KaKa

19 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Spurs are currently a CL club, London based as well, which still matters to foreign managers. I'm not a fan of London personally, but from an cosmopolitan POV it does make sense. They along with the other traditional big six are always going to get choice of top managers, if it wasn't Nagelsman it would have been Tuchel or Poch. I mean look at the manager who is on the way out, that tells you a lot.

 

The best hope for the downfall of Spurs has to be Levy's penny pinching and his insistence on trying to rein top managers into his way of thinking. He's always struck me as the rich man's Ashley in many ways.

I would have been cool with Tuchel going there actually. He's another hot head that can be quite tough on players, and those Spurs pansies would have capitulated under him.

Nagelsman worries me. He's young and so more likely to embrace their project and work within Levy's approach. He's also a lot more flexible tactically and attack minded, and he's more likely to make use of all of their attacking talent to their optimum. Likely going to see all of Kane, Richarlison, Son and Kulusevski on the pitch at the same time now, and I could see that coming together really well.

Hoping Levy somehow fumbles this and they do not end up with him or Pochettino. 

Nagelsmann falling right into Spurs lap is pretty sickening man. We could have really done without that. 

Bayern are completely revolting man.

How dare Nagelsman not be miles ahead in the league at this stage and have to actually compete for the league title. My God man.

Bundesliga for all the plaudits regarding fans ownership etc, is the absolute worst league due to Bayern's antics. And they actually think what they're doing is impressive.

Just buying any half decent player from any team that looks like it might challenge them or taking their managers. 

Completely pointless league and I hope their national team continues to suffer and stink it up due to this.

Roy Hodgson man ... my God

1 hour ago, TheDarkKnight said:

 

Thank you.

 

Agreed. Massive crossroads. 

 

And who knows, he might improve with more responsibility on his shoulders.

 

The main thing is that McTominay is not an anchorman. He doesn't have the defensive instincts. And yet he's played in that position since he broke through.

 

Yeah. Funny that you mention Rice. There passing numbers aren't all that different (Rice does have a slight better success rate).

 

As I said, I wouldn't really put any stock in the opinion of online Manchester United fans. They just like to moan, especially about their own players.

 

To be honest, if we do sign him, I think he will play in that number 6 position for us, because we will be looking to push Bruno further forward to greater influence things in the final third, as that is his preferred position. And his ability to open up defences will be a huge plus for our attacking play, not to mention the knack for scoring goals that he showed when he first joined, and when he was further forward when Shelvey played deeper.

Howe's preference seems to be for an aggressive ball winner in that number 6 spot that will add to the press from that position, rather than be a screener that sits with more positional defensive instincts like you said. Howe's setup is going to more resemble a gegenpressing style closing down higher up the pitch to try and win the ball in those areas.

We've also been linked with the likes of Ugarte and Alvarez who are also aggressive ball winners from that  6 position. Howe also had Jefferson Lerma playing in that position for him at Bournemouth who also played the same way.

9 hours ago, STM said:

Let's not overreact like guys. 

This place can be so embarrassing man

8 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

Hi all. Manchester United and Scotland fan here. Just signed up to give my honest assessment.

 

I'm not entirely sure of your policy on members from rivals, so this might be my first and final post.

 

McTominay isn't an anchorman (no 6). He is more like a box-to-box midfielder. These days midfielders are boxed in and told to do one specific job, so box-to-box midfielders are obsolete, which is one of the reasons why McTominay is so polarized.

 

As for this "he hides from the ball" thing. It's been said for about 3 years and I'm still not clear what it means. How can a player hide from the ball? Sneak off and sit on the bench, without anyone noticing? Hide behind the goals?

 

One Manchester United fan came out with that line and it just snowballed into a ball the size of a glacier.

 

Just yesterday, he made himself available dozens of times, and he wasn't picked out. It's hardly his fault if his team-mates don't pass to him.

 

Besides, let me give you an example of the general online Manchester United fan. On RedCafe (their no 1 site) they have a thread dedicated to Frenkie De Jong. It has close to 2k posts of United fans salivating over him and fawning over him.

 

Even though he is a Barcelona player and will probably never join Manchester United.

 

On RedCafe there's also individual threads dedicated to every squad member. Each thread is full of Manchester United fans criticising and tearing apart their own players. They are the most toxic group of fans.

 

They usually have a couple of scapegoats at a time. Back in the day it was Fletcher and O'Shea. The previous ones were Lingard and Pogba. The recent scapegoats are McTominay and Maguire. When those two leave, the scapegoats will probably be Fred and Antony.

 

Every player gets it in the neck, though, even Bruno and Rashford. So I wouldn't give any credence to the general opinion of United fans. They treat players of other clubs with more respect than their own.

 

McTominay's attributes: opening his legs and running with the ball. Shooting. Keeping it simple and recycling the ball. Tackling and his physicality. Plus he's played at the back from Scotland, so he's versatile.

 

In 2019 in the Quarter finals against Barcelona he won motm. Not bad for someone who apparently hides from the ball

 

As far as "Scott McTominay hides from the ball". It reminds me of what Joseph Goebbels said that if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth.

 

https://www.manutd.com/en/news/detail/scott-mctominay-wins-man-of-the-match-award-after-champions-league-display-against-barcelona

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting post. Nice one

Huge cross road in his career. Could easily see him looking a much better player under someone like Eddie Howe in a team that is going to be playing some decent football, or perhaps ending up replacing Declan Rice at West Ham under Moyes, in a side that is just your bog standard structured setup without any real football cohesiveness, and so not improving any further but instead looking worse.

1 minute ago, Away Toon said:

Not from me you haven't. Rice 100%, Mount playing for us not so sure, we don't play with anyone in his position.

Yeah, but my post wasn't to you specifically in the first place 

5 minutes ago, Away Toon said:

For English people there is no such thing as Britain and as for the Scots we don't fucking like them.

Except you do this for your best English players as well. 

I've seen similar responses to links to Rice and Mount recently!

2 minutes ago, Manxst said:

I think fans of his own team look deeply into their teams performances, like ours do. And it’s the media’s job to do that also, and to compare and contrast performances to those he’s playing alongside. The consequence of which is why the Manchester media has said McTominay needs to be replaced and isn’t worth a starting place. Not sure why you think you know better than both in this instance? 

I can't explain it any better than I have so we'll see how it plays out.

Ultimately if we do sign him then apparently everyone at the club also doesn't agree with the Man United fans and the media either. So much for all of that.

2 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

If he's hiding from the ball, it negates everything. I'm not saying he does, but it's undeniable that it doesn't look good if lots of supporters of a club are saying the same thing. 

My point is, in a midfield three the onus wouldn't be on him as much, and so it wouldn't be as much of an issue. Especially with the likes of Bruno and Joelinton who show for the ball a lot and progress it well, Bruno primarily through his passing and Joelinton primarily through his ball carrying.

And aside form that, if you actually look at the numbers they will show that according to the number of passes he plays per game, his pass completion and his progressive passing, he doesn't appear to be someone that hides from the ball all the time, but hey ho.

Having said all that I'm not trying to convince any of you to change your minds. I'm just backing up my stance on things. Ultimately if he then signs we'll see whose stance was more accurate.

2 minutes ago, Manxst said:

It’s hardly ‘nit picking’- that’s literally what fans of his own team say, as well as national media. 

Well sometimes it's worth looking a bit deeper than that.

Like what their setup/formation was like, and who he was playing alongside. 

What is our setup then in comparison? And who would he be playing alongside for us?

1 minute ago, Kid Icarus said:

If he does hide from the ball - something that seems to be a popular opinion on the Man United reddit - then it's hardly silly to draw from that that we wouldn't keep possession as well as we could like. 

 

I don't rate McTominay whatsoever, I think he's a poor footballer for the level that we're aspiring to, so hopefully we can all look forward to a better signing than him. 

 

 

 

It's never that straightforward though, which is why I think it's a bit silly.

He mostly played in a double pivot alongside Fred, with Bruno higher up the pitch in the number 10. We can all agree he is not an elite CM in terms of build up play and so he probably shouldn't have been put in that position. In a midfield three flanked by Joelinton and Bruno I'd expect his job to be a lot easier.

7 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

I think we all know you can.  Anyone criticising what is quite clearly a potential transfer that's open to scrutiny and there you are. 

 

 

 

I mean I've said all I have to really. Further nit-picking about how he hides from the ball 'all the time' and so signing him means we suddenly won't be able to keep possession is just silly.

We'll see what happens man. I'll be looking forward to it.

11 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Hard pressing wise, I get the attraction. But can he actually retain the ball once he's got it? There is a reason Man U were doing terribly before Casimero. McTominay was probably one of them.

You guys are funny man. I really can't be bothered arguing about this.

If it happens we'll see how it plays out, and then we can refer back to what was being said on here then. Will be much more fun that way.

5 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Don't you say that about every signing?

I doubt it. How about you tell me when I said similar, and when I was wrong?

And then tell me which signings you lot don't always claim are shit, when it's a player from another prem side.

8 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Nor argument here, I’d pray you’re right, but I’m absolutely certain he isn’t good enough. That’s assuming he signs, it’s a bit early for Edwards to know our top targets imo 

Yeah, I get it. Loads of other clearly feel the same way.

For me, I can just see how it makes sense for the type of team Howe is building.

Liverpool's hard pressing title winning side had that midfield of Fabinho, Henderson and Gini, which was hardly the most glamorous, but they were the platform for that side.

We'll see how it plays out if he signs.

3 minutes ago, BoSelecta said:

Got to love your optimism. If Howe proposed signing Bruce to play CB I reckon you’d be waxing lyrical about his potential and aerial duel stats. 

It's one of the great things about having a top manager at the helm.

10 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

The worrying thing is ten hag dropped him almost immediately, that’s a telling sign imo.

Howe is building a very different team with a different style of play to what ten Hag is though.

Howe's setup leans more to what Klopp's aggressive pressing Liverpool side was like.

I can see the vision. A midfield trio of Joelinton, Bruno and McTominay would overwhelm sides.

I'm not going to argue about it though. When it happens I will be here to remind you all.

5 minutes ago, reefatoon said:

Eddies British warriors.

Never seen a nation that despises their own players more than you lot man 

I see the bed wetting is at an all time high this morning! 

My prediction is he'll prove to be a very good signing. Untapped potential that has not been managed well by Man Utd. Will thrive with greater responsibility and confidence being placed in him, and more consistent playing time.

What I am looking forward to most though is how daft a lot of folks will be made to look yet again by super Eddie Howe. Can't wait.

Mitrovic still a liability man ... embarrassing.

53 minutes ago, Skeletor said:

 

Merino is a good shout, but not sure he would want to come back to England. Wonder if he could be tempted. 

28 minutes ago, Klaus said:

Merino wasn't settled here the first time, for whatever reason. Highly doubt he would return tbh, though he was clearly a very talented CM

Merino has talked about how much he enjoyed Newcastle. It is not true that he was unsettled. He just wanted to play more after he had lost his place.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/newcastle-mikel-merino-returning-goosebumps-23391657

Been seeing Tammy Abraham links pop up over the past week or so.

Wouldn't be at all surprised if he's one we look to bring in if we finish in a Champions League spot.

55 minutes ago, Myleftboot said:

Kalvin Phillips and £80 million for Bruno in the news this morning.

My God I can't stand Man City man. They want to Bayern the league so bad the pathetic wankers. Really annoys me that so many on here want them to win the league this season.

I hope they don't win the league, De Bruyne starts to decline and they don't manage to find a worthy successor and they start to struggle a whole lot more going forward. Of course they think they can just now trot over to Newcastle and have Bruno off us, the cheeky gits. While off course offloading the Kalvin Philips, whose career they've completely wrecked.

We'd better not entertain Bruno going there under any circumstances, no matter what they offer. If at any point Bruno does want to leave, he will have to go abroad if it comes to that.