Manchester United Banter

14 May 2024 22:07:46
I read somewhere that Sesko was at the United v Arsenal game as a guest of united - do we think we would go for another inexperienced striker?

And do we see him as a step up from Hojland or cover for him?
I personally think we need a proven goal scorer and then players who will pass to him.

14 May 2024 16:46:55
Been thinking could spurs do the unthinkable contrary to everyone's expectations and ruin city's season. I know its a lot to ask but anything is possible.

14 May 2024 16:57:29
I couldn't really care less who wins it but for entertainment purposes I'm hoping spurs/ city is a draw then Sunday will be a goal difference shoot out with arsenal having a 3 goal head start, city are quite capable of putting 7 or 8 past west ham, not sure arsenal will put that many past everton, could be entertaining.

14 May 2024 17:04:52
I think it'll be a corker, with Spurs technically still in the hunt for top 4. Had Villa won last night I think it would be a different scenario.

14 May 2024 17:25:41
I would like to see Wiggy's suggestion come true so we have a straight shootout on Sunday, with both teams having to go for it. If goal difference is a draw does it next go on goals scored? Currently Arsenal are on 89, City on 91.

That won't be enough for Spurs in terms of top 4, but it's likely they'll roll over and have their belly tickled when it really matters.

14 May 2024 18:41:31
wazza

That last sentence made me really laugh.

14 May 2024 18:53:40
Spurs will likely do a Spursy.

14 May 2024 20:23:47
Ahmad they never fail do they. This season has been no exception.

I know we shouldn’t be throwing stones, but it’s Spurs.

14 May 2024 21:55:04
Up the hammers. Bow out with a win Moyesy.

14 May 2024 21:56:14
I’m hoping for a final day vs West Ham the same as ours in 1995. Still one of the most frustrating games I’ve ever watched :- (.

14 May 2024 12:34:55
So Varane is off. Shame didn't quite work for him, like him as a player but certainly not what we need now. But with that news, I just looked up United weekly wages and if the following players, who I think we'd expect to leave do go we would be saving a huge amount of weekly wages.

Varane, 340,000. Casemiro, 350,000. Martial, 250,000, Eriksen, 150,000. Amrabat, 65,000. Evans, 60,000. Sancho, 250,000. Van De Beek, 120,000. Greenwood, 50,000.

Then if you include Williams, 65,000 and Lindelof, 120,000 that's a saving of 1,820,000 a week on wages. You'd hope the club will be capable of using that money a lot wiser moving forward.

14 May 2024 13:28:43
Hopefully Maguire goes aswell, otherwise he will leave for free next year.

14 May 2024 13:30:51
It's incredible the bad value we have got from them imo ports.
When you consider we spend over 300m to sign that lot and probably more than that on their wages. That list of players alone will have cost somewhere in the region of 600/ 700m over the last few years and delivered little or nothing really, and that's before you get into the Anthony or onanas of this squad.
If we recoup 100m from all the names in your list in fees before associated costs we'd be doing well.
On the brightside nearly all the decision makers are gone the rest soon to be gone. So we can only hope and I think it's fair assume that they won't be repeating these hideous decisions.
Sadly we will be paying the price still for a couple of seasons until they sort out this mess.

14 May 2024 14:03:01
The biggest indictment for that money is that I don't think we will see much of a hit to the first team should they all go. Yes Verane and Casimero when fit and well would be in but the rest will have little or no impact.
Side note, I am a fan of Evans especially as a leader/ mentor and would not object if he wanted to work on his coaching badges with us.

14 May 2024 14:31:58
He is a really nice guy Brad and I think he has lots of potential to coach but also he could be set for a career in within the media.
The world is their oyster these days when they retire thay have so many opportunities.

14 May 2024 15:02:38
Brad, Evans is certainly the sort of character you would like around the younger players. Certainly Big Willy and a couple of the others. I agree, wouldn’t be a bad thing for him or the club to stay and do his badges with us.

Also thought the same when I listed the players, what impact will it have on the starting 11, not a great deal!

Ken, I have a look at Palaces wages also and Olise and Eze are both on £100,000, Ghuei is in £50,000 and Wharton on £35,000. We could offer them all a £50,000 pay rise and still be in a better position. Obviously there would be big transfer fees but the point being, players are out there who could make huge impact on the team and I hope the new set up allows us to find and get these players.

14 May 2024 15:15:20
Shame that with a lot of these high profile more experienced players we've bought over the years like Schweiny/ Sanchez/ Falcao and Varane we've never had many glimpses of the players that earned their reputations. Ibra showed it in glimpses and had the character to boot.
Good luck to Varane, still young enough to offer something to a top team if he can manage his injuries.

14 May 2024 15:35:51
Think Shaw should be moved on as well, Spends more time in the treatment room than on the pitch, a good player when fit but that's not often these days.

14 May 2024 16:11:24
You could say the same about Jose and LvG, spenno.

14 May 2024 16:33:54
Maybe sack the clown (s) that agreed such wages, if not already done.

14 May 2024 17:33:46
It makes for dire reading.

We're giving out Real Madrid level contracts, without the Champions League medals in return. The club has had ideas above its station and has behaved in a delusional manner at the very top. No wonder our players behave the way they do.

14 May 2024 19:54:07
Massive wages off the books, problem is whoever comes in will likely be the same.

14 May 2024 09:25:51
36 games into the season and Ten Hag finally changed the tactics to be more compact and solid at the back. It nearly got us a point on Sunday, but I'd imagine arsenal had another couple of gears.

My major issues with ten hag has been his persistence with the rubbish we had seen in every other game this season. Basketball matches, no control and just allowing teams to walk through midfield and have shots on our goal. A high press with a deep defence. If he had changed up in say November/ December, I reckon we could easily have another 10-15 points on the board.

I don't know if it was arrogance or naivety that the previous system would work. Constantly talking about injuries being the reason we are having such poor results, yet with a fully fit team we saw the same issues. Against arsenal, I think if we had Martinez, shaw, rashford and Bruno in that system we would've had a better chance.

Sorry if this is a ramble, but I'm just baffled at why he's finally made a change in the bloody 36th game of the season.

14 May 2024 10:10:35
Hard to know the why.
Perhaps it's under instruction from wilcox who knows.
But the mistake from casimero aside we were competitive to a large degree.
As you say they probably had more gears to go through.

14 May 2024 10:54:46
Caolon,

We are so depressing i just stopped watching us play. I will watch us next year when eth is out.

14 May 2024 11:20:55
I read a really interesting article the other day suggesting that EtH believes this is a personnel problem rather than a system or tactical issue.

If you remember in the summer EtH stated he wanted us to be the best transitional team in the world.

His system is designed to maximise transitional opportunities, encouraging the opposition to commit players forward, thus leaving space for counter opportunities if/ when the move breaks down. This is why many games this season have been more akin to basketball than football.

The article suggested it was the Utd defenders inability to cope and win important defensive duals and bad decisions and wasted opportunities by the attackers rather than the system?

Obviously the ever changing back 4 has placed great pressure on the defence and the loss of form to key players such as Rashford and Bruno has severely impacted the team’s ability to create chances and score goals.

I’m not saying I necessarily agree with this position but it certainly made me think.

14 May 2024 11:54:22
DLIB- that’s all well and good. But football and all elite level sport is problem solving. Like I said above, when he’s had a full team available the same issues have persisted.

Last season I’d praised ten hag for his flexibility and how we adapted in game to opponents. This season he’s cut his nose off.

From what I can see to my untrained eye, we go man to man in midfield, and it kills us every game. This is why I’m so fed up of what I’ve seen this season. If I can spot these issues, I know for a fact he can. Adaptability is key. Every great manager adapts. We’ve flogged a dead horse tactically.

14 May 2024 12:39:15
That's a bit extreme backpass.
No appointment or individual being kept or sold would ever stop me supporting the team or club.
It's of course entirely your own perogative but supporting the team and club imo should not come down to one or 2 transient employees.
So your support and others like you is dependent on you getting what you want or the club sacking who you don't want.
If sjr and team decide eth is the man then I'm good with that I may not be happy but it won't stop me watching or wanting them to win and watching and supporting them in every single game.

14 May 2024 14:28:48
I challenge any manager to cope with the amount of injuries we’ve had to contend with this season.

If Arsenal turned up to Old Trafford on Sunday without Saliba, Gabriel, White, Odegard and Saka they’d struggle. For context we were without Martinez, Varane, Shaw, Bruno and Rashford!

EtH has used over 14 different combinations at CB and been without a recognised LB for most of the season. In addition he’s had only fit 1 recognised CF in the entire squad and that’s an inexperienced 20 year old with only 1 previous season of top flight football under his belt!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and for everyone insisting that he should have been more pragmatic forgets the lessons of the past!

Most supporters hated the football under LvG and it quickly unravelled for Jose once results suffered. Many posters at the time boldly proclaimed they’d rather see the team lose, trying to attack than playing negative, defensive football. The evidence is still there in the chat if you can want to look for it.

I don’t think we can argue the football this season has not been exciting. It’s been end to end, we’ve enjoyed thrilling comebacks, we’ve given up some commanding positions, we’ve scored and conceded late goals, we’ve had some great wins and took some heavy defeats.

What we’re now saying is we don’t like transitional football as well. It’s only exciting if we winning or there’s a structure that makes sense and we can understand. We now want a return to more pragmatic football. My advice, be careful what you wish for.

Liverpool suffered last season with injuries as Newcastle have done this season.

If people want EtH out, I respect their opinion but let’s not yearn for a return to pragmatic football we didn’t like that either!

14 May 2024 16:22:10
My advice would be don't expect a new management team and dof to make the same mistakes as non football people like Woodward when it comes to making crucial decisions and appointments.

14 May 2024 16:50:59
DLIB.

The football has been crap. What’s exciting about watching your team concede 20+ shots a game, vacate midfield and fall apart like a wet cake late in games after being exhausted playing basketball.

To me that’s not entertaining football at all. I’m not asking for full Jose football at all, but ten hag should’ve gone much more pragmatic with the personnel available to him. We could end up with 16 defeats. Yet if we were more solid in I’d say at last 5/ 6 of them we would have 15 more points.

Too much excuse making for poor decisions.

13 May 2024 21:48:13
Oh dear, Donny Van de Beek has finished his loan spell early and returned to the Netherlands following an Achilles injury.
That guy can not get a break, not sure we will be able to effect any sale this summer.
Think it may be best to grant a free transfer, no doubt some form of severance payment will be required.
This guy has had more luck than anybody I know, trouble is every bit has been bad.

13 May 2024 22:27:45
Why would he want a free transfer and give up his salary when injured?

13 May 2024 23:47:04
Danny, as I said a severance payment would be needed, it would then give him an opportunity to attempt making some sort of deal with another club.

14 May 2024 11:51:38
He won’t be let go whilst injured. He gets medical care from the club, why would he give that up and start finding his own from his own pocket?

14 May 2024 12:32:22
He was not getting game time at franfurt and they were not keeping him.
Is it a serious injury?

14 May 2024 16:11:43
Ken, don't know how serious injury is, all that was said was it is heel/ Achilles tendon, he has returned to Netherlands for treatment. Really hope for his sake it is not bad, he deserves some luck.

GNev, who is talking about him paying his own medical costs? for the third time, a financial settlement would need to be agreed, clearly that aspect would form part of the consideration.