Mr_Danger Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 Hopefully that secures my free copy of FIFA 22. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted November 20, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 20, 2021 You're in luck, Danger. May the odds be ever in your favour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members TheBurningRed Posted November 21, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 21, 2021 Ole has been sacked. Had to happen. Yesterday was an embarrassment. He was never right for the job. Never saw him do anything on the touch line to motivate players when we were losing. Just sat there looking baffled. The players haven’t helped as they’ve clearly downed tools as well to speed this process up. I think he should’ve probably gone during the international break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 A real shame. Proper football fans like me across the country will be gutted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted November 21, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 21, 2021 The mighty Swift's won 4-2 yesterday. It was 2-1 after 8 minutes. All square at HT. We got two late goals though to keep Portadown firmly one place below us (keeping the Swift's out of the relegation zone for now). It was my weekend to work so I didn't get to the game, however I'll get on Tuesday. A home tie against struggling Crusaders (still 13 points above us, mind). But can the big city boys do it on a cold, Tuesday night in Culchy country? Sadly, evidence suggests aye, they can, and it's usually a tanking. Not to matter though. We can dine out for a couple of months on that beating we handed the Ports yesterday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted November 21, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 21, 2021 5 hours ago, TheBurningRed said: He was never right for the job Absolutely agree. He did brilliantly to galvanise his players to turn around that result against PSG but the board jumped the gun in offering him a contract, riding an emotional bandwagon. Their league form dropped until the end of the season and you can't tell me the biggest reason the start of his tenure was so good wasn't because the players were just delighted that Maureen was gone. Bruno saved him the following season, and despite finishing 2nd last season they're nowhere near where they should be given the players they have. He wasn't a disaster though, just way out of his depth. He got the absolute best out of Luke Shaw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted November 21, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 21, 2021 20 minutes ago, PunkStep said: Bruno saved him the following season, and despite finishing 2nd last season they're nowhere near where they should be given the players they have. For a team that has no midfield, they're exactly where they should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted November 22, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2021 16 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said: For a team that has no midfield, they're exactly where they should be. It's definitely the weakest area of the squad, no argument there but I think you're being unnecessarily dismissive. They finished 2nd last year and made the Europa League final. Then added to that squad Sancho, Varane and Ronaldo. To end up significantly worse is mismanagement. It's not all on him, recruitment is all over the place, I've said that for ages. But some players are going backwards, they play the same players over and over when they're not having a good time (remember when United fans all over Twitter used to claim Wan-Bisakka should have been England's right-back?) and look a shadow of the team from just a few months ago. 4th is the minimum that squad and team should be, Fred and McTominay or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted November 22, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2021 3 hours ago, tiger_rick said: It's definitely the weakest area of the squad, no argument there but I think you're being unnecessarily dismissive. They finished 2nd last year and made the Europa League final. Then added to that squad Sancho, Varane and Ronaldo. To end up significantly worse is mismanagement. It's not all on him, recruitment is all over the place, I've said that for ages. But some players are going backwards, they play the same players over and over when they're not having a good time (remember when United fans all over Twitter used to claim Wan-Bisakka should have been England's right-back?) and look a shadow of the team from just a few months ago. 4th is the minimum that squad and team should be, Fred and McTominay or not. No I'm not. They only finished second last year because everyone else was so largely abject. It wasn't because United had a great season in the league or anything. But that season, and this season so far, has been the ultimate proof that a great attack line can only take you so far. They're also not a team. If you have watched much of United the last season and a half, you won't have seen a single performance (aside from the Southampton farce) where United have dominated a whole game. They have pockets of good play or they'll find a goal from nowhere because of how good their forwards are. But they never have control of games. For all the talk of United being 'comeback kings' there were also plenty of games where they threw away leads because their midfield was completely incapable of controlling a game. United have added one of the greatest players in the history of the game to their frontline and gone backwards. Because the midfield has been exposed further by teams packing that area. Sure, the defence aren't coping either but with some protection, they may do better. United's midfield is demonstrably worse than not just the top three, but Tottenham's, Leicester's, Arsenal's, West Ham's and maybe even Brighton's. Fucking Brighton! It's obvious why United are doing so crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted November 22, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2021 20 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said: No I'm not. They only finished second last year because everyone else was so largely abject. It wasn't because United had a great season in the league or anything. But that season, and this season so far, has been the ultimate proof that a great attack line can only take you so far. They're also not a team. Chelsea and Liverpool have clearly improved this season. I still think 4th is the bare minimum for that squad to achieve. 20 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said: United have added one of the greatest players in the history of the game to their frontline and gone backwards. Because the midfield has been exposed further by teams packing that area. Sure, the defence aren't coping either but with some protection, they may do better. United's midfield is demonstrably worse than not just the top three, but Tottenham's, Leicester's, Arsenal's, West Ham's and maybe even Brighton's. Fucking Brighton! It's obvious why United are doing so crap. United's midfield does look worse than those teams at times but I don't think overall any of them have better options in that area. One or two players who would improve United like Rice, Bissouma and Ndidi but no whole midfield. I still think the approach of always having two of Fred, McTominay and Matic is wrong. Van Der Beek and Lingard never play. Pogba's all over the place. A better coach gets way more out of that bunch. Do you add Varane and then still need two players protecting? I can't see that. Given it doesn't work anyway, you should have switched to playing more aggressively long ago. Also, surely the manager is complicit in those being the midfield options? He's been there three years. I know it's a problem and I'm an idiot. How does he not bang someone's door down to sign a proper midfielder three summers in a row? £150m outlay this summer, plus 3 billion a week on Ronaldo's contract and they don't have a holding midfielder who is any good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted November 22, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2021 Just now, tiger_rick said: United's midfield does look worse than those teams at times but I don't think overall any of them have better options in that area. One or two players who would improve United like Rice, Bissouma and Ndidi but no whole midfield. I still think the approach of always having two of Fred, McTominay and Matic is wrong. Van Der Beek and Lingard never play. Pogba's all over the place. A better coach gets way more out of that bunch. Do you add Varane and then still need two players protecting? I can't see that. Given it doesn't work anyway, you should have switched to playing more aggressively long ago. The thing is that you need to have at least one DM who can adequately cover a back line and as much as Fred, McTominay and Matic are supposed to be DMs, none of them are any good at it. So I can understand Solskjaer's logic of playing two of them at a time because he's thinking, well, surely between the two of them they can do a job. But they almost never do, which is a damning indictment of how poor these players are. Matic had one good season but has been awful since, McTominay showed promise at the start but hasn't progressed in the slightest and as for Fred, well, I've no idea what they saw in him. Van der Beek should have played more but I'd also argue that they didn't need him when they bought him. He plays a similar sort of role and position to Pogba and he's always going to be second choice behind him, rightly or wrongly, and then there's Bruno Fernandes occupying a midfield position. I have to say that when he came on on Saturday, he ran the game. His touch was great, his passing and positioning were so intelligent, and he linked beautifully with Sancho. That one half alone might have made United's mind up about letting Pogba go and having van der Beek take his place. But he's not a DM, nor is Pogba. So it's not as simple as people think. You can't play him and Pogba in central midfield because then you have absolutely no cover. As for Lingard, I love that guy but realistically he doesn't get in the team ahead of Fernandes and I don't know why they brought him back from West Ham. Just now, tiger_rick said: Also, surely the manager is complicit in those being the midfield options? He's been there three years. I know it's a problem and I'm an idiot. How does he not bang someone's door down to sign a proper midfielder three summers in a row? £150m outlay this summer, plus 3 billion a week on Ronaldo's contract and they don't have a holding midfielder who is any good. I don't actually know who has final call on transfers. Which is utterly ridiculous at a club of this size, in itself. If Solskjaer okayed Ronaldo ahead of signing at least one midfielder then he's an idiot. But I think that call came from above him. And the likes of morons like Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes piping up and whining that United couldn't let Ronaldo sign for City could hardly have helped. Varane was a key signing and will be when he's fit again, and Sancho was before they bought Ronaldo again (and will be if he's still here after Ronaldo's gone). But there was absolutely no way that United were ever challenging for the title with that midfield and anyone suggesting that they were can't have seen much of United the last couple of seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted November 22, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2021 The whole stance from some United fans of 'Pogba, VDB and Bruno should be the midfield!' is ridiculous. Who is going to do the legwork? Donny worked his arse off when he came on, but that was from an attacking perspective. None of those three are holding midfielders and you can argue that only one of them can play in a double pivot (Pogba. For me, VDB is best in a more advanced role). It's a Garth Crooks team selection at best. United didn't need Donny, that was £40m invested in the wrong kind of player. Bruno was completely un-droppable and never seemed to miss games due to injury, so when on earth was Donny going to play? People can lambast Ole for not playing him, but he (or whoever signs players- as Devon said who the fuck knows) should never have been signed. That money should have gone towards upgrading Fred/McTominay/Matic. This summer they brought in a much needed experienced CB (which still looks like an unbelievably good deal on paper, of course £300k per week helps) and somebody to play out wide on the right- which according to many was the most important position to fill. Was it though? Wasn't Greenwood playing pretty well there? I'm guessing it was a case of getting Sancho before anyone else does. And then the final signing, a striker. Wasn't needed, unless it was a younger, long-term option. Cavani was excellent last season but then again, if Ronaldo decided he wants to play for you, I suppose it's hard to say no. But the recruitment has been shite for years. On a similar note, I think AWB was the wrong signing for United. Excellent defender, no doubt about that. One-on-one he is very hard to beat, but going forward you might as well play Phil Jones there. For a smaller team that is likely to play with a low block, or sit deep, then he is a fine player and proved that at Palace. But for one of the biggest teams in the world, that is expected to play attacking football and brush aside smaller teams, is that the right profile for a RB? I don't think so. I'm fully aware that in Tomiyasu we have a RB in a similar mould to him, but we're a tinpot club these days anyway. United's midfield is missing one key part of the puzzle, I have no doubt they will throw £100m at West Ham to complete that with Declan Rice (although the puzzle might not actually be complete if Pogba goes, so they then go back to the drawing board again). But overall their midfield should be a lot better than ours (ticking time-bomb Xhaka, often injured Partey and the raw but decent-potential Lokonga) and yet hasn't been so far this season. Ole was not the right option to manage United, but the problems go up higher than him. They have the money, they are throwing it about but there is no plan. Whether it's the lack of a football/sporting director, or a team of people to decide the ethos of the team and have a recruitment/coaching strategy to reflect that- they need something ASAP. Ed Woodward with a chequebook and a coach with a mediocre career (and that's being kind) is not how one of the biggest clubs in the world should be run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted November 22, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2021 2 minutes ago, PunkStep said: Excellent defender, no doubt about that. There fucking is! That's been the big defence of him for the last few years but he's really average. I've seen him have some wingers in his pocket but he's often all over the place, his decision making is sketchy and he gets pulled inside too easily leaving space wide. Some of it might be the way they are set up but a lot of it is overhype to try and justify the fact he cost £50m. As an aside, when did the United academy last produce a top defender or defensive midfielder? For all the talk about Class of '92, blah, blah, they produced Brown, Evans, O'Shea and Fletcher long after that. Who since? McTominay is it isn't he? They produced a few belters for us in James Chester, Robbie Brady and Corry Evans but we're not exactly the same level. Plus we polished them, so we get all the credit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted November 22, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2021 (edited) 8 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: As an aside, when did the United academy last produce a top defender or defensive midfielder? For all the talk about Class of '92, blah, blah, they produced Brown, Evans, O'Shea and Fletcher long after that. Who since? McTominay is it isn't he? Michael Keane is the only one I can really think of. LVG threw quite a few of them into the first team, but they mostly seemed to end up at Sunderland and by default went to shit. edit: specifically, Paddy McNair, Donald Love, Tyler Blackett,Cameron Borthwick-Jackson Edited November 22, 2021 by PunkStep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted November 22, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted November 22, 2021 McTominay was mostly an attacking midfielder in the academy too. It's only since he's broke into the first team that they've decided he can do the CB or DM work. It explains why he looks like a player when he's allowed to break the lines and push forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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