We’ve got a pretty bare mailbox amid the European Super League hangover. Please keep them coming to theeditor@football365.com.
We need to talk about Pogba
So recently i was talking to a fellow United fan who was singing praises of Pogba, and I couldn’t fathom WHY. Other than watch him play worse than Tom Cleverly in 8 out of 10 matches, his stats are some of the WORST for a midfielder in the league. I am talking from 1st down right to 20th. So let me make a list as to why Paul Pogba is one of the worst players to every grace the league and is a disgrace in a United shirt. And i am done defending or trying to have any kind of hope to “unlock” a player who has till now skated through life on nothing but good marketing and social media.
1. He adds nothing to the team other than attitude and arrogance
2. 3 assists in 23 games is abysmal, 1 more than Bissaka
3. 6% cross completion rate
4. A huge grand total of THREE big chances created this season in the league.
5. Has never been consistent, never turned the team around and made it better.
6. May have some impact in 1 in 10 games. Which is equivalent to the impact any random 10m player would have
7. People say “dont talk about the price” but i truly believe the 90m waste on this marketing exercise has cost United years of progress, and the 100’s spent later just the get this guy to work.
8. Impact and stats wise, i truly believe that we would be better off with any random kid plucked from Carrington than Mr. Paul Pogba.
9. There are at least a 100 players in the league who have a bigger impact than Paul Pogba for their teams. He is distinctly average.
I truly hope that we keep VDB and shift Pogba this season. People say he is a serial winner and so were Anderson, Cleverly and a lot of other below average players who just happened to be in a fantastic team with world class teammates.
Above and beyond that, no matter how shit a player is, fans always support him as long as they give 110%. I see pogba barely giving 40%, and the irritation he & Pogba cause is an added headache.
I truly wish he comes good, but I have been wishing on that for 5 years now and it’s really never going to happen. United bought & paid for a Rolex just to find out it’s from Chinatown, and now have no option but to hold on and hope they can dupe someone else into buying that rolex. Pogba combined with the Sanchez deal is what has set United back years, and I hope we learn and NEVER EVER make the same mistake again.
Cheers,
Aman (Like Di Maria, but worse)
Tottenham 2021 equals mid 90’s Newcastle
King Kev’s Newcastle were the nearly men of the 90’s Premier League. So close to glory but not quite. Keegan was replaced by born-winner Kenny Dalglish. League Champions at every club he has managed- except Newcastle. Under Kenny, Newcastle returned to midtable mediocrity, whilst losing a cup final, in which they were convincingly outplayed. At the same time the exciting attacking football of the Keegan years became a dour defensive battle with a star England centre forward. Next came an arrogant Dutchman and then a former England Manager.
So prediction time:
Spurs will appoint Eric Ten Hag who will fall out with the squad within 12 months
He will be followed by Gareth Southgate (or may Schteve McLaren……).
Harry Kane will remain, not quite the player he once was but still too good for Spurs.
ENIC will sell to a retail giant such as Amazon (or maybe Phillip Green….) after Daniel Levy is caught slagging off Harry Kane and calling Spurs fans as dogs
Much to look forward to….
NPR THFC
Spursy final hobbling
The League Cup final was the most one sided in recent memory, even though only a 1-0 win to City. Was it just Spurs bing Spursy? Just can’t believe sacking Mourinho the week before the final. Mason was getting all kinds of kudos for getting the interim job but Spurs were woeful. Was it just because they would have a harder time sacking Mourinho if he had won? Meaning it was a very Spursy thing to hobble yourself before something that happens so infrequently. A final.
Why Kane played the game from the start is beyond me. None of Spurs came out smelling of roses but when Kane is the focus but not playing well, the team folds. Spurs have previous. Their (only) other recent final – in the CL against Liverpool.
Part of the problem right now is that the focus seems to be on bringing in a manager that will make Kane and Som want to stay – like they still don’t have 2 or 3 years in their contract. If they are going to improve it has to be bringing in a top manager – who will set out with a plan and style not by pandering to a star player or two. In the CL semis, Spurs played with a lot of spirit and elan without Kane. They were trusted and repaid that trust with great performance and then turned to dross in the final when it became all about Kane. I love the guy and he is an exceptional player but one player teams will always live or die by that one player. Two finals. Kane crocked before both. Kane plays both. Spurs are shambolic in both.
Doesn’t this all just reinforce the question of why Spurs in the super league? Well, apart from having possibly the best stadium in Europe, it takes a 75% vote in the EPL to make major changes. With Spurs making it 6 out of 20, the other 14 clubs can’t force the changes they would want. At least that’s my theory.
Paul McDevitt
One VAR per half?
Quick reply to TX Bill on Danny Ceballos. No football fans anywhere want to see players diving and nobody really thinks that that very small touch from Richarlison is a foul. Against Fulham the week before Arsenal had a similar one go against them where Gabriel stepped on some guy’s toe and he threw himself upwards!
However, from an Arsenal perspective in the first half there was a bigger foul on Ceballos (maybe still not a pen) and a shove in the back on Saka on a break which could have got a yellow. Both times the players stayed on their feet and the ref did nothing. I am sure that someone said to the team at half time if you get a kick then go down. It isn’t exactly an original opinion but until refs stop rewarding diving over staying on your feet everyone will keep doing it, to the great detriment of football fans everywhere.
Another point on that VAR offside. From memory the offside for Pepe was about 7 or 8 touches before the goal (something similar happened with a Ceballos at Fulham the week before). At some point in the game Everton had a corner from a clear offside and if they scored from that it would have been less touches than the Pepe one. To me there is such an easy fix to VAR – make the captains or managers in charge of when it is used – they should have to be specific on the reason so in the Ceballos “dive” example they would have to say “insufficient contact” or “no contact made” then the VAR just checks if this was correct and doesn’t just go scrambling about for anything that could have happened in the build up.
One VAR check per half (if decision is overturned then you keep your check). This completely flips the conversation over so the onus is on the players not the ref or the faceless VAR operator.
Also, Everton were absolutely terrible, and slightly less terrible Arsenal should never have lost that.
Nice one,
James Warren
How much for the Leicester scouts?
Having just saw the news today that Bayern are paying €25m to sign Nagelsman from RB Leipzig, i was wondering if it would be possible for United to sign Leicester’s whole transfer and scouting department?
It’s crazy how often they sell their best player and sign another quality replacement (Mahrez being the only one they haven’t really replaced). They sold maguire and chilwell for major money and managed to sign replacements who are just as good for a fraction of the price (Fofana, Soyuncu, Castagne and Justin respectively). Whereas United seem to grossly overpay for severely average players eg fred… for the price of one fred we could have bought ndidi and tielemans
A very jealous longsight lad
Do we underrate African players?
This is my second successive mail about iheanacho, I sent one before the game against west brom after he scored the all important goal which took Leicester to their first ever fa cup final. Well it wasn’t published, so I ask again why do y’all always tend to underrate or underhype African players?
If kelechi was english, we’d be having article upon articles about him every second, every minute. Name a premier league striker better than him at the moment. I’ll wait…
Please let’s try and give credit to whom credit is due irrespective of where they are from.
Thank you.
Alaribe G, Festac Nigeria.
Football is broken
The fact that the richest team in england are about to win 8 out of 12 possible trophies is a testament to the fact that football is fundamentally broken.
I’ve talked before about certain teams insulation against failure, and how it really doesn’t matter if they succeed or fail because the club is just there to PR wash the images and finances of their owners. Success on the pitch is a bonus.
When you can spend as you please with no restriction on wages or fees and still be completely safe after a bad season you have a clear advantage over everyone else.
In order to prize one of those trophies away from bankchester city Liverpool had to be virtually perfect for almost two years (and it still needed city mismanaging their defence as well). That’s ludicrous really, no team before this period of football had ever needed to be virtually perfect to win one trophy. But now that ridiculous request is the minimum standard required to win one trophy in one season.
The prem league isn’t competitive – it just has the illusion of it because every now and then a lower placed team pulls out a surprising win. How is this different to bundesliga or Spain or Scotland?
Unlimited money is the steroids of football. We don’t let steroid infused athletes compete so why do we allow financial steroids in football?
Give every team a wage and transfer fee cap. Then money is irrelevant to a certain extent.
Lee
Coutinho Liverpool regret?
Hmmm I don’t see how on Earth Coutinho would regret leaving Liverpool. He missed out on:
> 1 champions league
> 1 league title
Him leaving has seen him win:
> 1 league title
> 1 league cup
> 1 league title (again)
> 1 league cup (in another nation)
> 1 league title (that’s 3, for those counting)
> 1 champions league (this concluding a treble!)
> 1 league cup
And, if Barcelona win their game in hand, they go clear in La Liga, giving him an extremely good chance of winning a 4th league title.
I’m a bit confused on this one…
Andrew M, Australia
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