D
D
Deleted member 14625
Guest
Since we played well and got a good 3-1 win at West Ham away we have only played well once (Villa at home. Even their terrible performance contributed to our 4-0 easy win, they were proper shite that day.).
Everton(h) - SHITE!
Newcastle (a) - took our chances, good for 15mins, NU the better team for an hour.
Villa(h) - easy win.
Blackpool(h) - average. hanging on for the win at the end.
Leicester(a)[FAC] - poor.
Wolves(h) - average. hanging on for the win at the end after being 4-1, could be considered poor.
Leicester(h)[FAC] - average. didn't look convoncing at any point at home against a Championship team.
Villa (a) - poor. created hardly any real chances.
Notts (a) [FAC] - poor. Yaya's saved shot, Barry's shot from outside the box that was saved and the goal were the only chances we had all game against a team that could be relegated from Lg1. Bad pitch or not, that's poor.
Brum (a) - good for short spells in the first half. Then started playing really slowly in the second half and didn't look like we were gonna hold onto the lead. Hanging on for a point in the last 8 mins.
That's a poor run of form against nobody higher than 10th in the Prem. We have got some actual hard games coming up as well. United away, Chelsea away, Liverpool away, Blackburn away, Everton away and Bolton away; as well as games against teams fighting for their lives at home - it will be a much harder spring than we've had a winter.
But I've said it for months on end, that we are not title winning material yet. In my mind we have not at any point been in the title race. We may well have been up there but i don't think we've seriously been up there! So I'm not disappointed with how things are going. I understand why we will falter from time to time. For me we are on course to finish where we should be finising, which is fourth or fifth. We are only the fourth or fifth best team. I will be very happy with fourth. Some people will point to the amount of money we've spent and say we should be finishing higher than fourth but you know how much that money contributes to where you finish in the league? not one fuckin iota! It doesn't. It's what the manager does and the players do that matters and every week it's still only XI v XI not matter who we play and right now this XI hasnt got it(the X-factor of a champion) yet.
I said to the OP of this thread a few months ago that what many are expecting of this team/squad/manager/club will not happen for a few years yet. I reckon 2013, at least! A title challenge isn't within our capabilities yet. We might look good on paper but really that is merely 50% of what being a champion is about. All the other ingredients like being a team; having an understanding of each other; having the confidence that no matter what score it is and no matter where we are that we can win a game; having the fear factor where other teams are scared of us (this plays on the minds of opponents and they make mistakes, some have lost the game before the game day against United); having referees who feel they have to give us decisions like they do with United Chelsea and Arsenal (that hand ball in the box last night would 100% have been a penalty for them three teams); squad players who come in and make us just as good as when we are fully fit or suspension free, a manager who understands the game in this country properly and can change things accordingly to suit the individual game; etc, etc.............We don't have these things, we're miles away yet.
I do agree that Vieira is a complete liability. He should not be playing games for us at all. Alls he does when he's on the pitch is give free kicks and penalties away. He may well be great to have around Carrington and in the changing rooms but he should not be on the pitch for us. His pace is so frighteningly slow that even the slow Garndener was leaving him for dead last night.
Given, Gonzalez, Neilsen, Taylor, Bridge, Cunningham, Logan, Onuoha, Kolo, Vidal, Barry, Ibrahim, Milner, Vieira, Weiss, Wright-Phillips, Adebayor, Caicedo, Jo, Santa Cruz, Nimely - very very few, if any, of these players would be on United's playing staff. That tells you stright away how far we are away. You might look at players like Fletcher and Carrick and Anderson and say "but they aren't exactly the world's best players are they?" and you'd be right. But more often than not these players do everything, from all the little things to the biggest things, 100% bang on. That's why United will probably win this league and win it easily.
I think everyone needs to seriously reduce their expectations for a few years - get fuckin real guys! If you do that you'll enjoy the fuckin ride much more than you are doing. Things are going exactly according to plan. We are better than last season. We will be better next season, although we will still have games where we're completely shit for the exact reasons i mentioned above, it just won't be as often as this season. The season is shaping up exactly as i've been saying it will be all season. Let's enjoy it! My point to Didsbury Dave is that this is not "a mess", not in any way!
Everton(h) - SHITE!
Newcastle (a) - took our chances, good for 15mins, NU the better team for an hour.
Villa(h) - easy win.
Blackpool(h) - average. hanging on for the win at the end.
Leicester(a)[FAC] - poor.
Wolves(h) - average. hanging on for the win at the end after being 4-1, could be considered poor.
Leicester(h)[FAC] - average. didn't look convoncing at any point at home against a Championship team.
Villa (a) - poor. created hardly any real chances.
Notts (a) [FAC] - poor. Yaya's saved shot, Barry's shot from outside the box that was saved and the goal were the only chances we had all game against a team that could be relegated from Lg1. Bad pitch or not, that's poor.
Brum (a) - good for short spells in the first half. Then started playing really slowly in the second half and didn't look like we were gonna hold onto the lead. Hanging on for a point in the last 8 mins.
That's a poor run of form against nobody higher than 10th in the Prem. We have got some actual hard games coming up as well. United away, Chelsea away, Liverpool away, Blackburn away, Everton away and Bolton away; as well as games against teams fighting for their lives at home - it will be a much harder spring than we've had a winter.
But I've said it for months on end, that we are not title winning material yet. In my mind we have not at any point been in the title race. We may well have been up there but i don't think we've seriously been up there! So I'm not disappointed with how things are going. I understand why we will falter from time to time. For me we are on course to finish where we should be finising, which is fourth or fifth. We are only the fourth or fifth best team. I will be very happy with fourth. Some people will point to the amount of money we've spent and say we should be finishing higher than fourth but you know how much that money contributes to where you finish in the league? not one fuckin iota! It doesn't. It's what the manager does and the players do that matters and every week it's still only XI v XI not matter who we play and right now this XI hasnt got it(the X-factor of a champion) yet.
I said to the OP of this thread a few months ago that what many are expecting of this team/squad/manager/club will not happen for a few years yet. I reckon 2013, at least! A title challenge isn't within our capabilities yet. We might look good on paper but really that is merely 50% of what being a champion is about. All the other ingredients like being a team; having an understanding of each other; having the confidence that no matter what score it is and no matter where we are that we can win a game; having the fear factor where other teams are scared of us (this plays on the minds of opponents and they make mistakes, some have lost the game before the game day against United); having referees who feel they have to give us decisions like they do with United Chelsea and Arsenal (that hand ball in the box last night would 100% have been a penalty for them three teams); squad players who come in and make us just as good as when we are fully fit or suspension free, a manager who understands the game in this country properly and can change things accordingly to suit the individual game; etc, etc.............We don't have these things, we're miles away yet.
I do agree that Vieira is a complete liability. He should not be playing games for us at all. Alls he does when he's on the pitch is give free kicks and penalties away. He may well be great to have around Carrington and in the changing rooms but he should not be on the pitch for us. His pace is so frighteningly slow that even the slow Garndener was leaving him for dead last night.
Given, Gonzalez, Neilsen, Taylor, Bridge, Cunningham, Logan, Onuoha, Kolo, Vidal, Barry, Ibrahim, Milner, Vieira, Weiss, Wright-Phillips, Adebayor, Caicedo, Jo, Santa Cruz, Nimely - very very few, if any, of these players would be on United's playing staff. That tells you stright away how far we are away. You might look at players like Fletcher and Carrick and Anderson and say "but they aren't exactly the world's best players are they?" and you'd be right. But more often than not these players do everything, from all the little things to the biggest things, 100% bang on. That's why United will probably win this league and win it easily.
I think everyone needs to seriously reduce their expectations for a few years - get fuckin real guys! If you do that you'll enjoy the fuckin ride much more than you are doing. Things are going exactly according to plan. We are better than last season. We will be better next season, although we will still have games where we're completely shit for the exact reasons i mentioned above, it just won't be as often as this season. The season is shaping up exactly as i've been saying it will be all season. Let's enjoy it! My point to Didsbury Dave is that this is not "a mess", not in any way!