That fraud Rangnick is just another Bielsa out of his depth

Editor F365
Ralf Rangnick issues tactical instructions

It has taken just four games for Ralf Rangnick to be exposed as a fraud, a charlatan and another Marcelo Bielsa at Manchester United.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

 

Oh no
Anyone else worried that Arteta’s “process” is starting to come good…?
Jon, Lincoln

 

Silva lining
For a free transfer, Thiago Silva to Chelsea has to be up there with the best ever. He’s been there and done it and you can see it every time he plays but it does make you wonder how much the likes of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand would have looked even better in the middle of a back 3.
Gaz, CFC, Sidcup (would rather play the games now and get the done with than face a backlog later)

 

For ref’s sake
After seeing Man Citys’ first penalty, (which I agree with, I just wish refs would give 10 a match until it stops), maybe Jurgen isn’t paranoid: how can the same combination of officials give that but not the foul on Jota?
Howard (maybe they’re just sh*t at what they do) Jones
Man United thoughts
Cavani should start every match he is available for. He gets two chances and scores a goal. His movement and work off the ball is essential. A real definition of a team player

Ronaldo again was poor. Trying to shoot from impossible angles. Didn’t do much apart from sulking all night. Should have definitely seen a red for his reckless lunge.

Bruno again seemed to be everywhere. Some risky passes here and there but not his form has dropped off alarmingly. Though made the pass to Dalot for the Cavani goal.

Sir Marcus Rashford has been bang average for a year. But no complaints his off-field contributions somehow make him impervious to criticism.

VAR sucks.

Varane was supposed to make our defence stronger so it was strange to see him have a really poor game. Lost the ball from which Newcastle scored. Maguire shouldn’t be captain and should be nowhere near the team.

Greenwood was ineffective. Needs to decide now if he wants to be a 9 or forever be shifted about across the forward line.

Sancho came on at halftime and ran around a bit. Should have had an assist. Still didn’t complete a dribble. Performances not still justifying that hefty transfer fee.

McFred was sh*te again. We lacked control in that game. They both constantly gave the ball away and when they got it back didn’t know what to do with it. Both needs replacing asap. Those two shouldn’t be starters for a top 6 team if they can’t even boss the game against a side in 19th.

Donny VDB needs to leave Man Utd asap. He’s a very talented player who should be playing regularly not sitting on the bench.

De Gea Saves.
Lee 

 

In the ‘nick of time
Hi all.

Just a note on Ralf. I had a conversation with a United supporter friend and I asked him if the fact Rangnick had never coached an elite team or won a major trophy before was a problem. He said no because he mentored Klopp and Tuchel. Both of whom have eclipsed his achievements. He reminds me of Bielsa. He’s more known for style than success and seems a much better director than coach. He may well be successful but like Ole, this is his first elite coaching job. If he was as elite as his reputation suggests, he would have worked in a higher profile club by now. He’s perennially linked to top jobs but this is his first real go and it seems he’s having exactly the same problems as Ole.

United seems stagnant, happy with top 4 every season. The whole club needs a culture change. That comes from the top down. Maybe when Ralf goes upstairs it may change. I have my reservations though.
Giraffe boy. Jubilee line. 

 

Ha Ha, told you what’s his name was a charlatan. I may not have used that word, but I do specifically remember saying Rangnick was a fraud.

Sign 1, The Spin. If we asked any journalist to write about Julien Lopetegui, Spaletti, or Adi Hutter. I’m very very sure the articles would all come out somewhat differently. If the Sun, Daily Mail, the Guardian all did articles on these managers, the articles would be distinct, they may hit the same main points, but not the same wording, unless plagiarism is involved.

Contrast that to Rangnick, every article used the same words, godfather of gegenpress, his philosophy is what Klopp, Tuchel, Nagelsmann use. I ask myself, how can one seed produce a Mango, Coconut, and Orange fruit. He helped them get to the next level career-wise. He setup Redbull clubs structure at Leipzig and Salzburg, ok, that’s fair, but that doesn’t make him some sort of godfather FOOTBALL coach. These were different publications competing, and all of them just spewing the same BS? That just had my alarm bells ringing.

He is sh*te, I’m I the only one seeing how poor Man U were ? That draw was more like saving face than , they really should have lost by 4 or 5, to Newcastle.
Dave( what are the odds for Rangnick finishing outside top 4?), Somewhere

 

The fourth place trophy
It looks increasingly likely that the 4th place trophy will be between Arsenal, Spurs and Man U. Arsenal and Spurs fans will feasibly be able to make their case for being the ‘little horse’ in that particular 3 horse race.

As an Arsenal fan we won’t be getting ahead of ourselves because we know there will be more ups and downs this season as there has already been. That’s always going to be the case with such a young team (the youngest in the league), a rookie manager and almost half the team being new signings. But the way Arsenal are playing and the position we find ourselves in deserves praise right now. Arteta has integrated 3 players in to his regular back 5 (4 if you realise the amount Tavares has played), Odegaard is playing really well after Arsenal were mocked for not getting Buendia in the summer. The young talents of Saka, ESR and Martinelli are exciting and the epitome of modern forward players, they score, assist, press and work hard all game – it’s easy to see why Arteta might have just been waiting for Aubameyang to slip up so he could move him out of the team.

For the first time in a while Arsenal have a clear direction and a long term plan. The recruitment this summer (which again was heavily mocked) has so far been a resounding success. Realistically I doubt Arsenal fans expected us to finish top 4 this season, it was about getting top 6 and showing proper measurable progress.

Of course, the nay-sayers will say Arsenal are only winning games you expect them to win, which missed the point spectacularly because the division is tough and almost any team are capable of taking points off the big sides and if you regularly beat the 14 worst teams in the league you will finish top 4. City and Spurs are up next for Arsenal, let’s just enjoy those two games and see where we are after them.
Rich, AFC

 

Mings? Can only get better
It is not completely clear whether continuing to doubt the elite level of Lukaku is now seen as some sort of footballing blind spot. Having watched him dominate Mings it bought sharply into focus the weakest area of England’s World Cup hopes. No not Gareth, he deserves a shot , hopefully with updated systems and tactics. But our centre-back pairing.

Imagine our Gareth had the balls to drop slab head and stay with Stones, then who would be an upgrade on HaplessHarry ?

I can only come up with 3 and they are White at Arsenal, Tomori in Italy and Chalobah at Chelsea. Perhaps as a dark horse Joe Gomez, so cruelly injured in the run up to the euros.

Talking of Liverpool, if indeed Lukaku plays and scores and decides a game in the 2 against LIverpool and City he could then move into the conversation on elite strikers. I digress.

Gomez however does not currently look like getting a run. Even despite Henderson’s great season I would only see a triumvirate of Declan Rice – Foden – Bellingham being England’s key to hopefully getting to the final again .

10 months and 3 weeks to go, only .
Peter. ( magpies are going down if they spunk their money up the wall on other positions apart from defence . Martial would be a disaster there ) Andalucia .

 

Assorted Boxing Day thoughts
Hi F365,

Few things:

1. Why is it okay for managers and support staff at games standing next to each other not to wear face masks? ( hi Thomas frank )
2. No doubt Thomas frank will ask for postponement until all of his players stop getting Covid
3. Potter. “it’s not safe” but I’ll literally lick my assistant’s face
4. Tuchel “cannot keep playing” with your £97m player on the bench but yeah Covid
5. Fun to see Rodgers embarrassed
6.  Palace “can’t field players, but somehow managed it with a bench”
7. Certain “journalists” lying to get click bait causing hundreds of fans not to go to spurs game but got more followers
8. There is clearly no such thing as a 25 man squad ( where are these players ?)
9. Loving “game postponed because of Covid, injury and illness”
10. Hendo crying about player welfare despite so many footballers refusing the Jab.

Finally. Gerrard has Covid. This was news. Man gets Covid. Misses next two games. Defo opportunity for young midfielder to replace him.

Ahhhhhhhh. That’s better. Feel so much more relaxed. Can’t wait for more games to be called off because of Covid ( I mean injury )
Ade. 7 is coming. Not keen on footballers at the moment. Divers, cheats, liars. Somehow still love football but it’s difficult at the moment. 

 

Magpie nesting
As Newcastle prepare for their Mad Trolley Dash in the January Sales, and given that they need pretty much one of everything, it seems to me that they should be following the Costco route and going all-out for the bulk buys.£100m to ManU for whatever is on Special.
Theoretically, they could get a whole collection (albeit a mixed bag) of Premier League proven players – Henderson, Lingard, DVB, Martial (on loan), Jones, and whoever is hanging around unloved.

£100m to Barca. 100 mill large ones + wages removed + creative accounting = solvency and FFP free status for UEFA’s Golden boys. And there would be something glorious about money going from our Saudi friends to Spain to bailout Barca. Would they take it…in a flash. As a side point, you might get Dembele, Coutinho, Umtiti, and any other fading poster children for football’s excess that were hanging round.

Finally, given that Newcastle have four fixtures in January (3 in the EPL), surely all their business should be done with a mass influx on 1st Jan. Points mean prizes and all that, and those three games will almost certainly be crucial. F’ing about until the end of the window is just not going to cut it.

Regardless, I can’t wait.
Matthew (ITFC)

 

Three strikes and you’re out
I see an ordinary man, Ciaran Boyle, has been complaining that footballers say the ordinary man doesn’t understand elite sport, whilst showing he clearly doesn’t understand elite sport. Does he think that footballers just have some porridge and a bit of pasta between games of FIFA before running round a pitch for an hour and a half like a local 5 a side team?

All elite sportspeople work with top doctors from around the world who provide them with supplements & injections to give them the best performance possible. Their bodies are running on the edge of what they can take & it’s absolutely not healthy. The more games they play the harder they’re pushing their bodies & the more health risk they run.

But Ciaran says himself he ‘doesn’t care’. Did he not care when Eriksen collapsed and was essentially dead for a brief period according to the Danish national team doctor Morten Boesen? Does Ciaran think Eriksen should’ve been fine for the next Denmark game? Should Aguero have just ran off his heart problem 2 months ago? John Fleck, sure he’d be grand after 48 hours rest.

It’s no coincidence these instances have all happened within the past 6 months. Players are continually being pushed harder & harder by new sports science advances. As is the way for all these types of safety issues which are raised, sadly it will probably take a death before anyone takes it seriously. Just like the building site manager that never takes safety issues seriously when raised to them until something’s happened that’s staring them in the face.
Mick, Cardiff

 

Reading a few replies in the letters page railing against footballers talking about strike action comparing the money they earn and the privilege it bestows is wildly off base. These are elite athletes, who take contact to muscles. The point is PL clubs work on a red/amber/green system and where possible will seek to protect the player should they be in amber mode. Covid infections and absentees make it impossible to protect these players.

We haven’t even mentioned those players who are literally rushed back from Covid infection. Covid like any virus can create inflammation of the heart it’s why we insist on rest for those who have flu symptoms. Rushing back players from covid and involving players who have had a booster needs a note of caution.

The PL’s criteria to cancel a match seems ‘fluid’ wolves sought and got a cancellation for the Arsenal game because injuries and covid depleted their squad to the point that they couldn’t field 4 outfield players on the bench. And yet the PL criteria states that U21’s are included in this! How has Wolves not got any available U21’s. Yet Chelsea we’re made to play them with two of their 4 outfield subs having only 1 training session since covid. Chelsea’s next game they played three U23’s to get the game on.

The decision making process seems chaotic and subjective. I totally get were players are coming from.
P Didi