Are some of you seriously going back to this somehow being down to Rooney? Seriously? The one single culpable person in the embarrassment of today is the man in charge, Mourinho. If he doesn't know by now that the bonus of winning would be Liverpool being unlikely to get in the CL there is no ****ing hope for him. He needs to win the EL now. He's chucked all his eggs in that basket so let's see what happens. If we do, great. He gets to kick on next season. He's there to be shot at otherwise, deservedly.
This is the first time Wenger had beaten Mourinho in a competitive game - must feel like achieving 4th place to him.
But we can't just keep chopping and changing managers every year. Admittedly the last two were utter crap and it showed in both cases after a very short period of time and we were right to jettison them both asap - JM though has improved the side immeasurably from the days of Moyes and LvG, that much is evident , but our campaign this season has been a failure by our usual high standards. Those bore draws have cost us not only a top four spot, but a realistic tilt at the title. Convert just half of our 14 draws into wins and we would be 14 points to the good. JM has to have one more season - starting next seasons he has nowhere to hide, he will have had three windows and plenty of time to shape a side.
I don't actually want him sacked. Obviously really, I want him to be a success. He's backed (whinged) himself into a corner for me though so he's going to have to win the Europa league. Fine if he does, he'll no doubt spend around half a billion and we'll be better next season, but I do not, at all in any way, support his idea of more or less giving up on the league. There's no glory in 4th, that's Arsenal territory, but depriving Liverpool was worth going for and him not grasping that is worrying.
I called United to be pragmatic and not to play and risk our key players a few days before a must win (or at Ieast not lose) match in the Europa. Sure it would have been nice to go for 4th as well as the Europa but the reality was that JM had to choose. Does he go for bailly and blind and Pogba and Rashford today and risk injuries and tiredness? Of course it would have been good to deny the RS the 4th place but we needed to win 4 matches or at Ieast 3. Do we go for 2 targets and risk missing both or do we just focus on just one with a better chance of getting to the final? I thought that JM was bluffing and would not play his second string. But I am glad he did. When I saw the central defenders and Mata who have not been playing through injury, a new FB, then Rooney I suspected that Arsenal would win. Even then Rooney should have scored when he had only cech to beat. No whinging on my part. He played a weakened team and cannot complain about the result. If we are out of 4th contention we can concentrate on the Europa.
Your saying that he is putting his eggs all into one basket, but I actually think it would be a much bigger risk to have tried to fight on both fronts without resting players. We where never going to get 4th with the fixtures we had left, I said this weeks ago. So it was never worth the risk playing the full first team and risking our chances in the Europa which is a much easier route back into Europe. We could have played our first team in every league game and fought right to the final day against Crystal Palace, and still come up short for 4th. Then we'd either not have a Europa League final to play, or we'd go into the final with a depleted, tired and injury stricken squad. So I actually think on this occasion putting all our eggs into the one basket is the safer option as giving our all in both competitions is a far greater risk. Yeah beating Liverpool to 4th would have been nice, but you never know Arsenal might go and do that for us with abit of luck. Best of luck to them on snatching it from them anyways.
Yes, but in the face of injuries to key players like Zlatan and suspensions and 10 matches in 1 month it makes sense. Let's hope we don't fail then (as chief said). When players are falling like ninepins you have to take notice.
Don't you think we have enough players (and games) to rest 1 or 2 each game instead of wholesale changes in 1 match which could have put us right back in with 2 possible avenues to the CL ?
Look, it's too late now but I believe the best way to go would have been to attempt to win the Arsenal and Spurs games, especially as Liverpool again did not win, and then see where we were. We'd then still have had well over a week to the final, if we get there. But that's it, at least we now know there are only two games we have to be arsed to be competitive in for the remainder of the season and can prepare for the second one of those, which is nearly three weeks away. I'm fairly sure that I'm not alone in thinking that's a bit ****.
I was talking about the Arsenal match sandwiched between the two legs of the semi. The Spurs match is yet to be played and will be after the Europa semi. And a long way from the final (IF we get through). I can see a different approach to the Arsenal match.
Why rest only 2 players? Bailly and blind do not need resting compared to Rashford and Pogba? I am the last person to advocate giving the RS a free run. But even I can see that regretfully we can't compete on two fronts through injuries caused by fatigue from playing too many matches in a short space of time
What would be the point, top 4 is gone now and our only chance is to win the EL, something I am not very confident of.
Bit late though now, don't you think? I no longer really see the point in going for it against Spurs seeing as we've just lost to Arsenal! **** them being tired, they could have all had a rest IF we'd failed to close the gap going into the final week or so of the season. It's crazy to do what we've just done. We're at home to a Celta side who wouldn't have scored at home if we'd played for two days, with a one goal lead. Are we really worried by that? It will be too late to revert back to the league after securing our place in the final.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/may/07/jose-mourinho-manchester-united-arsenal Could have written most of it myself but someone thinks likewise.
You are talking as if with the players rested we were definitely going to beat Arsenal. What if we played the players you wanted, one or two got injured and we got beaten still? Would that have been worth it? No I think we are going to have to agree to disagree. I donot always agree with JM but I do on this occasion. A trophy is >> a 4th place. The Spurs match: we win that and we are still in the race. if the RS draw or lose their next match.
I am sure there are others with your view point. This author happens to be very anti United and anti JM most of the time.
