Jonesy7211

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

No way Southgate’s luck will hold for another really kind route through the next tournament.

Not to go all Keegan, but I'd love it if we got a group of death. He'd be like a rabbit in the headlights.

1 minute ago, TheAuthority said:

What horseshit will horseface come out with after this abject display then?

"Well, Maguire defended well, but Ollie really needs to do better with all those chances he had" or some crap to that effect.

Two hugely poor performances. If anything he's got more negative. I don't get it because most of the squad press high and with a quick tempo for their club teams. Adapting them into an effective attacking outfit shouldn't be difficult.

Then playing out of form players like Maguire, Rashford, and Grealish. Or playing Trent AA in midfield.

Also refusing to call up other players when there were withdrawals. It's like telling those players they might as well play for Scotland as they're not getting in under him.

Worst manager possible for the players we have.

Why are we playing with two holding mids, and fullbacks that won't push on against this shower?

We're slow and look utterly devoid of creativity. Push a midfielder on, increase the tempo, and we'll apply more pressure and naturally create more.

Utter fraud of a manager.

I'm too young to remember Ron Saunders at the club, I was a baby, but has there ever been a manager of the club who is so universally beloved by the fanbase?

For as long as I can remember I don't think we've ever been so united in our faith in the manager.

I think we were all very happy with Atkinson, Little, and Gregory, but from memory it was nothing like this.

I know we've just scored, but watching how deep and negative we are only makes me more grateful for Unai. Southgate is miles away from his level.

Without Rice and Bellingham we're woefully short in the middle. Surely ward-prowse would have been a worthwhile callup when there were injury withdrawals.

Enough has been said about the defensive setup, but why is Rashford playing? He's woefully out of form.

You could pick holes in the 11 all day long.

Wider point on GK's in general, but there's a real dearth of quality goalies at the moment. Some of the no1's for top clubs around Europe aren't a patch on the luminaries that came before them. Most of the backups that we'd probably consider decent are going to be getting 1st team football currently. Look at Chelsea, they've got Sanchez, and he's awful. Isn't Szczeney still no1 at Juve? A good backup GK is probably the hardest position to fill in world football.

It's probably because most clubs want a keeper who can play out from the back, and that's a skillset that not many have. It wasn't long ago only Neuer could do that.

That's the precedent now. Everton have stated that they're going to appeal, but also they'll be monitoring any punishment other clubs may receive.

Konsa has been showing more consistent form since Unai came in, but has been a good Premier league level defender for a long while. This is both very well deserved and a long time coming. I'd love him to do well.

However, I don't think he'll see a minute unless we go 5-0 up at half time against mighty Malta. Southgate will play the usual suspects for nearly the whole game, taking off Henderson and Maguire near the end of the game for Phillips and Guehi.

I don't remember fireworks being this much of a problem 25-35 years ago. There used to be loads of places, pubs, sports clubs, and other venues, that would put on a decent show for s whole evening.

Now there's so few of these near me if you go to one you're shoulder to shoulder for 2 hours for a 10 minute show.

I hate that more people have them at home now, they go on for weeks either side of bonfire night and then again on New year's Eve. Absolute load of crotch sniffers.

Awful reffing again. We always seem to get the rough end of yellow card decisions.

Good performance overall though. McGinn motm, but impressed with YT.

Very happy with the season so far, well ahead of where I thought we'd be.

It's us. If you're on a goal drought or on a particular run we're still the team to play.

Our fullbacks need to sit back for 10 mins. They keep getting in behind them. Take the sting out of them.

4 minutes ago, Rustibrooks said:

It’s ironic that barely any of these far right guys are wearing poppies

That's because they're idiotic racists, and not people supporting the fallen brave.

We were flat, but I felt that they put us off our game with a lot of cynical fouls that weren't punished correctly. They should have a lot of yellows. Ref was awful.

12 minutes ago, sidcow said:

They've guaranteed that a Palestine protest is now going to go ahead on Sunday in London by making such a big deal about out. 

Well done Suella. Mission accomplished. 

They've also guaranteed that there'll be a response from the Tommy Robinson morons who will go, with the goals of causing as much trouble as possible and being racist, whilst pretending they're protecting English white people.

She's directly responsible for any confrontation on what should be a sombre day.

14 hours ago, tomav84 said:

i think for most, yes agree. but it's become a stick to beat people with, usually by words removed like the below. the likes of farage need to be careful about stuff like this. he's not well liked, to put it mildly, and crap like this is not going to help

 

I agree entirely that there are racists like Farage who twist the message of what the poppy should represent and undermine it. It's a shame people can't see through it. Maybe not for this thread, but it's something the Tories, and to a lesser extent the other parties, have been doing with many different topics for the last 20 years.

Just now, Marka Ragnos said:

But even you kind of are buying into the over-hyped expectations for Man U. They're in 8th place. "Turd" compared to what? Man City? OK, sure, but in the broader context, this is still a club winning more often than losing in arguably the most competitive football league in the world. I agree Fergie is "generational," but it's still too easy to overstate how terrible Man yoo are, IMO -- not that I mind it! 

Fair enough, I may have been over critical, but I do think some of the signings have been poor in terms of both ability and temperament, and "turd" comment alludes to that as much as anything. I'd be disappointed if we'd spent so much on Hojlund, Antony, and Mount. They're just very average footballers, not able to take Utd to the top level, and Antony and Mount have done very little to convince they have the right temperament to improve, amongst so many others there.

My original point being that a top quality team of footballing execs would never have allowed this to happen.

1 minute ago, Genie said:

£60m on Mount. It says it all really. 

40 full time scouts on the payroll and that’s what they buy. 

Exactly. In what world would a sporting director or footballing exec allow you to spend that much money on a player who's shown to be average, free in a year, and is playing in a position where' you've got Bruno Fernandes and Erikson? Not to mention his wage bill.

You could have got a player like Diaby or Nunes for less than that and they'd both have massively improved them.

Utd are where they are because all the people at the top of the club are really good business people, but have no clue how to run the football side of things. They need a really experienced and able leadership team for the football side. Until they do that, everything else is going to be a hope and a prayer. Doesn't matter who they put in charge.

It's why they're paying ETH £9million a year. Only way they can get a top level coach to come.

All this stuff in the media about what's wrong is just clickbait headlines. There's no system, no meshing of styles with the players, and certainly no plan for the future.

Plus they've signed loads of average players that would have performed way above themselves under Fergie, but he's a generational manager. Not many others could polish the turds they've bought in.

14 minutes ago, Mantis said:

I find it interesting how three of the biggest of England's "golden generation" players (Lampard, Rooney, Gerrard) have turned out to be absolutely shit managers. Carrick meanwhile seems to be faring a lot better.

I do wonder sometimes if having a glittering playing career is more of a handicap when it comes to management.

I think there's certainly a point there. I also think that the great managers they had played a huge part in the careers of these players, and it's a shame Rooney et al aren't able to take their lessons any further.