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Football: Roll of the Dyche

Iskaral Pust

By Iskaral Pust,
in Entertainment

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Soylent Brown Council Member

Soylent Brown

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With the first half against City at the weekend, and now this match so far, we seem to have really turned a corner and found form again after a few poor months (albeit with results still going our way.)

Salah has looked really sharp from the start, and Thiago has been an absolute joy to watch.

It would be really nice if we could keep hold of this form until the end of the season.

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ljkeane Council Member

ljkeane

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Thiago’s pretty good at football.

United really look to have given up on the season. Ragnick seems to have completely given up on trying to get them to press and there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of other ideas for how to get them to play.

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baxus Council Member

baxus

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1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said:

Final score? 7-0? 

Though that seems like a fair assessment of the difference in quality between these two teams, Liverpool were never likely to press that strong. It could be because they don't want to humiliate the opponent, or that they lack the killer instinct required for something like that, or that they'd conserve the energy for what is still a pretty tough run of games or whatever, but Liverpool just don't go all out like that.

On the other hand, I don't remember ever seeing United this powerless. Sure, I assume there weren't many bets on United to win tonight, but 2 attempts at goal (1 on target) for 90+ minutes of game is well below standard required of United. While it is amusing to watch, I hope United get closer to the top soon to make these matches more fun. There's something wrong with how wins against United become expected.

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baxus Council Member

baxus

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I have one question for our resident United fans.

In a theoretical case where you can sign a contract extension with any player from the current squad and sell any player from the current squad (for a reasonable price) and find a suitable replacement (we can get into who suitable replacements are but I feel that's a separate discussion), which players do you feel should remain in United next season?

I haven't seen that much of United this season and would like to hear the input from those who have.

For an easier overview, here's a 2021/22 squad list from United's website:

UNITED SQUAD

1. David De Gea
2. Victor Lindelof
3. Eric Bailly
4. Phil Jones (homegrown)
5. Harry Maguire (homegrown)
6. Paul Pogba (homegrown)
7. Cristiano Ronaldo
8. Juan Mata
9. Anthony Martial
10. Marcus Rashford (homegrown)
11. Mason Greenwood (homegrown)*
13. Lee Grant (homegrown)
14. Jesse Lingard (homegrown)
16. Amad*
17. Fred
18. Bruno Fernandes
19. Raphael Varane
20. Diogo Dalot
21. Edinson Cavani
22. Tom Heaton (homegrown)
23. Luke Shaw (homegrown)
25. Jadon Sancho (homegrown)*
26. Dean Henderson (homegrown)
27. Alex Telles
29. Aaron Wan-Bissaka (homegrown)
31. Nemanja Matic
34. Donny van de Beek
36. Anthony Elanga (homegrown)*
39. Scott McTominay (homegrown)
43. Teden Mengi (homegrown)*
46. Hannibal*
47. Shola Shoretire (homegrown)*
51. Matej Kovar (homegrown)*

* = classified as under-21.

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polishgenius Council Member

polishgenius

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2. Victor Lindelof
3. Eric Bailly
6. Paul Pogba (homegrown)
7. Cristiano Ronaldo
8. Juan Mata
9. Anthony Martial
11. Mason Greenwood (yeet him into the sun)
13. Lee Grant
14. Jesse Lingard
20. Diogo Dalot
21. Edinson Cavani
27. Alex Telles
31. Nemanja Matic


I'd turf these. Like in a super magic world I'd replace McTom and Fred and we wouldn't need AWB or anything, but these are the ones who either offer absolutely nothing, don't fit, are old, or have been so misused they don't want to be there. I don't want us yet to turf players who are putting in an honest effort, and the thing is a lot of our most obvious 'offenders' are obviously shattered in confidence from the lack of a system. Like a lot of our fans are screaming that Rashford and Maguire should go, but whoever they're replaced with would quickly be fucked too. They're the kind of players who deserve a chance to show they can adapt to whatever ETH or whoever comes is gonna do.

 

 

 

 

Today was a disaster in part as a demonstration of why you shouldn't do radical formation shifts against top sides without properly integrating them. A back 3 is a fairly sensible reaction to our DM and Maguire problem - with two alongside him Maguire can theoretically step up towards midfield and pass from there without worrying so much about his boat-like turning circle when they break - but there was clearly no communication or understanding between any of the backline in that formation and the two players behind him did absolutely nothing to cover runs in behind him.

 

Also not starting Sancho was baffling. By far our most involved attacking player and he only played a half. It was an apt demonstration too that our biggest problem is consistent, neat, tidy passers- it's pretty much down to him and Shaw. Lingard can do it and therefore passages involving him and Sancho were about as good as it got for us. After the urgently needed DM - who also needs to be able to do that tbh- that should be our priority, whatever position we buy in. If it's a right full back, one who can interact with the midfield rather than being just a bomb-on-and-crosser (Lamptey's experience with Brighton would help for example). If it's a striker, then yes, a proper forward, but not one who only runs the lines and shoots (I kind of expect us to get Dybala and while that's a gamble I'd be reasonably happy with that). If a box-to-box midfielder, then priority a pass-and-mover (one might think VDB would fit, but only middlingly- he's a far better mover than a passer, which is a lot of why he's struggled so far, we only have a couple players who will consistently find him in the dangerous-but-tricky-to-pass-to positions he takes up off the ball).
 

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Iskaral Pust Council Member

Iskaral Pust

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2 hours ago, lmanion said:

That's a pretty special moment from the crowd at Anfield not only the applause for Ronaldo but breaking into YNWA as well for a guy who plays for your biggest rival

And yet the United fans still sang “the Sun was right, you’re murderers”.  Even classier than the City fans on Saturday.

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polishgenius Council Member

polishgenius

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27 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

We all better hope that Klopp stays for the foreseeable. Otherwise it could become like France.  

 

 

Be interesting what City do if and when Pep leaves, mind.

 

 

 

Also, another thing: Liverpool fans will not agree but I quite enjoyed the Gary Nevilleness of Hannibal's cameo. Obviously he needs to reign it in a bit and he did get caught for the last goal too but I've been saying for years that one of the things our team lacks is enough shithouses, and he looks like he might have that in him.

In any case I hope that appearance signals Ragnick's gonna blood him a bit more in less heated games and also maybe bring others in. I'd like to see Shoretire more though he hasn't had any bench time yet so I'm not sure. But basically get a headstart on trying out players for next season instead of constantly bringing on Juan Mata who won't be here. 

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