Matic was a stop gap signing. He looked decent in 6 matches at the start of the season but since then hasn't looked fit enough to play at this level. As cover for Carrick and Fellaini he has done a job but I am less than impressed recently and can quite see why Conte let him go albeit not to a top 4 rival when you are champions. Centre back is part of the problem albeit it is not glaringly obvious to most - in order to play great football you need centre backs that can play out from the back, none of ours can do this (maybe Bailly) - this drags the whole midfield deeper and frustrates your attacking play. Don't underestimate how good Rio and Vidic were at this. It's part of Pep's success but also vulnerability at times. You can't have it all ways! It will soon be 5 seasons since Fergie left (half a pro footballers career at top level) and we still have regularly playing - Smalling, Jones, Young, Valencia - all of who were arguably not up to it in the last title winning side.
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Matic was a stop gap signing. He looked decent in 6 matches at the start of the season but since then hasn't looked fit enough to play at this level. As cover for Carrick and Fellaini he has done a job but I am less than impressed recently and can quite see why Conte let him go albeit not to a top 4 rival when you are champions. Centre back is part of the problem albeit it is not glaringly obvious to most - in order to play great football you need centre backs that can play out from the back, none of ours can do this (maybe Bailly) - this drags the whole midfield deeper and frustrates your attacking play. Don't underestimate how good Rio and Vidic were at this. It's part of Pep's success but also vulnerability at times. You can't have it all ways! It will soon be 5 seasons since Fergie left (half a pro footballers career at top level) and we still have regularly playing - Smalling, Jones, Young, Valencia - all of who were arguably not up to it in the last title winning side.
It SHOULD be about entertainment, but come on Robbo it never has been under the Glazers, its all about the vast funds in the EPL and CL particularly flowing into the Glazers - if it was about entertainment much more of the debt would already be paid off which would therefore put the whole business on a better footing (to invest in the academy, Carrington, the stadium etc etc etc)
As long as the club stay in the top ten and even more so the CL spots the Glazers really don't care about whether its entertaining or not - for majority of games OT will still be 90% full week after week at least.
While the annual turnover is larger than the debt, and the profits are healthy nothing else matters.
Lindelof was a budget buy compared to the rest of them, plus had about 10% of the experience , so he needs time - wish he had been another Bailly but he still deserves time (id ship out Jones, Smalling, Blind and maybe even Rojo before getting shot of Linderlof - obviously getting replacements in at the same time but still)
And it was two years before that the last time Utd seriously invested in the squad comparable to the top 4 /5 at the time, since then its been relatively minimal or bad mistakes (like Di Maria) / short term fixes (Van Persie available for basically 1st season and then injured after that, same for Ibra on a gigantically bigger investment even compared to the time)
2 CMs, Right full back, Centre Half, Right Winger /attacker is the least Utd need in the summer and I still think we could buy at least one really decent player from that list with sales of squad players without making a serious issue in the squad and would improve it dramatically - even if one of JMs buys doesn't quite make an immediate impact (or at all) like Mkhi / Lindelof each summer.
For the record I don't think we will get 5 players, will be amazed if we even get 4 - but we desperately need at least those 5
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Caporegime
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I told y'all at the time that matic was too old and slow. Why do you think Chelsea sold him to us?
We've done the same with Sanchez who has shown in his first 5 games for us that he's not the player he was 3 years ago.
I'll say it one last time. No pace in central midfield.
Bad tactics like take a kick off, pass it back to our keeper and then long ball it back up to the half way line for a 50/50.
Our players are simply not good enough on the ball which is why we have to play counter attacking football against Seville, rather than simply battering them like we should do with our net spend.
We've done the same with Sanchez who has shown in his first 5 games for us that he's not the player he was 3 years ago.
I'll say it one last time. No pace in central midfield.
Bad tactics like take a kick off, pass it back to our keeper and then long ball it back up to the half way line for a 50/50.
Our players are simply not good enough on the ball which is why we have to play counter attacking football against Seville, rather than simply battering them like we should do with our net spend.
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Is anybody worried that Mourinho will drive out some of our best players ....well potentially best players in shaw,Pogba and Martial and then go on to be world class for years to come
I reckon Chelsea fans must be seething when they see De Bruyne and Salah playing after bombing them out
I reckon Chelsea fans must be seething when they see De Bruyne and Salah playing after bombing them out
Caporegime
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Did you just mention Shaw amongst our best players?
De Bruyne was in Germany 2 or 3 seasons, its not always possible to see how much they can improve. The other thing is that the loan system isn't straight forward - very few (young) loaned players get decent amounts of playing time, so unless they are absolutely amazing on loan, they wont play that often infront of players who are signed fully by the club.
Now why Chelsea didn't have buy back clauses / first refusal (they may have, I don't know) is a more valid question imo
Caporegime
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You realise City are only 8pts above us right? City better watch out for Derby getting all the good young players because they're ahead of them.
And City have 0 youth players in their first team and are never likely to promote a youth player to their first team?
And last time City had a few injuries Pep literally left a gap on his bench rather than promote one of his young players?
U23 level means nothing for big clubs really. By that point good players are either playing in the first team squad (Rashford, McTominay) or out on loan getting experience (TFM, Tuanzebe, Mitchell etc)
And City have 0 youth players in their first team and are never likely to promote a youth player to their first team?
And last time City had a few injuries Pep literally left a gap on his bench rather than promote one of his young players?
U23 level means nothing for big clubs really. By that point good players are either playing in the first team squad (Rashford, McTominay) or out on loan getting experience (TFM, Tuanzebe, Mitchell etc)
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You do know United are top of the under-18s league right? I'd argue that age group is more important than the under-23s you refer to. There are some really promising players in our under-18s side, such as Angel Gomes (who has made sub appearances for the senior team) and Tahith Chong.
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As I said, let's wait until City produce a single first team academy player. Most of the ones you mentioned aren't academy players and the ones that are have only really played in the cup fixtures. I remember when people were saying that City were developing the next set of stars and people like Guidetti were going to be a big part of that.
City have loads of players out on loan because they do the same thing Chelsea does. Buy loads of players at 17/18 and send them out on loan forever and then sell them. These players have next to no chance of actually making it at the clubs. I don't know if City are as bad as Chelsea are in regards to the way they treat their young players though.
If the U23 level was any good we wouldn't be sending players out on loan to the Championship. It's meaningless. U18 is far better to look at.
Rofl I didn't even realise we were top of the U18's. Makes Moses post look even more silly
City have loads of players out on loan because they do the same thing Chelsea does. Buy loads of players at 17/18 and send them out on loan forever and then sell them. These players have next to no chance of actually making it at the clubs. I don't know if City are as bad as Chelsea are in regards to the way they treat their young players though.
If the U23 level was any good we wouldn't be sending players out on loan to the Championship. It's meaningless. U18 is far better to look at.
Rofl I didn't even realise we were top of the U18's. Makes Moses post look even more silly
Caporegime
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Bring back dong fangzhou
Under 23's is pretty pointless tbh, either they should be in the 1st team squad by then or out on loan playing 40 games a season at a championship club, only thing I can think of where under 23's is of any use if for squad players to get fitness back.
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I'm happy we got to see him in a United shirt. Even if that injury made the end more difficult he still put in some incredible performances with us and showed that he could cut it in the EPL even this late in his career. Would have loved to have him here for longer.
A bit like Henrik Larsson. I wish we'd had him for longer and earlier in his career. Ibra brought inspirational character to the cub and leadership. I think there will be a little void without him. Respect due
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Yeah pretty similar with Larsson. I think what we've really missed this year is Zlatan's leadership, he's such a huge personality and he really brought his teammates into the game, we don't really have that at the moment.
He was class and sorry to see him leave under these circumstances- but there were plenty of times last season where he completely nullified our counter attack because of his age (not saying that JM's tactics haven't done the same thing this season, because they have)
would have course have been totally different if we had seen him a few years before we did.
would have course have been totally different if we had seen him a few years before we did.