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Dejan Kulusevski

Kulu and Richy potentially out until after the world cup. The biggest concern is the knock on effect the injuries up top could have on the other strikers who have to keep playing during this crazy schedule. A couple of years ago something similar happened and we had to play Dele up front!

Sun23Oct - Saudi Sportswashing Machine (h)
Wed26Oct - sporting (h)
Sat29Oct - bnmouth (a)
Tue1Nov - marseille (a)
Sun6Nov - pool (h)
Wed9Nov - forest (a)
Sat12Nov - leeds (h)

That’s what we have before the world cup. As long as top place in our group is secured against sporting, then in my mind we dont even have games in the CL at marseille and the league cup at forest. We need to send totally changed teams from the games immediately before and after those fixtures.

I think its possible at best that Kulu and Richy may be back to be on the bench against pool on november 6th.
 
not sure if i will support them if they recover in time and do a lo celso and play well representing country in the world cup.
 
AjaxDeSuperYids said:
Kulu and Richy potentially out until after the world cup. The biggest concern is the knock on effect the injuries up top could have on the other strikers who have to keep playing during this crazy schedule. A couple of years ago something similar happened and we had to play Dele up front!

Sun23Oct - Saudi Sportswashing Outfit (h)
Wed26Oct - sporting (h)
Sat29Oct - bnmouth (a)
Tue1Nov - marseille (a)
Sun6Nov - pool (h)
Wed9Nov - forest (a)
Sat12Nov - leeds (h)

That’s what we have before the world cup. As long as top place in our group is secured against sporting, then in my mind we dont even have games in the CL at marseille and the league cup at forest. We need to send totally changed teams from the games immediately before and after those fixtures.

I think its possible at best that Kulu and Richy may be back to be on the bench against pool on november 6th.
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Agreed.

Next two are massive games. Beat Sporting and we have earned a breather against Marseille…

Hopefully Forest would see


Forster

Tanganga
Sanchez
Lenglet

Spence
Skipp
Bissouma
Sess/Perisic

Gil
Moura
Richy
 
thfcsteff said:
Agreed.

Next two are massive games. Beat Sporting and we have earned a breather against Marseille…

Hopefully Forest would see


Forster

Tanganga
Sanchez
Lenglet

Spence
Skipp
Bissouma
Sess/Perisic

Gil
Moura
Richy
Click to expand...

We need Frankfurt to also beat Marseille on Wednesday so we can get top spot in the group before going to Marseille ourselves. I fancy Frankfurt playing at home to get the win.

But tbh even if we have only qualified from the group (so don't have top spot secured) before the Marseille game I would still pick a second string as you just know a tired first 11 playing away at Marseille in front of an insane atmosphere will just put in one of our dead away performances and lose 2-0.

We really need more windows to help stop that happening but its where we are atm.
 
AjaxDeSuperYids said:
We need Frankfurt to also beat Marseille on Wednesday so we can get top spot in the group before going to Marseille ourselves. I fancy Frankfurt playing at home to get the win.

But tbh even if we have only qualified from the group (so don't have top spot secured) before the Marseille game I would still pick a second string as you just know a tired first 11 playing away at Marseille in front of an insane atmosphere will just put in one of our dead away performances and lose 2-0.

We really need more windows to help stop that happening but its where we are atm.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
I think we're better when playing bigger European games. Of course, this is in itself an issue, but right now it feels the case.
 
Anyone else worried this fella's reputation is growing because he's not in the team? I'm seeing a lot of "we're poor coz we miss Kulu so much".

Don't get me wrong. I love the guy but let's be fair, he can blow hot and cold and he was dropped (rightly or wrongly) for a few games. Not sure him coming back solves as many of our problems as some posters seem to think.
 
DeanoAustin said:
Anyone else worried this fella's reputation is growing because he's not in the team? I'm seeing a lot of "we're poor coz we miss Kulu so much".

Don't get me wrong. I love the guy but let's be fair, he can blow hot and cold and he was dropped (rightly or wrongly) for a few games. Not sure him coming back solves as many of our problems as some posters seem to think.
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I posted something similar a little while back but something that has become quite clear to me since is that there is no link between midfield & attack when he's not in the team - so regardless of his individual performance the role he provides is very important.

We might start to see more threat from the left when Kulu is back as the opposition is that little bit more stretched. Currently our right side is essentially ignored which allows them to focus more on stopping our central and left side players
 
DeanoAustin said:
Anyone else worried this fella's reputation is growing because he's not in the team? I'm seeing a lot of "we're poor coz we miss Kulu so much".

Don't get me wrong. I love the guy but let's be fair, he can blow hot and cold and he was dropped (rightly or wrongly) for a few games. Not sure him coming back solves as many of our problems as some posters seem to think.
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No, not really. Even when he's not playing well he maintains shape, helps at both ends at the pitch and commits players. When he is in form he beats players, carries the ball well and provides goals and assists. He can also control and pass a ball and presses the other team.
 
I recognise players reps get elevated when they are missing and results decline, but in this case even when he was dropped / rotated he changed the game when he came off the bench. He's not the finished article but he has the ability to dictate our attacking play as he can hold the ball up, spot a pass, beat an from a standing start and come inside to finish on his left. The frustration is I genuinely believe any 2 from Son Kane and Richarlison is strong for us but we have no similar player who can come in off the right hand side.

We are predictable without him and the other benefit of his return will be Richarlison challenging Son for his place.
 
DeanoAustin said:
Anyone else worried this fella's reputation is growing because he's not in the team? I'm seeing a lot of "we're poor coz we miss Kulu so much".

Don't get me wrong. I love the guy but let's be fair, he can blow hot and cold and he was dropped (rightly or wrongly) for a few games. Not sure him coming back solves as many of our problems as some posters seem to think.
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He carries the ball from deeper, better than anyone else, so we miss that link from a pretty toothless midfield and WBs that he provides or as close to it.

He is generally involved in a goal when he plays, last year it was 13 in 18 apps be it either a goal or assist, this season 4 in 7 based on the same, so he is a huge miss TBH
 
DeanoAustin said:
Anyone else worried this fella's reputation is growing because he's not in the team? I'm seeing a lot of "we're poor coz we miss Kulu so much".

Don't get me wrong. I love the guy but let's be fair, he can blow hot and cold and he was dropped (rightly or wrongly) for a few games. Not sure him coming back solves as many of our problems as some posters seem to think.
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Agree that we've seen him get marked out of games before, so not always the solution. But if that should free up some space elsewhere to take advantage of.
 
Yeah, look I'm not saying any of the above is wrong. I just worry we'll expect him to come in and we suddenly become much, much better. I'm not convinced.

We have problems elsewhere - in the middle of the park and even up top. Kane, despite the goals, and Son haven't started really firing yet IMO. And I'm not sure Kulu coming in, in itself, will fix that.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1587872671982829568

Always rather distrustful of this kind of stat. Difficult to know, but think you'd need a fairly massive sample size before numbers like these started actually being trustworthy.

In this particular instance though. I think the numbers are at least somewhat connected to reality. We don't have numbers for how we would have looked with and without Kane or Son, but no doubt Kulusevski is a massive difference maker for us.
 
DeanoAustin said:
Anyone else worried this fella's reputation is growing because he's not in the team? I'm seeing a lot of "we're poor coz we miss Kulu so much".

Don't get me wrong. I love the guy but let's be fair, he can blow hot and cold and he was dropped (rightly or wrongly) for a few games. Not sure him coming back solves as many of our problems as some posters seem to think.
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Nah
He is bloody top drawer
He will be the next Kevin de Bruyne
 
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braineclipse said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1587872671982829568

Always rather distrustful of this kind of stat. Difficult to know, but think you'd need a fairly massive sample size before numbers like these started actually being trustworthy.

In this particular instance though. I think the numbers are at least somewhat connected to reality. We don't have numbers for how we would have looked with and without Kane or Son, but no doubt Kulusevski is a massive difference maker for us.
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It's like that stat of Bale's 24-game losing streak with us. We can read into statistical quirks like that but doesn't show the why of a player over/underperforming.

With these numbers, at least there's a bit more statistical power vs. "we're third in the table, calm down!" after 7-8 matches played in October.
23 PL games so far after arriving not even a year ago is pretty decent, and simply from watching him play, it's my opinion that he's a pretty special player. One thing to note is that he and Bentancur basically came in and slotted into the team right away simultaneously, so in some ways these stats could be representative of the impact of both players. Obviously, the longer Kulu is out, the more divergence there will be between the two players so it could be interesting to see the same stats for Bentancur as well.

He's young so he still has some work to do, not sure why some other fans here decide to judge him like he's the same age as Son or Kane. He's smart with the ball and keeps things moving, the exception being if the secondary mission is to get Son the golden boot on the last day of the season. Very excited to see him back in the team sooner rather than later hopefully, and on current form, should be playing over Son if there's a choice between the two (assuming both are fit).
 
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