United (A) - Sat 14th Jan, 12:30 | Pre-Match Thread

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

Whilst I’m no doubt envious of all the posters on here for whom life seemingly has no down side and every day is one brilliant success after another, with no bad days whatsoever, I really struggle to understand the negativity about this man and this proven group of players. Last night they lost their THIRD game of the season, out of 27 games played thus far. There’s more than a whiff of entitlement on here, the thing above all else, the rags and others are relentlessly criticised for..

Personally, I think getting challenged and coming through it, or not, is what sport is all about. Seeing this group challenged is something we see almost every season and they usually not only rise to that challenge but find a way to overcome it.

I also think that, whilst the idea of P38 W38 GF 114 GA 19 PTS 114 sounds brilliant, it’d soon get pretty tiresome.

Finally, if he were to play the team any of you have ’picked’ and they lose, you’ll no doubt be back on here telling us all how shit he/they are!

 

[Blueknows]

Hopefully we wrap Rodri in cotton wool for the next few training sessions because he’s carrying the team at the moment.

Edited for accuracy

 

[Spurs quarter 69]

Crunch time, time to play our strongest 11, no square pegs please Pep. The Rags are in decent form, but if (big if) we play like we did in the 1st half against them at our place we will win.

The rags were on decent form prior to the Etihad Derby, we put them back in their box. The sooner

 

[flb]

Bonkers!

doesnt sound bonkers to me ! Although on present form id bin Grealish for Mahrez

 

[Cricket Blue]

I'll be honest, I'm expecting us to get beat.

Just too inconsistent this season. Far too many occasions where we look lazy. Far too many top players off their game. Far too many instances where the manager has shit the bed.

I don't see us winning any thing if I'm honest. As long as we get top 4 and finish above the rags and Scouse vermin, that's about as much as we can expect.

My thoughts too, yet we have arguably the world's best striker and could win fuck all. Mad

 

[supercity88]

Dunno why but im pretty calm about this one

I think Ten Hag and the way he wants United to play will play into our hands again.

We are the first decent team they’ve come up against in a good while.

I fancy us to put about 3 past them

I like the positivity. Win and we're 2pts off top, pressure on Arsenal and more incentive for Spurs to do them. If Arsenal lost to Spurs and we beat the rags, spurs and Wolves we'll be 4pts ahead of Arsenal by the time they play the rags themselves (having played a game more). One week could completely change our outlook on the season.

Maybe, despite the performance and loss last night, getting minutes in the players will see us in much better shape as a squad once we settle into a more consistent 11 and we can go on a winning run.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

doesnt sound bonkers to me ! Although on present form id bin Grealish for Mahrez

Sarcasm - apologies.

 

[Spurs quarter 69]

The rags were on decent form prior to the Etihad Derby, we put them back in their box. The sooner

Ten Hag sorts it out and gets them losing again the happier I'll be. Only know true happiness when their losing was pretty pissed for most of the nineties.

 

[supercity88]

Why? Get rid of 3/4 players. Stick with the boss. We don’t want to turn into the rags. Try and get through this season and he will have a clear idea who needs to leave in the summer.

He'll leave! We will want to keep him, but he's always said once the players stop listening he knows it's time to go. And this season it looks like they have. In my opinion, he was "okay" with Sterling, Gabby and Zin all leaving because he knew mentality was crucial this season with a 3rd title in the row on the cards. Everyone had to be fully committed. We couldn't afford to have any drop in mentality. Unfortunately, with the World Cup some will have had an eye on that. That's done now, and I can count on one hand how many look arsed about fighting for the shirt. That's something we've not seen under Pep. Walker and Cancelo hooked at HT against Chelsea. Foden and Bernardo pulled off. He seems to be making a point that the attitude from these former starters isn't there in comparison to previous fringe players.

Lewis is getting so much game time partly because of performances but also because he wants to win. We need more of that. Stones, Rodri, Ake and then arguably Laporte are the only ones I'm seeing that from.

 

[BamberBridgeBlue]

Criticism is fine but suggesting the most successful Manchester City manager in history has suddenly lost the plot and is technically inept is laughable. I agree with Wolviedinho. The players have either dropped standards or they’re mentally tired in what is a strange season anyway. With the exception of Arsenal nobody is tearing it up. It’s a weird season. We’ve been spoiled. We need to get over ourselves and get behind the team. I find it unbelievable that people expect this season to be “normal” with a dirty great bent World Cup in the middle of it right when we usually have a consistent run. This is a lottery of season.