Manchester United Rumours Archive December 04 2019

04 Dec 2019 11:40:33
Excuse my ignorance but has the Ed put together a January transfer target post yet?

{Ed002's Note - No.}

04 Dec 2019 12:04:18
Might you have time this month Ed? Would be a great read.

{Ed002's Note - I will try Fresh!.}

04 Dec 2019 12:18:36
Hugely appreciated as always.

04 Dec 2019 12:23:13
One of my friend close to a football agent said we will push really hard for Declan Rice in the January window.

Hope Ed002 puts a sharkapod to genuinely know who our list of targets are and which amongst them will be practically possible.

04 Dec 2019 15:35:52
Really feel that would be a dumb move and another overpriced purchase.

Kalvin Phillips represents better value and has more about him.

04 Dec 2019 16:50:11
Rice is a cb playing in cm. I don't see him pulling up trees at West ham.

04 Dec 2019 17:09:31
Rice is an excellent young player, from a defensive view point he reads the game really well, and as an ex-defender his tackling, and timing of when to tackle is top notch. While he is also strong in the air and hard to knock off the ball and mobile. As a physical presence he can dominate the area in front of the CB's and offers a great shield in front of the back four.

However, as a side aspiring to reach back to the top level of world football is Declan Rice the sort of midfielder a top side will need every week?

Sure when up against another top side who'll have a fair bit of possession and who will look to get at your defence as often as possible he is a great player to have.

But against 90% of sides who will look to sit back and try and hit you on the counter, how useful is Rice?

On the ball he is good at recycling the ball but he doesn't offer much in the way of creative forward passing, he isn't the guy to set the tempo.

The type of player Declan Rice is, means he is the type of player we will only need 10-15 times a season. You don't spend 80m on a player like that.

While Kalvin Phillips isn't as good as a defensive shield in front of the back four (he's still pretty good), he offers much more to the team when in possession. Which when you consider he will likely cost half of what Rice would. He makes much more sense as a signing.

05 Dec 2019 11:42:26
As a midfield player rice has nothing on McTominay. I agree that he’s a Centre Half.

04 Dec 2019 10:10:25
So here we go, the latest rumour is that Gareth Southgate is one of the top candidates for the club if they sack Ole.

We will not improve by sacking Ole unless the club has people who understand football making key football decisions.

Southgate will come in, struggle much the same way Ole and his predecessors have and the club will just slide further down.

Red Man will be over the moon, another manager who's last job in club football resulted in the relegation of Middlesbrough to the Championship from the EPL.

A man who has won less than Ole, has never been at a top club as a player or a manager, and someone who doesn't even understand the culture of our club.

But don't worry sacking the manager will work, it's always worked before.

04 Dec 2019 10:25:25
it doesn’t matter who comes in, in the short term they’ll pick up a few extra points but until there are wide scale changes behind the scenes we will not progress. As Ed002 often says we act like amateurs. We then proceed to call ourselves the biggest club in the world. Maybe we should act like it.

04 Dec 2019 11:03:57
Exactly Shappy.
Whoever the manager is, will struggle with a team having midfielders such as Fred and Andreas.
The squad depth is so thin in quality that 1 or 2 injuries severly impacts the team.

04 Dec 2019 11:33:51
Nail on head there Shapps

With Ole now there's no point in changing anything however I do think Ole is underperforming but the change in management would only result in marginal improvement for a cost of going back to square one.

We will come Jan 1st how seriously the club are backing Ole.

As for the future I want to see the Direction come from above in whatever role - sporting director / director of football.

That needs to happen first or we are are stuck on the same wheel.

Looking at the scouse that's basically what they did when they sorted out their transfer committee. Different problems but similar solution. Every business or team or organisation is led from the top and a reflection of their priorities.

04 Dec 2019 12:16:53
The point that there's no point in changing the manager because the squad is poor is a ridiculous one.

Is Ole getting the most out of this squad of players?

If your answer is "Yes". Then you are lying.

If your answer is "No". Then why would a decent manager not be able to get more from them?

04 Dec 2019 12:38:37
Because mumbles we've had decent managers who failed to get anything from them. The first signs of trouble and certain players hide. Or cause stuff behind the scenes.

04 Dec 2019 12:47:37
Mumbles, look at the past record. We sack a manger, we get slightly better results for a while before it all comes crashing down again.

A new manager probably would get better results than Ole. But who would that manager be and are they good enough to lift us back to the top?

Will the new manager be able to bring in the players required? Or will they have limited impact on transfers?

What happens when the new manager slumps?

Sacking Ole will only provide a short term bump without long term changes being made at the club. The club runs the risk of the new manager potentially damaging the progress of our talented young players. Or upsetting the dressing room.

For what? Would a new manager with this squad be able to get us into the top four this season? Probably not.

04 Dec 2019 13:11:16
Yeah Mort and they lost their jobs. Why should we afford a manager with average C. V more time than serial winners in L. V. G or Jose?

Jose finished 2nd and was sacked 15 games into a season from poor results resulting in us in 6th place.

Ole has us now in 10th at the same time of the season and two huge games coming up.

Why is a manager that has slowly taken us down the league be afforded more time when he has shown very little to be positive about?

04 Dec 2019 13:29:10
Shappy you said a couple of months ago that top 4 was the minimum for Ole. Now no manager would get us into the top 4?

Spurs went from no hope to right back in the mix for the 4th position in a few games.

I get your point that the club itself is a mess, which makes it even more important that we have a manager in charge that can get the most out of this squad and Ole is not doing that.

04 Dec 2019 13:44:07
Because that manager has lost fellaini, hererra, sanchez, lukaku without replacement.
Because that manager was left with darmian and young as rbs, smalling and Jones as cbs, matic, pereira and Fred as cms, no right winger, pogba and matic both wanting to leave.
The results are obviously not going the right way but Ole has:
Gotten rid of dead wood/ bad influences
Bought well in the transfer market, better than I would say any of the previous 3 incumbents.
Bought the signing of the season in Dan James.
Brought through Williams, greenwood and tuanzebe as first team regulars
Has given chong, gomes, garner minutes also.
Given martial back his no. 9 and has trusted him up front.
Trusted rashford at all times.
De gea signed a new contract.
I would say he's improved Williams, greenwood, Dan James and of course Scott mcTominay.
Sure a new manager might get a bounce of wins, of course Ole did but what if an allegri was brought in, would he sell some of these young players Ole has and is in my eyes developing, remember van gaal sold the likes of Evans who should never have left the club.
I still believe in Ole and in what he is doing to transform the club.

04 Dec 2019 13:53:24
Mumbles, Spurs have great first 11 and a decent squad. They were playing poorly due to issues off the pitch which Pochettino was unable to keep a lid on. This of course wasn't helped by Pochettino suggesting publicly that he might leave if Spurs won the UCL.

All that Spurs side needed was a little stability and some nice words in their ears. They've got that and are now playing to their potential.

I standby both statements, Ole does need to get top four to keep his job, AND I don't think this squad is good enough over a season to get top four.

The club have sacked managers for not getting top four, they have previous for it. Whether they should? Well that's a different question. We have a squad who have qualified for UCL twice in 6 years by finishing in the top 4.
Which suggest this squad has a 33% chance of getting top four.

We aren't good enough, if however we can keep our best 11 fit, play to our potential, and probably get knocked out of most of the cups early then we stand a decent chance of finishing in the top four. But over a 50-60 game season with injuries to key players and the drop off in quality that causes we will struggle.

04 Dec 2019 15:19:29
if we lose our next 2 games should the manager be sacked?

{Ed047's Note - 100% NO

04 Dec 2019 16:40:46
100% NO.

04 Dec 2019 16:50:19
Shappy there's been games this season where only Pogba has been missing from our first team and we've struggled. The last 10 games of last season he had a full squad and we struggled.

He hasn't had it easy the last few games missing midfielders, but you can't make excuses for him winning 1 in 4 and blame injuries.

04 Dec 2019 17:21:31
Mumbles, name me another outfield player capable of playing to a world class level like Pogba is?

He might be inconsistent, yet Pogba is the only midfielder we have who is capable of making the passes that split the lines and open teams up. I saw a stat the other day that said United score on average 2.72 goals a game with Pogba in the side under Ole, wile we score 1.01 goals a game under Ole when Pogba doesn't play.

Considering that Pogba has missed the last 12 games in the league then that would be an extra 20 league goals we would have scored if Pogba maintained the form he has had under Ole.

Where do you think we would be in the league if we scored an extra 20 goals, hell where would we be if we scored an extra 10? If those 10 goals meant we got 3 more wins rather than two draws and a loss then that would put us even on points with Chelsea in 4th, but ahead of them on good with the extra 10 goals.

04 Dec 2019 22:15:57
If my aunt was a man she’d be my
uncle bob.