United (H) | PL | Post Match Thread

[Salford in the City]

Just seen that, not good

I hope he apologises, I thought he was better than that.

The type of shit half their team would do btw.

And it was down to him pissing about at that throw in, and then throwing it straight out that led to the move that resulted in that penalty.

 

[Sebi]

Wow, Not sure what’s happened to us.
This terrible form is not because we are missing Rodri there’s more to it than that.

Maybe that‘s the answer: There are many injuries, Nunes has to play LB, Gvardiol (not in form) has to play, because Ake and Stones are injured or not 100% fit, Dias is okay, Walker has to play (not in form), because there is no replacement, Gündogan is playing as a 6, which is not his position, Doku was injured, de Bruyne was injured, Foden was injured, etc., what do you ecpect of them? Pep has no options to put Walker, Gündogan etc. on the bench, because we have no options. Deal with it, no team out there was the best over 30 years, no team, be thankful with the last years, what we achieved, it was not normal and not of course! They gave us so much, when we maybe had bad times, so give them something back in their bad times.

 

[RayCTID]

The buck stops with the players.

Each one to a man is playing fucking awful and need to get a grip.

How long can we use the fatigue or injuries or old line? I’m happy to do it but expect an end at some point.

Pep can maybe help by trying a new formation at least.

We need to bypass midfield. The players can’t build from the back and can’t get back quick enough to stop counters but then again why should he change approach because they can’t or won’t do what’s required?

Back to the players, players, players!!!
I would like them to discuss why they think it’s ok to play this badly for so long now?

No idea going forward, no real pattern of attack, set piece awful. Not pressing properly or stopping players running through midfield. No communication.

In short, yes we have problems, you are tired, injured and old but at some point you need to shake out of this rut. We all go through bad patches.

I will be patient but it’s starting to run thin I must admit. Grow a pair and sort it out. Stop hiding behind the manager.

All it would probably take to break the cycle is a scruffy victory and to really catch a break with their overall fitness.

 

[citymad]

My take is that Pep has wrung every last bit out of the players (not just this season with a makeshift team) but last season as well. He's worked miracles. We've seen a decline happen many times before, with Mourinho, Pisscan and Klopp. There comes a time where you've exhausted yourself and you cannot do any more, with yourself and the players left at your disposal. It's admirable that a manager will not throw the towel in and still believes things will turn around, however it's not much different than telling a boxer he's done everything he can - but needs to take a step back, and stop hurting themself. Pep has such a brilliant legacy and will not throw in the towel himself, and that is the stature of the man. Nothing against that at all - it's that winning menatality that drives him - and what gave us all something we could never have imagined. However, I'd be very surprised if the owners will keep backing him on the strength of our current results.

Great post. To re-energize Pep’s squad, we’d need a significant influx of new players. In my opinion, we would keep Eddie, Diaz, Rodri, Haaland, Savinho, Lewis (?), and Gvardiol. The rest could be sold, as they’re either too old to handle the demands in midfield or simply aren’t going to improve.

When you think about how well our club has been managed in terms of global appeal and investment, it’s hard to understand why our recruitment strategy has been so poor recently. It’s arguably the reason we've had this sudden collapse, and that’s frustrating given the potential we have.

For once I actually agreed with ratface's comments after the game about our situation

 

[ysmsa]

It's not just Rodri and tbf any team would miss their best player; the best player in the world that is.

We've also had KDB out for nearly all of the season so far. He's clearly still not match fit.

We've also been without Foden, he's been injured or ill for the majority of it so far.

Many are also knackered after running themselves into the ground to achived the 4th title in a row, which has never been done before.

This was compounded by them hardly having a break between seasons and hardly no preseason.

They're knackered. And many can't be rested due to injuries to others.

We haven't had a settle back four all season. Stones and Ake can't stay fit. Dias is only just back from injury.

I just think many on here should see that context and give them a break rather than laying into them and calling them useless or worse.

But you have explained why a club needs to recruit to stay on top, we didn't do that.

As a minimum, a top side should be integrating at least 1 new player every year, if they don't work out fuck em off.
And let go those who are no longer good enough.

We have let our team get old together.

If you had a classic car, it would be managed continually and something replaced every year, it wouldn't be flogged into the ground until it's worthless.

Our players have just been too good, and too nice to get rid off I suppose.

 

[chaddblue]

I'm still trying to figure out how the fuck Gvardiol didn't stop that from crossing the line

Comical if only it wasn't so unfunny !!!!

 

[Bluefen]

Been racking my brain trying to figure out what the fuck is going on with ithis City team right now. The past 4 transfer windows have been horrendous. Selling Julien Alvarez with no replacement, and then on top selling Liam Delap means Haaland has no competition for the striker role, and it shows. He looks totally lackadaisical and clumsy.

I have always said Kyle Walker, once he loses his speed, is a pretty average player. Sadly, that time has come. He should be made to give up the captain’s armband to Dias. De Bruyne is in his last season at the club also. Stones is made of glass, only fit for England games. If that’s his priority, he can piss off. Obviously Rodri’s presence in midfield was papering over cracks, which with his enforced absence are now huge chasms. Rico is, and never was, any good. Mind you I said the same for Cole Palmer, and look how accurate that turned out to be. Our best defenders are Dias and Ake, maybe Gvardiol. Akanji was also a safe pair but not this season

We really need to sign 6 top world class players in the next 2 transfer windows to get us competing for a top 4 place. We need altogether out of this season’s champions league asap and just concentrate on league games till end of season to maybe sneak into a champions league place in the league.

Sorry but this is a full-blown crisis.

Funny when pep came in the consensus was Aguero didn’t fit pep’s system and how he must change his game - aguero did and became a better all round player for it

Haaland today was easily marked and dominated by a shite Harry Maguire - rarely saw him close down, work or stretch the United centre halves today - same with Onanas kicking which was woeful - having a full speed freak of nature bearing down on him would have shat him up

I’m not laying the blame at Haalands door -
We have much bigger problems, it can also be tactical to not have Haaland harry and chase however I thought he was flat footed and easily marked today

 

[steviemc]

Here's where we're at...

If your main striker isn't scoring goals (which never used to be an issue with us). We didn't even need a striker for a long while.

Now it's...

Grealish - 85 games - 14 goals. Average of 1 goal every 6 games.
Matheus Nunes - 28 games - 3 goals. Average of 1 goal every 9 games.
jeremy Doke - 40 games - 9 goals - Average of 1 goal every 4 games.
Bernado silva - 117 games - 34 goals. Average of 1 goal every 3 games.
Savinho - 12 games - 0 goals.
Foden - 11 games this season - 0 goals.

Where the hell are the goals suddenly gonna come from if the big guy up front isn't able to bang 'em in.

It's not rocket science.

 

[Sebi]

Nunes was never good enough. Shouldn't be anywhere near the team.

And also some fans. He was not bad today, playing in a position, which is not his prefered one. Yes, the penalty was his fault, stupid, but they are fucking humans, everybody of us made some mistakes.

 

[Damanino]

Spurs in Carabao conceding two in within 20 minutes.
Sporting Lisbon, we come out for second half with 1-1, we are 3-1 down in 49th min., similar to the derby, stupid pen given away, then next attack also a goal conceded.
Brighton 1-0 lead for City, then they score two in 78th and 83rd minutes.
tottenham 4-0 win, we are already 2-0 down in 20th minute of first half.
Feyenood 3-0, we concede 3 goals in succession between 74th and 89th min
Juventus scored two within 22 minutes period while they were not much in the game until that time.
Rags score two after 85mins quickly without being any good.

mentally this is draining and part of the reason for our slump. we concede and panic takes over and the level of our players drop so much that we are almost crippled for 5/10/15 minutes where almost guaranteed something is just gonna repeat itself.

whats next? Villa scoring 2 goals within time period of 15 minutes is very much likely now.