Re: 2018/2019 Premier League Discussion Part III

by Helmer Sun Dec 23, 2018 12:23 am

BusterLfc wrote:Over the last 4 matches City conceded as many goals as Liverpool did in the entire season, they don't have a clean sheet 8 games in a row.

500m more on new defenders?

City will most likely have some crazy transfer window if they keep conceding goals like this Laughing

by Jay29 Sun Dec 23, 2018 10:34 am

The big difference I saw with United last night, apart from their players giving a shit (they outrun their opponent for the first time this season), was the higher positioning of their midfielders and full-backs. Pogba and Herrera pushed high between the lines, while the wide players came inside to collect the ball off the centre backs or Matic. That really confused Cardiff's defensive system since their wide players couldn't tuck in with United's in fear of leaving too much space to the full-backs, but that allowed those wide players to combine with United's advance midfielders very easily. Hence United suddenly looking like a great passing side in the space of a week.

I'm not sure how sustainable this will be, because there's a lot space left by the full backs for the opposition to attack into if they force a turnover, and additional space in midfield as well. But it does seem Solskjaer wants United's attackers to be playing a lot closer together than Mourinho wanted them to.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Sun Dec 23, 2018 2:30 pm

Impossible tbh.

I was told it wasn't Mourinho's fault that it was forced upon him to play Lukaku and Fellaini and he had no talent.

by Kaladin Sun Dec 23, 2018 3:40 pm

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Impossible tbh.

I was told it wasn't Mourinho's fault that it was forced upon him to play Lukaku and Fellaini and he had no talent.

Is it Mou's fault Lukaku is missing open sitters?

by BarrileteCosmico Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:09 pm

Yes it is. Mou signed him and Lukaku's finishing was well known before that decision. That's not an excuse he can hide behind.

by Helmer Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:19 pm

In the last 6-8 seasons, Liverpool are the only team who had been top of the table at Christmas and still went on to finish 2nd at the end of the season unlike other teams who won the title.

The Liverpool of old should usually draw against Newcastle, win against Arsenal and lose against City. Let's see how it pans out this season :coffee:

Anyways exciting times ahead in the EPL.

by Jay29 Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:29 pm

Pickford is turning into Joe Hart this season. English keepers are cursed, I swear.

by rincon Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:38 pm

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Yes it is. Mou signed him and Lukaku's finishing was well known before that decision. That's not an excuse he can hide behind.

No it's not. Its Mou's fault Lukaku is a United player, its certainly not Mou's fault that he was missing sitters. Players play.

I dont understand how it cant be clear that Mou being a terrible coach doesn't excuse every shitty move that players make.

by BarrileteCosmico Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:41 pm

Obviously it's not Mou's fault that Lukaku misses sitters. But when he does, Mou can't hid behind the fact that he misses sitters because Mou brought him into the team knowing full well that he misses sitters. Arguments like "Well United would've been fine had they only finished their chances" ignores that Mou is partially responsible for that given that he signed 9 with a low finish rate.

by rincon Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:44 pm

No one is making that argument on gl

Everyone congratulated firenze when Mou was sacked Laughing

by Hapless_Hans Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:53 pm

Justice for Stekelenburg

by BarrileteCosmico Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:59 pm

rincon wrote:No one is making that argument on gl

Everyone congratulated firenze when Mou was sacked

Sure, fair. I thought that was what ES was getting at.

Looking at the fixtures for the next 3 games:

Liverpool: NUFC (H), Arsenal (H), City (A)
City (-4): Lesster (A), Southampton (A), Liverpool (H)
Spurs (-6): Bournemouth (H), Wolves (H), Cardiff (A)

Decent chances we could have City back at the top on equal points by 3/1. Spurs should be just behind that as well. It all depends on whether Arsenal can get a point vs Liverpool though.

by Hapless_Hans Sun Dec 23, 2018 5:02 pm

How are they going to get back on equal points exactly, when they're 4 point behind and one of the three games is a direct meeting?

Assuming City win all three and Liverpool draw against Arsenal, City would be one ahead.

by rincon Sun Dec 23, 2018 5:04 pm

3 points for Liverpool and 7 for City hmm

by Hapless_Hans Sun Dec 23, 2018 5:05 pm

You mean if Liverpool lose at home to Arsenal and City draw vs Southampton?
Yeah ok but that's more unlikely than the other scenario

by BarrileteCosmico Sun Dec 23, 2018 5:05 pm

Hapless_Hans wrote:How are they going to get back on equal points exactly, when they're 4 point behind and one of the three games is a direct meeting?

Assuming City win all three and Liverpool draw against Arsenal, City would be one ahead.

Yes City would be one ahead

My terrible arithmetic aside, the main point was that the race could be a lot more competitive in 10 days

by Hapless_Hans Sun Dec 23, 2018 5:07 pm

Anyway, don't think City will get 9 points from their next 3 games.

by Hapless_Hans Sun Dec 23, 2018 5:08 pm

BarrileteCosmico wrote:
Hapless_Hans wrote:How are they going to get back on equal points exactly, when they're 4 point behind and one of the three games is a direct meeting?

Assuming City win all three and Liverpool draw against Arsenal, City would be one ahead.

Yes City would be one ahead

My terrible arithmetic aside, the main point was that the race could be a lot more competitive in 10 days

Absolutely. Without any doubt the race is far too close to call and I would still consider a Liverpool league win a huge surprise and upset.

by BarrileteCosmico Sun Dec 23, 2018 5:33 pm

WHAT A MATCH BY SONALDO :bow:

by CBarca Sun Dec 23, 2018 6:30 pm

It's not Mou's fault Lukaku misses sitters.

It's Mou's fault United don't create enough for that to not matter. You know how many sitters Sterling has missed over the years? Kane scored twice today but missed a 1v1 with Pickford (not the easiest one to finish mind, but a very good chance nonetheless). He's been missing easy chances this season and in fact he does every season. Every striker does.

It's the manager's responsibility to create a unit that can carve out decent chances and with a player of Lukaku's quality, he can thrive. We've seen Lukaku do it before.

Lukaku isn't an A+ finisher, but he's not a bad striker. His problem is the guy feeds on scraps and works like a horse up top because he has no support except for Lingard who's barely above average himself.

In some ways it's not Mou's fault Sanchez's level dropped when he moved to United. It is his fault that he clearly didn't implement a system like Sanchez had at Arsenal to allow him to be the incredible offensive player he is.

Neither player nor manager exist in a vacuum (although I will likely argue to the contrary when people blame Poch for his players failings but hey, someone has to do it)

by CBarca Sun Dec 23, 2018 6:31 pm

Spurs were incredible today, but I'm not sure how much to credit them because Everton were just...awful.

Defensively I haven't seen a worse performance yet this year from a team

by Unique Sun Dec 23, 2018 6:52 pm

same old everton. they gave liverpool the hardest game of the season tbh and then they play like that today. its like they put the effort in vs liverpool then dont give a shit vs spurs. thats why the club will never go anywhere.

by Casciavit Sun Dec 23, 2018 7:23 pm

So what's the likelihood Poch joins either Madrid or United this summer?

by Unique Sun Dec 23, 2018 8:02 pm

Casciavit wrote:So what's the likelihood Poch joins either Madrid or United this summer?

if he had any sense he would stay at spurs imo.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Sun Dec 23, 2018 8:08 pm

rincon wrote:
BarrileteCosmico wrote:Yes it is. Mou signed him and Lukaku's finishing was well known before that decision. That's not an excuse he can hide behind.

No it's not. Its Mou's fault Lukaku is a United player, its certainly not Mou's fault that he was missing sitters. Players play.

I dont understand how it cant be clear that Mou being a terrible coach doesn't excuse every shitty move that players make.

Where did i say it was his fault he missed chances, i was responding to those who made excuses for him because of Lukaku and Fellaini when he didn't have to play them as Solskjaer proved.

Besides he didn't miss that many chances anyway and they had the opposite issue where they barely created anything because Mourinho is a negative pleb.

by Nishankly Mon Dec 24, 2018 8:24 am

Allison - Roma
Trent - Home grown
Joe Gomez - Charlton Ath
Van Dijk - Soton
Robertson - Hull
Gini - Newcastle
Fabinho - Monaco
Keita - Leipzig
Shaqiri - Stoke
Salah - Roma
Firmino - Hoffenheim
Mane - Soton

Almost our entire squad consists of Klopp developed players. Brilliance. pic.twitter.com/WEC13PYbvv
— Hardik Nagar (@hardikreds17) December 24, 2018

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