10 Feb 2020 12:51:38
I have to say if we don't come 4th which is highly unlikely at this point i'd love sheff utd or wolves to get the spot ahead of Chelsea or spurs.
Although i suspect that spurs will nick it.
If we don't make top 4 i'd rather we finished 7rh and play no European football. Some of our players will get a very short summer break with the euros on so a season with olnly domestic fixtures to worry about might help our players energy levels and allow full concentration on achieving domestic success.
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10 Feb 2020 13:01:04
Also might give a potential new manager more time on the training pitch to work with the players and actually coach them.
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10 Feb 2020 13:30:39
I think Spurs will struggle, with Kane being out injured for most of the rest of the season and only young 18 year old Troy Parrott as a recognised CF being fit. They will need to use make shift options of playing one of Alli, Son or Bergwijn as a striker. None of which are naturals in that position, one of which is just settling into the league.
The saving grace is that Mourinho tends to set teams up not to concede so they might only need 1 maybe 2 goals per game to win matches.
That said he doesn't look settled on his back four, Rose has left and they don't have a recognised LB. With either the youngster Tanganga or Vertoghen (who is out of contract in the summer and probably looking to move away from Spurs) playing at LB. Aurier looking suspect defensively, and no settled CB partnership.
They look like they need a major rebuild in defence, while they have quality in midfield but don't seem settled on how that midfield should be structured. While the never ending story of finding a back up striker for Harry Kane. All issues that the club had last summer and failed to address.
I think top four is well up for grabs. Spurs look light of a couple of players, Chelsea have seen their form tumble, Arsenal are trying their best to have a worst season than us. Everton are improving, but still seem short on goals, Sheffield United look very good, but lack experience and squad depth, while Wolves look potentially the best all round threat, solid in defence, quality in midfield and with Raul Jimenez and Traore look like they have enough goals to win games.
That said our hopes of top four might depend very much on what is happening during this winter break. If we can get McTominay and a few other back from injury and Bruno can use the time to settle in to the squad then we might have a enough to make a push between now and the summer. If Rashford can come back fully fit and firing in the last month or so of the season then we stand a good chance of pipping top four.
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10 Feb 2020 14:05:24
Like your enthusiasm but it ain't going to happen. The lack of consistency in performances don't look like it's going to end unfortunately.
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10 Feb 2020 14:53:09
If we lose at Chelsea we can forget top 4.
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10 Feb 2020 15:01:25
Wow all those problems and they are getting more points than us since change of manager.
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10 Feb 2020 16:13:47
Come on ken, we all know its dead cat bounce. Wait until Jose gets to his third season and it will all fall apart.
Unfortunately we have had more problems than Spurs since Mourinho has taken over. Our best two players this season have been Rashford and McTominay, both have been injured since Jose took over at Spurs.
I don't think Ole is the messiah or even a good manager. That said if we can get our best players back and out on the pitch then we stand a chance of getting top four.
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10 Feb 2020 16:29:26
They were on the pitch for most of the first half of the season, and we didn’t really trouble the top 4. Without them we’re closer, points wise, to 14 than 4.
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10 Feb 2020 19:51:45
Kane lloris losing erickson your being silly all teams have injury issues.
I just don't think chelsea will hang on they seem to be hitting a wall and we aren't good enough to take advantage. i'd love to see su or wolves get it but spurs have the know how and that will play into their hands.
They were 5 points behind us and they are now ahead of us. I don't see us catching them never mind Chelsea.
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11 Feb 2020 04:49:08
If Bruno and Ighalo clicks, we will be dangerous on the attack.
Return of McTominay will give us some edge as we missed his tenacity and energy in midfield.
If Pogba knuckles down and plays to his potential, it will be a huge bonus.
These are all ifs and buts, let's see if the team can get it together.
Next 2 months will determine if Ole keeps his job.
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11 Feb 2020 18:21:52
Is Ben Davies not a lb.
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12 Feb 2020 17:37:24
The same Ben Davies who has just started rehab work to get back to fitness. He's been injured since Jose's first game.
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10 Feb 2020 11:39:08
McTominay part of the group currently in Marbella, what a huge boost it would be to have him back for next week. A midfield of mctominay, fred and fernandes definitely sounds a lot better (on paper anyway) .
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10 Feb 2020 12:17:44
I would love to see McTominay back, but we need to be careful not to rush him back too soon. The Chelsea game will be an intense game and he hasn't played a game in over 6 weeks. Maybe a slot on the bench or even miss this game out and play in the under 23's to bring his match fitness back up.
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10 Feb 2020 13:26:35
After the completely farcical handling of rashford, ole needs to give him time to recover over his own selfish objectives.
Although I would not be surprised to see him involved at Chelsea, Ole does not seem the guy to learn from his mistakes.
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10 Feb 2020 14:21:02
It's funny how a persons perspective completely changes their view of events.
Those who want Ole sacked consider his attempts to get the our best players back on the pitch to help the club win games as entirely selfish.
Yet did they have the same view when Jose did it, or LvG, or Moyes, or Sir Alex. All of whom have played players who have been carrying knocks, or have been rushed back from injury.
In fact every manager does it, Klopp does it, Pep does it. They all do. Yet know accuses them of being selfish for attempting to get their best players back playing.
How ridiculous is it to consider a manager wanting his side to win as being selfish.
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10 Feb 2020 14:35:37
Agreed shappy that the club have to be careful, easing him back in over the next few weeks and building him up again is crucial. The club probably weren't expecting him back until mid march at least, so to have him available to play any part is a huge bonus. This recovery story is a huge contrast to our other long term injury sufferer (name not needed), not that I'm drawing any conclusions lol.
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10 Feb 2020 14:50:16
Where did i mention anything against the notion of getting his best players back?
I spoke of how he should not be rushed as we was bitten in the ass by oles decision to play Rashford with an injury.
Forgive me but putting someone else's body at risk in order to snatch a win is pretty selfish to me.
Fortunately Shappy, not all of us think the sun shines out of Ole's behind.
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10 Feb 2020 14:55:49
Shappy please do show us non believers when it was that lvg, saf, mourinho or even moyes decided to risk their half fit just coming back from injury players in big games vs opponents from the mighty league one or big stage knock out games like fa cup 3rd round ties.
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10 Feb 2020 15:23:33
We that desperate that an average player with limited ability is our only saviour?
We played better and looked more stable when Matic has played.
Mctominay runs about trying to kick lumps out of people getting injured trying to gain fans respect because he says the right things.
He's a limited player that's very similar to Lee Cattermole.
If Mctominay played for say a lower team not one of use would be shouting to sign him.
He wouldn't get into any top the top 9 bar Sheff Utd but then again it's about style.
He struggles to pass forward and anything over 20 yards. He slows down play and always looking sideways and backwards which can stop any attacks. Technically poor and awful in air for his size.
Only thing he's got for him his he runs about.
Never be a top player and we need a lot better than him for top 4 never mind challenge in future.
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10 Feb 2020 16:50:27
Red Whiskey and CSM, you guys are off your rockers and blinded by hate for Ole.
A managers job is to win games, simple as that. A manager will rely on certain individuals with specialist training and qualifications in the clubs employment to do that.
Like the medical team, who's job it is to monitor the players health and make decisions with the player about whether they are fit and healthy to play a game of football.
Only if the medical team have passed a player fit will a manager be able to play them.
Listen to what many of the old pro's say about strapping up and taking pain killing injections to play. Most top players will play at least 20% of the games they play throughout their career carrying some kind of knock or low level injury.
20 hours of ball work a week, 20 hours of fitness/ strengthening work, up to 180 minutes of high impact football every single week for 10 months of the year. How many kicks or tweaks do you think they get in a game or in training.
I think you're being extremely harsh to believe a manager who's career was blighted by injury, that ultimately forced him to retire early would flagrantly put a players health at risk in some desperate attempt to keep his job.
Ole has been told, and we have as well that Ole is safe in his job and unless we finish outside of the top 6 he will most likely keep his job in the summer. There will be nothing in his contract about getting sacked if the club don't win the league cup, FA cup or EL. So there is literally no basis to your arguments that he risked a players health to save his job.
The only thing that mantra fits is your narrative that Ole should be sacked.
Either your allowing your hatred for a club legend and your anger and disappointment at where the club is cloud your judgement if you truly believe that Ole intentionally risked a players health in order to keep his job which isn't under threat.
Certainly not from getting knocked out of one of the domestic cups.
Or you know full well that Ole hasn't risked a players health to keep his job, but you want him sacked so badly that you are trying whip up an anti-Ole sentiment online to try and force your will on the club. Which btw is bonkers.
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10 Feb 2020 19:06:45
And it shines through again your blind faith in the failed Cardiff manager. End of the day, he should not have played rashford to aggravate his injury purely for a cup game. That is putting a cup tie ahead of his players body. You can dress it up as desire to badly win all you like, it may well have been. You can even point to his injuries as player but it doesn't justify it does it. I'm not sure which Ed it was but I'm fairly certain to my recollection one of them commenting that he was indeed injured at the time.
I want Ole out, does that mean hatred? No, it means I can see clearly the direction we are heading under him. Like the majority of United fans, I'm not so far up Ole's behind I can see the back of his teeth.
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10 Feb 2020 19:12:41
Shappy you sound like such a scorned child whenever anyone mentions anything against your beloved Ole. Your responses to any post at first glance seem like they'll be a well thought out rational response yet you waffle on and on over analysing everything and then have the nerve to call other people blinded?
If I'm blinded by 'hate', your blinded by an inept failed Cardiff manager, and his sidekick the failed Hull manager. You clearly hold a candle for the fella constantly reasoning and justifying the man's mistakes. As I said before, the club should hire you as their PR man.
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10 Feb 2020 20:23:27
Red Whiskey, I'm fine with justified criticism. But the nonsense about blaming a manager for a player getting injured is frankly ridiculous.
Kevin De Bruyne spent most of last season out injured. Was that Pep's fault? No, why? Because a medical team passed him fit to play then he got injured. It happens it's football.
Just like blaming the manager for an experienced player who knows he has been booked, who has been told he is on his last warning then having a brain fart and hauling someone down.
It's become open season on the manager and he is being blamed for things outside of his control.
Just like further down he is blamed for selling a player who wanted out and not replacing him. People grossly overestimate what powers our manager has. The same people who complain about Pogba being held against his will and that he should have been sold as he didn't want to be here, are the same ones who think we should have held Lukaku against his will.
I fully expect to see Ole blamed for Brexit, or the weather.
You can hold him accountable for the lack of progress in our players, or for training ground bust up getting out of hand, or tactical mistakes during games, or even for selecting a player over a particular player.
These are all things inside his control, and things he should arguably be doing better. But you can't blame him for players getting injured, or experienced players doing stupid things, or for how the club is run in terms of transfers or expenditures.
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10 Feb 2020 21:00:10
Shappy I'm sure one of the Ed's me toned that OGS had been told that Rashofrd was injured but still picked him.
LVG had a training program. for players who were injured before they could return to the first team.
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10 Feb 2020 21:54:46
Rashford was walking around prior to the double fracture injury happening, with what was identified as a bone repair machine. Apparently he had a single fracture that turned into a double by the manager playing him when desperate. Under Shappys law that isn’t the managers fault.
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10 Feb 2020 22:20:04
Shappy, he aggravated an existing injury. Its not like he was passed fit, played and then injured himself somewhere entirely different.
So keep putting your spin on it as you like, it's quite funny really.
On a final point, where in any of it did I blame Ole for anything other than aggravating rashfords injury?
Did I mention anything of transfers or players not wanting to be here?
You're flogging a dead horse mate, bringing up invalid points completely irrelevant to the post.
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11 Feb 2020 04:52:34
If I'm not wrong, it's the medical team who conducts tests and decides if a player is fit to take part for a game.
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11 Feb 2020 09:47:16
Red Whiskey, I was merely pointing out other posts from yesterday attempting to blame everything on Ole in an attempt to drive up and anti-Ole sentiment.
The same thing happened under Moyes, and LvG and Jose. Fans now feel that if they can foster enough discord amongst fans that they can pressure the club to bending to their will and sack the manager.
You're also completely missing the point. It doesn't matter if he aggravated an existing injury. The manager is not a medical professional. As such he will rely on the medical team to tell him whether a player can or can't play.
If a medical professional who is employed to state the fitness of the players tells you that the player is fit to play on what basis as a non medically trained person do you have to over rule them and say there diagnosis is wrong?
You don't if the physios say he is fit to play, and the players says he is fit to play then as a manager you assume he is fit to play. A manager isn't allowed to play a player who isn't passed fit by the medics. When your dealing with the health of a professional athlete doing so could lead to huge lawsuits.
If you want to blame someone for Rashfords injury then blame the medical team that said he was fit enough to play.
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11 Feb 2020 12:42:58
Totally disagree with that Wilbot. McT speeds play up much more than Matic was at beginning of season. Also has recovery pace when ball is lost.
When Matic is well rested and super fit he might be a better player than McT due to his reading of the game and slightly better passing. But he cannot keep that level of fitness even for a whole game let alone a season.
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