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I don't particularly like him and thought he was a disgrace on the Off the Ball show in Dublin but couldn't stop listening to Keane the way he was talking last night. . . he was excellent in everything he said and it was very insightful and a glimpse into the way he thought when playing football. He should be like that more!!

Utd were muck last night especially Pogba!

I enjoyed what he said too. He was very green and raw coming from Forest looking back but blossomed under the professionalism there and learned a lot from the established pros within the team. You could say he got whipped into shape. You'd wonder how a young Keane would do coming into this Utd squad. Could very well get frustrated with the negativity, make headlines off the pitch, go off the rails and pick up a bucket full of red cards before being moved on after a couple of seasons.

[Pogba is shocking, not a leader.]

Full backs look dodgy. Pogba is shocking, not a leader. No striker. They have some nice footballers sprinkled about the team but hard to see where the consistency will come from. Maybe they can regroup and get something going with a fully fit squad but they look a soft touch at the moment. I can see some panic buys coming in January and maybe even major upheaval in the management front. It's all well and good talking about resetting, patience and holding firm in August but the reality of not having a target man in the PL is becoming apparent and will get even more real as the games clock up. That was a poor Arsenal performance to boot. 
At this stage for Utd they need to get some real quality in key positions and whether they want to hear it or not it means paying over the odds. It might backfire but hoping the young lads come good could just as easily backfire. They could end up ruining some of their young talent without proper direction and leadership. They're being analysed to bits every week in the media and most of it is not good. The pressure will not ease either.

It's shocking that you watch United and choose to criticize Pogba of all the midfielders. He's the best one in that team by a good bit and at times the only one who looks like making something happen. McTominay has done ok. Lingard and Pereira aren't good enough. Has to be question marks over Fred at this stage and Mata is past his best.

Because he is the marquee name there, most experienced and accomplished player and highest earner. Happy to stick his chest out in social media too to air his grievances. But the only reason I recognized he was playing last night was because of his haircut. Sums him up.
He'll show quality in patches over the season and will get great reviews (justifiably) in some games but he his not a leader and will go missing in at least 10 games a season. They need more from him at the moment both the club and younger players there.

[Full backs look dodgy.]

Full backs look dodgy. Pogba is shocking, not a leader. No striker. They have some nice footballers sprinkled about the team but hard to see where the consistency will come from. Maybe they can regroup and get something going with a fully fit squad but they look a soft touch at the moment. I can see some panic buys coming in January and maybe even major upheaval in the management front. It's all well and good talking about resetting, patience and holding firm in August but the reality of not having a target man in the PL is becoming apparent and will get even more real as the games clock up. That was a poor Arsenal performance to boot. 
At this stage for Utd they need to get some real quality in key positions and whether they want to hear it or not it means paying over the odds. It might backfire but hoping the young lads come good could just as easily backfire. They could end up ruining some of their young talent without proper direction and leadership. They're being analysed to bits every week in the media and most of it is not good. The pressure will not ease either.

I can only assume you mean "the guys who played full back last night"? Neither of whom is a full back or first choice.

May seem nuts but a few months of Zlatan may be no harm but badly need a stop gap player or two in January. I'm satisfied with the process except the squad is too thin numbers wise and there's no proven goalscorer. The hysteria that surrounds every game makes it very difficult.

That's been the same old story at Utd for a long time now not just at full back. They need to buy.

Full backs look dodgy. Pogba is shocking, not a leader. No striker. They have some nice footballers sprinkled about the team but hard to see where the consistency will come from. Maybe they can regroup and get something going with a fully fit squad but they look a soft touch at the moment. I can see some panic buys coming in January and maybe even major upheaval in the management front. It's all well and good talking about resetting, patience and holding firm in August but the reality of not having a target man in the PL is becoming apparent and will get even more real as the games clock up. That was a poor Arsenal performance to boot. 
At this stage for Utd they need to get some real quality in key positions and whether they want to hear it or not it means paying over the odds. It might backfire but hoping the young lads come good could just as easily backfire. They could end up ruining some of their young talent without proper direction and leadership. They're being analysed to bits every week in the media and most of it is not good. The pressure will not ease either. 

It'll be a tight cagey affair I'd imagine. Hard to call a winner but I'd go for a Ramor win. They're coming together nicely at the right time. Gaels and Ramor play a very similar style and Castlerahan struggled against them at times. The introduction of Mackey helped them pick the Gaels defense but Ramor are a much better outfit. Mackey will need to be in top form for the cup to go to BJD plus there doesn't look to be 60 minutes in him. Ramor defense is more tenacious than what they faced last night and their full forward line is also much superior. Cole really does look a handful. They're very strong in midfield too and Jack Brady is playing great stuff at number 6. They like to soak up the pressure with 13 behind the ball and break very fast with good ball carriers like Brady and Cadden when they turn over. They have good ball winners inside to if they decide to go long. That's my 2 cents worth anyway.

[their club dimension and prestige]

Jose Mourinho commented: "Alexis is one of the best attacking players in the world and he will complete our very young and talented group of attacking players. He will bring his ambition, drive and personality, qualities that make a Manchester United player and a player that makes the team stronger and the supporters proud of their club dimension and prestige.

https://www.manutd.com/en/news/detail/manchester-united-complete-the-transfer-of-alexis-sanchez-from-arsenal

Seemed happy enough with it at the time. Interesting he mentioned prestige.

Once the deed is done manager has to get on with it, work with the new player and put a positive spin on it. He's hardy going to come out and say "what a load of b0ll0x".

Mourinho on Shevchenko signing "Today is a day when the dream became reality. Andrei has always been my first choice for Chelsea since I arrived. Before it was not possible, now it is for real. He has great qualities, ambition, discipline, tactical awareness and of course he is a great goalscorer.
I did not need to meet with him to convince him about Chelsea, in the same way we did not need to talk a lot about why I wanted him. Everybody knows him as a player, tactically he can play in the Chelsea system no doubt.
Milan is a big club, a great club, but for him to leave Milan for Chelsea is a big statement about where Chelsea is."

That flies in the face of a lot of what is widely accepted what really happened.

I'm convinced Mourinho went bald headed after Sanchez to get one up on Guardiola.

Doesn't seem right to me. Mourinho always seemed more tactically aware than that and getting his midfield right was the basis for a lot of his success. Of course I could be wrong but my hunch was Utd wanted to get one over City. Maybe they felt Sanchez would have strengthened City too much and made a very agricultural move against them without worrying too much about the effect it would have on themselves. How complicit Mourinho was in this I don't know but it was an incredibly stupid way be be thinking bereft of logic and not in line with what fights the club needed taking on at the time. Kinda reminded me of Chelsea's move for Shevchenko with the outcome more or less the same.

[The template for success in the PL is getting a manager with a track record and backing him financially to the hilt.]

They tried to replace him but it was going to cost the GDP of an African nation to do so and for once Utd made the right decision and said no. And if they have to say no in the next two transfer windows then that's fine.

Recruitment has been a mess since Ferguson left remember Moyes' first window when Fellani was signed for more than his release clause on deadline day? And then they didn't get that left back who's name I can't remember also from Everton. Took the pens, had a shit haircut. That was the start of the decline, right up until JM was told to check out of the Lowery Hotel.

A line had to be drawn in the sand. Paying over the odds for shit just because they're Utd and they can does not build a successful team. Off loading bad players, on high money is good business irrespective if they're replaced.

This is true of course and it was good to see they told Dybala to do one after he demanded the world. But the fact is Man United have an unproven manager and don't have the attraction of Champion league football for the foreseeable which makes it difficult to attract the players they do need. Its a big transitional period for them while this rebuild is going on and he needs the 3 years he was given to get it done, I think he will struggle to get this as I cant see them getting top 4 this season for sure, but at least its clear he is trying to build a team that will play attractive football.

I don't know. I hear a lot of talk about transition, clearing out the deadwood, 3 seasons to rebuild etc. and of course it sounds reasonable but the reality is Utd have a manager they do not trust. And I don't know if I'd trust him either. The template for success in the PL is getting a manager with a track record and backing him financially to the hilt.

Like Mourinho?

For every experienced manager who spends a lot of money and wins there's 10 that fail.

Ole may or may not be the man to get United back to winning titles but in my mind he's certainly the man to start the rebuild. And I'm sure the club have confidence in him to do just that. Top 4 will be difficult this season, especially with the way points have been frittered away in the first 4 games. People underestimate just how much of a hatchet job Mourinho did on the club. It's almost as if he wanted the mess up the club as much as he could......

Well yes like Mourinho. Can't deny his record but I didn't think he was the right fit for Utd at the time. He was probably past his best as well. But it was the right type of move but on the wrong man.
Everything seemed to go pear shaped after the Sanchez buy. Don't know who was the driver behind that move but personally I didn't think it was a good fit and I'd be skeptical if Jose was the driving force behind it. He identified his targets later that summer and the club wouldn't commit. Again the Sanchez contract and the obvious folly in it at that stage probably had a big bearing on the refusal to spend. Then the inevitable toys came out of the pram. I don't know what else the club expected. Yes in hindsight Mourinho's time there can best be viewed as a hatchet job but there was more than him swinging it.

They tried to replace him but it was going to cost the GDP of an African nation to do so and for once Utd made the right decision and said no. And if they have to say no in the next two transfer windows then that's fine.

Recruitment has been a mess since Ferguson left remember Moyes' first window when Fellani was signed for more than his release clause on deadline day? And then they didn't get that left back who's name I can't remember also from Everton. Took the pens, had a shit haircut. That was the start of the decline, right up until JM was told to check out of the Lowery Hotel.

A line had to be drawn in the sand. Paying over the odds for shit just because they're Utd and they can does not build a successful team. Off loading bad players, on high money is good business irrespective if they're replaced.

This is true of course and it was good to see they told Dybala to do one after he demanded the world. But the fact is Man United have an unproven manager and don't have the attraction of Champion league football for the foreseeable which makes it difficult to attract the players they do need. Its a big transitional period for them while this rebuild is going on and he needs the 3 years he was given to get it done, I think he will struggle to get this as I cant see them getting top 4 this season for sure, but at least its clear he is trying to build a team that will play attractive football.

I don't know. I hear a lot of talk about transition, clearing out the deadwood, 3 seasons to rebuild etc. and of course it sounds reasonable but the reality is Utd have a manager they do not trust. And I don't know if I'd trust him either. The template for success in the PL is getting a manager with a track record and backing him financially to the hilt.

They tried to replace him but it was going to cost the GDP of an African nation to do so and for once Utd made the right decision and said no. And if they have to say no in the next two transfer windows then that's fine.

Recruitment has been a mess since Ferguson left remember Moyes' first window when Fellani was signed for more than his release clause on deadline day? And then they didn't get that left back who's name I can't remember also from Everton. Took the pens, had a shit haircut. That was the start of the decline, right up until JM was told to check out of the Lowery Hotel.

A line had to be drawn in the sand. Paying over the odds for shit just because they're Utd and they can does not build a successful team. Off loading bad players, on high money is good business irrespective if they're replaced.

Easy to say that now at start of season. Their goal scoring rate will have a huge effect on league table position and if half way through the season they are struggling then pressure to buy will be huge. Going into the PL with no recognized goal scorer is not good business. League table position affects revenue. Qualifying for CL has a huge bearing on revenue. That's not even considering keeping the major sponsors sweet. Forgetting about the business model for a sec, fans will go anti very quickly if the team is cut too far adrift. If things are toxic at Xmas they could be faced with paying off a manager, paying over the odds for his replacement and panic buying shit as you call it up front to try get some goals.
They've gambled on what they have at present to see them through. There's some real quality there and no reason why it might not work out but it might not either. Not buying a striker was a huge call. The Sanchez contract is probably a huge headache behind the scenes but very very soon they need to bite the bullet on that and pay an eye watering amount for another star. And that goes for even if they produce him in house. Because no agent will leave him on the cheap for too long.

People actually advocating holding onto Lukaku? The man has the first touch of a concrete wall. He has been replaced with fresh air and that's good enough for me. A shitebag. Not a Manchester United player.

Haven't read anyone on here advocating holding onto Lukaku. Utd's top goal scorer from last year was a midfielder. That's Utd's big problem at moment, goals. People in charge of team selection at the club last season saw a shitebag of a striker as a better central option than what their only options this season are. 

I don't believe Martial and Rashford are wide players. I think they have predominantly played wide as there has been a (static) big name centre forward like Rooney or Lukaku there most of the time who has always been picked to play through the middle. One upside of how the squad is this year is we'll see them get a good few games through the middle or when they play wide they might have a "9" who works and moves. You see at Liverpool how important Firmino is to Mané and Salah.....they wouldn't get the goals they get without his work. United haven't had that so my hope is that with a more mobile front three, Martial and Rashford can get more goals. I don't expect James to keep up this scoring rate but he has looked better than I'd hoped so far.

It's a hope more than a concrete strategy though and really at the moment Utd don't have a recognized striker. Henry at Arsenal is a great example of a wide man going on to make a prolific striker but failure is more often than not the norm. Pogba is their top PL goal scorer from last season and if they had held on to Lukaku, Pogba would still be their top PL goal scorer from last season. So it's not as if there hasn't been opportunities or a need for someone to step up before this. Maybe some at the club believe their hold up play or finishing or both were not good enough for a central role. Time will only tell but the likes of Martial and Rashford really need to step up this season. They're at that stage where potential can no longer be talked about and what you see is in fact what you get. James looks very very good. Probably won't keep up this rate. If he does he's world class. But regardless Pogba, James, Martial and Rashford look like the bulk of where the goals will come from. Completely agree about Liverpool. That trio account for nearly 60 PL goals last season. It's why they drop so little points. City are another club with ridiculous combined tallies. Kane can hit 20+ injury free. Son and Moura can pitch in. Arsenal have Lacazette and Aubameyang with decent track records. Assuming Pogba can hit close to 15 again this year that still leaves a massive order for the other three combined to fill up. At least one of them is going to have to have a season to write about. Either that or they're relying on Arsenal or Spurs to regress this season or maybe get someone big in in January. But at the moment they're really slugging it out with Chelsea, Leicester, Everton etc. and hardly clear favourite.

Given United are light up front with no big signing looking likely, why didn't they buy back Javier Hernandez? West Ham let him go.

I like Hernandez as a player but if united fans are worried that Ole did not sign someone West Ham did not want things must be bad.

I actually think the doom and gloom is overstated. As seanie said United have had no luck so far, dominated against CP, should have beat a Southampton side that, bar a shocking miss from Ings could easily have drawn with Liverpool a week earlier and had two missed penalties. Forgetting about all the nonsense about who is the designated penalty taker its unusual for a club to miss two on the bounce and Rashford's in particular was unlucky. If both of those had went in (as you would generally expect) things would look very different.

James and maguire have both settled in well and look like  good signings. I do think they are short of cover in midfield and a couple of key injuries could leave them really exposed but overall I expect them to be comfortably top six and probably top four. A lot will depend on how they handle the Thursday/Sunday fixtures. Given their reasonably kind draw they should get Greenwood/Gomes etc some minutes which they will probably need between now and Christmas in the premier league.

I'd agree that they have been unlucky so far but unfortunately that is the story for most teams outside the top. I'm not saying they are mid table but the difference between the top teams and the rest is that if you don't have a 20+ goals a season proven striker you are going to drop points. Whether United have this striker in their ranks at the moment is up for debate and we won't know till May but Rashford (as great and all as his potential is) has only hit the 10 mark once. Same with Martial and as someone else said they are more wide type of players. James looks a talent but again it's a long season and 20+ goals is a very tough target. United's progress up through the table this season will be hugely affected by the final tally or combined tallies these guys can come up with and so far they are unproven in this regard. So there is a bit of pressure on them because they will have to produce a career best return in order for United to be pushing for top 4.   

Hard to know how this will go. Armagh are a very good team but lack killer instinct and a lot of their key players are inexperienced. A year or two too early for them plus they're coming off the back of a disappointing defeat.
Monaghan have had a terrible year since they defeated the Dubs in opening round of the league but they're up and running and might kick on now they have Fermanagh accounted for. Still a bit laboured but they have the experience and quality and don't think they have become a bad team overnight.
I'd go for a Monaghan win but think it'll be tight enough. Think they'll be nervous enough though and if Armagh have the heads right I wouldn't bet against them.   

From one angle it looks like McMenamin feels McCann's hand near his face and then tries to bite his fingers?

Wouldn't have had to try too hard if that was his motive. McCann did most of the spade work for him 😂😂😂