United (H) - Sun 15th Dec, 16:30 | PL | Pre-Match Thread

[Rammy Blue]

My prediction is a loss if Walker starts.

Unfortunately he will have to start, we are down to bare bones.

 

[Rammy Blue]

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Most definitely attributable to Pep’s mindset at the moment.

 

[Chak19]

I just hope Kova can start because I'm sick of seeing Gundo, Silva and Lewis together.

 

[Lavinda Past]

You can’t manage injuries.

If you think the current situation is down to injuries, you're kidding yourself.

The idea of having a squad is to be able to rotate players and fill injury gaps. Our current squad is too small, too inexperienced, and lacks depth of genuine quality.

 

[Pelegrinni]

Unfortunately he will have to start, we are down to bare bones.

Pursey is an option at RB.

 

[paulchapo]

The first derby in a long time I'm actually dreading. We are so easy to play against at the moment I'd back any side to score at least once against us. Palace two, Feyenoord three, Spurs four, Juventus two. All pretty average sides in my opinion yet three of them beat us and if Palace had taken their chances so would they. On the other side of the coin we are struggling for goals ourselves.
Now the rags are a bang average side but Fernandez is better than anyone in our midfield atm given current form. Their pace on the counter attack will get behind us time after time. As for us every single player is underperforming and some are unrecognisable as the players that won everything. Walker, Gvardiol, Ederson, Gundogan have been atrocious. Bernardo is a shadow of his former self and Kev too. Foden is always ill with something or other, he's like a fucking deprived malnourished kid from Victorian England, he'll pick up rickets next.
If there's one game that could galvanise the whole club it's this one. Sadly I fear we'll all be moaning about the same old failings and licking our wounds again at the end.

 

[Lavinda Past]

I don’t agree.

Credit in the bank counts for everything. Any team can have a bad season. We can continue this bad run for as long again as it’s already lasted and end up finishing the season down in the bottom half and win nothing, and I’d be more than happy with Pep to continue on next season.

The eventual comedown after two league titles in a row was fairly big, but after four in a row it’s huge. I completely understand why it’s happening, no team can continue to keep winning league titles like we have, there’s a reason it’s never been done before, the intensity required to do it is gigantic.

This is an off-season, a season to take stock of what’s required to build again for the future. Enjoy what we’ve won, appreciate Pep because he and City will bounce back.

Most successful clubs in Europe tend to change coaches on a regular basis to avoid teams / tactics getting stale.

Although we've been unbelievably successful over Pep's tenure, it's been obvious to me that our squad and tactics have been getting stale over the past two years.

In my opinion, last season's title win was one of the greatest team achievements in the modern era.

 

[hcblue95]

I'd go
Ortega
Akanji Simpson-Pusey Dias Gvardiol
Gundogan kev Grealish
Foden Haaland Doku

That's assuming Akanji and Foden are able to play. And kdb and gundogan aren't too shagged, them being old men. Kovacic in somewhere if he's fit too.

 

[paulchapo]

Most successful clubs in Europe tend to change coaches on a regular basis to avoid teams / tactics getting stale.

Although we've been unbelievably successful over Pep's tenure, it's been obvious to me that our squad and tactics have been getting stale over the past two years.

In my opinion, last season's title win was one of the greatest team achievements in the modern era.

It's certainly a conundrum. There is no doubt Pep is a genius but even aside from the injuries we should be doing better with the players he does have available to him. He can't account for world class players playing like Sunday league pub players though I guess, but he is paid 20 million a year or something to find a solution. He can't just say, "I've won everything playing this way I'm not going to change now." Every game we are seeing the eleven out there failing playing this way. He has to tighten it up.

 

[Bluemart]

I don't think we should be replacing Pep at all just yet. He has earned the right to rebuild the squad. I think everyone accepts that a rebuild needs to take place as there isn't a manager on the planet who could get this squad to win things in its present state. Why would you not entrust the greatest manager the game has ever seen to oversee that rebuild? The manager who is the biggest magnet for top talent?

I totally get what Pep has done and don’t think we will see anything like this again not just at our club but in the PL.
What I don’t get is why we still play with a high line and still an inverted full back. Every team knows how we play and just wait there time to hit us on the break. Not sure what Pep means that he will work it out cos he never changes the system or gives some of the younger lads a chance. I know we have injuries more than most but I’d like to think that Pep is reinventing the team. Sadly not seeing that at the moment.
Having said all this, united are shit and are 7 points behind us, even when we have been poor recently.