Spurs at home, Leicester at home, Norwich at home and Everton away are all winnable games.Points won by opponent's league position
1:
2:
3:
4: Us
5: 3
6:
7:
8: 0
9: 1
10: 3
11: 3
12: 1
13:
14: 1
15: 3
16: 3
17: 1 and 3
18:
19: 1
20: 3
PPG mob can cling onto the inflated PPG for now. Good luck picking up 2 wins from City, Spurs and Liverpool which are needed to maintain it.
nice username famHe did and you took the bait. Well done
cool story broSorry that you felt embarrassed by a football team
Cheers. Ole will always be a club legend.nice username fam
Well done
It was bad luck we played well.Just have to look at some of the latest posts in this thread. "We have 2 PPG, more than Ole's full seasons and Conte". Blissfully ignoring that we've faced one cannon fodder after another. Over a full season you play 10 games against the other top 6. Ralf has played 0 in his 13 games. On average after 13 games you're supposed to have played 3-4 times against top 6 opposition. That shows how ridiculously easy his fixtures have been. And then there's "we lost 4-1 last time, therefore a draw this time is progress". Not to mention "Watford have a good away record". They had lost 7 out of 12 away games before yesterday. Those aren't rational posts but idiotic takes aimed to glorify the current situation.
And people are acting as if the manager can do absolutely nothing about the lack of goals. Scoring more goals than the opposition is, to quote Michael Owen, the most important part in football. If one thing very clearly isn't working, try something else. If players aren't able to put the ball in the net, try some others. Ronaldo has 2 goals in 2.5 months but is somehow still more or less an automatic starter. His only job is to score goal and he isn't doing that. Take him completely out of the firing line for a game or two and tell him to get a grip or he'll find himself on the bench. Show some balls and make some brave decisions.
Then there's the question, why aren't we finishing our chances? If this was a Brighton kind of situation where we had dross forwards like Maupay and Welbeck I'd have no problem accepting our lack of goals. But Ronaldo, Rashford and Bruno are more than capable of getting 60 goals between them. Why is it that they can't hit a barn door anymore? Shooting drills, focus exercises etc. are down to the coaching. You can blame bad luck once, twice, thrice but when it's happening game after game after game it's not bad luck anymore. It's a clear symptom of something bigger. And the manager has to figure it out quickly or that crap 47 % win percentage he has will nosedive significantly once we start facing harder opponents.
Sick of this "unlucky yet again, at least we won the xG, we go again next week" attitude while we're gifting a Champions League spot to Lego Pep's bang average team.
As others have pointed out, including myself, it was a pretty easy fixture list. In terms of RR’s ppg, we’ll get to see, won’t we?RR is currently picking up more points per game in the league than last season though innit? So in that sense, he is currently getting a better tune out of the squad that finished 2nd last season.
Bit ironic when you are calling out @VP89 attacking personally but then labeling me as Top Red ?Top Red post!!!!
Noting Ralf’s record isn’t over the top criticism. I’ve said, MANY TIMES, I expect top 4 with this squad. So does the board. You don’t start this season by adding Sancho, Ronaldo and Varane and expecting anything less, no matter the manager, Ole or Ralf.
If Ralf turns it around, I’ll be happy to admit I’m wrong, delighted in fact. But, from what I see, Ralf is a idealist, and doesn’t have a great understanding of how to get the best out of top players or even overindulged superstars, to be fair. Well, that’s part of the job. And the club will evaluate him on that criteria as well.
The reason that top 4 is important is because it adds 15-20% in revenues and boosts profit, approx 70m-80m in total revenue. Also, it makes recruitment of players and managers easier because top players want to play in top competitions. And lastly, I’m sure the board has this as an objective for RR.If I recall expectations were to see progress towards a style of play not the top 4 cup. The top 4 cup without expectations to win the CL is just a shareholder's trophy. People can quit making it the gold standard of expectations. CL qualification alone cannot nullify the progress being made on the pitch.
Most importantly he won't be here next season so what is even the point of counting points progress that one damn well knows can't be built on? He won't even be backed with anywhere close to enough time and money to make it a fair comparison. This is just desperate Grade A assholery to tear the manager down.
You expect an interim manager to build a foundation to win the league in only 2 months or is the shareholder's cup more important than actual progress on the pitch?
Edit: Some people still celebrated top 4 after knowing what we know about how we embarrassed ourselves in the group stage and ended up in the Europa league before the year was over. Such is the power of the mighty top 4 finish where we're simply there to tick a box and the actual performance is a distant second.
Ah, ok, there mate. You win.Bit ironic when you are calling out @VP89 attacking personally but then labeling me as Top Red ?
Mate, you have no idea how these things works. You just randomly pick some stats and compare against 3 year data. It's not.worth it. You can continue your ranting here. Spare me a few !
Yup we will, you’re the one judging him based on him losing these games, I have no clue, I can only judge on now. He could win 0 of the next 6, or he could win 3 and have a draw or two, I have no idea.As others have pointed out, including myself, it was a pretty easy fixture list. In terms of RR’s ppg, we’ll get to see, won’t we?
The benefits of top 4 are well noted but it is is no way close enough to paint RR's tenure in a negative light when we're actually progressing in style of play and when he entered the job about 5 to 8 points out of that zone. He's just supposed to rack up 5-8 more points than everyone ahead of us from now till the end of season? because the other teams in the same zone are just going to stand back and not improve while we claw our way out of that kind of deficit? That's a sham criteria to judge RR. If it was so straightforward we wouldn't need an interim manager in the first place.The reason that top 4 is important is because it adds 15-20% in revenues and boosts profit, approx 70m-80m in total revenue. Also, it makes recruitment of players and managers easier because top players want to play in top competitions. And lastly, I’m sure the board has this as an objective for RR.
So what will it take for you to criticize RR? Seeing as bad performances would be down to the players.The benefits of top 4 are well noted but it is is no way close enough to paint RR's tenure in a negative light when we're actually progressing in style of play and when he entered the job about 5 to 8 points out of that zone. He's just supposed to rack up 5-8 more points than everyone ahead of us from now till the end of season? because the other teams in the same zone are just going to stand back and not improve while we claw our way out of that kind of deficit? That's a sham criteria to judge RR. If it was so straightforward we wouldn't need an interim manager in the first place.
Also Ole fanatics used to love to harp on about Klopp so they might have to take their own advice here, Klopp didn't make top 4 in his half season. It wasn't the end of the world for Liverpool. They still built up and became a force. One year's 25% revenue won't hold us back if we're actually headed in the right direction. We might miss out on a galactico in the summer. Big deal. Managers worth their salt aren't too reliant on those in the first place. I seriously don't care about the board's financial objective. They are the shareholders of the shareholders cup. If they say anything it's almost certainly misguided on the football side. Maybe if they sacked Ole at the right time instead of placing mission impossible on RR.
Not top 4 that's for sure. He's an interim manager so standards of realistic expectation have to be well realistic. At a stretch the only things I actually criticize him for is treating the old strikers like they are the same players from when he managed but he might not actually have a choice with Ronaldo without creating a huge mess. In fact he most certainly doesn't have one.So what will it take for you to criticize RR? Seeing as bad performances would be down to the players.
Ole had 3 windows and splashed more than 400m and the squad is still in need of full rebuild. Weird to point out the likes of Mata and Matic as a problem in the squad because these barely play anyway. His own signings were mostly awful. He wasted 130m on a CB and FB that everyone want them replaced. He signed a 28 years old injury prone defender from Real Madrid who has been declining and we will need to replace him soon. He didn't fix the midfield issues an left us with an attack depended on two past it +35 years old strikers. Pretty much the only signing of his era that can be considered a success is Bruno and even him has huge question marks on his general play.It surprises me that the Caf has been so vehement that 100% of the squad is shit. Also, that Ole is 100% to blame for it. There are many many holdovers from previous managers, and I would argue that those acquisitions have hurt us more than Ole’s acquisitions. If Ole did have a hand in keeping Mata, Matic, Lingard and Jones, then so be it, but my understanding was that the reason they were extended was that Woody didn’t want to lose a single “asset”.
‘So, let me understand your point of view: Ole wasn’t good enough with this squad and had to go (I agree). 2. The squad is awful, every single player, which is the fault of Ole (I agree that there are players in the squad that don’t meet our standard, but I actually think there are many good players who have proven themselves for multiple seasons). 3. RR shouldn’t be held to the same standard as Ole because they aren’t his players, and it is too much to ask a professional manager to get a tune out of a squad that finished 2nd last season (I don’t agree with this). And 4. Although RR probably has been asked by the board to get top 4, statistics and results don’t matter because he isn’t going to be here for the long term anyway, and therefore should be above criticism (I disagree).
W11 D5 L3 should be 2.00 pts per matchTuchel was W11 D5 L3 or 2.11 pts per match… what’s your point?
Also, Ralf has had a run against bottom table teams.
Counter attacking football may not suit this team at the moment, our main runner (Rashford) is still losing his mind and great finisher (Greenwood) is arrested.There is an easy way out of this. Instruct Rangnick to play counter attacking football which suits this team. We have midfielders (Matic, Pogba) can't run for more than 60 mins, midfielders can't play possession football (Fred, McT), ageing strikers (Ronaldo, Cavani), hit and run merchants (Rashford), fullbacks that can't attack (Shaw, AWB) and whatnot. The team will get better results playing counter attacking football.
But is this what we want for long term? We need to start to think and act like a big club. The way forward is playing modern attacking football. This is the way the biggest football club in the world should be playing. Counter attacking or defensive football will bring us nowhere, maybe, a Top 4 and a few small cups semifinals or finals.
We need to let these players develop and work harder. The running and pressing stats must be comparable to City and Pool. The players need to be trained to work much harder and be comfortable playing possession based attacking football.
Rangnick is laying good foundation for the next manager to take over in the summer. The club is heading in the right direction now.
The thing with the finishing, do you just hope they get it right or make them practice and focus on it which might improve it or it might make them even more nervous in front of goal.Counter attacking football may not suit this team at the moment, our main runner (Rashford) is still losing his mind and great finisher (Greenwood) is arrested.
And the main problem is, we are defending and attacking well in recent match vs button team in league but the finishing is so shit when half chance or clean chance are created.
Is this going to improve the terrible finishing we're seeing?There is an easy way out of this. Instruct Rangnick to play counter attacking football which suits this team. We have midfielders (Matic, Pogba) can't run for more than 60 mins, midfielders can't play possession football (Fred, McT), ageing strikers (Ronaldo, Cavani), hit and run merchants (Rashford), fullbacks that can't attack (Shaw, AWB) and whatnot. The team will get better results playing counter attacking football.
But is this what we want for long term? We need to start to think and act like a big club. The way forward is playing modern attacking football. This is the way the biggest football club in the world should be playing. Counter attacking or defensive football will bring us nowhere, maybe, a Top 4 and a few small cups semifinals or finals.
We need to let these players develop and work harder. The running and pressing stats must be comparable to City and Pool. The players need to be trained to work much harder and be comfortable playing possession based attacking football.
Rangnick is laying good foundation for the next manager to take over in the summer. The club is heading in the right direction now.
It doesn't seem to suit converting them.The football we're playing does suit the team. If it didn't they wouldn't be creating so many chances.
This is how people should look at it, is a basic system going to be in place by end of the season (which isn’t too far away) or are we just playing with the same lack of structure and identity as under Ole?Always said I'd prefer a coherent, cohesive style of play even if the results aren't going our way rather than depending on certain players winning games through individualism which is in no way sustainable. Even though I don't think Ralf should get the job full time I think he's done the best he could with the tools he has at hand and is getting us to play more as a team which in turn will get better results once we decide it's better to score goals than miss open nets.
So you honestly think we're missing these chances because of the tactics?It doesn't seem to suit converting them.
But who does he play and where? He's wasteful yes but Bruno is still our most creative player. Ronaldo drops to bench and who do we play there? Rashford is almost in worse form than him, Greenwood is gone, who knows what Cavani is doingHe needs to start benching some players, like Bruno or Ronaldo, for the greater benefit of the team
We all see football differently but personally I think our football has definitely improved. It still has a long way to go but the basis is being set for the next manager. We've put in some great halves on a regular basis, admittedly followed by utter dross the other halves but those 45 minutes of good football can be turned into 60, 70, 80, 90 minutes. Something I never felt we could achieve on a regular basis under Ole.This is how people should look at it, is a basic system going to be in place by end of the season (which isn’t too far away) or are we just playing with the same lack of structure and identity as under Ole?
Add in Ragnick isn’t even consodered an elite coach, Ole’s results just made his situation completely untenable and there weren’t really any managers available/interested bar Conte (and looking at Spurs I think it was right not to hire Conte mid season to be honest).
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Stupid to let go a striker on loan but now, I'd rather try Elanga or Sancho upfront than Ronaldo. Maybe we have a talented youngster who could be promoted, like with Rashford.But who does he play and where? He's wasteful yes but Bruno is still our most creative player. Ronaldo drops to bench and who do we play there? Rashford is almost in worse form than him, Greenwood is gone, who knows what Cavani is doing
Training is essential and I think 99% of top players/scorers would agree.The thing with the finishing, do you just hope they get it right or make them practice and focus on it which might improve it or it might make them even more nervous in front of goal.
The board and owners don't escape scrutiny from many of the fanbase, however it's a different story when it comes to most of the mediaYeah there's a slight hint of sarcasm in my post. In Ole's two full seasons he finished 3rd and 2nd and reached a bunch of semi finals. In the league he was labelled lucky. There's nothing lucky about your finishing position after 38 games. You are where you deserve to be. In the cups he was labelled a bottler. A fair assessment if you only look at results. But we destroyed Sevilla in that semi and should've been in the final. Last season we should've had a two goal lead against PSG at home and we would've progressed from the group. But all these shoulda coulda woulda's are irrelevant. In football you are judged on results. That's what ultimately matters. Reality is that Ralf has only won 47 % of his 17 games. And this is before his tough fixtures have even started. That's just not good enough.
I'm of the opinion that it doesn't really matter who the United manager is, the overall structure of the club is so bad that the manager is just a puppet who is bound to fail regardless. Signings like Sanchez and Ronaldo, these are just commercial gimmicks to flex financial muscles. Contract extensions to every undeserving man and his dog to "preserve their value". Ignoring glaring holes in the team. Overpaying for every single player you buy and poor recruitment in general. These are issues that run far deeper than any manager. And these are issues that handicap whoever the manager is at the time. Ralf is no exception in that regard.
Problem with this fanbase is that they don't see the bigger picture. They thought Moyes created all the issues that the saviour LVG was going to solve. Two years later they thought LVG was responsible for all the issues. Then Mourinho was responsible. Now Ole is responsible. The bad guy is always whoever the previous manager was. He always gets all the blame. If the new manager fails then that just shows how the previous manager was a failure because his recruitment was poor. If the new manager succeeds then that just shows how the previous manager was a failure because he couldn't get the best out of his players. When in reality the actual failures are the cretin owners and the broad. Those cnuts escape all the scrutiny time after time while the previous managers are treated as lightning rods. United owners and board live a charmed life.
Left field suggestion but I genuinely believe that D'Mani Mellor would thrive in a Rangnick type of system. I don't think he is a long term solution but I think what he brings to a team means that he is certainly worth a go up front at some point. He certainly is worth a run out against Leicester or Norwich in April if Ronaldo's form continues and Cavani remains unavailable.But who does he play and where? He's wasteful yes but Bruno is still our most creative player. Ronaldo drops to bench and who do we play there? Rashford is almost in worse form than him, Greenwood is gone, who knows what Cavani is doing
We are facing City and Pool soon. The only way we can beat them is by playing negative counter attacking football to stand any chance. If we stick to Ralf's style most likely we will lose and many will call for his head again.Counter attacking football may not suit this team at the moment, our main runner (Rashford) is still losing his mind and great finisher (Greenwood) is arrested.
And the main problem is, we are defending and attacking well in recent match vs button team in league but the finishing is so shit when half chance or clean chance are created.
Disagree with you on Conte but I can see your point. Personally would love Conte here so he can call spade a spade. Also think his football suits our squad better than RR at the moment. Would also love when he eventually shits on Glazers.We all see football differently but personally I think our football has definitely improved. It still has a long way to go but the basis is being set for the next manager. We've put in some great halves on a regular basis, admittedly followed by utter dross the other halves but those 45 minutes of good football can be turned into 60, 70, 80, 90 minutes. Something I never felt we could achieve on a regular basis under Ole.
Whatever way we do look at it I think we're all in agreement that change was necessary. It really couldn't of been any worse at the end of Oles tenure. Is Ralf the man? I don't think so but the squad is finally being held accountable which for me makes it worth having him until the end of the season.
Agree with you on Conte.
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