16 May 2018 13:51:43
So we’ve moved on from bashing Jose, the manager who judges player selection on many things we do not see or know, with Martial and Rashford to Shaw.

Why not judge him by the players he will not drop ( De Gea, Matic, Lukaku and Young) for example and ask yourself why Shaw, Rashford and Martial are not in that list. Take away the excuses (he’s young, got potential) and see what is left. Simply not good enough. None of those would have been in the 1999 or 2008 starting line-ups. That’s the benchmark isn’t it?

Do we truly believe that if Martial and Rashford started every game we’d finished as high in the league? I for one don’t. Poor decision making and mental toughness. Argue about impact of Sanchez but he was bought for next year and has to start irrespective of form. Would SAF buying another centre midfielder have had the same impact on Keane, Scholes or Butt? No, they would have raised their game not dissolve like a snowflake in summer. Even Lukaku has to overcome Zlatan and did.

Let’s start stripping away the personal favouritism and emotion and judge team selections by the facts. Fact is Shaw has never been better than OK yet has been criticised by every manager he’s been managed by. However only Jose is wrong.

We’re treating Jose the same as SAF was during his first few years. Both are proven managers, ruthless and a winner. For christ’s sake give the guy a chance. Too many expect the proverbial silk purse from the pig’s ear. Jose is no Moyes or LVG and has earned the right to be given more time.

Jose, for all of his flaws, believes in the team over the individual. He believes in a system, and we have to acknowledge that that system has worked at every previous club - with periods of scintillating football at many of them. You do not lose that knowledge, coaching skill or ability.

Consider the fact that ‘coaching’ is a two-way relationship in any sport, with the ultimate responsibility for individual performance in the hands of the athlete. All Jose can do is judge that performance on a player-by-player basis, and if we assume that Jose isn’t purposely sabotaging performance, then assume that those that are dropped cannot be living up to his expectations.

Finally all this nonsense about Jose publicly outing the players, I say good, more of it. Any player that questions his ability or toughness to survive at Old Trafford under Jose will run a mile. We need players that want the biggest arena in front of the best supporters playing confident football. Time to trust Jose, trust his selections and his rants and trust his tactics are based on his level of trust in the players we have currently.

Roll on next year.

1.) 16 May 2018
16 May 2018 14:29:19
Timbo - the benchmark for player selection should be the squad and who else plays in your position within the squad. If you are performing better than other players in the squad then you should play - it seems that in recent years players who are big 'brands' play irrespective of form - gone are the days players are picked on form it seems.

I agree the overall quality of the squad is nowhere near what it was in years gone by, but it's the managers job to remedy that and he has a lot of money to do it.

I have no problem with a manager providing honest feedback after a game if he thinks it will help the players, I wouldn't do it if I were the manager though, but as a fan it's good to hear the feedback - that is if it were not slanted against easy targets or clearly showing one rule for some players and a different one for others. As our manager Jose will be backed irrespective by some people and slated by others - but he is not perfect and he is making a lot of obvious mistakes.

Jose has his way, I don't like it, but it is effective - it isn't effective enough anymore though as City have shown and Sevilla showed. Jose is reliable, but I don't want to be reliably behind the best and reliably boring to watch, with flamboyant risk/ taking players being sacrificed for steady eddies.

Most of us know what to expect next season. A few hundred million extra may make us get more points, but for that type of investment I'd expect much better football and a much tighter race for the title and CL.

2.) 16 May 2018
16 May 2018 14:40:57
I think pogba has been poor to honest defensively he is a liability.

3.) 16 May 2018
16 May 2018 14:45:07
Good post Timbo although I'm not convinced public criticism is the best approach. I understand your argument but I'm not sure that tactic could ever work with already fragile characters.

If some players don't have the required mentality or character to play for Utd or they can't accept or are unwilling to follow the managers instructions then sell them and buy players that can.

I understand football is a tough, ruthless and unforgiving sport, where managers need to make decisions and use every tool in the book in order to try and motivate players from all different backgrounds and nationalities but there is no reason why this can't be done with respect and humility.

I think we've held on to certain players for too long, letting them go stale and become demotivated when it would be best for all concerned to just go their separate ways and re build their career.

4.) 16 May 2018
16 May 2018 14:56:10
Timbo I’m a Liverpool fan so take this anyway you want. You’ve listed a lot of players who you say aren’t good enough for your 99/ 08 squads. I’ll go one further and say none of your players are good enough for the teams you mentioned with the exception of DDG and even that’s debatable. Would you really pick Matic over Keane or Young over Irwin/ Evra or Lukaku over Rooney. Players like Martial and Rashford aren’t improving because of Jose’s negative tactics. They seem to spend more time closer to their own goal than the opponents.

5.) 16 May 2018
16 May 2018 15:03:42
Beast, taking risks and being stupid are not the same. if you run at players when its plain to see that you won't succeed in getting through (that Mr Rashford and Mr Martial do) that's stupid not risky. What Pogba does is risky when he plays those long balls or through balls over the top for Lukaku.

6.) 16 May 2018
16 May 2018 16:03:19
UA how different is it when the 500k man does the exact same thing as 2 kids, atleast the 2 have an excuse what is Sanchez's excuse? Never heard him being called out in media.

7.) 16 May 2018
16 May 2018 16:57:22
Theres a difference because the 2 you are saying have been doing it for 3 years straight while the 500m man has been doing it for 3 months. there's the difference.

8.) 16 May 2018
16 May 2018 17:00:58
Pogba needs to fix up or he just needs to be shifted he is costing the club a lot of money which could be used elsewhere.

9.) 16 May 2018
16 May 2018 18:52:04
When called on Shaw has played well this year, not sure why he then gets immediately dropped.

10.) 16 May 2018
16 May 2018 19:37:16
Ajh
He gets dropped because young has played well and probably has the shirt at the moment .
Truth is people go on about our problem lb position but both young and Shaw have done well.