03 Sep 2024 09:23:41
Now the dust has settled.

Let's be clear, it was a dreadful performance, many players were poor and pushing the full backs up so high left us continually exposed. Whether that is poor tactics or poor execution I don't know, but it clearly didn't work.

However, we are 3 games in and after so much activity in the window, combined with a couple of injuries, it will take time for the best team and approach to emerge.

I'm not trying to defend ETH, he is very spiky and difficult to warm to at the minute, and he keeps picking Rashford who continues to be awful, but we are 3 games in.

Someone on the chat was writing off Zirkzee after 30 minutes, which is plainly ridiculous.

The specific issues have been done to death so I am not going to repeat them, but I still think it is too early to be writing off the season.

1.) 03 Sep 2024
03 Sep 2024 09:54:29
From what I’ve seen of Zirkzee so far I really like him, he's very unorthodox but has a good touch and is getting himself into some very dangerous positions, shame he missed the chances but I’d rather he missed them at 3-0 than in another game at 0-0. I think he will be a good player for us, seeing people writing him off, especially our own fans, after one start is just ridiculous.

2.) 03 Sep 2024
03 Sep 2024 10:16:29
I'm not sure he is true No9, he looks pretty skilful and would suit a No10 role. He didn't have a great game on Sunday but so many didn't.

3.) 03 Sep 2024
03 Sep 2024 10:52:24
I don't understand how the likes of Glasner and even Hürzeler (early days I know) can walk in and pretty much transform the side within weeks yet after 3 years Utd are still a very tough watch. I've defended this manager a lot but the excuses are getting pretty cringable at this stage. A decent manager should be able to inspire his side to put in a performance against superior opposition, as he did in the FA Cup final so fair play there, it's possible.
I hope it's all going to 'click' at some point, I really do. I think a very good striker and inspiring player in the middle are missing.

4.) 03 Sep 2024
03 Sep 2024 11:47:34
Eth isn’t a managers uncle. We are horrible to watch after 2 hrs and 650m. It’s literally mass hypnosis that people still think he just needs a chance. To be the new Fergie? Struth.

5.) 03 Sep 2024
03 Sep 2024 12:19:30
Lets look at the players ETH had in the lineup he started/ debuted

Onana, De Ligt, Mazraoui, Martinez, Mainoo, Casemiro, Garnacho, Zirkzee

Rashford, Dalot and Bruno are players he inherited.

Mainoo and Garnacho are young players he thought of a future for in our setup and sold others he didn't seem fit.

That is close to 80% of the players he's selected and yet his brand of football is not stable.

6.) 03 Sep 2024
03 Sep 2024 12:27:03
Spenno. An inspiring player is exactly what we need.

I met a Hungarian guy at a party on Friday. He had an impressive resumé. I won't go into much of it, but besides being a nuclear physicist, he was a big football fan, and he'd coached at the highest youth levels here in the US. In 2001 he was part of a delegation that went to the UK and, amongst other teams, visited United's training ground. Roy Keane, who was his favorite United player (he supports Liverpool) was leading the training. SAF was on the sideline. Beckham turned up 15 minutes late for the second or third time in a row. Kid stuff was the excuse. SAF sent him home. We're missing those Roy Keane type players. In his first season I think Casemiro was close to it, but he's been less durable than they hoped. He's slowed down, been exposed, and at the end of season one was starting to consistently run into disciplinary problems. He's not really who the manager wanted, but it's who he got.

I think you're spot on. The team needs to break through what seems to be a psychological barrier. Teams like CP and Brighton are not burdened by the same weight of history and expectation, nor the intensity of media coverage that exists at United. I read the NYT which includes the Athletic. There are perhaps 3x more stories about United than there are about any other club including City: maybe more than all the other clubs combined. The scrutiny from both must surely affect the players. We should be further on than we are and our failures are meat for the vultures. It's hard to light the spark when there's no oxygen in the air.

7.) 03 Sep 2024
03 Sep 2024 13:00:19
One of the issues faced is the 'one go - one stay' playbook for the FBs.
This approach works perfectly when the whole team understands what's going on and the players have the capacity/ ability to work it out.

For example:
When Garnacho is on the right wing, he tends to do the same thing - run at the defender, cutting to his right so he can be more effective.
Although this makes him relatively predictable, albeit still very difficult to stop, it means his RB has to adopt a more predictable approach too and, because your standard FB isn't likely the most dynamic due to the primary focus being drawn to defensive duties, is far easier to shut out for the opponent.

Instead of having Garnacho on the left where he's far less predictable and can be much more devastating, we see Rashford who is the most predictable player we have - run into easy space or stand around waiting to collect the ball, drive at the defender and be led into areas where his desperate reliance on his right foot results in little for the team. This means his FB is far more inclined to cut inside, rendering his advances rather predictable and easy to shut out.

So, when combined with a DM who's not mobile enough to cover spaces left in the defensive areas by the 'one go - one stay' approach, we are very weak at playing out from the back.

Another issue is the lack of rotational patterns in midfield.
Casemiro is not mobile enough, Fernandes is not disciplined enough, and Mainoo isn't experienced enough, which means our midfield setup is static and predictable.

The above does not in any way absolve ten Hag from responsibility for how predictable we are.
While the second issue is compounded more by the capabilities of the players he has available, the first is more his fault than anyone else's - he's selecting Rashford over Amad and he's selecting the slow Casemiro ahead of the, wet-behind-the-ears but bringing the grafting energy that the midfield otherwise lacks, young lad Collyer.
Experience is great, but if your bad games make you look as slow and flimsy as that, then you should be warming the bench.

Obviously, I'm not Erik, so what do I know? I know what I see and the above is glaring.

8.) 03 Sep 2024
03 Sep 2024 13:40:50
Too early to sit the session off ajh and to write any player off.
I like bits of what I've seen from zirkzee but he is well off the pace and unsure of his surroundings and that's to be expected.
Not sure why we moaned about changing cbs every game last year and the manager has subbed cbs every game this year it crazy.
Still unbalanced on the left due to Shaw and the inactive rashford.
Things will improve somewhat as players settle down.
Buys have been OK, so far especially maz.
I still think we will struggle to make any major improvement with this manager. Just see him as a total mismatch with the club. He needs to keep his mouth shut or be more selective and careful with his comments as the make him look a total idiot and that is not at all helpful.
He has like us all 2 ears and one moth but he does twice as much talking as he does listening so has things in the wrong proportion. This situation needs less talking and more listening I'm not sure he wants to listen.

9.) 03 Sep 2024
03 Sep 2024 17:14:02
Spikey? Have we forgotten some of Fergie's early interviews? He made Steve Clarke look like a cheery bugger ?.

10.) 03 Sep 2024
03 Sep 2024 19:05:31
I don’t think he cares TW. He knows he’s not wanted he knows they were looking for a new manager and it’s probably why they couldn’t agree a new contract. He’s checked out and waiting for a payoff you can tell. Nothings his fault and he keeps blabbering about trophies (jose style) .

11.) 03 Sep 2024
03 Sep 2024 20:24:15
The final three lines are spot on AJH. The main issues have been done to death, yet he still isn’t learning.

12 months of dross.

12.) 04 Sep 2024
03 Sep 2024 23:37:33
So Garnacho on the right has to go right which is unpredictable but effective yet on the left is unpredictable and can go both ways? Don't buy it, don't see it.

His and any wingers standard movement should be to look at where his defender is, where he is facing and go the direction that makes him turn his hips because then you will have the advantage.

Once you have done that you can get cute.