2018/19 Premier League

[Locke]

Originally Posted by devo22

probably because he was already allowed to sign two CBs and it's done nothing for them. Look, I'd be happy to fire the whole CB gang into the sun, but Mourinho has helped build that CB corps. He signed Lindelöf and Bailly, he accepted giving Rojo a new contract and he's been unwilling to sell Smalling and Jones.

Look, you can't just go full short-term. Swapping the likes of Martial for 30-somethings is not smart business.

no objection here.

Which is a good point, he addressed the CB issue, spent a good bit of money doing it and it didnt solve the problem. So then he asks for midfield help and he gets that and then he asks for strikers and he gets that too.

But then he goes back to the CBs and says: we need better ones.

Its no wonder the board would stand back and say: "Whoa! Hey! We already splashed cash on the CBs you wanted, we dont want to do it again."

Which isnt unreasonable. Its not as though Mourinho hasnt had any money to spend, he just hasnt spent it all that wisely which would naturally make the people whose money it is significantly more cautious and hesitant to give more.

Mourinho can lament his terrible squad and give dire predictions of 'a hard season' all he wants. The fact of the matter remains that hes operating with an improved version of the squad that finished 2nd last season, its not as though hes being tasked to take Huddersfeld to the Champions' League Final.

Hes not managing a squad of bums, its still a really good team and if they underperform at times, like today, its not because he didnt get to buy who he wanted, as much as he wants you to believe that.

Even the best teams play badly sometimes, but right now with United its got to be incredibly difficult to play well with your manager's toxic attitude while hes screaming from the rooftops that the team he has isnt any good.

[Locke]

Replacing Anthony Martial with Fellaini....thats a bold strategy Cotton, but it didnt pay off.

Did anyone get elbowed in the skull?

[nik-]

A tale of two Manchesters

[d_phaneuf]

To be fair to jose for the subs today

Martial was terrible and fellani still is a good plan b aerial threat, rashford and lingard had already come on

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by d_phaneuf

To be fair to jose for the subs today

Martial was terrible and fellani still is a good plan b aerial threat, rashford and lingard had already come on

And this is why I think a lot of this is Mourinho's fault...his constant whining in the media and complaining has just removed all confidence in the squad.

You can see it in Martial, Bailly, Shaw, Darmian, and Lindelof's body language. They know the coach doesn't rate them well, they had to listen to him complain all summer about how the squad wasn't good enough (and how he wanted to replace them specifically), and now they all have shot confidence.

Maybe part of is was Jose was right and they weren't just good enough, but instead of making those decisions behind closed doors he ALWAYS has to take it public and now the players he does have don't trust him or want to play for him.

And this tends to be like clockwork for Jose because he's done it at his last 3-4 stops now.

[Locke]

Huge, huge game today.

Can Liverpool defeat Crystal Palace at Selhurst.

This match will define the marker being set down by Liverpool as title challengers.

If we can beat Palace at Selhurst, we can beat anyone anywhere!

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Locke

Huge, huge game today.

Can Liverpool defeat Crystal Palace at Selhurst.

This match will define the marker being set down by Liverpool as title challengers.

If we can beat Palace at Selhurst, we can beat anyone anywhere!

Palace might be fairly decent actually, so you should beat them. It's teams like Bournemouth, Brighton, Southampton that should cause you more concern!

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Slava

Palace might be fairly decent actually, so you should beat them. It's teams like Bournemouth, Brighton, Southampton that should cause you more concern!

Yeah, but Palace have seemingly always had our number.

Made even worse since my Father-In-Law is from Croyden and is a big Palace supporter.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by Slava

Palace might be fairly decent actually, so you should beat them. It's teams like Bournemouth, Brighton, Southampton that should cause you more concern!

Bournemouth is actually decent though. If anything, Cardiff is going to be Liverpools kryptonite this season

[Locke]

Originally Posted by devo22

Bournemouth is actually decent though. If anything, Cardiff is going to be Liverpools kryptonite this season

We should have a poll.

Brighton put up a good show, so they're in the mix. Its probably going to be Huddersfield knowing our luck.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by devo22

Bournemouth is actually decent though. If anything, Cardiff is going to be Liverpools kryptonite this season

How in the world did they manage to get by West Ham? Maybe this really IS their year!

[Monahan For Mayor]

Originally Posted by Slava

How in the world did they manage to get by West Ham? Maybe this really IS their year!

My hammers played horrible.

[Slava]

Surely Locke is just about to come in here and talk about the diving of Salah today? He had quite a day with the penalty and red card that he earned!

[Matty81]

Same thing happened last year against Liverpool, reffing decisions always seem to go with the big clubs when you support a smaller one.

I thought either of the two decisions could have gone either way.... the penalty, there's contact but there was clear exaggeration by Salah... I think the penalty was 50-50 but the dive was theatrical to quote Jamie Carragher's commentary (and that's a Liverpool guy). He goes over way too easy as soon as he feels contact. It's a perfect example of why a lot of North Americans hate soccer that kind of embellishment.

The red card, again, minor contact and I think the ref could have let it go or called it, Wan-Bissaka caught him but barely contact... for me though the kicker was the the dive here - this one was worse than the first and it was yellow card worthy. Not only was there a dive, he throws himself into the air and did the full head toss Kesler style and everything.

Liverpool always seem to have the refs on their side when they play Palace lately.

I don't think the ref's wrong in either case, but I think they were both 50-50 decisions that both went against Palace which seems to be the trend in these games. Late in the game Meyer gets the leg sweep in the box and it gets let go when Palace could have equalized with a penalty, feels like the big decisions always skew towards the top clubs.

[The Big Chill]

Well you can't tackle from behind on a breakaway. Pretty simple red card there. The penalty was soft, could have gone either way for sure. I tend to side with defenders on those so I probably wouldn't have called it a pen.

[Locke]

The initial Penalty I thought was soft, I wouldnt have called it, but the red card at the end? That was pretty cut and dried.

Last man back tackled a player on a breakaway and made no contact with the ball.

[Matty81]

I think there's a bit of contact on the left heel, I can see why it was called a foul and once it's a foul it's gotta be a red. But if you watch closely, contact is pretty marginal and I think it could have gone either way. That said I agree, it was a better call than the penalty.


For me embellishment is the horrible part, if that was Zaha or Stirling they would be getting crucified. You can see him feel the little clip on the back of the left leg and after a second delay, arch his back and throw back his head - there's a biased commentary here but the video is decent:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1031651939010916358

[Senator Clay Davis]

Raiola putting in work to force Pogba out

https://twitter.com/user/status/1031790668304277504

https://twitter.com/user/status/1031791316030644224

[devo22]

Jesus. That club is worse than a Mexican soap opera.

[Slava]

I was one of the people who laughed that they were spending 100m to bring back a player they had already sold, but maybe SAF knew what he was doing. There's no doubt Pogba is a good player, but his attitude seems cancerous.