Yep, the whole of England came with the exact same rhetoric about Pep and his style of play for years. He got more points in England than he did with arguably the best team of all time in Spain. And if not certainly one of the best, with Messi, Xavi & Iniesta all in their prime. The English superiority, and the notion you can’t play a certain style in the Premier League is just this strange myth spouted by people who are so desperate to cling onto a football that doesn’t exist anymore. And people are actually starting to clock onto this, albeit agonisingly slowly.

I have no problem with us doing what we have to do. Or the deficiencies we have as a bottom half team that mean we need the “destroyer” type players in midfield. What I have a problem with is the proportion in which we seem to nearly always favour these type of players. It’s something I’ve ranted on here about many times, and it’s what I truly believe. Unless we re rig the balance of the squad in a more progressive fashion, in my opinion, we will be fighting relegation more often than not until a point in which we go down anyway. And because of our reluctance to adapt our philosophy, find it very hard to come back up.

For me the sale of Riedewald is the definition on undermining the type of progression we should be targeting. I don’t think it’s about the league he’s playing in at all, I think what he lacks in brute strength he makes up for in his reading of the game and could quite easily develop into an excellent anchor to a back 4. Regardless of the country he’s playing in.

As I said earlier, it’s a game of opinions. But I’m just stating the reasons why I’m personally disappointed we’ve deemed him surplus to requirements and would be even more disappointed to see him go.

Edited by Mstrobez (05 Aug 2018 12.30am)

We're the Arthur over ere!

Ouch, got me with that one. How will I ever recover from such a deadly blow.

If you think O’Keefe is even in the same galaxy as Riedewald, I think that pretty much sums up your grasp of this particular situation.

Edited by Mstrobez (05 Aug 2018 12.58am)

We're the Arthur over ere!

Yet, at 21 his interceptions and tackles won are higher. Swings and roundabouts. For that to mean anything you’d also have to pretend I’m calling for Riedewald to play over Luka, which I’ve consistently said I’m not.

Night

Edited by Mstrobez (05 Aug 2018 1.13am)

Attachment: 175ABB81-63AC-46DC-B025-EBEE17DC61E8.png (1,192.03Kb)

We're the Arthur over ere!

This leads back to what is he? You say an anchor but not replace Luka. So what then? He’s not a box to box and he’s not similar to Cabaye, Jimmy or Meyer. He kind of occupies a space. Ok if you’re defending for 90 minutes but what if you’re not?

I don’t see him as a centre half either and if we’re waiting to play 3 at the back again it could be a very long wait. I think Mstrobez was gutted we sacked Frank, but that in reality had to happen because Frank was a lunatic living in a fantasy.

COYP

We are going in the right direction on and off the field if JR goes then there will be good reason behind it.

Why don’t you re read the post again instead of talking s***. He’s a 21 year old. Of course he’s not ready to replace Luka. We have absolutely no need to replace Luka at this point in time either. Stop trying to twist things.

Problem with you Rudi, is we’ve had debates before. Including on the FdB debacle. And you keep biting, but when someone lays it out for you on a plate and in detail, the only thing you can come back with is strawman nonsense.

You need to learn how to disagree with other people like an adult rather than resorting to playground antics when someone offers a well reasoned and balanced alternative to the position you’ve taken up. Usually because that’s the position most other people have taken up too, therefore you see it as gospel.

We're the Arthur over ere!