The Manchester United Thread

I agree with everything you said.

The worst thing about this season is that there's nothing to build on for next season. Pogba, Martial and Rashford have been inconsistent all season. The team can't pass or attack in a structured way, with purpose.

I think the lack of build-up play and Mourinho rampage against some of the players (Martial, Poga, Shaw) has really lowered their confidence.

(forgot to quote Steve)
 
Watched Puigmal in the u17s euro tonight vs Germany. Absolutely fantastic! Great passing, Technique and control in tight spaces is very very good. Can beat a man to.
 
Beautiful piece on Michael Carrick by Michael ***. Hope Mike's alright with me pasting the context here as we approach Carrick's final match.



It's the summer of 2006, and Manchester United are in a crisis.
This is not the usual football "crisis" -- which increasingly means little more than "they've lost their last two matches" -- but a genuine, wide-ranging, major question about how Manchester United are attempting to achieve success. Chelsea have won the last two Premier League titles. Arsenal have reached the Champions League final and are moving to a new home, while Liverpool have followed European Cup success with FA Cup success and are surely now ready to challenge for the title.


And what of Manchester United? They've gone three seasons without a league title, the longest barren spell in the Premier League under Sir Alex Ferguson, and they finished bottom of a relatively weak Champions League group. Their most consistent performer from the previous five years, Ruud van Nistelrooy, has left for Real Madrid, and the two players supposed to step up in his absence, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, have had a bust-up at the World Cup so serious that recently retired Alan Shearer (now a television pundit) is encouraging Rooney to turn up for preseason training and punch Ronaldo.


In central midfield, long-serving captain Roy Keane was effectively kicked out midway through last season following a row with management. Paul Scholes missed the second half of the campaign with a vision problem that could threaten his career. United's two most-used central midfielders in the 2005-06 Premier League were John O'Shea, a defender, and Alan Smith, a forward. In truth, it's a bit of a shambles.


In response, Ferguson signs one player. One single player: Michael Carrick, for £18 million, from Tottenham Hotspur. Few are convinced. "Ferguson shreds his legacy at every turn," wrote one United-supporting journalist. "The signing of Michael Carrick, a Pirlo when a Gattuso was needed, is a band-aid for a bullet wound and a ludicrously expensive one at that."


But over the next seven years, until Ferguson's retirement in 2013, Manchester United would enjoy a truly remarkable spell of success. Five league titles, two second-place finishes (both taking the title race down to the final day), one European Cup and two more finals (only beaten by Pep Guardiola's legendary Barcelona). There were dozens of factors in the turnaround, not least Ronaldo's sudden improvement. But in terms of finding a true turning point, the signing of Carrick is crucial.


Carrick was not a typical English central midfielder. In 2006, English football fans were still mourning the end of the Roy Keane vs. Patrick Vieira rivalry because they were tough tacklers; they were also still pondering precisely why Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, two attack-minded up-and-down players, couldn't play together. Carrick didn't make hard tackles and wasn't a box-to-box player. The most common analysis of his play was a question rather than a statement: "What does he actually do?"

In the period before people went crazy for Xavi Hernandez, Carrick had to change perceptions of his position.
What did he do? Well, Carrick was a phenomenally gifted passer, capable of spraying the ball 50 yards towards the wingers in keeping with United's tradition of playing with width. But equally crucial was the fact that he wasn't incessantly attempting to play those passes, never guilty of turning to Hollywood balls. For the most part, Carrick was careful and methodical with his distribution, slowly knocking simple passes into the attacking players, making himself available for return balls and gradually putting United in control.


Defensively, Carrick rarely crunched into tackles simply because he didn't need to: His positioning was excellent, and his reading of the game faultless. He was never as reckless as his longtime midfield colleague Scholes, whose indiscipline without possession undermined his undoubted ability with the ball. More than anything, Carrick has been hugely consistent, a steady presence who rarely underperformed. Even the criticisms have generally been unfair: Rewatch the European Cup final of 2009, when Carrick was supposedly overrun by Barca's midfield, and you'll find that he's the man desperately trying to get United going with his passing while teammates are struggling to get into the game at all.


It's unquestionable that Carrick was more widely appreciated outside his home country. After a trip to Inter Milan in 2009, La Repubblica wrote glowingly about "El Magnifico Carrick." Xavi and Xabi Alonso name-checked him as their favourite English player. Guardiola recently declared him "one of the best holding midfielders I've ever seen in my life. He's the level of Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets in Barcelona and Bayern Munich."


Yet Carrick, who for so long appeared the obvious answer to England's midfield problems, was barely involved for his country throughout his long United career. At World Cup 2006, shortly before signing for United, he was widely considered England's best player in the second-round victory over Ecuador but was dropped for the quarterfinal when Gary Neville returned after injury, meaning Owen Hargreaves switched from right-back to central midfield. Incredibly, he never played at a major tournament for England again, not even at World Cup 2010, when he was in the squad but Fabio Capello preferred a clearly unfit Gareth Barry.


It was often unclear whether Carrick was left out of squads because managers didn't fancy him or whether he wasn't keen: He's suggested he felt borderline depressed when on international duty. Either way, finishing with just one more cap than Kieron Dyer and two fewer than Shaun Wright-Phillips means Carrick is the most underused England player of the past 25 years -- far more so than 66-cap Scholes, who was allowed the luxury of a starting place for two years when he was, by his own admission, not playing well enough to justify his selection.


England weren't blessed with great quality in the holding midfield role, with only Hargreaves rivalling Carrick in that sense, and his career was sadly disrupted by injury. But like Ryan Giggs, whose lack of international caps contributed to his incredible longevity at club level, Carrick's Manchester United form probably benefited. He was one of the few constants throughout that seven-year period of success between 2006 and 2013, and at Manchester United's final end-of-season awards ceremony under the management of Ferguson, it was Carrick, rather than Robin van Persie or David De Gea, who won the club's Players' Player of the Year.


Recent years have been tougher for United, although Carrick has played another 150-odd games and never looked out of place in the starting XI. Between heart problems and declining mobility, Carrick has barely been seen this season -- he's played just 24 Premier League minutes in a defeat at hometown club Newcastle and made three cup appearances. Yet his off-field influence remains significant: Paul Pogba recently credited Carrick with advice about how to time his forward runs, which is intriguing considering that was hardly a Carrick speciality, and it underlines the extent of his football brain. He'll remain at United next season as a coach. As in his playing days, he'll be working to improve other United players in an understated way.


Carrick will play some part in United's final game of the season at home to Watford on Sunday, his farewell match. But there was also a rare sight of him on-screen last Sunday when he was spotted in the audience at the World Snooker final. That felt like an appropriate setting: a sport about positioning, angles, tactics and patience, all qualities also relevant to Carrick's game but features that English football has too often overlooked throughout his career.
 
RhQQ said:
.....

And what of Manchester United? They've gone three seasons without a league title, the longest barren spell in the Premier League under Sir Alex Ferguson, and they finished bottom of a relatively weak Champions League group. Their most consistent performer from the previous five years, Ruud van Nistelrooy, has left for Real Madrid, and the two players supposed to step up in his absence, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, have had a bust-up at the World Cup so serious that recently retired Alan Shearer (now a television pundit) is encouraging Rooney to turn up for preseason training and punch Ronaldo. .....
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Did he? What an absolute ******* that fella' is.

Seriously dislike him the telly. His analysis is utter ***** and he just seems to take the contrary view for the sake of it. The irony of how he loves to lay into players too after physical incidents conveniently forgetting he was a nasty little ***** with his elbows who escaped punishment for kicking Lennon the head as he was England's golden boy has never been lost on me.

Great goalscorer. Complete gobshite. One of the worst on TV.

Nice read.
 
Scouseinthehouse said:
Did he? What an absolute ******* that fella' is.

Seriously dislike him the telly. His analysis is utter ***** and he just seems to take the contrary view for the sake of it. The irony of how he loves to lay into players too after physical incidents conveniently forgetting he was a nasty little ***** with his elbows who escaped punishment for kicking Lennon the head as he was England's golden boy has never been lost on me.

Great goalscorer. Complete gobshite. One of the worst on TV.

Nice read.
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Was there anything else to Shearer's football than goal scoring and elbows? I agree he is a **** pundit totally bias towards forwards infact I don't remember him ever saying a suspect handball/penalty/offside was ever wrong when given in favour of an attacking side.
 
#MUFC announces that assistant manager Rui Faria is to leave the club at the end of the season. We wish him all the best for the future.


Full details: manutd.co/K.H

Rui Faria: “After a lot of consideration, and with a very heavy heart, I have decided the time is right for me to move on." #SSN

“I have had 17 years of incredible and unforgettable experiences. However, I have felt for some time that I would like to spend much more quality time with my family before pursuing any new challenge in my professional life

Rui Faria: “My heartfelt thanks go to Jose Mourinho, for the belief he had in me all those years ago, when it all was just a student dream. I’d like to thank him for the opportunity & confidence, for the knowledge & experience, but most importantly for his friendship.”
 
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Theatre of Dreams83 said:
#MUFC announces that assistant manager Rui Faria is to leave the club at the end of the season. We wish him all the best for the future.


Full details: manutd.co/K.H

Rui Faria: “After a lot of consideration, and with a very heavy heart, I have decided the time is right for me to move on." #SSN

“I have had 17 years of incredible and unforgettable experiences. However, I have felt for some time that I would like to spend much more quality time with my family before pursuing any new challenge in my professional life

Rui Faria: “My heartfelt thanks go to Jose Mourinho, for the belief he had in me all those years ago, when it all was just a student dream. I’d like to thank him for the opportunity & confidence, for the knowledge & experience, but most importantly for his friendship.”
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Carrick his next assistant? or someone else from the staff? Or is he getting a new one?
 
RedUnited said:
oooh, I like that!
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Be happy with that! Has a good relationship with Mourinho from what I’ve seen when I’ve been to live youth games. And is very much a coach in the mould of Klopp/Poch. Will defo bring some new ideas and will improve attacking coaching for sure.
 
Seriously who makes up these transfer rumours? Apparently we r getting neymar, wolves want lindelof on loan and we r gonna pay £100m for sessegnon from Fulham. Silly season has started early

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
steveorobbo said:
Seriously who makes up these transfer rumours? Apparently we r getting neymar, wolves want lindelof on loan and we r gonna pay £100m for sessegnon from Fulham. Silly season has started early

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
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Wow didn’t see that Sessegnon fee. I read 22.5m somewhere going to 27m a few days back. Yeah Neymar is Woodward’s wet dream and I’m sure he would love to do it but yeah lol. Maybe if Martial went the other way somehow and maybe Mata left. Would we buy an attacking player. Even though can see Mou going for a cheeky Willian bid if Martial or Mata leave.
 
Signing Neymar is probably the only way Mourinho could sell Martial without United fans completely looking for his head on a stick (anymore than some are already). That's how much of a fan favourite our French 'Tony is.
 
RhQQ said:
Signing Neymar is probably the only way Mourinho could sell Martial without United fans completely looking for his head on a stick (anymore than some are already). That's how much of a fan favourite our French 'Tony is.
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Griezmann. There's only a handful of players I'd swap Martial , and he's one of the time.

Also the play backwards and defend first thing is largely nonsense when you consider how the other flank plays. They just don't really see eye to eye on game time at the moment. Lots of people mention Sanchez, but it's actually Lingard keeping him out, he's been immense
 
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Be a bit weird seeing Carrick in a Utd shirt for the last time today. Been a great servant and very underrated by England even some Utd fans. Looking forward to following the next chapter of his at the club. Seen a few reports that there will be a special tribute to him and Fergie today either before or after the game and Mourinho will give a speech.

Been told there is a chance Gomes and Chong will be on the bench. And that Gribbin, Chong, Gomes, Hamilton, Tuanzebe, TFM, Roshaun Williams, Mitchell, Pereira and one of Laird or Greenwood will be going on tour.
 
Tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson in today’s @ManUtd programme. Jose: “We are all very, very positive about his ongoing recovery.”

More Jose in programme: “Developing the mentality is the next big step this squad has to take.”
 
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