Amorim left Man Utd star to ‘die’ and ‘devoid’ Red Devil ‘needs holiday’; eight ‘reasons to hate’ Arsenal
The Mailbox reckons Ruben Amorim is leaving one Manchester United star out to dry. Also, an Aston Villa fan reveals his eight âreasons to hateâ ArsenalâŠ
Send your thoughts to [email protected]âŠ
Amorim time â how much is there?
Appreciate as ever Will Ford trying to dig some controversy out of the most mundane of matches, but personally Iâm still not losing faith in Amorim. The first half was dire, up there with peak LVG. Leicester had more energy, remained extremely compact and pressed very well â one time resulting in a pretty lucky goal. For their part United looked like they couldnât be bothered, and significantly the OT crowd matched that energy.
But there are two halves to football. And United utterly dominated the second. Leicester were, predictably, unable to keep up the energy levels for 90 minutes, and United slowly increased the pressure until it always felt like only one team would win. Garnacho could have had at least 2 more, there were about 5 dangerous cutbacks that just didnât fall right and Amad had his full back on toast for the last 30 minutes. I donât believe Leicester touched the ball in Unitedâs box the entire second half.
There are still many, many things to address, and Amorimâs frank and honest comments show that he knows heâs not doing well enough. Mainoo brought real canât be bothered to go out Friday night energy (big respect, I feel it too) and was rightly hauled off. We have our first ever LWB and he was played at RWB while attacks continued to go to Dalot to die on his weaker foot. Hojlund needs a holiday or something, he looked utterly devoid of anything a footballer needs.
But, Zirkzee was great again, Garnacho could realistically be the best impact sub at present in the Prem, and the three summer signings (Yoro, Ugarte and Mazza) were the best players on the pitch.
Weâll see by the end of the weekend â after a ridiculously busy few months of football â how many other teams with European commitments are feeling about their performance in the FA Cup, and if United are the ones who should be most worried.
Ryan, Bermuda (no VAR was bloody wonderful, also that refâs interpretation of fouls is so different from a pedant like Oliverâs it might as well be a different sport)
MORE ON MAN UTD VS LEICESTER CITY
đ Man Utd awful again as Amorim ploughs on with bizarre tactics in lucky Leicester win
đ Keane brands Amorim call âunfairâ in âboringâ and âshockingâ Man Utd win over Leicester
For Christâs sake, why is Amorim still playing Dalot? He does nothing on the pitch. Reminds me of EtH playing Antony every day, with Sancho and Amad on the bench.
Tunji, Lagos
âŠand thatâs why we have VAR â So that games are decided within the rules of the game, and not because some misplaced assistant referee couldnât be arsed to watch another 30 minutes of this turgid crap that would have embarrassed most League 1 teams.
Tom K
Spurs destined to stay in bottom half
After watching Liverpool destroy Spurs, it brought to mind the irony of how the two clubs are managed. The Spurs that started the data ârevolutionâ under Comolli but then subsequently eschewed this approach, only for FSG to bring Comolli on board, and the rest is history. Of course, Liverpool has been pilloried for taking a data-first approach but is sticking to it as it works. When selecting Slot, one of the data points used was the amount of time lost (or not) to his playersâ injuries, which reflected his training and playing style. Clearly, that was never considered when Spurs picked up Big Ange.
This gets me to all those pieces saying Liverpool (or their fans) were transfer window losers.
See above for the first point. Liverpool or Slot have managed to keep the squad generally available. Theyâve suffered injuries throughout the season but have two decent to great choices in most positions and have managed to keep one available at all times.
Liverpool has also focused on amping up their academy game over the years â including Kloppâs request to have them in the same facility as the first team and generally train and play the way the first team does, so they can seamlessly slot in (no pun intended) when needed. But the use of academy players is also another reason there is no need to make snap calls on transfers for players that may only be marginally better, and possible need time to acclimatise to the league â while making the academy playerâs route to the first team harder.
And it really is all about the outstanding contracts of three crucial players. Without knowing which ones will stay, but knowing it will cost a lot to replace a player capable of filling in their shoes. With PSR, best to really understand what they need. Besides, if Salah were to leave, Slot may decide a very different approach and look for a true #10, which Liverpool havenât really used in the last decade.
The vast majority of Liverpool fans understand this. So while we like a funky high-profile transfer like any fan does, we are not disappointed.
Circling back to my first point. One of the reasons for Spurs dismal failure in the transfer market falls back on Levy. Heâs the guy Spurs fans should be most pissed at. He had the chance to differentiate Spurs transfer policy but threw it away. Likely because he wants to be the main man and didnât want some underling showing him all the reasons his choice would fail. Since then we have seen teams like Brighton, Brentford â in fact most EPL teams â using similar practices to Liverpool.
Spurs are destined to stay bottom half of the table if they donât change their transfer game. Big Ange is only the current scapegoat.
Paul McDevitt
Iâm not sure Ange gets sacked on Sunday/Monday. Dr Tottenham does enjoy a Villa retreat for some recovery time annoyingly regularly.
Gary AVFC, Oxford
MORE POSTECOGLOU SACK COVERAGE ON F365âŠ
đ Tottenham fixtures ranked by likelihood of resulting in Ange Postecoglou sack
đ Postecoglou remains Sack Race favourite despite Spurs winning actual Premier League game
đ Who will be the next manager of Tottenham after Ange Postecoglou?
Reasons to hate ArsenalâŠ
Thereâs been plenty written on these pages already and I didnât intend to join in the pile on, but Paul K â you got me hook, line and sinker.
Hereâs my reasons for hating Arsenal right now:
Constant chatter about VAR conspiracies against them when, in fact, itâs just as sh*t for everyone else.
Coining the idea of the âCelebration Policeâ when they react to winning football matches. Why the f*** do you even care what anyone else thinks about how much you celebrate??? Small time mentality.
Having a manager who manages to find an excuse for any result that isnât a win as heâs unable to acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, the better team won. VAR, poor refereeing, a different ball (!!!) â just some of the absolute chestnuts produced.
Having a manager who is unable to stay within his teamâs technical area â a minor one but FFS, just STAY IN YOUR GODDAMN BOX.
Making it publicly known that they made a bid for our main striker just HOURS before the last CL group match, a match which we needed to win in order to have any chance of making the top 8. Utterly classless. Do you think Mikel would be pleased if someone did that for one of his players? It would be, and I quote, âa DISGRACIAâ.
Not getting said striker and then describing him as âsecond tierâ. Literally the equivalent of being knocked back by a woman and then saying ânever liked her anywayâ. What tier would you class your own strikers at, Paul K? Zero? Ghost? NON-EXISTANT??? Donât try to make out that you wouldnât be creaming yourself if you managed to land Ollie, youâre fooling no one.
Thinking that a kid (albeit a very talented one) is going to have a more successful career than a now established England striker. A striker who has scored 81 PL goals for Villa and provided over 100 assists is clearly inferior to a young lad whoâs been around for 5 minutesâŠ.
Putting yourself in the same bracket as Liverpool and Man City despite having done absolutely f*** all since an FA Cup win 5 years ago. Arrogance beyond belief, only without any kind of success to back it up.
Iâm not saying that this applies to all Arsenal fans â some of them do actually make sensible and reasonable points, some even right here in the comments section (looking at you, Kryten). But it does âseemâ like there is a ridiculous amount of the fanbase who are utterly delusional and itâs THAT lot that make Arsenal boil my piss.
Jeff G, West Brom Villan (Seriously hoping they get Michael Oliver for every remaining fixture this season. Just because.)
READ:Â Ranking the PL Big Eight by chance of signing Harry Kane in 2026
Worrying double standardsâŠ
Listening to a recent podcast I was reminded about a very sad double standard we see repeat over and over in the English media & in wider football discourse. F365 being a more conscientious site than most in the sport, I hope this isnât ignored.
Myles Lewis-Skelly, a prodigious and remarkable 18 year old makes his debut, gets a bit from Haaland (as does Gabriel, Jesus and Arteta), fast forward to Sunday and we see MLSâ response. Hilarious stuff and all round something I personally would love to see more of in the modern game. Personality.
Comparing the fallout from these respective events, especially when we consider Vardyâs hilarious antics not too long ago, Grealish in the past, itâs hard not to see a concerning pattern. Vinicius Jr, Sterling, Rashford, Pogba and now MLS all receive bizarre and completely out of proportion criticism.
Talksport literally fantasising about an 18 year old having his leg broken/career ruined for example, Gary Neville & Jamie Carragher both calling MLS disrespectful etc. Any great minds out there care to explain the pattern here?
Gan (Southgate NL)
Fixture nonsense
Liverpoolâs league cup final has created quite a weird fixture anomaly. Five tough premier league games in 14 days. Followed by just one league game (Southampton) between Feb 26 and Apr 2. Basically a month off the league in the middle of the season, and weâll go from having a game in hand on Arsenal to having played one more than them after the Villa game.
It makes these five games feel even more important. In the dynamics of a league race if we can keep the 9 point gap it keeps Arsenal at arms reach and less of of a feeling of it being a race at all â drop a few and suddenly everything opens up again in April. Thatâs all to say, I think the next five games are the most important weâll play all season.
RM, USA
READ:Â Big Weekend: Birmingham v Newcastle, Rashford, Man United, Slot, Madrid Derby
A âcricket scoreââŠ
A couple of comments on âcricket scoresâ in the mailbox recently. Absolutely my most hated football cliche. What does it mean? What cricket score are you expecting? 345-7? 295-4? Itâs such a pointless and utterly meaningless phrase. Any other football cliches that get to you?
Mike, LFC, Dubai
Cheating Liverpool
Anthony, Dublin nailing Liverpool. Cast iron penalty awarded. The cheek of it. You canât even wipe out a player in the box without Liverpool being awarded a penalty for it. And that Mo Salah, the stat padder. âStop scoring goals and providing assists at a record setting pace just to âpad your statsâ Mo, you jerk.â You should tell Marcus Rashford about this stat padding schtick. All heâs got to do is score goals and provide assists and they get recorded and if you log a whole load people will go crazy for it.
And that leg up. Thank jebus, we got that leg up. It was desperately needed. In a game won 4-0 where we had already equalised from a Gakpo finish from a Mo Salah assist (All he did was cross it and someone shot from that cross and scored, outrageous stat padding) where Liverpool were absolutely coasting and recorded an xG of 3.8 against Spurs 0.2. If not for that penalty it could have been minutes until they subsequently scored anyway.
Its f***ing outrageous, but at least the pure luck and conspiracy Liverpool use to win games has to eventually stopâŠ
Alex
Son missing?
My sons and I watched Liverpool v Spurs last night and even though between us we support Liverpool and Arsenal, we hoped for a bit more jeopardy than Spurs managed! What a desperately poor performance for a team starting with a 1-0 advantage.
The big thing that stuck our for me last night though, and it needed a look at the team sheets, was; who was Spursâ captain? On the team sheet it named Son, however no Spurs player was wearing a captainsâ armband. Son was utterly invisible aside from Bradleyâs tackle on him, then when he hit the post from an unlikely angle long after the game had gone. It felt like he was hiding. Had he conveniently forgotten to pack his captainâs armband, for fear of being called out on it?
Did other readers spot this, and think the same?
Michael, an Irish Liverpool supporter since 1978, Hackney
