Not sure I agree with that. Gilmour is not as consistently good as Mac was, but he certainly has the ability in him. Gilmour's best game for us was home against Marseille, and it was as good as Mac's best performances in an Albion shirt.
Don't agree with the bottom part of this. Gilmour is a very very classy player and is having a great season. He's also playing a different position to where Ali Mac played most of the second half of last season. But RDZ has said the top part before. Ali Mac essentially covered the roles of two midfielders on his own. He was the pivot and the fourth forward player, we've tried to compensate for this by having players like Enciso, Pedro, and Fati playing behind the striker but it has often led to us not being as effective in the transition. There is a gap in between midfield and attack that we just haven't been able to fill.
I really like Gilmour and he has great touch, but for me he can still be a tad negative in playing backwards more than Ali Mac did.
I agree with all this and in bold: - This is one of the reasons I put forward as Ferguson’s dry run of goals this season - Mackie very much was that midfield transition forward-driving player that regularly passed to Ferguson and implemented De Zerbi’s preference to attack through the central areas - I think Buonanotte has filled that 10 space quite well and the few times he has played a bit deeper, to me it’s shown glimpses of brilliance watching him on long runs through the centre midfield. (Ferguson perhaps needs to drop a bit deeper more often to hold up play better as well). I thought Lallana has been very effective in that role too when his head is in it - Buonanotte could learn a lot from him I think. I’m excited too what Barco could bring to our left-sided forward play but that will take time. We have a team in transition this season but I’m really optimistic that the existing young players will gel better with each other with practice - it’s a work on progress (as always!).
Yep. Buonanotte doesn’t have anything like Mac or Lallana’s experience, and Lallana doesn’t have the engine of either of them by some distance. Give him another period of development on his current trajectory and he’ll be fantastic. Barco looks to have huge potential but DeZ has decide when he can trust him. It’s all good.
Got to be honest Barco looked miles off it against Brentford the other night.
Yes (edit it was liverpool) but he will need to be bad a few more times today was a good opportunity
He played against Brentford?
Probably need to see him in training every day to know whether he’s ready for that
His inability to kick the ball, up at Anfield, would suggest he's not.
Judging someone on a 5 minute sample is as daft as saying he should start
He really needs to give his wardrobe a wobble - or am I just getting old and hate the retro 70s look - it’s so ugggh
