FA Cup - Mancs at home 19:55 Friday 25th

[xisstential]

I asked this question 2 weeks ago and now I'm asking again......Where is Bould in all of this, how does he get a free pass. A lot of us thought Wenger was the one who was stifling Bould, who wouldn't let him coach? But Wenger is gone, Bould is still there and nothing has changed, arguably we are even worse. We have maybe had more than our share of injuries but so what.....how can we have replacement players that appear as if they weren't at the same training sessions as the first 11?? One defender gets replaced because of injury and everything goes...shape, discipline, you name it. It is staggeringly inept.

But Emery doesn't get a pass on Iwobi, or Xhaka, who is arguably even worse, and is a first choice pick, week in, week out. Maitland Niles is not going to cut it either...he's never going to be good enough.

I said a few weeks back I can see Emery leaving.... in fact I can see us becoming one of those clubs who has that revolving door of managers. Anyone know what Pardew or Allardyce are doing.......

Old Hippo Head will put some backbone in our defence

[northbank123]

One point last night where we were absolutely all over them at 2-1 quite early in the second half, crowd were up for it and whenever they managed to block a shot and hack the ball away they couldn’t even get it out of play and it was just coming straight back.

And then Xhaka picks the ball up 40 yards out and decides to unleash a shot which inevitably disappears into the night sky to break the pressure.

[augie]

Many of us have said in the past that it might take 2 or 3 managerial appointments before we get the right man to replace the arrogant French cock ………. some have decided that we need to rush through the first appointment so that we can make the 2nd and 3rd appointments asap
It is absolutely pointless debating with any fan that is looking to blame the shambles in the club on the new manager - I actually have more respect for the akb's blaming emery, than I do for the fans that have wanted wenger gone for years but have now started blaming dick.
Before we even begin to look at tactics we should be looking at the pile of shite dick has to work with - when everyone is fit we have an average/poor defence, but tragically that is the area that injuries have hit us the hardest and we are being forced to play 2 midfielders in the back 4 just to make up the numbers. It is an utter disgrace that dick is also being expected to work with ZERO TRANSFER FUNDS to fix this mess - it saddens me to say it but I think that dick walks in the summer and when that happens no half decent manager will come near us cos they will have seen the mess the club is in

[John F]

Many of us have said in the past that it might take 2 or 3 managerial appointments before we get the right man to replace the arrogant French cock ………. some have decided that we need to rush through the first appointment so that we can make the 2nd and 3rd appointments asap
It is absolutely pointless debating with any fan that is looking to blame the shambles in the club on the new manager - I actually have more respect for the akb's blaming emery, than I do for the fans that have wanted wenger gone for years but have now started blaming dick.
Before we even begin to look at tactics we should be looking at the pile of shite dick has to work with - when everyone is fit we have an average/poor defence, but tragically that is the area that injuries have hit us the hardest and we are being forced to play 2 midfielders in the back 4 just to make up the numbers. It is an utter disgrace that dick is also being expected to work with ZERO TRANSFER FUNDS to fix this mess - it saddens me to say it but I think that dick walks in the summer and when that happens no half decent manager will come near us cos they will have seen the mess the club is in.

Agree 100% with this.I can not think of one club with their 25man Squad that could cope with four first choice injuries to their defenders .

[SteveO 35]

A horrible empty feeling this morning. These days defeats are normally like water off a duck's back but there's a chilling reality that whilst Kroenke remains our owner we will be increasingly getting used to seasons like this where we have a patched up, injury ravaged squad of no more than 16 PL standard players and out of everything barring Europe's second tier competition by the start of the new year. To be honest that latter booby prize is only still on the table until Everton finally appoint a proper manager instead of imposters like Walrus Chops and Marco The Myth Silva, because the ambition of their owner far outweighs our own. 4th used to be Kroenke's norm.....now it has become 6th, and it won't be long before we're a mid-table club. All very predictable that he will leave this club in obscurity

Feel bitterly sorry for Dick. Just as there was some hope of getting a defensive unit together Bellerin and now Sokratis look to be out forever, together with Holding. Welbeck was an attacking option from the bench but from November until the end of the season that option has become Nketiah. He probably doesn't want to offload both Ozil and Ramsey but has been told that's the only way he can free up funds to bring in new faces

Hard to muster up much enthusiasm about the club right now

[Jock Gooner]

I still can't believe we lost that. I can't remember watching manure at our place and feeling so comfortable at how shit they were and how little they offered. And still we managed to piss it away and let the world think that soshit is a managerial mastermind - much of their football was utter dog shit for most of the game.

Lots of hardwork by Laca and Ramsey....I don't expect that much effort from Auba but he delivers goals so I can live with that. But why oh why did we revert to wenkerball around their box last night. Decent attacks were brought to a sudden halt as we fannied about. Why not get a bit old school on other teams and use a bit of pace to get to the byeline and cross the bloody ball, turn their defence so it is facing it's own goal rather than giving them plenty of time to face up as we fart about - christ, lukaku had time to stroll back to help out his defence if he fancied it and that included stopping for a quick chat with the manure bench on his way back.

AMN is getting a hard time from some. I don't know whether he is good enough or not, it's difficult to tell when he is being blooded in a side where he is played out of position and we can't defend. Thinking back to the boys who came through the ranks under GG it took most of them a little while to get upto speed in the first team so I think the guy deserves more time. Manure played with either sanchez or lukaku pulling out to offer some real width - kolasinac was never near lukaku however in fairness to AMN he was more alive to sanchez on his side. Kolasinac reminds me of Jenks - seems like a good guy but doesn't really want the ball as that's a lot of pressure to deal with. Liked the comment from someone on here who said that watching kolasinac made him want Gibbs back

Who knows what we'll do against Cardiff, not much I should think. I dread to think what citeh will do to us although I will happily contribute 3 points and a boost to their goal difference to help them beat the victims.

[xisstential]

How can we even be considered as a top club when we have a first choice back 4 that is ropey at the best of times but if we suffer one or 2 injuries the whole thing goes completely to hell? Most of the players Emery's inherited shouldn't even be at the club and the only one we can get money for is off on a free.

I don't think we'll be judging Emery after 3 seasons because he'll be gone by then. He won't be getting money and he's not going to turn this shower into anything, so why would he stay?

[goonersid]

Many of us have said in the past that it might take 2 or 3 managerial appointments before we get the right man to replace the arrogant French cock ………. some have decided that we need to rush through the first appointment so that we can make the 2nd and 3rd appointments asap
It is absolutely pointless debating with any fan that is looking to blame the shambles in the club on the new manager - I actually have more respect for the akb's blaming emery, than I do for the fans that have wanted wenger gone for years but have now started blaming dick.
Before we even begin to look at tactics we should be looking at the pile of shite dick has to work with - when everyone is fit we have an average/poor defence, but tragically that is the area that injuries have hit us the hardest and we are being forced to play 2 midfielders in the back 4 just to make up the numbers. It is an utter disgrace that dick is also being expected to work with ZERO TRANSFER FUNDS to fix this mess - it saddens me to say it but I think that dick walks in the summer and when that happens no half decent manager will come near us cos they will have seen the mess the club is in

Really Augie? You’re refusal to attach any blame to the manager for results like last night and at the mousers, is AKB like!
He is tactically inept just like wenger! he can’t coach a defence just like wenger! And despite signing 5 players which you seem to ignore when talking about the “shite” he inherited he is taking us backwards just like wenger!
Wet behind the ears Solskjaer came with a gameplan last night ie defend as a team play on the counter to catch out what he new to be the only certainty in the game “that our defence would be a disorganised shambles”
The facts are beginning to speak for themselves, this is Emery’s 4th embarassing defeat of the season, following pool, spurs and southampton (who couldn’t buy a goal but managrd 3 against Emerys shambles of a defence with his goal keeper culpable)
To assesss his progress or indeed lack of it after 6 months is imo justified, to judge him at the end of the season on evidence that we are heading even in a small way in the right direction is not only reasonable but essential.
If there are no real positive signs then why on earth would anyone in their right mind would support him carrying on is beyond me.
I have no doubt he will be there next season but I will wager anyone he wont be there in 2 seasons time and not because he walks away due to lack of funds! he will be shown the door!!
He is clueless just like wenger!

[GoonerMuzz]

It's too easy for some to try to put down those who are not content with UE as being AKBs or not giving him a chance, read the excuses after excuses after excuses being used to to defend him right now.

Seriously get a grip and grow up, i dont think a single person has said he hasn't improved aspects of things at the club but everything we used to slag off Wenger for is now being used as an excuse for his poor management at times. Injuries, bad players, no money etc etc. Step back and take some perspective, if this was AW in charge every one of those things would be his fault and his fault alone.

He has had what 30 odd games in charge now and we are STILL making the exact same mistakes we were making tactically under Wenger and when UE first took control, mistakes that a good manager would have put in place specific training and tactics to prevent. He can only coach the players in front of him that is true and when it is an individuals mistake like Lichsteiners the other week then he can't prevent that, but the amount of times we are caught out with 8 players in the oppositions third of the pitch, lose possession and then have 3 or 4 players bombing at our defence and no support for the CBs anywhere is becoming embarrassing.

Time after time after time in recent weeks we've been caught out in the same way and that is purely down to the manager not enforcing discipline and tactical awareness on his players. Every team we play now plays the exact same way against, back into formation of two banks of four as soon as we get the ball, wait for us to try to walk the ball into the next, steal it off us, quick counter attack against half a defence and too many times it has resulted in a goal.

If you want to be blinded by UE not being AW then that's fine but wind your necks in about calling people AKBs or whatever when you can't be objective about how poorly we are playing tactically, week in, week out, under the new Manager, especially when it is apparent that when he sets us up correctly we can do it, Spuds and Chelsea being prime examples. When he gets it right it is absolutely right to praise him but when he gets it wrong it is equally his fault after all it is the same players he is using for the good and bad matches, and he is equally responsible for training and coaching them in the matches. Wenger is no longer here remember and cannot be constantly used as an excuse when it goes wrong but have nothing to do with it when it goes right!

[SteveO 35]

The Man U side that just beat us finished 2nd last season and it only goes to show how much of a c.unt Maureen had become that they found themselves 6th this season and playing dog shit football

When they were WINNING yesterday they took off Alexis and Lukaku, and brought on Rashford and Martial. That is an embarrassment of riches that even Liverpool don't enjoy, or Chelsea. Only City have as many attacking options as them. United should be at least 3rd in the table, probably 2nd and a dozen or so points above us. Pogba cost more than our whole midfield. If United were where they should be in the table then I think people would have seen yesterday differently - we were massively competitive until we went 3-1 down. Ramsey's header hits the bar at the start of the second half - if it goes in, different game

If we fired Emery now, then who do we turn to? Mikel Arteta? Someone from a lower division or smaller club? I don't see a top coach anywhere in the world wanting to work for old Uncle Scrooge

[augie]

It's too easy for some to try to put down those who are not content with UE as being AKBs or not giving him a chance, read the excuses after excuses after excuses being used to to defend him right now.

Seriously get a grip and grow up, i dont think a single person has said he hasn't improved aspects of things at the club but everything we used to slag off Wenger for is now being used as an excuse for his poor management at times. Injuries, bad players, no money etc etc. Step back and take some perspective, if this was AW in charge every one of those things would be his fault and his fault alone.

He has had what 30 odd games in charge now and we are STILL making the exact same mistakes we were making tactically under Wenger and when UE first took control, mistakes that a good manager would have put in place specific training and tactics to prevent. He can only coach the players in front of him that is true and when it is an individuals mistake like Lichsteiners the other week then he can't prevent that, but the amount of times we are caught out with 8 players in the oppositions third of the pitch, lose possession and then have 3 or 4 players bombing at our defence and no support for the CBs anywhere is becoming embarrassing.

Time after time after time in recent weeks we've been caught out in the same way and that is purely down to the manager not enforcing discipline and tactical awareness on his players. Every team we play now plays the exact same way against, back into formation of two banks of four as soon as we get the ball, wait for us to try to walk the ball into the next, steal it off us, quick counter attack against half a defence and too many times it has resulted in a goal.

If you want to be blinded by UE not being AW then that's fine but wind your necks in about calling people AKBs or whatever when you can't be objective about how poorly we are playing tactically, week in, week out, under the new Manager, especially when it is apparent that when he sets us up correctly we can do it, Spuds and Chelsea being prime examples. When he gets it right it is absolutely right to praise him but when he gets it wrong it is equally his fault after all it is the same players he is using for the good and bad matches, and he is equally responsible for training and coaching them in the matches. Wenger is no longer here remember and cannot be constantly used as an excuse when it goes wrong but have nothing to do with it when it goes right!

You want me to get a grip and grow up ?? Seriously how old are you ?? Let me ask you a few questions and we'll see where you answers take you ?

1. How long did it take for you to turn against wenger ? Did you turn after one shit half season ? I'm willing to bet that you grumbled for a while, then started to question him more forceably, and overall it took a few seasons to come to the conclusion that his best days were gone and that he needed to be replaced. Now when you admit to that, ask yourself how the fcuk are you expecting dick or any manager to remedy in 30 odd games, a mess that the previous fcukwit had spent years making ?

2. Think back to when wenger took over as manager (assuming you supported the club then)....... can you remember the group of players that he inherited ? How many league winners medals were in that first team (not inc subs) that he picked ? The answer to that is 12 btw, plus there a shit load of cup winners medals (inc european too ). Now ask how many league winners medals are in what you were classed as the best starting 11 in this squad - I would say 1 (sokratis), but if you want to include ozil it still only makes it 2. That should tell you the contrast in the quality of the squad dick took over in comparison to the senile old french c.unt

3. Lets stick with comparing both squads - can you remember the style of football and the mentality of the players wenger inherited ? How long did it take to get them playing his type of football ? Now look at the difference in mentality of the squads - wenger inherited a mentally strong group who had an unbelievable never say die attitude, and all wenger had to do was try to keep it going. It has frequently been acknowledged that after the last of GG's players left the squad, that strong mentality and leadership went with them. In contrast to wenger, dick has a squad full of pussys with no backbone and is trying to instill a strong winners attitude in them, and that will take time and an introduction of winners to guide the rest of the team.

Look at the players performances this season and, if you are honest you will admit that our best players have been torreira sokratis and the dozi - dick has had one transfer window and has upgraded the keepers position, bought a proper centre back, a quality ballsy DM, and a young hard working midfielder, and they were all serious needs for the team. Season after season wenger bought the same type of small lightweight technical players regardless of how unbalanced the squad was - honestly how many of the players in the squad last may would you have been happy with as first choice in their positions this season ? Did you expect the club to fix all those weaknesses in one summer ?
Anyone that has played football for any period of team at any kind of a decent level, or anyone that has coached a team for at least one season will tell you that it takes time and consistancy to work on tactics and team shape - how can you organise that when you dont have the same defenders available to you for two weeks in a row ? Do you think that maitland-niles has spent much time (or enough time) being coached as a defender ? How many sessions do you think xhaka has trained at centre back ? Such were our extended injury list, that kos spent over 7 months out injured and was rushed back into the starting team within a few weeks of returning to full training cos we had no alternative. How many games has monreal missed through injury ? How many has sokratis missed ? Can you ever remember a time when our team or another team, has had two of their top 5 defenders ruled out for over half a season through serious injuries and a 3rd member of that top 5 missing over half the games we have played so far this season ? You spend time coaching these players, but then come matchday that backline injury curse is struck again and we see xhaka and maitland-niles pushed into the defence or mustafi brought on and mayhem hits.

You need to be a bit more reasonable and mature when looking at the mess this club is in, and recognise that shit that dick is working with and in

[nut flush gooner]

It's too easy for some to try to put down those who are not content with UE as being AKBs or not giving him a chance, read the excuses after excuses after excuses being used to to defend him right now.

Seriously get a grip and grow up, i dont think a single person has said he hasn't improved aspects of things at the club but everything we used to slag off Wenger for is now being used as an excuse for his poor management at times. Injuries, bad players, no money etc etc. Step back and take some perspective, if this was AW in charge every one of those things would be his fault and his fault alone.

He has had what 30 odd games in charge now and we are STILL making the exact same mistakes we were making tactically under Wenger and when UE first took control, mistakes that a good manager would have put in place specific training and tactics to prevent. He can only coach the players in front of him that is true and when it is an individuals mistake like Lichsteiners the other week then he can't prevent that, but the amount of times we are caught out with 8 players in the oppositions third of the pitch, lose possession and then have 3 or 4 players bombing at our defence and no support for the CBs anywhere is becoming embarrassing.

Time after time after time in recent weeks we've been caught out in the same way and that is purely down to the manager not enforcing discipline and tactical awareness on his players. Every team we play now plays the exact same way against, back into formation of two banks of four as soon as we get the ball, wait for us to try to walk the ball into the next, steal it off us, quick counter attack against half a defence and too many times it has resulted in a goal.

If you want to be blinded by UE not being AW then that's fine but wind your necks in about calling people AKBs or whatever when you can't be objective about how poorly we are playing tactically, week in, week out, under the new Manager, especially when it is apparent that when he sets us up correctly we can do it, Spuds and Chelsea being prime examples. When he gets it right it is absolutely right to praise him but when he gets it wrong it is equally his fault after all it is the same players he is using for the good and bad matches, and he is equally responsible for training and coaching them in the matches. Wenger is no longer here remember and cannot be constantly used as an excuse when it goes wrong but have nothing to do with it when it goes right!

You want me to get a grip and grow up ?? Seriously how old are you ?? Let me ask you a few questions and we'll see where you answers take you ?

1. How long did it take for you to turn against wenger ? Did you turn after one shit half season ? I'm willing to bet that you grumbled for a while, then started to question him more forceably, and overall it took a few seasons to come to the conclusion that his best days were gone and that he needed to be replaced. Now when you admit to that, ask yourself how the fcuk are you expecting dick or any manager to remedy in 30 odd games, a mess that the previous fcukwit had spent years making ?

2. Think back to when wenger took over as manager (assuming you supported the club then)....... can you remember the group of players that he inherited ? How many league winners medals were in that first team (not inc subs) that he picked ? The answer to that is 12 btw, plus there a shit load of cup winners medals (inc european too ). Now ask how many league winners medals are in what you were classed as the best starting 11 in this squad - I would say 1 (sokratis), but if you want to include ozil it still only makes it 2. That should tell you the contrast in the quality of the squad dick took over in comparison to the senile old french c.unt

3. Lets stick with comparing both squads - can you remember the style of football and the mentality of the players wenger inherited ? How long did it take to get them playing his type of football ? Now look at the difference in mentality of the squads - wenger inherited a mentally strong group who had an unbelievable never say die attitude, and all wenger had to do was try to keep it going. It has frequently been acknowledged that after the last of GG's players left the squad, that strong mentality and leadership went with them. In contrast to wenger, dick has a squad full of pussys with no backbone and is trying to instill a strong winners attitude in them, and that will take time and an introduction of winners to guide the rest of the team.

Look at the players performances this season and, if you are honest you will admit that our best players have been torreira sokratis and the dozi - dick has had one transfer window and has upgraded the keepers position, bought a proper centre back, a quality ballsy DM, and a young hard working midfielder, and they were all serious needs for the team. Season after season wenger bought the same type of small lightweight technical players regardless of how unbalanced the squad was - honestly how many of the players in the squad last may would you have been happy with as first choice in their positions this season ? Did you expect the club to fix all those weaknesses in one summer ?
Anyone that has played football for any period of team at any kind of a decent level, or anyone that has coached a team for at least one season will tell you that it takes time and consistancy to work on tactics and team shape - how can you organise that when you dont have the same defenders available to you for two weeks in a row ? Do you think that maitland-niles has spent much time (or enough time) being coached as a defender ? How many sessions do you think xhaka has trained at centre back ? Such were our extended injury list, that kos spent over 7 months out injured and was rushed back into the starting team within a few weeks of returning to full training cos we had no alternative. How many games has monreal missed through injury ? How many has sokratis missed ? Can you ever remember a time when our team or another team, has had two of their top 5 defenders ruled out for over half a season through serious injuries and a 3rd member of that top 5 missing over half the games we have played so far this season ? You spend time coaching these players, but then come matchday that backline injury curse is struck again and we see xhaka and maitland-niles pushed into the defence or mustafi brought on and mayhem hits.

You need to be a bit more reasonable and mature when looking at the mess this club is in, and recognise that shit that dick is working with and in

Thanks for saving me the effort to type all of these things. It's ridiculous to have a pop at Emery, it's not even anything to do with how early he is in his tenure as Augie says its the quality of the squad he inherited from Wenger.

Wenger had a dream defence in his early days, they had all been defensively drilled by George Graham and knew how to defend. As soon as they left and the likes of Sol Campbell had a meltdown vs Worst Ham one season I remember, things went to shit and were never the same again.

I would put Holding, Sokratis and maybe Monreal as half decent defenders but not a patch on the famous back 5. From what I have seen of Mavropanos there is potential and apparently Zach Medley is one for the future. The rest of them are dogshite, Bellend goes walkies so often its unreal and leaves an already suspect defence exposed time and time again. Mustafi has this addiction called going to ground against pacey tricky attackers when he should be standing on his feet. Maitland Niles is not a right back, and actually, I don't think he's a bad defender but he is always asked to play out of position when will we ever see him in midfield. I would certainly start him ahead of Xhaka, who has to be the most overatted player in the team.

With regards to coaching, you could have Tony Adams as our defensive coach and with these defenders, he couldn't teach them to defend because most of them aren't good enough.

Emery has to be given 3 years to sort out the mess, otherwise, we will just end up being a Tottenham changing managers every few years when things don't go to plan. Given. Kroenke's lack of investment you wouldn't blame Emery for walking after a few years if he couldn't get the defenders in he needs.

[Ray C]

Finally got to watch the game this morning (on Man U TV), not knowing the score - shouldn't have bothered. Very pissed off with the performance & injuries. Unless we spend big in the summer nothing will improve. Hopefully our reserves can get three points against Cardiff.

[GTG]

Not gonna comment on the game as that moment has well and truly gone over the weekend while i've been away.

But i've seen a few on here talking about us not having any money to buy players etc.... i've read from multiple sources (reliable or not I dunno) that its our wage bill thats stopping us buying anyone.

Premier league rules state that wages cannot increase by more than 7% in a season of which we are at the ceiling or very close to it. If we buy players then obviously we're paying them wages but in the loan market we could be looking to get the parent club to cover some of that cost. Im not convinced UE's comments about only being able to loan players is because we got no money.

Apparently that situation is going to look a lot more rosy come the summer when a number of players on big wages will be off the books and the new sponsorship deals kick in. If we are able to somehow get 4th we will hopefully have a tidy sum to invest and I'm guessing its at that point we will really see in what direction we are heading under Stan.

[Nos89]

How can we even be considered as a top club when we have a first choice back 4 that is ropey at the best of times but if we suffer one or 2 injuries the whole thing goes completely to hell? Most of the players Emery's inherited shouldn't even be at the club and the only one we can get money for is off on a free.

I don't think we'll be judging Emery after 3 seasons because he'll be gone by then. He won't be getting money and he's not going to turn this shower into anything, so why would he stay?

We are a top club just not at the top of our game at the moment. Troughs and peaks, it happens in football, we are finally moving out of the trough of the last 10 years, and we're slowly moving upwards. May not feel like it but we are gonna be back in top 4 by the end of the season and in the CL next season.