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Paul Hardcastle's Domestic Football 18/nuh nuh nuh 19


PowerButchi

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2 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

That's ironic. I'm not sure that wolf fella is 🤯

Ugh he's not, the Wulfrunian gene pool is staggeringly worrying at times. He's got Low Hill dosspot written all over him. 

There's actually a fella doing comedy vids on YouTube called Gary Powndland who takes the piss out of Wolves fans like the howling idiot. 

We're not all like that in the Midlands, there's at least 15% of us that decided schooling was a good idea. 

Mind you, for all the lack of chromosomes our fans have, by Christ we're noisy, last night was an amazing atmosphere, didn't stop singing all game. And the lads on the pitch were pretty fucking good too. If only we had the ability to beat teams like Huddersfield. 

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Trent Alexander-Arnold is a fucking great player, but shite me, when a right back scores 8 and assists another 9 in all competitions you have to wonder why that lad isn't getting in teams of the year. 

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21 minutes ago, Teedy Kay said:

Trent Alexander-Arnold is a fucking great player, but shite me, when a right back scores 8 and assists another 9 in all competitions you have to wonder why that lad isn't getting in teams of the year. 

Doherty is massively unlucky to not be in that team. I’m surprised Pogba is in that team when Hazard isn’t. Pogba has scored a few goals (struggling to remember any aside from penalties), but Hazard has dragged Chelsea to the verge of the Champions league next season. 

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@Teedy KayI think you answered your own question there with the 'in all competitions' part. Scoring a few against Shrewsbury clearly can't be taken into account for deciding the Premier League team of the year.

I think only Palace fans could have an argument over the RB position. Wan-Bissaka is close but for me TAA has been the best throughout the season.

If it makes you feel better, I think Coady should've made the team ahead of Laporte.

Edited by PunkStep
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9 minutes ago, Rapey Eyes said:

Pogba has scored a few goals (struggling to remember any aside from penalties), but Hazard has dragged Chelsea to the verge of the Champions league next season. 

Pogba's inclusion surprised me, but Hazard hasn't been omitted for him. Hazard would've formed one of the three attacking players, you can't go all Garth and just field a team of forwards. You could've easily had any of Aguero, Sterling, Mane, Salah, Hazard and Son for that front three. The competition for forwards was tight.

As for midfield, hard to make an equally long list of those that have really made a impression this session.

Edited by PunkStep
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Another fascinating summer ahead for Man Utd. Been some really interesting discussion this week and some top punditry from Neville, Keane and Souness on Sunday and Wednesday night. It really is a massive conundrum and I agree with Neville that the problems go far above the manager. They've had two seriously top level managers fail since Ferguson. Turned over players, spent a fortune and they're no further on really. Despite the improvement after Mourinho went, decisions like giving new contracts to Smalling and Jones baffle me and further suggest whoever is running the football side is inept. I think not going for Pochettino is a mistake. I really like Solskjaer and I think they had to give him the job after what he'd done but they backed themselves into a corner appointing a short-term manager. They should really have had a long-term plan otherwise why bother sacking Mourinho.

What now then? What would you do?

I'd start with cashing in on Pogba. He's seriously talented, there's no doubt about that. But he's too big a luxury. He's too languid for the Premier League and when you see the effort other talented players put in, it's almost embarrassing. I'd also bin Lukaku, Sanchez, Jones, Darmian and Fred. Looks like Rojo and Valencia are done. Herrera seems to be walking too. i think that would give you a load of money to play with and weed out some of the lazier elements.

As for recruitment, I think they need 3-4 really incredible athletes through the spine of the team. A top centre half is blindingly obvious. Everyone points to Liverpool signing Van Dijk but City signing Laporte seems to go under the radar. Lindelof isn't bad and Bailly has his moments but they need to be the partner in crime. City get away with an aging Kompany and Liverpool have Matip or Lovren looking Ok because they've got class alongside them. They need a couple in midfield. A quality ball playing midfielder who can clean up. Imagine Fred with a football brain and a pass in him. I'd be looking for a young Mata too. Then a really good forward. I like Rashford and Martial a lot but they need a third amigo. And as much as he's a useful squad player, it's not Lingard.

What do you think?

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I did not realise Smalling and Jones had signed new contracts, I presumed Man Utd had simply triggered their usual '1 extra year' clause to preserve their market value. That's absolutely laughable. Sure, there are worse defenders in the league, but my fucking god you'd be nuts to build a defence around those two- which is surely what you are doing when giving them new long term contracts.

One of the main problems with United since Fergie left is the type of signings they have made. Fergie and David Gill seemed to have a good understanding of the type of players they needed for their squad and went out and recruited them (usually PL-proven players). But they also relied on the likes of Carlos Queiroz and his contacts to spot talent such as Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson. Fergie and Gill leaving was a real double-whammy. Ed Woodward had proved to be excellent on the commercial side of things, but he didn't have a Fergie with him. He had David fucking Moyes. There was no senior 'footballing' figure at the club. They fucked up the chances to sign the key players they identified in the summer after Fergie left (Thiago, Cesc, Herrera, possibly Ozil?) and Woodward surely has to shoulder that. His job was to get those deals over the line.

Since then, there has been a sense of signing decent players and then trying to fit them into a team, rather than identifying which players were needed and signing those kind of players accordingly. They went arse about face, a bit like Real in the tail end of their first 'Galactico' phase over 10 years ago. Certain positions have been neglected over the years, certain players haven't been adequately replaced and the squad has been seriously unbalanced for years. Ultimately, that's why you have seen Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia converted to full-backs (I could be wrong, but I think they were initially tested as wing backs by LVG, when he played three at the back).

They didn't seem give the same level of recruitment input to Moyes, LVG and Jose as they did with Fergie, which is understandable given the number of years he was there (and the role was different when Fergie took over in the 80s), and because of that they need to adopt the continental approach by bringing in a director of football or some sort of equivalent to correctly analyse and identify what is required and have the clout to make it happen. We (Arsenal) have had to do it recently. That would be my first appointment- bringing in a Txiki Begiristain. Jose wouldn't work with a DOF but Ole certainly would, you'd imagine. If he won't, fuck him off. Making him permanent manager before the end of the season wasn't a smart business decision anyway and one built on emotion, but it looks like they've made their bed on that front.

In terms of player recruitment, where to start. Full backs should be on the list with at least one top CB. A new midfielder should also be a high priority, with Herrera out of contract and eyeing up a move to PSG(!). Not only would I keep Pogba, but fuck it I'd make him captain. United don't need the finances from cashing in on him, they need a talisman instead. Pogba can absolutely be that for them. Bring in a hard-working midfielder (like a Matuidi) to play alongside him and Matic (if he's worth keeping) in the middle of the park.

Next thing I'd do is fully commit to who will be playing up top. Do you stick with Lukaku, pin your hopes on Rashford or sign somebody else? I'd bin Lukaku for sure, and definitely get rid of Sanchez. Incredible how he has fallen off of a cliff after his move (which I find fucking hilarious, BTW). Bring in a couple of attacking players to replace these, especially a top player who can operate on the right side of a three-man attack. That is one of the most vital areas to improve and again they've neglected that since Valencia could no longer play there.

But personally I hope they don't do any of this and continue to make us somehow look better than them, which takes some doing at the moment.

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i hope they make Pogba captain. With Lingard leading the attack.

Rashfords potential is being wasted big time at Utd. He should be leading the line for Club and Country for years to come. Imagine where he’d be under Pep or Klopp, it’s a shame. You only have to look at Sterling at City and players like Trent AA and Robertson at Liverpool to what playing under a decent manager can do for you. 

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What did Liverpool do with Solanke or Sinclair? They're not the same player as Rashford but its not black and white. Rashford might have never got a chance behind Mane, Salah and Firminho or behind Sterling, Aguero and Silva and Sane and Mahrez and Silva.

And Jesus.

Edited by tiger_rick
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4 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Alderweireld will more than likely be available for next to nothing. They should be making every effort to try and get him to go there. But they won’t. 

His "next to nothing" clause doesnt kick in til the last week of the window, doesnt it?

I reckon if we finish back in the top 4 he might sign anew.

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