The modern game? Shite isn’t it, we’re relegated to being a whorehouse.
Didn’t get to see the game. I was on my way back from Belfast. Sounds like we had a bit of bad luck and were the latest victim of can’t-do-it-in-Britain Ibrah and Paul Pogba.
Don’t be too disheartened by the result. United are an excellent prospect this year. They’ve added a manager who knows how to win, signed two genuinely world class players, and they had a few of those already. Plus Mou is fucking motivated; this is the job he has always wanted and was forever denied.
Trust me. It won’t feel as bad when we see them steamroll over loads of other teams.
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Tonight I danced with a man carrying a stuffed heron.
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I knew you were going to say that…
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Originally posted by @StickyWhiteDovePiss
Worrying performance. Body language didn’t look good to me.
Really ? What game were you watching ?
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Early days, of course, but, from what I’ve seen so far, I think this will be the first season under the Liebherr’s tenure that we won’t improve on (or match) our previous season’s final league placing; but, let’s face it, that was always gonna be a hard ask whatever happened.
The Sunderland result could be significant in shaping our season; but, whatever happens in that match, I think I’ve already seen enough to persuade me that we probably won’t be seriously involved in a relegation struggle.
In short, it’s likely to be mid-table fare for us this season, I reckon.
So, SFC, this could be an ideal time to give the cup competitions a right good go.
Please.
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In the relay race that is the Build up and match day thread I pass the baton to one of you other buggers to start the next one.
My only concern is how many goals we are going to get and who is going to get them.
Our game play I think looks even more refined from last year but feel we are lacking a certain type of player that runs and scores like Mane and towards the end of last year Long. He looks like he hasn’t recovered from the euro sap yet.
Previous comments of mid table seem about right, but we need to certainly put away the “lesser” clubs if there is such a thing.
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I thought we did OK. Finishing was a concern, as is Romou coming off. Soft penalty (you little shit, shaw).
defo not panic stations yet
I can see us drifting into a LVG Man U situation, with Puel stubbornly sticking to his Diamond formation and associated tactics and resorting to not utilising the players he has at his disposal to maximum benefit, and resorting to square pegs in round hole situations.
One of the great strengths that the club boasted about at TheAcademy was that the teams at all levels played the same way as the First XI, so that if called up they could slip in seamlessly. Does this mean that the U16’s thru to The U23’s will all be experimenting/converting to The Diamond as well? They will be coached in it by Coaches not familiar with it themselves. Years of hard work could be unravelled pretty quickly if we persist with this heresy!!
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I thought we did pretty well…had more possesion, more shots, more passes, more pass completion, can’t remember Forster being troubled apart from their one legit goal so overall we made chances, we just need to take a few.
It’s strange because I am normally very positive about saints performances, and don’t normally see the need to post an opinion that reiterates what other positive people are saying. I just got a really negative feeling about yesterday’s performance.
But Eric, I didn’t see a “diamond” when Romeu went off Clasie & PEH seemed to play as twin DMS with Tadic & Redmond staying narrow. Targett bombed up the wing & BOOM so much space for Rooney it looked like a free kick
Working the ball through possession gave utd time to drop & cover left Long with no space to run into.
Imho last year we had a quick long ball option (like Leicester to Vardy) this year we’ve gone all Arsenal again if Long has his back to goal we obviously have no pace in attack - Mane gave us that but Redmond isn’t there yet. Think he could do it but how much time will it take?
Tippy tappa BOOM is the way to play now not tiki Hutt tapa
We need goals, and I don’t see where they will come from.
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Still did not put the ball in the back of the net though, and that was the problem against Watford as well. Lots of possession backwards and forwards up and down, but lacking in the final 20 yards in front of the goal.
Was it just me being harsh, or did Pogba show some wonderful touches that all resulted in zero end product?
He certainly got the ball and moved it about a bit but end product as in goals and assists no didn’t see a lot of that.
Saints had all the assists with the goals by the way.
I can’t say I ever expected to improve on last season - even if we’d have spent £70m I think with the new managers coming in to underachieving sides from last season this wouldn’t have been possible.
For me, its about a midtable season, a regroup, practice of Puels formation and some success in Europe. If we’re not great this season that’s not the worst thing in the world - it’s likely to mean less teams in for our players in January and next Summer.
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I watched the game on Friday, and have been thinking bout it fair bit since. On plus side, we looked v.organised & disciplined. I’m no great fan of the boring, passive possession game, but I guess that’s what we’re going for, and it’s to Puel’s credit that he’s implemented it so quickly. If we’re ever lucky enough to take the lead in a game, I guess the opposition might find us passing endlessly side to side pretty fkn frustrating.
Defensively we looked fine, it took a world class header from Ibrahimovic, and a pretty dodgy looking penalty to beat us, and that ain’t gonna happen every week.
On the down side, the attack needs work srs. The main strategy seems to be to pass sideways for ages until the opposition get so bored or frustrated, they make a mistake and your top class forwards pounce to take advantage. Problem on Friday was Mourinho team, and quite a lot of other prem teams, are quite happy to sit back and patiently wait for us to fk up. And, of course, our forwards ain’t exactly top drawer.
A bit of variety would help. There will be times when we need to take a chance, press up, and try to force a fkn goal. Friday prob weren’t one of those times tho tbf, I had the sense that in a parallel universe, we got a fkn gubbing, albeit as it played out, the physical size & strength of i.e Ibrahimoic and Pogba was the only thing we struggled to cope with.
The other option of course, is to get some better fkn fowards.
The only other thing that was bit worrying, and I may be imagining, was some of the players body language didn’t look great. There seemed a general lack of belief & conviction, if that’s the word I want. I mean, ok, they was getting beat by a pretty intimidating team, but I’ve got a feeling that if we don’t get some gd results pretty quick, Puel could have a bit of low-scale mutiny & uprising to deal with RIP
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Agree with everything apart from the last paragraph, but then I’m autistic and don’t understand body language.
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