Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2018/2019 [Mod note 31-Aug-18]

pjohnson

chicorytip wrote: »

Martial is a top quality striker but he's not Jose's man. He was signed by Van Gaal. That's the one and only reason he is not first choice every week. Lukaku is Jose's man. Those players signed by Van Gaal and those who were already at the club when he joined and played regularly under him are now being sidelined and will eventually be sold.

Martial is a lazy ærse who doesn't want to break into a sweat or has any interest in a fight for possesion against anyone. Thats why he doesn't make matchday squads.

bangkok

pjohnson wrote: »

Martial is a lazy ærse who doesn't want to break into a sweat or has any interest in a fight for possesion against anyone. Thats why he doesn't make matchday squads.

I would say hazard is the same and yet is a class act.

Martial needs to either wait until jose is gone or move to another club to reach his potential

bucketybuck

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Can we leave the Liverpool troll talk to the mods?

Good luck with that.

chicorytip wrote: »

Martial is a top quality striker but he's not Jose's man. He was signed by Van Gaal. That's the one and only reason he is not first choice every week.

I can think of a few others. Did you see the Brighton game?

SlickRic

the board shouldn't have given him a 5 year contract if they weren't going to back him. any talk of 'he's spend loads' went out the door the minute that was signed. you get what you pay for with José you back him with cash, or you let him go. simple.

José has done his usual thing of falling out with certain players, and just generally coming across as an angry, petulant man who likes like he doesn't want to be doing his job, thus filling the fanbase with absolutely no confidence whatsoever, and just lending to general feeling of malaise around the club. he also hasn't managed to get the best out of certain players, and bar Matic and maybe Lukaku, his signings haven't done the business for him.

the players are letting him down. whether that's down partly to how José gets them up is up for debate, but the fact is Pogba, Lindelof, Bailly, Sanchez and more haven't really done it to varying degrees. Lukaku, while good, also hasn't proved elite yet.

Joss not out of date, despite what some might believe. I've hinted at him being past it, but his record over the last 5 years suggests a little differently. even the first half last night suggests that he wants his teams to press like the Citys and Liverpools of this world. what has changed since he was utterly dominant, and what has changed in England, is money. clubs are fúcking rich. clubs are not sitting on their laurels. they're buying and buying big. you can say he's had investment, and he's had a lot of it no doubt, and you can understand on one level why the board might be reluctant to give him more (going back to the 'back him or sack him' argument), but it's all about context.

José has an argument that he stabilised the club after two bad appointments.
José as an argument that the likes of City invested a huge amount for Pep, even though Pep already had a fantastic squad, so he needs a lot more than Pep to get to that level. (i.e. if Pep needed £300m, he needs £500m).
José has an argument that the money is there. Utd are just about the richest fúcking club in the world.

tldr - it's a clusterfúck, and the board just need to just make a decision. this is only going one way. we've all seen it before. the meltdown is coming, and arguably has started.

give him money in January, or sack him before January, and hire someone they will back. there's no point in limbo. certain players will never be good enough, so investment is needed, no matter who the manager is.

that's if the board wants to challenge the very top anymore?

adox

bangkok wrote: »

I would say hazard is the same and yet is a class act.

Martial needs to either wait until jose is gone or move to another club to reach his potential

Hazard is so much a better player than Martial. They aren’t even comparable in attitude, what they contribute etc etc.

I wouldn’t call him lazy at all. It would be like calling Ronaldo lazy.

Martial is lazy.

bangkok

bangkok wrote: »

I would say hazard is the same and yet is a class act.

Martial needs to either wait until jose is gone or move to another club to reach his potential

How the hell can you compare Hazard and Martial there is light years between what both have shown on the pitch even when Hazard isnt trying a leg he is probably better then Martial

Your Airbag

I've nothing to really back up this opinion so call it a hunch but Martial to me never looked liked he really wanted to be at UTD and would love a move back to France. Wasn't he popping back for the odd day or two evry chance he could get a while back?

bucketybuck

SlickRic wrote: »

Josas an argument that he stabilised the club after two bad appointments.

He will be sacked soon, and when he goes I bet very few people will give him the credit he deserves for the fact that he did exactly what United needed this last 2 years.

How soon people forget, under Van Gaal the club were in an absolute mess, falling further down the table year after year and heading straight for irrelevancy.

Just 2 seasons later they once again comfortably finish 2nd in the table and bag another couple of trophies for the cabinet. Already fans expectations are back through the roof and already 2nd isn't good enough. Its ironic really.

People hate Mourinho, but when he is gone I really hope some people can pull their head out of their ass long enough to realise and appreiate where the club could be right now if he hadn't been appointed 2 years ago.


Also, not once in your post did you do Mourinho the credit of spelling his name right. Aren't misspellings a card these days?

yourdeadwright

DM_7 wrote: »

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Praise for Shaw should be given if he has a good game like anyone else, say well done well played,
But praise for attitude of a professional footballer is a bit condescending ,
I get it if someone is praising a seasoned pro who's attitude has effected a team and younger players over the course of his playing days, but to praise a guy for doing what he is paid for and what everyone else has been doing the last 3 years is a bit much it should be a given this isn't Sunday league ,

That makes no sense to me, in an ideal world yes but on balance, by looking at his history he did not have the strength earlier. He needs time to grow into a strong character.

As we saw with Danny Rose, this is not a world of robots, not all players are the same and the game can have serious mental negatives for people.

Shaw had to overcome a bad injury, a vig price tag, managers publibly slate him, fans giving him a hard time etc. All as a young man, all at one of the biggest clubs with the most scrutiny on everything they do.

Shaw may not coninue to have the positive atttude, this may be the exception rather than the rule but a sign of growth is worthy of praise imo.

To be fair h e was poor before his injury,
 He was slated by mangers because of lack of effort, he was giving a hard time by fans for lack of effort, Lack of effort came first not the slating ,
Its like any job in the world your paid for your expected to put in the required effort,
 If he failed to preform fair enough some people just aren't good enough but failure of effort in my eyes is totally different,

adox

How can you spell his name wrong so many times in one post? If they were all the same we could blame auto correct but there are different versions of it. None of them right.

Not cool.

ericzeking

I didn't see the game live so I'm watching it there now.... Eriksson made exactly the same run for the Moura assist about 3 minutes before, it wasn't tracked then either. Amazing stuff really.

Liam McPoyle

bucketybuck wrote: »

Also, not once in your post did you do Mourinho the credit of spelling his name right. Aren't misspellings a card these days?

SlickRic

bucketybuck wrote: »

Also, not once in your post did you do Mourinho the credit of spelling his name right. Aren't misspellings a card these days?

when i type in 'é' it disappears when I post, but I invariably forget to go back in and edit. once i edit, the 'é' stays. it's a weird quirk of the system.

anyway, it's edited now.

thanks to those assuming I was being an asshole though.

jaykay74

par for the course around here

Mitch Connor

The Martial case is potentially very interesting, if you believe the current stories coming out about it (I do as its what i've been hearing all summer).

Martial wanted to leave (doesn't like Jose)
Jose wanted to sell (doesn't like Martial).
Woodward wants to keep Martial (potential, money spent etc).

Looks like Jose still wants to sell, Woodward still doesn't want to sell and Martail reckons Jose will be sacked before too long and is willing to bide his time.

If Martial is staying in such circumstances, what on earth does it say for Jose's position? What does it say for Jose's authority over the squad?

Reckon Pogba is quite similar to that too.

fatherted1969

bucketybuck wrote: »

SlickRic wrote: »

Josas an argument that he stabilised the club after two bad appointments.

He will be sacked soon, and when he goes I bet very few people will give him the credit he deserves for the fact that he did exactly what United needed this last 2 years.

How soon people forget, under Van Gaal the club were in an absolute mess, falling further down the table year after year and heading straight for irrelevancy.

Just 2 seasons later they once again comfortably finish 2nd in the table and bag another couple of trophies for the cabinet. Already fans expectations are back through the roof and already 2nd isn't good enough. Its ironic really.

People hate Mourinho, but when he is gone I really hope some people can pull their head out of their ass long enough to realise and appreiate where the club could be right now if he hadn't been appointed 2 years ago.


Also, not once in your post did you do Mourinho the credit of spelling his name right. Aren't misspellings a card these days?

I don't like Mourinho but I agree with this 100%. For the absolute mess he inherited after LVG I will be forever grateful for how he turned it around and won a few trophies pretty much straight away. Whatever happens if and when he leaves he'll have left a far better squad than the one he took charge of

I don't actually believe they're as bad as what we're witnessing at the moment. I've thought for all of this calender year that they weren't really playing for him any more and I still think that. Unfortunately players decide managers futures and much like when that Chelsea side half arsed it under Mourinho the year after they won the league I'm seeing something not as bad but similar now

Mitch Connor

Mitch Connor wrote: »

The Martial case is potentially very interesting, if you believe the current stories coming out about it (I do as its what i've been hearing all summer).

Martial wanted to leave (doesn't like Jose)
Jose wanted to sell (doesn't like Martial).
Woodward wants to keep Martial (potential, money spent etc).

Looks like Jose still wants to sell, Woodward still doesn't want to sell and Martail reckons Jose will be sacked before too long and is willing to bide his time.

If Martial is staying in such circumstances, what on earth does it say for Jose's position? What does it say for Jose's authority over the squad?

Reckon Pogba is quite similar to that too.

What can you do, if the players who are paid very well wont play for him he shouldn't play them. put the players out there who will give 100% each game.

Stupid position to be in but it's where we are and thats probably the only solution.

markcahill1985

I reckon anything but a win on Sunday and a change will need to be made. Will give a new manager/interim manager(s) a fair crack and the Champions League and give them time to still potentially mount a top four challenge. There is definitely quality in that squad and more can be got from them. Everything just appears to be so toxic right now that it is not going to end well and is no doubt hampering performances and potential of certain players.

yourdeadwright

markcahill1985 wrote: »

I reckon anything but a win on Sunday and a change will need to be made. Will give a new manager/interim manager(s) a fair crack and the Champions League and give them time to still potentially mount a top four challenge. There is definitely quality in that squad and more can be got from them. Everything just appears to be so toxic right now that it is not going to end well and is no doubt hampering performances and potential of certain players.

So as a United fan ud be calling for the manger to be sacked after 4 games ? Even if you draw on Sunday ?

Trigger

I wouldn’t be calling for ANY manager to be sacked from United without someone ready and available to step in straight away.. at least with Moyes he only had 4 games left of a season that was already gone

markcahill1985

yourdeadwright wrote: »

markcahill1985 wrote: »

I reckon anything but a win on Sunday and a change will need to be made. Will give a new manager/interim manager(s) a fair crack and the Champions League and give them time to still potentially mount a top four challenge. There is definitely quality in that squad and more can be got from them. Everything just appears to be so toxic right now that it is not going to end well and is no doubt hampering performances and potential of certain players.

So as a United fan ud be calling for the manger to be sacked after 4 games ? Even if you draw on Sunday ?

Yes, if there's no improvement in performance or mentality and we fair to beat Burnley who play Europa League Thursday and only have one point so far.
Theres a hell of a lot still to play for, if a change of manager would bring about an upswing in morale and lead to better performances then why not?

yourdeadwright

markcahill1985 wrote: »

yourdeadwright wrote: »

markcahill1985 wrote: »

I reckon anything but a win on Sunday and a change will need to be made. Will give a new manager/interim manager(s) a fair crack and the Champions League and give them time to still potentially mount a top four challenge. There is definitely quality in that squad and more can be got from them. Everything just appears to be so toxic right now that it is not going to end well and is no doubt hampering performances and potential of certain players.

So as a United fan ud be calling for the manger to be sacked after 4 games ? Even if you draw on Sunday ?

Yes, if there's no improvement in performance or mentality and we fair to beat Burnley who play Europa League Thursday and only have one point so far.
Theres a hell of a lot still to play for, if a change of manager would bring about an upswing in morale and lead to better performances then why not?

Utter madness, 4 games in and your calling for a mangers head if he doesn't win a game, A manger 6 months into a 6 year contract,
Its ok to lose to Spurs any of the top 6 can beat each other, The only really surprise result is the Brighton one ,
A draw away to Burnely isn't awful ,
Perspective is needed,

Mantis Toboggan

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Utter madness, 4 games in and your calling for a mangers head if he doesn't win a game, A manger 6 months into a 6 year contract,
Its ok to lose to Spurs any of the top 6 can beat each other, The only really surprise result is the Brighton one ,
A draw away to Burnely isn't awful ,
Perspective is needed,

Ah will you stop, we've shown no improvement in the 3 years. He's spent 400 odd million and we've actually got worse. He's a beaten docket and has been for a while.

We need to cut out losses now, there's still time to resurrect our season otherwise we're looking at another year like last year or mediocrity.

Mitch Connor

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Utter madness, 4 games in and your calling for a mangers head if he doesn't win a game, A manger 6 months into a 6 year contract,
Its ok to lose to Spurs any of the top 6 can beat each other, The only really surprise result is the Brighton one ,
A draw away to Burnely isn't awful ,
Perspective is needed,

Humiliated by a top 6 rival, not just beat. 0-3, at home. On the back of the Brighton game. On the back of a acrimonious summer.

There would be ample justification for sacking Jose, some of which not everyone will agree with, or won't put all the blame on Jose for.

We play rubbish football.
We are poor defensively.
We are poor offensively.
We have failed to get the best out of Sanchez, Lukaku, Pogba, Martial or Rashford.
Results and performances like the Brighton game are common (Brighton last season, for example!) and the Spurs game performance/result is also not unheard of either (Spurs away last season)
According to a number on here he didn't identify a need for a first choice right back, or left back, or winger in the summer despite clear balance and quality issues in the squad so his judgement of the players is questionable.
According to a number on here he had no idea what CB he wanted and provided Woodward with insufficient guidance or time.

As I said yesterday - it annoys me that blame is consistently getting put in one place. Some blame only the players. Some blame only Mourinho. Some blame only Woodward/Glazers. Reality is ALL of them are at fault for what we are seeing, for the predictable mess this season is looking early doors.

On Mourinho himself, there are fundemental questions the board must ask and answer.

1. Do they think Mourinho is failing with a sufficiently talented team?
2. Do they think there are weaknesses in the squad to address?
3. Do they trust Mourinho's identification of issues and solutions?
4. Do they want to back him in player purchases?

Lets look ahead to January - if Jose identifies players to be sold and players to be bought - do the club have an interest in actioning those decisions?

markcahill1985

In normal circumstances I am 100% in agreement with you and just to clarify I was a huge Mourinho fan and was crying out for him to be appointed in 2013 and again when Van Gaal was sacked. I just cant see things improving from here. He appears to have marginalised a number of players and is now looking to setup this siege mentality of him v the board which again over time is only going to end one way. I guess the question is if you don't do it now after 4 games where you are potentially already 8-9 points behind your rivals (I hope we batter Burnley and this is all obsolete by the way) then where is the line that you do sack him? when top 4 is impossible? End of season? Just when there is so much to still play for and no signs of real improvement in performance and style of play it would be a shame in my opinion to write this season off and carry through it with the cloud of negativity hanging over the club. Again I hope im wrong and it all turns around.

I also think its unfair to say that he is only 6 months into a 6 year contract, he's been here for two full seasons and spent a fortune, is the club in a much better place now than when he was appointed, im not so sure.

Mitch Connor

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Ah will you stop, we've shown no improvement in the 3 years. He's spent 400 odd million and we've actually got worse. He's a beaten docket and has been for a while.

We need to cut out losses now, there's still time to resurrect our season otherwise we're looking at another year like last year or mediocrity.

I'd take another year like last year in a heart beat. 2nd place and a Cup Final? Yes please.

My fear is another Moyes season, to be honest.

pjohnson

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Ah will you stop, we've shown no improvement in the 3 years. He's spent 400 odd million and we've actually got worse. He's a beaten docket and has been for a while.

We need to cut out losses now, there's still time to resurrect our season otherwise we're looking at another year like last year or mediocrity.

If you think we're worse now youre forgetting LVG.

Mantis Toboggan

Mitch Connor wrote: »

I'd take another year like last year in a heart beat. 2nd place and a Cup Final? Yes please.

My fear is another Moyes season, to be honest.

But that's exactly what's wrong, we're so poor now we're settling for mediocrity, settling for second place. A sad sad situation.

Mitch Connor

Tyson Fury wrote: »

But that's exactly what's wrong, we're so poor now we're settling for mediocrity, settling for second place. A sad sad situation.

Sacking Mourinho won't change the mindset of the club in accepting the league title is too expensive to go for (imo, that is what the summer gone was about).

As I said yesterday - sacking Mourinho could be seen as simply misdirection from the club to hide the reality that we aren't actually aiming to be the best, just better than 16 other sides over the course of the season.

loyatemu

better than LVG is a low bar. Mourinho is poison, he's only interested in himself, not the club, not the fans, not the players.

I honestly don't know who United get next - Madrid and Bayern have gone for managers with modest track records, but that's in less competitive leagues and Utd would obviously be wary of repeating the Moyes experience. But I can't see Mou lasting the season, and even if he did, we won't be winning the title or CL - better to dump him now.

Rubber_Soul

Your Airbag wrote: »

I've nothing to really back up this opinion so call it a hunch but Martial to me never looked liked he really wanted to be at UTD and would love a move back to France. Wasn't he popping back for the odd day or two evry chance he could get a while back?

A young French player popping back to his country, where presumably his family and friends still live is somehow evidence of him never wanting to leave France?


Seamus Coleman is back in Killybegs regularly. Do you reckon he wanted to stay at Sligo Rovers?

pjohnson

Tyson Fury wrote: »

But that's exactly what's wrong, we're so poor now we're settling for mediocrity, settling for second place. A sad sad situation.

Wait do you think a new manager can get this lot playing to title challenging standard?

eagle eye

Mitch Connor wrote:

1. Do they think Mourinho is failing with a sufficiently talented team? 2. Do they think there are weaknesses in the squad to address? 3. Do they trust Mourinho's identification of issues and solutions? 4. Do they want to back him in player purchases?

The Glazers don't care about any of that stuff. They care only about the brand

The only question they will have is if the current form and performances are affecting their global income in a negative way. If the answer is yes then Mourinho will be sacked, if the answer isn't yes then he stays put.

Mitch Connor

eagle eye wrote: »

The Glaziers don't care about any of that stuff. They care only about the brand

The only question they will have is if the current form and performances are affecting their global income in a negative way. If the answer is yes then Mourinho will be sacked, if the answer isn't yes then he stays put.

If current form and performances don't drastically improve then top 4 is out of the question. Which impacts future sponsorship deals as well as resulting in possibly a 20% hit (I think) in the current adidas deal. As well as missing out on CL tv money next season.

So there is another question(s)

Do they believe the current squad is good enough to make top 4.
Do they trust Jose to make top 4 this season.

Fitz*

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Sacking Mourinho won't change the mindset of the club in accepting the league title is too expensive to go for (imo, that is what the summer gone was about).

I can't agree with this at all. I understand that the manager was not backed 100% during the summer (he was backed to a certain degree) but there is still plenty of money being spent by the board. A league title doesn't have to be expensive to go for. It's about spending the money wisely.

United have vastly outspent Spurs, Liverpool & Chelsea over the last 3 seasons but are not ahead of them on the pitch. The other 3 teams have spent less money in a much better way.

• Sanchez may have been a free transfer but big signing on fee, wages & it cost you signing a RW and may cost you Martial too. Also blocks off Rashford.
• Fred hasn't settled yet, but to be fair it is still early days.
• Pogba has been very hit or miss for 2 seasons already. A world record price tag, but not a world class player.
• Lindelof was a disaster of a signing. Again big money
• Bailly came for a (somewhat) big price at the time and after he started very well, he has been poor for 9 months now and regularly either dropped to the bench or from the squad completely.
• Lukaku is not a PL winning striker, but bought for a PL title winning price.
• Matic came in for a big price, especially for his age, but t be fair has been decent. Form tailed off last season but that usually happens. How long more can he last for tho? 30 now so not exactly a long term solution

Spending money more wisely will make a PL challenge easier.

You already get the feeling that if a new manager comes in, he is going to have to replace RB, CB,CB, CM, CM, LW, RW. That's a lot of new players needed, especially when nearly all of these have been bought in the last 2 summers.

Mitch Connor

pjohnson wrote: »

Wait do you think a new manager can get this lot playing to title challenging standard?

I think there is potential for a new manager to get a lot more out of Pogba, Rashford, Martial, Sanchez and Lukaku.

I don't think anyone is getting much out of the CBs or Valencia though. No title while relying on that lot.

DM_7

Zidane, Blanc, ?

Pretty sure United would lack inspiration in their choice of manager if a Jose departure happens.

FitzShane

FitzShane wrote: »

I can't agree with this at all. I understand that the manager was not backed 100% during the summer (he was backed to a certain degree) but there is still plenty of money being spent by the board. A league title doesn't have to be expensive to go for. It's about spending the money wisely.

United have vastly outspent Spurs, Liverpool & Chelsea over the last 3 seasons but are not ahead of them on the pitch. The other 3 teams have spent less money in a much better way.

• Sanchez may have been a free transfer but big signing on fee, wages & it cost you signing a RW and may cost you Martial too. Also blocks off Rashford.
• Fred hasn't settled yet, but to be fair it is still early days.
• Pogba has been very hit or miss for 2 seasons already. A world record price tag, but not a world class player.
• Lindelof was a disaster of a signing. Again big money
• Bailly came for a (somewhat) big price at the time and after he started very well, he has been poor for 9 months now and regularly either dropped to the bench or from the squad completely.
• Lukaku is not a PL winning striker, but bought for a PL title winning price.
• Matic came in for a big price, especially for his age, but t be fair has been decent. Form tailed off last season but that usually happens. How long more can he last for tho? 30 now so not exactly a long term solution

Spending money more wisely will make a PL challenge easier.

You already get the feeling that if a new manager comes in, he is going to have to replace RB, CB,CB, CM, CM, LW, RW. That's a lot of new players needed, especially when nearly all of these have been bought in the last 2 summers.

If you have money to spend to fix deficiencies in the squad with the aim of trying to challenge for the league then the club should spend it.

If they don't think Jose is the man to do it they should have gotten someone in to do it.

There is no point keeping him not fixing the squad issues just kicking the can down the road for a year doing that as in a year the same squad issues will be there and probably a few more as players get older or contacts start running out

Mantis Toboggan

Why would the board give Mourinho more money for centre backs? He's already spent a fortune on 2 who don't seem to be upto it. Atleast they're starting to see sense.

Tyson Fury

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Why would the board give Mourinho more money for centre backs? He's already spent a fortune on 2 who don't seem to be upto it. Atleast they're starting to see sense.

Why play a whole season with centre backs who we wont win anything with?

bucketybuck

bucketybuck wrote: »

How soon people forget, under Van Gaal the club were in an absolute mess, falling further down the table year after year and heading straight for irrelevancy.

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Ah will you stop, we've shown no improvement in the 3 years.

That didn't take long.

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Why would the board give Mourinho more money for centre backs? He's already spent a fortune on 2 who don't seem to be upto it. Atleast they're starting to see sense.

Because we clearly need improvements to the squad?

If they don't want to give Mourinho the money then sack him and give it to somebody else, but they need to give the money to somebody because those players are not good enough.

chicorytip

pjohnson wrote:

Martial is a lazy ærse who doesn't want to break into a sweat or has any interest in a fight for possesion against anyone. Thats why he doesn't make matchday squads.

bangkok wrote:

Martial needs to either wait until jose is gone or move to another club to reach his potential

bangkok wrote:

I would say hazard is the same and yet is a class act.

Lukaku hardly lifts a leg either but so what? It's not a centre forwards job to chase around closing down the opposition. Martial, if played as an out and out striker, is top class. Sanchez was a bad signing. He looks past it. Hazard is a different type of player - more of an attacking midfielder.

bangkok

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Utter madness, 4 games in and your calling for a mangers head if he doesn't win a game, A manger 6 months into a 6 year contract,
Its ok to lose to Spurs any of the top 6 can beat each other, The only really surprise result is the Brighton one ,
A draw away to Burnely isn't awful ,
Perspective is needed,

6 year contract, where did you see that?

1 year extension to his original 3 year deal

Mantis Toboggan

bucketybuck wrote: »

That didn't take long.


Because we clearly need improvements to the squad?

If they don't want to give Mourinho the money then sack him and give it to somebody else, but they need to give the money to somebody because those players are not good enough.

True, but we knew that 5 years ago yet here we are having spent 600 million on players and we're still looking at them. Just shows the chaos and misdirection at the club since Ferguson and Gill left the club.

Mitch Connor

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Why would the board give Mourinho more money for centre backs? He's already spent a fortune on 2 who don't seem to be upto it. Atleast they're starting to see sense.

Because they don't seem up to it. As you just said yourself.

patmac

The Golden Miller wrote: »

I must say it's hilarious watching United getting thumped in Old Trafford. United in turmoil, while England's most successful team sit top of the table as per usual

I think you’ll find that England’s most successful side are currently 13th.

LuckyLloyd

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Why would the board give Mourinho more money for centre backs? He's already spent a fortune on 2 who don't seem to be upto it. Atleast they're starting to see sense.

Deleted User wrote: »

Why play a whole season with centre backs who we wont win anything with?

This is the key point of debate really, isn't it? If you're no longer going to back the opinion of your manager and invest in his perceived areas of need then you really should move on to someone else. That decision in the summer really set Mourinho up to fail for this campaign. Maybe that was the intention, who knows.

Sgt Pepper 64

3 games in and a lot of panicking

BUT REMEMBER...

Bailly was signed in Jose's first season with utd, a season where you finished 6th only losing 5 times (Utd lost 7 times last season but was still never lower than 2nd as less games were drawn)

in Joses's first season, utd lost early on to city and watford (e.g.spurs and brighton this season)

along the way utd won 3 cups
and all with largely the same defence

utd looked good up until conceding the first goal and indeed, if Lukaku had scored (and he really should have), it could have been very different

So even as a chelsea fan I can see positives and the possibility of him turning it around.
Conte faced the same at chelsea and changed so it is very possible if the fans and board back him

3 games in is too early to panic, despite who you have in defence as its the same who led you to only 5 defeats and then 2nd place last season

You cannot compare with the last 3 seasons at chelsea as he inherited a very experienced defence...cahill, JT, etc etc and only had to tweak the midfield and attack.
And the board at chelsea tried to stiff him by buying such players as rahman, papy and michael hector, hardly grade A eggs!
(Only Pedro has survived that summer spending)

peace out!

LuckyLloyd

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

This is the key point of debate really, isn't it? If you're no longer going to back the opinion of your manager and invest in his perceived areas of need then you really should move on to someone else. That decision in the summer really set Mourinho up to fail for this campaign. Maybe that was the intention, who knows.

Well if that was some how the case it makes the decision to give him a contract a few months previous even more bizzare and shows the club at the very top haven't a clue what they are doing from a footballing perspective

Mitch Connor

Deleted User wrote: »

Well if that was some how the case it makes the decision to give him a contract a few months previous even more bizzare and shows the club at the very top haven't a clue what they are doing from a footballing perspective

Yes.

Exactly.

That thing you just said!

That is exactly why I am so annoyed at what happened in the summer and what we are seeing now.