Try arguing that Bruno isn’t the Cantona equivalent now
Send your thoughts on the player of 2020 Bruno Fernandes and more to theeditor@football365.com
Why United will not win the league
So, we have a chap who’s one of the best strikers of his generation. His finishing ability has been the positive difference between us and the opposition in few games he’s been involved in. In actual fact, he scored the kinda goal no other player in the squad is capable of, in the very previous game.
So of course he starts on the bench against one of the best sides in the league, whilst a lazy pretender in the number 9 shirt (travesty, that), who is completely devoid of any cold-blooded finishing instincts, faffs around the pitch. You can expect this exact same scenario to play out in the next game. And the one after that etc.
A world where Martial starts ahead of Cavani. Strange times indeed.
Olu Omoloso, Lagos (this is also why Ole would never amount to more than a half decent coach).
As a forty something year old Utd fan, a few months ago I was scalded for making the observation that I had never seen a Utd player have so much rapid influence over a team and control game since those days of King Eric, as Bruno Fernandes is now doing. I would also go as far as to say the quality of passing is as joyous and influential as another famous attacking midfielder in the the no. 18 shirt.
If anyone would care to argue with me now, let them present a better example; especially in this era.
Bruno’s stats are starting to look like he will develop the team single handedly into a world beater, and his love of the game is a joy to see, especially when he is so new to the English game.
His goals are impressive in numbers and for those who want to complain a lot are cheap penalties, just look who is creating the balls and passes which lead to the present day VAR decisions.
When he skips and smashed them in, it’s the perfect circle for his efforts.
For those Utd fans like me, who have rightly despaired at the majority of terrible football of the last 10 years masked with a sideshow of Ed and Raiola imports etc, we finally have the player which is bringing the very best of the rest of the team. Some are brilliant individuals; the majority are simply not, but all of a sudden there’s a cohesive unit out to win games; orchestrated by Bruno Fernandes.
Better than that, he appears quiet off the pitch, courteous to his peers, and a sound family orientated bloke…..and for those of old enough to remember, all that’s missing in the Eric comparison is that infamous short Gallic fuse, as he genuinely looks happy when scythed down, given he’s fairly handy with a dead ball too.
I can’t wait to be able to be in the stands with this Portuguese Magnifico in front of us soon. I couldn’t care a less what the defence do and don’t do. We have always been about intuitive and inventive attacking football.
It appears to be have returned and with it a hunger not seen for years.
Long may it continue
Chris, Utd……believing again
Hello gang
Happy Christmas & that.
Got a half baked idea for some #content. What about the one player each team wouldn’t want injured (eg Wilson, Bruno, etc) and then ranking the teams 1-20 for who is most reliant on their main man?
I would totally read that.
Anyway, keep up the good work!
Graham, DHFC / NUFC
Alli or Nothing
Ade Guilford would take Dele Alli at Liverpool but I think the “All or Nothing” documentary has ruined his chances of playing for a top club unless someone is willing or desperate to take a risk on him. Edwards and Klopp definitely wouldn’t want to spoil our dressing room harmony.
The issue is that Alli comes across like an arrogant child. Mourinho tells him that he’s a “f**king lazy guy in training” and Alli laughs. I’m no expert but I am pretty confident Mourinho values work ethic above most things in football. If he said that to me I would take heed and work my balls off every day that followed. Alli seemed to make no adjustments from what you can see in the show and what has followed in real life.
If I were Klopp and saw that I would feel it’s no surprise his performances can swing from great to awful so much; Klopp and Pep are obsessed with repeating attacking drills to perfection so that on the pitch they look so fluid going forward. An attacker who won’t commit to this in training can’t perform to the expected standard when the pressure is on. Alli has elite level potential but doesn’t have the intelligence or ambition to fulfill it. He’s more likely to be a nearly man like Joe Cole rather than a true elite like Lampard at this point in time.
Minty, LFC
What’s the point in Palace?
Watching Palace against Villa and wondering what is the point of Crystal Palace? Its like a nothing club, like burnley. I mean What the actual f**k?
Darryl, Cape Town.
Aston villa are genuine title contenders and Grealish and Watkins have made me fall in love with football again.
Tremendous stuff, from an Everton fan
Fat Man
Neverton
Short and sweet- at what point are Everton going to get any sort of media acknowledgment/ recognition?
2nd in the league- missing four key starters.
No goals conceded from open play in last four games.
Seems everyone else gets called “title challengers” except us.
Why so?
Ian, EFC
Paucity of pundits
Why are there so few good TV pundits in the UK?
Football is one of the most commonly talked about subjects in the UK – it might even be the most talked about. Why is it then that broadcasters can’t seem to find many people who can talk about it effectively on tv?
In my view, pundits should provide one of three skills / capabilities:
1) Technical analysis: ie providing viewers with new views / explanations of tactics such as low blocks, pressing, etc, etc. Example: Gary Neville
2) Football experiences: ie providing interesting story’s from their playing days (eg how it was to play with messi, play in a champions league final, etc) Example: Thierry Henry
3) Entertainment / humour: if they can’t do the two above they should at least be funny / entertaining to watch Example: Crouch
The problem with a lot of pundits is that they either don’t prepare well enough or don’t read up enough on modern tactics so really struggle with 1). A lot of the mainstay pundits used to know there stuff but are now outdated and simply repeat the same stuff over and over again (eg players not “working hard” enough). They could easily solve this by reading up more on the modern game in my view. I would also like to see more non-player pundits given airtime – particularly football journalists, football data analysts and tacticians, and more managers – as this would provide different points of view.
There is a lot of 2) on tv but story’s are only really interesting the first time your hear them so my view is that this is best covered by guest pundits who aren’t on tv too frequently and so can bring new and interesting stories from their careers
On 3) I would like to see more creativity in areas such as post match interviews – too many of these are v processy and formulaic – perhaps things like interviews with both managers at the same time or both captains could mix it up a bit and allow for a bit of a different dynamic
Alex
World class Klopp
Andy Flint of Brighton should have a look at the following before declaring Klopp inherited a squad full of world class players.
Of those present, Coutinho and Firmino would be the closest to that description. I’m not sure Henderson yet qualifies in that category but, if he does, his improvement and current level has been overseen by Klopp. Whatever he has spent in his time in charge has massively increased the value of the squad and club.
Steve
I almost choked on my leftovers, Andy Flint says ‘But I think you need to look at where both Klopp and Ole started from before making those sort of statements. Klopp joined a Liverpool team containing a lot of world class players that needed a few additions to challenge for the title’
Let’s look at those team sheets from Klopps 1st game vs OGS 1st game.
The line ups:
Liverpool XI: Mignolet, Moreno, Sakho, Skrtel, Clyne, Can, Lucas, Milner, Lallana, Coutinho, Origi
Subs: Bogdan, Toure, Sinclair, Texiera, Randall
Man Utd XI: De Gea; Young, Jones, Lindelof; Shaw, Herrera, Matic, Pogba; Lingard, Rashford, Martial
Subs: Romero, Bailly, Dalot, Fellaini, Fred, A. Pereira, Mata
Now i don’t know what Andy’s definition of world class is but if by ‘a few additions’ he means 11 players, than i fully agree.
Long live the Glazers.
Ryan ‘looking forward to ‘Coutinho’ was World class responses’ Liverpool Fan
Loved the reaction to the net spend point and how Ole has spent big no matter what way you look at it.
Huge gross and net spend. That was my point. He has been backed.
I never claimed he bought Pogba by the way. Read the original email.
Donough Carlow brings up the fact that the Coutinho sale is a big factor in how the net spend looks.Absolutely it is but you have to look at that both ways and say the same about the VVD & Alisson purchases for £150m.Would Liverpool have bought them if the Coutinho sale hadn’t gone through?
We’ll never know but if you’re going to mention Coutinho sale you have to mention the other 2 to give a balanced argument.
Andy Flint claims Klopp took over a “World class squad” & had to make a few additions unlike Ole.
Klopps first squad/ starting 11 included Mignolet,Clyne,Toure,Skrtel,Moreno,Allen,Lucas,Lallana,Origi,Ibe,Benteke and Adam Bogdan.
Not exactly the core of the 2019 CL winning team and 2020 title winning team. Only Lallana and Origi were there when the title was lifted and both were very much squad players.
Who,pray tell were these “world class players” he inherited?? Henderson wasn’t doing great at the time,Firminio had hardly played under Rodgers and was a virtual unknown at Anfield when Klopp took over. Salah, Mane, Wijnaldum, VVD, Robertson, Matip, Jota, Thiago weren’t at the club. TAA was but was a kid.
Who were these world class players? Am I missing something?
Ferg,Cork.
Andy Flint from Brighton mistakes the situations of Klopp and OGS when they took over. You’d be hard pressed to name a single world class player in the Liverpool squad when Klopp took over. Coutinho had the potential but only realised it for a few months in 2017 before his sale. Of the remainder of the squad, Henderson has probably now reached world class level but no one would argue he was in 2015. Milner was and is still an excellent pro but not in world class bracket. Gomez had just been signed and had the potential to be world class but that’s about it. The rest of the squad has been sold or upgraded on since with judicious work in the transfer market.
Liverpool finished 6th in 2014-15 with 62 points, got knocked out of the CL in the group stages and of the Europa League in the first knockout stage. They had to sell their best player, Sterling, that summer as well as losing their iconic captain, having lost their previous best player (Suarez) the summer before.
Mourinho had imploded in late 2018 but the squad OGS inherited had won the league cup and Europa League in 2017 and finished the 2017-18 season with 82 points, a very respectable points total that only looks bad by comparison with City’s 100 points..
It’s absolutely right to say that Utd can and should spend big given their revenue but with that spending power comes expectations and scrutiny about how that money is spent, not just in fees but on wages too. Utd have underperformed in the transfer market and on the pitch since Ferguson left. They have made steps under OGS but major questions remain unanswered, both domestically and in Europe.
They are hugely reliant on Bruno Fernandes (his involvements accounting for half of all Utd’s goals since his arrival) and he is the only signing who has kicked on significantly since arriving. Klopp has succeeded at Liverpool because of excellent recruitment and coaching, we’re yet to see either with any consistency at Utd under OGS but we may have a better clue by the end of this season.
Andrew, Cambridge
Sorry Donough, writing a very long email to say that Net Spend is not a good metric and, instead, you need to use a percentage of revenue, is a bit precious and totally offside. Especially when you maintain that Utd have oodles of cash abs they are all just rolling around in it in the executive boardroom or in a safe in Switzerland because who wants it in the bank with such low interest rates.
Revenue on its own is a worthless comparator. What if the club has a huge debt or is losing money or both? Perhaps we should measure against profit or debt? If I am not mistaken Utd has a debt of £474m and most recently had a loss of £23m. So not sure Utd are ‘rolling’ in it at this time. The debt is increasing because they don’t have the income to cover their debt. Rather than spending the money on buying players, perhaps they ought to be thinking of paying down some of that debt which is at a rate higher than the current interest rate.
As a publicly traded company they also pay out dividends to shareholders every year – especially when the Glazers decided to sell shares in the club (at lesser voting rights.)
Finally, as has been commented a lot recently, the stadium is in dire need of some ‘touch ups.’ What was once considered the jewel of the Premier League, when Utd were truly leading in every way – on the pitch and in the boardroom – has now become a big tatty. Given you may not be able to have too many fans in the stadia right now, but can seem to still do construction work, what a perfect opportunity to show the fans it is thinking of them by engaging in some long overdue updates and maintenance.
However, regardless of OGS’s capabilities, Utd have fallen from the pinnacle of football management, which does impact his ability to buy more players. But they have bought many players except Utd are not the (sole EPL) attraction they once were and can’t buy the players they want. Plus Utd don’t seem to have a very good ‘scouting’ team anymore or did they ever really have one given the prior point.
And to the point Dave made, which is related, Of the team Klopp inherited, only Firmino has been playing in the recent games. I doubt few others, let alone Liverpool fans, would have claimed he was taking over a team with plenty of world class players. What has been done is a testament not just to Klopp but the overall club management. FSG were laughed at when they first came it but I would dare say are doing a better job than the Glazers right now.
Paul (Hi to my Scottish friend Steve) McDevitt
