The Manchester United Thread

[Theatre of Dreams83]

Jeez some massive overreaction on here. Typical after a frustrating loss I guess. We don’t need an out and out STR to replace Martial. And last night didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know. We need a couple more players to give us better options off the bench and we need a partner for Maguire. Better team lost end of.
Thought Fred was excellent having watched the match back early doors and proved again when on form can be a more than good enough back up for Matic.

 

[woolly]

Jeez some massive overreaction on here. Typical after a frustrating loss I guess. We don’t need an out and out STR to replace Martial. And last night didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know. We need a couple more players to give us better options off the bench and we need a partner for Maguire. Better team lost end of.
Thought Fred was excellent having watched the match back early doors and proved again when on form can be a more than good enough back up for Matic.

Some sense being spoken here, mind you I do wonder if some of the defensive errors aren't just a result of poor individual performances but also the result of a lack of direction from the back ie the goalkeeper. DDG has never been one of those dominating keepers and relies more on his own skills than in bossing and directing the defence to do thier job. The current defence United have to be honest needs to be bossed around at times to prevent these moments of inattention you ain't going to get it from DDG so someone else in the defence needs to do it which has not happened. It is clear this team is still a work in progress and I have a feeling that it will take at least another season if not more to sort it out. On a positive note at least now the players can finally get a short rest before it starts all over again and who knows what next season will bring.

 

[Vanjagl]

Biggest difference tonight mate? Coaching. Sevilla are a collection of good footballer's excellently coached/ organised.

Utd have some excellent footballers.(Your **** poor backend aside Mad how they think Sancho is what's needed when you've very little quality the other end of the park.). But are shockingly coached. With next to no organisation at all.

Absolutely NO game management in this United side whatsoever. Bernabea (Sp?) who's off to Saudi controlled that game from start to finish.You've nothing like that to control a game of football.

Take the historic Leicester collapse out of the equation and you'd be in the Europa again next season whilst Solksjaer's busy patting himself on the back for a season of very F little in reality.

This sums up accuracy of this whole post.

We need better defensive coaching. While that maybe an overreaction to yesterday's match, we definitely need better organising, and that starts from the coaching, not just the players. Yes, we may have had the third or fourth best defense last year in the league, but the goals we conceded we rather silly too, de Gea howlers aside. Need to defend as a unit, and organise ourselves better.

And ****, need to deal with crosses better. Still unsure about needing more CBs, but if we selling three of them, we need to go and get a good CB. And honestly, I don't care if it is a left/right defender (I mean, wasn't Maguire used on the left when at Leicester?).

But Woodward needs to get his head out of his *** and go get something done. Mind you, I'm not stating go after Sancho specifically if the finances don't support it But instead of wasting time, go after other targets (or atleast, after other necessities of the squad).

United is missing Shaw so much. Who would have thought that? Williams is a decent young player but he's not on this level and he offers even less than AWB when going forward. He's rash and overzealous in most games and because he was on red card watch for most of this game, he couldn't be more aggressive in duels ( at least he's smart enough to realize that).
Comical defending for both goals from fullbacks and Lindelof, outside of Williams, probably the worst player on the pitch. Also you can't play high line with Maguire in lineup, most of the time Sevilla had the ball, he was dropping 3 or 4 meters and effectively nulled Uniteds chance of press.
But the worst thing is - United missed a lot. You can't do that in playoff games, you barely get the second chance in later stages. Rashford is out of form, Greenwood is probably starting to struggle with the pace of the season and without them, having only Martial is not enough ( although it should have been, he missed A LOT but that happens from time to time). Ole could work on midfielders involvement in opp box more, not enough runs from them and it easy to overwhelm United attackers just with pure numbers. Fair **** to Sevilla, they deserved their win, better team without a doubt.

 

[Sherkey]

This sums up accuracy of this whole post.


United is missing Shaw so much. Who would have thought that? Williams is a decent young player but he's not on this level and he offers even less than AWB when going forward. He's rash and overzealous in most games and because he was on red card watch for most of this game, he couldn't be more aggressive in duels ( at least he's smart enough to realize that).
Comical defending for both goals from fullbacks and Lindelof, outside of Williams, probably the worst player on the pitch. Also you can't play high line with Maguire in lineup, most of the time Sevilla had the ball, he was dropping 3 or 4 meters and effectively nulled Uniteds chance of press.
But the worst thing is - United missed a lot. You can't do that in playoff games, you barely get the second chance in later stages. Rashford is out of form, Greenwood is probably starting to struggle with the pace of the season and without them, having only Martial is not enough ( although it should have been, he missed A LOT but that happens from time to time). Ole could work on midfielders involvement in opp box more, not enough runs from them and it easy to overwhelm United attackers just with pure numbers. Fair **** to Sevilla, they deserved their win, better team without a doubt.

Williams is a right footed defender playing at LB, and it shows. He is unable to provide the width and Rashford's struggles started since his return from injury (and Shaw's absence). Strikers miss, and it's bad that it happened here, especially in a knockout, but it happens. I'm not too worried. We have seen what the front three can do, in the absence of fatigue and on form - so the thing is to maintain that consistency.

The defensive coaching still has me a bit worried. You get the feeling that there is a general panic when someone is running at them (not even talking about last night, talking about the season in general). While I still believe defence is okay (and maybe not the biggest priority), we should be looking at players. There is a worrying output of news of us looking at any defenders (other than Gabriel and Badiashile), so that gives me pause, but eh.

 

[Theatre of Dreams83]

What I’ve seen this season it’s not been coaching it’s just been poor defending and individual errors more than anything and GK howlers. The coaching side has actually improved as team defensively. You don’t go from the 9/10th best defence in the league to the 3rd without good coaching. Phelan is an excellent defensive coach Ferguson has said this on numerous occasions.

 

[zzeezzy]

Right now we need to improve our starting 11, the signings we make should not be 'squad players', they are should improve on the likes of Williams, Rashford etc.

Sorry but Rashford has been absolutely bobbins lately, this attack bar Martial and Greenwood (who we can't rely on to play majority of games) is not good enough either.

We need quality in attack and defence arguably, Fred was a real positive though, love the energy and tempo we seem to play with when he's in the team.

 

[Legend Incredible]

Speaking of Rashford, his form since he returned from his back injury worries me. He's nowhere near the level he was playing before his injury. I hope that wasn't a career altering one and it's just a blip in form. He doesn't seem to take on players as much as he used to as well.

 

[smith123]

There is certain players in the team that need upgrading and replacing and i won't name names in fear of their fanboys. But when you know, you know.

 

[Sherkey]

Right now we need to improve our starting 11, the signings we make should not be 'squad players', they are should improve on the likes of Williams, Rashford etc.

Sorry but Rashford has been absolutely bobbins lately, this attack bar Martial and Greenwood (who we can't rely on to play majority of games) is not good enough either.

We need quality in attack and defence arguably, Fred was a real positive though, love the energy and tempo we seem to play with when he's in the team.

..... Williams is not a starter, Shaw is. Williams is backup, in case of injuries. Also, it's too soon to give up on Rashford. He's had a bad run since injury, give him atleast one more year before writing him off. Not to mention, he is 22. Jeez.

Also, the club is already looking at getting somebody for the attack in Sancho. Arguably, other than CB, where else would you want starters? We already have Pogba/Bruno in CM. Maguire and AwB in defence. Where would you get these starters in?

You need good squad players (think overpriced Grealish, van de Beek) who can come into the line-up without too stark a drop off in quality when you want to rest your starters. Not to mention, these are the Covid times. There won't be money available to spend to get as many starters as you're recommending and the ones available in our price range may not necessarily improve us.

My issue are not the potential targets, but the speed at which we seem to be moving at them. Either pay up and get them, or move on to alternates.

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

There is certain players in the team that need upgrading and replacing and i won't name names in fear of their fanboys. But when you know, you know.

No question mate. Improved talent is a big part of progression, But that's only one part of the bigger overall problem. If it wasn't Utd would be P the league given the ridiculous amount of money you've continually wasted right through since Ferguson hung it up.

The acquisitions need to be right and the coaching to improve not only those that come in, but those already there, until such time as they can be replaced, needs to be top-notch.

Utd are still markedly lacking in both areas.

 

[woolly]

Right now we need to improve our starting 11, the signings we make should not be 'squad players', they are should improve on the likes of Williams, Rashford etc.

Sorry but Rashford has been absolutely bobbins lately, this attack bar Martial and Greenwood (who we can't rely on to play majority of games) is not good enough either.

We need quality in attack and defence arguably, Fred was a real positive though, love the energy and tempo we seem to play with when he's in the team.

Strange you say the attack isn't good enough when you consider all three players have managed to get into double figures for goals in the Premier League I'm sure the likes of Spurs and Arsenal would appreciate having 3 players in the squad like that. What is lacking attack wise is greater depth in the squad which to be honest is the case with most of the squad.

 

[Legend Incredible]

Strange you say the attack isn't good enough when you consider all three players have managed to get into double figures for goals in the Premier League I'm sure the likes of Spurs and Arsenal would appreciate having 3 players in the squad like that. What is lacking attack wise is greater depth in the squad which to be honest is the case with most of the squad.

I really feel signing an attacking fullback like Theo Hernandez would benefit this attack more than Jadon Sancho...

 

[Legend Incredible]

Interesting statistic: we are the first team to lose 3 cup semis finals in one season. Now, idk if I'd call this a bad thing or a good thing. Ultimately, it's not good enough for a club of our stature. in 2 of those semis, we basically shot ourselves in the foot (DDG's blunders vs Chelsea and missed chances vs Sevilla) so surely, it pin-points a mentality issue...

 

[woolly]

Interesting stat for the season 70% of United's total goals were scored by 4 players (Martial, Rashford, Greenwood and Ferdandes), compare that with Liverpool who's top 4 scorers accounted for 57.5% or Man City with 62%. Maybe it's not the main attacking players who need sorting out but rather the rest of the goal shy squad.

 

[Legend Incredible]

Isn't it coincidental that myself and Wolly came up with interesting statistics at once? ?

 

[Bujakaa92]

Interesting stat for the season 70% of United's total goals were scored by 4 players (Martial, Rashford, Greenwood and Ferdandes), compare that with Liverpool who's top 4 scorers accounted for 57.5% or Man City with 62%. Maybe it's not the main attacking players who need sorting out but rather the rest of the goal shy squad.

Havent seen all games from United after Bruno came in. But for example yesterday the team looked to him too much. He is racking up those stats but team might become to reliant on him.

 

[Legend Incredible]

Havent seen all games from United after Bruno came in. But for example yesterday the team looked to him too much. He is racking up those stats but team might become to reliant on him.

And teams in recent weeks have started taking advantage of that. They basically sandwich the middle and cut off all passing lanes to Bruno so as a result, he's either isolated or forced to drop deeper to receive the ball which negates his influence in the final third.

This is where you need your full backs to take advantage of the space created by the midfield block but we have 2 fullbacks that offer zilch going forward.

 

[Bujakaa92]

And teams in recent weeks have started taking advantage of that. They basically sandwich the middle and cut off all passing lanes to Bruno so as a result, he's either isolated or forced to drop deeper to receive the ball which negates his influence in the final third.

This is where you need your full backs to take advantage of the space created by the midfield block but we have 2 fullbacks that offer zilch going forward.

The space that Sevilla FB left was immense. Should have used that space more. One of the full backs was Jesus Navas for crying out loud . Suprised to see him playing defender.

 

[Theatre of Dreams83]

2 starters and we have a really good 11. Then we need to start ridding ourselves of some of the dross and getting some quality on the bench. Thankfully Ole us onto this.

 

[Vanjagl]

2 starters and we have a really good 11. Then we need to start ridding ourselves of some of the dross and getting some quality on the bench. Thankfully Ole us onto this.

Winger and a holding mid. I wish Pogba would keep things more simple at times, he would be far more efficient. Also cover for Bruno should be high on the list as well. Then a defender and possibly left back, depending on Shaw situation. But United do need cover on LB because Williams, while usually being solid when defending, offers next to nothing going forward. If Regulion is available for that quoted 30m, I think United should try to sign him. You can't, or its hard, to do all that in one season, but I would be extremely happy with 3 signings.