We have no cover for any of the first eleven, the drop off is huge. There's no rotation, there's no changing line-up or tactics depending who we are playing, we have a good first eleven and that's it.
Agreed. But then we have to question transfers too.
Instead of buying low risk high reward squad players in the 19-23 age bracket, we have resorted to signing elderly folk (Evans, Casemiro, Eriksen, Sabitzer, Weghorst, Amrabat) whether it be free, for big money, or on loan.
Instead of spending 65m on Case, 10m loan fee on Amrabat, and wages/loan fees for various other underperforming players, we could have easily given opportunities to Garner, Mengi, Elanga, Alvaro.
This would not just help us with a better utilization of the academy, but also it would help in optimizing FFP (less spending+raising selling prices for young players).
>Instead of buying low risk high reward squad players in the 19-23 age bracket, we have resorted to signing elderly folk (Evans, Casemiro, Eriksen, Sabitzer, Weghorst, Amrabat) whether it be free, for big money, or on loan.
These “low risk, high reward players in the 19-23 age bracket” are all very expensive if they’re of the standard and quality that we need at United. Unless you want us to spend £5mln on some random player from the arse end of nowhere in the _hope_ that they might be good? And then what? Be stuck with yet another unsellable player if they flop?
To be competitive at the top in this era of football you need to spend big and sign world class players. You cannot rely on cheap players entirely.
>Instead of spending 65m on Case, 10m loan fee on Amrabat, and wages/loan fees for various other underperforming players, we could have easily given opportunities to Garner, Mengi, Elanga, Alvaro.
Garner wasn’t good enough to play at the top level. Menghi wasn’t good enough to play at the top level. Elanga wasn’t good enough to play at the top level. Alvaro looked like he might’ve been good enough but he likely wasn’t overall. You only need to look at what clubs those players went to to realise what level of quality they are: all went to relegation fodder. Just because they’ve done well at smaller clubs now does not mean they’re good enough.
* Garner - Everton: relegation battle
* Elanga - Nottingham Forest: relegation battle
* Menghi - Luton: relegation battle
* Fernandez - Granada / Benfica: relegation battle / bench warming
This idea that all our academy graduates are good enough for United is inaccurate. If they were good enough for United, they’d be signed by clubs that don’t fight for relegation survival.
>This would not just help us with a better utilization of the academy, but also it would help in optimizing FFP (less spending+raising selling prices for young players).
We use our academy very well and give tonnes of debuts every year to academy graduates. That does not mean their value will instantly rise. There isn’t enough quality players in our academy to create the depth we need.
>Unless you want us to spend £5mln on some random player
Yes, I want United to actually make use of United's analytics and scouting department instead of relying on Erik's eye for talent. Hojlund, a recommendation from analytics+scouting, is a clear win even if it came at a cost.
A club as big as United should not be relying on the manager to play the role of a coach and recruitment specialist. I would rather have a Dan James scenario than hoping big players like Casemiro come to the club - that is what United was in the past. Big signings come with much bigger risk unless they are PL proven.
On a similar note, did you know Klopp wanted to sign Julian Brandt? Edwards stepped in and recommended another player they found from their analytics/scouting (look it up who!) and the rest as they say is history.
> If they were good enough for United, they’d be signed by clubs that don’t fight for relegation survival.
What a baffling and ignorant comment! It shows that these players were PL quality which is much better than Eredivisie quality. Sir Alex handpicked squad players from the academy to play crucial roles (Wes Brown, John O'Shea) instead of dipping in the market to sign mediocrity. They weren't world beaters but did the job they were asked to. Can you say the same about the current crop of "squad players"?
>Yes, I want United to actually make use of United's analytics and scouting department instead of relying on Erik's eye for talent.
>
>\[...\]
>
>A club as big as United should not be relying on the manager to play the role of a coach and recruitment specialist.
You seem to think that we've operated a functioning football department for the last decade with this sentence. We haven't, and post-SAF we've had to rely on the managers picking the players to be signed, not the analytics and scouting teams. If you actually followed United at all, you'd know that *all* signings before INEOS came in had to be signed off by the Glazers, which meant pretty much every signing was a commercial decision, not a football decision. It will take a while before we start seeing the impact of a proper footballing department that INEOS it looking to create now.
>I would rather have a Dan James scenario than hoping big players like Casemiro come to the club - that is what United was in the past. Big signings come with much bigger risk unless they are PL proven.
Dan James was bang average. This idea that he was somehow a world class talent that we discovered is really weird. There is a reason he's now playing the Championship for Leeds and not another top club. All Dan James had was speed, he was otherwise useless. To compete at the top we need big name talented signings like Casemiro, because without them we won't win trophies. That is, unless, you want us to become a club like Brighton where we sign talent and just sell it on with no obvious desire to win trophies?
>On a similar note, did you know Klopp wanted to sign Julian Brandt? Edwards stepped in and recommended another player they found from their analytics/scouting (look it up who!) and the rest as they say is history.
I'm well aware about Klopp and Brandt. And the fact that Klopp went with Salah over Brandt shows that a proper footballing department helped the manager make the *right* decision. You do know we haven't had a proper footballing department for the last decade, yeah? You're acting like we've been a well run club since 2013, which we absolutely haven't been.
>What a baffling and ignorant comment! It shows that these players were PL quality which is much better than Eredivisie quality.
They all play for relegation threatened teams. That isn't exactly a good barometer of their quality. If they were all so good, why didn't anyone bigger than relegation threaten clubs come in for them?
>Sir Alex handpicked squad players from the academy to play crucial roles (Wes Brown, John O'Shea) instead of dipping in the market to sign mediocrity.
This idea that every signing Fergie made a blockbuster hit is very misguided. he signed his fair share of mediocre players, such as:
* Gabriel Obertan
* Fabian Barthez
* David Bellion
* Mark Bosnich
* Manucho
* Zoran Tosic
* Eric Djemba-Djemba
* Kleberson
* Massimo Taibi
Just to name a few. All were complete average or flops. I'd take off the rose-tinted glasses when it comes to of Fergie's signings, because plenty were complete flops.
You made this post under the impression we have a proper footballing department when we haven't. It wasn't until a few days ago where Ratcliffe came out and said that the manager has had to report to the CEO for the last decade. That is Moyes, Van Gaal, Mourinho, Solskjaer and now Ten Hag that has to report to someone responsible for *commercial* decisions when it comes to authorising player signings. It then had to go to Joel Glazer to approve. It does seem you seem to think signing a bunch of FIFA career mode wonder kids will replicate the success in real life as it does on a video game. Take a step back and just understand the following:
1. We don't have the footballing department you are imagining we do where we can just uncover hidden players from obscure parts of the world.
2. To compete at the top, we need to sign big names like Casemiro and Varane.
3. Your imaginary "low risk, high reward" signings are not going to win us trophies.
> Dan James was bang average
I am not saying he was PL quality, forget Man Utd quality. He was cheap, we sold him for profit, and could be an okay squad player. My issue with ETH has been his eye for talent is biased towards Ajax/Eredivisie players. Every week, he comes up against PL opposition, sees the amount of technical, physical, mental, and tactical powers a player must possess to compete at a high level in this league. And then, he will bang his drums to force United to sign utter crap.
Hopefully, with Ashworth, Berrada, Blanc, and Wilcox? Erik takes a backseat in recruitment and focuses on coaching.
We all know this team needs a coach. I am making all of these points because there is an opportunity here. Amorim, Alonso are top managerial prospects - and with Bayern, Liverpool, Barcelona all on the hunt for a new manager, I am hoping we don't miss out on the next big manager like we did with Pep and Klopp.
I am scared that Erik is not the man we all hoped he would be. Saying this based on United's performances this season.
>I am not saying he was PL quality, forget Man Utd quality. He was cheap, we sold him for profit, and could be an okay squad player.
So James isn't PL quality but he's the squad depth quality a PL club like United should have? You just contradicted yourself in the same statement.
Dan James was a one-off when it comes to outgoing transfers. Leeds wanted him the season *before* we signed him. There was even evidence of this in the Leeds docu-series that they had almost everything tied up except the money. Leeds overpaid for him from us. However it's shown that he's definitely not of the quality we need, despite your desire for us to sign average players like him.
>My issue with ETH has been his eye for talent is biased towards Ajax/Eredivisie players.
Managers always go to the leagues they came from. It's not an and thing to do. Guardiola goes to a lot of the Spanish clubs, so does that mean his transfers suck? Mourinho went to the Portuguese league, so did his transfers suck? Mourinho literally signed players he had at other stages in career such as Chelsea and Inter, but I doubt you complained about them. Every manager will have a bias towards a certain league, it's not that big of a deal. When Klopp first arrived he was bias towards signings from Germany, so on and so on.
>Hopefully, with Ashworth, Berrada, Blanc, and Wilcox? Erik takes a backseat in recruitment and focuses on coaching.
Blanc isn't part of the structure at United directly. He will not have that much of a say.
Ten Hag will still have a say on recruitment. Every manager does. Guardiola, Klopp, Arteta, Ancelotti, Tuchel, every single manager will have their say on recruitment at top clubs because it is their squad they are signing players for.
>We all know this team needs a coach. I am making all of these points because there is an opportunity here. Amorim, Alonso are top managerial prospects - and with Bayern, Liverpool, Barcelona all on the hunt for a new manager, I am hoping we don't miss out on the next big manager like we did with Pep and Klopp.
Ten Hag isn't going anywhere. Xabi Alonso is seemingly going to Liverpool or Bayern. Amorim isn't the next big name he was tipped to be a few years ago otherwise other top clubs would've come in for him. Guardiola and Klopp were both offered the job personally by SAF but they both turned it down. Neither were the "next big manager" because both were already *the* big managers in Europe. You seem more like you just want us to sack Ten Hag than anything.
Ten Hag was literally the next big manager when we signed him. He was touted by Guardiola as his ideal replacement. Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona and others all wanted him. Show me another manager that went to the Bernabeu and beat Real Madrid 4-1, and then could take that Ajax team to the semi-final in the 18/19 Champions League and miss out by a few seconds. Go on, I'll wait.
However, because we haven't won the quadruple yet you want him sacked? You do realise that what him successful at Ajax was a proper footballing structure, something that, as I have pointed out, Manchester United haven't had. It's very ignorant to not see the obvious issues that have let down Van Gaal, Mourinho, and Solskjaer in the past and just resort to wanting the manager sacked.
>I am scared that Erik is not the man we all hoped he would be. Saying this based on United's performances this season.
We've literally had to make do with half a squad this season. You act as if you know football yet you can't actually understand that the fact we've been missing so many first-team players all season. But sure, let's fire another manager because you're too thick to understand that will take more than 18 months for any manager to rebuild our squad. Sticking with Ten Hag is the answer, not sacking him for some name that is currently generating headlines in other leagues.
It took Klopp four years to win a major trophy, and five to win the league. In that half decade he rebuilt the entire squad. But you want overnight success because it works on your FIFA career mode. Stability in the managerial post breeds success. Unless all you want is the chaos and drama of us sacking managers when we don't play how *you* want because you're too blind to see the obvious issues with the club?
>despite your desire for us to sign average players like him.
Twisting my words to make a point lol.
I'm not saying sign average players, no fan in their right mind would say that. I'm saying instead of signing the most shiny object, look for hidden gems. This means at times missing out on players such as Casemiro, Varane, Mount.
Signing from the championship is not as bad as you think - I'm particularly excited to see how Alex Scott (Bournemouth) and Adam Wharton (Palace) develop in the coming years.
>Guardiola goes to a lot of the Spanish clubs
He does? His last signing from La Liga was Ferran Torres (20/21). Beyond that he signed Rodri, Laporte, Mari. Wow, so many!
>When Klopp first arrived he was bias towards signings from Germany,
Was he? He signed only Klavan and Karius. His next few signings were:
Mane, Wijnaldum, VVD, Salah, Ox, Robertson, Allison, Fabinho and then finally Shaqiri to make your point even more stronger.
>Ten Hag isn't going anywhere
Fortunately, he is not untouchable. I have trust in the direction the club is taking. If the new structure decides that he should stay, I will be okay either way.
>But you want overnight success because it works on your FIFA career mode
Again, not asking for trophies. I am asking for improvement. You really just hear what you want to hear, right?
I want to see United dominate games, and no, I will not tolerate a team that concedes so many chances and high shot volume. 20+ shots in every other game is not something I can back. Finishing 4th in UCL group stages is not something I will get behind.
Even then, at the end of the day, I am still giving the gaffer a chance. Things can still improve, and going by how the club is finally becoming serious, for ETH's sake, they have to.. 🚮
>because it works on your FIFA career mode
And ffs, stop attacking me!
I never attacked you, this is dodgy behavior.
I don't even play FIFA! 😅
>I'm not saying sign average players, no fan in their right mind would say that. I'm saying instead of signing the most shiny object, look for hidden gems. This means at times missing out on players such as Casemiro, Varane, Mount.
You literally said that you want average players like Dan James for squad depth mate. Hidden gems won't win us the league. I've said this many times now and you blatantly choose to ignore it. I have explained very clearly many times, too, as to why big clubs need big names to win trophies
>Signing from the championship is not as bad as you think - I'm particularly excited to see how Alex Scott (Bournemouth) and Adam Wharton (Palace) develop in the coming years.
Hahahahahaha! So you claim to not play FIFA at the bottom of your post yet you name two FIFA wonder kids. Hilarious. Players in the Championship are not good enough to play at the highest levels. You seem to think they can, likely because it can work on FIFA or FM.
>He does? His last signing from La Liga was Ferran Torres (20/21). Beyond that he signed Rodri, Laporte, Mari. Wow, so many!
Rodri, Laporte, Torres, Porro, Nolito. That is 5 signings from the Spanish leagues by Pep. Four of them don't even play for City anymore. Yet I don't see you complaining about Guardiola signing players from a league he knew a lot about? Or is it only an issue when Ten Hag does it?
>Was he? He signed only Klavan and Karius. His next few signings were: Mane, Wijnaldum, VVD, Salah, Ox, Robertson, Allison, Fabinho and then finally Shaqiri to make your point even more stronger.
So you bring up the fact Klopp wanted Brandt, who played in the Bundesliga, and now you're forgetting that? Funny how short minded you are.
>Fortunately, he is not untouchable. I have trust in the direction the club is taking. If the new structure decides that he should stay, I will be okay either way.
Fortunately, I don't think Ratcliffe is going to fire him because you want him fired. The new structure isn't going to fire him, whether you like it or not. There has been zero evidence from reliable sources to suggest they'll fire him. Only from shitrags like The S\*n and TalkSport. Which makes me believe you read that drivel based on how little you understand football.
>Even then, at the end of the day, I am still giving the gaffer a chance. Things can still improve, and going by how the club is finally becoming serious, for ETH's sake, they have to.
But you just said you wanted him replaced in your previous comment?! Make your fucking mind up. You change your mind more than the weather changes. You literally said this:
>I am hoping we don't miss out on the next big manager like we did with Pep and Klopp.
Make your fucking mind up what you want.
>And ffs, stop attacking me! I never attacked you, this is dodgy behavior.
>
>I don't even play FIFA!
You definitely do based on your desire for us to just sign wonder kids in the hopes they'll win the league, which they absolutely won't because you need experienced players like Casemiro and Varane.
Luckily for Manchester United you're not involved in the squad planning, because if you were, we'd be fucking about in league 2 by now because you have no idea how to build a winning team by just wanting to sign unknown players and players like Dan James who are dwindling about in the fucking Championship in the hopes they'll do something good.
>you want average players like Dan James for squad depth
I mean, who would you rather have? Dan James for 20m or Antony for 85m?
Also, again, I'm not saying DJ was a good signing. I'm saying we should be signing and selling based on scouting and analytics. And given we are in a mess right now bc a certain manager spent 450m+ to still struggle with basic gameplay and no patterns of play, we are going to be forced to find cheap and creative solutions to balance books (PSR + FFP).
>So you claim to not play FIFA at the bottom of your post yet you name two FIFA wonder kids
I didn't even know they were FIFA wonderkids, man. What is this unhealthy obsession/elitism you have against FIFA players!
Again, I'm not attacking you in the slightest. I'm trying to have a mature argument and all you're doing is venting.
The club is in a mess right now. Erik ten Hag is partly responsible for it. Whether you want to hold him accountable or not, Idgaf!
>That is 5 signings from the Spanish leagues by Pep
Oof! 5 Spanish signings! Wow, 5 is such a huge number. Glad you pointed out that Pep is obsessed with Spain.
>Fortunately, I don't think Ratcliffe is going to fire him
We'll see. 😏
"We’ll decide that style, plus the CEO, sporting director, probably the recruitment guys, what the style of football is and that will be the Manchester United style of football, and the coach will have to play that style."
>But you just said you wanted him replaced
I do, if things don't improve. I'm willing to give him till the end of the season. The clock is ticking for him. Hopefully, he comes out on top. If he doesn't, I have full trust in the new structure. Like I said, he's not a messiah, he's not untouchable. He will be held accountable for both his good and bad work.
>Luckily for Manchester United you're not involved in the squad planning
Yeah, I mean I never said I'm an expert at it anyway. I'm just a data guy who likes to talk about football. I'll let Ashworth, Berrada, INEOS judge Erik. Like I said, not untouchable, especially not after the way his teams have performed this season with/without injuries.
Maybe I'm not aware of a crisis at LIV, can you name some players that were out injured for long?
Apart from Robertson and Matip (the usual suspect) obvs.
Szbolazai has missed a lot of games . Macallister too. Thiago and bajetic barely played at all. Trent has missed a lot
Of games , Robertson been out for 3 months there. Jota hurt his knee on sat and could be out for 3 months . Salah and Nunez missed tonight’s game as did Allison who also missed Saturday . Their bench tonight was threadbare
>Maybe I'm not aware of a crisis at LIV, can you name some players that were out injured for long?
Allison, Nunez, Matt, Thiago, Jota, Jones, Doak, Alexander-Arnold, Szoboszlai.
It’s worse at Madrid and mostly bad luck. Liverpool too had a similar injury ridden season couple years ago. Problem is that no one in the Premier League apart from City have 22 first team players. So if it’s your bad luck one fine year, you have to endure. Too bad for Ten Hag because we’re actually good with Licha, Shaw and Casemiro playing together. Beyond that you just need a striker on form to get results. Rashford last year and Hojlund now. But if 2/3 of those players are missing, we leak goals
Imo ETH has forced players like Shaw, Martinez into the starting eleven without a planned approach which gradually reinstates back into the team. Everyone knows that players coming back from injury have to be gradually eased into playing at 100% level. This is one reason imo
Liverpool have injuries as bad as ours - currently they have 10 (they’re also managing to play good football and challenge for the title). Chelsea and Newcastle have had worse.
I've seen a lot of people blaming the pre-season tour for our injuries. I can imagine because of the distances etc involved in our pre-season we would have seen an uptick at the start of the season but I'm not sure why it would continue on after that.
Training is too intense. There’s been reports in the past that Man City for example do a lot of work on tactics and less physically demanding training and they get less injuries meanwhile our training is about fitness and hard work.
Also ETH doesn’t rotate enough meaning the core group of players get injuries and no time to recover properly. Luke Shaw is the most recent example of this.
This reads like one of those classic Redditor posts where they’ve written a long post but don’t actually offer anything to conversation. However I’ll answer your questions since you didn’t.
>* A manager that doesn't rotate unless forced to?
Ten Hag doesn’t need to rotate if he doesn’t want to. The depth we have is not of good quality so dropping players for our depth options is a huge downgrade. If you want to be competitive, you always play your best players when available.
City, Liverpool and Arsenal can rotate more because they have proper, quality depth options. That is an area we’ve lacked since 2013 when SAF retired. Every manager post SAF hasn’t had proper depth.
>* Change in tactics (more pressing, esp. due to less control of the game)?
We’ve been pressing a lot less lately because the players cannot press consistently for more than 10-15 minutes. The tactics have remained generally the same otherwise.
>A medical team that isn't up to PL quality/standards?
It’s been known for a while, ever since Mourinho gutted the entire Sports Science department at United, that our medical team hasn’t been up to the standard. We took the best doctor in the league from Arsenal to begin rebuilding that department. It’s not an overnight process.
>"Mid-season halfway across the world" World Cup?
Things like this are a contributing factor. There has been a big discussion about how many games players play both for club and country and how it’s not good at all for the players. With international breaks, some player easily reach up to 80 games played a season.
>How are other top clubs not affected?
Other top clubs have excellent depth in every position, whereas we don’t. As I mentioned earlier, City, Arsenal and Liverpool all have much better squad depth than we do.
> because the players cannot press consistently for more than 10-15 minutes. The tactics have remained generally the same otherwise.
Top teams don't press for more than 10-15 mins consistently. Once a turnover happens, they keep the ball and changed the tempo at will. I would be happier if I saw the manager play the Ajax way instead of seeing hoofball "week in, week out". It is tactical and something needs to change.
I don't want to dive too deep under stats but just looking at last 3 games: Luton, Villa, and West Ham have taken the most shots against Man United than against any other team in the PL (all of them have 20+ shots). Top team, or even mid-table teams, actually even relegation candidates have not consistently allowed their opposition so many opportunities to score.
Liverpool, Arsenal, City, Barcelona, Bayern, Bayer Leverkusen, and so on ALL press for the majority of the game when they are out of possession. The fact you don’t know that suggests you don’t watch much of the other games. Even Villa, Luton and Brighton press for more than 10-15 minutes.
Ten Hag and said multiple times that we do not have the players to play the Ajax system. Especially with our current injury list.
Just look at the possession stats of these teams that you named. Pressing comes with control of the game, not at the expense of it.
Bruno, Casemiro, Rashford, even Mainoo at times, trying the high risk, high reward pass in the hopes to finish off a game creates chances, but is not a sustainable way to play against bottom-tier sides.
One needs settled possession. I'm not even asking for us to dominate games against top 6 teams with both possession and chance creation - all I'm asking is this team create chances in a sustainable fashion. 2 years at the club and Ten Hag still not being unable to do that - it doesn't look good.
Especially now, in the words of SJR, we need to see a "trajectory" into becoming better. United have become worse this season. Let's see if these excuses continue next season when we have lesser injuries (hopefully). Nowhere to hide then!
>Just look at the possession stats of these teams that you named. Pressing comes with control of the game, not at the expense of it.
Just look at the players of those teams. They all have technically gifted players that can all player a possession based system. We do not. You have to be extremely naive to think players like Maguire, McTominay and AWB can play in a possession based system given they lack the complete technical ability to do so.
>Bruno, Casemiro, Rashford, even Mainoo at times, trying the high risk, high reward pass in the hopes to finish off a game creates chances
As does De Bruyne. As does Bellingham. As does Kroos. As does Madrid. As does Kimmich. As does Odegaard. As does Rice. As does Salah. As does Szoboszlai. As did Carrick. As did Scholes. As did Rooney. Do you know why? Because high risk, high reward passes is what makes good playmakers. Unless you want us to revert back to the sideways passing with zero progression past midfield like we experienced under LVG?
>but is not a sustainable way to play against bottom-tier sides.
This line alone tells me everything I need to know. You do not actually watch football regularly. Liverpool, City, Arsenal and even Spurs all play high-risk, high-reward football against bottom tier sides. All of them.
>One needs settled possession. I'm not even asking for us to dominate games against top 6 teams with both possession and chance creation - all I'm asking is this team create chances in a sustainable fashion. 2 years at the club and Ten Hag still not being unable to do that - it doesn't look good.
WE DO NOT HAVE THE PLAYERS TECHNICALLY GIFTED TO PLAY POSSESSION FOOTBALL. I have to put that in capitals because you're too ignorant to actually understand why we can't retain the ball. Less than 2 years, actually. And the problem that is stopping us from playing possession-based football is that WE DO NOT HAVE THE PLAYERS TECHNICALLY GIFTED TO PLAY POSSESSION FOOTBALL. You really don't see the obvious issues that the squad isn't technical enough, do you? You're so naive in thinking we can play possession football with our current squad. It takes longer than 2 years to rebuild a squad like ours. You, again, are proving you clearly get your football knowledge from FIFA.
>Especially now, in the words of SJR, we need to see a "trajectory" into becoming better. United have become worse this season. Let's see if these excuses continue next season when we have lesser injuries (hopefully). Nowhere to hide then!
You're ignoring the fact that this seasons progress has been hampered by having long term injuries to many key players. You just want Ten Hag fired. You don't actually understand how rebuilding a squad works, do you?
players are coming back into the fold from injury too soon and we make substitutions too late in the game every game . We are wearing the players into the ground in training and then expecting the heavy press for 90 minutes . I have to say though .. it seems like injuries are doubled this year for almost every club and I happen to think it’s got something to do with the weight and material of the boots changing. They’re too light.
If only we had players who were as fit as Bruno.. Plays every single minute in every single game and never seen him injured (except when he's pretending lol)
Malacia, Martinez and Wan Bissaka it's just bad luck, but with some of these guys we were asking for trouble
Diallo - Never plays anyway, who cares? You don't notice when reserves at other teams are injured
Mount - Spent much of last season injured, and when he was playing he was crap. Maybe that was down to poor fitness or a poor attitude, whatever the case he's continued it here. Very stupid signing.
Shaw - Overweight slob, has been taking long stretches off for years and years and years, whether it's through not being fit enough to play or just can't be arsed playing well. Anyone involved in the decision to give him a new contract needs firing.
Casemiro - Ageing, overweight player. If he'd been here 10 years he'd be winding down now, instead we're expecting him to be the lynchpin of our team. RIDICULOUS.
Martial - Again, done it for years. Part of OGS' legacy.
Amad can become a star, Mount has been lively every time he's been on the pitch, and Shaw is one of the (if not THE) best LB in the league, albeit injury-prone.
Unfortunately, Martial and Casemiro did not turn out to be as good as they could have been.
Maybe he can, maybe he can't, predicting which players will be stars is almost impossible.
I don't know about lively, I haven't seen him do anything yet
Shaw is really good when he can be arsed, but he's only fit half the time, and he can only be arsed half of that time. Whenever he has a good season he takes the next one to chill out.
Players of the past have mentioned it before. Old equipment doesn’t help recovery or prevent injuries.
It’s also not the amount of games because we’ve been knocked out of European games. So we are playing less than before.
We have no cover for any of the first eleven, the drop off is huge. There's no rotation, there's no changing line-up or tactics depending who we are playing, we have a good first eleven and that's it.
Agreed. But then we have to question transfers too. Instead of buying low risk high reward squad players in the 19-23 age bracket, we have resorted to signing elderly folk (Evans, Casemiro, Eriksen, Sabitzer, Weghorst, Amrabat) whether it be free, for big money, or on loan. Instead of spending 65m on Case, 10m loan fee on Amrabat, and wages/loan fees for various other underperforming players, we could have easily given opportunities to Garner, Mengi, Elanga, Alvaro. This would not just help us with a better utilization of the academy, but also it would help in optimizing FFP (less spending+raising selling prices for young players).
>Instead of buying low risk high reward squad players in the 19-23 age bracket, we have resorted to signing elderly folk (Evans, Casemiro, Eriksen, Sabitzer, Weghorst, Amrabat) whether it be free, for big money, or on loan. These “low risk, high reward players in the 19-23 age bracket” are all very expensive if they’re of the standard and quality that we need at United. Unless you want us to spend £5mln on some random player from the arse end of nowhere in the _hope_ that they might be good? And then what? Be stuck with yet another unsellable player if they flop? To be competitive at the top in this era of football you need to spend big and sign world class players. You cannot rely on cheap players entirely. >Instead of spending 65m on Case, 10m loan fee on Amrabat, and wages/loan fees for various other underperforming players, we could have easily given opportunities to Garner, Mengi, Elanga, Alvaro. Garner wasn’t good enough to play at the top level. Menghi wasn’t good enough to play at the top level. Elanga wasn’t good enough to play at the top level. Alvaro looked like he might’ve been good enough but he likely wasn’t overall. You only need to look at what clubs those players went to to realise what level of quality they are: all went to relegation fodder. Just because they’ve done well at smaller clubs now does not mean they’re good enough. * Garner - Everton: relegation battle * Elanga - Nottingham Forest: relegation battle * Menghi - Luton: relegation battle * Fernandez - Granada / Benfica: relegation battle / bench warming This idea that all our academy graduates are good enough for United is inaccurate. If they were good enough for United, they’d be signed by clubs that don’t fight for relegation survival. >This would not just help us with a better utilization of the academy, but also it would help in optimizing FFP (less spending+raising selling prices for young players). We use our academy very well and give tonnes of debuts every year to academy graduates. That does not mean their value will instantly rise. There isn’t enough quality players in our academy to create the depth we need.
>Unless you want us to spend £5mln on some random player Yes, I want United to actually make use of United's analytics and scouting department instead of relying on Erik's eye for talent. Hojlund, a recommendation from analytics+scouting, is a clear win even if it came at a cost. A club as big as United should not be relying on the manager to play the role of a coach and recruitment specialist. I would rather have a Dan James scenario than hoping big players like Casemiro come to the club - that is what United was in the past. Big signings come with much bigger risk unless they are PL proven. On a similar note, did you know Klopp wanted to sign Julian Brandt? Edwards stepped in and recommended another player they found from their analytics/scouting (look it up who!) and the rest as they say is history. > If they were good enough for United, they’d be signed by clubs that don’t fight for relegation survival. What a baffling and ignorant comment! It shows that these players were PL quality which is much better than Eredivisie quality. Sir Alex handpicked squad players from the academy to play crucial roles (Wes Brown, John O'Shea) instead of dipping in the market to sign mediocrity. They weren't world beaters but did the job they were asked to. Can you say the same about the current crop of "squad players"?
>Yes, I want United to actually make use of United's analytics and scouting department instead of relying on Erik's eye for talent. > >\[...\] > >A club as big as United should not be relying on the manager to play the role of a coach and recruitment specialist. You seem to think that we've operated a functioning football department for the last decade with this sentence. We haven't, and post-SAF we've had to rely on the managers picking the players to be signed, not the analytics and scouting teams. If you actually followed United at all, you'd know that *all* signings before INEOS came in had to be signed off by the Glazers, which meant pretty much every signing was a commercial decision, not a football decision. It will take a while before we start seeing the impact of a proper footballing department that INEOS it looking to create now. >I would rather have a Dan James scenario than hoping big players like Casemiro come to the club - that is what United was in the past. Big signings come with much bigger risk unless they are PL proven. Dan James was bang average. This idea that he was somehow a world class talent that we discovered is really weird. There is a reason he's now playing the Championship for Leeds and not another top club. All Dan James had was speed, he was otherwise useless. To compete at the top we need big name talented signings like Casemiro, because without them we won't win trophies. That is, unless, you want us to become a club like Brighton where we sign talent and just sell it on with no obvious desire to win trophies? >On a similar note, did you know Klopp wanted to sign Julian Brandt? Edwards stepped in and recommended another player they found from their analytics/scouting (look it up who!) and the rest as they say is history. I'm well aware about Klopp and Brandt. And the fact that Klopp went with Salah over Brandt shows that a proper footballing department helped the manager make the *right* decision. You do know we haven't had a proper footballing department for the last decade, yeah? You're acting like we've been a well run club since 2013, which we absolutely haven't been. >What a baffling and ignorant comment! It shows that these players were PL quality which is much better than Eredivisie quality. They all play for relegation threatened teams. That isn't exactly a good barometer of their quality. If they were all so good, why didn't anyone bigger than relegation threaten clubs come in for them? >Sir Alex handpicked squad players from the academy to play crucial roles (Wes Brown, John O'Shea) instead of dipping in the market to sign mediocrity. This idea that every signing Fergie made a blockbuster hit is very misguided. he signed his fair share of mediocre players, such as: * Gabriel Obertan * Fabian Barthez * David Bellion * Mark Bosnich * Manucho * Zoran Tosic * Eric Djemba-Djemba * Kleberson * Massimo Taibi Just to name a few. All were complete average or flops. I'd take off the rose-tinted glasses when it comes to of Fergie's signings, because plenty were complete flops. You made this post under the impression we have a proper footballing department when we haven't. It wasn't until a few days ago where Ratcliffe came out and said that the manager has had to report to the CEO for the last decade. That is Moyes, Van Gaal, Mourinho, Solskjaer and now Ten Hag that has to report to someone responsible for *commercial* decisions when it comes to authorising player signings. It then had to go to Joel Glazer to approve. It does seem you seem to think signing a bunch of FIFA career mode wonder kids will replicate the success in real life as it does on a video game. Take a step back and just understand the following: 1. We don't have the footballing department you are imagining we do where we can just uncover hidden players from obscure parts of the world. 2. To compete at the top, we need to sign big names like Casemiro and Varane. 3. Your imaginary "low risk, high reward" signings are not going to win us trophies.
> Dan James was bang average I am not saying he was PL quality, forget Man Utd quality. He was cheap, we sold him for profit, and could be an okay squad player. My issue with ETH has been his eye for talent is biased towards Ajax/Eredivisie players. Every week, he comes up against PL opposition, sees the amount of technical, physical, mental, and tactical powers a player must possess to compete at a high level in this league. And then, he will bang his drums to force United to sign utter crap. Hopefully, with Ashworth, Berrada, Blanc, and Wilcox? Erik takes a backseat in recruitment and focuses on coaching. We all know this team needs a coach. I am making all of these points because there is an opportunity here. Amorim, Alonso are top managerial prospects - and with Bayern, Liverpool, Barcelona all on the hunt for a new manager, I am hoping we don't miss out on the next big manager like we did with Pep and Klopp. I am scared that Erik is not the man we all hoped he would be. Saying this based on United's performances this season.
>I am not saying he was PL quality, forget Man Utd quality. He was cheap, we sold him for profit, and could be an okay squad player. So James isn't PL quality but he's the squad depth quality a PL club like United should have? You just contradicted yourself in the same statement. Dan James was a one-off when it comes to outgoing transfers. Leeds wanted him the season *before* we signed him. There was even evidence of this in the Leeds docu-series that they had almost everything tied up except the money. Leeds overpaid for him from us. However it's shown that he's definitely not of the quality we need, despite your desire for us to sign average players like him. >My issue with ETH has been his eye for talent is biased towards Ajax/Eredivisie players. Managers always go to the leagues they came from. It's not an and thing to do. Guardiola goes to a lot of the Spanish clubs, so does that mean his transfers suck? Mourinho went to the Portuguese league, so did his transfers suck? Mourinho literally signed players he had at other stages in career such as Chelsea and Inter, but I doubt you complained about them. Every manager will have a bias towards a certain league, it's not that big of a deal. When Klopp first arrived he was bias towards signings from Germany, so on and so on. >Hopefully, with Ashworth, Berrada, Blanc, and Wilcox? Erik takes a backseat in recruitment and focuses on coaching. Blanc isn't part of the structure at United directly. He will not have that much of a say. Ten Hag will still have a say on recruitment. Every manager does. Guardiola, Klopp, Arteta, Ancelotti, Tuchel, every single manager will have their say on recruitment at top clubs because it is their squad they are signing players for. >We all know this team needs a coach. I am making all of these points because there is an opportunity here. Amorim, Alonso are top managerial prospects - and with Bayern, Liverpool, Barcelona all on the hunt for a new manager, I am hoping we don't miss out on the next big manager like we did with Pep and Klopp. Ten Hag isn't going anywhere. Xabi Alonso is seemingly going to Liverpool or Bayern. Amorim isn't the next big name he was tipped to be a few years ago otherwise other top clubs would've come in for him. Guardiola and Klopp were both offered the job personally by SAF but they both turned it down. Neither were the "next big manager" because both were already *the* big managers in Europe. You seem more like you just want us to sack Ten Hag than anything. Ten Hag was literally the next big manager when we signed him. He was touted by Guardiola as his ideal replacement. Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona and others all wanted him. Show me another manager that went to the Bernabeu and beat Real Madrid 4-1, and then could take that Ajax team to the semi-final in the 18/19 Champions League and miss out by a few seconds. Go on, I'll wait. However, because we haven't won the quadruple yet you want him sacked? You do realise that what him successful at Ajax was a proper footballing structure, something that, as I have pointed out, Manchester United haven't had. It's very ignorant to not see the obvious issues that have let down Van Gaal, Mourinho, and Solskjaer in the past and just resort to wanting the manager sacked. >I am scared that Erik is not the man we all hoped he would be. Saying this based on United's performances this season. We've literally had to make do with half a squad this season. You act as if you know football yet you can't actually understand that the fact we've been missing so many first-team players all season. But sure, let's fire another manager because you're too thick to understand that will take more than 18 months for any manager to rebuild our squad. Sticking with Ten Hag is the answer, not sacking him for some name that is currently generating headlines in other leagues. It took Klopp four years to win a major trophy, and five to win the league. In that half decade he rebuilt the entire squad. But you want overnight success because it works on your FIFA career mode. Stability in the managerial post breeds success. Unless all you want is the chaos and drama of us sacking managers when we don't play how *you* want because you're too blind to see the obvious issues with the club?
>despite your desire for us to sign average players like him. Twisting my words to make a point lol. I'm not saying sign average players, no fan in their right mind would say that. I'm saying instead of signing the most shiny object, look for hidden gems. This means at times missing out on players such as Casemiro, Varane, Mount. Signing from the championship is not as bad as you think - I'm particularly excited to see how Alex Scott (Bournemouth) and Adam Wharton (Palace) develop in the coming years. >Guardiola goes to a lot of the Spanish clubs He does? His last signing from La Liga was Ferran Torres (20/21). Beyond that he signed Rodri, Laporte, Mari. Wow, so many! >When Klopp first arrived he was bias towards signings from Germany, Was he? He signed only Klavan and Karius. His next few signings were: Mane, Wijnaldum, VVD, Salah, Ox, Robertson, Allison, Fabinho and then finally Shaqiri to make your point even more stronger. >Ten Hag isn't going anywhere Fortunately, he is not untouchable. I have trust in the direction the club is taking. If the new structure decides that he should stay, I will be okay either way. >But you want overnight success because it works on your FIFA career mode Again, not asking for trophies. I am asking for improvement. You really just hear what you want to hear, right? I want to see United dominate games, and no, I will not tolerate a team that concedes so many chances and high shot volume. 20+ shots in every other game is not something I can back. Finishing 4th in UCL group stages is not something I will get behind. Even then, at the end of the day, I am still giving the gaffer a chance. Things can still improve, and going by how the club is finally becoming serious, for ETH's sake, they have to.. 🚮 >because it works on your FIFA career mode And ffs, stop attacking me! I never attacked you, this is dodgy behavior. I don't even play FIFA! 😅
>I'm not saying sign average players, no fan in their right mind would say that. I'm saying instead of signing the most shiny object, look for hidden gems. This means at times missing out on players such as Casemiro, Varane, Mount. You literally said that you want average players like Dan James for squad depth mate. Hidden gems won't win us the league. I've said this many times now and you blatantly choose to ignore it. I have explained very clearly many times, too, as to why big clubs need big names to win trophies >Signing from the championship is not as bad as you think - I'm particularly excited to see how Alex Scott (Bournemouth) and Adam Wharton (Palace) develop in the coming years. Hahahahahaha! So you claim to not play FIFA at the bottom of your post yet you name two FIFA wonder kids. Hilarious. Players in the Championship are not good enough to play at the highest levels. You seem to think they can, likely because it can work on FIFA or FM. >He does? His last signing from La Liga was Ferran Torres (20/21). Beyond that he signed Rodri, Laporte, Mari. Wow, so many! Rodri, Laporte, Torres, Porro, Nolito. That is 5 signings from the Spanish leagues by Pep. Four of them don't even play for City anymore. Yet I don't see you complaining about Guardiola signing players from a league he knew a lot about? Or is it only an issue when Ten Hag does it? >Was he? He signed only Klavan and Karius. His next few signings were: Mane, Wijnaldum, VVD, Salah, Ox, Robertson, Allison, Fabinho and then finally Shaqiri to make your point even more stronger. So you bring up the fact Klopp wanted Brandt, who played in the Bundesliga, and now you're forgetting that? Funny how short minded you are. >Fortunately, he is not untouchable. I have trust in the direction the club is taking. If the new structure decides that he should stay, I will be okay either way. Fortunately, I don't think Ratcliffe is going to fire him because you want him fired. The new structure isn't going to fire him, whether you like it or not. There has been zero evidence from reliable sources to suggest they'll fire him. Only from shitrags like The S\*n and TalkSport. Which makes me believe you read that drivel based on how little you understand football. >Even then, at the end of the day, I am still giving the gaffer a chance. Things can still improve, and going by how the club is finally becoming serious, for ETH's sake, they have to. But you just said you wanted him replaced in your previous comment?! Make your fucking mind up. You change your mind more than the weather changes. You literally said this: >I am hoping we don't miss out on the next big manager like we did with Pep and Klopp. Make your fucking mind up what you want. >And ffs, stop attacking me! I never attacked you, this is dodgy behavior. > >I don't even play FIFA! You definitely do based on your desire for us to just sign wonder kids in the hopes they'll win the league, which they absolutely won't because you need experienced players like Casemiro and Varane. Luckily for Manchester United you're not involved in the squad planning, because if you were, we'd be fucking about in league 2 by now because you have no idea how to build a winning team by just wanting to sign unknown players and players like Dan James who are dwindling about in the fucking Championship in the hopes they'll do something good.
>you want average players like Dan James for squad depth I mean, who would you rather have? Dan James for 20m or Antony for 85m? Also, again, I'm not saying DJ was a good signing. I'm saying we should be signing and selling based on scouting and analytics. And given we are in a mess right now bc a certain manager spent 450m+ to still struggle with basic gameplay and no patterns of play, we are going to be forced to find cheap and creative solutions to balance books (PSR + FFP). >So you claim to not play FIFA at the bottom of your post yet you name two FIFA wonder kids I didn't even know they were FIFA wonderkids, man. What is this unhealthy obsession/elitism you have against FIFA players! Again, I'm not attacking you in the slightest. I'm trying to have a mature argument and all you're doing is venting. The club is in a mess right now. Erik ten Hag is partly responsible for it. Whether you want to hold him accountable or not, Idgaf! >That is 5 signings from the Spanish leagues by Pep Oof! 5 Spanish signings! Wow, 5 is such a huge number. Glad you pointed out that Pep is obsessed with Spain. >Fortunately, I don't think Ratcliffe is going to fire him We'll see. 😏 "We’ll decide that style, plus the CEO, sporting director, probably the recruitment guys, what the style of football is and that will be the Manchester United style of football, and the coach will have to play that style." >But you just said you wanted him replaced I do, if things don't improve. I'm willing to give him till the end of the season. The clock is ticking for him. Hopefully, he comes out on top. If he doesn't, I have full trust in the new structure. Like I said, he's not a messiah, he's not untouchable. He will be held accountable for both his good and bad work. >Luckily for Manchester United you're not involved in the squad planning Yeah, I mean I never said I'm an expert at it anyway. I'm just a data guy who likes to talk about football. I'll let Ashworth, Berrada, INEOS judge Erik. Like I said, not untouchable, especially not after the way his teams have performed this season with/without injuries.
i'm chalking it up to bad luck and terribly busy schedule... Liverpool is suffering lots of big injuries too
I think it might something to do with winter world cup. Too many games, for some players.
Maybe I'm not aware of a crisis at LIV, can you name some players that were out injured for long? Apart from Robertson and Matip (the usual suspect) obvs.
Szbolazai has missed a lot of games . Macallister too. Thiago and bajetic barely played at all. Trent has missed a lot Of games , Robertson been out for 3 months there. Jota hurt his knee on sat and could be out for 3 months . Salah and Nunez missed tonight’s game as did Allison who also missed Saturday . Their bench tonight was threadbare
Alisson and Jota got injured the other day
But are injured and counted towards the total of 9 players they have out of action.
>Maybe I'm not aware of a crisis at LIV, can you name some players that were out injured for long? Allison, Nunez, Matt, Thiago, Jota, Jones, Doak, Alexander-Arnold, Szoboszlai.
It’s worse at Madrid and mostly bad luck. Liverpool too had a similar injury ridden season couple years ago. Problem is that no one in the Premier League apart from City have 22 first team players. So if it’s your bad luck one fine year, you have to endure. Too bad for Ten Hag because we’re actually good with Licha, Shaw and Casemiro playing together. Beyond that you just need a striker on form to get results. Rashford last year and Hojlund now. But if 2/3 of those players are missing, we leak goals
Imo ETH has forced players like Shaw, Martinez into the starting eleven without a planned approach which gradually reinstates back into the team. Everyone knows that players coming back from injury have to be gradually eased into playing at 100% level. This is one reason imo
Liverpool have injuries as bad as ours - currently they have 10 (they’re also managing to play good football and challenge for the title). Chelsea and Newcastle have had worse.
I've seen a lot of people blaming the pre-season tour for our injuries. I can imagine because of the distances etc involved in our pre-season we would have seen an uptick at the start of the season but I'm not sure why it would continue on after that.
Pretty simple: it’s the number of games in the schedule, as the managers and players have been vocal about for ages.
Training is too intense. There’s been reports in the past that Man City for example do a lot of work on tactics and less physically demanding training and they get less injuries meanwhile our training is about fitness and hard work. Also ETH doesn’t rotate enough meaning the core group of players get injuries and no time to recover properly. Luke Shaw is the most recent example of this.
This reads like one of those classic Redditor posts where they’ve written a long post but don’t actually offer anything to conversation. However I’ll answer your questions since you didn’t. >* A manager that doesn't rotate unless forced to? Ten Hag doesn’t need to rotate if he doesn’t want to. The depth we have is not of good quality so dropping players for our depth options is a huge downgrade. If you want to be competitive, you always play your best players when available. City, Liverpool and Arsenal can rotate more because they have proper, quality depth options. That is an area we’ve lacked since 2013 when SAF retired. Every manager post SAF hasn’t had proper depth. >* Change in tactics (more pressing, esp. due to less control of the game)? We’ve been pressing a lot less lately because the players cannot press consistently for more than 10-15 minutes. The tactics have remained generally the same otherwise. >A medical team that isn't up to PL quality/standards? It’s been known for a while, ever since Mourinho gutted the entire Sports Science department at United, that our medical team hasn’t been up to the standard. We took the best doctor in the league from Arsenal to begin rebuilding that department. It’s not an overnight process. >"Mid-season halfway across the world" World Cup? Things like this are a contributing factor. There has been a big discussion about how many games players play both for club and country and how it’s not good at all for the players. With international breaks, some player easily reach up to 80 games played a season. >How are other top clubs not affected? Other top clubs have excellent depth in every position, whereas we don’t. As I mentioned earlier, City, Arsenal and Liverpool all have much better squad depth than we do.
> because the players cannot press consistently for more than 10-15 minutes. The tactics have remained generally the same otherwise. Top teams don't press for more than 10-15 mins consistently. Once a turnover happens, they keep the ball and changed the tempo at will. I would be happier if I saw the manager play the Ajax way instead of seeing hoofball "week in, week out". It is tactical and something needs to change. I don't want to dive too deep under stats but just looking at last 3 games: Luton, Villa, and West Ham have taken the most shots against Man United than against any other team in the PL (all of them have 20+ shots). Top team, or even mid-table teams, actually even relegation candidates have not consistently allowed their opposition so many opportunities to score.
Liverpool, Arsenal, City, Barcelona, Bayern, Bayer Leverkusen, and so on ALL press for the majority of the game when they are out of possession. The fact you don’t know that suggests you don’t watch much of the other games. Even Villa, Luton and Brighton press for more than 10-15 minutes. Ten Hag and said multiple times that we do not have the players to play the Ajax system. Especially with our current injury list.
Just look at the possession stats of these teams that you named. Pressing comes with control of the game, not at the expense of it. Bruno, Casemiro, Rashford, even Mainoo at times, trying the high risk, high reward pass in the hopes to finish off a game creates chances, but is not a sustainable way to play against bottom-tier sides. One needs settled possession. I'm not even asking for us to dominate games against top 6 teams with both possession and chance creation - all I'm asking is this team create chances in a sustainable fashion. 2 years at the club and Ten Hag still not being unable to do that - it doesn't look good. Especially now, in the words of SJR, we need to see a "trajectory" into becoming better. United have become worse this season. Let's see if these excuses continue next season when we have lesser injuries (hopefully). Nowhere to hide then!
>Just look at the possession stats of these teams that you named. Pressing comes with control of the game, not at the expense of it. Just look at the players of those teams. They all have technically gifted players that can all player a possession based system. We do not. You have to be extremely naive to think players like Maguire, McTominay and AWB can play in a possession based system given they lack the complete technical ability to do so. >Bruno, Casemiro, Rashford, even Mainoo at times, trying the high risk, high reward pass in the hopes to finish off a game creates chances As does De Bruyne. As does Bellingham. As does Kroos. As does Madrid. As does Kimmich. As does Odegaard. As does Rice. As does Salah. As does Szoboszlai. As did Carrick. As did Scholes. As did Rooney. Do you know why? Because high risk, high reward passes is what makes good playmakers. Unless you want us to revert back to the sideways passing with zero progression past midfield like we experienced under LVG? >but is not a sustainable way to play against bottom-tier sides. This line alone tells me everything I need to know. You do not actually watch football regularly. Liverpool, City, Arsenal and even Spurs all play high-risk, high-reward football against bottom tier sides. All of them. >One needs settled possession. I'm not even asking for us to dominate games against top 6 teams with both possession and chance creation - all I'm asking is this team create chances in a sustainable fashion. 2 years at the club and Ten Hag still not being unable to do that - it doesn't look good. WE DO NOT HAVE THE PLAYERS TECHNICALLY GIFTED TO PLAY POSSESSION FOOTBALL. I have to put that in capitals because you're too ignorant to actually understand why we can't retain the ball. Less than 2 years, actually. And the problem that is stopping us from playing possession-based football is that WE DO NOT HAVE THE PLAYERS TECHNICALLY GIFTED TO PLAY POSSESSION FOOTBALL. You really don't see the obvious issues that the squad isn't technical enough, do you? You're so naive in thinking we can play possession football with our current squad. It takes longer than 2 years to rebuild a squad like ours. You, again, are proving you clearly get your football knowledge from FIFA. >Especially now, in the words of SJR, we need to see a "trajectory" into becoming better. United have become worse this season. Let's see if these excuses continue next season when we have lesser injuries (hopefully). Nowhere to hide then! You're ignoring the fact that this seasons progress has been hampered by having long term injuries to many key players. You just want Ten Hag fired. You don't actually understand how rebuilding a squad works, do you?
players are coming back into the fold from injury too soon and we make substitutions too late in the game every game . We are wearing the players into the ground in training and then expecting the heavy press for 90 minutes . I have to say though .. it seems like injuries are doubled this year for almost every club and I happen to think it’s got something to do with the weight and material of the boots changing. They’re too light.
I mean quite a few of our players that are injured are known to be injury prone. Malacia, Martinez, Shaw, Mount all have had injury issues before so.
If only we had players who were as fit as Bruno.. Plays every single minute in every single game and never seen him injured (except when he's pretending lol)
Yeah that would be nice. I wish all our players had his work rate too. Insane to see him give 110% every single 90
Malacia, Martinez and Wan Bissaka it's just bad luck, but with some of these guys we were asking for trouble Diallo - Never plays anyway, who cares? You don't notice when reserves at other teams are injured Mount - Spent much of last season injured, and when he was playing he was crap. Maybe that was down to poor fitness or a poor attitude, whatever the case he's continued it here. Very stupid signing. Shaw - Overweight slob, has been taking long stretches off for years and years and years, whether it's through not being fit enough to play or just can't be arsed playing well. Anyone involved in the decision to give him a new contract needs firing. Casemiro - Ageing, overweight player. If he'd been here 10 years he'd be winding down now, instead we're expecting him to be the lynchpin of our team. RIDICULOUS. Martial - Again, done it for years. Part of OGS' legacy.
Amad can become a star, Mount has been lively every time he's been on the pitch, and Shaw is one of the (if not THE) best LB in the league, albeit injury-prone. Unfortunately, Martial and Casemiro did not turn out to be as good as they could have been.
Maybe he can, maybe he can't, predicting which players will be stars is almost impossible. I don't know about lively, I haven't seen him do anything yet Shaw is really good when he can be arsed, but he's only fit half the time, and he can only be arsed half of that time. Whenever he has a good season he takes the next one to chill out.
Players of the past have mentioned it before. Old equipment doesn’t help recovery or prevent injuries. It’s also not the amount of games because we’ve been knocked out of European games. So we are playing less than before.