Things are that bad in midfield.....

comment by Diamondlights (U20501)
posted 9 minutes ago
Sanchez bought to stop City getting him. Lukaku bought to stop Chelsea getting him. Pogba bought for a world record fee when there was no competition for his signature. Egos galore from manager to players while driving up transfer fees & setting disruptive wage benchmarks for players who are not even close to justifying what they are being paid = unbalanced team for a manager who's preference is to defend 1st..... I'd fire Ed
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You've been very vocal about United recently

I think it should be increasingly clear that the issue with have is not necessarily a personnel one.

Herrera, Matic & Pogba between them have steal, flair, energy and skill. It's a good midfield.

But how often do we see it? Rarely.

And simply have thing right players on the pitch is quite limiting if the team are set up in a way that restricts their best qualities.

Mourinho's early Chelsea teams played good stuff at times. What I think is that Mourinho's default style has had its day. The game has gotten quicker, players a re fitter again, teams press high and fast *as a team*. We don't do these things. I don't think Mourinho has really evolved his approach. It's something Fergie was a master of.

GK De Gea
LB Young (Until the summer)
CB Bailly
CB Jones (Until the summer)
RB Valencia
DM Matic
CM Pogba
CM Blind (Until the summer)
LW Martial
RW Sanchez
FW Rashford

I'd be looking at another top CM, top CB, LB and another striker maybe 2 if someones daft enough to take Lukaku in the summer.

An RB further down the list.

comment by #TopLad || Sir Alex Ferguson ||✓ (U10161)
posted 6 minutes ago
comment by Diamondlights (U20501)
posted 9 minutes ago
Sanchez bought to stop City getting him. Lukaku bought to stop Chelsea getting him. Pogba bought for a world record fee when there was no competition for his signature. Egos galore from manager to players while driving up transfer fees & setting disruptive wage benchmarks for players who are not even close to justifying what they are being paid = unbalanced team for a manager who's preference is to defend 1st..... I'd fire Ed
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You've been very vocal about United recently
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Bored at work this week.... Nothing interesting elsewhere... I think the Spurs and United Boards are the best on here.... Good debates. I have no axe to grind... always respected United

Of the traditional big 4 (Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool) United were the only team I could stomach, not least because I had so much respect for Alex Ferguson's lasting success. I think it's a damn shame seeing what Mourinho has done to United (though his predecessors are hardly blameless).

comment by BerbaKing11 (U6256)
posted 1 hour, 10 minutes ago
I think it should be increasingly clear that the issue with have is not necessarily a personnel one.

Herrera, Matic & Pogba between them have steal, flair, energy and skill. It's a good midfield.

But how often do we see it? Rarely.

And simply have thing right players on the pitch is quite limiting if the team are set up in a way that restricts their best qualities.

Mourinho's early Chelsea teams played good stuff at times. What I think is that Mourinho's default style has had its day. The game has gotten quicker, players a re fitter again, teams press high and fast *as a team*. We don't do these things. I don't think Mourinho has really evolved his approach. It's something Fergie was a master of.
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I agree with this. Jose has always built strong defensive units with enough quality attacking players to win a game without being overly attacking in his tactics. Always having enough quality to win the bread and butter games and be competitive in the big games..

But a lot of teams now do not sit back and try to resist Utd for 90 minutes....they are more in your face, pressing, being aggressive. Huddersfield was a classic example of a far inferior team matching Utd, not being able to penetrate their rigid defence and getting hit by the only moments of real quality Utd produced in 90 minutes. Thats how Jose has rolled for years, and in the big games parks the bus.

I think the quality now facing them is tougher in the mid table and now the top 6 are very strong. Its not just having to be better than Chelsea or Arsenal, but Spurs, Liverpool and City are all also top quality and a threat to them.

Jose's always been a great front runner IMO but now there is more competition he is having to be more aggressive and he can't, or hasnt really shown himself to be able to yet. Thats not to say his pragmatism will not see United end high up, it will just be uninspiring and IMO unlikely to bring the league or UCL to OT any time soon.

If Jose is coaching our front three and the midfield three to retreat to the half way line and let the opposition play with the ball, then he should be fired for gross incompetence.

This is unacceptable in any game.

comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 25 minutes ago
If Jose is coaching our front three and the midfield three to retreat to the half way line and let the opposition play with the ball, then he should be fired for gross incompetence.

This is unacceptable in any game.
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He's been doing this on and off for 16 years

In his first stint at Chelsea he produced some good counter attacking football. Jose seems to have gone backwards with age.

He's been doing this on and off for 16 years

.............

Not to this extent. I have never seen anything as bad as what I saw last night from any Jose team.

Makele and Essien were never ones who backed off a challenge. Frank never retreated to the half way line without trying to win the ball back. Drogba when he lost it didn't just jog back to the half way line without a care in the world.