Manchester United Banter

22 Apr 2024 21:46:06
Just wondering.

I know Ruben Amorim has apparently made his way to London for talks with West Ham, I wonder if there's any chance he'll have talks with anyone else planned?

22 Apr 2024 23:20:17
It seems a strange one or perhaps he and Liverpool member spoke or saw eye to eye and Liverpool backed off.
It's impossible to know.
I don't watch sporting at all but he is highly regarded by many.
It could be an inspired move by west ham if they can pull it off.
It will be interesting to see if he does move to the epl how he gets on. Some guys just have it and if he is one of them West ham will see great benefits.
I know he likes to play 3 cbs and they don't really have 1 good one so he'll have plenty of shopping to do. ☺.

23 Apr 2024 07:19:46
Could be a good move and one that helps us long run if/ when ETH goes. A couple seasons at West Ham getting to understand the Premier League, developing his reputation (although West Ham fans have very high standards) then may come a point we look at him. Easier to get him from West Ham than Liverpool I’d imagine.

23 Apr 2024 09:17:31
Not sure we want him ports. We can't afford to wait we will have no manager come July.

23 Apr 2024 09:40:07
I was thinking more longer term Ken. They way football works now there seems to be a 3/ 4 year turn around with managers. If ETH goes, I can see Tuchel for 2/ 3 years maybe then perhaps we'd look at Amorim. I don't know enough about him apart from he's rate, just feel Premier League is a different beast so to get him in now would be a risk for United I feel. Be interesting to know what happened with Liverpool and him.

23 Apr 2024 10:47:11
Yeah it will be interesting to see ports if they stick or twist. I'm hoping twist as you know.
I'm not sure if he is totally out of the picture with Liverpool. It's so hard to know.
If they have decided they are not for each other it could be down to a load of reasons.
I know he implemented 3 at the back perhaps Liverpool don't see their squad and future that way.
Can't wait till 31st Aug but will enjoy the ensuing carnage between now and then.

23 Apr 2024 12:30:24
I'm not really sure it's such a good idea to bin off a manager because he hasn't done it in the PL.

I mean, Klopp hadn't done a thing in the PL before his arrival and was hardly coming from a team dominating their league for years.

Come season's end, Amorim will have likely picked up his second Primeira Liga title which makes him, on paper, a better candidate for an ambitious club than Klopp was.

Furthermore, ten Hag had a far better 'on paper' record than both before he came to United, but we all know the dynasty that delivered him his success at Ajax was developed at academy level which wasn't really his achievement alone.

Where ten Hag has seemingly failed with what he's brought to United's table, Klopp oversaw a structure refinement with a feelgood fluffiness to Liverpool.
That was part of Liverpool's plan, or perhaps just that of John W Henry. Klopp wasn't the first choice for most Liverpool fans, but they warmed quickly to the enigma they saw before them.

The point is, at Liverpool they had a co-owner who wanted to establish principles that fit his blueprint for success - he just needed the right coach. Klopp was that man.

Whatever the choice of SJR, whether that be stick or twist with anyone from Southgate to Amorim, we need to perhaps commit faith in a plan. Yes, a plan which is, so far, putting pegs in the correct holes.

I know Amorim likes 3 at the back, but we're apparently looking at Joao Neves. He arguably plays best as part of a double-pivot, which wouldn't work at United with the current setup.
We're apparently looking at Frimpong again, he'd be a poor option imo for a back 4.

As it stands, we only know what we know. The media can throw out whatever names they want, but they won't know anything concrete either.

I've seen my beloved club become a shambles because of an ownership and management structure full of yes men who think only about commercial status.
Now I am seeing the arrival of a sporting structure and a plan - a blueprint for success introduced by a committee of winners, both in business and in sport, headed by a lifelong fan.

I don't think ten Hag is the answer, imo Southgate would be an appalling choice, I think Potter and Amorim would each be decent options for different reasons, but I don't know the finer details of the INEOS plan so my opinions are of no value.
Whatever the decision, whoever we start next season with, SJR and the INEOS blueprint will have my support because, well, it could be worse.

22 Apr 2024 20:09:48
Hopefully if EtH leaves at the end of the season, he leaves having won the FA Cup.

No fan should want any less for him.

I'm must admit I'm very frustrated like you all. I can't wait to see what happens in the summer.

This has been a season to forget.

22 Apr 2024 23:29:46
100% agree to that.
He has failed in certain aspects of his job but done well in others.
If he were to leave I don't think many would regard him as a disaster or failure.
He at worst will leave with a 3rd place at least 1 cup and 3 finals
2nd league season and both European campaigns were total flops.
But with all he has had to deal with he would and imo should be respected for his time here if not overly fondly remembered. He came into a nuthouse to be fair and I think tainted himself and has been tainted badly enough to want to start a new era with a new man at the helm.
Nice guy but too many ingredients missing to be the man imo.

22 Apr 2024 11:03:57
I must admit I missed it after the game yesterday but i see that Anthony is taking a load of flak for cupping his ear towards the Coventry players at the end of the shootout.
I've seen the footage and pics this morning.
Seems to be a story out of nothing. I agree it was not very humble in the moment and it lacks class.
But like a lot of fans a lot of players are pretty stupid, uneducated and unnecessarily hostile and a lot of them do lack or certainly display a lack of class and decency on a weekly basis.

22 Apr 2024 11:15:40
All the focus is on Antony because he's a Manchester United player. Had it gone the other way and a Coventry player did it, no one would have even cared or commented.

No one knows whether one of them had said something to him during the game and it was a reaction.

It's just media garbage making everything about United because they have nothing else to talk about.

22 Apr 2024 11:30:25
Ken, couldn't agree more. It's not my cuppa tea if i'm honest but I've seen a lot worse over the years. Also, people acting like Coventry are a bunch of part timers, 2 of their players are on £25,000 a week, nearly made it to the Premier League last season, most of their lads will have been at higher level clubs at some point. I reckon they'll be ok, not sure why we continue the need to be offended for other people.

I was more cheesed off that Hojlund scored the penalty and only Eriksen went up to him!

22 Apr 2024 12:57:27
I’ve seen bits that he only did that in reaction and aimed to Haji Wright who did it to the Utd fans after his penalty.

Yes it’s classless, but it’s also a whole story of nothing.

22 Apr 2024 13:06:33
Ports

I picked that up, Hojland sticks away a massively high pressure penalty yet the players didn’t bother celebrating with him. Not sure I have seen anything like it.

22 Apr 2024 13:16:38
Didn’t a Coventry player put his hand to his ear after scoring his penalty? Where is the uproar?

22 Apr 2024 13:34:05
It was a daft thing for Anthony to do but it's just as daft if anybody tries to make a story out of it.
One things for sure, it wasn't eth's fault.

22 Apr 2024 15:03:32
The reason most of the players didn't run to celebrate was because most of them went straight to the Coventry players to console them. I thought that showed class apart from that clown Antony.

22 Apr 2024 15:56:50
If they had all ran off celebrating i’d have thrown the remote through the tv. Scraping through on penalties after being 3-0 up to Coventry. They should have been ashamed and probably were a little bit hence the lack of real celebration.

Antony put his hands to his ears though? So what. The Coventry players were probably calling him all sorts whilst he was on the pitch, and rightly so he’s pretty sh*t, but if they were then you have to expect some kind of reaction from him at some point. He didn't headbutt anyone .

22 Apr 2024 17:57:21
Anthony is one of the worst players I've seen in last 25 years-and seems to be a bit of a moron - but if he wants to cup his ear to the fans that were booing and shouting insults at him as oppostion fans tend to do then no problem.

Little has been made of the Coventry keeper also mouthing off at each United player as they were getting ready to take a penalty. just got to be proffessional enough to rise above it.

22 Apr 2024 21:09:35
Brendan, it wasn’t really about celebrating the win though for me, it was more about a young lad who’s been working his sock off for the team scoring an important penalty with a lot of pressure on and turning round to see no one! Felt like it just showed a disconnect within the team.

22 Apr 2024 00:25:19
Agreement has been reached with Ipswich for Sam Williams to take up his position with us as Head of Emerging Talent. He will take up his position in June.

The changes continue.

22 Apr 2024 08:44:47
Based on what I have read this move seems to fit with what the club are looking to do and the structure they are looking to put in place. It will likely take a while to see the fruits of all this work but the club are ensuring we have the right people in place to improve the team now, as well as develop for the future.
Hopefully we will be looking at a brighter next few years.

21 Apr 2024 22:19:56
It looked to me that he took Garnacho off to reaffirm his authority rather than for any tactical football reason. The team then looked bewildered and lacking any confidence in what he was doing, then he took Mainoo off and they just thought we are managed by an idiot.

Parcel it up how you want but the manager is incompetent.

Yes we got through but when Rasmus scored the penalty to take us through where were the players running to the fans? Embarrassed and utterly lacking team spirit. That is what Ten Hag has done, not shown the discipline he thinks but destroyed all cohesion and team spirit.

21 Apr 2024 22:50:34
Red Man the players on the pitch should be good enough to see that through. I've said it time after time that I have no idea how to judge ETH, but I am very clear that there is a cohort of players there that are either not good enough or have awful attitude. Years of dreadful recruitment and contracting practices have led to this.

22 Apr 2024 00:33:42
It’s barely been two weeks since a big thread about the manager needs to manage Mainoo’s minutes.

It was 3-0 and looked over when Garnacho came off. It was the right thing to do.

22 Apr 2024 01:43:07
We played against a weakened championship team. We had 11 players on the park everyone of which, on paper, is superior to the team we played and yet were shown the way with desire, passion, effort and belief.

How can 11 internationals not have the ability to outplay and out perform Coventry.

Don't give me this inconsistent selection claptrap. Against that opposition, regardless of the 11 on the park, they should be able to walk it and yet served that rubbish up yet again.

I was firmly on the give ETH a go bus but have long since come to the conclusion that he is out of his depth. The tactical lack of sense and the rubbish he speaks in his conferences is evidence enough that he cannot and will not cut it at United or indeed any top UK teams.

We cannot afford to keep sacking managers. Hell I’d be the first to shout that from the rooftops but we cannot go forward with this one at the helm or we will be royally screwed for his tenure and another 5 years from that.

22 Apr 2024 01:44:34
Is sportsmanship getting worse in this game. Martinez then Onana and Antony. Kids will copy this nonsense.

22 Apr 2024 04:41:39
Game management at 3 0 shouldn't be a problem against a championship team, we couldn't even do it against Chelsea in injury time.

22 Apr 2024 06:39:57
Garnacho subbed v Liverpool v Chelsea v Coventry, coincidence?

DonRed, yes but it looks to me like they see what the manager decides, and realise it is dumb or stupid, the tactics dumb or stupid and are half hearted because they see the favouritism towards Rashford. They should be able to control a game against a Championship outfit but they are also human and clearly look like they lose motivation by not believing what the manager tells them any more. Players need selling but the problem will persist because ETH looks clueless and it will affect new players. In fact the existing players will probably tell new players not to come near while this manager is in charge.

22 Apr 2024 08:04:17
Red Man, it could be that the kid is 19 years old and has started 33 consecutive matches and probably needs to have his minutes managed to avoid injury/ burn out.

22 Apr 2024 08:47:49
We took Mainoo off as it went to 3-1. Common sense says give it 5-10 mins and take the sting out of it.

He comes off and it’s open season on our goal.

With nothing left to play in the league we should be starting to rotate massively now and give some chances to some kids, Amad etc.

22 Apr 2024 09:09:17
Mainoo for eriksen is just crazy when the other midfielders are mctominay and Bruno and you've got Casemiro in defence. who's going to defend? Who's going to chase? Just opened it up. I don't hate ten hag but he's making very very strange decisions consistently now, but not like different decisions he's making the same ones repeatedly it's crazy.

22 Apr 2024 09:14:21
So, let's put some perspective on this, you don't have to like the tactics, you don't have to like the manager but if you are going to put the blame solely on ETH then let's look at what his tactics have done, 1-0 lead in the 96th Minute v Brentford, 3-2 lead from 2-0 down in the 97th minute v Chelsea, 2-1 lead v liverpool into the 84th minute, 3-0 lead in an FA Cup semi final in the 70th minute. Yet, Red Man believes that because he took of a 19 year old academy player who doesn't yet have 2 full season under his belt, Onana, international footballer who's played in a champions league final, Maguire, international footballer who played in a Euro 2020 final, Casemiro, international footballer, 5 x champions league winner, Eriksen, Fernandes, Rashford, all international footballers have all bricked it during these games they couldn't see out the result?

ETH has made many mistakes, he may not have the team playing the way we all want but if these players can not professionally see out games when they have been leading, there's a bigger issue than ETH.

22 Apr 2024 09:42:26
Shappy

Come on it was obvious why ETH took Garnacho off yesterday and it was not to have his minutes managed. It was clearly ETH exercising his authority. Pathetic. Would not surprise me to see Garnacho unsettled if the manager stays. The players will look at the manager allowing Rashford to swan around and will not have any faith in his decisions. Garnacho is one who does put effort in and does run, it’s numbing to watch our manager trying to assert himself on to a 19 year old who to date has given his all on the pitch. Ten Hag has to be booted out even if he wins the cup.

22 Apr 2024 09:56:57
I don’t think anyone is trying to take away from the players Ports.

The players deserve criticism. However, we are never set up to really control a game. We constantly look for transitions. The midfield gets vacated.

In the games listed above- Brentford was a disgrace. 1-0 lead had nothing to do with tactics. We should’ve been 5 down. Liverpool game the same, but he made subs to invite pressure in an attempt to see it out. Chelsea game, we did the same, should’ve conceded 5/ 6 again. We’ve rode our luck and should be much further down the table.

Maybe the players should ignore the plan and just change up to see the game out their way? I don’t think these players have downed tools this season. They’re working and a lot of them are running themselves into the ground every week.

22 Apr 2024 10:06:17
Players get injured in training and it’s the managers fault.

Players get brought off for a rest at 3-0 / 3-1 and it’s the managers fault.

If Mainoo or Garnacho would’ve stayed on and picked up an injury, and been out for 4 weeks, you can bet your bottom dollar the dinosaur double act would be moaning and blaming the manager for that as well.

22 Apr 2024 10:46:19
No offence, but those players brought on, with all due respect to Coventry who were fantastic, should have been more than good enough to see out the last 20 minutes. He brought off 2 kids who've played a lot of minutes, probably believing that at 3-0 and 3-1, the players at his disposal were enough to see the game out, and they should have been.

I deal with the hindsight committee in work every morning. It's a wonderful quality to possess. Talk of 'making a point' or 'punishment' for Garnacho are way off the mark in my opinion.

22 Apr 2024 11:06:26
Nou

Leaving Rashford on. What message did that send to the team?

22 Apr 2024 12:17:53
They're all international level, experienced EPL players, Red Man. They should be professional and do what they're paid very well to do.

22 Apr 2024 13:44:26
Nou
Yes but they are human and being demotivated by what is being done.

22 Apr 2024 16:52:47
Red man, I think it is a case of you seeing what you want to see and not what is there.

You say it was "obvious" why he took Garnacho off yesterday, yet he's subbed him many times before the social media post.

I suppose its "obvious" that EtH has issues with Mainoo as well as he subbed him off.

Maybe he did sub him off to make a point, yet historically EtH has made a point with players by dropping them entirely or removing them from the squad. Like he did with Garnacho last season when he was late during pre-season, or with Rashford when he was late, or by removing Sancho from the squad entirely when he refused to apologise after his social media posts.

So you'd assume that if EtH wanted to prove a point he'd have dropped Garnacho entirely, like he has in the past.

EtH is strict, yet he's also been quick to forgive. If you apologise for your transgression it tends to be water under the bridge. The fact Garnacho unliked the posts within hours suggests it was just the emotions of a young man that got away from him. As soon as he cooled down he retracted it. I'd imagine he apologised and as such he was selected for this game.

EtH has consistently subbed off both Garnacho and Mainoo in recent weeks, which tends to suggest its probably more about managing minutes.

Garnacho was subbed off with us 3-0 up and we should have been cruising. As Nou points out above we had more than enough quality and experience to manage the game, players with winning pedigree, huge experience in the game, playing at the highest level.

We shouldn't have needed to score any more, therefore it was a perfect opportunity to give a 19 year old who has started 34 consecutive games a rest. To manage his minutes. To protect him from injury or burn out.

If you want to pick a hole in his subs then I think taking off Mainoo a minute after we conceded the first goal is a far bigger mistake then trying to rest Garnacho. Although to be fair I'd imagine that decision was made and communicated to the BEFORE they scored. Personally though I'd still have been tempted to keep Mainoo on for another 5 minutes to just allow things to settle. That said Eriksen coming on for him should have more than enough experience to handle seeing out a two goal advantage for 20 minutes against a championship side.

The bigger issue here is that if senior pro's with UCL winners medals, league titles, domestic cup winners, and experience of playing in international finals need two 19 year olds with less than 18 months experience between them to hold their hands through a game with a Championship side. Well then we might as well sack the entire squad bar Mainoo and Garnacho and start again.

22 Apr 2024 21:04:27
Shappy

I can see exactly what is there. I can see how the heart of the players drops when the manager makes yet another blooper.

Team dynamics are important, members of the team can feel let down when one of the team are a scapegoat or are favoured, or they feel someone isn’t pulling their weight and get away with it. I have seen players say stuff it, stop listening to the manager, because they no longer believe in the direction.
It looks like that, see it don’t see it, it happens. Just because they have medals doesn’t mean they have to believe in the cause, they clearly don’t.