The Manchester United Club Thread **Sponsored by Comedy Central**

Caporegime
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But would Martial, Rashford, Greenwood kick start again if Ronaldo was suddenly to go Id have to question that?

Last season

Greenwood 7 goals in 31
Martial 4 goals in 22
Rashford 11 goals in 37

Sancho hasnt set the world on fire either and will even Martial play again?

Sure Ronaldo can be replaced but not sure the current crop got what it takes anymore.

We scored 73 goals last season. Second only to city. Creativity was never a problem until this season.

I think the Europa league final loss didn't help either. Players need to get that winning mentality from somewhere and sometimes all it can take is a cup win and you are elevated onto a different level. Man United players used to walk out knowing they were already going to win. That mentality has long since gone.
 

fez

fez

Caporegime
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I'm not sure this winning mentality thing holds up for most games. If you are going into a game against the teams in the bottom 3 and getting out played and out worked, thats not a winning mentality issue. I think the EL final loss didn't help us for sure but I think that was more of a loss of faith with Ole. He choked when it mattered. Fundamentally these players need to decide what they want from their careers.

The stupid thing is that they are clearly not happy on the pitch and a large part of that is that they are not putting in the effort to win games. If they did what they are told, put the effort in and started winning games comfortably they would be far happier.
 
Soldato
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Ole and his coaches are responsible for assembling and fostering a culture of babies who are told they are special, just do your thing and shine... The entitlement of this bunch of players is blatant on the pitch as they walk around, falling over into hissy fits despite never having won a thing.

This squad has never been able to control a game because of a mix of players who don't have the work ethic, skill or aptitude to compete.
 

fez

fez

Caporegime
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I do wonder what the future of football management looks like honestly. Managers move clubs at a faster and faster rate and top managers staying in one job for years like Pep and Klopp are getting rarer and rarer. It seems like the majority of "top teams" are really struggling with the war between paying massive wages and giving managers any power to control the dressing room.

I would love to take a punt on smaller managers, the likes of Potter et al but I just think they will be eaten alive and everyone will basically say "look he wasn't good enough". Rangnick has come in and seems to have found a bunch of unfit, entitled, overpaid brats who don't want to do something unless they agree with it.

Social media and promotion outside of the game seem to be almost as important to the clubs/players and there seem to be more and more players who love the idea of being a professional footballer but would rather not play the football.

You've got to mother, motivate and coach the players and the second they don't like something about the way you manage, thats it. You are done. Its just a matter of when, not if. It sounds like Potter does a lot of silly things for team building purposes and I reckon most of that would go down like a lead balloon at United because they would think they are above it.

Wonder how many years it will be before all the "football" fans are gone and all that is left are celebrity fans who treat it like love island as much as a sport.
 
Soldato
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I do wonder what the future of football management looks like honestly. Managers move clubs at a faster and faster rate and top managers staying in one job for years like Pep and Klopp are getting rarer and rarer. It seems like the majority of "top teams" are really struggling with the war between paying massive wages and giving managers any power to control the dressing room.

I would love to take a punt on smaller managers, the likes of Potter et al but I just think they will be eaten alive and everyone will basically say "look he wasn't good enough". Rangnick has come in and seems to have found a bunch of unfit, entitled, overpaid brats who don't want to do something unless they agree with it.

Social media and promotion outside of the game seem to be almost as important to the clubs/players and there seem to be more and more players who love the idea of being a professional footballer but would rather not play the football.

You've got to mother, motivate and coach the players and the second they don't like something about the way you manage, thats it. You are done. Its just a matter of when, not if. It sounds like Potter does a lot of silly things for team building purposes and I reckon most of that would go down like a lead balloon at United because they would think they are above it.

Wonder how many years it will be before all the "football" fans are gone and all that is left are celebrity fans who treat it like love island as much as a sport.

It comes from the top down in my opinion - those clubs that are structured well, that have clear and defined strategies and purposes, and have excellent senior management teams - those are the ones that can retain managers and largely perform in line with their ambitions.

Man City, Liverpool, Burnley, etc. all generally perform to the level they aim for. and have loads of stability You could probably throw Southampton and Norwich into the mix (with the latter having a recent manager change, but still very much within a range)

Those right at the top at Man UTD really don't seem to have much interest other than lining their pockets. I think it's important that clubs get run not as purely as businesses and not as teams, but as a footballing business - where clarity and long term-ism is key rather than solely looking at the bottom line or the last result.
 
Man of Honour
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Imagine if Potter walked into this club. The players would openly revolt as he's 'not achieved anything', and the board would fail to support him.

Someone needs the chance to overhaul the squad in its entirety, as well as the football operation higher up. Rangnick can do that, if he's allowed.
 
Caporegime
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When we talk about huge wages, you have to ask why the wages utd give to medium and low level players are as high as they are?

When we try to sign a player I'm pretty sure we don't need to hugely over pay on their wages because you would have thought they want to come to us anyway?

Sancho will pen a five-year deal at Old Trafford worth £91million - or £350,000 per week. That will see his wages more than trebled from the £100,000-per-week deal he is on at Dortmund. And it will also see him among the very best-paid players in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's squad

Did we really need to treble his wages? Why not just 150% instead of 350%

If a player doesn't want to move for a 50% payrise, do we want that player?

Sure, 2-3 years later if he's banging in 20 goals a season offer him a new contract with 200k.

Juan Mata we renewed at 160k a year for a player who may make 3 appearances all season. Was anyone across Europe going to offer him more than 50k a week?

Martial 250k a season

Benzema is on 130-150k and he's scored over 20 goals the last 4 years running.

Why are we so stupid money wise?
 
Soldato
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Another perfect example of how bad things are.

1st half - utterly dreadful.... Just awful last night - Literally couldn't have looked any worse. How it was 0-0 at half time I've no idea.
2nd half - totally different team - quick pacey passing, attacking intent etc etc.

Just bizarre how hot and cold we are at the moment.
 
Caporegime
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Another perfect example of how bad things are.

1st half - utterly dreadful.... Just awful last night - Literally couldn't have looked any worse. How it was 0-0 at half time I've no idea.
2nd half - totally different team - quick pacey passing, attacking intent etc etc.

Just bizarre how hot and cold we are at the moment.

We were playing Brentford.
 
Soldato
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We were playing Brentford.
You beat us by a greater scoreline than Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City did at our place...

Man City struggled to break us down. And Chelsea we should have beaten. And Liverpool managed a draw. And we beat Arsenal. And we should have beaten you based on the chances we had.
 
Caporegime
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You beat us by a greater scoreline than Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City did at our place...

Man City struggled to break us down. And Chelsea we should have beaten. And Liverpool managed a draw. And we beat Arsenal. And we should have beaten you based on the chances we had.

Exactly.

We won but we were awful.

It's no reason to rejoice.
 

fez

fez

Caporegime
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You beat us by a greater scoreline than Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City did at our place...

Man City struggled to break us down. And Chelsea we should have beaten. And Liverpool managed a draw. And we beat Arsenal. And we should have beaten you based on the chances we had.

To be fair, you had a better xG than us but we have a much better keeper and strikers than you so a draw would probably have reflected the game. I didn't watch the first half apart from highlights but the second half we were much better and deserved a couple of goals. 2-2 would have probably been fair.
 
Caporegime
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I don't think McNeil will make it in the first team personally. He's a good finisher but he feels like a player that is going to dominate at that level but not make the step up.
 
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