Who even wants Pochettino now? Either Mourinho or Zidane can fix this motherfucking mess of a club. Ten Hag should go back to Ajax that’d be for the best for all parties especially United.

I was just being sarcastic about Poch, but fans keep acting like Ten Hag’s been the worst Big Six manager this season and he hasn’t. There’s a changing of the guard happening and we cannot afford to lose him now to get someone who doesn’t know these players or this club and probably can’t handle the job. Mourinho has no desire to raise young players at a club like United and if people are complaining about Amad’s lack of game time now, bring back Mourinho and see what happens. Also, if people don’t like our current style of play, do they think Ajax or Barca are knocking on his door? 😂 Zidane is waiting for the France job, people need to let that go. And the first thing he’d say is what we already know: he can’t win the league with most of these players.

We’ll take him! Got a nice right winger position he’ll fit perfectly into. 😁😁

You know what? We should sack Ten Hag and get Poch. That’s the manager most of the fans wanted two years ago, right? After all, he’s been less of a “fraud” than Ten Hag in the same time, Chelsea clearly have a better style of play and culture under him, and winning Ligue 1 with a squad that has Messi in it is actually harder than winning the Eredivisie with your best players constantly being cherry-picked by clubs like PSG, United, and Barca. Okay, he struggled to figure out how to play with three of the best attacking players in the world but, psh, details. Surely he can figure out Rashford, Højlund, and Antony (because he’d never play Garnacho since he sometimes doesn’t track back). Yes, let’s listen to the fans and give them the manager they originally wanted.

There’s an old West Indian saying: “If you won’t hear, you’ll feel.”

🅱️

“Sometimes people with the worst past end up creating the best future.”

— Unknown

The Cautionary Tale of Bayern Munich

I suppose you think I’m laughing when I look at Bayern’s league position because I just hate Bayern Munich, but that is not the case. I’m laughing because I remember when Guardiola was there and complaints about the style of play were beginning to surface (imagine that Premier League fans). There were complaints about their lack of success in the Champions League, like anyone else could do so much better. “He’s a fraud, he can’t win the Champions League without Messi, I don’t understand what he’s trying to do, it’s not good enough, it’s time for him to go.” Stop me if any of this sounds familiar.

Credit to Hansi Flick, though, who eventually won the continental treble fours years later in 2020 (a pandemic year so I put an asterisk on that). But then they got tired of him too. And when you look at them now, you can’t help but laugh because they had someone at the helm that could’ve built an absolute dynasty for them if they’d been more patient. Not that City is complaining, as Bayern’s loss has totally been their gain.

To me, it’s a cautionary tale when it comes to sacking managers. Some need to go soon after they get there, sure, but most you should probably stick with for a few years and build a team around them before you can really judge their work. Because you can chop and change all you like, but if you built a relegation squad, staying up under a new manager this season does NOT guarantee you’ll stay up the next. The same is true for finishing in a European position.

I understand the cost and toll of relegation or missing out on European football, I do. But these club owners fail to realize that most of the time they’re in these positions either because of their mismanagement or because of the mistakes made by people they hired and continued to retain despite their repeated failures. If you build a team that can’t win the Champions League and you don’t win it, whose fault is that? If you build a 6th place team and don’t win the league, whose fault is that? The media, pundits, former players, and fans all blame the manager, but these clubs build weak teams then wonder why the manager can’t make them strong. Or they sack the one who did the minute there’s any sign of a return to their actual level without truly examining the root causes for the regression.

I know I’m a bit unorthodox, and clearly I am for thinking that a manager who took over a 4th place team but now has them in 10th more deserves to be on the chopping block than a manager who took over a 5th place team and comfortably finished 3rd. Imagine what he could do if you built a 3rd place team and kept the squad healthy enough to field their ideal starting XI in 85% of their matches…like I said, I’m unorthodox. But then why is it working for the clubs that actually do it? Personally, I think they’re a little unorthodox, too, and it’s why they’re doing better than everyone else around them.

Is this your perch knocking manager??? Lmao this bald fraud better get sacked by the morning idgaf anymore. Sancho IN Ten Hag OUT

Oh please. Sancho isn’t the answer, I’ve said it before, and he absolutely proved it under two very different managers by the way. Frauds don’t play in Champions League semifinals, so parrot something smarter, please. The goal that kicked off the comeback was the result of a classic Dalot error that he’s been making since Mourinho brought him here. Casemiro intelligently assumed that Dalot would pick up Simms who was right in front of him and went to mark the player at the far post to and cover Onana. Instead, per usual, Dalot made the wrong decision and tried to mark a player he was never we going to reach because he was massively out of position yet again.

Our defensive frailty comes from having way too many players out there who aren’t fit enough or fast enough, and who lack the required intelligence and composure to make good decisions in critical moments and manage games. Ten Hag isn’t the reason Dalot blew a simple defensive assignment, but that’s what he’s working with. He’s made at least 3 critical mistakes in the last couple of games and it’s costing us. Add in the fact that our medical staff is so inept and the technology they’re using is so outdated that we’re down to one fit center back and we have no left backs.

Ten Hag never had seasons like this at Ajax because he had a far better structure, more competent staff, and better players around him. I stand by what I said: fix the administration and staff around him, improve the quality of the squad he has to coach, and then we judge him. I bet you we play better when we do. Me, I’d start off by removing McClaren and getting Patrick Viera who did a very good job at getting the Palace players to play a more sophisticated style of football. He’s not a #1 but I think he’d be a solid #2. Then I’d poach Gallagher since Chelsea need to balance their books and the fans don’t even appreciate him. Reunite those two and see how much we improve.

Be as condescending about spurs as you like, you couldn’t beat ‘em

Oh absolutely right. 😅 We’re not beating anyone of note lately. We beat Chelsea and then drop points against Spurs. I’m not happy about the direction we’re going in at all, we’re better than this. We had the firepower to put them away, even if we’re still leaking goals for fun.

Skinner’s halftime team talk should’ve been simple and concise: “Ladies, it’s Spurs.” Pick it up, let’s go. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

ESPN don’t do us like that 😭😭😭

Bye City. 👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾 Zis is football heritage. 🤍

I’ll take him over Gakpo thank you. 😎

the only yanited player ever 💗

📡

Brian Brobbey on the scoresheet again, as expected. Pick it up Ajax. 😁🙏🏾

HALF-TIME: United 2-1 Chelsea

45 minutes left...

Lucia Garcia you’re a gem of a freaking human! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

How long do you think till we become a proper title contender?

Depends on the recruitment and squad management. There are deficiencies and issues in the squad and the club that were present in 2013 that haven’t been resolved or even addressed more than 10 years later and we’ve only added to those deficiencies since then. If we sack the manager, most of the players will remain and we’re easily looking at another 10 years at least. Because better teams will poach our promising players while we flounder under a new and less experienced manager and we’ll have to start over from scratch again without a quality core of young players.

The age of Spurs’ squad has gone down while their speed, quality, and athleticism has gone up. They’ve also managed their money fairly well. It’s part of why Ange has been so successful in his first season. We went the other way, bringing in or re-signing a slew of slow, aging, and/or less technical players while selling our good young players. Also, that Spurs squad can actually play the way Ange wants, it’s built for him; our squad isn’t even close to being built for Ten Hag. If we don’t improve our recruitment, our finances, and squad management, it’s another a decade at least even if Ten goes.

Superb finish by Madueke, I’d keep starting him for the rest of the season. 🔥🔥

New manager, new staff specialists included and a new medical team needed in that order 😑

I wouldn’t switch the manager at all. I think we need to improve our coaching staff, I agree on the medical staff, and we still need to overhaul this squad. We’ve needed to clean out the squad for a couple of years now and we’ve done the complete opposite. No manager is doing much better with the injuries we’ve had and this shortage of quality and depth in key positions.

We overachieved last season thanks to this manager and we stayed fairly fit for a large part of it. We also had role players like Weghorst and Sabitzer who actually did what Ten Hag wanted. Take out the injuries, I think we finish 5th this season. These comeback performances are good for the team, we’re building a base that Ten Hag that can definitely build on. The actual results hurt us, but that fighting attitude is returning and we’ll need it next season. We’ve lost too many games and dropped too many points because we’d just roll over after we conceded.

Numbers don’t lie but they don’t always tell the whole story. Let’s see how the squad looks after the summer window. Hopefully INEOS actually does what they said they’d do and recruit better and younger players. 🧐