Prediction League The Run In

Take one of Fergies best teams then take Ferdinand, Vidic, Keane and Scholes out then put half ready Scholes and Keane back in and see if the performance suffers.

And no "for those who might think it", I am not comparing the ability of any of the mentioned players, just their importance in their respective teams/squads.

 

You just said it there that two of them are back. They’ve been back for several weeks as well.
Either way, should we really be struggling to score goals against West Ham? It is appalling how fast we are decelerating. I was hoping that we would finish the season strongly to mount a challenge next season. Now I simply just want the season to end already and put a stop to these uninspiring performances.

 

You lil bastard! lol

 

3 goals in 6 games cos 2 defenders are missing seems about right

 

I don't get that last bit at all. Season's not over so how do you know we won't finish strongly? We definitely need Garnacho back.

And what has finishing strongly got to do with next season? It's obvious that our squad isn't good enough to compete in multiple comps. We need a CF, CM and CB and that was a given even if we do finish strongly, in order to progress.

 

Anyway I came on to say, I've been out all day and not paid attention to the PL games. Just seen Brighton conceded 5 at home to Everton. I don't know what happened in that game but it really highlights how poor our attack is.

I did however listen to the Sunderland game earlier in the day on the radio in the car. We DEFINITELY need Amad back and playing for us next season. He looks mustard.

 

I’m calling for close season because each performance of late has been very drab. We need a reset.

I don’t think know if I agree that the squad is not good enough to compete in the competitions that we have been part of. Losing to Seville for goodness sakes, West Ham, Newcastle, losing 2 goal leads in recent matches to with Seville and Tottenham. We have just 4 of the last 10 matches. Surely that has nothing to do with just quality of the squad because we know that the quality is there when they click.

I firmly believe that the problem is that the system is not balanced enough to get the squad to fit in. Struggling for goals all season is an indication that the system is not optimized. And when we have lost, we have completely lost our fkin heads. That too suggests that it isn’t just about the squad not being good enough. ETH in particular needs to work on solidifying a system and better mentality that works regardless of which players are on the pitch. If certain players are just unworkable, fkin chuck as soon as possible!

 

Unfortunately we can't just call time on the season because we're tired. Be great if it worked like that.

As for systems, regardless of what system you play, you need to score goals. And for that, you need a goal scorer. Which is why buying one is top of the priority list.

 

Simply buying a striker won’t fix the problem if you don’t have a system that creates changes for the strikers and we have not been doing that this season.

For team play… we have put in 472 crosses into the box this season. Same as Leicester in 19th place across the twenty teams. For all the talents that we have in the middle of the park, I was somewhat surprised by this. But watching us play, it is self evident.

Corners taken, we are 11th. We don’t press teams enough for them to concede corners.

Big chances created - 55 in 8th place. Again, if you’re not creating big chances, a striker is not suddenly going to make all the difference. However, one thing that we are good at is through balls, Bruno especially. Which confirms that we generally go through the middle to make a break. But when teams are compact, it makes all too easy for them to defend against us. We have seen this play out repeatedly! This is a setup problem that the manager needs to own as well. Not a striker problem.

We have now lost 9 games this season and losing back to back when we needed to win the most. The midfield is decisively the problem area for us which invariably makes the team inconsistent.

I’ve pointed fingers at Antony, and rightly so! I don’t think he’s good enough for the right wing with his predictive play. To think that we paid so much money for him only to never give the likes of Elanga a chance and Sancho in a limbo is appalling! These are talented players that we keep wasting.

If we don’t fix that midfield to become efficient in protecting the back line and creating enough chances, you can even throw Haarland up front, it won’t make us title contenders. ETH has a lot of work to do with the squad before simply buying more mega million pounds players.

 

During the Brighton game Rashford (twice) and Martial hit their shots straight at the keeper when one on one.

The chances were there, they just missed.

We don't cross the ball because there is no striker. Why would they cross when there's no No.9? Put a striker in there and both Antony and Sancho could switch wings and get to the by line and cross with their preferred foot. They don't currently, because there's no one potentially on the other end of it, so they are used on opposite wings and cut in.

Ergo, we need a striker. We don't want to see a continuation of all this, surely?

 

An experienced and mobile striker is a priority, the midfield can be worked on once we have a specific target for crosses and through balls. Rashford isn't a striker, he never will be despite his phenomenal return this season, imagine what we can do with a decent striker plus Rashford/Antony and Sancho

 

Fck Martial. Get rid, his time is up.

I want Ten Hag to be as ruthless as Fergie and off load anyone who's not good enough. In that respect I guarantee De Gea woul've been sold 4/5 yrs ago.

Fck off the likes of Martial, McTominay, Dalot, Maguire, Van De Beek, Jones and probably Elanga too.

I'd rather we bring Amad Diallo, Zidane, Pellistri, Mainoo, Williams and Laird in their place.

And buy a CF or 2, CM and CB.

Job done for now.

 

£300 mill should sort it. I'll check down the back of the sofa, you check FFP and see how we get on

 

I found a pound and a fruit pastille covered in fluff. We're almost there...

 

I hope you have a lot of sofa's.

 

No good, I checked with Platini and the fruit pastille's been ruled out for FFP.

 

It’s bogus to bring down the lack of production in the midfield down to not having a striker as the target man. Even if we have a striker that bangs in the goals, the performances so far suggest that we are not creating enough clear chances for a striker to feed on consistently. A solid midfield will not only create changes, in the modern game, they will contribute tons of goals. We have been average at both. A galactic star striker wouldn’t have stopped us conceding 7 goals to pool. But a solid midfield would have made all the difference needed to avert that scenario.

I’m all for a striker, but we need to address the unbalanced midfield problem before being to close to challenging.

We would be better served to see this type of ruthlessness from ETH before heading back into the transfer market. Clear out the fkin pigs!!!

 

Can never make my mind up which is best way to go on this.
You clear the dross first and other clubs know your squad is light so will pay more for the replacements out of need.
Get the replacements in first and other clubs know you need to get rid so will haggle for a lower price on the dross.

 

We had the same issues last year. We rush to buy then we forget to sell. Led to bloated squad of overpaid players. Ultimately, we need to pay off players to leave because no one is going to take them on their fkin insane wages that we pay.

Maaan! We have been blessed with some really dumb bastards running this club for the longest of time. I take that back! They are not dumb, they just never have a sht about a sustainable future for this great club. Give players salaries that they will never get anywhere else. Then they stop performing and it becomes a massive problem to get rid of them before the end of their contracts. Just insane!

On that note, skin the fat first. Get rid of the excess wages and start the building from there. Bring into fold the fringe players that are actually passionate and want to learn. Then go for smart business in the transfer market to fill the gaps.