TMDaines
Fun sponge.
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2014
- Messages
- 14,092
We were nominatively “away” for both the Carabao final and this one.Here is a question: are we a home or away side for FA semi-final?
We were nominatively “away” for both the Carabao final and this one.Here is a question: are we a home or away side for FA semi-final?
We were nominatively “away” for both the Carabao final and this one.
Only away game we’ve been half decent in this season has been Notts Forest
Every away game in EL bar tonightOnly away game we’ve been half decent in this season has been Notts Forest
Hold the thread. I’m doing 10 hours on a bus to watch another on Sunday.
Someone tell United that.Technically not an away game.
Someone tell United that.
There has to be a response. Another poor loss would be concerning.
I can’t wait for Wembley either!Hold the thread. I’m doing 10 hours on a bus to watch another on Sunday.
Improving the squad depth and away form are the top 2 things on ETH’s to do list for next season.
Playing every 3 days with a fatigued squad makes life difficult.
It's the manager's fault. Ten Hag's tactics and preparations for such games sucks and there's no way hiding it. He can't prepare the team for away games. Team's mentality completely collapses on conceding a goal and that screams lack of proper preparations.
Mate, West Ham are still going in Europe and are in a relegation scrap due to being in a similar spot to us with a lack of a quality centre forward. They aren’t getting embarrassed like this regularly on the road.Improving the squad depth and away form are the top 2 things on ETH’s to do list for next season.
Playing every 3 days with a fatigued squad makes life difficult.
If the manager and his staff aren't partly responsible for these then we are in trouble
It's really funny how people's expectations completely change after some success. Pedal back to July and you'd be laughed at for suggesting we'd even finish in the top 4. A trophy and top 4 finish would have been considered a brilliant season in the context of what's been going on at the club in recent years. If our squad depth and away form were also great, we'd be challenging for the title and basically toe to toe with City which is just unreasonable and insane considering where were 10 months ago. We were always short of the elite teams and this season was always going to be measured on how much we improved, not whether we are at their level already. Being short of the likes of City means you're lacking somewhere, home form, away form, squad, attack, defence,... something has to be lacking because obviously it's a work in progress. After all said and done, if we manage to secure a top 4 finish, this will be easily our best season since Fergie left. Expecting to be basically flawless from the disaster that was last year is just not realistic.
Spurs, West Ham, Brighton and Bournemouth to come. Expect at least 1 more capitulation.
We could lose 3/4 of them and still make the top 4 comfortably. Fortunately we’ve done well in a lot of other league games this season and our competition love dropping points.Spurs, West Ham, Brighton and Bournemouth to come. Expect at least 1 more capitulation.
I find it a bit odd the way people talk about this issue, "we need to fix our away form".
The reason City and Arsenal win more away games than us is because they can actually pass a fecking ball like an elite football team is meant to pass a football.
The way to "fix" your away form is to become a better football team. It's very unlikely to be something specific that we're currently doing wrong in our approach away from home that we can just stop doing by flicking a switch.
Away games are more difficult than home games. Combine that fact that we're not very good, you're going to have a lot of difficult trips on the road.
By elite teams standards we're below par at playing out from the back, the ball retention all over the pitch is often horrendous, we don't have any competent striker, and don't create enough chances. All these factors result in us finding ourselves under too much pressure and turning the ball over and gifting the opposition transitions which causes our defence problems.
Our level is about the same level as our best seasons under LVG, Mourinho, Ole i.e. a fringe top 4 side, getting a mediocre points tally in not very impressive fashion. The hype around this team is unwarranted given the actual performance levels. We've reached this level before, it's just under previous managers we never progressed beyond this point. That's not a criticism of ETH, it's his first season and as long as he gets top 4 he's done a good job. But let's call it how it is, we're at stage 1 of a process and until we get better players and players suited to the manager's plans then it will be the same story.
The longer term fix is painfully obvious. The team is still marked by the trauma of repeated failure, including some real hammerings. We need more high quality players. More squad depth. A real top goal scorer. It all takes time.I said this before we are roughly where we’ve been for most seasons post SAF, a team that will get 65-70 points and maybe finish in the top 4, good cup run and that’s about.
Taking that next step is the tough part, Arsenal have managed to do it by rebuilding their squad and becoming a team that imposes how they play on pretty much everyone they face. We have to improve to the extent that we can impose ourselves home or away against everyone and we’re light years from that still.
We desperately need to improve our ball retention, pressing and how we deal with being pressed through combination of a squad overhaul and work on training ground.
For rest of this season away from home we probably need to revert back to being very defensive and try and counter teams but that has to be just a short term measure.
Yes very tough, thankfully 6 points ahead of Spurs. So what's the best result for Man United in that Spurs v Newcastle match this Sunday? And now out of the EL the Premier league can find free week to play the Chelsea match in Old Trafford.Spurs A, Brighton A and Westham A in our next 4 league games. Villa the home game.
Very tough games. If we don't win any of those away game we are bang in trouble again.