23 Feb 2026 22:00:40
Utd win a tough away game with Carrick in charge, trained and prepared all week, Liverpool do the same, what does Liam do? send the boys on holiday and fail to prepare and we draw with the mighty Burnley! There is a saying in life, "fail to prepare, prepare to fail". grass always greener?
24 Feb 2026 00:35:26
It's a long season. The same things happened under Maresca (the dropping points from a leading position), so I won't blame the 'school teacher' just yet. The squad is just too inexperienced, unfortunately, though I will say subbing off the captain was an odd one.
24 Feb 2026 06:34:50
Reece was complaining of a muscle strain. Utd don't need a break. They aren't playing in Europe, and they didn't play in the CWC.
24 Feb 2026 08:45:35
Tom, how many defenders did we finish that game with? Liam created panic when composure was needed. Too many cooks and all that.
24 Feb 2026 09:30:22
Greenaway Fofana caused the panic by being sent off. With 11 on the field, we would have won. We had the same problem under Maresca.
24 Feb 2026 09:50:25
Bill, the way a manager reacts to adversity will help define his tenure at a club. Liam panicked when Fofana got sent off. A little bit of calm was needed on the touchline, and he put 4 defenders on from the bench, which just said to them, "I don't know what to do!" He was brutally exposed.
24 Feb 2026 10:54:59
Managers make mistakes. The biggest one so far this season was how Maresca got exposed by the Villa manager and the substitutions he made to change the game in Villa's favour.
24 Feb 2026 22:27:11
Tom, maybe? But to take Palmer off at 74 mins was pure panic by Liam. Palmer was also thinking as I do. Keep him on, get on the front foot, and we win. Liam panics, mate. I was sad to see how totally out of his depth he is.
I realise that my post of "grass is not always greener" is open for debate, so fair play to you and Bill for backing the sporting directors. Me, I think they got it wrong and should have backed Maresca.
25 Feb 2026 06:40:39
Greenaway, hindsight is a wonderful thing. If we had held on for a 1-0 lead, then there is probably no debate about substitutions. I would have kept EM as manager for the remainder of this season and then assessed his performance, but let's also remember the criticism that EM got from a lot of posters on this site about his substitutions in the ytd game. We all have opinions, and so do our managers. It's easy for us; our jobs do not depend on making the correct football decisions, and we are unlikely to be qualified coaches or have top-level football management experience.
We are supporters with opinions that are generally different, be it about players, managers, SDs, owners, team selection, tactics, and substitutions. The chances of making us as fans happy are virtually zero. The only time we might be happy is when we pick up a pot, but only for that moment, and then differences of opinion kick in all over again. It would be boring down the pub if we all agreed on everything in football. We should agree not to make our criticism personal.
25 Feb 2026 09:43:46
Tom, the very best managers don't deal in hindsight; they deal in foresight, and there lies the difference, mate. Liam has had a very cushy set of fixtures so far and has smudged his way through them. Let's hope he can now step up in the coming games and deliver a pot and a top 4/5 finish.
25 Feb 2026 10:48:26
I'm not sure it's possible to call any Premiership fixture "cushy" anymore. He started mid-season. He is trying, to my eyes, to make our tactical approach to games more flexible. The big change for me is the role of our FB's and more one touch football through the middle of the park.
I am happy with those changes because I was not a fan of our predictable tactics or inverted FB's. Of course, other fans will have different views, but it's far too early for me to make any judgement on LR as a manager.
25 Feb 2026 14:12:42
Cushy included Charlton and Hull City, Tom, but yes, you are right in saying no Premier League fixture is a given nowadays, as it often was in the Roman era.
25 Feb 2026 14:33:45
We have fixtures to come that will allow us and the owners to judge his abilities. Surely we can give the guy more than a few games to prove himself.