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  1. #361
    Koeman vs the Barca president was more interesting than the display utd put in.

  2. #362
    Quote Originally Posted by Valkyrst View Post
    United have probably one of the strongest squads in the world. They'll still walk through the group comfortably you should think.

    I sense Ole's tactic this year will be 'pass the ball to Ronaldo in the box and hope for the best', which isn't a bad tactic tbh.
    People say we'll walk the group but I'd argue our group this year isn't any harder than last year, and we bottled it then. We did have PSG last year who I would put above Villareal (though they turned out to be a nightmare team for us in the EL final) but I'd put Atalanta on the same level as Leipzig as a somewhat tricky joker team to play with a lot of quality but sort of an unknown factor (for not being the most CL experienced team). I'd say Young Boys are slightly better than Istanbul.

    We went out of the group last year and it could happen again. We could still go through ofc, it's just 1 game in so everything is left to play for. But we did have arguably our second easiest game of the group and we bottled it and got 0 points.

  3. #363
    Quote Originally Posted by Zantera View Post
    People say we'll walk the group but I'd argue our group this year isn't any harder than last year, and we bottled it then. We did have PSG last year who I would put above Villareal (though they turned out to be a nightmare team for us in the EL final) but I'd put Atalanta on the same level as Leipzig as a somewhat tricky joker team to play with a lot of quality but sort of an unknown factor (for not being the most CL experienced team). I'd say Young Boys are slightly better than Istanbul.

    We went out of the group last year and it could happen again. We could still go through ofc, it's just 1 game in so everything is left to play for. But we did have arguably our second easiest game of the group and we bottled it and got 0 points.
    It's not about the opposition, really. United need to ensure they just play their best, and they can then beat anyone. It sounds odd, but run with it. Whenever Ferguson tried to mess around with formations and stuff to suit opponents, it went odd. See between 2004 and 2006. Then he just settled into trusting that his team was the best at what they did, and blam. They were probably amongst the top 3 teams for the next 5-6 years worldwide. What was it? 5 League titles, 3 UCL Finals in 5 seasons or something? That's dominant. Once the team finds its rhythm, it'll be a monster.

  4. #364
    Quote Originally Posted by Valkyrst View Post
    It's not about the opposition, really. United need to ensure they just play their best, and they can then beat anyone. It sounds odd, but run with it. Whenever Ferguson tried to mess around with formations and stuff to suit opponents, it went odd. See between 2004 and 2006. Then he just settled into trusting that his team was the best at what they did, and blam. They were probably amongst the top 3 teams for the next 5-6 years worldwide. What was it? 5 League titles, 3 UCL Finals in 5 seasons or something? That's dominant. Once the team finds its rhythm, it'll be a monster.
    Once the team finds a good manager it will be a monster.

  5. #365
    Quote Originally Posted by Zantera View Post
    Once the team finds a good manager it will be a monster.
    Haha, that's fair. For the record, I'm not a United fan. I have a soft spot for one club (not United), but I don't let it cloud my judgment.

    As a non-United fan, it's frustrating see the club have so much money but somehow still not really hit the heights it should be.

    Other clubs with more talented infrastructure including management, would be rolling the titles in with that financial might.

  6. #366
    Quote Originally Posted by Valkyrst View Post
    Haha, that's fair. For the record, I'm not a United fan. I have a soft spot for one club (not United), but I don't let it cloud my judgment.

    As a non-United fan, it's frustrating see the club have so much money but somehow still not really hit the heights it should be.

    Other clubs with more talented infrastructure including management, would be rolling the titles in with that financial might.
    It's equally frustrating as a fan haha! I don't feel any strong hate for Ole though, he did very well in a transitional phase for us and the harmony in the team is great. I don't think he's shown that he is good enough to win us anything, but if that's the worst you can say about a manager it's not the worst thing in the world either. Loads of managers hit that ceiling of being good but not good enough.

    While I still think we need a good midfielder as a final puzzle piece, I think you can look at other teams like City - who needs a striker, Liverpool - didn't replace Wijnaldum and so on. Every top team has that one slot they need to fill and very rarely does a team hit a point where every position is 100% fixed. So I think our team is good enough to win something this season and if we don't, then it's on the manager.

  7. #367
    Moderator Northern Goblin's Avatar
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    Thing is, United have had great managers. Mou and Van Gaal weren't chumps, and they played some of the dullest football I've ever seen.
    Ex-Mod. Technically retired, they just won't let me quit.

  8. #368
    Quote Originally Posted by Zantera View Post
    It's equally frustrating as a fan haha! I don't feel any strong hate for Ole though, he did very well in a transitional phase for us and the harmony in the team is great. I don't think he's shown that he is good enough to win us anything, but if that's the worst you can say about a manager it's not the worst thing in the world either. Loads of managers hit that ceiling of being good but not good enough.

    While I still think we need a good midfielder as a final puzzle piece, I think you can look at other teams like City - who needs a striker, Liverpool - didn't replace Wijnaldum and so on. Every top team has that one slot they need to fill and very rarely does a team hit a point where every position is 100% fixed. So I think our team is good enough to win something this season and if we don't, then it's on the manager.
    Yeah, I don't think it's a deal breaker. That said, clubs like Liverpool for example didn't make any further signings because they're just not capable of doing so in the current environment. But they've got the manager and coaching infrastructure to be far better with that additional injection of cash.

  9. #369
    The Unstoppable Force Jessicka's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Valkyrst View Post
    Haha, that's fair. For the record, I'm not a United fan. I have a soft spot for one club (not United), but I don't let it cloud my judgment.

    As a non-United fan, it's frustrating see the club have so much money but somehow still not really hit the heights it should be.

    Other clubs with more talented infrastructure including management, would be rolling the titles in with that financial might.
    Reminder of how many years it took City to get where they are, and how they still haven't won the Champion's League.

    Chelsea can afford to sack their manager every season, since the management and coaching structure there is built with that in mind, City's too. United's certainly wasn't, and each reset with Moyes, LVG and Mourinho were pretty damaging. It's why Ole has such a massive and visible coaching staff now.
    Last edited by Jessicka; 2021-09-15 at 01:50 PM.

  10. #370
    Quote Originally Posted by Jessicka View Post
    Reminder of how many years it took City to get where they are, and how they still haven't won the Champion's League.

    Chelsea can afford to sack their manager every season, since the management and coaching structure there is built with that in mind, City's too. United's certainly wasn't, and each reset with Moyes, LVG and Mourinho were pretty damaging. It's why Ole has such a massive and visible coaching staff now.
    Yeah, money isn't everything. But it's still a massive massive part of the puzzle.

  11. #371
    The Unstoppable Force Jessicka's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Valkyrst View Post
    Yeah, money isn't everything. But it's still a massive massive part of the puzzle.
    Of course. I'm not sure we should be expecting Champions League success this season anyway, or what would be regarded as success for us, I still certainly think we should get out of the group stages, and it's probably best to get this lesson now rather than after a couple of draws and leave it hinging on the last game. My feeling is that we are competing at the top level, but we need to win something to get past that 'every loss is a catastrophe' attitude. Nobody thought losing against Spurs was a sign City's season was going to be a disaster, indeed they had a really poor start to last season. But if that was us, there'd be people here wailing about how terrible everything is.

  12. #372
    Quote Originally Posted by Jessicka View Post
    Of course. I'm not sure we should be expecting Champions League success this season anyway, or what would be regarded as success for us, I still certainly think we should get out of the group stages, and it's probably best to get this lesson now rather than after a couple of draws and leave it hinging on the last game. My feeling is that we are competing at the top level, but we need to win something to get past that 'every loss is a catastrophe' attitude. Nobody thought losing against Spurs was a sign City's season was going to be a disaster, indeed they had a really poor start to last season. But if that was us, there'd be people here wailing about how terrible everything is.
    I would firmly expect United to be in the last 8 of the UCL and finish 2nd or 3rd in the Premiership. The title is ALSO possible.

    Not really fussed about the domestic cups, they're a waste of time, frankly.

  13. #373
    Quote Originally Posted by Northern Goblin View Post
    Thing is, United have had great managers. Mou and Van Gaal weren't chumps, and they played some of the dullest football I've ever seen.
    Apples to oranges doesn't even begin to describe this. LVG had to play with an absolute barebones squad which resulted in him having to use a number of kids (successfully, with all things considered), while Ed the clown was wasting a big chunk of the transfer pot each year to bring players to sell shirts (Falcao, Di Maria). Eventually though, the team started rolling, we started seeing some good performances on a regular basis in the 2nd year and he won us an FA Cup. As for Mou, he got us 2nd with a squad that Ole would get us relegated with, plus he won the Carabao and the Europa League. Both of these managers did that in less time than Ole has already had with the club.

    Look, it's extremely common that people will disagree with their manager on players, tactics, formation, game-management etc. It's fair to say though, that most fans* will go along with what their manager does if one of two things happen: they win (important) titles or they play pretty. With Ole neither of these things are happening and he started the year off by showing the worst behaviours he has shown in the previous years while having one of the best squads in the world. It's as simple as that and people are getting too fed up with him and the ones defending him.

    * the asterisk is for the Real Madrid and Barca fans, who are a special kind of breed.

  14. #374
    Fluffy Kitten Nerph-'s Avatar
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    Call me bonkers but I'd actually like to see LvG with this current United team. While I don't dislike Ole, as I've previously mentioned I think him getting outplayed by Villareal in the EL final has seeded doubt in my mind. Anyway we shall see how things progress.

  15. #375
    Going off tonight, Milan would struggle in the EPL nevermind the ESL. Maybe the EPL could just get barca, BAYERN, PSG and real and become the ESL

    Haha and then they score

    Twice, I really should just delete this post and hope for the best
    Last edited by molliewoof; 2021-09-15 at 07:44 PM.

  16. #376
    Fluffy Kitten Nerph-'s Avatar
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    Actually enjoying watching Club Brugge - PSG. With Neymar, Mbappe and Messi you'd think they'd be able to walk over Brugge :')

  17. #377
    PSG don't look right at all.

    So unbalanced.
    Will Poch get it right? I'm not sure

  18. #378
    Well, shit...

    Sporting defense without Coates and Nuno Mendes is so bad.

  19. #379
    lol @ PSG, mutant team i hope they crash out.

  20. #380
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    Club Brugge really put up a fight, and no doubt will be happy with the point. It was an enjoyable match to watch, especially seeing certain PSG players get so frustrated.

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