Someone's having a real laugh - sperm of gollum to Utd.

[Tj hooker]

Wouldn't it be typical of Utd to finally decide to ditch Crackle but find out Pochettino has agreed to join PSG,  the fume on Redcafe would be outstanding. 

Ole Ed Woodward would have to move .

[an tha]

Zebras can't see Orange can they.....

[RobbieOR]

1 hour ago, Section_31 said:

He is an amazingly shit manager. Watching them play reminds me of when you used to play footy in the park as a kid, there was no concept of 'positions', basically everyone just went where the ball was. 

 

Not arsed if they get Pochettino to be honest, again he's a typical manc signing - flavour of the month rather than what they might actually need. They're like a 90s football fan talking football but not understanding anything about football.

 

"How about that Romario eh? and the '442', can't beat a bit of 442'. 

 

Pochettino is exactly what they need. He's an excellent manager. 

[1892-LFCWasBorn]

.

[Section_31]

7 minutes ago, RobbieOR said:

 

Pochettino is exactly what they need. He's an excellent manager. 

I think he's decent but he's never won anything. I'd say he's a mid level, work in progress manager, but he fits the bill for them because he's high profile and available.

[The Midnight Rambler]

Poch has a history of making an instant impact too.

[Bobby Hundreds]

I'd rather PSG went big for Pochettino but if he has a choice let's be honest he will go United all the way. He's a good manager but he sure as shit ain't no Klopp.

[RobbieOR]

28 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

I think he's decent but he's never won anything. I'd say he's a mid level, work in progress manager, but he fits the bill for them because he's high profile and available.

 

I dont think not winning anything is an issue due to who he's managed but his body of work wherever he has been is a perfect fit for them. Getting to a Champions League Final with Spurs is ridiculously impressive too. 

[Davelfc]

1 hour ago, KMD7 said:

Reckon Pochettino might be in place there for Everton at the weekend, if not he'll be appointed next week at some stage.

They're running out of time to appoint a new manager before the bitters game, what if they hammer the bitters and Penalty gets a hat trick? It's not going to be easy to sack him if they humiliate the champions elect. 

 

[elvis]

5 minutes ago, RobbieOR said:

 

I dont think not winning anything is an issue due to who he's managed but his body of work wherever he has been is a perfect fit for them. Getting to a Champions League Final with Spurs is ridiculously impressive too. 

Ridiculously lucky more like

[KMD7]

2 minutes ago, Jedd Drudge said:

What if they hammer the bitters and Penalty gets a hat trick? It's not going to be easy to sack him if they humiliate the champions elect. 

 

 

That's the dream!

[Tj hooker]

 Ouch ; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer described it as “unforgivable”. Paul Scholes called it “under-10s football”. Robin van Persie was a little kinder, opting to call it something that is coached out of you by the age of 12. Rio Ferdinand hoped “someone is going nuts in that changing room and people are being made accountable”. BT Sport commentator Peter Drury described the team as “simply absent”.

In the 12th minute against Istanbul Basaksehir, Manchester United tried to work a short corner, only for this to happen.

(Photo: BT Sport)
The above is one of the most damning images you may ever find of a senior level football team — let alone one with Premier League and Champions League aspirations.

There are United’s back four, all stood in the attacking third as a loose ball makes its way to Basaksehir midfielder Edin Visca, who spots the opportunity.

There is United assistant coach Mike Phelan at the edge of their technical area, gesturing to last man Nemanja Matic about the looming threat behind him.

There is former Chelsea and Newcastle United striker Demba Ba, gesticulating wildly for the ball, 20 yards beyond Matic, almost in shock at how easy this chance is going to be.

The Athletic will spare you the statistical evaluation of how certain Ba was to score when this pass was made and put it this way: the above image finds United up a certain waterway, without a certain item of equipment and with things rapidly about to get worse.

Ba — safely in his own half — cannot be offside when the pass is made, and Matic — who can kindly be described as “not the most mobile of players” — has only the smallest of chances of catching him. Visca does not have to make his pass particularly accurate, nor does Ba need to be particularly skilled in his first few touches. The only real threat is if goalkeeper Dean Henderson is aggressive in coming up the pitch to make the tackle and even then, Ba has half the pitch to use to get around that obstacle.

Save an act of God, a terrible bout of the yips when shooting, or Ba’s hamstrings popping from sheer excitement at the opportunity presented to him, Manchester United, one of the biggest football clubs in the world, who defeated last season’s Champions League semi-finalists RB Leipzig 5-0 last week and bested last season’s Champions League finalists Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 the week before that, are about to concede a goal so farcical it teeters on tragicomedy.

Some goals are famous, some goals infamous. While many at United would like to draw a line under this moment and forget it as quickly as possible, The Basaksehir Goal may go down in history as something else entirely.

“Do you remember The Basaksehir Goal…?

“I still can’t believe The Basaksehir Goal happened…?

“I lost a pub quiz the other week. They asked me to name the starting line-up from the game when The Basaksehir Goal happened and I forgot about Juan Mata. (And you will forget the Spaniard’s appearance in this game. Mata, who had been a bright spot in United’s early weeks, was anonymous).

“I was ‘Ole in’ until The Basaksehir Goal happened.”

It is that final statement that will be a point of concern for those around the club in the hours, days and weeks going forward.

Before kick-off on Wednesday, Solskjaer was in a quiet but confident mood, describing changes to his starting line-up as ones of “game management” and “rotation”, rather than the dropping of any personnel.

In came Henderson for David de Gea, and following a back issue for Victor Lindelof, Axel Tuanzebe returned to the defence. Ahead of the back four came Donny van de Beek and Mata to work alongside Bruno Fernandes and Matic while Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial led the line. The Athletic thought the starting shape was a 4-2-3-1, UEFA teamsheets put it closer to a 4-1-3-2.

Whatever the intended formation, for much of the first half United had no shape, aimlessly holding onto possession and trying to break down a stubborn Basaksehir side while their Turkish hosts played like… United like to do, containing an opponent before attacking at speed on the transition.

Basaksehir’s second goal, born from Deniz Turuc wrestling Mata off the ball before firing a low cross from the left-hand side (through the legs of Ba) and into the path of Visca, was the sort of goal Solskjaer’s United thrive on; a quick opportunity for a counter, pulled off thanks to a bit of individual brilliance.

When that cross came in, Solskjaer’s United looked like this.

(Photo: BT Sport)
Basaksehir are no slouches, last season becoming one of only two sides outside of Turkey’s traditional big three to win the title in 26 years, amid a mixed reception in their native homeland, but United should possess enough talent in personnel to beat them. When Martial scored in the 43rd minute, it was expected that United would find a way to retool and rebalance at half-time.

What happened was Scott McTominay replaced Tuanzebe, while Matic worked at left centre-back alongside Harry Maguire.

Solskjaer would eventually empty his bench over the rest of the second half, bringing on Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, Mason Greenwood and Timothy Fosuh-Mensah, but United’s method for much of that 45 minutes, as one observer said on Twitter, was to “stick 300 million quids worth of talent on the field only to attach them to man markers with half a pitch between them and expecting McTominay to find them as a creative pivot”.

United were a mess, and yet the assortment of talent their wealth allows means they nearly rescued a point in the dying moments of the game.

That is the maddening issue with this team. Even in this iteration, which can look undercoached and often devoid in confidence, there is still just enough there to almost do something.

Solskjaer has lost his 101st game in charge at Old Trafford and outside the broad strokes of “attacking quickly” and “defending well in one on ones”, it can be hard to define the principles of United’s play under him… and yet they are still favourites to progress out of this difficult Champions League group.

It remains to be seen whether the Norwegian will ever get a United side that is often staccato in attack and tardy in defence to play with any consistency. The question may now have turned to whether he should be given the chance.

All we know for sure is, on a Wednesday evening in November 2020 in Istanbul, Manchester United conceded a goal they really shouldn’t have. And big questions will be asked about why.

(Top photo: BT Sport)

[RobbieOR]

22 minutes ago, elvis said:

Ridiculously lucky more like

 

So was Istanbul by that logic. 

[3 Stacks]

The Pochettino not winning a trophy thing is unfair. When he got the job at Spurs, they weren't a big club, and he enhanced their reputation. And it didn't end well but he developed that squad really nicely and he has a real style of play. He's not Klopp in terms of turning clubs around and creating juggernauts, but he's shown some of those tendencies.

 

He's a better option than a lot of these managers that have won stuff before but are now a bit stale. I think their horrific board and decision making would handicap anybody but the best of the best in management, but I would still rather he didn't go there.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Any decent manager would get something out of that squad. Its unbalanced but can be fixed quickly. Its Ole that's held them back these last couple of years not backing. They are a spoiled shithouse of a club.

 

[Jimmy Hills Chin]

From Redcafe

 

International break not included, we could be comfortably top 4 and even 1st in a matter of weeks. There's a reason why clubs typically wait much longer before sacking a coach. When the data points are so few(6 games is nothing), it's almost impossible to make a reasonable prediction. Turning this around is significantly easier than turning last season around was.

 

These are the people we need to be backing Ole, not dribbling, unrealistic idiots ... oh!

[Bjornebye]

14 minutes ago, Jimmy Hills Chin said:

From Redcafe

 

International break not included, we could be comfortably top 4 and even 1st in a matter of weeks. There's a reason why clubs typically wait much longer before sacking a coach. When the data points are so few(6 games is nothing), it's almost impossible to make a reasonable prediction. Turning this around is significantly easier than turning last season around was.

 

These are the people we need to be backing Ole, not dribbling, unrealistic idiots ... oh!

Have they merged with Grand Old Team? 

[Harry Squatter]

They would defo be linked with Kane straight away if Pochettino took over there.

 

They'd get about 7 penalties a game with him running into people and doing flips in the penalty area. Penandes would break Dixie Dean's goal record.

[Jimmy Hills Chin]

2 minutes ago, Doctor Troy said:

They would defo be linked with Kane straight away if Pochettino took over there.

 

They'd get about 7 penalties a game with him running into people and doing flips in the penalty area. Penandes would break Dixie Dean's goal record.

And Kane would claim them all

[Harry Squatter]

[cloggypop]

I'm hearing Trump might be available. 

[El Rojo]

The fact that Pochettino has never actually won anything will be brought up all the time if he gets the job there and goes even 12 months there without a trophy. Remember all the shite about Jurgen losing finals, despite the fact that he'd won two titles and more against the odds in Germany?

 

With the squad he had at Spurs and the upheaval at a lot of bigger clubs during that time, he should at least have won an FA Cup or a league cup. They made Leicester's league win even more of a stroll than it should have been at the time with their implosion in the final few weeks. 

[TheHowieLama]

44 minutes ago, Jimmy Hills Chin said:

From Redcafe

 

International break not included, we could be comfortably top 4 and even 1st in a matter of weeks. There's a reason why clubs typically wait much longer before sacking a coach. When the data points are so few(6 games is nothing), it's almost impossible to make a reasonable prediction. Turning this around is significantly easier than turning last season around was.

 

These are the people we need to be backing Ole, not dribbling, unrealistic idiots ... oh!

He had me at "data points."

[clangers]

Hoping for a manc win to keep Ole in place. He deserves a lot of time, I don't want them to get a decent manager and it's against you know who.

[Bjornebye]

13 minutes ago, clangers said:

Hoping for a manc win to keep Ole in place. He deserves a lot of time, I don't want them to get a decent manager and it's against you know who.

Code?