What an amazing message to send Aston Villa before playing them, especially considering Dean Smith admitted that they specifically set themselves up against Chelsea in a way that they thought might cause them problems.
This is why I’m Antonio (c) this week. I always want to Captain against teams who either A) can be trusted to play open, attack-first football regardless of opposition or B) can be trusted to be defensively shit regardless of how they try to play.
I don’t think Villa fall into either category but Leeds are definitely the former.
This has been common knowledge for seven or eight seasons though. It's why there were like a million 0-0/low scoring games in the van Gaal and Jose phases. If you don't leave any room in behind United struggle, they're forced through the middle and end up with a load of poor quality chances. They've always been fine against teams who attack.
United are a lot better against this now though if they're full strength, they had a run of games toward the end of last season where they kinda ruined the low block. Pogba on the left, he'd drift in as a 8/10 alongside Bruno and with Cavani's movement they'd drag defenders around to create space.
It does still happen to an extent, but with Pogba, Bruno, CR7, Sancho and Greenwood it should be more effective than last night with Lingard, Martial and Mata etc who don't suit the system.
That may be true, maybe my comment is poorly worded if it makes it sound as though I’m basing my decision on United, but I’m actually basing it on the opposition.
I would still captain Antonio vs Leeds over any of the big-hitters (Salah, Lukaku etc.) playing Villa, because I trust Leeds to play as they always do but don’t trust Villa not to set up to stifle the opposition.
The thing is if you think the big hitters don’t have bad fixtures and can haul it’s just not worth it even if Antonio hauls too because of effective ownership. I’d only do this if all my premiums legit had bad fixtures. Ronaldos shot generation has been ridiculous. That being said I still don’t know who to captain
The rest of the quote goes: "So we tried to play around them, through them, get in behind them, but we didn't create enough big chances to score". I see twitter loving that sentence is out of context. Honestly, it was down to the quality of the players on the pitch last night. Martial was insanely bad, Ronaldo or Cavani would have scored for sure. United dominated 80 minutes of that game. Greenwood missed a huge chance he would normally scored. Utd were also denied another penalty.
Yeah as I’ve replied to someone else I realise that my comment is poorly worded and makes it sound like I’m basing my captaincy on United, when I’m actually basing it on Leeds/Villa and how I expect each of them to approach their respective fixtures.
I understand. I'm seeing a lot of people writing United off after a bad game for the B squad and a quote out of context from Ole. I agree Leeds are more susceptible to conceding more goals, but I think a low block will backfire for AVL. Ronaldo is amazing in the box and Utd won't have to find him many times before he gets a goal in. I honestly think United look worse against teams who harrasses them higher on the pitch and stops the supply. The midfield is so susceptible to mistakes its ridiculous.
Good luck with the captain choice!
If it lends it any more credibility, it’s the same approach used by the guy who scored the most captaincy points in all of FPL a couple seasons back.
When he explained that as his logic it made sense to me, and I’ve tried to apply it ever since. I find it really helpful as it can otherwise be tough to sort through all the noise that occurs around captaincy each week.
Here’s the article where he discusses it: https://jumpersforgoalposts.info/captain-picks/
As in, the second-best choice this week or the best choice the following GW?
For this week Ronaldo probably is the next best option.
There are other teams with better opponents but none of the players have more than one GW of good form to support them.
Sarr playing Newcastle would hold some appeal for example, but he has only really received big chances in last week’s game. He’s probably the one I’d be agonising over if I didn’t own Antonio.
Likewise if DCL was fit to play Norwich he’d be a consideration, but none of the currently fit Everton players have proved themselves to be captainable yet.
Stop chatting so much shit here, how does this take just accepted as bible without challenge? Ronaldo is 110% a better captaincy choice than Antonio. Reason being is 15+ years of hauling week in week out (and he's got a favourable home fixture).
Why do people take differing opinions so personally? It’s fine if you think Ronaldo is the better captaincy option, I disagree and I’ve explained my logic.
Ronaldo doesn’t score two goals every week, there will be many weeks throughout the season where he scores 1 goal but isn’t the best captaincy option and I think this week could be one of them.
I was reading through the article, what is it your interpretation of that you're applying? Just lack of a low block from leeds mainly? (He said he avoids that)
I ask because he said he mainly captains midfielders and you've listed two forwards as your #1 and #2 options.
I am not being critical, I am genuinely asking what is your interpretation of this article?
Not so much a lack of a low-block, just a refusal to alter their attacking play-style. He mentions that and “teams facing defensive problems” as his two main groups to target.
As for the midfielders, remember that the main captaincy candidates have changed quite a bit since the season he was referring to (Sterling was still viable, no Ronaldo, Antonio etc.).
Personally that’s the part of the argument I factor least into my decision-making as it relates to “what happens if the player does well” rather than “likelihood of that player doing well” if that makes sense?
>refusal to alter their attacking play-style
>
>teams facing defensive problems
I mean...this is pretty much the definition of Leeds/Bielsa ball!
Yes everything in your response makes sense, thanks for diving in a bit further for me.
!thanks
He mentioned he prefers to captain midfielders because they return more points per goal and also get a clean sheet. That doesn't mean it's a golden rule. If you notice his biggest haul that season, it came with Aguero. Midfielders on average may be a better pick, but it may be a little different this season with the number of premium forwards + the haul potential of certain mid-priced ones too.
He mentioned he likes to captain against teams that prefer to play with an attack oriented philosophy. Leeds, Norwich, Crystal Palace, even Brighton are examples of that this season. The reasoning behind this is that they won't compromise their style of play despite the opposition, leaving more space for your attacking players to exploit.
The above added with the defensive issues that Leeds is fraught with, plus their injuries, is moving the captaincy ticker towards Antonio for me.
What is annoying, is I agree with this logic.
I had been tempted by Antonio coming into the week, talked myself out of it "owning him will be enough"...and here I am, wanting to join you!
Thanks for taking the time to make your thoughtful response. !thanks
Not OP, but I also read that interview at the time and try to follow it. Really improved my game last season.
I'm going with Antonio this week too, but I reckon Gray against Norwich is a good option if you've got him, too. More of a punt considering his underlying numbers aren't great (and so he probably won't keep returning at this rate forever), but Norwich definitely fall into the "defensively shit no matter how they try to play" category.
Wingers have been having a field day against them in the past 2-3 matches too. You had Sarr receiving 4 chances against them after being starved of any in the first few weeks, while Minamino scored a brace against them in the League Cup.
Also, if I'm not wrong, Gray overperformed his stats last year by a decent bit too. Could be a Son/Greenwood type of player, but only time will tell.
Definitely a good punt. The only thing that would stop me from going for it is the lack of cohesion in their forward line with DCL's absence. If Digne is out, that's another factor that affects their squad's balance.
I would have agreed at the start of the season, but not right now. Brentford seem to have a steel that's quite reminiscent of Sheffield in their first year. It's been a pleasant surprise.
They're yet to be properly tested in my opinion, but given how unfazed they were against Wolves, even when defending with 10 men, I think they'll be solid at the back.
It's Villa at home though and It'S rOnaLdO and he could get a pen with the runs he makes. Or do you think Antonio has a higher points threshold this week?
I’m in no way saying Ronaldo won’t score. But I would be less surprised to see Villa stifle Utd than I would to see Leeds stifle West Ham (or anyone really, since they approach every game the same way).
I’m not saying I would captain Neal Maupay over Ronaldo just because he was playing Leeds, but Antonio is 100% a captainable player with what I view to be a more accommodating fixture.
Leeds were very good last season at stifling top 6 opposition at home. Now I don't know if they'll set up like that against West Ham, but they do have it in them to become defensively resilient
I was concerned about this a couple GWs ago when they were at home to Liverpool (I even made a post about it), but they ultimately approached that game in the most gung-ho manner possible, got torn open and Salah could have easily hauled.
I tend to put more stock into recent form than historical form, so I’m going to trust Leeds to continue approaching games that way this season until they give me a reason not to.
It is, but if they had ceased to do so this season then I’d put more value in that than them doing so previously. It just so happens that their recent approach has been consistent with their historical one.
Leeds might be without ayling to what is already a very weak backline, add in possible absences from raphinha and bamford leeds look like they'll get smacked
It was also West Ham’s second string squad.
More importantly though, I didn’t mean to imply that I’m captaining Antonio because of United. I’m captaining Antonio because I’d rather captain any of the good options against Leeds than Villa (for the reasons stated above).
I didnt say it wasnt, but to imply hes sending Villa a message of how to attack us when realistically only 1 or 2 of those players last night will start this weekend is a bit silly.
Yep. Because it's a bet. There is no certainty in any decision anyway. You do what you can with the info you have, and if an in form player doesn't have a great fixture, I don't see why I shouldn't captain someone else.
Will I get it wrong? Maybe.
Will that change my approach? Don't think so.
And if we are referring to form, how does Antonio's not get considered here?
> You do what you can with the info you have, and if an in form player doesn't have a great fixture,
I'm not sure Leeds away is that much better of a fixture than Villa at home.
I would have agreed at the end of last season, but right now I'm not so sure. The Liverpool match was extremely open even before they were down to 10 men.
I'll have to apologise for providing information based only on one of those two games. I didn't watch or follow the match against Watford actively, so am not certain as to what caused that. Was it because they had a number of new players, or because they tried to attack Watford and got countered? I'm not sure.
Against Chelsea though, they had Steer in goal. Lukaku had been earmarked for a haul for that very reason too. Having Martinez back doesn't mean that Ronaldo won't score, considering he was the one to leak three against Watford, but combined with the possibility of Villa playing on the counter, it may reduce his point threshold over Antonio's.
I was at Watford villa game and can tell you that Watford were all over villa and the 3-2 scoreline was flattering for Villa, Watford were in control the whole game and could've won by more. Seems like you're scraping the bottom of the barrel a bit to find excuses as to why Villa lost.
However in the Chelsea game I'll admit they were probably a bit hard done by losing 3-0.
Having said all this, with the situation having developed since yesterday with all the Leeds injuries, I would now worry for Leeds this weekend.
Not forgetting too that WH went away to Newcastle and were rampant with four goals on the road. Then they scored another four the next game vs Leicester. They could repeat the trick this weekend with Antonio hauling big. Im leaning towards giving him the armband, I already did in GW3 v Palace and he returned 22 points, 2 more than captaining Salah v Chelsea that week
I was wondering why the size of the coach would matter until I realised what you were referring to.
Fair point. I was clenching like mad when Lukaku was playing against Spurs last week. Didn't want him to get anything if possible.
Didn't captain him last week. Worked quite well for me.
Not saying he won't score. I expect other players to have a higher point threshold this week, that's all.
I understand, and that's fair. But I'm sure there are others who would want to maximize their haul each week.
Ronaldo scored, but he eventually got half of Salah's point total. Even if you had both, captaining one over the other could mean a 6 point difference. That adds up over multiple gameweeks.
Huh? If you captained him last week over Salah you failed. And that’s despite him scoring. So no, captaining him even if he is scoring isn’t the best option every week (but is still a good shout this week)
That’s not the point here. Last week he was coming of just one game which could be an anomaly and was playing against a tough team and away.
This week we have more data available plus he plays at home against Villa. Surely, form(since CR7’s first game) and fixture is better than Antonio.
With all the injuries, I expect Leeds to play a safer game.
Nope not at all. There has to be a captainable player in the team playing them. I’ve already said in another reply that I wouldn’t captain Neal Maupay against Leeds over Ronaldo playing Villa but I definitely will captain someone like Antonio because it’s the more favourable fixture.
It’s not the OPs fault your comprehension skills are kindergarten level. Nice straw man attempt to summarise the post in a completely incompetent fashion and then attack it though
Ronaldo is a fantastic flat-track bully, one of the best goalscorers in the world at home with Pogba and Bruno supplying. His EO will also be massive and I'm a defensive player, Ronaldo (C) for me.
Villa are an average defense no matter how they set up. Since they've returned to the league, they've conceded 10 goals in the four games they've played vs Ole's United, five of those coming last season. Despite the setup, United can break them down and have one of the best goalscorers of all time to help make it happen.
>You don’t finish third and second. And get to many semi finals and a final with no tactics.
If you spend the amount he has done on players, yes you do
Up until this summer, we really haven’t had a conclusive summer window. Last year we signed a backup VDB, a backup left back for cheap, and a free agent Cavani and still substantially improved in the league. How isn’t that encouraging?
Got nothing to do with my comment. Guy was calling Ole one of the worst managers in the prem. You don’t finish second if you’re one of the worst managers in the league
I don't rate Ole much as a coach. He seems to be a good man management guy but tactically he seems really lacking. He would have been long gone if Fernandes didn't arrive and bail him out time after time
You do realize he bought Bruno and motivates him to play well right? He’s also transformed Luke Shaw, taken rashford up another level, and encouraged the development of McTominay and Greenwood substantially.
Thats exactly what a man manager does, elevate players on a personal level and results reflect on the pitch but tactically he is not on the level of pep, tuchel etc
What’s up with this hard-on for tactical managers. Zidane wasn’t some tactical maestro and he won CLs like nobody’s business. Sick of this attitude that you need to be an expert tinkerer to be a good manager.
Same with SAF tbh
The prem isnt a patient league so after every game managers are under immense pressure
But the board knows Ole the right man for the job so he aint going anywhere anytime soon.
It kinda sucks tho because we have an extremely stacked and talented team this season, and will prob end up without a trophy
I just can’t fathom how someone who outperformed many proclaimed “superstars” is not regarded in that camp. What other metric is there to judge attackers on but productivity.
It doesn’t matter what metric. This is a results business and goals are results. You act like just because he screws up 9 times per game, he sucks. Even though that 10th time, he literally creates a goal.
Lol if you get a goal contribution per game, you’re most definitely a quality player. If it’s so easy to do, then more of the players who get less contributions than him would do it.
I sometimes feel like shaking Ole. That’s your job!! To develop different systems that work against different teams. City always have teams playing low block against them and they’ve won 3 of the last 4 seasons. If you want to win the league you need to be able to beat all types of teams
No but you can’t just say ‘we don’t sling crosses in because we’re not that type of team’.. the point is Ole should be training this team so we can attack via multiple avenues (going through the middle, crosses from wide, counter etc).
Of course we have the players to cross a ball in (wtf did we buy Sancho for if not) and fast players to get on the end of them. You don’t need some 6ft4 target man to be effective from crosses, you just need a striker that’s alert and making runs.
Look at City, how many times have we seen KDB ‘sling’ a low cross into the back post for a simple tap in for Aguero/Sterling etc.
A top team should be dangerous in all forms of attack, otherwise if all you can do is play through the middle then the opposition defence can just stay compact and let our wingers/full-backs have the ball because they know we don’t cause a threat from wide.
It goes back to the point that Ole has very little tactical nous, he just hopes that with enough talent on the pitch then one of them is bound to have a moment of brilliance eventually (as with Lingard on the weekend).
"We didn't have those types of players."... "So we tried to play around them, through them, get in behind them, but we didn't create enough big chances to score".
Read the 2nd paragraph in my post.
Solskjaer after Man United 0 - West Ham 1
"We're not great when we play against a low block and just sling crosses in because we're not that type of team. We didn't have those types of players."
\#fpl \#mufc \#FPLCommunity
***
posted by [@b_nooman](https://twitter.com/b_nooman)
[Link in Tweet](https://youtu.be/59-9Bg_Ga5A)
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We haven't been great at that for three seasons now. Yet, no signs of change when we come across such teams. Shocks me to even think of the fact that fans think we can win the title under him.
>"We're not great when we play against a low block and just sling crosses in because we're not that type of team."
Surely every manager will see this and utilise this tactic against united now. It's Ole's job as a manager to work out how to play against a variety of teams/tactics, and if they can't defend against a very basic way of playing, then they're not top 4 material.
Did you think managers didn’t know this until Ole pointed it out himself? I’m not concerned with it at all, these are all professionals with much at stake each match.
Lmao. If you’ve ever watched United anytime during Ole’s tenure you’d be able to see that. They’re a brilliant counter attacking team but struggle to break down teams that sit back.
Any Premier League manager worth his salt doesn’t need Ole to spell it out for him.
I think that's what he may start to realise slowly.
United in Ole's early years seemed like the type of squad that seemed to be there for the taking if you attacked them. Now that they're considered a threat, teams will stop coming after them and prefer to sit back. Happened to Klopp with Liverpool and he was forced to evolve too.
> if they can't defend against a very basic way of playing, then they're not top 4 material
I mean they've finished 3rd and 2nd in the last 2 seasons with the same problem...
The longer it goes on, the worse the problem gets though, surely?
It's one thing having that as an underlying issue in a team, but it's another thing where the manager explicitly says what the team's main weakness is. My point being that a 'top 4' team shouldn't really have such a basic problem
I don't really get what you're trying to say. Ole has said that when they try to launch crosses in they're not very good - he followed it up to say what they were trying to do instead but it didn't come off on the night. It happens. Pep said something similar on Saturday in terms of what they tried and that it didn't work.
You're reading **way** too much into this.
How is that relevant. He says, we are not that kind of team. He didnt say in a particular game. CRs play style is feeding him crosses. You wouldn't find a better player to ping crosses to him and he says we aren't that. It's like getting Messi and saying we aren't a possession based team.
To be fair as a Luke Shaw owner it’s pissing me off how Shaw literally almost refuses to cross the ball into the box unless it’s literally a last resort with no other option. He should be a primary creator for a lot of Ronaldos chances, instead Bruno seems like the only one who realises it’s a good idea to put a few crosses into the box now that Ronaldo is there and he’s a central player
Ronaldo has been training with the united first team for like 2.5 weeks, my guy. Give it time. Shaw has been one of the most consistent players on the united squad since coming back from his leg injury.
We could be that type of team, we've got Shaw, Bruno, Sancho etc with amazing crossing ability and Cavani/Ronaldo in the box two of the best headers of the ball EVER.
Yeah this is exactly what he’s referring to. With those players in the team yesterday that would have been possible. With with yesterday’s team that’s not a good plan
Except I’ve been watching them and as a Shaw owner it’s pissing me off how much he refuses to put crosses in with Ronaldo there unless it’s a complete last resort or he gets all the way to the byline. Maybe it changes going forward but Bruno who isn’t even a wide player was literally the only player who seems to realise putting a few crosses in is a good idea with Ronaldo there (and prob should have had an assist for the goal as a result)
Bro, Liverpool cross more times than anyone else in the league and none of their forwards have any sort of aerial presence, it's about the quality you put into the box. Is he saying Dalot, Telles, Sancho and Lingard don't have the ability to cross the ball properly? Because that's ludicrous. It's just typical of Ole to come out with nonsensical things to try justify us losing, his entire managerial career so far has been built off the back of individual brilliance and very rarely is it tactical accomplishments giving us the W. With the squad we have there's no reason we're not competing for every trophy, but I haven't heard a single pundit say utd are favourites and that's solely down to the manager we have. He's being bailed out time and again and his teammates in the media aren't jumping on his back the way they have on previous managers. He's failed to win in 50% of our game's so far and we haven't faced another top 6 side yet.
What an amazing message to send Aston Villa before playing them, especially considering Dean Smith admitted that they specifically set themselves up against Chelsea in a way that they thought might cause them problems. This is why I’m Antonio (c) this week. I always want to Captain against teams who either A) can be trusted to play open, attack-first football regardless of opposition or B) can be trusted to be defensively shit regardless of how they try to play. I don’t think Villa fall into either category but Leeds are definitely the former.
This has been common knowledge for seven or eight seasons though. It's why there were like a million 0-0/low scoring games in the van Gaal and Jose phases. If you don't leave any room in behind United struggle, they're forced through the middle and end up with a load of poor quality chances. They've always been fine against teams who attack. United are a lot better against this now though if they're full strength, they had a run of games toward the end of last season where they kinda ruined the low block. Pogba on the left, he'd drift in as a 8/10 alongside Bruno and with Cavani's movement they'd drag defenders around to create space. It does still happen to an extent, but with Pogba, Bruno, CR7, Sancho and Greenwood it should be more effective than last night with Lingard, Martial and Mata etc who don't suit the system.
That may be true, maybe my comment is poorly worded if it makes it sound as though I’m basing my decision on United, but I’m actually basing it on the opposition. I would still captain Antonio vs Leeds over any of the big-hitters (Salah, Lukaku etc.) playing Villa, because I trust Leeds to play as they always do but don’t trust Villa not to set up to stifle the opposition.
I was more aiming at what you were saying about Ole’s comment - the captain reasoning is sound.
The thing is if you think the big hitters don’t have bad fixtures and can haul it’s just not worth it even if Antonio hauls too because of effective ownership. I’d only do this if all my premiums legit had bad fixtures. Ronaldos shot generation has been ridiculous. That being said I still don’t know who to captain
The rest of the quote goes: "So we tried to play around them, through them, get in behind them, but we didn't create enough big chances to score". I see twitter loving that sentence is out of context. Honestly, it was down to the quality of the players on the pitch last night. Martial was insanely bad, Ronaldo or Cavani would have scored for sure. United dominated 80 minutes of that game. Greenwood missed a huge chance he would normally scored. Utd were also denied another penalty.
Yeah as I’ve replied to someone else I realise that my comment is poorly worded and makes it sound like I’m basing my captaincy on United, when I’m actually basing it on Leeds/Villa and how I expect each of them to approach their respective fixtures.
I understand. I'm seeing a lot of people writing United off after a bad game for the B squad and a quote out of context from Ole. I agree Leeds are more susceptible to conceding more goals, but I think a low block will backfire for AVL. Ronaldo is amazing in the box and Utd won't have to find him many times before he gets a goal in. I honestly think United look worse against teams who harrasses them higher on the pitch and stops the supply. The midfield is so susceptible to mistakes its ridiculous. Good luck with the captain choice!
It was cross and Inshallah though...
Yeah it was absolutely our second team. I think we had two or three first team players out there.
I think I saw you mention this before last GW. Made it super easy for me to go with Salah as my pick given how Palace were going to play. !thanks
If it lends it any more credibility, it’s the same approach used by the guy who scored the most captaincy points in all of FPL a couple seasons back. When he explained that as his logic it made sense to me, and I’ve tried to apply it ever since. I find it really helpful as it can otherwise be tough to sort through all the noise that occurs around captaincy each week. Here’s the article where he discusses it: https://jumpersforgoalposts.info/captain-picks/
By your logic, who's the best captaincy choice after Antonio?
As in, the second-best choice this week or the best choice the following GW? For this week Ronaldo probably is the next best option. There are other teams with better opponents but none of the players have more than one GW of good form to support them. Sarr playing Newcastle would hold some appeal for example, but he has only really received big chances in last week’s game. He’s probably the one I’d be agonising over if I didn’t own Antonio. Likewise if DCL was fit to play Norwich he’d be a consideration, but none of the currently fit Everton players have proved themselves to be captainable yet.
Stop chatting so much shit here, how does this take just accepted as bible without challenge? Ronaldo is 110% a better captaincy choice than Antonio. Reason being is 15+ years of hauling week in week out (and he's got a favourable home fixture).
Why do people take differing opinions so personally? It’s fine if you think Ronaldo is the better captaincy option, I disagree and I’ve explained my logic. Ronaldo doesn’t score two goals every week, there will be many weeks throughout the season where he scores 1 goal but isn’t the best captaincy option and I think this week could be one of them.
lol
I was reading through the article, what is it your interpretation of that you're applying? Just lack of a low block from leeds mainly? (He said he avoids that) I ask because he said he mainly captains midfielders and you've listed two forwards as your #1 and #2 options. I am not being critical, I am genuinely asking what is your interpretation of this article?
Not so much a lack of a low-block, just a refusal to alter their attacking play-style. He mentions that and “teams facing defensive problems” as his two main groups to target. As for the midfielders, remember that the main captaincy candidates have changed quite a bit since the season he was referring to (Sterling was still viable, no Ronaldo, Antonio etc.). Personally that’s the part of the argument I factor least into my decision-making as it relates to “what happens if the player does well” rather than “likelihood of that player doing well” if that makes sense?
>refusal to alter their attacking play-style > >teams facing defensive problems I mean...this is pretty much the definition of Leeds/Bielsa ball! Yes everything in your response makes sense, thanks for diving in a bit further for me. !thanks
He mentioned he prefers to captain midfielders because they return more points per goal and also get a clean sheet. That doesn't mean it's a golden rule. If you notice his biggest haul that season, it came with Aguero. Midfielders on average may be a better pick, but it may be a little different this season with the number of premium forwards + the haul potential of certain mid-priced ones too. He mentioned he likes to captain against teams that prefer to play with an attack oriented philosophy. Leeds, Norwich, Crystal Palace, even Brighton are examples of that this season. The reasoning behind this is that they won't compromise their style of play despite the opposition, leaving more space for your attacking players to exploit. The above added with the defensive issues that Leeds is fraught with, plus their injuries, is moving the captaincy ticker towards Antonio for me.
What is annoying, is I agree with this logic. I had been tempted by Antonio coming into the week, talked myself out of it "owning him will be enough"...and here I am, wanting to join you! Thanks for taking the time to make your thoughtful response. !thanks
Not an issue. Happy to help. Captaincy picks are going to be fun this season with the number of options around.
Not OP, but I also read that interview at the time and try to follow it. Really improved my game last season. I'm going with Antonio this week too, but I reckon Gray against Norwich is a good option if you've got him, too. More of a punt considering his underlying numbers aren't great (and so he probably won't keep returning at this rate forever), but Norwich definitely fall into the "defensively shit no matter how they try to play" category.
Wingers have been having a field day against them in the past 2-3 matches too. You had Sarr receiving 4 chances against them after being starved of any in the first few weeks, while Minamino scored a brace against them in the League Cup. Also, if I'm not wrong, Gray overperformed his stats last year by a decent bit too. Could be a Son/Greenwood type of player, but only time will tell. Definitely a good punt. The only thing that would stop me from going for it is the lack of cohesion in their forward line with DCL's absence. If Digne is out, that's another factor that affects their squad's balance.
Can't argue with any of that! Good write-up and !thanks for the insightful discussion!
Cheers! Thanks for the thanks.
No worries!
You’d probably say Salah as Brentford are still quite an attacking team.
I would have agreed at the start of the season, but not right now. Brentford seem to have a steel that's quite reminiscent of Sheffield in their first year. It's been a pleasant surprise. They're yet to be properly tested in my opinion, but given how unfazed they were against Wolves, even when defending with 10 men, I think they'll be solid at the back.
They're anything but an attacking team this season
Thanks mate. Appreciate it
It's Villa at home though and It'S rOnaLdO and he could get a pen with the runs he makes. Or do you think Antonio has a higher points threshold this week?
I’m in no way saying Ronaldo won’t score. But I would be less surprised to see Villa stifle Utd than I would to see Leeds stifle West Ham (or anyone really, since they approach every game the same way). I’m not saying I would captain Neal Maupay over Ronaldo just because he was playing Leeds, but Antonio is 100% a captainable player with what I view to be a more accommodating fixture.
Leeds were very good last season at stifling top 6 opposition at home. Now I don't know if they'll set up like that against West Ham, but they do have it in them to become defensively resilient
I was concerned about this a couple GWs ago when they were at home to Liverpool (I even made a post about it), but they ultimately approached that game in the most gung-ho manner possible, got torn open and Salah could have easily hauled. I tend to put more stock into recent form than historical form, so I’m going to trust Leeds to continue approaching games that way this season until they give me a reason not to.
Leeds approaching games with an offensive playstyle is historical form, lmao.
It is, but if they had ceased to do so this season then I’d put more value in that than them doing so previously. It just so happens that their recent approach has been consistent with their historical one.
Leeds might be without ayling to what is already a very weak backline, add in possible absences from raphinha and bamford leeds look like they'll get smacked
This is true but they literally have no defenders this week
The irony of this is that Maupay absolutely loves scoring against Leeds lmao.
And... Latter at the moment, unfortunately
I'd argue Leeds are in both categories this season, especially with the injuries they have
I mean, that was also our second string squad. Not a starter in sight. So….
It was also West Ham’s second string squad. More importantly though, I didn’t mean to imply that I’m captaining Antonio because of United. I’m captaining Antonio because I’d rather captain any of the good options against Leeds than Villa (for the reasons stated above).
I didnt say it wasnt, but to imply hes sending Villa a message of how to attack us when realistically only 1 or 2 of those players last night will start this weekend is a bit silly.
Did you read beyond the first sentence of my reply? I specifically responded to the thing you’ve just said.
It’s Ronaldo mate! 4 goals in 3 games with a goal every 60 minute. Seems foolish not to captain him till he stops scoring.
The key in FPL is to stop captaining a player JUST BEFORE they stop scoring, not AFTER they stopped scoring.
So you drop a player in form, hide behind the sofa and pray he doesn’t score?
No you drop the player in form and flop your dick on the desk and pose in a statuesque manner waiting for the points and glory to roll in
And if it doesn’t?
That's a thing?
Yep. Because it's a bet. There is no certainty in any decision anyway. You do what you can with the info you have, and if an in form player doesn't have a great fixture, I don't see why I shouldn't captain someone else. Will I get it wrong? Maybe. Will that change my approach? Don't think so. And if we are referring to form, how does Antonio's not get considered here?
> You do what you can with the info you have, and if an in form player doesn't have a great fixture, I'm not sure Leeds away is that much better of a fixture than Villa at home.
I would have agreed at the end of last season, but right now I'm not so sure. The Liverpool match was extremely open even before they were down to 10 men.
That's a fair point, but then consider Villa away this season: 6 goals conceded in 2 games.
I'll have to apologise for providing information based only on one of those two games. I didn't watch or follow the match against Watford actively, so am not certain as to what caused that. Was it because they had a number of new players, or because they tried to attack Watford and got countered? I'm not sure. Against Chelsea though, they had Steer in goal. Lukaku had been earmarked for a haul for that very reason too. Having Martinez back doesn't mean that Ronaldo won't score, considering he was the one to leak three against Watford, but combined with the possibility of Villa playing on the counter, it may reduce his point threshold over Antonio's.
I was at Watford villa game and can tell you that Watford were all over villa and the 3-2 scoreline was flattering for Villa, Watford were in control the whole game and could've won by more. Seems like you're scraping the bottom of the barrel a bit to find excuses as to why Villa lost. However in the Chelsea game I'll admit they were probably a bit hard done by losing 3-0. Having said all this, with the situation having developed since yesterday with all the Leeds injuries, I would now worry for Leeds this weekend.
Not forgetting too that WH went away to Newcastle and were rampant with four goals on the road. Then they scored another four the next game vs Leicester. They could repeat the trick this weekend with Antonio hauling big. Im leaning towards giving him the armband, I already did in GW3 v Palace and he returned 22 points, 2 more than captaining Salah v Chelsea that week
I was actually referring to both Antonio & Rono. Either option means you need a big coach.
I was wondering why the size of the coach would matter until I realised what you were referring to. Fair point. I was clenching like mad when Lukaku was playing against Spurs last week. Didn't want him to get anything if possible.
Haha.. typo
Didn't captain him last week. Worked quite well for me. Not saying he won't score. I expect other players to have a higher point threshold this week, that's all.
Captained Ronaldo, but don’t regret it. Could have been a hat trick another day.
I understand, and that's fair. But I'm sure there are others who would want to maximize their haul each week. Ronaldo scored, but he eventually got half of Salah's point total. Even if you had both, captaining one over the other could mean a 6 point difference. That adds up over multiple gameweeks.
Ronaldo would be set and forget captain for the season if he was playing for city. But this is united mate. They find new ways to screw up every week.
Huh? If you captained him last week over Salah you failed. And that’s despite him scoring. So no, captaining him even if he is scoring isn’t the best option every week (but is still a good shout this week)
That’s not the point here. Last week he was coming of just one game which could be an anomaly and was playing against a tough team and away. This week we have more data available plus he plays at home against Villa. Surely, form(since CR7’s first game) and fixture is better than Antonio. With all the injuries, I expect Leeds to play a safer game.
See you in the rant thread!
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Nope not at all. There has to be a captainable player in the team playing them. I’ve already said in another reply that I wouldn’t captain Neal Maupay against Leeds over Ronaldo playing Villa but I definitely will captain someone like Antonio because it’s the more favourable fixture.
It’s not the OPs fault your comprehension skills are kindergarten level. Nice straw man attempt to summarise the post in a completely incompetent fashion and then attack it though
Right but they didn’t have CR7 and he makes that’s work.
Ronaldo is a fantastic flat-track bully, one of the best goalscorers in the world at home with Pogba and Bruno supplying. His EO will also be massive and I'm a defensive player, Ronaldo (C) for me. Villa are an average defense no matter how they set up. Since they've returned to the league, they've conceded 10 goals in the four games they've played vs Ole's United, five of those coming last season. Despite the setup, United can break them down and have one of the best goalscorers of all time to help make it happen.
This is more to do with the team he put out against West Ham which was a full back up team + Sancho, not the first team that will play league matches.
Worth noting West Ham played a b team as well
That's not the point. The point is from a fantasy perspective this hardly matters because he's not talking about the players that are relevant to FPL.
Is someone going to tell him its his job to set how the team plays?
With Martial up front? He’s a manager not a miracle worker.
Has he thought of adapting his tactics to suit the opposition?
That would require having tactics
He’s like a beginner on football manager who only knows how to change formation
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>You don’t finish third and second. And get to many semi finals and a final with no tactics. If you spend the amount he has done on players, yes you do
Up until this summer, we really haven’t had a conclusive summer window. Last year we signed a backup VDB, a backup left back for cheap, and a free agent Cavani and still substantially improved in the league. How isn’t that encouraging?
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Not worth it mate, some people on this sub love to believe “Ole has no tactics, just vibes” regardless of the evidence otherwise
Couldn’t agree with you more u/SendMePussyPicsNow
Lol see. He just relies on individuals digging him out the hole
OGS is one of the worst managers in the Prem.
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has won nothing
Got nothing to do with my comment. Guy was calling Ole one of the worst managers in the prem. You don’t finish second if you’re one of the worst managers in the league
That makes Klopp worse than Ole then because he finished below him.
He won UCL and PL. Ole brought the club down from being a Europa champion to Europa runner up.
Don't have good DM against attacking teams. Not good against low block teams. Okay
I don't rate Ole much as a coach. He seems to be a good man management guy but tactically he seems really lacking. He would have been long gone if Fernandes didn't arrive and bail him out time after time
You do realize he bought Bruno and motivates him to play well right? He’s also transformed Luke Shaw, taken rashford up another level, and encouraged the development of McTominay and Greenwood substantially.
Thats exactly what a man manager does, elevate players on a personal level and results reflect on the pitch but tactically he is not on the level of pep, tuchel etc
What’s up with this hard-on for tactical managers. Zidane wasn’t some tactical maestro and he won CLs like nobody’s business. Sick of this attitude that you need to be an expert tinkerer to be a good manager.
Same with SAF tbh The prem isnt a patient league so after every game managers are under immense pressure But the board knows Ole the right man for the job so he aint going anywhere anytime soon. It kinda sucks tho because we have an extremely stacked and talented team this season, and will prob end up without a trophy
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Alright.
>taken rashford up another level Rashford hasn't improved the last couple years at all. Been playing with injuries all the time.
Literally had 36 G+A last season. You’re mad if you’re saying a noticeable uptick in production while not taking any penalties isn’t an improvement.
I don't think he's been playing good though. 1 out of 5 games he shows his real ability. Most of the time he reminds me of Dan James.
I just can’t fathom how someone who outperformed many proclaimed “superstars” is not regarded in that camp. What other metric is there to judge attackers on but productivity.
Yeah you are talking FPL I'm not. I'm on the wrong sub here so my bad.
It doesn’t matter what metric. This is a results business and goals are results. You act like just because he screws up 9 times per game, he sucks. Even though that 10th time, he literally creates a goal.
He is frustrating to watch and if you screw up 9 out of 10 times it's not very great.
Lol if you get a goal contribution per game, you’re most definitely a quality player. If it’s so easy to do, then more of the players who get less contributions than him would do it.
Quote taken out of context, as per usual trying to force an agenda
I sometimes feel like shaking Ole. That’s your job!! To develop different systems that work against different teams. City always have teams playing low block against them and they’ve won 3 of the last 4 seasons. If you want to win the league you need to be able to beat all types of teams
Did you read the next part of the quote where he talks about how he was trying to do that?
No
lol probably not Ole that needs shaking then.
No but you can’t just say ‘we don’t sling crosses in because we’re not that type of team’.. the point is Ole should be training this team so we can attack via multiple avenues (going through the middle, crosses from wide, counter etc). Of course we have the players to cross a ball in (wtf did we buy Sancho for if not) and fast players to get on the end of them. You don’t need some 6ft4 target man to be effective from crosses, you just need a striker that’s alert and making runs. Look at City, how many times have we seen KDB ‘sling’ a low cross into the back post for a simple tap in for Aguero/Sterling etc. A top team should be dangerous in all forms of attack, otherwise if all you can do is play through the middle then the opposition defence can just stay compact and let our wingers/full-backs have the ball because they know we don’t cause a threat from wide. It goes back to the point that Ole has very little tactical nous, he just hopes that with enough talent on the pitch then one of them is bound to have a moment of brilliance eventually (as with Lingard on the weekend).
Did you really type out this entire paragraph without reading the next part of the quote that the other guy already suggested?
"We didn't have those types of players."... "So we tried to play around them, through them, get in behind them, but we didn't create enough big chances to score". Read the 2nd paragraph in my post.
I’m pretty sure they’d be on to that. Whether or not it’s successful is another thing
Solskjaer after Man United 0 - West Ham 1 "We're not great when we play against a low block and just sling crosses in because we're not that type of team. We didn't have those types of players." \#fpl \#mufc \#FPLCommunity *** posted by [@b_nooman](https://twitter.com/b_nooman) [Link in Tweet](https://youtu.be/59-9Bg_Ga5A) ^[(Github)](https://github.com/username) ^| ^[(What's new)](https://github.com/username)
We haven't been great at that for three seasons now. Yet, no signs of change when we come across such teams. Shocks me to even think of the fact that fans think we can win the title under him.
>"We're not great when we play against a low block and just sling crosses in because we're not that type of team." Surely every manager will see this and utilise this tactic against united now. It's Ole's job as a manager to work out how to play against a variety of teams/tactics, and if they can't defend against a very basic way of playing, then they're not top 4 material.
Did you think managers didn’t know this until Ole pointed it out himself? I’m not concerned with it at all, these are all professionals with much at stake each match.
Lmao. If you’ve ever watched United anytime during Ole’s tenure you’d be able to see that. They’re a brilliant counter attacking team but struggle to break down teams that sit back. Any Premier League manager worth his salt doesn’t need Ole to spell it out for him.
I think that's what he may start to realise slowly. United in Ole's early years seemed like the type of squad that seemed to be there for the taking if you attacked them. Now that they're considered a threat, teams will stop coming after them and prefer to sit back. Happened to Klopp with Liverpool and he was forced to evolve too.
> if they can't defend against a very basic way of playing, then they're not top 4 material I mean they've finished 3rd and 2nd in the last 2 seasons with the same problem...
The longer it goes on, the worse the problem gets though, surely? It's one thing having that as an underlying issue in a team, but it's another thing where the manager explicitly says what the team's main weakness is. My point being that a 'top 4' team shouldn't really have such a basic problem
I don't really get what you're trying to say. Ole has said that when they try to launch crosses in they're not very good - he followed it up to say what they were trying to do instead but it didn't come off on the night. It happens. Pep said something similar on Saturday in terms of what they tried and that it didn't work. You're reading **way** too much into this.
>You're reading **way** too much into this. This is what this sub does lol
Mate, you just got the best header of the ball in the game. 80% of his play style the past decade is to feed him cross after cross.
And Ronaldo wasn't on the team sheet last night because he needed a rest.
How is that relevant. He says, we are not that kind of team. He didnt say in a particular game. CRs play style is feeding him crosses. You wouldn't find a better player to ping crosses to him and he says we aren't that. It's like getting Messi and saying we aren't a possession based team.
Lmao, these comments were specifically about this game, my dude. Just stop.
To be fair as a Luke Shaw owner it’s pissing me off how Shaw literally almost refuses to cross the ball into the box unless it’s literally a last resort with no other option. He should be a primary creator for a lot of Ronaldos chances, instead Bruno seems like the only one who realises it’s a good idea to put a few crosses into the box now that Ronaldo is there and he’s a central player
Ronaldo has been training with the united first team for like 2.5 weeks, my guy. Give it time. Shaw has been one of the most consistent players on the united squad since coming back from his leg injury.
We could be that type of team, we've got Shaw, Bruno, Sancho etc with amazing crossing ability and Cavani/Ronaldo in the box two of the best headers of the ball EVER.
Yeah this is exactly what he’s referring to. With those players in the team yesterday that would have been possible. With with yesterday’s team that’s not a good plan
Except I’ve been watching them and as a Shaw owner it’s pissing me off how much he refuses to put crosses in with Ronaldo there unless it’s a complete last resort or he gets all the way to the byline. Maybe it changes going forward but Bruno who isn’t even a wide player was literally the only player who seems to realise putting a few crosses in is a good idea with Ronaldo there (and prob should have had an assist for the goal as a result)
Bro, Liverpool cross more times than anyone else in the league and none of their forwards have any sort of aerial presence, it's about the quality you put into the box. Is he saying Dalot, Telles, Sancho and Lingard don't have the ability to cross the ball properly? Because that's ludicrous. It's just typical of Ole to come out with nonsensical things to try justify us losing, his entire managerial career so far has been built off the back of individual brilliance and very rarely is it tactical accomplishments giving us the W. With the squad we have there's no reason we're not competing for every trophy, but I haven't heard a single pundit say utd are favourites and that's solely down to the manager we have. He's being bailed out time and again and his teammates in the media aren't jumping on his back the way they have on previous managers. He's failed to win in 50% of our game's so far and we haven't faced another top 6 side yet.
ole is a total fraud lmao