This Weekend's Fixtures (06/07 August).

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Saturday 6th August 2022
Fulham v Liverpool, 12:30 https://i.imgur.com/hISMgBT.jpg]
Bournemouth v Aston Villa, 15:00
Leeds United v Wolverhampton Wanderers, 15:00
Newcastle United v Nottingham Forest, 15:00
Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton, 15:00
Everton v Chelsea, 17:30 https://i.imgur.com/htwHZ0c.jpg

Sunday, 7th August 2022
Leicester City v Brentford, 14:00
Manchester United v Brighton & Hove Albion, 14:00 https://i.imgur.com/htwHZ0c.jpg
West Ham United v Manchester City, 16:30 https://i.imgur.com/htwHZ0c.jpg

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Fulham: Rodak, Tete, Adarabioyo, Ream, Robinson, Reed, Palhinha, Reid, Pereira, Kebano, Mitrovic.
Subs: Solomon, Leno, Duffy, Mbabu, Cairney, Muniz, Francois, Harris, Stansfield.

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson, Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago, Salah, Firmino, Diaz.
Subs: Gomez, Milner, Adrian, Elliott, Nunez, Carvalho, van den Berg, Bajcetic, Chambers

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Fulham 1-0 Liverpool, Mitrovic!

[HCZ_Reborn]

Not a big surprise, Liverpool tend to struggle against Fulham for some reason (last season Fulham were in the league they won at Anfield and got a draw at the cottage).

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Fulham 2-1 Liverpool, Nunez and then Mitrovic pelanty.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Fulham 2-2 Liverpool, Salah!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Henderson whacked the bar!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Fulham 2-2 Liverpool, FT!

We stay top.

It's on!

[I am invisible]

I mean, I don’t want to say we’re definitely going to win the league… but we’re probably definitely going to win the league.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bournemouth 1-0 Villa, Lerma!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Leeds 0-1 Wolves, Podence.

[Mac76]

spuds 0 saints 1 Ward-Prowse :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Spuds 0-1 Southampton, Ward-Prowse!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Haha I am a bit behind but I only just put Soccer Saturday on.

[I am invisible]

Chortle!

[Mac76]

Damn 1-1

[McNamara That Ghost...]

1-1 Sessegnon.

[I am invisible]

They’re cheating!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Leeds 1-1 Wolves, Rodrigo.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Spuds 2-1 Southampton, Dier.

Letting Dier score against you. :doh:

[Mac76]

I knew saints had scored too early, idiots...

[I am invisible]

Sessegnon and Dier wtf!?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

4-1 Salisu OG and Kulusevski.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Leeds 2-1 Wolves, Aaronson.

Newcastle 2-0 Forest, Wilson.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bournemouth 2-0 Villa, Moore!

[Letters]

4-1 Salisu OG and Kulusevski.

:angry:

Spurs top :sick:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Everton: Jordan Pickford, Nathan Patterson, James Tarkowski, Yerry Mina, Ben Godfrey, Vitalii Mykolenko, Abdoulaye Doucouré, Dwight McNeil, Anthony Gordon, Demarai Gray, Alexander Iwobi.

Subs: Asmir Begovic, Mason Holgate, Michael Keane, Allan, Dele Alli, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Rúben Vinagre, Lewis Warrington, Stanley Mills

Chelsea: Edouard Mendy, Reece James, César Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ben Chilwell, Jorginho, N'Golo Kanté, Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling, Kai Havertz.

Subs: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Mateo Kovacic, Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Trevoh Chalobah, Armando Broja, Hakim Ziyech, Conor Gallagher, Marc Cucurella.
-------
Not sure why the BBC Sport website has gone for full names here.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Disallowed goal for Sterling, offside.

Was awful from Pickford.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Pelanty for Chelsea.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Everton 0-1 Chelsea, Jorginho.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Delle Alli. :lol:

[GP]

Sterling is rubbish

[Letters]

Everton starting as they mean to go on.

[Mac76]

Oh well they can look forward to beating us at Goodison at least

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Man Utd 0-1 Brighton, Gross!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Leicester 1-0 Brentford, Castagne!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Man Utd 0-2 Brighton, GROSS!!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

What a save from Sanchez to deny Rashford, offside or not!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Leicester 2-1 Brentford, Toney!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Man Utd 1-2 Brighton, scruffiest OG ever. :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Leicester 2-2 Brenford, DaSilva!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Man Utd 1-2 Brighton, FT!

:haha:

[HCZ_Reborn]

What a hot mess United are, I thought Brighton would get a point and I thought I might be being a bit generous given they’ve sold two of their best players and not bought in replacements. But I actually think the final scoreline flattered United. A more clinical team would have taken them apart at the joints.

Their problem is they’ve tried to take short cuts with the rebuild and all they’ve done is created a toxic dressing room full of prima donnas. And they compounded that error by signing Eriksen (who was clearly a disruptive influence at Spurs)

Whilst I think they kept faith with Solksjaer far too long, I think that club is unmanageable. Shout out also must go to Roy Keane and his world class pundit analysis…every time United get their arse handed to them by City and Liverpool he goes off on a tirade about the players desire etc but yet despite that him and Gary Neville somehow think they are in a better position than Arsenal. Whilst I think Arteta has gone overboard with freezing out players, it’s better than letting them linger like a bad smell.

[Marc Overmars]

United have definitely taken our banter club title.

[I am invisible]

United are us from 3-5 years ago - gonna be really interesting to see if they have the stomach to see it through. I’ve just sat through the first 30 minutes of a united fan reaction show and there’s people questioning Ten Hag already - crazy.

[HCZ_Reborn]

United are us from 3-5 years ago - gonna be really interesting to see if they have the stomach to see it through. I’ve just sat through the first 30 minutes of a united fan reaction show and there’s people questioning Ten Hag already - crazy.

I think at this stage it really doesn’t matter who the coach is. It really just depends if Ten Haag himself is willing to be around long term for the rebuild job they’ve got on their hands. In some ways they were getting there by bringing in promising youth players like Rashford, McTominey, Elanga and Mason Greenwood :haha: but again like us they’ve tried to shortcut the process.
I can easily see Liverpool in a similar plight a couple of years down the line

[McNamara That Ghost...]

West Ham 0-1 Man City, Haaland pelanty.

[mandela8]

United are us from 3-5 years ago - gonna be really interesting to see if they have the stomach to see it through. I’ve just sat through the first 30 minutes of a united fan reaction show and there’s people questioning Ten Hag already - crazy.

Of course they're questioning him and so they should.

He's come in and started McGuire and McFred. At home to Brighton. Absolutely mental.

They have a better team than Arsenal had.

A MF and ATT of DvB, Erickson and Fernandes with Sancho, Ronaldo and Rashford isn't bad (well, Rashford is, tbf).

[HCZ_Reborn]

Of course they're questioning him and so they should.

He's come in and started McGuire and McFred. At home to Brighton. Absolutely mental.

They have a better team than Arsenal had.

A MF and ATT of DvB, Erickson and Fernandes with Sancho, Ronaldo and Rashford isn't bad (well, Rashford is, tbf).

I think the bigger problem is having two centre backs who they’ve paid a combined total of over 140 million for and yet they were suckered in to all coming in to close down Leandro Trossard on the ball and he took them out with a simple ball to Welbeck for first goal.

That and how easy it was for them to pressure the United fullbacks into giving away the ball

[I am invisible]

I think at this stage it really doesn’t matter who the coach is. It really just depends if Ten Haag himself is willing to be around long term for the rebuild job they’ve got on their hands. In some ways they were getting there by bringing in promising youth players like Rashford, McTominey, Elanga and Mason Greenwood :haha: but again like us they’ve tried to shortcut the process.
I can easily see Liverpool in a similar plight a couple of years down the line
Oh I’m sure Ten Hag is willing and is under no illusions about the job that needs doing - I just don’t think most United fans really understand what it’s going to look like. They say it will be a 3 year project, but I think they’re expecting a nice, neat, steady progression where they go from where they are to EL to CL to challenging for the title in consecutive years - I’m not sure many of them are ready for it to get worse before it can get better.

Year 1 isn’t going to be about anything more than salvage, and it’s going to suck. The club have invested hundreds of millions in some of those players and they’re going to want to see if ETH can get anything out of them before they write all that money off and have to start buying out contracts. Which means he’s going to have to pick a lot of players and teams that won’t make sense to us and will piss off a lot of their supporters.

But that’s what we’re talking about in year 1: salvage and write-offs. Some players might show that they’re willing to get on board, but a lot of them won’t like it and are going to be unsellable on the contracts they’re on, so the club are either going to have to wait them out or buy them out, if they want the quicker option. And once those players start to understand that they’re no longer wanted or needed, and that there’s no buyers out there for them, they’re going to try to down tools and try to tank the manager. Because that will be their best bet for survival. Same as happened here.

It’s gonna get ugly over there and they need to back the manager, no matter how bad it gets, otherwise they’re never getting past this. I just really question whether they’ve got the stomach for it - there’s a sense of entitlement that comes with a lot United fans of a certain generation that I don’t think will allow them to accept anything other than immediate results, and that’s going to keep them stuck in this same cycle of never seeing the job through if they keep demanding the manager’s head.

And as an Arsenal fan I’m here for that!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

0-2 Haaland with his second.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Oh I’m sure Ten Hag is willing and is under no illusions about the job that needs doing - I just don’t think most United fans really understand what it’s going to look like. They say it will be a 3 year project, but I think they’re expecting a nice, neat, steady progression where they go from where they are to EL to CL to challenging for the title in consecutive years - I’m not sure many of them are ready for it to get worse before it can get better.

Year 1 isn’t going to be about anything more than salvage, and it’s going to suck. The club have invested hundreds of millions in some of those players and they’re going to want to see if ETH can get anything out of them before they write all that money off and have to start buying out contracts. Which means he’s going to have to pick a lot of players and teams that won’t make sense to us and will piss off a lot of their supporters.

But that’s what we’re talking about in year 1: salvage and write-offs. Some players might show that they’re willing to get on board, but a lot of them won’t like it and are going to be unsellable on the contracts they’re on, so the club are either going to have to wait them out or buy them out, if they want the quicker option. And once those players start to understand that they’re no longer wanted or needed, and that there’s no buyers out there for them, they’re going to try to down tools and try to tank the manager. Because that will be their best bet for survival. Same as happened here.

It’s gonna get ugly over there and they need to back the manager, no matter how bad it gets, otherwise they’re never getting past this. I just really question whether they’ve got the stomach for it - there’s a sense of entitlement that comes with a lot United fans of a certain generation that I don’t think will allow them to accept anything other than immediate results, and that’s going to keep them stuck in this same cycle of never seeing the job through if they keep demanding the manager’s head.

And as an Arsenal fan I’m here for that!

Uniteds deterioration since Ferguson left has been a constant source of pleasure. And in a way he is to blame, he left them in a mess…no real blueprint for a successor and even then a team that despite winning the title (largely due to Van Persie) was so full of average.
Moyes was set up to fail, he was never good enough for United…his level is at clubs like Everton and West Ham.

My fervent hope is that Chelsea follow suit…I really detest that club. However there’s no sign of there being a change in direction from the most successful clubs being bankrolled by the largesse of the owner. And we can’t say too much in that regard, it’s clear despite not wanting to that Kroenke has been funding our transfer spending for some considerable time.

[HCZ_Reborn]

0-2 Haaland with his second.

That boy is a freak of nature, ridiculous pace, athleticism, technical ability and he’s also a fucking giant which means he’s an aerial threat

[Letters]

Utd and Arsenal have both shown how hard it is to move on from a successful generational manager. Fergie left on a high, Wenger didn’t although I didn’t think the squad he left us with was that bad.
But so far it seems that Arsenal have moved on better.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Utd and Arsenal have both shown how hard it is to move on from a successful generational manager. Fergie left on a high, Wenger didn’t although I didn’t think the squad he left us with was that bad.
But so far it seems that Arsenal have moved on better.

Apples and Oranges, for two reasons

One United were champions in Fergie’s last season and we finished 6th having lost seven away games in a row. We had a central midfield of Xhaka and Elneny and creative players like Iwobi and Mkyhtarian it’s fair to say we weren’t in the best state when Wenger left us so not really buying into the argument that he left us with a decent squad either.

Second Ferguson retired at a time of his own choosing, Wenger would still be here today if the decision had been left with him. So in a way that excuses Wenger a bit more, where as I genuinely think Ferguson almost intentionally set United up to fail with a lackadaisical succession plan…he wanted Moyes because he knew Moyes wouldn’t outshine him. Someone like Ferguson is small minded and petty like that where as Wenger even if he’d left of his own volition I think he would have maybe laid the groundwork for someone to take over but I don’t think he would have tried to influence who his replacement was.

[Letters]

it’s fair to say we weren’t in the best state when Wenger left us so not really buying into the argument that he left us with a decent squad either.
The season after Wenger left Liverpool and City were in their own little world. After that we were pretty much as good as anyone and better than most. We finished 5th but we were only 2 points off 3rd. And we got to the Europa League Final. They weren’t sweeping all before them, but it was a decent base to build on IMO.