United (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

A solid, calm, passionate voice of reason. Thank you.

If the good times ended now I’d still die a happy man. A very happy man. This manager and this club have given us sights that no other football fan in England has ever been able to see:

- the only domestic treble.
- the only domestic quadruple
- the only 100 point season
- the only European treble as a league champion
- the highest number of league goals in a season
- the best defensive record in a season
- the highest number of consecutive wins.
- we got to see prime David silva, prime Aguero, prime KDB, prime Bernardo, and others, who all committed the best years of their careers to this club.
- and all of the above and more were achieved DESPITE being the target of a decades long, racist smear campaign designed to bury this football club.


I have never, and will never, forgotten Pep’s press conference right after the charges were announced. Journalists from all over the world descended on the etihad, pens in hand, ready to write the eulogy of this football club, and this manager. Over 100 years of existence and they were coming to announce its end. They weren’t even all sports journalists. Newspapers and media outlets sent their “serious” reporters to pen the poison that was going to eradicate our club from existence. And then Pep turned up and fucking gave it to them in no uncertain terms. He showed them he has a backbone, and he showed the club, the players, the execs, and the fans, that they had bitten off more than they could chew if they thought they were going to destroy our club.
And then he calmly went about his business winning a treble. From a position that wasn’t a million miles away from where we find ourselves today.

I love this club more after days like yesterday. Sometimes a team puts on a shit performance. That’s always happened and always will. Remember the 50th anniversary derby at old Trafford? We were lined up as sacrificial lambs to the slaughter, our fans told before the game that they were scum who were going to disrupt the minutes silence. We all know how that timed out.

Yesterday was shit, but shit happens sometimes.
The memories of the good times more than outweigh days like yesterday.

The weird disrespect and personal attacks on Pep from a small minority on here completely fly in the face of everything that he has done for the club and achieved with the club. The day he leaves, his loudest critics will be the first ones to want his successor sacked or Khaldoon sacked or some other hysterical reaction.
 
Well sure. If you look at that performance in isolation. But we don't need to play devils advocate. We've played 22 league games and across those games by whatever metric you want to use, City have outrun their opponents, have done the most pressing, have basically been the most intense team in the league. Yesterday was fucking woeful, but yesterday was the exception not the rule.
Was it the exception?

Brighton worked harder than us. Sunderland worked harder than us.

Recent league form in terms of both points and performances have been poor, against teams that title chasing clubs should be beating. Application and effort has been an issue in the Chelsea/Brighton/rags games, although I accept the Newcastle game midweek was much better.

We need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves, stop telling everyone how we tired we are, and get our mojo back. Quickly.

Otherwise those who claim the players are willing to run through a brick wall for Pep will start to question that opinion.
 
We also had a manager who would switch flanks for the wingers Tueart & Barnes during the game .
Why wouldnt he do it yesterday to get their fullbacks out of their comfort zone ?
When Semenyo was switched to the left during the Newcastle game he looked a lot more dangerous & effective .
I'm obviously like all of us on here badly affected by yesterday s**t show so apologies.
Now I was having a shave earlier and looking in the mirror this crazy thought came in my head and bear in mind affected after yesterday, would we have been so bad yesterday under Big Sam in his prime. I know it's madness to think this but I could only see improvement on that awful performance.
 
Bottom line... It was a fucking Manchester derby and our ridiculously overpaid manager and players (other than Donnarumma and Khusanov), collectively shat their pants.

Totally unacceptable. An insult to all proper City fans.
I don't think you win many arguments, and you certainly won't by claiming that proper City fans will have been insulted by the defeat. Disappointed yes. Insulted implies that City did much less than they could have done.
 
Was it the exception?

Brighton worked harder than us. Sunderland worked harder than us.

Recent league form in terms of both points and performances have been poor, against teams that title chasing clubs should be beating. Application and effort has been an issue in the Chelsea/Brighton/rags games, although I accept the Newcastle game midweek was much better.

We need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves, stop telling everyone how we tired we are, and get our mojo back. Quickly.

Otherwise those who claim the players are willing to run through a brick wall for Pep will start to question that opinion.

Yes it was the exception. Absolutely zero comparison to be made between yesterday and either of the games you've just mentioned, but that's just my opinion. Obviously you see it differently.

In terms of recent league, form, yes it hasn't been great if you want to win the title. But considering at the start of this season most people on here had Liverpool going back to back, and City "battling for 4th at best" I think we're doing okay. Not amazing. But not terrible either.

There is still a ridiculous amount of football to be played and a lot to play for. And whatever happens I'm pretty happy with the overall arc of the season so far. Yesterday is obviously a completely different story.
 
Was it the exception?

Brighton worked harder than us. Sunderland worked harder than us.

Recent league form in terms of both points and performances have been poor, against teams that title chasing clubs should be beating. Application and effort has been an issue in the Chelsea/Brighton/rags games, although I accept the Newcastle game midweek was much better.

We need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves, stop telling everyone how we tired we are, and get our mojo back. Quickly.

Otherwise those who claim the players are willing to run through a brick wall for Pep will start to question that opinion.
City played a semi-final in midweek and had 9 absences before the game. The manager can not give the players excuses but you and everyone else should understand from a lifetime of following football that these things do matter.
 
The weird disrespect and personal attacks on Pep from a small minority on here completely fly in the face of everything that he has done for the club and achieved with the club. The day he leaves, his loudest critics will be the first ones to want his successor sacked or Khaldoon sacked or some other hysterical reaction.
Sad, bitter, and pathetic sums most of them up.
 
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The team sheet yesterday as soon as it was announced I knew we were in trouble...some of that is just bad luck...especially losing Nunes coupled with the loss of all of our centre halves.

However its not just about yesterday..Its been obvious since the end of last season that the squad aint anywhere near serious enough to get to the heights we have previously...

Now that is part of football -it goes in cycles and the club need time to refresh which in part they seem to have done well.

HOWEVER - I have some serious doubts about some of our recruitment even before yesterday....

  • The lack of a specialist right back - walker fell off a cliff over two seasons ago and we have been treading water ever since
  • we only have one left back - NOR has done well but we have run him into the ground....RAN - serious questions about whether he cares or not from the albeit little Ive seen....but his attitude stinks at present
  • Wide players - Doku I like - he is something different - think he will always be a step below world class but he is a decent squad player....but other than that we have Semenyo and he isnt a traditional winger......As for Sav ( apoor transfer) and Bobb - they aint got it and wont get to the level required.
  • We spend money on buying a young Engish Keeper and then went for Donarumma as well - this was in hindsight just bad planning....we spent money on Trafford that we probably didnt need to spend. (I like Trafford as a keeper and I think he has parts of his game where he is better than Donarumma BUT Donarummas shot stopping is superior)
  • Over a season ago I said Stones and Ake were finished..they should have been encouraged to be moved on - with a world cup year ahead of them being told they wouldnt play cause of fitness and recovery issues would have motivated them to find a new team allowing us to bring in new players and bed them in sooner....we have to let these two both go this summer and make very quick decisions on Reis and Khusonov (who I really like) - Bringing Guehi in hopefully sorts out some of this
  • Reijnders for me at present is looking like a bad transfer....he isnt a winner....he is a bit part player and we needed a serious box to box midfielder and we have got a light weight moments type player who disappears the moment a game becomes difficult.

Not sure what you're going on about with regards Ait-Nouri's attitude? I've not noticed anything untoward - partly because he hasn't been on the pitch enough.

What have you noticed?
 
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Not sure what you're going on about with regards Ait-Nouri's attitude? I've not noticed anything untoward - partly because he hasn't been on the pitch enough.

What have you noticed?
He just needs to fill his day so writes lots of words of nothingness.
It's all a bit strange.
 
Don't think there's a club in the world that would rate Foden higher than us. If we are ready to sell him, then the fee won't be whopping at all.

We'll be happy to have him around, given we offered a new contract to Rico.

The difficult problem for the club is how to handle the negotiations over Foden's new contract. Will we offer him a better contract if he doesn't improve? How much would Foden want?

He'll stay or go the Rashford way. But I don't see him living and flourishing abroad.
I do agree that he is not a player for foreign soil. But the very point you make that it wouldn't be a whopping fee speaks a lot about his progress. It hasn't been good enough. He can be brilliant 1 in 4/5 matches. Dont quote me on that stat.
 
Doing the rounds in work in Trafford Park, and amongst my United friends on Whatsapp.

Sometimes you have to take it on the chin.

I was at the match.

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I don't think you win many arguments, and you certainly won't by claiming that proper City fans will have been insulted by the defeat. Disappointed yes. Insulted implies that City did much less than they could have done.

It should be insulting to any City fan to see a City team put out anything less than a fighting performance in the derby.

Tactics, performance, attitude.... All dreadful yesterday. It was a spineless performance by a team of multi-millionaire mercenaries, set up by a coach who seems to have little or no idea about the importance of this fixture to fans

If you thought otherwise, that's up to you.
 
The weird disrespect and personal attacks on Pep from a small minority on here completely fly in the face of everything that he has done for the club and achieved with the club. The day he leaves, his loudest critics will be the first ones to want his successor sacked or Khaldoon sacked or some other hysterical

Pep's tactics are predictable and as stale as month old bread. He needs to change his system and stop pussyfooting around with this turgidly obsessive possession shite.

If he can't (or is too entrenched in his system to) change, he really should think about packing it all in.
 
I do agree that he is not a player for foreign soil. But the very point you make that it wouldn't be a whopping fee speaks a lot about his progress. It hasn't been good enough. He can be brilliant 1 in 4/5 matches. Dont quote me on that stat.

We may sell Foden only if he isn't good enough to be a regular starter *and* demands a huge salary or a guaranteed starting place. If his demands are not over the top (he comes across as a humble guy), he is highly likely to stay even if he is a squad player.

By my lights, Foden is a forward at heart. He is very good on the ball, which seems to make him a potential top midfielder, but he lacks some things to be the new David/Gundo or our Pedri. He's better at scoring goals than all of them, but doesn't get midfield play like them.
 
Looking at the balance of players in the squad I find it odd that that we sign two mid-field players, Cherki and Reijnders who are both lacking in pace and defensive ability, I wonder what the spec was for recruitment in those areas. One certainly has creative ability but both are lacking in key areas of the modern game
 

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