20 Jun 2024 19:45:40
Pleeeeaaase lord down ever let Southgate near our club. ?.
20 Jun 2024 19:52:19
Totally agree.
20 Jun 2024 21:56:46
I think he is answering your prayers with every match to be honest.
20 Jun 2024 22:04:30
Where are all the people who said he was good? Said jt for years he’s stole a living at England
Playing against the worst lot of teams for 20 years
The football is absolute dross, as if uniteds season wasn’t bad enough I’ve got to sit through this England ?.
20 Jun 2024 22:16:19
So far the two England goals have come from fairly heavy deflections. All the attacking talent England have and that’s the best Southgate can produce. Was baffling af starting the same 11 from the first match given how poor overall it was.
21 Jun 2024 03:38:46
I think southgate just said that Mainoo, Gallagher and Wharten are not as good as Kalvin Phillips.
This squad could be competing to win and entertaining us, but instead they look hesitant, confused and unsure of their roles. We seem obsessed with keeping possession and slowly pulling the opposition to sleep by passing back and forward in front of them.
Please god, never let southgate Nywhere near utd.
21 Jun 2024 06:48:32
Speaking of the game, we need another striker. I know it may not be a very popular opinion but Hoiland is not going to carry us and he is a few years away from being a polished product.
I find his first touch quite clumsy tbh and have said that before. I am not bothered if whoever we buy even starts ahead of him and let the best man win and definitely not in the camp of buying an average striker to play second fiddle and used for rotation purpose only to give Hoiland a rest.
21 Jun 2024 07:42:57
Ahmad
If you recall I made some observations on Hojland when he warmed up for two games, sloppy. If not focussed before a game it isn’t good.
21 Jun 2024 07:51:41
Redman
Agreed. Garnacho and rash get grief for not crossing enough but the truth is how often is he really open for a cross. He is very raw and imo needs takes too many touches before he shoots or passes it when ball comes to feet. He was pretty poor yesterday and for a top striker never really gave England anything to worry about.
Top strikers hit stuff first touch or second touch. Game is so fast you rarely have a chance to take multiple touches and get closed down. We need a second striker desperately.
21 Jun 2024 07:59:59
We gave Hojlund no service, hardly created chances.
His movement is fine, but he’s also a kid. 17 goals was a good return for his debut season. He also needs to be used properly in a system that utilises his pace and power.
21 Jun 2024 08:16:41
Coalan
He spends way too much time wrestling with CB's imo and needs to add to his game. He tends to go on north/ south run only and if you are playing that way you need a great fist touch and bang, which he does not have. In my humble opinion good/ clever strikers come short, run wide and make it uncomfortable for CB's by dragging them out of their comfort zones on the pitch. Guehi and Stones handled him with ease and no drama yesterday.
The guy from Sporting who scored is a really good player to watch.
21 Jun 2024 08:43:48
We cannot go into the season with him as first choice striker, simply nowhere near good enough. Poor first touch, wins little in the air, positionally in the box poor. Mctominay would make a far better striker, not that I’m suggesting that as an answer. Need a top class striker for him to learn off.
21 Jun 2024 09:27:58
I agree about Hojlund not being at the level required. He has a great attitude and works hard, so i hope he proves me wrong but i would be looking for 2 forwards this summer. One focused on being a central striker and the other more flexible/ can play from wide. I think the fee we paid is based mainly on potential rather than ability, and probably half the league (at least) have a better centre forward than Hojlund.
21 Jun 2024 09:39:36
I can't recall anyone ever saying Southgate was good :D
He is a bottom third table Prem manager at best. I imagine he will be a contender for the first appropriate casualty when the sides start to panic. Forest? :D.
21 Jun 2024 10:22:39
Ahmad do you not think that’s because he spent the entire season being tasked with being a target man who holds the ball up.
He looked at his best for us in games where we utilised his pace, he dropped off and also played wider. Galatasaray in the champions league was an example. His performances off the bench against Brighton and Newcastle when the tactics shifted.
He in my opinion, was another player hung out to dry via the idiotic tactics employed for 90% of the season. The lad is going to be quality.
21 Jun 2024 11:18:36
A 20 year old, first season in the PL who scored 17 goals playing in a team that creates next to nothing isn't good enough for people these days.
21 Jun 2024 11:31:22
The kid has talent. Imagine how many goals he would have scored if he had played upfront for Liverpool or City.
21 Jun 2024 12:38:00
Unruly and MH exactly the point I’m trying to make.
I think we’ve a real player there who needs developing. If we want to rebuild properly, guys like him are needed to be stuck with.
21 Jun 2024 13:55:08
Just because he plays for us and he is young I am not going to be blind about what i see. He is far from a united striker that we are used to and very rough and nothing silky about what he does.
His effort rate is great but good strikers don't need to be wrestling cb's all game long. Most of the ones that turn out to be great are very clever and understand how to use the pitch. Our best performances came late in the season playing him as a sub in games no one gave us a chance with a depleted squad.
The Danish press is giving him a 3/ 10 or 4/ 10 performance so i am not the only one who sees this stuff. If it makes people happy we can stick our head in the sand and blame rash and Garnacho for lack of service.
I have more faith in rash having a banger next year than Hoiland and getting dropped from England hopefully gets his head in the right place. We need another striker and a proper one.
21 Jun 2024 14:04:09
Weird thing is England don't know how to solve for shaw being out and the left side looks toothless with all the talent in this team and people criticized eth when he said shaw and martinez being out affected us and how we play.
21 Jun 2024 15:28:21
Ben Chilwell hasn’t had a good year with injuries and poor form. But you have to question why a manager would not take a single uninjured lb to a major tournament. I don’t know what he’s thinking playing Trippier on the lw, but it clearly isn’t working. Team obviously has no confidence in their ability to keep the ball, and the subs epitomise Southgate’s philosophy.
21 Jun 2024 15:31:44
Talking absolute rubbish. He is a young striker with a very good conversion rate. Yes we need another very good striker and for them to compete with each other.
Standards at the club are in the gutter. All our young players need strong leadership. Keano would snap them out of casual warm up. Or shooting from 40 yards when they should pick a better pass.
We have a lot if work to do, but hoylund is one of the future stars we should be building around.
21 Jun 2024 18:17:57
You do not want to bring I. A player who is going to stunt his growth. He needs to be play regularly to get better, he isn't and never was touted as the finished article. Bring in a player to spell him in games, to give him rest and or to compliment him by all means but not to replace him. It is going to be three years at best before we can challenge let him use that time to grow. I have seen enough from him last year to think he can develop and get better and that if all goes well then he can be that striker in three years time.
21 Jun 2024 20:33:51
Big noises re Zirkzee today, why the fixation with a lone striker or someone to challenge Hojlund?
Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke were deadly together once they had built up an understanding.
21 Jun 2024 20:34:13
Ahmad a side not playing to his strength. Whilst he’s still learning the game. But given his very high conversion rate, I’d suggest the argument of not getting enough service is very valid.
21 Jun 2024 20:58:30
We really missed a second striker to either bring on extra when chasing the game, or or fresh legs when holding a lead. You have to have a good striker in the bench to bring on. It is also good for hoylund to come on against tired legs occassionally and run riot. He can't play every minute every game. Plenty of minutes for him.
21 Jun 2024 21:12:07
Fully agree. be a nightmare.
21 Jun 2024 22:49:24
Rasmus played in a dysfunctional team. If the manager gets a pass for that the players should too. How can you expect rasmus to do any better without his best team mates? Was the manager the only one affected?
If its the criteria the Manager is judged on then the players deserve that courtesy too. Nobody should be judged any more harshly than the manager because they didn't have their best team mates available. It would be very hypocritical to not apply the same logic to the players as the manager.
21 Jun 2024 23:39:28
Well put tumble.
I’ll put money on Hoijlund being a better contributor to the team than Rashford next season with the caveat that he is given service from both sides of the park.
Rashfords heart has gone. Dunno what his problem is but another wasted gem of a player.
22 Jun 2024 12:56:39
Let's be fair to Rasmus, he was 20 year's old, with one season of football in a top European league, moving to what is considered the toughest league in the world. He arrived injured, and was expected to lead the line in every game due to a lack of viable other options. While the silly media comparisons to Haaland haven't done him any favours. Increasing the pressure he feels no doubt, while increasing the fans expectations.
I'm almost certain he played some games not fully fit, and should have been rested (if there was someone else to play) . While the team he joined had a terribly disjointed season due to injuries and off the field upheaval. The team hadn't played with a true CF for several years and they didn't seem to know how to play with Hojlund to get the best out of him. On several occasions last season McTominay came flying in front of Hojlund to steal the ball off his head to score. While he made great runs which opened up space for others, who instead of trying to find him used the space to have a shot from 25-30 yards instead.
he had the fewest shots of any striker to have played more than 1800 minutes of football in the EPL last season, yet his shots on target rate and his conversion rate have him in the top 7 strikers in the league last season.
If we can bring up his shots per game (by learning to pass him the ball at the right moment) from around 1 up to 3 or 4 (which would still only have him around the halfway mark amongst EPL strikers) then we would likely see him get 15-20 EPL goals next season if his conversion rate stays the same. Add to that if we can rest him a little more and protect him so he's in peak condition more often then he could score even more.
Hojlund is not a problem at all. We just need the team to start playing in a way that gets the best out of our most clinical forward.
23 Jun 2024 11:34:55
The idea to bring a bench warmer as a second striker is ludicrous. This is a club who has had multiple top strikers for years all competing for starting roles. We need goals and need a very good second striker to come in. If he is better than Rasmus and scores more so be it. That's football.
Rasmus and Bruno had 10 pl goals each last year as our top scorers and joint 25th in the league. That's anemic and not going to get you much in pl and can't remember the last time our top scorer was the 25th best in the league.
23 Jun 2024 12:54:59
Ahmad, I tend to agree that in an ideal situation the club shouldn't be signing any "squad" players.
You don't raise the ceiling of the squad by bringing in average players. You should always look to recruit for the first 11, with the current first 11 player being pushed to the squad option.
However, we are not in the ideal situation and cannot afford to buy all the players we need who are going to be straight into the first 11. We will need to be savvy in some positions. For example if AWB leaves do we have the funds to buy a first 11 quality RB? Is it a priority to do so?
Dalot was arguably our player of the season and with better players around him I think he can go up another level or two.
In that case it might make more sense to spend either on a cheaper, younger player with potential, or on a player whose potentially good enough, but also flexible enough to cover another position as well. Maybe a RB who can also play CB for example.
As for the striker position, it's probably the hardest position to recruit in football. Average strikers go for silly money and we don't have a huge budget. Zirkzee really is a phenomenal opportunity to sign a top class player for a below market value price. Without the clause in his contract he'd be at least the same amount as we paid for Højlund last summer as he's more proven.
Other than that anyone who is potentially good enough to be a starter for us will cost 60m or more. Which we just can't afford to spend, especially as we already have Højlund who is potentially good enough. We have several other positions where we have no one good enough, making those positions a higher priority.
The idea of having a 70m striker on the bench while McTominay starts as a CDM is peak mismanagement.
Much better to have a top class CDM starting and an average 25m striker on the bench.
23 Jun 2024 22:18:03
shappy
The idea of buying second rate stuff because we want to protect whoever it may be is a ludicrous. We need to create an environment where there is top players competing for being in united first 11. There are no wholly cows in football and everyone is replaceable unless you are Messi or Ronaldo at their prime.
The sooner the club starts operating that way the better. Too many years of average players earning a massive wage at united for being so average. Either you are good enough to make it at united at much higher standard than what we have had over the last 10 years or you get moved on. Changing the culture starts with demanding excellence and not mediocracy.