Morata must toughen up; should Mourinho take more flak for derby loss?

Arsenal fans are split on selling Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez next month and is it the players or Jose Mourinho to blame at Manchester United? Our forum…

 

Join in the debate here…

 

‘Sell Sanchez and Ozil in January’

I can promise you i haven’t gone mad(yet),but i’d sell sanchez and ozil next month.why?simple,they are knowhere near performing like they
did this time last year.look at sanchez.only 4 goals so far this season.

I bet without even looking back to this time last year he scored a lot more.i don’t care what anyone says,transfer talk and their FUTURE must and in my opinion have an effect on their game and performances(or lack of them).ozil has given us,what,one big game this season against the spuds.

it’s only human nature that both players minds will be on their agents talking to other clubs from next month and i can’t see where that benefits us at
all.i hate to lose them but if they want out then i’d do it now rather than later.

We have to face the facts that these two players no longer want to be gooners and i’d rather prepare for it and get some money for them now,
than get bugger all in the summer giving wenger/gazidis more excuses we haven’t got money to replace them.sanchez is our best player but if every gooner was
honest he hasn’t been this season.

steve68

 

‘I’d rather see him in an Arsenal shirt for another 6 months’

Completely disagree mate. Sanchez isn’t getting as many goals because he’s not playing as the main striker, but he’s been in great form this season.

As for Oz, I love him when he plays like he did against the Spuds and Man U and, when he does, he makes everyone around him play well too – he just doesn’t do it consistently enough although he was one of our better players against Soton, even though that’s not saying much.

But I really don’t get why anyone cares about what fees we get. With Oz, not really fussed whether he stays or goes but with Sanchez, I’d much rather see him in an Arsenal shirt for another 6 months than see another few million quid earning interest in the bank. The money is already there to replace them, whether we get anything for them or not.

Al The Gooner

 

Sell them both

I’m with Steve on this one, they are not performing well enough often enough and they WILL go, we WONT win the PL this season so why keep them?

Its not our money no BUT with our board and manager losing say £100m for both on Jan is HUGE and WILL affect what we are willing to spend on replacing them (not that i have the faith they would be replaced well anyway)

made a comment on the main page, no other really big or top team would go from an invicbles season to no PL win since…gross mis management from board and manager, AW wont last much longer but the board will 🙁

steveosnakeeye

 

CL qualification worth more to Arsenal

We wouldn’t get 20mil a piece for them In jan. Now if they stay and they contribute to us finishing inside cl spots then we would get more money qualifying for that than selling both in jan. it makes no difference if we sell them in jan or let them go at end of season.

And from a playing point of view we are better with both in the squad than not. Just look at the alternatives to them and tell me who in that squad would do a better job than Sanchez? Ozil can be replaced but even still do you think Wenger would do the right thing there? Probably not so I don’t see the point in selling them now, just let them get on with it.

AndyC

 

Morata debate

I like Morata a lot – really classy, skilful player. BUT he needs to start burying more of these chances. Great with his head, but I think he’s only scored a couple of times with his feet, which is concerning. His shooting is way off a lot of the time, and if Michy had been missing these we’d be crucifying him.

 BlueLion

Morata needs to ‘toughen up’

But what do you expect? Morata is a very different type of player than Costa. And this is his first season as a main striker. He was used more as super sub in Juve and Madrid. So even though we’re frustrated so far, I think he exceeds expectation.

Sure he needs to toughen up, this is Premier League, not Serie A, not La Liga. Defenders are rough here. My concern of Morata is that he often can’t finish off the chances he’s got. Costa: 1 chance 1 goal. Morata: not really, he often misses a sitter. And this IMO has to change.

aindro

 

‘We have to appreciate what we have’

Well, he has his shortcomings for sure but who would you say is better than him at the moment among the top six? Kane and Aguero may be? if you happened to visit the United page, they are discussing the most expensive flop ‘ oaf’ the ever had and it’s someone most of us were disappointed not to get!

We have to appreciate what we got in Morata for now. if anything we can improve on, it’s helping both him and Hazard by playing attack minded midfielders/wingers rather than keep playing 7 defensive players all the time ( Cahill, Chris, Azpi, Zappa, Alonso, Kante, Baka )it makes sense to play this formation against Barca for example, but against West Ham, Palace??

Zizi

 

‘His goal output has to improve’

Lets not forget that for the last season (or 2) Morata has NEVER played a full season. He came on as a bit part player so very fresh which is potentially why his goal stats always looked so good…?

Massive change for him to play in the EPL and be expected to lead the line in all games…?

I am still very pleased that we got him and feel he is a different and better type of player than Costa – but regardless of any excuses that I may be able to offer for him his job is to put the ball in the back of the net or at the very least get efforts on target. This side of his game has to improve. KTBFFH

CFC1905

 

Liverpool to get over Everton hangover

Perfect opportunity to get over the Everton hangover.

West Brom haven’t won away since their first away game of the season at Burnley. They are level on points with West Ham who are third from bottom. They’re desperate for points. Could be a awkward game if they copy Everton’s blueprint.

I expect a strong line-up to get the three points. Bobby and Phil to both come in (as per my last post surely that should’ve been the case for Chelsea and Everton) and help us create better opportunities. Like I said, could be awkward, but expect a good win.

Migs, TAA, Lovren, Klavan, Robertson, Can, Wij, Coutinho, Mane, Salah and Firmino.

Rob Fort Worth TX

 

Salah or Mane to be rested?

I can see Salah or mane rested for this

Can’t stand pardew. He’s done well againest us recently. We have to get over Sunday quickly

Our best team does not consist of a midfield of hendetson and Milner

The team that started yday should have been the team that started against wba

Sean the sailor

 

Klopp too ‘stubborn’

Klopps too stubborn to play his ‘strongest team’ i expect Salah and Mane to be on the bench. Which i really hope isn’t the case.

SM, JG, DL, RK, AR, JH, EC, GW, PC, RF, AOC

I really hope he plays full strength but i really cant see it.

YNWA1983

 

Why did Mourinho change a winning team?

I’m still wondering why Mourinho changed the winning team, winning formation and winning system on Sunday. The 3-5-2 wing back system that so effectively destroyed Watford and Arsenal was completely disregarded.

Ok so Pogba wasn’t available but surely Herrera could have slotted into that 3-5-2 system?
If you were to choose a team in the league that plays most like City you’d probably say Arsenal, albeit not as good. So why was the formation changed?

At first I thought it was down to a master plan that Jose had designed to keep De Bruyne and Silva in total lock down whilst starving the service to Jesus. But, within a few minutes, it became pretty clear that the only plan for Silva and De Bruyne was to give them as much space as possible anywhere on the pitch without any kind of marking or thought to stop supply going into them. Bizarre

happyhurling

 

Players or the manager?

If Pep managed us we might improve in certain areas and generally be better to watch but we would still be miles short of the elite teams because the squad is full of sh*t players mate.He inherited a far superior squad at City than we currently have and yet couldn’t get them higher than third and 15 points off first place last year.Its taken him another 200M plus to get them firing like they are now.
I also happen to think that he did a pretty piss poor job at Bayern considering he inherited a treble winning squad,spent shedloads more on new players yet couldn’t even get them to one ECL final in his three years there.Sure he won the Bundesliga every year but that’s a given especially considering that your biggest rivals hand you their best players every year and no-one else can even remotely compete financially.

Blacky

 

We were ‘very lucky’ against Arsenal

@happyhurling – I think he changed the system because, despite the 3-1 win over Arsenal, we were very lucky to get that result as they gifted us two goals early on and if it wasn’t for De Gea’s masterclass I highly doubt we would’ve won that match.

The system worked on Sunday with regards to defending – we contained them well and only gave away some unlucky / stupid goals; offensively we didn’t offer enough as we have Lukaku up front who can’t do it alone and our wingers were very much isolated due to wing backs staying back.

I think Mourinho was aiming to contain them and sit back in the first half then attack them in the 2nd half (which looked like it might’ve worked as the 2nd half started however their early 2nd half goal changed the plan completely). Couple that with Pogba (our most important player for Sunday’s match if he played) being unavailable and the ref bottling it big time and we just weren’t gonna win that match.

Personally I think the blame is two-fold; Mourinho plays way too conservatively in big matches which has cost us big time against Chelsea and City recently however the players (bar a few exceptions) haven’t shown enough consistency week in week out to justify us going to Stamford Bridge or the Etihad and attacking teams which, I personally think, are better than us.

Sympathy for the Devils

 

Players or Mourinho to blame?

Generally I would say the players, there are too many decent, solid squad players around the fringes of the first team and we need more quality there. A year and a half in though Mourinho has to take some of the blame for that.

There’s no question for me though that Mourinho got done like a kipper by Guardiola on Sunday and not just because they have better players. He was outwitted pure and simple.

I also think his reaction after the game storming in to the City dressing room was a farce and undignified. Imagine Fergie in that situation?

“Now you listen to those bastards in there and you feel ashamed you’ve let them have the right to behave like that in our stadium, in our home. Listen to the sound of the bastards. Never again. Never ever again.”

Team talk and motivation for the season sorted. Seeing their manager behaving like a slapped arse and walking back in covered in milk is no way for a grown man to earn respect. If he’d walked in and stuck the nut on Guardiola I might have thought differently.

WonderfuelGas

 

Fergie learned from ‘pizzagate’

Fergie learned his lesson from Pizzagate, I reckon he would have had them well before they could reach the food & drink table.

As for the “Never again” speech, I reckon they’d have stared at him and when he’d finished, said in a Manuel voice …… “Que?”

I agree with your sentiment though, that was Fergie’s mastery, the ability to inspire passion into his players.

And it raises the question of team captain and leaders.

MacGuffin

 

’87 points usually wins the league’

We are currently on course to gather 87 points this season. All of this with Pogba and Bailly sustaining extended injuries and suspensions. 87 points usually wins the league.

It’s easy to use Manchester City Guardiola as a stick to beat Manchester United and Mourinho with but the fact is they have set the bar extremely high, for me that’s all down to Manchester City’s superior business practices. They have the best academy facilities in the world and have invested in tonnes of infrastructure. The appointed a director of football years ago and have constantly bought good players for years. Guardiola was the final icing on the cake to complete a vision that was conceived years ago by the Sheikhs.

We will watch them win at least 100 points and they will break the scoring records and it will be painful but let’s not forget that we finished 6th last year and are now a much more competitive side although we will fall short.

In short, the player recruitment strategy is not good enough – we are not shopping in the same bracket as Man CIty, PSG etc. Add to that, we also seem to skimp on staff wages and other aspects of the football club. Mourinho has made a few tactical mistakes but he is virtually faultless in general at the top tier of football management. Managers don’t get much better than Mourinho, I doubt many can score 2.25 points per game with our current squad.

hatters