Manchester United Banter Archive February 16 2020

16 Feb 2020 19:10:58
Delighted to see that we are interested in Odsonne Edouard. I firmly believe that he will prove to be a much better investment than Dembele. Now go for Ndidi as well.

16 Feb 2020 20:22:22
Cracking player, think he will be a very good player in the long run. Would really like for us to buy him.

16 Feb 2020 21:21:24
we should get that ashley young he's just scored for milan.

16 Feb 2020 00:21:59
Hey ed002

Firstly thanks very much yet again for the latest info you have passed on. Just 2 quick questions if you get a chance to reply, you mentioned on the liverpool page united were looking at a striker on a free just wondering is that mertens? And is jude bellingham a genuine target for the summer? Thanks ed002 and thanks again for all the latest info.

{Ed002's Note - Yes, Mertens. There is certainly interest in Bellingham but he would not be for the first team just yet.}

16 Feb 2020 12:50:14
ED002do you think United would buy him and loan him back to Birmingham as it would help his development?

{Ed002's Note - I really don’t know if that is an option being considered.}

16 Feb 2020 17:04:39
Thanks ED002,

Do you think the club will look to target more homegrown players as a result of Brexit?

{Ed002's Note - Not a problem for MU right now, bit like all clubs there is a need to comply.}

15 Feb 2020 23:28:13
Are any of the eds aware of Solskjaer standing down at the end of the season?

{Ed002's Note - I am not aware that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has decided to leave in the summer.}

16 Feb 2020 10:31:37
Angel

I don’t think Solskjaer has decided to leave, however, there are now whispers of there being a change of manager in summer, regardless of whether we attain Champions League entry. Don’t know where it originated but the rumour is out there.

I wonder where Allegri is going and how good his English is now?

My choice would be Simeone, but I just hope the rumours are true about a change of manager.

16 Feb 2020 12:01:28
Simeone plays a negative style of football. He is not right for us at all. We need an attacking manager who plays exciting football. We keep picking the wrong managers and we desperately need to get it right next time.

16 Feb 2020 12:43:54
I wanted Mourinho to follow SAF, Klopp to follow Moyes, Pep to follow LVG, so who I want seems irrelevant really.

We need a manager who inspires confidence in the club, who knows what good looks like, can plan, organise, lead, monitor and control. Mourinho’s Madrid scored for fun and were very entertaining. Need to stop making ill informed decisions, Moyes, LvG and especially Solskjaer we’re totally illogical. For me Simeone is a real inspiring leader, whose teams give everything for him and who has got in amongst Madrid/ Barca.

We shall see, but the biggest decision has to be that the Ex Cardiff manager is the emotional but wrong one.

16 Feb 2020 12:41:20
Red man, I like Simeone. However, his English is supposedly poor/ non-exsistent. That on top of his defensive approach means he will struggle to win over the fans.

Moyes and LvG had a defensive approach and the fans turned on them because of that.

Mourinho has a defend first approach, while winning the fans tolerated it. But the moment he didn't win the fans started to turn.

Ole doesn't play defensive football and for the most part still has the support of the match day fans, despite having the worst record.

That tells you that United supporters will only back a defensive manager if the team are winning. That's almost impossible to keep up long term. Plus looking at the make up of our current squad it is unlikely that any manager coming in will be realistically able to win things in their first year, maybe even their first couple of years.

If we are going to bring in a manager who is going to be able to build a long term future and develop the players we have to become top players then they are likely going to have to play an expansive style of football to keep the fans on side long enough for the plan to come to fruition.

{Ed047's Note - I'm not sure but didn’t Simeone win La Liga with his rubbish defence approach?

I mean who’d want him rather than OGS, no one I guess.

16 Feb 2020 13:08:18
Ed047, Clearly Simeone is a better manager than Ole. However, how long do you think he would have lasted as manager of Real Madrid or Barcelona. The first time his approach didn't win the league he would have been sacked.

{Ed047's Note - for me you need someone like him right now, to start heading forward and stop falling back.

You don’t have a squad ready to challenge, they need to be shaped into something positive, to start heading genuinely into the right direction.

I’m sure he’d do that, then you take if from there.

16 Feb 2020 14:13:48
Ed I'd agree with that 100%, and redman I also thought Jose should have got the job after fergie,
But then the board changed for the worse also,

16 Feb 2020 15:02:59
Ed047, I agree we need someone who can get the players all pulling in the right direction. To an extent I feel many who have been a problem have been moved on, and several of the new signings have some leadership qualities. Two of the last four signings were club captains at their former club's.

The issue I can see though is that we are so far away from challenging I don't think the fans will have enough patience for a defensive manager to see out those changes.

As we have seen with LvG and Mourinho winning things just isn't enough for United fans. You need to be challenging on all fronts all the time if you are going to have any hope of playing defensive football and maintain the fans backing.

It took Klopp a couple of years at Liverpool before he got them in a position to look like genuine contenders. Yet Liverpool fans, maybe because of the sheer amount of time that has passed since they last won the league, gave Klopp the time he needed to build something. A big part of that was because they were being entertained most weeks even if they weren't winning every game.

United fans have had the best part of 30 years of a certain style of football and have managed to win a huge amount with that style.

United fans might be prepared to sacrifice entertaining football or winning titles while the club builds something. But they won't sacrifice BOTH.

As some people like to point out Ole has the worst managerial record in the best part of 60 years. Yet most of the fans still back him and they certainly aren't calling for his head. At least not yet. He is the only manager since Sir Alex to actually try and set up to win games rather than to not lose them.

Clearly we need a new manager, and one who can set the club back on the right path. However, that manager will also need to develop our young players and play a style of football that the United faithful are happy with.

I'm not sure Simeone provides that, and I'm not sure the squad is strong enough for Simeone to win things with within 2 years.

{Ed047's Note - it’s a difficult one Shappy because 7 years down the line you are no closer.

The thing with Simeone is he is in the group of managers considered to be the best, at a minimum top 5 if not top 3.

We now have a plethora of clubs in the 3rd to say 8th position that need to make the big step up to Liverpool and City.

The likeliest candidates should be ourselves, Chelsea, you and Spurs but are Lampard, Mourinho, Arteta and certainly Ollie good enough.

Allegri hasn’t done what Simeone has done, as in win against the odds, will the likes of Nagelsmann give up BM to come to the Premier League.

Are there others and if so who are there that are going to step up to the current big two in the Premiership.

16 Feb 2020 16:40:48
I don’t half read some nonsense. “United fans have had the best part of 30 years of a certain style of football and have managed to win a huge amount with that style. ”. SAF played rubbish defensive football for his first 3 years but he had to build the base, hard to beat, then win the game. Rose tinted glasses nonsense that we had 30 years of wonderful attacking football. It was also dross about 2004 and also the last couple of seasons, particularly the last one when we last won the league was awful. It is probably the same rose tinted glasses that think Ole is über popular, that no one can see what he is.

Now to the next laugh. “He is the only manager since Sir Alex to actually try and set up to win games rather than to not lose them. ”. This is the Ole that is playing the most dreadful football I have watched, probably worse than Sexton. His tactics are don’t lose, counter attack football, in all games, including home to Wolves. So the idea that he is the only manager to try to win is frankly utter nonsense, it really is.

Simeone, as Ed said, has won against all odds, not dissimilar to SAF, and that is why I think he would be the right choice. He is an inspirational leader, everything we lack.

16 Feb 2020 18:15:12
Football hasn't been entertaining for years, including under every manager post-Fergie.

16 Feb 2020 21:51:31
i nearly chocked when i red ole sets up to win. you should put the sherry down.

17 Feb 2020 22:35:43
What I think Is remarkable about Simeone is the fact he seems to be intense to work with but not abrasive.
Mourinho, Klopp (at Dortmund at least) and Klopp all burn the players out and need a lot of turnover on the playing squad to keep the standards high.
While Simeone has been doing it for years now.
Not a fan of his style, but he could actually be one to do it for a long time.

Maybe we should have signed Conte.
He seems to love the majority of our squad from last summer.