The Manchester United Thread

Ricky Sbragia been sacked by Utd. No surprise there!


#MUFC Under-23s boss Ricky Sbragia has left the club. Nicky **** will oversee a structural review of the academy this summer


Nicky Butts done a fantastic job with our academy getting it to where it is now.
 
Lots of Utd need today.

So, despite finishing sixth, @ManUtd sold all 52,000 season tickets for next term in quickest time. 75,000 (I have checked this figure) on waiting list.
 
Theatre of Dreams83 said:
Good signing for Casey! :)


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We’re delighted to announce that @Jackie_10_ has signed a pre-contract agreement to join #MUWomen from the 2019/20 season.

https://www.manutd.com/en/news/deta...ign=ManUtd&utm_medium=post&utm_source=twitter

Groenen was a key player in the 2017 UEFA Women's Championship, which the Oranje won as the host nation, and was named in the Team of the Tournament. Previously played for Chelsea, Munich and Frankfurt.
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She's a good player. One of the few women I do enjoy watching for their creativity and technique.
 
Theatre of Dreams83 said:
Ricky Sbragia been sacked by Utd. No surprise there!


#MUFC Under-23s boss Ricky Sbragia has left the club. Nicky **** will oversee a structural review of the academy this summer


Nicky Butts done a fantastic job with our academy getting it to where it is now.
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Only a year or so too late. Thank **** for that. At least the good U-18's that have stepped up and going to step up might be allowed to play now like they do for the U-18's. Need to get them concentrating on fitness now and playing with freedom ready to step up for Ole's first team. We know they are good players anyway with bags of potential, so get them fit to the levels of City and Liverpool press and we could just have a very good team in a few years (if they stick with Ole through another bad patch I can see coming).

We Know Ole needs to get the fitness levels up. When Klopp came in on the back of the gengenpress dortmund team he had to work at it. Took him a couple of years. Started playing good football till they burned out but got to a Europa final. Got rid of a few players. Got a few in, and promoted a few youths hed been working with to step up. Fitness increased. Challenge went a little longer and got CL football.

Then he'd had another year of working on fitness and bleeding a few youngsters through. Liverpool stuck with him. Ended up playing some top football and getting to a CL final. League tailed off but lost a lot of points due to individual errors and a **** defence/keeper. Still stick with Klopp. Existing players even fitter. Kids coming through even more experienced. Make the right buys in key areas.

This season they haven't put a foot wrong. Lost 1 game all season in the league. CL finalists again. Probably the best 2 wingbacks in the league. One home grown and one bought cheap from a "****" team. A decent keeper that they needed, a world class CB that had come in and started to take control, that they waited for to get their man instead of going to second or third on their list and signing ****. They have a midfield of not the best players technically but can run all day long and will never stop till they get that ball back (mostly Henderson, Milner and Wijnaldum. Im expecting Fabinho and especially Keita to be better next season). Then a front 3 that really arent great on paper. Salah had a great first season. Nobody expected that. So was always going to be harder this season with the extra attention in games. Still got top scorer dont get me wrong but went missing in a lot of games. Who expected Mane to step up like he has this season? Again a signing at the time that didnt look the best on paper but what a player hes been. Good last season but everything was about Salah last year. This year he's stepped up and took his chances in the space because Salah is double marked out of a game. But again it mostly comes down to work rate. Firminho isnt a classic centre forward but his work rate allowed Salah last season and especially Mane this season to exploit the space.

My point is we need to follow that plan. Most important is getting the fitness up. If we can press all game like City and Liverpool we wont lose many. We've already started stepping kids up to the first team squad training at that intensity. They will be ready to step in when needed. Like TAA and Gomez did and establish themselves in the squad. We're signing younger players off the radar that a lot of fans might not be happy with but could be the best way. Young legs already fit, to go into that intensive fitness pre-season to learn to press for 90 minutes. Work rate and passion will always beat talent as Ole says.

I know a few here laughed when Liverpool signed Robertson (I actually wanted us to get him). Look how that turned out. Thats what our scouting network should be doing. **** Woodward with his big names. We need players to kill themselves to play for Manchester United and not stop running till the game is won. If that takes James and Longstaff so be it if they run and dont give up. Would rather have James running 100MPH up and down the left wing trying his bollocks off for 90 minutes than Martial only sprinting 5 times a game doing the same thing then sulking.
 
Only problem I have, is spending money on these players when we can use our own to have that impact. Do we need to spend on James when we can step up Chong? And do we need Longstaff when we can use Garner? Not saying they are bad players. I like James but we made the same mistake buying Phil Jones because he had a few good game for Blackburn, that actually give him a chance. When we had Michael Keane just as good ready to step up. Signed Jones and knocked Keane back down for a few years. If Keane would have been stepped up that year instead of buying Jones we'd still have Keane now and he'd be world class. These kids look good because teams actually believe in them and give them a chance. Then a big team comes along and signs them. But if big teams have bigger and better academies then their own prospects should be better if given the same chance a new signing would get (not always but we have the highest output of academy players playing top professional football. Might have been even better if we gave a lot of them a proper chance in the first team)

Only a year between Jones and Keane. Grown up in the same area really. Both well within reach of our scouts. We signed Keane. Jones signed for Blackburn. 100% guarantee our scouts knew and seen Jones growing up at the same time as Keane. We only signed one of them. Obviously a better player with potential at the time. Keane was brilliant. On the verge of a call up to the squad in my opinion. Then we sign Jones because Blackburn actually played him for a few games and he looked not too bad. Jones has a few good games for Blackburn because they gave him a proper run. We had Keane for years in a world class academy learning from the best. Won player of the year.

In Jones' first season with us he played in 41 games. Imagine if we gave Keane that chance for them 41 games? In my opinion he was already on par if not better than Jones and just won reserve player of the year.

Ended up going on a few loans in the Championship playing well while Jones was handing in sicknotes and entering the World Gurning Championships. Went to Burnley for practically **** all and was already by then a top player. Far better than Jones to anybody with eyes and a bit fitter and available for selection. Then gets nominated for young player of the year. A DEFENDER. Signs for Everton for £25-30m. Still better than Jones. Imagine if he would have stayed with us and had Jones's place? The player he could have been working with that team every day. He's still better now and hes been on Championship loans and to Burnley and Everton.

So what do we do? Do we go down this road of signing James for £15m, Longstaff for £Xm and possibly the kid from Stoke because they have been given a chance and had a few good games? Or do we stick with our own that are similar age and had years of learning in a top academy with the best coaches and world class players?

If those 3 are say £15m each (at least), that's £45m on 3 players we already have for free if given a chance and potentially better. That £45m could go towards a world class CB or RW to go straight in to the first 11 and help improve the ones coming into the squad as well. If the players we are looking at signing are for "the future" why waste the money when we have perfectly good players here already coming through? The team is on its **** at the moment and we need to improve the first 11. Doesnt seem right to me to waste money on young potential from other teams that we already have and been working with for years. (I dont mind these players by the way, just rather we used out own first).

What does everyone else think?
 
steveorobbo said:
..... What does everyone else think?
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Probably of interest to you robbo in answering that, there was a lad from UWS, Ant Shaw, doing an end of season review piece on a TAW show earlier this week. (Always good to listen to lads who actually go the match to get that perspective without any B/S.).

It wasn't a pretty 15 mins but then it's not a pretty situation at the club.

He started by saying one of the biggest issues at Utd is players on big contracts the club just can't shift. Utd need to get rid of a lot of problems before you can start moving forward again and it's not looking very good at the moment in that sense with players on 3 year contracts not pulling their weight of the contract and as a result, because no other team will pay them that amount of money, you can't get rid of them for free never mind actually sell them.

He was saying he personally was all for setting low, realistic transfer targets with no CL football of young, hungry players but a club like Utd also need 4 or 5 top quality players in the 1st team to continue to attract targets.

Mentioned Rashford as a particular concern. Has he had his head turned after concrete interest from Barcelona? Doe's he now think he's too good for Utd? Been a rapid decline after PSG from him. A situation that needs resolving rather than just paying him whatever he wants.

But then all contract renewals have been a massive problem since Utd bought Sanchez and put him on ridiculous money.

Worrying concern that after the initial manager bounce, it went back to the bad old days of the end of Mourinho's reign with players throwing their arms up in the air and just not trying.

And finally the current mood in the fanbase which has been getting toxic at Old Trafford. (The aways not as bad.). Cardiff last day was particularly bad by all accounts with clear anger directed at everyone.

Divided opinion from the match going fans on Solksjaer which I found interesting being as he's a club legend. Already rumblings of discontent from some. Is he upto the challenge and massive job at hand? Is he just another 'yes man' for the Glazier family and Woodward? Ants personal opinion was Solksjaer loves the club like a fan and needs to be given time. But the big worry there at the match a lot of Utd fans won't tolerate a graduate rebuild over the next few years. Which, with the club being in that much of a mess, it's gonna' need a whole lot of patience and support from everyone over the next 2-3 years at least to sort this mess out.

Said the way forward, going on what you alluded to an extent, was for Utd to take inspiration from L'pool rather than City. Building things properly like ourselves rather than spending stupidly like City is the direction Utd now need to go and everyone needs to be given the time and patience to see that through.

Straight to the point views on the **** show you find yourselves in.
 
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Mobius said:
Ello guys new here and been hovering for a long time, United fan from Switzerland and pleased to meet everyone. Steve I don't have an issue with us targeting younger players but I feel if we really do want players like Longstaff, James, Sessegnon it's a bit weird how they all seem to be British.... there was some talk about us going to a British core again.... for me this is the most worrying.

Here in Switszerland, most fans are optimistic about the direction Solskjaer will take us in.... I think we should wait and see who we actually sign,
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Welcome to the forum. Glad to see new people joining in.

Btw Mike, is Zzzz fully banned or temp?
 
Mobius said:
Ello guys new here and been hovering for a long time, United fan from Switzerland and pleased to meet everyone. Steve I don't have an issue with us targeting younger players but I feel if we really do want players like Longstaff, James, Sessegnon it's a bit weird how they all seem to be British.... there was some talk about us going to a British core again.... for me this is the most worrying.

Here in Switszerland, most fans are optimistic about the direction Solskjaer will take us in.... I think we should wait and see who we actually sign,
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Welcome mate to the Forum. Hope to see you on here regular :)
 

Ajax talent Dillon Hoogewerf set to leave for Manchester United club confirm.

Few highlights https://youtu.be/ayabQOmdp7M spanked 5 gls against La Masia academy last year in a tournament final. Been scoring for fun at club and International youth level. Also hoovering up player of the tournament awards and top scorer awards at a lot of youth tournament.
 
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Don’t know the reliability of McDonnel but he’s adamant Mata is leaving after finally rejecting Utds improved offer. If true that’s 4 squad players gone since Jan. And looking like a lot more leaving.
 
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