Last night, our new boy scored a pretty fine goal for his country against Venezuela in a convincing 4-1 win, in a South American World Cup qualifier.
The goal wasn’t an isolated highpoint, as Rodrigo put in a convincing 75minute shift. Looking at total successful actions, the 24-year-old made just 14 missteps.
The Uruguayan’s passing accuracy hit 95%c which is just where we want to see it.
Bentancur also won 73% of his duels, which is more than respectable.
The player who came through the youth system of Argentina’s Boca Juniors made 15 recoveries, 9 of which were in the Venezuela half.
More, please.
Have you looked at Bentancur’s appearance figures? If yes, how do you conclude he was just a benchwarmer?
I’ll tell you why. Because both players were benchwarmers in a league that’s easier than the PL. I’d like to be wrong but I somehow doubt I am.
Kulu way better than Moura.
The fact that Conte was happy to get those players out of the way is the most significant thing to come out of this window imo.
Hitchen’s gone! Best window ever!
A bid for Djed Spence too apparently but of course it was below the asking price.
A player shooting from outside the box ..Wow !
I like it back Conte or F off cheers 👍
I want to see it done in the summer if not now. No excuses, back Conte or F off.
They had targets, but they were always limited becuase of the January window. Liverpool were talking to Diaz last summer. Pretty obvious as a player who you would choose. Then you have to find a club and a player that will agree to a sale/move. It’s like trying to get exactly the present you want at Christmas except most of the shops are shut. Usually we get no presents under the tree after a hopeful Xmas shopping list, this year we got a couple of gifts, and got rid of some rotting branches stinking up the place.
January is not the time for a rebuild, it never has been. The process has started with the incomings and outgoings. If Levy gives Conte the money in the summer he will stay, if they don’t he will go.ENIC don’t care about football, but they do care about profit. A world class manager and proven winner is who you back in the summer to make a profit.Time will tell.
Do that against the Arse and he’ll be a legend.
Whether the guys we brought in were first choice is irrelevent.Everybody knows and Conte made it quite plain that we needed reinforcements and he stated this before January.
Discussions should have been started before the end of the year so that we were in a position to move quickly on our targets.
So what does Levy do?He allegedly fcuks off to he Bahamas to spend time on Lewis’ yatch.I guess there is no internet connection there.As usual he took everybody for mugs.
What surprises me is that a lot of people think that this is a precurser to a large spend-up in the summer.I don’t think is anywhere near certain that Conte will be with us after the end of the season.
When did Skipp score for his country, from the edge of the 18 yrd box, while still doing his primary job, to a high level?
How can you be negative about 2 players that haven’t even played a game for us.
These 2 guys will freshen up the squad, keep certain players on their toes & improve the 1st 11.
As much as we can have hoped for, considering our rivals made no improvements …..like we normally do in Jan.
Things could’ve gone much worse this Jan.
The three AMs we got rid of weren’t fit for purpose. I’m sure Bentancur is more capable of forward passing that Hojbjerg or Skipp. Don’t get me started on Winks. The way Conte sets us up more often than not creates plenty of goal scoring chances even with uncreative players. Agaisnt Chelsea he knew we were outclassed and had to play counter attack. With Romero back a Bentancur/Hojbjerg CM pairing and Son in the team we will have a stronger defence/midfield and still create chances to score goals.
The sheer stupidity of bidding for players at the last minute beggars belief. How are the selling clubs going to find replacements? There was also a rumour that we were interested in Ousamene Dembele, again at the last moment, as if he would come to us. Zero ambition as usual, Paratici looks like he is still working for Juve. These deals we did with them financed their purchase of Vlahovic, another player we were unrealistically linked with. Levy cocked up the Diaz deal by prevaricating as usual. Completely unimpressed by these two purchases. Where is our creativity going to come from? We’ve just got rid of three AMs.
Becuase the two guys we signed weren’t our first choice, which didn’t leave much time to get someone else. But neither Carrasco or Atletico wanted to move or sell. January is always tough for players and clubs. Don’t know yet, but I’d say Bentancur is an improvement on Skipp and Kulu gives us a squad improvement. Alli, Lo Celso, Ndombele, etc. were offering us nothing coming off the bench let alone starting. To actually ship out or put in the shop window some of Levy’s failed transfers is something that was well overdue, that’s a big saving per week on wages, potential sale money (at a loss) that will hopefully pave the way for a proper Conte rebuild in the summer.COYS!
Yeah one of them stories every window. As well as the player never in reach story, i.e. Diaz. Associate players above your station to the club then you can elevate the brand, so Levy. Opposite was the story of the non-league player who couldnt agree terms lol
I agree there is good news in the much needed clear out. I cant be too excited by the signings, looks like Paratici is still cleaning up his mess in Juve! I see a massive opportunity to claim 4th spot that has now gone by. I dont think Kulusevic will be a regular, Bentacur an upgrade on Skipp but with no improvement in creation. No real ambition here.
there’s a story doing the rounds that we failed trying to get Carrasco on deadline day. Why leave it till deadline day? Might be utter crap of course…