Manchester United

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

think Neves is more likely to go to PSG.

Seems like Ugarte will be heading to United.

will manu cook next season?

 

[Loki]

will manu cook next season?

Why not. Watching them failing in football for over a decade, it's probably time to look for something else aside football.

 

[soul24rage]

will manu cook next season?

We'll see after their summer transfers, but the signs are positive.

Ugarte can't build up play so will need to rely on Mainoo and Dalot inverting from RB to do that.

Lisandro is also there to help too who they missed badly last year.

 

[Horatio]

Van nistelrooij will be great help to strikers

 

[Maradona37]

Some of them are starting to get carried away again - as always before any football has been played.

But to be fair plenty of others are playing down expectations as they have been there and seen it all before in the last decade.

Yoro being potentially injured could be a problem for them, though it remains to be seen how he will do in the PL anyway.

I hate them so hope they struggle again. But if they do well I will give credit where it is due. I am fair like that.

 

[serghei]

Some of them are starting to get carried away again - as always before any football has been played.

But to be fair plenty of others are playing down expectations as they have been there and seen it all before in the last decade.

Yoro being potentially injured could be a problem for them, though it remains to be seen how he will do in the PL anyway.

I hate them so hope they struggle again. But if they do well I will give credit where it is due. I am fair like that.

Them doing well means what exactly? Top 4?

A lucky cup here and there?

They haven't done well since 2012 or so.

 

[serghei]

If they follow Arsenal trajectory under Arteta, and that's Arsenal mind you, they should be competing for EPL very soon. That would be close to doing well considering they are the no1 club in terms of investments. Even above Qatar's club.

 

[ajnotkeith]

Them doing well means what exactly? Top 4?

A lucky cup here and there?

They haven't done well since 2012 or so.

They weren't lucky in either of the cups they won and won last one against City whilst outplaying them.

 

[serghei]

They weren't lucky in either of the cups they won and won last one against City whilst outplaying them.

They almost got sent home by Coventry, saved by VAR. Huge luck.

 

[ajnotkeith]

They almost got sent home by Coventry, saved by VAR. Huge luck.

They weren't saved... it was offside and that's the rule.

A marginal offside is still not a legal goal and not lucky to have that ruled out.

 

[Maradona37]

If they follow Arsenal trajectory under Arteta, and that's Arsenal mind you, they should be competing for EPL very soon. That would be close to doing well considering they are the no1 club in terms of investments. Even above Qatar's club.

They'll never follow Arsenal's trajectory (and I am not convinced that Arsenal won't fall back into the pack again themselves). United's biggest problem is that they cannot play possession, controlling football - poor counter-attack football is built into their ethos as a club. Only Real Madrid can play that way and be successful in this era (and they play that way against the best teams, United play that way against lesser teams).

They also don't buy the right players. The correlation with success is with wages spent anyway, not transfer fees (see Soccernomics), but they vastly overpay on wages too.

I think top four would be them doing well. I think with their manager, squad and style of play, top four would be an achievement. That's how far they have fallen. So I would give them credit for it - assuming they put in good performances and don't get outplayed and fluke points like they generally do and like they did two seasons ago.

Either way, I really doubt anyone else will win the title while Guardiola is at City. Only Liverpool managed it since Guardiola's second season. United are a million miles off City in player quality, manager quality, running of the club, and style of play.

They weren't lucky in either of the cups they won and won last one against City whilst outplaying them.

With all due respect, I don't agree that they outplayed City at all lol. They scored a lucky freak goal from Garnacho, then an admittedly beautiful goal. The rest of the game they sat back and defended hoping City couldn't break them down. They hardly 'outplayed' them. Outplayed is what Spain did to England - controlled the ball and took the game to them. United defended relatively well but you don't outplay anyone by sitting back and countering most of the game (and the second half they hardly got out their own half).

Play that game again another 9 times and City win about 7 times no problem. City also vastly underestimated United that day and were still hungover from title celebrations - very unprofessional. United won the only way they could - taking an early lead then parking the bus to protect it.

The year before in the Carabao Cup Final they also conceded the ball to Newcastle and relied on counter-attack. An issue they have had for many years - they cannot play possession football.

I notice Man United fans (I don't mean you) like to claim they outplayed teams even when they didn't. But refuse to admit when they get outplayed themselves, even when it's more dominant than anything they do to teams.

Then as serghei says that Coventry goal was likely onside - the lines were drawn appallingly- and would have been given with semi-automated offsides.

Anyway, not looking for an argument, but my overall point is - even if you win - you can't claim to outplay anyone when you play sitting back and counter-attack football, and certainly not Man City. How do you outplay a team by sitting back for an hour and inviting them to break you down?

 

[Maradona37]

1-0 down against Betis then 'Amad' dives for a penalty, now 3-1 up.

Cheating in pre-season - some things never change with this lot.

 

[Maradona37]

They're saying that Fernandes is better than de Bruyne now, because he 'plays in a worse team and gets better stats'

Really shows how few of them actually play the game - anyone who has played football extensively can see De Bruyne (before decline) is twice the player Fernandes is. That's why De Bruyne is the main man for the multiple title winners and why Fernandes has never even been involved in a big league title race or a CL semi final.

They don't seem to understand that players don't exist in a vacuum - the reason man United are a 'worse team' than Man City has largely been down to De Bruyne being a key player for City and Bruno being the best Man United can offer. Equally, if 'Bruno' played for City, Pep would never tolerate his chaos and hero ball and inability to control a game. Yes De Bruyne gives the ball away and takes risks too, but he doesn't produce the most baffling passes leading to an opposition counter-attack like ratboy does.

This is what happens when you're so starved of success. You become desperate and deluded. All your players are 'world-class' to a certain subset of fans yet somehow held back by the other 'world-class' players. A lot of them believe Luke Shaw is 'the best left back in the world' too and just can't stay fit to showcase it. Luke Shaw who has never achieved a thing in his career. It's frightening levels of cluelessness and insularity as if football clubs don't exist outside of Old Trafford.

Like I said, they're the most clueless, deluded fanbase and this is reason number 788994996.

 

[Givenchy]

Something weird going on at United. I don't know if EtH has the same agent as a lot of his ex-Ajax boys and he's getting a cut but he's just signed another 2 I think that Daddy Cool looking guy played under him also.

 

[mc_lovin]

If Xavi was getting the gang back together @Birdy would be seething. But since it's his darling Ten Hag he gets a pass

Mad transfer strategy by United.