Non-Boro Football

[Old Codger 3,511 4.1k]

In past years (50's, 60's, 90's), they have been a club that had success when the team had a core of players that had come through the system together and had the willingness to work for each other. The present lot are talented but seem to lack togetherness and lesser teams that have it are able to pick them off and exploit their weaknesses. The ease with which Lammers ran through last week is a sign of something lacking in the players attitude and that cannot be changed overnight. Manager might be different out of view but does not appear to be inspirational enough to change it. Like many, I feel that they have an inflated view of themselves but for the sake of those who would watch them on a wet winter's night, I hope they can fix it in about 300 years or so 🙂   

[JTG 3,119 3.1k]

50 minutes ago, TeaCider24 said:

They gave Ole Gunnar Solskjær the job whilst he was at Molde after failing miserably at Cardiff.

They've done it before, they could do it again.

I don't think they will though, we can rest easy.

True but it was originally only on an interim basis, and they've got Ruud to do that now.

[Rob 5,371 8.3k]

3 hours ago, AnglianRed said:

I think at this point what they really need is another Fergie-type character.

Someone who will give the hairdryer treatment and throw a few teacups in the dressing room and be prepared to bench ANY player if they're not pulling their weight. Maybe even play some kids to show up the senior players. Also someone who wouldn't be afraid to stand up to the board.

Since SAF (Mourinho aside) they've basically had fairly compliant managers - people who will do as they're told and not make a fuss.

Just my 2 cents but it seems they've had a poor recruitment policy, spending stupid amounts of money on players that don't fit the team, creating an unbalanced squad. Quite a few also seem to have a poor work ethic / attitude (Fernandes seems to be copping the most stick on that score).

They don't just need a good manager, they need someone who will be able to have some influence on transfers...not just try to work with what they're given.

I think they've proven that simply changing the manager is not the answer. There needs to be more fundamental changes to let the manager build a functional squad and a better culture.

need an elite manager for sure, I only want southgate in as love the circus of them failing, but always said they need and elite manager who knows how to deal with the prima donna players they have and also they tend to respect them managers too.

too many recent ones since mourinhio I honestly think certain players there probs have thought they are way bigger player or have more status in the game than ole/ralf ranjik/finish tenth hag, so when they disagree or things are not going their way they probs don't believe in them. Like i used to think when ronaldo disagrees with Ole he probs can't help to think what have you done to know better than me? you were the guy who used to come off the bench, same with ten haag done well at ajax but always seems like a club thats setup right for a very long period of time so not to take anything away from him but its not going to be like trying to compete to be a champions league club in england, which is probs the hardest battle there is in a league even if your one of the regulars in there.

its also a massive balancing act, because if you try to force your authority like ten has it can backfire spectacularly and make things worse if the players do not have your respect. 

he tried to do it with ronaldo, and ended up costing man utd 13m+ that they paid for him by creating a situation that set him up to get released from his contract. screwed sancho up as well, unless a new manager gets him back on side it seems clear that he will be sold for about a 3rd of what they paid for them if he just don't think screw them I'll do another season out on loan and get a free transfer, I would if it was me.

so far they only recovered 7m from his loan plus 200k a week of his 300k+ wages, he was on loan and out of favour most season so that 7m probs just covered the short fall of wages and the first 6 months while he was at utd, and thats after paying I think approx 75m 

not easy to come into any workplace and change the culture and get more out of people who have got used to having things their way. can only take a special manager and one who knows the right people to make an example of and the right way to do it. haag dont really have a clue, im certain the players are just riding this out now 

 

the owners are useless again, jim knows no better than the glazers, bottled sacking him when it was universally accepted he should be gone because they fluked a semi final vs coventry and won the fa cup. very clever now that they let him spunk 200m for a second season running and you know the next persons going to rip up the script there and their gonna have more players leaving on loan cos no one will pay what they paid for them. 

 

but love to see southgate in as you know this will only continue and I love to see it personally with my brother being a man utd fan since he was a kid, since the 2nd season in the premier league, just a co-incidence they won the league that year lol 

[Old Codger 3,511 4.1k]

I think it is time for an old head to take the reins, someone with a bit of charisma like Uncle Tony, Roy Hodgson or Steve Bruce, or the man management skills of Roy Keane, Mr Warnock or even Bielsa .. "we are only three goals down, if eight of you run forward at the same time, we can easily win this". Whoever gets it will be well recompensed but it is rapidly becoming a graveyard job that kills careers in its tracks. The policy of buying in players with more media presence than on pitch activity has put the club where it deserves to be and as much as I hate to say it, if they want to get back to the position they think they are entitled to, they need to become more like the other big club in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stockport County ....     .

[RiseAgainst 4,146 3.6k]

It feels like United (ironic name) have tried it all managerially. Authoritarians - Mourinho and van Gaal. Club legends - OGS, Giggs. New-to-England imports - Wrongnick and Erik Tenth Hag.

Nothing has worked, partly because they've bought vanity-signing individuals rather than building a coherent squad, but also because many of the players have an innate arrogance about them. They're not joining United to win the Champions League (partly because Man U aren't in it that frequently), or even the Premier League. They're going because the club has shovelled some obscene sums of money towards truly indifferent performers (Pogba, Lukaku, Sanchez, di Maria, Sancho, Depay, etc etc). The club has become a paypig (Google it).

There's no accountability among these players, who are rich beyond the dreams of Creosote (yes, I know), so they turn out mid-table performances and the club finishes mid-table. It's not about the manager any more - the club needs root and branch reform of its entire signing policy and long-term squad strategy.

Until then, well, I doubt any popcorn manufacturers will go out of business.

[wilsoncgp 9,495 19.5k]

18 hours ago, RiseAgainst said:

It feels like United (ironic name) have tried it all managerially. Authoritarians - Mourinho and van Gaal. Club legends - OGS, Giggs. New-to-England imports - Wrongnick and Erik Tenth Hag.

Nothing has worked, partly because they've bought vanity-signing individuals rather than building a coherent squad, but also because many of the players have an innate arrogance about them. They're not joining United to win the Champions League (partly because Man U aren't in it that frequently), or even the Premier League. They're going because the club has shovelled some obscene sums of money towards truly indifferent performers (Pogba, Lukaku, Sanchez, di Maria, Sancho, Depay, etc etc). The club has become a paypig (Google it).

There's no accountability among these players, who are rich beyond the dreams of Creosote (yes, I know), so they turn out mid-table performances and the club finishes mid-table. It's not about the manager any more - the club needs root and branch reform of its entire signing policy and long-term squad strategy.

Until then, well, I doubt any popcorn manufacturers will go out of business.

There's genuinely a part of me that reckons they'd sooner win a league title if they dropped down to the National League and built themselves back up from there.

[AnglianRed 6,623 16.1k]

22 minutes ago, wilsoncgp said:

There's genuinely a part of me that reckons they'd sooner win a league title if they dropped down to the National League and built themselves back up from there.

They'd face some stiff competition from their "noisy neighbours" Salford when they got to League 2.

[Old Codger 3,511 4.1k]

Dortmund 5 Celtic 1....  half time soon though

[TeaCider24 14,161 18.9k]

Great from Hackney, phew.

[RiseAgainst 4,146 3.6k]

1 hour ago, Old Codger said:

Dortmund 5 Celtic 1....  half time soon though

According to the BBC, Brendan Rodgers is the only manager to witness his team concede seven goals in a Champions League game more than once. He's actually done it three times now. 

[Old Codger 3,511 4.1k]

17 minutes ago, RiseAgainst said:

According to the BBC, Brendan Rodgers is the only manager to witness his team concede seven goals in a Champions League game more than once. He's actually done it three times now. 

I like the guy but there comes a time when he needs to learn about this innovative tactic called "parking the bus". His only problem is they were so poor defensively, they would probably need a real bus. Sadly their difficulty is that they are so far ahead of most of their League opponents that they have nothing to stretch them and unless the SFA finds some way to change that, this will keep happening and they will just have to accept that.  

[BoroDave4 1,194 3k]

I can't say I really understand the new Champions League format (and to be fair I've not really cared to read into it) but I wonder if either the format or team expansion has finally gone too far? There's been some unusually big results so far, sevens, a nine, it seems as an outsider looking in that it's less competitive this season so far?

[OldManGravz 1,726 5.7k]

30 minutes ago, BoroDave4 said:

I can't say I really understand the new Champions League format (and to be fair I've not really cared to read into it) but I wonder if either the format or team expansion has finally gone too far? There's been some unusually big results so far, sevens, a nine, it seems as an outsider looking in that it's less competitive this season so far?

The 32/36 (can't remember which is correct) teams are organised into 4 pots, similar to how they were before so league leaders in pot a etc. You play 8 games in the league, two from pot A, 2 from Pot B etc.

The main issue is the league itself. Top 8 go through to the last 16 automatically. 9-24 get put into a draw for 16 playoff games, with the 8 winners of those games advancing to the last 16 to play the Top 8 from the league.

Because so many teams qualify, they reckon you only need about 9 points over 8 games to at least make the playoffs. Someone like Slovan Bratislava isn't gonna focus on a game against City and go full pelt when they could be playing Sparta Prague next week, it's better to avoid injuries for the winnable game by going to half speed when you're expected to lose

[RiseAgainst 4,146 3.6k]

9 hours ago, Old Codger said:

I like the guy but there comes a time when he needs to learn about this innovative tactic called "parking the bus". His only problem is they were so poor defensively, they would probably need a real bus. Sadly their difficulty is that they are so far ahead of most of their League opponents that they have nothing to stretch them and unless the SFA finds some way to change that, this will keep happening and they will just have to accept that.  

I agree Celtic are a piranha in a tank of neon tetras, but in fairness, Aberdeen are keeping pace with them so far, and the other lot can only improve based on what I saw in the derby.

[Neverbefore 12,504 26.8k]

3 minutes ago, RiseAgainst said:

I agree Celtic are a piranha in a tank of neon tetras, but in fairness, Aberdeen are keeping pace with them so far, and the other lot can only improve based on what I saw in the derby.

Celtic won their first game 5-1 so bit unfair to call them that after a crap result away at one of the biggest clubs in Europe.