PBP: Man Utd vs. Leicester (BPL) - May 1, 2016

We will lose.

 

For all the talk about Leicester being very motivated to win the title this weekend, United have just as much motivation of their own:
-They have to win, for starters. In order to keep any hopes of making the top 4 alive, they have to get it done, period.
-They don't want a team winning the title at Old Trafford, there's just no way. Despite everything that has gone down, United is a proud team and they'll do what it takes to not let it happen.
-Positive that Van Gaal and the guys who were there, have not forgotten about the debacle of last season at the KP, especially after that joke of a pk from Clattenburg for Vardy's dive.

 

Not a chance we allow them to win the PL on our ground.

 

How far do 'allow' get you?

 

There's a ton of things we wouldn't have "allowed" clubs to do if it were simply a choice.

However, I agree with the sentiment.

I don't want OT going down as the final setting for the end of some other clubs "historic journey" with United there in a circumstantial cameo role.

 

United have stepped up in games like this most of the season, it games against teams 10th or less that we suck more than a pornstar.

 

We'll get the win over Leicester City. It's Andy Carroll and his hammer squad mates who worry me.

 

Hoping we delay the title celebrations for another game. Would sure be something if Drinkwater and Simpson were able to win a title at Old Trafford though.

 

Bizarre would be putting it mildly.

“The players who are now playing, they are not used to being champions,” said Van Gaal.

“I don't think Matteo Darmian is used to being a champion and David De Gea was never champion, so I don't agree with the way you make the question.

“Memphis Depay was a champion last year [with PSV Eindhoven] so not many players... Rooney, Carrick, they have been the champions once, or maybe more than once.

“But you have to see always the situation of where the club is, and we have seen that we are in a transitional period, and when I was mentioned as the coach, it was also about that we discussed.​

WTF?

The man has had a long and glorious career but he needs to be put out to pasture.

 

Agree with it being time for him to go, but don't think he meant it as a personal attack on the named players. I just believe he was saying that the players in question were not yet part of the Old Trafford mystique and that their participation against Leicester would not be aided by experience of playing on a dominant United side at home. Ironically, it was aimed at the breaking down of the aura of invincibility at home that he helped create.

 

Nope, he's just looking for excuses and has been blaming the players for almost half a season now.

 

The Dutch directness is understandable in his interviews, but his lack of knowledge of the club and EPL is not. DDG has won the EPL with us and Roon/Carrick no less than five times not once (swing and a miss).

The guy has his Ajax playbook and his Dutch stubbornness which in his case goes to an extreme depth. It works with some younger players but grates with older ones and certain personalities. The guy has a shelf-life as his career indicates and having failed to adjust his approach to the EPL, his shelf-life expired many months ago as the sourness in his interviews indicates.

 

Van Gaal put his foot in his mouth when he claimed the team lacked champions as it clearly is not the case. What he should have said if he wanted to go there is that we lack guys with "champions" mentality: one of the things that has become painfully clear this season is that the team sorely lacks heart and fighting spirit.
And more than likely, that issue starts with Van Gaal himself and the way how we see he's carrying himself, especially during games. He may be different in the locker room or in training but the figure he cuts during games is really not that inspiring and a team's attitude does, more often than not, take it's cue from the manager.
So many times, we've seen the team capitulate and just give up, something that would have been impossible under SAF. That's why I really believe that players mentality and spirit are elements just as important as their talent to look for in prospective players we are looking to bring at the club. But even more crucially, it is vital that the next manager is a guy who has the ability and charisma to inspire and truly lead the team and instill that spirit back in the team.
That fighting spirit and never give up mentality is just as important and part of the makeup of the club to me as entertaining and attacking play is and it's something that has been missed in recent years.

 

The wait for this season to end is borderline agonizing.

 

Seriously. I just want to get to the part where we don't get 4th and call it a season.

 

I don't follow this proffered train of logic.

He's just wrong on the facts. Most of our regular starters actually have long resumes of winning trophies. Rooney and Carrick have to be around 4 or 5 each. De Gea, one for sure. Bastian, several plus a World Cup trophy. Smalling, Jones, Valencia and Young, at least one. Memphis, one or two in the Dutch league.

Watch trophy haul mystique enabled Leicester City to win the league trophy this season? Or Spurs to come in second?

Van Gaal was searching for excuses to deflect criticism of his poor management over the last two season and he failed miserably.

 

All of our players except two Rooney and De Gea did not play a big part in winning championships. They have no winning mentality, grit, determination because they have relied on the successes of their "mentors" who still played a major part in the last title.
I get where LVG is coming from, but he had two facts wrong and did not explain well his thoughts. Even the last title we won De Gea's first does not mean all of a sudden De Gea comes from the line of being a champion.

When I here winning mentality, champions, etc... I am talking about Rio Vida Lampard Terry Drogba Viera Henry and more have won multiple titles with their respective teams at the time.

 

I'd add Schweini to that list obviously and Carrick as well. But I do agree, in retrospect, that it sounds very likely that something was "lost in translation" so to speak and he probably meant something else and not insult his players that way.
After all, we do hear him talk and it's amazing to me how broken his English still is, especially for someone who knew the language somewhat way before he came to United.

 

Only perhaps on Carrick??

 

Along with all the other factors mentioned, "payback" so to speak for the 5-3 defeat should be a big motivator for a lot of the guys who were there.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/man-utd-leicester-vardy-dive-11254512

 

I'm sure this disqualifies me from being a top red, but at this point I don't give a damn if we win or not tomorrow. I don't care about 4th place because unless there's a major change this summer both in management and our playing squad, we won't be doing ******** all in the CL anyway. And I don't trust Ed Woodward to pull it off anyway.

Who gives a ********.

 

I want Leicester to win at Old Trafford in front of the world's media and consigning us to finishing outside of 4th as the ultimate ******** you to LvG, our squad, Woodward, the Glazer family, our bottom line, our share price, our apologist fans...