Although Burnley away is probably tougher than United away at the moment. And there’s Agent Brendan and Leicester at home too. Brighton away to finish who may still need a point or two for survival. But it’s likely that the three teams they’ve got to play will have nothing to play for so yeah, can’t see anything other than 3 wins.

Realistically, they would have been more likely to drop a couple more points before the end of the season if they were still in the champions league, but with the time they now have to prepare for the remaining games, highly unlikely to drop more points than Liverpool. I could still see Liverpool getting another draw before the end of the season.

At least we turned up. About as good as it gets this season.

Keane’s face while Gary Neville is harping on 😂

I wish we still had him on the pitch

City’s to lose now. I’m reckoning Liverpool will lose to Wolves to finish it. Last game of the season? The last team you want to be playing

It’s going to go to the wire.

What a season!

I don’t think Liverpool will win all three either. United still got a chance of top 4 I think, which is a bit of a miracle to be honest, especially if they beat Chelsea. Arsenal look out of it with their fixtures.

Don’t get me stated about Keane but…67 caps in 14 years and one awol. Didn’t try too hard for my country.

My money and forlorn hope is on Glenn Murray to score a headed corner in the 89 minute.

Brenda Rogers will see em rite

Seen the PFA team of the year selection? Pogba FFS! While there might be a couple of close calls in other positions, Pogba should be no where near the team of the year, he can’t have turned up for more than a handful of matches all season.

Anyway, here is my team of the season

The game went about as well as can be expected for United. You know its bad when people are constantly saying it was better than the game at Everton, playing with 6 men would have been better! We looked dangerous without ever threatening the goal. Fred is the new Anderson, lingard now defines average, rashford has turned greedy, De Gea has turned in to Joe Hart. Every year seems to be turning in to a rebuilding year.
I am not body shaming him but Luke Shaw didnt look like a stereo typical footballer last night. Was it bad lighting or an unflattering shirt that made him look more thick set than usual?

Luke Shaws body shape seemed to be providing regular amusement for the City fans judging by the chants.

I’m amazed Pogba made it into the PFA Team selection. He doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near it. Neither does anyone else in a United shirt.The present United squad is stuffed full of mediocrity. The scary thing is how much we’ve paid for that mediocrity.

re: Pogba, I thought this was an excellent read, about marquee midfielders who ‘don’t turn up’:

Paul Pogba and Mesut Özil: Victims of a Weak Link Sport

TLDR: Pogba plays as well at Utd as he did for France in the WC, it’s basically the likes of Fred, Jones and Lukaku making him look crap.

I dont buy in to this theory that other players make you look bad. If other players are bad then you will stand out plus how do other players make you do terrible passes and jog back slowly. If it looks like a bad footballer and plays like a bad footballer then its probably a bad footballer. Pogba shouldnt even make the PFA reserve 11. I think player of the year awards at United are going to be difficult to pick this season.

De Gea usually wins it doesn’t he? The reserve goalie looks pretty good whenever he plays so give it to him.

I dont buy in to this theory that other players make you look bad. If other players are bad then you will stand out plus how do other players make you do terrible passes and jog back slowly.

Nonsense. If you’re a playmaker with a striker who makes poor runs, or midfielders who can’t read when to go, when to be 3rd runner, when to sit etc or full backs who don’t overlap, then you’re gonna look shite. Fact.

Football is very much a team sport, even Messi needs runners, not just too pass to, but to take defenders away.

TLDR: Pogba plays as well at Utd as he did for France in the WC, it’s basically the likes of Fred, Jones and Lukaku making him look crap.

The sine qua non of a great player is that they make other players better. It is the absolute quality that all midfield leaders have – pedestrians like Nicky Butt and Phil Neville have a cupboard full of medals becuase they played with men of this calibre in Utd sides of the past.

If you’re saying that Pogba is being brought down by the likes of Phil Jones and Lukaku pretending to play football then you may be right, but in doing so you’re defining him as a non-elite midfielder. A follower. This sounds about right, tbh – he’s really good, good enough to play midfield in a serious CL side, but he can never be the MAN in that side.

Pogba shouldnt even make the PFA reserve 11

I didn’t rate him at all when he first came to United. Lazy, self interested, strolling ego, first touch so good his second is a tackle.

Then I watched him, over and over. He is never going to put a shift in defensively. He’ll never chase or hassle an opponent. His touch sometimes goes awol. But the man can pick a pass. I’ve lost count of the number of times he’s played a peach of a ball only for Rashford to fail to see it coming and react, or have it bounce 20 yards off Lukaku, or have Martial demand to know why he took the entire defence out of the play instead of playing it to feet.
He’s not my kind of player in the same way Mezut Ozil isn’t but as long as you’ve got a Kante or similar to pair him with, to cover his weaknesses, I’d have him in my team anytime.

The comparison with Ozil is a good one. He’s another who can be a absolutely brilliant or completely anonymous depending on whether he’s in the mood or not.

Pogba can be brilliant at picking passes. His diagonal ball through to Rashford to score against Spurs was sublime. Inch perfect. But far too often he just looks like he’d rather be somewhere else and is just aimlessly jogging about, stopping to punt another ball straight out of play

You look at the Other players on that list and they’ve been consistently brilliant all season and turned up for every single match and delivered

The passes weren’t bouncing off Lukaku in the world cup when they were made by De Bruyne and Hazard.

For the PFA team of the year, Hazard has been far better than Pogba, but is a different kind of midfielder. De Bruyne and Eriksen are in the same mould, but do everything he does well at least a little better, but do so much more as well, both put on proper shifts for the team. De Bruyne has been injured most of the season so can’t be in the team of the year, but Eriksen has the same vision and abilaty for passing, is great on deadballs, and has been consistent throughout most of the season, he hasn’t just shown up for a handful of games when it suited him.

His diagonal ball through to Rashford to score against Spurs was sublime. Inch perfect.

Those passes are made by the city midfield every game and nearly as much by Liverpool, doing it once a season at city and liverpool might get you an inclusion into the early rounds of the league cup, it would take an injury crises to get you onto the bench for a PL game.

It’s interesting that he was deemed good enough to start in a Champions League Final and a World Cup Final.

The reason I stumbled across that article was because I was pondering the similarities between Pogba and Ozil – who both looked incredible as they won world cups, and then took flak for being not good enough when they were dropped into clubs that – frankly – were a step down. Did they actually get worse?

Pogba was also criticised at Juve for being patchy and going missing sometimes – but he had one of the best defences in the world behind him, one of the greatest midfielders of all time alongside him as a mentor, and they were winning so nobody cared. He wasn’t expected to carry the team.

He’s not my kind of player in the same way Mezut Ozil isn’t but as long as you’ve got a Kante or similar to pair him with, to cover his weaknesses, I’d have him in my team anytime.

This sums it up IMO. I reckon Pogba would not struggle to get game time at City or LFC.

Incidentally – what’s going on with Jesse Lingard recently?

I reckon Pogba would not struggle to get game time at City or LFC.

I think that is bull, one thing Pep and Klop have always shown in their management careers, is that mercurial talents don’t fit in with their philosophies. That talent must be matched with work rate and a team ethic.

It’s quite a simple formula really, if you have an average team but work harder than everyone else, you will have above average results. If you work harder and have more skilled players, you win trophies. United have skilled players, who aren’t willing to match the oppositions work rate, and that is exemplified by Pogba.

Maybe there is an argument to say that in the Liverpool or City team, he would up his work rate, but we are talking about his actuall performances this year, not theoretical performances that might happen, and on that showing, he wouldn’t be on the bench for city.

Eriksen has the same vision and ability for passing, is great on deadballs

As a Spurs fan I agree with what you say, apart from the deadballs bit.. he’s been awful at freekicks etc for a few years now.. amazing with a moving ball, rubbish when he’s got a bit of time to think about it.

Pogba being in the Team of the Year is a joke. Penalties aside his stats aren’t great. Probably biased, but I’d have the dramatically improved Sissoko, as well as several other centre mids ahead of him.

The passes weren’t bouncing off Lukaku in the world cup when they were made by De Bruyne and Hazard.

Different team, manager who was well aware of what he can do and what he can’t (ask any Everton watcher). Why do think Jose put Fellaini next to him?

Those passes are made by the city midfield every game and nearly as much by Liverpool,

While they’ve got players capable of doing it, I don’t see them doing it, because that is not Pep or Jurgens style.

Different team, manager who was well aware of what he can do and what he can’t (ask any Everton watcher). Why do think Jose put Fellaini next to him?

I wonder what will happen with Big Rom – he’s at such a low ebb at the moment, basically the punchline to a joke and his own fans hate him, that it’s hard to appreciate his qualities.
I watched him a lot at Everton and have to admit I didn’t realise how bad he was at playing football (perhaps because we played a more counter-attacking style at the time, which is right in his wheelhouse, and Martinez didn’t care about pressing).
Like it was clear he wasn’t blessed with a silky touch, had trampolines for shins in fact, but it was nowhere near as bad as it’s been at Utd and his other attributes were on display any how.

He’s like a throwback to an 80s style centreforward who does nothing all game except score two goals. Don’t think there’s room for that type of player at the very top level any more. Can’t press, can’t pass or link play, can’t retain the ball to relieve pressure or build in the final third, can’t physically unsettle centre halves because he’s a fourteen stone fanny, no aerial threat. But still lashes it in the old onion bag on the reg.

Think it would take someone prepared to structure their entire team around him, with a very complimentary set of players, if he is to have an elite sort of career from here – seems unlikely IMHO.

Town to derail the Scousers tonight. You heard it here first.

I wonder what will happen with Big Rom –

I hope he finds his place. I suspect he needs an agent that doesn’t blow smoke up his shorts. Then he needs to be allowed to figure out what kind of player he is. He’s been different things under different managers so much that I suspect he doesn’t know which way is up. For some reason he bulked up for the World Cup, I suspect someone told him to in the hopes it would help him not get outmuscled by defenders 2/3rds his size. Didn’t work and he lost speed and endurance. When I look at him I think about the fact that Thierry Henry was a defender until a manager decided he wasn’t very good and tried him out as a forward. Despite every manager telling him he was a defender. I wonder if Lukaku is really a winger in Graeme Sharpes guise.

While they’ve got players capable of doing it, I don’t see them doing it, because that is not Pep or Jurgens style.

Ederson has got two assists this season.

Ederson has got two assists this season.

De Bruyne has played some lovely long balls, too. Not as many as he probably would under a different manager. Pep likes his fullbacks to come inside the wingers but that doesn’t mean they never go outside, just not as often as they would under a different manager.

Good summary of Lukaku Garry Lager! Some players just don’t look like footballers do they, but his goal record is very, very good.

Sturridge starting tonight……plenty of ambling around and lots of 40 yard shots?

Lukaku is basically a bigger, clumsier Emile Heskey.

When he turned up at the start of this season he’d bulked up so much I thought he was thinking of switching career to heavyweight boxing

Scores waaaaaay more goals than Heskey. Much better finisher than Rashford too.

Nice first half, going well. My lad went for 4-0, I went for 5-1. At this rate I can’t see either of us being correct.

but his goal record is very, very good.

He’s a weird one stats-wise. Had his best year the last season with Everton, ithink it was, scored 24? Scored 12 last year, 10 this.
He bangs in multiples against a few smaller teams. In fact until he scored a penalty last year (I think) he hadn’t scored against a top 4/5 team at all. Don’t think he did this year either.

Just adds to his mystique.

The only striker who seems to score regularly against the top 6 is Aguero. He’s phenomenal.

Heard an interesting stat the other day that the 6th most goals against the top 6 is not by a premier league player…its Messi.

Heard an interesting stat the other day that the 6th most goals against the top 6 is not by a premier league player…its Messi.

He’s certainly up there. It would be interesting to know how many games that took, Barca play English sides quite a lot in the Champions league.

Aguero has good numbers against the top 6 but hes been around 9? Years and on good teams. Vardy, Kane have good numbers against top 6 on lesser teams and for less time. Hazard too.

I think there is a difference between scoring regularly against top 4/5/6 teams and basically never doing it. If you are your team’s striker and not scoring against your biggest rivals for top positions, it doesn’t bode well for your team

Phil Foden has scored as many league goals against top six teams this season as Mo Salah – one!

Nobody seems to want these last two Champions League spots, do they?

Since Poch said it was a 4 team mini-league, everyone involved has been chucking points away left, right and centre. I can see Arsenal losing to Leicester tomorrow then us and Chelski drawing

I’m just going to leave this here…

COYI!

First team to win at Emirates, first team to win at Tottenham.

COYI!

I think someone has sent Bielsa a memo telling him Leeds shouldn’t actually go up this season.

The most controversial goal of the season, bar NONE! 😲

Leeds United score whilst Aston Villa's Jonathan Kodjia is down injured 🤕
A mass brawl kicks off! 👊
Anwar El Ghazi gets sent off 🔴 pic.twitter.com/BHbLhr2uGb

— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) April 28, 2019

WTF? Play to the whistle!