u/seaders

Over the last few weeks, I've said again, and again, and again, you don't finish 3rd with more than 70 points with a bad squad, quite the opposite.

I keep think about poor old MDL, still waiting to start a new season with the same manager he started the last one with. I know manager's lifespans are trending that way, no matter what, but it's still a completely crazy stat

The cash grab days are over. There are, apparently a number of PL clubs actively trying to sell and there's barely any offers of cash, never mind the money bag offers. Then you've got to look at the bare facts. How long have Qatar owned PSG? How long did it take them to get it right? How's it going at Newcastle, are they Man City mk II?

Even Man City, did they also spend a shit-ton? Yes, but you know what they also had to do to do what they did? Cheat an absolute fuck-ton, and it may (and most likely should) all but destroy the club.

If you've your eyes open, and actually paying attention to how it's going with middle eastern money and football, I don't know how you could be yearning for that any more.

I'm currently wearing my Popcap hoodie :'( we're never included in these lists, but they were still bought 'n shut down

Well, Wic's apparently just a wish-baby, or something like that, so Occtis may be able to do something like that too!

Yep yep yep. That's been a lil on my mind all campaign, due to all the "souls are stuck after death" stuff, but again, Brennan's big consistent points about "hold on, this is going to be a TOUGH campaign" and like, nearly straight up killing Thimble any time she's near danger, from the first moment. Like obviously it's a different kind of campaign overall, but I definitely do think there's just something more to it all.

This was 100% my thoughts this episode, with Brennan teasing/baiting/predicting Wicc to die... consistently. I absolutely don't think he'd have done that unless there was a fully thought out resolution to where he'd go after. There has to be something like that already going on

It's so so stressful. I literally couldn't get through the axe talk early in the ep, I had to fast forward past that. I was a complete wreck by the end

as /u/ingwe13 said, the model's not that advanced, but also 99% of models work on historical, and team data. i.e. how did team do in x league's games. because no games have been played without that star CB the impact of that hasn't been in any game etc, yet

Pogba was an absolutely phenomenal youth player, and like, 99% a "better" player in every way, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about that kind of extreme, nearly one-in-a-generation talent aspect. Tbf, Pogs was also like that, but in a different way

I started watching R9 when he was at Inter (on C4's old Football Italia show) and basically have never gotten the same feeling from another player. It wasn't just the tricks and flicks and stuff, it was like, the smoothness, or "natural"-ness of it all

And then Ravel. There's only clips of him around now, but I remember watching some of his full games and he was that good, the opposition players weren't kicking out any, they were giving up and/or actually appreciating him

I know yeah. Reading each and every one of his retrospective stories just made me sadder and sadder

For me, the gold standard was Ravel. I got the same vibes from him as I got from OG Ronaldo, and I've never gotten those feelings from any other player, ever.

I... kinda like it. if it doesn't completely bite us in the ass! But, after the wild injury history under EtH, and a few before him, I'm more than happy to try a different route.

Yuppppp, agree

There's another point that Carrick (like Pep, apparently) put a ton of work into all the tactics side o' things in pre-season as opposed to the fitness side, so that the football IQ starts well, and grows from there, and the full fitness comes from the games in the season.

This is opposed to a Poch and Bielsa, who are all about coming out of the traps at a million miles an hour.

I don't think we'll see as bad a game from Youri or Cunha this season, and expect a HUGE improvement against Ipswich, and, despite everything, am completely looking forward to this season still

I understand we were in a squeeze, but I really would have liked to do ANYTHING other than start, IMO 3 clearly unfit / unready players (Youri, Bruno, and Cunha) along with Dorgu who's in the worst form of his career. I get the point about not playing youngsters, but I also think energy, for an opening away game against a newly promoted side, was absolutely essential to start the season with.

I really woulda preferred us start a bit slower and conservatively, soak up pressure, even for up to 60 odd minutes, AND THEN go at them a bit more. Youri coming on along with Rashford (and heaven forbid actually sub Bruno off if he's having an off game...), ya know?

Once again, if you can refer to any specifics, that'd be super

Santos "made mistakes" because we set up just like we did against Milan against a back 3 and were completely overloaded in specific areas that a back 3 are designed to do to teams who don't accommodate for that.

If you can specify which mistakes he actually did (apart from the ones I've mentioned, 5 misplaced passes, and 2 lost duels), I'll gladly take a look

I don't even understand those who made those points, at all. He won all but 1 of his ground duels (4), aerial duels (3), overall 9 defensive contributions, 12 "line-breaking" passes along with a 92% passing accuracy. for a DM/6-ish player, I just have no idea what people expect from players like that

Didn't watch the MOTD stuff then? Here's Shaw Picture

Problem with that is it was clear as day that no-one of Youri, Bruno, nor Cunha were fully ready yet, and that Dorgu's in the most horrible form possible, starting all 4 was suicide. I know the alternatives would have been risky, but as soon as I saw that lineup I knew there were going to be passengers today, just like there have been in a few of the pre-season games.

I'd be a tad annoyed by losing Ogunneye without a single senior minute. TBC, that's ALL about my feeling about our fullbacks... all our fullbacks.

Whether he'd be not ready and a complete flop or not, I've def seen enough of him to want to at least try him for 15 minutes in a game. He's not an absolute guaranteed world star, but he's got everything I'd want from a youth player to get minutes, pace power and aggression in abundance, and a good enough always-attacking footballer on top.

If he goes, he goes, and I hope we get a chunk of cash for it, but I REALLY would have liked something a tad different at rb, yesterday.

If it was 1 player, that may be something. When there's nearly every player we've signed, or promoted from the youth for nearly 20 years, I'll stop blaming the employees.

That's just me though, you can 100% blame Rashford for what happened with Rashford. And Greenwood. And Shoretire. And Januzaj. And Pogba. Twice. And Ravel Morrison. And Wilf Zaha. And Memphis. And. All. The. Rest. And hell, even blame him for why we're in nearly 2B of debt, and Brexit, maybe blame him for Brexit too.

When things go like that, for that long, I try to not stay in the aul "Can't see the wood for the trees" situation. I try to see if there just may be other things going wrong.

I've heard this parroted so much, and have never agreed with it. He played here under I don't know how many managers, watching how many wrong players come in, overpaid, and then often start crying off from injuries, while he was literally playing through a broken back.

IMO, while the club was under full Glazer ownership, every single thing about how they ran the place was wrong, from the manager appointments, to how they backed those managers, to how players were brought in (from transfers or up from the youth system), as well as 99% of the deals that were given to the players - including Rashfords. Is it his fault he got the contract he has? As is my opinion about basically every employee v. employer discussion, no, no it is not.

We gave incorrect contracts to most of our players, and, as such, we got nothing in return for just about EVERY player we gave a silly one to - De Gea, Sanchez, Ronaldo, Varane, Casemiro, Pogba...

For me, to be a player like him, who has adored the club for forever, and wanted nothing but success for it, to see how it's been railroaded like it has, I can TOTALLY understand how his head started spinning. Ronaldo had basically the same opinion, and McTominay, while not being as harsh, has also intimated similar. Sanchez wanting to instantly leave here after day 2 should tell you something as well.

United, the club, has fucked everything up, for a long time, but just might be back to correcting things now. That we might also correct how it is with one of our best ever academy graduates, and one of our all time top-scorers brings me nothing but joy at the potential.

IMO, that kind of comparison is utterly pointless, and also missing the point. Did a complete unicorn of a player do the bad things? No (well, apart from one absolutely godawful thing), of course not, but he's literally one in a million, to expect every 17/18/19yo to act the way that unicorn did is a pathway to complete failure.

Young people coming into the senior workspace, in any line of work have needed guidance and mentorship since there's been a thing called a senior workspace. If you've bad, or worse, no leaders, you're nearly guaranteed to be on a pathway to fail.

How on earth anyone would look at our track record over the last 15 years and don't think improvements could be made is beyond me.

I take comments like "They're adults" as such a copout. When Fred joined he was a lonely foreigner in a hotel room. You know how he got more familiar with the area? He joined Man fucking City's brazilian whatsapp group. If you read some of the other players we brought in, it's the same thing again, and again, and again. We brought random players into a weird-ass environment, provided no support, and then screamed at them when they failed.

Was it on Sanchez that he failed here? Sure, it was, yes. Is it utterly embarrassing that he regretted the move from day... 2? Yes, yes it was.

United have been godawful at that side of things with younger-ish transfers, and youth promotions. From Zaha, to Memphis, and Angel and Brandon. Nearly every one of them tell a similar tale of too much too soon, and, in general, feeling being completely alone without guidance

Should there be personal responsibility? Sure. But like, I also think this is an utterly embarrassing reputation for a multi billion dollar company to treat its talent