Man Utd (H) - Premier League -17/1/21 - 16:30

[PrivateParts 18,801]

13 minutes ago, skaro said:

 

Palace would have to get a result at City later, for me to keep my chin up.

 

 

You don't think there's plenty of scope for everyone to drop points in the second half of the season?

[skaro 5,313]

2 minutes ago, Rick Sanchez C-137 said:

 

Fuck!

 

Fixed.

 

 

[Ronnie Whelan 888]

We aren't out of the title race. I don't rate City that much. Yeah they could tonk Palace tonight but they aren't what they were 2 years ago. United are average in large parts of their team but also have some brilliant players. Both of them will still fear us.

 

I said it before but given our fixtures in the next seven or eight games, if we are a few points off top, it's a decent position to be in. The others will have far more "tough" games than us going into March. 

 

Jota and Matip (yeah I know) will be huge.

[Colt Seavers 264]

We are struggling and I have to agree a lot of it seems mental, last season we were mentality monsters but we seem to be really struggling at the moment too many extra touches both in the build up and wanting a touch when we get a sight of goal in the box and just generally playing it too safe.

We all thought when Thiago comes in we will be more effective now it's Jota. I think it's more than that.

We need to get back on the same page and flowing better hopefully that starts against Burnley

[3 Stacks 2,580]

2 minutes ago, Alex_K said:

The team was top of the league before Matip's recent injury - 2 weeks ago. They were (are) the top scorers in the division now struggling to fashion chances since while - surprise, surprise - we're hardly conceding a goal either with the 2nd best defensive record in the league since the Villa game in part because we're playing so deep to ward off this new defensive fragility.

 

If you think this is mental over personnel/system, and that we've suddenly become a world class defensive team without any professional centre backs playing while simultaneously becoming an awful attacking outfit with the top scorer in the division out of some mental oddity, have at it.

Alex, I was semi-agreeing with you. I've argued our lack of defenders is by far the likeliest tactical reason for our terrible form, attacking play, what have you. 

 

But it's also pretty clear that some big players in this team should be moved on. Gini for one. Keita, Matip, one of the front 3. There are performances since March that have made no sense. There is a trend approaching something like mediocrity since then. A certain amount of turnover and moving some players on would do this team good. 

[skaro 5,313]

Just now, AngryofTuebrook said:

You don't think there's plenty of scope for everyone to drop points in the second half of the season?

 

Yes I do, and I'd like to see it start this evening.

 

Be good for morale.

 

 

 

[Rushies tash 1,938]

3 minutes ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

You don't think there's plenty of scope for everyone to drop points in the second half of the season?

Exactly. This season is shaping up precisely as last season went. Except we're not running away with it. Everyone else is being just as inconsistent as they were, we just have to keep in touch until our form comes back.

[VladimirIlyich 7,754]

2 minutes ago, Rushies tash said:

This. We only get it back through hard work. And maybe catching the occasional break from officials who seem determined to shaft us at every opportunity.

The current state of officiating is causing me more grief than our performances and threatening to make me stop watching football altogether. This nonsense of not putting the flag up when a player is offside and waiting to see what happens is a total contradiction to the laws of the game. No surprise with that useless cunt Riley in charge of refereeing but it has to change before the game is destroyed as a spectacle. I'm enjoying games from 40 years ago on youtube more than anything these days.

[Alex_K 970]

6 minutes ago, Ronnie Whelan said:

We aren't out of the title race. I don't rate City that much. Yeah they could tonk Palace tonight but they aren't what they were 2 years ago. United are average in large parts of their team but also have some brilliant players. Both of them will still fear us.

 

I said it before but given our fixtures in the next seven or eight games, if we are a few points off top, it's a decent position to be in. The others will have far more "tough" games than us going into March. 

 

Jota and Matip (yeah I know) will be huge.

City are an utter shadow of what they were, to the point that Guardiola has completely reinvented them from a swashbuckling attacking side to a deep defensive outfit more reminiscent of 08/09 Liverpool under Rafa that for the 2nd consecutive season will probably take 1/3rd of their peak sides points totals. That said they have been watertight of late; they may have more draws in them but until we can figure out either how to adapt the system without centre backs or get at least one of them back in alongside Fabinho we'll definitely have more draws in us.

 

The Guardian at Christmas ran a "Best 100 Players in the World" feature. Of that 100, we've got 9 in the top 50. The exact placing is debatable but 11 men for 11 men we should have the best team in the world. That we've got semi pro kids in the team frequently laying waste to Klopp's system-football makes this infuriating.

[Rushies tash 1,938]

2 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

The current state of officiating is causing me more grief than our performances and threatening to make me stop watching football altogether. This nonsense of not putting the flag up when a player is offside and waiting to see what happens is a total contradiction to the laws of the game. No surprise with that useless cunt Riley in charge of refereeing but it has to change before the game is destroyed as a spectacle. I'm enjoying games from 40 years ago on youtube more than anything these days.

It had the added bonus of enabling Utd to waste even more time. The cunt only blew his whistle once we'd regained possession and were breaking.

[Stickman 7,543]

Just as well Twitter and footy forums weren’t around in 81/82 when Man City beat us 3-1 at home and we were 12th going into the New Year people would be have been calling for Paisleys head...

This is the first serious drop in form we’ve had in 3 years, we are going to struggle tremendously if we have to keep playing two midfielders at the back and yeah the front three aren’t clicking either but as Bon Jovi once said “keep the faith” 

 

Form is temporary class is permanent and we’ll come good again 

[dockers_strike 2,252]

4 minutes ago, Colt Seavers said:

We are struggling and I have to agree a lot of it seems mental, last season we were mentality monsters but we seem to be really struggling at the moment too many extra touches both in the build up and wanting a touch when we get a sight of goal in the box and just generally playing it too safe.

We all thought when Thiago comes in we will be more effective now it's Jota. I think it's more than that.

We need to get back on the same page and flowing better hopefully that starts against Burnley

Yep. Too big an expectation on Jota and Thiago in my opinion. Jota was never going to continue his scoring run but he will be a good player. Same with Thiago. He's going to take a game or three to get his fitness.

 

Another issue I think is we have 3 players possibly angling for a move in the summer, Gini, Mo and Sadio. Their teammates will know what the real position is. Is that affecting morale, I dont know but Jurgen needs to bang some heads together in that front 3 at least.

[Jordy Brouwer 456]

5 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

The current state of officiating is causing me more grief than our performances and threatening to make me stop watching football altogether. This nonsense of not putting the flag up when a player is offside and waiting to see what happens is a total contradiction to the laws of the game. No surprise with that useless cunt Riley in charge of refereeing but it has to change before the game is destroyed as a spectacle. I'm enjoying games from 40 years ago on youtube more than anything these days.

Yeah I'm really struggling to enjoy watching football at all these days. Our wank attacking play is a big part of it but I remember even enjoying the average Houllier game (I might be romanticising the past there). Something really has been sucked out of the soul of the game. You really aren't alone on that one. 

[Ronnie Whelan 888]

5 minutes ago, Alex_K said:

City are an utter shadow of what they were, to the point that Guardiola has completely reinvented them from a swashbuckling attacking side to a deep defensive outfit more reminiscent of 08/09 Liverpool under Rafa that for the 2nd consecutive season will probably take 1/3rd of their peak sides points totals. That said they have been watertight of late; they may have more draws in them but until we can figure out either how to adapt the system without centre backs or get at least one of them back in alongside Fabinho we'll definitely have more draws in us.

 

The Guardian at Christmas ran a "Best 100 Players in the World" feature. Of that 100, we've got 9 in the top 50. The exact placing is debatable but 11 men for 11 men we should have the best team in the world. That we've got semi pro kids in the team frequently laying waste to Klopp's system-football makes this infuriating.

Agree with that Alex.

 

We are lucky we aren't chasing a really good City or United. 

 

In the circumstances, I think today was an umforgettable par. 

 

Hopefully smashing Burnley on Thursday by a few goals with Matip fully fit and Jota on the way back isn't a tragic place to be. 

 

Shaq will be huge if he can stay fit.

 

 

[kemskem 151]

No PEDs included in the EU trade deal. Bitters are Brexiteers.

[John102 670]

Even though I think the team has peaked, I still think we can win the league and/or European Cup. I think it unlikely but not impossible. 

 

Just think we have fallen slightly from where we were. The front 3 is way behind where it used to be, for me at least. Needs freshening up and ideally that happens with Jota and with someone coming in to replace Bobby from next season. 

[Moo 716]

24 minutes ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

You don't think there's plenty of scope for everyone to drop points in the second half of the season?

Absolutely, and I'm fairly certain it will happen.  I just don't think we can put a proper run together, we'll be chopping and changing for the rest of the season according to Matip's fitness, which is only marginally better than keeping Henderson and Fabinho at CB for the duration (notwithstanding Henderson's own injury record).

Best hope is to win the CL.

[Frank Dacey 309]

I just looked at the match stats and we had 66% of possession but of the 21 fouls in the game, 15 were given against us. I'm struggling to see how that is possible.

[lebron 446]

54 minutes ago, LFC 6 Times said:

We are in a complete rut, similar to January 2017. Salah and Firmino were terrible, Firmino so wasteful and Salah cowardly and hiding.

 

Fab, Allisson and Hendo were excellent, Thiago is a fabulous footballer, equally good off the ball, so tenacious and an artist with the ball at his feet.

 

We need Jota back and I think Haaland would be the absolutely perfect signing for us. Gomez and Van Dijk and people back in stadiums, fuck this season and fuck covid.

Haaland would be the absolute worst option of the hyped up attackers out there.  Salah and Mane's goals would plummet. Haaland can't trap a bag of cement, and has been playing in sides tailoring his needs. He would definitely score more than Firmino, but our overall play would be far worse. The white Lukaku.

[Ronnie Whelan 888]

1 minute ago, John102 said:

Even though I think the team has peaked, I still think we can win the league and/or European Cup. I think it unlikely but not impossible. 

 

Just think we have fallen slightly from where we were. The front 3 is way behind where it used to be, for me at least. Needs freshening up and ideally that happens with Jota and with someone coming in to replace Bobby from next season. 

Can't help but think we are most likely to sell Mo and that covers a new centre half and an attacking player. 

 

They will be looking to do another Coutinho - Ali/Virgil. Unlikely to be as successful as that, but I can't help but think it might be a route they go down.

[Jairzinho 23,348]

1 minute ago, lebron said:

Haaland would be the absolute worst option of the hyped up attackers out there.  Salah and Mane's goals would plummet. Haaland can't trap a bag of cement, and has been playing in sides tailoring his needs. He would definitely score more than Firmino, but our overall play would be far worse. The white Lukaku.

We wouldn't sign Haaland without selling one of Salah or Mane. 

 

In fact, we just wouldn't sign Haaland. 

[Supremolad 187]

Some of the shots we took at goal today were absolutely laughable. So weak. I have seen backpasses with greater power than some of those shots. I think the Thiago shot is the only one which truly gave De Gea work to do.

 

They all need to get more shooting drills done each day. Or inject more PEDs directly into their legs.

[Red Shift 316]

5 minutes ago, Ronnie Whelan said:

Can't help but think we are most likely to sell Mo and that covers a new centre half and an attacking player. 

 

They will be looking to do another Coutinho - Ali/Virgil. Unlikely to be as successful as that, but I can't help but think it might be a route they go down.

Don’t think we’ll sell if he doesn’t want to go.

[Trumo 14,362]

Only just about halfway through the season, and we are no better than about 4 or 5 other clubs this season. A couple of mitigating circumstances for that which couldn't (reasonably) have been vouched for, but their are other issues. Namely that important areas of the team are not functioning nearly as effectively as in the past. We look a lot less dynamic all round.

 

I don't think Klopp has ever had a game against the Mancs where we've performed outstandingly well AND deservedly taken them to the cleaners. Even in those 2 league wins in the last couple of years, the scorelines were much closer than the performances suggested. At their place, we've always been shit bar an hour or so in a Europa League game.

 

The forwards all look out of form, and we don't have the back-ups to change it. Taki is an attacking midfielder, Diogol is injured and Big Div just looks disinterested all the time. If someone from midfield could pick up the attacking slack, it would help. At the moment, the final ball and the goal attempts look hesitant and hopeful.

[Ronnie Whelan 888]

4 minutes ago, Red Shift said:

Don’t think we’ll sell if he doesn’t want to go.

Hard to know but if they think they can get a lot of money or say Real offer a lot of money, they will be tempted if that covers say one of the central defenders from Leipzig and a top attacking player. 

 

I have a feeling we will sign Sancho this summer and he was told as such, which is why he didn't throw his toys out of the pram to join the Mancs. Maybe, I'm reading too much into it or maybe he's just a good pro unlike a lot of them, but have a feeling he could come here.