Foxholer
Blackballed
At last they've realised the folly of having someone as an 'interim manager' for an extended period and done something concrete about it!
He is still there, RR, until the end of the season though. It will be interesting to see if the attitude changes or whether the drift gets worse.
Swango1980
Well-known member
At last!? This was their plan when they appointed RR anyway, so I doubt they've finally changed their tact.
Swango1980
Well-known member
That is true. And, on paper, I felt it was a positive move. However, I'll only start feeling more confident when there seem to be positive changes on the pitch. I've had false hope over the last few years enough times.
Foxholer
Blackballed
Did the words 'for an extended period' not mean anything to you?
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Deleted member 1740
Guest
Well set up, Not sure about that H. They couldnt keep clean sheets and thats not a definition of being well set up.
They conceded the following goals
67 in 15/16
67 in 16/17
61 in 17/18
56 in 18/19
65 in 19/20
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Deleted member 1740
Guest
This one is my favourite, word for word?
United's squad, in my opinion, is not far off the best squad in history of PL.......
???
Swango1980
Well-known member
Did the "....." not give it away a bit that I was taking the mick!?
HomerJSimpson
Hall of Famer
By the same token they must have won enough to stay up for four years. Only a point of Villa and a better goal difference when they went down. The point is they knew their limitations and played within those. I think Howe knew the defence were leaky but on limited resources who are you going to bring in and want to go to a club like that. A ninth and twelfth place finishes shows he could get them playing decent and organised football to achieve those finishes. I think like a lot of promoted sides, if they stay up after the first year and aren't making signings to keep developing they get found out tactically which ultimately is what happened
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
Howe is awful.
Good going forward poor at back
Reminds me of bilic in the sense former defender who can't set up a defence
I very much hope, and indeed suspect, that ten Hag has been very clear in his expectations before he put pen to paper. The constant revolving door of managers is a waste of time - it’s the structure of the club which needs to change, something the allegedly clueless Gary Neville has been saying for years.
Ten Hag strikes me as a man who knows his own mind, and one who has a very clear philosophy about how he wants the game to be played. But far more importantly, the suggestion is that he is a man who does not suffer fools. I doubt very much that he would have taken the job unless the club has committed to change. In that respect, my view is that the movement of Rangnick to a consultancy role, combined with the appointment of a young, modern coach is perhaps the most positive change the club has made in over a decade. We shall see.
As for being given time, I would far rather suffer a couple of seasons of average results, providing there is evidence of a structure and style on the pitch, and performances themselves start to improve. Albeit with the occasional great performance thrown in, the last few years have largely been dross.
I have said it many times, but I do not go to football matches, paying good money for the privilege, only to feel my anger, and with it my blood pressure, go through the roof. United are a truly awful watch these days - no joy about anything they do, on or off the pitch. I want the club to make me smile again, and to look forward to my drive down the Chester Road.
If that takes time, I’m willing to wait.
Foxholer
Blackballed
The biggest possible barrier I see is the influence Ferguson might have.
Serarately, since Ferguson, United have only really had 1 (or maybe 2) actual top level big club Managers, and the Man U experience hasn't been great for them.
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Deleted member 1740
Guest
That auld chestnut ???
Swango1980
Well-known member
It is probably worth learning to interpret the context of a post before taking things too seriously, and then trying to take the out of context statement to try and make a point. Because, when the context is actually explained (as if it had to to most people!?), it doesn't really support you initial point at all.
Even if I was the most biased Man Utd fan on earth, I still couldn't seriously be deluded enough to think United's current squad is best in PL history, better than the 1998/99 squad, or the squad with Rooney / Tevez / Ronaldo as the front 3. And, if you genuinely thought I was making a serious point at the time, I have no doubt you and many others would have challenged me on it immediately. You didn't, so I'm pretty sure you knew I wasn't being serious at all
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Deleted member 1740
Guest
Hey @Swango1980 here's your actual post.
I read it a dozen times when you posted and couldnt see the joke in it, so i've took it exactly how you've written it.
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Deleted member 1740
Guest
I dont like to challenge everything i disagree with, i'm not like Liverpoolphil ?
My rule of thumb is if there's a smiley on the post then that represents there's a modicum of humour to it.
Yours seemed to be, in your own words "your opinion".
Own it and accept you got a little bit too excited when Ronaldo came back.
Swango1980
Well-known member
Well found (back on Page 762), must have taken a while. It also helps ME put into context why I said that, back in Sep 21 (I assumed you were referring to a post further into the season, rather than near the very start). Sure, close to the best PL in Premier League history was probably overstating my point, although the point I was making was, on paper at the time, we had great talent. We finished second the year before, and with the additions we had, felt we should be challenging at the top against two of the other teams who'd consider themselves amongst the best. That was my opinion at the time, and I was using it to vent my frustration at Ole (who most would agree, probably not the best manager in the world).
However, once RR arrived, it has now become blindingly obvious what a let down these players are. I never predicted that the likes of Maguire, Wan Bissaka, Bruno, Rashford and many others would experience horrific losses of form and confidence, that Greenwood would do what he supposedly did and that pretty much all the players would simply give up, and not bother running. Now, maybe they just cannot pick themselves up for RR either (no excuse) and they'd be a killer team under Klopp or Pep, but I will no longer give them that amount of credit. Not even close. There may be a lot of rubbish going on behind the scenes that we don't know about, I just can't get my head around the fact a whole team of players seem completely disinterested
So yes, fair enough, it very much looks like I was wrong about this squad of players. Although, to be fair, I have not held back since that post, and have now been immensely critical of the same squad of players. A fairly similar squad who could suddenly play good football when Ole first arrived simply because it looked like they could be bothered, then gave up when he signed his permanent deal, had intermittent decent performances for a while, and then have become the utter embarrassment that they are now. It probably highlights well that talent (which they've pretty much all shown in the past) goes absolutely nowhere if the mentality is poor.
P.S. I was excited when Ronaldo came back, his debut was possibly one of the most exciting times I've had as a Utd fan, and I'm glad he did as him and DeGea are about the only good highlights to come from this season.
Foxholer
Blackballed
I'm always a bit torn when admiring G'keepers so highly. It so often reflects badly on the rest of the team - agreed, Ronaldo aside. Great to see occasional feats of brilliance; just not having to see it constantly!
Peter Schmeichel (ex step-son's hero) certainly didn't hold back if he felt the guys ahead of him had underperformed to put his goal in jeapardy!
nickjdavis
Head Pro
Yep, fair enough - throwing 90 million quid at the problem certainly did the job. Howe will probably be decent for them from now on, since he won't need to coach them how to defend - just buy better defenders.
Sorry but the 90 million "reason" doesn't wash and is an oversimplification peddled by many folks who now see their desire to see Newcastle relegated being ripped asunder.
To dismiss the achievement as being purely down to money, simply glosses over what has actually been achieved by Howe, his staff and the team. Trippier only started 4 games before being injured on the 13th Feb and hasn't played since. Guimaraes had 5 late sub appearances before actually starting his first game on the 10th March.
Joelinton has been resurrected as a player by Howe, the team now plays with a cohesive purpose, a sense of desire and ambition which is now mirrored in the stands. The team now displays guts and commitment. Money doesn't buy that.
ColchesterFC
Journeyman Pro
Sky reporting that Harry McGuire has received a bomb threat to his house. Guess this backs up the earlier posts about morons and scumbags following football clubs.
