30 Aug 2021 17:49:00
Reading Oles comments about Greenwood after yesterdays game. hard worker, two footed, skilful, got strikers instinct which you need, I was a striker myself so. etc etc.

All good so what about applying the same logic to midfield? Ole played with some of the best midfielders in a generation, he has Carrick alongside him and Fletcher at the club and they in turn played in or with the best midfield in a gneration and also against the best in the era of Viera, Fabregas, Lampard, Gerrard, Petit etc etc how can they look at what we have and think our midfield is in anyway shape of form one which will win trophies? I just don't get it.

1.) 30 Aug 2021
30 Aug 2021 18:17:48
Fairly sure he knows, Ed has told us we are looking for a midfielder, we just need to sell some players and are struggling to do so.

2.) 30 Aug 2021
30 Aug 2021 18:33:35
Does he look at it and think it looks great? Or does he just see little to be gained by throwing his players under the bus.

Just because he doesn't come out and say Fred has the first touch of an elephant and the passing range of a soggy dishcloth that doesn't mean he thinks Fred is the second coming of Zidane.

I think Ole subscribes to the idea that you are less likely to get the reaction you want from a multimillionaire footballer by publicly shaming him than just by not saying anything negative to the press.

Surely it's more constructive to have these conversations with the player and not the world's press. Maybe keep the dirty laundry in house.

Jose Mourinho tried to publicly bully Luke Shaw into performing better, and all he did was shatter his confidence and create a toxic atmosphere in the dressing room.

Ole comes in and tries a different tactic, to nurture him, to build him up and suddenly Shaw might be one of the best left backs in the world on current form.

Obviously different players need different styles of management, but on the whole I can't think of a single player who played better under Jose than they have under Ole.

Most work best with positive reinforcement rather than negative bombardment. As a species we respond bette to the carrot than the stick.

Ultimately I don't think we can take too much from what a manager says to the press. I've spoken with former EPL managers and they've been far more candid with me than they ever have in the press for what must be fairly obvious reasons.

They say just enough to sell a few papers and keep public interest up, but they don't aim to air their actual views, especially if those views could have negative impacts.

3.) 30 Aug 2021
30 Aug 2021 18:38:34
I would like to know why we spent £73m on a right wing player to then prefer Daniel James in the position yesterday.

4.) 30 Aug 2021
30 Aug 2021 19:06:22
Thank you Red Man, I tried to tell people that Sancho wasn't prem proven, and all his highlights were of him playing well in Dortmund were on the left hand side. I was constantly told he was the man for the right. It seems people were bought by his highlights. It's a real shame that some of our fanbase get so carried away on hype trains. Hopefully he doesn't end up keeping better players out of the team.

5.) 30 Aug 2021
30 Aug 2021 19:56:32
Shappy, who said anything about slating players in public or throwing anyone under the bus? Point is we have a weak midfiled which seems obvious to everyone else ansd yet we persist with the same players.

Winger Dan James is not good enough for Utd and seems he is being sold on - no throwing under the bus, he could do the same with several midfielders.

6.) 30 Aug 2021
30 Aug 2021 20:40:26
I think James was preferred on the right to track back with his pace and help against Traore. I could be wrong, but just my opinion.

7.) 30 Aug 2021
30 Aug 2021 21:03:10
Caolan

Interesting. If correct it’s worrying about how to keep the opposition out rather than how we score goals and win.

8.) 30 Aug 2021
30 Aug 2021 21:13:42
Boyfromburrenway, that's just the thing though we haven't kept persisting with the same midfield.

This season we have play three different midfield partnership (albeit because of injuries) .

The much maligned McFred played in the 5-1 thrashing of Leeds in the first match.

We then played Matic and Fred in the struggling 1-1 draw with Southampton.

While it was Fred and Pogba who lined up together in midfield for what was our poorest performance of the season in the 1-0 robbery of Wolves.

The only player we have who hasn't been given many games in the pivot to cement a place is Donny. Whether Ole doesn't like him, or his performances in training or in the few matches he has played haven't been good enough is fairly irrelevant. It seems he won't get a run of games unless he is the only option.

McTominay, Fred, Matic and Pogba have been given ample opportunities to impress, with only McFred showing any signs of forming something like a cohesive midfield, albeit one lacking in technical ability.

We all know that, Ole and the other coaches know that, and the club are looking to bring in a midfielder to try and sort that out. Which highlights that they are aware it's an area that needs work.

However, in the meantime all they can do is send out the duo that plays the best consistently out of the players we have. That is McFred.

I'd argue that I'd McFred was fit to start against Southampton we would probably have 9 points now and not 7. The football might not have been anymore entertaining, but the effectiveness of it would have been better.

9.) 30 Aug 2021
30 Aug 2021 22:17:16
RedMan - it’s not either or. We need to keep goals being scored against And score goals. Perhaps with Rashford injured and he didn’t want to reward Martial with a start on the left, decided to use Dan James on the right instead of the left. Surely just because Sancho can play on the right it doesn’t mean he needs to necessarily play there if in a game something else the manager and the staff believe suits better?

Sancho looks completely off pace. He took a really long time last season in Dortmund to get going. Hopefully this international break helps him get up to speed. He is surely our best player for the RW longer term.

10.) 30 Aug 2021
30 Aug 2021 22:35:39
Here me thinking we won yesterday and didn’t concede a goal.