Manchester United

[The College Dropout]

32 minutes ago, Cronky said:

Trevor Francis (great player, mediocre manager, for those too young) once said that you can't achieve anything without a happy dressing room. There's nothing wrong with their squad. It's the spirit that's the problem.

 

It can't be a help to have a manager (and I think a captain) who keeps giving them the message that they're not good enough.

Nah the squad is shit. 
 

How many that started for them start for  us at the top of their game? Generously it’s no more than 3. I would say 1. 
 

Dressing room is bad aye.  That’s more a function of the entire organisation and the poor performances. And obviously the manager. 

[The College Dropout]

6 minutes ago, KaKa said:

Going to be interesting to see how their recruitment goes this summer.

 

Things both on and off the pitch have been such a bad look it's now getting to the point players will start turning them down to go elsewhere, unless they throw much bigger salaries at them, which will likely attract the wrong type of characters.

That might help them. The signings under ETH have been awful. Last season under Ole too.  
 

I never rated Mason Mount that highly but it’s sad to see him look so out of sorts yesterday.  If he could get back to his level that would be a massive thing for them.  All those injuries may have wrecked his physicality which was a lot of his game.  At his best he was a ‘sharp’ player.  First to the ball. Aggressive. Press. Quick passer. Man U don’t have that at all. 

[bobbydazzla]

7 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Couldn't believe the amount of empty spaces in their end yesterday. Don't remember ever seeing that before. Fair enough they've just had a midweek trip to France but that turnout for a club of their size was pitiful. Maybe 2.5k there at best, probably a bit less.

 

Should move the segregation divide along next season to reduce their allocation and allow more home fans in.

 

 

It looked to me like a load of them were tightly packed into one section (half way down, towards the Milburn side) which would explain a few of the empty seats, but not all of them

 

 

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 08:55 by bobbydazzla

[The College Dropout]

Not totally against them winning the Europa. No im lying I am.  
 

But they wouldn’t be able to cope with the games. The squad needs too much work.  No Europe. All the time on the training ground. They might form a decent league season and be a European contender. 
 

 

[Optimistic Nut]

2 hours ago, TaylorJ_01 said:

Ugarte is gash

 

He must fucking hate St James'. 8-2 aggregate in two games here..

[Froggy]

3 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Not totally against them winning the Europa. No im lying I am.  
 

But they wouldn’t be able to cope with the games. The squad needs too much work.  No Europe. All the time on the training ground. They might form a decent league season and be a European contender. 

 

It's not even about how competitive we could potentially be, it's the financial benefits of qualifying for the CL. It's worth a fortune, and allows a lot more squad development.

[KaKa]

14 minutes ago, Froggy said:

 

Would take Tonali if he's available?  What a player.

 

£12 million and you can have Longstaff.

[Froggy]

1 minute ago, KaKa said:

£12 million and you can have Longstaff.

 

[The Fountain]

9 hours ago, KaKa said:

 

Just listen to this clown man.

 

Hope Man Utd get buried for a long time yet.

 

Find this sort of person impossibly irritating.

I'm quite happy Man Utd being in the big 6 but in the bottom half.

[r0cafella]

5 minutes ago, The Fountain said:

I'm quite happy Man Utd being in the big 6 but in the bottom half.

Fucking hell watched this video and Goldstein is a freak and a weirdo. 

[The College Dropout]

1 minute ago, Froggy said:

 

It's not even about how competitive we could potentially be, it's the financial benefits of qualifying for the CL. It's worth a fortune, and allows a lot more squad development.

Yeh I would hate for you to win it tbh. I’m just trying to see silver linings. 
 

I don’t think you need to spend crazy amounts. It’s not that difficult to build a good PL side. I think Crystal Palace would have a great chance of winning the Europa League.  

[Wallsendmag]

18 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

 

 

It looked to me like a load of them were tightly packed into one section (half way down, towards the Milburn side) which would explain a few of the empty seats, but not all of them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Noticed that but that didn't come close to accounting for the amount of empty seats near to the segregation banner, the opposite side next to the scoreboard, and also the entire length of the back of their section. No way was there any more than 2.5k in there, probably nearer 2k.

[midds]

Not quite sure how any Man U fan can consistently and correctly criticise the way the club has been run, the players that have signed (and flopped), the contracts dished out and the money spunked up the wall for months then come out to bat for them day after another humiliating defeat.

 

Got to admire it

[mighty__mag]

2 hours ago, Kaizero said:

 

Højlund has always been shit. Said it at the time he signed for Man Utd as well, though almost none agreed with me at the time. Feel my opinion back then is fairly vindicated by now, though  All that guy's ever been is a hyped up mediocre striker made to sound better than he was, and ever would be, by desperate Danish people shouting about him being "the Danish Isak/Haaland". He was not. The Danes don't have a good striker, just as they 100% sound as if they're choking on potatoes whenever they open their mouths to try saying Højlund isn't just an average striker, at best. They should learn to accept that.

 

I mean... Man Utd paid £64 million (with £8 in add-ons on top of that) for a striker Atalanta had paid £14 million for less than 12 months earlier. Now, if Højlund had actually performed for Atalanta, that wouldn't seem as fucked up as it does looking at it now. He didn't, though, as he finished his lone Atalanta season with a league average of 1 goal per 204 minutes played.

 

Before signing for Atalanta, he played briefly for Sturm Graz where he posted a better record of 1 goal per 173 minutes played in the Austrian Bundesliga. Fast forward through his time at Man Utd and he's currently posting an average of 1 goal per 290 minutes played. 173 professional club appearances in his career to date (not counting national team apps) with 51 goals scored. 

 

He's absolute dogshit and Man Utd wasted a shitfuckton of money on a player that hadn't proven jack shit other than the fact Danish people can make such a fuzz about mediocrity that they make Man Utd throw away money.

 

You're right, said similar. 

 

Think I compared to Bendtner, but Bendtner was a better finisher.

 

Still, we had some on here agreeing with Froggy.

[KaKa]

15 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

Fucking hell watched this video and Goldstein is a freak and a weirdo. 

 

I was so shocked man.

 

Imagine saying that only the so called "top clubs" should be winning the FA cup and featuring in the Champions League.

 

Just tells you that was the only reason he jumped on the band wagon to support Man Utd, because they were winning at the time, and so he thought it would be that way forever or something?!

 

A lot of these sorts of fans don't actually believe in any sort of sporting competition, which quite frankly disgusts me.

 

PSG and Bayern are the clubs for these cretins.

 

I hope there is much more suffering to come for them.

[Nucasol]

18 minutes ago, The Fountain said:

I'm quite happy Man Utd being in the big 6 but in the bottom half.

Goldstein is such a stereotypical plastic Manc Sky boy.

[Jewel]

Hojlund was signed due to FOMO. We and Arsenal were also linked with him.

 

Clubs all across Europe were scared of missing out on the next Erling Haaland. Its why the likes of Hojlund and Benjamin Sesko are so overhyped.

 

 

[KaKa]

50 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

That might help them. The signings under ETH have been awful. Last season under Ole too.  
 

I never rated Mason Mount that highly but it’s sad to see him look so out of sorts yesterday.  If he could get back to his level that would be a massive thing for them.  All those injuries may have wrecked his physicality which was a lot of his game.  At his best he was a ‘sharp’ player.  First to the ball. Aggressive. Press. Quick passer. Man U don’t have that at all. 

 

It's going to be fascinating to see what their approach is to signings.

 

One of the advantages with Howe is that he creates an environment for players to develop and improve through his coaching. They don't have that and so bringing in players that still need a bit of bringing along is likely not going to pan out, as has been the case for ages with them now.

 

Also, our style of play is easier to recruit for too, and will allow for players that are not necessarily the most technical to still be useful and effective, with the right attitude, application and physicality.

 

It's all well and good wanting to play more of a possession based control style like they're aiming for, but I think it's much more difficult and expensive finding players that can deliver that consistently to fill your team, which is going to be another headache for them.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 09:45 by KaKa

[mighty__mag]

10 minutes ago, Jewel said:

Hojlund was signed due to FOMO. We and Arsenal were also linked with him.

 

Clubs all across Europe were scared of missing out on the next Erling Haaland. Its why the likes of Hojlund and Benjamin Sesko are so overhyped.

 

 

 

Many clubs are linked to many players it's how agents push transfers, we may or may not have been genuinely linked. (Not typed condescending)

 

I think you're right about the hype, watched Sesko a couple of times, im not totally convinced he could make the switch, reminds me of when we signed Mitrovic, he came with a reputation, but some of the times he was one on one with the keeper he'd screw it up, obviously with more time he did end up proving he was a good striker.

 

Darwin Nunez is another, prolific for Benfica but a donkey for Liverpool, again Darwin and Mitro similar, sometimes lack the composure one on one.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 09:38 by mighty__mag

[Cronky]

1 hour ago, The College Dropout said:

Nah the squad is shit. 
 

How many that started for them start for  us at the top of their game? Generously it’s no more than 3. I would say 1. 
 

Dressing room is bad aye.  That’s more a function of the entire organisation and the poor performances. And obviously the manager. 

 

I beg to differ. Without getting into all the debates about a combined XI, they have several players that would easily compete for places in our team - Dalot, Maguire (yes), Shaw, Diallo, Ugarte, Mainoo, Garnacho, Zirkzee, Hojland, Fernandez, Diallo, De Ligt, Martinez. Our squad is just playing above their normal individual abilities. Their squad is playing below.

 

It's easy to forget that they won the FA Cup last season, and finished 3rd in the league the season before.

 

Things seem to have gone particularly downhill since they instituted this crazy ownership / management model and Ratcliffe came in. He made a balls-up of the most important decision that a club has to make (ie the Team Manager). The rot sets in from the top, and the whole club looks like an unhappy and divided unit. (Unlike ours, tee hee)

[The College Dropout]

2 hours ago, Cronky said:

 

I beg to differ. Without getting into all the debates about a combined XI, they have several players that would easily compete for places in our team - Dalot, Maguire (yes), Shaw, Diallo, Ugarte, Mainoo, Garnacho, Zirkzee, Hojland, Fernandez, Diallo, De Ligt, Martinez. Our squad is just playing above their normal individual abilities. Their squad is playing below.

 

It's easy to forget that they won the FA Cup last season, and finished 3rd in the league the season before.

 

Things seem to have gone particularly downhill since they instituted this crazy ownership / management model and Ratcliffe came in. He made a balls-up of the most important decision that a club has to make (ie the Team Manager). The rot sets in from the top, and the whole club looks like an unhappy and divided unit. (Unlike ours, tee hee)

How many of these are top players or close? Rashford, Cavani, Pogba, 27 year old Maguire, 25 year old Shaw, De Gea, a decent Martial, season prior they had Lukaku.  They are a long way away from that. 
 

None of the players you named are as good as Tonali, Bruno or Isak. The side that finished 3rd had a top class Rashford and Casemiro.  One has left, the others legs have gone. It’s lost the goals and control in midfield. 
 

Overall I don’t think it’s that hard to build a competitive PL side. But this Man U side has the least ability of a Man U side that I’ve ever seen.  They are still capable of putting it together in one-off games but it lacks players with real class. 
 

Agree Ratcliffe has been awful.  The summer was awful and they let ETH buy some more guff.  

[Checko]

Thought Zirkzee showed some really nice touches, shame he got injured. That 1,2,3,4 with grumpy Bruno was liquid football.

 

That said, it feels like there's kind of a Berbatovy languidness about him & from the little I've seen I reckon he might need a nippy, aggressive hardworker around him to get the most out of him. A Rooney or Bellamy type.

[Froggy]

16 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

None of the players you named are as good as Tonali, Bruno or Isak.

 

He mentioned Bruno Fernandes mate.

[The College Dropout]

14 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

It's going to be fascinating to see what their approach is to signings.

 

One of the advantages with Howe is that he creates an environment for players to develop and improve through his coaching. They don't have that and so bringing in players that still need a bit of bringing along is likely not going to pan out, as has been the case for ages with them now.

 

Also, our style of play is easier to recruit for too, and will allow for players that are not necessarily the most technical to still be useful and effective, with the right attitude, application and physicality.

 

It's all well and good wanting to play more of a possession based control style like they're aiming for, but I think it's much more difficult and expensive finding players that can deliver that consistently to fill your team, which is going to be another headache for them.

 

 

 

I’ve changed my thinking about our transfer approach. We should keep it as is or close. 
 

More Tonali’s please. In general I’m happy to keep the physical monster + high floor technician like Tonali.  Those don’t come cheap mind. Opportunistic quality when we can find it. So we need the CL money.  
 

Our big signings have been massive successes. 

[The College Dropout]

5 minutes ago, Froggy said:

 

He mentioned Bruno Fernandes mate.

He’s the one.  That’s it. Ole’s team had 4.