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Question at 3:52

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It’s not very often I defend Mourinho but I’ve just watched the press conference again and he’s directly answering a question he was asked about whether he still has the same passion for the game. He can be a real twat but, for me, he’s definitely talking about the change in himself here with regards to the clown comments.

All the nonsense after by both managers is ridiculous and indefensible on both sides but I think he’s been stitched up for once by misleading headlines. Conte offering to fight Mourinho was a bit funny though!

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Ah ok yes, just checked and his contract is of course up in the summer. Not a bad squad option for that price then and another homegrown quota place filled! Like Beni, I don’t think he’ll improve any of the top teams but it gives them a bit more depth

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I’ve always seen Barkley as one of those players who looks good on highlights but is incredibly frustrating to watch for whole matches. He’s not a bad option if the fee of £15mil is accurate but he’s certainly not the player it looked like he could be after the early promise he showed. £15mil for an English player in this market seems almost suspiciously low. Is he out of contract soon? If not, I’d be wary of why Everton are not holding out for more

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Also, my point is that we were never liked by non-Utd fans before Jose so why should we start trying to be liked now? Ferguson was universally despised by all who didn’t support Utd but do you think any Utd fan would change that for a nice man in charge?

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Princewhite, no that’s not really what I’m saying. I’m saying I wouldn’t swap him for a nicer guy unless that guy also had at least as good and proven record as Jose. I mean, we could probably swap him for, say, Harry Redknapp and have better PR but at what cost? Better PR doesn’t fill a trophy cabinet!

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I’m quite indifferent about Mourinho’s future. The ABU (anyone but United) tag was around long before Mourinho arrived so we’re hardly a club that pays much attention to what others think about us!

Good PR is great, but it should never be at the expense of success. LvG was quite liked by non-Utd fans and we played some good stuff at times but apart from the FA Cup win, we never looked like winning anything under him. I’d never take him back though, despite our PR being better during that period.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. A nice, pleasant manager is great but, given the choice of a pleasant, PR-friendly loser or an unpleasant, unlikeable winner, I’d take the latter every single time.

Most fans, including a number of City fans, were generally quite disappointed with Pep last year and they looked a mile away from being able to do what they’ve done this year, so to write Jose off is IMO slightly naive. There is nobody in football more qualified or with a proven ability to topple a top Pep side than Mourinho.

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Yeah sorry to hear about your losses Pagan and Gjblues and best wishes to David Silva and his family in this difficult time.

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Jim ?

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Only De Bruyne (9), David Silva (8) and Leroy Sané (8) have more Premier League assists than Pogba (7) this season — all three have played at least 250 minutes more than the Frenchman

— Ryan Baldi (@RyanBaldiFW) January 1, 2018

Much better from Utd today and Pogba played like a captain. Some of his touches and passes were just brilliant. When Pogba is playing well, Utd are such a better side. Everton didn’t get a shot on target all game. All without a fit number 9 with both Lukaku and Zlatan out.

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Happy New Year all and thanks for making this forum as good as it is! Wishing you all an even better 2018!

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Pagan, I don’t disagree that Rooney played the club to get a huge pay rise but rest assured that had Ferguson wanted Rooney out, he would have been gone. Ferguson clearly knew he needed Rooney and authorised his pay rise. Ferguson’s power at the club wasn’t brought into question with the Rooney saga. It’s that power Jose needs IMO

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Jose toppled arguably the best side ever containing arguably the best player of all time, scoring the most goals of all time in La Liga in the process. Whilst we currently look some way off, if there’s a manager more capable of getting us back on track, I’ve yet to see him. Let’s not forget the amount of criticism Pep faced last season, even from the City fans. His biggest fans were saying he doesn’t have the quality of players to play his way.

My point with Jose having previously lost dressing rooms is that those players knew they could force him out. The players need to know they don’t have that power, just as they didn’t in the Ferguson days. As soon as they realise Mourinho has the full support of the board regardless, the sooner they decide whether to pull their socks up and get back to the football we were playing at the beginning of the season or join another club.

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Jim, I’m not sure any of the top clubs now can take a risk on a completely unproven manager. The Zidane/Guardiola appointments at Real and Barca respectively, were at least done on the back of a reasonable spell with the club’s B team which I think helps to ease them in. It would be a huge gamble to give the job to someone like Giggs without him having at least managed one of the youth sides. You can see Gerrard being groomed for the Liverpool job now by taking over the youth side.

For me, the Utd job is, even now, a very difficult job that requires a certain kind of character. With Ferguson lurking in the shadows, both literally and metaphorically, any future manager needs a certain arrogance to succeed. Any spell of difficulty, they’ll be reminded of Ferguson. There’s the statue, the stand named after him, the corridors are likely filled with framed pictures remembering their success. For me, Ancelotti seems too nice to be able to cope with that. He’s been sacked from a number of jobs now.

One of two things need to happen IMO. Either Mourinho needs to be even further assured by the board and by Ferguson that his job is secure no matter what. The power enjoyed by Ferguson at the club was a massive advantage over his rivals. Ferguson’s players knew they couldn’t get away with not playing for the manager. He was never going to get sacked so it was a case of listening to the boss or finding a new club. Players too often now know the manager will get the sack if poor performances continue so lack the same drive to get out of the rut.

Alternatively, we need to get rid of Mourinho and take a massive risk on one of Giggs, Neville or the like. I know that’s not a popular choice amongst fans but I do wonder if that’s the only way we’ll ever progress as a club again as long as Ferguson is still around.

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Enjoy fellas! Congrats Sean mate. Glad Utd could bring a smile to some people’s face this Xmas ?

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6 points in the last 3 more like, Sean. We just look completely devoid of any confidence at the moment. It’s a different side to the one that started like a train at the start of the season.

I’m not sure where we go from here. Mourinho can’t possibly survive many more of those kind of performances after having spent what he has spent.

We’ll struggle even more now with Lukaku possibly out for a while and Zlatan our for a month.

It’s all about securing top 4 now and going as far as we can in the CL and FA Cup, by which time we have hopefully got our confidence back.

Sacking Mourinho must be tempting for them but I honestly can’t see an obvious replacement with enough pedigree to take on a job with such high pressure and expectation. Ancelotti is not the man for Utd for me.

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Here’s another chance to get your predictions in for this weekend for anyone who missed the long list

[fp-predictionform match=”203-211″]

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You can still change your predictions until 15mins before the game Goat so even if you’ve done that long list just go back to the first page of the Christmas fixtures thread and change any of the remaining scores as you wish

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Sanchez to Pool is a big shout Nil. He’ll want extraordinary wages with moving on a free. I can’t see him leaving Arsenal for Liverpool but you never know

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People will soon forget the fee if he makes the difference for Liverpool at the back. It’s hard to measure value for money in this market. It does make Klopp look a bit silly though after saying this following the Pogba to Utd transfer:

“Other clubs can go out and spend more money and collect top players. I want to do it differently. I would even do it differently if I could spend that money.”

Bit hypocritical to 12 months later set a new world transfer fee record for a defender! I know Jose is the worst for this kind of hypocrisy but there’s no doubt they’re all far from innocent!

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