13 Dec 2017 12:34:37
I have not posted for a while and have just been reading the positive posts when we win and the negative posts when we lose.

I think the bigger problem which remains is that the club is fundamentally mismanaged. We use to laugh at other clubs who continually changed manager and then had to chop and change the squad.

We are an economic giant, but we are run like a championship club. The likes of Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Barcelona and even Real Madrid have chopped and changed their managers over recent seasons, but they carry on regardless. They have an identity and a long term plan. They have a style of playing and targets to fit that style. Even if the manager changes they have continuity.

We on the other hand use our economic might to gloss over the fact we don't have a long term plan. With the amount we have spent on players, agents and wages we should have a much better squad than we do.

We can poke fun at city and their cheque book approach, but at least they are moving forward. Their infrastructure improvement and link to st beads school to attract top youth players is to be commended. They have a long term strategy and it seems to be working.

We on the other hand will need to spend another half a billion pounds to improve our squad depth to bring it to the same level as theirs.

Is part of the problem we have an unbalanced squad with a lack of quality strength in depth. Yes but we shouldn't after the amount we have spent.

I have seen the various opinions on here blaming Jose for his negative approach and others praising him. I personally prefer peps style of play and personality, but at least find Jose's football more watchable than Moyes and lvg's. There has been massive improvement in the team and results we are 2nd after all, but the undeniable gulf between us and city would be much smaller if we had a more cohesive strategy.

I hope our club takes a step back and looks at the last what has happened over the last 4/ 5 years and assess what could have been done better so as to ensure we do not repeat the same mistakes going forward.

We need a new lb, a new rb, creativity in mf, a RW and a new cf at the summer and if we are to close the gap on city they need to be top draw. Let's face it city will spend big in the summer. We need to get smarter, have a plan and not need to start again from scratch when Jose has his inevitable blow up and leaves.

Food for thought, let m know what you think.

1.) 13 Dec 2017
13 Dec 2017 16:19:48
Good post Huggy. I think the club is still suffering with the post SAF transition, as I think he had a massive say in a number of footballing matters - similar to Wenger at Arsenal now.

I agree the club needs a long term plan to improve the footballing infrastructure including the academy, scouting network, affiliated clubs etc. The business side of things appears to be very well run based upon the commercial success.

2.) 13 Dec 2017
13 Dec 2017 18:15:47
Hugh
It's a good post that but also worth noting we are 2nd in the league, in all the cups and through to the next round of the Cl . Which is an improvement on last season, where we managed to win the Europe and league cup, which in turn was better than the previous season where we won the fa cup .

Maybe an argument that we have a plan are improvement, are going forward and not backwards and at the moment in England are second only to 1 team that is breaking records .
City have more points than any team in Europe
After 15 games city had 42 points
Barce 39
United 35
Munich 35
Madrid 31.

Maybe our start hasn't been all that bad after all.

3.) 13 Dec 2017
13 Dec 2017 18:24:13
Jose is the right manager to have make this team on par with city Barcelona Bayern whoever? . Imo we do need to get a few in to be there but is relatively easy January and this summer, we have huge amounts each season to spend on players Jose is good in the market for getting quility we have a very good spine when all fit who knows were we would be now with Greizmann and Perisic. This january we could sign a real top number 10 my choice would be Nabil Fekir or Greizmann or Mertens loads of top players out there. We will come strong again a season and a bit is to soon to say this is really Joses full team and happy with ever player were closer than last year to were we will be and not far off being the Special ones best team.

4.) 14 Dec 2017
14 Dec 2017 08:55:04
Morning JRED, thanks for the response. I did acknowledge in my post that we are second in the league and that we are showing improvement on prior seasons.

My main point is with a little planning and the money spent we should be the team leading the way in terms of being 1st in the table and playing champagne football.

Mourinho is hamstrung by an unbalanced squad, with a lot of average players on massive wages. How many transfer windows have passed where a large number of posters on here have been screaming for new wing back and new wingers with the transfer window slamming shut and the issue not being addressed.

I just don’t think the club has a long term plan as we have owners who had envisaged exiting the club over the next couple of years. It looks like they plan to stick around a little longer, but I don’t see it being long term.

I believe we will continue to be a reactionary club and that poor Jose will continue to have to do the best he can. Which I think is ok at the moment. I expect Jose to get frustrated and leave and the club to go back to square one with the next manager.

I have to say city knew who they wanted, and spent several years working on getting pep in and getting pep style players, yes city had an average season last year, but they are reaping the rewards this year.

I don’t want to be city, I am united through and through, but I am also rational enough to see where we are going wrong and where city are going right. With a bit of planning we can not only match them, but also surpass them, I just can’t see us formulating and implementing that long term plan.

5.) 14 Dec 2017
14 Dec 2017 18:25:39
Every other team in Europe must be going wrong then because city are also doing better than them.

6.) 14 Dec 2017
14 Dec 2017 21:55:48
Every other team in Europe has not spent what we have on transfers, agents fees and wages.

If you think we are getting a good return on our investment I hope you aren’t a financial planner.