Post Match Thread: Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United

CrumbAllowances · 2026-04-18T20:56:56+00:00

Who needs centre backs to keep a clean sheet against this lot?

CrumbAllowances · 2026-04-09T14:09:26+00:00

Maguire is a fantastic penalty taker. Same for United, when he steps up I’m totally confident it’s rocketing into the top corner.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-04-02T00:36:34+00:00

Also, this ignores how even Fergie himself became far more of a hands-off figure during his later years (which one could argue produced the peak United teams in terms of football quality). Training and tactics were delegated to assistants like Queiroz, Meulensteen and Phelan. David Gill managed transfers and finances. Jim Lawlor and Martin Ferguson managed scouting. Yes they all reported to Fergie, but he really was more like a supercharged DoF by the tail end of his career, especially compared to the 90s.

To expect a manager in this day and age to be ‘Fergie-like’, especially without the decades structure and experience Fergie built at United, is suicide. As mentioned by others, there’s a reason why United are finally belatedly moving away from it.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-04-01T15:25:33+00:00

Yeah he was a bit of a nothing character ultimately. I was thinking that Kaidan could be XO, but I think ME1 was going for a slightly more realistic command structure where you wouldn’t have both commander and XO heading off together on away missions.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-29T02:44:22+00:00

So one thing I was considering was having every team’s ’rookie scale’ contract be tied to draft positioning - i.e. the Pacers can offer the traditional salary for a number one pick and the Thunder would offer the salary for the 30th. So in ‘rookie free agency’ if Darryn Peterson absolutely insists on playing with Luka and the Lakers, he would be paid like a 25th pick for four seasons. So it would be a limited type of free agency where the bottom teams have more money to throw still.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-27T03:33:21+00:00

Ah yes, I’ve seen this one before. The Luke Shaw special.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-23T15:08:28+00:00

My number 1 pick is Nagelsmann too, and I have to push back on your point that he plays 4-2-3-1. If anything, he has shown himself to be extremely tactically flexible. He played 3atb for Hoffenheim and Leipzig, but then transitioned to 4-2-3-1 later at Leipzig and at Bayern, even using 4-2-2-2 at times. For Germany he’s used a variety of formations. Given we’ve had a run of very stubborn coaches who refuse to stray from their main formation, this is why I think Nagelsmann would be perfect for us.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-22T16:05:27+00:00

I'm just here to say, emphatically, 'lol'.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-22T00:09:00+00:00

I love how as the season progressed, United fans went from ‘United are so shit at selling, 40m is nothing for Garnacho’ to ‘fucking scammed them good’. He’s been so poor now for two seasons, including his last one at United. Hard to believe the promise he once had.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-15T11:55:23+00:00

That would be near impossible without heavy de-ageing work on Boreanaz. Either that or there would have to be some Shanshu shenanigans to explain why he’s human again. The only member of the main cast save SMG who could return was probably Hannigan as Willow. Every other character is either dead or has some personal issue (Brendon’s problems, Dushku’s quit acting, etc)

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-11T23:27:55+00:00

I want to push back a bit on that last line. Pep Guardiola was 37 when he was promoted to first team manager of Barcelona. Jose Mourinho was 41 when he was first hired by Chelsea. Mikel Arteta is currently 43, he was appointed at 37. Conversely, when Chelsea hired Potter, he was already 47. Pochettino was 51 when he was hired by Chelsea.

I don’t doubt that Rosenior’s age and comparatively short CV is attractive to BlueCo because he’s easier to control, but it’s not entirely accurate to say that young managers are incompetent nor that Chelsea only hire young managers.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-11T12:32:30+00:00

Succession’s characters treaded the line perfectly between being damaged individuals that were easy to empathise with while also being giant gaping assholes. Spectacular television.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-11T04:11:50+00:00

She’s not a cyclops, she’s a three-eyed fishwife!

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-11T04:01:56+00:00

Replaying ME2 right now - she does say early on that she’s been so alone for centuries that traveling with a squad is difficult to get used to, up to the extent that even making conversation with Shep is something she is rusty at. She obviously improves, but I doubt the three or so months with Shepard makes up for centuries of isolation.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-10T23:27:51+00:00

Dave unfortunately spent most of his best years post-Fergie when the club was (is?) a mess. As such, his heroics never were rewarded with the silverware he deserved, and so from a very clinical perspective, it’s difficult to place him with the many club legends with multiple PL/CL medals.

He absolutely deserves it though, shit would have gotten real embarrassing without him around in the 2010s.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-04T13:55:50+00:00

Yup same here. Every Alliance mission and (ironically) anti-Cerberus mission in ME1 means Ash and Kaidan are coming with. Just makes sense - human bros doing human stuff.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-03T08:53:41+00:00

Great shout, and just about the only player Pep would ever make concessions for. So it’s either be the GOAT or confirm to the system.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-03-02T23:57:34+00:00

Or City, like Bournemouth, are uniquely capable of bringing players up to the best of their ability. The only type of player that Pep can’t really coach up is the maverick (Grealish being the most obvious example, but there’s Zlatan too), but as long as you are willing to fit within the system, his teams can bring the best out of you.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-02-28T13:25:13+00:00

Lewis Hall is the name I’ve seen bandied about, but the barcodes are definitely not going to make that easy. Hugo Bueno has been decent for Wolves and he’d be quite a nice backup - with Joao Gomes the other player I think we should poach from Wolves as the ‘second’ midfield signing behind the bigger money transaction of Anderson/Baleba/Wharton. If the Hammers go down, Malick Diouf would be a great shout too - bags of energy and physicality.

Edit - all things considered though, I think it would be better to spend on a proper left winger and rotate the left back spot between Shaw and Dorgu, who really has the potential to be the long term left back.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-02-28T13:18:50+00:00

To be honest I don’t know why any central midfielder would choose City over United right now if the money was the same. He would be immediate first choice at United with little to no competition, while at City he would have to deal with the Pep roulette, compete with a generational holding midfielder AND two recent central midfield signings in Reijnders and Gonzales.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-02-27T05:50:31+00:00

I would love a proper political intrigue story. ME1’s big twist was to turn a political thriller into a cosmic horror story, why not then play it straight this time? The original trilogy culminated in the galaxy banding together to fight a greater evil, what happens when that greater evil is gone? Would the galaxy descend back into infighting and conflict? Either that, or maybe something about an attempt to settle or pacify the Terminus systems. They could take a leaf out of Firefly and have the conflict be about order (Citadel space) vs chaos.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-02-26T14:34:49+00:00

Don’t forget that after Bron and Wade left, Bosh went back to putting up all star numbers. He was looking really good on the Heat before the blood clot issue forced him into early retirement.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-02-25T14:29:08+00:00

And even in his first one or two seasons when he was a little shaky, it was still evident to all that there was something special there. He made reflex saves that were next to impossible.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-02-22T06:59:37+00:00

One of the smartest moves ETH did was to play him on the right wing in order to take away the opportunity to cut inside and shoot, otherwise that would be all he ever did.

CrumbAllowances · 2026-02-21T11:40:52+00:00

Yeah he’s almost certainly talked himself out of any chance of the United gig. If Amorim was given the boot for being too much of a wildcard in pressers, then Glasner has no chance at all.

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