Iskaral Pust Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 2 hours ago, ljkeane said: The thing for me is it feels like this season could have been a real opportunity for United. After 4 years of an absolutely brutal pace being set to win the league Liverpool and City have had some issues this year so it seems like a more achievable mid to high 80s points total is going to win it. In the Champions League too Barca, Real and Juve just aren't any good and Bayern, while still very good, do seem to have taken a bit of a step back. This season is a gift for a dark horse contender who gets some luck with injuries. It’s probably Mourinho’s best chance in a long time. OTOH, United are already over-performing in 4th place and will go a lot further in EL than CL. It could be a lot worse for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 The game's not important so we're playing the kids, which is great, but why on earth have we given Clarkson a long-term contract? He's okay on the ball, but he's tiny. He's got no chance of making the grade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 I feel like it was a mistake to hire Helen Keller to run the VAR function for this Liverpool vs Midtjylland Big Cup match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncalagonTheBlack Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 why the hell did Mo play 100 minutes? so he's not starting against Fulham i presume? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 We have Spurs on the Wednesday after, so I expect we'll give a few other players a break on Sunday too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 1 hour ago, Soylent Brown said: The game's not important so we're playing the kids, which is great, but why on earth have we given Clarkson a long-term contract? He's okay on the ball, but he's tiny. He's got no chance of making the grade. I didn't see the game but why does being 5 foot 7 make it impossible for him to ever make the grade? That makes him as tall as or taller than two of the three best players in history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 30 minutes ago, polishgenius said: I didn't see the game but why does being 5 foot 7 make it impossible for him to ever make the grade? That makes him as tall as or taller than two of the three best players in history. He looks smaller than that. He made Keita look like a giant. Those other fellas were quite good at football, rather than being fairly average. He just doesn't really have anything going for him, and he's going to get bullied all day long playing against bigger boys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Just now, Soylent Brown said: He looks smaller than that. He made Keita look like a giant. Those other fellas were quite good at football, rather than being fairly average. He just doesn't really have anything going for him, and he's going to get bullied all day long playing against bigger boys. Maybe it was just because it was his first game with the Big Team, but he really did seem to bring an element of the JV to the proceedings. A step too slow to get moving, and a step too slow once he got moving, a bit too small to compete physically, and just all around not quite at the races. Some of the other recent Academy products have looked off the pace in their first games for the first team, but they also showed some indications that eventually they would have something to offer. I didn't see that from Clarkson, unfortunately. Maybe next time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Yeah, I wouldn't hold his performance tonight against him, but I just don't see that he's got anywhere near enough ability to overcome his physical limitations. Which is not to say he can't make it anywhere, but it seems unrealistic to think he has a chance at Liverpool. Have we put him on a contract just to try to squeeze some money out of a Championship club for him in a year or two? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 40 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said: ...Have we put him on a contract just to try to squeeze some money out of a Championship club for him in a year or two? Allow me to introduce you to Michael Edwards' laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winterfell is Burning Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Football lost yet another legend: Paolo Rossi died today, aged 64, according to the Italian press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 2 hours ago, Soylent Brown said: Yeah, I wouldn't hold his performance tonight against him, but I just don't see that he's got anywhere near enough ability to overcome his physical limitations. Which is not to say he can't make it anywhere, but it seems unrealistic to think he has a chance at Liverpool. Have we put him on a contract just to try to squeeze some money out of a Championship club for him in a year or two? Sheffield are the new Bournemouth. FWIW your criticism of Clarkson sounds very similar to what was said about Suso but he made a pretty good career. Perhaps he was too lightweight for the PL, but it seems hasty to judge a young technical midfielder based on their physicality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 4 hours ago, Winterfell is Burning said: Football lost yet another legend: Paolo Rossi died today, aged 64, according to the Italian press. Kinda sad, but a bit before my football watching days. He was rumoredly the best striker around 1980. He happily left the public stage after his playing days, and was never a darling for the Italian media, going as far as making up an affair with a team mate from the squadra azurra IIRC. And I imagine those gay rumours to be quite annoying in the early to mid 1980s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 5 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said: Sheffield are the new Bournemouth. FWIW your criticism of Clarkson sounds very similar to what was said about Suso but he made a pretty good career. Perhaps he was too lightweight for the PL, but it seems hasty to judge a young technical midfielder based on their physicality. Suso was bigger and trickier than Clarkson. Difficult to put a finger on what the issue was with Suso when he was younger. He always showed flashes of what he could do, but could disappear for long stretches of games. I've been very quick to write him off, I know, but with his size, if he was good enough technically to overcome that, we'd have heard a lot more about him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Pretty disastrous CL campaign for Inter. Conte should be embarrassed at finishing last in that group but he will probably end up crying about the board again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 11 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said: Sheffield are the new Bournemouth. I don't think they'll be around for as long as loyal customers as Bournemouth was. So you might need to find another gullible club next year. 2 hours ago, Consigliere said: Pretty disastrous CL campaign for Inter. Conte should be embarrassed at finishing last in that group but he will probably end up crying about the board again. That group was quite tricky to begin with tho. Gladbach are a solid/good Bundesliga team, that were obviously competitive. Donezk are a seasoned team, with quite a bit of CL experience. And Real do not need any further introduction. It just looks worse, with how the group unfolded. With Real simply not living up to expectations (save for the last game, which was also Gladbach's worst game of the season across all competitions). It's worth noting, that Inter were on the luckier side of the referee decissions in their win against Gladbach last week. Otherwise they would've been out of the CL before the last game. I mean, the group was really not a walk in the park. Compared to the United group. Real PSG I'd consider pretty level, Redbull is a bit stronger than Gladbach (but you lost to them after they had to play Bayern Saturday, and where they were unlucky to concede a late equalizer). But then again, I think Donezk are a better team than Erdogan Istanbul. Sidenote: It's kinda fun to see a United supporter getting some degree of solace from the fact, that Inter have had a worse CL campaign than Man United. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 44 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: Sidenote: It's kinda fun to see a United supporter getting some degree of solace from the fact, that Inter have had a worse CL campaign than Man United. I don't actually give a shit about Inter so why would I be taking solace in that fact? Me stating a simple fact is not me looking for solace. That's a moronic assumption. Leipzig and United are fairly comparable in terms of squad strength while PSG have a better squad than either. Nagelsmann and Tuchel are also much better managers than Solskjaer. Inter have a better squad than Gladbach or Shakhtar and Conte is often considered to be a world class manager. United finishing third after getting ourselves in a good position is a big disappointment but Inter finishing last is the biggest failure of the group stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 6 hours ago, Consigliere said: Pretty disastrous CL campaign for Inter. Conte should be embarrassed at finishing last in that group but he will probably end up crying about the board again. Too bad Real didn't join them. I'm sure Real will now pull something out of nowhere and make it to the semis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 30 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said: Too bad Real didn't join them. I'm sure Real will now pull something out of nowhere and make it to the semis. Quite likely. Real Madrid have a squad full of proven big game players. Can't count them out against anyone in the knockout rounds even though they aren't playing that well right now although that could change by the time the CL resumes in Feb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 6 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: I don't think they'll be around for as long as loyal customers as Bournemouth was. So you might need to find another gullible club next year. That group was quite tricky to begin with tho. Gladbach are a solid/good Bundesliga team, that were obviously competitive. Donezk are a seasoned team, with quite a bit of CL experience. And Real do not need any further introduction. It just looks worse, with how the group unfolded. With Real simply not living up to expectations (save for the last game, which was also Gladbach's worst game of the season across all competitions). I think you’re being generous to Inter. That was a pretty conventional group and they should have navigated it much better. Shaktar rarely ever qualify from their CL group and were only in contention this time because of a very unusual six points from RM. BM have no recent pedigree in the CL, and finished a distant fourth in the Bundesliga last season after falling away badly in the second half. And RM are a shadow of themselves. Inter lost both games to a floundering RM, and only got one win from four games against Shaktar and BM. This wasn’t some group of death. It should have been an easy progression for the Serie A runners-up (only a point behind Juve). But they did really, really badly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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