Manchester United banter 3

16 Apr 2024 07:39:08
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Liverpool v Crystal Palace - A Quick Liverpool Perspective

16 Apr 2024 19:22:13
Jeez Ed. God knows what would happen if you review United!

16 Apr 2024 03:15:08
Interesting to see Liverpool fans starting to turn on Klopp after just a handful of bad performances. We've been terrible since last January, yet there are still people on here who'd rather blame everything but Ten Haag for our abysmal performances.

I'm not saying that the way that our club has been run since David Gill left hasn't been shambolic, but pretty much all of the issues that Ten Haag has had to deal with are ones that his predecessors also faced. If anything, I'd say he's been backed much better than any of our post-SAF managers when it comes to transfers. They were still able to implement their own styles of play, even if not all of those styles were effective or entertaining to watch.

16 Apr 2024 05:25:27
redseven

What clag you're chatting.
Ronaldo?
Sancho?
Greenwood?
Sale/ investment?

Not one of his predecessors has dealt with the current pressures relevant to any of that, not one.
While I have resigned myself to the reality that he won't be here next season, he has had a very rough ride.

There are some on here who blame the players and the coaching staff for how abysmal this season has become.

16 Apr 2024 06:42:24
Ork

Ten Hag has caused some of his own problems with his inflexibility, lack of leadership skills, poor ingame management, tactics and what he says.

If he got his tactics right and we could see a pattern emerging he would have had an easy ride. He pushed for players he knew Antony, Malacia, Amarabat, players that made no sense Mount, he was given money and in Antony’s case too much. I no longer have any sympathy for him and after throwing ac19 year old under the bus he should have been fired yesterday.

16 Apr 2024 08:00:18
He, like most of us, is paid to do a job. He isn’t.

He tried and I wanted him to succeed but he is lacking in flexibility, severely lacking tactically, delusional in his comments and has started chucking young kids under the bus.

Sorry but I am firmly in the OUT camp.

16 Apr 2024 08:13:28
Redman

I'm not defending any of that, I'm just answering the BS claim that ten Hag has faced issues that were mostly encountered by his predecessors.
The 4 situations I mentioned and all of their respective complexities have been faced by not one of his predecessors - not one.

He has made some mistakes and deserves the criticism for them, but let's not all talk clag.

16 Apr 2024 10:11:28
Ork. Greenwood was arrested during Rangnick’s tenure, not Ten Haag’s. The lad was never once available for the Dutch disaster, so not like he suddenly had to adapt his non-existent strategy because of the loss. Even if he did, Ragnick also had to deal with this issue.

Ronaldo came in under Ole, who was then forced to find a way to shoehorn him into the starting eleven. The discontent and disruption caused by Ronaldo’s arrival cost Ole his job, so it seems fair to say that he had to deal with this issue. Ten Haag actually had a chance to solve the problem right after he got started, but opted to block Ronaldo’s departure, thus creating an even bigger for himself further down the line.

The Sancho issue was another one caused by Ten Haag. None of his predecessors had to deal with Sancho specifically, but we’ve had our fair share of problematic players over the years. Pogba and Di Maria immediately spring to mind. The former was seemingly backed over Jose, so again Ten Haag actually had it easy when compared to some of those who came before him.

As for recruitment, Ten Haag has been backed more than any of our managers since SAF left. By all accounts, most of our signings have been his choices, and although we are currently dealing with financial constraints that have left us thin in certain parts of the pitch, that’s in large down to us overspending on Ten Haag’s terrible targets. Had he not been too stubborn to work with Ragnick (who had identified plenty of cheaper and better players than the dross we’ve signed under Ten Haag) we wouldn’t be in this mess.

The only one talking “clag” here is you, fella.

16 Apr 2024 10:19:14
Think many Liverpool fans are questioning the timing/ need to announce Klopp's departure so quickly rather than anything else, which I can understand.

16 Apr 2024 10:27:19
Yeah I'm qu6ote sure when klopp leaves nobody will turn up.
Nonsense to say Liverpool fans are turning on him. The man is adored and rightly so after what he's done for the club.
If they only win the league cup fans will be a little discounted I'm sure but imo they are the 3rd best team.
I don't believe that they are turning on him at all. You will always get the odd idiot but klopps Liverpool legacy is very firmly intact as it should be.

16 Apr 2024 10:33:12
There will always be noise around the United manager. Always.
Eth has not had I think either than anybody else.
He created the ronaldo and sancho situations himself and had nobody else to blame for either imo.
I'm mot saying he necessarily did the wrong thing but he created and put oil on those fires imo.
The takeover was difficult for him I'm sure.
The Greenwood issue happened before he arrived
Eth has had the same issues and noise all united managers face.
He did OK with some and bits so OK with others imo.
Imo eth does not use the power of silence enough.

16 Apr 2024 10:41:39
Ken. A lot of people over on the Liverpool page are now saying that Klopp isn’t good enough tactically and that it’s time for a new manager. His substitutions are bad and it’s his fault that the strikers aren’t putting their chances away.

I think a big part of this is down to them trying to take the sting out of his departure and agree that his legacy will remain intact regardless of how the rest of the season goes, but the general tone over there is pretty negative considering they’re only two points off first place and still have a chance of winning a treble (I don’t think they’ll turn things around in Italy, but wouldn’t bet against it) .

16 Apr 2024 12:01:09
The booked stops with the manager, why so many apologists and clag chattery. The lack of accountability and responsibility in modern discourse is saddening. It’s ok to accept someone has failed, it’s not personal. ❄️

So many well put points highlighting EtHs shortcomings above. The man’s not done it, end of story.

16 Apr 2024 13:13:32
Tumble
The power of silence is apt. If ETH hadn’t commented on Sancho it would likely have not escalated and then throwing Garnacho under the bus just was uncalled for. I think he is under pressure and is throwing out excuses and blaming players. To do it to a 19 yr old who has run his bloody socks off for him has really annoyed me. ETH should have kept it shut and that outburst should have been the end of him or hopefully will be.

16 Apr 2024 13:35:56
Not too clever of garnacho either though redman.

I agree on eth it should be another nail in his coffin.

16 Apr 2024 13:50:00
Tumble

Agreed Garnacho should not have liked the tweets. Young angry and frustrated but should not have done it
If ETH drops him for the next game that will be a nail in his coffin as well. You wonder if ETH will just be tough and lack finesse in leadership after it. Needs to handle it carefully and sensitively and not with size 11 boots like he has, except for those that are his favourites of course. We shall see.

16 Apr 2024 14:50:15
Redman I read a theory that eth is looking for a row with garnacho that would enable him to play Anthony.
I don't buy into that at all but nothing would surprise me.
I can't imagine he will be dropped for the semi final so that eth can turn to Anthony.
I think that theory will be well and truly put to bed as BS at the weekend.

16 Apr 2024 18:40:46
Tumble

That would be extreme, can’t see that as such, however, maybe he can use the argument, look at Antony, so stable and reliable, does what I ask him.

I think we don’t know what ETH will do, he reacts aggressively so it wouldn’t surprise me to see Garnacho on the bench, with an excuse he is tired, the opposition are physical. Garnacho has been our out ball, he is being asked to get at the opposition defence, not have any cover whilst doing it, then has to make 80 yard runs to cover others that jog back.

I think on balance Garnacho will start, but if ETH takes him off again like he did last weekend, I suspect we may see the lad start thinking of Real Madrid, who will welcome him with open arms.

16 Apr 2024 20:15:05
redseven

Mate, understand what I'm saying about dynamics.

Greenwood was arrested during Rangnick's tenure and was swiftly suspended. The situation was, for the club, a set condition.
When the charges were dropped, ten Hag was in situ and has since had indecision from upstairs regarding the player - a dynamic that makes this situation unique to ten Hag.

Ronaldo, irrespective of what was said or promised before, decided to conduct that pathetic interview during ten Hag's tenure.
That situation is one that is unique to ten Hag.

You've avoided conceding how unique the Sancho situation is because you're instead conceding no leg to stand on.

Pogba had an argument with Mourinho on the training ground being filmed by a sneaky peeker - that's not a public fallout and therefore a very weak comparison.

Di Maria?
Mate, really? I'm not even going there.

At no point have I said he's not made mistakes, there's a litany of poor decisions, but there are incredibly pertinent dynamics being ignored.

No other manager in our history has had to deal with severe indecision at board level, plus all the subsequent complications, regarding a player who's had serious allegations of a violent nature dropped - not Rangnick or anyone else.

No other manager in our history has had a player dig out their manager and employers on a TV interview - not Ole or Rangnick or anyone else.

No other manager in our history has had their authority publicly challenged on a prime social media platform in the manner displayed by Sancho.

I'm not saying he didn't make things worse for himself, but he has had a rather unique set of complications to deal with.

Perhaps my suggestion that you're chatting clag was a bit bitey, but I 100% stand by what I've just written now - he's had a rough ride that categorically is not all his own doing.
I'm chatting facts - straight up, irrefutable facts.

I think the overarching point being missed is that there are all these managers - some with vast and glorious experience - who have found cliques of players who are perfectly happy to scorch the reputations of anyone who dares stand up to them.
That's not to say the managers have been faultless, but the common denominator is blatantly obvious - precious little runts who probably couldn't spell the word 'professional' throwing every toy they can to get their way.

The significant changes needed at the club do not end at the dugout.
Until the player-power culture has been eradicated there is no hope for any manager of Manchester United - there's another straight up fact.

Where we certainly do agree is on ten Hag's future at season's end - it won't be at OT.

16 Apr 2024 21:01:58
Difference between criticising ETH and Garnacho is that the former is a mature guy with decades of experoand the latter a young guy learning his trade. ETH should have censured Garnacho in private.

17 Apr 2024 09:59:19
Not true on a few of those points ork.
Your second paragraph sums you up. 'Understand what I'm saying'
Perhaps you are being understood but simply disagreed with.
Your not stating facts your staying your opinion.
Fergie had to deal with the abandoned takeover by Knight the the the plc move then the glazer takeover.
Fergie and ron atkinson had to deal with sexual assault allegations against their players Atkinson more than once and other domestic violence situations.
Arrest off the captain on the eve of a cup final and the Cantona debacle.
Fergie had to deal with a player undermining him in a tv interview.
No doubting Eric had a few tricky ones but that's life at united.
No leg to stand on ??? what in a simple post of an opinion??? you have no idea what cliques he has faced no idea at all not the foggiest clue. Fact.
Perhaps the players think your a runt for making too many assumptions that you have no idea about.
Who knows?
Eth has made his own bed on some issues and made it very well others he in my opinion had handled badly.
Like all managers of all clubs.
Ronaldo accused the club of slavery in fergies time. He was wrong then I think a lot of what he said about eth has come out as true.
You have opinions And you sate a couple of facts.
You are very steadfast on your opinion which is fine but they are not all facts and your linings are based on a lot of assumptions like all our opinions looking from the outside in.
Sancho situation was let get out of hand and escalated. That's as much the mangers fault as sanchos.

17 Apr 2024 10:04:55
Back in the day Busby had to deal with prison sexual and domestic violence issues too. Just like many am employer in any walk of life.
Just sayimg.

15 Apr 2024 12:53:35
I don't think the garnacho situation liking posts criticising eth is comparable to the sancho debacle.
I am not sure if he removed his 'likes' or left them up and we also don't know if he apologised to his manager for doing so or indeed if his manager asked him to.
I hope this is kept under control and not let escalate like the sancho episode.
We have a cup semi final at the weekend and that surely is the only thing that matters at the moment so I'm sure it won't derail preparations for that.
Looking forward to the Coventry game I'm sure we will see a positive reaction from at least some of the players.

15 Apr 2024 13:58:49
Regardless of the similarities I can't see for the life of me why players get involved on social media in this way. More often than not it's going to end in drama. In an unlikely alternative world where I'm an elite professional footballer, there are no newspapers or social media accounts anywhere near me. I guess it's down to the strength of the individual but I can't help but feel the mental state of half the population would be healthier without social accounts.

Looking forward to the semi final too. Some of my favourite memories of watching Utd in my youth were of Mark Robbins' breakthrough season, in particular an FA Cup semi-final I believe (inc replay) against Oldham on their infamous plastic pitch on which they were imperious. Classic times.

We're still heavy favourites but it's definitely a banana-skin and we're an accident waiting to happen.

15 Apr 2024 14:15:26
It seems like a non-story to me. A 19 year old lad has probably in the heat of the moment let his frustration get the better of him, and committed the grievous crime of "liking" a tweet or two that criticised the manager he was frustrated with.

He's then calmed down, probably had someone have a word with him and removed the likes.

Has he apologised? I dunno, I expect he probably has. But frankly that's between him and the manager.

It's typical media making a mountain out of a mole hill. Unfortunately I expect we'll have to endure plenty of these kinds of reports over the next month or two. The media smell blood in the water and know any stories about United are a sure fire hit. Making them their money, regardless of whether the story has any truth in it at all.

The Sancho situation was completely different. Sancho publicly criticised the manager and called him a lair, refused to remove the posted message, and refused to apologise.

Not only was Sancho's initially digression far worse as it was a public statement made with intent and in his own words, as opposed to simply liking something someone else posted. It was his subsequent actions that made the situation untenable. While Sancho was also a 24 year old man with far more life experience and should be far more grown up than the 19 year old Garnacho.

Expect these rumours to be a near daily thing, certainly after every game we fail to win, between now and when the decision to remove EtH is made official.

15 Apr 2024 14:25:14
Yeah spenno my 1st every live match was the 77 final.
Spenno a lot of the high profile players make more money off their social media accounts than they do playing football. It's the world we live in. It's how a lot of that generation communicate. Bizarre to you and me
Old dogs and new tricks springs to mind.
If you only knew how much some of them make for a few posts it would make your hair curl.

15 Apr 2024 15:41:16
Love the rumour mill, not difficult to keep us in the news at all.

15 Apr 2024 15:59:11
Don't get me wrong Tumble, I'm not quite in the senile bracket (yet! ) and have my own social accounts, but the thought of players playing a big game or finishing a long training session then immediately whipping out their phones to see where they've been mentioned baffles me.
By all accounts the latest suggestion is that it wasn't even the player himself but one of his 'team' who manages it. Dunno if any of that is true but I'd like to think if I was in a position of authority at a top club I'd be making sure all players and their entourages were a little more savvy on what to be doing under the club's name.

15 Apr 2024 16:36:37
Wondering if Sancho comes back once ETH moves on?

15 Apr 2024 17:33:39
I doubt it Eric that's from a footballing point of view only.

15 Apr 2024 19:37:56
You may be right Ken. That being said, all depends on the new style of football the DoF and coach want to follow. He may suit it…as might some of the other outcasts.

I have absolutely zero doubts in my mind anymore that ten Hag will be moved on in the summer.

15 Apr 2024 21:27:33
I don't see a way back for eth Eric. No doubting he has not had it easy but its never easy at United. I am totally putting my eggs in the sjr basket along with the new management team. It's all we can do in my opinion.

I won't like or agree with some of what they decide but that's OK imo.
That includes if they want to keep eth, sancho, Greenwood, rashford whomever.
The coach next year will have a very difficult job.

I've no idea what can and can't be done in terms of selling and buying players whilst taking SPR regulations into account. Costs have spiralled out of control and the need to reign them in is paramount.

Alonso took leverkusen from bottom of the league when he took over to champions in 2 years overtaking bayern and red bull spending less than 50% of what they did. More than 60% of his squad were bottom 2 years ago now they are invincibles.

The right coach can inspire and improve what we have until he can build his ideal squad in conjunction with the dof over 4 or 5 windows like klopp and arteta did.
I hear the argument that eth has not had the opportunity to work with them. 12 months earlier and he would have been in a better spot buy imo he has very badly fluffed his audition and seems to be making it worse at every opportunity.

15 Apr 2024 22:30:27
Tumbleweed, there’s too much to do in terms of player sales for us to turnaround that quickly. That dressing room has seen off multiple managers, it needs tearing up and rebuilding.

16 Apr 2024 00:09:27
Rewz I'm not suggesting we will become champions in 2 years if you think it will take more than 4 or 5 windows to clear out I'd be surprised. There is no doubt that between the next 3 windows 15 or 18 of the current squad will be gone with maybe 12 coming in.

16 Apr 2024 06:46:09
Rewz

The new DOF etc should deal with players deciding who should be playing for the club, the manager is a transitory employee, who has had ultimate power for too long. The club failed to change or realise when SAF retired, just thought it would continue and the manager would have power like SAF. Time for a head coach who will be judged on performance and not the mythical five years time when magically it all comes right.

16 Apr 2024 11:29:26
So much non sense being posted. no DOF decides who plays and who gets selected or who get subbed. Garnacho is out of order and should be benched. he has been poor for a few games since his return form the internationals and not tracking back. end of it. manager has every right to pull a player off. listen to yourselves. ridiculous stuff constantly posted here.

16 Apr 2024 13:24:13
Ah. af who has suggested the dof is in charge of substitutions or would have any role to play in them?
The manager has full right to take any player off or select them. Not sure who is disputing that?

16 Apr 2024 18:51:20
Ahmad

What? The coach will decide the team and substitutions etc, of course they will, no one said any different except allegedly one of the Glazers about martial. However, the DOF should and will have a say in the players bought and sold, made available to the coach a lot more than before. Yes they will coordinate with the coach, but it looks like they are moving away from an all powerful manager, and about time. We should judge the coach on how they perform coaching the team and players provided, as part of a long term plan, not changed at a managers whim.

As for Garnacho, I could not disagree more. Shambolic tactics, leaving midfield open, no player covering whilst the attacking player is forward. Casemiro is allowed to dawdle back, Rashford not even get a sweat and no one moves over to cover, Dalot asked to step up and inside, leaving Garnacho to run back 80 yards every time. Farce.

As to benched, no wonder there is clearly no team spirit whatsoever. No one will trust ETH to get anything right, and every game they see it more and more.

14 Apr 2024 22:58:56
It's been said before but unai emery really is a fantastic coach. There's no chance we could get him but he should be on any list we have. Everywhere he goes he has success (other than an unlucky stint at Arsenal), and his teams have a clear style and substance to them. I'm sure he's having a very good ebening tonight ?.

15 Apr 2024 07:09:32
But according to many on here, only months ago we have already got a fantastic coach, yes appears now many have changed there minds! Over a year ago I named the players who were not good enough that included AWB McT McG etc etc, I was given pelters again many have changed there mind. nice you finally woken up and smelled the coffee that ETH is out of his depth.

I was also given stick for questioning ETH demeanour also ability to fall out with everyone, you all said he was a disciplinarian and doing great at it. How’s that looking now?

These players are not as bad as you all say, they are just being told to play with a terrible game plan and tactics and awful coaching. A decent manager would get a lot more from them.

Bruno and Rashford are probably our best two players but you all fallen under this spell that they are rubbish, they are not rubbish it’s what they're being ask to do, same with Casermiro, he is hardly rubbish. but of course the lambs follow.

15 Apr 2024 07:38:45
I'll take Ross county's manager at this point.

15 Apr 2024 08:45:48
Romanian what nonsense about Rashford

He ain’t rubbish he’s absolutely useless and lazy and spineless

Yes ETH isn’t blameless.

15 Apr 2024 12:43:32
Brilliant post Romanian Maverick. On behalf of all of the posters on this forum, thank you for sharing your valuable insights with us, oh wise one.

It’s good to know that none of this is the players fault. I will take back anything I’ve said about Rashford’s work ethic and Martial’s laziness. Rangnick, Ole, Jose and LVG are all to blame. Damn those managers, it’s a miracle that they’ve managed to win league titles and champions leagues before they came to United.

Also thanks for the heads up on “McG”. I haven’t heard of him before, but will surely check him out.

15 Apr 2024 13:03:46
Wazza I think we got a couple of those managers a little past their sell by date in Jose and lvg.
None of our managers let go since fergie have won anything of note since they left and been fired from their subsequent jobs too. Of course only some of them even got another job.
I think it was right they were fired.
Jose did an OK job apart from that eth had a good 1st season.
Lots of our players that were deemed useless and toxic and sold have gone on to win titles and plenty of them.
I'd say the coaches were a bigger problem than the players. Their winning pedigree since their various departures would uphold that view somewhat imo.
I'm not suggesting that all the players are right for united but neither is the manager we have imo.

15 Apr 2024 17:40:42
Its a shame that sarcasm doesn't come through in a different colour font Ken.

15 Apr 2024 17:57:18
If you seriously think that ETH is this such a strong character and full of discipline, don’t you think for one minute he would drop Rashford if he was not doing exactly as ETH is telling him to do… maybe use some more brain power on thinking why he is picked for every game, I’m told he is the best trainer at the club, so hardly lazy!

BTW I said Sancho was an awful waste of money because his attitude…got that right too, even though one big poster on here told me time and time again I did not know what I was talking about he he is great and you even backed him up…. How that turn out!

15 Apr 2024 23:26:42
Wazza, sarcasm is in black text on this site.

16 Apr 2024 18:55:56
Romanian maverick

I didn’t want Sancho and said so on here, I suggested Ousmane Dembele, to much derision.

14 Apr 2024 17:10:18
Let's go through our team, Onana, has settled after a shake start, keep. Dalot, great attitude but not good enough at RB keep for now. Maguire sell, Lindelof sell, Varane sell, Kambala one for the future keep. Martinez keep. Shaw good when fit and can ply CB too as cover, keep. Malacia, looks promising keep. AWB, great tackle but poor positioning, squad player keep for now. Casemero and Ericsen past it, sell. Bruno great worker but needs to more disciplined, keep. Mount needs some game time, keep, Mainoo so much potential, keep. Garnacho, keep, Hojlund, potential keep. Antony good worker, keep for now. Then Rashford, just don't know, maybe another manager can get him back to his best, keep for now. McTominay a squad player, keep for now. ETH not up to it, sack. Along with the players out or loan injured (Sancho, DVB, Martial) we have about 8 -10 players to get rid of, hard to do in the summer but we need to get them out before we can rebuild with young hungry players. Big summer coming, hopefully.

14 Apr 2024 18:42:43
In all my four decades of following Manchester United, I've never seen a clear-out on the scale being spoken about by the majority of fans.
It always used to be a predictable couple in, couple out, maybe 3-4 each way lol.
But I agree. Lots to move on for various reasons, some more likely than others due to contract situations and salary demands.
The squad needs to be trimmed for sure. As for signings, we need at least 4-5 players able to start and play in whatever the style is.
The trouble is it's not clear who's going to be in charge, and therefore what that style or his requirements are.

14 Apr 2024 18:49:49
With international tournament and the changes above ten hag I just don't see there being that much change to the first team. So many fringe players to deal with that I can see a lot of these players back next season.

14 Apr 2024 18:53:46
I've seen Bournemouth Brentford and Brighton go though our team recon enough is enough.

14 Apr 2024 19:56:56
We need a massive reset and if that means a season of mediocrity but the big earners and wastrels have left it is a step in the right direction

We been absolute pony for 10 years so another season of mediocrity won’t make much difference

The first name who has to go is Rashford

If we got rid of Rashford Casemiro and Varane that’s a million pounds a week saved on wages plus Martial and Eriksen that’s another 400,000 a week saved

Sick to death of these players.

14 Apr 2024 21:11:29
Dalot - get rid. An absolute liability. Can't defend. No awareness of danger.

14 Apr 2024 21:18:54
Don't think there will be any takers Blackpool.
Perhaps Chelsea or arsenal but highly doubtful.

14 Apr 2024 22:14:34
Jodler I sometimes think the same then on other periods of form I also see some good attributes.
Tactically he is beings asked to fill in to cm when we attack so he is then not where he needs to be when play breaks down which it inevitably does due to everything being off the cuff so it leaves him badly exposed.
Garnacho took the wrap for it yesterday which may be the case in eths plan but the plan is not sustainable obviously. Its his style. It's his vision. It's the same sort of madcap defending that allowed spurs win a cl semi v his ajax team.

14 Apr 2024 22:18:52
Dalot out and anthony. and that keeper I don't care how much he improved he isn't good enough going forward. And the talk about Southgate surely Jim Bob has more sense I'd rather keep eth.

14 Apr 2024 22:37:23
Tumbleweed, Dalot does make some important positive contributions. He is a Premiership player after all so he must have some things going for him. But we have to remember that he is a right back. Full backs are required to be competent in many areas but their priority is to be able to defend. He just simply does not have a defender’s instincts.

15 Apr 2024 11:20:02
Funny how we all disagree on certain players. For now I'd keep the following. The rest can all do one as far as I'm concerned:

Onana
Bayindir
Dalot
Kambwala (send on loan)
Martinez
Mount
Mainoo
Garnacho
Hoijland.

15 Apr 2024 11:23:11
Dalot is a keep for me. He shows passion for the badge, puts effort in and is diverse enough to cover RB and LB if needed. Its unrealistic to expect an improvement in every position over the next few windows, so I would rather keep a player that wants to play and ship off the ones that don't.

In a more stable, consistent side I think he would be a lot better.

15 Apr 2024 12:01:06
I forgot to include Shaw although his injuries are becoming concerning.

15 Apr 2024 13:40:23
Jodler I agree on the instincts it's not natural for him. That's down to coaching I think.

15 Apr 2024 14:05:17
Shaws checked out again after being asked to lay off the maccy D’s.

15 Apr 2024 14:30:28
Mainoo, Garnacho and Højlund are the only one's I'd say definitely have a long term future at our club.

You then have players like Onana, Dalot, Martinez and Mount who I think probably have a long term future at the club, but due to varying issues from poor form, injury and question marks on where or how they fit in the team, means that they aren't dead certainties for me. Although all should be kept for the next couple of seasons or so.

You then have Rashford, Bruno and Shaw. Players who can be key players, but have either struggled for form or injury. These three should be kept for now, but very much next season should see them playing for their futures. Bruno turns 30 at the start of next season, so isn't a long term option. While Shaw turns 29 this summer and is likely to soon start to decline due to his game relying on his physical traits, they are also likely to decline earlier due to his injuries. So he isn't a long term option. Rashford could be here longer, but that might be because we can't find someone to take on his wages more than due to his performances and impact on the team. Although if he can get his head straight and back to his best form he can be one of the best forwards in the league.

That's 10 players who should be here next season, with 3 of them probably playing for their futures.

The rest need to be shipped out over the next couple of summers. Players like AWB, Maguire, McTominay and Antony will probably get a stay of execution as we can't shift everyone and while none of them are good enough, they can at least contribute to the side as squad options. Players like Amad and Malacia also probably stay yo see if they can get fit and prove themselves to be useful either at first choice or squad options.

That's another 6 taking it to 16 who should form part of the squad next season.

Everyone else should be moved on if a club can be found for them. Not all will, but we need to move as many of them as possible.

15 Apr 2024 16:27:57
MancMan,

Shaw has always been injury prone. Last season was his most consistent season as he managed to stay fit.

If the club got a good offer for him in the summer, I'd sell him.

15 Apr 2024 17:15:47
I’m not even convinced by Rasmus, maybe as number 2 striker but he got a hell of a lot to learn, running all over showing willing is no more than Weghorst done, he is nowhere near the required level to lead the line at a club who supposed to be top 4…. Yes he gets little service, but don’t look great at what he does do, I would like to see if he develops under a proper coach but to me he not progressed this season at all.

15 Apr 2024 21:25:02
Don't we all demand a complete clear out of players when they fail to perform, think we did this last a few years ago with Ole, and then Jose and LVG.

14 Apr 2024 16:42:09
Absolutely fantastic, the women have beaten Chelsea for the first time ever to reach the F. A. Cup final.
Terrific defensive performance in second half, Spurs in the final.
Come on you girl's!

14 Apr 2024 17:27:36
Brilliant ???.

14 Apr 2024 17:46:37
Great news. Let's hope the men can do the same next week. I'm very hopeful.
Great result for the ladies today.

14 Apr 2024 19:17:33
Great performance and revenge for last year…well done ladies! ???.

14 Apr 2024 11:48:27
We are now at the end point of the Glazer/ Woodward disastrous management regime. The season is essentially over, bar a possible cup final against a team that will be highly fancied to beat us, assuming we can get by Coventry, who will firmly believe in their chances. After last season's improvement, this has been an awful campaign dogged by injuries to key players and appalling form by the remaining senior players. The only bright spots have been the emergence of some youngsters. although we are now at the point of risking them becoming totally demoralized. and in the latter part of the season, the goalkeeper.

The manager has been unable to change the dynamic. He's stuck with tactics that have seen us conceding an unconscionable number of shots. Of course, had he decided to play more cautiously, packing the midfield, and committing fewer players to attack, then the complainers would no doubt be accusing him of being a reincarnation of LVG. Perhaps he's simply too one dimensional and unadaptive in his thinking, or perhaps he just doesn't have the quality of players needed, so it's damned if you do and damned if you don't.

The close season will be interesting. We are not going to be an attractive destination for any top players. The transfer season will be affected by the Euros too. There's so much change required in every aspect of the club perhaps a year out of Europe will be a good thing. The new team, with or without ETH, will be slightly less pressured by an intense schedule to try and acquire a squad capable of successfully negotiating 60+ games in a season.

14 Apr 2024 15:26:03
Manchester united will always be a top attractive destination. End of story.
We need to go after the people we actually need, and who actually want to play for Manchester United. Those are the 2 criteria for all transfers.

14 Apr 2024 15:59:14
jimbobred

I think if you think that's the end of the story you need a dose of reality. Were not a attractive club to come to unless its with wages on offer. Weve been poor for a decade and most players that have joined have found there career and reputation decline with us.

14 Apr 2024 20:33:47
Agreed W16 we are attractive for a financial point of view, and that is the main reason so many big names have joined us over the past decade.

14 Apr 2024 22:56:43
True in a lot of cases wazza. The glazers gave the keys of the sage to the wrong men.

14 Apr 2024 23:15:28
Again, there is a process in place, the big earners will be on borrowed time, and the fundamentals of being Manchester United will shine through.
Manchester United is still a top attraction, for players and supporters the world over. End of story.
If you think otherwise, go and support Villa once they secure top 4.
Plastics.

14 Apr 2024 11:37:11
While we all hope that this summer will be a big one in terms of rebuilding the squad, we have to be realistic! How many of our players are we going to be able to sell especially for the fee and wages asked?! Let's face it they aren't exactly painting a positive image, the performances and effort of most have been way below standard so why would anyone else want them? Temper your expectations for most likely a large number of them will still be here come August.

14 Apr 2024 17:00:26
Well Martial will be off so that's a great start, Casemiro and Varane need to go but unless Saudi clubs come in then wages are going to be a problem, I think AWB needs to go he is a great tackler but that's about it.

Then there is the if you get the right offer for them let them go, that would be Maguire, Rashford, McTom, Pellestri and Anthony.

14 Apr 2024 11:33:39
6 points from the last 21.
On the brink of 8th place if West Ham win today.
Question - would be genuinely be better to remove the manager now and put an interim in charge for the remainder of the season? If have no idea who it would be, but could the tactics or desire be any worse than they are right now?
You often see a bounce when such appointments are made. Maybe enough to at least keep in the fight for sixth.
Genuine question.

14 Apr 2024 12:00:12
I see your reasoning, but for financial reasons it won’t happen! If it were me I would let him go now rather than let this fester for another 2 months.

14 Apr 2024 12:07:51
Would you rather spend £15m today on Dan Ashworth or removing ten Hag?

14 Apr 2024 12:35:55
I'd absolutely pay the £15m for Ashworth now.

14 Apr 2024 14:51:34
Sack him now and if it’s to be Potter he can get started now.

14 Apr 2024 15:12:13
Id do both…?.

14 Apr 2024 16:19:10
An interim new manager bounce isn’t guaranteed. Need only look at what happened to Chelsea after Potter was sacked. They got even worse under Lampard.

14 Apr 2024 16:39:04
We need to adhere to the rules.

14 Apr 2024 17:04:19
I would say if we lose our next game to Coventry and go out of the Cup then he must go then but the fact that our new CEO, DOF and technical director are not at the club yet will probably mean he is here till the summer.

14 Apr 2024 19:19:22
What rules are those Ken?

14 Apr 2024 20:45:21
I'm not an expert Tim.
But you are only allowed to lose a certain amount of money over a 3 year period concurrent (I think)
We have been sailing very close to a points deduction or at best falling foul of those rules.
An exit spend of eth's and staff payout will run to millions. Ideally on next years book. Next funancial year starts July 1st.

15 Apr 2024 09:48:27
It really is a bizarre system. Wish I could count on a £15m payout if I was crap at my job and facing the sack, I might try a little harder to fall out with people.

14 Apr 2024 11:11:16
Moving away from what is happening on the pitch I want to ask the question would our squad be better now if we hadn't kept players who weren't good enough for so long.

Moved them on and keep the squad size down and enable us to give some of the academy players more game time for them to develop.

This season we can look around the EPL and see several of our former academy players thriving and playing well for other clubs. All of them playing consistently at a better level than many of the players we have been playing each week.

James Garner has become a regular at Everton and is developing nicely. I wonder whether he'd be even better now than he is if he had more game time over the past couple of years.

Looking at how Casemiro has declined this year and the fact we have no one bar Mainoo who can play as a deeper midfielder, would Garner not have been a better option than Casemiro this season? He's certainly playing better than the Brazilian.

You then have Teden Mengi looking very good in a battling Luton side. He's arguably been one of their best players alongside the likes of Doughty and Barkley this season. Still only 21 and certainly his qualities would have seen our defence be able to play a higher line and maybe concede fewer shots. Did we keep the likes of Jones, Bailly and Lindelof around for too long blocking his pathway?

Finally there is Anthony Elanga, 5 goals and 8 assists for a struggling Forest side. Only Bruno Fernandes (14) in our squad, has more goals and assists than Elanga's 13 in the EPL this season.

Would he have not been a better option to Antony or Rashford at times this season?

We have seemingly allowed him to leave, while we have hoarded the likes of Sancho, Antony, Pellistri and Amad over him. Possibly because we spent big fees on those players. Yet he has easily outshone all of them with regular game time this season, mostly playing on the right hand side as well.

Now I'm not saying any of these three players are or will ultimately be good enough for where we want to be. Just that with game time they are showing themselves to be better than many of the players we currently have in the side.

Seeing them flourish with regular games at rival EPL clubs just goes to further highlight the flaws in having a bloated squad and the lack of foresight in keeping players on the books for financial reasons over footballing ones.

Would our squad be perfect with Garner, Mengi and Elanga in it over the likes of Casemiro, Lindelof and Sancho? No it wouldn't, but it would be better than what it is now.

We have 36 players on the books in the first team squad, that needs to be trimmed down to below 25 this summer so that the next batch of talented academy players don't see their development stagnate, forcing them to leave to reach their potential like Garner, Mengi and Elanga have had to.

14 Apr 2024 11:55:41
Kambwala, Shappy, Kambwala.

14 Apr 2024 12:52:16
Ork, I agree he needs game time. The question is where that will be most beneficial for him.

Players like Garner and Mengi stagnated because we kept them for a season and they hardly got a kick.

Both players needed to go out on loan as we had too bloated a squad to be able to give them the number of minutes they need.

I'm all for keeping Kambwala here next season as long as it's either as a first choice or at most a 3rd choice option at CB.

That means he has to play at least 1000-1400 minutes of football next season. If he doesn't play that many at a bare minimum then we will be restricting his ability to develop and reach his potential.

I want him to be a success, to do that he needs to play.

If we keep him in the squad as 4th/ 5th choice and he only plays 300 minutes of football then we will be ruining his chances of maximising his potential.

He's at a key age, physically he looks ready to play men's football. He clearly has the talent and skills to be successful at the highest level. Now he needs to play to show he has the mentality to cope with the demands and have the opportunity to make the mistakes he needs to make to learn how to play his position to an elite level.

Without that game time the mistakes he made yesterday will stay in his game and he won't be able to iron them out.

Keeping him and playing him regularly next season means accepting he will make mistakes. Mistakes that will cost us points and ultimately might be the difference between finishing in a UCL or a Europa league place next season.

That's all part of the parcel of developing young players. They cost you points at times during a season, or they make the mistake that gets you knocked out of a cup. Hopefully they learn from it and become better players because of it.

Garnacho for example has just as much potential this season as he had last season. Yet it's the consistency of minutes that have seen him rapidly develop from a impact sub last season to a player who can consistently perform across the whole 90 minutes this season. Although I also feel a change in position from left to right has forced him to play with his head up more, adding greater variety to his game. He certainly has a better impact on the team when he plays on the right compared to the left.

If we want to see Kambwala have a similar development trajectory to Garnacho and Mainoo then he needs to play a similar number of minutes. It's that simple.

A pathway into the first team isn't always about just throwing out those players who aren't good enough and chucking a youngster into the squad in their place.

It's about carefully planning the best route for a player to develop to the point where they can regularly play in the first 11 to the standard required.

For Kambwala that might mean a loan next season to a carefully selected club where he'll play most weeks and ideally in a similar style to what our first team will play. Helping him develop the skills and understanding needed to play the way the first team will need him to play. While he's on loan that probably means keeping one or even both of Lindelof and Maguire to be that 4th/ 5th choice option next season.

They can be the ones to play 300-500 minutes for United across the season, while Kambwala plays 2000-2500 minutes elsewhere. Giving him the game time he needs to develop and be ready to hopefully come back to the club and be the replacement for Lindelof/ Maguire for the 2025/ 26 season and push to be the first sub/ rotation option at CB or even push to be first choice.

I think the game yesterday highlighted that he needs more game time a development to be ready to play regularly for the first team to the level and consistency required.

If he's going to struggle and make simple mistakes against a midfield table side like Bournemouth, then he will likely cost us too many goals to be a regular starter next season.

We need to be realistic about how and when he will be ready for us, we then need to plan a pathway for him that means he will get his chances when he's ready to be step up and be a regular starter.

He also has it a little against him compared to the likes of Garnacho and Mainoo in that they can make mistakes without it likely leading to us conceding a goal. Kambwala doesn't have that luxury, which is why I think he needs a loan next season. Let him play somewhere where he can make these mistakes and learn from them, so that when he comes back those are mostly ironed out of his game and he's ready to compete for a regular first team spot.

There are few fans on here who are a bigger supporter of youth at our club than me. Ideally my dream would be to have the capability to field a first 11 of academy players, all of which are good enough to be first choice in a title winning team.

However, I appreciate that for them to succeed that they all need a personalised pathway to progress into the first team. That there needs to be a balance between creating space for the youth to get chances, but also have a squad capable of challenging on all fronts so that when the youth players get a chance, they have quality players around them to learn from and to support and carry them at times through a game so they can develop.

It's a balancing act underpinned by a desire to develop young players along with an understanding of how to give them the space and opportunities to grow.

14 Apr 2024 22:08:19
For reference and simplicity ?

500 mins = 5-6 games
1000 mins = 11 games
2500 mins = 28 games.

15 Apr 2024 11:21:50
James Garner do me a favour Shappy.