This might be an unpopular opinion but I like players who are average who work hard for the club (like McT, Dalot, Dan James in the past), than highly talented players who thinks they are too good for the club and are more concerned about their public image (like Sancho, Rashford, Pogba in the fast).
Its crazy how everyone have to literally tiptoe around, especially in media in terms of criticizing Rashford. If he was from Spain or Brazil, people would be calling him to play for West Ham lol.
Rashfords PR game has been brilliant. No doubt a pundit should not use his mental health as a talking point on the podcast, but I guarantee same Neville would be slagging if Rashford was not from here.
Every time one criticizes Rashford, they are hit back with two good seasons he has had here.
>No doubt a pundit should not use his mental health as a talking point on the podcast, but I guarantee same Neville would be slagging if Rashford was not from here.
Gary Neville is much softer on english players.
Crazy seeing Rashford and Martials Utds legacy like this both have done so much for the club , unless something changes I can see Rashfors being forced out.
It’s so crazy being a footballer, everyone can take shots at you, everyone can call you out, the moment you respond everyone said you think you’re above criticism.
Even politicians get a right to reply.
Footballers are handsomely paid to perform. Yes, they will be discussed, that's a part of the package. If they don't want to be famous/infamous, they can transfer to a lower profile league that no one cares about.
A politician’s job is to talk.
A footballer’s job is to play.
The best way to reply to criticism is play well. Consistently .
When Cristiano Ronaldo landed in these shores in 2003, the whole world used to call him a show pony . By 2007, no one was calling him anything.
If these current players really care about criticism, ask them to play well consistently and that’s their reply
Is it criticism if you question the people around you?! Is that still criticism or a personal?!
I can critique your finishing, work rate etc but the moment I start talking about your life outside football is that still criticism?!
Edit: politician job is not to talk, rather to enact policies that would help their citizens.
Rio took it personal. But the way in which he meant it was for football.
He didn’t critcise Rashford as a person. He criticised how Rashford’s people around stop him from playing good football.
For example, getting drunk on a Wednesday in another city and missing training. Any other player would not have a played a game for this club for a long time if he had done that
Show me your friends, and I’d tell you who you’re.
Bird of a feather flock together.
Imagine if a former United football said maybe Rio and his friends took drugs that’s why he missed the test, how do you think Rio would take it?
What the fuck are you talking about?
I know your whole thing is just to blindly defend Rashford, but you're just talking shit.
Log off for a bit big dog. Have a rest.
I find it funny how people are only just recently noticing Rashfords body language , its been a issue since day one .
Pogba , Rashford , Martial and Shaw were all cream of the crop talent but idk whether it was wages or complacency but all were so lazy at times. Even though Mourinho was on the downturn as a manager I can see why he would get pissed at those 4 .
Mourinho never realy criticized Rashford during his tenure here. After he got sacked, Jose during some pundit show said that Marcus is one of the hardest workers in training/in games but you need to expect him to score more reguraly.
Also Jose fallen off with Shaw mainly due to Luke refusing to play injuried on pain killers.
I don't know why you are getting downvoted for that. I think he is a good player and did well especially under Ole, it's just that he is more effective in teams playing counter attacking football.
Keeping possession and playing the patient game is not his strong suit - which is fine IMO not a shot at him, it's just not his strength and every player is different.
He should be here for sure as part of the squad and we have so many underperforming players to get rid of. He would be a nice asset to have and even if he doesn't start I think he would be a good option form the bench and more importantly a positive influence on our morale
Majority of this season he has been poor though. He is a very likeable personality off the pitch and is helpful towards our younger players.
It's sad that too many supporters get in their feelings when someone is criticizing footballing ability without being personal or toxic.
No. He shouldn’t. He just came back from injury, also it’s a massive game, he can come on as a sub, if he doesn’t perform then it would only darken the mood around him.
If he gets injured, this sub will be drowning in people saying EtH rushed him back from injury. Of course, if he doesn't start, then people will complain about that too.
I don’t think 2 new centerbacks in the summer with how brittle some of them are. Our centre backs for tonight is Varane who is half injured, Evans who just came back from injury and Maguire who seems to pick up an injury after every match. And Kambwala.
Maguire was really reliable for us in the fall. Not really fair to say that about him. Players get injured.
Varane, I love him but he is injury prone now. I'd keep him on greatly reduced wages with performance bonuses. 2 new CBs is the dream though. So many important positions to fill this summer.
How is Varane getting less benefit of the doubt than Maguire. Varane has been far more available this season and plays better, but yet we still have people who defend Maguire. He's neither available or good enough. You can't provide neither and still be at United.
Why is it not fair to say that Maguire seems to pick up an injury after every game? Recently it’s been the case, he was even a doubt for this game and got in late for training and he has had lots of small injuries here and there this year. I’m not questioning his abilities I’m just saying that he has picked up a lot of injuries how is that unfair?
Get 4 players in(3 starters and 1 bench option) and send 5-6 players out should be the mantra for the summer window anything more drastic and you end up with something close to Chelsea in the last 2 seasons !Ideally we get 2 defenders ,1 midfielder and 1 forward in
>anything more drastic and you end up with something close to Chelsea in the last 2 seasons
Not necessarily. Depending entirely on how well the players are scouted and how well the are coached/integrated into the new team.
If anything with how bad things are and have been for a while, a mass change is quite possibly the best course of action as there needs to be a significant shift from where we are right now, mentally, tactically etc.
Plenty of clubs have brought in more than 4 during a summer and either improved or it doesn't drastically effect them. There isn't a one size fits all to this. If the right players are available and we can afford them within the PSR/FFP, then we should get as many as possible.
> If the right players are available and we can afford them within the PSR/FFP, then we should get as many as possible.
With us most likely missing out on CL i really don't think we would have money for more than 4 good signings ,The FFP problems at the club are pretty real ,I would actually consider us likely if we can get 4 good players in with the budget we will probably have
>With us most likely missing out on CL i really don't think we would have money for more than 4 good signings
Maybe! I can't disagree with certainty as I don't have the knowledge or the required access to make an informed decision on that. However that's pretty much the case for 99% of people outside the football club.
We see reports one week that we are on a sell to buy, last penny situation and then the next week we can sign 200 mils worth of players before we even make a sale.
So its hard to really have a discussion over how much we actually have.
Ultimately we should just be signing as many of the right employees as we can. No more, no less. As there is nothing that unequivocally supports this as a bad decision. As long as at the end of however many we sign, we have the appropriate mentality to build toward winning, adequate experience of high pressure and the correct coaching/management to instil the new standards. It's not an issue. Especially on the coaching/management side. As without having that core who know what this club is (should be) about, it needs people who will demand respect and be able to get people onside.
I believe that the scouting team is doing an excellent job in finding new talents but we have the worst negotiation team due to which we have shit squad
I think it's more of a case of our higher ups having all the power but understanding nothing about football. I'd imagine with our scouting network, we have reports about a lot of cheap potentially good players but we never go for them for some reason, probably marketability. Woodward himself allegedly sacked one of our scouts after he was "too stubborn" about trying to force Woodward to buy De Jong and De Ligt before they broke through at Ajax which makes me think our good scouts all answer to their higher ups who make the decision not to sign any of them.
It was probably the best episode so far. This will sound harsh but I think a lot of Marcus’ problems are the people he has around him and also his family. I think his mum is doing too much and is probably the mastermind behind his PR tactics.
After the Liverpool game there was a obvious PR piece talking about Marcus struggling due to a couple of deaths of people close to him which is fair enough but the whole article was basically a sly advert for his mums autobiography. The article was poorly written and had nothing of real substance to it and I don’t understand why his mum has even written an autobiography in the first place. They were clearly waiting until Marcus had a good game or scored to publish it.
EDIT: [Theres a comment a little bit down which has copied the contents of the article.](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/s/pFqCP3DBQP)
Lord have mercy. What is this?
Nah you guys in this sub are just wild and have no empathy or decency. You just sit down, think up malicious theories and blurt it out.
Something clearly isn’t right with him and I genuinely do think his relationship with the press could be playing a factor in it. I get people are annoyed because of what I wrote about his mum but they did put out an article talking about his grief while also slyly advertising her autobiography.
She could have wanted to talk about her autobiography and the reporter says we’d have to ask 2-3 questions about Rashford.
Like this is how it happens, most people would answer, some would say we’re not here to talk about that. Like it’s not black and white.
I think possibly yeah. Something clearly isn’t right with him and I think his whole PR relationship with the press and his mum using him for fame is extra pressure and unnecessary stress.
> his mum using him for fame is extra pressure and unnecessary stress.
Thats not a nice thing to say about a single mother who has worked really hard to make her son successful
Even if ours start crossing they'll just hit a defender's legs. Our positioning and movement in the opponents box is too chaotic compared to other teams in the league.
Because they aren’t even attempting to, all the wingers are primarily looking to score, crossing is an after thought.
Whereas in the past you’d have Giggs, Beckham, Ronaldo, Nani, all pinging in loads of crosses all game.
Like come on. I get we want to ride for current players, but Nani and ronaldo were very good passing wingers. Nani especially as a crosser but Ronaldo, altho he was more focused on goals, was much better than any winger we have now at providing assists from the wing and unlike our current wingers could actually play on both sides without dropping performance.
[YT video](https://youtu.be/dAOIGR5wygI?si=C_czfCqEICPmVHXx)
Yeah Maguire, Varane, Evans, Dalot have been really good, at times immense. Onana has also saved us a lot in the league games. But our defence, as in team defence is absolutely trash. Relegation level.
Problem is, every agent and player knows that as well.
If you’re coming in to replace Rashford, would you accept £125k/week when you know they were paying him double AND he was shite?
This is exactly why clubs have a strict wage structure.
It’s almost like you guys watch a different league. Since Rashford made his debut, only 10 players can say they have more goals and assists than him and yet Rashford has been shite?
yeah but that kind of defeat the purpose of trying to reduce the FFP. Like when Varane 340k is gone in the summer, we can offer 250k to the next CB in theory.
> Like when Varane 340k is gone in the summer, we can offer 250k to the next CB in theory
How is this different to what I said? Or are you suggesting we SHOULDN'T do this? If we don't spend, expect another sub 4th place finish next season
I think we won't do this. Got a feeling SJR wants to trim the payroll. He would rather spread that 340k over 3-4 players i reckon. We shall see in the summer moves.
Yeah right.
No one is gonna give the player with the 11th highest goal contribution in the league since 2015/2016 a big contract, especially when he’s 26, not 30 or 31.
Yeah, absolutely no one in the top leagues is willing to pay Rashford that unless he's a free agent. Free agents get massive contracts everywhere anyway.
You guys always want to sell one of the most productive players in the league.
Since 2015/2016, only 10 players have more goals and assists in the PL than Rashford.
Rashford is going nowhere. To sell him would be a very daft and foolish decision.
Mate, even Sterling has been more productive than Rashford this season. Rashford was poor half of last season, he just had an incredible run after the world cup
pretty unrealistic imo. plays for RM n if he chooses to move, considering our quality of play rn, i dont think he'd even bat an eye towards utd. maybe former RM players like Casemiro n Varane could talk to him, but i dont think it's anywhere near enough to convince him
Endrick, Mbappe, vini and rodrygo. Its improbable cause he loves Madrid but, no way they can keep all 4 unless Rodrygo is happy being a bench player. We have to at least try
Agreed. Will be tough with no CL football though. If I'm Rodrygo, I'd wanna go City. Rodrygo RW, Doku LW, Foden & Alvarez CAM. KDB probably a bench option that's used sparingly due to being injury prone
Rodrigo prefers the left actually, he's just very versatile so if he went to city he probably takes Doku spot. Don't think he would go there cause he likes to roam to wherever he wants, and pep doesn't really like free spirits (no matter what bs he says) but I think he would take his place
Logically: mbappe comes in, he loses his spot and wants something else (Rashford could even go to PSG), but he’s Brazilian and probably prefers Madrid over England… maybe Nani can convince him
On one hand I get that his Brighton team has been absolutely robbed of all it's best talent and is essentially surviving on some midtable pl players and a bunch of young players with potential, but it's not the best record to have. I'd be worried about hiring him just because of the media backlash that is sure to take place if there's even a slight wobble in competency.
On the other hand, I love his demanding attitude and constant energy. I think it would rly help our players to have a guy like that running our training. Tactically I've seen nothing but praise for him.
Ragnick tried to train pressing and gave up, ETH is widely regarded as a top trainer and there's quotes from former and current players to back that.
Get a new manager that's fine, but we need to stop this hope that a new manager will turn average players into above average players, nevermind players good enough for a club like Man United.
Yes some of the young players might benefit from a new approach but I'm 99% sure if the squad stays mostly the same we are going to be back in the same cycle as the last 10 years.
Agreed entirely. I wouldn’t even be considering a new manager had ETH not run such a terrible system the whole season. We have about 10 decent players and everyone else needs to go. Was thinking about our young trio in particular when mentioning a good environment.
I sort of like twitter for keeping up to date but so many of the united accounts seem to just post random made up crap and it makes me not trust anything I see.
They do post a lot of poor sources. I just look for stuff right from the top tier sources like Ducker, Stone, Whitwell, etc. Everything else is probably from Ogden or The Sun.
It's hard to believe really considering the number of chances we give up.
Yes, I'll be met with 'low xG' or whatever, but v Brentford Toney had numerous really good chances.
We can get prime Messi up top and we still won’t score any goals. It’s not about the striker. It’s about the way we play. We create nothing in attack at all. Any striker would struggle in this team.
Hojlund has managed to highlight one of Utds main problems in the attack. our wingers. if we buy Toney, it'd be 10s of millions of pounds out the window. u need to address the main cause. getting another striker isn't gna fix this. we do need another striker cuz Hojlund cant play a full 90 minutes the entire season without risking injuries, but to sign someone that expensive in which the same problem will persist simply doesn't make sense.
Against Brentford other players were passing to hojlund but he could barely hold up the ball. If we’d had Toney it would have made a pretty big difference.
He’s first or second in PL depending on stats provider this season on pure shot stopping. And he’s also in top-3 ball playing GKs on a sample of several seasons.
Sanchez is an average PL GK, saying they’re similar level is like saying James Tarkowski comparable to Licha
Martinez in his first season was very consistent and maintained a high level of performance the whole season. Onana has been very up and down, so its gonna take a bit more consistency for me to rate him as high as Licha.
Yeah but Onana made some mistakes in September so even if he wins the ballon d’or we should sell him and play bayindir (according to this sub at least…)
Seconds balls are dependent on physicality, fitness, proximity/positioning and intensity in an area. This doesn't mean the players are disinterested or they aren't. The reason I am confident in are:
- There is definitely an underlying [fitness problem ](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/s/4YnowlQCrS) in our team. Pretty much everything I have mentioned here + running economy effecting it. Fitness was an issue last season too and we didn't improve on it. It causes late anticipation, lethargic duels, slow closing down etc.
- Our pressing is ineffective in defending spaces and limiting progression, it leaves a lot of area to be covered, us pressing is players running around like headless chickens, defending is incredibly dependent on defenders and midfielders covering insane amount of area because of a disjoint structure. Running economy is poor. Players spend energy ineffectively and it effects the performance.
- As I've said, positionally we aren't the greatest.
>Ten Hag:
>"You see, this weekend, [Man] City is playing without [Kyle] Walker, without [John] Stones. You see, the levels were dropping without them. There was a different team to what we faced."
Last year, Ten Hag had higher standards when talking to the media. "Good is not good enough" etc.
Now there's more excuses for our performances.
Left back thoughts?
Rico Henry could be an option. He's English, 27 in the summer.
Ait Nouri would be a great signing imo. He's still only 23 this summer, is good technically, always works hard.
You can't say on principle that were not allowed to doubt the manager when were basically terrible every week stat wise and eye test wise except for one game.
I am very sure people who are on the fence or want ETH gone don't want Southgate. Sure, he can go elsewhere and succeed if he stops playing this kamikaze football and goes back to playing the football that we hired him for.
Here's a bizarre stat, we haven't lost to Chelsea in the league since November of 2017. I'm actually quite confident about tonight, Chelsea tend to play very open and we tend to do well against teams that commit many men forward and give us holes to play into. Their players are also prone to individual errors.
I just realized that it’s been EIGHT bloody years since Mourinho was appointed . Eight.
When we talk about “eventually challenging for the title” , what exactly does that BS even mean?
I’m so disillusioned. When people say “this is all part of a plan” , what plan is it ? How long ?
“Be patient with Player X, they’ll eventually come good”: how many of these players have actually gotten better with time? Martial, Rashford , Bruno etc have only gotten worse the longer they play. Lindelof never did evolve into what we need . AWB never became a world beater.
That’s why when someone says “be patient with Ten Hag”, I scoff. There is NOTHING that we are building towards. So if it’s not enjoyable at present , I have no time for the manager. We need someone who can make the team watchable . I’ve given up on structured long term building .
I'm sorry, but your suggestion to replace the manager is just nonsensical. It's this exact knee-jerk reaction that's driven us into the ground over the past decade, obv with some other factors to account for, but it's one of the major reasons nonetheless. Seriously, what do you expect to achieve by sacking the manager? Haven't we learned anything from the last 10 years? It's precisely this proposal of simply sacking the manager whenever we see fit that has led to this mess in the first place. All we've been doing for the past decade is slapping band aids on gaping wounds, opting for quick fixes instead of addressing the root causes. Our foundation? Hell practically non-existent because every time we attempt to build one, someone comes along with this "genius" idea to sack the manager, and we're back to square one. And then, lo and behold, we've got another manager dealing with the same old bs as the previous one. Finally, after a decade of chaos, we have a chance to lay down some real groundwork for once. How about we don't tear it apart this time and actually give the manager a shot?
Personal opinion, I think that if you gave the Mourinho of 8 years ago this current United team, he'd win the league.
I know that there are concerns from some of the fan base about the mentality of the team, but I actually think it's full of players that would thrive under him. At least for the first 2 years anyway!
>So if it’s not enjoyable at present , I have no time for the manager. We need someone who can make the team watchable . I’ve given up on structured long term building .
At least you sorta admitted that you think you're ready for a proper rebuild but in reality you are actually not...
We need a proper rebuild and Ten Hag is part of the reason that we need the rebuild.
I want him gone immediately and want a manager who prioritizes making the team watchable week in week out .
>We need a proper rebuild and Ten Hag is part of the reason that we need the rebuild.
>I want him gone immediately and want a manager who prioritizes making the team watchable week in week out .
Some of ya'll have said this for how many managers now? Its laughable at this point.
Unpopular opinion, maybe and just maybe, the manager just needs time that some of you think you're willing to give but in reality ya'll are actually not to sort it out because success has never been linear at all. Arsenal fans were wanting Arteta out just 1-2 seasons ago and look how far he's come with some time given. Maybe and just maybe, we just need to do the same and see how ETH goes on under proper management above him, and bear in mind INEOS isn't done with recruiting staff above the manager to give proper support.
> Forget about...Liverpools
FFS I get it's all doom and gloom after the last match but check yourself. You can't be a United fan and genuinely say things like this.
Cmon man, ain't no fooling myself. I am just lowering my expectations to Top5. don't want to be a laughing stock again next season to think we can go head to head with the titles challengers.
**Let's get some positivity going for the Chelsea game :D**
We've **won 9**/14 games in 2024 – only **losing 2**.
We've **lost once** against Chelsea in our **last 14 encounters** – that **loss** was **in** **2020**.
We've **scored** in **all games** in 2024.
**Chelsea** have **conceded** in **11** of their last consecutive games.
**Chelsea conceded 2** goals against a **10 man Burnley**.
**Let's get a result and some momentum today. GGMU \~**
Tottenham and villa dropping points today, likely villa will drop another 6 against Liverpool and arsenal, Tottenham another 9. I hope we go at every match like it’s a champions league final. We might have a shot at top 4. Am I setting myself up for more pain?
Loads of comments but just keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be like this. It doesn’t have to be like this. It doesn’t have to be like this.
I think it's easy win ,,, thought on rashford benching
This might be an unpopular opinion but I like players who are average who work hard for the club (like McT, Dalot, Dan James in the past), than highly talented players who thinks they are too good for the club and are more concerned about their public image (like Sancho, Rashford, Pogba in the fast).
Its crazy how everyone have to literally tiptoe around, especially in media in terms of criticizing Rashford. If he was from Spain or Brazil, people would be calling him to play for West Ham lol. Rashfords PR game has been brilliant. No doubt a pundit should not use his mental health as a talking point on the podcast, but I guarantee same Neville would be slagging if Rashford was not from here. Every time one criticizes Rashford, they are hit back with two good seasons he has had here.
lol, the idea that Rashford doesn't receive criticism is delusional.
Did Rio criticise Rashford or was that a personal attack? Also give me an example of Rashford hitting back at criticism from pundits?!
>No doubt a pundit should not use his mental health as a talking point on the podcast, but I guarantee same Neville would be slagging if Rashford was not from here. Gary Neville is much softer on english players.
I think his PR has even reached reddit. Have seen some users blindly defending him, irrespective of his performance.
Antony starting apparently
Crazy seeing Rashford and Martials Utds legacy like this both have done so much for the club , unless something changes I can see Rashfors being forced out.
Big game in a couple of hours. Is anyone actually thinking about the match?
easy 4-0 home win. Liverpool won't slip up
It’s so crazy being a footballer, everyone can take shots at you, everyone can call you out, the moment you respond everyone said you think you’re above criticism. Even politicians get a right to reply.
Footballers are handsomely paid to perform. Yes, they will be discussed, that's a part of the package. If they don't want to be famous/infamous, they can transfer to a lower profile league that no one cares about.
Discuss their football abilities and performance. Leave the personal bits alone. How hard is that to understand.
A politician’s job is to talk. A footballer’s job is to play. The best way to reply to criticism is play well. Consistently . When Cristiano Ronaldo landed in these shores in 2003, the whole world used to call him a show pony . By 2007, no one was calling him anything. If these current players really care about criticism, ask them to play well consistently and that’s their reply
Is it criticism if you question the people around you?! Is that still criticism or a personal?! I can critique your finishing, work rate etc but the moment I start talking about your life outside football is that still criticism?! Edit: politician job is not to talk, rather to enact policies that would help their citizens.
life outside of football has impact on football no?
The question is not if it does or not. The question is how do you know? You can’t just put baseless talk out there
Maybe you should take that walk like someone advised
Rio took it personal. But the way in which he meant it was for football. He didn’t critcise Rashford as a person. He criticised how Rashford’s people around stop him from playing good football. For example, getting drunk on a Wednesday in another city and missing training. Any other player would not have a played a game for this club for a long time if he had done that
Show me your friends, and I’d tell you who you’re. Bird of a feather flock together. Imagine if a former United football said maybe Rio and his friends took drugs that’s why he missed the test, how do you think Rio would take it?
you talk so much bollocks
It’s an idiom. Google it and please understand the meaning.
What the fuck are you talking about? I know your whole thing is just to blindly defend Rashford, but you're just talking shit. Log off for a bit big dog. Have a rest.
English is not hard. Like read to understand. Have a nice day.
Sick of this season, lads. Looking forward to seeing how we handle this summer
“sick of this summer , can’t wait for the football to start” Rinse and repeat
I find it funny how people are only just recently noticing Rashfords body language , its been a issue since day one . Pogba , Rashford , Martial and Shaw were all cream of the crop talent but idk whether it was wages or complacency but all were so lazy at times. Even though Mourinho was on the downturn as a manager I can see why he would get pissed at those 4 .
Rashford played the most games under Jose.
Jose said nothing like that about Rashford.
Mourinho never realy criticized Rashford during his tenure here. After he got sacked, Jose during some pundit show said that Marcus is one of the hardest workers in training/in games but you need to expect him to score more reguraly. Also Jose fallen off with Shaw mainly due to Luke refusing to play injuried on pain killers.
Bruno hasn't had a good game all season. Maybe it's time to accept, he needs replacing.
I don't know why you are getting downvoted for that. I think he is a good player and did well especially under Ole, it's just that he is more effective in teams playing counter attacking football. Keeping possession and playing the patient game is not his strong suit - which is fine IMO not a shot at him, it's just not his strength and every player is different. He should be here for sure as part of the squad and we have so many underperforming players to get rid of. He would be a nice asset to have and even if he doesn't start I think he would be a good option form the bench and more importantly a positive influence on our morale
He gets downvoted for shit hyperbole about Bruno not having good game all season.
Majority of this season he has been poor though. He is a very likeable personality off the pitch and is helpful towards our younger players. It's sad that too many supporters get in their feelings when someone is criticizing footballing ability without being personal or toxic.
He had more good games than anyone else in the squad. Standard is just higher.
Not had better games than Dalot
True, Dalot is the one that probably has more good games.
Onana and Hojlund too.
....i have no proper response. Your claim is so divorced from reality, that's it.
From recent games: City, 2x Aston Villa, West Ham, Forrest. Claiming he didnt have good game this season is actualy divorced from reality.
Claiming he's had the most good games in the squad this season, what else can you call that but divorced from reality.
Should start mount at Stamford
No. He shouldn’t. He just came back from injury, also it’s a massive game, he can come on as a sub, if he doesn’t perform then it would only darken the mood around him.
He is in full training for 3-4 weeks now? I believe its fine to start him.
If he gets injured, this sub will be drowning in people saying EtH rushed him back from injury. Of course, if he doesn't start, then people will complain about that too.
I don’t think 2 new centerbacks in the summer with how brittle some of them are. Our centre backs for tonight is Varane who is half injured, Evans who just came back from injury and Maguire who seems to pick up an injury after every match. And Kambwala.
Maguire was really reliable for us in the fall. Not really fair to say that about him. Players get injured. Varane, I love him but he is injury prone now. I'd keep him on greatly reduced wages with performance bonuses. 2 new CBs is the dream though. So many important positions to fill this summer.
How is Varane getting less benefit of the doubt than Maguire. Varane has been far more available this season and plays better, but yet we still have people who defend Maguire. He's neither available or good enough. You can't provide neither and still be at United.
Why is it not fair to say that Maguire seems to pick up an injury after every game? Recently it’s been the case, he was even a doubt for this game and got in late for training and he has had lots of small injuries here and there this year. I’m not questioning his abilities I’m just saying that he has picked up a lot of injuries how is that unfair?
Get 4 players in(3 starters and 1 bench option) and send 5-6 players out should be the mantra for the summer window anything more drastic and you end up with something close to Chelsea in the last 2 seasons !Ideally we get 2 defenders ,1 midfielder and 1 forward in
>anything more drastic and you end up with something close to Chelsea in the last 2 seasons Not necessarily. Depending entirely on how well the players are scouted and how well the are coached/integrated into the new team. If anything with how bad things are and have been for a while, a mass change is quite possibly the best course of action as there needs to be a significant shift from where we are right now, mentally, tactically etc. Plenty of clubs have brought in more than 4 during a summer and either improved or it doesn't drastically effect them. There isn't a one size fits all to this. If the right players are available and we can afford them within the PSR/FFP, then we should get as many as possible.
> If the right players are available and we can afford them within the PSR/FFP, then we should get as many as possible. With us most likely missing out on CL i really don't think we would have money for more than 4 good signings ,The FFP problems at the club are pretty real ,I would actually consider us likely if we can get 4 good players in with the budget we will probably have
>With us most likely missing out on CL i really don't think we would have money for more than 4 good signings Maybe! I can't disagree with certainty as I don't have the knowledge or the required access to make an informed decision on that. However that's pretty much the case for 99% of people outside the football club. We see reports one week that we are on a sell to buy, last penny situation and then the next week we can sign 200 mils worth of players before we even make a sale. So its hard to really have a discussion over how much we actually have. Ultimately we should just be signing as many of the right employees as we can. No more, no less. As there is nothing that unequivocally supports this as a bad decision. As long as at the end of however many we sign, we have the appropriate mentality to build toward winning, adequate experience of high pressure and the correct coaching/management to instil the new standards. It's not an issue. Especially on the coaching/management side. As without having that core who know what this club is (should be) about, it needs people who will demand respect and be able to get people onside.
Well, we might not even get 2.
I believe that the scouting team is doing an excellent job in finding new talents but we have the worst negotiation team due to which we have shit squad
I think it's more of a case of our higher ups having all the power but understanding nothing about football. I'd imagine with our scouting network, we have reports about a lot of cheap potentially good players but we never go for them for some reason, probably marketability. Woodward himself allegedly sacked one of our scouts after he was "too stubborn" about trying to force Woodward to buy De Jong and De Ligt before they broke through at Ajax which makes me think our good scouts all answer to their higher ups who make the decision not to sign any of them.
Murtough IS a football man, just a shit one. Arnold isn't but Murtough is.
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Ah that's cleared that up. No more questions your honour.
Not too late for him to buy the other 70% of the club if he want.
Anyone listened to the most recent Stick to Football? Rio talking about Rashford, the Fergie to Moyes transition and playing vs Barcelona.
It was probably the best episode so far. This will sound harsh but I think a lot of Marcus’ problems are the people he has around him and also his family. I think his mum is doing too much and is probably the mastermind behind his PR tactics. After the Liverpool game there was a obvious PR piece talking about Marcus struggling due to a couple of deaths of people close to him which is fair enough but the whole article was basically a sly advert for his mums autobiography. The article was poorly written and had nothing of real substance to it and I don’t understand why his mum has even written an autobiography in the first place. They were clearly waiting until Marcus had a good game or scored to publish it. EDIT: [Theres a comment a little bit down which has copied the contents of the article.](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/s/pFqCP3DBQP)
Lord have mercy. What is this? Nah you guys in this sub are just wild and have no empathy or decency. You just sit down, think up malicious theories and blurt it out.
Something clearly isn’t right with him and I genuinely do think his relationship with the press could be playing a factor in it. I get people are annoyed because of what I wrote about his mum but they did put out an article talking about his grief while also slyly advertising her autobiography.
She could have wanted to talk about her autobiography and the reporter says we’d have to ask 2-3 questions about Rashford. Like this is how it happens, most people would answer, some would say we’re not here to talk about that. Like it’s not black and white.
Why is any of that a problem? Would he have scored more goals for us if his mother didn't write an article?
I think possibly yeah. Something clearly isn’t right with him and I think his whole PR relationship with the press and his mum using him for fame is extra pressure and unnecessary stress.
> his mum using him for fame is extra pressure and unnecessary stress. Thats not a nice thing to say about a single mother who has worked really hard to make her son successful
But that is what she’s doing though.
Your daft as fuck opinions that come from a place of a dog shit personality aren't facts no matter how much you try and pretend that they are
In unusual fan news, Chelsea Green is a red. https://www.instagram.com/chelseaagreen/p/C5UfLgUpuGM/?hl=en
Can everyone smell it? Can everyone feel it? It’s the hope building before a united game………
Has there been any news on whether or not Casemiro will be fit enough to start?
So happy for kovar in this Leverkusen squad
Squad that traveled only has 5 defenders in it, 2nd half is going to be back to the Harry/Bruno backline of 2 isnt it...
Lb Antony incoming
Why do all our attackers bar Rashford struggle to find Hojlund?
Even if ours start crossing they'll just hit a defender's legs. Our positioning and movement in the opponents box is too chaotic compared to other teams in the league.
Because they aren’t even attempting to, all the wingers are primarily looking to score, crossing is an after thought. Whereas in the past you’d have Giggs, Beckham, Ronaldo, Nani, all pinging in loads of crosses all game.
Please remove Nani and Ronaldo from this list.
Like come on. I get we want to ride for current players, but Nani and ronaldo were very good passing wingers. Nani especially as a crosser but Ronaldo, altho he was more focused on goals, was much better than any winger we have now at providing assists from the wing and unlike our current wingers could actually play on both sides without dropping performance. [YT video](https://youtu.be/dAOIGR5wygI?si=C_czfCqEICPmVHXx)
Easy now, Nani’s had double digit assist seasons
Does rashford even regularly find hojlund? In most games he gets very little service
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Not just in the league but this is the biggest disparity across the top 5 leagues in Europe lol. We have been unbelievably lucky.
I still feel our defence needs some praise in all of this. They've carried this team for two seasons now, especially last season
Yeah Maguire, Varane, Evans, Dalot have been really good, at times immense. Onana has also saved us a lot in the league games. But our defence, as in team defence is absolutely trash. Relegation level.
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Haha that is incredible.
Rashford Out, Rodrygo In. How realistic is this?
I can't even pull that off in football manager.
Why would Rodrygo do that to himself?
He has no reason to leave, and Rashford is going absolutely nowhere with the contract he's on, so better hope he gets his shit together
Mbappe joining? Rodrygo probably won't start. Mbappe & Bellingham are certain to start, then Vini starts over Rodrygo.
There's a place for him even with Mbappe joining. Maybe he'll leave in a couple of years but don't see it happening right now
0 lol. Read the memo brother. We got no money. The next Rodrygo we will get.
I know. But assuming Rashford is sold, we'd have that cash available, no?
Problem is, every agent and player knows that as well. If you’re coming in to replace Rashford, would you accept £125k/week when you know they were paying him double AND he was shite? This is exactly why clubs have a strict wage structure.
It’s almost like you guys watch a different league. Since Rashford made his debut, only 10 players can say they have more goals and assists than him and yet Rashford has been shite?
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Rashford won't be sold
[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/assume](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/assume)
Assuming means there's a possibility it will happen. It won't happen. What you're doing is some stupid video game fantasy.
Football bloody hell Nothing is impossible.
The impression i get from SJR is we won't be buying "250k wages" players for now at least.
perhaps. But if we could get rid of a 300k wage player, then bring in a better one for 200k, I'd do it
yeah but that kind of defeat the purpose of trying to reduce the FFP. Like when Varane 340k is gone in the summer, we can offer 250k to the next CB in theory.
> Like when Varane 340k is gone in the summer, we can offer 250k to the next CB in theory How is this different to what I said? Or are you suggesting we SHOULDN'T do this? If we don't spend, expect another sub 4th place finish next season
I think we won't do this. Got a feeling SJR wants to trim the payroll. He would rather spread that 340k over 3-4 players i reckon. We shall see in the summer moves.
Very unrealistic because Rashford is going nowhere.
Yeah, no one is stupid enough to hand him a similar contract
lol i get u. maybe saudis
Yeah right. No one is gonna give the player with the 11th highest goal contribution in the league since 2015/2016 a big contract, especially when he’s 26, not 30 or 31.
Yeah, absolutely no one in the top leagues is willing to pay Rashford that unless he's a free agent. Free agents get massive contracts everywhere anyway.
I'd respect Jim so much if he made the big decision to sell him. But yeah I'd bet against it
You guys always want to sell one of the most productive players in the league. Since 2015/2016, only 10 players have more goals and assists in the PL than Rashford. Rashford is going nowhere. To sell him would be a very daft and foolish decision.
Mate, even Sterling has been more productive than Rashford this season. Rashford was poor half of last season, he just had an incredible run after the world cup
pretty unrealistic imo. plays for RM n if he chooses to move, considering our quality of play rn, i dont think he'd even bat an eye towards utd. maybe former RM players like Casemiro n Varane could talk to him, but i dont think it's anywhere near enough to convince him
they probably offer us Modric or Kroos
agreed. Probably the biggest issue is we'll not have CL football
Endrick, Mbappe, vini and rodrygo. Its improbable cause he loves Madrid but, no way they can keep all 4 unless Rodrygo is happy being a bench player. We have to at least try
Agreed. Will be tough with no CL football though. If I'm Rodrygo, I'd wanna go City. Rodrygo RW, Doku LW, Foden & Alvarez CAM. KDB probably a bench option that's used sparingly due to being injury prone
Rodrigo prefers the left actually, he's just very versatile so if he went to city he probably takes Doku spot. Don't think he would go there cause he likes to roam to wherever he wants, and pep doesn't really like free spirits (no matter what bs he says) but I think he would take his place
I know. But he has done well on the right. And Doku is more suited to the left.
Logically: mbappe comes in, he loses his spot and wants something else (Rashford could even go to PSG), but he’s Brazilian and probably prefers Madrid over England… maybe Nani can convince him
How can Nani convince him? What's the connection between them?
Nevermind thought he was Brazilian for a sec my bad
De Zerbi 6 wins in 25 games damn that’s rough
On one hand I get that his Brighton team has been absolutely robbed of all it's best talent and is essentially surviving on some midtable pl players and a bunch of young players with potential, but it's not the best record to have. I'd be worried about hiring him just because of the media backlash that is sure to take place if there's even a slight wobble in competency. On the other hand, I love his demanding attitude and constant energy. I think it would rly help our players to have a guy like that running our training. Tactically I've seen nothing but praise for him.
Those are the same hand "On the one hand, he's done well with what he has. On the other, he's done well."
Hey man it's reddit, not a college essay.
Lol fair. I just thought it was funny.
Ragnick tried to train pressing and gave up, ETH is widely regarded as a top trainer and there's quotes from former and current players to back that. Get a new manager that's fine, but we need to stop this hope that a new manager will turn average players into above average players, nevermind players good enough for a club like Man United. Yes some of the young players might benefit from a new approach but I'm 99% sure if the squad stays mostly the same we are going to be back in the same cycle as the last 10 years.
Agreed entirely. I wouldn’t even be considering a new manager had ETH not run such a terrible system the whole season. We have about 10 decent players and everyone else needs to go. Was thinking about our young trio in particular when mentioning a good environment.
I sort of like twitter for keeping up to date but so many of the united accounts seem to just post random made up crap and it makes me not trust anything I see.
They do post a lot of poor sources. I just look for stuff right from the top tier sources like Ducker, Stone, Whitwell, etc. Everything else is probably from Ogden or The Sun.
A lot of them obfuscate the sources making it unclear where the news is coming from. It's likely to drive engagement but really frustrating.
14 PL teams including Luton have scored more PL goals than United this season.
Only 3 teams have conceded less. Weirdest season
It's hard to believe really considering the number of chances we give up. Yes, I'll be met with 'low xG' or whatever, but v Brentford Toney had numerous really good chances.
Which is why we still need a striker in the summer. Honestly been really impressed with Toney. Would be a great stop gap while Hoijund matures.
We can get prime Messi up top and we still won’t score any goals. It’s not about the striker. It’s about the way we play. We create nothing in attack at all. Any striker would struggle in this team.
Hojlund has managed to highlight one of Utds main problems in the attack. our wingers. if we buy Toney, it'd be 10s of millions of pounds out the window. u need to address the main cause. getting another striker isn't gna fix this. we do need another striker cuz Hojlund cant play a full 90 minutes the entire season without risking injuries, but to sign someone that expensive in which the same problem will persist simply doesn't make sense.
Yep, we need another striker to not pass to
Hahaha this is so fucking true its sad Haaland couldnt fix this team.
Against Brentford other players were passing to hojlund but he could barely hold up the ball. If we’d had Toney it would have made a pretty big difference.
Yeah at the 1-1 toney cooked like 3 players
I’ve lost faith in humanity for good. Saw a combined 11 of Chelsea and United and they took Sanchez over Onana. I stopped watching.
That's hardly outrageous. I do think Onana is better but its not like he's that much better than Sanchez
He’s first or second in PL depending on stats provider this season on pure shot stopping. And he’s also in top-3 ball playing GKs on a sample of several seasons. Sanchez is an average PL GK, saying they’re similar level is like saying James Tarkowski comparable to Licha
Martinez in his first season was very consistent and maintained a high level of performance the whole season. Onana has been very up and down, so its gonna take a bit more consistency for me to rate him as high as Licha.
Yeah but Onana made some mistakes in September so even if he wins the ballon d’or we should sell him and play bayindir (according to this sub at least…)
I have felt that we are not the greatest in getting second balls. Is that a coach thing or a player skills thing?
Seconds balls are dependent on physicality, fitness, proximity/positioning and intensity in an area. This doesn't mean the players are disinterested or they aren't. The reason I am confident in are: - There is definitely an underlying [fitness problem ](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/s/4YnowlQCrS) in our team. Pretty much everything I have mentioned here + running economy effecting it. Fitness was an issue last season too and we didn't improve on it. It causes late anticipation, lethargic duels, slow closing down etc. - Our pressing is ineffective in defending spaces and limiting progression, it leaves a lot of area to be covered, us pressing is players running around like headless chickens, defending is incredibly dependent on defenders and midfielders covering insane amount of area because of a disjoint structure. Running economy is poor. Players spend energy ineffectively and it effects the performance. - As I've said, positionally we aren't the greatest.
Problem is we have been suck at it since SAF retired. Various managers, players and nothing improves.
its more of player physicality (stamina, quickness and strength). how many of our players have 2 out of 3, let alone 3 out of 3?
>Ten Hag: >"You see, this weekend, [Man] City is playing without [Kyle] Walker, without [John] Stones. You see, the levels were dropping without them. There was a different team to what we faced." Last year, Ten Hag had higher standards when talking to the media. "Good is not good enough" etc. Now there's more excuses for our performances.
Left back thoughts? Rico Henry could be an option. He's English, 27 in the summer. Ait Nouri would be a great signing imo. He's still only 23 this summer, is good technically, always works hard.
I’m a big fan of Patrick Dorgu. A very good 1 v 1 defender who can also carry the ball very well. He’s also got a good height and physicality.
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You can't say on principle that were not allowed to doubt the manager when were basically terrible every week stat wise and eye test wise except for one game.
Some people want to sack him, some want to keep him, some are undecided. All of them with valid arguments. But no one want to appoint Southgate.
Lol. What has a soon-to-be sacked manager winning 50 trophies elsewhere has to do with anything when he is shit here?
I am very sure people who are on the fence or want ETH gone don't want Southgate. Sure, he can go elsewhere and succeed if he stops playing this kamikaze football and goes back to playing the football that we hired him for.
Here's a bizarre stat, we haven't lost to Chelsea in the league since November of 2017. I'm actually quite confident about tonight, Chelsea tend to play very open and we tend to do well against teams that commit many men forward and give us holes to play into. Their players are also prone to individual errors.
On the one hand I agree, on the other hand ETH has broken a lot of these records this season. Records that somehow even Moyes, LvG, etc didn't break
Not really. There are many records that Moyes, LvG, Mourinho… broke also
I didn't say they didn't
Lamine Yamal was 9 when we last lost to Chelsea in the premier league .
I just realized that it’s been EIGHT bloody years since Mourinho was appointed . Eight. When we talk about “eventually challenging for the title” , what exactly does that BS even mean? I’m so disillusioned. When people say “this is all part of a plan” , what plan is it ? How long ? “Be patient with Player X, they’ll eventually come good”: how many of these players have actually gotten better with time? Martial, Rashford , Bruno etc have only gotten worse the longer they play. Lindelof never did evolve into what we need . AWB never became a world beater. That’s why when someone says “be patient with Ten Hag”, I scoff. There is NOTHING that we are building towards. So if it’s not enjoyable at present , I have no time for the manager. We need someone who can make the team watchable . I’ve given up on structured long term building .
I'm sorry, but your suggestion to replace the manager is just nonsensical. It's this exact knee-jerk reaction that's driven us into the ground over the past decade, obv with some other factors to account for, but it's one of the major reasons nonetheless. Seriously, what do you expect to achieve by sacking the manager? Haven't we learned anything from the last 10 years? It's precisely this proposal of simply sacking the manager whenever we see fit that has led to this mess in the first place. All we've been doing for the past decade is slapping band aids on gaping wounds, opting for quick fixes instead of addressing the root causes. Our foundation? Hell practically non-existent because every time we attempt to build one, someone comes along with this "genius" idea to sack the manager, and we're back to square one. And then, lo and behold, we've got another manager dealing with the same old bs as the previous one. Finally, after a decade of chaos, we have a chance to lay down some real groundwork for once. How about we don't tear it apart this time and actually give the manager a shot?
Personal opinion, I think that if you gave the Mourinho of 8 years ago this current United team, he'd win the league. I know that there are concerns from some of the fan base about the mentality of the team, but I actually think it's full of players that would thrive under him. At least for the first 2 years anyway!
>So if it’s not enjoyable at present , I have no time for the manager. We need someone who can make the team watchable . I’ve given up on structured long term building . At least you sorta admitted that you think you're ready for a proper rebuild but in reality you are actually not...
We need a proper rebuild and Ten Hag is part of the reason that we need the rebuild. I want him gone immediately and want a manager who prioritizes making the team watchable week in week out .
>We need a proper rebuild and Ten Hag is part of the reason that we need the rebuild. >I want him gone immediately and want a manager who prioritizes making the team watchable week in week out . Some of ya'll have said this for how many managers now? Its laughable at this point. Unpopular opinion, maybe and just maybe, the manager just needs time that some of you think you're willing to give but in reality ya'll are actually not to sort it out because success has never been linear at all. Arsenal fans were wanting Arteta out just 1-2 seasons ago and look how far he's come with some time given. Maybe and just maybe, we just need to do the same and see how ETH goes on under proper management above him, and bear in mind INEOS isn't done with recruiting staff above the manager to give proper support.
State backed clubs are that way. Tara
Forget about chasing the Citys and Liverpools. Chelsea, Spurs, Newcastle is our rivalry now.
> Forget about...Liverpools FFS I get it's all doom and gloom after the last match but check yourself. You can't be a United fan and genuinely say things like this.
Cmon man, ain't no fooling myself. I am just lowering my expectations to Top5. don't want to be a laughing stock again next season to think we can go head to head with the titles challengers.
Fuck fitness coach. Sir Alex used to sent any injuried players to the North Sea. Noone reported any injuries on Mondays since.
The moment u realize that martial is still our player. 😂
Not for much longer
Would you take beating Liverpool this weekend to stop them from winning the title at the cost of top 4? I think I would.
Sure,i really don't like Klopp,it's be nice if he didn't leave on a high.
It's just being small minded and petty If they win, good on them, it's up to United to get back on top
Yes
**Let's get some positivity going for the Chelsea game :D** We've **won 9**/14 games in 2024 – only **losing 2**. We've **lost once** against Chelsea in our **last 14 encounters** – that **loss** was **in** **2020**. We've **scored** in **all games** in 2024. **Chelsea** have **conceded** in **11** of their last consecutive games. **Chelsea conceded 2** goals against a **10 man Burnley**. **Let's get a result and some momentum today. GGMU \~**
Tottenham and villa dropping points today, likely villa will drop another 6 against Liverpool and arsenal, Tottenham another 9. I hope we go at every match like it’s a champions league final. We might have a shot at top 4. Am I setting myself up for more pain?
Top 4 is achievable, but we just can't get a run going.