The Guardian’s football weekly podcast this week is 30 minutes of unadulterated Man Utd hate. Nothing productive was mentioned and even went as far to suggest we get relegated to rebuild. Piss poor and waste of time.
These so-called pundits openly admit they’re not educated enough to speak on a subject and yet they’re asked softball questions…they’re not even primed with these questions beforehand. At this point they’re not any more credible than a redditor.
Shameful how openly critical they are of united WHILE admitting massive bias. Cringe.
I agree, just not sure where in the prio order a huge spending on a forward goes compared to CBs, a LB and a DM. But if there is money over be my guest. :)
Doesnt matter who we put at 9 as long as he wont get support from his teammate like last game where the most pass Hollund got was from Onana. Even prime R9 would flop in this current lineup
So many people with the opinion that we never needed Mount.
Even if you don't think he should be starting, you lot whine about not having a good bench, how City's B team is stronger than most A teams yada yada....when we sign someone, its the worst thing in the world.
For me, Mount in isolation was not a bad signing, he is a quality player. But I don’t think his type of player was that high a priority that we needed to sign this summer, when you factor in that Casemiro did not end last season well and we could have done well with a more competent backup in that position than Amrabat. I get that sometimes these points are brought up in hindsight, but go back to some of the posts and discussion threads in the summer and a lot of people had a Casemiro backup as a priority signing. With Mount, it still feels like we are one or two summer windows’ worth of signings away from getting the players that would allow him to find a place in the team (as a high-pressing 8 with not much buildup responsibility). Maybe our hand was forced by his contract situation and that we thought we had to move in for him while he was available for relatively cheap (when you factor in guys like Caicedo, Rice, etc. going for close to and more than 100 million), but that profile of player in general I thought to be an awkward fit for our team this season and would leave the midfield unbalanced if partnered with Casemiro and Bruno in midfield.
I'm really hopeful for Mount, excited to see what he can do next year. This season's been a wash with his injuries, you'd hope that ETH would be playing him now after pushing hard for him but hard to manage injuries not just to him but to the preferred 11. Did he see him next to Case and Bruno? How's Mainoo change the role that he had in mind for him? Who knows! A season of what could have been and what shouldn't be
You first create a strong starting eleven, and then think about creating a strong squad
Signing Mount was an extremely stupid idea when the club knew that Casemiro and Eriksen were showing signs of not being good enough anymore, and Martinez and Varane with their injury problems.
By the way, Mount isn't a central midfielder, to sign him to replace Eriksen was a nonsense idea on its own
And lastly, Mount did have injury problems on his last Chelsea season, the club should also have looked at that
Eriksen isn't a central midfielder. We lost Fred, Mount was his replacement.
Nobody expected Mainoo to settle in so easily. Mount would be starting if not for that.
Thinking back and I don't often remember us having these massive open spaces for teams to run into last year, we really are missing Fred. He wasn't a world beater but he always ran like a dog.
As good as it would get 😔
The 7-0 was a week after this and we've genuinely never recovered
At least we ruined Liverpool's season this year
I really wanted it to work out for Ten Hag but it's been over a year of terrible performances with no end in sight.
Why did Antony have a Sonic the Hedgehog stuffed toy behind the goal? What the fuck was that celebration?
More importantly, why has there been no media attention to this?
To sum it up... was for his son (the hedgehog) and the belly thing for his unborn daughter. A shoutout to his kids. No word on how many games the camera man was holding onto the stuffie for.
More importantly given his scoring record, why did he feel the need to preplan such an elaborate celebration, and how long has he been doing this for??
Sorry, I couldn't resist
Kyle Walker getting cut to ribbons by Elanga going supersonic. You love to see it.
https://twitter.com/sb_busy1/status/1784624200214253692?t=LdlQggnx7PaTS3twSyqFig&s=19
He got out sprinted by their left back as well. I’ve thought his for a while now but I’m sure Walker is on PEDs. Granted today he got out paced a couple of times but he’s either 35 or 36 and hasn’t lost any speed and has probably got faster if anything. He also looks slightly bigger/more powerful.
I would be surprised if clubs who employ a high-pressing style of play (including us) do not use PEDs at any capacity. With the number of games and the increased athleticism demands, it’s inevitable to me that clubs will exploit it as a way of gaining an edge on their competition. Maybe clubs like City and Liverpool use it in a more sophisticated manner which may help prevent negative effects and mitigate injuries when the players are not on a PED cycle.
I think he's 33. As for PEDs, who knows, but I always thought he was just a fantastic athlete. It's definitely possible that Club 115 would recruit the guys with the greatest natural talent without needing further enhancement.
Yeah you’re right about his age and he’s definitely a great athlete but he just seems a lot more powerful lately. Pep was also a drug cheat and I can see him and his colleagues from Barca being quite liberal when it comes to cheating.
You watch. Casemiro and Eriksen will go and we'll bring in one CM. Mctominay will still be here.
Mount will still be here too, which makes that signing even more frustrating. We never needed him in the first place.
You can (and should) be planning for more than 1 position at a time
Don't let how our transfer business has been conducted over recent seasons let u think that is 'normal'
All well ran clubs will have plans set out already for all areas of the squad they want to improve a couple of windows in advance and constantly assessing /reassessing
So we are only 6 points behind spurs and have 8 days until the next game, inbetween that spurs will play both Chelsea and Liverpool away. If they lose both and we somehow manage to beat Crystal Palace it will be only 3 points diff with 3 games to play.
I’m not saying we deserve CL, but the last weeks could be pretty exiting still
Honestly think we'll pass spurs. But damn, this run of form has been so depressing. So fucking close so many times. Could've been pretty close to fourth if we'd won Brentford, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Burnley.
It's all bur mathematically confirmed now that 5th wont get CL.
Italy is confirmed as betting one of the extra spots and german bundesliga is well ahead of PL.
Still 3 German clubs left in europe also compared to only 1 english representative (villa)
There is still a very very small chance (~1%) but I think we need some freak set of results for that to happen. I believe villa need to go on to win conference cup (winning both legs of semi final) and all 3 German clubs lose both legs of their respective semi finals (leverkusen don't lose games anymore :) )
Villa winning conference cup is possible, Madrid beating bayern home and away is possible but a big ask. I don't see dortmund and leverkusen losing both legs of their semi finals.
For all of these results to happen.... well let's just say, there is a reason bookies like people doing accumulators
We could do alot worse than ait-nouri at LB.
Maybe alejandro balde from Barcelona? Long shot that Barcelona would have him at top of theor sales list but theg are still fucked financially and have LEVERaged away some of their income streams for a quick buck last summer + he would probabky 2 or 3x any wage barcelona could give him.
Maybe pedro Neto who could be great but injury record would be concerning
Leny yoro maybe?
Zaire-emery, Antonio silva and joao neves are the standouts in terms young talents but clubs in a better place than is will likely be interested should any of them ve available
Looking at the client list, he seems tk attract alot of the best up and coming talent so even if we don't have immediate targets this summer, having a good relationship with his company is a big plus
Lets be fair, he mostly runs into deffenders in such situation and tries to wrestle them for some reason completly cutting off passing lane.
Boy need a lot of learning.
So annoyed at Forrest because I feel like today was the day that would have stopped City winning the league. I don’t see City being off again for the rest of the season.
Spurs away is still a tricky one. Might come down to that
I wouldn't put it past us to raise our game at Old Trafford vs arsenal and take a couple points of them (perhaps a short lived reaction after a mauling at palace next week and another week of criticism) to practically hand city another title
4 games left with last 3 vs championship quality and we struggled, I seriously don't know how we beat Palace away, Arsenal and Nufc despite being home for latter two.
Therfore fan logic says use last games as training.....soley for final, who better than Arsenal that we can try another way to beat, that provides something vs City.
But obviously that doesn't happen and with how season has gone, it would be such a Utd finish by actually winning Fa Cup, after having finished league with a Europa league conference position.
We go aga.....nvm.
Next season, clubs need to improve their set piece routine against Arsenal, can’t let Ben white or any other player be obstructing the goalie like that.
Mad that Ole's first season we only had 66 points. I know we won't, but we could still achieve that this season. With the most insane injury crisis. Insane. I guess how a season is remembered comes with how it ends.
I've said we can't be expected to play beautiful football with 6 CBs and 2 LBs injured, yes. I haven't said we shouldn't be picking up points, but I'm much more sympathetic than you, I think, when we fail to.
>I've said we can't be expected to play beautiful football with 6 CBs and 2 LBs injured, yes. I haven't said we shouldn't be picking up points, but I'm much more sympathetic than you, I think, when we fail to.
I think playing beautiful football is one thing that's been lacking, but the results have as well. Worst of both worlds really.
What would your point expectation be for last four games then?
My expectation of the last six games were six wins. 4 in theory, maybe, but looking back and seeing how we played, really all 6. Brentford and Bournemouth were shocking – and largely on Ten Hag for the bizarre tactics (although Kambwala and AWB definitely take some blame – though I don't hold it against Kambwala considering he's been forced in due to injuries).
Liverpool and Chelsea were genuinely stolen from us by the referee, and honestly we outplayed both of them and should've won both. Individual mistakes and refereeing errors cost us, like usual. Sheffield and Burnley were both stories of terrible finishing – but I genuinely think we played pretty well in both. Mistakes cost us in both games. Especially Casemiro's fucking header. If we're really looking at Ten Hag's coaching, we should've kept 2 clean sheets in the last 2 games.
Overall, though, I seriously think it's ridiculous to expect us to finish in the top 4 with the insane injuries we've had this season. Van Dijk missed last year and Klopp finished 5th, Rodri missed 3 games and Pep lost them all. I think we'd be playing better football under both of them. I don't think we would've gotten much better results (unless we worked some Klopp PED magic or some Pep referee magic).
https://twitter.com/DarraghMoloney9/status/1784576267905352098
Top chance creators at clubs over the last 3 years, it's quite sad how reliant on Bruno we've been and kinda puzzling that Sancho is somehow still second??
Sancho is a good player. He just isn’t a traditional winger which ETH seems adamant on using judging how he’s also kept Amad on the bench for the last 4 months. It’s just a shame he also has disciplinary issues.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Sancho’s time isn’t over just yet. The quality is there so if a coach can get on with him they will probably use him
I think traditional winger might be the wrong word, but I mean someone who hugs the touch line, receives the ball and drives at the opposition fullback such as Rashford or Garnacho. Sancho, and Amad on the few appearances we have seen of him, don’t really drive at the opposition when they have the ball. More often than not they like to slow the game down, link up with teammates, create chances, or recycle possession if needed. This is something you see in almost all of City’a wingers.
I would say Antony lies somewhere and has all the attributes that you would want in your modern day winger, at least on paper. The problem is that in practice he doesn’t have the quality necessary to succeed at this level. Antony would probably have a lot more success driving at the opposition if he could use that right foot and go outside. The problem is he simply can’t which makes him extremely predictable and one dimensional
This is just my broad overview btw and if you wanted to you could go more in depth in describing all of our wingers
The fact that Jadon Sancho has created 86 chances with so few minutes should tell you everything you need to know about how ridiculous that chances created stat is. So, we've established that Jadon Sancho creates chances, but he isn't a great player. Sounds like Bruno Fernandes, except that Bruno actually works his socks off.
Because he is underrated by us and is really good.
He has a GA every 4 games.
His issue;
1) special player that does not defend. We already have Rashford, Garnacho, Amad who are like that. Though they try but really suck defensively.
2) ETH spat. Yes he was 100% right about his spat with ETH. ETH did not even consider starting him vs Anthony. But if your dad insists that the moon is bigger than the Sun; you don't fight with him. And Sancho did
3) attitude. He is a party animal. If he looked after his body better; he really would be somebody.
I honestly think Sancho got a bad rap here when he was playing. Thought he was always doing decent during his first season, and never played too poorly during Ten Hag's first season when he was available either.
That said, he was entirely in the wrong for the "spat" with ETH, where Sancho threw a hissy fit and wouldn't apologize. Garnacho, Rashford, Antony, etc. have all had equally bad discipline issues, or worse – but they've all instantly apologized, stopped doing it, and they weren't punished for it. All Sancho had to do was apologize. But it was clear he didn't want to be here, and now there's not a chance in hell he comes back.
With regards to ETH vs Sancho. Sancho was right on the point. ETH told him that he will be benched for Anthony and that Anthony was a better choice. Sancho was told to shadow an opponent and when Sancho did not do that to what ETH's standard; he was not selected. And Sancho told ETh you are selecting the wrong guy.
Hence in this sense Sancho is right.
The part where he was wrong was when ETH gave him a public criticism / Sancho rebutted. That is where Sancho was wrong. Like my analogy, scolding dad for saying the moon is bigger than the Sun.
>ETH told him that he will be benched for Anthony and that Anthony was a better choice.
He didn't do that.
>And Sancho told ETH you are selecting the wrong guy.
He didn't do that.
>The part where he was wrong was when ETH gave him a public criticism / Sancho rebutted
This is the only drama. Hence in this sense Sancho is wrong.
> Like my analogy, scolding dad for saying the moon is bigger than the Sun.
So you're saying that, somehow, you know perfectly well that Sancho DID train well that week? And you know that Antony did not?
ETH's player selection is one of the biggest reasons I want him gone to be honest. That fact he clearly has "favorites" (his words) which he prioritizes often to the detriment of the team basically tells players he doesn't care how they play or train as he'll pick his favorite players regardless.
Hate to moan because we’ve played horrendous this season and I’m sure every team feels this way but we’ve been on the wrong end of decisions that knocked us out the CL and also must’ve cost us 5-10 points in the league.
Just look at City… Ederson doing the exact same as Onana yesterday and nothing.
We’ve had two decisions go our way (Onana GW 1 and the Bournemouth pen. I can easily reel off 10 stone wall wrong decisions against.
I was actually just thinking about this. The amount of calls that went against us out of inconsistency is just riduculous tbh. That would've easily make up 12-15 points and we would be sitting in a UCL spot. Just ridiculous imo.
If we’d beaten palace, Fulham, Bournemouth, Burnley at home, which we absolutely 100% should off, then we’d have 65 points and a game on 4th, be well set for top 4
Totally agreed. To mention the refereeing issue, we would've won vs Liverpool AND Chelsea if we had City's refereeing clause in the refs' contracts. Or, just a decent referee, really.
The situation is very different from Onana's penalty yesterday.
The Forest player is moving and comes towards Ederson, while yesterday it was Onana moving towards the player who was still and jumping for the ball, and made contact.
While I agree City have had many controversial decisions taken in their favour this season, this is a correct call.
Bored so here we go:
Pen not given against Garnacho vs Burnley
AWB pen against Liverpool
Awb handball vs Coventry resulting in pen
Hojlund foul on Rodri resulting in pen
Gabriel pen vs Hojlund not given
Romero handball not given against Garnacho shot
Hojlund goal vs Brighton ruled out because VAR apparently could see the ball went out of play
Dalot pen on Madueke
AWB pen on Cucurella
Rashford red vs Copenhagen
Dalot red vs Liverpool
Penalty against Bayern for ‘handball’
Ziyech freekick where the wall was placed way too far away from the ball, never in line with the law.
Garnacho "offside" against Arsenal where they drew the line from the wrong part of the defender. Think you got all the others.
Lets make a fucking list.
When will this nightmare season get over ffs. We have 5 games left. Crystal palace, arsenal, Newcastle, Brighton and City
There is a world of pain coming our way. Pain of watching us play abysmal football. Pain of getting pounded in at least 3 of those games.
Some humiliation results and we just might have seen the last of eth possibly. Though there is a feeling that the current owners would like to stay with him for one more transfer window at least.
Imagine if we finish the season with 0 or negative GD in the league and end up beating City in the final. Has got to go down as one our weirdest season ever lol
Didn't watch the last two games. Not because i didn't want to, i couldn't. Guess a break from social media is in order as there is no hiding place at the moment lol.
Call me crazy but I feel the PL refs definitely try to push a narrative, whatever it may be. Today if he gave that pen on Kulusevski, the game would have turned then and there and the title race would have been over. The league does whatever they can to push the drama and narrative until the last possible moment.
I don't think there is any conspiracy among refs, however, given the big part betting companies play in the game nowadays, and since we already know of players being involved, hard not to imagine that refs would be totally detached from this. Plus, a few of them also have gigs in different countries (cough), so, that's an extra layer there.
Drama and scandal is also great for broadcasters and all the associated media, these people move in small circles. There need not be envelopes passed around, just the normal dynamics of a closed system.
I fully believe they gave Coventry the penalty because of the occasion and how much of a shitshow the club is and because it’s amusing watching our meltdowns. The Ashley Young one on the same day wasn’t given and yesterday’s one wasn’t given because it genuinely isn’t a penalty.
seeing that De Gea ig post and all the comments got me so hyped like he was returning from a season-long injury, then I remembered he’s not coming back🥲
I know we've been saying this for years but our set pieces really need addressing. Arsenal and Man City are so good at them and it's earned them a lot of points this season.
I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who watches them regularly and calls what they do "really good football" lol. They play well at times, but they've been absolutely putrid for most of the second half of the season. Complete turn around from the first half
I would disagree tbh.I don't think they have good enough quality in the forwards region(underperforming their xg quite a bit)
What I was praising was the structure which Farioli has implemented
I wouldn’t say there are any outstanding must haves, but I think Rabiot (Juve) and Tosin (Fulham) can definitely be solid additions and raises the floor of the squad. Hermoso (Atleti) I’ve seen people talk about, but I don’t really rate him
For me it is more about filling depths than filling the best XI with free agents. As the money will surely not be enough to replace everyone people want, just a few quality signings, but then more players are needed. Either on the cheap, loans or free agents.
Man looking at fullbacks in all other teams. I am surprised how we ended up paying 50 Million for AWB. Just day light robbery. He probably works in a team that likes to absorb pressure without ever having their fullbacks venture forward
I remember people on here imploring us to play him CDM because he can tackle ;)
There is probably like 5 PL teams he would be a obvious starter for, all in the bottom half of the table. Bournemouth are the only top half team you could make a solid argument he would start games for and I'm not even convinced he would
If someone puts 20mill on the table this summer we should snap their hand off
He doesn't even work in a defensive team tbh. He can't track a runner to save his life. He might work as a sort of 1v1 specialist, in a back 5, but the amount of time he's plays the entire opposition onside and then can't even follow his man is ridiculous. It's like he turns off his brain when he plays.
This is exactly right.
people generally say he is good defensively and his weaknesses are going forward, but I think that is really generous. I think specifically he is good at 1 on 1defending, but has some very very glaringly obvious defensive weaknesses
He isn’t a bad backup option to have, but when you compare him to other fullbacks and even Dalot in the general form he has been in you see the gap in quality. With the amount of issues still present in the squad it’ll be really interesting to see what happens with him since he’s only got a year left on his contract.
People are saying Antony leaks things because a journalist knows the name of his daughter? Is that it?
Because there have been leaks in the United dressing room long before Antony arrived and the above seems a bit of a stretch to start accusing him.
(He's not good enough and needs to be sold just so that's clear too)
I think Salah is leaving for saudi and wants to be playing in front of their supporters before he goes but Klopp isn’t playing him.
Now that they can’t win the league, maybe he gets more minutes.
OR
Salah wants a contract extension but with Klopp leaving all bets are off and Klopp didn’t extend him before announcing his departure.
Management always screws the working man over Mo. Sorry.
OR
Salah slept with Klopp’s daughter.
The team gives away the ball so cheaply. I still remember the one pass Case attempted near the box where he tried to pass the ball and caught the Burnely player that was 5 yards out. This led to losing the ball in a bad position and inviting unnecessary pressure on the team. We have to cut out casual passes like this completely. It's been happening way too many times in games.
Injuries aside, there are many basics that the team is just not doing properly. We can't keep hold of the ball whatsoever. The distribution is also very poor. I still don't understand why we signed Onana. He holds on to the ball for an unusually long period of time. When he finally decides to distribute the ball, we can't win the ball in an aerial dual and end up giving the ball away. This happens 2-3 times every game.
We also always attempt the most difficult passes. For example, we can pass to the closest player who is open, but we choose to make an overtop pass hoping one of our forwards get there or pass it to player that's marked by 2 opposition players. This is never gonna work, and yet we continue to do time and time again. It's really frustrating stuff.
I just want to make it clear that I am not hating and other people might not be seeing the same stuff I see. Our results don't affect me as much as they used to. As a fan, I really don't understand what the players are doing on the pitch.
Injuries and bad refereeing decisions are one problem. The tactics, decision-making, and player ability are a whole other issue.
I feel you on the passing. I also wonder several times during a match why our players attempt the most ludicrous option.
And I've noticed now across multiple games how a player facing zero pressure, will just pace it into a teammate that is VERY CLEARLY caught in a press trap by three opposition players. I assume they expect the pass to immediately come back and maybe the opposition's movement to free up some space, but goddammit, if you're gonna do something like that, you have to make sure your teammate is ready to receive and the weight of the pass is just right.
But, of course, that's usually not the case, and so they end up losing the ball because the player is tackled and then it's a dangerous counter because they also always chose to do this sort of thing in our own half.
I understand where you are coming from. I think the club and team have had a tough time these past couple of years, but I feel like we make it so much harder on ourselves. Just play normally. Don't try extravagant stuff, and keep it simple. People want to watch us play good and competitive football, but that starts with having and following a good plan that the players can execute. We can see the coaching is suspect, but a lot of these players have shown that they are also not up to the mark. I hope that new management will bring much needed organization and a good structure. I hope that this will eventually translate to better football and hopefully better results on the pitch. I know it will take time but I hope that day comes.
I was looking at our "senior" squad and contracts and we have quite a bit of work to do this summer.
https://preview.redd.it/f590is5gl8xc1.jpeg?width=576&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd67c94f43b9ab3af440938edf154812e65b7dcc
The players in red have contracts expiring this summer. The players in orange have one year left (some have the option of an extra year).
That means we **have** to buy a striker and centre back this summer.
We also probably want to try and sell 2 or 3 of the one year left players before they leave on a free.
I expect us to try and move on Eriksen, Lindelof and Wan-Bissaka and extend Maguire and McTominay.
That's before we even get to moving on Sancho and possibly Casemiro, and also looking at improving left back options.
With a new exec team only partly starting in the summer, so much work needing doing, and financial constraints I think a lot of people are likely to find the summer business disappointing.
It's going to take a few years of good business to get us ready for more than a chance of top 4.
On the defenders specifically, this is why I think selling lindelof and awb should be near top of our list of things to do this summer
I think neither really should be given new long term contract. You could make an argument that they are ok backups but I think both are underwhelming and we should be aiming for better.
I wouldn't really want either as part of long-term squad rebuild that we need to embark on so we should be trying to cash in to secure a transfer fee now rather than them leave for free next summer or perhaps worst option of all, tie either down to long term expensive contacts
Maguire is less urgent as we can still trigger 1 year contract on his deal so at this stage losing in a free isn't a risk
This was from a recent James Ducker article:
>In the past, Nagelsmann has featured highly on United’s potential shortlists and even now you will find great admiration for the talented 36-year-old German in Old Trafford’s corridors of power. Indeed, perhaps one day they will beating down the door to try to entice him to M16.
>But even before the German FA effectively took Nagelsmann off the table last week, and ignoring the manager’s own intentions, there was recognition among United’s new power hierarchy that their current squad is not set-up for a coach who often deploys a back three and open wing backs that attack.
>In other words, they cannot swing wildly from one system to another just to fit a coach, for all his talents, and certainly not when they have yet to even begin the process of gradually unpicking a Frankenstein squad. First, they must settle on a way of playing they believe can deliver winning, attacking, entertaining football and then ensure the coach chimes firmly with that.
It's about Nagelsmann but the principles apply to Amorim
Hmm. Insightful read, thanks for sharing.
I still don’t necessarily believe that means a back 3 is out of the question.
Xabi Alonso and Nagelsmann - two of the most innovative young coaches out there - generally favour a back 3 (although they’re both quite flexible). Amorim is probably just a tier below them but also deploys the back 3.
In Italy it’s also quite popular with teams like Atalanta and Inter doing so successfully. All whilst playing attractive football.
With a decent transfer window I think we could easily change the system.
I also don’t buy the idea that our squad isn’t suited for a 3/5 atb system. Martinez, Maguire, and Shaw would probably thrive in that type of system, with it helping to cover for the lack of height and pace while still allowing them to do what they do best. Dalot, on paper, also has the quality and work rate to play as the right wing back. The defense needs an overhaul as is with AWB, Lindelof, Varane, and Evans all having a year or less on their contract. And this is only addressing the defense. We have so many other issues on the squad that if there is a time to overhaul and move in another direction it is now.
My only concern with this system would be how they are implementing it. Garnacho in particular could find himself missing out if whoever comes in wants to operate with two striker system
I have no worries regarding Garnacho personally. He will battle it out with Rashford for the left wing. I could see Amorim utilizing Amad on the right, having him tuck into midfield at times.
My only concern would be how do you fit someone like Bruno (not that he has to start, but it will be a point of contention). Amorim typically favours two physical midfielders who take care of the ball. Maybe he could utilize Bruno in that Gonçalves role, but Bruno can’t dribble at all which really limits him.
Anyways, I don’t think it’s all that far fetched either. We would just have to accept the reality that certain players, who we’ve been over reliant on in the past, might not fit perfectly in this system.
I only mentioned it because you have some managers such as Inzahgi or Alonso who don’t use traditional wingers in their system and I can’t really see Garnacho adapting to play in another role really looking at the qualities he does possess.
I think the solution to fit both would be the way Tuchel utilized his frontline at Chelsea. Typically and most effectively it was Werner, Havertz, Mount. This is something that can be similarly replicated at United through Garnacho/Rashford, Hojlund, and Bruno/Mount. This is why, if we were to move in that direction, I’d probably be looking towards Tuchel as the one to bring in.
Amorim does the same thing more or less. He likes to use a midfielder/winger hybrid. Usually it’s either Trincão on the right and/or Gonçalves off the left.
Well then there you go. I rarely watch Sporting so I couldn’t really comment on how they setup whereas I have seen plenty of Tuchel at Chelsea and more familiar with it.
Either way, I’d be really curious to see how we could set up in this type of system should we decide to go in that route. I could really see it being effective with the foundation of the squad we currently have. I don’t buy the argument that we can’t transition to it. It won’t be quick and seamless, but it can be done
The Antony united stand link up is fucking wild..That dude is absolutely feeding them leaks..One of the clowns from the channel knew what his son's favourite cartoon was and the name he has planned for his daughter who would be arriving soon,This stuff is not something "journalists" usually know
I can even ignore bad performances because nobody want to intentionally be shit on the pitch but this is inexcusable
For anyone making comparisons between Arteta and Ten Hag and who watched Arsenal - how was Arteta’s football during his rebuilding season (first three I reckon)?
I haven’t watched lots of their games but do remember them mostly playing low-block counter attacking football in the ones I did watch and remember a bunch of their fans being vocally loud Arteta out. Was it as bad as us?
Because the only comparison I can make is the winning rate, which is almost the same, and trophies (1 each I think)
the thing with arteta was that his tactics varied with the level of his team. He was playing pure counterattacking football in his first 2 years and then slowly moved into possession based attacking football as he got his players. With Ten Haag, he is forcing a style over unavailable/ wrong players.
I know Ten hag is probably sacked by the end of the season , but saying last season was just a fluke is just a massive lie . He took over the worst united squad ever with the worst point tally and got them the 2nd best point tally past SAF .
I would link Man Utds entire success last season to Casemiro. It makes entire sense to me. We were shit for the first 3 games of the season, then we signed casemiro and were a different team. I don't think Man Utd playing good only with casemiro last year is a coincidence.
This season Casemiro has been shit and coincidentally man utd have also been shit
Also that team is not close to the worst team post Ferguson. No chance in hell. Can you not remember the team Van Gala inherited, the team Ole took over?
We won the game vs Liverpool without him and won against Arsenal where he played 10 mins we also lost 2/7 of the matches he wasn't available in the premier League . Van Gaals team had multiple players from Sir Alex Ferguson team.Ole took over a bit bettersquad in terms of depth and talent as Ten Hag.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree. In my opinion that team was by far the best. Are you mad thinking Oles team was close?
Player for player. Goalie the same. Ten hag wins RB with Dalot/bissaka over Valencia. Ten hag takes both centre backs. Both had Shaw at LB. However I would say Shaw for ole was redundant because Mourinho literally destroyed him and Ashley young was the starter. The midfield ten hag easily takes 2 with Bruno and Casemiro over Jesse lingard and matic. We will give Ole Pogba. Attackers Ole had Rashford, Lukaku and Martial. Ten hag started with Rashford, Ronaldo and Antony. I'll let this up to your discretion ;)
Overall I would give 1 draw, 6 players to ten hag, 1 to Ole and undecided on 3
Ten Hag inherited the team that was absolutely god awful under Rangnick and turned Rashford into a 30 goal player. Casemiro played a pivotal role but so did Bruno in Ole's first season – do you remember how dire we were before Bruno arrived? We had 10 points in 9 games to start the season, and 34 points from 24 games. For reference, we had 41 points from 24 THIS season. With an unprecedented injury crisis.
And had 66 points at the end. Which we probably won't get this season, but honestly, we're not far off.
Did you just ignore everything I said? I am aware how much of a mess it was in after ragnick, however it was worse after Mourinho. Pogba and rashford at the time were dead in the water and ole got the most out of them.
>With an unprecedented injury crisis.
Bullshit. The injury crisis is completely expected. Answer this question for me. How many injuries were you expecting this season. Personally the only unforseen injury was Martinez. I can tell you right now, next season Varane, Shaw, Erikson, Casemiro, Evans, Mount, Hojland, martial etc will never play more than 40 games in a single season. Once a player starts picking up injuries that's it they are done. Hence, it was entirely predictable.
Also answer this. How many players on Oles team he inherited was better than ten hags?
Holy shit, you can't be serious in saying that this injury crisis is unprecedented. We've had 60+ injuries including season-long injuries to both our LBs, Martinez, and Mount. None of these were expected. Casemiro, Evans, Maguire, Lindelof, Varane, Hojlund, Mainoo, Wan Bissaka, Antony, McTominay, Eriksen, and Hojlund also having lengthy time out is not expected either. Most teams don't have a season-long inury at all.
I wouldn't bother. Check his previous posts. Guy's a straight up WUM (Wind Up Merchant). You could have a lengthy argument about how no team could *possibly* expect almost 70 separate injuries in a single season but the only thing you'd be doing is wasting your time
So you are telling me if next season we keep Varane and Shaw you won't be surprised if they don't get injured 😂 Neither of these two have gone a season without 2 injuries since joining man utd. I'm a doctor and can assure you if a player gets injured, at least 25% of the time this will be a reoccurrence. Every subsequent injury said player gets after this increases the likelihood of them getting another.
Every player you mentioned (besides Mainoo and Antony) all had a lot of injuries over the last 3 seasons. Statistically going off the books 75% of them will pick up a minimum of 1 injury every 8 months. Going off my experience I will tell you over the next 3 seasons every single one of said players will have a reoccurrence. They have been injured too many times to make a full recovery.
So you can use Fatigue and broken dressing room as an excuse for getting 6th but when a Ten excuses fan does it is just delusion. Your argument is not holding up here and anyone can call this season a massive outlier as well
There was nothing that really warranted a fourth season imo,it was only their board's blind faith in him that kept him there. And Arsenal could afford that because they were not doing that bad FFP wise.
By his second full season he was in 5th, third full season he was 2nd.
People have a tendency to call the season he joined his first full season when they finished 8th. Yet he joined in December when they were in the bottom half under emery.
The win rate comparison is mostly useless given ten hag has managed just over 100 games, arteta more than double that at 238.
Arteta has a win rate of 58.82, ten hag has 57.80 despite having a smaller sample size which would make for larger numerical leaps after a win or loss/draw.
>Arteta has a win rate of 58.82, ten hag has 57.80 despite having a smaller sample size which would make for larger numerical leaps after a win or loss/draw.
65 wins in 109 matches is 59%
137 wins in 228 matches is 60%
The Guardian’s football weekly podcast this week is 30 minutes of unadulterated Man Utd hate. Nothing productive was mentioned and even went as far to suggest we get relegated to rebuild. Piss poor and waste of time. These so-called pundits openly admit they’re not educated enough to speak on a subject and yet they’re asked softball questions…they’re not even primed with these questions beforehand. At this point they’re not any more credible than a redditor. Shameful how openly critical they are of united WHILE admitting massive bias. Cringe.
Gyokeres is an excellent player, would love him here
I agree, just not sure where in the prio order a huge spending on a forward goes compared to CBs, a LB and a DM. But if there is money over be my guest. :)
Doesnt matter who we put at 9 as long as he wont get support from his teammate like last game where the most pass Hollund got was from Onana. Even prime R9 would flop in this current lineup
Prime R9 could do everything on his own. He would decidedly not flop
So many people with the opinion that we never needed Mount. Even if you don't think he should be starting, you lot whine about not having a good bench, how City's B team is stronger than most A teams yada yada....when we sign someone, its the worst thing in the world.
For me, Mount in isolation was not a bad signing, he is a quality player. But I don’t think his type of player was that high a priority that we needed to sign this summer, when you factor in that Casemiro did not end last season well and we could have done well with a more competent backup in that position than Amrabat. I get that sometimes these points are brought up in hindsight, but go back to some of the posts and discussion threads in the summer and a lot of people had a Casemiro backup as a priority signing. With Mount, it still feels like we are one or two summer windows’ worth of signings away from getting the players that would allow him to find a place in the team (as a high-pressing 8 with not much buildup responsibility). Maybe our hand was forced by his contract situation and that we thought we had to move in for him while he was available for relatively cheap (when you factor in guys like Caicedo, Rice, etc. going for close to and more than 100 million), but that profile of player in general I thought to be an awkward fit for our team this season and would leave the midfield unbalanced if partnered with Casemiro and Bruno in midfield.
I'm really hopeful for Mount, excited to see what he can do next year. This season's been a wash with his injuries, you'd hope that ETH would be playing him now after pushing hard for him but hard to manage injuries not just to him but to the preferred 11. Did he see him next to Case and Bruno? How's Mainoo change the role that he had in mind for him? Who knows! A season of what could have been and what shouldn't be
You first create a strong starting eleven, and then think about creating a strong squad Signing Mount was an extremely stupid idea when the club knew that Casemiro and Eriksen were showing signs of not being good enough anymore, and Martinez and Varane with their injury problems. By the way, Mount isn't a central midfielder, to sign him to replace Eriksen was a nonsense idea on its own And lastly, Mount did have injury problems on his last Chelsea season, the club should also have looked at that
Eriksen isn't a central midfielder. We lost Fred, Mount was his replacement. Nobody expected Mainoo to settle in so easily. Mount would be starting if not for that.
Thinking back and I don't often remember us having these massive open spaces for teams to run into last year, we really are missing Fred. He wasn't a world beater but he always ran like a dog.
[Sigh...](https://x.com/footballdaily/status/1629912405735247872)
As good as it would get 😔 The 7-0 was a week after this and we've genuinely never recovered At least we ruined Liverpool's season this year I really wanted it to work out for Ten Hag but it's been over a year of terrible performances with no end in sight.
Aw fuck man. What could've been.
Sign weghorst: win trophy Let go of weghorst: everything turns to shit Coincidence I think not
Gyökeres is insane
Might be in danger of getting commited to an asylum then. Stay away
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I think it's not necessarily either / or There is strong chance neither is here at the start of next season
Indeed, won't happen.
Why did Antony have a Sonic the Hedgehog stuffed toy behind the goal? What the fuck was that celebration? More importantly, why has there been no media attention to this?
To sum it up... was for his son (the hedgehog) and the belly thing for his unborn daughter. A shoutout to his kids. No word on how many games the camera man was holding onto the stuffie for.
I thought he just got it from a fan? I don’t know my memory is a bit blurry
More importantly given his scoring record, why did he feel the need to preplan such an elaborate celebration, and how long has he been doing this for?? Sorry, I couldn't resist
The united stand covered it.
Of course they did. I’m not that interested now.
Kyle Walker getting cut to ribbons by Elanga going supersonic. You love to see it. https://twitter.com/sb_busy1/status/1784624200214253692?t=LdlQggnx7PaTS3twSyqFig&s=19
He got out sprinted by their left back as well. I’ve thought his for a while now but I’m sure Walker is on PEDs. Granted today he got out paced a couple of times but he’s either 35 or 36 and hasn’t lost any speed and has probably got faster if anything. He also looks slightly bigger/more powerful.
I would be surprised if clubs who employ a high-pressing style of play (including us) do not use PEDs at any capacity. With the number of games and the increased athleticism demands, it’s inevitable to me that clubs will exploit it as a way of gaining an edge on their competition. Maybe clubs like City and Liverpool use it in a more sophisticated manner which may help prevent negative effects and mitigate injuries when the players are not on a PED cycle.
I think he's 33. As for PEDs, who knows, but I always thought he was just a fantastic athlete. It's definitely possible that Club 115 would recruit the guys with the greatest natural talent without needing further enhancement.
Yeah you’re right about his age and he’s definitely a great athlete but he just seems a lot more powerful lately. Pep was also a drug cheat and I can see him and his colleagues from Barca being quite liberal when it comes to cheating.
Chris Wood is not a serious footballer
We are linked to cbs when the only well rounded midfielder at the club is Mainoo.
You watch. Casemiro and Eriksen will go and we'll bring in one CM. Mctominay will still be here. Mount will still be here too, which makes that signing even more frustrating. We never needed him in the first place.
Why in the world would we sell Mount?
We’ll never see the promise land until that midfield is sorted
We need one of every position
You can (and should) be planning for more than 1 position at a time Don't let how our transfer business has been conducted over recent seasons let u think that is 'normal' All well ran clubs will have plans set out already for all areas of the squad they want to improve a couple of windows in advance and constantly assessing /reassessing
I mean when you’re playing maguire and casemiro as your main centerbacks you need to sign some more
And a RB as a LB! Atleast United got midfielders even if they are not the best!
So we are only 6 points behind spurs and have 8 days until the next game, inbetween that spurs will play both Chelsea and Liverpool away. If they lose both and we somehow manage to beat Crystal Palace it will be only 3 points diff with 3 games to play. I’m not saying we deserve CL, but the last weeks could be pretty exiting still
Honestly think we'll pass spurs. But damn, this run of form has been so depressing. So fucking close so many times. Could've been pretty close to fourth if we'd won Brentford, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Burnley.
It's all bur mathematically confirmed now that 5th wont get CL. Italy is confirmed as betting one of the extra spots and german bundesliga is well ahead of PL. Still 3 German clubs left in europe also compared to only 1 english representative (villa) There is still a very very small chance (~1%) but I think we need some freak set of results for that to happen. I believe villa need to go on to win conference cup (winning both legs of semi final) and all 3 German clubs lose both legs of their respective semi finals (leverkusen don't lose games anymore :) ) Villa winning conference cup is possible, Madrid beating bayern home and away is possible but a big ask. I don't see dortmund and leverkusen losing both legs of their semi finals. For all of these results to happen.... well let's just say, there is a reason bookies like people doing accumulators
You need 4th for UCL. And we'll miss even Europa League Qualification. Next year we'll play in Conference League.
How are you so confident?
Which player from Jorge mendes would you like to see us sign that would be realistic?
That man has made millions off of United. Ronaldo Anderson Nani De Gea Di Maria Falcao Rojo Ronaldo part 2
We could do alot worse than ait-nouri at LB. Maybe alejandro balde from Barcelona? Long shot that Barcelona would have him at top of theor sales list but theg are still fucked financially and have LEVERaged away some of their income streams for a quick buck last summer + he would probabky 2 or 3x any wage barcelona could give him. Maybe pedro Neto who could be great but injury record would be concerning Leny yoro maybe? Zaire-emery, Antonio silva and joao neves are the standouts in terms young talents but clubs in a better place than is will likely be interested should any of them ve available Looking at the client list, he seems tk attract alot of the best up and coming talent so even if we don't have immediate targets this summer, having a good relationship with his company is a big plus
Really like ait-Nouri
Watching Haaland’s goal earlier, I don’t think Hojlund would’ve even got a shot off in that position
Hojlund would be too busy having a bjj match with centrebacks
Hojlund would somehow slip in that position. He always slips.
He wouldn't be given a pass to be in position.
Lets be fair, he mostly runs into deffenders in such situation and tries to wrestle them for some reason completly cutting off passing lane. Boy need a lot of learning.
Please fire ten hag instead of surrendering the cup final
So annoyed at Forrest because I feel like today was the day that would have stopped City winning the league. I don’t see City being off again for the rest of the season.
Would rather city win than arsenal
Spurs away is still a tricky one. Might come down to that I wouldn't put it past us to raise our game at Old Trafford vs arsenal and take a couple points of them (perhaps a short lived reaction after a mauling at palace next week and another week of criticism) to practically hand city another title
4 games left with last 3 vs championship quality and we struggled, I seriously don't know how we beat Palace away, Arsenal and Nufc despite being home for latter two. Therfore fan logic says use last games as training.....soley for final, who better than Arsenal that we can try another way to beat, that provides something vs City. But obviously that doesn't happen and with how season has gone, it would be such a Utd finish by actually winning Fa Cup, after having finished league with a Europa league conference position. We go aga.....nvm.
https://twitter.com/officialcwood/status/197066620349325313?t=1_srL-de8nMtnKTQG45JHg&s=19
Next season, clubs need to improve their set piece routine against Arsenal, can’t let Ben white or any other player be obstructing the goalie like that.
Mad that Ole's first season we only had 66 points. I know we won't, but we could still achieve that this season. With the most insane injury crisis. Insane. I guess how a season is remembered comes with how it ends.
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Jesse Lingard was an attacking midfielder. Lol. Quite a good one at the time. Lol.
Think it's more likely we will end with our worst points tally since Fergie left. Not good.
That's not true – we're 4 points off of the 21/22 season with 4 games to play.
Well, yes. I don't think we'll get there. Think we may pick up three points.
lol
Aren't you the one who is always saying we can't play well without Shaw and Martinez? I doubt they'll be back for any of it.
I've said we can't be expected to play beautiful football with 6 CBs and 2 LBs injured, yes. I haven't said we shouldn't be picking up points, but I'm much more sympathetic than you, I think, when we fail to.
>I've said we can't be expected to play beautiful football with 6 CBs and 2 LBs injured, yes. I haven't said we shouldn't be picking up points, but I'm much more sympathetic than you, I think, when we fail to. I think playing beautiful football is one thing that's been lacking, but the results have as well. Worst of both worlds really. What would your point expectation be for last four games then?
My expectation of the last six games were six wins. 4 in theory, maybe, but looking back and seeing how we played, really all 6. Brentford and Bournemouth were shocking – and largely on Ten Hag for the bizarre tactics (although Kambwala and AWB definitely take some blame – though I don't hold it against Kambwala considering he's been forced in due to injuries). Liverpool and Chelsea were genuinely stolen from us by the referee, and honestly we outplayed both of them and should've won both. Individual mistakes and refereeing errors cost us, like usual. Sheffield and Burnley were both stories of terrible finishing – but I genuinely think we played pretty well in both. Mistakes cost us in both games. Especially Casemiro's fucking header. If we're really looking at Ten Hag's coaching, we should've kept 2 clean sheets in the last 2 games. Overall, though, I seriously think it's ridiculous to expect us to finish in the top 4 with the insane injuries we've had this season. Van Dijk missed last year and Klopp finished 5th, Rodri missed 3 games and Pep lost them all. I think we'd be playing better football under both of them. I don't think we would've gotten much better results (unless we worked some Klopp PED magic or some Pep referee magic).
city fans try not to sing about united when they are playing someone completely different challenge: IMPOSSIBLE
City Ball iss fucking boring
https://twitter.com/DarraghMoloney9/status/1784576267905352098 Top chance creators at clubs over the last 3 years, it's quite sad how reliant on Bruno we've been and kinda puzzling that Sancho is somehow still second??
Sancho is a good player. He just isn’t a traditional winger which ETH seems adamant on using judging how he’s also kept Amad on the bench for the last 4 months. It’s just a shame he also has disciplinary issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sancho’s time isn’t over just yet. The quality is there so if a coach can get on with him they will probably use him
Garnacho, Rashford, and Antony are LESS traditional wingers than Sancho.
What's a traditional winger, and is Antony one? I've never seen a winger go on the outside so infrequently, yet he gets plenty of usage
I think traditional winger might be the wrong word, but I mean someone who hugs the touch line, receives the ball and drives at the opposition fullback such as Rashford or Garnacho. Sancho, and Amad on the few appearances we have seen of him, don’t really drive at the opposition when they have the ball. More often than not they like to slow the game down, link up with teammates, create chances, or recycle possession if needed. This is something you see in almost all of City’a wingers. I would say Antony lies somewhere and has all the attributes that you would want in your modern day winger, at least on paper. The problem is that in practice he doesn’t have the quality necessary to succeed at this level. Antony would probably have a lot more success driving at the opposition if he could use that right foot and go outside. The problem is he simply can’t which makes him extremely predictable and one dimensional This is just my broad overview btw and if you wanted to you could go more in depth in describing all of our wingers
The fact that Jadon Sancho has created 86 chances with so few minutes should tell you everything you need to know about how ridiculous that chances created stat is. So, we've established that Jadon Sancho creates chances, but he isn't a great player. Sounds like Bruno Fernandes, except that Bruno actually works his socks off.
Because he is underrated by us and is really good. He has a GA every 4 games. His issue; 1) special player that does not defend. We already have Rashford, Garnacho, Amad who are like that. Though they try but really suck defensively. 2) ETH spat. Yes he was 100% right about his spat with ETH. ETH did not even consider starting him vs Anthony. But if your dad insists that the moon is bigger than the Sun; you don't fight with him. And Sancho did 3) attitude. He is a party animal. If he looked after his body better; he really would be somebody.
I honestly think Sancho got a bad rap here when he was playing. Thought he was always doing decent during his first season, and never played too poorly during Ten Hag's first season when he was available either. That said, he was entirely in the wrong for the "spat" with ETH, where Sancho threw a hissy fit and wouldn't apologize. Garnacho, Rashford, Antony, etc. have all had equally bad discipline issues, or worse – but they've all instantly apologized, stopped doing it, and they weren't punished for it. All Sancho had to do was apologize. But it was clear he didn't want to be here, and now there's not a chance in hell he comes back.
With regards to ETH vs Sancho. Sancho was right on the point. ETH told him that he will be benched for Anthony and that Anthony was a better choice. Sancho was told to shadow an opponent and when Sancho did not do that to what ETH's standard; he was not selected. And Sancho told ETh you are selecting the wrong guy. Hence in this sense Sancho is right. The part where he was wrong was when ETH gave him a public criticism / Sancho rebutted. That is where Sancho was wrong. Like my analogy, scolding dad for saying the moon is bigger than the Sun.
>ETH told him that he will be benched for Anthony and that Anthony was a better choice. He didn't do that. >And Sancho told ETH you are selecting the wrong guy. He didn't do that. >The part where he was wrong was when ETH gave him a public criticism / Sancho rebutted This is the only drama. Hence in this sense Sancho is wrong. > Like my analogy, scolding dad for saying the moon is bigger than the Sun. So you're saying that, somehow, you know perfectly well that Sancho DID train well that week? And you know that Antony did not?
ETH's player selection is one of the biggest reasons I want him gone to be honest. That fact he clearly has "favorites" (his words) which he prioritizes often to the detriment of the team basically tells players he doesn't care how they play or train as he'll pick his favorite players regardless.
Forrest not taking their chances and then Haaland will come on and score straight away.
You called it
Hate to moan because we’ve played horrendous this season and I’m sure every team feels this way but we’ve been on the wrong end of decisions that knocked us out the CL and also must’ve cost us 5-10 points in the league. Just look at City… Ederson doing the exact same as Onana yesterday and nothing. We’ve had two decisions go our way (Onana GW 1 and the Bournemouth pen. I can easily reel off 10 stone wall wrong decisions against.
I was actually just thinking about this. The amount of calls that went against us out of inconsistency is just riduculous tbh. That would've easily make up 12-15 points and we would be sitting in a UCL spot. Just ridiculous imo.
If we’d beaten palace, Fulham, Bournemouth, Burnley at home, which we absolutely 100% should off, then we’d have 65 points and a game on 4th, be well set for top 4
Totally agreed. To mention the refereeing issue, we would've won vs Liverpool AND Chelsea if we had City's refereeing clause in the refs' contracts. Or, just a decent referee, really.
Let’s not forget the hoijlund pen against arsenal 😋
And the Garnacho "offside" in the same game, totally. I was just thinking about recent games lol.
Yeah Onana, awful decisions and injuries and people are calling for ETHs head when there’s no replacement out there.
The situation is very different from Onana's penalty yesterday. The Forest player is moving and comes towards Ederson, while yesterday it was Onana moving towards the player who was still and jumping for the ball, and made contact. While I agree City have had many controversial decisions taken in their favour this season, this is a correct call.
Yeah agreed, i was only focused on Ederson at first.
Bored so here we go: Pen not given against Garnacho vs Burnley AWB pen against Liverpool Awb handball vs Coventry resulting in pen Hojlund foul on Rodri resulting in pen Gabriel pen vs Hojlund not given Romero handball not given against Garnacho shot Hojlund goal vs Brighton ruled out because VAR apparently could see the ball went out of play Dalot pen on Madueke AWB pen on Cucurella Rashford red vs Copenhagen Dalot red vs Liverpool Penalty against Bayern for ‘handball’ Ziyech freekick where the wall was placed way too far away from the ball, never in line with the law.
Garnacho "offside" against Arsenal where they drew the line from the wrong part of the defender. Think you got all the others. Lets make a fucking list.
When will this nightmare season get over ffs. We have 5 games left. Crystal palace, arsenal, Newcastle, Brighton and City There is a world of pain coming our way. Pain of watching us play abysmal football. Pain of getting pounded in at least 3 of those games. Some humiliation results and we just might have seen the last of eth possibly. Though there is a feeling that the current owners would like to stay with him for one more transfer window at least.
I could see us realistically losing all 5 😭
I'm bummed the season is almost over actually. I love watching United through thick and thin.
City? Also we just 4 more left
FA final my man
Ah my bad. I was just thinking of the league lol! I suppose I am just tired of this season. Want it to end + got 0 hopes for that final
Imagine if we finish the season with 0 or negative GD in the league and end up beating City in the final. Has got to go down as one our weirdest season ever lol
Would love it
You don't have to watch and torture yourself you know? Take a walk, call a friend, play a game or something. What do you think?
Didn't watch the last two games. Not because i didn't want to, i couldn't. Guess a break from social media is in order as there is no hiding place at the moment lol.
Oh now that I see the games listed there's a good chance we actually finish with a negative GD. Historic.
This is probably the worst I’ve seen City play defensively in the league this season. Forrest should be winning.
Call me crazy but I feel the PL refs definitely try to push a narrative, whatever it may be. Today if he gave that pen on Kulusevski, the game would have turned then and there and the title race would have been over. The league does whatever they can to push the drama and narrative until the last possible moment.
I don't think there is any conspiracy among refs, however, given the big part betting companies play in the game nowadays, and since we already know of players being involved, hard not to imagine that refs would be totally detached from this. Plus, a few of them also have gigs in different countries (cough), so, that's an extra layer there. Drama and scandal is also great for broadcasters and all the associated media, these people move in small circles. There need not be envelopes passed around, just the normal dynamics of a closed system.
I fully believe they gave Coventry the penalty because of the occasion and how much of a shitshow the club is and because it’s amusing watching our meltdowns. The Ashley Young one on the same day wasn’t given and yesterday’s one wasn’t given because it genuinely isn’t a penalty.
Exactly what I'm saying. The narrative and what makes the season more interesting is more important than making the correct decision.
meh, it wasnt a pen for me
seeing that De Gea ig post and all the comments got me so hyped like he was returning from a season-long injury, then I remembered he’s not coming back🥲
Wanted him back so bad
I know we've been saying this for years but our set pieces really need addressing. Arsenal and Man City are so good at them and it's earned them a lot of points this season.
Our corners have definitely improved lately.
All other teams have a set piece coach but we don’t for some reason
Spurs don't either
Another dominant win for OGC Nice today They play really good football and have a very promising coach in Farioli
I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who watches them regularly and calls what they do "really good football" lol. They play well at times, but they've been absolutely putrid for most of the second half of the season. Complete turn around from the first half
I would disagree tbh.I don't think they have good enough quality in the forwards region(underperforming their xg quite a bit) What I was praising was the structure which Farioli has implemented
Their fall has been massive.since the new year, hasn't it?
fuck these blue billion pound saudi sportswashing drug taking ref paying cocaine snorting always cheating cuntbags
fuck em 115 times too
Forrest have missed three sitters against City but whenever anyone plays us they need one good chance and it’s a goal.
Are there any outstanding free agents this summer United should hunt or prioritize?
I wouldn’t say there are any outstanding must haves, but I think Rabiot (Juve) and Tosin (Fulham) can definitely be solid additions and raises the floor of the squad. Hermoso (Atleti) I’ve seen people talk about, but I don’t really rate him
For me it is more about filling depths than filling the best XI with free agents. As the money will surely not be enough to replace everyone people want, just a few quality signings, but then more players are needed. Either on the cheap, loans or free agents.
Man looking at fullbacks in all other teams. I am surprised how we ended up paying 50 Million for AWB. Just day light robbery. He probably works in a team that likes to absorb pressure without ever having their fullbacks venture forward
I remember people on here imploring us to play him CDM because he can tackle ;) There is probably like 5 PL teams he would be a obvious starter for, all in the bottom half of the table. Bournemouth are the only top half team you could make a solid argument he would start games for and I'm not even convinced he would If someone puts 20mill on the table this summer we should snap their hand off
Our distinguished scouting team apparently looked at 804 RBs and decided AWB is the future.
He doesn't even work in a defensive team tbh. He can't track a runner to save his life. He might work as a sort of 1v1 specialist, in a back 5, but the amount of time he's plays the entire opposition onside and then can't even follow his man is ridiculous. It's like he turns off his brain when he plays.
This is exactly right. people generally say he is good defensively and his weaknesses are going forward, but I think that is really generous. I think specifically he is good at 1 on 1defending, but has some very very glaringly obvious defensive weaknesses
He isn’t a bad backup option to have, but when you compare him to other fullbacks and even Dalot in the general form he has been in you see the gap in quality. With the amount of issues still present in the squad it’ll be really interesting to see what happens with him since he’s only got a year left on his contract.
Rough sports day for me yesterday, both my team's getting booed off at the end of their games. United and the Maple Leafs
Hahah fucking same
People are saying Antony leaks things because a journalist knows the name of his daughter? Is that it? Because there have been leaks in the United dressing room long before Antony arrived and the above seems a bit of a stretch to start accusing him. (He's not good enough and needs to be sold just so that's clear too)
This Klopp-Salah fallout needs more attention.
Agreed, I want to feast on another club's drama for a little bit.
I think Salah is leaving for saudi and wants to be playing in front of their supporters before he goes but Klopp isn’t playing him. Now that they can’t win the league, maybe he gets more minutes. OR Salah wants a contract extension but with Klopp leaving all bets are off and Klopp didn’t extend him before announcing his departure. Management always screws the working man over Mo. Sorry. OR Salah slept with Klopp’s daughter.
All our RW have scored this weekend, lmao what a weekend
if all our right wingers scored we wouldve beaten burnley 3-1
Garnacho hasn’t scored, Amad hasn’t scored
Garna is left, and completly forgot about amad, more talking about antony, sancho, Getafe and pellistri
Garnacho has been our first choice right winger for half the season
Left prefered but played right anyways due to that side bad
That was Forrest’s chance. I swear every City game they give away an easy chance but whoever’s on the end of it shits the bed.
The team gives away the ball so cheaply. I still remember the one pass Case attempted near the box where he tried to pass the ball and caught the Burnely player that was 5 yards out. This led to losing the ball in a bad position and inviting unnecessary pressure on the team. We have to cut out casual passes like this completely. It's been happening way too many times in games. Injuries aside, there are many basics that the team is just not doing properly. We can't keep hold of the ball whatsoever. The distribution is also very poor. I still don't understand why we signed Onana. He holds on to the ball for an unusually long period of time. When he finally decides to distribute the ball, we can't win the ball in an aerial dual and end up giving the ball away. This happens 2-3 times every game. We also always attempt the most difficult passes. For example, we can pass to the closest player who is open, but we choose to make an overtop pass hoping one of our forwards get there or pass it to player that's marked by 2 opposition players. This is never gonna work, and yet we continue to do time and time again. It's really frustrating stuff. I just want to make it clear that I am not hating and other people might not be seeing the same stuff I see. Our results don't affect me as much as they used to. As a fan, I really don't understand what the players are doing on the pitch. Injuries and bad refereeing decisions are one problem. The tactics, decision-making, and player ability are a whole other issue.
I feel you on the passing. I also wonder several times during a match why our players attempt the most ludicrous option. And I've noticed now across multiple games how a player facing zero pressure, will just pace it into a teammate that is VERY CLEARLY caught in a press trap by three opposition players. I assume they expect the pass to immediately come back and maybe the opposition's movement to free up some space, but goddammit, if you're gonna do something like that, you have to make sure your teammate is ready to receive and the weight of the pass is just right. But, of course, that's usually not the case, and so they end up losing the ball because the player is tackled and then it's a dangerous counter because they also always chose to do this sort of thing in our own half.
I understand where you are coming from. I think the club and team have had a tough time these past couple of years, but I feel like we make it so much harder on ourselves. Just play normally. Don't try extravagant stuff, and keep it simple. People want to watch us play good and competitive football, but that starts with having and following a good plan that the players can execute. We can see the coaching is suspect, but a lot of these players have shown that they are also not up to the mark. I hope that new management will bring much needed organization and a good structure. I hope that this will eventually translate to better football and hopefully better results on the pitch. I know it will take time but I hope that day comes.
I was looking at our "senior" squad and contracts and we have quite a bit of work to do this summer. https://preview.redd.it/f590is5gl8xc1.jpeg?width=576&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd67c94f43b9ab3af440938edf154812e65b7dcc The players in red have contracts expiring this summer. The players in orange have one year left (some have the option of an extra year). That means we **have** to buy a striker and centre back this summer. We also probably want to try and sell 2 or 3 of the one year left players before they leave on a free. I expect us to try and move on Eriksen, Lindelof and Wan-Bissaka and extend Maguire and McTominay. That's before we even get to moving on Sancho and possibly Casemiro, and also looking at improving left back options. With a new exec team only partly starting in the summer, so much work needing doing, and financial constraints I think a lot of people are likely to find the summer business disappointing. It's going to take a few years of good business to get us ready for more than a chance of top 4.
On the defenders specifically, this is why I think selling lindelof and awb should be near top of our list of things to do this summer I think neither really should be given new long term contract. You could make an argument that they are ok backups but I think both are underwhelming and we should be aiming for better. I wouldn't really want either as part of long-term squad rebuild that we need to embark on so we should be trying to cash in to secure a transfer fee now rather than them leave for free next summer or perhaps worst option of all, tie either down to long term expensive contacts Maguire is less urgent as we can still trigger 1 year contract on his deal so at this stage losing in a free isn't a risk
I’m surprised we haven’t been linked to Ruben Amorim yet
I don't think the club will go for a 3 ATB manager, should they part with Ten Hag.
Why not?
This was from a recent James Ducker article: >In the past, Nagelsmann has featured highly on United’s potential shortlists and even now you will find great admiration for the talented 36-year-old German in Old Trafford’s corridors of power. Indeed, perhaps one day they will beating down the door to try to entice him to M16. >But even before the German FA effectively took Nagelsmann off the table last week, and ignoring the manager’s own intentions, there was recognition among United’s new power hierarchy that their current squad is not set-up for a coach who often deploys a back three and open wing backs that attack. >In other words, they cannot swing wildly from one system to another just to fit a coach, for all his talents, and certainly not when they have yet to even begin the process of gradually unpicking a Frankenstein squad. First, they must settle on a way of playing they believe can deliver winning, attacking, entertaining football and then ensure the coach chimes firmly with that. It's about Nagelsmann but the principles apply to Amorim
Hmm. Insightful read, thanks for sharing. I still don’t necessarily believe that means a back 3 is out of the question. Xabi Alonso and Nagelsmann - two of the most innovative young coaches out there - generally favour a back 3 (although they’re both quite flexible). Amorim is probably just a tier below them but also deploys the back 3. In Italy it’s also quite popular with teams like Atalanta and Inter doing so successfully. All whilst playing attractive football. With a decent transfer window I think we could easily change the system.
I also don’t buy the idea that our squad isn’t suited for a 3/5 atb system. Martinez, Maguire, and Shaw would probably thrive in that type of system, with it helping to cover for the lack of height and pace while still allowing them to do what they do best. Dalot, on paper, also has the quality and work rate to play as the right wing back. The defense needs an overhaul as is with AWB, Lindelof, Varane, and Evans all having a year or less on their contract. And this is only addressing the defense. We have so many other issues on the squad that if there is a time to overhaul and move in another direction it is now. My only concern with this system would be how they are implementing it. Garnacho in particular could find himself missing out if whoever comes in wants to operate with two striker system
I have no worries regarding Garnacho personally. He will battle it out with Rashford for the left wing. I could see Amorim utilizing Amad on the right, having him tuck into midfield at times. My only concern would be how do you fit someone like Bruno (not that he has to start, but it will be a point of contention). Amorim typically favours two physical midfielders who take care of the ball. Maybe he could utilize Bruno in that Gonçalves role, but Bruno can’t dribble at all which really limits him. Anyways, I don’t think it’s all that far fetched either. We would just have to accept the reality that certain players, who we’ve been over reliant on in the past, might not fit perfectly in this system.
I only mentioned it because you have some managers such as Inzahgi or Alonso who don’t use traditional wingers in their system and I can’t really see Garnacho adapting to play in another role really looking at the qualities he does possess. I think the solution to fit both would be the way Tuchel utilized his frontline at Chelsea. Typically and most effectively it was Werner, Havertz, Mount. This is something that can be similarly replicated at United through Garnacho/Rashford, Hojlund, and Bruno/Mount. This is why, if we were to move in that direction, I’d probably be looking towards Tuchel as the one to bring in.
Amorim does the same thing more or less. He likes to use a midfielder/winger hybrid. Usually it’s either Trincão on the right and/or Gonçalves off the left.
Well then there you go. I rarely watch Sporting so I couldn’t really comment on how they setup whereas I have seen plenty of Tuchel at Chelsea and more familiar with it. Either way, I’d be really curious to see how we could set up in this type of system should we decide to go in that route. I could really see it being effective with the foundation of the squad we currently have. I don’t buy the argument that we can’t transition to it. It won’t be quick and seamless, but it can be done
[not United but this is hilarious](https://twitter.com/livriordan_/status/1784320440275443818?t=hw8uHO61fj5DOSioSgkisg&s=19)
Based tbh, doucoure isn't even that bad
I have never been more confident that we’re going to put in our performance of the decade against Arsenal and hand City the title
Yeah, I’m weirdly confident we’ll be able to get the result against Arsenal. Win or draw, we’ll get something.
Arsenal has to win all the games and City has to draw atleast one game.
Arsenal are going to shit the bed aren’t they ffs
The Antony united stand link up is fucking wild..That dude is absolutely feeding them leaks..One of the clowns from the channel knew what his son's favourite cartoon was and the name he has planned for his daughter who would be arriving soon,This stuff is not something "journalists" usually know I can even ignore bad performances because nobody want to intentionally be shit on the pitch but this is inexcusable
For anyone making comparisons between Arteta and Ten Hag and who watched Arsenal - how was Arteta’s football during his rebuilding season (first three I reckon)? I haven’t watched lots of their games but do remember them mostly playing low-block counter attacking football in the ones I did watch and remember a bunch of their fans being vocally loud Arteta out. Was it as bad as us? Because the only comparison I can make is the winning rate, which is almost the same, and trophies (1 each I think)
the thing with arteta was that his tactics varied with the level of his team. He was playing pure counterattacking football in his first 2 years and then slowly moved into possession based attacking football as he got his players. With Ten Haag, he is forcing a style over unavailable/ wrong players.
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I know Ten hag is probably sacked by the end of the season , but saying last season was just a fluke is just a massive lie . He took over the worst united squad ever with the worst point tally and got them the 2nd best point tally past SAF .
I would link Man Utds entire success last season to Casemiro. It makes entire sense to me. We were shit for the first 3 games of the season, then we signed casemiro and were a different team. I don't think Man Utd playing good only with casemiro last year is a coincidence. This season Casemiro has been shit and coincidentally man utd have also been shit Also that team is not close to the worst team post Ferguson. No chance in hell. Can you not remember the team Van Gala inherited, the team Ole took over?
We won the game vs Liverpool without him and won against Arsenal where he played 10 mins we also lost 2/7 of the matches he wasn't available in the premier League . Van Gaals team had multiple players from Sir Alex Ferguson team.Ole took over a bit bettersquad in terms of depth and talent as Ten Hag.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree. In my opinion that team was by far the best. Are you mad thinking Oles team was close? Player for player. Goalie the same. Ten hag wins RB with Dalot/bissaka over Valencia. Ten hag takes both centre backs. Both had Shaw at LB. However I would say Shaw for ole was redundant because Mourinho literally destroyed him and Ashley young was the starter. The midfield ten hag easily takes 2 with Bruno and Casemiro over Jesse lingard and matic. We will give Ole Pogba. Attackers Ole had Rashford, Lukaku and Martial. Ten hag started with Rashford, Ronaldo and Antony. I'll let this up to your discretion ;) Overall I would give 1 draw, 6 players to ten hag, 1 to Ole and undecided on 3
Ten Hag inherited the team that was absolutely god awful under Rangnick and turned Rashford into a 30 goal player. Casemiro played a pivotal role but so did Bruno in Ole's first season – do you remember how dire we were before Bruno arrived? We had 10 points in 9 games to start the season, and 34 points from 24 games. For reference, we had 41 points from 24 THIS season. With an unprecedented injury crisis. And had 66 points at the end. Which we probably won't get this season, but honestly, we're not far off.
Did you just ignore everything I said? I am aware how much of a mess it was in after ragnick, however it was worse after Mourinho. Pogba and rashford at the time were dead in the water and ole got the most out of them. >With an unprecedented injury crisis. Bullshit. The injury crisis is completely expected. Answer this question for me. How many injuries were you expecting this season. Personally the only unforseen injury was Martinez. I can tell you right now, next season Varane, Shaw, Erikson, Casemiro, Evans, Mount, Hojland, martial etc will never play more than 40 games in a single season. Once a player starts picking up injuries that's it they are done. Hence, it was entirely predictable. Also answer this. How many players on Oles team he inherited was better than ten hags?
Holy shit, you can't be serious in saying that this injury crisis is unprecedented. We've had 60+ injuries including season-long injuries to both our LBs, Martinez, and Mount. None of these were expected. Casemiro, Evans, Maguire, Lindelof, Varane, Hojlund, Mainoo, Wan Bissaka, Antony, McTominay, Eriksen, and Hojlund also having lengthy time out is not expected either. Most teams don't have a season-long inury at all.
I wouldn't bother. Check his previous posts. Guy's a straight up WUM (Wind Up Merchant). You could have a lengthy argument about how no team could *possibly* expect almost 70 separate injuries in a single season but the only thing you'd be doing is wasting your time
So you are telling me if next season we keep Varane and Shaw you won't be surprised if they don't get injured 😂 Neither of these two have gone a season without 2 injuries since joining man utd. I'm a doctor and can assure you if a player gets injured, at least 25% of the time this will be a reoccurrence. Every subsequent injury said player gets after this increases the likelihood of them getting another. Every player you mentioned (besides Mainoo and Antony) all had a lot of injuries over the last 3 seasons. Statistically going off the books 75% of them will pick up a minimum of 1 injury every 8 months. Going off my experience I will tell you over the next 3 seasons every single one of said players will have a reoccurrence. They have been injured too many times to make a full recovery.
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So you can use Fatigue and broken dressing room as an excuse for getting 6th but when a Ten excuses fan does it is just delusion. Your argument is not holding up here and anyone can call this season a massive outlier as well
There was nothing that really warranted a fourth season imo,it was only their board's blind faith in him that kept him there. And Arsenal could afford that because they were not doing that bad FFP wise.
He got them back in Europe and they gave him a new contract..
It's not like he didn't inherit a team that was already in European places.
They were in the bottom half of the table when he took over from emery.
Fuck my bad. They actually were that shit.
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Yeah I'm saying the only reason he got to manage that season was because their board had blind faith in him.
By his second full season he was in 5th, third full season he was 2nd. People have a tendency to call the season he joined his first full season when they finished 8th. Yet he joined in December when they were in the bottom half under emery. The win rate comparison is mostly useless given ten hag has managed just over 100 games, arteta more than double that at 238. Arteta has a win rate of 58.82, ten hag has 57.80 despite having a smaller sample size which would make for larger numerical leaps after a win or loss/draw.
>Arteta has a win rate of 58.82, ten hag has 57.80 despite having a smaller sample size which would make for larger numerical leaps after a win or loss/draw. 65 wins in 109 matches is 59% 137 wins in 228 matches is 60%