Lisandro "El Carnicero" Martinez

Huge blow.

Originally Posted by VanHaaksbergen

Scored same number of goals as Brentford in 9th, 7 more than Leicester who got relegated .. kept 17 clean sheets, 3rd lowest conceded .. defence as the downfall does not compute ..

Issue categorically has been scoring goals, not conceding (bottom 5% in goals scored amongst top 4 sides over past 20 years, that is a pitiful figure ..). Defence generally has been a boon under ETH (hence keeping a clean sheet every-other-game last season ..), but he needs to figure out how to set up against the other top 4/5 sides as those outlier away results are crippling (remarkably still conceded same as Arsenal who were firmly in title race despite that) ..

Conceded 43 goals last season, of which 18 came in 4 games .. defence in the other 34 was title winning form ..

The horse might have a leg missing but the other 3 are great.

Originally Posted by larry

shaw isn't our best cb

Go on...

Originally Posted by VanHaaksbergen

Scored same number of goals as Brentford in 9th, 7 more than Leicester who got relegated .. kept 17 clean sheets, 3rd lowest conceded .. defence as the downfall does not compute ..

Issue categorically has been scoring goals, not conceding (bottom 5% in goals scored amongst top 4 sides over past 20 years, that is a pitiful figure ..). Defence generally has been a boon under ETH (hence keeping a clean sheet every-other-game last season ..), but he needs to figure out how to set up against the other top 4/5 sides as those outlier away results are crippling (remarkably still conceded same as Arsenal who were firmly in title race despite that) ..

Conceded 43 goals last season, of which 18 came in 4 games .. defence in the other 34 was title winning form ..

You’re forgetting just how important Weghorst was to us defensively last season. We’ll be leaking goals without him, nqat.

Originally Posted by Finport Red

Yeah, but sparky slated his mum for her poor delivery moments after he was born.

Originally Posted by suedeshoes

The horse might have a leg missing but the other 3 are great.

Almost as inane as claiming Luke Shaw is the best cb at the club, and that defence, not attack, has been the ailment. Almost.

Genuinely think the midfield was as pressing a concern as the striker issue. Our downfall consistently wasn’t just our lack of goals - it was our inability to control games and retain possession. Eriksen turning into an old man and then relying on players like Fred and McTominay killed us. Obviously it was one game against a poor Palace side but Mount and Amrabat made such a big difference the other day and I couldn’t help but come away from it with a lot more optimism about the rest of the season.

Originally Posted by Neo

A stable defence (and midfield) relies on a consistent centre-back pairing.

This is a huge blow if Martinez is out for 2-3 months.

The luck we're having with injuries is ridiculous.

To some extent .. City rotate defenders to a ridiculous extent however and had (have) the best defence in the league. 8 defenders putting in double-digit appearances last season, and only 3 putting in more appearances than Varane (very, very marginally - literally a couple more games). None of them - none - put in 30+ appearances let alone starts.

Bigger need is having players who can come in that fit the system. There's not a like-for-like replacement for Varane so the team typically looks shit without him in it (as do the results). We'll see how it goes without Lisandro. Fingers crossed.

Need both Varane/Lisandro to mount a title challenge but early as it is, that looks gone now anyway absent of full pts between now and City visit then a win in that.

Originally Posted by NedKelly

Genuinely think the midfield was as pressing a concern as the striker issue. Our downfall consistently wasn’t just our lack of goals - it was our inability to control games and retain possession. Eriksen turning into an old man and then relying on players like Fred and McTominay killed us. Obviously it was one game against a poor Palace side but Mount and Amrabat made such a big difference the other day and I couldn’t help but come away from it with a lot more optimism about the rest of the season.

We got absolutely decimated against any decent league side away from home. Those 4 games against Arsenal/City/Newcastle/Liverpool accounted for 40% of totals goals conceded. Almost half the goals conceded in just over 10% of total games? Absolutely mad statistic.

Remains to be seen this year whether that was personnel or system. If Mount + Ambrabat can't make it work, probably system.

£#%&!ing disaster.

Originally Posted by VanHaaksbergen

To some extent .. City rotate defenders to a ridiculous extent however and had (have) the best defence in the league. 8 defenders putting in double-digit appearances last season, and only 3 putting in more appearances than Varane (very, very marginally - literally a couple more games). None of them - none - put in 30+ appearances let alone starts.

Bigger need is having players who can come in that fit the system. There's not a like-for-like replacement for Varane so the team typically looks shit without him in it (as do the results). We'll see how it goes without Lisandro. Fingers crossed.

Need both Varane/Lisandro to mount a title challenge but early as it is, that looks gone now anyway absent of full pts between now and City visit then a win in that.

I would say City are almost a unique exception, given the depth in quality of their squad, where they have 3 or 4 top players in multiple positions, such as centre-back, that can come in and rotate without a significant drop in quality.

There's not many other top teams across Europe (if any!) that wouldn't see a significant drop in quality if one of their first-choice centre-backs was out for a prolonged period of time.

A big difference in this regard between us and City is that the drop in quality between our first-choice centre-backs (Varane and Martinez) and the backups (Maguire, Lindelof and Shaw) is so steep. Exacerbating this, is the point you've identified around systems, as none of our backups can come in and effectively replicate the system of play that our first-choice centre-backs operate best in, i.e. ball-playing centre backs that are comfortable in possession and build attacks from deep. City, of course, have a squad in which every player is bought to fit the same system.

Be interesting to see who Ten Hag picks to replace Martinez, as I personally think Maguire is a better partner for Varane than Lindelof, whereas Lindelof has seemed a better partner for Martinez than Maguire has.

We’ve been missing last years Licha all season so doesn’t make too much difference. Need more protection from the midfield and Lindelof or Maguire to step up to the plate.

Feels like much less of a loss than it did last season. The kicker however is that Varane isn’t exactly reliable.

So he slammed a load of painkillers to play two games we got hammered in. This new doctor best have a true magic sponge as Martinez may not come back the same if he's aggravated an existing injury that didn't heal correctly.

Originally Posted by Jethro

So he slammed a load of painkillers to play two games we got hammered in. This new doctor best have a true magic sponge as Martinez may not come back the same if he's aggravated an existing injury that didn't heal correctly.

I understand his reasons but, the last couple of defeats, I’ve waited until the games are over before taking anything for the pain.

Originally Posted by Jethro

So he slammed a load of painkillers to play two games we got hammered in. This new doctor best have a true magic sponge as Martinez may not come back the same if he's aggravated an existing injury that didn't heal correctly.

What did he take, Ketamine?

https://twitter.com/mufcMPB/status/1721178578912473179?t=MgR2krWFyui1X9NGNNm0Uw&s=19

Out with the lads after Fulham

Wtf is mason mount wearing btw....

Mount's the only one who looks good. Someone needs to tell Onana about them skinny jeans, poor lad.

Originally Posted by Bunker Buster

https://twitter.com/mufcMPB/status/1...9NGNNm0Uw&s=19

Out with the lads after Fulham

Wtf is mason mount wearing btw....

Tim Westwood's cast-offs from the look of it.

Antony looking like a member of the Dipset circa 2003. Incredible sauce.

Originally Posted by suedeshoes

Mount's the only one who looks good. Someone needs to tell Onana about them skinny jeans, poor lad.

onana and Lisandro look good...

Onana is simplicity...
Lisandro pants are fire..

Mount looks like they remade Teenwolf...

A £#%&!ing state...

Mount looking like one of the Beastie Boys circa 1987