JeevaM

[Andy @LetsTalk_FPL]

The reaction to this Haaland stuff is absolute insanity at this point.

The sheer volume of comments, tweets, abuse, insults etc when I had zero info. It’s utter madness.

“He had his captain on Haaland all week”.

I didn’t!

It was literally on Bruno at one or two points during the stream and on earlier videos in the week. It was a super close call! Just because you don’t think it was, doesn’t mean it wasn’t.

It’s the reason I wasn’t bothered by refreshing and being on Bruno, I liked both picks 🤷‍♂️

Just because being top 1k would change how people approach the game, doesn’t mean it does for me. The idea that someone wouldn’t captain Bruno if top 1k is just stupid.

I’m human, just because I do this for a living doesn’t mean I’m always calm with my decisions, sometimes it’s last minute, it’s not acting, it’s just who I am. There are plenty of deadlines streams where I know exactly what I’m doing and I’m chill. Why don’t I also just “act” otherwise for views then? Because that’s not what I do.

I’ve had so much shite thrown at me, it’s ruined my weekend, and the sad thing is, it’s all for nothing. People are angry for made up stuff in their head - I had no more info than anyone else. And now I’ll have to listen to it for a while despite doing nothing wrong.

People just making stuff up -“well you must have known he was a doubt” etc.

No truth in it whatsoever.

The first I ever saw of it was from a tweet AFTER the deadline and I assumed it was something of nothing, until Saturday afternoon when the rumours started, at which point it was too late to do anything about it anyway.

I’ve been offered info from a big Chelsea account before for money, I declined it without even asking how much. A Man United account asked if I wanted info recently, I said no.

My Twitter DMs are completely shut off now unless I follow you, I barely check Instagram messages. I’m in zero FPL group chats.

I actively try and avoid info like this, especially as my audience has grown, unless it’s public like the recent Haaland and Foden benchings.

Not sure what more I can do.

I’m just taking a lot of heat for no reason, I’ve gained zero advantage from this whole thing. People just want someone to blame, and it looks like it’s me, despite having no prior knowledge of this whole thing.

It’s just sad.

And yeah, it comes with the territory, it doesn’t mean it’s any more fun to have to read.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

The reason this feels so good is because your brain was taxing you for a week straight and you didn’t even notice.

Every time that undone task crossed your mind, your anterior cingulate cortex fired a conflict signal. Small. Subtle. But metabolically expensive. Your brain was running a background process on that 5-minute task 24/7 for 7 days, burning glucose and generating low-grade cortisol each time it surfaced.

Neuroscientists call this the Zeigarnik Effect. Incomplete tasks occupy more mental RAM than completed ones. Your brain literally cannot let go of open loops. So that “5 minute task” was never 5 minutes. It was 5 minutes of execution plus 168 hours of ambient cognitive load.

That relief you feel when you finally do it? That’s a dopamine spike from closing the loop combined with a cortisol drop from removing the threat signal. Your body just stopped paying a week-long neurochemical tax on a debt of 300 seconds.

This tells you everything about how procrastination actually works. The loop runs like this: task feels slightly aversive → amygdala flags it → you avoid it → avoidance provides immediate relief → brain learns avoidance = reward → task stays open → background stress accumulates → task feels MORE aversive than it originally was.

The fix is stupidly simple and Huberman talks about this constantly. You don’t need motivation. You need a forcing function that bypasses the amygdala’s threat assessment. Set a timer for 90 seconds. Tell yourself you’ll stop after 90 seconds. Your prefrontal cortex can override 90 seconds of discomfort. Once you start, the dopamine system switches from avoidance to pursuit, and the task completes itself.

The 5-minute task was never hard. The starting was hard. And every hour you waited made starting harder.

[The Tactixology @tactixology]

A lot of people were overhyping the victories as “Amorim’s system finally clicking” and “players finally executing”.

The notion that he adapted in order to win, but adapted in a way that is not sustainable, was viciously attacked.

Now that we lost in a bad way, it’s not easy to say that the system is suddenly not clicking anymore, so they are only left with blaming the players again.

In reality:
- Amorim made some pragmatic adjustments and short-term fixes
- changes brought results but were reactive & unsustainable in the long run
- it mostly worked against teams that wanted to attack & have the ball
- it’s an inadequate platform for a top 4 / 6 battle, let alone more than that

That’s all there is to it. We had a bad start; Amorim adapted; it was a good short-term fix.

But it clear all along that you can’t do much if you ignore central progression & final 3rd retention.

[The Athletic | Football @TheAthleticFC]

■ Problems with strategy of centre-back 'jumps'
■ How opposition teams are overloading midfield
■ Losing runners and possession

@Walid_4 breaks down Manchester United's out-of-possession issues under Ruben Amorim and how it's hurting their whole game.

🔗 https://t.co/6Pl1EkXfkV

[kenna @kennagq]

Its a cult at this point. You can't reason with people bought into a personality cult.

Amorim has done NOTHING at united to deserve this irrational level of cult dedication. It is actually infuriating

[Ilemona @I_Am_Ilemona]

You people really need to die this talk. It's insulting.

Mourinho came 2nd. The only players from his team left in this team is Luke Shaw & Diogo Dalot.

Ole came 2nd. The only players left from his team are Shaw, Maguire, Bruno and Dalot.

ETH came 3rd. There are only 4 players left from the starting 11 v City in the FA cup final.

Your manager plays the most creative AM in the world in DM positions, puts our best winger in RWB, often has LWB as the most forward player, brings on CBs when we're chasing games.

But it's the players who have a weak mentality? When he cannot even watch corners? Can't watch penalties v Grimsby?

This narrative is nonsense that needs to die.

[The Tactixology @tactixology]

There is this nostalgic notion that all United ever did under Ferguson was attack opponents constantly, directly and with speed, wingers chasing down the flanks, quick counters, club DNA etc.

In reality, if you’ve watched those games, direct attacks were a prominent tool in most of SAF’s teams, but far from only tool.

His teams also used slower build up and progression; patient territory gain and final 3rd combos; retention as a defensive tool; lower block and counters, and higher block & sustained pressaure.

In fact, I’d argue best teams had a fantastic mix of verticality and retention, being able to hit opponents on the counter to exploit the space while also being able to build patiently and manipulate settled blocks.

As best teams usually do.

[Stealy Dan @HannibalBarca86]

@tactixology THANK YOU. I’m so sick of this lazy analysis that the reason we lose is because our players don’t care enough or run hard enough. Even if that were the case, it certainly is not, that usually is a problem that stems from the coach’s inability to motivate the squad

[Babs @Babs_SP]

@tactixology People celebrating what is being removed whilst not questioning what exactly is being built. Tale as old as time.

[The Tactixology @tactixology]

OPEN HEARTS AND OPEN SURGERIES

In the past 12 months, United have conducted yet another "open heart surgery", after the one under ETH which saw 75% of the squad replaced.

We have now removed:
-- players singled out for United's lack of goals because they couldn't finish chances (Hojlund)
-- players singled out for United's losses because they were couldn't save shots (Onana)
-- players singled out for allegedly rotten club culture, laziness etc (Rashford, Sancho, Garnacho...)
-- players that were "just not good enough" and were holding us back (Elanga, Lindelof, AwB...)

All of these groups have been cited as the primary - or only - reasons for United's poor performance.

While I don't disagree with specific criticisms of how some players have performed, I disagree with this infantile fantasy that player mentality & lack of quality are the key culprits of the club's poor performances.

When the whole team performs as badly as we did over the past 12 months, with tactical errors visible from the moons of Jupiter, it's really impossible to claim a few individuals and their errors are to blame.

But let's say I'm wrong. Let's say it really was mostly about Hojlund, Onana, Garnacho and Rashford. Now that this has been dealt with, can we expect the team's performances to fly off the shelves?

Or is the surgery not yet complete? Do we need to get more players to leave? Will the online brigades turn their bloodthirsty campaigns to Mainoo and Bruno? How long before Sesko gets his due - because we're running out of players to blame?

These cycles of massive squad turnover, pivots and radical surgeries are clearly unsustainable. The club needs a clear plan and then it needs to stick to it.

At one point, Ineos had promised they will set the long-term vision and core footballing philosophy, while managers / head coaches will be tasked with adding their flavor and overseeing execution.

Imho, they should go back to that original promise.

[The Tactixology @tactixology]

Always rated Gallagher as a squad option at Chelsea, but don't see how he slots into United's midfield under Amorim. Bruno and Gallagher in the pivot seems like an exceptionally bad idea.

Our interest seems to follow the train of thought that the only thing stopping the game model from working is more athleticism and intensity from the players.

ETH had similar ideas. If only the midfielders could run more, it would mitigate for midfield gaps created by the system.

We saw how it went with Ugarte - nothing changed in structure nor outcome, we just had a different player running around, trying to make up for tactical issues.

What United have needed in central midfield for a while now is a playmaker and a defensive anchor. Instead, they keep going for box-to-box runners, hoping their running stats translate into success.

[The Tactixology @tactixology]

This is such a sad deja vu of United’s last season.

Team not playing well, but managing to grab some results here and there, usually through moments of individual brilliance and outstanding effort.

Manager unable or unwilling to face the issues with his tactical intent, hoping better execution solves everything.

Board unusure what to do, after dropping ~£200m on new players to support the manager’s vision.

Legions of shitposters, buoyed by Goldbridge and TV pundits, replying to every analysis with: “the players are just not good / not running enough”.

Euphoria after every win, despair after every loss, even though fundamental issues in both were pretty much the same.

Toxic fan accounts running campaigns against players, questioning their dedication and lying about a vast conspiracy to get the manager sacked.

United really need to find a way to get out of this death spiral.

[The Tactixology @tactixology]

Don’t think Garnacho’s ceiling is as high as many on here seem to think.

Yet I don’t really see the logic behind selling him for ~£50m in today’s market, especially if Rashford were to leave, too.

[xlv @shadadzai]

small nitpicking but people think Lisandro's issues are just he can't win headers

he's too slow in wide spaces, no serious defender allows a cross from here against Jacob Murphy . This happens so often but nothing gets made from it

[JeevaM @SGalacho]

@UTDCJ_ Asking for a friend @CalvenSurain @ganageasG

[💎 @TJayyyy_1]

One of the greatest seasons to ever exist.

If you didn’t witness this in real time, I’m so sorry for you.

[CarringtonView @CarringtonView]

Issues At No' 10!

- Garnacho in fairness does the right thing by dropping in to receive possession. Hojlund could also run in the Channel vacated by Timber.

- However the problem is that Garnacho is poor at protecting the ball, not good in the pockets, and lacks in overall quality. Bad first touch loses possession.

- Arsenal basically shift it to the left and Martinelli wins the corner and we concede.

Touches

Garnacho - 32
Amad - 21
Mount - 15
Zirkzee - 11

My problem is Garnacho isn't GOOD enough to be this prominent in our team. He shouldn't be having the most touches. He doesn't have the quality to make use of it as we need. He has certain qualities but limited.

This is not necessarily a Garnacho issue. It's we need more quality in the 10's issue. I actually thought Hojlund was good in the first half occupying their defenders and holding it up, winning fouls.

[™️#OneAfrica @ousman_10]

Every single player receiving these passes are fighting for their lives trying to control them 😭😭

[JeevaM @SGalacho]

❤️❤️❤️

[Red Marrow (Meds) @RedMarrow_]

The best thing about Ruud taking the helm & managing these 4 games was that he personally got to say goodbye to the fans, something he couldn't do when he was a player here. And I will always have that over everything else. Thank you Ruud, thank you Utd❤️
https://t.co/Bq38XxhYO3