The rest of Europe adopts it next season.
The rest of Europe adopts it next season.
Excellent. Now that is good.
I don't understand the benefit unless the winter window also happens during a period of no gamesOriginally Posted by BBF
Trying to finalise my Fantasy team. Having De Bruyne and Kane from the start is a bad idea, right? Spurs have a lack of options, but surely De Bruyne won't start the season?
Why has it been changed from end of August anyway?
Can't say for sure, but the way this window has gone so far I reckon Levy had something to do with it.
United in for Godin. Please no, he is superb
Ain't happening. He just signed a new deal apparently.
Haha.
No players it looks like for you.
Yeah it's mad. The line seems to be that we're very happy with the squad and were aware this was a possibility because we're at a level where it's difficult to buy players to improve the squad. Which is all well and good in theory, but players like Sissoko had relatively important roles in the squad last season (Sissoko played a ton of games, and while Llorente didn't he was there in case Kane got injured) so it's impossible to think we couldn't have improved. On the plus side we haven't lost anyone important - yet - but it feels like a huge missed opportunity.
I think you are right that it is the WC that screwed it up. It just felt like nothing happened for months and now we've run out of time.
It needs to be uniform across Europe for sure and I would probably shift it back one week. Say the rosters have to be set before game 2 instead of game 1. Just give one extra week of practice/game time to help make a decision.
Ah, he used the interest to force a pay rise. This always happens to United
Nothing happened to us. The only people getting fucked are the clubs who're fooled into giving the contract extension with the higher wage, and the people who place bets after buying into the rumours. Sky are known to put out stories like that, shift their betting odds, then put out another story themselves to kill their own rumour.Ah, he used the interest to force a pay rise. This always happens to United
I don't even know if the interest from United was real. If we couldn't convince Griezmann to leave Atleti, I don't think anyone at the club would've expected us to convince Godin to make the transfer either, especially hours before the window closing. Godin may be the most revered person at the club behind Simeone.
Its not really possible for it to be uniform with different nations starting their seasons at different times.
I don't think I've ever known you to be happy with Everton or at least not to my memory. Are you happy with the business done?
MMH was happy for a couple of months when Yakubu was banging them in.
Fuck how could you not love Yakubu. That man was a fucking machine
Honestly until they play I have no idea.
On the surface of it we have done good business (if we can get Zouma over the line) but we had this last season and it all went wrong too.
Anything that means Michael Keane is not playing should be a good thing.
Because people were moaning that it was three weeks into the season and not before the first game.
There's nothing wrong with the transfer window closing before the season starts. But why the fuck is the season starting already? Why not in another 2 weeks? Very few clubs appear to be ready, especially the ones who had players in the latter stages of the World Cup. It makes no sense.
There's got to be something wrong when Pochettino is saying we'll be missing up to nine players for our game tomorrow because they haven't trained yet.
Slight intrigue, sure, but Utd/Leicester to open the season is proper dull. Won't be bothering with that.
No idea what to expect from Newcastle/Spurs tomorrow. Sunday should be fun.
United/Leicester might not be a great game because Mourinho murders any excitement instantly, but there's plenty of interest there with all the new signigs - excited to see how Maddison gets on as by all accounts he tore up the Championship, and it'll be good to have a look at Fred too.
Incidentally, it's weird that Leicester have signed three centre backs for the first team squad (Evans, Soyuncu and Benkovic) when they already have Maguire and Morgan, plus Fuchs if they're playing three at the back. Seems like overkill, unless they're phasing Morgan out.
EDIT: Looking forward to seeing Ricardo Pereira too, we were linked with him for a while and he should replace Simpson, who was a weak link even in their title-winning season.
Last edited by Simon; August 10th, 2018 at 8:01 AM.
Well no because it makes Utd look very silly, it happened with Dani Alves among others. Someone tipped Utd off he wanted to come and they were very gullible
Maddison had a very sharp first half for a 21 year old making his debut.
It only makes the people who believe this stuff look silly.
United are fucking rubbish.
And will still most likely come Top 3 at the end.
Very poor performance. At least it didn't finish 2-0 to fully hide how disturbingly shit they were for so much of the game. Especially once they took the 2-0 lead.
Maddison will be in the England squad by the end of the year. Absolutely phenomenal for us last season.
Think Chilwell made a good case for a call up yesterday too
Do you think the stadium has restricted the budget?
I think Levy made an error in not being willing to sanction moves to other english clubs. Times have changed, there arent many clubs in Europe now who can pay top wages.
Spurs could maybe have got Martial if they had been willing to let Rose or Alderveld go to United. Yes I know I spelt it wrong.
Also I read that Daniel Levy is the highest paid person at the club.
If I was the likes if Eriksen on 70k a week that would piss me off.
The thing about Levy being the highest paid person at the club isn't true apparently, he's the highest paid CEO though (which is fair enough if you see his job as purely ensuring the club is secure and profitable). As for the stadium hindering transfers, I would imagine not given how much Poch talked about needing signings before he signed a new deal, and all the talk was that it wouldn't affect anything...but then why didn't we sign anyone?
The best spin is to say that we didnt find the players we wanted and Poch was happy to stick with what he had rather than clog the squad up with more substandard players we won't be able to sell next year. The worst spin is that Levy has just sold him a lie to get him to sign a new deal, then refused to spend. The truth is most likely somewhere in between I guess.
My hope is that the saved money allows us to offer new deals to Eriksen and the rest...but if they interpret the lack of transfers as a lack of ambition, maybe money wont convince them to stay.
England need to figure out a system with like 6 fullbacks somehow. It is their strongest position by far. Chilwell looked very good and even Shaw showed that potential he had at Southampton.
I genuinely don't know the rules of football anymore.
Don't touch the players trying to score the goals I think
Yeah the 4th official said the red was for denying a goal scoring opportunity which is odd as the ball was going the other way from the goal.
Happy with that point all things considered. Today showed why we urgently needed two new centre backs. Keane actually did well generally today though.
I thought it was the wrong decision at first too but it was a very dangerous tackle, easily an ankle breaker. If he gave it for denying a goalscoring opportunity then it's the wrong decision because he got the all, but if it's for the excessive force then it's right.
How can you apply excessive force when stretching for the ball though? By the whole nature of the tackle the force is lessened.
I don't think there was excessive force but there was definitely an aspect of endangering the safety of an opponent resulting in serious foul play.
Maybe excessive force wasn't the right term...just saying that despite winning the ball it was dangerous. Could maybe have got away with
a yellow but I don't think it was massively controversial tbh. Thought Everton were good considering the red, Wolves were weirdly defensive despite the extra man. Good shout on Richarlison, everyone except you was saying he would be a massive flop...not a bad start
All very good apart from the fact he was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity which is odd as 1, their player never once had the ball and 2, the ball was flying down the other end of the pitch when the red card was issued.
I would be annoyed but slightly more understanding if any of the other reasons mentioned were the cause of the card. To be fair I think Richarlisons yellow was worse.
He's a talented player. Still very young so he will have a few bad weeks but I am very excited at the prospect of us going forward with Richarlison, Bernard, Walcott, Sigurdsson and Lookman all hopefully being able to feed Tosun and with Niasse available for the last 20-30 mins to add something different.Maybe excessive force wasn't the right term...just saying that despite winning the ball it was dangerous. Could maybe have got away with
a yellow but I don't think it was massively controversial tbh. Thought Everton were good considering the red, Wolves were weirdly defensive despite the extra man. Good shout on Richarlison, everyone except you was saying he would be a massive flop...not a bad start
Just need to hope our new defence gels quickly, Jagielka missing a few games is a blessing in disguise as long as Mina and Zouma can get up to match speed soon.
Earlier this week it was pointed out that you'll be able to see White Hart Lane on FIFA before you get to see it in real life, and I thought fuck me could anything be more Spursy than that. It's now been pointed out that you'll be able to see White Hart Lane on the new NFL game before you get to see it in real life
They're gonna call it White Hart Lane?
Well there's no sponsor yet, presumably because no decent business will sponsor a ground that has no opening date and is getting negative coverage every day. Once it's open it will be fine but right now it's the definition of a toxic brand.
Em, have we all read the Bobby Madley rumour?
(INSERT SIGNATURE HERE)
No, Do tell you tease.
NM
Seen a lot of people hounding the bloke, he's been getting dog's abuse.
It's been ruff. If there's a kennel of truth in this, hes done.
(INSERT SIGNATURE HERE)
Bobby Madley tongued his dog's arse.
that one was a bit too crypric for me simon.
(INSERT SIGNATURE HERE)
On yourselves Brighton!
Shocking defending from United. No awareness from either CB of what's going on around them.
What a dreadful half of football.
I'm sure the 2nd half will pick up
- - - Updated - - -
Jose has to go soon for the sake of Utds season.
Well disaster season appearing on its way.
Jose's completely out of ideas now. He's tried multiple formations, line ups, etc. I know its still only the 3rd game of the season but it's looking like we're going to struggle for a top four finish.
I'm sure the compensation he's due, and the availability of possible replacements will have a say on the matter. I could see his tenure dragging out for a while.
The way these first three games have gone I'm foreseeing something much worse. Surely the talent should keep United in the hunt for top four. But not with the way they've played to start the season.
Liverpool, City, Chelsea, Tottenham...which of those 4 would they oust?
I think there will be more than those 4 above them in the end.
Jose was saying before the game he wants more time for his team to reach its potential, and was saying things like how finishing 2nd last season was a great achievement. He's been planting the seeds for his excuses for a few months now. And then theres all these stories about players like Pogba and Martial wanting to leave because they dont want to play under him.
I've seen Mourinho teams play poorly before, but this is the first time I've got the impression that Mourinho himself doesn't feel like he can do the job.
Surely the only way for Man United to play is to go all out to score more than their opponents? They've got a great set of attacking players and a load of duff defenders.
That's never going to happen under Mourinho, is it?
He's just said the following on Sky: “We worked all week. By the strategic point of view we didn’t lose. By the tactical point of view we didn’t lose. But we lost the game.”
What does that even mean?
They could beat out Chelsea possibly.
Not based on last night.
Just his usual diversionary bollocks, same as the is-this-goodbye waving to the fans after the game. Anything to divert the story from last night away from 'Mourinho's shit team played shit and got battered'.That's never going to happen under Mourinho, is it?
He's just said the following on Sky: “We worked all week. By the strategic point of view we didn’t lose. By the tactical point of view we didn’t lose. But we lost the game.”
What does that even mean?
We weren't even that good, particularly in the first half, and should really have won by 5 or 6 when you consider the chances Alli missed. United's defence is pathetic.
Do you still stand by your assessment that Mourinho's time at United shouldn't be considered a failure?
Man U fans getting a picture taken with Moura from the stands. The state of your league.
Man United are potentially in decline.
His first season he won two trophies including a European competition, his second season he makes the FA Cup final and finished 2nd in the league to arguably one of the best seasons a PL team has ever had.
So you're asking me to reassess my opinion based off of the three games we've had so far?
No, I'm asking you to assess his time at United as a whole, that's why I said "Mourinho's time at United" and not "the first three games of this season". It's reasonable to think based on his history that this might be the beginning of the end, all the signs are there (creating arguments out of thin air, throwing players under the bus, diversionary tactics in the media, trying to push a narrative of success being impossible etc), so it's a fair question to ask: has Mourinho been a success or a failure?
As pointed out at the time, the trophies he's won are ones that Mourinho himself has been dismissive of in the past, and the fact that he's had to change his attitude towards them to massage the view of his performance at United is indicative of how he's done - a successful Mourinho wouldn't be pointing to minor cup competitions as proof of success. The Europa League in particular, Mourinho and United would consider it a failure to even be competing for it, considering qualification for the Europa is just failure to qualify for, or succeed in, the Champions League. You prefer to call it 'a European competition' rather than the Europa League because that makes it sound slightly less second-rate.
That's not particularly a criticism of the Europa League btw, there are plenty of teams, including my team, for whom a Europa League win would be an historic achievement. United aren't one of them. It's like if Villa win the play-off trophy - well done for doing it, I guess, but what were you doing down there in the first place?
Last edited by Simon; August 28th, 2018 at 7:55 AM.
I never said that you're asking me to assess "the first three games of this season". What you are doing is asking if my opinion of his whole tenure has changed based off of the three games we've just had.
Well has it? Given that it's hardly just three games but an entire pre-season of prepared bitching and moaning, and even if you boil it down specifically to those three games they are at the start of the season and are part of what seems like the usual Mourinho ploy of clearing a path for his exit by burning bridges all over the place. It's not like he's just hit a tricky week in December following an otherwise decent start to the season.
If you still stand by the idea that he's done ok then I don't really understand it but fine...but I'm not sure why you think the question is unreasonable, given United's season so far has A) been quite shit, B) seems likely to precipitate Mourinho leaving and C) is Mourinho's usual co-ordinated attempt to extricate himself from the job. I don't think it's unfair to ask whether your POV has changed, even in that space of time, given what has happened since the end of last season. Everyone knows how this story ends, this is Mourinho.
No, and its stupid to ask because its just three games.
You can say all you want about the shit preseason, the moaning about the lack of transfers, the poor start to the season, etc. But until the season plays out, I can't asses it based on three games. You asked for my assessment, not my prediction on where we're headed.
Fair enough. Head in the sand IMO. And it definitely isn't stupid to ask, United are in a completely different situation from the end of last season. That said, the answer is much the same - he was a failure as United manager at that point, and he's a bigger failure as United manager now. Do you get your opinions from Duncan Castles?
It's an unlikable, soulless football team just like his Chelsea team was. Difference being that team had a backbone. Phil Jones is a doorman masquerading as a Premier League football player. Everybody that has watched United the last five seasons knew that this was on the cards, and would have happened earlier if De Gea hadn't been Superman for the better part of that. He's come back not completely at the top of his game, and that's the difference between a clean sheet and a spanking. Lukaku is a flat track bully who lacks any sort of finesse that will make him a threat in big games. He is a Darren Bent or a Mark Viduka, a good goalscorer but not near the quality required for a top side. Valencia looks finished too (though it is early days into his comeback from injury). Mourinho was right that they needed a centreback, but they needed one last season and he bought Victor Lindeloff for more than £30 million. Lindeloff wouldn't get in the Bournemouth side. Throw in quality attacking threats that are unmotivated or just not at the races (Rashford, Martial, Sanchez) and a midfield lacking physicality and you've not got an impressive team in the slightest. There's enough talent there to compete if they're up for it, but it isn't working. Last night for the first half was a spirited performance by a team lacking quality, while the difference makers in the squad sat on the bench or in the stands because of their lack of application.
Jones and Smalling strike me as Kieran Gibbs types, never consistently exposed defensively because they play for a team that tends to control games, but as soon as they get bombed out by United and end up at more middling teams, they will be found out massively. Gibbs went from England squad regular to the Championship in a year, and didn't even have any Prem sides sniffing round him in the summer. That's Jones and Smalling all over.
Regardless of what you think of Mourinho, you knew for a fact what I thought of his tenure up until the end of last season. So to then wonder if my opinion on his two seasons at United had changed after three games this season is definitely stupid.
Again: it is not just three games, it is also a summer of incessant whining, an unsuccessful transfer window where he was overruled (rightly IMO) by his chief executive and a pretty obvious, entirely familiar case of him building his path out of the club. If your opinion hasn't changed, fine. It is still a reasonable question to ask.
We've had great preseasons in the past and then had a dreadful start to the season. Spurs have signed no one and have three wins from three. All of what you said doesn't necessarily mean anything.
Besides, what you're doing is "predicting" the future based on what you've observed. That's different from asking me to "assess" his tenure so far. I mean personally if I was to guess based on what I'm seeing, I don't think Jose will be the United manager next season, and I think this season will be worse than the last one.
But you're not asking me to guess where we're heading. You asked me to asses what's actually happened so far. And again, asking that three games into the season is stupid. A more meaningful question would've been "do you still think Jose's the right manager for the job?" or "do you think he'd still be considered a success by the end of the season with the way things are going?"
But I guess you went with the dumb question because you wanted to say "I told you so".
He hasn't asked anything about these 3 matches, though. You're just basically telling him your opinion hasn't changed in the past 3 weeks which isn't the question. I'm not really sure when you said he wasn't a failure, but your opinion could have changed 6 months ago as far as the question goes.
I think he knows he has failed himself which is obvious by the finger pointing towards players and gibberish answers attempting to justify shit performances. He benefited from a bizarre league last year which has covered up a lot of bad performances and masked the fact that United aren't very good. A second place finish was very generous and will be exposed this season unless something changes. He should be getting more out of the players he has in his squad without a doubt.
I know he's not asking me about the three matches. He wants to know if I'd agree Jose's tenure as a whole has been a failure. The thing is that he asked the question before the start of the season and I argued "no", so why would someone change their opinion three games in when nothing's actually happened yet? He's not asking me what I think will happen by the end of the season, he's asking me to assess Jose's tenure so far. So far he hasn't not won the league or the Champion's League, FA Cup, etc. So I can't change my assessment if nothing has happened since the last time he asked. The only thing more stupid than asking that question would've been for me to actually change my opinion after three games.
But with the way things are going, do I think he's heading towards failure? Yeah. It looks like he's lost the backing of a few key players and the board, and it's looking like he's going to repeat his final season at Chelsea all over again. If/When that happens, I can then say for sure that I think he's failed. I can't call it until it happens though.
If we want to go into a more meaningful discussion, I don't think this is entirely his fault. The players and the board have all played their part and all of them should take responsibility for it. But if it came down to sacking the board, the manager or the players, obviously the manager's going to go first. Which is a shame because IMO the problem starts at the top with the board.
The first mistake the board made was hiring Jose. Jose in hindsight was never the right fit for this club, for three reasons. He's a short term manager in terms of how he operates and the players he buys, secondly he doesn't play "entertaining" football, and thirdly because he's known to fall out with certain players. The lure to sign him was from his CV and the thought that he'd win the league within a few years. But the board's fault was disregarding the other issues when making the appointment.
Jose's always been a results driven manager and technically he's done that at United or at least was originally showing he's heading in the right direction. But if what he was doing was not enough, he was the wrong manager to appoint in the first place. If Jose had Liverpool's squad, spent the kind of money Liverpool have spent recently, and won as much as Klopp has over the last few years, Jose would be getting slaughtered by the media. Klopp gets away with it because of his style of football, and that's understandable. But if the style of football is the deciding factor in judging Jose, why was he hired in the first place?
The second mistake was giving Jose a contract extension about 7 months ago. If they didn't want to back the manager in the transfer window, they shouldn't have given the contract. Either you back the manager all the way or you don't. This season would've been Jose's final season on his original contract, so maybe the board extended it purely for the sake of not having to negotiate a more lucrative deal if Jose possibly finished this season on a high with a league title or Champion's League. Which makes sense, but that's a risk the board took and its not paying off. I'd imagine if they sack Jose now, the compensation pay will be huge. But either way, you can't give the manager the contract extension and then not sign the players he's asking for. The story was that Jose wanted players like Alderweireld, Willian, etc, all players who would've come in to do a job despite nearing the end of their careers. The board overruled Jose's decision (well, they were willing to buy them but not pay the price that was demanded), but at the same time apparently were willing to pay £100m for Madrid's Varane (which Madrid flat out said no to) because he would've been a signing for the future. The board clearly has money to spend, but just not on what Jose wants. So if signing older players is not their thing, why appoint Jose when he's known to target short term players?
Jose's just being Jose. If the United board don't like that, they shouldn't have signed Jose.
I agree, they shouldn't have given him a new contract. I think at this stage Jose knows he cannot overhaul City or even Liverpool, so he starts to blame others to ensure
A) he gets sacked and therefore paid off
B) he can go to another top job because board were difficult, the players, the physio etc
He is no better than Sam Allardyce in this regard
What I don't get is that the United fans are surprised at the brand of football and the lack of youth development. These are things that have never been a priority for him. Shame though as likes of Martial and Rashford are wasted there
I don't get why this has to be turned on Jose though. If as a club you appoint Jose to be your manager, you then have to allow him to do his job the way he wants to do it. Especially when you give him a new contract. You could've argued that the club didn't know what they were getting into when signing him, but the extension was given about 18 months into his tenure. The club then has to follow through with the commitment and give him the players he wants, when he wants them. If Jose wanted Perisic, Alderweireld, Alex Sandro, etc, he should've got them. In all of those cases, the board refused to meet the valuation of the player (by relatively small margins). Jose tried to sell Martial to fund the players but the board blocked the move because they felt he could become a greater player somewhere else if he was let go. Do I personally want to see Martial sold? No. But at the same time I can also see that the board are giving Jose excuse for why he can't do his job. If the club no longer want to back the manager, they need to make a decision on whether they think Jose can take the team forward with the resources he has. If the answer is "no" (as most people can foresee), then they need to sack the manager and move on fast.
Pep Guardiola has been given almost every transfer target he's wanted besides the couple who opted to go elsewhere (Alexis and Jorginho), and trusted with the investment before he'd even delivered the title. Pep's in a position where if he doesnt deliver, he has no excuses. Jose on the other hand has excuses. When Pep needs full backs, City buy three in one transfer window and spend over £120m for them. When Jose wants a full back, he gets told "no" and has to play Ashley Young there.
The board has to either back the manager or sack the manager. If they dont give Jose what he wants and insist on not sacking him, its their fault if we finish 6th or whatever.
That's very good, Simon. Well done.
Thanks mate
Didn’t United spend £20m on a right back this Summer? Even if he is 18. Also Valencia and Young were hailed as two of the successes of last season.
..
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co...nding-14948361
The year before that City had gone big like but think the point remains certainly in regards to Liverpools spending
That young kid has only played like 5 senior games in his career, prior to us signing him. It was more of a case of signing him before someone did (I guess Bebe was the same and look how that turned out). If we weren't short on reliable players at the back, he'd be loaned out right now. Regarding Young and Valencia, if they were so good, Jose wouldn't be looking for replacements.
Young is a back up at best. You could argue Jose needs to get more out of Luke Shaw (or at least sell him before getting a replacement), so that's fair. But right back needs looking into because Valencia has probably one more season in him at most.
No one can compare with Liverpool's signings. They probably have the best success rate of any of the top 6 sides. Almost every player they've signed has done the job they were asked to do, if not exceeding expectations.
Mourinho has one of the most promising left backs in the country, he just chose to decimate him by calling him a useless fat cunt every chance he got. This year he's stopped bullying him (and that is not too strong a term, his constant public criticism of Shaw and Martial would be considered bullying in any other workplace) and FUCK ME he actually looks a really good player again, funny that.
But he has been a useless fat cunt. The player himself has admitted that (and there's public pictures of him looking fat), hence the reason for him to report to early preseason training long before anyone else and get himself fit.
Jose doesn't know how to work with certain personalities. Players either really love him or hate him, there's no in between. Funnily enough, Jose himself said in an interview on Sky that his weakness or flaw is that he has difficulty working with certain players because he himself only knows to work a certain way, and feels he needs to employ more coaches who can man manage the players he has difficulty with.
Having said that, Luke Shaw's problems have been Luke Shaw's fault for the most part.
He's a bully. He has done the same thing systematically at every club he's been at, isolating and abusing individual players as a power move. It's every bit as calculated as the tried and tested strategy of forcing his own sacking he's currently getting started on.
Mata was a notable target at Chelsea, IIRC Cole and Duff got the same treatment in his first stint at Chelsea. Shaw was definitely overweight last season, but prior to that he wasn't, and Mourinho treating him like a cunt pre-dated him being overweight and I think pre-dated him playing badly as well, though I could be wrong about that.
I don't think you can lay the weight issue at Mourinho's door, Shaw is a professional athlete and whatever Mourinho is doing to him he still has a duty to at the very least eat properly and be at the required fitness level, but it isn't far-fetched to think that his poor form is a direct result of Mourinho bullying him.
I agree with what you're saying about Mourinho. He's mistreated a number of players in his career. I just don't think Luke Shaw is one of them. When Shaw didn't play, it was either because he had just come off a bad performance (and he's had a fair few), or Jose felt someone else could do a better job.
For example last season where Shaw played a few games and then suddenly was pulled out of the team for Young. On one hand you can interpret that as "bullying" (which I think is ridiculous), on the other hand you can see Jose had identified Young for the job that needed doing. As he proved when Young had Salah in his pocket for the win at Old Trafford. There's no way in hell we could've won that if Shaw was playing, and that's not a knock on Shaw. Its just that he wasn't the right man for the job that day.
I'm not talking about refusing to pick him, he's the manager and that's his choice - as Emperor Pochettino has said in the past, all a first team contract gives a player is a right to train with the first team. Opportunities in competitive games are earned from that point on, no player has a right to expect games no matter how much they're paid or how big their reputations are.
It was the constant, public attacking of him in games where he didn't do much wrong, or at the very least was no worse than plenty of other United players. That is bullying...he isolates individual players, slaughters them in public and treats them more aggressively than others when the performance levels are no different.
If I remember right, around thie time when he was playing badly he had one really good game and, when pressed for comment on Shaw's good performance, Mourinho somehow managed to slag him off anyway, saying the only reason he played well was because Mourinho told him step-by-step what to do at the side of the pitch. I can't remember the exact quotes but the implication was not just that he needed tutoring, but that he had no brain and needed Mourinho basically operating the controls for him.
None of the criticism in isolation looks especially shitty bar that one, each specific incident could be dismissed as trying to get through to Shaw that he needs to work harder, be more professional or whatever, and it seems like that is a reasonable criticism of Shaw. But it's the incessant public nature of it, coupled with the fact that he gets it far worse than other players who have played as badly or worse, that makes it bullying. I would say that Pogba is getting similar treatment now to an extent, although it's slightly more reasonable as he's supposed to be an elite level player who United look to for inspiration and has greater expectations on him in terms of performance.
Criticising Martial for wanting to be with his new-born son during pre-season was just embarrassing.
Last edited by Simon; August 30th, 2018 at 9:14 AM.
FWIW I think Shaw and Martial are two further reasons why United should be looking to get shot of Mourinho as soon as possible - the pair of them are superstars in the making and I'm certain both will flourish the moment they're away from him. Same with Pogba to an extent, although again he has less right to feel aggrieved because Mourinho is right to have higher expectations of him (although the public slaughtering is again out of order).
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
