chicagoblue

Stir debate or be a WUM?
 
At least be balanced. My dislike and distrust of Kenwright is well known, but shall I just make posts saying "Bloody ell, only £27.5m for Fellaini - what a joke, add that onto his list of failures, kirby, kings dock, fortress fund blah blah blah"
 
The reality is Kenwright has done well in this transfer window, as have all involved. So... in wrapping up quit trying to add this window as a means of criticising RM, you haven't got a clue, and the more you post on this, the more you are losing credibility.
 
RM has had 4 games in charge, an unsettled group of players who wonder if baines and felli are going, Moyes behaving like an idiot etc etc.
 
Get some balance - you are judging Kone already, making out selling Felli was bad (we replaced him with a free player and bought a £13m fantastic prospect in), we haven't scored but totally dominated teams - I think you need to grow up mate. Your going to feel a little victimised with all the negativity towards your posts unless you get some real perspective on being a balanced poster.

We are the logical choice if you look at it from Chelsea's perspective probably. Outside of the top clubs, a lot of teams play a lot of long balls or have counter-attacking styles which is very much gonna play to Lukaku's strenghts. If he's ever gonna succeed for Chelsea, he's gonna need to improve in his first touch and in his play in tighter spaces. It's basically gonna be us and Swansea where that's really gonna be asked of him, perhaps Southampton too under Pocchettino. But those sides have bought their own 15m strikers.

think we should all forget about that straight away, to save our sanity...

Difference between a "good age gap" and a jail sentence pal.

Hi! I'm a Porto fan. I don't if this rumor it's true, but if... You'll you have an amazing player here.
 
Fernando is like a wall in our miedfield all this years. In his position he's one of the best in Europe, for sure. It will be real tough for us to find a substitute.
 
I remember how easily he dominated Rooney and Ronaldo when we played Man.United last time. You'll get one of the best, you'll see!
 
(sorry for my poor english)

Shame yet again that the players couldn't win that for Martinez.
 
Enough chances, completely dominant and we just fuck up chance after chance and opportunity after opportunity.
 
We were a much better team when Kone came on the pitch and anyone that can't see that really needs to open their eyes. Same can be said of Gerry as well because he is a brilliant impact player and my one criticism of Martinez is that he should have been on 10 mins earlier.
 
When the players get used to when and where his delivery is coming from we will be creating chance after chance.

He's embarrassed Osman a couple of times today, Kim.

Agreed. There's no link between midfield and attack either need to buy Santi Corzola

I think 38 mil is getting there. With clever work on the transfer market that could get us 4-5 players that improve the starting 11/squad.
Sad to see both go but sometimes you have to do whats best for the club and the club is bigger than Fellaini and Baines.
 
Would prefer to just sell Felli at around 28 mil though

Anichebe had an ankle knock according to Martinez
 
Martinez, who also confirmed that Victor Anichebe's absence last night was due to a minor ankle injury sustained on Monday, said Stevenage deserved credit for their spirited display.
 
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leighton-baines-man-united-link-5800025

Felli is a game winner. I don't know why so many fans are happy to see him go. While he is here, it keeps us on the footballing map, and in the eyes of Europe in terms of players wanting to join.
 
Baines is 29 in December. If we must lose somebody, I'd rather it were Osman.

Shithouse result. We had a bunch of attempts on goal, hit the post a few times, but couldn't get a home win against fucking West Brom. Yes, they did a nice job of breaking up our play, but we should've found a winner. First thing we can do is send that moaning bitch Jelavic to play with the Everton ladies, they could teach him a few things about toughness, finishing, and resilience.

Kone is looking lively, bit of a shame he wasnt on earlier.

Don't think Heitinga is going to improve us. We need more attacking intent. I'd have a striker, Oviedo or Gerard on and get Felli to really sit.
 
WBA aren't being subtle here, completely parking the bus and we need someone with keys to start the fooker

I have to disagree with you there mate I dont think he needs to change his game at all.

More than one have said it, but I really think Ossie might be done. Doesn't seem to have it this season, looked a couple yards off the pace all game. If we have any money we need to find someone to give Gibson competition or to jump in front of him. Most everywhere else we're fine, but we really, really need someone with composure, passing range and a bit of mobility in the middle of the park in order to play Martinez's game.
 
Fairly certain Barkley will be starting most every game and we'll benefit from that.
 
Also thought Mirallas was quite poor today. Didn't look interested and his touch never seemed to lose the defender. He'll come good, but his work rate needs to improve for me.

There's no way we should let ManU's silly games affect our team selection for the opening game. I am so frustrated by the constant speculation. If they want the player, make an offer - but don't screw up our preparations and progress by these delays. We're a bigger club than them, and this year we'll prove it.

I reckon Rodwell would have done better for us than Osman did today.

Who gave it to Mirallas?... And what game were they watching???

Don't get your obsession with this. We have the best left back in the country and you want to play him out of position?
 
He plays "the attacking game" just fine from where he is.

Well, we started well in the first half, then lost our way for a bit and Norwich finally got into the game and then again we asserted our dominance and took control right up until the half-time whistle. We looked very pretty on the ball and our passing was sharp and we saw a lot of the ball, but it was looking like we'd have no creativity or penetration. But as the half progressed I really thought we found our feet and looked like we could create a lot of chances. And we did (I think we ended up with 20 attempts on goal?) and I was very satisfied at half-time. I felt there was to feel positive about. The midfield for the most part looked good, the defence (apart from Jagielka) looked switched on and Jelavic looked bright and eager.
 
Second half, we came out and looked like we'd carry on from where we left off but totally against the run of play we conceded due to pathetic defence from a number of our players. Most notably Fellaini. He was such a fanny, it's untrue, and undid his great play from the first half, where I thought he was one of our stand out performers. Obviously this knocked us a bit but it only took us 10 minutes to get back in the game. And what a beautiful goal it was too. Barkley with a strike that just oozed class. He showed the composure of someone much older to drag the ball on to his "weaker" foot and put it exactly where Ruddy could never reach it. It was a goal that his performance up until that point had thoroughly earned. The momentum was all ours now and 5 minutes later we had our second goal. And it was such a well crafted goal. Pienaar played Jelavic in deftly and Ruddy saved well but could only push the ball our to Coleman who finished coolly. If that play is what we see a lot of this season then we're going to score many goals. We were in complete control at this point but were hit with a sucker punch equaliser. I know Whittaker mishit it but I really felt Jagielka was at fault by not being closer to his man. He should have been expecting the ball to be coming in to the box but he was nowhere near Van Wolfswinkel. I don't think we ever recovered from that equaliser and the game just petered out for us.
 
As has been said, we're a point up on last season (after losing at Carrow Road) but only getting a point from this game after we'd turned things around is hard to take. Plenty of positives to take from the game and only a couple of negative issues.
 
 
Howard - Really didn't have much to do apart from pick the ball out of the back of his net twice. Nothing he could do about either of them as well.
 
 
Coleman - A stonking performance in attack. A constant threat. And showed he's going to be a goal threat because he's willing to follow the attacks into the box from the other side. Highlighted by his goal today. He didn't have a lot of help defensively from Mirallas but performaed well in that regard. His one flaw was his poor crossing the majority of the time. It's something he needs to work on.
 
Jagielka - Think he'd been on the Night Nurse last night because he slept through most of this game. He just didn't look with it at all. Caught out of position a few times and, like I said earlier, I think he should have done much better for their equaliser.
 
Distin - I thought he was rock solid mostly. He used his pace brilliantly on more than one occasion and looked switched on right from the off. He also dealt well with the physical threat that Van Wolfswinkel posed (mostly in the second half).
 
Baines - He wasn't bad but I barely noticed him either. One thing I did notice though was his poor delivery from set-pieces.
 
 
Mirallas - An up and down game from him today. Mostly down. It took me an age to even realise he was playing and even then he didn't really do much. And he so lazy at helping Coleman out. The Norwich wide player had all the space in the world to move in to and Coleman was left backpedaling.
 
Osman - My word he was shite. I thought maybe once it was the proper season he'd look better but he looks so out of it. People can say he's out of position bla bla bla but that's no excuse for not being able to pass is it? Very worrying.
 
Fellaini - I thought he had a great first half. He broke up play and he drove forward with the ball, he linked up well, he was physical. He pretty much did everything that we'd expect from him. But the one thing I will remember from this game from him is his, quite frankly, embarrassing effort at stopping Whittaker. It was a token gesture and an unacceptable one at that.
 
Pienaar - Drifted in and out of the game but showed flashes of what we know he can do. His ball to Jelavic in the build up to our second being his best contribution. It's those sorts of balls we're crying out for to open up defences and I hope it's the first of many. If he does that regularly he'll be right up there in terms of assists.
 
 
Barkley - Today just highlights why he should have been used more last season. I'm not saying he should have started the majority of games or anything like that, but he is a completely unique squad member. We have no one like him. He;s so unpredictable but he clearly has the brain and vision along with that unpredictability which makes him such a massive threat. His passing today was on another level and made a mockery of his 19 years of age. He looked like a player who'd been at this level for years. His vision and his ability to pick a pass were second to none. His pass completion rate was phenomenal when you consider he didn't always choose the easy option. He was willing to pick the harder option because he believed he could pull it off. His belief was on show again for his goal. The willingness to shift the ball from his strong foot on to his left foot and then have a crack from that far out and pull it off... wow. Also, in the past he's been easily shrugged off the ball (and usually in a dangerous position) but today he showed strength on a number of occasions to hold his own and still keep the ball. My MOTM.
 
 
Jelavic - Think it was clear to see that pre-season has really boosted him. He looked a different player to the one we became accustomed to last season. He was bright, eager and always looking to get involved by linking up well with the midfield. He was unlucky not to get his first goal of the season too. It was a good shot by him that led to Coleman scoring and if not for a block by a Norwich defender he'd have rifled the ball home later in the second half. A very encouraging performance.

61% possession, 87% pass completion as a team (vs 71% for Norwich) for 494 completed passes, 90% tackle success (vs 74% for Norwich) (too bad Fellaini refused to try and tackle Whittaker for their first goal), 7 shots on target and 8 off target as opposed to 2 on and 2 off target for Norwich. Howard didn't make a save all game. We really should have won this.
 
Barkley had a goal, 94% pass success (51 out of 54), 1 interception and 3 tackles.

We need at least 1 new central midfielder. Unacceptable from Ossie, lost the ball far too much.
 
Can't believe how lucky Norwich always seem to be against us. We owe them a 6-0 thrashing. Disappointed to only come out with a draw after coming from behind to lead but new manager and new style of play, away from home, suppose its not too bad.

he was very poor...as said he's no gibson

Everyone playing well with Barkley and Pienaar excelling so far. Couple nice touch from Jelly, but again we're not getting the ball into him where he can get a shot away. Too many passes around the top of the area, going to need to take a few shots or work it side to side faster. Norwich are sitting deep and despite our possession we're not really troubling them.
 
Osman's been poor for me, not really offering anything, I'd just as soon have him off, stick Pienaar in the middle and bring Deolefeu or Oviedo on to really stretch both wings with pace.