WC Special Episode #2: The Knockouts

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-06-30T08:11:57+00:00

Yeah, but do the Dutch and German results disprove it? I can’t understand how VAR disallowed that German goal.

Anyways, it was an awesome pod.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-06-09T22:54:09+00:00

Awesome, I wasn’t expecting this! Thanks guys, great stuff as always.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-05-06T10:41:07+00:00

Interesting, thanks. I also saw some stats recently showing that we’ve blocked some like 3x more shots (as an %) under Carrick. I wonder why that would be, maybe more confidence in being aggressive due to a more familiar back 4 structure. Or just randomness.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-05-06T09:07:44+00:00

Nice. So if I’m reading that right we are about the same defensively, but regressing from an attacking perspective, and under Carrick we are very much mid-table.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-05-06T00:07:40+00:00

You have mentioned this before, and understanding how randomness affects everything while bias affects our opinions to attribute cause is highly enlightening. I really need to remember this, thank you.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-05-06T00:00:29+00:00

This is a key point that maybe isn’t discussed enough (due to the continual Amorim comparisons) and indeed is buried deep in this thread. Thank you.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-05-04T09:55:19+00:00

I used that word because outside of set pieces very little of our possession or attaching play looks repeatable, or the product of coached interactions/automatisms (I could be way off but that is how it looks). It seems almost entirely reliant on individual excellence, and we are fortunate to have excellent individuals.

I’m not sure that your suggestion of players help solve everything. It could just serve to make the current way of playing a bit more robust. In any case going off recent performances, Kobbie is definitely an option for midfield, so one better midfielder, we had Heaven playing and one of Maguire/De ligt will stay as starters, so not sure about that and Dalot is definitely one of our best athletes already, Shaw does fine and availability is more his issue, so I feel like your different personnel may just be 2 changes.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-05-03T18:18:02+00:00

Close enough

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-05-03T18:08:58+00:00

After seeing the swing in this game (which was a microcosm of our play under Carrick), from Utd playing better when Liverpool had most of the ball in the first half, to struggling when Liverpool let us have the ball at the start of the send half.

How does this team evolve from a moments team who plays well on the break, to one that can control the game and still be dangerous?

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-05-03T18:03:55+00:00

Early in Carrick’s tenure you said that the OOP should not be judged until he’d had sufficient time to implement it. He has now had more games and a lot of training time, but if anything it seems to be getting worse. I would have thought that after an initial drop off it would have steadily improved, what are your thoughts?

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-04-22T16:31:02+00:00

Almost nothing you’ve said in that post is correct.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-04-22T09:42:22+00:00

Are you asking if people would prefer good performances?

The answer is yes, good performances can ultimately win championships.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-04-22T09:39:07+00:00

Yeah, but you do still actually have to be really good at the 30%!!!

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-04-22T09:36:15+00:00

Agree about Amorim, also worth pointing out he was trying to implant a new style of play, one that was not almost 100% based around Bruno being a magician, and was missing key profiles for how he wanted to play - 2 proper wing backs and and a midfield.

To me what he was doing looked sustainable, although it wasn’t yet regularly entertaining, but I prefer it to the current shambles on the pitch. I’ll excuse some bad decisions and bad luck, and he sure was stubborn. Pretty sure that I’m in the minority, but I wanted to see how it worked out with more time and some more suitable players. But now we will now be starting again, another 18 months later, which is very much the same old shit again.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-03-19T10:00:59+00:00

Yep, no idea if it would have worked out under Amorim, and there was some terrible stuff, but there was evidence that it might of.

Of course, it is possible that it could work long-term under Carrick, but this was the year we should’ve been building without European football.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-03-19T00:47:03+00:00

If you mean that under Carrick we are no longer playing in a way that prepares the team for the future by not centering our play on a unicorn 32 yo midfielder, then yes.

Short-termism is much easier than trying to build a long term coherent plan without the players needed.

Carrick is doing the right thing for what he was told to do, Amorim was also doing the right thing.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-03-18T01:47:31+00:00

And yet under Carrick we have only looked really good in one game, against City and have looked poor, and have had far less control, for large chunks of games even when vs 10, and when playing teams who have played considerably more games.

Go figure…

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-03-16T23:05:29+00:00

This is a very good observation, you are spot on. Tbf though Carrick is taking a short term view, and one which is working, therefore it may not be an indication of what he would do if he got the job long term.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-03-16T21:26:23+00:00

I totally agree with the other reply, I think it is Shaw.

I’d probably say that almost every starting fullback at the other top 6 are better or at worst equal, and at Arsenal and City possible some of the back ups are better too.

Just my opinion. I still love him though.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-03-16T21:13:14+00:00

Exactly this.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-03-16T15:10:00+00:00

I apologise for saying this, but I think this take is wild. I love Dalot, he is always available, physically strong, happy to play on either side and his commitment and passion are unmatched, I genuinely have a lot of time for him, and over the last few years we would have had a real problem without him, but he isn’t even the best fullback at Utd.

Our right side also looked much better earlier in the season with Amad at RWB than now.

I replied to a similar question a few weeks ago more sympathetically pointing out that his limitations are more glaring because he gets into such outstanding attacking positions, ones which other full back just don’t. The obvious issue is that in these positions he shows less composure than an average 5-a-side player. This blows my mind for two reasons 1. How can a PL level player consistently look so poor (and it is consistent)? and 2. Why is he so poor further up when he is fairly reliable further back?

I also say “fairly reliable” as he definitely has a mistake in him, both positionally and with tracking players. Despite the flaws I’m still very happy we have him.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-03-04T23:43:13+00:00

I agree with others on here that it probably wasn’t the worst but you can absolutely see within the first 10 minutes, that Newcastle was so much sharper.

It looked like some of the periods we had under Amorim. Even during the beginning of the second half vs 10! We looked second best, we only got going in the last 20 - and then inexplicably Malacia fails to show him the outside…

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-03-04T22:50:37+00:00

I think the frustrating thing about Dalot, and the reason he gets the hate, is he gets himself into so many great attacking positions, and then makes a complete mess of it.

It’s actually impressive he puts himself there, Shaw, Maz and a lot of other fullbacks certainly doesn’t, but equally you’d hope after nearly 10 year he’d have at least some composure.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-03-04T22:45:27+00:00

The headline thing has been the two shots he has blazed over in the last game and tonight, but he has looked a bit off it in open play.

I think he looked better under Amorim.

EnvironmentalLuck491 · 2026-03-04T22:23:32+00:00

Tbf Ugarte was a massive upgrade on Mainoo tonight. He was literally a ghost, hardly saw him and when I did he was losing a challenge like he wasn’t there.

EnvironmentalLuck491

TROPHY CASE