Manchester United

Felleini will be back for CV as his banned games are for the EPL only.

With all the injuries I guess it will be the B or C team going for a 0-0 score this weekend.

I've written off top 4 cos Jose clearly has as well - the XI played this morning shows pretty clearly that EL is his priority.

I liked what I saw from Tuanzebe, but Smalling has really regressed this year from being our best CB under LVG - Jones and I think Blind are both better options to partner Bailly now.

A response from the cesspool of shark because apparently actually having a discussion instead of constantly judging your season against your neighbours is frowned upon over there:

1. United setting up to park the bus is embarrassing. I used to destroy my Chelsea friends for it and now look at us. Strangely enough when we started attack we relieved ourselves of the Arsenal pressure. Funny that.

Parking the bus isn't acceptable at the best of times, definetly not when it consistently fails.

3. Because next week he will default to being his usual mediocre wasteful self, hence why he is an Arsenal player.

4. It's a good question for Arsenal fans because Sanchez looks so much better than the rest of the team. But the public displays of frustration seem fairly childish and aren't helpful. I know personally playing with people like that makes everyone scared and makes their game worse.

It was always going to be a tough ask. He probably only rested those that desperately needed it. He could have rested more if he really was focusing on the EL. 

Agree that Smalling is probably below Jones, Blind and Rojo - but he has not played much football recently, nor had a good run of games. When he was decent under LvG, he played most games. 

The door was open with Liverpool losing and Spurs finally out of the race, but it was always going to be a tough ask with the weakened squad. 

Yea, it wasn't a good look. There is a difference between playing on the counter and parking the bus and today we sat far too deep to be playing on the counter. I still think Welbeck could have been decent. He played 25 - 30 games a season under SAF so that tells you something. And Sanchez just doesnt suit being at a club where the going gets tough more frequently that you expect. He has had more than a few good games, but not enough to be a proper player

After watching the game twice we  are in a better position to go forward than we were this time last season.

Our B/C side were not cutting edge but quite frankly Arsenal are not going to frighten too many sides next year. The first goal was a fluke( a good one and they count) and the second was just usual poor defending by Smalling. It is good to see us giving the young players a go.

Jose will keep up the good work and will buy quality players where needed and get rid of average players. 

At the time I wanted to keep Danny but I'm now glad for him as he will still get the odd game where he would have been on the bench for us most of the season.16 million quid for 10 goals is not a great buy.

Welbeck was a good squad player. He didn't want to be a squad player so we politely sold him to Arsenal. (Where he joined a squad full of squad players).

Mourinho’s results in all games away from home against the current top six, stretching back to January 2015:

0-0 vs Arsenal
0-1 vs Arsenal
0-3 vs Manchester City
0-0 vs Tottenham
0-0 vs Liverpool
0-4 vs Chelsea
0-1 vs Chelsea
0-0 vs Manchester City
0-2 vs Arsenal

In Welbeck's defence he's barely had an extended run as he's blown his knee out badly twice.

There was a good debate on MNF about United's defensive shape against top teams - having the wingers as fullbacks. But Jamie had it all wrong, thinking this was because the wingers weren't good enough. It is simply because Mourinho does not yet trust his fullbacks to capably defend one on one and shift across the park. Gary made all the right points, and when Mourinho has had more time to train his fullbacks to how he wants, then we will hopefully not see anymore of the six across the back. 

I look at the bigger picture, the 23 trophies he has won.   A bit better than most other managers.

And he has won them at various clubs and thus shown that it might be his abilities that are a major contribution. 

Daily mail published article about Ibrahimovic and Pogba wages, which they got from football leaks.

Summary:

• Ibrahimovic is the best-paid player in the Premier League on £367,640 a week, totalling just over £19million a year. He is also due £2.86m in goal bonuses.
• contract extension would only have been triggered if Ibrahimovic had made 31 Premier League starts — he fell short on 27 — and United finished in the top three.
• Pogba earns a basic wage of £8.61m, equating to £165,588 a week, and will receive an annual loyalty bonus in excess of £3.4m from next year.
• Raiola will be paid over £41million after bringing Pogba to United from Juventus for a world record £89m transfer fee.
• Pogba will receive 980K if voted in FIFA player of the year
• Next year his base salary will be down to £7.75 Million but his bonus will increase to £3.46 Million
• Raiol made 22.8 Million from transfer fee, 16.3 Million will be paid in 5 installments (assuming from ManUtd) and 2.2 Million from Pogba.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4485750/Cost-Man-Utd-signing-Ibrahimovic-Pogba-revealed.html#ixzz4gZX9jt00

Paul Pogba transfer shows Mino Raiola’s power in stark contrast to Fifa inaction

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/may/10/m...

Wait let me get this straight... Juventus hired Raiola to get the best fee possible for Pogba, ManU hired Raiola to get the lowest fee possible, and Pogba hired Raiola to get the highest wages possible??? 

Oh man, that is hilarious.

I assume Raiola also hired Raiola to make sure he got the highest fee possible ;)

Dear Mourinho

We can't sit on 1-0 leads.

Stop fudgeing trying.

Regards

20 legend

I still cant figure out if it is the tactics, or the players that are (more) at fault recently. 

Yes the players lack the mental strength that SAF seemed to give everyone, and LvG and Moyes seemed to turn into a mental weakness. 

Yes only four of these players were "Mourinho picks" but you'd think most of them would say they could be playing better. 

On the other hand, I have seen wingers defending in line with the fullbacks, isolating the striker when gaining possession. The midfield is also so deep that they cannot support the striker. 

The bonus is that we are in the final. The problems are that we do not have a back up plan (top4), our performances have been poor, and Ajax has been great. 

I think the general mental resolve around United times came from the confidence that SAF and by extension the fans exuded on the players. 2-0 down? No problem! While Mourinho teams gain mental resolve by guarding a goal like an army defending their city. I think it sort of conflicts with the whole "nothing to lose" play style that everyone who watches United expects to see and turns the whole defending army into generally nervous wrecks.

Another way of putting it, we don't seem to gain any confidence from defending strongly like old-Mourinho teams. United has always gained confidence from attack-attack-attack.

TL07 - I was thinking exactly that with Darmian in the weekend. Scared sharkless to get forward though I thought he had a poor game overall anyway.

I'm very nervous about the final. Mourinho has thrown all his eggs in one basket and it would be very post-SAF United to cock it up... but then I think if you said at the start of the season "beat Ajax and you get champions league" you'd probably take it.

Our defenders and strikers are not as good as the ones AF had.

Jones, Smalling and Darmian are probably the worst defenders in the EPL. Lingard up front could not strike a match. 

I don't understand how any Utd fan can expect anything with these players. Jose needs to get rid of 4/5 players and bring in quality.

Bruce, Pallister ,Stam , Johnson,Berg, and Pique were certainly better than average.

The fact that Jones & Smalling played under AF does not make them great players. If you think I'm wrong, I suggest you watch them very closely next time. Smalling in particular, as he will not or more likely can't pass the ball more than 15 metres.

Looks like I am not the only one.

https://www.footballfancast.com/social-media/twitt...

Hey, I'm not disagreeing with you over how good they are. I'm just pointing out that you said SAF had better defenders but those guys were his defenders when he won his last league. That shows how good a coach he was IMO.

However, I do think it's funny that after God knows how much money has spent by your club you still have those guys in your backline. 

Bailly is quality though.

Agree, but the quality of strikers we had it did not matter if we conceded as the CR, Giggs etc would just rip defences apart.

Getting rid of Chicarito was a massive mistake

It is easy to be wise at a later date, but at the time he was in very poor form. I remember in a pre season game that he was having an shocker and we got a penalty and he missed it. Van Gaal and Giggs looked at each other and I said to my wife-- he is gone. That is exactly what happened.

Yeah, there's some real cherry picking memories of Hernandez on the internet because on a personal level he was a top lad.

He scored some big poacher's goals but properly struggled at other times.

On top of that I think he was sort of getting over being a squad player.

From what I recall as a neutral, and not having seen every game, he was always scoring important goals though. Yeah they might have been 6 yard tap is but being in the right place at the right time is a skill in itself. And he was never really given an extended run as a starter, so who knows what would have happened if he had been. His record at both Man U and Real was pretty good considering how often he was used as a sub.

Mou on Europa legue

https://www.facebook.com/www.JOE.co.uk/videos/8907...

It is becoming more and more difficult for me to believe that we can win in Stockholm next week.. Yes there were key players missing in key positions but there were also first team regulars playing today and it was not a pleasant sight to watch. You would think some players would be wanting to play themselves into the final team. But most seem not to care. 

Ultimately it is going to be a very interesting transfer window. As long as we keep De Gea, I will be happy. Couldn't care less who the other signings are, because as Mourinho's United signings have all been successful so far. 

It is not a question of most seem not to care, it is a case of most of the starters are not good enough.

I can now see why Mourinho calls hinself 'The Special One"

His team is only capable of scoring "One"  goal per game

Find that hard to believe - he was a good squad player, but a downgrade when compared to Solskjaer (for example). He's scored a few goals in Germany, but he's been on the bench a fair bit too.....he was born offside (to use a Fergie-ism) and often let the opposition get off the hook in a counter attack by  getting flagged

So am I right thinking if United win the Europa League there will be 5 English teams in next years champions league?