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

The players he managed previously, sure. The others, people will look to find links or discredit links to suit their own agenda/perspective.

Is Foden still eligible for YPOTY? These awards are strange, like when Messi won POTY again this year instead of Haaland.

What changes next season? Having a new man in a suit in the boardroom doesn't change some of the biggest issues on the pitch and the dressing room in one transfer window.

Do you think bringing in the cycling lad is going to somehow change Rashford's attitude towards hard work and leaks to the media. Will a new commercial director that was poached from City stop Bruno whining non-stop and instead appoint a new captain that doesn't pack it in when the going gets tough? Will the DOF magically make the large gaps that appear between the midfield and defence go away? Is Dan Ashworth going to get Mainoo to stop over-running the ball very often leaving big holes behind him. Will the new head of marketing work on preventing that run-to-byline-and-cut-back goal that Man Utd seem to concede every other week? Will the new head of academy liasion officer stop recommending new signings that share his agent or who he worked with previously? Well, that one may the stay the same!

There is only so much that the 'office' staff can do. ETH manages the on-pitch stuff and he is failing bad at that. Whatever about tactics and transfers, his managing of players appears to be very bad with over-playing some players, and rushing back others from injury leading to further injury.

If you think of those ETH issues wil all change because some Brailsford lad comes in to a place on the board, then more power to you.

Music to the ears of the other clubs wanting to get into European spots then. IMO.

Yeah I think this is spot on, and I do get it. Emotions were running high at the end of last season - just as they were during moments under Ole and Mourinho. It's naturally very difficult to accept it is wrong, again, and to forget all that optimism. It is what it is, in the end.

Ah yes, 'Europe is **** anyway, I wouldn't want to be in it'. Class.

I mean, in fairness, wasn't like ETH was able to hack it in the current format against luminaries like Copenhagen and Galatasary!

He complained about a player's training in a post game interview with pundits. Pep or Klopp don't do that, in fact I've not seen Pep pop over for a chat with the lads at all, maybe I've missed him as I don't watch them that much. Whatever if you've had your disagreements with a player, airing it in public is stupid.

By all accounts he was the one happy to bring Greenwood back into the fold. Despite the obvious blowback that was coming from a PR standpoint and probably personally to the player if he played any games.

The same Pep that said one of his players was too overweight to train or play football?

Presumably his first signings would be Jordan Henderson and Kalvin Phillips. Luckily for him Harry Maguire is already there.

United appointing Gareth Southgate as manager would be even funnier than this

I wouldn't think it's the case that United ruined any of them, so much as Utd just made bad choices at the wrong times.

On a few occasions they've gone for the tried and tested - but I think maybe there's an argument they actually went TOO tried and tested. Van Gaal's best days at 62 were in the past - I think he was still a safe enough pair of hands, he did alright, and probably even deserved more time after winning the cup - but the innovation of his earlier years was well behind him. That last Bayern win was 4 years before joining Utd, and he was out of the club game entirely for 3 years.

Mourinho… when he rejoined Chelsea in 2013 I thought "this is gonna be interesting…". But such was his absolute implosion there (not his first) that when he joined Man Utd in 2016 I - and I think many many others - thought "this is gonna be hilarious". The exact same thing continued at Spurs not long after, and then at Roma.

Moyes is back doing what he did before joining them, just an appointment of a good guy, who is a good manager at a certain level, but not above it (much like Hodgson at Liverpool).

Ole, no track record before, and none after. A silly populist choice at the time.

So for each of those, I would say what happened at Utd fits fairly neatly into the broader trajectory of their careers. I would also argue that each of Van Gaal, Jose, and Moyes put their stamp on the team, getting the team to play 'their way'. But what 'their way' meant in each case was no longer suited to what had become the required level at the top.

Ten Haag was at least an interesting switch of going for a highly rated guy who was unproven in a top level league, but felt worth a risk. It was a brave move, but it's not worked out. And unlike those other 3, he's failed to implement a cohesive functional style.

Something also worth mentioning - this all fits very neatly into the idea of blaming those upstairs. Like, if we're saying that they were bad at all aspects of recruitment, from staff to players, then surely it's reasonable to argue that this also extends into them being bad at recruiting managers.

Utd aren’t in the same league as Real so shouldn’t be comparing themselves to them when it comes to attracting managers. No way Xabi Alonso would take Utd over Real.
I just hope Utd stick with Ten Hag, he’s taking them nowhere and as long as that continues it’s good for rival teams.

Good start for Palace anyway, not that I'd have much hope of them holding on

in theory, yes. In practice, no. They can’t attract the best players ahead of Madrid, only 1 or 2 clubs are at that level. Same with the manager.

Lol, how did Gvardiol not give a peno away earlier.

Eze has been really disappointing.

Ball given away constantly

Funny how narrative on the media works.

On RTE, earlier, they were previewing the games, and in particular West Ham v Wolves. The 'experts' were saying about how well West Ham are going, and the great season they are having, while there was general disappointment about the season Wolves have had and that they should be doing better.

As it stands, Wolves are ahead of West Ham on the table.....