Transfer Rumours Let's ignore the big ****ing elephant and blame the latest manager, again. Are we nearly there yet?

[cytrax]

Reaffirming the basic principles which seemed to have lapsed these last few years:

No player is bigger than the club. The players must know where the lines are drawn.The interest and reputation or image of the club comes first not that of the player.

Players who do not want to stay should be sold or loaned out. Or let go free as In pogba’s case.

No point in enticing a reluctant player (through wages or otherwise) to join the club either. Example: no point in trying to buy Haaland if he’s not keen to play for us.

You nailed that last point. Personally, I don’t think we should go for Haaland and his agent. That agent is toxic and is never out for the interest of the larger team. We do not need another Pogba mind tricks in this team. I don’t believe that Rangnick has the patience to ever deal with such drama.

From what I’ve seen so far, I would be happy for Rangnick to stay in the position beyond the end of the season. This assertion is not based on field events which we’ve seen very little of so far (2 games), but my firm believe is that if the principles that he is pushing for get baked into this talented team, success will eventually be the byproduct.

However, I would love for him to work with ten Hag if he does move into consultancy role at the end of the season.

 

[Treble]

I didn't see the whole game today, but I have to say this.... that's 3 games now...

and I can't fault Fred.

In fact I think he's been excellent

 

[Christiansmith]

I didn't see the whole game today, but I have to say this.... that's 3 games now...

and I can't fault Fred.

In fact I think he's been excellent

Awful performance. From the first minute there was so much lethargy and unforced errors. Passing was dire. Never mind rock and roll football. That was lift or mall music from us. Absolutely dire and sleep inducing. Strange especially none of the players played midweek. Let’s hope it was the players getting used to Rangnick’s system. This was as bad as anything under Ole recently and thank goodness we were playing the worst team in the league. Honestly if we play like that against a dynamic Brentford then we’ll be stuffed.

Completely undeserved win. Norwich deserved at least 1 point.

 

[Treble]

Awful performance. From the first minute there was so much lethargy and unforced errors. Passing was dire. Never mind rock and roll football. That was lift or mall music from us. Absolutely dire and sleep inducing. Strange especially none of the players played midweek. Let’s hope it was the players getting used to Rangnick’s system. This was as bad as anything under Ole recently and thank goodness we were playing the worst team in the league. Honestly if we play like that against a dynamic Brentford then we’ll be stuffed.

Completely undeserved win. Norwich deserved at least 1 point.

Yeh the performance was dire but I'll take the win.

I've some concerns about playing this new system because I think a team with wide players/fullbacks getting forward could cause us real problems.

Having said that, I still think Ralf is trying to find his best team for the system he wants to put in place.

On top of that, it's the players having to adapt to it.

I'm going to give it time and see.

 

[Chief]

Rashford looked really hesitant and low on confidence.

Can see Rangnick's reasoning in leaving him on in trying to play him into form but it was unfair that Sancho was hooked instead again.

Also, Bruno is going through a bad spell whereby maybe DVDB should play a couple of games and he be given a mini break.

We definitely need Varane back, Maguire is better when he is, and as soon as AWB and Shaw are fully fit it might be an idea to bring those two back in as well.

Thank **** for de Gea and Fred! And Ronny.

 

[Diego]

Rashford looked really hesitant and low on confidence.

Can see Rangnick's reasoning in leaving him on in trying to play him into form but it was unfair that Sancho was hooked instead again.

Also, Bruno is going through a bad spell whereby maybe DVDB should play a couple of games and he be given a mini break.

We definitely need Varane back, Maguire is better when he is, and as soon as AWB and Shaw are fully fit it might be an idea to bring those two back in as well.

Thank **** for de Gea and Fred! And Ronny.

I actually think that, besides de Gea, McT was our best player today.
Yes Fred had another good game (imo he usually does but rarely gets noticed) but McT was a lot more proactive at trying to get the ball forward even though he was the deeper sitting player.
too many players were poor today, passing a ball to within touching distance of a red shirt should not be beyond them. Great to get a much needed 3 points but you have to feel Norwich deserved more from the game as the better team on the day.

 

[Christiansmith]

Rashford looked really hesitant and low on confidence.

Can see Rangnick's reasoning in leaving him on in trying to play him into form but it was unfair that Sancho was hooked instead again.

Also, Bruno is going through a bad spell whereby maybe DVDB should play a couple of games and he be given a mini break.

We definitely need Varane back, Maguire is better when he is, and as soon as AWB and Shaw are fully fit it might be an idea to bring those two back in as well.

Thank **** for de Gea and Fred! And Ronny.

yep. CR as usual scored the winner. But if we are honest he was one of the worst players today and there are multiple candidates for that title. He couldn’t hold the ball nor did he pass the ball accurately. He had a good chance in the first half with the keeper to beat but he dillydallied and fluffed his shot easily saved by the keeper. 5 out of 10 max.

 

[Treble]

I actually think that, besides de Gea, McT was our best player today.
Yes Fred had another good game (imo he usually does but rarely gets noticed) but McT was a lot more proactive at trying to get the ball forward even though he was the deeper sitting player.
too many players were poor today, passing a ball to within touching distance of a red shirt should not be beyond them. Great to get a much needed 3 points but you have to feel Norwich deserved more from the game as the better team on the day.

No he doesn't which is why he's getting noticed now.

 

[Diego]

No he doesn't which is why he's getting noticed now.

I have noticed him for a long time

 

[Christiansmith]

I actually think that, besides de Gea, McT was our best player today.
Yes Fred had another good game (imo he usually does but rarely gets noticed) but McT was a lot more proactive at trying to get the ball forward even though he was the deeper sitting player.
too many players were poor today, passing a ball to within touching distance of a red shirt should not be beyond them. Great to get a much needed 3 points but you have to feel Norwich deserved more from the game as the better team on the day.

The worst performers today were our 4 attacking front players. All were poor. Sancho got hooked first but it could have been any of Rashford, CR and Fernandes.

We can’t surely play as bad against Brentford, can we? Someone said it looks as if these players are overtrained. You could almost sense them thinking what to do when they get the ball. They should play their natural game sometimes. How many times did we see rashford or cr making a run on the right only for the midfield player to just play a safe pass sideways. It must have happened a dozen times at least.

 

[Diego]

The worst performers today were our 4 attacking front players. All were poor. Sancho got hooked first but it could have been any of Rashford, CR and Fernandes.

We can’t surely play as bad against Brentford, can we?

If we do we will lose, and by more than one goal i would think.

 

[Christiansmith]

I’d like Rashford benched (rested!) and Greenwood given a start with CR. Rashford’s form this season has been well below par. Fernandes’s form too has not been too clever. His passes have gone astray and his creativity has really dipped.

 

[cytrax]

We were very fortunate to get all three points from the game with Norwich. I thought our front players were absolutely disjointed! Rashford, Ronaldo and Bruno were most guilty. Bruno continues to be out of sorts with his passes and playmaking. Rashford was terrible with his final decision making to compliment his great runs, and Ronaldo just didn’t have it yesterday. First touches were poor and his linkup plates were lacking.

Ironically McTominay and Fred performed very well to make up for the shtshow of those three. Sancho should have stayed on as well instead of Rashford. Maguire also put in a brilliant shift along with Lindelof. Ultimately De Gea is back to his superhuman self and saved us yesterday.

Rangnick has lots of work to do to get the right balance into the midfield which is just not performing well at this point. The system is not working for the final third of play. But the defence has become better organized but must also do better to prevent being reliant the goal keeper to save the day.

We still have a long way to go to controlling our own destiny in matches. Yesterday wasn’t it!

 

[Treble]

It's too early to say what to do at the moment.

It's a work in progress and I think Ralf is still deciding on his starting 11.

And that'll take time as the whole squad have to take on board what he's trying to implement.

I actually think some consistency in the starting 11 wouldn't go amiss. The sooner Ralf establishes that the better.

 

[Treble]

Great... being reported we have a Covid outbreak

 

[Diego]

Great... being reported we have a Covid outbreak

Reprted earlier that mate, dependant on who is involved it could be a good opportunity for others to stake a claim on first 11.

 

[Diego]

Great... being reported we have a Covid outbreak

Possibly explains Victors breathing problems and high heart rate yesterday.

 

[Christiansmith]

It's too early to say what to do at the moment.

It's a work in progress and I think Ralf is still deciding on his starting 11.

And that'll take time as the whole squad have to take on board what he's trying to implement.

I actually think some consistency in the starting 11 wouldn't go amiss. The sooner Ralf establishes that the better.

of course it needs time for players to assimilate a new system.

what is becoming apparent is that the players had to take responsibility for that ****show that led to Ole being sacked. It’s been said so many times by many different people. ABU pundits stating that our squad was so good that any decent manager would take Utd to the title was not really the truth but said to demean the manager. Yesterday confirmed to me that these players are not that good, they have lots of bad habits, their passing was appalling, discipline was nonexistent among certain players. It seems that they only put 100% effort when they feel like it.

 

[Treble]

of course it needs time for players to assimilate a new system.

what is becoming apparent is that the players had to take responsibility for that ****show that led to Ole being sacked. It’s been said so many times by many different people. ABU pundits stating that our squad was so good that any decent manager would take Utd to the title was not really the truth but said to demean the manager. Yesterday confirmed to me that these players are not that good, they have lots of bad habits, their passing was appalling, discipline was nonexistent among certain players. It seems that they only put 100% effort when they feel like it.

It's a culture that was allowed and even promoted by Ole and his team over a sustained period of almost 3 years. Not uniformly over those 3 years but gradually becoming worse and worse.

When it's embedded to this extent it'll take longer than a week to undo.

But that doesn't absolve the players of responsibility now. It's now a new management who I hope have much higher standards and expectations. There is nowhere for the players to hide and they will need to raise their game (literally) and I'm all for that.

Because if they do, I believe the system, the tactical approach, the quality of our football under this manager is a fck of a lot more insightful and effective than the last bloke.

 

[Christiansmith]

It's a culture that was allowed and even promoted by Ole and his team over a sustained period of almost 3 years. Not uniformly over those 3 years but gradually becoming worse and worse.

When it's embedded to this extent it'll take longer than a week to undo.

But that doesn't absolve the players of responsibility now. It's now a new management who I hope have much higher standards and expectations. There is nowhere for the players to hide and they will need to raise their game (literally) and I'm all for that.

Because if they do, I believe the system, the tactical approach, the quality of our football under this manager is a fck of a lot more insightful and effective than the last bloke.

can agree with that. Will we at last have a set up where players who join us don’t go backwards but improve or at least maintain the standards they were bought for? I can’t off the top of my head recall any expensive player we bought since Fergie left that got better playing for us.