08 Aug 2019 08:49:15
I tend to be a glass half full man. But it is always prudent to look at any and all potential negatives and weaknesses and not just dismiss them as 'just being negative'
In order to analyse the main potential negatives raised and from reading posts that tent to be a lot more negative than mine and below ill try to put the concerns of many respected posters into 5 main points.

1. There is a feeling that our midfield options are even weaker than last season fooling herrera and fellaini departures and no incomings. This is further compounded by pogba being very clear that he wants to leave but is being forced to stay against his will.

Even as a positive poster we must accept that this is the worst midfield options any of our mangers have had to choose from for over 30 years.
I have to conceded this point.

2. We are going into the seadon without a consistent proven epl cf.
To my mind greenwood is the only natural striker in the squad and he has hardly kicked a ball for the 1st team.
Again its hard not to accept this as a negative and its really only blind faith that martial sancez and rash will score enough.

3 ole is out of his depth.
Yes its a big step up for him a massive step up. Only time will tell.

4. The owners don't invest. They have spent nearly a billion in last few years on players. A lot of that spend was fine badly but that's not their fault.

5. Poor recruitment strategy.
That's a fact throughout the club had been for years.
Woodward and co are amature in their approach to player recruitment. It has to change. The structure is not fit for purpose

Its folly to ignore these negatives or shout people down for raising these genuine concerns.
Ok the hyberbole the end is nigh posts are OTT but there are serious issues that have not been addressed.

Its ok to talk about the negatives. I see them as just another set of challenges to face.


1.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 09:27:32
Ken you need to chill, you need to take a prozac, stop with your doom and gloom we are going in the right direction after all. But all jokes as i agree with all the above except 4.

The glazers appointed their mate to a job he is clearly not qualified for, the money spent badly wasn't spent as such by managers as by woodward. If you look at the truly big signings that managers wanted and got, martial, mata, pogba, lukaku. Most while haven't worked out as well as you and I would hope but none really turned out to be bad investments, except for mata we can get most of our money back on others if they were sold today.

LVG and Mourinho both have spoken about or leaked to press that most of the signings made weren't their first choice or in many cases even their second, heck if lvg is to be believed he did not want di maria and falcao was 6th or 7th choice on the list.

The glazers absolutely deserve criticism for appointing an idiot whose only strategy seems to be whoring the club out to any company that can pay, there is a reason why most football clubs don't have noodle and mattress and a tyre sponsor, it is cheap money that does nothing but dilute your brand value, short term gain for long term loss.


2.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 09:32:11
On the midfield options it is clear we have moved to a two man midfield with a number 10 as opposed to the three man midfield we played last season.

For those two spots behind the number 10 we have pogba, mctominay, matic, pereira, garner and fred. Hardly a shortage of numbers in that position, you can clearly dispute the quality of those players.

But if ole thinks mctominay is a first teamer and pogba is going to stay then we are hardly short in midfield.


3.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 10:01:22
How is pogba being kept against his will? No one has really come in for him .
I can remember having cm option of an aging Scholes, Smith Gibson fletcher and Liam Miller.
Or when cleverly was first choice, along side a 40 year old giggs .
Cleverly or pogba? Should we start a poll.
Remember the uproar about rooney playing cm? He was our best option at the time.

Blind faith in rashford or martial? Or ability to spot a good player?

Owners don't invest, as is said above we have spent a fortune.

Poor recruitment, 100% buying fan favourite like bastion Zlatan etc at the expense of building a team was a joke. This year feels like a fresh start with a clear plan.


4.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 10:03:30
DSG, I think we are short purely in terms of the creativity that the team would lack. Too much onus on a player who apparently doesn't want to be at the club.

In games that he decides to go missing, who will create those chances?


5.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 10:14:42
Dsg numbers are not the issue we have too many bodies actially not enough quality.


6.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 10:40:11
Pogba has told the club he wants to leave and the club have not facilitated that. They have had offers.
Rooney was never our best option for midfield jred imo
So if they are players you don't like its folly.
To be fair i would expect this type of rhetoric from you.


7.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 10:57:38
Ken we can't give him away.
Cleverly was part of our cm alongside Giggs and rooney and even Rafael.
Worst cm in 30 years is more hyperbole.
If rooney wasnt our best option at the time who was, and was he better than pogba.


8.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 11:35:05
Jred, we had actual midfielders at the club when rooney was here and he was awful In midfield truly awful.
Matic is on the decline but his experience will be vital at times can still do a job and as i said less starts may well serve him well.

Im not suggesting we give pogba away but if he is not happy and wants to go elsewhere like he said then the club should have sold him early imo. ed002 has told us there was a deal to be done at a good profit and fair price but we didn't e get those negotiations in the right manner and upped the price to an unreadonable level ergo forcing him to stay.


9.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 11:43:02
Ken but rooney was our cm option we now have pogba .
Cleverly was as was Giggs, intfact cleverly giggs rooney at one point where our cm options . Yet you arguing this is our worst midfield in 30 years .
Its hyperbole.


10.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 11:47:06
Pogba and his very outspoken agent have been very quiet of late ;) .
Things change.