Manchester United

[badpiggy]

Regarding the Man U squad, it is already one of the most lop sided and poorly constructed around. The fact that they have a new manager in, have suddenly realised they are not the draw they used to be and are now effectively panic buying is bad news for them.

If you look at all of the other top teams, Us, City, Arsenal, Spurs even West Ham, we all have a playing style and are building squads to fit. Chelsea are also erratic but are erratic from a stronger base.

Man U are building a squad containing signings from multiple managers and multiple playing styles, all of whom have been backed heavily, so the squad is full of big wages and players that dont fit. Ronaldo was a bad move for them, yet he is the only player who can find the back of the net. So many conundrums.

I have no idea how Ten Hag fixes this, where the expectations will be that they at least challenge for top 4. No matter what they say, the fans will be impatient (because fans are always impatient).

ETH looked shell shocked on Saturday. Not a good sign for them.

I think they are sinking towards our Hodgson season. But they may be in a worse place as an institution balancing (even a lowered) expectation with reality and trying to throw money at the solution.

Having SAF ghosting around in the background is also an issue for any new manager.

The almost faux concern in your post really elevates it to the top level of schadenfreude - kudos

[Buzzo]

The almost faux concern in your post really elevates it to the top level of schadenfreude - kudos

Yeah, I am not a skilled enough writer to accurately pitch the emotion, so I will happily take that.

[Irishnev]

Seems a bit random

[ame="https://twitter.com/laurensjulien/status/1557800568474767360"]https://twitter.com/laurensjulien/status/1557800568474767360[/ame]

[Norbs]

I wonder if some government minister will refer to him as Dwight Rashford

[Doc_Piptorious]

Obvs they would never sell to us and even if they would the silly price would put us off.

However I would love to see Rashford in a Klopp team and being trained by Klopp's coaching team.

He has not kicked on in the manner many thought he would, but look at the manager and coaching staff he was training under the past three years.


Think there is a top class player there if he can get playing time under a quality manager sooner rather than later.

His off pitch activism appeals to me too and imo makes him sound like the sort of personality that would thrive would us.

Think he is in the final year of his contract and would be available on a free next summer, or maybe I am getting that wrong and it is 2024.

[Kenneth]

Not just being contrary but I don't see it. The complaints from utd fans are that he's lazy and sulky, especially in the last couple of seasons. He came on as a sub in the Manchester derby and just walked around, no ****s given.

When he was decent he had pace and a decent shot, but he doesn't strike me as an intelligent player. His strength is a burst of speed and an instinctive shot, but even doing that, he's never been as good as our options in attack and if he came to us now he would struggle to get games.

[Doc_Piptorious]

His level seems to have stagnated or even dropped the past 12 months or so alright.

We will never know as he will not be joining us in the next 12 months, but I just feel there is a good player in him that would have thrived in our set up.

Also not suggesting he is better than our attackers, but rather that he might be at that level potentially were he being coached by Klopp, Lijnders & co.


Actually best add a caveat to that and say that I do not think he, under ideal conditions, would have the potential to be a Salah level player but maybe he could get to a similar level to what Jota looks like reaching with us and might not be outrageous to suggest that Rashford and Diaz have a similar level of potential with Diaz being better placed now to realise that potential.

When Rashford was given a bit more responsibility on the pitch and played in his favoured position he had two 20 goal seasons (all comps) in a row from the left flank and that was with the genius that is Ole in charge.

All speculative opinion of course on my behalf. Could well be in five or six years time when Rashford is hitting 30 we will be looking at him as the new Lingard.

[Mr Pink]

Not just being contrary but I don't see it. The complaints from utd fans are that he's lazy and sulky, especially in the last couple of seasons. He came on as a sub in the Manchester derby and just walked around, no ****s given.

When he was decent he had pace and a decent shot, but he doesn't strike me as an intelligent player. His strength is a burst of speed and an instinctive shot, but even doing that, he's never been as good as our options in attack and if he came to us now he would struggle to get games.

and after every loss, he posts about how he’s receiving abuse online. Not to say he should have to put up with abuse, but he’s clearly trying to deflect attention away from the performance, every time.

I don’t buy the “if he had a better coach” narrative- I think he’s one who’s left his coaches down. A big part of the reason why no coaches have been able to succeed to any extent at United, is because you have players on big wages, with long contracts, who they can’t shift on, and who have crappy attitudes- Rashford being one.

[Doc_Piptorious]

and after every loss, he posts about how he’s receiving abuse online. Not to say he should have to put up with abuse, but he’s clearly trying to deflect attention away from the performance, every time.

I don’t buy the “if he had a better coach” narrative- I think he’s one who’s left his coaches down. A big part of the reason why no coaches have been able to succeed to any extent at United, is because you have players on big wages, with long contracts, who they can’t shift on, and who have crappy attitudes- Rashford being one.

TBH That is something I would not criticize him for in the slightest. He gets a ton of racist abuse and that abuse should be highlighted every single time it happens for how wrong it is.


Disagree on the coaching point. The United set up seems toxic from top to bottom and the manager along with his coaching team should play a big part in getting rid of such a thing or can play a big part in enabling it.


How many players have we bought, some good some that maybe we did not all see as being so good, have looked far far better players once indoctrinated into our set up?

A great coach can make good players into a great team, a poor coach can make good players look awful. Imo of course

[Exiled_red]

Not just being contrary but I don't see it. The complaints from utd fans are that he's lazy and sulky, especially in the last couple of seasons. He came on as a sub in the Manchester derby and just walked around, no ****s given.

When he was decent he had pace and a decent shot, but he doesn't strike me as an intelligent player. His strength is a burst of speed and an instinctive shot, but even doing that, he's never been as good as our options in attack and if he came to us now he would struggle to get games.

I think that has probably come about as a young player establishing himself in a squad where that was the attitude, as a young player he seemed to work hard to establish himself, once he had done that I think his attitude slipped to a similar one to other players in the squad. I think when that attitude sets into a squad it is difficult to break. He will probably benefit from a move elsewhere, where he has to work hard I think you will probably see an improvement in his form if that happens, I suspect if he and a number of others stay at United and keep that attitude he becomes part of the problem. I think if he had had a manager like Klopp a couple of years ago, he could have been turned into a better player, but the attitude that they say he has now is one which Klopp wouldn't touch.

[frank the tank]

When he first came through as a young striker under van gaal, he was electric. At the time he looked like he had a higher ceiling than Kane. Had Ferguson been the manager, he would have signed a wise Sheringham-type #10 to support him and develop him as a top #9 striker.

Mourinho put him on the left wing and ruined his development. Just like he had done with a load of young players previously (salah, kdb just to name 2)

Ole and Ralf havent stopped that. And it looks like ten hag wont either.

I think if a team like spurs, arsenal or even Newcastle were looking for a #9 then he should probably move. But he probably wont because he is a United fan and will probably stay there until he is discarded.

[Buzzo]

Brentford away in the Sat PM fixture is a shocker for ManU. Brentford will smell blood. Utd don’t look to have much stomach for the fight.

Then they play us.

[Venton]

Brentford away in the Sat PM fixture is a shocker for ManU. Brentford will smell blood. Utd don’t look to have much stomach for the fight.

Then they play us.

It's a stinker for them really, even if they win it's the very least they should be doing, anything other than that turns the screw more. Interestingly most united fans i know accept it will take them a few years to come good, but there's no chance the board will give Ten Hag that.

[Buzzo]

There may be a percentage who will, but it feels as if things will possibly have to get worse before they can get better. Will the rabid hoardes accept that?

I don’t think we ever had it so bad, the darkest days of Gillet and Hicks maybe, but our expectations were nowhere near as high so we had a sense of reality. In reality Klopp took us back to the top quicker than any of us expected.

They currently have a toxic relationship between fans and club, zero pulling power in the transfer market and a completely imbalanced squad with players on big contracts signed by previous managers.

It is hard to see a way forward for them.

[Venton]

It is hard to see a way forward for them.

That's obviously what we're all rooting for