Manchester United - News, Developments & Season

[fabio]

Yes we need to buy again, especially in defence its urgent.

I noticed that Pep also came in and bought, and i won't be surprised if he buys again next season.

The same defence under LVG which was joint best last season.

[benteke]

Yes we need to buy again, especially in defence its urgent.

I noticed that Pep also came in and bought, and i won't be surprised if he buys again next season.

The same defence under LVG which was joint best last season.

We no longer have LVG. His tactics were largely responsible for that, not the quality.
We need to buy so that it can work for Mourinho, he will keep struggling if he wants to persist with his type of "attack attack attack".

[benteke]

Let's go back to the transfer market.

We need to:

1. Top priority - get new good defenders. Bailly, Shaw to stay, and Smelling for options.

2. Get someone like Kante and also someone to eventually replace Carrick/Bastian.

3. Rashford, Martial, Mkhitaryan, Mata are not wingers, so 2 proper ones needed, Giggs, Nani, Valencia have not been replaced properly.

4. Striker position. I don't know what exactly must be done there.
There is Ibra and Rooney - both getting old and slow.
Rashford, Martial - young, inexperienced.

*Disclaimer : all the above is my opinions as a world class couch manager

Buy again... When Jose is done, with Man U, they will need a new billionaire owner.

Yes we need to buy again, especially in defence its urgent.

I noticed that Pep also came in and bought, and i won't be surprised if he buys again next season.

I agree with you about buying, football has changed and all the big teams keep buying - they have to buy right with the right balance. However, for now Mourinho must sit down and get into serious work. Agbero style fighting everybody won't work.

Manchester City has been buying big every summer transfer window ever since that Oil Sheikh came in.
Most of it was misses, but now it's coming together.
And there's no reason to stop. Stop to please who ?

As for United, i rather see that money spent on transfers rather than to line the Glazers pockets.
If people think its overpriced players, i don't care

[wiseone]

Apparently Martial's agent reckons he is playing rubbish this season bc Man Utd gave the number 9 shirt to Zlatan rather than Martial. That's right - we have always known that the performance of top class pro athletes is determined by the number printed on their shirt: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... -form.html

[kajifu]

Manu how market?

[fabio]

Apparently Martial's agent reckons he is playing rubbish this season bc Man Utd gave the number 9 shirt to Zlatan rather than Martial. That's right - we have always known that the performance of top class pro athletes is determined by the number printed on their shirt: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... -form.html

Maybe, it's the coach and his approach to such things.....

When coaching Saturday leagues, players have an attached to jersey numbers... it sounds crazy, but true.

[benteke]

Apparently Martial's agent reckons he is playing rubbish this season bc Man Utd gave the number 9 shirt to Zlatan rather than Martial. That's right - we have always known that the performance of top class pro athletes is determined by the number printed on their shirt: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... -form.html

No wonder this United team shows a distinct lack of fighting spirit in many games, these are the types of characters that the club has bought and calls the future.

Ferguson said he when scouting players, character and mentality were important things he looked at, he wanted players with right mentality even though they might not be the best talents.

A lot of the current squad don't show the correct mentality, their body language isn't great.
Once upon a time all over the pitch we had people could die for that shirt, Evra, Neville, Rafael, etc.

[wiseone]

Exactly. Ferguson signed/kept loads of players because of their ultra-professional attitude even though they were not the most talented (e.g. Bruce, Keane, Butt, Fletcher, the Nevilles, O'Shea, McClair, Hughes), and even the ones who were talented supplemented it with obsessive dedication, work ethic, and professionalism (e.g. Rooney, Ronaldo, Giggs, Scholes, Evra, Van Der Sar, Vidic).

That mentality was an responsible for late goals/victories as much as the talent.

No wonder this United team shows a distinct lack of fighting spirit in many games, these are the types of characters that the club has bought and calls the future.

Ferguson said he when scouting players, character and mentality were important things he looked at, he wanted players with right mentality even though they might not be the best talents.

A lot of the current squad don't show the correct mentality, their body language isn't great.
Once upon a time all over the pitch we had people could die for that shirt, Evra, Neville, Rafael, etc.

[tfco]

Week 1 - 1st
Week 2 - 2nd
Week 3 - 3rd
Week 4 - 4th
Week 5 - 7th
Week 6 - 6th
Week 7 - 6th
Week 8 - 7th
Week 9 - 8th
Week 10 - 8th
Week 11 - 6th.

[wiseone]

Carrick Watch:

Man Utd's record this season when Carrick plays:

Games: 5
Wins: 5
Goals: 15
Win Rate: 100%

Without Carrick

Games: 12
Wins: 4
Goals: 11

Carrick also appears to get the best out of Paul Pogba, who has scored all four of his goals this season in games that Carrick has played in.


Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2016/11/06/mancheste ... z4PHEeeFzR

I have said repeatedly that Carrick is needed in the first 11 because he is he one player with the tactical sophistication and game intelligence to "manage the game". Pogba is an excellent athlete but he thrives when he has cerebral players playing beside him to do the thinking (e.g. Pirlo and Marchisio at Juventus). Man Utd needs Carrick's brain to manage the athletes in the squad (Pogba, Martial etc).

[YemiBrazil]

Mourinho on Swansea game.

MOURINHO: WE WERE ALWAYS IN CONTROL
http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Featu ... er.aspx?AL

Jose Mourinho was forced to watch Manchester United's impressive 3-1 win over Swansea City from the stands as he served a one-match touchline ban. He spoke to MUTV afterwards and had this to say on a vital victory...

We were always in control
"I'm really pleased. I think for all of us from the United side, it was a calm day from the first minute. We all felt that we were in the game and that we were stable and in control and the players were really good in their focus, their effort and their concentration in following the game-plan. I thought they were really good and I'm really happy for all of them."

Reds recover well
"You could feel in the second half [the tiredness] that we were back at 4am [on Friday from Turkey] and then yesterday we were unlucky again because there were problems with the plane and we should have flown and had a rest here [in Swansea]. But we had to change the plane and arrived at the Swansea hotel at 8pm just for dinner but with no afternoon to rest. We had problems during the week, plus players not available to play but the important thing is we recovered from a bad result at home against Burnley, not a bad performance, but a bad result, and I'm really happy because now the players can go away [on international duty] with the feeling of victory and a good victory."

Zlatan is a team player
"I didn't know [that Zlatan had scored 400 club goals]. I just know that he is a great player for the team. Today he scored and he didn't score in the past three or four or five matches but that doesn't matter at all because there is one thing having a striker who scores goals and does nothing else. It's another thing to have a striker that doesn't score goals, but does everything else and during this period where he was not scoring goals he did everything else for the team. I'm happy that he is back to scoring goals."

A positive combination
"I thought Michael [Carrick] was the stability, Marouane [Fellaini] was the balance, [Paul] Pogba was the freedom, and all of them together meant the performance was very positive for us."

[YemiBrazil]

Mourinho also slammed some of his players for their mentality and unwillingness to play and fight for the team whenever they don't feel 100% ready. He praised those who rose to the challenge like Ashley Young, Phil Jones, Wayne Rooney and Daley Blind.

I don't know what to make of his openness to the media on this but I totally agree with his opinion.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... entalities


What do you think?

[fabio]

Mourinho also slammed some of his players for their mentality and unwillingness to play and fight for the team whenever they don't feel 100% ready. He praised those who rose to the challenge like Ashley Young, Phil Jones, Wayne Rooney and Daley Blind.

I don't know what to make of his openness to the media on this but I totally agree with his opinion.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... entalities


What do you think?

From Yemi's link

José Mourinho has questioned the willingness of some of his Manchester United squad to play through the pain barrier, with Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling appearing to be among those the manager had in mind when he expressed his frustration and insisted that mentalities would have to change.

When Luke played through pain.. this happened.

Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw is reportedly to undergo a scan on a recurrent groin injury after Jose Mourinho singled him out for criticism after the 3-1 defeat by Watford.

The 21-year-old is said to have been playing through the pain barrier for United at Vicarage Road but his plight didn’t prevent Mourinho from firing criticism his way for his role Juan Camilo Zúñiga’s 83rd-minute strike, the hosts’ second of the afternoon.

But a report by The Times now suggests that Shaw played on despite suffering a long-standing groin injury, calling into question his decision to criticise the England international so harshly in his post-match press briefing.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 16621.html

Yemi, what do you think?

[YemiBrazil]

Fabio, in Mourinho's shoes I think I will take Luke Shaw as a special case knowing his unfortunate history with injuries so I don't think he is being fair on the guy.

I am more concerned about the overall mentality of some of the players and that's what Mourinho is getting paid huge money to fix. It is that laid back mentality that is making some of them ask for the stretcher on the slightest contact with an opponent. You simply can't get away with that under Sir Alex and his ferocious team leaders.

[benteke]

Fabio, in Mourinho's shoes I think I will take Luke Shaw as a special case knowing his unfortunate history with injuries so I don't think he is being fair on the guy.

I am more concerned about the overall mentality of some of the players and that's what Mourinho is getting paid huge money to fix. It is that laid back mentality that is making some of them ask for the stretcher on the slightest contact with an opponent. You simply can't get away with that under Sir Alex and his ferocious team leaders.

I agree, the mentality has to be sorted out.
Some of the lads seem to have found some comfort zone where they have clocked on that each time the team loses it's the manager who is under the most pressure.
There must simply be nowhere to hide.
They must show real fight, it has been lacking recently .

[tfco]

Fabio, in Mourinho's shoes I think I will take Luke Shaw as a special case knowing his unfortunate history with injuries so I don't think he is being fair on the guy.

I am more concerned about the overall mentality of some of the players and that's what Mourinho is getting paid huge money to fix. It is that laid back mentality that is making some of them ask for the stretcher on the slightest contact with an opponent. You simply can't get away with that under Sir Alex and his ferocious team leaders.

I agree, the mentality has to be sorted out.
Some of the lads seem to have found some comfort zone where they have clocked on that each time the team loses it's the manager who is under the most pressure.
There must simply be nowhere to hide.
They must show real fight, it has been lacking recently .

true

one of the reasons I miss Keano; he would have sorted out these wimps on_the_field in front of everyone watching

[fabio]

Under LVG, it was his fault.

Under Jose, it's the players fault.

[kajifu]

My Manu people,i just want to beg you guys to take it easy on us when we come to old Trafford after the international break.Biko no mind likes of Uncle Aniks,Oga Robby etc.
Please you guys just share the points with us 1 point each?Thanks

[benteke]

Under LVG, it was his fault.

Under Jose, it's the players fault.

For me, not really.
I did find the way the team collapsed against West Ham after leading 2-0 to be the players fault, I still don't understand how they could let 4th place go like that.


That was one game that said to me these players are now passing the buck and blaming the "philosophy".
A player like Di Maria, as talented as he was, he showed us the wrong attitude, and he started hiding behind the philosophy, but he never wanted to be at United in the first place, he confessed when he got to PSG.

I know others may have blamed LVG for everything

[YemiBrazil]

Under LVG, it was his fault.

Under Jose, it's the players fault.

For me, not really.
I did find the way the team collapsed against West Ham after leading 2-0 to be the players fault, I still don't understand how they could let 4th place go like that.


That was one game that said to me these players are now passing the buck and blaming the "philosophy".
A player like Di Maria, as talented as he was, he showed us the wrong attitude, and he started hiding behind the philosophy, but he never wanted to be at United in the first place, he confessed when he got to PSG.

I know others may have blamed LVG for everything

LvG helped in destroying the fighting spirit due to his preference for young docile players who work rigidly for a specific philosophy. He is no doubt a good manager with clear focus but he made it too much about himself. Big teams must have leaders on the field who are real fighters and that is United's tradition but LvG simply can't co-exist effectively with natural leaders. He tried to mold Smalling into a leader but firmly under his control but he didn't have enough time to complete his project. He should have retained some of the guys he sold to other teams.

[wiseone]

Just thinking: if Man Utd had been less reckless with releasing youth team players from their Academy - here are several players that Man Utd released from their Academy that could still do a decent job for the team:

GK:Tom Heaton (Burnley/England)
RB: Simpson (Leicester/EPL Champ)
CD: O'Shea (Sunderland/Captain of his club and Ireland national team)
CD: Shawcross (Stoke/England)
LB: Evans (WBA/Ireland)
M: Pogba (Man U/France)*
M: Morrison (Lazio/England U21)
M: Fletcher (WBA/Scotland captain)
M: Drinkwater (Leicester/EPL Champ)
A: Welbeck (Arsenal/England)
A: Giuseppe Rossi (Fiorentina/Italy)

Subs: Michael Keane (Burnley/England), Darron Gibson (Everton/Northern Ireland), Cleverley (Everton/England), Cathcart (Watford), Bardsley (Stoke), Frazier Campbell (Palace), Ashley Fletcher (West Ham), Da Laet, Matty James, (Leicester), Richardson (Villa), McShane (Hull),

*Released then bought back for 90 million.

Now that team above is probably worth only 150 million (despite today's inflated market). Nearly all of them are internationals (or captain of their national team). They could probably have retained 6-7 of those players and saved a big chunk of the 500 million they spent on "stars" like Falcao, Rojo, Schweinsteiger, Depay, Darmian, Fellaini etc (who are no better than the players Man Utd released for "not being good enough").

[fabio]

Jose Mourinho’s apparent quest­ioning of the fitness and commitment shown by Manchester United defenders Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw has been undermined by the revelation that they have been playing this season with the aid of painkilling injections.

Mourinho made his comments after the 3-1 victory at Swansea City on Sunday but it can be revealed that both players have been making themselves available this season despite battling against injury.

Mourinho claimed that Shaw, who has just returned from a serious double leg break, had pulled out of the Swansea game only on Sunday morning but it is believed the 21-year-old did not even travel to South Wales with the squad and is understood to have told team-mates he is “baffled” by the situation.

And the United manager’s insistence that “for the team, you have to do anything”, appears to contradict his comments on Smalling after the 4-0 defeat by Chelsea last month, when the centre-half played at Stamford Bridge with a foot problem.

Smalling has not played for United since Oct 23 and is understood to have been struggling with the injury for much of this campaign.

But Mourinho’s controversial remarks have only served to highlight his strange relationship with some of his players, following similar episodes involving Shaw, Anthony Martial and Henrikh Mkhitaryan this season.

There have been suggestions that players have been left disillusioned by his approach in the dressing room and in training sessions, expecting a more “hands-on” style which has not been forthcoming so far.

However, England caretaker head coach Gareth Southgate has defended the two players, who have not been named in the squad for Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Scotland and the friendly against Spain next week. When asked if the pair were “a bit flaky”, Southgate replied: “I don’t know Chris well. That wouldn’t be my impression, having worked with him. Luke I know well and Luke’s had a really tough injury. Very often it’s easy to look from the outside or make judgements on people without knowing them really, really well.

“I think players want to play for England. I have not seen any player who didn’t want to play for England. But that does not mean that players who play for England don’t have some anxieties about performance.

“There have been players that haven’t played as much maybe when I was playing, maybe playing for England was a bit too much for them. But Luke’s played with us right through, Chris has had a lot of games for England so I don’t think that is the situation for them.

“I think that they have got a moment with their club where they are not fit, and that’s ruled them out for us this time.”

Mourinho selected a makeshift back four for the victory over struggling Swansea, which included playing Ashley Young at right-back and Matteo Darmian at left-back. Phil Jones, who had not played since January, also featured at the Liberty Stadium.

Though United recorded their first win in five Premier League games, after two goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a spectacular strike from world-record signing Paul Pogba, Mourinho still opted to question the willingness of players to put their bodies on the line.

He said: “There is a difference between the brave, who want to play at any cost, and the ones for whom a little pain can make a difference.

“If I were to speak with the many great football people of this team, they will say they played many times without being 100 per cent. We have players on the pitch with problems. In every sport, how many times do you play and you’re not 100 per cent?”

Yet after the defeat at Chelsea in October, with stand-in captain Smalling arguably culpable for all the goals, Mourinho revealed it was remarkable that the 26-year-old even played at all. He said: “He was phenomenal to play against Chelsea with such a difficult physical situation for him. He couldn’t do it two days later against [Manchester] City. There was no chance.”

Shaw, meanwhile, only returned to first-team duty this season after suffering an horrific injury in a Champions League tie against PSV Eindhoven last September. He has only made six league starts this season but was targeted by Mourinho after the defeat at Watford in September, with the Portuguese accusing him of playing out of position.

Southgate added: “If he wasn’t fit to play yesterday – and he was with us in September under Sam [Allardyce] and was feeling problems with the leg – there’s clearly something. After an injury as severe as that, we’ve got to handle that with care as well. It’s a difficult balance to find. But that’s where we have to trust our medical teams.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/201 ... ng-and-lu/

[tfco]

Under LVG, it was his fault.

Under Jose, it's the players fault.

did you see the injury list under LVG?

Did you see the mass clear out that LVG orchestrated to suddenly make the team start playing with academy players?