Gala vs United: What the HELL

Hi everyone, welcome to the Irish Boys Podcast. Here tonight to watch Manchester United play Galatasaray at the Ayrton Table in Mullins. How are you? I'm fine. Cold but fine. It's freezing today, yeah? It is really cold. Speaking of weather, what is Turkey in? That's incredible, that rain. Yeah, I know there are some damning photographs and I think there's a lot of social media posts going out and you can see the torrential rain hitting the pitch and that demonstration of the ball being thrown up into the air and dropping. But Galatasaray's a professional football team with a bit of clout about them in Europe. You know, the pitch won't be that bad. No, they're a big club. But I was reading the Turkish papers and before anybody starts, no I don't read, I'm not, don't speak or read. No, I took a look at this one time when I was trying. Google Translate, but it was saying that flights in and out of Istanbul are cancelled because of high winds. Yeah, it's going to be adverse weather conditions but we need to win tonight. This is the biggest thing. Even I have a buzz for this game. We need to win. Yeah, I've seen the team selection. Oh, disappointed. Yeah, disappointed a bit by that. Yeah. I don't get it. No. I'm not very pro Eric Ten Hag. I don't want to say I'm sacked but I would sack him in that selection alone. It's just the message that it sends out to the young players in that team. That Kobe Minow plays exceptionally well at the weekend but he's not seen as good enough to start tonight. It's a pragmatic, safe approach. I called every player in my team selection apart from Dio Guglielmo and it's because I wasn't picking the team that I wanted to see. I was picking the team that I knew in my head and heart this man would play. Because it's my biggest critique of him. He's so safe. He's so pragmatic. McTominay and Amber Batters seen as experienced players over the youngster Kobe Minow and I think it'll come back to bite him. I think what disappointed me the most was Anthony's strip back into that team. Yes, Anthony is... As if he's a star player. What did I say about Police 3? We argued Police 3 on the last podcast. I feel sorry for that lad. You know, we were talking about it and regardless of my feelings, I don't think Police 3 is better than Anthony or Marcus Rashford. But I can see your point when you're talking about form and how these moments are brilliant. Give him a chance. Give him a chance. And tonight's the perfect opportunity to do that because Anthony isn't going to kick off Police 3 at home because Anthony was missing at the weekend with a knock and Marcus Rashford is missing. But he still won't play that lad. So sell him. That's my point, Rory. You'd think that Anthony's pulling on trees from the start of his career at Man United. Do you know what I'm saying? He's not. No. He's been a hit and a miss. He's been inconsistent and yet he walks into one of the biggest games that we have, I would say, in Eric and Al's career at Man United. I think, yeah. I kept talking about it and saying that's a test and stuff like that. This is the biggest five games of his Manchester United career so far because he has got himself into form and he's been helped by the fact that they are in the position they are in the league. Even though the football isn't great, he's still winning. And I've always said it takes a very, very good football team to play poorly and still win games. So I think we're hoping now that we're going to see this very, very good football team kick into action and start playing football. But I think he should be braver than with his squad. I think Kobe Maynard could get you playing better football. I think a lot of United fans would be bitterly disappointed that he was dropped. Yeah. But look, the atmosphere tonight has got to be insane. I watched them walk right onto the pitch to a chorus of boos from Galatasaray fans. They are really up for this. Oh, they're like a cauldron. Yeah. I think they have sort of set out their game plan for tonight. We are going to make this as uncomfortable for you guys as possible. So do you think that's fed into his team selection? Maybe the occasion would overall come down? I think there are a couple of variables. It could be that and it could be the weather as well. That pitch is going to be very, very heavy tonight. Yeah. Kobe Maynard is coming back from an injury, a long-term injury. It might be that. Has Amrobot not been hurt the whole season? I don't know about Amrobot. If Amrobot's question works, I really want this lad to have a defining game tonight. I really do. I mean, there is a player there. I watched clips. I watched the work-up and I watched when Morocco flipped and he was astounding. And he boasted. He was so, so good. He was so good at holding the field. Even if you're on team, he was excellent. He was. And it's his passing that does that. It's his tenacity, but his range of passing and his ability to get the ball for it is incredible. Now, we're not seeing that from Manchester United this season for one reason or another, but I want to see that tonight. It has to click tonight. To go back to your point, his selection at times, playing players, dropping players, there's no consistency in some of the players because they're not getting a run in the team. But this is what annoys me with this man, right? He's contradictory. Because he came out to me and said it's all about getting rotations and it's about getting these players playing in partnerships and he keeps talking about link-up between players and this is the reason that Maguire and Lindelof are playing. And we'll get to Raphael in a minute. And then he takes Kobe Mane out of the team and he's got Scott McConnelly and Amrabat. He's choosing to play another midfield parent tonight. So you can't come out and say that you need to forge relationships in parents. I agree. Sorry, I do agree. But the pitch could have a big factor in this election tonight. I know that sounds like an excuse, but the pitch will be really heavy. I'd say Kobe Mane is coming back from a long-term injury and he doesn't want to risk the lad. I said it to you at the weekend, yourself and Ciarán. Ciarán's missing the league because he's been. He's going to be here for the half-time and honestly he's going to be here for the end of the game. And I can't wait to hear what the excuse is for this one. Because I told you at the weekend, this manager is a pragmatist. Kobe Mane has no chance of making it into the first team. Everyone's calling for Mane to be a mainstay now. He's going to be the next big thing for Manchester United but he has to play. That will not happen under Ayrton Haag. Ayrton Haag has Kobe Mane available for selection tonight. There's no excuse not to play him and he has chosen Scott McTominay. I have listed an excuse not to play him. It's a viable excuse. You're looking for excuses. I'm not looking for excuses. It's a viable excuse. It's because the pitch is wet. The pitch is saturated. Oh, so the pitch is wet. And heavy. Kobe Mane is playing, not playing tonight because the pitch is wet. I can't stomach that. That sounds like nonsense to me. Is Philastry not playing tonight because the pitch is wet? Because you can't stomach Ayrton Haag and your wonder match. No, I choose to see the black and white instead of the grey. You're looking for the grey. No, it's black all the time. Maybe Kobe Mane is not playing tonight because the pitch is wet. No, he's not playing tonight because he wasn't picked. That's as far as I can see. I don't look for windy excuses. I don't look for wee optimistic whippets and wee snips to make Ayrton Haag look better than himself. He chose not to play him. That's it. He chose not to play a Philastry tonight. That's it. Anthony walks back in. He's choosing not to play Raphael Brown tonight because he doesn't want to play him. That's it. I don't concede this partnership, wet pitch, you know, nonsense. This is a man making his own decisions. It is a man who's choosing his own team. And I hope this team works tonight. But where I'm really afraid of is Scott McCormack and Sophie Amber about trying to hold midfield against their three in the middle. Zaha, Trace Martins and Hackensack. That is pace. That is the ability to run on people. And McTominay and Amberbot do not have the ability to comprehensively keep control of the ball. Well, Scott McTominay is not a holding midfielder for one. No. Do you think that Kobe Mane would be able to retain the ball better than McTominay and Amberbot? I think Kobe Mane, again going back to your point, is going to be a mainstay in that Man Utd side. But Eric Ten Hag has looked at different factors and said this one's not for you. Do you know what? That's an issue the team will tell. I can't wait to sit in five games' time when we get through the Newcastle game. And gloat. No, I'm not gloating. I've been wrong. I don't want to be right. But I can only see what I can see. And it's the consistency. How many players did I get right from the team selection today? I only got Dalot wrong. Do you know why that is? Because I sat and thought, what will Eric Ten Hag do in this situation? What would I pragmatically do if I wanted to play this as safe as possible? I wouldn't play Kobe Mane. I'd play Scott and Amberbot. Because it's defensive and it holds midfield. And I wouldn't play Street because it's a risk. I'd play a good old Anthony who'll track back for me all game. He'll do fuck-all going forward. But he'll track back for me. And he'll work hard. And I don't want to lose tonight. So that's what I'm doing. Well that's a big optimistic head-on. So do I. No you don't. There's nothing optimistic about you. There is when the team selection is right and when I have a good feeling about it. I have a dodgy feeling about this. I hope we're not sitting at halftime with a game out of sight. I'd love to be ahead. But I'm not going to sit here and just for the sake of it not giving my opinion. I'm expecting to be sitting here talking at halftime when we're down. I am. I don't think that midfield retains the ball tonight. And I think Torreira in Dombele and Reece Martins will have looked at that team and thought, Right we're going at Scott. We're going at Amberbot. No cohesion there. Haven't really played together. Scott's not great on the ball. Let's press, harass and get out Manchester United tonight. Well I hope you're wrong. Score prediction? 2-1 United. I think it'll be 2-0 Galatasaray at halftime. And then I'll make another decision at halftime on what the final score is going to be. But again I really hope I'm wrong. You're not cheating. Eh? I tell you what. I think tonight's 3-1 to Galatasaray. I think Galatasaray will win the first half. I think that they will get at Manchester United. And the way Manchester United are playing football at the minute, I don't think they'll want Galatasaray to get at us. I think it's set up, me personally, for the counter-attack tonight. Yeah. I would agree. Maybe that's the tactic. Maybe Lindelof and Maguire lump long balls. Hopeful forwards get on to them. But mostly in counter-attacking football you're counting on your midfield to bail you out of trouble. And Sophie Namrabad is going to need to have a game of his Manchester United career so far to spray passes in behind that back line. Because Sassafoy and Angelino, as we know from the time Oli played Leipzig and we had Angelino destroy us, decimate us in the Champions League, they're quick. They're pacey. They are not going to let Garnaccio and Anthony run down the wing against them. I understand what you're saying, Rory, but you can't be quick and pacey on a saturated pitch. We don't know how saturated the pitch is. I think I said this at the start. Ericsson Hague has come out in his pre-game comments and said the pitch is fine. The pitch looks good. You know, the rain has sort of tailed off now in Turkey. That pitch is a new breed. It's a bit saturated though. Well, but I mean, we play in England. When did we turn around and become the daffodils of oh, it's a wet pitch so we're going to play it differently? No. I don't see that as an excuse, Mum. You can't slum it like that. Oh, it's a wet pitch so we've a right to play it poorer. It's not just wet, it's saturated. You can say saturated as many times as you want. It sounds like wet to me. Saturated, saturated, saturated. It sounds like wet to me. And it's an excuse, it's another excuse before the moment comes so that you can sit at halftime and say, oh, well, Ericsson Hague has an out here because we had a wet pitch to play against. No. No, he's no out tonight, he has to win. If he's losing at halftime, I think he won't have... Look, we'll talk about it at halftime. Yeah, OK. It's going to be interesting to see. I'm expecting to not get a saturated halftime. That's why I'm not talking to you. Enjoy the match, folks. We'll be back at halftime. And breathe. Halftime descends. God, I got that one wrong. Fair play, credit where it's due. That first move for that first goal was absolutely brilliant from you. Brilliant goal. Some of the best football I've seen you need to play this year. Hyvlin being strong, Bruno's had an amazing first half. Really has. Are you going to ask him again? He's been coming a bit undroppable now. Rashford can't get back in. You know how much of a champion of Rashford I am. If he can't get back into the team, we'll work our nuts with him in it. It would be an injustice. Oh, 100%. It definitely would. How do you think you know the players? I think we started off great. I think the two goals buoyed us. And then I think their goal deflated us. Yeah, I think... I keep saying I'm going to be positive. But I'm going to say what I've seen. I'm going to say what I've seen. They're better than we are. They're better than we are. They're playing top up. They're keeping the ball a lot better. And it's exactly what I was afraid of. It's Ndombele with Torreira and Dries Martens. They're keeping the ball brilliantly in midfield and stroking it about. And what is frustrating for me as a United fan is they're playing like a team that's 2-0 up. Whereas we've gone into our shells and started being pragmatically defensive again. And you and I were talking during the match. And I think it's because our players can't play like that. Would you concede that Torreira, Ndombele and Dries Martens are probably more tactically gifted than our midfield? They shouldn't be. They shouldn't be. They definitely shouldn't be. And that's a more settled midfield that Galatasaray have. That's an established midfield. We chop and change our midfield. And me personally, my family should be nowhere near that midfield. Yeah, do you know Scott has moments of individual brilliance. And we've said this all season. He's brilliant at getting forward. He's brilliant at getting in the box. And he gives a presence. And that's what Ayrton Hagg likes about him. But if we had a more tactically, I don't know, gifted midfielder in there. If we had a Kobe Meunier in three years. I would take Scott McConnell off and put Kobe Meunier on. Yeah, I don't understand why. I really wanted to see An-Rebat play with Meunier. But he loves Scott McConnell. I mean we talk all the time about form and the players that are in form and having a play on the team. And I've said a few times I think that form doesn't guarantee you a starting place. I think if there were more tactically gifted players that could play my system on the bench, I would be playing them. But he doesn't dismantle. He persists with Maguire and McConnell. He's a game on game because he trusts them. It's a nice surprise in the second half. A nice surprise. No. My optimistic head on. It has been really good to watch for a change in the man United. There are spells in this game where we look more positive. And the football is better. But I think we are being hindered by our Man Utd team selection. Sorry, Roy. I think from the start of the season we are definitely being hindered by our midfield selection. Yeah, I mean. We've argued in this book, yes, that you think that Varane and Mourton is a big champion. It's when Varane and Mourton has come back as a pattern. The football is going to improve. But he has Varane on the bench. He has a player there. He doesn't like playing Varane. I'm not black and white. I'm more grey. And I think he doesn't like playing Varane in a partnership with either Lindelof or Harry Maguire. But he did it last year. He did it last year. This is Mourton's first injury. Mourton spent six games out last season. And when that injury came about he had a fully fit Harry Maguire, a fully fit Raphael Varane and a fully fit Victor Lindelof. And he powered Raphael Varane with Victor Lindelof. So he did it last season. But the reason he won't do it this season is he likes Harry Maguire and the way Harry Maguire plays. Harry Maguire plays Earth and High style of football. He's really strong. I think you're wrong. I'm sorry. Then why isn't he playing him? I think he's not dropping Harry Maguire because what has Harry Maguire done to be dropped? Yeah, but you just said that you think that Raphael Varane and Mourton is a better partnership that would play better football. And now you're saying he's not playing Raphael Varane because Harry Maguire hasn't done anything wrong. So is he sacrificing football? No, Mourton is still injured. You can't play Varane and Mourton is, Mourton is still injured. The only time you can play Varane and Mourton is now is in January and Mourton is comes back. Okay, Karen has made this point as well. Do you know what, we'll just leave that one there. I'm excited to see Mourton is come back and Varane still not play or leave. Because then I wonder where you search for your excuses there with the Harry Maguire situation. I choose to believe he plays Harry Maguire because he likes the way Harry Maguire plays football. And I know that sounds totally disbelievable to some fans. But that's the black and white of the minute. That's right there in front of us. He's a fully fit Raphael Varane. He partnered Varane with Lindelof last season. Now he's not. Right, okay. I agree. So we'll just park that. We will. Now, we'll take Varane and Maguire out of this. I would say that Varane and Maguire are a massive component to not being able to keep possession of the ball. Because Varane's not a wee bit better on it. In the midfield, is he completely hindered by the absence now of Casemiro and Mount? Or should the midfield be playing that wee bit better? And do you think he will change things to try and regain control of the game in midfield in the second half? Or persist with what he's seen? I think the person in midfield should be playing better, yes. And should be coached to play better. They're quality players. But his selection, again, was persistent with Scott McTominay. And I don't want to dig Scott McTominay out. Scott McTominay's a good footballer, but he's a squad player. I hate seeing his name on the team sheet as a starter, game after game. Yeah, I agree. I totally agree. But, right back to what I said at the start of it. He could have picked me, but he didn't. He did, yeah. Do you know what I mean? He has to live and die now by his selection. Look, we're talking as if we've just lost a football match here. We're 2-1 up. The big worry is that Galatasaray have taken hold of the game. The move for Garnaccio's goal is exactly how United should play football. It was quick. It was fluid. People moving everywhere. They confused and baffled Galatasaray and scored. And then Bruno Fernandes. Oh my God. He's an exceptional tonight. Him and Garnaccio are having a competition to see who can score the best goal of the season. Garnaccio's in the lead. It's going to take some beating. But what a hit by Bruno. It was brilliant. It was really quality. It was a joy to watch. You said before the game that the score would be? 2-1. Are you sticking with it? It's 2-1 now. God, I hope so. He already was offside by millimetres but he was offside. Absolute millimetres. Yeah. Sorry to interrupt, Rory. That was scary how easy they beat the press. Yeah, that ball had come a few times and a few times been offside. But they know it's there. That sort of looping one round the centre back. They know our full-backs are going to push on. So they play the ball from deeper. But it's a good tactic from Galatasaray. I think it depends now, the second half. Big decisions for Eric Ten Hag. Does he change the personnel early into the second half? Does he bring Nuno on? Does he take McTominay off? Big decisions for him to make now, the second half. Because we were hanging on at the end of that first half. Yeah, and I'm expecting him to just blow ahead with the team that he has out and not make any changes. Because that's the kind of manager he is. This has been, in a pragmatic and realist sense, this is a win. This is a 2-1 at half-time. Yes, they aren't controlling midfield and they aren't controlling possession. But they look solid enough to keep Galatasaray out. And I think he will be happy with that. You know, he reminds me of Luis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho. What are you all panicking over? You're not losing. We're winning. We could score again. You know, it could be 3-1 in the first ten minutes of the first half. So he won't make any changes at half-time, I don't think. I think he will happily persist with this team because it won the first half. I agree with you though. I would like to see Kobe Mane come on and a team of the calibre of Manchester United. Who are 2-1 up now in Turkey against what should be an inferior Turkish team. Boss the game. Mane and Ambroise keeping the ball with Bruno. Pass the ball around. Stroke it around. Force Galatasaray back into their shell. It's their... Galatasaray haven't been spectacular. But United, through no fault of the players in the pitch... I think we go into the trap and be like, oh we're letting them back into it. They're not choosing to let them back into it. They're just not good enough or cohesive enough. Or able to play those passing segments that we're seeing Galatasaray do. Apart from when we fade around the defence, but it's a 4-2 deal. So, I said it was going to be 2-0 at half-time. It is 2-1 to Manchester United. I'm shell-shocked. In a nice way. In a very nice way. I think this has been better tonight. It has. You said at the Everton game you'd seen the green shoots of good football coming back. And I think because they were so poor in spells, I really struggled to see it. I'm seeing it tonight. I just think there are components in the team. I'm coming down to personnel now. Scotland should be in this team tonight. He's not able to retain the ball. Get a more technically gifted player like Mane who's on to the pitch. I think we can beat Galatasaray. Well, fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. Who's going to be the hero of the second half? I think they're Manchester United. My hero is going to be Bruno. I think Bruno was excellent in the first half. And if he keeps his head, he'll be sent off. I think he's in for a world evening. He's played brilliantly. Before we go, Anthony has surprised me. Anthony's been brilliant. I think he's been really good. O'Neill is a total fault for that goal, by the way. Oh yeah. In whatever way he organised that wall. Well, if he organised the wall... He's a goalkeeper. He organised the wall. I've never played in any football team or seen any football team where your goalkeeper doesn't organise the wall. He organised the wall. It was a shoot. It was a hire. You know, you just tell Bruno Fernandes... What is Bruno Fernandes doing standing over there? It's like somebody dropped a pawn onto the football pitch and he was unable to move. You can't get in the middle of the two yellow passers-by or stand behind them. So if they split, the ball hits you. Which they did do. Which they did do. But he was standing off. I don't know how, but we will see how the second half goes. Fingers crossed, everyone. I'm excited. Fingers crossed. We'll see how this goes. Go, go, Man United. And there it goes. The Champions League dreams of Manchester United for another season. Unless something... Drastic. Drastic happens. How are you feeling after that? Deflated. Because it was such a high and then two awful goalkeeping mistakes. Tara, I mean, the first one for the free-kick, he doesn't organise his wall properly and the ball just comes through and I can see it. The second one. The second one was the Andrew and Anna we all feared at the start of the season and that person had gone away and then tonight it's come back. Is it the occasion of the Champions League, those big occasions that he can't raise? Who do you think? I don't think so. Are we seeing an area of improvement for this man where you're looking at set-pieces and going, right, you're not elite when it comes to goalkeeping and set-pieces, so that needs to be worked on. You need to figure out how to set up a wall. But I mean, that's the basics of goalkeeping, isn't it? Yeah, but I think Ajax fans and Inter fans have said that he's got those awful mistakes in him. Yeah. That he will have games, that he will be an absolute clown. He made some brilliant saves tonight. Absolutely. I thought he made some brilliant saves tonight. Tonight could have been seven each. It was that sort of match. It was brilliant to watch. And... If you're a neutral. Yeah. God, it was exhausting to watch as a fan. It was. Do you know what? I'm trying very hard to go into my negative rant. I don't like the result. I hate the outcome of what it's going to cost us. But there was spirit and there was faith tonight. What I will say is, his in-game decision-making at times is fucking baffling. Yeah, I questioned some of his substitutions, but I agree with you. They only scored one goal from open play. They did. We scored three goals. And they're really good goals. They seemed to spark into life when they were down. It was like we couldn't get away from them. We would go ahead like we did to 2-0 and then they started to control the game. We talked about at half-time, they started to control and boss the game. And then kind of against the run, they were trying to control the game and then we scored. And you're thinking, oh my God, here we go. Yes, we're there. Yeah, but it was reminiscent of the Everton game. Where we let Everton come back into it and they bossed us for a good 10 minutes. It was 10 minutes of chaos. Yeah. And it was the same tonight. But I think that chaos is invited onto us by our manager's decision-making tactically. And it's something that I consistently go on about. I'll probably keep going on about it until I see it come from this team or until this man is replaced. If you are in that position, that 3-1 position, you need to control the game and keep the ball. Now, I would argue the best players at his disposal tonight for tackling, pressing, controlling space and keeping hold of the ball would have been Kobe Maneu, Sophie Namrabat and Bruno Fernandes. And this is not a goal at Scott McTominay. Because I know we constantly go to Scott McTominay. Scott scored again tonight. But that is Scott's... That's all he did. Yes. He scores goals, but he's very poor at closing and tackling. He's a bit headless chicken in that scenario. And he cannot keep the ball. But he takes Scott McTominay and powers him with Kobe Maneu tonight and puts Maneu in doing the same thing Namrabat was doing. Now, Kobe Maneu played really, really well. But it didn't impact the game. They didn't control the midfield all of a sudden because Kobe Maneu had come on. So when he's on the sidelines and he can't see that taking Scott McTominay off and adding Kobe Maneu in would allow Bruno Fernandes, Sophie Namrabat and Maneu an element of control and Manchester United able to keep the ball a bit better, that worries me. Because then I think, are you happy with how this is tactically playing out? Is it to frustrate and catch them on the counter attack? And Scott's brilliant at that. So you're leaving Scott on to hit them on the break. I mean, it worked, they scored. But you don't control the game. And the ultimate consequence of the Scott McTominay goal is that Manchester United end up losing in the end because they couldn't control the game. Now, we had chances, but they had chances. And that was because, like you said, like we say in the Everton game, we just can't control games. We were in five pressure times. We seemed to go 1-0 up. We went 2-0 up tonight. And then we let the opposition back in. For whatever reason, control is right. We can't keep the ball. We don't protect the ball well at all. But we can't, we can't. When I say we can't keep the ball, we have players that are big and physical and will protect the ball on their own. But keeping the ball to me is moving into space, passing the ball, almost passing that team to death tonight. You're 2-0 up in Turkey. Kill them. Pass them to death. Knock the ball around, frustrate the life out of them. But Manchester United seem to have a real reluctance to do that. So when they go to go forward, they go forward in a heartbeat. We all say that we want to see United play quicker, but let's be really clear on what we're saying. What I'm saying is, I want Manchester United to be able to pass in triangles up the pitch, get the ball up there quickly, through passing and rhythm movements. What I'm seeing is quick passes out to players with pace who can drive the team forward and take the ball up. But when they're asked to control midfield or they're asked to pass the ball up out in midfield and the team has got back in a shift and can't do it. And the consequence is that Galatasaray get chance after chance because they walk through the midfield. And I think Kobe Mane and Sophie Namrabat could have given, it's easy to say in hindsight, but they could have given United that element of control in midfield. So that decision for me was massive on the game. Yeah, that midfield for me tonight was too loose, with the personnel in it. Thomas Hummely and Sophie Namrabat did not work. We, don't get me wrong, we deserved our 2-0 lead. We definitely did. Yeah, 100, yeah. But the midfield should have been solidified with, in my opinion, Namrabat and Mane. And they should have started. This is where I got really annoyed because I could see his decision making. It was to put Kobe Mane on to exert that element of control. You know the game's there, you've won the game. This is ours. Take it back and let's go against Bayern Munich. But his decision in that moment was, right, this will control the game. We'll take off Namrabat and put Mane in, doing the same role. And that makes you look tactically inept because you can't see past your favourite players. You know, you can't see past Scott McTominay because Scott's scoring goals and Scott's a yes man. He does whatever the manager wants him to do. And Scott has a place at Manchester United I don't think he should have been sold in the summer. I think he has shown that he adds real value in certain situations. As a squad player. As a squad player. As a goal scorer. No starter. I think Scott McTominay shouldn't have been on the pitch from the start. And if you bring Scott on in the last 20 minutes when the game is stretched and everybody's everywhere, I think Scott McTominay could have bagged one or two more. I 100% agree. Because Scott was out on his feet at the end but he still nearly scored. But that's when Scott McTominay ultimately consequences the game. But what I'm saying is, Scott started. I'll leave a bonus with that. To have a look at that game tonight and to put Maneu in for Amribat and let Maneu do the exact same role all day for a bit more class was baffling to me. What was wrong? Surely you should keep Sophie in Amribat and Kobe Maneu on the pitch. Two players with defensive output that can hold and control the game. There are good tactical players in their own right. But he's stuck with his feet. He's stuck with Scott. It's indicative of the Harry Maguire situation and the argument we consistently seem to have over Rafael Peron. And this is what I'm talking about when I start to have a go at this. He sticks with Maguire because he likes Maguire. Maguire was solid tonight though, Rory. He was. Maguire was. He was solid. It was Scott. I don't think Scott's got a bad feeling about this. No, I disagree with you. Scott's doing what Scott does. Harry Maguire's doing what Harry Maguire does. You can't put Scott McTominay into that team and expect that team to control the game and play a more passing-based, focused football. Because that's not what Scott does. But he chose Scott. And he knows what he's going to get from Scott. But he chooses him game on game. So he's happy enough with that. Do you know what I mean? As much as it's frustrating to think, as annoying as it is that you might have found to actually believe your manager would think this way, he trusts Scott to start. He doesn't find an issue with Scott being anonymous. As long as Scott gets on the end of those balls and gets the ball in the net, he will relinquish control of the football game as long as Scott gets laid into the boxing score. I don't like that. No. I don't think it's what I expected from him. Or it can have. But it's what we're seeing. And Harry Maguire's another example of it. Would Raphael Varane change the football of Manchester United if he came into the team? I believe he massively would, yes. I don't think he needs Martin Isbach. He played with Renloff before. But our manager is choosing to play Harry Maguire over Raphael Varane. He's choosing to play Scott McTominay tonight over Kobe Meunier. He chose to keep Scott McTominay on the pitch over Sophie Namrabath. He chose, bafflingly, to take Facundo Felestre finally onto the pitch. And stuck him on the left. And stuck him on the left to keep Anthony on the right. Anthony, who's left-footed, he seems to love that. He loves playing on the left. But he loves that inverted winger. That winger who doesn't kick with the traditional foot. If you're a right-footed player, you're going to play off the left. If you're a left-footed player, you'll play off the right. So he put Felestre on the left wing. Again, Felestre threatened. And he did well. Felestre's a good, hard-working player. It's his decision making tonight. I just can't get him bored of it. It's not just tonight. It's India management at times that's baffling. Do you think they were tactically doing enough tonight? It was chaos, like you said. It was like a hybrid match, where we were concerned. I know what you're saying about controlling the game. You look at that first goal. You look at the movement for that first goal. It was fantastic. It really was. And we were on the edge of our seats, even before Gennacio scored. And then the revert back to drudgery at times. Do you know what I've seen? I've seen Galatasaray control and dominate the ball, force opportunities for themselves to score. And I've seen a Manchester United team regress and revert to last year's counter-attacking football. And it created chances and they almost got in. But would those chances have been there if Galatasaray hadn't decided to go with United? Probably not. So they counter-attacked Galatasaray and almost got themselves into the win. I agree with you. A lot of those players revert back to what they know. Revert back to what was drilled into them from previous managers. No, I'm not saying that. No, I just had an excuse. They were counter-attacking tonight and they've been counter-attacked by a better team. Every team that Man United has played this season, according to you, has been a better team. Played better football and had a system. No, that's not fair. That is. I haven't said it on everyone. I said we were better than Everton, I said we were better than Luton. I think you get frustrated at me because I expect more from Manchester United and you just want United to win. So you can't see what I can see because Galatasaray were the better team tonight. Manchester United scored brilliant goals. They could have caught Galatasaray cold on the counter attack. Man United could have scored more than three goals tonight. Yeah, it could have been seven. But the football as a whole again was shit. I'm sorry, but we lost that game with two very bad goalkeeping mistakes. Oh, I know that. Do you know, this is the run of games I wanted yourself and Ciarán to see. And I want Manchester United fans to see. Because I don't think this is the first time United will crumble in a big game in the next five or six. Manchester United are not a good football team at the minute. They have brilliant players. They're set up poorly. And I think tonight against Galatasaray, our manager and our goalkeeper, who he chose to bring into this team, have cost us the Champions League place. Now, I think we close the chapter on this one. It's not a loss. It's a draw. They scored brilliant goals and they played really good in matches. But we said this was the asset test and it's 0-1 for Everton tonight. He needs to win. Yeah, in all honesty, right? That we lost that game because of Andrew Nanna. Andrew Nanna was a big contributor to it. He was. I think that the game was far too open. Yeah, but they didn't score in that openness. They scored from two free kicks that Bruno Fernandes gave away unnecessarily and two goals that were totally avoidable. Oh, 110%. No fuss there. Right, hold on. We'll take it out, right? And we'll go back and we'll see. It is, because that's what we have to look at. Yourself and Kieran are big believers in, you know, the win is the win and we're in form and we're doing this. And he's just fucked us out of the Champions League tonight because he's tactically inept. And that's what I can't get over. So let's just have a look and see the brilliant Manchester United that played against Galatasaray tonight. Big chances in the game. Manchester United had six, United had three. United scored their three, Galatasaray missed three other big chances, apart from three goals. Where are you getting those stats from? Both of them. Here you go. Half the time. You can argue with whatever you want. The stats say they had six big chances. I seen Andrew Neyanna make at least two big saves that I can refer back to. Manchester United, outside of what they scored, nothing. So I would argue Galatasaray was out of team. That's the big chance missed That's what Bruno said in the post. There's more than three. We scored three goals and then we missed a big chance. That's four. So four. They had six big chances. In terms of overall chances, Galatasaray had six. Manchester United had nine. So they had 16 chances to score according to this. We had nine. So what you can see is that Galatasaray was better. Also, they had 60% of the ball and we had 40%. Their expected goals ratio was 2.4 and ours was 1.7. So the mighty Manchester United who came to Galatasaray and in your opinion played well, they typically got slaughtered. But not overall. My original point before we started this was that Galatasaray was better team tonight. No, I thought it was pretty even. We all see things differently. That's the way I watch the match. I thought it was pretty even. Is it fairly full of confidence now for the Newcastle game? I'm not doom and gloom for the Newcastle game. And I'm not scared to go into the Newcastle game. Do you think United will beat Newcastle? I'm not one of those fans that we're going to get slaughtered at St James' Park. We're not. At what point now that they're out of the Champions League do you admit defeat with Eriksen Haag? Technically, they're not out of the Champions League. At what point do you admit defeat with Eriksen Haag? Tonight is a hammer blow to the Champions League. But I don't think the Champions League defines our season this season. I don't think it's a transitional one. I have said this in previous podcasts that I will judge Eriksen Haag at the end of the season. And that's me. But here's the big one. I said on the previous podcast that as a Manchester United fan you should wake up in the morning and aspire to win the Premier League and the Champions League. And if you don't do that then you're not living in the Manchester United mould. You should aspire to be better. Well, neither you as a Manchester United fan except the current situation in Manchester United if you're happy to get that... At present, yes I do. Because I know that there's going to be progression. Do you see Eriksen Haag winning the league and the Champions League? That's the ultimate goal for a Manchester United monitor. Have you seen enough from this man to say you can win the league? I see you toppling Klopp and Guardiola. Well, not this season. Did you see it last season? No. I didn't say that. If you haven't seen it this season are you talking about Eriksen Haag? No. What I mean is the man is not in the job two years. If he doesn't win the Champions League I'm going to stick my neck in the line here if he doesn't win the Premier League in the third season he has to go. So you would stick with him for three seasons? If there's progression. If not, he's just a bit of it? If this season we are mid-table then yes he has to go. But if this season he is top five because apparently he's top five and now he's in the Champions League I would give him another season. Does top five get you does fifth place get you in the Champions League? The new rules, yes. Because it's a bigger tournament? So how do we think he's going to do? He has to get into the Champions League. And that's when you would give up? If he doesn't, yes, you would have to be assessed. But that's a realistic goal I think to make top four. I don't see him doing it. So you obviously do. I see him doing it. You think he'll make top five as it is this season? Who do you think will topple out? Top him up there. You don't think so? Top him up there. So here, to finish off, give me your top five for this season. City, Liverpool, Arsenal, us, and either one of Tottenham or sorry, Tottenham or who else? You just said Spurs wouldn't make it. I thought I did. Chelsea. You have a real thing against the Huns at the minute though, don't you? Because I think he's doing better than Fintag. So you have a real hatred going on for Tottenham at the minute. It's not the hatred I have against Tottenham or Ant. It's you. You are so oh Ant this, Ant that. I only certified his job and he's come in and you can see his system. And we're what? Two points behind them at the minute. Oh, 110%. I get where you're coming from. But I think you're going to be very one of us is going to be proven right and one of us is going to be proven wrong. Absolutely. You think we'd be top four. I personally think United will be mid-table come January. I don't see us beating Newcastle with what I've seen tonight. I don't see us beating we're going to get I don't think we should sort of beat Newcastle. Just don't think we're beating and he needs wins. I don't think we beat Chelsea and I don't think we beat Liverpool. Liverpool's the only one I'm worried about. That's to be honest. And I think that's the beauty of football. Everybody has different opinions and you see an optimism to it where they can't see past Manchester United and they're pathetic and I honestly believe that. I'm not just saying that as a reaction. I think our football is pathetic. I think it's awful. I have thought it was awful against Luton, Sheffield United, Everton and their tonight. Tonight was a cracking entertaining game. But a game where you can again, I think, was it Fletcher or Savage said at the end as a tactical battle tonight you can pick holes in this but it's an entertainment and I thought yes because tactically this is a bit shit and Galatasaray can take it because at the end of the day they're Galatasaray and if they get the win in the draw tonight that's massive for them. They were pretty deflated at the end. Isn't that indicative though of where we're at? That Galatasaray you know we choose to think that Manchester United should have won that. We're saying we've got feet failing on it so we have the right to feel deflated. Where our players were sort of glad to get the game finished and their players looked devastated. We were deflated as well. How did we not beat them? Partly because both teams were exhausted. How did we not put the chances away to defeat them? They're not good enough. We had equal chances Rory. We had equal chances. We had chances at the end. Scott McTominay that shot was inches off. Bruno Fernandes hit the bar. Pelletier if he had chipped the goalkeeper it would have been him. Although look the fact of it is it's another big game for Arsene Haag tonight it's not a fail. That's 0 for 4 this season in big games. Then he goes into another big game against Newcastle and it's 5th. If he goes 0 for 5 and then says Chelsea goes 0 for 6 then Liverpool 0 for 7. That's not a man that can win the Premier League and Champions League. We'll see where he is at the end of the season. Yeah. I want him gone in January if he can. Do you want him gone tomorrow? No. Be honest. You don't really. I don't see him as a Man United monitor. You're not on your own. I think as a lover of tactics and someone who likes to see entertaining football I see a junior version of Louis Van Gaal destined to fail and playing football that is outdated and boring and is losing to every progressive coach that he comes across. Including the coach of Galatasaray to me who set his midfield up to outdo Manchester's midfield and I think he won that battle. And that's my opinion. I think our midfield is a big problem. I think our manager is a big problem. I do. And I won't say that I want him out tomorrow because it would cause so much instability. What I want is for Manchester United to go out and play differently against Newcastle and play differently against Chelsea and play differently than they have done previously to tonight than they did tonight. I'm not going to say it. I can name the team for you that's going to play this weekend. I almost named the team tonight. I got my shout out for how I went wrong because I thought I was going to have a knock. But I told you early on in the day and I told Kieran and yourself at the weekend that his goal was going to be in a comedy in Amarabat. Good old safe pragmatic Erik Ten Hag with his Harry Maguire in the middle of a duo and in front of the Amarabat and Scott McConaughey. I can't get past that. That would not beat Newcastle. It won't. And if I can see that I didn't think it would beat Galatasaray. There we go. If I can see that how can he not see it? Excuse me, you thought Galatasaray was going to beat us? Yeah I did. Yeah. I did. Which they almost did. We couldn't win either way. But it didn't. No it didn't. But we got fuck all from it. And now we're out of the Champions League. We've got a point. Be positive. We're not out of the Champions League yet. Technically. So I think it keeps Copenhagen beating Bayern tonight doesn't it? No. I think Bayern have to beat Copenhagen. We're in four. Copenhagen's in four. Galatasaray's in five. I think. Yeah. So we need Bayern to beat Copenhagen and then us to beat Bayern. Yeah. Okay. Which will be us. Eh? Which will be us. We'll be us. Yeah we'll have to put... God I don't know. I just skipped over to see the Bayern Munich team. Oh. Or tell me they haven't put a working team out. Yeah. It's not their full strength team. That's not fair. Well they're through. They have every right to do it. That's what you get for being a good team. But on to the Newcastle game in the weekend we will be here to watch it. Garen will be back at that stage. Disappointing. I think it's disappointing because of the way the match went tonight. Because we were cruising up 2-0 and then the game. I think it's the manner of the goals conceded that has me really really disappointed. Yeah. Do you know it is a fair point. I am being argumentative. Yes Sandro and Anna did cause a shoot for me. But I think you're going to be disappointed. So it's going to be interesting to see. We played Everton. Won. Tonight's a loss. Because he needed to beat Galatasaray. So I'm holding on to that one. So we're 1-1 now. Newcastle's the next big one. Let's see what happens in the Newcastle game. If Newcastle rip Manchester United apart then I can justify... But if Manchester United can do what I believe they can do if he is progressive and he is forward thinking and he plays Kobe Meunier in a system with Sophie and Amber Butt and United are able to retain the ball more I can see your point. United are capable of creating chances and scoring goals they just can't win football games. Because haven't Scotland got any of the team's confidence? But we will see against Newcastle who plays. We'll throw our team selections up too. I think we did alright. Why is it horribly? That's optimism over pragmatism. I can see where you're coming from. I've seen your team and I thought oh god I would love that. I would love to see United play that way. But then I was born and I picked what I think he would pick. And he's born. He's Louis van Halen. He is. He's very safe. And it's cost him a game tonight. But yes folks we're looking forward to the weekend. No I'm not. I'm not. We're looking forward to it because it is the weekend. After seeing that state I'm not. I watched the one positive I have for Newcastle. Did you see anything positive about that game? The goals. I thought the goals were very good. We scored three goals from open play. We did. Yes. 110. We've been doing that for some time. We got hammered by goalkeeping errors. Look every time I allow myself to get into your logic and I let you overrule me and I get a bit of positivity we lose to a Newcastle. We lose to a City. We lose to a Liverpool. This boy can't win big games. You just say doom and gloom and then we'll win the rest of the games. It's not doom and gloom. It is. Newcastle. I love their optimism but I don't have anti-optimism as I call it. I don't see bullshit and then turn around and go but the next one could be okay. Oh but you've lost to every big game that you've played this season. No, no, no, no. But we're going to go this time. It's going to work this. I can't do that. That's a very definition of optimism. It is. I don't have it. I know. I don't know if it's ADHD or whatever it is with me but I can't take my focus away from shite football and Manchester United. You are literally black and white, Rory. In two thirds of the game. No shades of grey at all. I don't see brown stripes. I see shite football but brilliant goals and that's the good man United have. Brilliant players. When you have brilliant players, you're going to get goals and there are going to be brilliant goals. I think for two of the passing moves tonight for our goals the Scotland County goal and the Alejandro Guarnasso goal is really encouraging but I've seen a Galatasaray team dominate Manchester United midfield. So what optimism am I going to have when the same midfield steps in against the better midfield of the week? That's the story of the season so far. That domination in midfield by other teams. Yeah. Even the so-called inferior teams. I agree. So that has to be sorted and I agree with you. We agree, then. We 100% agree. Is he going to do it? No. It'll be a comedy and it'll be honourable. And Gwybrid and Jolington will follow him. And it's going to be really interesting to see if he plays young Lewis Mowley at the weekend. As Kobe Meaney was sat in the bench tonight and I had to listen to it's the occasion and people were hexing him saying don't be so negative, it's the occasion. You can't put him on that game. Look at that hostile atmosphere. The Park the Prince was rocking last night after a PSG fan was assaulted by Newcastle fans. Eddie Howard is not saying twice about putting his 17-year-old under-kid on the pitch who plays very, very well but ours sat in the bench tonight and he needs to get out of that mould. They're the kids and the kids are good enough and Meaney and Amber Barrett is the partnership. And when the last 20-25 minutes come that's when you unleash Scott McConnell for the long runs in the box. Brilliant that. So good at getting him in there but you relinquish so much control of the game by putting him in there. But as you know when Newcastle goes we're back on Friday for a bit of family therapy and catch up on all the stories. You looking forward to it? I am. Buzzing? Yep. Bye everyone.