Man Utd Thread:

[gallsman]

Best keeper in the world me hole.

Come back Taibi, all is forgiven.

Who is better?

Than de Gea? The lad form the far end of the pitch from him tonight for one.

Oblak, Alisson, Ederson

So DeGea makes one error and he is suddenly useless. Allison and Ederson have each made howlers this season too. DeGea is better than all three.

No he's not.

[gawa316]

Best keeper in the world me hole.

Come back Taibi, all is forgiven.

Who is better?

Than de Gea? The lad form the far end of the pitch from him tonight for one.

Oblak, Alisson, Ederson

So DeGea makes one error and he is suddenly useless. Allison and Ederson have each made howlers this season too. DeGea is better than all three.

I think De Gea is a fantastic keeper but to be fair this hasn't been the only major mistake this year. Going on his performances this season, it's his worst apart from his first season.

[gawa316]

Genuine question (before that fella who doesn't care about Utd results jumps in), but anyone got concerns or doubts about whether Ole is up to the job?

I just can't fathom how a failed Cardiff manager and the Molde manager is in any way qualified to manage one of the biggest clubs in the world. Yes I get it results until lately have been amazing (maybe not performances), he knows the philosophy of the club,  and he is a man u legend but surely that can take him only so far? Phelan and to a lesser degree Carrick have an important support role but again surely that isn't enough?

Also Pogba...keep or get rid?

[Kidder81]

Best keeper in the world me hole.

Come back Taibi, all is forgiven.

Who is better?

Than de Gea? The lad form the far end of the pitch from him tonight for one.

Oblak, Alisson, Ederson

So DeGea makes one error and he is suddenly useless. Allison and Ederson have each made howlers this season too. DeGea is better than all three.

You mustn't have seen too many games if you think he has only made one error

[Bord na Mona man]

De Gea's form started to slide gradually about a year ago. Up to then he was probably the best keeper in the world. Or unquestionably in the top 3.
Some players who want to move on still deliver high performances as normal. Others let it leak into their  on field displays. Unfortunately he's one of the latter.

[trailer]

Genuine question (before that fella who doesn't care about Utd results jumps in), but anyone got concerns or doubts about whether Ole is up to the job?

I just can't fathom how a failed Cardiff manager and the Molde manager is in any way qualified to manage one of the biggest clubs in the world. Yes I get it results until lately have been amazing (maybe not performances), he knows the philosophy of the club,  and he is a man u legend but surely that can take him only so far? Phelan and to a lesser degree Carrick have an important support role but again surely that isn't enough?

Also Pogba...keep or get rid?

Managing a football club isn't difficult. Buy the best players. Pick them and motivate them. It's not rocket science. The best players, trying their best will win more games than not. Manchester United do not have a good selection of players. Barca, City, Liverpool etc all have better players.
Hard work will always beat talent when talent doesn't work hard.

[Milltown Row2]

Its funny how in one season that a team that finished second is fighting to finish in the top four and a team that finished just about fourth is now (possibly) going to win the league and champions league..

Why has Utd (collectively) allowed that to happen, Jose did bring silverware but his football was poor to watch but he managed to get results, abeit unattractive football.

Utd need to find the right mix to be competing again. Be interesting to see how much input Ole has when it comes to the hard task of buying players and getting rid of others, so far extending such contracts on players that wouldnt get on a mid table team isnt filling me with confidence

[GetOverTheBar]

Do you make much of these whispers that Ferguson is running this thing again behind the scenes?

[Keyser soze]

Liverpool's vast improvement can be directly traced to the signing of VVD, and then Alison in the summer. Any team needs to be defensively sound as a basis for a championship challenge and Klopp recognized that and made signings to fix that which worked for Liverpool.

MU's signings did not work due to a combination of players not able to adapt quickly to the pressure of playing for Utd and injury..to the likes of Bailly/Rojo.. who at times looked like they might have the temperament and ability to play for such a big club. This led to Mourinho having to adapt a more defensive approach this term as his team went from being one of the most defensively sound in the league last season to leaking goals for fun. He was forced to select those men of glass Jones and Smalling who never stay fit long enough to establish any defensive stability. Don't think I even need to mention what having Ashley Young [who has been a very good servant of the club as winger in a bygone era] as 1st choice right back says about the club's defensive options.

There have also been some monumental cockups in signing players. Sanchez being the best example as a complete waste of money, though these things happen in all clubs Utd's signing policy and indeed extending contracts to people well past their sell by date is the prime example of the systemic weaknesses at the club going back 10 or more years.

The lack of leaders in the squad is a major factor in the demise of the club. Can you imagine Lingard and Pogba getting away with that fool nonsense they spout on social media, [not to mention f**king about on the pitch with a complete lack of effort at times], if they had a Roy Keane in their changing room? The club cannot afford to keep two eejits like these on the books, any transfer fee you would get is a bonus as far as I am concerned as people like these are a parasite on the squad. 

[magpie seanie]

I was expecting an overreaction but it's even worse than I anticipated. Last night was looking for a miracle. When I saw the team with Young at right back, typically an area Messi ioperates in, I worried even more. United gave it a go early on and could have nicked one. Simply cannot afford errors and while Young's was bad, DeGea's was beyond disastrous. He could have controlled it and passed it out. At that point it was about avoiding a hiding as their tails were up (from doing nothing really) so I suppose conceding one more wasn't the worst. We all hoped United could make a tie opf it against a fairly ordinary (by their standards) Barcelona. Wasn't to be. At least they're better than Sevilla. Liverpool will take care of them easily in the semi.

Whoever came in after the Mourinho car crash was going to have a massive job on their hands. Despite a near miraculous run that still remains the case. There are serious decisions to be made on a lot of players with big contracts who might be difficult to offload. I'm sure that Ole together with Phelan, Carrick and McKenna are capable of doing the job required. Big summer ahead and one transfer window won't fix everything.

[yellowcard]

Hard to believe that 3 of the back 4 last night have lasted as long at the club under 4 different managers and whilst that is not the only problem it is the biggest problem. Defensively not good enough.

I didn't expect them to beat Barca over 2 legs and maybe a glorious failure against PSG would have suited better but the deficiencies have been there to see for a considerable period of time against lesser sides than Barcelona. Wouldn't be overly confident about getting top 4 either so I think it will be a big task to attract the right sort of players in the summer and get the club back onto an upward trajectory. Massively over inflated salaries in the dressing room have created a big problem in that respect dating back to Falcao and Ibrahimovic and now Sanchez. It has created a situation whereby De Gea can walk in and demand £500k per week.

[trailer]

Not only have Utd bought poorly they have also sold poorly. Michael Keane and Johnny Evans would've been better option at CH than the 4 or 5 they have at the minute.

[Maroon Manc]

Sure is an overeaction as usual, United started well and looked dangerous but needed to score first to have any chance. As soon as they scored it was game over, United looked tired at the weekend and had to go full pelt until the last minute whilst Barca rested neaerly the whole team but as usual thats totally ignored.

Tactically I don't have much issues with what I saw over the 2 legs, he'd learned from the 1st leg against PSG and got a lot right but doesn't have the players good enough to carry out instructions, defensively we're a shambles and have continued soft goals all season. Young has had 3 appalling games in a row but looks like we're going to have to continue with him until the end of the season. Smalling is and always has been the first player I'd get rid of, he's appalling in possession and has never shown any signs of improvement. He is the main reason we give the ball away so needlessly, Jones is a lot better on the ball and gets far too much stick. Dalot, Lindelof & Shaw plus another centre half has the makings of a very good back 4. United's squad is no way near as bad as many are making out, a top class centre half, centre mid and right winger plus a good pre season would have United looking like a totally different team. I suspect Lukaku won't be happy with his role and will look for a move away and with the likes of Mata & Herrera leaving on a free there may be a few more coming in than 3.

Ole needs time to get his ideas across, tactically he's not done a lot wrong in the last month but has been let down by his players who just continue to gift soft goals to the opposition. Its a big next 10 days for United, can't say I'm too hopeful but a win on Sunday will make a huge difference to my outlook for the rest of the season.

[Denn Forever]

You don't meet a Messi often.

[Boycey]

Genuine question (before that fella who doesn't care about Utd results jumps in), but anyone got concerns or doubts about whether Ole is up to the job?

I just can't fathom how a failed Cardiff manager and the Molde manager is in any way qualified to manage one of the biggest clubs in the world. Yes I get it results until lately have been amazing (maybe not performances), he knows the philosophy of the club,  and he is a man u legend but surely that can take him only so far? Phelan and to a lesser degree Carrick have an important support role but again surely that isn't enough?

Also Pogba...keep or get rid?

I've said similar re Solskjaer a couple of times here although I desperately want him to succeed..

Conventional wisdom says its the last manager/managers that carry most of the blame for current situation but to me the heart of the club is rotten and while it is little will change. Uniteds goal isn't to be the best it can be, its to do the minimum it can to keep the 'business' safe and you can say that shouldn't matter to the players on the field but poison seeps in everywhere. Ole wasn't brought to United to manage permanently not a chance, he was a safe pair of hands if you like, til a new manager was recruited. He did better than expected in the short term, United probably looked at it and said he's miles cheaper than getting someone like Poch (£40mill was a figure being bandied about) hes unlikely to rock the boat like Mourinho who took Woodward on head on. Whats not to like from Uniteds perspective?

Pogba, supremely talented but doesn't seem to have the mental application level required. Would be a brilliant player in a complete team but doesn't seem a man you would build your club around a la Keane, Ferdinand, VVD, Terry etc If the right offer came in I'd happily let him go but he generates millions of social media impressions or whatever the fcuk they are called therein lies the real problem.....


Still love Ole though