Premier League 2021/22 Thread

[erlee]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/16806643/man-utd-capitulation-watford-solskjaer-betrayed-abandoned/

sometimes its the players who are the problem - not the gaffer

 

if you're not happy with the structure or tactics - you can self-adjust collectively

and you can motivate yourselves on the pitch. if a billion spectators are watching worldwide & you have no motivation -then you shou;dn't really be playing & taking away hundreds of pounds/week in wages,  

 

Shambolic, Sham-bolux

 

p/s I doubt BR has the skills or personality to deal with the mega stars/egos of M.U.

Edited 22 November 2021 by erlee

[mozartfox]

4 hours ago, Stevosevic said:

England will have the best squad in world football at the 2026 world cup. 

 

So many coming through to add to the existing bunch. 

Getting rid of Slab head now would be good for starters.

[Langston]

1 hour ago, mozartfox said:

Getting rid of Slab head now would be good for starters.

 

Gonna go against the fashionable grain here, but nah. 

 

Maguire isn't, and never was, an £80 million centre half. I won't deny I've had a bit of a chuckle watching him struggle at United. But, for all his perceived flaws as a coach, Southgate manages to get a tune from him 9/10 times when he plays for England - not just games against fodder, either, he's been brilliant for England in some huge games.

 

He's never going to be a world beater but he certainly could be a competent top 6 CB with a manager who shouldn't just be putting the cones out at training. Ultimately, most centre halves in world football are going to look a bit crap when their shield is any two from McTominay / Fred / Matic / Pogba and they're constantly on the back foot.

[Dahnsouff]

7 hours ago, FoxyLeon said:

One game?

 

We've been dreadful for over 12 months.

I obviously meant Conte  

[StanSP]

 

 

[Bert]

6 hours ago, Dan LCFC said:

It will never fail to amaze me that at a manager as so blatantly out of his depth as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stayed in a job as big as that for nearly three years. Like.... what the ****.

 

There's a lesson in it and for me it's just don't ever appoint an ex player, or perceived 'legend' unless you're absolutely categorically sure they're good enough. It totally skews all judgement. OGS would've been a fine interim but they should've never given him the job permanently. They've basically done the same as what we did with Shakespeare but drawn it out for six times as long.

Gerrard is going the right way about it. 

[davieG]

The level of reporting re Solskjaer with wall to wall coverage on Sky news and all the ex-players saying their bit on all the main channels I thought he'd died.

[BenTheFox]

I haven't gone in on Solskjaer anywhere as hard as most, but I have to say that over the last 4 or 5 weeks when things have really unravelled, his former teammates in the media, particularly Gary Neville and Roy Keane have been an absolute embarrassment. I accept that they are not going to stick the boot in on their mate but their blind defence and loyalty towards him has been completely embarrassing, especially coming out with statements along the lines of "we had two elite managers in Van Gaal and Mourinho and they didn't work, so why appoint another one?". They've genuinely lost a lot of credibility over the past month or so. 

[Finnegan]

38 minutes ago, BenTheFox said:

"we had two elite managers in Van Gaal and Mourinho and they didn't work, so why appoint another one?"

 

Honestly one of the worst bits of punditry I've ever heard. I was just staring at the TV in disbelief. I don't like Jamie Carragher but I have to be honest, full credit to him there for not just laughing straight in his face. 

 

Usually Neville is the brain and Carra is the brainless gob but there was some serious uno reverse card in action there. 

 

I mean, for a start, Mourinho was nowhere near the best manager in the world when he rocked up at United, he was deep in the middle of a personal crisis and he was spiralling. He should have stepped away from the sport, not taken its biggest job. And Van Gaal was a has been who barely ever was. 

 

But to actually sit there and say "why would you hire an elite manager" was just baffling. Genuinely amazing. I get he was emotional but still. 

 

[BenTheFox]

2 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Honestly one of the worst bits of punditry I've ever heard. I was just staring at the TV in disbelief. I don't like Jamie Carragher but I have to be honest, full credit to him there for not just laughing straight in his face. 

 

Usually Neville is the brain and Carra is the brainless gob but there was some serious uno reverse card in action there. 

 

I mean, for a start, Mourinho was nowhere near the best manager in the world when he rocked up at United, he was deep in the middle of a personal crisis and he was spiralling. He should have stepped away from the sport, not taken its biggest job. And Van Gaal was a has been who barely ever was. 

 

But to actually sit there and say "why would you hire an elite manager" was just baffling. Genuinely amazing. I get he was emotional but still. 

 

This is the point that is completely overlooked. 7/8 years-ago nobody would have argued that Mourinho isn't a top class manager. I know he won the league at Chelsea in 2015 but they were pretty much unopposed all season and it very quickly unravelled and became very toxic the following season. Even then he still won two trophies and had a second place finishes before turning the place completely toxic the following season. Van Gaal was considered a visionary in the nineties, but that's the thing, his brand of football looked very outdated when he was at United and and he had been left behind. He did well with the Dutch national team, but international football is almost a different sport. 

 

I can see why the romantics wouldn't really be keen on Conte at Man United when you consider how they view themselves i.e. playing on the front foot, developing academy players and not relying on short-term fixes. However, those days might be gone as it is far more competitive at the top of the table (across the entire league in fact) than it ever was when SAF was their manager and if they seriously want to challenge for the top prizes they might have to bite the bullet and do away with trying to hold onto those things.

[Fox 4 Life]

Poch apparently interested in the United job and would quit PSG now.

Edited 22 November 2021 by Fox 4 Life

[BenTheFox]

1 minute ago, Fox 4 Life said:

Poch apparently interested in the United job and would quit PSG now.

How good is Brendan's french? 

[casablancas]

7 minutes ago, BenTheFox said:

How good is Brendan's french? 

He will be fluent in a week. 

[Finnegan]

29 minutes ago, BenTheFox said:

This is the point that is completely overlooked. 7/8 years-ago nobody would have argued that Mourinho isn't a top class manager. I know he won the league at Chelsea in 2015 but they were pretty much unopposed all season and it very quickly unravelled and became very toxic the following season. Even then he still won two trophies and had a second place finishes before turning the place completely toxic the following season. Van Gaal was considered a visionary in the nineties, but that's the thing, his brand of football looked very outdated when he was at United and and he had been left behind. He did well with the Dutch national team, but international football is almost a different sport. 

 

I can see why the romantics wouldn't really be keen on Conte at Man United when you consider how they view themselves i.e. playing on the front foot, developing academy players and not relying on short-term fixes. However, those days might be gone as it is far more competitive at the top of the table (across the entire league in fact) than it ever was when SAF was their manager and if they seriously want to challenge for the top prizes they might have to bite the bullet and do away with trying to hold onto those things.

 

I have a long held belief that Jose Mourinho has been struggling with depression since the illness of his father and that its had a significant impact on his ability to do the social side of his work. 

 

His father's first descent in to genuine poor health coincides pretty much exactly with the collapse of his relationship with the Chelsea squad via a calamitous and poorly judged fallout with Eva Carneiro and colleagues. 

 

At the peak of his powers, Mourinho's greatest strength wasn't his tactical genius or defensive organisation (both things he was amazing at) but his bond with his squads. He was incredible at cultivating an invincible siege mentality, at shielding his players from scrutiny with his public antics, at galvanising and motivating individuals he managed. His former protégés talk about him in seriously glowing terms (Ibra, Drogba, Terry "I'd leave the pitch in a coffin for him") because of how well he bonded with them and made them feel. 

 

All of that just evaporated after his dad got ill somewhere in 2015, he started falling out with people, for the first time in his career he was throwing his own players under the bus with increasing frequency. Carneiro was a real turning point because it was the first time he'd really, majorly gone after his own in public and he hugely misjudged the impact that would have on the playing staff. 

 

And this is the new Mourinho that he took to United. Immediately turning on the likes of Shaw, his treatment of whom was so bad that in any other profession he'd probably have been fired and sued for harassment and bullying. He was the same at Tottenham, too, this new, bitter, angry Mourinho completely incapable of bringing a squad together, bonding with them, going in to the trenches with them. 

 

He's never been the same from that moment. It was such an important part of his game, such a critical part of what made him successful and it was just ripped out. He's frankly worthless without that soul to him. Almost overnight he went from being the Special One to the second coming of Tony Pulis. 

 

Edited 22 November 2021 by Finnegan

[Sly]

5 hours ago, Langston said:

 

Gonna go against the fashionable grain here, but nah. 

 

Maguire isn't, and never was, an £80 million centre half. I won't deny I've had a bit of a chuckle watching him struggle at United. But, for all his perceived flaws as a coach, Southgate manages to get a tune from him 9/10 times when he plays for England - not just games against fodder, either, he's been brilliant for England in some huge games.

 

He's never going to be a world beater but he certainly could be a competent top 6 CB with a manager who shouldn't just be putting the cones out at training. Ultimately, most centre halves in world football are going to look a bit crap when their shield is any two from McTominay / Fred / Matic / Pogba and they're constantly on the back foot.

Agree on Maguire. I wasn’t his biggest fan when he was with us though. Take away the silly price tag that United paid for him and he’s still a very capable player. He’s never a captain though. Whoever comes in to United, will need to address that situation, as it’s those little % things in teams that make or break things. I think United biggest is is that they need a leader, a real dominant player who forces players to give that extra bit of effort and run through walls, but I’m not sure who the heck that is. They’ve got the nucleus or a great squad that have lacked tactical nous and in game management. 

[Wymsey]

30 minutes ago, Fox 4 Life said:

Poch apparently interested in the United job and would quit PSG now.

Wouldn't be surprised if he did move to there.

Reckon that'd be a good fit, for both clubs.

 

The signing of Ronaldo and Solsjaer messing about with a young, talented front-line seem to be two factors that affected the team (alongside Maguire's performances,of course).

 

Genuinely can't see them winning any valuable trophy for quite a while (even the League Cup), as it's apparent there's still a bit of rebuilding work to do within the squad (and possibly off the pitch, too).

Edited 22 November 2021 by Wymsey

[BenTheFox]

Man United undoudtedly have quality in their team with the likes of Ronaldo, Fernandez, Cavani, Greenwood, Rashford etc. but their midfield is way off it. Would any top half premier league side take McTominay and Fred as regular starters? They're decent squad players to have, but you won't get anywhere near winning the league with them starting most games. 

[Sly]

Just now, BenTheFox said:

Man United undoudtedly have quality in their team with the likes of Ronaldo, Fernandez, Cavani, Greenwood, Rashford etc. but their midfield is way off it. Would any top half premier league side take McTominay and Fred as regular starters? They're decent squad players to have, but you won't get anywhere near winning the league with them starting most games. 

I think they’ll address that in January, be it Kessie, Gravenbach etc. They need a holding player that is capable on the ball. 

[FoxinNotts]

1 hour ago, BenTheFox said:

Man United undoubtedly have quality in their team with the likes of Ronaldo, Fernandez, Cavani, Greenwood, Rashford etc. but their midfield is way off it. Would any top half premier league side take McTominay and Fred as regular starters? They're decent squad players to have, but you won't get anywhere near winning the league with them starting most games. 

Its so easy to fix United, and everyone can see it!

They are arguably the biggest club in the world, so nothing should be too much of a stretch for them, and yet they really wouldn't need to flex too much muscle to solve all their issues. Buy a deep lying defensive midfielder, who runs his socks off. They should be shopping in the top bracket, as they are Manchester United, after all! They should be looking at; Kante, Ndidi, (hope not!)  Bissouma, Philips and the like.

Next - get in a capable, competent manager, who plays a style suitable for a squad of their quality.. Lets be right, they could get whoever they want.

It really is that simple! Such a good squad, barring a good centre midfielder. Get in a manager that insists on a high work rate. Job Done.

[Dan LCFC]

6 hours ago, Bert said:

Gerrard is going the right way about it. 

Gerrard's a tough one, he's doing well and probably the best of any of the ex players I grew up watching (though I've been impressed by Vieira too) but they currently have a manager who is virtually irreplaceable.

 

Wouldn't be surprised to see a similar situation arise at Liverpool when it eventually happens although he's clearly better than Solskjaer.

[Bert]

3 hours ago, Dan LCFC said:

Gerrard's a tough one, he's doing well and probably the best of any of the ex players I grew up watching (though I've been impressed by Vieira too) but they currently have a manager who is virtually irreplaceable.

 

Wouldn't be surprised to see a similar situation arise at Liverpool when it eventually happens although he's clearly better than Solskjaer.

Yeah, the thing is with Gerrard he’s always going to get linked with that job and will inevitably manage them. He’s just getting his experience in at decent clubs at the right time for him. 

[coolhandfox]

Ed Woodward set to stay on a Man U as Executive Vice Chairman 

 

Man U fans having a good few weeks 

[fox_up_north]

Can't make it up. Love it. 

[Wymsey]

Dislike it when the BBC don't have actual sources to back up their claims.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59372826

 

There's, literally, no quotes from Pochettino himself regarding his stance regarding the Man United vacancy.

Edited 22 November 2021 by Wymsey

[davieG]

9 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

Dislike it when the BBC don't have actual sources to back up their claims.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59372826

 

There's, literally, no quotes from Pochettino himself regarding his stance regarding the Man United vacancy.

They've gone down click bait route for sports