Ruben Amorim is speaking out when he should keep quiet and Man Utd are a mess. Where do they go from here?
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Is Amorim trying to get sacked?
I am just considering the fact that possibly Amorim wants to get sacked to go home to sporting and out of the hideous spotlight and sh*t show that is Manchester Utd..
He has thrown players under the bus at every chance possible, he has admitted the results are worse under this manager than the 1 they just sacked
Now he has world-mediawatch”>called them the worst Man U team in history..
Not exactly filling the players, fans or execs full of confidence?
Seems odd.
Seems like he has a lovely pay day waiting if they sack him (though with Ratcliffe’s penny pinching I am sure he’s screwed Amorim over somehow) and he can go home to Portugal and be great again.
Just seems like a defeated man, admitting defeat and being quite accepting of it.
Very weird.
Al – LFC. Darwin, It’s the hope that kills, Nunez, paying back a mill or 2 of his 64mil fee (let’s be honest he’s not hitting any of those add ons is he!) But I cant help but love him. He has the right attitude, Marcus could take a lesson
MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Ruben Amorim: Sack calls for ‘mid-tier manager’ making things worse
👉 world-mediawatch”>Mediawatch: Man Utd are actually ‘worst team in the world’ if you are desperate for clicks
👉 Robbie Savage’s Winners & Losers: Brilliant Bournemouth; Amorim re-think at Man Utd?
Man Utd but also the world…
I can’t help feel that the downfall of United is emblematic of the way in which everything in the world feels awful these days.
The club was financially and sportingly successful, generating a profit and managing its ecosystem in a responsible way whilst maintaining its links with its community and being generally aware of its importance within it. Cue the rapacious takeover of the Glazers. Debt was added, prices went up and infrastructure ignored for years.
The decline disenfranchised the core support whilst paying out millions to already very rich people. Eventually the footballing output nosedived.
Brexit Jim and his buddies come in, slash jobs and raise prices further. The rich shareholders continue to reap benefits and the output still is awful for everyone. The fans continue to be ignored and disenfranchised and their concerns not addressed in any way. The word “ensh*ttification” was made to describe this very process.
We seem to perpetually be in thrall to the rich whilst we see everything that once worked well turned to, well, sh*t. Someday, we’ll remember to think about people first. Today is very much not that day.
Andy (A bit blue this morning)
Ten Man Utd conclusions
10 United conclusions that no one cares about anymore:
1. That result was predictable. Brighton are a better side than United.
2. We are 13th in the league and that is an accurate reflection of our standing.
3. Relegation talk is fun for the oppos (and F365), but a bit silly. There are 4 teams with at least 10 fewer points than us at this stage. I’m afraid it’s not going to happen, lads.
4. The potential Garnacho sale is sad, but probably a helpful sign that the club is starting to realise that a lot of our ‘stars’ are in fact not top-level players.
5. We only have one ‘very good’ player at United – Bruno. We will need at least 3 more ‘very good’ players to drag up the overall level and get the best out of the few ‘good’ players we have.
6. We are now playing a system that revolves around the use of dynamic wingbacks. However, we don’t have any dynamic wingbacks. This seems like an obvious issue.
7. People will look back at the Ten Hag era with incredulity. Vast sums spent on average/poor players, which now leaves us with no money to rebuild the squad. I genuinely can’t think of another example of a club investing so poorly.
8. Amorim is probably not a bad coach, but he won’t succeed at United. The multitude of factors working against him is too much for any one man. Most significantly, the Glazers won’t buy him any good players.
9. New ownership remains the only long term solution for United. It is now apparent that the Ineos deal has changed nothing, with Glazers still dismantling the club bit by bit.
10. It is most odd to think that, despite the utter doldrums we find ourselves in, we have won trophies in each of the last 2 seasons. How the f*ck did that happen? Football is mad.
RQT (MUFC)
Stop calling for Ange’s head
I feel I’ve written in with similar sentiments over the past few weeks… but if Dave Tickner can get away with repetition, why can’t the rest of us!
Yesterday’s most recent (awful) Spurs defeat has inevitably sparked a quick copy-and-paste of the standard ‘naive Ange’, ‘Ange out’, ‘who’s silly enough to replace Ange at this circus’ content at F365 Towers.
I must say, I’m disappointed in F365. F365 likes to sit high above the classic red-tops like the Mirror and the Sun, who it loves to mock in its Mediawatch column.. but increasingly, F365 relies on the same outrage-bait, panic-induced articles that almost always centre on someone who *must* be sacked. I understand it, and obviously there’s a market for this kind of stuff, but I think it’s a little rich of F365 to rely so heavily on this, when they’re quick to mock the red tops for much of the same.
A quick look at Dave Tickner’s ‘Who’ll replace Ange article’ tells me from the comments that it was first published on October 7th, and has been re-released this morning with some tweaks. Does it not get tiring?
The sad part is, I know the writers here (and plenty of other places) know that Spurs sacking Ange probably won’t help. If it’s Terzic, or Allegri or (God help us) Southgate, it’ll be the same articles being recycled again this time next year. These posts skip the logic of patience and actually sticking to a project, and just go for the modern formula: write what gets clicks.
Ange-criticism is absolutely warranted. Going 3-0 down at Everton is a farce for anyone this year. But Ange out? Is it fair? Must every bad result or bad run of form absolutely mean someone *must* be sacked? Would it really help?
Spurs played yesterday without 8(!!!) starters (Vicario, Romero, Udogie, Van de Ven, Bissouma, Bentancur, Johnson, Solanke). Crazy stuff. Add to that, not only are you missing those players, but it also means the ones who are ‘fit’, like Kulusevski, Son, Gray have to play every minute, and the fatigue means their form suffers and they become more injury prone themselves (Solanke). This problem is not one that will be solved by 6 weeks of Ryan Mason and 16 vanilla months of Eden Terzic.
This isn’t just a Spurs problem. After each defeat, I see more and more crazy abuse for Mikel Arteta, who has honestly done wonders with that Arsenal team. I already see the ‘Amorim out’ posts looming. Crazy.
At Spurs, and at F365, I’m simply asking for patience. Sometimes sacking the manager isn’t the only solution.
Andy, Spurs, Eire
The trauma of being a Liverpool or Arsenal fan
If you’ve only started watching Premier League football this season you’d be forgiven for thinking it was just your normal season. Teams dropping points at random moments to teams that they should potentially be beating. Isn’t that what makes football such an attractive sport to watch? The uncertainty.
But such has been the utter dominance of Man City over the last decade or so that it has skewed the reality for some fans. Namely Liverpool and Arsenal who have attempted to go toe to toe with the alleged financial dopers. So much so that for fans of those teams (of which I am one and my brother is the other) that dropped points feels like the end of days, that any chances of even challenging for the title are gone because you’ve drawn a game.
It’s utter madness if you think about it. It’s the 20th of January and Liverpool are 6 points ahead of Arsenal and Forest (albeit with a game in hand they’re not guaranteed of winning) and people are already writing off Arsenal that there’s no chance they can win the title because we’ve just grown so accustomed to Man City knocking out 15-16 wins in a row.
I think Liverpool fans are getting carried away less as we’ve been on this journey of trying to reach the unattainably perfect season for longer than Arsenal but the fallout from a draw or a loss smacks of some level of post traumatic stress syndrome (obviously I’m exaggerating for comedic effect).
Obviously we live in an age where people are looking for clicks and so we get more than the fair share of vitriol and exaggerated fallout thrust in our face on social media but even speaking to normal fans on the street (or in WhatsApp groups) feels like we’re all suffering from the last ten years.
Hopefully the Premier League realizes the monster they’ve allowed to be created in Man City and that it has become detrimental to the spectacle of what they want to be the greatest league in the world. Let’s go back to a league where you don’t need high 90s to win the league, where a draw doesn’t feel like the end of the world and where cheaters get punished.
There’s still almost half the season to be played and yes Liverpool look like the most consistent team right now but this is football and while it hasn’t been the case since the City juggernaut has warped our perception, anything can happen. A couple of injuries here and there, a couple of bad results and who knows what can happen?
Not that I want it to happen but it’s a possibility in a season where finally things are returning to some sort of normal. Although with City spending like money is going out of fashion again this month and Pep having no reason to go home anymore, the Premier League looking like it’s going to probably not punish the 115ers heavily, next season might see the return of mind-numbing tiki-taka and 100 point winning seasons.
Pete, LFC, Cyprus
READ: The Premier League and UEFA will be sickened by Forest and Bournemouth success
…I don’t recall a match weekend that got every faction of the Premier League vis-à-vis the title race losing the plot:
Recap for everyone:
– Apparent Title Favourites were heading for another draw but their chaotic striker who doesn’t score won the game at the death.
– The second favourites blew a two-goal lead at home; and have been written off (?)
And the floodgates of lunacy opened;
From a Liverpool POV: Our club fans still calling for caution, almost (figuratively) screaming that nothing is won yet (PTSD of past races for sure)
From an Arsenal POV: Where divided Arsenal fans are attacking each other over Arteta, attacking Liverpool and their fan base and branching into other arguments
And the neutrals just piling on Arsenal from every lens possible (Probably that’s what’s got their fan base annoyed)
We have a title race on that doesn’t involve Pep and his oil money squad.
Can we all just take a breath and enjoy the ride as well as hope that Man City do get relegated right after they handed out contracts to Pep and Haaland?
M. Nair. Mumbai
The case for Kostas
With all the talk of Liverpool needing a new left back (they do) due to the slow decline of Andy Robertson, I think its right that Kostas Tsimikas shouldn’t be dismissed completely in all the conversations as simply Robertson’s back-up.
I think since he arrived he has been as good as Robbo on the pitch (Robbo had peaked by then I feel) – and it’s probably only Robbo’s personality and stature off the pitch that has gained him the more game time when both are fit. I certainly hope Kostas stays as players like him and Joe Gomez are absolutely worth their weight in gold due to the amount of times they are needed.
Every successful team needs players like these who maybe will never be 1st choice but are needed so often that they are crucial. Utd had Phil Neville who never ever had a permanent position in those glory years but always seemed to be playing somewhere. We need to nail Joe Gomez down to a new deal – almost as importantly as your Salahs and VVD’s.
Anyway back to the main point – I do think Robbos time is up but I dont think its a formality that whoever we get will and should be instantly ahead of Tsimikas. I’ve rarely if at all seen him perform anything less than a 7/10. He is decent, reliable and has good delivery – way better than Robbo.
SH – LFC
Lauding Bournemouth
First of all – we looked knackered on Saturday. I was a bit nervous before the game as Bournemouth are absolutely our bogey team and I felt this great run we were on was becoming a hindrance. The signs were there against Wolves, we were giving chances away, but we always felt like scoring. Going on a run like we had was brilliant, especially in this wildly inconsistent season of Barclays, but it barely got us to 4th because of how inconsistent we’ve been early in the season. We need to brush it off, re-focus and get the energy back.
I have a 3% niggle about Eddie in that we play a certain and when things are going bad we don’t seem to have the tactical genius to sort it out, but that’s also the pessimism that comes with supporting this b*stard club for so long.
However – Bournemouth, wow. What a team. Best team I’ve seen at St. James this season, and yes I count that against Liverpool, Arsenal, City etc. Yes we played better against those and our fatigue may have played a part in my thinking, but what a brilliantly coached team full of athletic beasts.
A superb defence – Huijsen and Zabarnyi are fantastic, they shackled Isak well (although he was supplied with absolutely nowt). Cook is the type of stalwart every club needs and Kerkez is incredibly assured. They kept picking pockets of space in midfield really well and Semenyo gave Livramento his toughest game in a long time (I don’t think he played as poorly as some made out though). David Brooks however gave Lewis Hall a humbling. He’s had a hell of a season for a young full back who has had to adapt to the positioning in a hard league, but he probably needed a game like that to work out what he needs to improve on. And Kuivert, well…. a very well taken hattrick and man of the match. Far better than his overweight half-arsed Dad managed to do in his short time here.
We made errors, we gifted them goals, and from minute one we looked off it. But sometimes you just have to hand it to the opposition. It could have been more. It’s a credit to the league that clubs like Bournemouth and many others have been able to build such an effective squad that will get into europe this season.
I don’t want to get all ‘my club is bigger than yours’ but Semenyo is exactly what we need at NUFC (I keep calling him Caster Semenyo by accident). But Bournemouth need to keep this unit together, especially the manager, as the vultures will start to circulate. Every one of that first 11 on Saturday would improve a hell of a lot of teams in the league. For us, we need to beat Southampton who look like they’re playing with a carefree vibe, which is quite dangerous, and then we’ll be back on track. We badly need a right winger though, badly.
Harry, York
