...::[The Footy Desk]::... (Part 2)

[Waddy]

Hazard is such a moody player though. 

He is world class but he sulks. He likes to be the centre of attention, if he grew up and played to his skills, he would be the best. 

[dante財閥]

On 9/27/2018 at 10:16 AM, Waddy said:

Hazard is such a moody player though. 

He is world class but he sulks. He likes to be the centre of attention, if he grew up and played to his skills, he would be the best. 

That's always been my issue with Hazard, he's petulant and is prone to taking long periods of time off. If he has the work ethic of Ronaldo or Messi he could be incredible.

[Eutyphro]

Another sh*t day for United. IMO United should get Frenkie de Jong in the summer to get some genuine creativity in the midfield. They should also drop Mourinho and get a coach that doesn't park the buss all the time. The team he fielded today was way too defensive, and they only had 52% of the ball, which is much too low. United should dominate possession against a team like West Ham. Mourinho has his qualities, no doubt, but he's not the right coach for United anymore. He brought stability and a solid second place last season, but in the long run United shouldn't play like they are Inter. And what can also be concluded is that Alexis might be completely past his prime. He's a complete flop. At the moment even United flop Memphis Depay is much better than Alexis probably.

Btw, on another note, if Klopp is smart, he'll play Fabinho in midfield tomorrow, to stop Hazard and Kovacic from running the show. Fabinho is a quality destroyer, which could come in really useful, especially if Virgil is absent.

Edited September 29, 2018 by Eutyphro

[Laker23]

Watching Chelsea and Liverpool go at it today was just depressing after another sh*t show from our club. Absolutely worldie from Sturridge as well, really entertaining game.

 

Quote

"Look for how many months are people asking for Martial, Martial, Martial and saying how Alexis isn't play well enough. This week it was time to agree and leave Alexis out." 

Another Mourinho's bullsh*t quote a game. This and having a complaint for all three West Ham goals, when in reality we just made them look like Barcelona. Diabolical.

Edited September 29, 2018 by Laker23

[Eutyphro]

Ah crap, thought Chelsea Liverpool would be tomorrow. -_-

[Crokey]

I would say onwards and upwards for City, but our next game is at Anfield... f*ck.

 

Now would be as good time as any to put that hoodoo to bed.

[Jason]

Gonna be real interesting to see what the reaction is against Valencia in regards to United. The belief among a lot of United fans is that he's just about lost the dressing room at this point, so if we show up at home in the CL and put in zero effort then welp. Nothing we can do but make the change.

[dante財閥]

All I keep hearing is how there's no appetite to sack Mourinho at United currently. He's going to have to go on a very poor run.

[Jason]

The reaction was... meh.

[Crokey]

Right result in the end for City, as we should have had a penalty to make it 2-1 earlier in the game, which the ref confirmed after the match to Sane.

 

Now I might go a grab some popcorn to binge watch some United fan videos on YouTube... cause I like salty popcorn.

[dante財閥]

My prayers have been answered..Wanyama starts tonight against Barca.

 

COYS!

[Eutyphro]

No Eriksen no party.

[Laker23]

Decided to watch the Liverpool/Napoli game as I thought it would be end to end and bound to have at least 4 goals. Instead Liverpool seemed to be doing an impression of United and not bothering to attack and soaking up all the pressure instead.

 

Unlucky to concede so late, but got what they deserved for being needlessly passive.

[Jason]

Lloris 

 

Messi 

 

Entertaining match, if a bit f*cking mental. Howlers, dummies and magic galore.

 

[dante財閥]

What could have been I suppose.

 

We miss Alli a lot. Eriksen has had a fairly inconsistent start to this season but usually he does make the difference.

 

Can't complain though, Barca are a different class.

[Tchuck]

Wow Lloris, that exit... Yeesh!

 

And that last goal as well, that throw... 

 

Tottenham were pretty alright. They could have faired better but c'est la vie.

[Jason]

Reports tonight that Mourinho is to be sacked after the Newcastle game, win or lose.

 

I do think it's reached the point where a change has to be made, the blame isn't solely on Mourinho's shoulders by any means but it's becoming untenable for him.

 

That said, if this does turn out to be true then it is absolutely shocking that for the third manager in a row we've leaked his impending dismissal to the press. The board have turned the club into a joke.

[Eutyphro]

For a long time I thought he was the right manager, but against West Ham he really lost me with what he was doing. United should bring in someone quality who is able to, dare I say it, play a Klopp like energetic attacking counterfootball that fits United as a club. They shouldn't get anyone playing defensive footballl. So no Italian coach in general, and no Diego Simeone. There are great defensive coaches, but defensive football is not what United should be playing if they want long term big results.

[Jason]

Reports from another paper saying that we aren't convinced by Zidane and that we want Poch. So basically we're gonna end up panic hiring Big Sam or something because we aren't getting Poch mid season.

 

Do 100% agree with you though, we can't replace Mourinho with another defensive manager. It's got to be someone who is gonna bring an attacking style and look to dominate games especially at home.

 

Normally I would say something like "it's gonna be interesting to see who we get" but given the fact that it's October I think a more accurate statement would be "I'm terrified to see who we're gonna get".

 

The drama won't end if he's sacked, that's for sure.

[Laker23]

Simon Stone has come out and said Mourinho still has the full backing of the board, and he's usually incredibly reliable for us. This guy from the Mirror did correctly predict LVG and Moyes though, apparently.

 

Poch would be my number one choice, even before we went for Jose. I just don't see him leaving his situation at Spurs, especially not before the end of the season.

Edited October 6, 2018 by Laker23

[Jason]

Not saying he's wrong but Stone is one of the clubs mouthpieces, he'll say what he's told to say. Even if it's true it wouldn't surprise me if the board are on the defensive and are trying to sweep the criticisms of them now repeatedly leaking the sacking of the manager to the press under the rug.

 

It would be wise though to have someone lined up before you fire him, coming out of the international break with Carrick and McKenna or whoever still operating as caretaker manager would be a disaster. Given that there is no one realistically available, that alone will probably buy Mourinho a bit of time.

[Laker23]

If that was indeed Mourinho's last game, at least he's going out on a high. The guy from the Mirror still seems adamant in his sacking prediction.

 

The second half was both frustrating and fantastic. Let this team off the leash and they will punish the majority, but far too often we're shackled. The fact Newcastle scored two goals is just embarrassing, honestly, but glad they showed some damn spine and pulled us away from a horrendous result.

[Eutyphro]

Mourinho must've given a hell of a speech at half-time considering how they turned it around.

 

I think the problem was mainly in midfield. Matic, McTominay and Pogba are all over 6 foot 3. They don't complement each other well. It's not dynamic. You need a gifted technical player or a Kanté type to complement such giants. Everything improved when Mata was brought in and McTominay went to defence. I only fully saw the dramatic first half, and what I noticed is that there wasn't a single good cross by United. If you want to create chances you'll generally either need a technically gifted midfielder with a through ball, or a fullback or a winger that can put in decent crosses, but United had none of that and literally created nothing in the first half.

 

Uniteds defence gets a lot of negative attention, but if the midfield would actually be able to hold onto the ball and be more dynamic then the defence wouldn't be exposed as it does. Bailly and Lindelof though still both relatively young and error prone in my opinion could be a really good pair in the future if they improve and become consistent. I think they have great potential and could complement one another well.

As I said before, they should go all out for Frenkie de Jong, who I am convinced will be among the top 5 center midfielders in the world in the future. Though he's very young, he's exactly what they need. Up until they get hold of such a talent they should play Fred and Herrera, or maybe play Lingard in midfield, but Mourinho is much too defensive minded to play Lingard in midfield. Fellaini should never be in a United starting line up, though he is an amazing sub.

[Jason]

McTominay in CB almost cost us the game. He was like a fish out of water back there. The turn around was the change at half time where we played Smalling, Matic and Pogba in centreback. It's not something I want to us repeat, but it was proof that one of our biggest issues is build up play from the back. With Pogba sitting that deep we were bringing the ball out the back with ease and sustaining attacks in a way we struggle to do with Smalling/Bailly/Lindelof/Jones.

 

The main reason we turned it around though had absolutely nothing to do with tactics or a change of personnel, it was the mentality the players came out with in the second half. People weren't backing off their 50/50's, they were pressing high, working hard, making runs, getting into the box, etc etc. That's the opposite of what happened at West Ham.

[Eutyphro]

5 hours ago, Jason said:

McTominay in CB almost cost us the game. He was like a fish out of water back there. The turn around was the change at half time where we played Smalling, Matic and Pogba in centreback. It's not something I want to us repeat, but it was proof that one of our biggest issues is build up play from the back. With Pogba sitting that deep we were bringing the ball out the back with ease and sustaining attacks in a way we struggle to do with Smalling/Bailly/Lindelof/Jones.

 

The main reason we turned it around though had absolutely nothing to do with tactics or a change of personnel, it was the mentality the players came out with in the second half. People weren't backing off their 50/50's, they were pressing high, working hard, making runs, getting into the box, etc etc. That's the opposite of what happened at West Ham.

Like I said, I didn't see very much of the second half. But what naturally occurs with Newcastle level opponents against a higher rate team is that they press less aggresively as the match goes on, and start giving away space because they start getting tired, in this case effectively taking pressure off the United midfield, which was already altered by making McTominay go into defence. I'm not saying McTominay was a great defender for the approximately 10 minutes he played there, but that puting Mata in midfield was a logical move.

 

Starting the game with Matic-McTominay-Pogba was idiotic, because they don't complement one another at all. As a trio they aren't able to find space, make dynamic runs, or combine well. They make one another look terrible, though all three are good players individually.

Btw, watching Barca - Valencia as I'm typing this. If Barca bench that donkey Pique in favor of someone decent I don't see anyone who can stop them. They're amazing, but their defence sometimes lets them down. Pique has been absolute garbage recently, and he was garbage at the World Cup as well, consistently getting pwned by the most mediocre attackers.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Eutyphro

[Tchuck]

Uruguay vs Japan was a very entertaining game. With a bit more quality, Japan could have easile scored 5, 6.. Good game.

 

Brazil, disappointing as usual. 

[Crokey]

Roll on the weekend so we can get back to normal football, internationals bore me... although get in there Sterling.

[dante財閥]

I LOVED the Spain vs England game. Especially Dier's tackle on Ramos. 

 

But yeah..club football rules all. 

[Tchuck]

England's future is looking brighter and brighter, imo.

[Laker23]

Thank f*ck that's over. Now back to this weekend and watching my team get pummelled by Hazard and co.

 

Just remembered there's another break in November iirc, there really is too many of these in close succession.