‘Verratti has realised he won’t win Champions League at PSG’

Marco Verratt: Not good enough for Barca?

Marco Verratt: Not good enough for Barca?

Liverpool should spend £40m on a top-class defender, Man Utd should have signed Mousa Dembele ahead of Paul Pogba, while thoughts on Barcelona’s comeback are also offered by our readers.

Have anything you’d like to contribute? Get involved on our Your Say forums right here.

 

Lovren not the answer – Liverpool need to spend £40m on top-class centre-half

I’m still not totally decided on where exactly Dejan Lovren stands at Liverpool. Based on ability, there have been times when I’ve thought he needs to get the hell out of the first 11 and other times when I’ve thought that he’s been responding well since Klopp came in or whatever but there is a reason why I’m not totally set on him and that is because he’s in and out with injuries or illnesses. For that reason, he can’t be part of our first 11 plans going into the summer.

Ginger you’re dead on there when you say that Klopp was non-committal for sales purposes, regards Sakho. Something serious happened between the 2 of them. The club managed to keep whatever it was in house but I am in no doubt that something big happened and there is just no way that Sakho will play for Klopp again.

I’ve said it before that I want Gomez to get some PL experience at CB for us before the season ends but even if he does, I think we have to go out and sign a top class CB. It certainly won’t be easy for us to get the player we need and not have to pay £40m+ but they will have to work their magic because we have other important reinforcements to make also.

The best thing that could happen to us some time soon is for a team to park the double decker (4×2) and for us to destroy them. If we could learn to not only break a team down who tries it but to also have the discipline to not get caught with our pants down, then teams will stop resorting so heavily to this as plan A against us.

The team have to be a lot better against weaker teams, we’ve thrown away a brilliant season because of poor mentality.

Can we beat Burnley? Who bloody knows but Man city drew tonight so we’ve been given the opportunity to improve our position against theirs by 2 points.

Ian, ya i would prefer Milner to start of course but if there were a game for Moreno to come in , I wouldn’t have a problem with this being it but I don’t see any legitimate reason to rest Milner. he won’t be tired. . if it’s just that people don’t rate him at LB then i just don’t get people.

Mr Makavelli

 

United should have signed Mousa Dembele, not Paul Pogba

Mousa Dembele & Eric Dier: Midfielders injury doubts

Just want to put this out there as there is a bit of a discussion on the Utd pages about Pogba and I stated that I would much rather have Dembele of Spurs play his position as things stand.

So who would you prefer?

Manthistle

 

It depends on what you are looking for. both very different players with very different strengths. I don’t think there is a better player in the league than Dembele when it comes to weaving round the middle of the pitch and keeping possession but what he lacks is exactly what Pogba can do.

Dembele is not at all creative. He isn’t involved in goals or setting up chances. he sits deep and will control the midfield. Pogba on the other will bomb forward will spray passes around and will get in decent positions. Dembele i think brings more balance but Pogba has the creativity.

Paxton61

Pogba is a bit of a headless chicken. He is not a central midfielder, not a 10, lacks discipline. He might be brilliant in the future, but what at?

This season Dembele is clearly a better midfielder as he knows what he is doing.

Johnny Utah

 

If they were both going for free i would take Pogba. The price United paid for him is completely unrealistic and also unfair on him. You pay money for players that can change games by scoring goals. Pogba is not a goal scorer!

Basically United got mugged off – again whilst also putting unfair pressure/expectation on him!

Amz

 

Dembele is 29 and has been threatening to have a good season for the last six years. F****** hell I can’t believe somebody is even asking this question.

Pogba is having a very poor season in terms of the transfer fee we have have paid for him and I have been very critical of his play. But he’s a long term investment and in two years time, just before he signs for Real Madrid, he will be by far and away the best player in the league.

Wonderful Gas

 

In terms of knowing their role and making the best of their position Dembele wins hands down.

Forgetting his price tag, Pogba has age on his side and has all the attributes to be world class. I do question Pogba’s positional sense and decision making but he’s young and that all comes with age..

He’s very good at spraying the ball around when United are under no pressure but under pressure and against world class opposition he has a lot to prove.

Right now both Ali and Dembele look much better value for money.

Dandy

 

What I expected from Pogba when he signed-

– A player who could drive forward with the ball at his feet
– A player who could dictate and control the game
– A player who plays similarly to Yaya Toure and Patrick Vieira
– A beast who boss’s the game

These are the attributes and comparison I was told he had. He has shown the above on rare occasions, but generally he has been poor this season. He needs to spend more time improving his footballing attributes rather than improving his dance skills on Instagram. The skill is there, the mentality isn’t.

CM

 

Who do PSG blame for their 6-1 Barcelona embarrassment?

I don’t think any one player can take the blame for last night, Emery got his tactics completely wrong in the first half and the damage was done at that stage.

The players were jittery and nervous as a result and even Cavani’s goal in the second half did little to steady the ship. If anything, I’d say the owners are looking at the manager and wondering about him!

Dropping Di Maria after his performance in Paris? If PSG had gone out and attacked Barca it would have been game over.

Until the 88th minute most people were thinking that PSG were through even though they weren’t at the races. Barca weren’t as good as they have been either, a special set of circumstances contrived to create last night’s match and to be honest I don’t think either team was great, apart from Neymar who showed why Barca went to such lengths to sign him.

kilyboye

 

Verratti’s performance last night was a long way off what he did in Paris.

But there is a silver lining – after last night’s game perhaps Barca may no longer be interested in him.

But MV has now realised that he won’t win a CL winners medal with PSG. So he’ll be looking else where. UTD might come into focus for him.

So in view of recent speculation it might come down to MV or Toni Kroos. MV is more of a MF general than TK, good player that TK is.

I was disappointed with Rabiot last night. His game in Paris was the best DMF play I’ve seen all season, but last night he reverted to form.

concerned fan

Definitively the greatest comeback in the history of the trophy no side has ever turned over a 4 nil defeat and it could well inspire another Barca CL triumph.

nine nine nine

 

Just watched the game in which Barcelona beat PSG 6 – 1 to overturn a first-leg deficit of 0 – 4. Amazing stuff!

“Some are born great
Some achieve greatness
And some have greatness thrust upon them …”

TSM

 

Latest Wenger comments prove how insane he has become

“This club is in great shape.” This was a comment made by Wenger after the Bayern defeat. This just confirms how insane he has become. Great shape if you count £200m + supposedly in the bank, but in what other way are we in great shape?

Are the players playing for each other or just going through the motions? Does anybody really care? The one individual who does is Ox, who in recent weeks has run his heart out, with no mean ability demonstrated as well.

As for the others? Giroud, for once didn’t start moaning about a non-existent injury when the chips are down as he so often does, but missed two chances as is his wont in big games.

Walcott did run for a while and then reverted to norm when the equaliser went in and hid for the rest of the match without doing any work. Alexis tried, but it feels like the last throes of a “want away”.

As for the others, Mustafa had a torrid second half as did many of the rest. Where was Welbeck- not even on the bench?

And as for bringing Ozil and Coquelin on- take the madman away please. Will it take defeat to Lincoln to get him to walk?!

Jeff

 

Don’t shoot me straight away, I agree with Wenger on this one. The club is is great shape, hear me out.

Good amount of money in the bank for a NEW manager and a very good squad who at the moment look lost and in a comfort zone.

A NEW manager would change that and add his own spin to the side through tactics and signings. I don’t imagine someone like Allegri or Sampaoli letting players cruise in games.

So yeah I think we are in good shape as long as we a bring a NEW manager in. Of course this time next year I could be proven to be massively wrong.

Gooner Si

 

Leeds look good to the outsider – but actually we’re struggling

Chris Wood: Bagged a brace as Leeds beat Birmingham

Many non-Leeds United football fans ( especially those who follow the big guns) keep telling me: “Hey, your boys are sitting pretty. Looks like this is your season …”.

The truth of the matter is that most of these well-meaning folk make their observations from a limited perspective: they keep one eye on the league table and the other on the final result. They are oblivious to the inner workings of our team and blinded to the glaring shortfalls. To the proverbial outsider, we’re “high-riding”. To the insider, in the know, it’s a different story. We are actually struggling when compared to the others around us. The back four, Green and Wood have been carrying us. In between we have been nothing short of your old fashioned cream puff!

Full marks to Phoenix for a healthy dose of realism. We’ve come a long way since last season and ought to be grateful for the upward curve – irrespective of the final outcome. We’re still at the wicket and it’s been a long time since that has been the case with ten overs left.

TSM

 

Manchester United more dangerous to Chelsea without Zlatan

Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial: Targeted by Hammers

We destroyed them in the league back in October but I think Mourinho will have learnt a lot since then about his and our side.

Mourinho loves to contradict himself so I am thinking… Manchester United will turn up sit back not make the early mistakes they did in the last encounter and try to exploit us on the counter. I think this strategy will be boosted by the fact they will have more pace up front with Ibrahimovic out due to suspension.

bort

 

I actually I think the game could go either way and has become the toughest draw as United without Zlatan would be more motivated to prove they not reliant on him only. Its a one goal difference game.

notnice

 

Mourinho will be in full revenge mode – make no mistake!

Assuming a full team selection by Conte if we play to or close to our potential we’re currently an all round a better team than United.

But the FA Cup can be very unpredictable and the best team often doesn’t win it so we can take nothing for granted and as 1905 correctly points out even if we come through this tie there’s likely to be the strongest Semi Final line up that we’ve seen for a very long while.

nine nine nine

 

I think it will be a straight forward win for us.

Out of the 3 comps they are still in, the FA Cup is the least of their worries. They need to be in the CL and that means fighting tooth and nail in the CL and in the League for a top four spot.

Amz

 

Ibra been out could also be a bad thing. We had him sown up last game and it was easy to defend against him. However. They’ll now probably start witb martial and rashford who both have pace. Could make it harder.

Phwepsi

 

Are West Brom about to let their season fall apart again?

Last season we reached 40 points with 7 games to spare and then only managed three points (all draws) after that. This season we had 12 games to spare and we’ve lost the first of those to a relegation battling side!

This was one of the worst performances since before Xmas against a side that was struggling and who had recorded just ONE clean sheet in the last 23 away games!

There were players today who didn’t seem interested and the worst for me was Mozza who hardly touched the ball in the second half. Why Yacob has fallen out of favour I don’t know cause he was the rock in front of our defence. L

Livermore is too attack minded and is a replacement for Fletcher not Yacob. Once again the subs were bizarre! We had a bit of an outlet with Nyom at LB and Brunt in midfield so he takes off Nyom and puts on HRK.

Add this to replacing the quality of Chadli with McLean when he could have taken Mozza off instead putting Chadli in central midfield and we’d lost all chance. I’ve been wanting Leko to be given a go but this was NOT the time.

I’ve not said much about TP because our play has improved but it looks like it’s back to the old rubbish.

Northwich Baggie

 

Man City looked tired and heavy legged

They look tired and heavy legged.
Watching on TV. Its a poor match. Stoke’s tactics predictable. This could go either way. The back four makes me nervous.

Looking beyond this match and into next season – question. Is Otemendi good enough. It is clear we will have to replace both fullbacks. They aren’mt going to get better.

Adlab

 

Klopp’s struggles against ‘lesser sides’ is ‘nothing new’

Jurgen Klopp: Has no problem beating the big teams

Liverpool have earned just 23 points from 14 matches against the 10 current bottom-half sides, at an average of just 1.6 points per game.

To put that into perspective, Chelsea have averaged 2.7, while Man City (2.6), Tottenham (2.5), Arsenal (2.4) and Man United (2.2) are also faring comfortably better.

AK

 

This doesn’t seem to be a new problem for klopp. When Dortmund 1st win the league. He lost 8 games and 6 were to teams below mid table

If we draw or lose this game by playing the same tactics I’ll be livid. City drawing is a big result for us. We have a huge chance now Sunday to push on. The problem us we usually fook up in these situations.

Be patient but try something different. Maybe play couthino in the midfield 3 to cut them open or play a diamond.

We score early then I can see us winning comfortably. The more it stays st 0-0, the more we will panic.

We know what are problems are. We can’t get caught on the break or from a set play. We need to find ways to break them down. Burnley have not won away all season. What’s the odds we give them their first win?

I really do think we will beat city. Sunday is much more of a worry. Fook this up and I really do give up

sean the sailor

 

Two main pitfalls we have in these games. Defensive gaffes (usually during corners) – sadly there doesn’t seem much we can do about that with the players we have – we can only try and prevent corners and crosses in the first place.

Secondly, the counter attack. The players, like in the away game to Bournemouth, don’t seem to be wary of throwing more and more people up top – we simply become too open and vulnerable to counter attacks and the players assume everyone’s got each others backs covered, when they haven’t.

I think it far more practical and safer to give Burnley a bit more possession to try and draw them out a bit more and be more intelligent the way we go about these games and be a bit tighter. Otherwise, we just completely play into their hands. This is particularly pertinent if we don’t start very well and become frustrated, though it’s also relevant if we score a few early goals and then take our foot off the gas.

Mikkus