Manchester United Seasonal Blog 2019/20

[Bob Newhart]

Cheer up lads, I’ve found a table that you’re still top of. https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... ing-racism

Hard to believe we're ahead of Leeds. Must not be bright enough to recognise racism in Yorkieland.

[thebillfella]

So Sir Alex is supposedly urging Manchester United to appoint Steve Walsh for a consultancy role at Old Trafford to help overhaul their talent spotting and talent development strategies.

However, Woodward apparently still favours bringing in a former United player for a role that will focus on identifying young talent and setting out a long-term plan for the first team structure.

Maybe he should appoint both - it's not like money is tight and City has a team rather than one individual doing purely this role? Either way do something for eff's sake Ed you incompetent pr1ck; you've been talking about appointing someone in this role since Jose went!!!

[Magic]

They'll be very few sorry to see him go.

I'd drive him to the airport myself. Arrogant cu*t.

What he said!

Supposed to be paying 50 million for this Obi Wan Bissanka kid from Palace. Talk about an inflated market!

[Magic]

They'll be very few sorry to see him go.

I'd drive him to the airport myself. Arrogant cu*t.

What he said!

Supposed to be paying 50 million for this Obi Wan Bissanka kid from Palace. Talk about an inflated market!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48770843

[Zimmerman]

On the plus side, it frees up Young for a midfield berth

[Magic]

On the plus side, it frees up Young for a midfield berth

Plus side for who, the opposition??

[Darbyand]

No great revelations here but a decent summary of where we are with 2 weeks to go:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sampilger/ ... ssion=true

The failure to get any dead wood out of the club is probably as bad as only bringing in a couple of young prospects. Looking forward to the new season like a dose of the clap.

[blahblah]

Look on the bright side: you probably enjoyed getting the clap

Seriously though: what are your expectations this season? I'm still thinking that 4th to 6th is open to Lei, Eve and Wol if they can cope with the EL.

[Darbyand]

As things stand I'd say similar to last season with a small hope that Chelsea and Arsenal will sink below and we can be the worst 4th placed team in recent times. That's best case scenario. Worst is in an almighty scrap of teams in 4th-9th.

Couple of signings would make a huge difference of course but it's hard not to be cynical that Woodward allows us to be linked to players via his mates in the press then briefs that prices were just too high but at least we tried. We shall see.

[7lb claimer]

Woodward up to his old tricks - refusing to go on a pre season tour so that he can "stay at home and concentrate on business deals". I suppose he thinks this makes him look good. Didn't he come out with this nonsense last pre season? Why would he go anyway? I'd like to see a graph showing United's decline under this man. Why does he seem to have so much power?

[Zimmerman]

Woodward isn’t the issue per se is he?

The club has been shafted since the Glazers came in.

The merry-go-round of managers and a lack of structured approached to recruitment. Arguably all under his tenure so the buck stops with him.

But most of the transfer dealings have only been slated in retrospect.

United fans have been bedside them with joy for most of said dealings.

Since Ed has been at the top;

Fellaini
Mata
Varela
Herrera
Shaw
Rojo
Di Maria
Blind
Valdez
Depay
Darmian
Schneiderlain
Schweinsteiger
Romero
Martial
Bailey
Pogba
Ibrahimovic
Mkhytaryan
Lindeloff
Lukaku
Matic
Sánchez
Dalot
Fred
Wan Bissaka
James

Plenty of money spent. Plenty of investment in young talent (which fits the fictitious ‘United way’ MO).

It’s only because of City’s ridiculous wealth that the landscape has been skewed. Liverpool have got lucky and arguably have been well run and have a good manager etc. But if it wasn’t for the sale of Countino and the success of Salah... who knows what could have happened. Firmino was a joke Rodgers signing. Luckily something clicked and Klopp managed to get us going in the right direction. But Chelsea, Arsenal, United all in apparent dissarray? Are they? Or is it that City just make it appear so? Chelsea still finished above well run good manager Spurs didn’t they?


To put Eds signings in to context;

Kagawa
Buttner
RvP
Zaha
Jones
de Gea
Young
Smalling
Hernández
Bebe
Lindegaard
Valencia
Owen
Obertan
Diouf
Pogba

All brought in the four seasons prior to Ed (That’s woth Gill and Fergie at the helm).

[thebillfella]

They have actually looked pretty good in the pre-season games so far, primarily because they all look fitter and the workrate has definitely increased. The new signings have both fitted in really well and have been excellent along with (wait for it) Martial and Pogba - lets just hope this isn't just increased effort to attract more suitors.

James gave Spurs a torrid time today and they (like Inter last week) just ended up resorting to hacking him down. AWB looks like he has been playing there for years - won't be long before he is first choice RB for England IMO. McTominay also looking like he is ready to push Matic aside, and both Tuanzebe and Greenwood could save us a fortune in the long term. Nice to see that every goal in preseason so far has either been scored or assisted by someone from the academy.

As far as the transfer dealings are concerned, Woodward is absolutely the issue. It is him that adopted the galactico approach with hugely disproportionate wage structure (moving away from the very real and evidence-based United Way) and it is he that hasn't reinforced the scouting system (or appointed football people to deal with transfer / recruitment strategy). Of all the players Zim lists only 5 of them fall into the young hungry potential talent category and 2 of them are the ones that have just joined.

We all know about the Glaziers and how they have taken more money out of the club than Sheikh Mansour and Abramovich put into their clubs combined during their tenure. Signings and trophies occurred in spite of their ownership not because of it, but their drain meant that we were shopping at Lidl for a number of years while the nouveau riche were shopping at Waitrose. Now everyone has loads of cash so can quite rightly play hardball rather than need to sell as used to be the case; Woodward doesn't seem to have the acumen required to get around this.

[Zimmerman]

He hasn’t though (galactico approach). Covered this last year (or was it earlier this summer).

28 players signed.
There’s a mix of ages, experience and potential, just like United have always done.

[forestfan]

But Chelsea, Arsenal, United all in apparent dissarray? Are they? Or is it that City just make it appear so? Chelsea still finished above well run good manager Spurs didn’t they?

Just about, with Spurs on a much smaller budget, and not signing a single player.

Let's see how Chelsea get on with no signings (apart from the delayed "Tony" Pulisic) this summer. Exactly how many points was Hazard worth to them? If it's 10, they finish a distant sixth this time around. If it's 15, they start their Europa League campaign in July next season. If it's 20, they finish mid-table.

Finishing around 70 points is "disarray" for a team used to challenging for titles (I know, Arsenal haven't done that for some time, but it was the expectation a decade ago). If they were getting 85 points and still finishing a distance behind City, that would be fair enough.

[thebillfella]

He hasn’t though (galactico approach). Covered this last year (or was it earlier this summer).

28 players signed.
There’s a mix of ages, experience and potential, just like United have always done.

And I covered the counter argument. Not like Utd has always done; can't be bothered going through it all again. Part of it comes down to differences in how we actually define "galactico approach".

[thebillfella]

An excellent assessment of the current step change going on atm at Utd. As I've said before, Ole just gets the Utd way and what the fans are looking for.

The big question is whether he can get the players (in particular the current established players) to buy into this approach. The current signs are good though and I'm fairly positive he is steering us in the right direction regardless of how incompetent Woodward is.

Man Utd: Has strategy changed and is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the driving force? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49144693

[blahblah]

Ole keeps going on about some players not being there, but have (m)any been sold? I think it was Darby who banged on about the failure to sell players...

While the Pogba situation is complicated the idea of him as a 2 in a 4231 doesn't impress me as I don't see him bring disciplined enough to hold properly. It is one thing doing it for France with their attack while dominating a WC, but not for a team who won't dominate every match and does he have the guile to be the central one of the 3? For me it has to be 433 with him having a free role, but arguably the difference in formation could be one of pedantic detail - unless the Fernandes rumour is true?

Given that the line between stupidity and genius is almost non-existent: what about Bale as CF?

[Darbyand]

Lukaku left out of the squad for the next friendly. Have to imagine he'll be off before too much longer.

[murf]

Man Utd linked strongly with about 6 £50m+ type players today! Could be a busy 11 days for them.

[thebillfella]

Most of it is nonsense click bait and mischievous agents trying to stir a bidding war. Can't see any more than 2 arriving and wouldn't be surprised if Woodward ends up not bagging any.

Ref Pogba I think we all would prefer him in a 4-3-3 if he stays. Don't know how much fact is in the article but very easy to switch between 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. Hard to tell what formation is being adopted preseason given all the chopping and changing going on but has to be said that he has looked really good preseason.

The trouble with Pogba has never been his ability but consistency and the social media circus he participates in. The good signs so far are that Solksjaer seems to be disciplining those not towing the line in the dressing room rather than in public - the snippet regarding Lingard upping his game in training since being reprimanded for his holiday Instagram schenanigans being a welcome example.

[blahblah]

I think (and yes it is very painful and dangerous ) that the difference is that in a 4-3-3 there is less defensive responsibility on the 2 wide players as they provide the creativity\guile, while in a 4231 they have more as the guile comes from the central one of the 3.

So for Pog in a 433, he is the distribution focus of the 3, getting the ball out wide (usually) and getting into the box which we agree that he can do, and do very well?

Playing him in the 3 of 4231 would be more like a 451 as he lacks the guile and arguably would run around too much, and I really don't see him holding like a Kante clone in a 4231 with the FB's bombing on, except in a VERY good side like France with Griesmann, Mbappe et al.

[Zimmerman]

Most of it is nonsense click bait and mischievous agents trying to stir a bidding war. Can't see any more than 2 arriving and wouldn't be surprised if Woodward ends up not bagging any.

Ref Pogba I think we all would prefer him in a 4-3-3 if he stays. Don't know how much fact is in the article but very easy to switch between 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. Hard to tell what formation is being adopted preseason given all the chopping and changing going on but has to be said that he has looked really good preseason.

The trouble with Pogba has never been his ability but consistency and the social media circus he participates in. The good signs so far are that Solksjaer seems to be disciplining those not towing the line in the dressing room rather than in public - the snippet regarding Lingard upping his game in training since being reprimanded for his holiday Instagram schenanigans being a welcome example.

The same article saying the majority of training sessions have been behind closed doors.. yet we know Lingard is training harder?

What about the AWB and James signings? Don’t these fit the United mould? Done really early in the summer too. Doesn’t Ed deserve credit for those? Or does he just get criticism for bad deals and the good deals are due to someone else?

[Zimmerman]

Playing him in the 3 of 4231 would be more like a 451 as he lacks the guile and arguably would run around too much, and I really don't see him holding like a Kante clone in a 4231 with the FB's bombing on, except in a VERY good side like France with Griesmann, Mbappe et al.

But if he’s playing in the 3 of a 4231... why would he need to play like Kante in the 2? Surely the 2 DM players would have to do that job?

[forestfan]

Lukaku left out of the squad for the next friendly. Have to imagine he'll be off before too much longer.

Doesn’t look like they will sign a direct replacement. Do they have the 20-goal striker they will need to contend for the top four?

[blahblah]

Playing him in the 3 of 4231 would be more like a 451 as he lacks the guile and arguably would run around too much, and I really don't see him holding like a Kante clone in a 4231 with the FB's bombing on, except in a VERY good side like France with Griesmann, Mbappe et al.

But if he’s playing in the 3 of a 4231... why would he need to play like Kante in the 2? Surely the 2 DM players would have to do that job?

I had moved him back into the 2 by then...

[Darbyand]

Lukaku left out of the squad for the next friendly. Have to imagine he'll be off before too much longer.

Doesn’t look like they will sign a direct replacement. Do they have the 20-goal striker they will need to contend for the top four?

I think Lukaku got 12 league goals last season so as Angus Deayton used to say "no change there then". Who knows, there's talk of a swap deal with Dyabala or using the money for Dembele at Lyon. All will be clear in 10 days time.

Still hard to believe it's 30th July in the most crucial transfer window in modern United times (since the last one) and it's 2 prospects in, no players sold.

[Zimmerman]

If it’s any consolation... Liverpool have about 5 extra fixtures, a couple of squad l players less and haven’t signed anybody

[Darbyand]

If it’s any consolation... Liverpool have about 5 extra fixtures, a couple of squad l players less and haven’t signed anybody

Start a Liverpool blog and I'll come and slag them off on it

I am surprised they haven't strengthened. I assume AOC and Lallana are "like having new signings". That's always nonsense of course. I think they need a centre-forward at the very least, to compete with Firmino and give them a different option against deep defences.

[blahblah]

Fernandes deal close to completion apparently (Auntie) so there is the central one in 4231?

[thebillfella]

Most of it is nonsense click bait and mischievous agents trying to stir a bidding war. Can't see any more than 2 arriving and wouldn't be surprised if Woodward ends up not bagging any.

Ref Pogba I think we all would prefer him in a 4-3-3 if he stays. Don't know how much fact is in the article but very easy to switch between 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. Hard to tell what formation is being adopted preseason given all the chopping and changing going on but has to be said that he has looked really good preseason.

The trouble with Pogba has never been his ability but consistency and the social media circus he participates in. The good signs so far are that Solksjaer seems to be disciplining those not towing the line in the dressing room rather than in public - the snippet regarding Lingard upping his game in training since being reprimanded for his holiday Instagram schenanigans being a welcome example.

The same article saying the majority of training sessions have been behind closed doors.. yet we know Lingard is training harder?

What about the AWB and James signings? Don’t these fit the United mould? Done really early in the summer too. Doesn’t Ed deserve credit for those? Or does he just get criticism for bad deals and the good deals are due to someone else?

Yeh, don't know for sure so can only go off what Ole is saying in his press conferences. But that all look fitter / working harder in the friendlies so can we only assume Lingard is part of that otherwise he'd be left at home with Lukaku.

AWB and James absolutely fit the mould and done early so fair play to him for that. But as we have already said, that takes his total number of signings fitting this mould to 5 in 6 years and he hasn't sorted any further mould signings (or more importantly been able to get rid of any of the dead wood) since then - 2 swallows don't make a summer!

Nor has he sorted out the Director of Football role or made too many changes to the scouting system yet, so appraisal is one of failure rather than success. At least Ole seems to be turning around some of the apparent lost causes but as we saw at the end of last season how long will this last for?