eph12:

Players you will 99% of the time find in the final third are Bruno, sancho, Cavani, Rashford, Pogba, Ronaldo. Are these the players you're referring to as not having the quality to play in the final third?

Pogba was in our half 95% while Dalot and Shaw were in the final third 50% of the time. Dalot was making some good run and dribbling but his passes and crosses were useless. He was always the one mostly going forward. That hole where Bruno should be playing is unnecessarily crowded.

Neimar:
Man Yoo is boring to watch

The man is playing safe football and making Ronaldo, Bruno, Cavani suffer. Their creativity over the years is being killed

eph12:

We were losing to everybody before Ole was sacked, conceding 2+ goals every match. You shouldn't mention that guy to prove any point here

This was how Ole started. Not what we see now from a new coach

olabode89:


We need a clear out, take the losses and build from there.

Maguire, Shaw, Ronaldo, Cavani, Mata, Lingard and Matic should all be offloaded. Maguire is a liability, Luke Shaw is brainless and we need a proper no 9 all these old men wey we get just tire me.

You did not say we need a clear out when Ole was here. Is this not the same team Carrick used to collect 7 points from three big teams?

raumdeuter:
I am waiting the epistle of Riff Rauf Aregbesola the teacher of coaches about Bundesliga immediately after final whistle

Na now we get real PE master

Cavani is unhappy

Mrviktor:
This match be like full time draw again

After bossing the first half.

So annoying

This coach's style puts us at par with small teams.

Looks like defensive duty is being demanded of Bruno. Mass defence and mass attack.

donstan18:

Salah had just one open play goal throughout the knockout stage of that tournament.

Mane carried Liverpool against Bayern.

Liverpool from 3:0 down, knocked Barcelona out without Salah on the pitch.

If you think stat padding against weaklings in group stage means carrying a team to UCL victory, then you need to get a new football brain.

One star/gulder for you

pkasso:
Me just dey shake my head as i read that post. The things you read on here, my brother ehn. .

That is what we lack at United. Forwards who with defensive and midfield abilities. This is why our defenders look poor. Those days, Rooney, Tevez, Park will chase a player back, corner him and helped the defenders disposse him

Jodera:
Is this the job of an attacker or a defender?
I come dey think weda na van dijk you dey talk of...


Na wa for una oooo

When Rooney, Tevez and JS Park were doing these things for United, we won titles. Na eho no know ball dey talk of zones.

afrodoc2:



So why the epistle if you don’t think Mane is carrying Liverpool?

Imagine after all the epistle you agreed with me that Salah is better.

Bros I bow for you o. My post was for those who said Mane was carrying Liverpool.

Which epistle are you referring to? Your comment was longer than mine

afrodoc2:


Very good points but this shalaye is not necessary.

The question i want you to answer is this,

IS MANE CARRYING LIVERPOOL?

Both of them can be credited for that. But there are other 9 players.

This season, Salah seems to be the slightly better player. I don't watch much if Liverpool games ....

Also, the stats don't tell you how far a player travels with the ball. And how quickly. Like the way Ramires used to burst forward.

If one player carries the ball with so much energy, speed and strength for 50 yards and gives it to another who set a pass for a third player for a tap-in goal, the one who ran 50 yards is not rewarded by stats. The latter two get 1 Assist, 1 goal

afrodoc2:



If people don’t like you there is nothing you can do to change their mind.

Check out their EPL stats.

Salah 16 goals
Mane 8 goals

Salah 9 assists
Mane 1 assist

Salah 2.1 key passes per game
Mane 1.1 key key passes per game

Salah 33.4 passes per game
Mane 29.4 passes per game

Salah 79.8% pass success
Mane 74,4% pass success

Salah 0.4 through balls per game
Mane 0.1 through balls per game

Salah 1.9 dribbles per game
Mane 1.5 dribbles per game

Salah scores more, assists more, makes more key passes, makes more through passes, makes more regular passes, has a higher pass success rate, dribbles more.

But somehow it is Mane who is carrying Liverpool.

When it is not weight lifting competition.

Stats don't tell it all. I am not in support of the arguments of who carries Liverpool. Both are good.

Now Mane wins more aerial duels by a far margin

Mane wins more tackles

Mane have more interceptions

He has more clearances

He sprints more.

It goes to show that the coach is using them according to their qualities to the team's benefit. If Mane stays up high the field alone, his attacking stats will go up, but it will cost Liverpool their midfield dominance and might be conceding more goals

GloryIsaac:


In reply to the emboldened.

Salah hasn’t had an ‘off’ season because he’s extremely good at numbers. Something Mane struggles with. He’ll need to put in a lot to deliver like Salah, and yesterday’s AFCON final is a classic example of this.

Mane got multiple chances to score but each chance evaded him (either Gabaski stopped it or his leg just could not reach the ball). Salah was missing in the match, but the one time he had an opportunity to shoot, he would have scored had Mendy not shown quick spatial awareness.

It’s quite funny that a player can be missing for the entirety of a match, and his first shot attempt is a goal.

Another player that’s good at this is Rashford. He gets blasted a lot for poor performances, but his stats tell a different story.

These type of players cause headaches for coaches. Because even when they’re not playing well, the coach knows that somehow they can still register a goal for the team.

Salah’s a great player, no doubt, but he’s mastered the art of racking up numbers whilst doing the least on the pitch. If Mane goes missing in a match, he can’t rack up the numbers to grey out his poor performance.

Well said.

They are two different types of players and Liverpool is lucky to have them at once. Salah plays close to the goal and he is productive there. Mane has the ability to start causing havoc from the deep (far from the goal). He can carry the ball quickly from the deep to the final third to those who can do better justice with it, and he too is part of those who kill the opponents in the final third.

Specialists who play close to the goal will always have more stats. But I don't watch football that way. I respect 'space creators' like Hazard was in Chelsea.

Rooney, who famously had a public spat with Sir Alex Ferguson in 2010 after questioning their transfer policy, said: “You could see after 2011; Ronaldo left in 2009, Tevez left and after that you could see it was going to go backwards before it can move forwards.

The dream team: Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney at Man Utd
“That’s what I could see and that’s why I was asking the questions. Unfortunately, they probably still haven’t recovered from that to this day.

“It wasn’t a great team in 2013. For us to win that League title was a miracle, really, I think.

“A massive part of it was Van Persie. I think him coming in gave everyone a lift, coming in at number nine, scoring the goals he scored.

“That was a bit of a masterstroke from the manager, to bring him in and have him hungry because he was a bit older as well. He really carried us that season.”

Source: The Mirror

timay1:


His current tactics is good in the long run. He's making the team play more as a team. The present predicament we are facing now is just conversion and some key players refusing to make the right decisions at the right moments for easy goals.

Against a championship 7th placed team, it is easy to say this

Sebi na this Mane and Salah some guys spent months arguing with me two years ago that we have better forwards in Rashford and Martial. All for the sake that Mourinho must go and the blame must be midfield.

I remember in 2014 or 2015, someone here asked me 'how is Mane an upgrade on Lingard and Perreira'

The United board has brought us this low. They always were able to secure 3rd, 4th, 5th choice of the coaches transfer targets. The transfer market also is unfair to Manchester. United. This was why Ole DNA appealed to the board.

It looks like Ghegen manager is not playing to the favour of Ronaldo, Cavani and Bruno. Goals are now more likely to come from other team members.

What about this solo goal vs Fulham that was crucial in the late weeks of the title race of 2006/2007. he took the ball from our own half


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTHVc7NHyuk

Cristiano Ronaldo sends Portugal to World Cup with hat trick against Sweden


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdVxpuPhFmA

Given 1,000 years, no Ronaldo's team mates can jump like this


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AunImole9HI

vs Chelsea in the UCL final, here selfish Ronaldo suppressing his teammates


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbyxtqzg_wI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPSCfk6Ym7A

This was how he suppressed his team mates vs Porto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gW9Q66UWcU

when he was suppressing teams mates. UCL vs Arsenal


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVE0wFu6Ntg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC_XihZGPEg

when Ronaldo was suppressing team mates

KingTom:

I disagree, Martial score wetin?

He was our top scorer in 2015/2016 when we did not have Ibrahimovic, Rashford, Lukaku, Greenwood, Ighalo, Cavani, Lukaku.

Just as Benzema is now shining when the real men have gone.