Man Utd ‘biggest worry’ requires Ten Hag ‘plan’; Guardiola, FFP tipped to make Arsenal PL winners
A Man Utd fan reveals his ‘biggest worry’ after the 1-0 win against Fulham. Also: More predictions are dropped, with Arsenal tipped to win the title.
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Man Utd conclusions…
There will be some that see the score, or focus on highlights that say same United as last season, but they’d be very wrong. Despite it not being scintillating stuff, if United play like that for the majority of the year they’ll finish in the top 4. Personally, really encouraged. Anytime their keeper makes 3 point-blank, one-on-one saves with their feet you know you’re at least creating good chances. A couple of those go in and the narrative is completely different.
The biggest worry is still central midfield. Mainoo is an absolute baller but can barely play 60 minutes. Casemiro was better but still about 65 in footballing years. Those two simply cannot play the 90, and as soon as Mount’s energy went off United struggled. Erik ten Hag needs a plan there.
Zirkzee was the 22nd player to score on their United debut. That is insane. How does that even happen?
Ryan, Bermuda
READ: Zirkzee learns from Van Nistelrooy in only piece of quality as Man Utd beat Fulham
Screw you F365
Terrible match report F365, hang your heads in shame. Not a brilliant match, granted, 1-0s rarely are. But United were so much better after the first 20 minutes today than at any point in the Wolves game. Clearly F365 are upset that United won for a change and in a way from which you can’t claim we’ve got terrible problems nor that we’re going win the league. Fewer clicks this week then lads.
Wolves had an xg of 2.35, hit the post and had a stone wall penalty not given. Fulham had an xg of 0.42. They did just about reach 10 shots but that’s customary for United these days.
United looked better in and out of possession, showing more ability to hold on to the ball. We had the usual culprits in Maguire, Rashford and Casemiro doing silly things (though each occasionally did something good) to give the ball away but largely it was a more comfortable performance. Had Bruno put away one of his chances we’d not only have been talking about a quality goal but I suspect a larger margin of victory.
Let’s not take the piss here, United weren’t brilliant, but they deserved to win and were largely comfortable. Which is more than can be said for every game except probably the Cup Final last season.
And anyway, Kobbie is awesome.
Ash (not United slipping up this week then, Phew!) Metcalfe
MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
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👉 Man Utd: Ratcliffe’s Ten Hag sack plan emerges with ‘groomed’ manager ‘to replace’ the Dutchman
👉 Man Utd ‘certain’ to ‘raise offer’ in ‘private meeting’ with £34m star given ‘dream’ transfer ‘permission’
More Premier League predictions…
As is traditional, tell me who will win the league… I said Arsenal last year and I will go with them again. They have a young, strong team, and must surely push one. City are of course the obvious choice, but with the 115 potentially coming home, and the knowledge Pep may be gone (& City from the League), motivation may be lessened. With everyone else in transition, they are the only real options.
And the rest of the top four, in order. Which nobody ever gets right…. Arsenal, City*, Man Utd, Newcastle, Chelsea* (If Chelsea sign Oshimhen, I reckon they will take 4th place and/or If City are docked points).
Three picks for relegation please… Leicester, Southampton, Ipswich – Financial penalties and lack of decent signings should and will relegate Leicester. Southampton will find it hard to compete, and Ipswich look set to try and yo-yo back next season + I do not see where goals will come from with any of these sides.
Which club will be a pleasant surprise? West Ham. I feel they could potentially become this season’s Aston Villa. An English manager who is not elite being replaced by a quality Spaniard, cash splashed and ready for the big time? check, check, check.
Who will win the Golden Boot? It just cannot be anyone but Haaland. If Chelsea get Osimhen, he could be his closest rival.
Which new signing will have the greatest positive impact? I really like the Mats Weiffer to Brighton signing. I reckon he will make Liverpool kick themselves for not going for him. United’s Mazroui & De Ligt will go down as excellent business too. (For the 3rd time) If Cheslea manage to get Osimhen, that is a game changer.
And which one will turn out to be a massive flop? Igor Thiago for Brentford stinks of 1 goal in 25 games & gone next summer on loan. Drewsbury-Hall looks like a donation to Leicester City a la Drinkwater. Fulham”s Smith-Rowe might end the season as a poor allocation of resources.
Who will be the biggest bloody bargain? Sagawara of Southampton will be a nice pick up for a club next summer when they go down, earning them a nice profit. Savinho seems like a dodgy signing that will work out great. Todibo on loan with an option to buy for 27M is excellent work from West Ham.
Who will be named the PFA Player of the Year? If Arsenal do secure the title, it will Rice, Odegaard or Saliba. I will go with my last year’s choice of Odegaard.
First manager to leave their Premier League job? Steve Cooper or Martin. Curveball choice would be Lopetegiu if West Ham hammer him as hammer history repeats itself.
Pick the Champions League winner… City. I reckon their league disappointment will push them extra hard for the CL, and one final hurrah for Pep.
In five words, tell us what you are most excited about this season… Man United being decent again.
Calvino (Nice win for the Red Devils today – Zirkzee!!!!!)
📣TO THE COMMENTS! What are your 2024/25 pre-season predictions? Join the debate here
New pre-season prediction rule…
With the season about to start and all the predictions made I see there are a few very minor rule changes so I would like to propose one for journalists. No journalist should be allowed to mention trebles or quadruples until at least 2 trophies (or preferably 3 in the case of
quadruples) have been won.
Furthermore, any journalist who mentions a treble or quadruple before the League Cup final has even been played should be forced to watch West Germany v Austria from the 1982 World Cup on a continuous loop until someone actually wins a treble.
Bob (LFC – no idea what to expect this season)
MORE PREDICTIONS ON F365…
👉 F365’s 2024/25 season predictions: De Ligt and Solanke to flop or fly, first manager sacked, Ipswich thrive
👉 One per club: Premier League hot takes include Arsenal near-invincible, Man City relegated, Klopp return
👉 Ten Hag will not be sacked and Liverpool will finish above Arsenal – it’s predictions season!
The asylum being run by the inmates
So we’ve just read Webb’s straw man argument in support of VAR – that the reason people don’t like VAR is because of the final decision.
Granted, we can’t really put the VAR genie back in the bottle now, so we should work towards a better version, however, it’s not clear that PGMOL are the group who can do that.
Knowing the rules, and having experience of being in the middle of the action is laudable, but that doesn’t mean you have the process skills to effectively manage VAR technology and how to determine the outcome. This was shown time and again last season – with atrocious Spurs/Liverpool decision showing the lack of process precision and focus.
Before tinkering with VAR, the Premier League should create an independent body to manage it and the process. The PGMOL last and present have shown and stated how chummy they are with each other. Understandable that they would have each others backs given how much grief they can receive from fans but also the reason they can’t be trusted to be totally unbiased in their decision-making. Not biased towards a team but towards their pal in the centre of the pitch. Protecting each other is paramount over protecting the integrity of the decision.
This is exacerbated by the fact VAR has shown up the vagaries of many football laws. Any time a decision is based on one person’s judgement, it is open to question. New technology may help speed up the process, but it isn’t going to change the fact many rules are ‘interpretations’ of the laws. If VAR is to be used ongoing on the world stage, which it looks like it is, it’s going to require law changes to eliminate as many of those laws that require judgment calls.
Goal line technology works because the law is quite clear. The offsides are generally eye rollers as someone is trying to determine a toenail or armpit based on when the ball was kicked – and it wasn’t clear that the technology was sufficient to determine that exact instant in time (fps etc.) So better tech would help there. But the most divisive VAR calls are on things like iffy handball decisions, whether it was a dangerous tackle, whether the tackle was enough to have caused a penalty. All require further interpretation that VAR just means more people interpreting the same action.
So we start a new season with updated VAR technology but the same team running it showed they were not up to snuff last year.
Sigh.
Paul McDevitt
READ: The best and worst possible outcome for every Premier League team in 2024/2025
International Club XIs
Based on your article on Utd’s all-time Dutch 11, I was thinking about PL Clubs’ best foreign 11’s.
As a Gooner, it’s very easy to look at our history and think, if we had to rely on one country outside England to provide a great side – it would be France.
We’d struggle for a keeper obviously, but as it’s just for fun, I’ll play Sarah Bouhaddi rather than sticking William Gallas in nets.
Off the top of my head in a 4 3 3 I’d play
GK: Bouhaddi
RB: Sagna
CB: Saliba
CB: Koscielny
LB: Clichy
CM: Petit
CM: Vieira
CM: Pires
ST: Giroud
ST: Henry
ST: Anelka
That leaves players like Diarra, Cygan, Grimandi, Wiltord, Flamini, Lacazette, Diaby & Nasri on the bench and obviously Wenger in charge.
Can any other teams put together a single nation 11 to compete ( excluding England )? I’m sure they can and I’d really enjoy looking at them. Recency bias would suggest Wolves could pull together a decent Portugal 11. And we’ve seen Utd’s Dutch masters.
So come on, in a World Cup of English Teams, which country is representing your club and let’s see your 11.
Doug, AFC, Belfast
Please can you thank the writer who has made me waste the entire morning thinking of an Italian Chelsea team
Gk – Cudicini
Def- Zappacosta
Def- Panucci
Def- Emerson
RW – Di Matteo
Cm – Jorginho
Cm – Della Bona
Lw – Borini
Cf – Casiraghi
Cf – Vialli
Cf – Zola
Manager – Ancelotti
Taylor