Mails on same old Man Utd and Tuchel’s positive impression

Ian Watson

Send your mails to theeditor@football365.com…

 

Same old United
Poor result for United. Maybe the overblown hype about ‘title challenges’ can die down a bit. United’s true goal is to be better than last season and so far that is being achieved. This side is not a title-winning side – it has simply been City’s stalking horse until now.

Many aspects have been improved but work still needs to be done against the old nemesis; the low block. 12 months ago a team could come to Old Trafford, get a cheap lead and sit 8 men in a block and walk away with three points. Nothing has changed in that regard.

Kudos to Sheffield United though. They’ve been unlucky this season in my view. Tonight they had a plan, took their opportunities, executed that plan and deservedly took the spoils.

For Ole and his back four though, the age-old lesson: when faced with the threat of burglars… best strategy isn’t to leave the back door open, the heating on and to invite them to have a go on your wife for good measure.
Tom H (MUFC – Send Martial on his way)

 

…Well done to Sheffield United. The better team won yesterday.

Man United went into this game looking like a team that had spent the last week thinking that this game was already in the bag. They looked hungover, slow, and ponderous. Every player took the ball, and start thinking about what options they might have, and invariably passed it back. But really, Martial, Rashford, and Mason Greenwood need a kick up their backsides. Bruno Fernandes can have a bad game, but he never stops trying, harrying, or sprinting. The front 3 looked like they had all come straight to the game after an all night party that continued well past lunchtime today. I think that’s the story of the Premier League – any team that goes into a game expecting to win without trying is in for a shock. Anyway this result was always coming. Let’s hope Ole can rouse the team for the next game – it feels like a long while since we had a good game against Arsenal.

Meanwhile this made me chuckle:
The commentator on Sharp bundling into De Gea’s back for the first goal: “Really not enough of a push”.
The same commentator on the disallowed goal 5 mins later at the other end: “It’s the modern game – you can’t touch the goalkeepers”

And this made me cry:
The comedic sequence leading up to the second Sheffield United goal. High school teams do better than that. For that gentle pass into a dangerous area, De Gea needs to be benched for the next game. And at least 3 Man United players should get assists for that goal.
Ved Sen (Martial is the new Pogba), MUFC

 

The game against Sheffield United was the banana skins on steroids. Remember Fergie’s banker against Middlesbrough and the one away to Southampton?. No United fan I know nor anyone on a couple of United podcasts I listen to think United are going to win the league. We didn’t think we’d finish top 4. Barry Glendenning didn’t expect us (or Chelsea) to be in the top 4. Yet the current surprising expectation is that we are favourites to finish second behind City. Begrudging congratulations to Sheffield United (maybe Moyes had a point when he told Rio to watch Jagielka’s movement! Kudos to him for a wonderful towering performance).But I think (and hope) that Ole realises that we have definite problem areas that have to be addressed for next season. Defensive organisation. for one. SU’s second goal wasn’t quite as comical as the one conceded by Demba Ba but it runs it a close second. Two… our right wing displays are a Tony V tribute act (and I loved Tony V; a Mach truck made human!). THree…the tipi tapi passes on the outside of the box. 4..the SLOOOWWWWW play. Guys we aren’t Arsenal late Wenger era!!!

BUT! But! Minor (Major?) issues aside there has been an upward progress since Ole’s appointment. Tonight has been a MAJOR kick in the nether regions but no knee jerk Ole out reactions, eh fellow fans? United are on an upward sustainable trajectory. Keep that in mind.
Gary (ex Pat Utd fan in Pennsylvania) B


F365 Says: So now it’s Man Utd’s turn to soil themselves…


…People really were talking up United re-establishing themselves as title contenders after a little run of 1 goal margin wins over the likes of Fulham and Burnley where they required deflections and goalkeeper clangers to get the ball in the net. It’s as if they thought United constantly getting rescued by one of their players doing something ridiculous to help them squeak past a bunch of hoofers was a viable, long term strategy from the manager and not just sheer luck.

Luck can last a long time. Harry Redknapp got Peter Crouch and Spurs to the Champions League. David Moyes got Everton there. David O’Leary got his team to the semi finals. George Burley got Ipswich to the UEFA Cup. Claudio Ranieri won the fucking league. Three 2 month periods of good results, that involved lots of luck, over two years is not enough evidence that Ole Gunnar Solksjaer is the man to get Manchester United back to the top.

Also good luck to England and Harry Maguire in the Euros. It doesn’t seem like anything will make you realise he’s muck so watching pundits act surprised when he trips one of his own team mates as they try to stop Timo Werner knocking in his second of the night will provide a bit of entertainment.
Eamonn, Dublin

 

…Imagine being the only team to lose in the league to Sheffield United other than a team managed by Steve Bruce. How’s that for a fitting Man United connection?

It is beyond doubt. This is the single most embarrassing defeat in the history of the league.
F.wookie

 

…With all the talk of whether or not Ole is now better than Frank. It ignores the fact that Chelsea will be the real winners. Because they have a world class manager now and United held on long enough to play a bit better but also long enough to make sure there’s no managers available to replace Ole.

Sheffield United win “the shock of the season”. Aston Villa might want a word.
Allen

 

…City are going to put eight past Sheffield United over the weekend aren’t they?
Ajax

 

First impressions
One of those games where from the first minute you knew the opponent had chosen their approach to this game was to put all eleven men behind the ball, soak up the attack and walk away with a clean sheet, Wolves did exactly that, which in a way it is a shame as I always associate a Nuno side with attacking football, this season it hasn’t been quite that way.

On to Chelsea now, hard to judge a game under a new coach when he has had one training session with the side, but the earliest of early signs are positive, our fluidity and attack were certainly that of a much quicker pace, the ball was moving and we broke some records whilst we were at it, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Kai Havertz certainly looked good, Kovacic also.

Next up Burnley, surely they won’t put all eleven men behind the ball too?
Mikey, CFC


F365 Says: More questions than answers for Tuchel after Wolves draw


 

Win-win for Tuchel
Aston Taylor CFC: Why would Tuchel go with no long term benefit? Aside from Frank no manager in Romans reign has left without a trophy. It’s also a ridiculously well paid job which, when you eventually get fired from nobody blames you for because it’s the Chelsea culture.

Honestly being Chelsea manager for anyone but Lampard is win win. I’m not saying Tuchel was the long term solution because Chelsea strategy had never been to have long term managers, at Chelsea they’re always a transient employee. Tuchel (and any other manager) will know full well that they’re only getting two years (max three) and it’s not a bad deal for two years.

Great salary (and subsequent payout), it’s very likely you’ll leave with at least one trophy, and thus your reputation.

Who wouldn’t take that job? And why wouldn’t Chelsea hire the guy touted as the next klopp before rangnick was.
Lee

 

Shooting Bambi
Bambi was released in 1942 when animated films were made using 2D techniques i.e the illusion of movement is created by a series of drawings drawn together in sequence.

There is an old joke.
Person 1: How tragic was it when Bambi got shot
Person 2: Yeah, when the artist stopped drawing Bambi. Really tragic.

Unbeknownst to The Sunday Times, they may have stumbled across the perfect analogy for Lampard’s sacking. Emotions being riled up and the event being hailed as a tragedy when there really wasn’t anything to mourn.
Adeel

 

Liverpool worry
As it stands right now, unless there is a dramatic change, Liverpool have no chance finishing in the top four.

A loss to Spurs tomorrow would see them jump ahead of us by two points and they will still have a game in Hand.

It also puts West Ham ahead of us on equal games.

Everton are only two points behind us and have a game in hand.

Yes, they have City coming up tonight, but a draw would be a great result for them.

A City win puts City TEN points ahead of us. Man U are already six points ahead and Leicester ahead by four.

So in all probability we have Arenal (remember how bad they were earlier in the season) challenging us for seventh place.

And even Villa with games in hand and a probably resurgent Chelsea will have a say in that.

Not buying a CB at the beginning of January (as Jamie Carragher pointed out) really puts us in a bad spot.

It also means that unless miracles happen there will be no CL football next year and no revenue from it.

When Liverpool won the CL it earned us around $75M plus TV revenue which took it up to $110M.

Really false economy by FSG not putting their hands in their pockets now to support Klopp with funds to buy a new CB.
Neil (frustrated) LFC, USA

 

Not so crazy
Does there come a point where we stop using the words crazy and bonkers to describe this season?
The table shows City on 41 and Utd on 40 after half of the games have been played. Double this and you get 82 and 80 without taking into account the fact that these two teams could have a better second half to the season I’m sure Ole would love to live up to Fergie’s “We always do better after Christmas” trope.
While this is not peak Pep and Klopp totals, it represents a slightly (purely based on memory, not arsed researching) below average year before these two came along, but not Crazy or Bonkers below average.
Liverpool are quite poor based on their 2020/2019 points totals but no one has ever sustained totals like that over 3,4,5 years.
So many articles on this website discuss the issue of Hyperbole in football, perhaps we need to reframe this season as a slightly inconsistent/sh*t season. Obviously the whole Covid thing is a bit unusual!

Just a thought.
Eoin, London.

 

Meet Phil Foden
I guess Ved Sen (MUFC) has not been watching football lately. He thinks mount is best English young player since Rashford .

I would like to introduce Ved Sen to Phil Foden. Phil has been one of the best players on Man City this year so far and he is only gonna get better and better with experience.

Mount s got nothing on Foden. If Southgate has a choice between Foden and mount to take to 2020/21/22/23 Euros, he will definitely pick Foden. No doubt about it
Jp