Sandro Tonali Official

[harr1984]

Missed most of second half thankfully but just from memory in that first half Savio and Gray had good chances and they weren't the only two. We could have easily been 2 up at half time and no one would have questioned it whatsoever....

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

I think it’s football that looks nice
But it has no edge, not pace and clearly no threat
People can call out opinion but the data and the goals scored column shows the issues
I like RdZ but I think he is being incredibly stubborn in his team selection to get certain players on the pitch over getting an effective team out there
That’s again, just my opinion

Yeh, I dont look at us and think we are massively unlucky, not to the levels of woe be me I keep seeing.

No way I am giving up, but just calling what I have seen

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

Missed most of second half thankfully but just from memory in that first half Savio and Gray had good chances and they weren't the only two. We could have easily been 2 up at half time and no one would have questioned it whatsoever....

They weren't guilt edge though, keeper made some camera saves.

 

[SteveAWOL]

And given we spent 185m on it ............................... jeez

Fernandes looks like he will become a world class midfield maestro but whilst Tonali is clearly an upgrade on the likes of Gallagher plus young Bergvall and Sarr I still cannot fathom the logic in splashing out a club record fee on him when we already had reasonable options in that department.

Not when we’re so desperately lacking at CF position and especially when it’s clear from RDZ’s recent comments that he’s known for a while that Richarlison wanted out plus Solanke is well short of match sharpness.

 

[Bishop]

Fernandes looks like he will become a world class midfield maestro but whilst Tonali is clearly an upgrade on the likes of Gallagher plus young Bergvall and Sarr I still cannot fathom the logic in splashing out a club record fee on him when we already had reasonable options in that department.

Not when we’re so desperately lacking at CF position and especially when it’s clear from RDZ’s recent comments that he’s known for a while that Richarlison wanted out plus Solanke is well short of match sharpness.

Because we need that quality now, not in 5 years time with no actual guarantee that those players will make it to that level. I absolutely disagree that the midfield we had was good enough, the previous 2 years very much showed that not to be the case.

I don't think the issue is Tonali's ability, hes actually played reasonably well. It's down to how we've used him and set up the rest of the midfield. RDZ I have to say has gotten that wrong imo. It might be necessitated from his POV by injuries but the balances have been wrong.

 

[Benny_Lad]

Because we need that quality now, not in 5 years time with no actual guarantee that those players will make it to that level. I absolutely disagree that the midfield we had was good enough, the previous 2 years very much showed that not to be the case.

I don't think the issue is Tonali's ability, hes actually played reasonably well. It's down to how we've used him and set up the rest of the midfield. RDZ I have to say has gotten that wrong imo. It might be necessitated from his POV by injuries but the balances have been wrong.

Do you think we could have spent 80 on Fernandes and 100 (or whatever) on a striker maybe? Improve midfield and goal scoring.

Fernandes and Bentancur look taylor made for each other. With no Europe, they could have been supported by Gray, Bergval and Gallagher. Or we add Paulinha back in for low money.

They’ve bodged the window up - no doubt about it.

 

[Bishop]

Do you think we could have spent 80 on Fernandes 100 (or whatever) on a striker maybe? Improve midfield and goal scoring.

Fernandes and Bentancur look taylor made for each other. With no Europe, they could have been supported by Gray, Bergval and Gallagher. Or we add Paulinha back in for low money.

They’ve bodged the window up - no doubt about it.

I think we could have yes just done Fernandes and paired him with Bentancur but then the issue is the depth. We would have literally two starting quality CMs. What if one of them were injured as was the case at the begining of the season? Then you're in a situation where Bergvall or Gallagher are starting as the other option.

The problem for me is not buying Tonali, it's playing Tonali and Bentancur as a double pivot and Fernandes as a 10. It should be Tonali or Bentancur alongside Fernandes and a 10. If course we'd had some injury issues in the 19 so that would be up for grabs but then you could try Gallagher/Bergvall/Marmoush/Kudus etc there. None are ideal but neither is Fernandes. Id rather fudge up one position then fudge up all 3 midfield roles which is what RDZ has sadly been doing so far.

Re Palhinha I don't understand why he's now seen as a solution to our goal scoring and creating problems? If he were playing he would exacerbate these issues.

 

[Benny_Lad]

I think we could have yes just done Fernandes and paired him with Bentancur but then the issue is the depth. We would have literally two starting quality CMs. What if one of them were injured as was the case at the begining of the season? Then you're in a situation where Bergvall or Gallagher are starting as the other option.

The problem for me is not buying Tonali, it's playing Tonali and Bentancur as a double pivot and Fernandes as a 10. It should be Tonali or Bentancur alongside Fernandes and a 10. If course we'd had some injury issues in the 19 so that would be up for grabs but then you could try Gallagher/Bergvall/Marmoush/Kudus etc there. None are ideal but neither is Fernandes. Id rather fudge up one position then fudge up all 3 midfield roles which is what RDZ has sadly been doing so far.

Re Palhinha I don't understand why he's now seen as a solution to our goal scoring and creating problems? If he were playing he would exacerbate these issues.

I mentioned Paulinha as he could have been an option to add at low cost if we wanted backup to Bentancur/Fernandes. Nothing to do with goal scoring.

RDZ is totally fumbling the Fernandez situation. He should be the first name on the sheet in a deep lying position and then you build round him. RDZ keeps insisting he can cover in the 10. He’s wrong. I watched yesterday with my West Ham friend and he said Fernandes contributed nothing in that role for them and was so much better in his correct position. De Zerbi should know this.

 

[SteveAWOL]

Do you think we could have spent 80 on Fernandes and 100 (or whatever) on a striker maybe? Improve midfield and goal scoring.

Fernandes and Bentancur look taylor made for each other. With no Europe, they could have been supported by Gray, Bergval and Gallagher. Or we add Paulinha back in for low money.

They’ve bodged the window up - no doubt about it.

Yup, this is my thinking too.

When spending £100m+ on a single transfer I expect that player to either immediately elevate the entire team (like what Kane has done to Bayern) or be the final piece in that title winning puzzle (like Rice at ARSEnal).

Fernandes has the range of passing which our midfield has lacked and if we’d actually signed a quality #10 (knowing that all 3 of those currently in our squad are either long term injured or months away from being fully fit) then RDZ wouldn’t have to even attempt to shoehorn Mateus into that position.

And discovering that RDZ knew for over a month that Richarlison wanted out which has left goal shy Solanke as the only CF in squad simply blows my mind; hopefully some of our front line rediscover how to find the back of the net over international break

 

[Yiddo.1882]

Tonali is a brilliant player who wouldn’t look out of place at any of Europe’s top clubs, part of the current narrative around him is the misconception of what he actually is, and to a similar degree Fernandes, these misconceptions have been exacerbated by the way RDZ has used them. The fan base is starting to come around to seeing that Fernandes is a 6 in the mould of a Vitinha, Rodri, etc, but not yet what Tonali actually is, the first half yesterday was a little glimpse of his real game, these two perfectly complement each other as a pairing.

If the manager insists on playing a double pivot, while I think it would be a better balance than with Tonali I am not actually convinced that Fernandes with Bentancur would actually be that great a balance either. For me, it’s Fernandes/Bentancur/Gray as the 6 next to Tonali/Bergvall/Gallagher as the 8, but I have been saying on here all pre season this squad is built for a 433 as one of Maddison or Deki could be used as tje 2nd 8 next to Tonali.

 

[DTA]

I think we could have yes just done Fernandes and paired him with Bentancur but then the issue is the depth. We would have literally two starting quality CMs. What if one of them were injured as was the case at the begining of the season? Then you're in a situation where Bergvall or Gallagher are starting as the other option.

The problem for me is not buying Tonali, it's playing Tonali and Bentancur as a double pivot and Fernandes as a 10. It should be Tonali or Bentancur alongside Fernandes and a 10. If course we'd had some injury issues in the 19 so that would be up for grabs but then you could try Gallagher/Bergvall/Marmoush/Kudus etc there. None are ideal but neither is Fernandes. Id rather fudge up one position then fudge up all 3 midfield roles which is what RDZ has sadly been doing so far.

Re Palhinha I don't understand why he's now seen as a solution to our goal scoring and creating problems? If he were playing he would exacerbate these issues.

palhinha would be in with shout of being our top goal scorer right now.

We also might not have conceded so many goals

 

[Bishop]

palhinha would be in with shout of being our top goal scorer right now.

We also might not have conceded so many goals

The goals we ave conceded haven't really been down to the midfield, moreso errors defensively I would argue and yes Palhina scored some goals for us last season but progressive play and goal scoring are hardly his wheelhouse. I don't think we could seriously go into this season and expect another career best in terms of goal return.