Claudius wrote:

I’ve heard Saka has impressed at 10 in practice sessions. A little terror.

He'd certainly be an option, but I think he is still better as a #8 because of his ability to drive the ball forward and run into space, although he could be developed as cover at CAM in the future if we needed it.  The big question being what do we consider our nextgen lineup to be when we are thinking about a title challenge = Saka/Martinelli/some other name as LWF/CAM/#8 etc?

no team with laca in it is one that i'm looking forward to seeing.

I think signing Partey in midfield now changes Laca's role as CF as he no longer needs to drop deep into midfield to provide a passing option, as Partey can drive the ball forward to beat the press and then pass.
IIRC Laca was very good at making different sorts of runs to receive the ball when he first joined us and there was a complaint that we were too conservative and wouldn't utilise his movement ahead of the ball. I think Partey gives us the opportunity to redress the issue and Laca can play more as he did before we switched to the 343.
I'd also like to think that in doing so Laca's goal return will increase as will his value, and he'd become a transfer target for the likes of both Atletico and OL who are both struggling to score with any regularity.

Meatwad wrote:

no team with laca in it is one that i'm looking forward to seeing.

I think he's our best CF. If we moved to a more striker-up-front type system, it could work, but I'm not holding my breath nor do I really want to see it. Laca isn't the best at what he does, but he's the best we've got at the moment, and he scores important goals.

Tierney has to self isolate for 14 days after coming into close contact with someone who has the virus in the national team.

Considering how often they get tested would he have to keep isolating?

Fuck, City without Tierney sounds like a nightmare.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Fuck, City without Tierney sounds like a nightmare.

Claudius wrote:

I guess we are registering Kolasinac. This motherfucker won’t go away.

If it takes one injury before we need to play him then he was always getting registered as long as he's here.

He has always played regularly for us and although idiotic, not totally useless. He is always going to be registered and he will play loads till the next window

Wouldn't mind 4atb with AMN and Bellerin instead of Kola. Bit risky against City maybe, but they're not good defensively and I think we should have a go at them.

Claudius wrote:

Best protocol is to keep isolating. If he gets it later he could become the Donald Trump of London Colney.

Just test him 2/3 days before the game. Our next game is 10 days away, if he is negative a week from now surely he hasn't got the virus.

The Liverpool players didn't have to quarantine after Mane tested positive.

Claudius wrote:

They’re most vulnerable on the counter, so I can see Arteta trying to absorb them with the 343. They’ll never solve that weakness. If you try to go toe to toe with them in an open game, they’ll have you.

Leicester's tactics was very interesting, they packed their defence with 5, and stationed 3 attackers up front at all times for a counter. Their entire game plan depended on Mendy and Tielemans to break press themselves and both of them constantly did and found themselves 3v2 at the back. 

Partey would be so useful to break the press  :drool:

Our 3-4-3 vs 4-3-3 is seamless anyway. The real difference maker is the personnel (AMN vs Saka, Pepe AND Willian vs either etc).

Couldn't Tierney just get a test after a week or so to come out of self isolation? Isn't that what Gabriel did?

There's no way he's going to spend 14 days in self-isolation if he's not showing any symptoms and the tests keep coming back negative, is there? What kind of shithousery is this?

I think it's just papers making assumptions. Like I said Gabriel was training with us well before his 14 day isolation period was over.

of course he has to spend 14 days, he was exposed and the virus can be undetected until it surfaces. We're having problems with a potential 3rd wave over here because establishment assumed only 2 negative tests 3 days apart were enough - and that's from individuals who weren't confirmed exposed.