[Mikus LFC]

He’s had criticism recently Ange, some justified but his teams never stop trying. It’s the like the ultimate risk reward strategy.

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[Mikus LFC]

Thing is with Man Utd, even though they’ve obviously spent a lot over the last decade and not bought particularly well imo, they’ve still bought some quality which will tend to still keep them within touching distance of the top clubs. So they can only fall so far down. Indeed the lowest position they’ve dropped to over the last decade was actually a decade ago in 2013 when they finished 7th under Moyes. Their average finishing position over the last decade I think is around 4-5th. So I think because of that there perhaps is not enough impetus to really go for a title challenge. Put another way, whilst there may have been some lows over the last decade, there’s not really been a catastrophe either. Is it a bit like when Arsenal constantly finished in the top 4 under Wenger with the odd domestic trophy? Did things get too comfortable? When they had two consecutive 8th place finishes under Arteta did that then focus minds at the club to turn things around?

If Ten Hag does steady the ship and finish top 4 again this season, the fans may seem happy with that. But is the club just going to be locked into another top 4 cycle kidding themselves they’re getting closer but actually just standing still? Is their spending power keeping them in that cycle?

• This reply was modified 1 week, 1 day ago by Mikus LFC.

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[Mikus LFC]

Hell of a goal by Garnacho. One of the few very good players for Utd this season for me.

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[Mikus LFC]

Arsenal still missing a top draw talisman at the top of the pitch for me, like a Haaland or Salah. We are still missing someone like Rice in midfield. So both sides just a bit short still compared to City. Apparently talk of us not going for Andre in January now?

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[Mikus LFC]

Yep, had success abroad too. I wish more of our managers would gain experience in other countries and leagues, it would do them the world of good. RIP.

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[Mikus LFC]

Trying to work out where Chelsea are at…but can’t. This season they’ve won 4, drawn 4 and lost 5.

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[Mikus LFC]

Yeh we weren’t great today, but a very good point. As I said before the game, Nunez has been poor starting games away from home. I also think we sacrifice other players like Salah who I think ends up more wide and we lose a flow to our attacking game for me. But had Nunez come on later in the game when the game loosened up a bit, he could have had more success with his pace to stretch City.

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[Mikus LFC]

I’d have bought Elliot on. Need some more energy in the final third for me.

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[Mikus LFC]

Yeh draw probably best result we can hope for. Think with both teams playing expansive football both teams tend to be strong at home with the crowd behind them when playing each other.

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[Mikus LFC]

And guess who’s got the early kick off again after the international break? It’s ok, it’s only, *checks notes*, Man City away 🙄

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[Mikus LFC]

Wonderful game of football.

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[Mikus LFC]

Yeh, think Chelsea have taken a lot of confidence from that Spurs game. Very entertaining game with both sides looking like scoring each time they attack.

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[Mikus LFC]

City’s squad players still so strong and just fit seamlessly into the team when there are changes.

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[Mikus LFC]

I bet you’d have done better under them though Ed than you are now and those managers had all won big trophies in the leagues they’d managed in. Either way, I think a lot of damage was done with the strategy after Ferguson left. Interesting you mention Mourinho. I actually remember thinking years ago even before Fergie left that Mourinho would have been a good successor to Ferguson. If he’d taken over *directly* from Ferguson and had the love from the club that they wanted him I honestly think he would have done quite well. When you did appoint him, you never really wanted him, and you’d lost some big players or players getting past their peak and you’d made some desperate signings imo. It was never going to be a great success under those circumstances.

Ever since Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal have all been trying to play the long term game, none of them have won a major trophy. And it can’t just be because of Pep. Arsenal were still a long way off City last year, maybe not in points, but mentally.

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[Mikus LFC]

But Ed, in recent years, there are times when the likes of Ancelotti, Tuchel, and Enriquez have been available. You’ll just have to wait now until the next one becomes available. As for Klopp, he was clearly a charismatic figure and great communicator who was bound to be successful here.

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[Mikus LFC]

Arsenal didn’t have a good enough defence last season to win the league. And Liverpools off season was well documented. So in that context I think the bar was low. As I said before, what’s exacerbated things for Ten Hag are his signings haven’t been good enough. Such signings should act as a spring board, but in this case they haven’t. Hence he’s under pressure. Utd can continue to tick over for the moment much like they did at times under Ole. But a couple more bad defeats could make things unsustainable.

As for the future, I think Man Utd need to appoint more charismatic managers with experience of managing big players, galvanising dressing rooms whilst still obviously having the tactical nous. They need to abandon these long term pipe dreams of developing a load of kids into playing total football.

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[Mikus LFC]

As I said at the start of the season, last season Man Utd didn’t score enough goals and conceded too many. This season, they are the only team to have a negative goal difference in the top 10, with them again not scoring enough, and conceding too many. Nothing much has changed for me. A change in manager will probably happen at some point, but will it be the right one?

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[Mikus LFC]

Think Carragher has just argued similar in his latest column that VAR should be limited to goal line technology and automated offsides, which is probably about right for me.

The problem is if the original idea was only to flag up howlers that a referee missed or the old “clear and obvious”, who defines what is a clear and obvious fault that has been missed? Because the VAR officials have the availability of the replays, imo it pushes them to re-referee the game. But with a screen far away you’re still further away from reality, particularly when you start looking at slow mos. Unless it is an incident the referee or assistant hasn’t seen, say an off the ball incident, just leave it. For me, it’s still unlikely that the officials are going to miss a blatant foul so we need to stop fearing we’re going to have a big injustice. As I said some time ago, we need to use the technology, not let the technology use us, which I think is what has happened.

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[Mikus LFC]

The quick fix is to bring in a nice manager who can “get them playing with a smile on their face again” which is code for bringing in a soft touch who will let them do what they want.

But if they can get someone like that Ed, if they’re clever about it, they can keep some players onside for a bit, then ruthlessly offload them at the next transfer window and bring in someone else better. Even if you have to take a big loss on them. That’s how the club can move forward. What has really exacerbated the situation for Ten Hag is that the new players signed who could have potentially frozen/pushed others out have not been good enough and Ten Hag now has little to no options left to turn things around so is feeling the pressure. One can sympathise for him to a degree, but then you can’t just blame the club, you have to know roughly what you’re walking into and the challenges you’re going to face at a big club. It’s a two way street.

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[Mikus LFC]

There’s got to be someone out there Ed who could lift these players and is a good man manager even if they’re not top drawer.

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