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‘Brexit team’ Man United
The many issues of this Man Utd team has been the source of many a comment. But no one seems to want to really say what the problem is and keep dancing around it. This applies to this sites writers, other outlets, the fans etc. Its always the Glazers this, Ole that, the players this, the fans that and I call bulls**t
Looking at it objectively the problem is United are a Brexit team. Yes i said it! And thats why we will never win until that changes.
Let me elaborate why I say this:
1) Brexit, MAGA and all other simillar movements are based on a fear that the foreigns are taking our jobs/replacing us rhetoric.
In these case its the qualified foreigners running the succesful EPL teams as managers technical directors etc (City, the scouse team, Chelsea, even Wolves come to mind).
2) This results in nostalgia for the good old days, to a precieved time when the group who believes they are disenfranchised are on top.
In this case harking back to the good old days where the team was formed by a backbone of British players and manager. (Mind you we did not achieve as much as we can in Europe at this time even with SAF)
3) The next step is taking reactionary action like Brexit in an attempt to go back to the good old days without considering, maybe the good old days happened, because information wasnt as easily accessible in the past and people from all corners of the world didn’t compete on a (sort of) level playing field as they sort of do now.
In Man Utds case this manifests in actions such as
– hiring unqualified Brits (the guy now managing the hammers, Fletcher, carrick, giggs etc)
– buying British players that are not good enough (Mcguire, James etc)
– reinstating figures from the ‘glorious past’ without adequate qualification, read Ole, as he knows the United way.
As long as this continues we will always lag behind other more worldly teams. they will continue to replenish their talent pool on and off the pitch with qualified people regadless of where they are from while we seek to capture the glory of the past in a world that has left us and will continue to leave us behind.
I am sure this wont be published but I dare you to
Mike, Atlanta
Grealish to United?
Just why is Jack Grealish being linked with man utd? I mean he is a really good player and anyone would want to have him but I don’t see why. Now assuming man utd sign Grealish, what happens then? You ask the coach to drop Rashford for him or Fernandes? I don’t really get it, that is not to say that rashford or Fernandes are better than him or vice versa but you can’t tell me you are buying an 80 million pound player as a squad player! So to me signing Grealish no matter how good a player he is will just highlight the shortcomings of man utd’s recruitment process. If you want a player who is good enough and will be happy to fight for places then surely someone like Barnes will be a better option. Going into who man utd need, I think it is clear they still need Sancho, he should be the top priority, I mean how does a club who want to play with wingers not have a natural right winger for their first team and remain absolutely fine with it, just who is in charge there! They clearly also lack a DM, Matic is the only DM and we saw his shortcomings against Leicester, so I think the club should be looking for younger, faster options like Ndidi or Rice, though, going by the logic of our good friend Louis Van Gaal that man utd can sign anyone then we should be aiming for the man who dominates the midfield and dictates the tempo with such ease and confidence – Joshua Kimmich. As for Haaland, I will advice that we just forget about that one for now, pray Dortmund play hard to get and then get him when his release clause kicks in. In the mean time, we should get Sergio Ageuro for the season and lastly, for CB, I think Pau Torres will be a good fit but kounde might be even better. If you still want competition at RB, then by all means, get your Aarons.
Sadiq, Abuja
Solskjaer out
Please Solskjaer has to go.
For three years, he has not done anything to improve the team, despite having a good and
decent team.
He is a nearly man and with no pedigree to lead a club of Manchester United’s magnitude.
Other managers with less quality squads are doing a decent job, not Solskjaer.
He doesn’t know how to get the best of his squads and had lost countless quarterfinals and semifinals.
How can he be trusted with bringing United to the Holy Grail of champions and cup-winners.
Kadir Muhaideen, Life-long die-hard MU Fan
Sir Bobby bullsh*t
I’m sorry Mackem Dave but that is just bollocks. I had a season ticket with Newcastle for years (only gioving up a few years ago as a refusal to give ashley any more of my money but that’s a different story). This misremembered narrative of the fans removing Sir Bobby is bullshit. There is a vocal minority at the club just like all clubs that would say crap like that and this gets made into a big misremembered tale by the grateful media, he was treat dreadfully but this was by shepherd and co. not the fans who adored and still adore him, from going to all the games i knew noone who genuinely felt this way and any calls for that were very much the minority.
This is like claiming all Man U fans wanted Ferguson out when things weren’t going their way or that all Liverpool fans want Klopp gone because they’re having a tougher year this time, it’s bollocks amplified by gleeful press so please take your misremembered shit elsewhere thanks
Davie NUFC (The horse punch is embarrassing and shameful though admittedly)
In response to Dave from Dublin (Bobby Robson/Souness comments) I have to call that out. I don’t recall a single NUFC fan being happy (indeed there was a lot of sadness) about the decision of the board to sack Sir Bobby, in particular as Souness was a having a horror-show at Blackburn and likely on the verge of being sacked. I believe he was eventually replaced by Mark Hughes who did quite well, but don’t tell Mike Ashley as Sparky will pop up at St James’ before we know it….
On the plus side it has raised the point that all the pundits/trolls tend to ignore. They say Newcastle fans are living in the 90s but in reality we’re dreaming of the Pre-Ashley era. Despite some Dalglish & others inspired drops, from the mid 90s till Ashley’s takeover we were largely in and around the European Spots (we were in the top 5, 5 times from 1995-2005 of, the majority of these finishes were not when led by Keegan but by Sir Bobby) before Ashley’s takeover.
Naturally as a team with at the time I believe still the 2nd/3rd largest capacity stadium in the league, a large following, decent turnover and a talented squad we dreamed of European qualification and maybe sillverware which wasn’t unrealistic at all considering the above. While you can’t predict the alternative universe in which a Russian-Israeli sugar-daddy decides he likes the North Eastern coastal air or even a ‘normal’ owner comes in there’s a decent chance NUFC are being talked about as a Spurs level club right now in those circumstances.
With that in mind one genuine question for the F365 community, is there a ‘bigger’ or comparable club to Newcastle who haven’t won a major (not including Intertoto or Championship here) trophy since the Inter-city fairs cup in 68-69….? It seems every other club has won at least a League cup. But perhaps that’s just us being classic Newcastle fans, asking for way too much.
Tarqs, Woolwich, NUFC
Average Southgate
Southgate has been manager for almost 5 years now and I don’t recall him winning many matches that England weren’t expected to win. Many would point to his success at the 2018 World Cup as a major success but again that proves my point. The side, possessing quite a few stars, did not win any matches they were not expected to win.
In the group stages, they finished behind Belgium, the only half decent team in the group. Going forward in the knockout stages, they beat Colombia (but then only on penalties), Sweden and lost to Croatia. Looking at the quality of the squad, there is a strong argument that they should have won all 3 matches and that they only got so far thanks to an extremely lucky draw.
When it comes to international teams, the coach/manager does not have the task of actually coaching the players.The majority, if not the entire responsibility is borne by the manager of the respective clubs. The job then requires managers like Zidane who may not necessarily be the best coaches or tacticians, but good man managers and able to pick the best team.
Southgate’s man management skills, in my opinion, are just average. What is more glaring, is that even after 5 years on the job, he has not been able to identify his strongest team when the squad is packed with talent. If you look at it, the team more or less picks itself.
Let’s start with the attack. It would be insane to pick anyone other than Kane as first choice striker. On either side of him, Rashford and Sterling are the best attacking threats while Foden is more than an able backup.
On to midfield. Henderson has done a stellar job and been one of the key players in a Liverpool side that has won the PL and CL title. So Henderson is our pick for defensive/central midfield. For attacking midfield (2 players), choose between Graelish, Maddison and Mason Mount.
On to the defense. On Current form, Shaw is the obvious side while on the other side, Trent is the way to go despite recent form. Trippier is a good backup choice if not Trent. Bissaka, if the manager wants to be a bit more conservatice. The center backs is the only difficult decision owing to a variety of good but not great options. On current form, Stones and Magire could be the best choice.
Now this is a side that could go places. Just need a manager who has the sense to pick this team.
Adeel
Another ‘stupid tale’
In response to Bladey Mick’s email about vasectomy pain at football I have my own stupid tale.
I got lucky enough to spend a long time in Buenos Aires and pretty much watched the full Clausura season a long time ago. My team was River but we’d also go and see Boca a lot as well.
Boca ended up on course to win the league and we got tickets to the game where they’d likely seal the league victory. We were told to get there early as it was going to be insane and you wouldn’t get anywhere near the stadium within 2 hours of kick off. We got ourselves ‘tipsy’ and made our way down to the stadium.
For some reason I decided I’d wear my River socks which if you know the rivalry between the two clubs, that enough is a massive deal and bordering on rank stupidity. Anyway, we made our way up the rickety stairs and onto the top shelf at La Bombonera and despite the game being at least 3 hours away it was genuinely a site that took your breath away. People were going nuts and there was so much to look at. Unfortunately for me, I was paying too much attention to the crowd, tripped over a stair and stacked on the floor in front of a lot of Boca fans, who just laughed at me. I sprained my ankle and it was very painful.
Argentine girls are very good looking and this vision in Blue and Gold decided to come to my aid as my mates were too busy laughing and reached down to pull my trousers up and check my ankle for me. The brief niceties of this girl touching my ankle suddenly became terror as I realised she’d pull my jeans up and expose my socks for all to see. An Englishman wearing River colours, at Boca’s stadium was going to end very badly. I suddenly had to shove her off as she kept trying to pull my trousers up and literally had to shout in her face not to. Of course this made me a) look an arsehole and b) really weird and c) everybody decided they wanted to beat me up anyway. I just had to get up and run away as fast as my battered ankle would let me.
The rest of the game was spent with me wearing a hat to cover my fairly distinctive hair and stand on my ankle for a good 5 hours until we could leave the stadium and then walk about 2 miles until we could get a taxi.
100% won’t make that mistake again.
Lee, Hornsey
p.s. As an aside, if anybody knows the Barra Bravas shop in Bond Street Shopping, my friend wandered in there wearing a River tracksuit top and the pitbull serving behind the counter just growled River at him and he had to run out.
The right to qualify
Mike, LFC, London claims there is no reason for teams like Andorra or San Marino to be involved in World Cup qualifying. The obvious counterpoint to that argument is that Andorra and San Marino are sovereign states (in the case of San Marino, the oldest still extant state in the world,) so have every right to be considered a part of the community of nations.
Unlike, say, England.
Dara O’Reilly
One club nationality XIs
In response to Tom from Walthamstow I present the AC Milan Brazilian XI.
GK – Dida
RB – Cafu
CB – Alex
CB – Thiago Silva
LB – Serginho
CM – Emerson
CM – Leonardo
RAM – Rivaldo
CAM – Kaka
LAM – Ronaldinho
ST – Pato
It wouldn’t even matter that Pato didn’t live up to his potential with those 3 behind him, the entertainment factor would certainly be there but I suspect they might be vulnerable on the counter-attack!
Thom, Bristol
I don’t know about Barcelona’s Argentinians but Milan could field their own Selacaõ which would put up a decent show.
Dida
Serginho/Thiago Silva/Alex/Cafu
Emerson/Leonardo
Rivaldo/Kaka/Ronaldinho
Ronaldo
Manchester United had a decent spine of Dutch players but then you had dross like Buttner filling gaps so I gave up.
ThaiWolf, HK
Naz, I know I was being a bit cheeky with Gabriel Paulista, but he did qualify for Spanish citizenship in 2020 and said he was declaring himself available, so in (at the expense of poor Ignasi Miquel) he goes! As for Warmuz, sadly the pursuit of Sebastian Frey never turned into purchase and I didn’t want Cygan in goal.
I definitely missed a trick with Barca’s Brazilians and Dutch, but the opportunity to have Messi and Maradonna in the same team was too much to pass on, even if it is very unbalanced. Poor Mascherano.
AC Milan’s Brazilians would also be unbelievable if you got some of them at their peaks for other clubs.
My favourite thing about Arsenal’s French squad is the ridiculous depth of very mediocre centre backs. A veritable plunge pool of underhit backpasses, turning circles like Suez Canal-stricken container ships and a few hilarious own goals thrown in.
Tom, Walthamstow
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