Iskaral Pust Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 A last-kick penalty equalizer is all that prevented Everton from leap-frogging Arsenal and (narrowly) United, albeit with more games played. As much as I hate Mourinho, I think it's objectively fair to say that United are falling short of preseason expectations and spending by the most of any team. They certainly look just like a Moyes or LVG team, despite massive spending and phasing out Rooney (with no complaints from fans). Even Leicester are back up to tenth now and not too far preseason expectations. Possibly Crystal Palace are still doing worse relative to expectations, possibly Southampton. The rebound in Leicester's form since Ranieri's departure is incredible. Liverpool and Lucas should take some credit for gifting them an easy win to buck up their confidence. We're nice like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Mourinho's latest quotes on Shaw are pretty amazing Quote "It was Luke Shaw's body with my brain. I made the decisions for him. His contribution was good. I was thinking for him. I was making every decision for him. At this level, 21 years old, he must understand the game" Yeesh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 9 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said: A last-kick penalty equalizer is all that prevented Everton from leap-frogging Arsenal and (narrowly) United, albeit with more games played. As much as I hate Mourinho, I think it's objectively fair to say that United are falling short of preseason expectations and spending by the most of any team. They certainly look just like a Moyes or LVG team, despite massive spending and phasing out Rooney (with no complaints from fans). Even Leicester are back up to tenth now and not too far preseason expectations. Possibly Crystal Palace are still doing worse relative to expectations, possibly Southampton. I would certainly say that Arsenal is falling short of expectations even more so. You may have forgotten all about them, which is understandable given the way they perform. As for United's season, I'm a bit torn. On the one hand I'm negative because I agree that what we are seeing is not much of a step up of the team under LvG at all. I do think it's certainly better than what we saw under Moyes. But still there is no way around the fact that the team is looking at missing out champions league qualification with these recent results. It's not good enough. Defensively they'be become much sounder but scoring remains problematic. So definitely underachieving. On the other hand..... United won the League Cup, are in FA Cup final, and can still win the Europa League. If you bring home 3 trophies like that you've had a good season. And CL qualification is not quite out of sight yet, as United have 1 or 2 games in hand. However it doesn't look good right now. The other upside is that the team is incredibly hard to beat, taking no losses at all. No EPL team's had fewer defeats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Our difficulties in scoring goals is the only thing this team has in common with the team under LVG. Our brand of football is far better under Mourinho than the turgid snoozefest under LVG and we create far more scoring opportunities as well. Apart from Zlatan, every other front line player has seriously underperformed in front of goal and even Zlatan has missed a significant number of clear cut chances. Martial, Rashford and Mkhitaryan have not contributed anywhere near enough in the goals column and if Zlatan doesn't score, it's hard to see where we can get a goal from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Wouldnt put it past Liverpool to botch top four with Mane now joining Lallana and Hendo in being out indefinitely. I tried to block out that whole period when he was at afcon, gods we were so bad. Origi will need to step up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Yeah, I just saw that Mane could miss the rest of the season. Didn't think the injury was that bad and there are a few teams in their upcoming fixtures that could cause problems. Should be okay for the next game though as Bournemouth can't defend for shit and they will not just sit back either so that should suit Liverpool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 On the other hand, Bournemouth has had that knack of scoring, and Liverpool hasn't really had the knack of defending, so I'll leave that one open. Historically*, Bournemouth has done okay against 'pool. *Yeah, both years counting ETA: Checked it up, I was wrong there. Remembered wrong about former meetings - thought there was a draw in there as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Liverpool always had a high potential to drop points and miss out on top 4. I'd say we're only 50:50 now: other top teams playing each other offsets our reduced attacking potential. At this point it's a big bet on Coutinho and Can keeping their new-found form plus Firmino and Origi rediscovering where the goal is. @Calibandar good point on Arsenal. I recall United being talked about as joint favorites with City for the title. What were expectations for Arsenal? They're narrowly outside the top four and bombed out of CL, so they don't seem all that much behind expectations. They've definitely disappointed but had less hype to live up to. And point taken about United winning the League Cup and in with a shout for others. History may yet remember this season more fondly than those who lived through it. If they do eke out a couple of cups after a series of favorable match-ups, it'll be lipstick on a pig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 4 hours ago, Consigliere said: Our difficulties in scoring goals is the only thing this team has in common with the team under LVG. Our brand of football is far better under Mourinho than the turgid snoozefest under LVG and we create far more scoring opportunities as well. As I put it to my brother the other day, the patterns are prettier but the effect is the same. But to be honest in the most recent turgid draws the patterns haven't been all that pretty either. It wasn't quite at 'the game of a million crosses' level last night, but the sight of just randomly pumping it forward time after time hoping Zlatan or Fellaini would get on it was getting depressing. Bournemouth have the Norwegian Neymar so they'll hopefully knock a few in tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 No one gives a shit about Arsenal. They suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Leicester on an improbable run of form to avoid relegation, we know what happens next year! Newcastle really should beat burton tonight and all but seal the deal, so they definitely won't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l2 0 5 5 Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Horrible execution by Courtois. Of course kunny aguero has to score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 He works his nuts off even when he's not playing particularly well though. So in the absence of any replacements currently in the squad likely to consistently put in better performances he doesn't seem like the most pressing problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 4 hours ago, polishgenius said: As I put it to my brother the other day, the patterns are prettier but the effect is the same. But to be honest in the most recent turgid draws the patterns haven't been all that pretty either. It wasn't quite at 'the game of a million crosses' level last night, but the sight of just randomly pumping it forward time after time hoping Zlatan or Fellaini would get on it was getting depressing. That's the Fellaini effect. Whenever he's on the pitch, we automatically switch to long balls. The midfield is an area we really need to strengthen, even moreso than the attack. While out attack has underperformed, they are capable of doing much better whereas our midfield is threadbare apart from Herrera and Pogba (Carrick isn't getting any younger either). Spurs have turned it around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Typical bordering on pathetic at this point. Arsenal will get fourth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Chelsea - City on here. But I take it Liverpool suddenly remebered they didn't play anyone in the top six and promptly lost a couple of points? ETA: Stones looking okay tonight - except in front of goal. No coincidence he only scored the one for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 In our own bizarre way, we're actually pretty consistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l2 0 5 5 Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Good win for Chelsea. Kept hearing that they would be satisfied with a draw which makes me sick to hear things like that. They get a draw and they're only 5 points clear of Tot opposed to 7. Nothing to be content with in that scenario, as the second place team draws closer. Hazard is once again the star. Great first goal and good opportunistic rebound off the PK. Diego has been frustrating the past 3 games. Maybe his mind is in Spain, or France, or China, who the fucks knows with him. I think this was the last possible road block in Chelsea's march towards the title, and the road block was made of salt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Friendzone Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 1 hour ago, l2 0 5 5 said: Good win for Chelsea. Kept hearing that they would be satisfied with a draw which makes me sick to hear things like that. They get a draw and they're only 5 points clear of Tot opposed to 7. Nothing to be content with in that scenario, as the second place team draws closer. Hazard is once again the star. Great first goal and good opportunistic rebound off the PK. Diego has been frustrating the past 3 games. Maybe his mind is in Spain, or France, or China, who the fucks knows with him. I think this was the last possible road block in Chelsea's march towards the title, and the road block was made of salt. Man Utd and Everton are gonna be difficult for them. Goodison is where they traditionally drop points and Mourinho will throw there 10 defenders for Chelsea to drop points, as he did with us years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 what the fuck was the score with the newcastle penalty? encroachment? fuck off, that happens on every penalty ever, and from replays i've seen there were at least 2 burton players doing it anyway. bizarre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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