Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [11th - 16th September 2015]

[Cosimo]

Barclays Premier League:

SkyBet Championship:

SkyBet League One:

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SkyBet League Two:

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Fixtures on Sky:

TV:

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Radio:

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Tables:

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[Trusty]

Some good games this weekend, all the top sides play each other basically...

Palace City will be interesting.

 

[Jimbeam3678]

Woo Hoo proper football is back

 

[dannyjo22]

If we weren't at home I'd fancy us to end Chelseas title hopes.

 

[JohnnyG]

If we weren't at home I'd fancy us to end Chelseas title hopes.

I doubt it'll be anywhere near as easy for us as it was last year but I'm surprised by some of the odds available on Everton.

 

[Purdy]

We're going to get absolutely bummed by a garbage side, wish it was the usual early kickoff to get it out of the way

 

[fez]

We're going to get absolutely bummed by a garbage side, wish it was the usual early kickoff to get it out of the way

Lets not get carried away! Rooney will be leading the line so just make sure that you don't give away any penalties and you will be fine.

 

[Newbie007]

Lets not get carried away! Rooney will be leading the line so just make sure that you don't give away any penalties and you will be fine.

Lovren will be playing and we create the grand total of **** all so we're in deep **** regardless

 

[fez]

Lovren will be playing and we create the grand total of **** all so we're in deep **** regardless

Oh yeah, forgot about him

 

[Newbie007]

Oh yeah, forgot about him

Wish we could

 

[twist3d0n3]

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/article4552369.ece

uh oh

A delegation of senior Manchester United players has confronted Louis van Gaal with concerns over his rigid training. Unhappy at what they see as stifling methods, the players asked the manager to be allowed to express themselves more freely.

The revelation comes after a stuttering start to the domestic campaign, in which United have scored three goals in four matches in the Barclays Premier League, and fans are demanding more emphasis on attacking adventure.

Supporters will hope that Anthony Martial can provide that, but Van Gaal — who admitted last night that the projected £58.8 million fee United have agreed to pay Monaco for the teenage France striker is “ridiculous” — suggested that his successor would be the main beneficiary of the signing.

The concerns of fans over United’s style of play have been shared by the players. After discussions inside the dressing room, senior figures approached Van Gaal to raise complaints about a lack of creativity. They feel that training orders have become so inflexible that they are hampering performances.

The confrontation, several weeks ago, did not prompt any immediate change from the manager and United prepare to face Liverpool on Saturday on the back of a limp defeat by Swansea City before the international break.

Van Gaal’s decision to sign the unproven Martial as support for Wayne Rooney will bring even more scrutiny to an attack that traditionally has been regarded as one of the club’s greatest strengths.

With United fifth in the table, ahead of Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea but five points behind Manchester City, the leaders, the Dutchman insists that it has been a solid start to the campaign, with better to come as Memphis Depay, Martial and other summer signings fit in. Van Gaal said last night that he would be happy with a top-three finish this season.

The concern of the players is less to do with manpower, or squad strength, after a massive gross outlay under Van Gaal that is now close to £300 million, than the inflexibility of his methods. He has always been a very exact, demanding coach — and, at times, a fierce one — but players reared under Sir Alex Ferguson are still finding it hard to adjust, even into his second season.

Some, such as Chris Smalling, have clearly benefited, but there is a wider belief in the dressing room that Van Gaal would get much more from his players by allowing them to be more expressive. Van Gaal said last night that the success of his training methods was the reason why United have not suffered any injuries this season compared to the glut they encountered when he joined 14 months ago.

The manager must also patch up his relationship with David De Gea, who, despite being exiled for the opening six matches, could start against Liverpool after his collapsed move to Real Madrid. The pair were due to hold talks yesterday.

 

[Shamikebab]

We're going to get absolutely bummed by a garbage side, wish it was the usual early kickoff to get it out of the way

Ah standard Liverpool fan pre match talk

 

[johnyccc]

And so it begins. I'm surprised it's taken so long. The club is being run in a shockingly poor way, from top to bottom. Most importantly the squad/team, where Van Gaal shows no man management skills, no ability to adapt to problems on display each match and no long term plan.

His CV and persona has cast a spell over people. There is no "philosophy" no "process" just a manager doing a poor job. And that surely is a "pity".

 

[maun]

Jurgen Klopp would suit UTD, I hear he'll be available from Christmas

Anyway, im fairly confident at playing Chelsea, they've had a terrible start and i think its the right time to play them. But then I remembered, Bobby will play Kone upfront, Lukaku as right back probably and give Robles a chance, give or take.....

 

[dannyjo22]

And so it begins. I'm surprised it's taken so long. The club is being run in a shockingly poor way, from top to bottom. Most importantly the squad/team, where Van Gaal shows no man management skills, no ability to adapt to problems on display each match and no long term plan.

His CV and persona has cast a spell over people. There is no "philosophy" no "process" just a manager doing a poor job. And that surely is a "pity".

Totally agree, riding off the back of long ago achievements.

"Unhappy at what they see as stifling methods, the players asked the manager to be allowed to express themselves more freely."

It's the same as Moyes term, same complaint. I wonder if Giggs is running back to Fergie again, yet?

 

[fez]

I think that he is a good manager for a team like Holland who had limited options and had little expectation as his style of football got the best from them. For a team like United though he is far too reserved and his style doesn't suit the PL.

You can see glimpses of us pummelling teams but then we score and retreat into our shell again.

 

[Robbo]

These LvG news reports are worrying really, I can see it all ending in tears at some point.

He needs to try and take the shackles off and adapt his style.

If he goes I think we'll put Giggs in charge, though I'd like Klopp ideally. He's far from flawless but plays very entertaining football and the players would love him.

Still, I've not lost faith in LvG yet.

 

[Cosimo]

These LvG news reports are worrying really, I can see it all ending in tears at some point.

He needs to try and take the shackles off and adapt his style.

If he goes I think we'll put Giggs in charge, though I'd like Klopp ideally. He's far from flawless but plays very entertaining football and the players would love him.

Still, I've not lost faith in LvG yet.

He's also said that Martial signing was ridiculous but he was signed for the next manager:

Again from The Times:

Louis van Gaal admitted last night that the projected £58.8 million fee paid by Manchester United for Anthony Martial was “ridiculous”, but claimed that the teenage France striker had been signed with the club’s next manager firmly in mind.

Whether that turns out to be Ryan Giggs remains to be seen, but Van Gaal also said that he expects his assistant to succeed him as manager at Old Trafford and that he would be satisfied with a top-three finish in the Barclays Premier League this season.

Martial is expected to make his United debut at home to Liverpool on Saturday, but while Van Gaal acknowledged that the fee paid last week to Monaco for the 19-year-old was a “ridiculous amount of money” and reflective of the “crazy world we are in”, the Dutchman bemoaned the inflated prices the club are now quoted by rivals.

Van Gaal — who said he felt that footballers were paid too much — said that United are routinely quoted “£10 million more” for a player than other clubs and also expressed frustration that his critics focus on the money he has spent and largely ignore what he has recouped in sales. United’s projected gross outlay in 14 months under Van Gaal is £278 million, but their net spend is about £164 million.

Despite a lack of options up front, which were further depleted last night after Van Gaal’s admission that James Wilson, the England Under-21 striker, has left on loan, the United manager said that he would afford Martial the protection he believes he needs. “He will play some games and not play some games,” Van Gaal said.

Speaking alongside Giggs at Lancashire’s Old Trafford cricket ground last night at an event staged for executive United season ticket-holders, Van Gaal insisted that his successor would be the main beneficiary of the Martial signing. “I have not bought Martial for me, I have bought him for the next manager of Manchester United,” he said.

Van Gaal is firmly of the view that will be Giggs, who has been the Dutchman’s assistant since retiring at the end of the 2013-14 season after a brief stint as caretaker manager in the wake of David Moyes’s sacking. “I feel I am introducing the next manager of Manchester United,” Van Gaal said of Giggs.

Van Gaal said that he decided to offer Giggs the role of his assistant after listening to the Welshman’s assessment of every player in United’s squad during a 90-minute meeting they had in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, in May last year.

United’s style of football and modest results under Van Gaal have invited criticism from a series of prominent former players, including Gary Neville and Paul Scholes, and the Dutchman said that the apparent lack of trust shown by such figures upset him. “It makes me sick because they should know that it takes time,” he said.

Nonetheless, Van Gaal is confident that United are on the right trajectory and believes that the club could wrest the league title from Chelsea “if everything goes for us”, even though he said that he would be satisfied with a place in the top three. He acknowledged that Manchester City, who lead the table after winning their opening four matches, “look great”.

Van Gaal suggested that the vast number of injuries United suffered last season hampered the team but said that the absence of injuries this term was reflective of the benefits of his training methods.

Defending his decision to send Adnan Januzaj on loan to Borussia Dortmund, Van Gaal said that he had given the Belgium forward every chance to prove his worth, but that he had not seen enough evidence of his quality last season or during the start of this campaign.

He added that Januzaj must improve his mentality and needed to be playing week in, week out to develop. Van Gaal said that Andreas Pereira, the Brazil Under-20 midfielder, would be given a chance to stake a first-team claim in Januzaj’s absence.

On Wilson, Van Gaal said that he had opted to send the striker out on loan — Derby County were reported to be the club he had joined last night — but that United had an emergency recall clause in the event they need him back.

Meanwhile, Van Gaal is thought to be confident that talks with David De Gea will help to refocus the goalkeeper’s mind as he moves towards restoring the Spaniard to United’s starting line-up against Liverpool in the wake of his collapsed move to Real Madrid.

Van Gaal will assess De Gea’s performances and attitude in training over the next couple of days before making a final decision.

De Gea, who made his first competitive start for almost four months in Spain’s 1-0 win over FYR Macedonia on Tuesday evening, was not considered for selection for United’s opening six matches of the season amid the uncertainty over his future.

There's an even longer feature from the chief sports writer. Here's just a little of it:

Many at United have grown tired of the Dutchman’s approach and yearn for the attacking freedom of the Sir Alex Ferguson era

A Premier League coach was scouting a Manchester United match recently, trying to work out what it was about Louis van Gaal’s team that did not seem right. He thought about the formation, pondered the tactics, considered the ponderous passing — but then realised that the answer was nothing technical.

The problem was that United’s players did not look like they were enjoying themselves. They looked inhibited, unhappy in their work. That rival coach recognised it, and the revelation that senior players have gone to Van Gaal to make that very complaint confirms his observation of a disgruntled camp. United players felt sufficiently dismayed to send a delegation to face the manager — not a step anyone would take lightly given the Dutchman’s famously authoritarian style of leadership.

He insists that he runs a democracy, but that is not how anyone else at Old Trafford sees it (or any player who has served under him).

The players wanted to express their frustrations about not being allowed to play with freedom, and concerns about the stifling sense of rigidity imposed in training; orders barked about movement that, in their eyes, have made some more preoccupied with obeying instructions than playing the game in front of them.

There have been other gripes about an autocratic manager, such as an overload of meetings in the run-up to games, but it is the laboured playing style that has caused most consternation and not, it is now known, just in the stands but on the pitches at Carrington.....

I can see this not ending well.

 

[dannyjo22]

It's going to be even more laughable when they give the job to giggs because he will be so hard to sack when he sucks. LVG won't finish the season if this stuff is surfacing already.

 

[fez]

I think all this talk about giggs for manager is stupid. I would be amazed if he is anywhere near ready but the media will put pressure on him if he doesn't become the next manager and even more if he does.

I would like us to get Klopp if we do sack LvG but he should see out the rest of the season barring a meltdown.