Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Mails: Man United becoming Real Madrid

Paul Pogba Zlatan Ibrahimovic Manchester United

Send all your EFL Cup thoughts to theeditor@football365.com

Happy we didn’t win the league? Are you mad?
Hello there, I just need to applaud Dom, that Libpool fan for putting into words how every football fan feels about winning things.

As a Manchester City fan, I was furious when Stevie slipped up against Chelsea that day. I, and all City fans were looking forward to that all important second place, and we could all sit back and soak up the level headed understated manner in which Libpool and their modest set of fans could acknowledge their reclaiming of the league title.

But no! We only went and won the ruddy thing. I’m still fuming now. Look at the squad we’ve got. Look at this charlatan we’ve got as manager. Look at the training facilities and Academy the club has. I wish we’d have lost the league that season, we’d be in such a better position now, just like everybody’s friends at the Anfields.

Love you
John (losing is the new winning), Manchester

Dom Littleford’s question “Is any other Liverpool fan glad we didn’t win the title in 2013/14?” is literally the most ridiculous sentence to ever be published in the mailbox.

No Dom, I think you are alone in feeling that way.

Jurgen Klopp has, thus far, won the square root of f*ck all. While it certainly feels like the 1920’s to every Liverpool fan right now, history has taught us that a great depression is right around the corner. Let’s not get to carried away until we are Premier League champions.

On another note, can we please ban the nickname Pochy from every being used again. Klopp will not be playing a “full strength” side, but I guess it’s good to have your excuses ready for when you lose, again.

Ladies and gentlemen of this fine mailbox we are better than this.
Brian [(joint) top of the league, havin a laugh] LFC

How can you be glad about not winning a title? That alone to me is absurd. Trophies are the name of the game as far as I’m concerned.

Seeing Gerrard, a player who could’ve left at any time over his career, being so close to the one trophy that had escaped him and having it (literally) slip away was devastating. He doesn’t deserve that and in some bizzaro world where I have to choose between a title and Klopp, give me the title.

Not to mention it would’ve been a perfect capstone to an incredible run (14 wins, 2 draws in 16 matches) in the second half of the season for a team playing some of the most exciting football anyone has ever seen.

All that said I’m not convinced Brendan is still here even if we’d won the title. Suarez would still have left and we didn’t have only the league to worry about. Lets also not forget we were terrible in the Champions League and Brendan showed he was completely out of his depth managing at that level. I think it would’ve played out how it ended up actually happening, __with Brendan being given a run of games to start the 15/16 season and eventually being fired, and Klopp coming in.

While I love Klopp and the way we’re playing so far, lets remember we’ve won nothing yet.
Jimmy LFC, Detroit

Hi F365, As a Liverpool fan, I feel I have to respond to Dom Littleford’s letter about being glad we didn’t win the league in 13/14. Speaking as someone who cried almost as much as Suarez did after the 3-3 at Crystal Palace, who stills bristles at Man Utd fans singing the “Steve Gerrard, Gerrard” (singing about a title race that they were out of by September), I cannot quite believe that you would be in any way happy that we lost it.

As wonderful as life is under Klopp, we have not won a single thing yet. And we may not at all. Stop getting carried away __with how we’re doing this season – it’s so, so early. And it will take a hell of a lot to make me feel anything other than total misery about the end of 13/14.

Also, as an aside: stop being so revisionist about Brendan Rodgers. He may have lost what made him special for a while, but special he was. Just ask that one brilliant player you mention – Suarez credits Rodgers completely with the way he developed as a player. For one glorious season, Brendan Rodgers gave us Liverpool fans too young to remember the 80s the ride of our lives (2005 CL run excepted). He gave us HOPE. And as a very decent man once said, you can live for days without water, but…
Neil Weatherston Sharma

Dom, Littleford’s query? Definitely No, I wish LFC had won in 2013/14, even if it meant our lord JNK would be elsewhere. Of course he is currently raising and inspiring us, but there is no guarantee that he can be the new messiah and finally solve our 26+ year quest. Albeit I’m (like any club’s supporter) hopeful, he still has some pretty ‘fierce’ competition to overcome. Let’s see.

Chris, ITFC. Always one of the most interesting and erudite mailboxers. And now we find there are reasons for his knowledge; former player of a team we probably are all aware of (Histon). Respect Chris!

And brilliant life story from Maddison, Alnwick on both how to solve ‘bready carnage’, and confirm one’s ‘class’. I look forward to trying out your solution when I have my ‘dinner’ in middle of tomorrow!
Mike Woolrich, LFC

Are Man United becoming Real Madrid?
On more reflections on the Sunday game, I observed parallels between United now and Chelsea last year.. There are two things amiss at United, 1. Lack of midfield balance in quality (despite their numbers) and 2. A clear playing ideology.. Chelsea’s 4-2-3-1 till Antonio shifted to a back 3 was perhaps the most abused version of the formation.. I’m not going to say that 4-2-3-1 is out dated or so, but definitely looking at United’s team structure (I’ve watched some of their games, notably the derby, at Watford and the game at bridge), I cannot but help thinking that their problems mirror the issues we had last season. Forget off-the-field issues Chelsea had last season, a prominent issue that was never addressed since the new year’s loss at WHL was to find a balanced midfield structure that can maximize the talent pool we had.

Jose dragged us to the title, but soon the true colours of abusing a formation and structure showed.. I just couldnt help but wonder whether United are also going through the same footballing issues.. What is worse is their transfer window – having spent a lot, the expectations are obviously there on one side.. But on the other hand, what is the style Jose is trying to impart there? Was the summer window planned with that in mind (or commercial interests)? How much of a LVG hangover is remaining? Why exactly are Schneiderlin and Mhikitaryan not playing regularly when not injured? Just some questions I have as an outsider.. To me, it seems United are going the Real Madrid Galactico way albeit in a league where there are about 3-4 super powers economically and an additional 2-3 teams that have good squads and great managers!
Aravind, Chelsea fan.

(Quite) A few years back Real Madrid tried to dominate football by buying up what were considered the best players around to create the Galactico’s. The first iteration didn’t work out too well when it became clear that even putting a bunch of the best players around in a team, they aren’t a team. Strategy, tactics and having all the pieces fit appropriately all play a significant role when it comes to playing at the highest level.

Over the last 5 years or so, we have seen a crop of managers who are thinking hard about how to set up teams to play specific tactical formations to either disrupt the opposition, take advantage of the players at their disposal or both. I am talking about Pochettino, Klopp, Tuschel, Conte, Simeone, etc. It takes a few games for them to get their ideas across, test their players and work out who can fit or not, gain the confidence to play in a style they were not accustomed.

Then we have United. Partly perhaps because of their recent greatness and partly because in handing over the guard they have desired instant success, United have been staggering from game to game, season to season. After the handpicked successor United have decided to go for managers that in the past would have been considered ‘no brainers.’  Successful, strong (enough to sort out the weak players), and who can attract top players. Like Real Madrid did many years ago, they have plunked down big money to bring in expensive players to prove to themselves they are still ‘world class.’ It said “look at us, we can still attract a Pogba, can you? We must still be great.”

But as with the emperor with no clothes, while writhing and struggling against their death throes, United still manage to draw away to a competitor and deem a success or sneak a win at the death against a weaker team, enough to make them think the are still all powerful.

Mourinho was the wrong manager at the wrong time. He is old school. Yes, teams are not defending as well as they did a few years back but this is also partly fuelled by new systems and styles which are intended to disrupt the defending of the past. Would the Arsenal invincibles be invincible with today’s offside laws, the increased speed and passing in the game? Probably not. So bringing in Mourinho who is supposed to be the master of the 1-0 win based on solid defence as the right guy to lead United was always fraught with danger. One, because United have always been in my memory (dating back to the sixties) a team that prided itself on not just attacking play, but exciting, sweeping attacking play and two because Mourinho’s tactics have not changed even though the football world has changed.

A read of inverting the pyramid shows how tactics and style changed over the years to counteract whatever was the current regime. We saw the two German teams sweep past the Spanish teams in the CL playing with an attacking verve that overcame the better resources the Spanish teams had. It made everyone change their outlook and now many teams play that style.

While interesting and exciting for us to watch, it also shows the depth that United are plumbing – especially with their disjointed Galactico’s approach.
Paul McDevitt

The master of failure
Last forty games that Jose and Arsne  have been in charge of: L21, D12, W7 compared to: W21, D12, L7. Who is the expert in losing now ?

As much as I can’t stand Stewie Griffin’s attitude as a so called fan of Arsenal I agree that I don’t think we will win a major trophy with Wenger in charge, I admire how Wenger has kept us where we are because of him.

Wenger has kept Arsenal in good shape for the future and if Stewie can’t appreciate that then just bugger off !
Chris, Croydon

Genius Jurgen
The Mourinho fallout got me thinking about big names.

Klopp came in asking why English clubs are obssessed with big money signings. We all know he turns obscure players into superstars since Dortmund. Now, he has gamed the system even more.

At Liverpool, he created something where you cannot just pinch the best players ala Bayern at Dortmund.

I give you, the interchanging quartet of Liverpool. All managers have said this is the most difficult attacking side they have faced.

Yet… any individual player is pretty much useless without the other 3. So if the rich clubs ever cast their green eyes at Liverpool, they have to buy all 4 players!

That is thinking that’s way, way ahead of its time.

In Klopp we trust.
Vinnie ‘Happy’ Pee

Leave Studge alone
Can we please stop saying Sturridge is out of place at Liverpool? Its beyond naive and dumb.

We are 11 games into a season and we’ve got at least 30 more to go. Who knows what injuries or if Liverpool can even last the season at the pace they play. They may have to go an alternate route, like they did last year, and that could play into the hands of Sturridge…and Origi. Both of those guys were pretty damn good and if it weren’t for injuries, Liverpool may have qualified for the CL via the league. In fact, if Origi were healthy and Mama wasn’t in his self suspension, Liverpool may have won the Europa League.

The point is, its a long season. Styles of play can change over a course of a season and players can adapt to the styles of play that their teams play. Sturridge isn’t out of place at Liverpool. He’s very much a part of it and he makes the team better even if he’s not in starting XI.
Rob, Orlando LFC

PS-If things continue the way they are going, there are going to be some midweek fixtures next year where Sturridge is going to be very much needed.

Stick with Moyes
I’ll probably raise suspicions of an ulterior motive by writing this but I really do think Sunderland should stick with Moyes.

Not because Moyes is a great manager who can change the club with the click of his fingers, rather because even more short-term planning is definitely not what the club needs. Things are obviously bad at Sunderland, but this is the result of two huge problems: a) constant managerial change and b) the alleged lack of professionalism/partying culture of the dressing room.

The club keeps changing managers, who don’t like the squad, buy new players and get sacked. Resulting in another manager coming who doesn’t like the squad, buys new players, and gets sacked. The cycle will repeat again if Moyes is let go.

I should also add that I don’t think Moyes is a bad manager. The fact that he’s getting such a demoralised team to only lose by small margins is better than most managers could do. I genuinely think most managers would be getting trashed week in week out with the state of the club. They could do a lot, lot worse than stick by their current boss.
Hugo (NUFC) Adelaide

Bloody Dundalk!
Dundalk just played their sixth game in fifteen days. They won it too, 2-1, with Bohemians the latest team vanquished.

This of course means that Dundalk have just won the League Of Ireland for the third season in a row. This is only the fourth time in the history of Irish football that this has happened.

And all with a cup final to come and their Europa League adventures showing no sign of slowing down.

This mail might well get lost in the avalanche of whinging from the Mourinho Out brigade but I just felt that a truly remarkable team warranted the shout out tonight.
John, Ennis

Excited
People may question the quality of the Premiership, due to none of the biggest clubs being able to truly complete in Europe at the minute, with the behemoths of Barcelona, both Madrid clubs and Bayern Munich being a significant step beyond, but just one point separating 5 teams at the top of the table after 9 games is, frankly, bloody brilliant.

Being a Bristol City fan, I’m pretty neutral in who I’d like to see win, so I can just sit back and enjoy potentially the most wide-open title race in history. I still think La Liga is the best league out there in terms of quality, with observations that no team outside the top three are any good, really rather unfounded (Sevilla winning the Europa league as often as they have almost makes me feel a little sick). However, in terms of unpredictability, coupled with what is still a pretty damned high level of quality, I personally think it’s great to watch.

Many people bemoan the amount of money in the game today, and, whilst I do agree that it has already gotten to a ridiculous level, and only likely to get worse, the perhaps unexpected upshot from the massive new TV deals is that competition has improved. The financial gulf between the likes of Man Utd and City against those of Liverpool and Tottenham may still be sizeable; possibly/probably greater (in terms of percentages) than that of ten years ago, but it seems as though it’s not nearly as effective now.

More teams now have what could be considered a ‘critical mass’ when it comes to finances. The biggest players will still tend to gravitas towards the biggest clubs, but there’s less pressure on ‘second-tier’ teams to sell their star assets for anything less than extortionate prices, as they can comfortably pay what are still extremely good wages. Player power has undoubtedly increased in recent times, but it’s also becoming more of a sellers’ market.

It’d be nice if the quality at the top of the league could advance that bit more, and I think it’s fair to say that the increased competitiveness does make success in Europe that touch more difficult, but, for all its faults, we should also appreciate the things that are good about the Premiership. Last season was a great story with Leicester winning it (and their Champions League one is reading well so far too), and though this season isn’t likely to be quite so ‘romantic’, it’s possibly more intriguing and maybe makes English (club) football the most fascinating one going.
Nick Hamblin, Bristol

Martin Atkinson
How many times does a referee have to be bad before he finally gets demoted/dropped from the Premier League? After tearing my hair out after Martin Atkinson’s completely mental sending off of Aaron Cresswell last week, my jaw hit the floor when I discovered he was getting the Chelsea v United game at the weekend as a ‘reward’.

I had to sit through another disjointed West Ham display at the London Stadium (it’s called that as we can’t use the word ‘Olympic’ as it is trademarked apparently) where despite a decent display from Cresswell’s stand-in at left wing back (Edmilson Fernandes, a 19 year old Swiss central midfielder making his first league start), the team still lacked any fluidity on the break and looked suspect down the wings in defence even against a ridiculously poor Sunderland side. Cresswell, through no fault of his own at all, had to sit it out, while Atkinson continued his one man comedy referee routine by somehow not sending off David Luiz at the Bridge for a shocking challenge with the score at 1-0.

I know they have a hard job and everything and mistakes happen, and I certainly think it’s right to give praise where its due (like to Anthony Taylor who was excellent after all the build-up on Monday night for bo-Red Monday), but Atkinson seems consistently terrible. Does anybody govern the PGMOL? It seems refs can feel secure in their poor performance as there never seems to be any punishment for making multiple wrong calls.
Mike (not always a ref hater!) WHUFC, Upminster

The art of sandwich making
To Maddison, Alnwick.

I can’t be the only one who got a good laugh from that Kante inspired sandwich story.

Well played sir.
Eoin, Dublin