Man Utd Thread:

[rodney trotter]

Hardly.. United got into the top 4 last season by Leicester self imploding. Defence frailties were exposed  in the Cup Semi v Chelsea.
Arsenal will be better this season and you'd imagine Spurs too.

What's the point of having a load of attackers if you can't defend. That's what cost Brendan Rodgers at  Liverpool.

[Geoff Tipps]

As Boycey alluded to last week United are massively under cooked in comparison to most other clubs, how much of that is down to the manager I just don't know; The result wasn't a surprise to me and a good few others I know who were worried going into this weekend.

The long term issue at centre half will continue and probably won't be rectified until next season which I can deal with if somebody of Sancho's class comes in. Lindelof isn't up to it as Maguire's partner, he's a good defender when United sit back and counter but he's poor in the air and lack of pace means United are never going to challenge for a title with that centre half pairing.

Whether Ole is going to be a success I don't know so can only judge him on last season where he did a good job.

The voice of reason as usual on this thread.

The voice of reason wouldn't say let's blow £100m on Sancho and forget about the gaping holes in defence till next Summer!

[Boycey]

I would be very surprised to see Sancho joint at this stage. If they let him go the are leaving themselves a very short time to get a replacement. I read this morning that there is no desire for United to get a new CB. That is verging on negligent in my opinion. None of the CBs are at the required level and there is limited confidence flowing through the whole team. They will raise their game against the likes of LFC and City, that's where they are now.

Maguire's a good centre back and with the right partner could form an excellent partnership but the reality is it's not  a game of Football Manager and United have a myriad of centre backs on their books, some on huge wages without shifting some of these there won't be another bought?

The reality is we're not going to challenge the top 2 short/medium term and there's no centre back in the world going to change but another attacking option or two will keep United in the mix for the other places?

People keep saying other teams will improve, yeah possibly they will but I don't see any off them as world beaters either?

[johnnycool]

I would be very surprised to see Sancho joint at this stage. If they let him go the are leaving themselves a very short time to get a replacement. I read this morning that there is no desire for United to get a new CB. That is verging on negligent in my opinion. None of the CBs are at the required level and there is limited confidence flowing through the whole team. They will raise their game against the likes of LFC and City, that's where they are now.

Maguire's a good centre back and with the right partner could form an excellent partnership but the reality is it's not  a game of Football Manager and United have a myriad of centre backs on their books, some on huge wages without shifting some of these there won't be another bought?

The reality is we're not going to challenge the top 2 short/medium term and there's no centre back in the world going to change but another attacking option or two will keep United in the mix for the other places?

People keep saying other teams will improve, yeah possibly they will but I don't see any off them as world beaters either?

Where's Phil Jones this weather?

Is he still on the books?

[Cunny Funt]

Hardly.. United got into the top 4 last season by Leicester self imploding. Defence frailties were exposed  in the Cup Semi v Chelsea.
Arsenal will be better this season and you'd imagine Spurs too.

What's the point of having a load of attackers if you can't defend. That's what cost Brendan Rodgers at  Liverpool.

United finished 3rd last season so even if Leicester didn't "imploded" a top 4 finish would have happened and that was alot to do with Uniteds form since the defeat to Burnley in January. 14 PL games unbeaten before Saturday and the much maligned defence only conceded 7 goals in that run.

As already stated the biggest issues now is fitness and sharpness. Also can't ignore that preparation for this new season has been one distraction after another from the Maguire, Greenwood sagas, Wan Bissaka going in self isolation and Pogba getting the virus.

[magpie seanie]

As Boycey alluded to last week United are massively under cooked in comparison to most other clubs, how much of that is down to the manager I just don't know; The result wasn't a surprise to me and a good few others I know who were worried going into this weekend.

The long term issue at centre half will continue and probably won't be rectified until next season which I can deal with if somebody of Sancho's class comes in. Lindelof isn't up to it as Maguire's partner, he's a good defender when United sit back and counter but he's poor in the air and lack of pace means United are never going to challenge for a title with that centre half pairing.

Whether Ole is going to be a success I don't know so can only judge him on last season where he did a good job.

The voice of reason as usual on this thread.

The voice of reason wouldn't say let's blow £100m on Sancho and forget about the gaping holes in defence till next Summer!

Yes. That's not what he said though.

[snoopdog]

I would be very surprised to see Sancho joint at this stage. If they let him go the are leaving themselves a very short time to get a replacement. I read this morning that there is no desire for United to get a new CB. That is verging on negligent in my opinion. None of the CBs are at the required level and there is limited confidence flowing through the whole team. They will raise their game against the likes of LFC and City, that's where they are now.

Maguire's a good centre back and with the right partner could form an excellent partnership but the reality is it's not  a game of Football Manager and United have a myriad of centre backs on their books, some on huge wages without shifting some of these there won't be another bought?

The reality is we're not going to challenge the top 2 short/medium term and there's no centre back in the world going to change but another attacking option or two will keep United in the mix for the other places?

People keep saying other teams will improve, yeah possibly they will but I don't see any off them as world beaters either?

Maguire has along way to go to prove he is a good centre back. He hasn't showed it yet for utd.

[BennyCake]

I would be very surprised to see Sancho joint at this stage. If they let him go the are leaving themselves a very short time to get a replacement. I read this morning that there is no desire for United to get a new CB. That is verging on negligent in my opinion. None of the CBs are at the required level and there is limited confidence flowing through the whole team. They will raise their game against the likes of LFC and City, that's where they are now.

Maguire's a good centre back and with the right partner could form an excellent partnership but the reality is it's not  a game of Football Manager and United have a myriad of centre backs on their books, some on huge wages without shifting some of these there won't be another bought?

The reality is we're not going to challenge the top 2 short/medium term and there's no centre back in the world going to change but another attacking option or two will keep United in the mix for the other places?

People keep saying other teams will improve, yeah possibly they will but I don't see any off them as world beaters either?

Maguire has along way to go to prove he is a good centre back. He hasn't showed it yet for utd.

The evidence for Maguire's footballing ability stemmed from England's 2018 World Cup. An easy run to the semis which Ireland could have reached had they got a similar draw (or indeed qualified).

An over-hyped team, an over-hyped manager, and in reality, they were very average, and most, if not all of them, have been found out in the 2 years since. Maguire included.

[Geoff Tipps]

As Boycey alluded to last week United are massively under cooked in comparison to most other clubs, how much of that is down to the manager I just don't know; The result wasn't a surprise to me and a good few others I know who were worried going into this weekend.

The long term issue at centre half will continue and probably won't be rectified until next season which I can deal with if somebody of Sancho's class comes in. Lindelof isn't up to it as Maguire's partner, he's a good defender when United sit back and counter but he's poor in the air and lack of pace means United are never going to challenge for a title with that centre half pairing.

Whether Ole is going to be a success I don't know so can only judge him on last season where he did a good job.

The voice of reason as usual on this thread.

The voice of reason wouldn't say let's blow £100m on Sancho and forget about the gaping holes in defence till next Summer!

Yes. That's not what he said though.

"The long term issue at centre half will continue and probably won't be rectified until next season which I can deal with if somebody of Sancho's class comes in."

[Boycey]

I figured there would be a clamour on to say how poor Maguire is, I'll just say despite having no goalie and no defenders Utd finished 3rd last season which is quite remarkable...

My point as above, is there is NO centre back on earth who will make Utd competitive at the top end but more forward options will keep them competitive in the wee 4/5 team competition they are likely to be in? We flogged our forward options to death at the end of last season?

Having said that if they buy a centre back to compliment Maguire I'll be more than happy but that's what it will be someone to play along with him not instead of him

[magpie seanie]

As Boycey alluded to last week United are massively under cooked in comparison to most other clubs, how much of that is down to the manager I just don't know; The result wasn't a surprise to me and a good few others I know who were worried going into this weekend.

The long term issue at centre half will continue and probably won't be rectified until next season which I can deal with if somebody of Sancho's class comes in. Lindelof isn't up to it as Maguire's partner, he's a good defender when United sit back and counter but he's poor in the air and lack of pace means United are never going to challenge for a title with that centre half pairing.

Whether Ole is going to be a success I don't know so can only judge him on last season where he did a good job.

The voice of reason as usual on this thread.

The voice of reason wouldn't say let's blow £100m on Sancho and forget about the gaping holes in defence till next Summer!

Yes. That's not what he said though.

"The long term issue at centre half will continue and probably won't be rectified until next season which I can deal with if somebody of Sancho's class comes in."

Yes, that's not the same thing as "let's blow £100m on Sancho and forget about the gaping holes in defence till next Summer!"

[magpie seanie]

I figured there would be a clamour on to say how poor Maguire is, I'll just say despite having no goalie and no defenders Utd finished 3rd last season which is quite remarkable...

My point as above, is there is NO centre back on earth who will make Utd competitive at the top end but more forward options will keep them competitive in the wee 4/5 team competition they are likely to be in? We flogged our forward options to death at the end of last season?

Having said that if they buy a centre back to compliment Maguire I'll be more than happy but that's what it will be someone to play along with him not instead of him

That's exactly right. United have multiple positions of need. Ole has addressed then at each transfer window and cleared out a lot of dead wood while still managing to finish 3rd and make semis of all competitions United were in last season. To say he's clueless is actually far more idiotic than to say he's definitely the man to bring United back to the top (I like the guy but jury is out on that one). People do not seem to understand that United are handicapped like no other team in the world of soccer by their owners and their absolutely clueless (about the sport) henchmen. I got the feeling the owners got sick of Mourinho's failures in the transfer market and it was somewhat justifiable that they pulled back from writing cheques for him. No such justification arises now....OGS's signings have been really good. A huge job remains due the the magnitude of the damage Mourinho did. As a United supporter I'm getting really tired of seeing Lindelof and Shaw in particular making the same mistakes over and over again but I realise it's better to suffer on rather than panic and buy the wrong player and get rooked for it. We've seen too much of that.

Rashford's form worries me. He didn't have a great end to last season and again looked a shadow of himself on Saturday.

[OgraAnDun]

Only two teams conceded less goals than Utd in the league last season - City (1 less) and Liverpool (3 less). So despite the defence looking very shaky, it's probably not THE top priority. A complete lack of quality depth for the front 4 is - VdB allows for Bruno and Pogba to be rested and rotated, while Sancho at least means that Utd will have one sub who can come in to the attack without necessitating a change in style of play or a massive drop in quality.

Shaw can't stay fit for long enough so LB needs to be sorted, allowing Williams to play RB (as he's right footed) when AWB needs a rest. Hopefully AWB will develop a bit more in an attacking sense this year too.

[NAG1]

Only two teams conceded less goals than Utd in the league last season - City (1 less) and Liverpool (3 less). So despite the defence looking very shaky, it's probably not THE top priority. A complete lack of quality depth for the front 4 is - VdB allows for Bruno and Pogba to be rested and rotated, while Sancho at least means that Utd will have one sub who can come in to the attack without necessitating a change in style of play or a massive drop in quality.

Shaw can't stay fit for long enough so LB needs to be sorted, allowing Williams to play RB (as he's right footed) when AWB needs a rest. Hopefully AWB will develop a bit more in an attacking sense this year too.

Yeah that makes sense and probably explains OGS strategy in the market.

I am concerned and was most of last season about AWB, offers very little going forward and switches off too often for my liking now blocking crosses etc. Hopefully restarts in better form.

[Ed Ricketts]

That's exactly right. United have multiple positions of need. Ole has addressed then at each transfer window and cleared out a lot of dead wood while still managing to finish 3rd and make semis of all competitions United were in last season. To say he's clueless is actually far more idiotic than to say he's definitely the man to bring United back to the top (I like the guy but jury is out on that one). People do not seem to understand that United are handicapped like no other team in the world of soccer by their owners and their absolutely clueless (about the sport) henchmen. I got the feeling the owners got sick of Mourinho's failures in the transfer market and it was somewhat justifiable that they pulled back from writing cheques for him. No such justification arises now....OGS's signings have been really good. A huge job remains due the the magnitude of the damage Mourinho did. As a United supporter I'm getting really tired of seeing Lindelof and Shaw in particular making the same mistakes over and over again but I realise it's better to suffer on rather than panic and buy the wrong player and get rooked for it. We've seen too much of that.

Rashford's form worries me. He didn't have a great end to last season and again looked a shadow of himself on Saturday.

An awful lot more still to do on that front, but that's really another issue to nail Woodward on.

Five senior keepers at the club. One away on loan, but why so many?

Seven! senior centre backs still on the books. Two, maybe three, of these could and should be gone.

Dalot is failed adventure and has no future. Pereira the same.

Lingard and Mata also well past the point of usefulness.

Probably £25million a year of wasted wages there.

Not only is the club management inept at recruiting, they're also abysmal at clearing out the junk. This bloated, directionless stagnation manifests on the pitch.