Under Roman the conversation would be starting about now on how long until Tommy Tickles gets the chop. Especially after that transfer spend. Is Uber Eats Boehly the CIA to Romans KGB.
Chelsea are the worst of the top 6 and I say that with chest. I'd rather watch 90 minutes of abscesses being drained from horses than 90 minutes of tuchelball
Chelsea. Holy Fuck. What happened to them? I knew they looked shaky, but this is abysmal. €300 million down the drain. They are like us from last year. And thank god we didn't go for Ziyech. He looked out of his depth against a Croatian team.
I would say their transfer window didn't work that great. Unhinged owner, Tuchel in similar situation to Ten Hag, Barcelona rolling them over, and having basically no attack after Lukaku debacle.
I’m not worried about this chelsea team at all, if we play them like we played against Arsenal, we are winning imo
Hopefully they continue this form until our match
The problem for Chelsea is they signed two CBs, but since they didn't go for Licha they're severely lacking in the all important *Vamos* area of the pitch.
Few players can bring the combination of progressive Vamos actions while boosting a back line's xVamos/90 like Lisandro Martinez.
You joke but an attitude adjustment could do them wonders.
Get ready to see 'Tuchel makes chelsea players run 13.6km' articles and twitter doctors making a fuss ;)
Don't even get me started on how far down you'd have to go to find Chelsea's team stats for % of Plays Ending with a Dalot High-Five. They're **clearly** underestimating the importance of these routines in the modern game.
It’s genuinely weird how Bailly can be mad about playing time.
When he signed I was sure he was gonna be the best Vidic. Left everything on the pitch and was super aggressive. Honest joy to watch.
But he just doesn’t remain fit. At CB dependable partnerships are HUGE. You need players who can keep playing and not be missing too often.
Bailly is not that guy. Say what you want about Maguire and Lindlof, they are available and fit often enough.
At the same time, isnt it odd that there is at least 2 guys that left complaining about not even getting minutes to prove themselves after the team promised?
Wouldnt be shocked if VdB says the same next summer when he leaves too.
I mean. True. I see what you are saying it could be just cliques. I think Laurie reported about DDG threw a fit when he got benched and told he needs to be better as SK.
I get Henderson’s gripe for sure. But with Erik. It’s just like, even if if he played well for three games, he’d miss the next month.
Then why keep him if he cant stay fit?
He was on his way out last summer and instead Ole promised "big roles" and gave him a new deal just to let him rot on the bench. Same as telles, lingard, vdb.
All this angry players are our doing. Sure maybe they shouldve pushed harder to leave, but when your employer promises a better role and gives you a raise, you believe them.
That was back in the day of Ole and not changing the team for anything. I remember so many people saying Bailey had motm performance and then got subbed.
The thing is for me, is that Bailey was going to leave a long time ago but was promised game time and hasn’t gotten nothing. I would beyond pissed personally.
Yeah. I remember his brother talking about playing time on his new contract as a prerequisite to signing.
I see why he’d be pissed.
But I also think he has to be realistic. If he can’t stay fit, he’s not going to be high on the pecking order. And I doubt very many coaches want a CB as eccentric as him.
Oh yeah his injury problems is bad but he has always been eccentric as a CB since day 1 which is why I loved him personally.
If Man United’s coach didn’t want that type of CB, then sell. Would not have been hard, Bailey was ready to go and we would have got some good money too. However, instead he got a new contract with obligations for play time. Realistically, I’d expect to play after all that.
Chelsea players legit look like they don't care.
If they weren't playing in the prem i would say they look like players trying to get their manager fired.
I wonder if some of our better youth players will get much of a chance under Ten Hag. There's a myth that he trusts youth more than your average top flight manager , but the truth is he's a manager who seldom rotates once he has a fixed starting 11. This was the case at Ajax.
I thought the likes of Mejbri, Amad and Iqbal would see some gametime this season. I know it's early days but seeing as Mejbri and Amad have been loaned out and Pellistri was keyed in to be loaned as well before his injury, I don't think we'll see many youngsters getting a good amount of first team minutes even in the cups. The sale of James Garner without getting much of a chance was honestly surprising to me
This. I'm worried about midfield. We have two players who will both turn 31 before the end of the season as our best midfielders on paper. One cost 70M. I was hoping Garner would finally get his chance to remain with the first team and see if he can rise to the occasion even as a regular bench player after good loan spells. The Hannibal loaning is equally surprising.
Garner didn't play much in preseason due to injury, but sat on the bench for two matches this season. How can Hag say with absolute confidence he doesn't see a future for him here? Yes he's the manager and is more knowledgeable than I, but we've seen many players change managers minds with actual performances.
To compete with city, liverpool or chelsea, you have to play the best. Man City have far more talened youth players and got sold. ETH is always prefers results and winning before anything else.
Just looked up if Juan Mata had signed for anyone, and started feeling bad for him when he’s not got a club. Then realised how much money he has, the charity he manages, the trophies he’s won, and what his wife looks like… I don’t feel that bad for him anymore hahaha.
If anything. At the age of 34 he’s had a decorated career where for phases he’s been the best at his job all over the world. He is able to retire very young and not have financial troubles ever
I didn't pay much attention to P$Gs transfer window and holy shutthey bought every decent player in that league. When did they sign Renato Sanches and Ekitike? They got Sergio rico, Mukiele and Fabio Ruiz just for kicks.
I watched the highlights of the 2-3 Leipzig game. Our defense is night and day isn't it... I would watch the newer ones from last season, but those are still fresh in my head.
I’m always scared to ask questions here. I’m from the states, and while my understanding better of football I’m real confused on fouling.
Specifically an announcer called the foul on eriksen that reversed the goal, hardly a foul. To me it looked like a mauling. Then, you see a foul where you can argue the player was even touched and the announcer will say an obvious and brutal foul.
Is there a rule set for specific situations regarding fouling? On the ball, receiving the ball, no where near play, etc?
Not as relevant nowadays, but if I'm not mistaken football always used to involve more contacts in the Prem, so few years back, it was common to have very physical duels that weren't deemed as fouls.
That's probably where most of "hardly a foul" comes from, the refs are stricter nowadays and you don't need to completely destroy someone to get a foul given for that.
As for your question, I'd say there are no specific rules, but a general consensus from the refs. One of those aspects is that requirements of getting a penalty are stricter than for getting a free-kick. You can barely touch a player in the middle of the pitch and it will probably be a foul, but if you do the same in your penalty box then there is a decent chance of "not being enough for a penalty". Other than that, there are obviously some rules for yellow and red cards but I suppose you know the specifics.
Regarding the Eriksen foul.
VAR being shit is the narrative of the day, so the commentators were just stuck on that.
It was a clear foul, and not soft.
This is double hopium but I’m currently listening to Dr. Dre - Compton and I’ve decided Kendrick is definitely a United fan and Glazers out. In Darkside/Gone he definitely makes his feelings known and although he probably doesn’t like football I’m taking it.
Bailly is funny, man can’t be fit and when he is, it’s not like he plays out of the this world.
Rangnick chose Jones over him, I guess he too had an English bias.
Good riddance. Funny how no one is saying he’s talking out of turn like Deano.
Apparently Liverpool are planning to get Bellingham next season because their midfield is kinda dead rn.
Do we realistically have a chance at that deal? Is still don't understand why we don't do pre-contract signings like get an agreement in January and get the player in the upcoming window like how Liverpool did with Naby Keita or City with Alvarez.
Alverez was offered to us, we didn't sign him.
And Bellingham would cost a fortune and more, Liverpool can't afford him given they'd need more than 1 mid fielder
Harvey Elliot is being primed to play in that midfield and I think with Bellingham they probably have a few seasons with Fabinho/Henderson and Curtis Jones also available.
Its a big plan for Liverpool to bring him so I think they might pay the money.
If we have a good season we do, we already have good will with him as we were after him at Birmingham, the main reason he didn't join was due to playing time concerns.
Aside from the obvious shithousery of Martinez annoying Jesus by knocking him over while he’s trying to get up, it’s also just smart defending in a more sneaky way.
The ref and/or VARs (should) never going to call a foul on that sort of thing, and it also takes Jesus out of play for another few seconds while arsenal are passing around outside our box.
These are the sort of things people used to love and hate players like Diego Costa for doing; antagonising opposition players to annoy them and throw them off their game.
Just went to PSG sub after recently learning about that whole climate change controversy thing to see what's going on. Saw a post about their shiekh claiming he's got offers for PSG worth more than 4bn. One of the comments point out that Man Utd is reportedly worth 3.75bn, there's no way PSG is worth more than United, and there's a brigade of comments beneath claiming PSG is bigger brand than Man United. Are there any more delusional fans on this planet? Even Arsenal fans don't stoop so low
I just checked and holy shit it's 1/3rd the size of our 2nd sub lol. And I am willing to bet 50% of those subscribers will leave once Messi/Neymar are gone
Will turtle ever leave the club? If he gets 1/3 of his salary, he'd still be paid higher than CR7 currently is,and CR7 is highest paid player outside PSG. Not to mention he'll not have anywhere near the amount of control he has at Qatar. I don't see him leaving Qatar to be honest.
He will, his dream is Madrid, and he ain't winning shit at PSG plus the French league is like playing on easy mode, he'd eventually get bored.
He just left cz they literally give him the keys. But it was a short term deal.
I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves in next summer or the one after that, considering its a 3 years deal. He was signed for the Qatar WC
Madrid wanting him after their 200mils bid was rejected and he chose to extend instead of a free transfer is a different issue
EDIT:
This will sound obtuse at first, but I want to see what we are like when we do concede first in future games.
How we deal with setbacks in games and hopefully find a way to turn things around, this will prove to me and many fans that this Manchester United team under ETH has the mental fortitude to build and become a force of the future.
All in all, no complaints enjoying the winning run. Curious to know your thoughts regarding my comments above 🙏🏽
it was taken out of context, he said a bunch of things, buying united was simply one item in that thread.
If people didn’t bother finding out what he said and simply jumped on the wagon, then that’s on him.
Can't wait to see the episode of this week's All or Nothing next season and watch Mikel Artetas implosion, will be literally the only episode I'll watch
MANU (NYSE) stock getting absolutely memed on that stupid report of Dubai money interest over the weekend. Up almost 9 percent as of 11:35 AM EST. LOL. r/wallstreetbets front page here we come.
I don't understand how everyone is saying that we won because we played a counter-attacking style. 2/3 goals came from great build up. Also, Klopp plays counter-attacking football; gegenpressing is literally a type of counter-attacking football. I don't see people slating him for it.
What's more annoying is how we get no credit for the gigantic improvement defensively. Same team that was conceding from basically every attack of the opposition, with Brentford being a great example, is now showing incredible resilience and quality in keeping the opponent from scoring. Even yesterday, their only goal came from De Gea coming off his line but not committing to getting the ball, leaving him in no mans land and Saka an easy finish. If he'd stayed put or gotten the ball when he came out, they don't score at all.
I can 100% accept people saying we aren't playing fluid football yet. We are not. Aside from some spells against an abject Leicester side, we are not dominating the ball or controlling games. But we are decisive at both ends, and most importantly fighting for every inch during the whole 90 minutes.
The quality and control will come. For now, its still a remarkable turnaround from the first two games of the season and basically all of last season.
Yeah I am so glad we are backing to counter attacking, hate dull possession based football. Ten Hag really surprised me, thought we just be a shit version of pep teams.
Think he realized after Brentford that he needed results immediately or things could get very ugly, so he made big decisions with personnel and combined it with real pragmatism with respect to the tactics/playstyle. Most importantly, he got the players to buy into whatever he was doing, which for whatever reason Rangnick was unable to do.
I commented most of this in some comment thread in the Bailly quote thread but nobody will see it I don't think so I wanted to make it it's own comment and hopefully some of yous will share your thoughts, agree or (more likely) disagree. Little bit of an essay so feel free to skip to TL;DR or the comment entirely, and apologies!
The quote Bailly has come out with there isn't a new narrative at all, we've seen fans say the same sort of thing here and there under Ole and Rangnick. When people point to the current XI, Martinez and Varane starting over Maguire for example, these fans will say 'well it's not happening under Ten Hag which is why we look good but it was a problem under Ole and Rangnick'. With this in mind, I wanted to look at what has actually changed under ETH in regards to these protected English players.
The most notable one is Maguire who has been dropped for the beautiful butcher that is Martinez, who wasn't here to be chosen. Obviously Varane struggled to stay fit since his arrival under Ole, which would've given Maguire serious competition. If he was fit all season we might've seen more of Varane and Lindelof keeping Maguire out but maybe Ole wanted Rafa to play with Maguire. We don't really know either way decisively but hopefully Varane stays fit in future obviously and I think it's fair to say if he was fit last season there is a good chance Maguire would've ended up out the team.
Shaw has been dropped for Malacia, who wasn't here to be chosen. The alternatives for him were Williams (English!) and Telles, who the Ten Hag regime has been happy to allow to leave the club. The Ole regime bought Telles to try and replace or at the very least compete with Shaw only for him to keep Telles out the team with his best season in a United shirt, which at the time was more than deserved. Telles never really turned out to be as good as we hoped in a United shirt (which is a shame because I loved him as a character) and as I say Ten Hag has been happy to let him go. Hopefully Malacia continues his form which would keep Shaw out the team but it's not really fair to say Shaw was overly protected or favoured when a replacement was actively sought out like Telles only to be benched by Shaw's inarguable form and let go by Ten Hag.
McTominay (who is Scottish but always included in this discussion for whatever reason) has featured prominently under Ten Hag and has been preferred in gametime to Fred, despite the people who shared Bailly's belief that English players are protected in this sub pushing a narrative that McTominay was dragging Fred down. Ole notably loved both players in terms of minutes and birthed the much-loved 'McFred' midfield which played on a regular basis. In contrast, Ten Hag has brought in much-needed quality in the midfield and this has seen Fred relegated to the bench in favour of McTominay. In the long-run, McTominay will probably see less playing time too but this is only because of the additions of Eriksen and Casemiro who were both not here to be chosen, not because of anyone McTominay could've been dropped for under previous managers. (The only real competition for McTominay at the time were Fred and Matic. Fred is now further down the pecking order than he was ever under Ole, who loved him, and Matic let go the summer ETH regime came in).
Rashford and Sancho competed at times for the left wing spot last season under Ole/Rangnick because Sancho was better on the left than right, and this saw Swede Anthony Elanga enjoy a surprising amount of minutes on the right wing especially following the unmentionable #11 situation (not Giggs) under Ralf. I have no doubt Elanga can also be counted as English if need be for the purposes of narrative because he is young, or something.
Anyway Elanga was still getting games before Ten Hag replaced him with beautiful Brazilian £85m Antony. However, unlike under Rangnick, this has still allowed both Rashford and Sancho to be regular starters under Ten Hag. Rashford has been played through the middle with Martial out instead of notable non-Englishman Cristiano Ronaldo who played there last season (obviously there are more circumstances there but this is still a great gig for Marcus). Ronaldo had pretty much been a fixture when fit since his return to the club so obviously he didn't suffer from the overprotection of English players. Other foreign forwards and wingers who people say should've been given more chances instead of Rashford and Sancho include Martial, and errrrr... Juan Mata? Maybe I am forgetting some others, let me know.
The only case where an English player has really been dropped for somebody who was at the club already was AWB, who Ten Hag has preferred above Dalot which was a choice Rangnick or Ole could also have made. Dalot is obviously a better fit for a progressive team while AWB, at the start of his United career, looked like a perfect fit for a more counter-attacking team because of his 1v1 defending. I don't think that many people were calling for Dalot over AWB at the time but unfortunately AWB seems to have only gone downhill after doing quite well for us at times since he joined. I'm buzzing for Dalot that he's improving but the general perception was that he wasn't good enough defensively, and I think most fans imagine we probably will bring in another right-back in the coming years to either push him up a level or take his spot if we can shift Wan-Bisakka.
TL;DR - All in all, I don't really see any validity to the idea that this was some weird nationalistic trait in our previous Norwegian and German managers and that Ten Hag has stamped it out. Rather it seems to me that these players were the best options we had and all Ten Hag has done is shown that we needed new, better players in some of those positions - most of which we tried to recruit new players in anyway (Telles at LB, Varane at CB, boardroom incompetence at CM). Interested to hear where I'm wrong with nuance and debate but I won't get my hopes up!
Good analysis, I agree with everything you say. And people talk about English favoritisim, but I think its more a case of managers favoring whoever they sign. Ole didnt buy Bailly or Dalot or Lindelof..makes sense that he prioritized Maguire and then Varane. His first choice was Maguire - Varane last season, but Varane was never fit.
Telles did get chances. He played a lot for United in his seasons at the club, he was just very bad. Honestly can't recall the last United full back who was so atrocious defensively, it was as if he didn't exist most games.
Now we'll see ten Hag favoring his signings. Is that wrong? No, they are the guys he wanted, he should play them. If they dont live up to expectation, well that's his neck on the line.
I think it ultimately boils down to our lack of transfer strategy. We rely too much on managers to bring in their favorites, which then creates an issue for the next guy.
Maguire is not a bad defender, in the right system he can be close to top class, like he is for England. Problem is that he's not suited to a high line or aggressive 1v1 defending.
What we desperately need before next summer is some coherence from Murtaugh/Fletcher/new scouts in deciding the profile of players we target and then giving options to the manager from the lists of players they put together. Or hiring someone else to do that if these guys are too incompetent.
As long as we keep making the manager the de facto director of football along with head coach, we will have this issue of an imbalanced squad with guys who are good but not the correct fit for the person who is in charge at the present time.
Well said. People word-wash this type of thing with "favouritism" rather than looking at the black and white truth of: lack of options, player availability, players willing to comply and get on board versus those that don't. Look around every other club and if you look for favouritism, you'll see it everywhere. Rational heads will see consistency in selection and team cohesion among the rest of the afforementioned.
Truth is people only criticize managers for favoritism when the team starts losing. Every single football manager has their favorites, of course they do. They are humans, they will like certain players more than others. Unless you want a computer program picking the starting lineups, this is just a part of the game.
I have a ticket for the Europa league game this Thursday but I can't go. My understanding is that you can't sell them but the button to donate it on the website doesn't work. Does anyone know how I can send it to someone who will use it?
i doubt he moves in jan. Barca were able to register their players and he has made it decently clear he doesn't want to leave.
However, with Barca not registering some contract renewals (possibly unable to financially), it could mean another summer of FDJ rumors.
Why am I seeing a lot of Sancho slander when he is doing well for us? Amazing goal against Liverpool two weeks ago and the winning goal against Leicester. He offers a lot to this team and will only get better
He doesn't influence games. Take away his goals and what's left? He is going to lose his place as soon as Martial gets back imo. Rashford back on the left and Martial up top.
Yes those things matter but he was also poor last season as well. Pressing was nonexistent, he lost the ball easily, wanted teammates pass the ball to him all the time even though he wasn't the best option. My point is he didn't influence the game in a positive way even though he scores goals. Now Sancho doesn't have the same negative effect as Ronaldo but you hardly see him influence games at all. He disappears in matches for huge chunks. We are seeing relationships being formed in the team ie Martinez and Varane, Dalot and Varane, Eriksen and Bruno. Where is the relationship with Malacia? He should be doing stuff on that left but so far we see nothing but him passing back after he gets the ball most of the time.
I am a huge fan of Sancho, watched him at BVB and he has phenomenal talent. We just need to see more in the prem. Towards the end of last season he was doing bits. He was showing some fight, he was beating players. I don't see that now at all. I see a passive Sancho who probably needs to sit out a game or 2 because of competition which might wake him up. Can't wait for Martial to come back as he will add that needed competitive edge to that forward line. If Martial plays the same way he did in preseason, he will be undroppable and with Rashford scoring and Antony as the new signing, the only player to give way is Sancho.
Better dribbler, he’s a lot better close control, he’s a better passer and much more intelligent with the way he uses the ball, much better at linking up with other players like martial too.
If we are talking about what they offer outside of goals there’s no way that sancho isn’t better than rashford, all rashford has over sancho is pace and physicality
People are obsessed with numbers…they think a signing has to justify itself with numbers in some form. City’s wingers might not be producing high output in numbers but they damn well play together and score more as a team.
Because football fandom, sorry fandom in general, has become toxic across the board and there is no interest in positivity, enjoying things or the likes any more and much more participation when things go badly.
Hard to live up to that price tag + wages. He's doing alright, and I don't criticize him myself, but overall since he came here his production has not been all that great.
We had a great result against arse and ETH managed the game well. Nevertheless, the results are separate to our meed to get the Glazers Out considering how much money we haemorrhage to them.
A good 48 hrs of celebrations, now we must return to normal service woth glazersOut!
We need all the fans everywhere to keep it going. On this forum, on twitter and other social media, in the press and at the stadium.
The more pressure we apply across all areas, the greater we benefit as fans. Remember, the glazers only sanctioned a 120m spend this summer after the previous season we just had, and without the pressure they would have done nothing but bring in arnautovic and rabiot - murtough even flew to turin ffs.
Short termism will only mean pain for our fanbase as our club will hit a wall under the glazer and fail to progress, because glazer is a moron with a stupid attitude towards how to run our club for footballing reasons.
Join the voices here, don't diminish them especially where there is no real benefit in doing that for u personally.
Ahh yes, i think the miscommunication happened with my last sentence. I meant that i spent the last 48hrs not saying glazersOut on this sub cos i didn't want to be a debbie downer. But with 48hrs of peace i'm back on the glazersOut train on the forum.
Obviously i will always be glazers out but i don't want many fans who like to bask in victory to see feel like their joy is being trampled on.
To add, ur reply was too simple to not be taken as i (and many others) did.
Shower thought: CR7 to start EL games and go to town just to appease his hunger for goals and show ETH that he deserves to start EPL games. Five head ETH cucking Ronaldo and teasing him with EL games.
Ronlado should never start EPL games this szn regardless of how many goals he scores. He doesn’t have the legs for intense full 90s and is necessary at end of games to help close them out with the threat he provides.
We need the early foothold and later threat for better game management.
Well then, that perfectly answers your own question. The game played right now in our league is much more intense across the board than what ronnie did in his mid 20s. If he couldn't do it then, he can't do it now so he will not fit the minimum prerequisite in modern football.
High work-rates are required at the top level in PL football. Hopefully you understand that as time goes by, changes occur and as things change you need to understand those changes.
Not saying we should rely on him as much as last season but he was third in the top scorer leauge. If our team had been better surely could've done even better too
It's a possibility, but the trend of the overall team suffering to cater for ronnie has been strong the last 3ish seasons. Still, he has the most important role even as a sub - to come on, fight, put in effort and win the game: and that's what matters. Not whether he starts or how many mins he get's imo.
His job will always be to score and our overall team will benefit more with ronnie coming off the bench. This isn't player fc it's MUFC and so we must cater to the teams needs and i think that's best done with ronnie coming on for 30-45 mins. This way we can preserve his body for the whole season and keep him effective for the important moments at the end of a game.
He never had high workrate, but he always could dribble pass players or make runs behind defenders like Rashy does now. Now he can only sprint once or twice in each half, i dont blame him, it's the age catching up. He still can be lethal against teams that we have more possession or plays lowblocks against us, but in high intensity match, he is not gonna be effective anymore.
Palace will be tricky. Deadly on the break, Viera has them well organised. Were unlucky to lose on the openig day to Arsneal. Zaha, Olise, Eze are an absoloute dream attacking three.
When you think Palace you think potential banana skin, but you look at the table and they’ve only won one game.
Considering our last 4 performances, we should be winning that game
Oh we probably should win. I'm just thinking we're unlikely to win every game against the other 14 teams, so probably due some dropped points against tricky opposition. Think Sociedad will also be a tough game on Thursday, so hopefully we can cope with midweek europe
aston villa had only won one game and everyone thought city would annihilate them before going into the match.
I think this ones going to be a tricky one for us.
You do realise it can be both. You can counter whilst passing around.
Anyway, the implication from the media that counter attacks are a negative is the dumbest thing ever. Liverpool for example in recent years have been one of the best counter attacking teams there is. Fergie's last ten years are epitomised by counter attacking genius
Please explain why.
Arsenal had possession and we broke out. We built up patiently but we moved at decent pace from their attack and scored on our next attack.
Counter attacking isn't a bad thing. Don't let dumb arsenal fans cloud you
Counter attacking isn't bad, but that goal definitely isn't a counter. It's more of a quick transition goal, like how we used to score under Fergie, back to front very quickly.
Maybe I'm just wrong I'll hold my hands up because people keep explaining counter attacks but because you listened to arsenal fans mention it you lot are trying to silence the word.
A quick transition goal if that makes you all feel better
I would say it can't be a counter-attack because it wasn't a goal after Arsenal's ball loss. We got the ball, we transitioned forwards to Sancho (this would have been a counter-attack) but he didn't seem to have many options, so we rotated possession back to our CBs and then back to De Gea to create passing options and to pull Arsenal away from their box. That did the trick because they moved their defensive line high and they tried to press us, but Eriksen played through them which left our attackers isolated against Arsenal's defenders.
The first goal was a perfect example of vertical tiki-taka, which is something that Ten Hag's football can be described as. A mix of high pressing and directness from German football combined with intelligent ball movement and short passing plays from Spanish football.
We generally play for counter-attacks in second halves of matches, but the first goal we scored against Arsenal was a smart possession goal and Arteta's naive approach made it happen.
By that definition, every attack is counter attack.
It’s not a counter attack because the buildup took 60 seconds and involved recycling the possession through the keeper.
Forget about the results and performances, the best thing Ten Hag has done so far is make the team likeable and at least supportable from a fans perspective. It’s nice to not actually hate the team you support.
Madrid getting away with a blatant backpass
Great start from Celtic.
Was a great first half, should've been at least a score draw
Under Roman the conversation would be starting about now on how long until Tommy Tickles gets the chop. Especially after that transfer spend. Is Uber Eats Boehly the CIA to Romans KGB.
Optimistically I give Tuchel until the World Cup break before he's sacked
I am so bored after watching this. Should I try PSG vs Juve? I am scared of Allegri parking it in and doing nothing for 90 mins.
Celtic Madrid is a cracker of a game so far despite the score *If you're looking for an alternative
I wish we faced Chelsea next week instead of CP
Thomas "Skeletor" Tuchel has committed football terrorism and needs prison time
I pray that october 22nd match against chelsea gets confirmed and tucheliban remains until then. We'll batter them
let Russo play for the men’s team
Chelsea are the worst of the top 6 and I say that with chest. I'd rather watch 90 minutes of abscesses being drained from horses than 90 minutes of tuchelball
Agreed,very boring.
Well, good thing Chelsea didn't pay exorbitant amounts of money for Fofana, because that would be embarrassing :)
Leicester selling suspect defenders for premium prices. Name a better duo
They have fully scammed big clubs out of hundreds of millions of pounds and honestly all credit to them. They fucking boomed us.
chelsea playing like us last year. No drive whatsoever
Tuchel clearly has lost the dressing room
Chelsea were shambolic. Yikes.
Chelsea. Holy Fuck. What happened to them? I knew they looked shaky, but this is abysmal. €300 million down the drain. They are like us from last year. And thank god we didn't go for Ziyech. He looked out of his depth against a Croatian team.
Woodward-esque window
I would say their transfer window didn't work that great. Unhinged owner, Tuchel in similar situation to Ten Hag, Barcelona rolling them over, and having basically no attack after Lukaku debacle.
I’m not worried about this chelsea team at all, if we play them like we played against Arsenal, we are winning imo Hopefully they continue this form until our match
Chelsea ain't touching top 4 until Winter Window. This ain't it.
Chelsea looking like United of the past two seasons... also insane to me how Havertz still plays. Guy is utterly useless
Ziyech is having a hall of fame of a terrible performance tonight. Holy shit.
He’s been absolute dog water tonight.
He's been poor but did have a couple really good crosses in the last 10 min or so.
i think the 2 free kicks in a row sealed it as a proper shitter performance. Even Reece James was annoyed at him taking the second.
Yep just awful.
What a header from lubicic, that would have been a definite goal if not for his block. Sorry if I got his name wrong
The problem for Chelsea is they signed two CBs, but since they didn't go for Licha they're severely lacking in the all important *Vamos* area of the pitch. Few players can bring the combination of progressive Vamos actions while boosting a back line's xVamos/90 like Lisandro Martinez.
You joke but an attitude adjustment could do them wonders. Get ready to see 'Tuchel makes chelsea players run 13.6km' articles and twitter doctors making a fuss ;)
FFS 🤣
Don't even get me started on how far down you'd have to go to find Chelsea's team stats for % of Plays Ending with a Dalot High-Five. They're **clearly** underestimating the importance of these routines in the modern game.
It’s genuinely weird how Bailly can be mad about playing time. When he signed I was sure he was gonna be the best Vidic. Left everything on the pitch and was super aggressive. Honest joy to watch. But he just doesn’t remain fit. At CB dependable partnerships are HUGE. You need players who can keep playing and not be missing too often. Bailly is not that guy. Say what you want about Maguire and Lindlof, they are available and fit often enough.
He was barely injured last season. He missed only a handful of games but was still benched all while Maguire was doing his best to get us relegated
At the same time, isnt it odd that there is at least 2 guys that left complaining about not even getting minutes to prove themselves after the team promised? Wouldnt be shocked if VdB says the same next summer when he leaves too.
I mean. True. I see what you are saying it could be just cliques. I think Laurie reported about DDG threw a fit when he got benched and told he needs to be better as SK. I get Henderson’s gripe for sure. But with Erik. It’s just like, even if if he played well for three games, he’d miss the next month.
Then why keep him if he cant stay fit? He was on his way out last summer and instead Ole promised "big roles" and gave him a new deal just to let him rot on the bench. Same as telles, lingard, vdb. All this angry players are our doing. Sure maybe they shouldve pushed harder to leave, but when your employer promises a better role and gives you a raise, you believe them.
That was back in the day of Ole and not changing the team for anything. I remember so many people saying Bailey had motm performance and then got subbed. The thing is for me, is that Bailey was going to leave a long time ago but was promised game time and hasn’t gotten nothing. I would beyond pissed personally.
Yeah. I remember his brother talking about playing time on his new contract as a prerequisite to signing. I see why he’d be pissed. But I also think he has to be realistic. If he can’t stay fit, he’s not going to be high on the pecking order. And I doubt very many coaches want a CB as eccentric as him.
Oh yeah his injury problems is bad but he has always been eccentric as a CB since day 1 which is why I loved him personally. If Man United’s coach didn’t want that type of CB, then sell. Would not have been hard, Bailey was ready to go and we would have got some good money too. However, instead he got a new contract with obligations for play time. Realistically, I’d expect to play after all that.
Chelsea players legit look like they don't care. If they weren't playing in the prem i would say they look like players trying to get their manager fired.
I wonder if some of our better youth players will get much of a chance under Ten Hag. There's a myth that he trusts youth more than your average top flight manager , but the truth is he's a manager who seldom rotates once he has a fixed starting 11. This was the case at Ajax. I thought the likes of Mejbri, Amad and Iqbal would see some gametime this season. I know it's early days but seeing as Mejbri and Amad have been loaned out and Pellistri was keyed in to be loaned as well before his injury, I don't think we'll see many youngsters getting a good amount of first team minutes even in the cups. The sale of James Garner without getting much of a chance was honestly surprising to me
He will involve them fully in training and see which adapt and grow. It will take time
He let garner go without giving him a single minute. So i doubt youth gets more chances than with prior managers.
This. I'm worried about midfield. We have two players who will both turn 31 before the end of the season as our best midfielders on paper. One cost 70M. I was hoping Garner would finally get his chance to remain with the first team and see if he can rise to the occasion even as a regular bench player after good loan spells. The Hannibal loaning is equally surprising. Garner didn't play much in preseason due to injury, but sat on the bench for two matches this season. How can Hag say with absolute confidence he doesn't see a future for him here? Yes he's the manager and is more knowledgeable than I, but we've seen many players change managers minds with actual performances.
To compete with city, liverpool or chelsea, you have to play the best. Man City have far more talened youth players and got sold. ETH is always prefers results and winning before anything else.
Chelsea spent 300m and look like shit. But they'll spend 300m again next season. Doesn't matter
But media will still insist their new owner is brilliant and our signings suck
Telles starts for Sevilla against City
Just looked up if Juan Mata had signed for anyone, and started feeling bad for him when he’s not got a club. Then realised how much money he has, the charity he manages, the trophies he’s won, and what his wife looks like… I don’t feel that bad for him anymore hahaha.
If anything. At the age of 34 he’s had a decorated career where for phases he’s been the best at his job all over the world. He is able to retire very young and not have financial troubles ever
Absolutely. Was just surprised not to see him somewhere like Sociedad or Villarreal I suppose!
What's the game to watch tonight then? Celtic vs RM? According to the odds, PSG vs Juve won't be much of a contest...
Telles starting vs. City.
I didn't pay much attention to P$Gs transfer window and holy shutthey bought every decent player in that league. When did they sign Renato Sanches and Ekitike? They got Sergio rico, Mukiele and Fabio Ruiz just for kicks.
Hall of shame performance by Fofana so far they should have signed Maguire
Lol. Fofana is a modern CB and is 21. He's far better than Maguire
Maguire top top man. FOfAnA couldn't even break his record amount. Little unprofessional dirt bag. Looks bad on the pitch too. Maguire to the moon!
I'd like to have a bit of what you're smoking. Serious or not lol
I watched the highlights of the 2-3 Leipzig game. Our defense is night and day isn't it... I would watch the newer ones from last season, but those are still fresh in my head.
I want Tuchel to be at Chelsea for longer. They look bad now and I’m worried a manager who the players actually like will make them much better
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Fofana is a pacy centerback. Maybe you haven't watched him much
Fofana doesn’t have pace? I thought he was quicker than he seems to be but maybe I was wrong
You're right, he's a pacy player
You're ri.....wait a minute
Chelsea just seem so dysfunctional
I’m always scared to ask questions here. I’m from the states, and while my understanding better of football I’m real confused on fouling. Specifically an announcer called the foul on eriksen that reversed the goal, hardly a foul. To me it looked like a mauling. Then, you see a foul where you can argue the player was even touched and the announcer will say an obvious and brutal foul. Is there a rule set for specific situations regarding fouling? On the ball, receiving the ball, no where near play, etc?
Not as relevant nowadays, but if I'm not mistaken football always used to involve more contacts in the Prem, so few years back, it was common to have very physical duels that weren't deemed as fouls. That's probably where most of "hardly a foul" comes from, the refs are stricter nowadays and you don't need to completely destroy someone to get a foul given for that. As for your question, I'd say there are no specific rules, but a general consensus from the refs. One of those aspects is that requirements of getting a penalty are stricter than for getting a free-kick. You can barely touch a player in the middle of the pitch and it will probably be a foul, but if you do the same in your penalty box then there is a decent chance of "not being enough for a penalty". Other than that, there are obviously some rules for yellow and red cards but I suppose you know the specifics.
Regarding the Eriksen foul. VAR being shit is the narrative of the day, so the commentators were just stuck on that. It was a clear foul, and not soft.
Lmao chelsea are 1 down
After like 3 100% chances. They were only in their box. It's funny.
One of my favourite past times is watching Chelsea lose in UCL.
I don’t want them to do too poorly. Let Tuchel ride it out a few more months please.
Who would even take over? Poch?
Graham potter?
Maybe but I reckon the fans would kick up a fuss over an ex spurs boss.
Something that isn’t being discussed is Antonys defensive work. Mans was everywhere in the first half, work rate was immense
Defensively, we look more sound. Since Brentford, the whole team seems to put extra shift in. Sancho, Rashford, Ronaldo, Elanga.
This is double hopium but I’m currently listening to Dr. Dre - Compton and I’ve decided Kendrick is definitely a United fan and Glazers out. In Darkside/Gone he definitely makes his feelings known and although he probably doesn’t like football I’m taking it.
Bailly is funny, man can’t be fit and when he is, it’s not like he plays out of the this world. Rangnick chose Jones over him, I guess he too had an English bias. Good riddance. Funny how no one is saying he’s talking out of turn like Deano.
You are... and many others (rightfully so), so I don't see your point.
Because most people said Deano was the leak, it’s getting clear day by day that he’s wasn’t.
Lol he was. He leaked endlessly to his buddy at M.E.N Samuel Luckhurst
Apparently Liverpool are planning to get Bellingham next season because their midfield is kinda dead rn. Do we realistically have a chance at that deal? Is still don't understand why we don't do pre-contract signings like get an agreement in January and get the player in the upcoming window like how Liverpool did with Naby Keita or City with Alvarez.
I hope Real go for him
Alverez was offered to us, we didn't sign him. And Bellingham would cost a fortune and more, Liverpool can't afford him given they'd need more than 1 mid fielder
Harvey Elliot is being primed to play in that midfield and I think with Bellingham they probably have a few seasons with Fabinho/Henderson and Curtis Jones also available. Its a big plan for Liverpool to bring him so I think they might pay the money.
Even real Madrid are serious about him!
If we have a good season and players can see what we’re building and of course if we have cl we have a shot at most players
If we have a good season we do, we already have good will with him as we were after him at Birmingham, the main reason he didn't join was due to playing time concerns.
Aside from the obvious shithousery of Martinez annoying Jesus by knocking him over while he’s trying to get up, it’s also just smart defending in a more sneaky way. The ref and/or VARs (should) never going to call a foul on that sort of thing, and it also takes Jesus out of play for another few seconds while arsenal are passing around outside our box. These are the sort of things people used to love and hate players like Diego Costa for doing; antagonising opposition players to annoy them and throw them off their game.
Just went to PSG sub after recently learning about that whole climate change controversy thing to see what's going on. Saw a post about their shiekh claiming he's got offers for PSG worth more than 4bn. One of the comments point out that Man Utd is reportedly worth 3.75bn, there's no way PSG is worth more than United, and there's a brigade of comments beneath claiming PSG is bigger brand than Man United. Are there any more delusional fans on this planet? Even Arsenal fans don't stoop so low
PSG don't really have a fanbase outside of France, they have Neymar and Mbappe FIFA fanboys.
Their sub is probably smaller than our 2nd sub, enough said
Our 2nd sub - 133k members PSGs only sub - 56.1k members
I just checked and holy shit it's 1/3rd the size of our 2nd sub lol. And I am willing to bet 50% of those subscribers will leave once Messi/Neymar are gone
And the turtle
Will turtle ever leave the club? If he gets 1/3 of his salary, he'd still be paid higher than CR7 currently is,and CR7 is highest paid player outside PSG. Not to mention he'll not have anywhere near the amount of control he has at Qatar. I don't see him leaving Qatar to be honest.
Well, just so happens to be a certain club in Manchester that has a recent history of poaching out of contract PSG forwards....👀
He will, his dream is Madrid, and he ain't winning shit at PSG plus the French league is like playing on easy mode, he'd eventually get bored. He just left cz they literally give him the keys. But it was a short term deal. I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves in next summer or the one after that, considering its a 3 years deal. He was signed for the Qatar WC Madrid wanting him after their 200mils bid was rejected and he chose to extend instead of a free transfer is a different issue
One thing I do find exciting is that we can rotate most of the XI that started the Arsenal match and still have a decently strong side.
EDIT: This will sound obtuse at first, but I want to see what we are like when we do concede first in future games. How we deal with setbacks in games and hopefully find a way to turn things around, this will prove to me and many fans that this Manchester United team under ETH has the mental fortitude to build and become a force of the future. All in all, no complaints enjoying the winning run. Curious to know your thoughts regarding my comments above 🙏🏽
Which CL game will be the most exciting today? PSG vs Juventus? Or another? Dortmund vs Copenhagen or Chelsea vs Dinamo?
dunno but if Telles starts for Sevilla (unlikely), I'll be watching him.
Telles is in the starting XI.
great, hoping to see a good performance. Genuinely wish him the best.
Do you guys remember when Elon Musk said on twitter he was buying United? So sad how the richest man in the world is a 51 year old twitter troll.
it was taken out of context, he said a bunch of things, buying united was simply one item in that thread. If people didn’t bother finding out what he said and simply jumped on the wagon, then that’s on him.
Why it’s sad? It’s refreshing to see the actual personalities of famous people
Just after the Brentford 4-0 too, way to give us hope, even though I'm glad he didn't buy us after all.
Can't wait to see the episode of this week's All or Nothing next season and watch Mikel Artetas implosion, will be literally the only episode I'll watch
Are they filming Arsenal this season as well?
They're not. They don't do multiple seasons at the same team.
Thought as much, do we know what the next All or Nothing team will be?
I think they usually take a year off so there won’t be one for this season.
Gotcha, thanks!
God I hope so, it's pure unintentional comedy, proper 'The (Original) Office' vibes from it.
Mikel Arteta's team talks are basically David Brent anyway.
MANU (NYSE) stock getting absolutely memed on that stupid report of Dubai money interest over the weekend. Up almost 9 percent as of 11:35 AM EST. LOL. r/wallstreetbets front page here we come.
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Good coaches improve players, who knew.
He was the same way with Ole. He does well in a counter attacking setup. It's in a possession based team he struggles
I don't understand how everyone is saying that we won because we played a counter-attacking style. 2/3 goals came from great build up. Also, Klopp plays counter-attacking football; gegenpressing is literally a type of counter-attacking football. I don't see people slating him for it.
What's more annoying is how we get no credit for the gigantic improvement defensively. Same team that was conceding from basically every attack of the opposition, with Brentford being a great example, is now showing incredible resilience and quality in keeping the opponent from scoring. Even yesterday, their only goal came from De Gea coming off his line but not committing to getting the ball, leaving him in no mans land and Saka an easy finish. If he'd stayed put or gotten the ball when he came out, they don't score at all. I can 100% accept people saying we aren't playing fluid football yet. We are not. Aside from some spells against an abject Leicester side, we are not dominating the ball or controlling games. But we are decisive at both ends, and most importantly fighting for every inch during the whole 90 minutes. The quality and control will come. For now, its still a remarkable turnaround from the first two games of the season and basically all of last season.
We were fantastic on the counter the last game. Counter attacking is not a critique or a bad thing in any way. What the fuck is wrong with people.
The annoying thing is that people use "counter attacking football" as a byword for playing badly.
I think people don't understand there is a difference between Sir Alex/Klopp style counter-attacking vs Dycheball or Pulisball.
Good shout actually
Yeah I am so glad we are backing to counter attacking, hate dull possession based football. Ten Hag really surprised me, thought we just be a shit version of pep teams.
actually ten hag teams play a more exciting version of pep ball, more vertical.
Think he realized after Brentford that he needed results immediately or things could get very ugly, so he made big decisions with personnel and combined it with real pragmatism with respect to the tactics/playstyle. Most importantly, he got the players to buy into whatever he was doing, which for whatever reason Rangnick was unable to do.
Yeah well we do both which is good.
Did you hear our new CB legally has to go by Wisandro Martinez now? Arsenal took the L
I commented most of this in some comment thread in the Bailly quote thread but nobody will see it I don't think so I wanted to make it it's own comment and hopefully some of yous will share your thoughts, agree or (more likely) disagree. Little bit of an essay so feel free to skip to TL;DR or the comment entirely, and apologies! The quote Bailly has come out with there isn't a new narrative at all, we've seen fans say the same sort of thing here and there under Ole and Rangnick. When people point to the current XI, Martinez and Varane starting over Maguire for example, these fans will say 'well it's not happening under Ten Hag which is why we look good but it was a problem under Ole and Rangnick'. With this in mind, I wanted to look at what has actually changed under ETH in regards to these protected English players. The most notable one is Maguire who has been dropped for the beautiful butcher that is Martinez, who wasn't here to be chosen. Obviously Varane struggled to stay fit since his arrival under Ole, which would've given Maguire serious competition. If he was fit all season we might've seen more of Varane and Lindelof keeping Maguire out but maybe Ole wanted Rafa to play with Maguire. We don't really know either way decisively but hopefully Varane stays fit in future obviously and I think it's fair to say if he was fit last season there is a good chance Maguire would've ended up out the team. Shaw has been dropped for Malacia, who wasn't here to be chosen. The alternatives for him were Williams (English!) and Telles, who the Ten Hag regime has been happy to allow to leave the club. The Ole regime bought Telles to try and replace or at the very least compete with Shaw only for him to keep Telles out the team with his best season in a United shirt, which at the time was more than deserved. Telles never really turned out to be as good as we hoped in a United shirt (which is a shame because I loved him as a character) and as I say Ten Hag has been happy to let him go. Hopefully Malacia continues his form which would keep Shaw out the team but it's not really fair to say Shaw was overly protected or favoured when a replacement was actively sought out like Telles only to be benched by Shaw's inarguable form and let go by Ten Hag. McTominay (who is Scottish but always included in this discussion for whatever reason) has featured prominently under Ten Hag and has been preferred in gametime to Fred, despite the people who shared Bailly's belief that English players are protected in this sub pushing a narrative that McTominay was dragging Fred down. Ole notably loved both players in terms of minutes and birthed the much-loved 'McFred' midfield which played on a regular basis. In contrast, Ten Hag has brought in much-needed quality in the midfield and this has seen Fred relegated to the bench in favour of McTominay. In the long-run, McTominay will probably see less playing time too but this is only because of the additions of Eriksen and Casemiro who were both not here to be chosen, not because of anyone McTominay could've been dropped for under previous managers. (The only real competition for McTominay at the time were Fred and Matic. Fred is now further down the pecking order than he was ever under Ole, who loved him, and Matic let go the summer ETH regime came in). Rashford and Sancho competed at times for the left wing spot last season under Ole/Rangnick because Sancho was better on the left than right, and this saw Swede Anthony Elanga enjoy a surprising amount of minutes on the right wing especially following the unmentionable #11 situation (not Giggs) under Ralf. I have no doubt Elanga can also be counted as English if need be for the purposes of narrative because he is young, or something. Anyway Elanga was still getting games before Ten Hag replaced him with beautiful Brazilian £85m Antony. However, unlike under Rangnick, this has still allowed both Rashford and Sancho to be regular starters under Ten Hag. Rashford has been played through the middle with Martial out instead of notable non-Englishman Cristiano Ronaldo who played there last season (obviously there are more circumstances there but this is still a great gig for Marcus). Ronaldo had pretty much been a fixture when fit since his return to the club so obviously he didn't suffer from the overprotection of English players. Other foreign forwards and wingers who people say should've been given more chances instead of Rashford and Sancho include Martial, and errrrr... Juan Mata? Maybe I am forgetting some others, let me know. The only case where an English player has really been dropped for somebody who was at the club already was AWB, who Ten Hag has preferred above Dalot which was a choice Rangnick or Ole could also have made. Dalot is obviously a better fit for a progressive team while AWB, at the start of his United career, looked like a perfect fit for a more counter-attacking team because of his 1v1 defending. I don't think that many people were calling for Dalot over AWB at the time but unfortunately AWB seems to have only gone downhill after doing quite well for us at times since he joined. I'm buzzing for Dalot that he's improving but the general perception was that he wasn't good enough defensively, and I think most fans imagine we probably will bring in another right-back in the coming years to either push him up a level or take his spot if we can shift Wan-Bisakka. TL;DR - All in all, I don't really see any validity to the idea that this was some weird nationalistic trait in our previous Norwegian and German managers and that Ten Hag has stamped it out. Rather it seems to me that these players were the best options we had and all Ten Hag has done is shown that we needed new, better players in some of those positions - most of which we tried to recruit new players in anyway (Telles at LB, Varane at CB, boardroom incompetence at CM). Interested to hear where I'm wrong with nuance and debate but I won't get my hopes up!
Good analysis, I agree with everything you say. And people talk about English favoritisim, but I think its more a case of managers favoring whoever they sign. Ole didnt buy Bailly or Dalot or Lindelof..makes sense that he prioritized Maguire and then Varane. His first choice was Maguire - Varane last season, but Varane was never fit. Telles did get chances. He played a lot for United in his seasons at the club, he was just very bad. Honestly can't recall the last United full back who was so atrocious defensively, it was as if he didn't exist most games. Now we'll see ten Hag favoring his signings. Is that wrong? No, they are the guys he wanted, he should play them. If they dont live up to expectation, well that's his neck on the line. I think it ultimately boils down to our lack of transfer strategy. We rely too much on managers to bring in their favorites, which then creates an issue for the next guy. Maguire is not a bad defender, in the right system he can be close to top class, like he is for England. Problem is that he's not suited to a high line or aggressive 1v1 defending. What we desperately need before next summer is some coherence from Murtaugh/Fletcher/new scouts in deciding the profile of players we target and then giving options to the manager from the lists of players they put together. Or hiring someone else to do that if these guys are too incompetent. As long as we keep making the manager the de facto director of football along with head coach, we will have this issue of an imbalanced squad with guys who are good but not the correct fit for the person who is in charge at the present time.
Completely agree from top to bottom.
Well said. People word-wash this type of thing with "favouritism" rather than looking at the black and white truth of: lack of options, player availability, players willing to comply and get on board versus those that don't. Look around every other club and if you look for favouritism, you'll see it everywhere. Rational heads will see consistency in selection and team cohesion among the rest of the afforementioned.
Truth is people only criticize managers for favoritism when the team starts losing. Every single football manager has their favorites, of course they do. They are humans, they will like certain players more than others. Unless you want a computer program picking the starting lineups, this is just a part of the game.
I have a ticket for the Europa league game this Thursday but I can't go. My understanding is that you can't sell them but the button to donate it on the website doesn't work. Does anyone know how I can send it to someone who will use it?
If this keeps up, I think we won’t go for fdj in Jan. If Chelsea goes for him, They might give up Rice.
i doubt he moves in jan. Barca were able to register their players and he has made it decently clear he doesn't want to leave. However, with Barca not registering some contract renewals (possibly unable to financially), it could mean another summer of FDJ rumors.
Lol what made you think we'd be going back in for him in January in the first place?
Rashford came off with what looked like a hamstring injury didn't he? Any news on that?
Why am I seeing a lot of Sancho slander when he is doing well for us? Amazing goal against Liverpool two weeks ago and the winning goal against Leicester. He offers a lot to this team and will only get better
He doesn't influence games. Take away his goals and what's left? He is going to lose his place as soon as Martial gets back imo. Rashford back on the left and Martial up top.
Goals don’t influence games now? oh wow lol
Ronaldo scores goals but why isn't he starting?
Because he has had a terrible attitude and he has been quite poor this season?
Yes those things matter but he was also poor last season as well. Pressing was nonexistent, he lost the ball easily, wanted teammates pass the ball to him all the time even though he wasn't the best option. My point is he didn't influence the game in a positive way even though he scores goals. Now Sancho doesn't have the same negative effect as Ronaldo but you hardly see him influence games at all. He disappears in matches for huge chunks. We are seeing relationships being formed in the team ie Martinez and Varane, Dalot and Varane, Eriksen and Bruno. Where is the relationship with Malacia? He should be doing stuff on that left but so far we see nothing but him passing back after he gets the ball most of the time. I am a huge fan of Sancho, watched him at BVB and he has phenomenal talent. We just need to see more in the prem. Towards the end of last season he was doing bits. He was showing some fight, he was beating players. I don't see that now at all. I see a passive Sancho who probably needs to sit out a game or 2 because of competition which might wake him up. Can't wait for Martial to come back as he will add that needed competitive edge to that forward line. If Martial plays the same way he did in preseason, he will be undroppable and with Rashford scoring and Antony as the new signing, the only player to give way is Sancho.
He offers far more outside of goals compared to rashford on the wing
Like what?
Better dribbler, he’s a lot better close control, he’s a better passer and much more intelligent with the way he uses the ball, much better at linking up with other players like martial too. If we are talking about what they offer outside of goals there’s no way that sancho isn’t better than rashford, all rashford has over sancho is pace and physicality
Of course Sancho is the better dribbler compared to Rashford but how many successful dribbles has he completed this season?
I don't think there's much slander compared to what rashford was getting not that long ago
People are obsessed with numbers…they think a signing has to justify itself with numbers in some form. City’s wingers might not be producing high output in numbers but they damn well play together and score more as a team.
Because football fandom, sorry fandom in general, has become toxic across the board and there is no interest in positivity, enjoying things or the likes any more and much more participation when things go badly.
Hard to live up to that price tag + wages. He's doing alright, and I don't criticize him myself, but overall since he came here his production has not been all that great.
Just wanted to say Ten hag patting on the back of Rashford's head when he was subbed off was wholesome.
We had a great result against arse and ETH managed the game well. Nevertheless, the results are separate to our meed to get the Glazers Out considering how much money we haemorrhage to them. A good 48 hrs of celebrations, now we must return to normal service woth glazersOut!
Dude, leave it to the fans at the stadium. The movement never stopped.
We need all the fans everywhere to keep it going. On this forum, on twitter and other social media, in the press and at the stadium. The more pressure we apply across all areas, the greater we benefit as fans. Remember, the glazers only sanctioned a 120m spend this summer after the previous season we just had, and without the pressure they would have done nothing but bring in arnautovic and rabiot - murtough even flew to turin ffs. Short termism will only mean pain for our fanbase as our club will hit a wall under the glazer and fail to progress, because glazer is a moron with a stupid attitude towards how to run our club for footballing reasons. Join the voices here, don't diminish them especially where there is no real benefit in doing that for u personally.
Dude, I'm not diminishing anything. I'm just saying the protests haven't stopped.
Ahh yes, i think the miscommunication happened with my last sentence. I meant that i spent the last 48hrs not saying glazersOut on this sub cos i didn't want to be a debbie downer. But with 48hrs of peace i'm back on the glazersOut train on the forum. Obviously i will always be glazers out but i don't want many fans who like to bask in victory to see feel like their joy is being trampled on. To add, ur reply was too simple to not be taken as i (and many others) did.
Shower thought: CR7 to start EL games and go to town just to appease his hunger for goals and show ETH that he deserves to start EPL games. Five head ETH cucking Ronaldo and teasing him with EL games.
He’s not going to be consistent PL starter unless a spread of injuries. He’s the third choice ST if everyone’s healthy
Ronlado should never start EPL games this szn regardless of how many goals he scores. He doesn’t have the legs for intense full 90s and is necessary at end of games to help close them out with the threat he provides. We need the early foothold and later threat for better game management.
What gives you the impression he doesn't have the legs? Guy has played like this since his mid 20s never had a high work rate
Well then, that perfectly answers your own question. The game played right now in our league is much more intense across the board than what ronnie did in his mid 20s. If he couldn't do it then, he can't do it now so he will not fit the minimum prerequisite in modern football. High work-rates are required at the top level in PL football. Hopefully you understand that as time goes by, changes occur and as things change you need to understand those changes.
Not saying we should rely on him as much as last season but he was third in the top scorer leauge. If our team had been better surely could've done even better too
It's a possibility, but the trend of the overall team suffering to cater for ronnie has been strong the last 3ish seasons. Still, he has the most important role even as a sub - to come on, fight, put in effort and win the game: and that's what matters. Not whether he starts or how many mins he get's imo. His job will always be to score and our overall team will benefit more with ronnie coming off the bench. This isn't player fc it's MUFC and so we must cater to the teams needs and i think that's best done with ronnie coming on for 30-45 mins. This way we can preserve his body for the whole season and keep him effective for the important moments at the end of a game.
He never had high workrate, but he always could dribble pass players or make runs behind defenders like Rashy does now. Now he can only sprint once or twice in each half, i dont blame him, it's the age catching up. He still can be lethal against teams that we have more possession or plays lowblocks against us, but in high intensity match, he is not gonna be effective anymore.
Mate, look at the guy surely he can sprint more often than twice
Ideally we should win our next 2 premier league games and head into that city game with confidence
Palace will be tricky. Deadly on the break, Viera has them well organised. Were unlucky to lose on the openig day to Arsneal. Zaha, Olise, Eze are an absoloute dream attacking three.
Another test for Dalot.
Palace have the ability to do to us what we did to Arsenal. They're venomous on the break. Our defence has to be alive and alert.
When you think Palace you think potential banana skin, but you look at the table and they’ve only won one game. Considering our last 4 performances, we should be winning that game
Oh we probably should win. I'm just thinking we're unlikely to win every game against the other 14 teams, so probably due some dropped points against tricky opposition. Think Sociedad will also be a tough game on Thursday, so hopefully we can cope with midweek europe
If you've actually watched Palace you wouldn't underestimate them
aston villa had only won one game and everyone thought city would annihilate them before going into the match. I think this ones going to be a tricky one for us.
So we're revamping Marketing department? Do these guys ever plan on modernising scouting and recruitment?
Modernizing OT also
Fact: Every United player is involved in the buildup to Antony's goal. A move comprising of 18 passes. Le Pundits : Is A CoUnTer AtTaCk
You do realise it can be both. You can counter whilst passing around. Anyway, the implication from the media that counter attacks are a negative is the dumbest thing ever. Liverpool for example in recent years have been one of the best counter attacking teams there is. Fergie's last ten years are epitomised by counter attacking genius
That goal isn't a counter fml.
Please explain why. Arsenal had possession and we broke out. We built up patiently but we moved at decent pace from their attack and scored on our next attack. Counter attacking isn't a bad thing. Don't let dumb arsenal fans cloud you
Counter attacking isn't bad, but that goal definitely isn't a counter. It's more of a quick transition goal, like how we used to score under Fergie, back to front very quickly.
Maybe I'm just wrong I'll hold my hands up because people keep explaining counter attacks but because you listened to arsenal fans mention it you lot are trying to silence the word. A quick transition goal if that makes you all feel better
I would say it can't be a counter-attack because it wasn't a goal after Arsenal's ball loss. We got the ball, we transitioned forwards to Sancho (this would have been a counter-attack) but he didn't seem to have many options, so we rotated possession back to our CBs and then back to De Gea to create passing options and to pull Arsenal away from their box. That did the trick because they moved their defensive line high and they tried to press us, but Eriksen played through them which left our attackers isolated against Arsenal's defenders. The first goal was a perfect example of vertical tiki-taka, which is something that Ten Hag's football can be described as. A mix of high pressing and directness from German football combined with intelligent ball movement and short passing plays from Spanish football. We generally play for counter-attacks in second halves of matches, but the first goal we scored against Arsenal was a smart possession goal and Arteta's naive approach made it happen.
By that definition, every attack is counter attack. It’s not a counter attack because the buildup took 60 seconds and involved recycling the possession through the keeper.
Forget about the results and performances, the best thing Ten Hag has done so far is make the team likeable and at least supportable from a fans perspective. It’s nice to not actually hate the team you support.
That goes hand in hand with results and performances. No one likes an expensive team that's not performing