Football 2024-25. Pep’s last season?

I think we’d have probably sold Longstaff in preference but Anderson is just a better prospect

(and fwiw I thin Longstaff is maligned, he does a lot off the ball that he doesn’t get proper credit for, and if he could finish his record would look overall quite decent. Big if, of course)

Oooooh what’s Trippier been doing to get in the papers?

Rumours he’s been playing away at home…..having been grassed up by his own doorbell.

We’ve suffered from selling home grown talent as well, PSR is a joke, us having to sell Johnson for 15m less than we’d get at the end of the same window to appease accountants then losing points for it when it’s meant to be protecting the smaller clubs..

Just glad someone at Forest had the foresight to bring him in, plus you got one of Greece’s best keepers in part-ex? 😉

How come Newcastle have struggled with signings? Rumour of an Elanga bid came in Friday at 5pm, 30+Almiron was doing the rounds but I’m kind of glad the big man put the phone down, we are starting to learn a little.

Clubs aren’t forced to sell their homegrown players. They end up having to do so because they buy some foreign bloke who’s probably not much better for a quick fix, rather than coaching/developing the home grown player. Eg McTominay v Ugarte / Tonali v Anderson.

McTominay had reached his ceiling, how much more development could they have done with him? Anderson’s about 3-4 years off being at Tonalis level if he ever makes it, he could do an ACL next game and never recover, Newcastle need points now not in 3 years time.

In the case of Forest we had to build a team who could stay up in one window which theyd have just about done if they’d submitted accounts at the end of the window not mid-way through?

Tonali is as untested in the prem as Anderson is. His first few games before his ban weren’t great, but agree he has good pedigree. Let’s see. Yes, McTominay wasn’t going to get much better but he gets goals, has good energy, and gives 100%. I think he’s even scored more goals at Old Trafford than Salah!

McTominay in the ManU team was always a fudge to fit in, but would have been a great EPL player for a Newcastle, or Villa, or Spurs, or Brighton, the lad has ability and goals, knows the EPL inside out and would fit into most teams well.

ManU have instead gambled twice the money they got for him on Ugarte, who is unproven in the EPL, was not a starter at his previous club, and is going to be trying to break into a basket case of a team!

As stated a few times, ManU should have went for Onana, the guy was pretty much 100% able to fill the gaping hole ManU had in their midfield, allow Mainoo and Fernandes to do their thing, and wouldn’t have had to move house!

You’re trying to apply logic where there is none. Uniteds transfer policy hasn’t made any sense for over a decade. Worryingly, it sounds like things are now even more chaotic behind the scenes

???️| Peter Schmeichel on the Manchester United vs Liverpool game:

“I sat next to Sir Alex… and I nearly cried”
pic.twitter.com/CySJKyc4Rf

— centredevils. (@centredevils) September 2, 2024

The whole Fergie stuff is getting a bit old, yes he was a great manager, but he was in charge of ManU at the best time in history, at the same time he had youth players coming through and bought wisely, they won with Sky TV and the likes kicking off, and dominated for a while, with only really Arsenal chasing them at that point, and that allowed them to build an empire off the pitch, that benefits them to this day.

Fergie retiring reminds me of Tony Blair leaving, the writing was on the wall, and he left at the right time, which has left this whole ‘since Fergie left’ myth, the issue they have is that the league got more competitive, they bought less wisely, and the youth players hitting it big dropped a bit as well.

I think the issue is the dizzying speed with which it went from multiple title-winners to complete and utter ****ing shambles and it’s been a consistent downward trajectory ever since.

I fully expect this season to be the worst yet, with this present squad under this manager, with the chaos that’s clearly going on both on the pitch and behind the scenes.

United are presently 14th in the table and I can honestly see us finishing the season there or thereabouts. God knows who the manager will be by that point. Big Sam?

To be so catastrophically bad given the enormous (if inexplicable) spend on players is absolutely nuts!

There really should be a Man U thread!

If Ugarte is the answer in midfield, why’d they take so long to sign him? So long he misses all pre-season and the first three league games. Panic buy.

It’s the same every season. Like Groundhog Day. A complete farce!

Fergie built insane expectations which the fan base now hold, and the owners don’t really care as long as they’re creaming off the top. Shrug emoji

I don’t think the expectation to watch something that isn’t complete and utter shite on the pitch is too insane?

Bruce is a Tangerine

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cg4ywkr1lqdo

Is it warm up gig for the Man Yoo job?

I backed Southgate, and I know it’s only the RoI but so far this more positive intent and lineup is pretty good to watch so far. The second goal was a delight.

Enjoyed that England performance- can’t normally say that!!

I didn’t.

Rice, the traitorous ****. And Grealish, the slightly less traitorous ****. You couldn’t make it up. ?

Thought it was a good performance against a very average ROI side. Will be interesting to see how we play against Finland on Tuesday

This is a first in the fact that I was actually glad to see the international break for some pointless Engerland games.

But can we just take a moment to acknowledge the best performance anyone has put in while wearing a United shirt for a good few seasons?

Wrexham top of the league (sorry @Doris5000) and 4 clean sheets on the bounce.  Phil Parkinson getting pelters from opposition fans for his ‘anti-football’ with wxm 24th in possession stats and 23rd in touches in the opposition box but boy is it effective and I’m fed up with teams in the lower leagues trying to emulate Pep.  Happy to give up possession and work incredibly hard to close down the opposition before putting in some strong tackles (remember them?) to set up the counter.  Birmingham away next Monday should be a cracker.

Shame he’s bringing the current Utd way to management.

Sigh.  I saw the highlights on YouTube.  What the suffering **** was that third goal all about 😆

Proper lower league action! Our defending wasn’t much cop for the 2nd goal either, but it was well taken tbf…

The crowd noise in that video is proper FIFA video game crowd noise.

Just noticed that Wrexham’s highlights video is three times as long as the Shrewsbury one, arf.  Also has a lot more views, and comments of people saying things like “Awesome match Reds!! Saw it live in the US on CBS Sports, STōK Cae Ras was electric!!! My dream match is Celtic vs Wrexham!!”

It really is mad what a bit of Hollywood glamour can do…

Birmingham away next Monday should be a cracker.

Can’t wait for that, almost sold out – will be sold out by match day. 🙂

Can we come back from the embarassment of drawing with blinking Walsall…?

As a Forest fan I never thought I would see the day we are in a Champion League slot in the table. I wasn’t a fan of Nuno but give him credit, a few astute signings this season and the unbeaten start has been amazing. Perhaps a top 10 finish this season rather than a relegation battle is possible.

Nuno is a bloody good manager. I’m not remotely surprised with how well he’s doing at Forest. Playing good football too. I had the Liverpool match on while I was driving and it sounds like he turned up with a pretty solid game plan and stuck to it

God only knows how Villa are conspiring to lose this match to Everton? You never know though… Everton could still end up losing it 5-2

EDIT: And right on cue! Shocking defending

https://youtube.com/shorts/NyCjHoudggU?si=-MMTDShLwUqlYTLO

Taylor’s lost the plot in the Bournemouth Chelsea game. 9 bookings in a tame game.

Watching Chelsea and their team reminds me of playing Champ Manager with unlimited funds, but without being able to restart if you have a bad game

14 yellows. New premier league record.

Taylor’s lost the plot in the Bournemouth Chelsea game. 9 bookings in a tame game.

Only the 14 yellow cards, imagine the odds on that one!

Some were definitely yellow, but it was hardly a dirty game.

Gets results for a while but Nuno’s a bit of a one trick defensive pony. Not usually a good watch.

This north London derby is getting handbags already. Saliba  picking up a stupid yellow already. Why do players do that, when they know things are likely to get pretty lively anyway and you’re on a totally self-inflicted card from ten minutes in? Especially when one of your team mates is suspended for this game after doing exactly the same?

Worth taking another look at Durans put-your-****ing-laces-through-it screamer from yesterday. Goal of the season contender already

https://x.com/skysportspl/status/1835019053850632217?s=46&t=1lK7Dw1b6RqGJyvufO-trQ

Looks like the ref is going for yesterdays new record of 14 cards. He’s totally lost it

I’ve just fixed my surround speakers and now I get an earful of sweary crowd noise.