Ruben Amorim needs to ship out at least 10 players before embarking on a busy summer at Man Utd, while the Michael Oliver and Arsenal discourse continues.
Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.
Amorim’s big summer
Given United’s season is arguably over in the league, but still remain in the FA Cup and Europa League, it’s a similar story to last year where a cup run is the only possible meaning of success for the manager and the players.
With no cash available in buying a few players this January transfer window, and possibly better that way for Amorim so a bad decision in purchasing a player isn’t made, it’s a case where United need a summer transfer window so badly (again) in getting some new blood in but more important getting at least 9 players out.
Lets be clear on the at ten players who need to just jump ship for several reasons.
Antony (The worst signing possibly ever in the Premier League)
Rashford (He’s peaked and Amorim already dislikes him as a player, can’t see how someone can score 30 goals in one season then score just 8 goals in the following season…)
Lindelof (I never had anything against him as a player, but time to move on)
Shaw (Good player but not reliable unfortunately due to injuries)
Mount (Average player and not reliable, purely came to United for money)
Casemiro (Just done as a top player, he was great in his first season at United, but big decline since then)
Eriksen (Great player imo, but legs have gone, time to move on)
Evans (Why did we re-sign him? To keep company for Heaton in the dressing room?)
Malacia (For several reasons, not fit enough)
Sancho (Just seems like a bit of a wasteman)
I would maybe add Onana on this list as well, as he makes way too many mistakes in goal, but given United have so many problems in the outfield position, perhaps he has just about gotten away with it. Oh and let’s be clear, If Ten Haag had a major say in the signings he made in his 2 and a half years in charge, he has done a bloody terrible job, some shocking decisions to say the least.
Amorim and the board (If they are arsed) needs to somehow convince other clubs to purchase these players, while offering them a similar wage per week. I don’t know which clubs would be daft enough for some of the players mentioned above, but you just have to hope some players take a considerate wage cut in actually wanting to play regular football.
As for the assessment of United this season in terms of performances on the pitch, I can whole heartedly say that only four players have been somewhat ‘decent’ this season, as only consistent performers showing quality this season has been Fernandes, Amad, Martinez and Mazraoui. Everyone else needs to step up big time. I may include Ugarte as well, but lets wait how the rest of his season goes.
Rami, Dubai
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What’s the point?
Week by week it’s becoming increasingly convincing that the Premier League is arguably a highly successful modern scam. It’s another embodiment of that trendy new word doing the rounds: enshittification. Let’s review some undeniable facts:
Liverpool got screwed by utterly incompetent officiating in a game against Sp*rs last season. The PGMOL subsequently said they would revise their processes and methodologies in reviewing decisions.
Former Premier League referee David Coote was filmed making innapropriate remarks about Liverpool’s former manager which indicated that he clearly had a bias against them. In his last game he made some extremely strange incorrect decisions against Liverpool which even impartial commentators complained about.
Last season, Michael Oliver refused to send Kovacic off during a game against Arsenal for blatant red card challenges because he “did not want to ruin the game”.
Michael Oliver has travelled to the U.A.E. to referee games and was paid to do this by the owners of Manchester City.
Mikel Arteta went on his famous “desgracia” rant against the PGMOL last season after a dubious decision in which Gabriel Magalhaes was potentially fouled in the build up to a Newcastle goal.
Arsenal have been on the receiving end of several unprecedented red cards this season for incidents which have not been punished before or since. Apparently the anal “letter of the law” attitude only applies to Arsenal and not to other clubs. Since Declan Rice and Leo Trossard’s red cards we’ve seen plenty of balls being kicked away to delay time by players already on a yellow card but none of these players have been punished for this. Let’s also not forget that Rice got assaulted by Veltman who lashed out at him in rage with the pretence that he was trying to kick the ball and there was no card given to Veltman for that.
Michael Oliver decides last weekend to give Lewis-Skelly a straight red card for a tactical foul the kind of which has only ever been punished with a yellow card before and I’m quite sure there won’t be any more red cards given for a challenge like that for the rest of this season (unless another Arsenal player does it). Oh and who does Arsenal play the very next week when Lewis-Skelly will be suspended? Manchester City.
Oliver has now given Arsenal 8 red cards in 55 games. Most of these are justified but this is still a very outlandish statistic.
Manchester City have received 0 red cards from Oliver, let’s not forget the aforementioned Kovacic challenges that deserved a red.
Last season’s title race was determined by an extremely narrow margin of 2 points, a few dropped points here and there due to refereeing incompetence can clearly have a substantial effect on the final outcome of a season.
Are we seriously still supposed to believe this is a fair competition? Considering all of the above on top of the shady finances of Manchester City’s owners who are also known to be inhumane in their own country? The league and the PGMOL are criminally incapable of running the competition with even a minimum degree of fairness and we all sit around barking at each other, overanalysing totally bizarre decisions that would definitely annoy us if it went against our respective teams. The allegedly “greatest and bestest league of all time in the universe” can’t implement even the most bare minimum checks and balances to resolve conflicts of interest. Bankers, lawyers, accountants and police officers have to declare potential conflicts of interest to ensure the integrity of their work but in the most lucrative football league in the world Michael Oliver can get paid by the owners of a specific team, make unjustifiable decisions that favour this team and he won’t be investigated for it or dropped from refereeing games where he could have a conflict of interest.
Are we all falling for a massive scam? That’s the question we need to ask ourselves as we continue to follow this shambolically managed league. The PL has treated us all as consumers and customers for a long time therefore it’s time we treated them as we would treat any other business and recognised that their “product” is f**king awful. Stop letting Sky, TNT sports and all the other broadcasters fleece you with their ridiculous prices and start viewing perfectly legal streams from dodgy websites on the internet.
Vish (AFC), Nantes
Do fans cost their teams points?
ED Quoththeraven concluded that arsenal fans seem to be more focused on their personal sense of injustice over the actual result, which led me to question, do their fans actually cost their team points each season?
Everyone knows that on a good year the Anfield crowd adds an extra few points onto Liverpool’s total each season. In recent years even the Etihad crowd has cooked up a storm. Real Madrid saying that it is the most terrifying stadium they have ever played in and VVD quoted as saying that it is his toughest. Fans matter.
If reports from their own fans are to be true, 10% of the arsenal crowd left when villa equalised a couple of weeks ago. Half the crowd apparently had left at full time. Can you image that happening in Istanbul in 2005 or the Nou Camp in 1999. We’d have had no agueroooooo moment without the crowd sucking the goal into the back of the net. It must cost them points across the length of the season. Imagine being a player needing a goal to win a game and seeing match day fans leaving the ground when the team needs them more than ever. And please don’t give me this public transport at the Emirates nonsense. Think of all the united fans who have to get back to London after each home game…..
Then you have the you tubers who literally make a living slagging off the players and manager. The “i told you so” crowd when Arsenal lose/draw. How can drawing up contempt for the manager and the players possibly have a net positive points influence on the team. How can sending abuse and even death threats to Havertz’s wife motivate him to score goals.
And then we have referring decisions. The large proportion of Arsenal’s sending off this season comes from petulance. Not mistimed tackles but kicking the ball away or deliberate fouls. The manager and the fans then blame the ref and/or VAR. The player is portrayed as a victim and allowed to get away with it, resulting in countless numbers of red cards for similar petulant reasons. As ED rightly surmises, the whole club from manager to players to fans are more concerned with a personal sense of injustice that actually wining. This just gives the players (and their fans) an excuse for not winning which equates to more points lost.
Are there any other examples of fans costing their teams points each season? Are there any other actions fans do that cause teams to lose points? Is Gunnersaurus Arsene Wenger in disguise?
Rosiepoppins
Oliver!
Hello to all at the F365 Towers. Long time reader and always will be. I rarely ever write in to the mailbox. However, as I read Dave Tickner’s piece where he is diligently apportioning blame all around, I found something obvious missing.
I actually agree completely on the point that this was in the ‘Orange’ card category. Harsh, but you’ve seen them given. Many Arsenal fans agree too. It is not my place to speak for the hyperbole by the punditry. The problem Arsenal fans have (and we’ll take the blame for it) is with Mr. Michael ‘2 yellow cards for Martinelli+no card for Kovacic because big game + no red card ever for City + Trossard absurd 2nd yellow (you get the drift)’ Oliver. He is now under the microscope and there is enough objective data over a period of time to observe the bias. This is what is missing from Dave. So yes, every ‘little’ thing he now does will be called out.
This is why the mail on the faux outrage is spot on. The PGMOL would like the narrative to be Michael Oliver the victim rather than Michael Oliver the biased or possibly corrupt.
Shashank, Toronto, AFC (wondering what Conor Byrne is up to these days)
I read your pious admonishment of Arsenal fans and media over Michael Oliver with some disbelief. Why are you acting as if the Dominic Raab of referees hasn’t been awful for years? It’s not just Arsenal he is a problem for.
One of the greatest endings to a play-off match (Watford vs Leicester) only happened because of his terrible officiating. Its easy to gloss over it now, but if Anthony Knockhaert had scored that dubious penalty Oliver blew for, we would not be talking about Troy Deeney’s goal. Do you think Watford fans have forgotten that even though they won?
I’m a United fan and every time I see his name as a ref for our games I know that I’m going to get annoyed at yet another inept display from a man elevated far beyond his capabilities. I still remember him sending off Di Maria for touching him on his shoulder, and this was AFTER he didn’t send of Joe Hart for head-butting him. Anyone who doesn’t believe me can easily find that online. The decision last season to give Dalot two yellow cards in five seconds still rankles and I don’t understand why he was fast tracked at all.
The PGMOL coming out in support of a frankly terrible decision does them no favours. Yes, its true that we can’t expect referees to be robots, but we CAN expect levels of competence. I truly believe the massive decline in quality of referees in the Premier League is linked to his elevation. There is now an acceptance for poor officiating because calling him out or punishing him would be a problem since he’s been placed on top of the ladder.
When I never have to hear his name again it will be a great day for football.
Israel, (MUFC since 1977)
Morning
Reading the mailbox last 2 days, I think F365 are complicit in this abuse of Michael Oliver.
You are printing letters off arse fans still justifying their stance but saying abuse is bad- and these are the ones that are reasonable.
And where is the statement from Arsenal the club & Arteta condemning the abuse & threats?
Perhaps they wouldn’t have so many decisions go against them ( Newsflash: they don’t) if they didn’t b*tch & moan about everything that does.
You go high on a leg you are giving the ref a decision to make, and if you routinely castigate refs for anything they do against you then why would they want to do you a favour? Give you the benefit of the doubt?
Cheers
Kevin
READ MORE: Arsenal are ‘refereed differently’ and should be able to blacklist ref to prevent ‘playing with such a disadvantage’
Arsenal fans losing their minds
Hi there,
I worry that Arsenal fans are going to do themselves a mischief over their fury over Lewis-Skelly’s sending off. While I, on balance, wouldn’t have awarded it, it was a deliberate foul with no attempt to play the ball, Lewis-Skelly had his studs showing, and he hit Matt Doherty well above the ankle, These are all things that referees consider when thinking about whether or not a tackle constitutes “Serious Foul Play,” and, if you squint a bit, you can easily persuade yourself to ratify that decision. While it’s a bit of a harsh decision, it’s hardly the Birmingham Six and fans portraying it as a desperate miscarriage of justice are losing the run of themselves.
Again, I would not have sent him off, but it’s not “inarguably” a yellow, as shown by the simple fact that people are arguing it. I wonder if Arsenal supporters are processing their understandable frustration about how their team aren’t very much fun to watch, and seem to be under instructions not to try to score more than one goal in a game in case they run out, and blaming it on external factors rather than looking internally. It’s no way to live.
Dara O’Reilly, London
Just to chip in on the whole Arsenal conspiracy/bias debate, it would be interesting to see genuine analysis of these decisions. Thankfully we can, because we have the Premier League’s KMI (Key Match Incident) Panel, which analyses decisions after every game. This isn’t a panel of referees, but a panel of ex-players and coaches, who are independent from the PGMOL. So how does this Arsenal bias play out?
Last season, Arsenal came out neutral. 2 major decisions against and 2 for. Bottom of the table, with 4 decisions against were Brighton, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest (one of the one’s for Liverpool, the Odegard handball, actually going in favour of Arsenal).
What about this season? Up to gameweek 19 where the data is available, Arsenal were actually +1. The one incident deemed that a challenge by Thomas Partey on Marcos Senesi should have been a penalty. All other decisions were deemed to be correct. We’ve had a few gameweek’s since then, so at best Arsenal are neutral, but they certainly are not being hard done by.
I’m well aware that this email is futile. If you put evidence in front of a conspiracy theorist, they will simply deny it is credible. The KMI panel is biassed too! But it’s nice for everyone else to know that there isn’t really much in it. Some decisions go your way, some against. Arsenal fans are just struggling to accept it.
Mike, LFC, Dubai
I opened the F365 mailbox this morning and my heart sank as a headline with the word “Arsenal” came screaming off the page at me. Oh no. I just about had enough gumption to wade thru Rob A’s effort at the top of the pile. Fair enough Rob. You say straight off that this isn’t a conspiracy against Arsenal. Then spend the rest of the mail backing into the very stereotype you’re trying to avoid by basically claiming that it is.
Social media Arsenal types need to step away from the computer. Sure they are being fed horseshit by the likes of AFTV and they are gobbling it up . But I even saw a post this morning whining about Myles Lewis,Skelly not being “protected”. It has 16k likes! I mean the foul itself wasn’t exactly soft? I don’t think it should have been red. But it’s at least a hard yellow. High, cynical and so late the foul itself got detention as a result. And claiming Gomes second yellow was a worse foul is comical. It wasn’t as late, or high, or cynical, and was a genuine attempt to play the ball. A yellow card all day.
FWIW Michael Oliver used to be a very fair ref and quite lenient IMHO. I think he should be taken off Arsenal games for the moment. It’s just not worth the hassle. For all of us.
Derek, LFC.
Quick points
1. Arsenal – It was a red – and these should be given more often. I’ve never been happy with the ‘Taking one for the team’ excuse when a player hacks down another simply because he’s got away from him. Sneaky, petulant, unfair – get ’em off. And his one could have been nastier than it turned out to be. No sympathy for him or the Arse.
2. Spurs – Stop blaming Levy just because he is the common denominator. Have you ever heard any fans or ex-players/coaches saying anything other than ‘throw money at the situation’ if its not going right. Lame. They have spent money – in all areas. They have decent players. And at times recently they have played some pretty decent stuff aswell as the dross. Certainly better then Utd. They just can’t seem to transfer that into winning enough. Levy isnt coaching them. There are plenty of examples of teams with ‘lesser’ players doing well if you can get the right combination. Chucking tens of millions here and there to see if it will make a difference is not the way to go – and Levy knows that. Liverpool dont do that (and they can afford to) – they never sign anyone unless they have done full research and are 100% happy that its the right thing to do. They never panic buy. They work with what they have – trust in the process and the players. And they seem to do ok. They had a horrific injury season a few years ago and they just sucked it up and let Klopp deal with it until the crisis was over.
For me managers are there to sort things out when things go wrong – not just do things that go right – and if they dont then get rid. Ridiculous. Otherwise you’ve employed the wrong guy in the first place.
These 2 quick points turned out to be not as quick as intended.
SH – LFC
Wolves woes
Haven’t been arsed writing in, football killing me.
Was happy GON gone. Happy with beating utd and getting 7 points.
Since then cunha wants out, half the team wants out. The owners not investing, all the amazing players we had coming up from the championship are all gone to far better places. Less then a week of the window we won’t have new signings we have a crumbling defence, actually crumbling team.
Championship here we come, if not this year defo next
Irishwolf Dublin
Dull and boring?
Call me a cynic, but I expect Ken from Brentford’s assessment of the quality of the Premier League this season is directly proportional to how well his own (undisclosed) team is doing. One could critically rebut his allegations (which I am sure others will do) but you know what they say about arguing with an idiot, right?*
Matt D, London (* “They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience”)
Looking for Eric
A contributor with pen-name Bart Simpson recently shouted out an “Eric” but surely they refer not to me but another Eric in the mailbox (I hope ?). I might recall seeing another Eric maybe somewhat recently, but not totally sure. Anyway can’t speak for another Eric but if The Other Eric is anything like me, he’ll be equal parts petrified and gutted to be lumped in with the Stewie (presumably Griffin) of this parish.
Wait, isn’t there an Eric Cartman contributor in the mailbox ? So Bart, Stewie, Eric. Can’t trust my dodgy recollect but that would make much more sense, an all-time cartoony triumvirate (like any combination of a Man Utd front three).
That must be it, I’m over it now.
Eric, Los Angeles CA
