Premier League 2023/24 Gameweek 19 - 26th-28th December

[Inverted]

The fact that Villa decided to give that ridiculous standing behind the keeper routine a go in this match does not reflect well on what their opposition scouts think of Onana.

 

[Whiskey]

Have we had a banter merchant as good as Onana in the Premier League? Absolutely outstanding. 10/10 would watch again.

[The Palace Fan]

12 minutes ago, Whiskey said:

Have we had a banter merchant as good as Onana in the Premier League? Absolutely outstanding. 10/10 would watch again.

He makes the Prime subscription for a year worth it.

[MUFC]

Finally broke down Villas 1980s offside trap.

[Rick]

Villa have been poor since they scored the second. Utd have levelled it up. 

[MUFC]

Garnacho deserves regular sex.

[Reluctant Striker]

Sad & pathetic to see Villa crumble, against Man United, yet again. This is one constant for them to cling to, in the post-Fergie era. 

[Rick]

Villa have been fucking wank second half

[Whiskey]

Amazing how bad Villa have been since the second goal. They've absolutely crumbled.

[MUFC]

4 minutes ago, Rick said:

Villa have been fucking wank second half

@MUFC

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Whiskey said:

Have we had a banter merchant as good as Onana in the Premier League? Absolutely outstanding. 10/10 would watch again.

Whoever took that free kick when they tried to copy Villa's set piece was a pretty good comedian tbh.

[LFCMike]

2 hours ago, Rick said:

We have needed Jota the last the games, so it’s nice him coming in and having an instant impact. Another game where we made hard work of it, can’t keep doing this. 

Game should have been over by half time. The disallowed goal in the first half was never a foul but they're never going to over turn it on VAR, missed a couple more chances too. Then the offside one in the second half Salah is pushed into an offside position by their defender. All in all though a good performance and win. 

I don't get when people say 'we can't keep doing this'. Think people forget the year we won it and won 26 out of 27 or whatever it was, there was loads of close games (loads of 2-1s). It doesn't matter as long as you win.

[The Palace Fan]

What a time for Hojlund to score his first league goal.

[MUFC]

In just a couple of days Jim Ratcliffe has turned this club around.

[Rick]

8 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

Game should have been over by half time. The disallowed goal in the first half was never a foul but they're never going to over turn it on VAR, missed a couple more chances too. Then the offside one in the second half Salah is pushed into an offside position by their defender. All in all though a good performance and win. 

I don't get when people say 'we can't keep doing this'. Think people forget the year we won it and won 26 out of 27 or whatever it was, there was loads of close games (loads of 2-1s). It doesn't matter as long as you win.

You think it’s weird to say that we can’t keep giving absolute shite sides the belief that they can get a result from us? Luton did it, and Burnley gave us a headache right up until the 90th minute today. It’s not outrageous to expect us to be putting more goals in the net this season. Nunez, Diaz & Gakpo have been well below par so far. I’m glad we have Jota back because that man is consistent, and he will put away the chances that the others haven’t. 

[Danny]

Not surprised Villa have struggled as of late. I’ve not been that impressed since the Tottenham game and for them to completely lose their heads so early on in the season against us, struggled against Sheffield United afterwards, lost a 2 goal lead against United…I think the pressure has got to them a bit in a very difficult part of the season.

[Dr. Gonzo]

13 minutes ago, Rick said:

You think it’s weird to say that we can’t keep giving absolute shite sides the belief that they can get a result from us? Luton did it, and Burnley gave us a headache right up until the 90th minute today. It’s not outrageous to expect us to be putting more goals in the net this season. Nunez, Diaz & Gakpo have been well below par so far. I’m glad we have Jota back because that man is consistent, and he will put away the chances that the others haven’t. 

Yeah, the attack currently is a bit of a problem. Nunez is always threatening - but he's got the composure of a wet fart. His finishing is either brilliant or woeful, there's no in between. The coaching staff really needs to be working with him to improve his decision making in front of goal and to get himself a bit more consistency when he's in front of goal. He's a good striker, but not a great striker, so we need to find a way to get him to kick on in that regard and then I think we've got a hell of a striker on our hands.

Diaz was in pretty decent form until his dad got kidnapped. I think it's a bit understandable why he's maybe not looked so good on the pitch since that happened, honestly. But this rut he's in is pretty poor - he's got to work his way into better form or start getting used to spending more time on the bench.

Gakpo's a weird one, to me. I think he's partially struggling because he doesn't really have a set role in the side. Last season it looked like he'd fill in for the Firmino role of a deeper lying central striker. Then at the beginning of this season he was put into the midfield in a couple of matches (and honestly... was terrible - I think it's safe to say he's not a midfielder). He's had some matches out on flanks too. But I don't think he's really got the pace to play out wide for us with Klopp's system.

I think it's not just the attack that's lost form at an important time. Szobo has not been that great for us in recent league matches, imo.

We've got to hope these players can find some form sometime soon - because it's not too far from when we'll be losing Salah and Endo.

[Reluctant Striker]

57 minutes ago, Danny said:

Not surprised Villa have struggled as of late. I’ve not been that impressed since the Tottenham game and for them to completely lose their heads so early on in the season against us, struggled against Sheffield United afterwards, lost a 2 goal lead against United…I think the pressure has got to them a bit in a very difficult part of the season.

I think I get the way you're thinking. For me, it just still links back to the feeling in 'big' away matches Villa will mess it up. The other side will have been pumped full of reasons to believe. And tonight they really brought into it. Whether because Jim or Villa is difficult to tell at this stage.

Villa certainly can't expect to be thought of as favourites for much, until night's like this do not happen on a regular basis. And I do think that is at least 2 or 3 more big first 11 improvement signings away.

But since Spurs away, beating Man City & Arsenal in consecutive home games was ok. Brentford & Sheffield United set out ultra defensive. And there should have been a penalty in the Sheff United match. I'll take 10 points from that consecutive 12. Not sure who doesn't. And the point at Bournemouth before that does not look terrible. Which was the 11 from 15, since Spurs.

Next games: Burnley (h) FA Cup Middlesbrough (a) Everton (a) & Newcastle (h)

I wouldn't bet against them getting back to 10 from 12 to 11 from 15, sort of form. Though it may still not be good enough for what others make the Top 4 to be.

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by Reluctant Striker

[LFCMike]

1 hour ago, Rick said:

You think it’s weird to say that we can’t keep giving absolute shite sides the belief that they can get a result from us? Luton did it, and Burnley gave us a headache right up until the 90th minute today. It’s not outrageous to expect us to be putting more goals in the net this season. Nunez, Diaz & Gakpo have been well below par so far. I’m glad we have Jota back because that man is consistent, and he will put away the chances that the others haven’t. 

No but if there wasn't two bad refereeing decisions we'd have been cruising at 3-0. It doesn't matter as long as you win. One of Ferguson's best United sides won 1-0 about 10 times the season Benitez's Liverpool finished second to them.

With the number of new signings I'm more than happy with where we are and how we've got results this season

[Dr. Gonzo]

33 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

No but if there wasn't two bad refereeing decisions we'd have been cruising at 3-0. It doesn't matter as long as you win. One of Ferguson's best United sides won 1-0 about 10 times the season Benitez's Liverpool finished second to them.

With the number of new signings I'm more than happy with where we are and how we've got results this season

Yeah this is ultimately how I feel too, despite my concerns about the form of attackers and midfielders.

At the end of the day we’re in a title race in a season I thought would just be another rebuild. Makes no sense to not enjoy the ride for as long as it goes on for.

And yeah, that wouldn’t have been close at all if not for Tierney and Hooper being… themselves.

[Harry]

10 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yeah, the attack currently is a bit of a problem. Nunez is always threatening - but he's got the composure of a wet fart. His finishing is either brilliant or woeful, there's no in between. The coaching staff really needs to be working with him to improve his decision making in front of goal and to get himself a bit more consistency when he's in front of goal. He's a good striker, but not a great striker, so we need to find a way to get him to kick on in that regard and then I think we've got a hell of a striker on our hands.

Diaz was in pretty decent form until his dad got kidnapped. I think it's a bit understandable why he's maybe not looked so good on the pitch since that happened, honestly. But this rut he's in is pretty poor - he's got to work his way into better form or start getting used to spending more time on the bench.

Gakpo's a weird one, to me. I think he's partially struggling because he doesn't really have a set role in the side. Last season it looked like he'd fill in for the Firmino role of a deeper lying central striker. Then at the beginning of this season he was put into the midfield in a couple of matches (and honestly... was terrible - I think it's safe to say he's not a midfielder). He's had some matches out on flanks too. But I don't think he's really got the pace to play out wide for us with Klopp's system.

I think it's not just the attack that's lost form at an important time. Szobo has not been that great for us in recent league matches, imo.

We've got to hope these players can find some form sometime soon - because it's not too far from when we'll be losing Salah and Endo.

For me we've got a couple of Dirk Kuyt's and Mo Salah up front these days. Various types of hard toilets that all seem to have significant and different limitations to their games.

A shadow of the dangerous trio of Mane, Salah and Firmino that made anything seem possible.

[The Palace Fan]

Quite torn today. Wins against Chelsea and Brentford would obviously be great given we never beat them as we limp to a 14th place finish this season, but two poor results would likely lead to the board shitting themselves and spending a decent chunk of money in January on the six positions that need reinforcements.

[MUFC]

8 minutes ago, Harry said:

For me we've got a couple of Dirk Kuyt's and Mo Salah up front these days. Various types of hard toilets that all seem to have significant and different limitations to their games.

A shadow of the dangerous trio of Mane, Salah and Firmino that made anything seem possible.

Question for the Liverpool fans. Looking at the Firminho and Mane replacements. Nunez and Diaz, how would you rate them so far?

[Harry]

2 hours ago, MUFC said:

Question for the Liverpool fans. Looking at the Firminho and Mane replacements. Nunez and Diaz, how would you rate them so far?

They've been short of what we hoped for. Diaz has more potential to become what we need than Nunez imo. 

[Danny]

I dont get how people are blaming Onana for those goals. The first is unfortunate but they happen, very difficult to get to the ball when you’re anticipating someone will get a head or leg to it. The second he had no chance.