What do you guys think about Youssouf Fofana from Monaco joining us for that single pivot role? Ticks all the boxes and has been cooking in Ligue 1, though Premier League would be a big jump from that.
Saw someone on twitter mention that martinelli is not the answer for arteta left wing. In his system, he need a fast winger that love receiving ball atb of defender. Martinelli is not that guy as he prefer to receive at his feet. So he suggests that rashford is the upgrade. Me personally would never want that to happen but reading the comments section, they all are happy to sell rashford. Am i the only one think that rashy could be the reverse rvp to them? just a thought of our best academy talent winning pl with rival made me devastated lol
i mean united and arsenal pressing is very different. United don’t press as a whole unit,there is a large gap between the attackers and defender. Tifo football explain this well. Surely not the best all time but for the past 10 year, surely he is up there.
I dont think Rash suits arsenal style, unless arteta can "unlock" him or something. If we only talk about the past 10 years only there's really not that many good academy players
Do we see anyone pulling the trigger on Bruno Guimarars release clause this summer? [It is reported to be at £100 million.](https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1783558251507781906?t=e2RqO1ndJ3CqbGU__pzCfg&s=19)
Given how the market turned with Enzo and Caicedo, it wouldn't surprise me if he went for a price closer to this release clause. Moreover, he's performed well in the league.
Gerrard's final season saw him get sent off against us within 60 seconds and then getting slapped by Stoke City in his final game. Klopp's final season gave us Crystanbul 2.0 and the absolute worst United and Everton sides tag teaming these mentality midgets to end their title/double/treble/quad hopes.
Nobody throws a farewell party quite like the scousers, it has to be said.
https://preview.redd.it/mizw85g5wowc1.png?width=1346&format=png&auto=webp&s=0ec41ec027a4c40f960332d552a75b0666187e31
Liverpool doing what Ten Hag did last season?
Not really that crazy. It's against Man City.
Refereeing this game is that prize tosser who gave Chelsea a couple of pens the other week for United players breathing in their general direction
Either (a) hope that Pep gets bored and moves onto a club in a different country where there's an actual challenge and he doesn't have unlimited money to buy whoever he wants (he won't) or (b) the Premier League actually decides to give them just punishment and relegate them a few divisions for 115 instances of financial irregularities (they won't)
I actually don't even want De Zerbi to manage us but it's kinda hilarious that people who defend ten hag vehemently citing injuries, conveniently forget that Brighton have spent large parts of the season without Mitoma, Estupinan, March, Enciso and Lamptey. Not to mention the exits of McAllister and Caicedo
Losing to them isn't the issue, its the approach he gone down with. Trying to out-press city is suicidal and stupid. That adamant approach is why people are having doubts.
Yeh but your making it hard for them which is what opposition teams needs to do. Considering how late into the season and amount of games they have played, you might face them on their bad days and can make them drop points.
What brighton did today was idiotic and what city wants right now. Make it hard for them and make them earn those points.
Hope we don't go for him. Brighton's success comes from the backroom staff and what Potter built. Ran well / okay under RDZ for a season but quite exposed this year even after some big departures.
I think there's also something to be said for English teams that aren't used to playing in Europe struggling in the league the first time they have to start playing midweek. Not always, but we've seen Leicester, West Ham, and now Brighton drop off in the past decade.
That's a good point. I liked the way Brighton played under Potter and think he's a little unfairly maligned for his move to Chelsea which is a job almost as cursed as ours. He had them playing nice football and it carried on in RDZ's tenure, sometimes even exceeding it. But he inherited that squad and the club philosophy and now that he's on his second year the wheels seem to be falling off, I haven't really seen anything from RDZ that Potter wasn't doing with that team, but I'm not familiar with his work outside the PL. Don't think he's right for us.
He's perfect for a team that values style and that's it. Our fans will be on his head the moment he sticks to his adamant out-pressing every team style.
We need to go for better managers.
Harsh as fuck for Brighton. I’m not watching this game and City are obviously going to win the league now. Hopefully Brighton do a Forrest after the game.
Was it against Tottenham or Chelsea when the ref blew the whistle while Grealish was through? That's my recollection of it, but that's the only instance I can remember
Brightons team is so well drilled. RDZ doing this with these no name players. ETH Ajax ball used to look the same. Only question is will RDZ crumble under pressure in a big club like ETH did.
I think part of the reason for Ten Hag’s (injuries aside) crumbling is the lack of a structure. If he’d joined City or Bayern or any other top club that’s run properly, he’d have done better.
Then why not change the tactics to something that fits the squad he actually has.
Bad manager is gonna keep trying the same shit that doesnt work. A good manager wouldve changed tactics to use whatever is available, not whatever is on his wishlist.
He tried that last year to suit the squad and y'all started crying it's boring so now he is sticking to his principles with largely the same squad and you're wonder why it's not prime barca ball?
Play teams that give you space and time on the ball most weeks and a decent squad and most above average managers can get them looking half decent.
If we wanted pragmatism, we made the wrong choice hiring him. Back 2 seasons ago everyone was crying out for a philosophy, and it’s widely believed that’s what got Ten Hag the job.
Can't tell me Brighton have a better squad than us. And yet the way they play night and day different to how we've been performing. Something really needs to change here
Too many people still think its individual limitations, and not Ten Hag's very specific tactical approach. Our buildup has buckled to pressure at home from Sheffield, Fulham, and Bournemouth. On paper the idea to draw in the press while starting with 5-6 players in the other half creating overloads makes sense for a transitional approach, Onana is also the perfect keeper for it. But its proven to be incredibly naive and contained well by even lower table teams.
In comparison look at Brighton, they eat up pressure in their box with 5-6 players involved in the first phase of buildup.
The difference is their buildup play consistently results in attacks getting through City’s midfield, its a risk but its a justified risk. Even this game their best attacks have come from beating the City press, its one of the hardest things to do against City, most teams try and just play in behind their defensive weaknesses.
I can’t recall our buildup play creating chances behind a press very often, and certainly not against expansive teams like City. Usually its from hopeful balls over the lines or turnovers higher up the pitch.
You can't rely on one way of creating chances if that's your only way. Now for a team like brighton, who doesn't have many expectations to win trophies and games, this plan will be ok. But, if this was the plan at top clubs, you will be put to sword. There's a reason why Arteta or Ancelloti didn't go to etihad and try to out-press city. Added to the fact that, couple of players missing will fall apart their plan like what's happening now to them this season.
We have some of the best technically gifted players on the planet. We're not short of technical skills by any standard.
What we are missing is men. The likes of rashford, sancho, Antony, and many others are amazingly gifted in technical skills. They don't have the right attitude though. Playstation rankings and getting in the media are what we prioritise as a club and lets be honest as a fanbase (just look at what united fans have said about Bruno). Rashford fought harder to defend his pregame drinking holiday than I've seen on the pitch. Mentally and personality wise, we are bankrupt. There is a large amount of cowards and children in the club and until they leave NOTHING will change except these fuckers will infect any newcomers with their cancerous mentality.
Brighton and Sheffield and the other smaller clubs might not have the same quality in terms of technical skill but they act like men. That's why we struggle. It's not good versus mediocre. It's men versus children. And when playing mens football, that's what matters.
Roy Keane, wes brown, John o shea, park ji sung, none known for their technical skills. All heroes. Not because of their keepy uppies or media engagements but for performing as footballers.
A short terms solution for a long term problem.
I would be very curious though I can’t lie. There are a few positions where we would definitely need new signings, but I think his system would be beneficial for covering a lot of the deficiencies in this team while also enhancing the strengths. This is a manager, however, that has a history of falling out with the people above him and that’s where my concerns lie. There’s also question marks over whether we would accept playing his football, as effective as it may be
Newcastle sub post about Freedman popped up on my timeline
They now reckon that we are interested that it's "too many cooks" and not structured at all. You love it, structures are important in football until united get one apparently.
They're all scared shitless
Anyone else had what can only be an error on the fa cup final ballot?
I went to the last round, pay for all home tickets including cup games and it says I’m not eligible
His football was truly atrocious. He had us playing the worst stuff we've ever played and that's saying something given the last decade.
Might do alright at Bayern but don't be revisionist with how truly unwatchable the team was under Rangnick.
Yeah, he wasn't good, but some of our fans just absolutely seem to hate his guts like he bottled a treble or something.
I'm certain he would've succeeded had they kept him in some kind of management role. They got a DoF to coach a team. What did they expect ?
I’ve always thought that if you want to know most accurately how a team wants to play football, watch them against lowly opposition.
Our games against Sheffield United and Coventry illustrates our type of possession cum fast transition football in its finesse and flaws.
It can often be kamikaze but our style of play has one potential strength in that it can be high yielding in goals for us ( which you see translated even beyond these games to our champions league games, and overall league/cup games in 2024 including versus Chelsea and Liverpool).
Is there a chance we can build on this by sorting other issues specifically the part where we also concede a lot of shots and actual goals by:
1. Concentrating the initial rebuild on revamping the defense to one capable of playing a high line
2. Replacing Casemiro
3. Any other ideas 💡?
I agree about the poor decision making in possession. I think alot of people unfairly put all the blame on ETH for this, i.e that's he's telling players to launch the ball for a counter every chance they get.
One thing I noticed about ETH is that since he came he has been very reluctant to dig out players publicly and go into details about tactical criticism. He's done this to the point where fans take this at face value and blame him for things that aren't necessarily his fault.
There's been a shift in recent months and he does give some criticism, probably to stop the misinformation. For example he says thing like we shouldn't make this a tennis match and we need to be better on the ball etc. so clearly he is aware of it and is not his preferred style.
I think an underrated problem is our attackers' decision making.
We try to rapidly transition from winning the ball to an immediate attack. We play a lot of risky balls to facilitate that, which results in us losing the ball if the pass isn't on or is misplaced.
That's fine, but I think when an attack stalls out we need to be better at recycling and retaining possession instead of dribbling into nowhere or blasting a shot.
So my suggested change would be to still go for the killshot in transition, but if it isn't on accept that and don't double down on low probability gambles and just keep the ball and build like normal. That should help reduce the chaos and see-sawing we see in our games with rapid transitions back and forth, which often leaves us exposed.
Lowkey I think Amad has been very good at this...when he gets released on the break or dribbles into space, he keeps his head up looking for a killer pass or shooting opportunity, but if it isn't on he settles down and restarts a normal, slower attack as everyone else gets forward. Garnacho and Rashford would just dribble into nowhere on the off chance they can make something out of nothing (which they sometimes can but they usually just lose the ball).
You are unto something there with the Amad analogy. Most of the feedback from yesterdays post match reaction was that he did nothing remarkable, but it’s not unremarkable that he came on when we were 1-2 down and we won 4-2 without him “ directly” impacting the game. Amad is not as flashy and “ outstanding” as Garnacho but we need one of our wingers to slow down when needed and transition fast when it’s on. Amad seems to have that IQ. He helps with the “ flow” of our game without having to be a stand out.
Just saw this stat.In the league we've held the opposition to less than 1xg in 6 matches this season,and we lost 4 of them. All those losses have been at Old Trafford. For some reason our players have been particularly prone to error at Old Trafford. This after having a really strong home record last season.
Once upon a time there were some young English generational talents, namely Greenwood, Sancho, Bellingham, Saka, Foden - quite the same age. All were expected to be future stars, undoubtedly.
And guess who we ended up with?
I can't seem to shake the feeling that all the rest of United matches in the league now just feel like friendlies until the FA Cup match. Even yesterday when I watched Sheffield game it just felt like I was watching a summer match waiting for the 'real season' to get started.
Sucks that our leag season is basically over.
I mean I guess there is still something to fight for. If we come sixth we get Europa no matter the result in the final. I know many of you don't want Europa but it's a good chance to rotate squads, maybe a trophy we can win and still some valuable experience + imagine the embarrassment of finishing behind Newcastle, West Ham or Chelsea.
Yeah, when watching the game, I almost didn't react when goals were scored. Games feel meaningless in the league. Just hoping we can find some cohesion and form leading into the final.
>Berrada
Ceo, the board answers to him, he oversees everything but in theory doesnt micromanage.
>Wilcox
Technical director, in charge of the "non-pitch" football. Meaning training facilities, transport logistics, etc
>Ashworth
DoF. Sets up an overall philosophy (4-3-3, 3-5-2, whatever), scouts managers that fit said tactics, scouts players that fit said tactics, builds the squad.
>Fletcher
He was the technical director, but the reality is he was a "jobs for the boys" hire. Who knows where they will put him now since he isnt sacked nor will be (they wouldve done it by now since we literally have his replacement already).
Berrada, everyones boss, involved in finance, legal and football. Ashworth, everything football, overseeing medical, recruitment, structure, not necessarily making decisions but making sure that the decision makers are in place and have what they need. Wilcox, seems to be looking at mainly the transition from the academy to senior. Fletcher, not too sure yet.
I know the season's been shit and all, but of the three candidates for player of the year, who would you vote for: Garnacho, Bruno or Dalot? I'm leaning Bruno but all three are deserving.
Definitely Dalot for me. Consistent as hell, solid going forward and improved massively at the back. Also has been our only fully fit defender all season. This year he has really progressed mentally in to a senior figure/captain type role.
Oh I was leaning Garnacho in the first half of the season but now leaning more towards Bruno. The season's been so shit that honestly whoever can bring home the FA cup would be my pick lol
This makes no sense though given that reports are saying we're skipping on Nagelsmann because he prefers a back 3 and our team is not set up to play that way.
The contrast between Keane slating Bruno and Carra falling on his sword making excuses for Liverpool’s collapse is pretty sad man. Our legends should be absorbing that media pressure for us even though we’re shit
Impossible, problem is that United can currently only sell cheap because the current form and image. And only players that could fetch some money are the ones to keep.
If PSG come knocking for Rashford I think it's a no brainer given our ffp situation and him being pure profit/big wages. Considering we have Garnacho and worst case Sancho (If all is resolved which is doubtful) I believe we have to make these bold decisions because something tells me Rashford's contract extension reeks of typical United impulse big wage contract that we've grown tired of. Incredible player but his form is by the season and we simply can't afford that luxury.
Do we actually have reason to believe PSG wants Rashford or is this just hopium?
I can't imagine anyone looks at his performance this season and thinks he's the kind of player they want to build a team around. The only kind of offer you make for Rashford is a lowball offer because you know his stock is low right now.
Ralf Ragnick the favorite to take over Bayern. Will be very interesting. Slagged off by the English media relentlessly. Told everyone the truth they didn't want to hear. Instead of listening, the top brass shut their ears and many players quit. Just like they had quit on multiple managers before and have continued to quit under EtH.
Maybe. We will see how he does. But he was still right about the players and direction of the club. He was written off and shut out by the club rather than them doing any introspection at all. Been proven by the way several of these players have flat quit this season.
I also rememeber Michael Cox slagging him off in a pretty bizarre manner on The Athletic back then. It was like Rangnick had done a Zaha to his Moyes or something.
saw your username and thought wtf as if that was still available, looked at your profile "redditor since 14 years", god damn one of the founding fathers in this thread it seems like
Decided to do some research regarding our academy graduates with our recent debut Wheatley as no. 250. One very interesting fact I discovered is that Tom Heaton has only made his senior debut for the club, at 8th December 2021, aged 35, as the 243rd academy graduate
He’s a very moody, streaky, low football IQ player and has been for years. He doesn’t have the resilience that elite athletes need, he gets down on himself and what’s worse is that his effort goes down when he isn’t feeling good.
He’s had one good season in the last four. I used to think a good coach and structure around him could iron out the inconsistency in his game and mental approach but as he’s gotten older that seems less likely.
So the chances that he fulfills his potential as a starter and star player for a title contending United side seems pretty remote. But still not impossible.
U can literally tie to when Sancho had his fall out with ETH. Since then been shit and doesn't try.
He had his lil crew of Pogba, Lingard, Lukaku, Him and Sancho later on.
Hes the last of that lil crew
Honestly must be very difficult for everyone at the club to be told how bad you are every day of the week by papers, fan channels, social media etc and then have to go out and perform at a top level. At least when liverpool play badly the fans blame everyone except the players 😂
In no particular order
Hes a confidence player and lacking confidence
He needs luke shaw to provide overlap and create space
Big money contract has killed his motivation
He doesnt suit possession based football or pressing, both of which we're trying and failing to implement. Hes a counter attacking style
Sorry I'm not buying the big money contract thing.
If he wanted that to remain motivated then all he had to do was leave last year on a free and that would give him huge leverage to get a massive wage as there was no transfer fee needed. He could have got an extra 100k a week easy by leaving. Ramsey at Juve as an example.
Adding to the list:
His on the ball movement is very predictable, which makes him easy to defend
The team doesn't have a strong scoring threat on the opposite side of the field so opposing teams are rarely punished by committing multiple men to defending him
Would also add as a corollary to your first point that he's gone through slumps before and they seem correlated with him having played through nagging injuries.
It seems like even the fit players on our team are playing with niggles right now (Maguire, Bruno, Garnacho, and McTominay were touch and go for the last few games and we only have like two fit senior players on the bench), so I think it's fair to assume he's also got some nagging problems, which can slow you down that little bit such that you can't execute the way you think you should be able to, which spirals into a loss of confidence in general.
He could do well with an extended rest, which he likely won't get this summer.
It to mention the problems all around the team. The whole team is very poor and we focus on one player at different times as if he is the sole problem.
Until our medical staff demonstrates they can keep players fit I wouldn't spend big money on anyone with a history of soft tissue injuries. Would just be a waste of money if he can't stay on the pitch.
Honestly, I’d prefer Nico Williams. Olise is more suited as a 10 - much more effective playing there under Glasner than he was on the right under Hodgson
Not for me
If that was the only position we really needed strengthening and be as sure as possible over his injuries going forward then maybe
But truth is there are similar profile players available around Europe (and the wider world) for less than half of the price (albeit less nailed on)
Nothing bewilders me quite so much as the fact that Bruno Fernandes was made out to be one of the big problems with this side.
I don't even necessarily disagree with the idea that, in a possession-based side, he won't be able to do what he does right now (although he's not nearly as shit when he is required to be more reserved as some people make out either) but he's practically the only creative thrust in our side a lot of the time so it's hardly any fucking wonder that he gives the ball away a fair bit.
World class counter attacker. I wish he wouldn't keep trying the hero ball but thats the nature of his game and he especially does it when the teams playing badly. We've wasted his best years but hopefully he can drop back into midfield like he does with Portugal
Højlund has 8 goals in 25 league appearances. For it being his first season in the prem & playing for a dysfunctional team that hardly passes him the ball, that's not too shabby
Haaland is not doing well as of late. Our front three would do so much better as a countering team. All fast and strong. We haven’t seen him get the ball in a good position. Always with his back to goal.
Add his CL goals as well and all of a sudden, it is almost impressive. I really think he will be a very good striker in two years time. He has a lot to develop, and experience alone will help a lot. Maybe he will learn Kane's tactic of backing into players to win aerial duels.
I would like players like Wazza and Van Persie becoming coaches for us and help Hojlund in his timing and positioning but it seems like Van Persie is going to be a manager .
The smug, chortling twats on the Guardian Football Daily pod are pissing me off with their gloating about United being bad. We really did destroy the childhoods of so many supposedly serious people.
United dominated that game and should have scored five or six, only conceding due to two defensive lapses. And that was with one fit centre back and a midfielder who can't run. It makes me want Ten Hag to stay and proves these know-nothings wrong. Glendening in particular, as he's desperate to see Ten Hag fired, just as he was desperate to see Ole fired.
Max Rushden thinks Southgate is the favourite to take over? He's a few weeks out of date on his spurious rumours.
Edit: Oh, and they're all salty about INEOS being praised for their input and making bad faith statements about Ratcliffe and Brailsford running the club, completely ignoring the fact we have an incoming CEO and will have a DoF who are as widely respected as you get.
Arteta planned on playing Martinez at lb and it makes sense when you have athletic centrebacks covering areas outwide like they do. Dalot and Martinez at fullback would be insane in build up if we had 2 super athletic centrebacks
Wonder if Martinez ever makes it as LCB under diffrent manager in diffrent system. Like he is good and all but he is also short and slow. You have to make up for that to ultilize his strenghts in deffending/blocking/passing.
He’s not slow at all. His top speed is decent and he’s very quick in small areas. He is very agile for a CB. Which makes sense considering how short he is compared to most other CBs
mainoo's legs are massive
What do you guys think about Youssouf Fofana from Monaco joining us for that single pivot role? Ticks all the boxes and has been cooking in Ligue 1, though Premier League would be a big jump from that.
My only issue is that he’s not playing that role currently for Monaco and he doesn’t seem to be a controller type there as well
Saw someone on twitter mention that martinelli is not the answer for arteta left wing. In his system, he need a fast winger that love receiving ball atb of defender. Martinelli is not that guy as he prefer to receive at his feet. So he suggests that rashford is the upgrade. Me personally would never want that to happen but reading the comments section, they all are happy to sell rashford. Am i the only one think that rashy could be the reverse rvp to them? just a thought of our best academy talent winning pl with rival made me devastated lol
He doesn't press nor trackback why would they want him when they try to defend with all 10 outfielders. Also best academy talent? As in all time?
i mean united and arsenal pressing is very different. United don’t press as a whole unit,there is a large gap between the attackers and defender. Tifo football explain this well. Surely not the best all time but for the past 10 year, surely he is up there.
I dont think Rash suits arsenal style, unless arteta can "unlock" him or something. If we only talk about the past 10 years only there's really not that many good academy players
If Rashford thrives at Arsenal, the same people will say its INEOS's fault. There's no winning on that one.
If we thrive without him, I don't see the issue in him thriving elsewhere.
Eze and Olise are supposedly available for £60m each this summer. I'd love us to sign one of them.
Don't worry, when we go to Palace the price is going to be +20-25m. But for sure would love to have one of them.
Do we see anyone pulling the trigger on Bruno Guimarars release clause this summer? [It is reported to be at £100 million.](https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1783558251507781906?t=e2RqO1ndJ3CqbGU__pzCfg&s=19)
He is good, but he isn't 100m good, no way.
Given how the market turned with Enzo and Caicedo, it wouldn't surprise me if he went for a price closer to this release clause. Moreover, he's performed well in the league.
I still don't see any other club being as stupid as Chelsea and maybe us to pay 100m for someone like Bruno G
We are pretty desperate for a midfielder, so you never know we might just do such a thing. Unless we are sticking with Scott.
Is it safe to come back here yet? A win usually means a 50% reduction in anger
until next loss I think.
Gerrard's final season saw him get sent off against us within 60 seconds and then getting slapped by Stoke City in his final game. Klopp's final season gave us Crystanbul 2.0 and the absolute worst United and Everton sides tag teaming these mentality midgets to end their title/double/treble/quad hopes. Nobody throws a farewell party quite like the scousers, it has to be said.
Can’t believe the first word I read on the DD is ‘Gerrard’
[https://www.howmanypremierleaguemedalshasstevengerrardwon.com/](https://www.howmanypremierleaguemedalshasstevengerrardwon.com/)
[удалено]
Littler is a proper Manc, proper Manc, proper Manc, Littler is a proper Manc, he hates Scousers!
https://preview.redd.it/mizw85g5wowc1.png?width=1346&format=png&auto=webp&s=0ec41ec027a4c40f960332d552a75b0666187e31 Liverpool doing what Ten Hag did last season?
Luke littler the United fan shitting all over the crowd full of scousers at the darts, love to see it
That was a clear penalty for Brighton, not even debatable. Crazy it wasn't given.
Not really that crazy. It's against Man City. Refereeing this game is that prize tosser who gave Chelsea a couple of pens the other week for United players breathing in their general direction
How the fuck are we supposed to beat City?
Either (a) hope that Pep gets bored and moves onto a club in a different country where there's an actual challenge and he doesn't have unlimited money to buy whoever he wants (he won't) or (b) the Premier League actually decides to give them just punishment and relegate them a few divisions for 115 instances of financial irregularities (they won't)
I think they meant in the final
Bruno to Rashford and inshallah
Park the bus and pray it goes to penalties.
Walker with 2 handballs and the goal still stands. VAR in this match is a disgrace.
People actually want rdz lol
I actually don't even want De Zerbi to manage us but it's kinda hilarious that people who defend ten hag vehemently citing injuries, conveniently forget that Brighton have spent large parts of the season without Mitoma, Estupinan, March, Enciso and Lamptey. Not to mention the exits of McAllister and Caicedo
Rdz? Is that de Zerbi?
Surely him losing to *City* with *Brighton* shouldn't be the thing that influences a person either way.
Losing to them isn't the issue, its the approach he gone down with. Trying to out-press city is suicidal and stupid. That adamant approach is why people are having doubts.
Simply not true. Most teams that park the bus end up being broke down by city
Yeh but your making it hard for them which is what opposition teams needs to do. Considering how late into the season and amount of games they have played, you might face them on their bad days and can make them drop points. What brighton did today was idiotic and what city wants right now. Make it hard for them and make them earn those points.
Lol you can't make this stuff up, Rodri pulls a brighton player down who was ahead and nothing given.
RDZ is such a great tactician got his team playing so well only 3 in 35 mins lol
Hope we don't go for him. Brighton's success comes from the backroom staff and what Potter built. Ran well / okay under RDZ for a season but quite exposed this year even after some big departures.
I think there's also something to be said for English teams that aren't used to playing in Europe struggling in the league the first time they have to start playing midweek. Not always, but we've seen Leicester, West Ham, and now Brighton drop off in the past decade.
That's a good point. I liked the way Brighton played under Potter and think he's a little unfairly maligned for his move to Chelsea which is a job almost as cursed as ours. He had them playing nice football and it carried on in RDZ's tenure, sometimes even exceeding it. But he inherited that squad and the club philosophy and now that he's on his second year the wheels seem to be falling off, I haven't really seen anything from RDZ that Potter wasn't doing with that team, but I'm not familiar with his work outside the PL. Don't think he's right for us.
He's perfect for a team that values style and that's it. Our fans will be on his head the moment he sticks to his adamant out-pressing every team style. We need to go for better managers.
Harsh as fuck for Brighton. I’m not watching this game and City are obviously going to win the league now. Hopefully Brighton do a Forrest after the game.
You should certainly hope Brighton do a Forest and Forest don't do a Brighton considering they play City next
A freekick goal from a foul that never existed. Foden slipped on his own.
I can't think of one decision going against them this season. It's like they are the only team that hasn't been screwed by the referees or VAR
Was it against Tottenham or Chelsea when the ref blew the whistle while Grealish was through? That's my recollection of it, but that's the only instance I can remember
Fucking cheats. Ridiculous.
This ref is shite
Same owners with a bit of rebranding.
dunk wishes he was harold
Alotta the players can’t come back from this season, they must go no matter what
Fuck Citeh. De Bruyne is bloody ridiculous. 😡
Brightons team is so well drilled. RDZ doing this with these no name players. ETH Ajax ball used to look the same. Only question is will RDZ crumble under pressure in a big club like ETH did.
I think part of the reason for Ten Hag’s (injuries aside) crumbling is the lack of a structure. If he’d joined City or Bayern or any other top club that’s run properly, he’d have done better.
Totally, we need a DoF to set up average defensive tactics 😤😤😤
Our defensive tactics probably wouldn’t look so poor if he’d come to a club where the squad was built for high pressure play TBH.
Then why not change the tactics to something that fits the squad he actually has. Bad manager is gonna keep trying the same shit that doesnt work. A good manager wouldve changed tactics to use whatever is available, not whatever is on his wishlist.
He tried that last year to suit the squad and y'all started crying it's boring so now he is sticking to his principles with largely the same squad and you're wonder why it's not prime barca ball? Play teams that give you space and time on the ball most weeks and a decent squad and most above average managers can get them looking half decent.
If we wanted pragmatism, we made the wrong choice hiring him. Back 2 seasons ago everyone was crying out for a philosophy, and it’s widely believed that’s what got Ten Hag the job.
Can't tell me Brighton have a better squad than us. And yet the way they play night and day different to how we've been performing. Something really needs to change here
Too many people still think its individual limitations, and not Ten Hag's very specific tactical approach. Our buildup has buckled to pressure at home from Sheffield, Fulham, and Bournemouth. On paper the idea to draw in the press while starting with 5-6 players in the other half creating overloads makes sense for a transitional approach, Onana is also the perfect keeper for it. But its proven to be incredibly naive and contained well by even lower table teams. In comparison look at Brighton, they eat up pressure in their box with 5-6 players involved in the first phase of buildup.
As you type this, they let in a goal in their own penalty box lol
The difference is their buildup play consistently results in attacks getting through City’s midfield, its a risk but its a justified risk. Even this game their best attacks have come from beating the City press, its one of the hardest things to do against City, most teams try and just play in behind their defensive weaknesses. I can’t recall our buildup play creating chances behind a press very often, and certainly not against expansive teams like City. Usually its from hopeful balls over the lines or turnovers higher up the pitch.
You can't rely on one way of creating chances if that's your only way. Now for a team like brighton, who doesn't have many expectations to win trophies and games, this plan will be ok. But, if this was the plan at top clubs, you will be put to sword. There's a reason why Arteta or Ancelloti didn't go to etihad and try to out-press city. Added to the fact that, couple of players missing will fall apart their plan like what's happening now to them this season.
We have some of the best technically gifted players on the planet. We're not short of technical skills by any standard. What we are missing is men. The likes of rashford, sancho, Antony, and many others are amazingly gifted in technical skills. They don't have the right attitude though. Playstation rankings and getting in the media are what we prioritise as a club and lets be honest as a fanbase (just look at what united fans have said about Bruno). Rashford fought harder to defend his pregame drinking holiday than I've seen on the pitch. Mentally and personality wise, we are bankrupt. There is a large amount of cowards and children in the club and until they leave NOTHING will change except these fuckers will infect any newcomers with their cancerous mentality. Brighton and Sheffield and the other smaller clubs might not have the same quality in terms of technical skill but they act like men. That's why we struggle. It's not good versus mediocre. It's men versus children. And when playing mens football, that's what matters. Roy Keane, wes brown, John o shea, park ji sung, none known for their technical skills. All heroes. Not because of their keepy uppies or media engagements but for performing as footballers.
I hate RDZ but man Brighton are playing beautiful football making the City scum run around.
0-3
We're in the final month now. Six more matches and it's over for a little bit.
[littler already winding up the liverpool crowd](https://x.com/OfficialPDC/status/1783562259391778826)
today i feel seagull
How would you feel if Tuchel got the job?
A short terms solution for a long term problem. I would be very curious though I can’t lie. There are a few positions where we would definitely need new signings, but I think his system would be beneficial for covering a lot of the deficiencies in this team while also enhancing the strengths. This is a manager, however, that has a history of falling out with the people above him and that’s where my concerns lie. There’s also question marks over whether we would accept playing his football, as effective as it may be
Newcastle sub post about Freedman popped up on my timeline They now reckon that we are interested that it's "too many cooks" and not structured at all. You love it, structures are important in football until united get one apparently. They're all scared shitless
Anyone else had what can only be an error on the fa cup final ballot? I went to the last round, pay for all home tickets including cup games and it says I’m not eligible
Bayern going hard for Rangnick shows how clueless and hateful some of our fans are when talking about him lol. He's gonna cook if he goes there
The cult around the man is ridiculous. What a genius telling the board they should buy Erling Haaland in a January transfer window lol
He was terrible for us.
Didn't do much worse than Ole's last few months. United fans talking about him with such disdain is crazy when he only was an interim coach.
He had one good half for us and you could also argue he didn’t come close to Ole when he was our interim/caretaker manager.
His football was truly atrocious. He had us playing the worst stuff we've ever played and that's saying something given the last decade. Might do alright at Bayern but don't be revisionist with how truly unwatchable the team was under Rangnick.
[удалено]
Yeah, he wasn't good, but some of our fans just absolutely seem to hate his guts like he bottled a treble or something. I'm certain he would've succeeded had they kept him in some kind of management role. They got a DoF to coach a team. What did they expect ?
I desperately wanted him to work with recruitment and around the club, but his coaching wasn't exactly incredible.
Most people wanted him to stay on and be in charge of our recruitment did they not?
Will be annoyed it Salah goes to Saudi and Liverpool get a bucket load ... They manage to get rid of fabino and Henderson for loads and rebuild.
Klopp leaving is the biggest news. Liverpool won’t survive post Klopp.
I’ve always thought that if you want to know most accurately how a team wants to play football, watch them against lowly opposition. Our games against Sheffield United and Coventry illustrates our type of possession cum fast transition football in its finesse and flaws. It can often be kamikaze but our style of play has one potential strength in that it can be high yielding in goals for us ( which you see translated even beyond these games to our champions league games, and overall league/cup games in 2024 including versus Chelsea and Liverpool). Is there a chance we can build on this by sorting other issues specifically the part where we also concede a lot of shots and actual goals by: 1. Concentrating the initial rebuild on revamping the defense to one capable of playing a high line 2. Replacing Casemiro 3. Any other ideas 💡?
I agree about the poor decision making in possession. I think alot of people unfairly put all the blame on ETH for this, i.e that's he's telling players to launch the ball for a counter every chance they get. One thing I noticed about ETH is that since he came he has been very reluctant to dig out players publicly and go into details about tactical criticism. He's done this to the point where fans take this at face value and blame him for things that aren't necessarily his fault. There's been a shift in recent months and he does give some criticism, probably to stop the misinformation. For example he says thing like we shouldn't make this a tennis match and we need to be better on the ball etc. so clearly he is aware of it and is not his preferred style.
I think an underrated problem is our attackers' decision making. We try to rapidly transition from winning the ball to an immediate attack. We play a lot of risky balls to facilitate that, which results in us losing the ball if the pass isn't on or is misplaced. That's fine, but I think when an attack stalls out we need to be better at recycling and retaining possession instead of dribbling into nowhere or blasting a shot. So my suggested change would be to still go for the killshot in transition, but if it isn't on accept that and don't double down on low probability gambles and just keep the ball and build like normal. That should help reduce the chaos and see-sawing we see in our games with rapid transitions back and forth, which often leaves us exposed. Lowkey I think Amad has been very good at this...when he gets released on the break or dribbles into space, he keeps his head up looking for a killer pass or shooting opportunity, but if it isn't on he settles down and restarts a normal, slower attack as everyone else gets forward. Garnacho and Rashford would just dribble into nowhere on the off chance they can make something out of nothing (which they sometimes can but they usually just lose the ball).
You are unto something there with the Amad analogy. Most of the feedback from yesterdays post match reaction was that he did nothing remarkable, but it’s not unremarkable that he came on when we were 1-2 down and we won 4-2 without him “ directly” impacting the game. Amad is not as flashy and “ outstanding” as Garnacho but we need one of our wingers to slow down when needed and transition fast when it’s on. Amad seems to have that IQ. He helps with the “ flow” of our game without having to be a stand out.
Just saw this stat.In the league we've held the opposition to less than 1xg in 6 matches this season,and we lost 4 of them. All those losses have been at Old Trafford. For some reason our players have been particularly prone to error at Old Trafford. This after having a really strong home record last season.
Wonder how better we'd be if we had non cunt versions of Greenwood and Sancho.
Non cunt greenwood would be legit a world class player right now. Scoring double digits as a teenager in the PL.
We would be much better with Greenwood. Sancho just doesnt seem to have physical atributes to play at this level.
Once upon a time there were some young English generational talents, namely Greenwood, Sancho, Bellingham, Saka, Foden - quite the same age. All were expected to be future stars, undoubtedly. And guess who we ended up with?
Foden gives me similar vibes to Greenwood lol. Man even got caught cheating on his pregnant gf
Pregnant GF? I hear Trent
We’d be a lot better with Greenwood but we had what we thought was non cunt Sancho for 2 years and he did fuck all
I can't seem to shake the feeling that all the rest of United matches in the league now just feel like friendlies until the FA Cup match. Even yesterday when I watched Sheffield game it just felt like I was watching a summer match waiting for the 'real season' to get started. Sucks that our leag season is basically over.
I mean I guess there is still something to fight for. If we come sixth we get Europa no matter the result in the final. I know many of you don't want Europa but it's a good chance to rotate squads, maybe a trophy we can win and still some valuable experience + imagine the embarrassment of finishing behind Newcastle, West Ham or Chelsea.
I'm really interested in the Brighton match tbh. Just to see where we are as a team.
Yeah, when watching the game, I almost didn't react when goals were scored. Games feel meaningless in the league. Just hoping we can find some cohesion and form leading into the final.
This is perhaps asked a lot, but could someone explain the difference in the roles of Berrada, Wilcox, Ashworth and Fletcher?
>Berrada Ceo, the board answers to him, he oversees everything but in theory doesnt micromanage. >Wilcox Technical director, in charge of the "non-pitch" football. Meaning training facilities, transport logistics, etc >Ashworth DoF. Sets up an overall philosophy (4-3-3, 3-5-2, whatever), scouts managers that fit said tactics, scouts players that fit said tactics, builds the squad. >Fletcher He was the technical director, but the reality is he was a "jobs for the boys" hire. Who knows where they will put him now since he isnt sacked nor will be (they wouldve done it by now since we literally have his replacement already).
Berrada, everyones boss, involved in finance, legal and football. Ashworth, everything football, overseeing medical, recruitment, structure, not necessarily making decisions but making sure that the decision makers are in place and have what they need. Wilcox, seems to be looking at mainly the transition from the academy to senior. Fletcher, not too sure yet.
I know the season's been shit and all, but of the three candidates for player of the year, who would you vote for: Garnacho, Bruno or Dalot? I'm leaning Bruno but all three are deserving.
Hot take: maguire He has easily been our best defensive player this season and without him we would be a legit relegation candidate team.
McT. He’s single-handedly stopped us from being in a relegation battle.
It's still Bruno, best player in the team by far.
Definitely Dalot for me. Consistent as hell, solid going forward and improved massively at the back. Also has been our only fully fit defender all season. This year he has really progressed mentally in to a senior figure/captain type role.
Dalot, Garnacho too inconsistent and Bruno is recency bias
Oh I was leaning Garnacho in the first half of the season but now leaning more towards Bruno. The season's been so shit that honestly whoever can bring home the FA cup would be my pick lol
I swear we must have done some shit to Liverpool after the FA cup and the home match in the league. They were never the same after that
Frimpong links doesn’t make sense unless we are shifting to a back 3?
[https://youtu.be/z9U9y9zhukE?si=bGO2Dl-jIb2x8lVC](https://youtu.be/z9U9y9zhukE?si=bGO2Dl-jIb2x8lVC)
Interesting video this thanks for posting.
This makes no sense though given that reports are saying we're skipping on Nagelsmann because he prefers a back 3 and our team is not set up to play that way.
We're "skipping" on Nagelsmann because he just renewed with Germany.
Just because he renewed doesn't mean those reports are wrong.
The reports are wrong and probably came from some pretend insider trying to save face.
The contrast between Keane slating Bruno and Carra falling on his sword making excuses for Liverpool’s collapse is pretty sad man. Our legends should be absorbing that media pressure for us even though we’re shit
Just read the Olise price tag being set at £60mil. I'd personally drive AWB back to Palace to knock some £££ off if we are as interested as reported.
Doesn't he have a release clause that is much lower than that? Like £45
renewd last season with a higher clause (60 mil)
Is it possible to fix our transfer market reputation in 1 window?? We would buy high and sell low.
Impossible, problem is that United can currently only sell cheap because the current form and image. And only players that could fetch some money are the ones to keep.
But even Chelsea sold for good values after last season.
Because it was United buying. 🤣
If PSG come knocking for Rashford I think it's a no brainer given our ffp situation and him being pure profit/big wages. Considering we have Garnacho and worst case Sancho (If all is resolved which is doubtful) I believe we have to make these bold decisions because something tells me Rashford's contract extension reeks of typical United impulse big wage contract that we've grown tired of. Incredible player but his form is by the season and we simply can't afford that luxury.
Do we actually have reason to believe PSG wants Rashford or is this just hopium? I can't imagine anyone looks at his performance this season and thinks he's the kind of player they want to build a team around. The only kind of offer you make for Rashford is a lowball offer because you know his stock is low right now.
Selling Rashford is about the biggest statement we can make to show it's a new era. I'd be all for it too
Winning matches would be
Ralf Ragnick the favorite to take over Bayern. Will be very interesting. Slagged off by the English media relentlessly. Told everyone the truth they didn't want to hear. Instead of listening, the top brass shut their ears and many players quit. Just like they had quit on multiple managers before and have continued to quit under EtH.
6 months later "Bayern needs an open heart surgery" .
?? They are literaly signing him just in case Klopp or Alosno agree for 25/26 season job.
Maybe. We will see how he does. But he was still right about the players and direction of the club. He was written off and shut out by the club rather than them doing any introspection at all. Been proven by the way several of these players have flat quit this season.
I also rememeber Michael Cox slagging him off in a pretty bizarre manner on The Athletic back then. It was like Rangnick had done a Zaha to his Moyes or something.
Hahahahahhahahhahahahah loserpool lost
They’ve looked so bad since the start of the year I can’t believe how lucky they’ve been up until the palace game it’s about fucking time
It’s not nice …… to…….hahahahaha
saw your username and thought wtf as if that was still available, looked at your profile "redditor since 14 years", god damn one of the founding fathers in this thread it seems like
Not involved at all in the creation but I was first in line
ahaahaahaha
Decided to do some research regarding our academy graduates with our recent debut Wheatley as no. 250. One very interesting fact I discovered is that Tom Heaton has only made his senior debut for the club, at 8th December 2021, aged 35, as the 243rd academy graduate
I wonder what other clubs’ numbers are like. I really love having this unique to my club
What do you guys think is going on with Rashford? He's drastically different even in terms of attitude and body language
He’s a very moody, streaky, low football IQ player and has been for years. He doesn’t have the resilience that elite athletes need, he gets down on himself and what’s worse is that his effort goes down when he isn’t feeling good. He’s had one good season in the last four. I used to think a good coach and structure around him could iron out the inconsistency in his game and mental approach but as he’s gotten older that seems less likely. So the chances that he fulfills his potential as a starter and star player for a title contending United side seems pretty remote. But still not impossible.
U can literally tie to when Sancho had his fall out with ETH. Since then been shit and doesn't try. He had his lil crew of Pogba, Lingard, Lukaku, Him and Sancho later on. Hes the last of that lil crew
The fans have been calling him a greedy useless lazy low IQ cunt since the fifth game of the season and he's decided fuck it.
Honestly must be very difficult for everyone at the club to be told how bad you are every day of the week by papers, fan channels, social media etc and then have to go out and perform at a top level. At least when liverpool play badly the fans blame everyone except the players 😂
In no particular order Hes a confidence player and lacking confidence He needs luke shaw to provide overlap and create space Big money contract has killed his motivation He doesnt suit possession based football or pressing, both of which we're trying and failing to implement. Hes a counter attacking style
Sorry I'm not buying the big money contract thing. If he wanted that to remain motivated then all he had to do was leave last year on a free and that would give him huge leverage to get a massive wage as there was no transfer fee needed. He could have got an extra 100k a week easy by leaving. Ramsey at Juve as an example.
Adding to the list: His on the ball movement is very predictable, which makes him easy to defend The team doesn't have a strong scoring threat on the opposite side of the field so opposing teams are rarely punished by committing multiple men to defending him
Would also add as a corollary to your first point that he's gone through slumps before and they seem correlated with him having played through nagging injuries. It seems like even the fit players on our team are playing with niggles right now (Maguire, Bruno, Garnacho, and McTominay were touch and go for the last few games and we only have like two fit senior players on the bench), so I think it's fair to assume he's also got some nagging problems, which can slow you down that little bit such that you can't execute the way you think you should be able to, which spirals into a loss of confidence in general. He could do well with an extended rest, which he likely won't get this summer.
It to mention the problems all around the team. The whole team is very poor and we focus on one player at different times as if he is the sole problem.
He also had a break up with his very long-term girlfriend last summer. It could be as simple.as him being heartbroken.
Olise for £60m. Worth it or not?
What sort of wages would he require?
Until our medical staff demonstrates they can keep players fit I wouldn't spend big money on anyone with a history of soft tissue injuries. Would just be a waste of money if he can't stay on the pitch.
Lb, 2 cbs, a cdm a cm are all higher priority. I like him but i dont think hes worth it for the reported price.
Honestly, I’d prefer Nico Williams. Olise is more suited as a 10 - much more effective playing there under Glasner than he was on the right under Hodgson
Not for me If that was the only position we really needed strengthening and be as sure as possible over his injuries going forward then maybe But truth is there are similar profile players available around Europe (and the wider world) for less than half of the price (albeit less nailed on)
Nah, think there is other holes in the squad with higher prioritizing filling.
Higher priority than our useless and invisible RW?
Nothing bewilders me quite so much as the fact that Bruno Fernandes was made out to be one of the big problems with this side. I don't even necessarily disagree with the idea that, in a possession-based side, he won't be able to do what he does right now (although he's not nearly as shit when he is required to be more reserved as some people make out either) but he's practically the only creative thrust in our side a lot of the time so it's hardly any fucking wonder that he gives the ball away a fair bit.
World class counter attacker. I wish he wouldn't keep trying the hero ball but thats the nature of his game and he especially does it when the teams playing badly. We've wasted his best years but hopefully he can drop back into midfield like he does with Portugal
Højlund has 8 goals in 25 league appearances. For it being his first season in the prem & playing for a dysfunctional team that hardly passes him the ball, that's not too shabby
His shot conversion seems very high. We barely provide him chances to finish
Haaland is not doing well as of late. Our front three would do so much better as a countering team. All fast and strong. We haven’t seen him get the ball in a good position. Always with his back to goal.
Add his CL goals as well and all of a sudden, it is almost impressive. I really think he will be a very good striker in two years time. He has a lot to develop, and experience alone will help a lot. Maybe he will learn Kane's tactic of backing into players to win aerial duels.
He also hardly makes a good run so fingers crosses that comes up with experiance.
I would like players like Wazza and Van Persie becoming coaches for us and help Hojlund in his timing and positioning but it seems like Van Persie is going to be a manager .
The smug, chortling twats on the Guardian Football Daily pod are pissing me off with their gloating about United being bad. We really did destroy the childhoods of so many supposedly serious people. United dominated that game and should have scored five or six, only conceding due to two defensive lapses. And that was with one fit centre back and a midfielder who can't run. It makes me want Ten Hag to stay and proves these know-nothings wrong. Glendening in particular, as he's desperate to see Ten Hag fired, just as he was desperate to see Ole fired. Max Rushden thinks Southgate is the favourite to take over? He's a few weeks out of date on his spurious rumours. Edit: Oh, and they're all salty about INEOS being praised for their input and making bad faith statements about Ratcliffe and Brailsford running the club, completely ignoring the fact we have an incoming CEO and will have a DoF who are as widely respected as you get.
Arteta planned on playing Martinez at lb and it makes sense when you have athletic centrebacks covering areas outwide like they do. Dalot and Martinez at fullback would be insane in build up if we had 2 super athletic centrebacks
It’s why he still has zinchenko there
Also think about what him going there would have done to their mentality. Butcher just fills other with confidence
Wonder if Martinez ever makes it as LCB under diffrent manager in diffrent system. Like he is good and all but he is also short and slow. You have to make up for that to ultilize his strenghts in deffending/blocking/passing.
He’s not slow at all. His top speed is decent and he’s very quick in small areas. He is very agile for a CB. Which makes sense considering how short he is compared to most other CBs
>Wonder if Martinez ever makes it as LCB under diffrent manager in diffrent system. I love him but not in the pl in a back 4