Manchester United Banter Archive April 30 2018

30 Apr 2018 19:50:31
Reading everyones posts and agree with a lot of them. We do have a mix bag of spanners in the toolbox however.

We have some fast forwards ( not sure about RL ) that can on their day make good runs behind but our Midfields fail to thread the ball through quick enough or over cook it.

Have we got ( Apart from AS ) players who can track back and when we regain possession break forward at pace!

Im interested to hear your views on whether we need quick sparks or short paced players to start winning.

30 Apr 2018 20:38:17
Alan Sugar?

30 Apr 2018 21:18:07
Arnold Schwarzenegger?

01 May 2018 05:04:46
Wow 🤔 should i really have wrote Alexis Sanchez and Not AS.

If you have trouble toni and ryan with the players initials and cannot identify them? i'm sure the eds can attach a link to the full MUFC team for you both

😂.

01 May 2018 08:47:54
Ralph Lauren?

01 May 2018 11:52:05
Ralf Little making a return.

01 May 2018 13:50:22
Alan Shearer, finally a top striker.

01 May 2018 15:05:33
Ricky lambert?

30 Apr 2018 15:47:45
Couple of quick points.

Firstly, what is the logic behind Sanchez being better next season other than he can't possibly get much worst?

I see things like once he has a good preseason behind him or after a rest in the summer he'll be better, of course those arguments are counter intuitive. Why?

He had a good preseason with Arsenal last summer, as well as a rest. He is established in the EPL so doesn't have to acclimatise to the league. He will be 30 next season so well in his peak years, so is unlikely to become a better player now.

There was two arguments for signing Sanchez in January.

Firstly, to stop city signing him. Which is a pretty poor reason to be honest. We should be foucusing on ourselves not others.

Secondly, it was worth going into the notoriously poor winter market as Sanchez would be able to make an immediate impact as he knows the league.

So with hindsight we can see we got that one wrong. So why are people so sure he will improve next season?

My second point is about the player who has been most affected by the Sanchez signing. Of course I'm talking about Anthony Martial.

Everyone accepts that Lukaku has had a good first season at our club. He has started nearly all the games playing in his favourite position as a central striker, he has had all the best chances fall to him and he has 16 EPL goals for all of that. Yet, when we consider Martial most will say he has had an indifferent season at best, many claim he has been poor. He has had to play most of the season wide left, a position many don't feel is his best position. He has also played less than half the number of minutes that Lukaku has for us this season. Yet playing less time, in a position that isn't his best and one which limits the goalscoring chances that will come his way he has managed to score 9 goals in the EPL.

Now for me the narrative that Lukaku has had a great season and Martial a poor one just doesn't add up. I think Lukaku hs had a very good season, I also think Martial has had a solid season. I feel that if given more chances and in a set up that suits him he could have had a better season that Lukaku. However, that's just my opinion.

Oh and a bonus point. Pogba has 10 assists and 6 goals so far this season. Many feel he is wasting his talent and might never fulfill his potential. In the season that Gerrard turned 25 the same age as Pogba is now he scored 10 and assisted 5. Lampard in the season he turned 25 also scored 10 and assisted 5. So is it fair to say Pogba is wasting his talent or isn't fulfilling it when he has been directly involved in 16 goals so far this season when both Gerrard and Lampard we involved in 15 goals each in a season at the same age Pogba is now?

Sometimes what we expect of a player is always more than they can do. And bare in mind many people agree that Mourinho's tactics are holding certain players back.

30 Apr 2018 16:33:51
At least if we sell martial we won't have to read your different version of the same thing every week shappy😂😂😂
You don't like sanchez we get that. You think martial will be great we get that.

I'm exact same with fellaini I thin k he is awful but jose likes him.
Managers choice i'm afraid.

Maybe martial does not want to stay.

30 Apr 2018 18:24:30
Sanchez has a x100 the player Martial is or will be. Apart from sulking right now. He’s great at sulking.

30 Apr 2018 18:42:16
Lies, damn lies, and statistics Shaps. I think it boils down to personal preference and that dictates how we feel. I don’t like Martial, if anyone is wasting his talent then I think he is. He doesn’t put the effort in, games pass him by, he can pop u with a great goal but then be anonymous again.

I also think Pogba’s numbers flatter him, he has been average in most games and isn’t showing the commitment I would expect.

As for Sanchez, I agree completely and I, ade the same point. There wa son fee and it stopped City getting him. Didn’t make sense to me and still doesn’t. The fact he has been for the most part pants reinforces that.

30 Apr 2018 20:46:07
Top post Ajh and Ken. If Martial puts the same effort as Sanchez he might do his talent justice. He doesn't have his heart or his head at United and is best to part ways with him if he doesn't want to fight for his place.

30 Apr 2018 20:47:44
Sanchez will come good, he tries super hard every game and hard work doesn't fail and i also think Pogba has started to adapt but let's hope he continues his form.

30 Apr 2018 21:12:43
Ken, that's where your wrong. I don't dislike Sanchez, in fact I liked the idea of signing him in January. I thought he would be able to make an instant impact.

My only problem with Sanchez doesn't even come from Sanchez. My problem is why does one player get dropped for a bad game (sometimes dropped after a good one) while other players are allowed to play poorly game after game and never get dropped?

Singh, if I work as hard as Sanchez should I start every week?

30 Apr 2018 21:23:16
Loll you never know how good you can be until you give it a go. 😂😂.

30 Apr 2018 21:47:09
Nothing quick about those points Shaps.

30 Apr 2018 22:10:50
Shappy where would we be if ddg was dropped when he 1st started or evra or vidic when they joined it takes time to adjust.
Sanchez had not been as good as I hoped but he has been at least as good as martial imo and in joses.
Martial does not deserve his place in the managers view.

30 Apr 2018 22:30:09
Simple fact is Sanchez has earned the right over his career to be picked during a bad spell/ loss of form. Martial hasn’t, and shows no sign of warranting such faith. Quite frankly Martial is one of the laziest/ moodiest players I’ve ever seen in a United shirt.

30 Apr 2018 23:11:18
Sanchez should improve if the manager signs a proper left back and Pogba does his job properly, (supports at pace rather than admiring his pass or posing for pictures) - it would also be helpful if we didn't play with two holding midfielders so we can commit more men forward. He should improve a lot more if we have a manager change (one who focuses on attack rather than defence) . Otherwise it will be games of moments, no difference between our performance against WBA and yesterday, other than the score - too much is up in the air. Fell victims to it against Sevilla of course. We will win more than we lose, but the games we lose are a lottery because of the style we play.

We have seen many attacking players come to Utd over the past 5 years that have gone backwards - there will be many factors at play but chief among them is our style and reluctance to commit men forward. The flip side is we are relatively solid defensively of course - but how many teams come to attack us? If we maintain the cautious approach I fully expect any creative attacking player to suffer purely based on a lack of options when they have the ball and limited movement around them creating space to operate.

All season most of our players have performed for one game, then vanished the next 2-3 games.

Pogba may have half decent stats but he has been very wasteful and there is a hell of a lot more to a midfielders game than an arbitrary assist/ goal tally. I remain underwhelmed, moments of magic are great, but there has to be more to a key role that he should be fulfilling in the team.

Big fan of Martial myself, but just like all the rest of them he suffers from having moments of magic then long periods of nothingness. We aren't relentless in attacking teams, so every run, chance or attacking situation matters a lot for us - this adds a lot of pressure to the attackers and most of them don't seem to have the character.

A striker / attacker misses a chance it used to be "no worries I'll bag the next one in a minute", nowadays it's "hopefully I get another one this month" - then you have Jose who is a bit schizo when it comes to young players, especially flair players.

We have too many players that do decent jobs but little special. Top teams have 5-6 players regularly at their maximum (if one has a bad game the other guy is having a good one), we are lucky if we have 1-2 players playing at their maximum each game, most of the time it's 6/10 performance.

Valencia and Young are our biggest problem, but because they don't seem to do much wrong (as most teams don't attack them), they get a free-ish pass from the fans. They handicap us so much attacking wise, even when they get in good positions the ball is often recycled backwards or flung in to our one attacker in the box. Massive gaps everywhere, Old Trafford looks twice the size as it used to because our players plod when not in the immediate vicinity of the ball.

01 May 2018 09:28:39
Ken
Evra vidic and ddg were all dropped after they first joined and struggled.

01 May 2018 13:02:59
So was sanchez but none for a sustained period. Thanks for your input.

30 Apr 2018 11:34:26
Sanchez - I think the problem is he isn't very quick over anything more than 5 yards and he is too isolated. He works best with quick incisive play, rapid reaction speed. However he always seems to have acres to run in order to penetrate and the closest Utd player is a distance away - which allows the defender to get back or the pass he makes to be telegraphed.

Very similar situation with Mata, Miki and various others. When Sanchez moved to the right he just literally positioned himself behind Monreal, it was terrible to see and showed he is feeling a bit lost and lacking confidence.

Unless our midfield and full backs support properly, at pace, then he is going to be wasted. Lukaku is not the right striker for intricate players either, he isn't intelligent enough with his movement or technically sound enough to link intricately. He has done well and worked hard, but we are too much of a mix of technical and lumps at the minute.

We have been horrible to watch most games of the season because we are a team unsure of how to use possession effectively and our players are effective at different types of football.

Pogba is a magic players - that likes to watch his own magic trick - unreliable and delays passes too much for my liking.

Matic is good at picking up loose balls and playing accurate passes, but he lacks the mobility to support at pace.

Lingard is a great worker, makes good runs but is not very effective at linking as he is not sure how to play that part of the game, so it means either he is found by a good pass or he is redundant.

Fullbacks - have no idea when or how to attack despite being wingers.

Basically whenever we attack we are short of numbers and pace. Frustrating to watch and explains why so many times we are isolated and create very little, despite dominating the ball in ineffective areas - fitness and having players that know how to play the same game is essential if we are to progress.

30 Apr 2018 13:02:25
Hey Beast, in the last few weeks alone, we have beaten City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal. that's not too shabby given our players don't know what or how to play. I would rather stick with these bunch of amateurs.

30 Apr 2018 13:09:24
Good post beast, agree with the majority of it. Comparing the way we play that 4-3-3 system to way city play is quite striking in how fluent they look and how clunky we look.

The likes of sterling and sane are predominantly staying as wide as possible and constantly making runs from out to in, keeping opposition full backs on their toes. Where as sanchez and lingard or martial or rashford or mata are constantly drifting inside and we end up so congested.

I know silva and de bruyne have been sensational this season and comparing them to pogba and herrera is harsh but they make it look it so simple, everything they do is one two touch and done at pace. Where as we always take that extra touch and stall our own attacks.

I do disagree however on lukaku, i think he has been really good this season and can hold his head up high. 25-30 goals a season is a decent return and his all round game has improved a lot since the start of the season. One position we don't have to worry about in summer along with keeper.

30 Apr 2018 13:25:13
Beast, couldn’t have said it better myself mate. I’m seeing exactly the same as you.

United addict, we’ve had some good results, but the footballs been terrible for the best part of the season

Dsg, beast did say Lukaku has done well, with his goal tally you’d have to say he has. But he’s not a clever technical player and never will be. He’s not a patch on say Firmino of Liverpool.

01 May 2018 09:30:14
Beast it's a very good point that about Sanchez.

30 Apr 2018 08:03:00
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Premier League Match Preview Monday 30th April 2018