Has a deja vu feel to it - like when LVG said ignore the scoreline and look at the possession stats. At this rate we will need to redesign the trophy room so we can display our winning stats and revenue - given that is all we can win at these days, as that seems to be the limit of our ambition.
You are bizarre sometimes. We lament the lack of leadership in the team. No need to single anyone out really. Yes your obsession is not much of a leader but 99 % of the team isn't which is the point of that particular discussion. Since you brought it up the stat on rash is preposterous if trying to portray in a overly positive light. On top of which it doesn't take into account the quality of the shots, the ones that weren't in target that were poor attempts and the bonehead decisions and associated opportunity cost of some of his decisions. You are not necessarily wrong but you are obsessed on one hand and selective on the other
Also, can we not discuss that article any further? It is clearly propoganda and cannot be used as a basis of argument for any United related issue - positive or negative, ( progress or regression )
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...anchester-united-fred-solskjaer-news-16862906 It's leaving me perplexed as to why Ole is persisting with the 4-2-3-1 personally. I have nothing against that particular setup (just as I'm not opposed to any particular setup/formation). What I do take exception with, is using a formation when we don't have the right personnel to make it work properly. And that is what we are seeing with the 4-2-3-1. To make that formation run smoothly, you need a proper 10/playmaker in the hole behind the striker, something with excellent passing ability and creativity as well. The only real options for that position in the squad would be: Mata (too slow at this point in his career), AP (still relatively untested in that role, with Ole insisting to play him on the right) or Gomes (still an unknown from lack of opportunities). Would still go with AP and Gomes personally, but I do concede that it may not be optimal and does represent a risk on some level. Also, it also does not necessarily get the best of Pogba either. He can be effective in a deeper position: he's the only player in the league who has won possession 30+ times this season so far and created 11 chances in the process (KdB is the only player who created more chances than he did with 13 btw). The problem with playing him deeper is that because of his style, he can lose the ball in dangerous possessions and with McTominay not being as dominant and efficient a 6 as Kante is for France for instance, it can be an issue. A return to the 4-3-3 is what I would be in favor of, with Fred as the 3rd part of that midfield 3, as outlined in the article above. Fred's workrate along with McTominay's would provide the ideal platform to release Pogba to a more forward role (just as he did last season when he arguably had one of his most effective season's with us. Being deployed further up the pitch also would mitigate greatly the risks associated with him being possibly dispossessed, with more cover behind him (not to mention give him more recovery space to try and win the ball back himself). Really hope that Fred can get up to speed real soon and that Ole can give him a genuine opportunity. I believe that integrating him into the lineup could change our fortunes greatly going forward. Wouldn't totally be opposed against the diamond in midfield either: that is a formation I think could be very successful in, in games where we cede possession to the oppo and look to hit them on the counter. Until we bring in a proper playmaker type or someone currently at the club can step up in that role, the 4-2-3-1 should be firmly set aside in my estimation..
No point being mad at the players. They are a collection of lower to mid table players with probably 3 top league players being dragged down by whats around them. A top half finish would be their collective norm...anything worse and they have under-performed. The wider problem is obviously upper management not making drastic changes (in light of 6 years of failure) and not changing our whole structure (experienced director, recruiters etc) for a long term plan. Huge money obviously needs to be spent, but even that has shown to fail without proper experienced structure at the top end.
Amigos, the problems are pretty simple to diagnose. We have a world class keeper who is out of form. We have a world class midfielder who is unhappy that he is surrounded by no other players who are world class players. We're waiting for Rashford and Martial to evolve into the top class performers we believe (rightly or wrongly, we don't yet know) they can become. We have a manager who himself is learning the ropes, as every manager must. We can either whinge about this endlessly, which internet forums like this are perfectly tailored for, or we can acknowledge the reality that's right in front of us and hope our young players come together quickly. Everyone can choose for himself which best suits their temperament.
MEN fan poll of player ratings so far. AWB, James, Maguire top 3 Young, Lingard, Matic bottom 3 https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...ll-news/man-utd-player-ratings-pogba-16877766
Thats pretty clear for anyone to see. How anyone can think Jesse has been anything but awful is beyond me.
It's fair to flog Lingard as he, apparently, is someone Ole has entrusted as a regular starter. His performances have been absymal. Young and Matic, however, have performed at the level you'd expect for squad players, which they are now. Rashford and, when he's back, Martial, need to lift their game.
Matic has played 22 minutes of football, so all those ratings show is how turgently stupid and stubborn our fanbase is. Further proof: Greenwood rated above Rashford. It's not ratings it's a popularity contest.
What the stats tell us about this United team so far. https://statsbomb.com/2019/09/do-the-numbers-really-say-manchester-united-are-good/
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/tables The table makes for interesting reading. Granted, we're still just 4gms in, plus we could be down to 5th after tomorrow if WH win. But being 4th right now, given how we've played overall so far, is not bad at all. Yesterday's result was huge, plus tbh we can also thank other teams for bottling it as well so far. With that being said, the coming games should be an opportunity for us to put down a marker in terms of how the season will go. The league games for the remainder of the month will not be easy but if we can get positive results, we should be in a pretty interesting position come October. As stated yesterday though, I really hope that the light has gone off in Ole's head in terms of starting the likes of Matic and Mata. We can start them for EL or League Cup games but as far as the league is concerned, we need to look at other options. Fred looked good in his cameo and needs to play a more prominent role going forward: his energy and tenacity alone are attributes we need. Particularly once Pogs returns. Same goes for guys like Gomes, Greenwood and Chong: they're young but given what Ole is looking to implement in terms of an energetic and high tempo team, they need to figure more than they have. They're sure to get their opportunities vs Astana and Rochdale and if they perform there, Ole needs to emulate Lampard and give those guys real chances in coming league games. Tammy Abraham at Chelsea is the perfect example of how it paid for Lampard to stick with youth. The guy was struggling early on, to the point that Lampard couldn't have been faulted if he chose to go with Giroud or Batshuayi. But he stuck with Abraham and now the guy is looking like the striker he was in the Championship, with 7 goals in his last 3-4gms, getting a hattrick for good measure vs Wolves away. Same goes for Mount and Tomori as well, who both rose to the challenge. There is no guarantee of course that Greenwood or Gomes will put up that kind of performance, but they've shown whether it's in preseason or with the U23s that they should be given a serious look at the very least, age and experience be damned. If you're good enough, you're old enough in my book (see Ansu Fati at Barca). Ole has been talking a big game about giving the kids a chance and now it's time to put his money where his mouth is and deliver on those promises. It could make a difference in how things turn out for us this season. Would definitely rather take a gamble on those guys, over the ones we know are all but finished and do not fit into what we're trying to do.
Tomorrow in the EL vs Astana (we're on 2gms/wk now with Rochdale in the League Cup coming next week) ...
Dont see this improving until we start sorting out our midfield issues - they hurt us even harder away from home. 0 – Since winning each of his first nine away games as Man Utd manager in all competitions, Ole Gunnar Solskjær has seen his side fail to win any of his most recent such nine matches. Homesick. pic.twitter.com/YdjamGLbna— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 22, 2019
Jose Mourinho on how Manchester United have progressed since he left🗣"They are worse than before they sacked me" pic.twitter.com/U3b8RT8X5p— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 22, 2019 Like him or not, Mourinho is speaking the truth. And this is arguably the lowest point we've been since SAF stepped down. It's not all on Ole, he's actually trying to steer us in the correct path (although some of his decisions are not helping him): where we are today is the culmination of bad leadership at the top, ie Woodward, for 6+ yrs. As someone mentioned, the managers, even if they all share part of the blame, ultimately were Woodward's scapegoats. And he has been able to hide behind them (and the fact that he is good on the business side of things) to keep his job for so long. And as it's been said, until the power on the football side of things is taken away from him (by hiring a genuine DoF with actual authority), nothing will change. As a matter of fact, they just might get worse. It was evident once the transfer window closed, that we were serious underdogs to make top 4 (our best chance at it is if other teams slip up). Top 6 is certainly no guarantee either at this point. Under those circumstances, how are we supposed to attract top talent that will get us over the hump in relatively short order? And for all the complaints regarding the best players currently on the team, namely Pogs, I think it's very evident of how mediocre a team we are when he's not playing. Ole out is not the solution for me either (not yet at least) unless we can secure a top quality manager (and right now only Poch and ten Hag are the only names on my list). But without the other required changes previously stated, even that is not enough and would almost be a waste. But all in all, and as much as I hate even thinking this, it's a real sad, bleak (and scary) state of affairs at the club right now.
As long as drastic changes ie. leaving out Matic every game and AY, playing Gomes/Garner/Chong then I am okay with it.
The club have released a statement today. Standard line, more words with little (certainly not enough) in the way of concrete actions...
Simon Stone is officially Ed’s mouthpiece now. Timing terrible given yesterday but Man Utd end of year financials out tomorrow. They will be good. Ed Woodward and Richard Arnold have to talk to shareholders about them which will make it look like they care about money but not football. Isn't true but that's how it seems.— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) September 23, 2019
That became clear over the summer with our transfer dealings. It became clear that rather than give out accurate information he was giving the information Ed wanted public.
Could the youngsters come to the rescue at Man Utd? #MUFC #MOTD2 pic.twitter.com/O85yczy4M4— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) September 23, 2019 It's not just the youngsters either. There is absolutely no reason to start Matic, when Fred is available, and has looked pretty good in his appearances so far. The Astana game showed also that Mata is best suited to a role coming off the bench, since he doesn't have the legs to go anywhere close to a full game effectively. Very likely that Gomes would have been more effective than what we saw from Mata yesterday (he certainly couldn't be worse).
Due to release financials tomorrow which are expected to be good - so club statement is just a preemptive PR exercise to say “we really care about on-pitch performance” as they stuff more cash into their pockets. Everyone enjoying being taken for a ride?
Honestly the season is mostly still going about how I expected. We are poor, but the top-4 race was always going to be a slog. Below the top-2 the league is very flat - teams like Leicester, West Ham, Everton etc. are not far at all below us, Arse, Chelsea etc. so it means a lot of "dropped" points was an inevitability. Despite a poor start, we're level with Spurs and Chelsea on points and Arsenal clearly have their own big problems. Biggest thing is that we just can't afford for Martial, Rash and PP to be out much, let alone all at once. The squad is paper thin in some areas and creativity is the biggest one. So we may have a big problem brewing there; but in terms of how things have gone on the pitch, we're still mostly in line with my (admittedly very low) expectations.