9 | Erling Haaland - 2025/26

Obvious slump in form, we need Haaland back to his best.

But game state has some effect on this, 65%+ possession and having him camped between 2 CBs just waiting for an aerial ball seems like a limited use of him.

Have him drop more, drift wide closer to a fullback, let him have flexibility in solving his space problem himself.

It's no wonder he looks alive in the games where our possession is more even (50%), because that means the space is readily available. And while we can try to limit our possession, its simple Pep logic that we just will generally have higher possession than most teams and be regularly in the 60%+ range.

That's where his game needs to be more flexible.
 
A part of my love for him died when I saw Lisandro fucking Martinez manhandle him last week.

Have slumps in form? Absolutely fine. Be a lazy fucker and not excel in other areas while you're not scoring? Not fine.

Hopefully his next goal is a domino effect because so far Pep has played him in some games I doubt he would've done in the past hoping he'd score and that's not happened.
 
skillman said:
A part of my love for him died when I saw Lisandro fucking Martinez manhandle him last week.
Click to expand...

I hope I don't get banned for this @Ric but Lisandro is one rag I wouldn't have minded if he played LB for us!

Would afford us the luxury of moving Nico O'Reilly to DM.

He puts in a shift everytime and think he only has 1 more year on his contract. (started liking him after I saw Julian and him were buddies)
 
skillman said:
A part of my love for him died when I saw Lisandro fucking Martinez manhandle him last week.

Have slumps in form? Absolutely fine. Be a lazy fucker and not excel in other areas while you're not scoring? Not fine.

Hopefully his next goal is a domino effect because so far Pep has played him in some games I doubt he would've done in the past hoping he'd score and that's not happened.
Click to expand...

For me it was shitting out of the penalty in the cup final.
Happy to pass it on to an out of practice marmoush.

Terrible that
 
Bluesince1979 said:
For me it was shitting out of the penalty in the cup final.
Happy to pass it on to an out of practice marmoush.

Terrible that
Click to expand...

Think he just came back from an injury. Mitigating circumstances.

And I don't blame Omar either.. he took a very good pen.. the keeper just saved it.

BTW I love Riyad but I'm still fuming at his pen at Anfield which NASA is still tracking on the way to the outer solar system.
 
Blue_Lightsaber said:
Think he just came back from an injury. Mitigating circumstances.

And I don't blame Omar either.. he took a very good pen.. the keeper just saved it.

BTW I love Riyad but I'm still fuming at his pen at Anfield which NASA is still tracking on the way to the outer solar system.
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Pens a pen. You dont need to be fit as such.
He was on pens that day and shat it last second

Not great
 
Blue_Lightsaber said:
I hope I don't get banned for this @Ric but Lisandro is one rag I wouldn't have minded if he played LB for us!

Would afford us the luxury of moving Nico O'Reilly to DM.

He puts in a shift everytime and think he only has 1 more year on his contract. (started liking him after I saw Julian and him were buddies)
Click to expand...
Hes crap, he just tends to have good games against us because we are their biggest game of the season.
 
I think he is overplayed, and that leads to lack of sharpness over time. Such an easy thing to adjust really. In those games the tactics are more suitable to a false 9, why bother playing him? He could also be very good off the bench, to change the dynamics of a game.

The second point, why not an emphasis on getting him more involved in the game? Players have to look for him in the right situations when the opposition is not settled. Some of it may steem from lack of cohesion among players. But when I see him giving layoffs for others to have a shot, still players more junior to him not giving him the obvious pass - rather shoot into a block... I guess the team is not experienced enough at the moment, but it is not helping that they are not serving the big man upfront.
 
Blue_Lightsaber said:
I hope I don't get banned for this @Ric but Lisandro is one rag I wouldn't have minded if he played LB for us!

Would afford us the luxury of moving Nico O'Reilly to DM.

He puts in a shift everytime and think he only has 1 more year on his contract. (started liking him after I saw Julian and him were buddies)
Click to expand...

If we’re talking about unpopular opinions on recent United players who could have played for us, I’ll raise you Daley Blind.

Pep would have absolutely loved the guy. Absolutely classic Ajax/Cruyff footballer, looked after the ball, always showed for it, plays CB, CM, DM, LB. He was basically what Pep wanted Rico Lewis to be.

Got woefully mismanaged at United post van Gaal and played terribly because of it, but was phenomenal for Ajax in the CL after, and though he’s ageing now was one of the best players in La Liga in his first few seasons at Girona.
 
Blue_Lightsaber said:
I hope I don't get banned for this @Ric but Lisandro is one rag I wouldn't have minded if he played LB for us!

Would afford us the luxury of moving Nico O'Reilly to DM.

He puts in a shift everytime and think he only has 1 more year on his contract. (started liking him after I saw Julian and him were buddies)
Click to expand...
Wouldn’t solve the centre mid problem with Nico in there anyway.
 
dublinblue12 said:
Possibly/likely bollocks, but rumours from various FPL social media accounts he rested today
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Hopefully. He was either shattered or bone idol in the last 2 games. Try something different today and bring him on if we still look shite
 
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