Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours 2019/2020

Liam O

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The board replace him? Doubtful!
If we did we will get a downgrade at best I'd suspect.
Lukaku is still a 20 goal a season striker. Hard to come by in the current market and he's still only 26.

He's gotten over 20 league goals once. Nothing I've seenat United indicates he's consistent enough to break that total on the regular.

damowill

People wondering why we are looking for €75m for Lukaku or why we havent shipped him out yet. Look below, he has an impressive Goal scoring record since he was 19. Last year being his poorest since. Goal scorers are the hardest thing to come by and usually go for the most money. Sure he has a lot of flaws to his game but no way should we let him go cheaply as he wont be easily replaced. Morata has had a few awful seasons but still held value this summer. Ben Yedder is the only striker being mentioned as a replacement which shows the limited number of available strikers on the market.

Age | Year | Goals
19 | 2012/13 | 17
20 | 2013/14 | 16
21 | 2014/15 | 20
22 | 2015/16 | 25
23 | 2016/17 | 26
24 | 2017/18 | 27
25 | 2018/19 | 15

pjohnson

Interesting to see Villa have signed Konsa. Wonder does that mean Ole refused to let Tuanzebe rejoin them?

Jurgen The German

Liam O wrote: »

He's gotten over 20 league goals once. Nothing I've seenat United indicates he's consistent enough to break that total on the regular.

To be fair to Rom, he has been playing in a broken team with virtually no service and not being played to his strengths. Get him the ball up front and he will get goals, that's not happened with us. He spent alot of his time on the wing last season so how is he supposed to get goals there.

Adamcp898

I think the lack of clubs interested in him says it all quite frankly.

Cookiemunster

Adamcp898 wrote: »

I think the lack of clubs interested in him says it all quite frankly.

How many clubs needs a striker and could afford Utds asking price? Even €70m is outside most clubs price range.

Headshot

Deleted User wrote: »

The board replace him? Doubtful!
If we did we will get a downgrade at best I'd suspect.
Lukaku is still a 20 goal a season striker. Hard to come by in the current market and he's still only 26.

I do admit I laughed at your new nickname

Liam O

Liam O wrote: »

He's gotten over 20 league goals once. Nothing I've seenat United indicates he's consistent enough to break that total on the regular.

Incredibly harsh on him considering the context of how last season went. I won't repeat what the folks have said above tho.

jayo26

Lukaku not training with the squad on Perth today.

duffman13

Adamcp898 wrote: »

I think the lack of clubs interested in him says it all quite frankly.

There isn't many clubs who can afford and pay the man what he would want would be the bigger issue.

Honestly Lukaku could score plenty in poor teams like WBA and functioning teams like Everton, it really shows how ****e we were last year when you see his return and our goals scored record.

DM_7

Jurgen The German wrote: »

To be fair to Rom, he has been playing in a broken team with virtually no service and not being played to his strengths. Get him the ball up front and he will get goals, that's not happened with us. He spent alot of his time on the wing last season so how is he supposed to get goals there.

I thought he went months without scoring before he ended up on the wing? His fitness was terrible last season, genuinely schocking. I think that is why his price has held rather than increased since he joined United.

I like the chap overall and think in a short term focus on getting the best from the existing team he would be an important player.

The club appear to be looking to reset things though and I can see why they want to move him on if they can get good money for him now. As a striker Utd do not have another player who would play his role so if the team changes for league and cup the style has to change when he does not play. If he was a bench/second choice player he could not cover Rashford or Martial's role in a like for like. I don't think he would be effective if not starting every week.

While I like him I also have doubts about how long he would last at a high level if he is asked to run more. With his general size time is against him and if he is also letting his fitness get out of line in his mid 20s then it is a big question mark over him.

Drumpot

Adamcp898 wrote: »

I think the lack of clubs interested in him says it all quite frankly.

I think that’s harsh. I think lukaku is a solid striker if he’s given the service. Over 1 goal in 2 for Belgium suggests he’s pretty good. Griezmann only has 29 goals in 72 appearances for the World Cup winners and plays for a solid , consistent athletico Madrid, I would say lukaku would thrive at that club . Different strikers but still it’s a fair defence of Lukaku.

Strikers in particular thrive on confidence. I remember Alan shearer didn’t score for England for about 10 games (over a year or so) and was becoming a thing. Then he gets a goal and back to norm. The whole united team has been stop start to wicked degrees. It’s no coincidence that generally the in the last 7 years our busiest player (keeper) was our most reliable and consistent. A busy keeper can make up for mistakes quickly and a quality keeper like DDG can at least focus on his own game even if the rest of the team isn’t working.

Not many clubs can afford 70+Mil on one player. But there’s also the question of who he would join which would limit the clubs that would bother bidding on him. I’d be surprised if any club bids on many players without some sort of contact or idea as to whether the player would join. There’s also the question of whether united want to sell. Maybe clubs are interested and haven’t bid for different reasons. Maybe if he misses training or starts acting up, as seems to be the norm these days with modern footballers, the interested clubs will start bidding.

barry194

Would love us to get Milinkovic Savic and Milenkovic. Both would be great additions. Starting to get worried about how slow things seem to be moving. Only 4 weeks left.

bucketybuck

Adamcp898 wrote: »

I think the lack of clubs interested in him says it all quite frankly.

Pogba or Lukaku?

paulbok

Headshot wrote: »

I do admit I laughed at your new nickname

took me a while too.:D

Adamcp898

Cookiemunster wrote: »

How many clubs needs a striker and could afford Utds asking price? Even €70m is outside most clubs price range.

duffman13 wrote: »

There isn't many clubs who can afford and pay the man what he would want would be the bigger issue.

Honestly Lukaku could score plenty in poor teams like WBA and functioning teams like Everton, it really shows how ****e we were last year when you see his return and our goals scored record.

You both answer your own question in a round-about way. The clubs that can't afford him i.e. smaller clubs, are the only ones that would be interested in him. He's not good enough for the technical football that big clubs (clubs that can afford him) play and so there's little interest. His technical ability lets him down too often and isn't good enough for the style of football that wins clubs trophies and if that's what we're trying to build then it makes sense to cash him in before his value drops sitting on the bench.

Drumpot wrote: »

I think that’s harsh. I think lukaku is a solid striker if he’s given the service. Over 1 goal in 2 for Belgium suggests he’s pretty good. Griezmann only has 29 goals in 72 appearances for the World Cup winners and plays for a solid , consistent athletico Madrid, I would say lukaku would thrive at that club . Different strikers but still it’s a fair defence of Lukaku.

Strikers in particular thrive on confidence. I remember Alan shearer didn’t score for England for about 10 games (over a year or so) and was becoming a thing. Then he gets a goal and back to norm. The whole united team has been stop start to wicked degrees. It’s no coincidence that generally the in the last 7 years our busiest player (keeper) was our most reliable and consistent. A busy keeper can make up for mistakes quickly and a quality keeper like DDG can at least focus on his own game even if the rest of the team isn’t working.

Not many clubs can afford 70+Mil on one player. But there’s also the question of who he would join which would limit the clubs that would bother bidding on him. I’d be surprised if any club bids on many players without some sort of contact or idea as to whether the player would join. There’s also the question of whether united want to sell. Maybe clubs are interested and haven’t bid for different reasons. Maybe if he misses training or starts acting up, as seems to be the norm these days with modern footballers, the interested clubs will start bidding.

International football records have very little to do with top level club football though. Just consider the difference in standard of football on offer between the two nowadays. His international record is always brought up as a defense of him but you only need to take a cursory look at the teams he's scored a lot of those goals against before you realise it proves little.

bucketybuck wrote: »

Pogba or Lukaku?

Why choose?

Quandary

barry194 wrote: »

Starting to get worried about how slow things seem to be moving. Only 4 weeks left.

Once again we seem to be floundering and faffing about in the transfer market. We are nothing if not consistent at least.

Liam O

Jurgen The German wrote: »

To be fair to Rom, he has been playing in a broken team with virtually no service and not being played to his strengths. Get him the ball up front and he will get goals, that's not happened with us. He spent alot of his time on the wing last season so how is he supposed to get goals there.

Well what strengths does he need to be played to? I like his attitude and he has been good at times, especially moving wide into the channels but if every attack is supposed to be designed so that he has a first time shot, does no holding up of the ball and all going through him I don't see him every getting 20 league goals for United. He had plenty of opportunities in his first season which were spurned despite very good service. Thought he had some good individual games last year but stringing them together is a problem for him.

Drumpot

Adamcp898 wrote: »

International football records have very little to do with top level club football though. Just consider the difference in standard of football on offer between the two nowadays. His international record is always brought up as a defense of him but you only need to take a cursory look at the teams he's scored a lot of those goals against before you realise it proves little.

I agree that International football level is lower, but there are still some top teams in it and if it was that bad surely every other relative striker should be banging them in, whats Griezmans excuse for having a comparatively poor record for France ? Because they dont play to his strengths ? Maybe Belgium play to Lukakus strenghths and get the rewards ?

But that aside, it doesn't address the state of the United team or the fact that he had a solid record with Everton and for a season or two at United. 25 league goals in 37 games in 2016/17 suggests that when hes playing on a team that is playing well he can get the goals. Thats a solid return, similar to what he was doing a functioning Everton team. Effectively speaking Uniteds form collapsed very soon after Jose signed his extension in Jan 2018 and since then the teams form has gone through major up/down spikes and Lukakus appears to of suffered badly as a result.

In terms of who he scores against, maybe he is a player who only scores against weaker teams. But the majority of the teams United play are weaker (on paper) and hes well capable of scoring against teams below 7th. Some better strikers dont score as many against lower teams. The state of united the last 7 years, I think having a striker who can score against most teams , but struggles against bigger ones, is not a big problem. We arent challaning for top honors, maybe if the club gets back to that standard it will be a relevant concern , but I dont think its relevant to this squad.

Adamcp898

Drumpot wrote: »

I agree that International football level is lower, but there are still some top teams in it and if it was that bad surely every other relative striker should be banging them in, whats Griezmans excuse for having a comparatively poor record for France ?

Different players, different teams, different roles, different opposition, different situations etc etc etc. There are any number of reasons why the two aren't comparable tbh.

Drumpot wrote: »

But that aside, it doesn't address the state of the United team or the fact that he had a solid record with Everton and for a season or two at United. 25 league goals in 37 games in 2016/17 suggests that when hes playing on a team that is playing well he can get the goals. Thats a solid return, similar to what he was doing a functioning Everton team. Effectively speaking Uniteds form collapsed very soon after Jose signed his extension in Jan 2018 and since then the teams form has gone through major up/down spikes.

In terms of who he scores against, maybe he is a player who only scores against weaker teams. But the majority of the teams United play are weaker (on paper) and hes well capable of scoring against teams below 7th. Some better strikers dont score as many against lower teams. The state of united the last 7 years, I think having a striker who can score against most teams , but struggles against bigger ones, is not a big problem. We arent challaning for top honors, maybe if the club gets back to that standard it will be a relevant concern , but I dont think its relevant to this squad.

Jan 2018? His form dropped off in Oct/Nov 2017 iirc (as did the whole team's). We didn't see him again until Feb/March. He's had two full seasons at United and in both he's went entirely missing for huge parts (i.e. months on end) where we may as well be playing with 10 men. Some people may be happy with his stats at the end of the season but his week to week performances are far below that of what some seem to value as a £90 million striker. If Paul Pogba didn't exist Rom would be getting a far harder time of it with the amount of games where not only did he play poorly but he just looked plain uninterested and didn't give a **** to be blunt about it.

He scored goals for "smaller" sides, got his chance at a bigger side, but hasn't been able to make a success of it. That's being reductive about it but it's essentially what has happened. He scores against some "weaker" sides but then doesn't look arsed against others. "Up and down", "inconsistent" - there are many ways to describe it but no matter what way you look at it they're not the characteristics of a main goal threat who will win a team trophies at the highest level. Add to it that you need to play a specific way in order for him to score, a way which doesn't lend itself to a fluid style where you can have players interchange and offer a threat from multiple areas and it becomes apparent imo that he would be the wrong player to include in a "rebuild" because he will constrict your options elsewhere in the squad.

Jurgen The German

Jurgen The German wrote: »

To be fair to Rom, he has been playing in a broken team with virtually no service and not being played to his strengths. Get him the ball up front and he will get goals, that's not happened with us. He spent alot of his time on the wing last season so how is he supposed to get goals there.

Ive no idea why he gets this excuse made from him, he is part of the team that needs to work the ball up the pitch, the days of strikers doing nothing but scoring are long gone, and lukaku is a big part of the reason our attack is so disjointed, as he loses miscontrolls thd ball so often, its grand against the andorras of the world when you have DeBruyne and Hazzard to keep giving you chances but it wont work in the premier league

Liam O

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Ive no idea why he gets this excuse made from him, he is part of the team that needs to work the ball up the pitch, the days of strikers doing nothing but scoring are long gone, and lukaku is a big part of the reason our attack is so disjointed, as he loses miscontrolls thd ball so often, its grand against the andorras of the world when you have DeBruyne and Hazzard to keep giving you chances but it wont work in the premier league

Fwiw I think he did this well against PSG and a few times towards the tail end of last season, drifting wide and putting in some great crosses. I think he can play that role but doesn't overly want to so puts himself into a box.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Ive no idea why he gets this excuse made from him, he is part of the team that needs to work the ball up the pitch, the days of strikers doing nothing but scoring are long gone, and lukaku is a big part of the reason our attack is so disjointed, as he loses miscontrolls thd ball so often, its grand against the andorras of the world when you have DeBruyne and Hazzard to keep giving you chances but it wont work in the premier league

Fair point here too. I'd agree with some of both points. The team as a whole wasn't functioning fluidly but yes he is also responsible to work harder for the team so it doesn't absolve him.

I do still believe however that with a functioning team Lukaku still can provide 20+ goals a season.
I don't take the argument that he doesn't score in big games. It was the games against teams we are expected to beat was where we ultimately struggled last season and he has an excellent record against those types of teams in general.

pjohnson

Lukaku probably put in some of our best crosses last year that were ideal for a striker to finish. The problem was he was the fooking striker.

If we had anyone able to cross as good as him he would finish them off. The problem was he was somehow meant to cross AND get on the end off it. That shows how clueless our attack was. The "finisher" was also the most dangerous creator. That never works.

v3ttel

Deleted User wrote: »

Ive no idea why he gets this excuse made from him, he is part of the team that needs to work the ball up the pitch, the days of strikers doing nothing but scoring are long gone, and lukaku is a big part of the reason our attack is so disjointed, as he loses miscontrolls thd ball so often, its grand against the andorras of the world when you have DeBruyne and Hazzard to keep giving you chances but it wont work in the premier league

Yes, because all 48 goals and all 81 appearances for Belgium were against lowly ranked part time teams like Andorra.

In a functioning attack, Lukaku has proven to score goals at the highest level. Can his first touch be improved? Sure....though people seem to think can do everything himself and make up for the decencies of the players around him. He's playing with the likes of Lingard, not KDB.

He is not going to have the same quality or quantity of chances at United as with Belgium. Therefore, he is less likely to score a bag full of goals. It's that simple.

Father Hernandez

jayo26 wrote: »

Lukaku not training with the squad on Perth today.

Lukaku and Martial missing, doing gym work according to Simon Stone

Lord TSC

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Is it unrealistic for United to expect 70million in a lump sum up front? I thought staged payments were the norm?

yes it would be worded as an initial loan but in reality it is a purchase with 10million up front then 30million in each of the following summers... which feels rather normal (with only the smaller sum being first the thing I would think slight out of the norm).

I’ve been asking loads of people on Reddit, but can’t get a decent answer....everyone says that the “loan with obligation” is treated exactly the same as a transfer in terms of FFP.

So why are they asking for a loan, rather than a transfer with the fees structured the same way?

I feel if they went “we want a transfer, structured 20, 20, 30 over three years”, then that’s perfectly normal. But they want to call it a loan with obligation instead?

I’d imagine United just want more up front than 10m, since we will likely have to spend to get a replacement, and that replacement seems to entail paying Ben Yedder release clause, which would be an upfront payment.

Your Airbag

Lukaku has had some poor service in a team that was under preforming but lets not forget that he has the first touch of a trampoline. On many occasions he's looked inept.


I'd give him one more season under Ole to see what he can produce.

DM_7

v3ttel wrote: »

Yes, because all 48 goals and all 81 appearances for Belgium were against lowly ranked part time teams like Andorra.

In a functioning attack, Lukaku has proven to score goals at the highest level. Can his first touch be improved? Sure....though people seem to think can do everything himself and make up for the decencies of the players around him. He's playing with the likes of Lingard, not KDB.

He is not going to have the same quality or quantity of chances at United as with Belgium. Therefore, he is less likely to score a bag full of goals. It's that simple.

A team is the sum of its parts, perhaps Lukaku is viewed as a good striker but that he does not do enough for the how team should function?

Like United selling Ruud and buying Carrick as Carrick helped the team get the best from Ronaldo and Rooney. Not for a minute saying United have a Rooney or Ronaldo getting held back by Lukaku it is just an example of how a change (out) can be good for the team even though the player is a good one in his own right.

v3ttel

v3ttel wrote: »

Yes, because all 48 goals and all 81 appearances for Belgium were against lowly ranked part time teams like Andorra.

In a functioning attack, Lukaku has proven to score goals at the highest level. Can his first touch be improved? Sure....though people seem to think can do everything himself and make up for the decencies of the players around him. He's playing with the likes of Lingard, not KDB.

He is not going to have the same quality or quantity of chances at United as with Belgium. Therefore, he is less likely to score a bag full of goals. It's that simple.

You can decide for yourself

http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/rlukaku-intlg.html

His first touch isnt going to improve if it hasnt at this stage and will continue to be not near good enough for a top team

Drumpot

Adamcp898 wrote: »

Different players, different teams, different roles, different opposition, different situations etc etc etc. There are any number of reasons why the two aren't comparable tbh.



Jan 2018? His form dropped off in Oct/Nov 2017 iirc (as did the whole team's). We didn't see him again until Feb/March. He's had two full seasons at United and in both he's went entirely missing for huge parts (i.e. months on end) where we may as well be playing with 10 men. Some people may be happy with his stats at the end of the season but his week to week performances are far below that of what some seem to value as a £90 million striker. If Paul Pogba didn't exist Rom would be getting a far harder time of it with the amount of games where not only did he play poorly but he just looked plain uninterested and didn't give a **** to be blunt about it.

He scored goals for "smaller" sides, got his chance at a bigger side, but hasn't been able to make a success of it. That's being reductive about it but it's essentially what has happened. He scores against some "weaker" sides but then doesn't look arsed against others. "Up and down", "inconsistent" - there are many ways to describe it but no matter what way you look at it they're not the characteristics of a main goal threat who will win a team trophies at the highest level. Add to it that you need to play a specific way in order for him to score, a way which doesn't lend itself to a fluid style where you can have players interchange and offer a threat from multiple areas and it becomes apparent imo that he would be the wrong player to include in a "rebuild" because he will constrict your options elsewhere in the squad.

Your first paragraph could be used for lukaku and Pogba. Better players in different teams and different systems. What player has come to united the last 7 years and made a success of it? Seriously, maybe Zlatan, everybody else has been a relative disappointment.

In your second paragraph you said “if Pogba didn’t exist Rom would be getting a far harder time”. This is only true if Pogba leaving didn’t change the service and performances of Lukaku. Some people think tactics and even players bought were done to try and help Pogba flourish, I’m not so sure lukaku has gotten as much support.

And this is why Pogba gets so much grief and focus. Asides from the fact he courts attention, the club has bent over backwards to try and make it work with him. How much has that cost the rest of the team? I don’t know exactly but again I use the Ruud Van Nistelrooy Example where united were a better functioning team when he left because everything was tailored to suit him. Maybe Pogba is not meant for united and he’s never really been happy. Haven’t seen or heard a lot from him in his 3 years that suggest he’s content at the club. He doesn’t even pretend to care to be fair to him.

In terms of your third paragraph, I don’t completely disagree, but what do you think is the rebuild strategy? It feels like they start completely afresh ever time a manager leaves which is not working. I am genuinely not trying to be smart but I don’t know what you are seeing that’s so different to most seasons. Just feels like a few deck Chairs were moved! I see rumours of the club trying to sign and sell players, one or two coming in (maybe more) and our manager trying to publicly defend a player who has expressed a desire to leave.

To be fair None of us Really knows exactly what the clubs plans are or what’s going on behind the scenes. We are all basically working off mostly the same unclear information except it seems some of us are taking a more negative stance on things based on the last 7 years (and the owners priority’s) and others appear to take a more benefit of the doubt approach.

Do you have a theory on why the squad has underperformed and been so erratic? I think this squad is good enough for a top 4 spot but I can’t understand the drastic leaps in form that’s happeend under 2 managers now.

Jurgen The German

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Ive no idea why he gets this excuse made from him, he is part of the team that needs to work the ball up the pitch, the days of strikers doing nothing but scoring are long gone, and lukaku is a big part of the reason our attack is so disjointed, as he loses miscontrolls thd ball so often, its grand against the andorras of the world when you have DeBruyne and Hazzard to keep giving you chances but it wont work in the premier league

We should be aiming to have players of that calibre feeding our front players. Liverpool have them, city have them and so should we. He is not the most graceful player and at times has had the touch of a drunk rhino but he still got 27 goals in his first year with us and 15 last season.

Despite the puke football and lack of service.

Get the ball to him in forward positions and he will get goals. One things for certain, I'd have more faith in him than rashford to score for us.

Duane Dibbley

Anyone else get the feeling we will be starting the new season with Young, Smalling and Jones in the starting 11

Jurgen The German

Duane Dibbley wrote: »

Anyone else get the feeling we will be starting the new season with Young, Smalling and Jones in the starting 11

Unless injuries play a part then no, not all three at least. Bisakka will be first choice RB. One has to imagine (hope) Lindelof will be a guaranteed starter too at centre half.

martinr5232

Jurgen The German wrote:

Unless injuries play a part then no, not all three at least. Bisakka will be first choice RB. One has to imagine (hope) Lindelof will be a guaranteed starter too at centre half.

Jones in midfield :-)

All_in_Flynn

Sky saying we’ve bid for Milinkovic-Savic.

Any of the more reliables posting it?

All_in_Flynn

All_in_Flynn wrote: »

Sky saying we’ve bid for Milinkovic-Savic.

Any of the more reliables posting it?

That would be a Savic signing if true.....

Drumpot

martinr5232 wrote: »

Jones in midfield :-)

I remember when jones joined he looked like a nailed on future England star/captain. He was so good at 19. Wonder if he hadn’t as many injuries would he be much better or would he of ended up as he is because of the way nobody has really flourished at the club.

Father Hernandez

All_in_Flynn wrote: »

Sky saying we’ve bid for Milinkovic-Savic.

Any of the more reliables posting it?

I've notifications set up on the phone for Simon Stone & Simon Peach whenever they tweet and neither have mentioned SMS. Generally take things with a pinch of salt transfer wise unless they say it although can be hard with all the other shyte the media post.

Mitch Connor

el Fenomeno wrote: »

It could easily be a case that we contacted both, and both indicated their preference not to join United - but De Ligt having Raiola involved and his preference for the publicity of his transfer dealings meant that his approach would always have more leaked information.

It could be.

But nothing indicates that's what has happened, so I don't know why that should be a starting position.

Available info, as unreliable as it is, points to no approach. No info at all points to an approach that was rejected

Cantona's Collars

https://twitter.com/utdxtra/status/1149264627336929280

So a little bit of everything there.

Quandary

I really hope the club don't offer Pogba an improved contract. The man is a bad influence, he has shown his true colours and we should cut ties. Get the best deal possible as quickly as possible and go all out to sign a replacement.

paulbok

Quandary wrote: »

I really hope the club don't offer Pogba an improved contract. The man is a bad influence, he has shown his true colours and we should cut ties. Get the best deal possible as quickly as possible and go all out to sign a replacement.

They need to tell him if he stays to get the finger out this season, THEN they'll talk about a new contract.
Otherwise they will accept any suitable offers for him

Adamcp898

Drumpot wrote: »

....

I appreciate the time it took to write that reply but I think you've missed/skewed the context of much of my post?

Drumpot wrote: »

Your first paragraph could be used for lukaku and Pogba. Better players in different teams and different systems. What player has come to united the last 7 years and made a success of it? Seriously, maybe Zlatan, everybody else has been a relative disappointment.

My first paragraph was a direct response to your own in which you try to compare Lukaku & Griezmann's international records in order to highlight RL's ability. I'm saying you inherently can't compare the two for a multitude of reasons thus it can't be used to prove anything.

Drumpot wrote: »

In your second paragraph you said “if Pogba didn’t exist Rom would be getting a far harder time”. This is only true if Pogba leaving didn’t change the service and performances of Lukaku. Some people think tactics and even players bought were done to try and help Pogba flourish, I’m not so sure lukaku has gotten as much support.

And this is why Pogba gets so much grief and focus. Asides from the fact he courts attention, the club has bent over backwards to try and make it work with him. How much has that cost the rest of the team? I don’t know exactly but again I use the Ruud Van Nistelrooy Example where united were a better functioning team when he left because everything was tailored to suit him. Maybe Pogba is not meant for united and he’s never really been happy. Haven’t seen or heard a lot from him in his 3 years that suggest he’s content at the club. He doesn’t even pretend to care to be fair to him.

Likewise, my point was that Pogba takes the attention away from other poor performers in the side. He gets pilloried for poor performances and a seeming lack of effort & interest. Lukaku displays the same if not worse level of performance as well as a lack of interest yet receives much less criticism. If Pogba wasn't around to take all the attention (or was simply playing in a manner which meant he didn't deserve it) then Lukaku would be receiving much more flak and have many less excuses made for him.

You can buy as many players as you want to "support" him but if Lukaku decides he doesn't want to run 10 yards like in some matches last season then he's not going to.

Drumpot wrote: »

In terms of your third paragraph, I don’t completely disagree, but what do you think is the rebuild strategy? It feels like they start completely afresh ever time a manager leaves which is not working. I am genuinely not trying to be smart but I don’t know what you are seeing that’s so different to most seasons. Just feels like a few deck Chairs were moved! I see rumours of the club trying to sign and sell players, one or two coming in (maybe more) and our manager trying to publicly defend a player who has expressed a desire to leave.

To be fair None of us Really knows exactly what the clubs plans are or what’s going on behind the scenes. We are all basically working off mostly the same unclear information except it seems some of us are taking a more negative stance on things based on the last 7 years (and the owners priority’s) and others appear to take a more benefit of the doubt approach.

Do you have a theory on why the squad has underperformed and been so erratic? I think this squad is good enough for a top 4 spot but I can’t understand the drastic leaps in form that’s happeend under 2 managers now.

I'm not saying we actually are rebuilding - I've been one of the more vocal posters in criticising Ed/the Club/Ole about the lack of work being done.

But, we were given the impression that there would be an overhaul of the club/squad, a rebuild started and I'm saying in that context it makes to sell a player who doesn't fit the vision of the team.

paulbok

paulbok wrote: »

They need to tell him if he stays to get the finger out this season, THEN they'll talk about a new contract.
Otherwise they will accept any suitable offers for him

He's in no position to be looking for a contract when the one he has already is massive and he has consistently under-performed at the club.
Correct, the club should grow a pair of balls and tell him to buckle down and earn it first.

Adamcp898

Cantona's Collars wrote: »

https://twitter.com/utdxtra/status/1149264627336929280

So a little bit of everything there.

If we do give him a new deal, how many of the squad will we have signed up to new deals after Ole told us about all the players who wouldn't play for United again?

Lord TSC

Quandary wrote: »

I really hope the club don't offer Pogba an improved contract. The man is a bad influence, he has shown his true colours and we should cut ties. Get the best deal possible as quickly as possible and go all out to sign a replacement.

I can see the benefits of him staying, if we iMprove people around him.

But I’d be disgusted if he was rewarded after his comments and his agents comments. Would destroy the idea of rebuilding the correct mentality round the squad,

Cantona's Collars

Lord TSC wrote: »

I can see the benefits of him staying, if we iMprove people around him.

But I’d be disgusted if he was rewarded after his comments and his agents comments. Would destroy the idea of rebuilding the correct mentality round the squad,

There's the problem throughout the team in a nutshell. Players with piss poor attitudes being rewarded and praised,others who wouldn't make the Villa starting XI being given new contracts.
A club with the status and ambition of United should never be rewarding such players.

Mitch Connor

Deleted User wrote: »

The board replace him? Doubtful!
If we did we will get a downgrade at best I'd suspect.
Lukaku is still a 20 goal a season striker. Hard to come by in the current market and he's still only 26.

If the club replace him, it will be a second choice/back up player we replace him with.

TBH i'd rather use the money to buy a RW, based on the assumption Rashford is first choice. While not ideal we have Martial, Sanchez and Greenwood on the books who could come central. We don't have a right winger.

Its why i thought Yedder would be a good pickup. Half the price of Lukaku, feels a squad gap and allows funds to be funneled towards the right wing.

though the club looks like they have no interest in addressing that spot, again.

jayo26

Mitch Connor wrote: »

If the club replace him, it will be a second choice/back up player we replace him with.

TBH i'd rather use the money to buy a RW, based on the assumption Rashford is first choice. While not ideal we have Martial, Sanchez and Greenwood on the books who could come central. We don't have a right winger.

Its why i thought Yedder would be a good pickup. Half the price of Lukaku, feels a squad gap and allows funds to be funneled towards the right wing.

though the club looks like they have no interest in addressing that spot, again.

They gave Mata a new contract that's job done.