Let's All Laugh At... Let's all wonder what's going on at United?

[thebenjamin]

Let's hope he gets fired mid season. Only way to avoid a very difficult summer for us.

 

[branchie]

Christ, they are dire

 

[Danfunkel]

Let's hope he gets fired mid season. Only way to avoid a very difficult summer for us.

I’d be more worried about us losing Poch to Madrid rather than another PL side. Seen Madrid fancy (for some reason) having Maureen back so maybe he can go there and Zidane to UTD

 

[ardiles]

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Let's hope he gets fired mid season. Only way to avoid a very difficult summer for us.

We all know he will be sacked after the Newcastle match on January 2, and the new manager will be in place for our match.

 

[allatsea]

Does it make me a bad person if I say Bailly is a very good central defender and I would like him st Spurs ?

 

[Col_M]

I’d like to see him Splash another £200m on mediocrity so that they can sit on the bench whilst earning 400k a week, BEFORE he’s sacked. Kevin seal with Martia would be nice too.

 

[spursfan77]

Does it make me a bad person if I say Bailly is a very good central defender and I would like him st Spurs ?

I thought he had a good game today. I just think he struggles, like a lot of their current squad, with the weight of the Man U shirt. It’s too much for a lot of them and I think that’s what Mourinho has been getting at for the last few months. He’s part of the problem definitely but not all of it.

 

[ikky]

 

[ItsBoris]

Mourinho really has been a car crash at Man U. I do not know how he gets away with stealing a living there. He's spent something like £360M in just over two years, and that's after inheriting top quality players like Martial, Mata, Rashford and De Gea. He spent close to £80M buying two new CBs (Bailly and Lindelof), and now says he cannot trust his defence. He has spent £89M on Pogba, £40M on Matic, and £52M on Fred and yet his midfield is all over the place and cannot dominate games. He bought Mikhitaryan for a massive fee and failed to integrate him, a year or so later he swapped him for Alexis Sanchez (and spends close to £500k per week on his wages) and cannot integrate him either. He spent £75M on Lukaku and he's turned into an embarrassing footballer who has a heavy first touch and cannot score, mainly as Mourinho's tactics do not play into his strengths (he needs balls played into channels for him to run onto). Young players like Shaw, Lingard, Pogba, Rashford, have all gone backwards. How can they give him another £200M to rebuild this car crash of a project?

To play Devil's advocate (almost literally), how could that possibly all be down to Mourinho? Especially as the same pattern repeated itself with previous managers (Moyes and Van Gaal).

For example, Moyes signed Mata, and he was never the same as the player he was for Chelsea.
Van Gaal signed Di Maria, Falcao, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Martial, and Depay, and not one of them lived up to their ability/potential.
Now the same pattern is repeating itself with Mourinho - signing Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Sanchez, Lukaku, Fred, and whoever else (Matic was a donkey at Chelsea as well so I didn't expect anything from him). Does it make that much sense that three different managers have all had exactly the same problems but that each case is completely independent of the other?
Mourinho has at least had some successes - Ibrahimovic was good, Lukaku was good last season, Bailly was good for a while (before he got injured iirc). So it can't just be that playing in a Mourinho team is so difficult for a player that they just can't be their best. That seems like a conveniently lazy explanation.

You could be right though. I'm not exactly sure what to make of it.

 

[Flynn]

Having the best (most expensive) players means nothing if they don’t get coached. Poch could drill that team into something special. There in lies the problem.

 

[buckley]

I believe that Fergie left them in the lurch as he had an ageing side that needed many players replacing and on reflection it makes Fergie seem better than already was.He did not want to oust his long time favourites .
The same thing happened at Liverpool when Dagliesh left he left them with an ageing over their best squad and the new manager/managers have had to try and take up the slack.
My statement on Fergie looking even better than he was needs explaining and that is if he had replaced players that should have been replaced the new manager would have been in a better place to succeed the same as dagliesh.
New managers at United and Liverpool were in a catch up race from day one United are still in catch up and Liverpool are back in what they see as there rightful place.

 

[Marty]

There was a United fan who mailed Football 365s mailbox last week who made some really good points about United's recruitment. Full mail here.

Let’s go back in time a little….. everybody knows that United’s great resurgence essentially started with the class of 92 ( 3 world class players) and the Neville’s plus Butt and was completed by the signing of Cantona , a sublime footballer with a point to prove having been essentially kicked out of France and finding a short term home in Leeds were he won a title and clearly shouldn’t have been sold. He was a hungry footballer with a point to prove basis what happened to him in France.

When Eric decided to hang up his boots Ferguson changed the make up of the team particularly up front where he signed Cole and Yorke, both in my opinion underrated players particularly Cole whose goal scoring record was second to none. Cole was a hungry footballer with a point to prove basis being sold by Newcastle. Yorke had made the jump from Villa and gladly accepted the step up.

When that second great team of Fergie started to creak United went out and then bought another pair of attackers Ronaldo and Rooney who at that point were arguably the best yet not quite proven young talent in European football. Ronaldo was a hungry footballer believing himself to be on the verge of superstardom and needed a bigger stage than Lisbon to prove it. Rooney in those days was well basically just hungry ( carrying a little too much timber) but for a kid from the streets of Liverpool was just as hungry for success and his desire has been there for all his career.

So what has been United’s transfer policy of the last few years ? Go out and sign potentially the best young hungry talent in European football … Bale , Ali , Kane , Van Dijk , Eriksen ( see why Spurs are so good here ) Richarlison, Sane , Fabinho , Firmino , Mané and there are many more … the one player who fits in this category is De Gea .. an unqualified success and arguably the only player in the current team who is significantly improved.

So what do United do , instead of competing and signing players of the above ilk that with their financial clout and overall club brand they could have easily taken… they sign the following…..
Pogba , left once already , won everything at Juve and France …. (onto his 3rd club)
Lukaku , been round the block , Chelsea , West Brom Everton … (4th premier club)
Matic , signed and released by Chelsea , resigned by Chelsea … ( 4th club)
Sanchez , Barca , Arsenal … knackered , too much wonga ( 3 rd big club)

There are literally hundreds of examples of exactly the same mistakes being made at other “big clubs” … Chelsea signing Torres , United with Veron , Liverpool with Joe Cole… Liverpool with Morientes , all of these players have been excellent at one stage of their career … BUT it is always at either the club they started at or after their first big move…..once you are onto your 3rd or 4th club , the desire clearly wanes , the legs become wearier and the wallet is bursting at the seams…… there is always the odd exception … Ronaldo springs to mind… but compare him to say Tevez and say Schevchenko and the trend is clear….

Quite simply if United want to return to the top of European football they just need to go back in time a bit and look at what made them successful… signing the youngest talent first…. not third hand….

But of course it doesn't take into account that Jose is the last "top" manager you'd trust with young, up and coming players these days.

 

[peteblue]

Jose Mourinho has released a Christmas album. Here is the TV advert.

 

[Tucker]

Maureen has been sacked!

 

[Marty]

 

[Monkey boy]

Let the rumour mill begin

 

[Gb160]

Christ I wasn't expecting that mid season.
Wonder who gets the gig?

Interesting the press didn't have a whiff of it.

 

[WalkerboyUK]

Uh-oh... Things could get interesting for us over the next couple of weeks!

 

[tototoner]

que loads of Pochettino to United links now

I expect Carrick to take over until end of season, unless Zidane is already in place to take over