Football – 2023/24 Season

”FFS! Just like playing for Spurs….”

(H. Kane – Allianz Arena)

I said to one of my kids this morning, Isak will get 30 this season.

30 is a tad optimistic IMO,  not many strikers have hit 30 even in teams who dominated the PL. Low 20’s will be a good return for Isak.

30 is a tad optimistic IMO, not many strikers have hit 30 even in teams who dominated the PL. Low 20’s will be a good return for Isak.

When he came back from injury last season, there was one striker who had a better goals per minute played and that was the Cyberdyne System at Citeh.

Having seen the opening day fixtures now it’s clear why Chelsea and Liverpool were so desperate for Caicedo but here’s an idea – as he’s worth so much let him play for both of them, £55M each

And that’s still more than United* paid for Tonali, who looks like setting the league on fire from what I saw in the preseason highlights but then Saturday as well. He never went missing, always looking to get on the ball and make things happen and some of his vision – the pass for Barnes for Wilson’s goal, he did similar in preseason – first touch, perfect accuracy and weight and with the like of Barnes, Gordon, Almiron running beyond the defenders I think we’ll see a few more like that. He is a player!

* mark my words, the old order is changing. When we discuss United in the future it’ll be the black and white we think of 😉

I think the most important questions we need to ask about this weekends football are:

1. Who’s idea was it to have Daniel Sturridge in as a pundit?

2. Why did he come dressed as the man from Del Monte?

3. How many weeks can he remain alive before Roy Keane murders him?

Classic Keano facial expressions here 😂

"Keep it funky with your boy" ?

That reaction from Trent Alexander-Arnold to Daniel Sturridge's opening line ? pic.twitter.com/WGal7DLYGI

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 13, 2023

Another mercenary journeyman off to overpaid semi-retirement in Saudi, to be met by a collective shrug from everybody. I bet PSG can’t believe their luck getting shut of him for that price

Off you pop…

Neymar to Al Hilal, here we go! ????

After new huge bid revealed two days ago, documents are now approved by all parties involved.

Ney will travel to Saudi this week.
Two year contract.
Number ?.

PSG set to receive bit less than €100m fee.

Medical to be completed today. pic.twitter.com/R6zR5glroe

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 14, 2023

Came here just to echo the above – given the clubs he’s played for since Barca he’s clearly not willing to test himself against the best & is happiest swimming in Scrooge McDuck’s money pool.

Well Newcastle are off to a flying start.

TBF the match was a lot tighter than the score would suggest. I think a lot of it is down to the fitness of the whole squad, the fact that 2 of the goals came in the last 15 minutes says a lot.

Shame to see that injury to Tyrone Mings, will probably see him out for the rest of the season. It looked like nothing at all!

Next week they have to face Citeh, it would be amazing to get 3 points, can’t see it though but 1 point would be very good.

Based on one game (yeah stupid I know but sod it) I’m gonna stick my neck out and say the toon will be doing more than challenging for a top four place this season. That midfield combined with the pace up front is going to bulldozer an awful lot of teams. Last season we relied on our defensive strength, and now that’s looking like the weakest/most fragile part of the team. I guess we’ll find out just how good they against city at the weekend. I’m almost hoping we get beat so we can resist the urge to get completely carried away. 😳

Never forget Daz… its the hope that kills you

Based on one game (yeah stupid I know but sod it) I’m gonna stick my neck out

I think I agree with you. But I don’t want to “jinx” it!

Tonali and Barnes look excellent additions.

Gordon looks like the player we thought we had got last season.

Isak will only get better.

Saturday night will give a real indication, then off to Liverpool after that.

Its Keano’s birthday so in honour of the great man, shall we just take a moment to have a bit more of the on screen chemistry between him and Daniel Sturridge ….

Roy Keane’s face here giving it the “Hello Darkness my old friend!” as soon as the vocals began. pic.twitter.com/Gj3yHE0LOE

— HLTCO (@HLTCO) August 14, 2023

😂

<p>Predictions for tonight? I can’t see anything other than a stroll for United. Wolves seem in disarray, have lost Neves and a decent manager in Lopetugui. Relegation candidates I think. </p>

You’d like to think it would be a stroll, but never underestimate our ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

Wolves do seem to have been on a downward trajectory since Nuno Espírito Santo left though

In other news it appears West Ham have come to their senses and neither Maguire or McTominay are now headed there. Just what we need… another two Phil Jones’s on our books, sitting with their feet up, seeing out their contracts on 200 grand a week 🙄

ETH is trying his best to push Maguire out of the door, while saying he is welcome to stay, it is absolutely hilarious to see him trying to bite his tongue and not just scream “will you just **** off”.

Maguire just isn’t reading the room.

He’s not a bright lad, is he? I don’t know about reading the room, it really doesn’t get much clearer than this.

He might as well have just said ‘don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out slabhead’.

https://twitter.com/SkySportsNews/status/1690983631928336385?s=20

Predictions for tonight?

Martial to start and subbed off injured inside 15 minutes.

Its Keano’s birthday so in honour of the great man, shall we just take a moment to have a bit more of the on screen chemistry between him and Daniel Sturridge ….

it’s the collab we never knew we needed but absolutely deserve! Daniel’s lack of spacial awareness is so so good as well 😆

Committed ABU Mrs Binners has put her customary bet against us on and might as well have a Wolves top on

This playing it out from the back lark looks about as confidence-inspiring as it did when TH tried it at the start of last season, and we all know how that went

How is that not a penalty? We have been robbed!
On that performance, I’m pretty sure we can stay up, just need to take our chances.

Ah, those pens are always hard to give, you can see both sides, but it’s old trafford so even less chance of getting it 😂

Think ManU need to work out how they stop players walking through their midfield, that was unreal watching them just let Wolves players go through so easy and unchallenged.

Oh yeah, Garnacho and Antony are a pain to watch as well, fall over, complain, blame everyone else, repeat, the manager needs to sort their attitudes out a fair bit.

**** knows how we got three points out of that. We didn’t deserve one. If Wolves had anyone who could hit a barn door with a shovel then we’d have been three down by half time. Played us off the park.

Ten Hag has started this season like he started last one. Attempting to play a style of football where nobody knows what the **** they’re doing or where they’re supposed to be. Absolutely dire! I hope he ditches it as quickly as he did last season. We just can’t play that style of football . He can’t scapegoat Dave any more.

Good start by Mason Mount though. The only time I saw him touch the ball, he actually fell over it 🙄

Wolves made a mockery of my relegation fodder comment. Although if they can’t score playing so well and having so many chances then they will go down! United lacklustre but early days. Casemiro looked pretty alone in central midfield, missing Fred?!

Seriously, I can’t understand how VAR can look at that and decide it isn’t a penalty.

Seriously, I can’t understand how VAR can look at that and decide it isn’t a penalty.

We suffered plenty of the same corrupt VAR decisions last year. Remember Anfield in the cup when they said the cameras had not worked!!
Teams like Wolves will never get decisions against the big clubs, the officials make sure of that. If Sa had taken out Rashford at the other end, what do you think the decision would be?

Not sure whether this has been done elsewhere, but it’s relative to the new season, Mason Greenwood and his potential return.

Personally, it was stories like this that pushed me away from the sport many years ago before my son got me back into watching it again. There’s no way I’d allow him to wear a Greenwood top, not a likely situation as he is a Citeh fan, but the feeling stands.

Looks like Man Utd are setting him up to return going off the we’ll have to consult the womens team story that came out over the weekend,,,

How do you Man Utd fans feel about this?

How do you Man Utd fans feel about this?

I never want to see him in a United shirt ever again. And every other United fan I know feels the same.

But given that all our owners care about is money and he’s still under contract, I’ve also noted that they seem to be ‘rolling the pitch’ for his return. Apparently he’s training, but not with the team. It won’t play well with the supporters, that’s for sure.

Let’s all cheer the wifebeater, eh? No… let’s not.

Just one more reason to despise the morality free parasites that are the Glazer family, who (as was always obvious) have no intention of selling the club. This whole charade has been a scam to leverage more debt to load on the club while they rip more hundreds of millions out for themselves

Reassuring to hear Binners, but the way the women’s football team have been targeted on social media has worried me. At least it sounds like it’s the silent minority or an army of bots as opposed to a feeling that he’s not been convicted so he’s innocent t and he can play again.

He’ll no doubt surface at another club even if Utd let him go, such is the dreadfull morality vacuum at a lot of clubs. I’m not sure you can just blame the Glazers for this, although symptomatic of weak leadership.

Hopefully last night’s protest helped.

as opposed to a feeling that he’s not been convicted so he’s innocent t and he can play again.

Surely he is innocent until proven guilty?

He seems to be a very unpleasant person but the police dropped all charges when “new material came to light”.

The evidence that first showed up would suggest he was absolutely guilty, however, the police dropped the charges.

Is it fair that he isn’t allowed to work again, in his profession, on unproven allegations?

My understanding is that the complainant has withdrawn cooperation with the CPS and they have reassessed the case and realised they would be unlikely to secure a prosecution.

Agree he is technically innocent until.proven guilty, but the stuff in the public domain would surely give anybody or organisation pause for thought about employing him or wanting him around?  Really disappointed that ‘senior’ players are said to be okay with him returning, none them have female relatives?

but the stuff in the public domain would surely give anybody or organisation pause

This 100%, the audio recording is disturbing to say the least.

This 100%, the audio recording is disturbing to say the least.

Agree 100%.

However, he is “innocent” and all charges have been dropped.

Where does it end?

My understanding is that the complainant has withdrawn cooperation with the CPS and they have reassessed the case and realised they would be unlikely to secure a prosecution.

Agree he is technically innocent until.proven guilty, but the stuff in the public domain would surely give anybody or organisation pause for thought about employing him or wanting him around?  Really disappointed that ‘senior’ players are said to be okay with him returning, none them have female relatives?

The complainant has had a baby with Greenwood since this began, got engaged and are living together as a couple, honestly, there’s probably a lot of teenage behaviour as well as bad stuff, but they’re together, they appear happy, he has not been charged with anything, i think he needs to go abroad to avoid all the backlash, but that’s probably the worst thing for his soon to be wife and child!

It’s a weird one, but probably a move somewhere in the UK, not far away from her support network is the best thing for the family.

Wouldn’t give Keane the time of day if I met him as it’s possible as he also catches the boat over. Fabricated and constructed a set of issues in Saipan. Insulted non Irish players and management and directly led to the loss of potential talent through the diaspora we rely on. 62 caps and only our third best player.

I’m not sure you can just blame the Glazers for this, although symptomatic of weak leadership.

They own the club. They are presently his employer. They could terminate his contract this afternoon if they wanted to. I don’t give a flying **** if he’s been convicted of anything or not. He’s a nasty, violent abuser and I don’t want to see him in a United Shirt ever again

This Guardian article sums it up and points to the ethical vacuum at the top of the club

this week’s column is on Mason Greenwood. https://t.co/3ahIjPiwyU

— Jonathan Liew (@jonathanliew) August 15, 2023

Let’s all cheer the wifebeater, eh? No… let’s not.

Right up until he scores the winner against City with injury time. He’ll then be the golden boy again.

Not with me he won’t. I doubt he would be with anyone except a minority of idiots. Read that Guardian article and it pretty much sums up my opinion on it. I don’t think he should ever put on a United shirt ever again. Simple as that

Heres another article for you on the whole sorry farce

Mason Greenwood should not play for Manchester United again. This decision should have been made a long time ago with decisive leadership. Now, putting a group of female players in the firing line is a gross misstep.

Column.https://t.co/6kr75v0zM0

— Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) August 15, 2023

Even though the CPS decided the evidence against Greenwood was insufficient to mount a criminal prosecution, here is a quick run through of what we do know, for the “he wasn’t convicted” crowd. There is audio of Greenwood shouting abuse and allegedly threatening to rape a woman, despite her protests. There were pictures of bruises and fresh blood wounds. If there is a watertight argument on grounds of morality, this is it. How much consulting does it take to work that out?

Utterly spineless of United to announce they’re “consulting the women’s team” before reaching their decision. They’ve created a handy scapegoat if his contract gets ripped up, and those poor women have already been targeted on social media.

Here’s (hopefully) how the majority of United/football fans feel:

https://twitter.com/UnitedStandMUFC/status/1689940298334412800

That guardian article is bang on. Substitute Greenwood for say, Scott McTominay, and it’d have been dealt with months, years ago.

Luton Town Season Ticket Holder here. Along for the ride, its going to be an interesting season.