07 Aug 2019 23:13:22
To Redfaith from down the page,

It's probably pointless replying because you just ignored the whole of what I said, took it out of context and posted one little bit of it and called me embarrassing. My post with the full explanation is somewhere to see so people can if they want.

I've said I am disappointed with not signing a midfielder, not sure how many times I need to say that. Matic and Fred are international midfielders and Matic was brilliant in Ole's first 10 games, I agree he's been dreadful in pre season but it sometimes takes older players a bit of time to get match fit so there is some hope there that we can find a way of playing that suits him.

All 3 are professional footballers and sometimes players can surprise you, I said hopefully one of them will, that's all it will take for us to have a very good side this season. When one player can make that difference (which I've heard over and over about Fernandes) surely the rest of the players can't be that bad.

There's been no blind positivity, all of my posts have been balanced, not with the 'argh the season is over already' hyperbole, I can see where the negatives are and I am not ignoring them, just looking for positives. Some people seem to ignore all the positives and have decided all our players are useless and we have no chance which in my opinion is 'embarrassing'.


1.) 07 Aug 2019
07 Aug 2019 23:25:50
Id use words other than embarrassing but younglings may use the site. Too much negativity.


2.) 07 Aug 2019
07 Aug 2019 23:28:23
To be fair to fred he wasnt given a run in the team.

He was also injured and when he did play we were on a bad run. the guy was thrown in at the deep end


He needs a decent run in the team. there is a player there let's give him this season before he gets written off.


3.) 07 Aug 2019
07 Aug 2019 23:32:43
Exactly Bolger. Some people were saying the exact same things about Lindelof 12 months ago.


4.) 07 Aug 2019
07 Aug 2019 23:42:04
A way of playing to suit matic, slow the hole thing down take 5 or 6 touches is about the only way.


5.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 01:25:21
GDS2,

What ticks me off is the dismissive tone of your posts alongwith a few others on the blind positivity brigade towards anybody who expresses a legitimate concern about the squad, suggestions that they have mental health issues and might need medicine. That is well and truly embarrassing.

I don't see a single poster on here who hasn't mentioned the positives. I don't see anybody who doesn't agree that AWB is a fantastic signing. Nobody who doesn't agree that Maguire is an upgrade on what we had last season (some doubt if he is worth what we paid but that's another matter) . Nobody doubts the potential of Greenwood, Rashford and Martial (although some have legitimate doubts about whether they can provide us the goals and assists needed consistently) .

Hoping for Matic to come good when its been clear for a year that his legs have gone is embarrassing. Fred looked a headless chicken in every single game we played. He was so bad that any average performance was hailed as a glimmer of hope. Mctominay has decent workrate and an alright passing range and I have hopes for him. But beyond that? Our midfield is poor.

You cleverly ignored what I said about the poor midfield negating the effects of our defense and attack. How many times have teams simply overrun us in midfield or outpassed us? Dominate the midfield, put pressure on the defense and cut off the supply to the attack, how many times has this template been employed on us? It works every single time. The moment we face any decent quality high energy midfield we are dominated and unless they miss a million chances or DDG has an unreal day like that Spurs away game, we drop points.

Its not hyperbole to say that the season is over, and by that I mean as a sustained challenge for the top 4. Without midfield reinforcements we will be worse off than last year. Our midfield is worse, our attack is weaker with Lukaku gone (although I am optimistic of Greenwood and James doing well) and our defense has improved.

One step forwards, two steps back unfortunately. And I've not even mentioned our best midfielder not even wanting to be here and our keeper not yet signing a new contract.

That is a balanced view of reality, not some pipe dream where Matic suddenly finds some legs and form while able to perform Thursday - Sunday, and Fred suddenly becomes a good midfielder.

Ask any neutral where we will finish and you will struggle to find any that will say higher than 5th.

{Ed0333's Note - superb balanced and eloquent post Red I doff my baseball cap to you sir


6.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 06:57:19
Top post redfaith. Well done.


7.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 07:01:42
REDFAITH

Spot on

It is the emotional sentimental tug of the club to ignore everything until we get stuffed or finish without winning anything.


8.) 08 Aug 2019
08 Aug 2019 08:22:16
Redfaith, brilliant post and the reason for that is that it is completely balanced realistic and accurate.
I am looking forward to the younger players been given a chance, Greenwood, Gomez and Chong in particular. I think Mctominay will mature a lot this season too.
But Matic and Pereira are not the answer, and a big question mark hangs over Fred.
We need players with creativity, if we'd bought Fernandes and Maddison, we will be looking quite a team. With the current mudfield options, we'll be looking at 6th spot in my opinion.