Ronaldo burst onto the scene at 22, at 21 there were still plenty of naysayers on the caf. I was there and I had to defend him tooth and nail. Especially in the summer before he went ham in the premier league.
It's very good. But as per the thread, I think it's one "game changer" away from being a title winning team. Even Spurs have a better first choice front 6 imo. That definitely won't be the case with a Sanchez or Bale though.
This is my concern, it is also well known that managers and ex managers talk about possible transfers. I wonder if clubs have spoken to the Leicester team and got an answer they don't like. I get the feeling Jose doesnt want to go get a game changer, hence spending "only" 40m on Perisic, its a bit of a nothing gamble. I think his view might be that he wants to see if Martial, Mkhi, Lingard, Rashford can step up this season and those that don't will be shipped out to make way for a big buy next year
He scored 4 goals and created 6 assists in 1558 PL minutes (around 17 full matches). That works out to a goal or an assist every 155~ minutes. Not bad at all for a player who was in the worst form of his life, personal issues, and a strange form of man-management behind him.
Just took a look and when you look at his per 90 mins stats Martial actually wasn't as bad as you think. The stats don't seem to tell the story how his season feels in my head, but maybe it was an expectation too far with his issues.
Griezmann isn't a player who goes past 3-4 players and scores goals. He is great at positioning and finishing, but he is not Messi, Neymar or Hazard.
Of course, stats never tell the full story. The initial post was totally disparaging and claiming Martial was 'abysmal', which is ridiculous. It wasn't a great season, but contextualised with a lick of sense and comparing to his competition, it was one which still highlighted the fact that Martial has bundles of ability and should realistically be pushed as a serious option.
We will get Perisic I reckon. Aurier as well maybe.
FOr a very short while, I thought Di Maria would be just that. maybe we should get him back h haha
Massive risk from Woodward if that's the case and chances are it could be true, but one unlucky injury to Lukaku and Jose will probably have to experiment with attacking lineup, once again... Last season it had very random effects and team couldn't find consistency whatsoever.
100%. I can see Rashford and Martial tearing it up this season.
All our attackers were poor but claiming that even abysmal is too mild a word to use for his performances is ridiculous and unnecessary hyperbole. That would be ridiculous even for Lingard.My mother? My house?
Awww, I think I hurt this Martial fanboy's feelings.
I am not the one who told Martial to score 4 league goals in a season, so I suggest you direct your ire somewhere else.
And btw, I have berated all our attackers, except Ibra. Rashford is let off due to his age, but Mata, Lingard, Martial, Miki - all of them were atrocious last season.
I read a stat that Lallana was Liverpools worst attacker (goal-wise), but he out scored all of the names I mentioned above. That puts into perspective how bad most of our attackers were.
I do find it strange that players who were terrible last season, have such a strong following, yet players like Fellaini, who actually has had some decent games for us (not many, but some), gets such a hard time.
I agree with the OP that we still require a game changer but to be fair if we end up lining up like this;
Agree, ideally we get a left back along with a winger. We haven't been linked to any left backs this summer though.
How the hell do you understand from what I said, that I think I believe they'll step up
?