Man Utd have been told by the Mailbox that they need to get rid of Ruben Amorim and Bruno Fernandes after beating Burnley on Saturday.
While there is Man City FFP chat, a Nick Woltemade reality check for Newcastle fans, VAR debate and more.
Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com …
Team RubyLiverpool under Jurgen Klopp, who started managing them in October 2015, finished outside of the European places his first season, and were runners up in the Europa League. The first 3 games of his first full season ended in a win, loss and a draw – including a 2-0 loss to Burnley. It took him 3 years to bring in Salah, VVD and a proper keeper in Alisson. It took him 4 years to win a trophy.
I have no strength at the minute to respond in detail to the uneducated idiots who proclaim that the formation or system, of 3 at the back, is the issue. The last time City won the league, they were effectively playing a formation that consisted of 3 at the back (3–2-4-1 with inverted fullbacks). Ruben needs time to tweak his system to adapt it to the PL, in the same way that any manager new to the league does.
Fergie took over 6 years to deliver the goods in the league, and transform us into a title winning team. For the love of God, STFU & STFD – let this man do his job in peace. We brought a guy in with a system. Nobody would ask Pep to change his tiki-taka or Jurgen to change his gegenpress. If he fails, he fails. But he will give every last bead of sweat and blood to try not to.
Outplayed Arsenal (who are apparently one of the favs) and we were robbed by a terrible decision, great first half against fulham although a draw is a fair result (they were robbed against Chelsea lest we forget), v poor against Grimsby, dominated Burnley and won (eventually). 9th in the table with 35 games to play – dry your eyes shite-hawks, and let him get on with it. If it were up to you, Fergie would never have lasted beyond xmas 1989.
Garey Vance, MUFC
Two important conclusions…
If Man Unted were a fully grown adult that you worked with or lived next door to for the last 10 years and you heard tomorrow that they were rushed into hospital for open heart surgery it wouldn’t be a surprise would it? Just get it done! Sell Bruno, stop selling the promising but less galactic kids and get a manager with the balls / intelligence to be flexible (penny for Ashworth’s and Ralf’s thoughts…vs those of Sir Jim and marginal gains guy)
Grealish is going to do a Ginola at Spurs…worth the entrance fee alone stuff…why oh why did we not get him back to the villa! Good luck to him though
Duck
The 115
Does anyone else think the spending has been absolutely wild this summer?
When do we ever have multiple teams dropping £150m min on new players. Now I know that the money going out isn’t as important as the net spend from a psr point of view but this massive outlay did make me wonder – isn’t anybody worried about accidentally on purpose breaking the psr rules anymore?
Then I started thinking what if the reason everyone has just decided to YOLO their budgets is because they’re all aware that citys case is going to end up with nothing more than a slap on the wrists. In which case why be careful when the punishment is little to nothing.
I know I’m speculating but I can’t help thinking that if everyone was worried about massive points deductions they wouldn’t be doing it and they’d be way more cautious. Liverpool too, a club which for a decade has never spent outside it’s means and been very careful and measured to the point that about 20% of all transfer windows they literally spend nothing have suddenly blown over 300m.
Maybe I’m connecting dots that don’t exist but this looks to me like teams are suddenly aware that they can bend rules almost to breaking and not much is gonna happen.
It’s good for the prem league because how can anyone complain if city don’t get punished when the prem League will just say well you’re all doing it so if we punish city we’re gonna have to punish you all.
Just a dumb thought because I didn’t want this mailbox to be a stream of United mails again.
Lee
MAILBOX: Man Utd’s Amorim ‘solution’ revealed as three replacements touted amid Ten Hag regret
Rip it up and start again…
Only 1 game has taken place so far and I’ll have to wait at least 40+ hours before Dermot sets me off. The time (no pun intended) has come for the EPL teams to demand a change in officiating.
I’m not going to comment on the decisions, I’m sure that will follow, but if ever there was a (or another) perfect example of how incompetent the cowards who officiate the game are, then this is one.
The referee has indicated “a minimum of 8 minutes” at the end of the first half, as often, the weakling in charge waits for a break in play to blow, there’s no way he’s blowing when Chelsea have a corner kick so will wait for it to be taken, cleared and then he can whistle. Chelsea score at 8 minutes 54 seconds, now “no problem I hear, that’s “within the minimum”, Does anybody actually believe the ref is that accurate?
Fast forward to the end of the game, “a minimum of 8 minutes” is added, during this time, Caicedo commits a foul, foul given and Caicedo rolls around injured, the time is 92.30, after allowing treatment, the referee blows for a restart at 94.04, over one and a half minutes later. Even if allowing for a slight delay in the referee realising a player needs treatment and not stopping the game instantly, surely the ref realises that some additional time to the additional time is required.
The referee blows the full time whistle at 98:18! There is no excuse for this, there may be an explanation (?) other than incompetence but I’m struggling to think of one.
Howard (might just stick to cricket and “umpire’s call”} Jones
**Nick Woltemade: From Bundesliga Bench to Tyneside Dreams (A Black-and-White Fantasy)**I write to you today as a concerned football fan and part-time emotional support therapist for long-suffering Newcastle supporting friends regarding the growing whispers of Nick Woltemade being eyed as *the* solution to their striker shortage.
Let’s be honest here. Nick Woltemade sounds less like a centre-forward and more like a password you’d get if you smashed your forehead against the keyboard while trying to log into Football Manager after three pints. Yes, he’s tall. Yes, he’s German. But we’ve all seen this movie before—and no, I’m not talking about the 2014 World Cup Final. I’m talking about **“The Obertan Illusion: Part Deux.”**
This smells like what happened when Sir Alex Ferguson (usually a man of genius) decided that **Manucho**—a name that still haunts Old Trafford like a forgotten MySpace login—was going to be the next big thing. Tall? Check. Foreign? Check. Scored once in Angola? Triple check. Manucho had all the hype and none of the Premier League minutes. Sound familiar?
Now, I’m not saying Woltemade will definitely follow in Manucho’s footsteps and disappear into a Bundesliga B team before we can finish pronouncing his name. But in the harsh light of Premier League reality, signing him to solve their goal-scoring crisis feels less like a bold footballing move and more like a deleted scene from 8½, where the director is spiralling into madness trying to find meaning in a striker with two career goals and the gait of a confused giraffe.
Let me be clear: this isn’t anti-Woltemade propaganda. It’s just that Newcastle need a proven striker, not someone who sounds like he moonlights as a Berlin-based techno DJ on weekends.
If the plan is to sign Nick Woltemade to “develop for the future,” then fine—but don’t pretend he’s the cavalry. That’d be like sending in a kazoo to back up the brass section. And let’s face it, if Nick really was the answer, we’d all be asking a much stranger question.
Yours in faint hope,
Gaptoothfreak, Man. Utd., Lisbon (@Lee, another class act is Football Made Simple)
Newcastle…Halftime Leeds Newcastle and I’m starting to see why Newcastle never get any sustained success. They have midtable club mentality where they can only raise their game and motivate themselves to win against larger opposition.
Where is the aggressive rampant high pressing Newcastle we saw Vs Liverpool? I remember when Liverpool were this kind of team and it drove me nuts. Seeing players bursting a lung to chase down a nothing ball against United only to watch them amble around harmlessly a week later against Sunderland was really annoying.
The Newcastle mentality from last week would probably be 5-0 up at half time Vs Leeds. Instead they’re drawing and look totally tame. United also have this problem. This is the reason elite players ultimately don’t want to stay. They have elite mentality and they’re at a club which doesn’t. So they either become players who only care if it’s a big game or they move on.
As a football fan I can take a defeat where the effort is there and you’re just outplayed. Psg last season for example. I enjoy wins where you play badly and win. I enjoy games where you play well and win. The only thing I can’t accept is when the team looks pathetic to winning or losing because the opposition is “lesser”. That’s how Newcastle look today.
Lee
VAR
I’ve been supportive of VAR most of the time, but I hate hate hate that VAR overrule in the Chelsea Fulham game. Yeah, it’s probably a foul if the ref sees it in real time, but it’s certainly no more than that. It’s way back on the other end of the field, and it’s not dangerous or malicious. VAR is for clear, serious mistakes, not nitpicking. Awful decision by the VAR and also by the ref not telling the VAR guy to get stuffed.
Dan, Plastic LFC
Either let us hear var or get rid of it. First half united penalty not given because var want the headlines of amorim gone. No other reason. If its not impartial its no use.
United should have decimated Burnley, but that’s our own fault, you have to score your chances. But that ref sam Barrett is useless. Cant tell time anyway.
Pissed off in Dublin
Anthony F
Club allegiance aside please can we reset football. VAR is shite. It’s killing football. It’s anti fun, it’s confused, it’s wrapped up in over-officiating, it’s affecting results. The minority who support a decision this weekend will be next weeks’ victims. #VARout
Diaby (watch highlights from a 00s game. Refereeing was simpler, more entertaining and human)
READ: Chelsea stoop to Arsenal level in scarcely deserved victory over Fulham
Careless Challenge Crap
30 mins into the Chelsea game.VAR ruling out that goal is possibly one of the worst decisions by VAR yet.
And the worst bit of it is that the whole VAR ref process is compounded by spiness refereeing and decsion making. VAR should never flag that as a foul.
And even if they did, the referee should understand the context and never rule that a foul, let alone a ‘Careless Challenge’. It was the Chelsea player making the Challenge and failed. The Fulham player played the ball and spun around onto the Chelsea mans foot who put it there willingly while making the challenge he missed.
Its so frustrating watching the constant incompetance.
And Chelsea seem to get the best of these decions as well.. thats another joke.
Hats
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