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WhiskeySeven*

Expect the expected
Jun 17, 2007
25,154
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Bundesliga is Bayern's playground, even if that team is aging. They poached talent from their only rival in the standings and can play the tough kid on the playground attitude all they want. Neuer's true test is in the CL, which they haven't looked good the past couple of years. He's number two behind de Gea and there isn't anything wrong with that.
Bayern's gotten to the final 4 of the CL in all but one year since going to back to back finals and winning one. He's excellent and that hasn't changed. No one's trashing de Gea, give it a rest.

I am not saying Mourinho is entirely to blame nor I am saying that Pogba isn't a saint either. However, there is a long list of players and history where they turned into offencive blackholes under Mourinho. This is quite well documented and we're seeing it once again with the likes of Martial, Pogba, and Alexis all suffering to put up goals (to some degree Mata as well). Only player who looks competent out there is Rashford. LvG failed because all the transfer targets he wanted failed in the EPL. In a sense, I agree that one mega tournament doesn't determine a player, however Pogba clearly showed that with a more appropriate manager, he can succeed. He also needs to get off his high-horse and realise that because he's a football star who just won the World Cup, it doesn't make him a greek god or something similar.
There's a long history of players thriving under Mourinho as well. Özil and Benzema, hardly steady or stout mentalities, Drogba, Sneijder, Lampard, etc. If you're suggesting that Pogba can't be at their tier then okay, that's worth noting.

Martial is young and has wilted under Mourinho. It's unfortunate but as an example it can only go so far. Alexis is another topic all to himself but he was also in poor form leading up to the transfer.

Pogba has not showed a single thing in the Premier League and is very close to PL bust territory. His super team's success (as tournament favourites, no less) at the WC only goes so far. In the PL he hasn't achieved much of anything.

With that said, spending 105 million on him just doesn't make sense and never made sense for me considering how dire their back line is. It needed some desperate upgrades there since SAF left, who also left the club in a shambolic state. Fred is another target who's looking to add to United's long list of failures of transfer targets at the club.
The board's too cramped and packed with self-interested busybodies trying to save their own jobs. There is no direction or unified vision. Sad. But United deserve it after all the success they enjoyed. Manchester is blue.
 

The Abusement Park

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Too say that none of the managers have failed at United is disingenuous. None of the managers have done a good job replacing SAF. Now of course replacing SAF is obviously impossible, but brought in Moyes who was so far in over his head that he had no clue what he was doing. They then brought in LVG, who I though did an alright job getting rid of a decent amount of dead weight and building an ok base for a manager to complete. Then the finished it off by bringing in Mourinho who has spent poorly and alienated the team(who saw that coming).

So yes the managers have done incredibly poorly since SAF left, but it’s also not all on them. The board has done a horrible job replacing Gill and SAF who while they weren’t technically DOF, basically were the DOF of the club while they were there. They brought in Woodward who’s great commercially but has the football knowledge of a brick. So it’s a whole group of people who’s fault it is, but the managers are definitely part of the problem.
 

TheMoreYouKnow

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May 3, 2007
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People put all the blame on Mourinho when United play static as eff, no-one makes a run, no-one plays a daring ball that is anticipated by a teammate, etc. but in reality I highly doubt that's how he sets up the team. I guarantee that he emphasizes staying in a compact shape as a priority, but if the players can't hold that shape *and* produce offensively in any way then that's on them, too. Other players have managed to follow Mourinho's requirements and still make plays going forward. It requires a lot of running, a lot of discipline and a degree of cunning..but if you do it, it's hardly the worst recipe to win games.
 

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People put all the blame on Mourinho when United play static as eff, no-one makes a run, no-one plays a daring ball that is anticipated by a teammate, etc. but in reality I highly doubt that's how he sets up the team. I guarantee that he emphasizes staying in a compact shape as a priority, but if the players can't hold that shape *and* produce offensively in any way then that's on them, too. Other players have managed to follow Mourinho's requirements and still make plays going forward. It requires a lot of running, a lot of discipline and a degree of cunning..but if you do it, it's hardly the worst recipe to win games.

Pogba does all the time. But no one makes runs so there’s only so many times he can actually do that. now whether that’s a player issue or not is another question. I’d assume that it goes both ways.
 

Juve

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May 13, 2011
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He’s been the DOF for Juve since the big scandal right? And Marotta was more like wooodward and he excelled on the commercial side?
They both came in From Sampdoria as of 2010. Marotta is wheeling and dealing. He's a cheap f***, but he's good at finding those free players.

Hmmm. didn't Marotta just resign, and Paractici got promoted to DOF?
I get notifications from the score. I received a notification from them stating Paratici would join ManU at the end of the season.
 

Corto

Faceless Man
Sep 28, 2005
15,991
942
Braavos
I mean... Mou's gotta be done at United. It's just gonna be a slow, painful death.
Pogba would be out on his a*s if he did similar stuff under Fergie, but United cannot afford to lose their one truly world class player.

The Zidane rumor... I think it's interesting. Like I've said before, ZZ's horribly underrated by a lot of people (absolutely shocking to me, for a manager who won 3 CLs and a La Liga in 2.5 years), and I think he'd identify top transfer targets better than Mou did - which is where Mou's United failed, transfers.

I do think Mou got the most of this squad last season, because - as I've said before - this squad is 2-3 top players and a bunch of "decent player" or young talent that's far from their peak.
Whoever brought in the players since Fergie's been gone - managers or Woodward - has done a terrible job.

If they brought in Zidane, gave him free reign and backed him up with funds, I'd definitely be hyped were I a Man Utd fan.
 
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Vasilevskiy

The cat will be back
Dec 30, 2008
17,820
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He was the best keeper in PL, but he has done too much mistakes this season, and had a bad world cup.
Ederson is PLs best keeper right now.

Man, the PL thread is good for 5-10 hot takes per page.

May I know what has Ederson done to be rated higher than De Gea?

You would think that if he was so good he would have been Brazil's starting goalie.
The starter playing in Liverpool only makes the hot take better.
 

Corto

Faceless Man
Sep 28, 2005
15,991
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Braavos
Man, the PL thread is good for 5-10 hot takes per page.

May I know what has Ederson done to be rated higher than De Gea?

You would think that if he was so good he would have been Brazil's starting goalie.
The starter playing in Liverpool only makes the hot take better.

I gotta say that's pretty funny lol... Because it's true.
 
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Natey

GOATS
Aug 2, 2005
62,295
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Some early Premier League stats to look at;

11tegen11‏ @11tegen11 24h24 hours ago
Let's go over some early #EPL numbers, starting with Expected Goals per match. Already, we see City are in a league of their own. Liverpool are a firm second, and then we see... Wolves. Arsenal and Manchester United are in obscure mediocrity here.
Doa-QCDX0AEDmgY.jpg


11tegen11‏ @11tegen11 24h24 hours ago
One layer deeper, we see where teams do their business. Wolves are a surprising number two in terms of expected goals conceded. Fulham are a defensive disaster, as is Brighton so far. Huddersfield and Newcastle could do with some offensive numbers.
Doa_TdLXsAEYw4J.jpg


11tegen11‏ @11tegen11 24h24 hours ago
City and Liverpool are by far the best offenses. Wolves & Arsenal are not far off, but lack output from set pieces. Chelsea have created the most expected goals from set pieces, while Burnley's offense is nothing without that source. #EPL
DobAAirXUAA_5ZR.jpg


11tegen11‏ @11tegen11
On the defensive side, we can see where Fulham and Brighton get hurt, everywhere. City are just plain good, both defending in open play and in set pieces. Spurs defended well from set pieces, but less so from open play. And the running theme of all numbers, Wolves are good.
DobA4u6WkAAf4B9.jpg
 
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YNWA14

Onbreekbaar
Dec 29, 2010
34,543
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Nice stuff @Natey.

I really like Wolverhampton and hope they continue to do well; they are likely to improve as the season goes on and I don't see why, if they can build on what they've got, that they can't push United at the very least for a spot.
 
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The Abusement Park

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Whoever brought in the players since Fergie's been gone - managers or Woodward - has done a terrible job.

United’s never had a DOF from what I know. Gill and Ferguson basically acted as co-DOF’s until they left and now it’s Woodward who’s taken over. Lol
 

Gecklund

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Jul 17, 2012
25,141
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United’s never had a DOF from what I know. Gill and Ferguson basically acted as co-DOF’s until they left and now it’s Woodward who’s taken over. Lol
Honestly I think we need 2 new parts of management. The first is a DOF. I think we should keep Woodward and have him run the business side because frankly he’s fantastic at it but we should bring someone in that can run the football side of it. The second is a new manager. My problem with Mou is literally based on one thing. He’s stubborn as hell. He stubborn with his players, with his formation, and with his style of play. I firmly believe we need someone that going to come in and play possession and not play favorites with crappy players. We need someone that is going to have a system in attack and create a team out of this collection of players. We need someone that isn’t going to bench every young player because of one mistake.
 

The Abusement Park

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Oh yeah I’ve been all for keeping Woodward on as long as he’s kept in a commercial role. He’s got to be one of the best in the world at bringing in money. But when it comes to football knowledge he knows squat, so bringing in someone else is a must.
 
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Gecklund

Registered User
Jul 17, 2012
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Thinking more about United, I wonder how a Christmas tree formation would work

Lukaku
Sanchez-Pogba
Herrera-Matic-Fred

It would allow Pogba to get further forward and not have to worry as much about defending. Maybe Alexis can find form here because he will be more central. Problems that I could see arising: if Lukaku can’t find his form, this formation doesn’t work. If Fred can’t defend this formation doesn’t work. If Mou was ballsy enough to bench Alexis, maybe move Fred into that spot and put on like Felliani.
 

robertmac43

Forever 43!
Mar 31, 2015
23,095
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Interesting numbers. If you take away goals from pens for Brighton this season would look a lot different already. They added a decent amount of talented forwards this summer, just a matter of time before they start getting more involved in the week in and week out plans of CH. We cannot rely on 35 yo Glenn Murray to score our way out of relegation.
 

Baxterman

Registered User
Aug 27, 2017
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.....Spurs will be lucky to finish top 4. Very lucky


CB is likely the one spot we can deal with an injury but coupled with the other injuries it doesn't look good.

I think the one thing that can keep us in the top 4 is someone has to finish there and Man U and Arsenal don't look like they will be tough to beat out for that spot.
 

Baxterman

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Aug 27, 2017
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Spurs are still better than Cardiff without those players.

That puts 100% of the responsibility in creating offense on Kane though.

Against Cardiff it should be enough but I could easily see a 0-0 draw or 1-0 loss as Lloris badly plays one of the multiple long balls they will be playing.
 

robertmac43

Forever 43!
Mar 31, 2015
23,095
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Duffy and Dunk both sign new 5 year deals with Brighton. Big fan of both and good to see the back staying consistent.
 

Gecklund

Registered User
Jul 17, 2012
25,141
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Twitter saying that Mou wants out and is done with United at this point. Other reports saying he will be sacked no matter what result this weekend. Don’t know the original source so it could be just people spouting shit but it’s all over United fan accounts.
 

Jussi

Registered User
Feb 28, 2002
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Twitter saying that Mou wants out and is done with United at this point. Other reports saying he will be sacked no matter what result this weekend. Don’t know the original source so it could be just people spouting **** but it’s all over United fan accounts.

It's being rumored in Italian media that Marotta will take over as DOF and his first job would be bringing in...Conte as manager.
 
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