Man united are beginning to worry me. They started the season a bit shaky, but they are grinding out results now.
Rival watch
- Thread starter Spurlock
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The way things are shaping up we are the team on the slide at the bad time.
Liverpool could be coming out of their slump, united are unbeaten in 14 or 15 matches, Chelsea and city are cruising and the goons are any ones guess.
Liverpool could be coming out of their slump, united are unbeaten in 14 or 15 matches, Chelsea and city are cruising and the goons are any ones guess.
H
Hoddle is a god
Guest
Paul Scholes says he tried to kick Ronaldinho in a pre-season friendly when the forward chose Barcelona over Manchester United, but couldn't get near the Brazilian. (Republik of Mancunia)
Paul Scholes says he tried to kick Ronaldinho in a pre-season friendly when the forward chose Barcelona over Manchester United, but couldn't get near the Brazilian. (Republik of Mancunia)
Nice one Scholesy 
People have made jokes in the past about how "united are the only team who can be 6th and win 6 in a row, yet still be....6th in the table", but they are definitely having the last laugh now.
Whilst in terms of their quality of football I think they are still improving, certain players have hit form when it matters, using their experience to get wins. - even if it's a bit uglier than the fans would like.
I really rate Juan Mata. I know he wouldn't solve our pace problems, but i wish we'd got our hands on him a few years ago. I think he's a great role model and he's got a winning mentality.
And is there any stopping ibrahimovic? Jeez. The guy's a machine.
They've gone from having a mixed bag of results which included 3 defeats and a few draws seeming way off the pace, to a set of results which leaves them 2 points behind us, still on only 3 defeats.
Whilst in terms of their quality of football I think they are still improving, certain players have hit form when it matters, using their experience to get wins. - even if it's a bit uglier than the fans would like.
I really rate Juan Mata. I know he wouldn't solve our pace problems, but i wish we'd got our hands on him a few years ago. I think he's a great role model and he's got a winning mentality.
And is there any stopping ibrahimovic? Jeez. The guy's a machine.
They've gone from having a mixed bag of results which included 3 defeats and a few draws seeming way off the pace, to a set of results which leaves them 2 points behind us, still on only 3 defeats.
If only.
Watching Bayern on Wednesday, then Utd on Thursday highlighted the enormous gulf in class. Utd have some talented individuals, who are capable of game changing moments at either end of the pitch, but there are still few signs of a coherent team. We still have to play Spurs, City and Arsenal away and Chelsea at home - and it's in these games that the shortcomings will be exposed. The defence is still all over the place, despite not conceding too many - but that's been down to the opposition not being good enough to take chances or De Gea pulling off great saves when needed.
Utd might finish above Arsenal and/or Liverpool, who have weaknesses too, but Chelsea are out of sight, Spurs are the best all round team and City have too much quality. And playing in three cup competitions will eventually take its toll too. 4th at best.
If only.
Watching Bayern on Wednesday, then Utd on Thursday highlighted the enormous gulf in class. Utd have some talented individuals, who are capable of game changing moments at either end of the pitch, but there are still few signs of a coherent team. We still have to play Spurs, City and Arsenal away and Chelsea at home - and it's in these games that the shortcomings will be exposed. The defence is still all over the place, despite not conceding too many - but that's been down to the opposition not being good enough to take chances or De Gea pulling off great saves when needed.
Utd might finish above Arsenal and/or Liverpool, who have weaknesses too, but Chelsea are out of sight, Spurs are the best all round team and City have too much quality. And playing in three cup competitions will eventually take its toll too. 4th at best.
You have more game changers than any other team in the league and as you say they are finding form and more importantly they are finding each other.
One of those game changers is off to Saudi Arabia at the end of the season though...
I read somewhere that he may be gone before the next round of PL fixtures. Hope so.
I got an insight into the mentality of the Arsenal supporter this afternoon when my sister, an Arsenal "fan" (even though she's been to more Villa matches than Arsenal matches - and she's only been to one Villa match...) boldly claimed Ozil wasn't a waste of space because he was the top assistist this season.
He isn't.
Ozil has four assists this season, so at the very least according to the Premier League he has less assists than the following:
Kevin De Bruyne (nine)
Christian Eriksen, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Alexis Sanchez, Matt Phillips (eight)
Adam Lallana (seven)
Nemanja Matic, Dmitri Payet, Raheem Sterling, Wilfried Zaha, Cesc Fabregas (six)
Kyle Walker, Ross Barkley, Philippe Coutinho, Wayne Rooney, Pedro, Junior Stanislas (five)
It's not just Wenger that mollycoddles players that have blatantly been coasting for years, it's a sizable chunk of their fanbase that have the same approach to hard data that Donald Trump does.
He isn't.
Ozil has four assists this season, so at the very least according to the Premier League he has less assists than the following:
Kevin De Bruyne (nine)
Christian Eriksen, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Alexis Sanchez, Matt Phillips (eight)
Adam Lallana (seven)
Nemanja Matic, Dmitri Payet, Raheem Sterling, Wilfried Zaha, Cesc Fabregas (six)
Kyle Walker, Ross Barkley, Philippe Coutinho, Wayne Rooney, Pedro, Junior Stanislas (five)
It's not just Wenger that mollycoddles players that have blatantly been coasting for years, it's a sizable chunk of their fanbase that have the same approach to hard data that Donald Trump does.
I think that Ozil was leading that stat last season or the one before that, which is probably where your sister's getting it from.
He did have one campaign where he was scoring or assisting virtually every game.
He's certainly not playing at that level in this one, though.
If I were a Goon, as disgusting as that thought is, I'd be angry at his level of application and that of some of his teammates.
This is a player that is capable of playing very well, very consistently and putting in some serious graft.
He'll never defend as well as a Kante or Wanyama, but he can do his bit at both ends. He's currently doing it at neither.
Bear in mind that this is someone that Mourinho was happy to have in his side at Madrid. He simply won't tolerate lazy players.
Here's the weird thing about Ozil: ever since the Goons were willing patsies to allow Los Ladrones to comply with FFP regulations he's had smoke blown up his backside about being the best number ten in world football, yet more often than not the stats - those things Goons used to love to throw around on Old606 - don't support this
2016-17: 4 assists (Sanchez is Arsenal's leading assistist with 8, De Bruyne is the league's leading assistist with 9)
2015-16: 19 assists, making him #1 for Arsenal and in the league
2014-15: 5 assists (Cazorla was Arsenal's leading assistist with 11, Fabregas was the league's leading assistist with 18)
2013-14: 9 assists (top assistist for Arsenal, Gerrard was the league's top assistist with 13)
I've said to a few Goons that I know that, if they were in a scenario where they had to sell Ozil to keep Sanchez, they should try not to snap whoever's hand off to make that happen - yet they cling to the idea that Ozil is an irreplaceable part of their system when, frankly, they could slot Lewis Holtby in there and the only way people would notice was when they saw their number ten bothering to track back when the other team had the ball.
Joey Barton diving and pretending he's been elbowed against Lincoln.
Even for him that's low.
Even for him that's low.
Then a Lincoln player gets his face grabbed by Barton, doesn't react, then dives when another player pushes him!
Barton lucky to only get a yellow, but the Lincoln man's a diver too. Crappy stuff.
Barton lucky to only get a yellow, but the Lincoln man's a diver too. Crappy stuff.
Especially when you consider how hard Premier League clubs have found it at Turf Moor.
Surprised Huddersfield v City is not being televised. Huddersfield 3rd in the Championship, on a good run, creating loads of chances against a team who can be suspect at the back but have plenty of firepower themselves.