Men's Soccer (Football) Thread [ARCHIVED] Soccer • Page 1117

I know I said I was done defending him, but when you look at everything as a whole, Nuno probably deserves a little more time before we just label him as a failure. He was hired fairly late into the summer. Immediately had to deal with the Kane drama on top of the already hectic Euro summer training camp. Toss in Paratici being hired and being all over the place with his targets.

Despite all of that, we came out and played a fantastic match and defeated City to open the season. The next two matches weren’t as impressive, but we were 3-0. He was manager of the month. Then the international break happened. Son and Skipp injured. Lo Celso, Romero, Sanchez forced to quarantine in Croatia for 10 days after returning from the break. Play Palace with a mishmash team, surviving with a draw until we went a man down and then it fell apart. Then Bergwijn and Lucas pick up injuries. Get trounced by Chelsea, but were the better team in the first half (makes it more depressing).

NLD comes around and he just gets everything wrong. One of the worst 45 minutes I’ve seen from us. The only credit you can give him is that he made two great subs at halftime. Arsenal obviously stepped off the glass but we looked way more comfortable and competent.

I know yesterday was just terrible. But he’s had endless shit to deal with since he arrived. I can’t say I’m very excited about Nuno being the manager, but I do feel bad for him. These players showed that same lack of effort to both Poch and Jose. It’s nothing new. Managing Spurs ain’t easy.

 

I want to see this team try and defend.

 

i love the idea of Shaw at centre back and Varane at left back.

 

Haha might need your quickest defender at left back to cover for all the defending Ronaldo and Pogba aren't going to do.

 

I think Cavani is the only one of that front 6 that can put in a decent shift pressing in the opponents half, McTominay can do it but he's not that much of a forward presser and strays from position too much when doing it. It would be hilarious to watch to be fair.

 

McTominay would be stuck covering all the players in front of him.

So easy to see all the potential breakdowns. You'd have to play with extreme control in possession and that's not what that team is built for. Very little defensive ability in front of Shaw, easy to overload that side, or switch it between the lines if Pogba covers. Maguire's lack of pace would be more exposed in covering Shaw, defence wouldn't be sure whether to squeeze or drop off and delay. No balance at all. Fernandes would have to drop deeper and deeper to offset it. Probably more reliant on crosses from the full backs too.

Man, I wish Gary Neville would go back into management.

 

McTominay can’t really play like that either. To be honest I didn’t even think about most of that because I was stuck on just how easy it would be to go from defence to attack against that team. You’re right, Bruno would essentially have to play as part of a three (that would nullify the best part of his game) and both full backs would probably have to stay quite deep to cover quick attacks that bypass the front 5. It’s pretty spectacularly unbalanced.

but a lot of United fans think like that too. I’m not a huge fan of the Fred and McTominay partnership and I don’t think it’s particularly good. But United fans keep complaining about how “defensive” that is whenever they’re picked. We simply don’t have a midfield pairing that is better than them. With even one of them out any semblance of midfield control is gone from our team. Broken record and all that but Pogba simply cannot play in midfield in this league. He’s too casual and slow on the ball, and defensively well he might not even try that’s how ineffective he is. Look at the Southampton game as an example. On paper that was a Fred/Pogba pairing but Fred was left to do all the midfield work on his own. It was a disaster.

Fans like that and Gary just want fifa teams where you stick all your best attackers on the pitch and wish them luck. We did that at times under Fergie in dire circumstances, but usually had a Carrick or Keane before him that could bring control to the midfield.

 

I love how after a bad loss every paper has some stunning report about how terrible everything related to the club is lol

 

And despite the fact that he's not usually thought of as a tactician, you play much more off the cuff now than you did then. Ferguson's teams had lots of patterns of play and triggers for switching it wide, making overlaps, forwards dropping off to receive to feet etc. Ferguson stuck to the fundamentals and balance most of the time and understood how to take advantage of all the quality he had. He's always thought of as an attacking manager but there were plenty of title races where you were the more cautious of the title contenders (Keegan's Newcastle, Wenger's Arsenal, Mancini's Man City), and for years every time you came to Anfield you turned up with the express intention of shutting the game down (and often nicking a win off a Dudek mistake/set piece).

 

Do we get a trophy for that?

 

I’m actually surprised that hasn’t happened before early in a season

 

100% I say at times, I really mean nearing the end of games or in those games where being on the front foot would help. For the most part Fergie was a very pragmatic coach in the last 8/10 years. Funnily enough, City were one of teams where we were less pragmatic than games vs Liverpool or Arsenal. In his last few years we definitely were a little sloppier vs City. 6-1, the 4-3 win with the Michael Owen winner etc.

 

Oh yeah, I wasn't disagreeing with you. Just kind of going off on one about the caricature of Ferguson and a lot of managers, made by people who act like football was a whole different sport ten years ago.

 

If Spurs sack Nuno, they’re in real trouble.
It took them like 20 attempts to get a manager last time…

 

Shocking from Ayew. If Brighton go on to get something out of this game...

 

Wow.

Brighton are fun.

 

...low and behold.

 

Fuck I caught part of the second half of the Brighton game and pulled back into my work right as the replay of the goal to tie it was finishing. Stoked to rescue a draw.

 

I LOVE some good shit-housery lol. Go Brighton.

 

The Maupay goal was quality, that pass from Veltman was outstanding.

 

Lol the first reply.

 

Big fan of these kits. Really need to get down to a game soon.

 

Loooovvveee these kits. Have not been able to get to a game this season but it's always a blast. Highly suggest getting down to a game.