Manchester United banter 3

02 Nov 2025 16:31:58
Eds my posts seem to still be blocked on the Banter page. If there is a reason for this let me know but otherwise can you stop doing this.

{Ed033's Note - Ok, you're no longer on jankers.

02 Nov 2025 13:57:09


Shappy has written an article entitled, Manchester United Show Resilience Despite Worst Performance Since Brentford

02 Nov 2025 07:58:34
Dalot was poor yesterday, Utd looked better when Dorgu came on. i'm not really sure what RA sees in Dalot, as he is more of a hinderence to the team.

Is he just a makeshift until Martinez returns and Shaw can be pushed out back as a lwb?

02 Nov 2025 08:03:37
As I said last week, he's the most consistent player. Previous managers have praised him but he can't defend or attack so not sure what he brings.

02 Nov 2025 09:42:55
Wing back is a special-ist position, hard for converted full backs (Dalot) or converted wingers (Amad) to perform consistently well there. It can only really be solved with recruitment.

I mean the first goal is a clear blueprint on how to score against us because Amad is going to struggle in the air against pretty much every opponent.

Dalot has never been a good attacker really so hard for him to play wing back on his opposite side lol.

02 Nov 2025 09:49:48
Do not want to see shaw as LWB. I think him being at lcb is much of the reason why he's stayed fit. No marauding runs down the wing has helped his legs imo.

02 Nov 2025 11:05:02
If amorim thought Shaw could play lwb he would be playing there. We have options at lcb. Clearly shaw is not considered cir the wider role.

02 Nov 2025 12:19:28
I think the physical demands at LCB are already big so it really wouldn't surprise me if Shaw plays at least part of some games at LWB when Licha is back. He's the only player in the squad that's currently good enough to play there.

02 Nov 2025 16:18:32
He has been defending well at lcb but so slow in possession its getting frustrating.

02 Nov 2025 16:20:55
Seems to me RA not really sure about any of the defenders why on earth does he keep making defensive substitutions when we need to win…. becoming the tinkerman all over again…. I have never ever seen him make a change in a game that’s enhances the team it’s always just like for like TBF Dorgu is no better than Dalot!
Looks like we still need 2 wing backs and still a proper experienced striker, Sesko a long way off being good enough ATM in this league.

02 Nov 2025 19:00:39
Hes only played 6 games. give him a chance. At least he's scored a few.

02 Nov 2025 19:47:56
Our wing backs are in dire need of upgrading.
I was commenting to a mate about how much Amad annoys me with his pathetic defending and general lack of reading the game in that respect.

Then he scored his goal.

So he is the because he offers us something going forward, however, if I was an opposing team, I would be targeting Amad all day long.

02 Nov 2025 19:52:11
Sesko needs more service. He showed yesterday he is capable of making things happen on his own, but he needs his team mates to create more for him.

Both options at LWB don't have that in them and IMO are nowhere good enough.

03 Nov 2025 00:28:07
We have a squad of international players and are playing 1 game a week. The squad has no chance to play themselves into fitness or form, but come christmas we will be glad that we have a few subs that have had some game time.

Zirkzee has barely played, dorgu, maz, ugarte, mainoo, heaven have all been severely starved of minutes. Hiw will the younger players, our future, develop without playing. Many will want to leave in jan with it being a WC year.

03 Nov 2025 04:19:33
The players who aren't playing, have in part, themselves to blame for our current lack of fixtures, be that last season's failure to win the EL, or compete in the EPL, or this year's failure to turn over Grimsby.

03 Nov 2025 04:46:01
Zirkzee has barely played, dorgu, maz, ugarte, mainoo… if your not good enough or the manager just don’t fancy you, your not going to play many minutes, so if you work on the assumption that RA is the man to try take us forward you may as well just get rid of those ones its not a charity to just keep them because someone likes them

Sesko needs much more time to develop just not up to standard required other players have eyes too and make there own judgement so yes we still need an experienced striker in badly.

03 Nov 2025 12:02:10
Been disappointed with dalot and Dorgu.

Will be happy to see Licha back, he will make a massive difference.

If we could somehow find a CM in January. It would be massive but it's a long shot.

03 Nov 2025 17:34:42
Sesko needs to improve his first touch first of all, before other players will even start to look for him, I never ever rated Rasmus but I am really not sure Sesko is any better or anymore potential than he did…. I feel we still really need an experienced striker for Sesko to learn from….

those that say give him time or he needs service are the usual crew that waxed lyrical about Sancho when he first arrived, Rasmus till he left, but you need to show the basics and I am not seeing it with Sesko.

02 Nov 2025 07:39:02
{Ed's Note - Pompey Rouge has posted a new article entitled, Liverpool FC As Of October 2025

01 Nov 2025 23:25:17
Agree with those who suggest that after that terrible 5 minutes we would have lost that game last year. Instead only a clearance off the line prevented us from winning it. So, much better character shown by the players, many of whom were not at their best.

Sesko, in particular, seemed to have no first touch. Forest may be struggling but I think we prevented them from making it 4 wins in a run against us.

01 Nov 2025 22:55:00
Remember when Thomas Frank was getting all the praise earlier in the season and the media were asking how he could get Spurs playing but Amorim can't get Utd going. Anyway, it just crossed my mind.

02 Nov 2025 00:14:49
Exactly Banjoe, there was also much comment and criticism on here, last season, about how Vitor Pereira had achieved wonders at Wolves and yet the same had not happened to us.

Maybe it's not just about looking at instantism, but show a bit of patience. Transforming a juggernaut like United, especially given the overall situation at the club when RA arrived was never going to be achieved quickly, it is more like trying to manoeuvre a gigantic oil
tanker than changing course on a small yacht.

Altering the basic fundamentals is the most important thing to achieve, that will always take time.

01 Nov 2025 18:54:24
Last year we would definitely have lost that game. being down in a hostile environment and being able to fight back and score late to take a point shows more resilience and confidence in this group now. Would have preferred 3 obviously but not the worst result.

01 Nov 2025 21:43:38
Maybe Tim but we were not a good today. Very sluggish slow moving the ball. But good character shown. Too many average performers today.

01 Nov 2025 22:28:54
Totally Ken. We are a long way from where we want to be, but are a fair bit away from where we were. If that makes sense lol.

02 Nov 2025 04:20:51
We lacked that last pass or a sharp finish today. They sat in so its always harder. we were sloppy playing from the back and not sharp and allowed them to pressure the ball. some of the touches and time players were taking to move it hurried us into losing possession. what a hit by amad though.

02 Nov 2025 07:54:55
We lacked a top midfielder today, someone who could command from the middle and drive the team forward.

02 Nov 2025 10:10:47
Elliot Anderson?

02 Nov 2025 11:15:31
Fully agree Tim. Though it's painfully obvious we need a LWB. Dalot can't play there. Dorgu isn't ready to be a regular starter.

01 Nov 2025 14:10:06
This may or may not be an accurate report but I've heard today that the ex Prince Andrew made contact with Stephen Gerrard to see how he copes in life without a title!

31 Oct 2025 19:25:29
The Premier League have announced that we will be playing Newcastle at O. T. on Boxing Day and it will be the only game played on that day. Kick off at 8pm.

Big change in tradition, normally a full programme on that day. Seemingly it's due to the increase in European club competitions leading to a revision in our domestic calendar.

Can't say I am overly impressed with this change, a full day of fixtures and sitting in front of the telly box all afternoon was a good way of working off all that turkey!

31 Oct 2025 11:00:54
Football is really regressing back to the 70s, teams are now stopping this playing out from the back as much, simply because they can't and the well drilled press was creating mistakes and goals, but now everyone is going back to the big long ball unto the box, pulling, blocking and shoving. The big strong tall fast players are back in demand. We have come full circle.

VAR and refs don't know what to do, Arsenal have been getting away with these well worked fouls in the box for 2 season s now and every else is copying the plan because refs weren't strong enough to stop it last season. The beautiful game is now slow possession outside the box, look for a cheap free kick, corner or touch and pump the ball into the box.

31 Oct 2025 13:01:48
I don’t think football is regressing, I think it just continues to evolve in response to dominant trends — when one style becomes widespread, opponents adapt by exploiting its weaknesses. Because teams have adopted high pressing and possession-based systems, this has opened space behind defensive lines, making longer balls and direct transitions more effective again.

There maybe a time in the near future when we see 2 strikers up front again and out and out wingers. A right footer on the right and a left footer on the left.

31 Oct 2025 19:15:52
I agree ports. I do agree with some of redcons points also .
Put that great Barcelona team into the epl today and they would still walk away with it imo playing their style.
City had a similar style initially under pep not for 1 moment suggesting they were like his Barcelona team BTW.
Brazil won a world cup in 70 with that style.
The trouble with trying to emulate that style with inferior players is that they can't do it as well and get caught with a high press.


Imo its not gone back to the Jack Charlton or Wimbledon style or anything close to it. Maybe partly because the tackling and physicality allowed now is night and day from those times.
As ports says the game evolves continually. The laws also evolve so the coaches need to adapt all the time. i'm sure even the intro of VAR has made players think and act differently.

31 Oct 2025 19:24:06
Soon it may regress to the point you can actually tackle a player again and not penalised for breathing on them.

31 Oct 2025 21:09:07
That’s the thing for me, Keefy. There’s a big difference between long balls/ long throws/ sneaky fouls in the box, and the war zone of 70s football. The sheer amount of physicality allowed up until the EPL era makes it completely different to today.

You see Haaland bullying defenders, back in the 70s he would battered and the refs wouldn’t say a word. I don’t ever see the game going back to that, more that teams have started to realise that playing in a more direct way can actually be more effective than trying to play out from the back against a high press.

01 Nov 2025 02:34:22
Watched a classic 90s game of utd away at Wimbledon a while back. They were assaulting us at every opportunity. It is wild to watch even 90s era back now.

01 Nov 2025 09:57:19
Football goes in cycles, Pep brought a very possession dominant style of play that suffocate the opposition, to counter that we saw teams deploying a box midfield to crowd out the middle and teams looking to press higher to avoid being under pressure on the edge of their box, to counter that teams started playing over the press, Arsenal have moved to a very defensive compact style with an emphasis on set pieces to avoid those balls over the top.

Football keeps changing, no point trying to fight it, just adapt with it so you can remain successful.