Use this thread for general daily football discussion.

This thread can also be used to discuss Transfer rumours and to post Tier 4 sources.

    • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      The spuds have long been a second-rate meal ticket where players who have given up on their careers go for easy money. Man United have turned into that too. They used to lure the latest hot talent to them and just piss their time away. Now they can’t even really got the big names.

      I really hope they don’t fire Haag. While he’s occasionally able to muster them to a good result against a big club, for the most part he’s just selling the club and their fan base pipe dreams. His player handling is horrible and just exacerbates their fractured changing room. And he’s often getting outsmarted by even mid-level PL managers. But considering they nearly axed him in the Summer (and would have if they could have found a semi-decent replacement), I don’t see him lasting the season Hopefully I’m wrong.

      • sensiblepuffin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        Ten Haag is to United as Havertz is to Arsenal. They were brought in to do a certain job and they’ve transitioned to doing a different job.

        Ten Haag was brought in to fill a role that Arsenal fans should be very familiar with: just make a few good signings and catapult the club back into the big time. Turns out that doesn’t work when the rot has crept into every crevice of your club. Now he’s overseeing their “rebuild”, which isn’t… really going well. They’re doing a Project Youth, but by overpaying a la Chelsea and being hamstrung by FFP because of various financial difficulties.

        Havertz was brought in as another 8, but it was pretty clear that that’s not where he’s best. Now he’s firing on some cylinders as a striker. The Kai of years past never would have attempted that audacious lob at Brighton, for example.

        In both cases, both clubs are exploring alternatives to both of these: United were actively shopping around in the summer as ten Haag sat in the cuck chair and pretended not to notice. Arsenal have been linked to every striker under the sun even after Havertz started popping off.

        What’s the difference here? Havertz is actually a good player at his core. He may not be a world-class LCM or striker, but he can do the business and do a middling job at 8 or honestly a decent job at striker. Ten Haag has displayed absolutely no managerial quality since he arrived. He’s gotten into fights with his players, slagged them off in press conferences, looks completely out of his depth tactically, and has some of the thinnest skin I’ve seen from a United manager, and that is saying something. Long may he last.

        /hitpiece