not sure. what i am sure of is he's wasted his best years here. dude was flying at Torino and we more or less ruined him
Europa League draw, with United in Group L: Manchester United FC Astana Fk Partizan AZ Alkmaar Very long trip to Kazakhstan unfortunately (7000mi r/t!). And another one to Serbia, which is never easy either...
IMO our best shot at CL football ... Things may change if likes of Dortmund or Inter fall from CL basket..
EL games dates have been set: -Man Utd vs FC Astana - 19 September -AZ Alkmaar vs Man Utd - 3 October -FK Partizan vs Man Utd - 24 October -Man Utd vs FK Partizan - 7 November -FC Astana vs Man Utd - 28 November -Man Utd vs AZ Alkmaar - 12 December Not the worst thing for the long trip to Kazakhstan to be sandwiched between Sheffield United away and Villa at home. The game to Belgrade follows Pool at home and is prior to Norwich City away. Kind of caught a break there, with 2 difficult or long trips for Thursday games.
sadly this is our reality. we can't even predict our own results anymore. you'd really have thought Huddersfield, rubbish ass Huddersfield would be the one game to arrest the slide at the end last season. nooooope
That's true but the over arching point is that the way the games are setup (the away ones particularly), Ole will have the opportunity to rotate more, in order to keep some key players fresh. Most EL games in the group stage should be about resting our top players anyhow, while giving opportunities to fringe and young ones in the process...
The Smalling, Alexis and Darmian deals show why we need a DoF. So much lack of coherent vision and long term planning.
How do you figure that? I think the direction is pretty clear. Sanchez, not good enough for his wages and is a distraction. Darmian, bad luck here that he couldn't figure it out. Smalling treated the ball like a live grenade and was a positional nightmare. Jones, if he's been fit for more than five games, is better than Smalling. The problem with Jones is that he's never ********ing fit for five games even. Ole would rather play Axel 3rd with Bailly as 4th, Jones 5th, Rojo 6th and 3rd LB. Lindelof and Maguire are both good starting CBs. That's fine.
Add in Rochdale at home in the Carabao Cup on the 25th to our league games for this month (West Ham is our only away game this month). We really should be going 9 for 9 in our league fixtures to get us back on track (and dispose of Rochale in the League Cup). But as things are, anything (including the worst) could happen in those 3gms. A reaction on the team's part following the intl break is a must.
We lost to Crystal Palace at home. This team is a prime candidate for relegation or just outside it. I don't take anything for granted.
Why do they put players that won’t feature on the posters? Fred the Red will spend more time on the pitch at Old Trafford than the actual player Fred.
I was listening to the latest Howsen video today while at work. For those that dont know, hes basically a United superfan but he sometimes has good guests and gives decent interviews. Anyway, He was talking with Simon Wadsworth about all the problems with United and of course he listen all the usual shit like Woodward, our lack of quality, not supporting the managers transfer targets, etc. etc. But one thing that stood out when they were talking was our huge lack of character, which is a great point. There's no accountability in the team. As an example, if Keano was still playing and he saw Rashford take multiple hollywood shots from 35 yards out he would chew his ass to pieces and then that shit wouldnt happen again. Same goes for if another team was continuously fouling Dan James, we wouldnt just let that shit keep happening, Keano/Robbo/Ince would wreck one of thier players to let them know that it wont go unanswered. We were a team that could play you off the pitch but if you wanted to scrap we would give you a fight. Those days are long gone. Besides lacking quality, we're soft. We have giant hole when it comes to leadership. Theres a reason why nobody can easily name who should be captain, because we dont have any that are deserving when you look back at the previous United captains. The only guys I see in the team that are mentally in the right mind are Maguire, Young, McT, and James and not all those guys have the quality to be a starter for United. This isnt the most pressing problem at United but its just another sign of how far weve fallen and how broken we are at every level right now. The one positive I can take away is that the guys we brought in this summer seem to have closer to the right mentality and hopefully they were targeted partly for that reason. I hope that maintain that mentality and not let the rest of the losers in our squad rub off on them.
Given our lack of transfer business and squad issues, only way we improve from here with what we have is to start giving Mason Greenwood (our only natural finisher) some time through the middle and Pogba (our only creative midfielder) some time further forward with some midfield cover behind. In attack I just don't see Rash or Martial consistently scoring enough poacher goals, so Mason has to start getting some minutes through the middle. In midfield I just don't see enough creativity from Lingard, Mata, McT, AP etc. Pogs is all we have quality wise, but against low-block teams he is not far enough forward to properly affect the games. Having a #10 in his space in front is not helping and having oppo midfielders all over him in possession (because we only have a 2 man mid) is not helping either. Ole has not been left much to work with, but he needs to stop being so loyal to the likes of Lingard and Mata. He also needs to be prepared to abandon a system that needs a #10.
Not disagreeing but what current team has a player in that mold? Say on Liverpool or City? Not sure if Claire's in that mold are around anymore. Character I think comes in a different form in the modern-day player, yes? Again not disagreeing with your post
I get what you're saying, but I don't think a player has to be a complete hardass like Keano to be a general and vocal leader. You still see Young give guys a lashing for stupid playa but it doesn't carry the same weight because he himself just made 3 bad plays. Pool and City both have that type of person around, there names are Pep and Klopp. Fergie did it as a last resort but had guys like Keano in the team to do it for him before it reached a point where he needed to lay into someone. I'm not saying we need a Keane type that the other players are afraid of, but we need a vocal leader that's looked up to and some guys like Scholes and Giggs that were quieter but led by example. We don't really have either of those in the team. Closest to a vocal leader is probably Maguire and he doesn't have the seniority to command that respect yet.
Those type of big personalities may be more rare in the modern game, but big teams still have players of the sort. Whatever we may think of Pool or City alone, wouldn't mind having guys with Milner, Henderson or Fernandinho's mental makeup and mettle. Ramos can still be considered that type as well: big time alphas who can just impose their will and throw their weight around in a team and on the pitch.. As mentioned, those players are of rare breed now, but IMO I believe it's more cyclical than anything else. You can't really suppress personality and if we're not seeing as many right now, it's simply because there aren't many players who offer the combination of talent (even at a base level), with an A-type personality. At least, at this time, but we'll no doubt see such a player emerge at some point down the line..
Milner and Henderson for sure. Company b4 he retired. Klopp and Pep is a good point. Ogs may very well be ruthless behind the scenes but the impression I get on field is he needs more toughness
Ole strikes me as the type of boss that wants to be everyones friend and just one of the guys. I'm not a fan of that style. He doesnt have to be a dick but there needs to be that level of fear. Fergie was seen as a father than you dont want to disappoint and definitely dont want to face his wrath.
Jezes fcuking chryst. Some gems in this piece on the official Manchester United site: https://www.manutd.com/en/news/deta...rt-has-been-better-than-our-position-suggests
I mean, that's facts. Our underlying data is among the best in the league. That data is just not translating and that's been the case since Feb. 27th. --- Funny that anyone brings up a post about character in this squad and doesn't mention the obvious spineless wank in the middle of the pitch. Every time he steps away he makes remarks about leaving. He has his family squawking. He has his agent squawking. People wanted to pump up his alleged professionalism on tour, but the reality is we had him sequestered and didn't allow him to answer media questions. But sure, let's blame Rashford because he has 2-4 shots from long range this season (because that's obviously a character flaw...). Let's just forget that Pogba's defensive lapses have cost us vital goals in the past two games - both lazy defensive mistakes. Once caught dribbling, once didn't even try to mark his man on a corner - at the near post no less - giving him a free header that we ultimately conceded from when we failed to get shape back after DDGs initial good work. Pogba is who Keane would have gone after - or have you forgotten (selectively ignore) his comments as a pundit already? I swear to Christ. Maybe listen to the voices you're trying to invoke instead of projecting your own feelings onto them.