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By the way not heard from Ed for a while. Is everything Ok

Hey Adlab, yeah all good thanks. Just been a bit busier than usual recently and not had much football to care about with the International break. Hope you’re well.

Utd pretty poor again. City could tear us apart next weekend. Fingers crossed the ownership situation gets resolved quickly which is very much the priority for Utd fans at the moment. Fortunately, looks unlikely we’ll be state owned which I’m so please about. That prospect has been like a cloud hanging over the club, in my opinion.

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RIP Sir Bobby 🙏

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Worth remembering though that he’s lost his 2 starting midfielders over the summer and his side look every bit as good so far, aside from the Villa game.

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100% Sean. We’ve seen managers like him come and go after a good first season so it could be premature to hype him up.

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Some stats about Potter’s time at Brighton:

– set a club record 14 home games without a win
– achieved a single home win in 2020
– 3 months without a home goal between January and April 2022
– 6 defeats in a row

Yes he did a decent job in the end but it’s really not like the job De Zerbi is doing

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Threeps said pretty much what I was about to. Absolutely no point going for another one of these names who just bounce around all the top clubs getting sacked after a decent season. Tuchel, Conte, Zidane?

De Zerbi has really taken Brighton forward from what Potter was doing. I actually think Potter’s job there was a bit over-hyped. He had a pretty long winless streak before doing a decent job eventually but nothing like what we’re seeing now.

I’m just absolutely fascinated by the job he’s doing there. Look at this from his time there

Brighton in the Premier League since Roberto De Zerbi's first game in charge:

◉ Most shots (574)
◉ Most shots on target (22)
◉ Most goals from open play (57)
◉ Highest xG (69.84)

De Zerbi-ball is incredible. 🤤 pic.twitter.com/ymoySXPyjX

— Squawka (@Squawka) August 19, 2023

Do you realise how impressive those stats are with the little investment he’s had? He’s schooled the likes of Ten Hag and Klopp multiple times. Playing the likes of Danny Welbeck up front. It’s crazy. Yes they got battered by Aston Villa but that’s quite rare for his sides. That can always happen when you’re as open and attacking as they are. The way they build from the back is just so impressive.

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Yeah that’s as much about his legs seemingly having caught up with him I think Threeps. As you say, he’s very much looking his age this season. Brazilians tend not to age well as footballers do they? A few come to mind who regressed quite rapidly. Ronaldinho, Fabinho, Kaka, Robinho, Rivaldo to name a few. Fabinho was a bit like Casemiro where he just seemed to lose it one season to the next. I had Rodri over Casemiro in my TOTS but I did think he was very good. Fernandinho, on the other hand, seemed to maintain a high level.

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Besides Sean, didn’t you put Martinez in your team of the season last season om here?! 😄. I’m sure you did

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I think the best any of us can hope for is second while ever the Abu Dhabi gang are around Mikus.

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You mention Arteta Ed, but he’s been in charge at Arsenal for nearly 4 years and the only major trophy he’s won is an FA Cup in his first season. I still don’t think they’re good enough to win the league after quite a bit of investment. Is Arteta the best example to cite? I concede there are no obvious candidates to replace Ten Hag at the moment, so the club will probably have to sit tight for the time being.

Well he’s taken them from seemingly on the brink of ruin to second favourites for the title. I’d take that turnaround, best example or not.

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999 would have had some wise words to say on this thread. Something about how all managers are under pressure if they don’t win at the top clubs. Miss the guy. He did always blame Chelsea’s problems on Chilwell and James’ injuries though 😅

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Fair enough Sean. Who by? Me probably 😄

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Agree on the last part Sean. As usual, everyone has written Ten Hag and Onana and even Utd off already. No denying we’ve been crap but let’s wait and see. Dare I say Arteta had Arsenal in all kinds of problems a couple of years back losing their first 3 games. The media and even Arsenal fans went overboard as we all always do. I won’t be calling for his head anyway, certainly not yet anyway.

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Liverpool had to play Quansah at wolves. One pl appearance.

Maybe it’s just me Sean but that’s still on Klopp, for me. Especially as he’s been there years (Klopp). Totally his fault if he’s having to resort to playing such an inexperienced player. If the backup players aren’t good enough to still get a win at Wolves and Virgil’s injury is the reason for that loss, then it’s on him. I’m not trying to state that as fact. That’s just my opinion.

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My personal opinion on injuries, especially if a manager has been at a club a long time and got all his own players, is that it’s up to the manager to build a squad to cope with all bit the worst injury crises. If it’s a huge issue when the defensive midfielder gets injured, that’s on the manager. Utd badly miss a fit Lisandro Martinez, especially when Shaw is also injured, who is his only suitable deputy. Again, that’s on Ten Hag though. We shouldn’t be that reliant on a player. Maybe he shouldn’t have bought Anthony then if Lisandro was so key to his style. That’s my take anyway. The longer a manager’s been in the job, the more it’s on him if injuries become such a problem that they are the reason for a huge dip in performances.

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Well exactly Sean, I literally said we should have more than enough to easily beat them anyway 😄. Most Utd fans I have seen talking have been saying the same thing. Injuries are clearly affecting us but they 100% shouldn’t be. All the top sides should be able to deal with all injuries imo even if it means dipping into the academy as they all have top academies. Any Utd fans using the injuries as an excuse need to be called out. It’s embarrassing when you look at the sides we’re losing to.

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I was a massive fan of bringing Ten Hag in but on the condition that we had a proper DOF coming in and a proper structure in place. Ten Hag shouldn’t be picking all his players as he’s seemingly doing. It means we have to reset again if he goes. It certainly looks like he’s just got free reign on transfers. That’s crazy. Even Klopp and Pep don’t have that. Didn’t Klopp get overruled after declining Salah? Wanted some German forward instead but was overruled? That should tell you everything you need to know about leaving managers in charge of transfers as it appears Ten Hag is. Utd are so far behind the rest in terms of a staffing structure above the manager. Does that absolve Ten Hag of blame? Absolutely not. He’s got a lot wrong but the structure isn’t set up for success.

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What did he do at Ajax Ed that was so special?got to a cl semi final that they should have won? Frank de boer played the same kind of football and was found out in England. He won for 4 Dutch titles. Produced some good players but I thought there was always a huge over reaction. Great wins in the cl campaign

I did mention when he came in that there’s every risk he does a De Boer. Comparing their records at Ajax is just not a good comparison though. I know a few Ajax fans and they were worlds apart in terms of how highly their fans rated them both. Guardiola brought Ten Hag into Bayern because of the football his teams played. Ajax were brilliant to watch in the CL. Introduced young players, played exciting, attacking football.

– He lost a single away game (out of 16) in the CL with Ajax despite playing Real Madrid, Liverpool, Juventus.
– won every single CL group game the season after they got to the CL semi. One of only 10 sides to ever do it
– Won the league with an Ajax side who hadn’t won it for 3 years

Source

No worries at all if you didn’t rate him but everything pointed to it being a risk worth taking considering the available options.

As for the injuries excuse comment, who has been using injuries as an excuse? I always find it embarrassing to note injuries as an excuse for the top sides. They all should have more than enough to cover most injuries and cases of multiple injuries at the same time should always result in questions being asked of the physios and training staff. Utd are 3 LBs down and playing a midfielder at LB but that’s not an excuse. They should have more than enough to deal with even that against the likes of Palace. Anyone using that as an excuse deserves calling out, especially when you consider the amount of money a side like Palace or Brighton have to spend in comparison.

It’s a sorry state of affairs but I don’t for a minute think it was the wrong decision to bring him in. Really easy to say otherwise with the benefit of hindsight.

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“Was never a massive fan of Ten Hag”

What did you mean by that Sean? I always loved how he had Ajax playing. What was there not to like?

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I still maintain Ten Hag was a sensible appointment. Every manager before him was wrong for different reasons. I don’t buy into this notion that any manager would fail at Utd. That it might not work out doesn’t mean it was the wrong appointment. Things happen at clubs which swing the momentum one way or the other and a few turns in the wrong direction can be hard to recover from. Ten Hag is as ruthless as they come but I now suspect he may have alienated the squad for what he’s done with Sancho. My worry here is that the squad will end up winning, we’ll bring a nice guy in again and the players will again rule the dressing room.

Zidane would be an awful appointment. I’m delighted we didn’t get Poch. He’s great when there’s no expectations but has always failed when expectations rise. He’s a bit too soft as well I feel. If Ten Hag was to go, which now almost looks inevitable, sadly, it has to be De Zerbi for me.

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