***Official*** English Football Season 2018-19

[Tangles]

I’m glad the Jose saga is over and that I was way wrong on the timing. I was kind of interested in what Carrick would do but Ole can’t be worse than Jose.

Do we now get the obligatory sacked manager wins from the overjoyed players?

 

[GIMH]

What's happened to Well Known Premier League Footballer? I thought he was in the managerial set up at united these days?

He’s managing Wales

 

[Burgey]

Surely that can't be a full time job?

 

[Uppercut]

Surely that can't be a full time job?

You'd think that but he apparently can't even find the time to watch his key player on TV.

https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/giggs-on-bales-real-madrid-struggles-i-havent-been-watching/1j17fxsp1q4y314oa3pv1rs8yr

 

[andmark]

As has been mentioned Gary Neville really is trying his best to avoid blaming Mourinho. He's went on, for example, about the club not backing him with transfers. Why would they? He's effectively wasted £300 million on players who haven't lived up to it.

 

[Uppercut]

It's not just Mourinho, it's every manager ever. They could pick an outfield player in nets, an alcoholic granny at CB and a sheep up front but Neville would still be saying "it's the players who have to go out and perform, they need to take a look at themselves".

 

[Spikey]

gotta try harder you know

 

[andmark]

Adidas have also confirmed that Pogba tweet was a scheduled promotional thing as well. I'm sure Neville will publicly apologise...

 

[cpr]

No because Pogba should've stopped training, ran to the changing rooms to grab his phone, check his PR mans schedule for the day, and cancelled the tweet, then got back and caught up on the push ups.

 

[Furball]

It's not just Mourinho, it's every manager ever. They could pick an outfield player in nets, an alcoholic granny at CB and a sheep up front but Neville would still be saying "it's the players who have to go out and perform, they need to take a look at themselves".

Doing so allows him to pre-emptively deflect any questions about why he was such a shite manager.

 

[Furball]

As has been mentioned Gary Neville really is trying his best to avoid blaming Mourinho. He's went on, for example, about the club not backing him with transfers. Why would they? He's effectively wasted £300 million on players who haven't lived up to it.

To be fair, if you're not going to back the judgement of the manager in the transfer window, then unless you've got a DoF/transfer committee sort of set up then it does beg the question as to why the **** you're continuing to employ him.

On this point though, I'm really struggling to think of many players that have been signed by Mourinho at any of his clubs post Porto who could count themselves as unqualified success stories over a period of time. Drogba's the obvious one but most of his Chelsea side first time round were already in place by the time Mourinho got the job.

Inter obviously had an incredible season in 2009/10 under Mourinho but given the lack of success since, it doesn't exactly paint a rosy picture of his signings.

Even the current Chelsea side I can't think of many players in it who were signed by Mourinho.

He's a totally short term manager who I think would struggle to get employed if you just anonymised his CV. Since his Champions League win in 2010 it's been extremely lacklustre.

 

[andmark]

To be fair, if you're not going to back the judgement of the manager in the transfer window, then unless you've got a DoF/transfer committee sort of set up then it does beg the question as to why the **** you're continuing to employ him.

Yeah, that's a point and indeed they should've sacked him if they weren't willing to back him financially. That said, I can understand how they would expect a self-proclaimed special manager to do well with a good array of players- especially attacking-wise- despite the defensive difficulties.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

So have the wheels come off at Arsenal?

Since they beat Spurs in the league they have gone crap.

 

[Furball]

lol no

 

[Cabinet96]

Arsenal are just a middling side who have had important players missing through injuries, suspension and tactical reasons lately.

 

[andmark]

Just saw the Wolves vs Liverpool game, so will note some observations if just to help me develop my footballing understanding. Liverpool frequently over-complicated things by playing something other than an available chance-creating pass. Wolves's counterattacking strategy seemed to be complimented by the rainy conditions on the evening, and indeed Liverpool conceded, often weather-induced, mistakes which led which to a good amount of chances. The problem for Wolves in these situations was that they were almost always on the bad side of an overload, meaning they couldn't take advantage of such mistakes. Adama Traore especially seemed to be permanently in space (I've no idea how he was doing it) but the overloads thwarted his efforts. Perhaps this is a problem when sides play on the counter but have the forwards pressing. Even if they gain the ball, they may have to overcome an overload because the rest of the team is deep in their own half. There was a chance for Liverpool where Liverpool were counterattacking on the wrong side of such an overload, but Salah's individual quality meant he was able to overcome this structural difficulty. Perhaps that's one of the things which make genuinely great attacking players great. Lastly, I assumed at the start that Trent Alexander-Arnold was on the bench as Milner was in his right back position. But no, he's known to be a genuine fan of Liverpool and he was found by the Sky cameras in the middle of the away end. WAG.

 

[cpr]

Carrick used to do that when he was out of the team. Phil Jones too, though understandably the cameras tried not to pick him out.

 

[andmark]

Too early to say Liverpool could go invincible ?

 

[OverratedSanity]

**** me what a hit. Goal of the season.

 

[andruid]

Chelsea hit the post day? In loving memory of Muzzy Izzet.