Man City and Liverpool could force Mourinho’s retirement
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So, so, so scandalous
Can we please make a massive issue of the total piss take Sky Sports and the Premier League have just pulled on Newcastle fans?
They have changed NUFC trip to Everton from a Saturday to a Monday Night slot for TV purposes. Despite the fact, tickets for this game have been on sale for 2-3 weeks!!
Fans have not only bought match tickets but obviously booked trains and hotels. These will not be refunded for obvious reasons.
The sheer level of disregard is scandalous and this needs to be realised to the masses.
This total piss take has been met with silence from both Sky and the PL as theu obviously will just let this one blow over and get on with their own schedules.
This can not be allowed to happen ever again. This needs to be stopped.
Oh, and they have also moved Arsenal vs West Ham to the day of the London Marathon and FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley day…insane.
@ToonBano
Has Dele Alli been any good?
Interesting team selection from F365, no real problem with the formation or the personnel given the injuries and lack of experience throughout the squad.
However… I’m not quite sure what Alli is doing in the team ahead of Lingard? The, absolutely fair, criticism of previous England squads was that mediocre players from the Big 4, with special criticism often reserved for United, were always in the squad when less fashionable, but often much more in form players, were left out. I feel that, in a perverse way, Lingard is suffering from this.
Despite playing for United, he is not particularly highly rated by many. I actually completely agree that on top form, you would pick Alli over Lingard. The problem is that Alli has had a pretty poor campaign, whereas Lingard is enjoying his best season to date.
Right, here was where I intended to throw in some stats from WhoScored showing Lingard was having a better season than Alli. Lingard has scored more goals, in significantly less playing time (averaging a goal every 126 mins, vs. 288 for Alli), but Alli has more assists, meaning Alli has directly contributed to 23 goals (10 goals, 13 assist, Goal or Assist every 125 mins), vs. 17 (13 goals, 4 assists, 96 mins) for Jesse. Lingard has predominately played centrally this season, so I can’t see any issue with the position as one of two behind the striker – he is also capable of drifting wide (indeed his movement is probably his strongest trait), which could help the wing back. I’ll admit having him dance after scoring at the World Cup would be a national embarrassment though.
I actually expected the stats to be a lot more favourable to Lingard in this comparison – can any regular Spurs watchers fill me in on whether Alli has been as bad as I thought he had been? I think it is clear that Lingard has been more productive, while also playing in a less attacking side, but it wasn’t as one sided as I had initially thought it would be (indeed Alli has a much better WhoScored rating than Lingard)… maybe I just don’t know what I’m talking about.
Jack (Obviously both go if fit, although now I just want Lallana to be fit since I’d have last season’s version of him over this season’s Alli and Lingard) Manchester
4-4-(f***ing)-2
Long time reader, first time emailer to F365. It seems like playing three at the back has become the formation du jour in the Premier League, with the logic being that it effectively combats the 4-3-3 that the majority of teams have been playing variations of since Mourinho’s Chelsea used it so effectively the first time around.
With that in mind, its surely only a matter of time before we come full circle and the novel formation that many young, bold and experimentative foreign coaches are lauded for will simply be a modernised version of the traditional English four-four-facking-two.
This would play perfectly for England with the squad they have just now, as it would get Kane and Vardy – two of a very small pool of English attackers that will genuinely strike fear into opposition defences – into the side at the same time. The downside might be that they don’t have the typical wingers that can put in the crosses, but in this day and age of overlapping full-backs, the crosses could come in from Ashley Young and Kyle Walker at full back, while the two wingers (Sterling, Lingard) could do their fair share of damage by cutting in-field. Centre mid would need to be Dier as the holding man and maybe someone like Henderson to do the box-to-box work. This style of all-out attack would surely play out better than the sterile domination that saw them passing it around while losing to Iceland in the Euros with nobody having a clue how to break down the defence.
Calum (LFC), Ayrshire
The 3 at the back thing for England just doesn’t make sense to me. As F365’s choice: England’s XI to face Netherlands points out it forces you to play 2 more central players in behind Kane, rather than Rashford and Sterling out wide – which surely has to be our best attacking option by far?
Switching to two at the back means you can also push Eric Dier into a midfield trio with Wilshere and a slightly deeper Alli / Lingard, avoiding the need to play Jordan Henderson entirely. Win – win.
Ross – London
This is the Hend
I’d like to offer up some praise for Daniel’s suggested England 11 against the Netherlands – I agree with 10 of the 11 suggestions and for his provided reasons. The one I would disagree with is Henderson. I don’t think there’s a great deal to gain by playing him because if he’s fit then you know exactly what you’re going to get, and leaving him out wouldn’t significantly set back the cohesion of the team, even if he came back in for the tournament proper. Personally, I’d prefer to see Lewis Cook get a go because, let’s be honest, there’s a good chance that Wilshere will won’t be able to play every game, so we need someone ready to step in to the team in that scenario.
But aside from that, the suggestion that we should be picking players for a system instead of a system for the players is a notion I have been supporting for many years now. Too often we pick the “best” names and try and shoehorn them into some semblance of a team. I would be far happier seeing us pick a few “unfashionable” players if they are the right choice for the system we want to use. The fact that many of those players are being used in that way at their clubs only adds weight to the argument. I also firmly agree that we should be going in with Vardy as our first choice – as good as Kane is (and he is ridiculously good), Vardy just seems to fit better into how we want and need to play, so it would be counter-productive to put Kane in on the basis of his club record.
We’ll find out tomorrow whether Southgate agrees, but fingers crossed!
Ted, Manchester
Well done, Gareth
Long time listener, first time caller. I’ve just read the recent quotes from Gareth Southgate and am astounded.
Following the Big Sam debacle, never did I expect an England manager to offer a well thought out and incredibly honest opinion on anything, let alone the political hot potatoes that are racism and Russia.
It would’ve been easy to take the opportunity to whip up some nationalistic fervour but instead Gareth used the question to turn the glare back onto England’s own issues with racism. It’s genuinely shocking that a group of kids could win an under 17 World Cup and then be subjected to abuse of any nature, let alone abuse based on pigmentation. I’m Scottish, if our kids won a junior world cup I’d hope we’d build mile high statues of every squad member, though even up here some peoples reaction would differ based on religion.
Gareth also used the press conference to big up the World Cup and Russia as hosts, something any gracious visitor should do but might prove controversial given the current political climate. The greatest part of these comments was him essentially telling our Foreign Secretary, Blonde BJ, he couldn’t care less about his opinion. Nor should he. Football’s a game first and foremost and, even if Putin uses the World Cup to score political points, it doesn’t mean England should.
I’ve kind of rambled away from my point here…which was to say, because I expect he reads this site, well done Gareth. As England manager you’ve made this Scotsmen proud to be British.
Ali,
Bracket free since 2003
More homegrown minutes please
With too much time and not enough football two thoughts have been on my mind and I realize that they actually may have something in common with one another.
Firstly, I have been concerned with the underwhelming nature of the latest England squad ahead of a major tournament and racking my brains for any alternatives.
Secondly, that the reputation my club and manager (Spurs) have for developing home grown talent may be somewhat undeserved.
Here is where the two thoughts collate: if England’s young, exciting players are finding their pathway blocked by average foreign imports then what chances will we have of ever putting together a squad of players capable of competing at the top end of international football.
Let’s use Tottenham as an example case. Would Spurs be any worse off this year if Josh Onomah was getting the minutes currently being given to Moussa Sissoko? Would we have dropped out of the race for top four if, instead of splurging upwards of twenty million on the braindead Serge Aurier, we had afforded that game time to Kyle Walker-Peters? And what of Marcus Edwards, a supposed once in a generation talent? Could the first team appearences of George-Kevin Nkoudou not have been better spent integrating our England youth star over the past two seasons? Would our cup run have been halted if Cameron Carter-Vickers had played the games afforded to Juan Foyth? (I’m aware Carter-Vickers is a US international but he has duel nationality and is an academy graduate.)
No one can argue that Spurs greatly benefit from their top imported talents. Replace Christian Eriksen with Tom Carroll, Moussa Dembele with Jake Livermore or Heung Min-Son with Andros Townsend and the results would take a dramatic downturn. But those aforementioned academy products were given an opportunity to stake a claim and ultimately came up a little short before finding their level (and still providing England with squad members, to illustrate our current woes).
But minutes being taken away by “ready made” average foreign players is what is truly harming our potential next stars. This is happening all the way down the league (and filtering further down the leagues too). Would West Brom be worse off if Jonathan Leko and Sam Field were seeing regular game time? Has the money Chelsea have spent on Bakayoko greatly improved Chelsea’s midfield to an extent that neither Loftus-Cheek or Chalobah could have? Axel Tuanzebe would have ruined Manchester United’s season where Victor Lindelof has proved worth every penny? Has it been worth Everton’s time and money to lose a frustrated Lookman to loan for the privilege of fielding Vlasic? Had Man City shown some faith and patience would they be far worse off currently fielding youth academy products Kieran Trippier and Ben Mee rather than having paid the sums they have for the likes of Danilo and Mangala? Southampton spent an awful lot of money on Lemina and Carrillo and yet find themselves struggling to stay in the division, how much worse could it have been to give Reed and Gallagher some first team action? Would Sam Byram have brought forward the London Stadium rebellion scenes had he played in place of Zabaleta?
I could go on but the short termism paired with excess cash that floods the English game has led to a situation that has had a negative impact on our national team, not greatly improved the quality of the average game and led to a greater sense of disillusionment and distance from fans toward our teams. Again, would the West Ham faithful show more patience and understanding watching a team with a few Reece Oxford’s? More importantly, would they be any worse off if he was in the team ahead of Kouyate? I doubt it.
Tjpkean (any ideas on how to change this status quo would be greatly welcome)
Oh Adeel
Adeel… why do you make me defend Spurs (bleh)? Sadly your mail this morning was too much man, too much, and I felt obliged to write in. You’re defending Mourinho, fine, you are entitled to do that. But please learn the meaning of perspective, and maybe apply it to your thoughts occasionally.
You thought United should be roughly second, so its fine that they are second? Sorry to say but your personal view is not nearly as important as the expectations of the board and the claims of the manager – both of which were title challenge.
You wonder why Pochettino is heaped with praise and Mourinho derided? Because the Spurs manager has improved players, brought through youth, developed an effective attacking style, and barely spent anything (net, sorry). His Man U counterpart has spent hundreds of millions (even net) on loads of players, and offered up turgid fare that makes most fans eyes bleed, playing the underdog game when he should be aggressively stomping all over lesser teams, which basically includes everyone bar City. Plus he’s been surly and argumentative, slagging off the club, the fans, the players and anyone else he fancies.
You state Chelsea were the team to beat. No-one thought that. Yes they won last year, but then they lost one of their best players and invested badly and insufficiently. Yes they should be closer but you should be looking up not down.
Constant comparisons to Tottenham show how far they have come and kudos to them <retch>, they are a well-run club with a great manager, a talented pool of players and a new stadium on the horizon. But they should not be the yardstick by which you measure success. Can you imagine Real Madrid comparing themselves to Valencia or Villareal and saying why aren’t they under as much pressure? No. Because they are a football behemoth with a turnover of nearly a billion and a fanbase that encircles the globe.
Man U are under-performing based on numerous factors including, but not solely, spend on players.
For the record Arsenal and Chelsea are also under-performing. Liverpool are probably slightly over-achieving and City are playing on cheat mode.
Never make me praise Spurs again (shudder).
Alay (I feel sick. Need to watch Henry victory sliding on his knees in front of an angry mob of spuds to cure this), N15 Gooner
Oh Jose
“Transition” did not make Pogba feel and play like sh*t, “transition” does not park the bus in every important game, “transition” does not start a player who refuses to sign a contract in Champions League must win home tie instead of our best midfielder, “transition” did not sign a player completely out of form and start him every game since, “transition” did not minimize our flaws on account of our flair. “Transition” did not spend money on offensive players in the same position each transfer window while parking the bus and using leftback and rightback that SAF used as wingers 7 years ago… This is just laughable that no journalist can ask him a real question. I did not even get into his press conference mouth farting on account of the club that has been giving him a paycheck every week.
If he stays next season Guardiola´s CIty and Klopp´s Liverpool could make him retire after that, already this season he is grasping at straws. I can´t wait for next to come
P:S: I bet it would be an interesting reading to compare his interviews from the start of the season to the to ones from now, same as Mediawatch does with his pet journalists.
Matej, NK Livada and Premier League fan
More on United
It was expected Zlatan was never going to be the same after the knee injury he got, which is such a shame for a player who won the league at every club he had played at until he came to United. In his first season at the club, he lead by example and scored 28 goals in 46 appearances and won two trophies also, not the ones he would of liked most, but silverware nonetheless. I would like to note that his goal against England was some form of wizardry and that some of his goals have been unreal in terms of power and cleverness. You would love to have him as a team mate who is vocal and can show by example at the same, fair play to Lukaku for the way he has filled in for him aged just 24 years old.
As for United themselves, they need to find consistent form where they are confident to score 3 or 4 goals a game regardless of who they play. I remember a period in the season when Van Gaal had to play Liverpool, Spurs and City towards the end of the 2014-15 season in fighting for a Top 4 place and probably his job also, and remember some players performing so well in these high pressured games in terms of getting into form at the exact right time. I can see why Mourinho is criticising his players in a harsh yet realistic manner, but he is the manager and needs to show a little more experience and dignity overall and take some blame on the chin and learn from it, not dwell on it. Some players will be given the time to step up in reaching their potential some players are running out of time to convince the manager of a place in the squad, some are going to be sold or leave on a free and for me personally some players should not even be at the club.
Jose is right about the club being in a transition also, although I wouldn’t be friends with the man, it wouldn’t be bad to actually learn from him, despite being the drama queen that he is.
Rami, London
Just reading a couple of mails before bed – a sure fire way to make sure I’m too annoyed to get any actual shut eye – and I just read a ludicrous suggestion that the United squad is “some way off being able to win the PL title”….
Astonishing. Simply astonishing. Have we all forgotten Leicester won it only a short while ago? They didn’t have a squad worth the best part of a billion. What they did have was a settled side, an actual game plan, a manager making the players more than the sum of their parts and adept at improving them. Not to mention the cahones to actually attack sides supposedly their superiors.
Mourinho has what neither Moyes nor LVG had before him (though they have only themselves to blame for that). He has a superb spine to his side. The worlds best keeper. Literally. An adequate central defence (Until Bailly is fully fit then its approaching excellent). The world’s most expensive centre midfielder partnered by an experienced and superb DM (and last seasons Utd player of the year to boot). Mourinho has an 80 million pound striker with faintly absurd goal scoring record for one so young. The fundamental core of the side is world class.
The squad isn’t perfect. There are lots of problems at the club. But let’s not for a moment delude ourselves into believing that the performances relative to the standard of players available and money spent are even remotely acceptable. Don’t even get me started on Jose’s squirrel-like tendency to keep his nuts locked away for the Winter.
“some way off being able to win the PL title”??? Ranieri would laugh his ass off.
Steve
Dublin
Sympathy for Hector
Okay Graham Simons, I’ll bite.
Firstly, you lose points by saying that Arsenal Fan TV has done anything other than be a source of ridicule for Arsenal fans. The only people that have ever spoken to me about that channel have been Spurs fans in the office (“Have you seen the latest Arsenal Fan TV?”, to which the only acceptable answer is “Of course not”) so to say that Arsenal Fan TV has exploded the myth of prawn sandwich Arsenal fans may be true to an extent, but now fans will think we’re idiots who loudly over react when a player loses the ball more than twice a game.
Which actually, when we look at your next points about Bellerin unfortunately proves that that’s true for some of us. Bellerin wasn’t asked about how he felt about Arsenal Fan TV slating his personal performances, as well you know. So to say that “in having a pop at the channel, Bellerin has refused to take responsibility for his own piss-poor defences” completely misrepresents his argument that:
“It’s so wrong for someone who claims to be a fan and their success is fed off a failure. How can that be a fan?”
He wasn’t talking personally, and while you may assume that he was, I actually think he’s talking from the position of a player and team needing support – Not needing what he calls “hustlers” just trying to make money.
Then you go on to blame him for making Mustafi look terrible? So a senior, experienced international is not at fault for his own performances – it’s the kid to his right who is to blame? I think your line of thinking is basically “Bellerin pushes forward so Mustafi has to cover and gets caught out” which conveniently ignores Mustafi’s love of charging in which I don’t think would change even if he had Thuram alongside him.
More importantly though, it conveniently ignores that Bellerin is a sacrifice to the system in which Arsene has the team playing right now. When’s the last time Bellerin had anything approaching a right midfielder ahead of him? Who’s tracking back and helping out Bellerin as it sure as hell isn’t Ozil. At 23 he’s been asked to man the whole of Arsenal’s right hand side while we stick with immobile central midfielders and flighty forwards.
You talk about having Gibbs back because of his professionalism – But ultimately what we saw with Gibbs was him hitting a ceiling of his ability and not being able to progress further. What we’re seeing with Bellerin is a player with enourmous potential not reaching those heights because of the system around him.
Chris (this ended up being surprisingly long) Kinlock
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