above I shamed Mahrez for is absolutely justified. He did nothing against Spurs and then his failed short corner lead to Zinchenko getting a red card because he had to commit a tactical foul. Against Madrid, he missed chance after chance. I talk about him because there's nothing interesting about beating the "Otamendi is shit" drum lmfao. It's already known.  

Ultimately, my stance on Mahrez remains after two seasons of watching him. For all the potential benefits Mahrez can provide, City tends to look worse when he's on the pitch. For every performance, he had like the one against Leicester, there are five performances where he underwhelms and contributes very little to the attack.  

He's overrated, so he's on a fraud alert. Deal with it. Credit to Mole who has been on it since the beginning though. Truly one of GL's finest posters.

City lost 1-0 with an xG of 3.4. I didn't see the game but it seems like they made good chances and couldn't convert.

The fact City have lost 9 times this season is honestly baffling, since their underlying numbers are amazing. 81 goals scored off an xG of 85. Second highest team for xG is Liverpool with 66.

Individually, their players are doing okay... except Jesus. Jesus has 10 league goals but his xG is 16, so his finishing this season has been well below where it should be. Certainly well below Aguero's standard and given Aguero's tendency to miss games, this is a huge issue for City.

Looking through their defeats, there are a couple of games where they can claim they were unlucky (like Spurs scoring twice off an xG of 0.4), but there's a trend of them conceding higher quality chances to the opposition.

Like the recent Chelsea defeat. Chelsea had an xG of 4.2 vs City's 0.7. That game could have been ugly for City.

This is probably down to having an unsettled defensive line and having to play players out of position against strong teams, so I'm fully expecting them to splash huge sums on a CB or two this summer.

Kick wrote:So how long until Mason Mount is undroppable for both Chelsea and England? I'd say he'll be there next season for Chelsea.

He is a fantastic B2B CM who makes everyone else play better. Put him in a midfield next to Rice and Henderson/Maddison and you have a very balanced and solid midfield

Greenwood - Foden - Saka got the the England midfield covered

Jay29 wrote:City lost 1-0 with an xG of 3.4. I didn't see the game but it seems like they made good chances and couldn't convert.

The fact City have lost 9 times this season is honestly baffling, since their underlying numbers are amazing. 81 goals scored off an xG of 85. Second highest team for xG is Liverpool with 66.

Individually, their players are doing okay... except Jesus. Jesus has 10 league goals but his xG is 16, so his finishing this season has been well below where it should be. Certainly well below Aguero's standard and given Aguero's tendency to miss games, this is a huge issue for City.

Looking through their defeats, there are a couple of games where they can claim they were unlucky (like Spurs scoring twice off an xG of 0.4), but there's a trend of them conceding higher quality chances to the opposition.

Like the recent Chelsea defeat. Chelsea had an xG of 4.2 vs City's 0.7. That game could have been ugly for City.

This is probably down to having an unsettled defensive line and having to play players out of position against strong teams, so I'm fully expecting them to splash huge sums on a CB or two this summer.

Good points. I've brought it up before but their inefficiency reminds me of their 16/17 season. The advanced stats suggest they weren't as bad as the table claims.

City play a more exposed shape these days and didn't have the necessary quality to bail them out like they did in the prior season. Defensive injuries and an older squad are to blame. They've been linked to Koulibaly which makes sense.

Pep has opted for the 442 against both Madrid and Liverpool. I expect him to use that shape in the future CL matches too. The extra defensive player in transition can help them be more compact and make up for any potential qualitative issues. But tbh I don't believe they have the killer mentality needed to win the CL. I'd be very surprised if they do.

As for Gabriel Jesus, I think he's an interesting case. I've taken notice of his wayward finishing and it's been something that has caught my eye since last season.

He seems to be one of those players heavily reliant on confidence. He kind of reminds me of guys like Higuain and Coutinho from a mentality standpoint. The kind of player that needs pampering and how droughts seems to effect them a lot. He's a very emotional player you can see it on his face in games.

He impressed me a lot in his first season where he benched Aguero and then ended up sharing minutes with Aguero in his second season where he played majority of the away games. Then in his third and fourth season he's had even less minutes and has become a designated second option. It seems like he's fallen out of favour.

However there's a very good player in there. I don't feel like him being a CF in Pep's robotic system brings out the best of him. He's one of those players who need to have freedom. He was the best player in CA2019 and he was playing as a RW. His match against Madrid was one of the greatest 'role' performances I've ever seen when he was playing as a LW.

He's fairly creative on the ball and has the capacity to take on his man along with his pace. He has a good leap on him and makes good runs too. He also has arguably the highest defensive workrate from a #9 out there.

I genuinely feel if he was to play in a different system with a different team that complements his strengths he'd be bagging in 25 goals a season. The quality is there.

Jay29 wrote:City lost 1-0 with an xG of 3.4. I didn't see the game but it seems like they made good chances and couldn't convert.

The fact City have lost 9 times this season is honestly baffling, since their underlying numbers are amazing. 81 goals scored off an xG of 85. Second highest team for xG is Liverpool with 66.

Individually, their players are doing okay... except Jesus. Jesus has 10 league goals but his xG is 16, so his finishing this season has been well below where it should be. Certainly well below Aguero's standard and given Aguero's tendency to miss games, this is a huge issue for City.

Looking through their defeats, there are a couple of games where they can claim they were unlucky (like Spurs scoring twice off an xG of 0.4), but there's a trend of them conceding higher quality chances to the opposition.

Like the recent Chelsea defeat. Chelsea had an xG of 4.2 vs City's 0.7. That game could have been ugly for City.

This is probably down to having an unsettled defensive line and having to play players out of position against strong teams, so I'm fully expecting them to splash huge sums on a CB or two this summer.

Kinda goes to show what a weak stat xG is though. Other than Kun, City doesn't have any players I would consider to be great finishers and this shows in these types of stats.

Casciavit wrote:You've made more "BuT MAhReZ's FaULt" posts than I ever have regarding Mahrez. Your non-stop attempt at trying to make it a meme is cute. Based on my post history I only called out Mahrez after his performances against Madrid, Spurs, and one back on December 15 which was against Arsenal. I credited him for his Leicester performance but said he'd go back to his usual ways which have been the case since.

As for scapegoating him when the team plays like shit. Well, everyone already knows the likes of Otamendi, Stones, and Mendy are a bunch of klutz. Gundogan playing worse the higher up the pitch he has to play has been said for 4 years. Rodri has been underwhelming. Sterling's form took a dive because he plays every game. From what I've seen those guys tend to get a lot of flak already.

Either way, City has the ball for 70% of the game. There's going to be a bigger magnifying glass on underperforming attacking players since they get more opportunities. The games above I shamed Mahrez for is absolutely justified. He did nothing against Spurs and then his failed short corner lead to Zinchenko getting a red card because he had to commit a tactical foul. Against Madrid, he missed chance after chance. I talk about him because there's nothing interesting about beating the "Otamendi is shit" drum lmfao. It's already known.  

Ultimately, my stance on Mahrez remains after two seasons of watching him. For all the potential benefits Mahrez can provide, City tends to look worse when he's on the pitch. For every performance, he had like the one against Leicester, there are five performances where he underwhelms and contributes very little to the attack.  

He's overrated, so he's on a fraud alert. Deal with it. Credit to Mole who has been on it since the beginning though. Truly one of GL's finest posters.

Maybe I have made more posts like that but more or less I was really trying to get a reaction out of you and exposing the fact that you scapegoat him unfairly

And while I agree with your post (and most contributions you've made on this forum), you can be unfair on players you don't like. And on the other hand you big up a few players disproportionately, such as decent but nothing special La Liga defender Laporte like they are prime Beckenbauer. You and Arq's lovechild has cost City bigger games than Mahrez has, yet he gets free passes all the time by you. I concur that he is City's best centre back, but he ain't special at all. Kompany was special, not the guy who can't win a NT cap and is behind Mamadou freaking Sakho in the pecking order ffs

Hugo Lloris and Son Heung-min have to be separated by their teammates at HALF-TIME as they make their way into the dressing room
What just happened? #TOTEVE#Son #Lloris pic.twitter.com/1KcL6qLLMl

— Football Pundit (@FootballPundi18) July 6, 2020

Son came out of the army thinking he is Rambo, smh

El Gunner wrote:

Kick wrote:So how long until Mason Mount is undroppable for both Chelsea and England? I'd say he'll be there next season for Chelsea.

He is a fantastic B2B CM who makes everyone else play better. Put him in a midfield next to Rice and Henderson/Maddison and you have a very balanced and solid midfield

Greenwood - Foden - Saka got the the England midfield covered

Are you suggesting those three for midfield or for the front line?

Everton as a club does not make sense.

They must have spent over 400m since 2005 and not a single player since then worked out well for them. Their best players actually came from their own youth ranks..

They need to sack every single scout, DOF, chief of staff, Dinner lady at the club and start again. Never seen a club waste money like them.

Only caught about 20 mins of Tottenham. Utter dross.

I stopped watching them when Mou came in after the first game or two. Started again just because football's been gone. Might stop and watch other teams instead. Mou sucks the life out of every team he touches. Exhausting especially when you see a good chunk of Spurs supporters suck his dick talking about "defensive stability". Team just lost 3-1 to Sheffield and looks like shit. Mou has been a train wreck

Kick wrote:

El Gunner wrote:

Kick wrote:So how long until Mason Mount is undroppable for both Chelsea and England? I'd say he'll be there next season for Chelsea.

He is a fantastic B2B CM who makes everyone else play better. Put him in a midfield next to Rice and Henderson/Maddison and you have a very balanced and solid midfield

Greenwood - Foden - Saka got the the England midfield covered

Are you suggesting those three for midfield or for the front line?

for the midfield.

Kane will still be up top with Tammy challenging.