Manchester United Banter Archive January 12 2020

12 Jan 2020 14:59:05
I think all of us want Utd to do well. Even if sometimes out posts are on the negative side it is only because we crave success and attractive football. With that in mind I hope that we do sign at least two really good midfielders asap. Let's be honest beating the bottom team in the league 4 - 0 should not be seen as a sign that all is OK.

Our midfield is just not good enough and that's the simple truth. None of our players would get into the midfield of the top European teams and that says it all.

Wolves and Liverpool will probably give us a reality check this week. We need to get our midfield sorted and then we can see if we really need more defenders or they just had not enough protection from the current squad. One thing for sure is that our rivals will be aiming to strengthen and if we don't and they do we can certainly kiss champions league football goodbye for another season.

{Ed002's Note - Manchester United have 6 centre backs, four left backs and three right backs. What is needed is a new approach to running the club and a decent coach.}

12 Jan 2020 16:20:23
On paper we have a good number of defenders but when you look at who s available regularly we have big issues. Some players seem permanently injured, and if I m not wrong even Jose used to complain about players who are injures most of the time.

12 Jan 2020 18:26:09
Ed 02. and out of those centre backs and other defenders how many are really up to the standard we should aspire to? Hardly any. That said I agree with you and we need to be professional in the running of the club. I do wonder how Ole would fair of for example he had the playing talent of Man City or Liverpool at his disposal but then again his tactical acumen so far has not proved to be great.

{Ed002's Note - Some players want to go, the club want to sell one or two and that might improve the team - but that depends whether they want t throw money after OGS.}

12 Jan 2020 18:30:04
ED002 do you think Pochittino would be a good choice as a coach for utd?

{Ed002's Note - The problem intially for someone like Mauricio Pochettino will be responsibility within the structure at Old Trafford.}

12 Jan 2020 19:10:08
One more question for you Ed 02 if you have the time and patience for this. do you know if the club have a plan B if Ole is not successful (however the club defines success)

{Ed002's Note - Yes, there is a Plan B but as time moves on sometines there is a need to change Plan B.}

12 Jan 2020 20:29:09
Thanks Ed.

12 Jan 2020 20:51:48
Thanks ED002.

12 Jan 2020 21:14:26
The issue isn't the number of defenders we have, but the fitness and quality of them.

RB- AWB, Dalot, TFM
CB- Maguire, Lindelof, Tuanzebe, Smalling Jones and Bailly.
LB- Shaw, Young, Williams, Rojo.

Dalot, TFM, Jones, Smalling, Bailly, Rojo and Shaw have all had fitness issues.

Leaving only 6 players who haven't had persistent injury issues. Of which Williams and Tuanzebe are two. Young academy players with less than 10 first teams games each under their belt.

Meaning on average we have 4 out of 13 players available who aren't young lads in their first season in the first team.
AWB, Lindelof, Maguire and Young. Of which two were signed in the summer.

Then there is the question of which of our players are good enough?

AWB, Dalot, Williams and Tuanzebe are certainly potentially good enough but all are young and will have good games and bad games.

Shaw, Bailly and Lindelof also have the ability but they lack something either mentality, fitness or a need to develop more.

Maguire was the big summer signing, is he an elite level CB? Is he any better than Smalling? I know which one is having the better season so far.

TFM, Jones, Rojo and Young are no longer or never were good enough.

The issue is that in reality we need to shift 7 defenders, and bring in 3 while have some young players grow and step up.

This issue seems to be a lack of structure within the club to understand this and to formulate a plan and see it through.

Giving Jones a new contract last summer, what was that about?

12 Jan 2020 22:26:58
Just like Plan A changed with Allegri right?

{Ed002's Note - That was 2017.}

12 Jan 2020 22:37:52
Shappy

Out of interest who do you think advised on whether to retain Jones and give him a new contract or send Smalling off to Italy?

12 Jan 2020 22:47:49
Maguire is miles better than smalling shappy.

12 Jan 2020 23:13:07
Jones is world class and wall fall over into any side in the league.

13 Jan 2020 04:34:16
The club needs to revamp the structure asap and get in a top DoF hopefully this summer.
Some of the decision making has been awful.

13 Jan 2020 10:14:05
Red Man, I wouldn't know. I would imagine the manager was included in the decisions. But without knowing the inner workings of the clubs I couldn't comment on who was the driving force behind Jones's new contract or Smalling's loan.

Bolger, Is Maguire significantly better than Smalling? I would say Maguire is slightly better in the air, and significantly better passing out from the back.

Yet, I would say Smalling has better reading and positioning, is far quicker and able to make recovery tackles.

I would say bar heading Smalling beats Maguire in every aspect of defending. Where Maguire is better is passing range. So who's the better defender?

Overall I think they are pretty similar and I wouldn't say Maguire is anything close to the 60m upgrade we will end up paying if Smalling completes his supposed 20m move to Roma.

Here's a statistical comparison of league form for this season:

Maguire: Aerials won 4.6, Tackles 1.1, Interceptions 1.7, Clearences 4, Blocks 0.4, Average number of passes 64.2, Key passes 0.6, Average pass success rate 86.6, Goals 0, assists 1.

Smalling: Aerials won 4.2, Tackles 1, Interceptions 2, Clearences 4, Blocks, 0.9, Average number of passes 46.4, Key passes 0.4, Pass success rate 89.8%, Goals 2, assists 1.

If Smalling is worth around 20m, then Maguire is worth no more than 35m at most as he is a few years younger.

There numbers are pretty much identical, Smalling actually has the higher pass success rate but is making on average 18 passes less a game with the slightly lower key passes (0.2 less key passes) . However, Smalling has 2 goals to his name, while Harry has yet to score this season.

In my opinion when "upgrading" to Maguire from Smalling all we have done is switched out slightly better passing for slightly worse defending.

12 Jan 2020 13:48:29
Bruno stories have calmed down a bit now I see. Get the feeling it's a lot more media bluster than actual truth. Sporting need to bring in funds so looks more like a ploy to smoke out a buyer. Hope I am wrong but I doubt it.

12 Jan 2020 14:31:02
I have a feeling it will happen. Just need to pay the fee. As we have seen, that’s easier said than done.

12 Jan 2020 14:46:04
He started and scored 2 last night so I don’t think anything is close at this stage, hopefully we do make a move in the week.

12 Jan 2020 14:47:01
I wouldn’t be too confident. Ed002 has said that we are unwilling to match the valuation, and the £50m figure in today’s papers is still well below what they’re asking. Add to that his new contract.

12 Jan 2020 15:28:28
We won't pay the fee then say we tried but won't be made mugs out of etc etc.

12 Jan 2020 10:02:19
When you play against city in the carabao cup and they put out their strongest side, you know you’re going places.

I had to double check this was a real quote 😂😂😂😂 sounds just like Moyes!

Delighted with the result either way. The links to Bruno Fernandes are interesting. I won’t believe anything until he’s holding up our shirt. If it does go through, then I hope he’s able to make the step up. Looks like there is a player there that could be brilliant for us.

Eriksen would have been ideal. It really is a shame when we can’t convince someone to move from Tottenham to Old Trafford. The show goes on! Anfield next. I fancy us 😊.

12 Jan 2020 10:32:16
I remember this happening to Jose, every interview swept through with a fine tooth comb to find something to abuse him for. Gets very boring.

12 Jan 2020 10:55:23
Be happy with the win for goodness sake.

12 Jan 2020 12:13:49
Amz do you actually watch players. Ericksen is way past his best. My gran moves quicker than him. Stay off the solvents.

12 Jan 2020 13:09:40
He does say some strange things though. I think it's a really daft thing to say as we're city's biggest rival and pep trys to win everything. It's a comment that doesn't even need making, all it highlights is how far we are behind city's strongest 11 when they play like they did the first half. This is not me bashing ole either I like how he's brought William's and Greenwood in and rashford and martial seem to have improved but his in game management at times is terrible and has cost us points this season. Now I just can't make my mind up whether we have improved or gone backwards.

12 Jan 2020 13:48:05
He needs a plan B aswell. When teams sit back and defend deep we struggle to break them down.

We do generally play some lovely football, but just not consistently.

Once the squad depth is improved with quality, it won't be long before we see a more consistent side.

My greatest fear is an injury to Martial and Rashford at the same time. Where will the goals come from? Too much to expect Greenwood to take over.

12 Jan 2020 12:54:31
Ole has done himself no favours coming out with that ridiculous statement to be honest its really embarrassing. Makes us sound like a league 2 side who are honoured that they've put a tidy team out against us. What's worse is Ederson and Aguero didn't even play so it wasn't their strongest team.

12 Jan 2020 15:53:19
Not a great statement, but not he worst either. Must be a good week for United if a comment by the manager in a post match interview is the worst thing that happened this week.

12 Jan 2020 18:20:41
Shappy

Not a great statement? It’s a shocking indictment of the managers mindset and that shows he operates at a much lower level than Manchester United.

12 Jan 2020 19:45:06
Lets do something guys.

For those who believe.

12 Jan 2020 00:32:16
ed02 with sauls price at 100 mill. i was just wondering for athletic to let him go. with being one of there better players. is it purely financial or has there been a fallout with the player thanks.

{Ed002's Note - This isn't like Manchester United.}