I had to look that up, because I couldn't remember him playing. You're right. We rested most of our first team in that match against Young Boys. Henderson did play in the FA Cup as well. I was wrong. De Gea wasn't dropped, but he gave Henderson a shot in that match. He's given everybody at least some minutes.
Ralf Rangnick | ex-interim manager | does anyone rate him?
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Problem is can Matic play 90 mins in a physical and tough game ? He's just came back from injury last week.
I’m not saying it was a good performance but we kept the ball well and slowed Atletis start. We just didn’t do much with the ball when we had it.
Second half was much improved, they again had a fast start so sitting back obviously wasn’t in their halftime game plan but we held the ball up well to kill that rather quickly as well.
Like i said before, the board haven't back RR up for a Midfield strengthening and it will cost us a lot.
A 80 million defender, an ex world class player who was one of the best in the world. An United home grown player. Stripping them of the starting line up for such important games will impact the mood around the dressing room. Maguire is the captain as well. Ralf seems to be trying his best not to rock the boat. I am sure if given a choice none of them will start. But Ralf also knows that the quality they have shown before might come back and might help the team. Right now any major team changes will possibly demoralize the dropped players and the team in general and a lot more stories will come out which Ralf would want to avoid.
If Ralf is here next season you can be sure Maguire will not be the captain anymore. Rashford's case is different, he was on the bench and was in the starting line up as he would have thought that he might get a decent performance out of Rashford who on his day can be a good player who is experienced in the champions league while Elanga is not.
Ronaldo drives social media and the talking points everywhere and dropping him for such an important game will cause an uproar especially if United had lost the game. He frankly has his hands tied due to the circus this club is. He must be ruing the day he agreed to join this low class club with such a poor structure.
If Ralf is here next season you can be sure Maguire will not be the captain anymore. Rashford's case is different, he was on the bench and was in the starting line up as he would have thought that he might get a decent performance out of Rashford who on his day can be a good player who is experienced in the champions league while Elanga is not.
Ronaldo drives social media and the talking points everywhere and dropping him for such an important game will cause an uproar especially if United had lost the game. He frankly has his hands tied due to the circus this club is. He must be ruing the day he agreed to join this low class club with such a poor structure.
Massive few weeks for ralf, after Watford, we have city, spurs and Liverpool… aswell as ath Madrid somewhere in between. Them games will determine wether or not we finish top 4. Just realised the fa cup games are midweek, why’s that? Not that it makes difference to us as we’re not in it but at least we get an extra week rest over city even though they can field there second team against Peterborough.
Yeah I was getting a bit optimistic about the prospect of Utd looking like a semi competent team when we're playing out the back. But based off of that performance, I don't think we'll get results against City / Pool. It'll probably be Ole style 30% possession looking to knick on the counter type of a game.
I know the Caf would meltdown if we lose both those games but I don't really care - both the teams are a step above everyone else in the league right now and our top four hopes don't really rest on getting results away to City / Pool.
The biggest test over the next month is TOT (H) - That's a must-win for me. Despite Conte's statements, they're 7 points behind us with two games in hand and they have a really nice set of fixtures coming up.
They just lost to Burnley! Unless they’re playing Arsenal u12 then there are no nice set of games for them
Yeah hah generally I'd agree, with their trademark tactic of dragging down their opposition into an ugly match, preventing any sort of flow to their opponent's game. But yesterday I actually think United were to some extent caught off guard with how attacking Atletico started and how aggressively they pressed high up the pitch in the first 25 minutes. That kind of reminded me of some of Klopp's Dortmund encounters with Bayern, eg that CL final if i remember correctly. Overwhelm the opposition right from kickoff, hopefully score a goal or two, and then drop back and try to exploit space left behind when the other team needs to chase the game. But that was only moderately successful last night, and that kind of tactic is risky when you don't capitalise enough on that early effort as players often can't sustain that kind of pressure.
Then again, I've seen Atletico start matches similarly in the past, so I doubt United's coaching staff weren't prepared for that possibility. I just think United is currently in a weird spot where Rangnick is trying to implement a pressing system, as well as work on their ability to control the match especially in midfield. But so far they're not good at either of those yet because that hasn't really been the focus of previous coaches. In that first quarter of the match I think many teams would have struggled against that Atletico pressing, but United were abysmal in retaining possession and passing their way out of their congested own half.
3-5-2, we haven't a strong wing back who can handle the sideline in attack and defend in the right time at the right moment. Then we cannot attack from wide plus our Midfield cannot penetrate Atletico in the Middle. Also we have no pace to counter in upfront when Rashford loss his mind.
Matic cannot handle 90mins in this tough and physical game and McT is injured.
Yep and Burnley managed to look semi competent against them which is a worrying sign.
Spurs have United (A), Arsenal (H), Pool (A)
Arsenal have Pool (H), Spurs (A), Chelsea (A)
We have City (A), Spurs (H), Pool (A), Arsenal (A), Chelsea (H)
Think if we get wins against Spurs and Arsenal, we'll get 3rd / 4th.
I have a sneaky suspicion of a result at the Etihad. No matter how badly we play we always seem to beat them there simply because Pep hates the pace we have. Looking at Spurs I don’t think Pep has learned that lesson as of yet.
it’ll also be a nervous game for them with Liverpool closing right up.
its a waste of time doing this
we have to try to win every game
Spurs just beat Man city and lost to Burnley- how do you work that out
we beat Brighton and West ham but drew with Burnley and Southampton
there are no easy games in the premiership
lets just take 1 game at a time and beat Watford this weekend
Think his idea to play lindelof at RB in some sort of expectation to go 1 up and then drop into a back 5 is really poor. Not sure who came up with that one.
I think it sends the message to the players that we were quite happy to sit in and not take risks, which was thrown out the window after 5 mins, then the players looked like they didn't really know what they were doing or have any plan of how to progress the ball and build attacks.
Iv got to be honest, I dont think we are actually any better than we were under Ole, results have improved but have performances? Not really if anything we look worse, certainly in our attacking play.
I think it sends the message to the players that we were quite happy to sit in and not take risks, which was thrown out the window after 5 mins, then the players looked like they didn't really know what they were doing or have any plan of how to progress the ball and build attacks.
Iv got to be honest, I dont think we are actually any better than we were under Ole, results have improved but have performances? Not really if anything we look worse, certainly in our attacking play.
We look shaky in virtually every game. This over the top toxic positivity similar to under Ole last year. Since the start of the year we have, 1-0 loss to wolves, 1-0 win vs Villa, 2-2 draw with Villa, 3-1 win vs Brentford, 1-0 win vs West Ham, Pens loss to Middlesborough (out of the cup), 1-1 vs Burnley, 1-1 vs Southampton, 2-0 vs Brighton (were not good 11v11), 4-2 win vs Leeds, 1-1 vs Alt. 5 wins 5 draws. Some of those wins were scrapes too. I don't see what the fuss it about.
Literally just got dumped out of FA cup by a championship team and have looked suss in nearly every match. Still awaiting that big performance. what do you look forward to that you want him to expand on? What about our game are you excited about? not saying he is doing a bad job but I don't want to settle again and be behind everyone else
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To be fair Lindelof kind of worked. De Gea didn’t make one save
We're not short on numbers except for the CF position. We had completely fresh players on the bench last night if that's what Rangnick wanted.
The results have been better than performances which considering the fixture run we've had (and what we have coming up) isn't a good sign.
Exactly, we have seen the big difference signings have made to Newcastles recent upturn in results. That January window has saved them from relegation, likewise it could have ensured us top 4. Penny pinching from the Glazers because they can’t accept their bad decisions have squandered lots of our money.
Yep, my original point was simply
(a) Our performance will probably be bad against City and Pool judging by that Atletico game
(b) We should ignore that because it won't have too much of an impact on our top four chances
No way ..
I had a sneaky feeling we will win against Liverpool at OT !!
I thought lindelof played quite well actually, I'm more concerned by the nature of the plan 'we will go 1-0 up then sit in with a back 5' is just a horrible plan. We should always be set up to hurt the opposition not worrying to much about what the opposition can do to us. It felt like we were worried about athletico last night and never worked out how we were going to hurt them. There a good side but we shouldn't of been that worried about them they should of been worrying about us.
If we don't play Matic at 6 when McTominay is injured you have to ask what's the point of him?
If Matic just doesn't have the fitness anymore as it seems to be, than he will be limited to those half hour appearances where he offers control, calmness and a bit of shithousery.
Not really anything Rangnick can do something about.
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So Poch confirmed
Ugh, its gonna happen isn't it
Edit :I just learned he was head of recruitment and development at Leipzig following his stint with Southampton/Spurs, so that probably explains it. Phew?
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All of this hard work of bringing the right professionals into the club isn't worth it if we'll keep paying stupid wages to clubs and players whether if this new players or contract renewals.
The added value of people like Ralf and Paul is that they will need to find the talents in cheap in order to make them the Finished product in our club or bring on academy players and give them a chance just like Ralf did with Anthony.
The added value of people like Ralf and Paul is that they will need to find the talents in cheap in order to make them the Finished product in our club or bring on academy players and give them a chance just like Ralf did with Anthony.
Reading these kinds of comments, I thought it was Pochettino himself sitting there with Rangnick.
Mitchell used to work with Pochettino and that's it. Nothing more, nothing less.
Fergie used to have lunch with Pep Guardiola. Neither Pep nor Messi/Iniesta/Xavi joined us. So calm yourself a bit.
They’re negotiating for Touchmani?
They’re negotiating for Touchmani?
Just on this specific point, I don’t think you will see the kind of performance you are waiting for. At this stage of the season it’s a results game, especially with an interim. We are limping to the finish, get top four and start to rebuild next season. It’s very unlikely Ralf will be manager next season.
That said, you can see improvement in our game. He is managing to translate his ideas onto the pitch, even if it’s only 45 mins at a time. But it’s step-by-step process.
I guess so. Its just we have been fooled so many times that my guard is up!
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Oh yeah, I’m right there with you on that - although my defence has become don’t expect too much. I’m kinda just along for the ride at this point, so hope for the best and prepare for the worst. What a season!
Apparently from Romain Molina (reliable french journalist) when Monaco was in the process of being fired Kovac and Newcastle was just bought, Mitchell positionned himself for a DoF position to Saudis.
I guess he saw the shortcomings of a club like Monaco which is essentially selling market.
Also from Molina, he seems to have a tremendous (and deserved) reputation as a scout but isn't good at other aspect of the DoF (precisely selling player).
Rather than a player/manager transfer, could he be a Murtoughs deputy candidate.
Good post. His comments about Fletchers role were very revealing for those who accurately read between the lines.
I don't even think the club really thought through his 'consultancy' role when they offered it and it appears to me it was merely a sweetener to get him to sign on.
Rangknick did mention turning town an interim role at Chelsea because he wanted more than 6 months.
Howson was hinting at something in a video he did about Pochettino this morning. Not about Poch, but about Mitchell being at the game last night, he says he doesn't know if he's going to join United but he also hinted at something he couldn't really say. Take that as you will
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