Man Utd won but Erik ten Hag should not keep his job after that sh*t-show. That’s the view of the Mailbox.
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Ten Hag the tactical master?
What a brilliant piece of tactical awareness from Ten Hag. 3-0 up, bossing the game, could have been 4 or 5 by the end.
To suddenly realise that winning the game so easily would make City take them seriously in the Final. To expertly lull City into a false sense of security by engineering a collapse so late in the game. It’s very much advantage United for the Final. I might be getting ahead of myself, but surely Ten Hag is one of the greatest tacticians of all time. He’s playing interdimensional chess at a level we mere mortals just can not understand.
Terry, Texas
Ten Hag out
Emailing as penalties are starting, and expect Coventry to win. But regardless, this is the last straw for me for Ten Hag’s time being up. There have been many many poor finishes to games of late, but to lose a 3-0 lead at any time is dreadful, let alone when it is to lower league opposition, with 20 mins left and in such a huge game.
The players looked immediately bereft of confidence the second they faced some adversity and could barely string two passes together. That level of panic is not acceptable.
A word also on Marcus Rashford. He took an innocuous looking fall in the 90th minute and his reaction was to roll around in pain then get the hell out of there. Maybe I’m wrong but that looked like the actions of a player who didn’t want to be on the pitch to make a contribution to the team that was going down. Again my opinion, but I think that’s is disgraceful too.
Ian Towns, MUFC and AFC
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…I mean wow, just WOW to the United vs Coventry game today, 3-0 up and United somehow gave away a 3 goal lead to make it 3-3 and were incredibly lucky not to lose the game 4-3 in Extra Time. Centimeters, actual centimeters, has saved Ten Hag’s job, as well as a number of players…for now. I feel embarrassed to be a United fan actually, it’s not they aren’t a real team and it’s a nightmare.
Call me a rubbish fan, or whatever you want to say in that sense, but I wish that goal in the 122nd minute for Coventry counted because Ten Haag surely would have gotten the sack and I am also curious to what he would have said after the game if United did lose, he probably would have blamed the referee and injuries, but not himself obviously. 75% if the players out there are a complete disgrace too. In a post match interview, I heard Maguire say the penalty Coventry got was harsh…but no the team allowing a Championship team score 3 goals against you in 25 minutes after being 3-0 up is perfectly fine.
Ten Hag may actually be the luckiest manager in the Premier League era EVER. If Jim Ratcliffe has any understanding, guts or common sense relating to football, he should sack Ten Hag before the FA Cup final next month because it was a complete disgrace of a performance after the 75th minute of the game, that seriously was not normal.
At least give the fans something to bloody cheer about at the end of the season by winning something, but who am I kidding this United team will get a new one torn by them from City next month provided the way this team plays football and defends. A miracle could happen in winning the FA Cup this season, but it certainly won’t happen with Ten Hag at the helm, he’s a clueless tool.
The most toxic, unprofessional and imbalanced team ever, the attitude of the club & team is worse than I have ever seen it, Fergie must have nearly had a heart attack yesterday if he was watching it.
Rami, Dubai
This has to be a Man Utd re-set
Well that was almost the most extraordinary, embarrassing and inexcusable capitulation in the history of Manchester United.
It was everything wrong with this iteration of United distilled in 20 horrifying minutes.
No leadership, a thin squad, no resilience, no tactical awareness or game sense, no structural discipline or shape, poor aerobic fitness and one helluva glass jaw.
Heads must and will roll at seasons end… but am I alone in thinking the INEOS reset could use this kind of extreme example of all the Club’s shortcomings to affect the changes required?
There’s no hiding anymore. Not for Ten Hag, his staff and so many players who are either past it or not up to it.
Sean Peter-Budge
📣 TO THE COMMENTS! How can Manchester United reset in one summer? Join the debate here
What’s worse? Man Utd or VAR?
I’m seriously starting to wonder if the FA and Premier League have an agenda. Not against any particular club, we know they’re not capable of something as complex as that. No no, I think they must be trying to justify abolishing VAR. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
I know Occam’s Razor would just suggest ineptitude is more likely but is it possible to be quite as systematically inept as this?
Let’s just take the FA Cup games this weekend. Three major penalty decisions all of which I would say should be given, two of which were related to handball and perfectly encapsulating the stupidity. One involves an arm moving forwards the ball, not given. The other in a natural position, given.
From those three only the quite arguably least nailed on was given.
Now as I say I’m happy with a penalty to be given any time the ball hits an arm that’s away from the body. But if the one isn’t, then the other can’t be.
Which is why – on top of the myriad of other contentious VAR calls this and previous seasons – I can only think the authorities are seeking to actively make VAR ridiculous.
However, if they are and do, the inability of referees to make decisions any more gives me major concerns. Maybe we can do like we should with politicians and bin the lot and start over.
Badwolf
PS Pretty sure the referee can change their original decision if they receive advice from their assistants of which VAR is one. Sticking with giving a goal kick when VAR has checked whether a touch by the defender is a penalty or not is just incredible.
PPS oh my God, our inability to hold a lead is entertaining/excruciating isn’t it?
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This is VAR from okay
It’s the 120th minute in an FA Cup semi-final between an English giant and a team in the league below. Having been 3 nil down, the team from the lower division have fought back incredibly to draw 3-3. Suddenly a counter-attack develops and the smaller team are through, it’s 4-3 incredible! A turnaround for the ages! We’ll all be telling our grand kids about this amazing result. It’ll be spoken about on FA cup TV and radio coverage for years to come. Football, bloody hell!
Wait a minute, what’s that? A computer has drawn a line on a screen which shows the attacker is so marginally offside as to be unspottable to the naked eye, gaining the player no real advantage at all in the scoring of the goal?
Ah well better rule the goal out in that case. Sorry Coventry. Sorry football fans around the world. Sorry football heritage. Rules are rules and the computer has told us no.
Duncan, (I’d forgotten how much I despised VAR) North Yorkshire
FA Cup climate change boost
City fan here. Footballing issues aside, and purely from a Climate change perspective, I’m sorry that ‘The World’s Biggest Club’ managed to throw away a three-goal lead against a Championship team to, eventually, scrape a win at Wembley yesterday.
Had they lost, the vast majority of fans would’ve travelled to London for the final by train or coach.
Now, unfortunately, the alternative will see the roads of both London and the Home Counties clogged with pollution-producing cars full of United supporters travelling from their nearby homes.
Ba-Dum Tish!
Mark (I’ll get me coat) MCFC
Does the FA Cup need to change?
The problem that Pep has is that at a club like Man City where most people are paid at a very minimum £5m+ a year, no one is going to really give a shit that you have too much work to do. However, I do think that there will eventually be a tipping point. Football is still on an upwarda commercial trajectory and more games, not less, is likely.
Therefore, I want to propose a solution that would help fix this problems whilst also rectifying the problem with how meaningless the FA cup is, which is that any club participating in a European competition should not participate in the FA cup.
On paper, the FA cup is a beautiful thing, but this idea that it has any magic in it is a fallacy. It did back in the 60’s and 70’s when there was a different winner every year, but now that the financial gap between the big teams and everyone else has become so big, that magic has gone. Before you point to Coventry this weekend or the fact that Wigan and Portsmouth won it just bear in mind this – the last time a non big team didn’t feature in the final was 2008. It’s not magic if the only David vs Goliath moment happens in the third round.
Right now Manchester United and Manchester City will compete and for both it is probably a disappointment for both. For United they barely deserve to be in it, for City it would be considered a failure of a season if it’s all they won. It’s just a sad way for a tournament to be.
By taking out any team that has a European commitment, be it CL, Europa cup or the europa league, you get rid of a lot of the teams who couldn’t really care if they won it or not and reduces their fixture list, and leave the remainder of the teams in the English leagues who would consider winning it one of the best achievements in their clubs history and most certainly for their group of players. As a fan it would also make it so interesting and it could make the FA cup this unique trophy in modern day football where anything is possible.
Mo
Send off the keepers!
After watching two penalty shoot outs this week decided by goalkeepers acting in an unsportsmanlike manner (or like t***s), is it about time FIFA/UEFA/FA/IFAB stopped issuing yellow cards and make it a red card offence instead?
Showing a yellow card to a keeper in a shoot out is as pointless as booking them for time wasting in the 95th minute after they have been doing it for 20 minutes
Even more so since we all learned in the week that cards don’t even carry over from the match!
What deterrent is there to stop goalkeepers acting like d***s in an attempt to put off the kicker?
Now you could say this is all fair game but do we really want competitions won by who has the bigger c**t between the sticks?
Ricci (obviously this will all be taken back if my team’s keeper does similar to earn us a trophy)
Reffing exchange?
Genuine question after that nice and feisty Forest statement about the VAR being a cheat….
Why can’t we have an exchange programme between the top European leagues? Mostly we use U.K. refs for UK games but it’s Man Utd versus Liverpool…we borrow a ref from Spain and send one of ours there for a similarly .
Man City vs Arsenal, Barca vs Real Madrid, Juventus versus Inter….take out most of the risk of claims of cheats by sharing refs amongst the top leagues.
I don’t see why this wouldn’t be a tasty solution aside from the environmental perspective because of extra flights across the continent etc.
Minty, LFC
On that ludicrous Forest statement
I hope the “Luton fan” at Stockley Park sues Nottingham Forest for libel.
It is, as already observed, a masterclass from Forest in throwing away any sympathy they may have had in defeat for being on the wrong end of a couple of marginal decisions. We’ve all been there – it’s football, for god’s sake – and I think there would have been a lot of understanding had their frustration remained as just that.
And yes: be frustrated. Be frustrated at the implementation of VAR; at its inconsistency; at its attempts to be perfect in a sport of subjective calls; at its insistence on being blade-of-grass perfect in some calls and “well we’ll just go with your original decision” in others. I have had a much longer missive running around in my head for a while now about the reasons nobody likes VAR in its current form, and what we might be able to do about it, but this is not that letter. It’s flawed and needs serious work.
But frustration is one thing. For a club officially to outright impugn the integrity of match officials is dangerous, and I think the only way the FA is going to be able to stamp out this brush fire before it becomes a conflagration is to support the official in having their day in court.
I don’t think it would get that far – I think it’s more likely that the Club would issue an official apology and blame “emotions running high” or whatever, but it would send a message to a lot of clubs that I think needs sending. Liverpool and Arsenal have had moments flirting with this nonsense too this year.
I also think that the media are largely complicit by simply reposting these statements and adding captions “do you think they have a point?” or “Strong words from Forest here”. I get it; this drives engagement and clicks and comments. It got them from me, as I opened comments sections desperate for some common sense. I don’t think F365 is perfect, and I don’t think anyone at F365 would pretend it is, but at least they are taking a stand on calling this out. Fair play also to Neville and Carragher.
One more thing right down at the bottom of the list of reasons why this is deeply wrong-headed: they were playing Everton. Whichever team lost was going to be in danger of being overhauled by Luton. I don’t think any actual Luton fans would give a flying f*ck whether it was Forest or Everton they were chasing. But reasoning that out seems beyond whoever is putting out club statements over there at the moment.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Ben Rushworth, Wigan
Life begins at 40
Palace seem pissed after your article that we wouldn’t reach 40 points this season….really making the effort to continue our run of finishing with 40 odd points each season!
Ray, Loughborough
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What Diogo does right
Diogo Jota is considered by some (or many ? Or most ??) to be Liverpool’s most clinical finisher but if you saw his goal today, you’ll see a player who has scuffed a wobbly daisy cutter through the gloves of an average keeper who probably saves any such strike 7 or 8 times out of 10.
For me, that wasn’t particularly masterclass finishing but it found the back of the net. It was Jota steadying himself on the run to lean in while striking. It was Jota lowering his head to get a fraction more weight into his shot and hitting the target. It was Jota at an angle on his weaker peg, but hitting with just enough conviction nonetheless.
Sliding doors and all but from there Salah probably trickles one into the side netting while Nunez blasts into row Z, and both Gakpo and Luis Diaz would still be out there dribbling, trying to conjure. But Jota, well, he scores. If he’s truly more “clinical” perhaps it’s because he simply does the basics well; concentrate, don’t elaborate, control your body, hit the target. Liverpool’s misfiring forwards could really take some pause here, maybe learn a point or twelve from this guy.
Eric, Los Angeles CA (Sublime strike from Gravenberch but jury still out.)
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