General Premier League Thread 2023-24 Mod Note in op 27/6/23 And 21/05/24

bucketybuck

There are valid criticisms of Ten Hag, but I don't understand why Rashford getting a contract is one of them? That would have happened under any manager.

And putting the blame on the players yet again? Surely you know why you had to use the words "yet again" there?

McFly85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121457224#Comment_121457224

Honestly I don’t care if he stays or goes, the problems at Utd are bigger than him. Whoever comes in will have the same issues.

IncognitoMan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121457150#Comment_121457150

Malacia,Martinez,Casemiro,Erikson,Amrabat,Mount,Anthony,Hoijlund as you picked out have all been missing for large parts of the season so far.

There hasn't been a game yet where he has had the bulk of the players available. I would say the team should definitely be playing better than it is but at the same time we can't ignore what is on the pitch week to week.

Also going from Utd's worst-ever PL finish points-wise to 3rd and first trophy in 6 years inside 12 months is progress. Good progress.

The team was developing a style last season but it's hard to implement that style when you have such a mismatched squad of player profiles. The results of a decade of mismanagement above the manager. ETH could go the route of "play the same way above all else" but that would see Harry Maguire on the halfway line losing footraces each week to a different PL striker. Ange is taking this approach at Spurs and he is 0 for 5 since losing a couple of first team players - you can't go 0 for 5 at Utd. Look at the pressure ETH is under and he has won 6 from his last 9 in the league.

I understand why rival fans would want ETH to get the sack - Utd end up back at square one maybe a few of the dossers in the squad get new deals to "protect" their value and we can watch the players throw another manager under the bus in 18 months time again.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121457109#Comment_121457109

The supposed leakers are complete red herrings. You didn't hear much if anything about the player's thoughts on Greenwood returning but did hear about the backroom staff which makes me think a lot of these "sources" are just club workers and people around the team but not the ones in it.

IncognitoMan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121457109#Comment_121457109

I'm gonna take a guess and say you aren't familiar with the work of Samuel Luckhurst. He makes a living out of printing unfounded rubbish about Utd on the regular for Manchester Evening News. This is not leaked stories or the likes - he looks to pile on negative stories around the club because it generates the most traffic for his articles with little to no evidence to back them up. There is no journalistic integrity at stake here.

The Sun is banned in Liverpool for spreading lies (at a much higher level of scumbag it has to be said). Sometimes you have to take a stand against these gutter journalists

Fitz*

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121457494#Comment_121457494

I've semi-heard of him thriving on the negatives, and doing the whole clikbait stuff on the negativity. Banning him as an induvial, while it is petty, ok look it's one guy. But weren't Sky Sports, ESPN, The Mirror also banned, in addition to the MEN being banned with Sam Luckhurst? That's edging too close to being a blanket ban for anyone that said anything bad about you. There's no smoke without fire and with the history of the players leaking that they are unhappy with previous managers and their methods, it's hard to not believe these stories again. Whether they are true or not, there is logic behind them and let's call a spade a spade, there is probably some truth in them. Which could then be sensationalized possibly.

Banning The Sun is nowhere near as close. Completely different circumstances. A more revelvant comparison (and likewise you might not be aware which is fine) but Klopp doesn't like Simon Hughes the Liverpool Athletic journo and has called him out before in a press conference. He has called out James Pearce (and wrongly sometimes IMO) a few times at press conferences too. They have had some cross words, but both have their access in tact.

IncognitoMan

Utd statement on the ban -

"We are taking action against a number of news organisations today.

"Not for publishing stories we don’t like, but for doing so without contacting us first and give us the opportunity to comment, challenge or contextualise."

So the ban is for these journalists publishing stories without giving the clubs a chance to add their voice to them. Not very journalistic of them... but we've known this for a while. Negative stories about Utd sell - the truth or giving the club a chance to add their side to it was never a concern.

Excellent move by the club

Infoseeker1975

Personally I think a lot of Utd's issues stem from the level of wages that they pay before players prove themselves; most sportspeople are driven by wages as most of us would be. It impacts their motivation and creates a level for new players coming in whose agents want £x per week due to existing players already earning it.

Easy to not be too bothered if you are earning 200k+ per week and rarely play.

Their current manager should be judged on the players he has signed and if existing players have improved/worsened whilst working with him.

The idea that the owners impact them when results are not good but are not mentioned if things are going ok is another problem with mentality. It would be an issue if the manager was told his transfer budget is what he takes in on sales of existing players, from what I can see their current manager has had plenty to spend to date.

El Gato De Negocios

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121458085#Comment_121458085

Absolutely. Mediocrity has been rewarded since SAF retired. It started with paying Rooney £300k a week when he was obviously well past his best and continued with the likes of Schweinsteiger, Pogba, Martial, Sanchez, Varane, and now Rashford and Sancho.

awec

I see that Sky and TNT have retained their rights packages from 2025 onward.

One new addition is games moved to Sunday as a result of Thursday matches will now also be shown live by Sky.

Every game, outside of games played at 3pm on Saturday, will be shown live by either Sky or TNT. TNT keep the 12:30 Saturdays, Sky everything else.

machiavellianme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121458193#Comment_121458193

Still zero competition.

Shows how much they give a stuff about fans. Bigger packages, bigger subscription fees.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121458085#Comment_121458085

This is probably the long and short of it and I've thought the same multiple times.

It doesn't quite explain why the likes of City and the traditional European super clubs don't usually suffer from the same thing though.

I think the fanbase has a bearing on it too. Players used to be given a lot of slack by United fans but now if you play badly once you are useless and should be shipped out immediately.

As much as you can say they should be able to ignore it I think the club itself act reactionarily (is that a word) too based on the fan perception and sort of buy into it being a bit of a soap opera so that they can get engagement. They then wonder why the unchecked bad engagement affects players.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121458265#Comment_121458265

Amazon were in the running but didn't win any packages.

To be honest, the fewer packages there are the better it is for customers. Having lots of small packages just becomes nonsense.

Smaller broadcasters cannot compete with the price of the packages.

machiavellianme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121458327#Comment_121458327

The problem is that it's set up as a cartel rather than to drive competition.

As you rightly point out, multiple smaller packages is not in the consumers interest but couldn't it have been set up so that Package A has all games for Satellite TV, Package B has all games for Streamers, Package C has all games for cable. Then let consumers decide which they want to pay for based on genuine competition between different offerings for the same product.

Mad stat this. Players who played in each managers first game and last game just gone.

Arteta - 1 

Howe - 2

Klopp - 0

Pep - 0

Emery - 5

Ten Hag - 6

Go a little deeper and the players are

Ten Hag:

Shaw

Maguire

Dalot

Bruno

McTominay

Rashford

Arteta:

Saka

Howe:

Joelinton

Share

Emery:

Martinez

Digne

Watkins

Luiz

Bailey.

I don't care how bad it gets. I want a no nonsense lad to sort it out for another few seasons. This is his second season like, I expect the fans to get behind him tomorrow

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459059#Comment_121459059

The interesting one there really is Howe - how quickly Newcastle have totally changed their team. Not too surprising I guess given the money spent, but still, it's a lot of turnover in a short time. Pep, Arteta, and Klopp are all in the job years, so it's not a surprise to see the starters from when they arrived have moved on.

And likewise, Ten Hag and Emery aren't in the job too long, so it looks about right that half the starters are still active - though it really shows how impressive Emery's job has been, getting massively improved performances out of so many players who were so poor under the previous manager.

irelandrover

I wanted to like Luton. I wanted to support the underdogs.

But given how their team are playing with so many late hits and given the support of the fans they are very hard to like.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459389#Comment_121459389

Nobody likes them but they don't care when they're 3-2 up against the league leaders😝

giveitholly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459560#Comment_121459560

It didn't last too long

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121458327#Comment_121458327

Amazon have Champions League games so I think they maybe going after that market and testing the waters there with the 1st pick game for a Tuesday night from next season so 17 games

Fitz*

Can Luton pull off another result against one of the big boys?

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459609#Comment_121459609

I'd say they'd take 3-3...

Loafing Oaf

God

Headshot

Wonder where the ref got those extra 20 seconds from

When Luton got the header from that free kick it should've been over

Deeper Blue

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459782#Comment_121459782

All of Luton's time wasting on the throw ins I'm guessing. Great call by the ref

ConcertKing

Arsenal really are an overrated side.No chance of winning the league.

Quazzie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459782#Comment_121459782

Was the ball in play for the whole of the allotted additional minutes?

x PyRo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459782#Comment_121459782

Took them about a minute to take one of their throw-ins in injury time. It's their own fault.

SlickRic

Fair play Arsenal. Clutch.

As I've said, if they win the league, Rice will be the reason. I remain convinced a lot of the rest of the team are a bit fragile. He seems the opposite. Unreal.

The ref could've easily blown for FT at that Luton header clear, so Luton can feel a tad unlucky, but it was only 30 seconds extra, and they wasted a bit of time. It's also not like the ref slapped on 2 minutes.

Deeper Blue

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459812#Comment_121459812

How are they overrated? All people do is slate them while gushing over bravery FC Tottenham Hotspur, winless in 4.