General Premier League Thread 2022-23 - mod note in OP 12/03/23

That many managers have failed to get the best out of.

But I'm sure it is all the fault of the managers and not the players.

United Pep DDG would be sweeping and passing out with the best of them. Fred would be a technical king. Weghorst would be showing Haaland how its done. Martial wouldn't be injured every time he breaks past a jog. McTominay would be Busquests regened.

I think either you don't follow the PL much and are unaware of what EtH walked into last summer, or else you're on a bit of a wind up.

It's hard to argue with the first five of the nominees even if one is big cheater, the PL still need to pretend its competition is legit.

Marco Silva has done a good job but lack of expectation makes it a much easier job to do. I wouldn't even mind people saying Silva has done a better job than EtH.

But to suggest EtH hasn't done a good job and is failing to get performances out of such a 'talented' (expensively assembled - as if that suggests good recruitment) squad after what happened last season, and the state of confidence coming into the season is a bit much.

ETH has taken Utd from their worst ever PL season to back into CL football while dealing with a bunch of off field distractions and a mismatched playing squad.

It hasn't been a season without lows but ETH is achieving more with the squad than most people were predicting at the start of the season. Now the narrative is switching to this is the absolute least we could have expected him to achieve. Nahh

If posters want to screenshot post or tweets they made last August/September where they predicted Utd would get CL football then by means... but most had Utd miles off the pace and some even had them fighting to be top half

I don't know if he should be on the list over the others nominated - I can understand why all are there. But to pretend he has no business being in the conversation is strange stance to take

No.

But when saying he should have done better with the squad and resources available I think it only fair to comment on the quality of the squad (weghorst first choice player for 20 games) and resources; weghorst the only striker he was allowed to bring in despite martial being injured all season, greenwood suspended and Ronaldo sacked.

I genuinely don't believe such decisions are anything more than pragmatic compromises based on the finances the club world provide.

Ddg can't be any further from his archetypal goal keeper, even if he wasn't also rubbish at the one thing he's supposed to be good at.

And no way weghorst was anywhere near top of a list of targets he'd want. Club would allow him to make any long term signings in January, none. Had to be a low cost loan.

I wont pretend to know the goings on at all the PL clubs, but I'd be confident in saying I doubt too many other managers have had as many long term injuries to first team players as MUFC have had this season.

Martinez: Season ended early due to injury

Varane: A couple of injuries throughout the season that have kept him out of the team for significant periods

Eriksen: Injured by an opponent and out for a long period

Garnacho: Injured by an opponent and out for a long period

Van de Beek: Injured by an opponent and out for a long period

Martial: Injured for most of the season

Sancho: Mental health issues meant he was unavailable for a long period

I think every manager I named has done a good job but if we are talking who has done "the best" job then it's not Arteta for me. He is probably somewhere in between the really surprised and done as expected groups which is why I put him separate to ETH and Pep.

I think the last month has massively taken the shine off what he has done, and what he got from the team.

The Seville games, West Ham and Brighton in particular (being 2 up at Spurs and messing that up infuriating too).

Had they not imploded in the first game vs Seville, and won either the West Ham or Brighton games, things would look far better.

But, the fragility of the side that led to those results is also on ETH, so if they have taken a shine off then that is what it is.

Reality also is i they don't close out the CL spot and then go on to lose vs City (which would be expected), finishing 5th and a league cup will not be considered a good return for the season.

Sky Sports or The Athletic had a table a few weeks ago showing games missed or days missed by players due to injury broken down by club.

Liverpool were miles out in front at the time with Chelsea second I think.

Ox was on the squad list for the PL so that's why they had him included. Is Jones on the squad list for United?

Nope, not how it works.

If you are odds against to win something then it is more likely you won't do it. That's how it works. For you to overcome those odds you have to overachieve.

As I said it is not as big an overachievement as Newcastle given their odds. But it still is overachieving if you are the 6th Favorite and you finish 3/4th.

They are on course for a points total that would have got top4 last season also. 1 win away from 4th place total with 3 to play. So saying it is down to other teams being bad doesn't work.

If you are a cyclists and ride the course in a time that wins it most years then you can't say they won because other cyclists crashed!

They on course for 15-18 point improvement on last seasons club total. Now I'm not a great fan of comparing point totals across different seasons but we can see a clear improvement. Especially when actually watching the team.

I'd agree they have stumbled over the line at the end of the season but that's a squad depth issue. As Mitch said that has taken some of the shine off and changed a few peoples perception of the season.

But the only competition you can say they slightly underachieved in was Europa League. 1 out of the 4 they were in. All other competitions they have done better than expected.

For a first season and considering where the club was 12 months ago it's about as good a turnaround as you could hope for.

And the key is that it's more than was expected. An overachievement!