Hooray for mourinho! Pt 2

Chuffola

deano said:

some waffle to defend himself

I might be wrong here but didn't you say "Anyone for a chorus of “The Sun were right, you’re murderers"?"

Seems a rather pathetic way to make a point about Heysel, which any self-respecting Liverpool fan is well aware of.

Anyway, back on track...

I'd love to see Ajax beat Man U in the final, primarily because of the turgid rubbish that Mourinho plays which just seems to go against the whole history of the club. I'm pretty sure Fergie is seething at the way the team is set up - especially against the bigger clubs. With the money available to Mourinho and his experience, I'd really expected him to play some attacking football. But, no, he just prefers to play Fellaini and hoof it about.

thecolourbox

Chuffola said:

 love to see Ajax beat Man U in the final, primarily because of the turgid rubbish that Mourinho plays which just seems to go against the whole history of the club. I'm pretty sure Fergie is seething at the way the team is set up - especially against the bigger clubs. With the money available to Mourinho and his experience, I'd really expected him to play some attacking football. But, no, he just prefers to play Fellaini and hoof it about.

Not necessarily disagreeing with you to be honest as there is a type of football you'd probably associate with Man Utd but then there have been times before when they've not played like that. Also interestingly, Man Utd were probably the best opposition team I've seen at the Albion this season, Man City not far behind.

Chelsea on the other hand, last night basically just hoofed it about and tried long distance shots that were miles wide and were overall very disappointing.

Not to mention their "fans", but that's a different discussion entirely

earwighoney

thecolourbox said:

 Not necessarily disagreeing with you to be honest as there is a type of football you'd probably associate with Man Utd but then there have been times before when they've not played like that. Also interestingly, Man Utd were probably the best opposition team I've seen at the Albion this season, Man City not far behind.

As a WBA fan are you pleased with the season?  I'm pleased to see Tony Pulis do well this year, he's a manager I have a lot of admiration for - he's an old school stalwart for his character and his tactics.  

IMO he gets a lot of shit for playing defensive football unfairly; different tactical approaches are what makes the game interesting - seeing attacking react/adjust to different oppositions is far more interesting than seeing homogenous defending and set ups.  Aside from using tactics to frustrate the opposition I think TP made some solid signings this season, Chadli etc

I saw the end of the West Brom Chelsea game last night and WB were unlucky, Chelsea definitely had an air of smash and grab to it. 

ourmaninthenorth

Lifelong United supporter. First game attended 1974...

Football on a thursday fookin night is not my idea of success...

I'd prefer my side to get competitive with their domestic opponents again, rather than vaingloriously chasing  second grade European glory which, to be honest, would flatter them. 

Champions League football, through the back door no less, may just very well teach us how far behind our European opponents we actually are. 

I wouldn't pay for half the football I've seen in the last three seasons, in the whole PL, in bloody washers...

thecolourbox

earwighoney said:

thecolourbox said:

 Not necessarily disagreeing with you to be honest as there is a type of football you'd probably associate with Man Utd but then there have been times before when they've not played like that. Also interestingly, Man Utd were probably the best opposition team I've seen at the Albion this season, Man City not far behind.

As a WBA fan are you pleased with the season?  I'm pleased to see Tony Pulis do well this year, he's a manager I have a lot of admiration for - he's an old school stalwart for his character and his tactics.  

IMO he gets a lot of shit for playing defensive football unfairly; different tactical approaches are what makes the game interesting - seeing attacking react/adjust to different oppositions is far more interesting than seeing homogenous defending and set ups.  Aside from using tactics to frustrate the opposition I think TP made some solid signings this season, Chadli etc

I saw the end of the West Brom Chelsea game last night and WB were unlucky, Chelsea definitely had an air of smash and grab to it. 

Yeah I think a scoreless draw would have been fair last night really, but they were always going to win as we were never going to score.

Re our season, yeah it's been fine really, I'm happy with him in charge as we couldn't really get anybody better. If we tried to play open passing football with the quality (or lack of) we have we'd get murdered every week. His signings have been mixed but we've definitely had some more quality this year which has resulted in us playing better counter attacking football this year and up to when we beat Arsenal we were scoring a decent amount of goals. Signings like Evans, Matt Phillips and Alan Nyom have been great, others such as Chadli, Robson-Kanu (this season) and people like James Chester in previous seasons have been largely indifferent. Chadli has been a waste of space most the time, clearly talented with the ball at his feet but he can't pass or shoot and has largely contributed nothing...

menamestom

Chuffola said:

deano said:

some waffle to defend himself

Anyway, back on track...

I'm pretty sure Fergie is seething at the way the team is set up 

Fergie did exacly the same when required.  I remember us beating Arsenal to end their unbeated run and the tactic was to kick Arsenal out of the game.  It happened loads over the years, if Fergie needed to win by being defensive that's what he did.   The playing field is more level now, United have lost the advantage with regards to relative wealth and I'm sure Fergie would not be trying to 'attack, attack, attack' were he in charge now.
Similarily, Mourhinio has had us playing some nice attacking football this year at times, bar a few of the big away games, but finishing rather than tactics have let us down.

menamestom

BigBearKris said:

Europa League is just a poor man's trophy unfortunately. 
I guess in old days UEFA Trophy was a bit more prestigious. 
No disrespect to Utd - all the best in the Final.

Bearing in mind the performance of English teams in the CL in the last few years it's a lot more important than it ought to be.  Also, Champions League place aside it's one United have never won, so it would complete the records in some respects.  But yeah, it's the Thursday Cup really

joeyowen

All of us United fans are aware its a second string cup, we aren't proud of being in it, but we want to win it... Cl entry is a big part of that. 

I'm a little nervous about coming up against the elite if we are in cl next year. We don't need another wake up call, but we might get one 

earwighoney

joeyowen said:

All of us United fans are aware its a second string cup, we aren't proud of being in it, but we want to win it... Cl entry is a big part of that. 

In the words of Eric Cantona

"When you are a rich man you are proud to own a Rolls Royce and when you are a poor man you are proud to own a Renault"

earwighoney

menamestom said:

Also, Champions League place aside it's one United have never won, so it would complete the records in some respects.  But yeah, it's the Thursday Cup really

The greatest prize of winning the Europa League is not having to play in the Europa League.

joeyowen

Wooooooo

starwarsnosebleed

What a dire game. Im not sure either team knew it was a cup final.

quarky

Great win. Onwards and upwards!

joeyowen

starwarsnosebleed said:

What a dire game. Im not sure either team knew it was a cup final.

To be fair, finals are often like that 

But we're united, you didn't expect excitement did you? 

Legionreturns

starwarsnosebleed said:

What a dire game. Im not sure either team knew it was a cup final.

Cup finals are rarely anything but dull. Too much to lose to play expansive, attacking football.

Congrats to any United fans. Silverware is silverware

axisus

Yayyyyyy! Win for Man U. The season is no longer a disaster. Hoping for better things next season. Pretty dull (but effective) football, I'll take it for now but I expect better stuff next time around.

menamestom

I thought Ajax passed the ball about really well.  Obviously United had the gameplan and experience but I think Ajax were the better football team, the way they closed down in 3's was reminiscent of Barcelona, even if the end product wasn't.

But very happy to win tonight, not the best season, but a nice way to end it.  Back in the Champions League and also a Super Cup to look forward to.  Not bad for a club in decline 

Brad

A win is a win and a trophy is a trophy, more importantly getting into the Champions League next season. The game wasn't great, but neither was the 96 FA Cup final!

Going forwards Mourinho is going to have to change his approach or at least get his players sticking the ball in the net on a regular basis. 

Bidley

It would've been nice for Ajax to win, but given current events in Manchester I'm not complaining.

menamestom

Bidley said:

It would've been nice for Ajax to win, but given current events in Manchester I'm not complaining.

Hopefully they can keep their team together because they are young, hungry and exciting.  I think the experience will do them well but part of me thinks they are now just in the shop window for the bigger clubs (When I say bigger I mean financially only - Ajax have massive European pedigree).

Considering no player cost over 10 Million, or only one, they made some of our expensive stars look ordinary.

They will definitely lose Traore, he's on loan from Chelsea and was their best player last night - no doubt he'll be recalled after that season and performance last night.