Which clear isn't the case. We've been without the likes of Kane, Toby, Eriksen, Vertonghen etc for large stretches and coped well, without Kane last season we won 3-1 at the Bridge and had a string of great results.
A serious look at Mauricio Pochettino
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Which clear isn't the case. We've been without the likes of Kane, Toby, Eriksen, Vertonghen etc for large stretches and coped well, without Kane last season we won 3-1 at the Bridge and had a string of great results.
Do Liverpool rotate Salah/Firmino/Mane much? If you have a winning formula in attack you don't change it round. The likes of Lamela/Lucas have played plenty of games this season and stood in, but yes when all are fit we're starting our best XI regularly. Individuals have had dips in form but another one of those 3 will step up in that scenario. We've had Kane injured before and shifted Son to striker where he was very successful, but it's a different story when everybody is out and suddenly you're down to the bare bones.
Other options have pushed for inclusion, again we've had Lamela and Lucas play plenty, when Alli was injured earlier in the season or Son/Eriksen were missing we coped with that as well, but the problem lies in having all 3 out at the same time. There's no real replacing that unless you have Cityesque depth which as a club we will never be able to afford, and even then you'll not be the same. Testing youth players is a nice idea in theory and something we've done with the likes of KWP, Winks and Skipp, but there's nobody in the youth right now who is ready to step up to PL footballer as an attacking player. We don't have a Rashford or a Kane right now. Agree we're struggling due to a lack of depth, but that's not a failure of Pochettino's.
I agree it'll be a good opportunity to see whether we deal with it. I think we'll not do too badly or see any total collapse, but will perhaps have one or two bad results and scrape wins rather than putting teams to the sword, which is to be expected with the injury issues.
Ironical thread
A bunch of United fans trying to convince that Spurs are a top 3 team now and they and their manager should behave as such.
A bunch of Spurs fans trying to convince that they are actually a top 5 team, punching above their weight by getting into CL spots.
A bunch of United fans trying to convince that Spurs are a top 3 team now and they and their manager should behave as such.
A bunch of Spurs fans trying to convince that they are actually a top 5 team, punching above their weight by getting into CL spots.
Blimey, hadn't even thought about your options. Lamela, Lucas, Llorente. Cry me a river
Blimey, hadn't even thought about your options. Lamela, Lucas, Llorente. Cry me a river
Lucas was injured for the last few games as well and has only just come back in to the side. Lamela is fine but he's no Alli replacement.
Llorente is several levels below Kane and a huge drop in quality.
Comparisons to Moyes are a bit silly but not entirely misplaced; he is a better coach but might not be a much better fit for United than Moyes was. His comments regarding trophies betrays his insecurities about his failures in the cups. There are real questions about his ability to manage his squad and prioritise Cup competitions whilst keeping focus on the main prizes and, more importantly, to handle intense scrutiny. A United manager should excel at both of these areas. I really doubt he would thrive and develop into a managerial great at United, and this is why the Moyes comparison is somewhat apt: I think, like Moyes, absent the comfortable supportive environment of the smaller club, he will be a worse coach for United than he is for Spurs. I really do not think he is a fit for United.
The thing with the injuries is that they have been lucky with them for some time. It is not that unusual to be short of a few players for a month or more really.
The problem they have now is partly the quality of the squad players, but even more it is how rusty they are because they never play. Llorente and Nkoudou looked off the pace to me and no surprise when they are so short of game time.
The problem they have now is partly the quality of the squad players, but even more it is how rusty they are because they never play. Llorente and Nkoudou looked off the pace to me and no surprise when they are so short of game time.
He's a good manager, but his lack of trophies is a concern and the recent comments has shattered my imagine of him
Deceatest was a harsh word on reflection, I should have said that he isn't showing enough ambition. Winning a cup and getting 4 is not beyond the realms of possibility for that squad - if he can't do that, then he is not proving to be a top manager
Let's stick with OGS
I rate Son, but Lucas should be fine as backup. Lamela is also a fine replacement, what Alli has on him is largely down to the regular playing time in a settled tandem with Kane for club and country. Tough shit, that would fall apart with either injured. There is a drop in quality between Kane and Llorente, not helped by Llorente being rusty, but ultimately your "everyone is out" situation essentially boils down to "Kane is out".
Having to play Carrick or McTominay at CB ranks as a worse scenario to me than having to play Fernando Llorente as striker when he has done that for Athletic Bilbao, Juventus and a WC and Euro winning Spain before.
Uh, no? Son is out, he starts .. he's better than Lucas. What Alli has on Lamela is down to being a superior player, and significantly at that. Lamela has never been half as productive as Alli in the Premier League, he's behind him for a reason.
He was first choice striker for Athletic how long ago now? He ended up at Swansea for good reason, he's 33 years old and is incredibly rusty, watching him play is painful these days. Maybe if he gets over the rust he'll be fine, but he's never going to offer anywhere close to what Kane does, and the idea Lucas/Lamela can just step in and be as good as Alli/Son is weird as well, they're decent backups but inferior players.
3 key first team players (including the best at the club, and our top two most productiv) are out, and our best midfielder this season to boot. That's a serious injury crisis by any stretchGive me Carrick at CB any day of the week as long as we still get to have Kane leading the line.
I feel like Poch did fine with Tottenham until 16/17 where they "came 3rd in a two horse race." IMO his reaction the next season should have been to go all out for at least one competition, to bounce back from the previous disappointment (especially as he had a good opportunity in Europa), but he still crashed out of them, and didn't challenge for the league despite coming second. This is the point where I think he started underachieving with his squad, and downplaying expectations put him in a worse light, whereas before it was acceptable.
Again, I rate Son higher than most, yet I feel you are being a bit dismissive of Lamela. The main issue/"keyness" of those two situations though is how little you have used alternative setups, that exacerbates the drop significantly.
You played Palace and are facing Watford and Newcastle next. Lamela, Moura and Llorente, with Eriksen pulling the strings (personally I consider him your best player) should be absolutely fine.
Lamela is fine. He's a good player, and good depth. He's not as good as Alli though and I don't even think its particularly close.
Sure, we're certainly capable of getting through it with the players we have, it's just the quality of football will almost certainly suffer. These teams will look at the options we have right now and be confident of a result, knowing it'll be their best chance to take points off one of the bigger teams. We need to deal with that.
I used to rate Eriksen as our best, but IMO the past season and a half Kane has overtaken him. The way he's developed his all round game is incredible and he's just so important to gluing our attack together. He also scored 40+ goals last season, and just that alone is hard to replace. He is very, very important and the main thing we're going to miss him for is possibly the CL games against Dortmund.
He is a loser and a bottler and nobody can't deny it
But also Ancelotti (Parma, Juve) was it at his age
But also Ancelotti (Parma, Juve) was it at his age
Aye, CL is a different cup of tea, you need to fire on all cylinders there.
The league though... you can't or shouldn't expect to have everyone available all the time. It IS bound to happen that at some point in the season you've lost 4-5 first XI players to injuries/suspension (or random stuff like ACN which some teams always seemed oblivious to).
Being able to cope with that is part and parcel IMO and with the fixtures ahead I would expect you to do so.
By the time Ancelotti had done 10 years as a manager (same as Poch will have at the end of the season), he had won UCL, Serie A, Copa d'Italia and Italian Supercup.
Try harder.
Can't say I agree with that. Maybe.
What strikes me is ever since José got sacked and the media speculation went into overdrive all he seems to do is:
1) His interviews invariably end up being about his perceived weak points as a candidate. That could be him wanting to shut them up, his ego being a bit bruised, or just the press doing their job (in which case they are toying with him, which isn't great).
2) Before our games someone from the club had to emphasise they would talk about Spurs and not United, which looked like babysitting. I can see why they would be upset at how small time it makes them look, and I do think it is disrespectful towards THFC, but why can't they trust their manager to handle things that way himself?
3) He says all the wrong things and must know that.
Which looks like he is talking himself out of the job, either because he doesn't want it or is shitting his pants. Better ways of doing the former.
It all seems to work in our favour regardless.
Pochettino and Ole has different priorities. In an alternative universe where Ole is managing Spurs, if he has that same mentality, I doubt he would be successful at attaining either glory or top four place. A trade off needs to be made until a club at that level has enough depth and economic stability to compete at all front. Most of the teams that has won the fa cup or league cup that weren’t financial powerhouse are now playing championship or league one football for a reason.
No fecking shit they have different priorities. One is an ambitious manager who knows what it takes to succeed at an elite level. The other peaked at Espanyol and is bringing that mindset into his managerial career.
There's no trolling here. One manager cleaned up as a player and cleaned up in his previous managerial role, even when his club was historically unsuccessful, not even having success in "black and white". The other was midtable as a player, with little success other than two cups, and shows no hunger to change that as a manager.
Genuinely and sincerely hope Pochettino is not pursued by United, because if so, we will be looking for a new manager in 2021.
Can't believe so many United fans wouldn't want him as a permanent first team coach, even accounting for yesterday's performance, as a manager you can't account for the sitters the players missed, imo he's a top manager doing a decent job with his hands tied on transfers
Ok you can believe that Pochettino shows no hunger to win trophies. If he didn’t he would be comfortable languishing mid table and consistently putting poor display in cup competition. Yet his record in cup competitions and in the league speak otherwise where he on most occasions put in a good challenge for the title and reached the later stage in domestic competition with a much weaker team than his main competitors.
There is a reason why managers who wins some trophies and finish mid table gets sacked, whereas managers who achieve economic stability and consistently performance week in and week out retain their job. Wenger is a great example, where he would win the FA Cup, but Arsenal fan got sick of him when they saw his poor display in the league and displacement of top four. Mourinho as well is another one and the list goes on. The only thing preventing Pochettino from getting trophies is the quality of his team in terms of depth. Give him the same warchest United managers had and no doubt a trophy will come.
We should try banning Glaston from the Caf and see if some of the sillier arguments die off 
Remind us, how good he was as Cardiff's manager?
Arr yes, you favor, the North Korean systemWe should try banning Glaston from the Caf and see if some of the sillier arguments die off
No one should take away from him, what Poch has achieved in terms of turning Spurs into a top team. But the fact is that he has mostly bungled it when it matters most not because of having an inferior team but because of poor game management. He needs to improve on this and prove he can win titles. I see no reasons why he has not till now. Even a mere league cup.
Good post.
Only thing I disagree with is that our style of play is not evolving. During Pochettinos era he has showed to be very tactically flexible, and this season he has used Son ahead of Kane in a diamond to great effect and also pushed Eriksen deeper. Kane is world class and of course our style revolves around him when he plays just like any top manager would, but not more so than other teams I'd argue. Pochettino has been good at finding tactics to get the best out of Kane as a 9 who play with his back to goal and meet the ball with Son running behind while allowing Eriksen to find space to be on the ball as much as possible. Of course when Son, Kane and Alli are gone then it understandably got harder.
Another thing is, regarding the hope that Pochettino changes his tune at United: haven't we seen already that for the most part, managers don't do this?
Fergie didn't change from Aberdeen to United, Moyes didn't change from Everton to United, nor did LVG, or Mourinho, or currently Solksjaer. Even looking away from United, managers like Pep, Klopp, Conte, etc. never really change to adapt to their clubs; rather the clubs tries to find the right kind of managerial fits. What gives anyone the hope that Poch will change to fits United's ideals and ambitions?
Fergie didn't change from Aberdeen to United, Moyes didn't change from Everton to United, nor did LVG, or Mourinho, or currently Solksjaer. Even looking away from United, managers like Pep, Klopp, Conte, etc. never really change to adapt to their clubs; rather the clubs tries to find the right kind of managerial fits. What gives anyone the hope that Poch will change to fits United's ideals and ambitions?
Of course not mate! No way are you trolling! No way!
Poor, in a hospital pass of a job. The mistake was taking it in the first place.
I’d rather have someone however with both success and who has learnt from failure, than is just consistently flattering to deceive. We’ve made that appointment with Moyes once already.
Did Moyes give 50% of the fanbase PTSD or something?
So you don’t believe there is a genuine opinion other than that that maintains that Pochettino will be a undoubted success, consistently winning trophies, if only he had more money and players?
You could buy Poch another top striker tomorrow and you would still just have the same cycle of him running Kane into the ground, and not rotating with any reasonable second choice, who in the menatime loses his edge and becomes stale. It’s the same shit every year
If he moves to United, he isn’t managing anyone of Kane’s calibre up front. £200m wouldn’t buy you that now. It’s not going to get better than that for him.
People need larger reference pools here.
For sure, I'm glad it didn't work out for Solskjaer in Cardiff and he overperformed for a few seasons with them, because he would just be another David Moyes!
For the record I see as few similarities with Moyes and Solskjaer as with Moyes and Pochettino.
Just as good as Klopp relegating Mainz in 2006/07?
By all accounts Cardiff were shite at that time with players not good enough to play in the EPL.