For us to play like Man City do, we would have to have Pep. We might pass the ball pretty quickly and pretty accurately but his teams are different.
Is it fair to worship Guardiola at this point? | The Ball Did It
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Mourinho was hamstrung (forgive my pun) from the start. You cannot go to Anfield and play two in the middle. His reference to the bench was telling. You start with 3 midfield players. To lose Pogba was big But to lose Fellani amd Carrick too was too much.
He played for the minimum of the point with cards he was handed. We still had our chances, not just the Lukaku one.
Importantly with this draw, Liverpool have no chance to kick start their season. A win against their hated rival would have been the tonic they needed.
We are in very good shape. Long ways to go. A team ultimately reflects the manager. Pep? He has been given the players always. He does not have the guts.
Mourinho has character and belief.
Liverpool played exactly the way we let them play. Im not saying that we are guaranteed points at Anfield. But Liverpool were in bad form, with there defense being the obvious weak link. We should have been braver. if wee play like this in all the big away games then we wont win the league.
Though it's early In the season - I don't particularly see the results and the big scores down to some sort of form that will fade as time goes on; it's purely down to having some amazing players.
Sane, jesus, aguer0, sterling only for the attacking spots is a scary number of really good players- form plays such a minimal part.
Sane, jesus, aguer0, sterling only for the attacking spots is a scary number of really good players- form plays such a minimal part.
Chelsea did go more defensive after losing Morata. City had a lot of possession in the game but Chelsea were comfortable. It took a wonder strike from KDB to get the 3 points. This won't happen every game though.
Games with City featuring the other top 5 will be tight affairs. The Liverpool game obviously wasn't, but this was due to an isolated incident.
I would expect most teams outside the big 6 to play park the bus tactics. We will have a better idea of how good City are when we see them up against teams set up primarily to defend.
At the moment it looks like you'll have to win every game just to keep pace with them. They're smashing through the lesser sides like Bayern so far.
I mean, worship is a bit strong, but if you feel like you must then go ahead.
There is a difference between winning and challenging, will we challenge for the title, yes we should, if we don't I would be disappointed but so far we are surely challenging for it.
This is where I am asking where did you get the idea we are favourites for the title, we are not. City were already starting the race on the front foot. Whether you think it's a myth or not, the fact remains pep took over a squad which was stronger than what jose took over. If you need further proof for that, just look at both the teams league finish, 4th,2nd,1st vs. 5th,4th and 7th.
It reminds me of Van Gaal saying after our 1-0 loss to Mourinho's Chelsea away in 2015 that it was our best performance of the season. We dominated possession but they (Mourinho) came out of it with the win. Liverpool had most of the ball yesterday but did very little in terms of creation.
Probably
. Not as optimistic at our chances of winning the Pl as i was just a few weeks ago.We are hard team to beat though. so i can see us going far in cup competitions. hopefully the CL draw is kind to us
Lindel0f, Blind, Mata (who is significantly more reliable that mkhitarayan either way) have all played in positions at CM, CDM, CAM - if they weren't deemed good enough to play there in particular as a stop gap; we should have played with 3 at the back which we have had plenty of experience which would have closed down their wingers aswell as allowing the midfield 2 of matic & herrera play further upfield alongside mkhitarayan being closer to Lukaku who was isolated.
Wasn't the best game from José; plenty of options even though we were hamstrung
I don't know why people are labelling those of us that think City would win the league as overreacting.
I predicted City to win the league at the start and us to finish third.
Now I'm starting to think we could finish second and I'll be chuffed with that.
Thinking City will win the league isn't just a reaction to yesterday's set of results.
I predicted City to win the league at the start and us to finish third.
Now I'm starting to think we could finish second and I'll be chuffed with that.
Thinking City will win the league isn't just a reaction to yesterday's set of results.
Celtic really knocked the stuffing out of them last season. Took them a few months to recover.
Pep doesn't have guts? Why do you think that? He goes into every game to attack and win.
Never in my life have I seen a pep team go to a rival defensively minded in the hope of nicking a point. If anything I don't think Jose has the guts and we were lucky to come out of that game yesterday with anything at all. Liverpool have the 3rd worst defensive record and we go there set up like relegation fodder.
We have a good team yet It does my nut in when we get on a platform to test it against the best and we set up so negatively all the time.
Not a chance this forum would explode if we were playing better than them. We kept them 10 points behind or more for the entire 2012-13 season yet plenty of people just played down our performances and had them down as the better team overall. The current lovefest with City is something RedCafe has not seen since Chelsea were good/great in 2005-10.
Can't be arsed to find examples. We have had many great performances over the years. We beat the wonderful City 4-2 two years ago. Our performance against Chelsea last season was great. We don't really play that kind of football anyway, Mourinho has different style.
Personally, I wouldn't worry about such posts. I don't see anything wrong in enjoying another have of football that isn't featuring United. And it doesn't make you less of a United fans either.
I hope a strong Napoli can knock City down a bit and cause them into meltdown again. Well I guess it is more a dream rather than anything else.
Like Brighton, Everton, Palace and Stoke have done one this season?
Great post. I knew they would be good, the best in the league, but.so far they are even better than i expected. I also think we will finish 2nd.
got to say was beyond depressing watching them play yesterday compared to the way we play.
I don't share your impression that this forum is prone to overrating the rivals. Only 2-3 posts in this thread have said that City will walk the league. Most of the others say that they are favourites but that the season is long and it is too early to say anything definite about the title race. Which is true.
At the same time City have put in some great performances. They have scored more goals than anyone else over the first 8 games since Everton in 1894. This alone should give one pause. All the more that the attack is full with talents who are likely to make some progress. It's not outrageous to think that Jesus, Sane, Sterling and B. Silva may become even better over the course of the season. Surely, we hope that Martial and Rashford will develop further and soon.
Still early days though. And it works in both directions. it's too early to say that City will win it. And it is too early to say also that United will challenge until the end. December will bring more clarity. It's perefcly possible that only United and Spurs will compete for the title with City fading away.
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If Moyes were managing City he'd be making Sane and Sterling lump it in for Agüero to get his head on it, and he'd have told De Bruyne to sit down and watch videos of Kevin Mirallas.
I'd say he was a great player but i get where you're coming from. As a player he was comparable to, say, De Rossi, or Albertini in his time. A level or two below the likes of Xavi, Pirlo, Kroos, Modric...
Definitely a better manager than player
It did take you 70 min to score against Brighton + it was their first ever PL game & a mistake that gifted you the opener.
Palace have been terrible this season (bar yesterday) I said in my earlier post you were likely to beat them whether they parked the bus or not.
Stoke have most of their first choice defense out. Hard to park the bus if you have no drivers.
Everton didn't park the bus. They played & took the lead. They did go defensive later on but still came away with a point.
The have also drawn at home to Everton and only just won away versus Bournemouth with a goal 7 minutes into injury time. So some perspective please.
So you could say, in 25% of their games, they've been not so great.
So when the bus had been parked we've won apart from Everton where we played with 10 men for 50 mins or so, I honestly think If you plan to park the bus against us this season for the most part you'll get hammered, as we've enough pace to get round the back and have players that are comfortable playing 1-2 in tight areas and especially if we score early. Burnley will be a decent test of that mind
Yes, but what does that tell you? Even when there not so great they get points lol 7 of 9 in the first 3 games were they struggled.
Not sure why you're lolling @TotalFootballOne, you've just confirmed my point. Both United and City take and will continue to take points even when they aren't great (us v. Southampton, them v Bournemouth etc).
That's true. They were a bit unlucky with the red card vs Everton but Bournemouth was a poor performance.
But they'll still grind out wins even when they don't play well, because they've got so many top players, as I think United will too.
I don't know why I put lol in there, but I see your point however at this time City have had more difficult games and walked away with points compared to United.
Would have been interesting to have seen how the City-Liverpool game went if Mane hadn't been sent off.
Would have been interesting to see Guardiola's career if Iniesta hadn't scored that goal vs Chelsea in 2009 and Barca hadn't reached the final. Truth is chance plays a big role in life and sport.
Not disputing that, just hypothesizing. Was a good game until that point.
Please read what i post before responding. You have not faced a relatively competent team that have been able to park the bus. I outlined the reasons for Palace, Brighton & Stokes problems in my earlier post. Am not saying that every team that parks the bus will be successful, but some will.
Did I read someone say Pep isnt a Brave manager? If anythign he is probably too brave. He will go to any team in the world as the away team and set his team out to control the game. They even did it against barca last season (they didnt get a result).
He is the most brave manager I've seen. The performance against chelsea was as brave a performance ive seen for a while.
He is the most brave manager I've seen. The performance against chelsea was as brave a performance ive seen for a while.
I know I'm supposed to hate city and guardiola but I just can't. That first sterling goal yesterday was something special. They don't have too many dislikable people at the club anymore, save for aguero
I'm sure i'd have the same amount of trophies as him, managing the best team in the world in Barca, and then when Bayern beat them, sign for them. After that go to one of the richest clubs in the world, where you can buy whatever player you want.
Sure, his teams play nice football, but i'll never 'worhsip' a manager that always has the best or richest club.
And he's a cnut
Sure, his teams play nice football, but i'll never 'worhsip' a manager that always has the best or richest club.
And he's a cnut
His job is made easier by the infinite money at his disposal, but he has very clearly changed the way those players all play so it suits his style and he deserves to be commended for that.
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