The TT Football Club

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
Did Euro final not teach them anything? I can understand a keeper being brought on to save a penalty. Stepping up to take one is different. haha and at least Gareth Southgate gave them a couple of minutes. This was first kick of the game. haha Classic Hollywood style ending. Yes, obviously I love it because DDG saved the penalty. Yay.

Sancho influence was there too. He needs to be playing more than 20 minutes/game.
 

Sysyphus

Talk Tennis Guru
Did Euro final not teach them anything? I can understand a keeper being brought on to save a penalty. Stepping up to take one is different. haha and at least Gareth Southgate gave them a couple of minutes. This was first kick of the game. haha Classic Hollywood style ending. Yes, obviously I love it because DDG saved the penalty. Yay.
so stupid you almost have to respect him for it
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
5nilqn.jpg
 

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil

Talk Tennis Guru
Don't know what's the hype about Rice since I haven't seen him much but Fred is like the worst player ever nowadays so any decent upgrade there will do.

ClEaR pEn... :-D The pretty boy should focus on converting those huge open play chances rather than trying to dive his way into a hat trick of penalties, so we don't have to rely on late rescues from De Gea and Lingardinho.

Oh and on that subject...
Why is this meme not in West Ham permanently? :cautious:
I retract this midweek comment.
 

TheAssassin

Legend
Honestly even with De Gea's track record, I had a good feeling when West Ham got cute with subbing Noble on just for the penalty.

Next time don't be lazy and check VAR on both sides, Atkinson. :whistle:
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
Honestly even with De Gea's track record, I had a good feeling when West Ham got cute with subbing Noble on just for the penalty.

Next time don't be lazy and check VAR on both sides, Atkinson. :whistle:

Cristiano Ronaldo has already scored as many PL goals on his return to Man United as Alexis Sanchez and Angel Di Maria managed during their time at the club

:-D
 

Poisoned Slice

Bionic Poster
Tottenham Hotspur is an abject failure of a football club.

Should never have got rid of Terry Venables. Watching your team win the FA Cup in 1991 is one of my earliest football memories. I know he was just like everybody else, he didn't get on with Alan Sugar. lol Before you were born.. Damn. :p
 
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Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
Leave it to Ronaldo to come back and save the pride of wearing number 7 that those guys were determined to ruin.

Best part about him is he's probably dissatisfied with his performance today. Knows he could have had 2 or 3 easily. And that's exactly what he brings to the table. It's just an entire mentality change during games and in the locker room.

I'm always confident United can nick it at the end when he's on the pitch absorbing so much pressure and making teams use considerable resources on him.
 

jmnk

Hall of Fame
news alert! Werner managed o stay on-side rather than running ahead by two yards as he normally would do. He obviously botched the incoming pass - but I say progress??
 

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil

Talk Tennis Guru
This team would be Arsenal tier bad without him though.


I'm a lot less worried about Ronaldo - whose jersey sales alone will pay his fee 10 times over - and more worried about Sancho. That was a big investment and he needs to be playing more than 20 minutes a game at that wage.
U wot, have you seen Arsenal lately? :D

I don't care about his jerseys. 4 down, only 96 to go. And I've got my scapegoating rants ready for anything below that.
 

Feña14

G.O.A.T.
Big fan of Gary Neville, but what was he on during the first half? :laughing:

Sure, Spurs made it difficult with the all out press. Chelsea couldn't really play from the back, but they created one half chance for Son and Chelsea had 3 golden chances at the other end. If the Spurs first half performance was as wonderful as Gary thinks? Teams really are in trouble.

Second half was a blood bath. Could have been 7 if Chelsea weren't trying to pass it in.

Big name next week. Beat Man City and it's a 6 point lead over them. Not decisive in the title race, but a bit of a cushion for when the inevitable dodgy result comes a long would be nice.
 

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil

Talk Tennis Guru
Exactly.

Who would be scoring for United if Ronaldo wasn't here? Martial? :laughing:

Ronaldo the best striker that's been here since RVP.
What exactly? How can our recent third and second place finishes compare to Arsenal's midtable scraps? There is an exaggeration to make a point and then there is this. :D

Well since Ronaldo never had a reputation of a flat track bully, unlike Slug or Ibra occasionally, then let's match RvP. (y)
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
What exactly? How can our recent third and second place finishes compare to Arsenal's midtable scraps? There is an exaggeration to make a point and then there is this. :D

Well since Ronaldo never had a reputation of a flat track bully, unlike Slug or Ibra occasionally, then let's match RvP. (y)

The league was not this good last year, so the second place finish isn't relevant. I am talking about this year and where United would be without Ronaldo's goal scoring prowess.

And honestly the second place finish was not all that impressive to begin with. As I do not personally think United were the 2nd best team in the league last year.

You're reaching on the CR7 hate lol. I don't care about the past. I care about right now. And right now this team needs him. It can't get any worse than the almost 10 years now of pure mediocrity.

The irony is not lost on me either that it is very Arsenal-like to be mentioning 2nd and 3rd place finishes. Who the hell cares about 2nd :-D . Especially 2nd when you lose the league by double digit points.

Are we really going to brag about finishing 3rd when we lost the league by 33 points lmao

If we lose the league that badly (12/33 pts) with Ronaldo then you'll hear me criticize him. But not until then.
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
Don't care about Ronaldo's past I mean.

Ultimately this is my point -


At this point I don't care who is putting on the jersey. It could be a player I despise. If it's going to improve their chances of competing for the top trophies, I am okay with it. After almost 10 years of nothing but moral victories and embarrassing losses I don't care who it has to be to get United back to winning trophies.

The 2nd and 3rd place finishes were never years where United were actual legitimate threats to win the league. So the context of realizing that is important.

If Ronaldo was just joining an already juggernaut team to pad his resume before retirement then maybe I'd feel some type of way given his past and the fact he left the team, not the team leaving him.

But that's not the reality. The reality is we are banking/hoping on him to improve a team that has not won the league in 8 years. Or looked particularly strong in Europe for much of that time.

When I said Arsenal tier bad I mean United would probably be on 6 points too this season without the goal scoring they are getting from Ronaldo already. That's what I meant by Arsenal tier bad.

The other reality is Cristiano picked United over City. And there is something to be said for that. Because City would have been the obvious destination if you're just trying to fluff up the ole resume/trophy count. United is actually a proper challenge to do it given the recent history.

He did care about United enough to spurn City.
 

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil

Talk Tennis Guru
The league was not this good last year, so the second place finish isn't relevant. I am talking about this year and where United would be without Ronaldo's goal scoring prowess.

And honestly the second place finish was not all that impressive to begin with. As I do not personally think United were the 2nd best team in the league last year.

You're reaching on the CR7 hate lol. I don't care about the past. I care about right now. And right now this team needs him. It can't get any worse than the almost 10 years now of pure mediocrity.

The irony is not lost on me either that it is very Arsenal-like to be mentioning 2nd and 3rd place finishes. Who the hell cares about 2nd :-D . Especially 2nd when you lose the league by double digit points.

Are we really going to brag about finishing 3rd when we lost the league by 33 points lmao

If we lose the league that badly (12/33 pts) with Ronaldo then you'll hear me criticize him. But not until then.
Of course they were 2nd best that year. And I'm not bringing up 2nd and 3rd as a bragging point. Just that I'm not going to entertain the comparison with Arsenal when recently they have been as far from our spots as we have been from 1st place.

Edit: Oh you meant this season. Well we already got 7 points out of 9 before his debut. Do we hypothetically lose the last two? I doubt it. Just six lost in the last 57. Draw overload has been our problem for like two years now. If he can fix that in the long run more power to him. Until then he is unproven to me.
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
Of course they were 2nd best that year. And I'm not bringing up 2nd and 3rd as a bragging point. Just that I'm not going to entertain the comparison with Arsenal when recently they have been as far from our spots as we have been from 1st place.

Edit: Oh you meant this season. Well we already got 7 points out of 9 before his debut. Do we hypothetically lose the last two? I doubt it. Just six lost in the last 57. Draw overload has been our problem for like two years now. If he can fix that in the long run more power to him. Until then he is unproven to me.

Depends on if we value the out of league results when we rank the teams I guess. Chelsea did win the Champions League after all. Were United the 2nd best team in the league? Yeah, technically. In reality I feel like that's a stretch. I never felt like they were better than City or Chelsea. Better than Liverpool? Probably but they were injured all year.

But this year with the addition of Ronaldo (and Sancho/Varane etc to be fair) I do think the team can legitimately be the best team or at the very least 2nd best. 2nd best where the league winner is actually in doubt for much of the year too. Not just 2nd in spirit.

And that's saying something because I think the league is much stronger this year than last year. If United earn top 2 this year it will indeed be earned. Not just kind of limped into like last year.

But I will agree anything besides trophies is a disappointment. But that has always been a thing with United.
 

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil

Talk Tennis Guru
Depends on if we value the out of league results when we rank the teams I guess. Chelsea did win the Champions League after all. Were United the 2nd best team in the league? Yeah, technically. In reality I feel like that's a stretch. I never felt like they were better than City or Chelsea. Better than Liverpool? Probably but they were injured all year.

But this year with the addition of Ronaldo (and Sancho/Varane etc to be fair) I do think the team can legitimately be the best team or at the very least 2nd best. 2nd best where the league winner is actually in doubt for much of the year too. Not just 2nd in spirit.

And that's saying something because I think the league is much stronger this year than last year. If United earn top 2 this year it will indeed be earned. Not just kind of limped into like last year.

But I will agree anything besides trophies is a disappointment. But that has always been a thing with United.
Absolutely Chelsea had an immeasurably better season overall. :D I'm just saying in the league alone nobody performed better than us apart from City. Mostly because nobody below was close. That barely snatched 3rd place in 2020 on the last day yeah you can argue easily that was a steal for sure.

It's going to take a huge effort to come out on top in this season as several teams look like champions material. But I also think that we should make all these recent improvements and transfer deals count very soon.
 

TheAssassin

Legend
Don't know what's the hype about Rice since I haven't seen him much but Fred is like the worst player ever nowadays so any decent upgrade there will do.

ClEaR pEn... :-D The pretty boy should focus on converting those huge open play chances rather than trying to dive his way into a hat trick of penalties, so we don't have to rely on late rescues from De Gea and Lingardinho.

Oh and on that subject...

I retract this midweek comment.
You can't be serious that all of the penalty shouts today were unreasonable. When he tried to beat the defenders they stopped him without getting the ball, twice! I know you have grown to not want the guy to score while he was in Madrid but he's our player now so get a grip now while he is trying to achieve things you and all of us are desperate to witness.
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
Absolutely Chelsea had an immeasurably better season overall. :D I'm just saying in the league alone nobody performed better than us apart from City. Mostly because nobody below was close. That barely snatched 3rd place in 2020 on the last day yeah you can argue easily that was a steal for sure.

It's going to take a huge effort to come out on top in this season as several teams look like champions material. But I also think that we should make all these recent improvements and transfer deals count very soon.

Agreed- and I don't need anyone to like Ronaldo. Honestly I don't blame any United fan who doesn't. But I also value what he brings to the table. And think it is sorely needed. I just hope it's enough. We all want to win at the end of the day. We can all agree on that. Trophies or bust.

I will criticize Ronaldo when I need to don't worry about that. But so far I am very impressed with what he has brought to the table. Instant impact we haven't seen in quite some time.
 

Federer and Del Potro

Talk Tennis Guru
You can't be serious that all of the penalty shouts today were unreasonable. When he tried to beat the defenders they stopped him without getting the ball, twice! I know you have grown to not want the guy to score while he was in Madrid but he's our player now so get a grip now while he is trying to achieve things you and all of us are desperate to witness.

The foul right before the Shaw handball especially was about as clear-cut as you can get. I simply don't know what a foul is or isn't anymore at this point.

Did Ronnie embellish a bit on some of the previous penalty shouts? Yeah, a bit. But any striker is going to do that.

2 of the 3 looked like legit fouls to me. With the third being pretty much undeniably a foul. The dude that fouled him looked like a kid that got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Martin Atkinson is like 90 years old so I guess I'll forgive his old eyes.
 

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil

Talk Tennis Guru
You can't be serious that all of the penalty shouts today were unreasonable. When he tried to beat the defenders they stopped him without getting the ball, twice! I know you have grown to not want the guy to score while he was in Madrid but he's our player now so get a grip now while he is trying to achieve things you and all of us are desperate to witness.
And you know why they weren't given? Because our beloved Mr Six Pack only had that in mind, having started falling before contact. You can really ruin even legitimate penalty claims with that. Collapsed against Young Boys too when he could have kept going to potentially score. Maybe I shouldn't be that hard since diving habits are hard to get rid of. But like I said, Lingard and De Gea can only bail us out every now and then. :whistle: Get sucked into this euphoria around him if you want. I won't.
 

bezs

G.O.A.T.
Chelsea are the real deal, just a question of whether the wheels will fall off the Liverpool bus like it did dramatically last season.
 

Poisoned Slice

Bionic Poster
Rudiger is now Cannavaro these days, only not Paolo. He's the big, sexy, awesome one, Don Fabio. Although, it still looked like Zouma had all the answers for West Ham yesterday. Brought back some memories.

@Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil

I only heard just now when I was listening to a podcast. Somebody said rest in peace, Boycie. Awk. Bless his soul.

 

Poisoned Slice

Bionic Poster
Brentford continue to take the challenge on with strength that Norwich and Grant Gabriel could only dream of. In the top half after 5 games. Only 5 goals scored so you think maybe they have the decent start then know their role and pick up few points the remainder of the season. Norwich are relegated already, although still have a chance mathematically. :p

As for the Ronaldo euphoria. Going to be interesting to see how close he gets to the 100. Yesterday, we created better chances for him compared to the Young Boys match. I have the usual concern about other matches going the Young Boys direction. Just before Bruno signed, I was getting ready to join Ole out fan club. Still not convinced the manager and coaches have what it takes but now they have such a good squad to work with compared to what they started with and what came before that. Have to think it is good enough to at least compete for the title now. You know, make it like one of those Formula One races that is close at the end, not one where Chelsea or whoever wins the league end up lapping us twice.

Still an optimist at heart so have the faith.
 
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Poisoned Slice

Bionic Poster
Been reading that Phil Jones will be making his first start in 20 months tomorrow.

Dean Henderson is looking for a loan move in January. I can imagine his reaction when DDG saved the day on Sunday. I'm sure he is happy we won, but on the other hand, I just made a decent pun.
 

Poisoned Slice

Bionic Poster
Wayne Rooney is certainly learning the trade at Derby. Docked 12 points, losing money every month and now bottom of the league. Staff going to lose jobs. etc etc Good luck to them.

Interesting Goldbridge video on now. He's talking about who is the *current* (key word) best manager of the big 3. He's certainly changed his tune, as he does. Yep, we can all change our opinion, ''this is not a dictatorship.'' Can remember back when Tuchel was mentioned as a United manager and he was all, oh noooooooooo. Not anymore.

My current rating is Tuchel > Klopp > Pep
 

Poisoned Slice

Bionic Poster
Plenty of changes tonight. Harry and Bruno getting a rest for the first time since they signed. :alien: Phil Jones only makes the bench. Hoping for Sancho to make the impact.
 

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil

Talk Tennis Guru
Was it really necessary to rotate this much? We don't have the benefit of constantly facing Wimbledon, Oxford and South Park in the cups like City do. Not the end of the world losing in Carabao Cup but still...
 
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