Send your thoughts on Liverpool, Man Utd, Trent Alexander-Arnold or anything else to theeditor@football365.com…
The Trent can’t defend narrative needs to stop
Fair play to the previous mailer for emphasising the importance of Big Virgil’s communication to Liverpool’s backline, we can all see the fallout from this being missing.
But to then seemingly contradict that view by saying that Trent simply can’t defend is incorrect, and seems to be part of an ongoing narrative that Trent is unable to defend at all. I concede it is not his strongest suit, but clearly he can defend, and has defended very well, to the extent that he has been part of the best defence in the league two years running.
2018-19: Fewest goals conceded: Liverpool
2019-20: Fewest goals conceded: Liverpool
2020-21: Fewest goals conceded: Manchester City (Statistics correct to 5th April 2021)
What could possibly account for this season’s shift from Liverpool to City? I mean nothing else has changed except Trent’s form right? The City squad is the same, the Liverpool starting eleven is the same? Aren’t they? Anyone?
Morgan (unless VVD is that good that he can compensate for having a training cone alongside him?) Goford
Man Utd slowness
Its becoming increasingly frustrating watching man utd amble their way up the pitch and then not know what to do when faced with 2 lines of defence, If I can see a problem with this then surely the manager and coaching staff at united can see I too?
Having watched two brilliant games on the previous nights in the champions league the contrast between the football united play and the football being played by better teams is stark. Quick balls forward to catch out a high line (united did do this a couple of times and once to great effect) and quick, forward passes from defenders and midfielders therefore not allowing the opposition time to get back into their two banks of 4/5. It seems fairly obvious to me that quick forward passing is the key to success, it leaves more space to play in so that we are not relying on finding tiny gaps to exploit and usually failing to do so.
It makes me wonder if this is on purpose, does Ole really send the players out to slowly move the ball up the field every game? Or is it the players choosing to do so? Most of our passes are sideways or backwards, most players choose the safe pass. This may be because they are too scared of making a mistake or don’t trust the players behind them to clean up the mess if they make a mistake. A lack of risk taking is what is stopping this team from becoming better and surpassing Mourinho and van Gaals teams who were also very keen on taking things slowly.
I’m just a guy who watches football but if I were Ole I’d have the players practicing quick passing in training until they can do it on the pitch or he will never get us back to the top. Maybe the players are incapable of doing this but they are supposed to be top level footballers. 2-0 is a decent result and we should get through but we need to start speeding things up as there will be tougher opponents in the next round.
Neil, Glasgow
The record is stuck…
It would appear that Manchester United are a total mystery. No one knows how they can be second in the Premier (”hardest League in the World Copyright” ) League. They have no tactics, no ideas, and the keep relying, over and over on moments of magic (copyright all commentators).
They don’t even have a manager, really, because when Ole was appointed the story was created and the media have stuck to it ever since. A non-data approach of the data dominated 21st Century. He is a temp, they can’t really be serious, he’ll be there for a few months, he’ll be a disaster.
So rather than look at the facts, it is the story that is being perpetrated. It has to be luck , individual brilliance, because we can’t have been wrong! He can’t actually be doing a good job. OK so they have swung 30 points on Liverpool, and are comfortably second, but….
It occurs to me that it was the same when he was playing against the big European teams, He would come on after 65 minutes, and the opposition would look at him and smile “They’ve brought a kid on” whereupon he would dander past them, score a couple and they would be left scratching their heads. A bit like the media today.
Tim
Irony irony they’ve all got it infamy
The irony of United fans writing in to defend their young players whilst simultaneously complaining about me doing precisely that for Trent, is only matched by the irony in me asking for more measured expectations of younger players, in a message that came across as hypersensitive polemic.
I would like to set the record straight on Rashford if I may. I genuinely love the guy. For his football (I remember his breakthrough into the United and England teams as singularly thrilling) and his holding the government to account (in a way that nobody else seems to be able to do, with the press in particular abdicating their responsibilities in this regard) and the successful outcomes that he has delivered for underprivileged children. The fact that it is a young successful black man doing all of this makes it even better.
I thought I had made that clear with the words “good on him for doing so” but clearly this didn’t cut through the rest of the perhaps slightly reactionary and negative prose. My intent was to highlight that the pressure that is put on all young players from all teams is unfair, and that young players should be allowed dips in form and to make mistakes without being unfairly written off, or pilloried by the media. I sincerely hope this isn’t a controversial notion.
Furthermore, on Liverpool’s and Klopp’s failings this season – I can see what everybody else can see. Liverpool have been utter garbage, and Klopp has been a contributary factor in just how abject we have been. Again, a more nuanced response is merited here, same as it is for Trent. It is okay to acknowledge that there have been other factors in Pool’s undeniable decline this season. Liverpool is not a rubbish team who had two freakishly lucky seasons and are now reverting to their actual level. Same goes for Klopp – his track record proves he is a good manager. I am aware that things collapsed at Dortmund and obvs if the same thing happens with Liverpool next season, then clearly there is a trend to be identified, but that hasn’t happened yet. For both the team and Klopp, only time will tell if they are at the end of their journey as a successful partnership.
As for Trent, he is without doubt having a poor season, particularly in defence, which is (or should be) the main criteria for evaluating a right back, regardless of the system and the players around him (or not around him), and it is fair to highlight this and criticise him for this. In my view though, it is not fair to write him off as a luxury player who believes his own hype and doesn’t care about defending (cheers Carra – you don’t have to be the exact opposite of the Neviller in terms of bias you know). He’s just having a very poor season. It is not true or fair to place all of Liverpool’s woes at his feet. Similarly, it’s not fair to build him up too much as ‘only ever going to get better’ – this might not happen, and the unreasonable expectations this kind of commentary fuel is a big part of the problem.
(Alanis) Morgan Goford
11 end of the season predictions based on the last few weeks
1) No matter what happens in the reverse leg, from this point onwards, everytime F365 writes an article about Poch, it will inevitably mention that he beat Bayern Munich.
2) Despite people pretending that Liverpool are suddenly all crap and ignoring that the true piece of crap is EPL, they’ll comfortably make top 4 and will likely finish second or third.
3) Leicester & West Ham will both drop out of top 4 and Chelsea will join Liverpool in their place.
4) Newcastle won’t be relegated. Because you want them to. You’d love that to happen. And those things never happen. Just by a c*ck’s hair to further piss us off. They’ll forever be in the EPL with same articles being written about them forever.
5) Media will begin the witch hunt on Mourinho. They’ll look for anything to reinforce their “told you so” belief no matter how forced and manufactured it seems to reasonable eyes. Mourinho won’t help the situation though with his broody and twitchy self, by the way. And we will see more of the same old boring content from F365.
6) One of Chelsea or City will win the Champions League and the world will suddenly remember how sugar daddies are evil but their club owners are most certainly complete saints running transparent businesses because remember only Sheikhs and Russians are evil.
7) No one will be wiser on what Man Utd are or should Ole stay or go
8) Bielsa will get bored of Leeds.
9) Crystal Palace will stay irrelevant. Sorry Ed.
10) Everton will suffer a massive meltdown next season if not in the closing stages of this season.
11) England will win the Euros and Germany will not qualify for the World Cup (This is the equivalent of Phil Neville)
The Vocal Minority
Where next for Haaland, (I would love to ask him…)
Reading Calvino’s little list this morning about Haaland was funny, but then I realised he was a Utd fan, so it all made sense.
And as a slight aside, his suggested flippancy that Chelsea can ‘through in’ Werner, another expensive failure, is everything that is wrong with football these days. Among many others (any of Citeh’s failed CB experiments) see Claudio Bravo: not being good enough for Pep after one season, so hey, let’s just buy another expensive GK (Ederson) the following year. This trial-and-error technique is hilarious.
I digress, Calvino misses the point about how Liverpool sign players, and almost included Liverpool in that list as an opportunity to take a dig. Again, par for the course for a Utd fan. And before I go any further, winning a PL league and a CL without spending such figures is fine by me.
Everyone knows we have made a point of buying players with the potential to become world class players. See Salah, Mane, Firmino (OK, last two years), Fabinho and even Robbo. As we know, Klopp saw their potential and that they could become what he needed, with, get this… a bit of coaching. Mad right? A coach actually coaching players, rather than just picking a team.
We can’t afford a 200m outlay on some ready-made superstar, but then any ‘normal’ club who are run like a proper business generally can’t and most of their fans are fine with that. We appreciate that part of a decent coach’s job is improving players and helping them to become what they need them to be.
We won’t sign Haaland, and that’s fine. We never expected too. There are plenty of other players who will cost an eighth of his 200m tag who can be coached, improved, and moulded into what we need.
Ignoring all the rumours flying around I would love to ask Haaland which coach he would rather work under, rather than him just going to where he (and his agent) will earn most money.
I enjoy seeing players come in with potential and improve, but it’s not something I’d expect a United fan to fully appreciate. Not with Ole ‘super coach’ at the wheel.
Some clubs only go for readymade. Ironically, and bizarrely, it’s their limit.
Pablo
Pipe dream musing about Kane/Haaland
I was having a conversation the other day about whether I’d rather United signed Kane or Haaland if, for instance, you could get one or the other for approx 120 million this summer. My initial response was “of course Haaland because of his age…Kane is 27 etc etc”. However since thinking about it I’ve totally u-turned.
With Haaland you get a supposed “generational” talent who is unproven in the Premier League whereas Kane is proven in the prem and would guarantee goals. Also, there’s no way you’re keeping Haaland there in the long-term, the Raiola machine would start turning and he’d be looking at going abroad. Maybe I’m short-sighted but I reckon there would be less chance of that with Kane. Just a sense I have.
Anyway, my main point is this: yes Kane is pushing 28 but so what? We are moving away from the previous generation of footballers where they are massively on the wane by the time they hit 32. With sports science and nutrition yada yada yada there’s no saying he couldn’t do a Giggs or an Ibrahimovic and play til he’s nearly 40. Yes, he’s had his injuries but not big ones that I can remember (cba googling). United would also have a player that- like Giggs- could do a job for you in midfield much like Giggsy did at the end of his career. Kane certainly has the skillset. I think it would be a cracking singing even if it was 3 figures. You’re potentially getting a talismanic leader for 10 years. Well worth it in ‘today’s market’.
So in conclusion, I would rather United smashed their transfer record for Harry Kane than Haaland and what better time than now with Kane surely totally jaded by his time at Spurs?
Oh and this has absolutely nothing to with Haaland clearly being a bert of massive proportions.
Bill Phone (Man United Fan)
Goals
I liked F365’s knowledge based analysis of Spurs v Utd which predicts “a dull game”. However, my uneducated gut analysis predicts it’ll be at least 3 goals and something really funny will happen.
Aidan, Lfc (this is why I never gamble)
British football journalism is terrible
After a week of banging on about how the Spurs squad was “baffled” and upset about Jose’s lie with regards to Toby Alderweireld’s exclusion from the Newcastle game – one that was shown to be a lie by the club’s own official website and social media sites posting pictures and videos of him participating on Thursday and Friday; said journalist got the chance to question him and seek an explanation for their readers at his press conference today….
But not a single one bothered to!!! Shameful!!! The whole of them are either just yes men and s**t stirrers!!!! Not one is interested in reporting the truth to fans!
Sigh…
Paul (Spurs), T.Wells
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