The Footie Thread

[4LEX]

ETH has a real mess on his hands now. Failed to deal with the Maguire situation, created another one with Sancho and his biggest signing being rubbish and inactive due to off pitch antics. Now he's got another major one with Onana. De gea had dropped off over the last few years but he was still one of the best keepers in the league. To replace him with a keeper who is better with his feet than hands was a huge risk, especially when his passing ability is wasted as most of the Utd defence and midfield are poor on the ball. He's looked dodgy all season and is the one player that will most likely cost ETH his job.

First time in 50 odd years Utd have conceded 3 goals in 3 games in a row.

 

[TimShady]

ETH has a real mess on his hands now. Failed to deal with the Maguire situation, created another one with Sancho and his biggest signing being rubbish and inactive due to off pitch antics. Now he's got another major one with Onana. De gea had dropped off over the last few years but he was still one of the best keepers in the league. To replace him with a keeper who is better with his feet than hands was a huge risk, especially when his passing ability is wasted as most of the Utd defence and midfield are poor on the ball. He's looked dodgy all season and is the one player that will most likely cost ETH his job.

First time in 50 odd years Utd have conceded 3 goals in 3 games in a row.

Writing Onana off now seems weird. You’d think United fans would learn after De Gea started poorly and ended up being their best player for the best part of a decade.

 

[Swango1980]

Writing Onana off now seems weird. You’d think United fans would learn after De Gea started poorly and ended up being their best player for the best part of a decade.

I think 4LEX is one of the lunatic fringe Billyboots was taking about

Fair play to Onana for speaking to media after. Horrible mistake, yet I thought he was good apart from that. Clearly miles more comfortable on the ball, and made several good saves.

Utd could do with a settled team for a while, and get used to how they defend as a team.

 

[TimShady]

I think 4LEX is one of the lunatic fringe Billyboots was taking about

Fair play to Onana for speaking to media after. Horrible mistake, yet I thought he was good apart from that. Clearly miles more comfortable on the ball, and made several good saves.

Utd could do with a settled team for a while, and get used to how they defend as a team.

The lad’s come to a team with a shambolic back line who concede shots from central positions. He’s going to let in goals based on that alone. See so many brain dead comments on social media quoting the stat about his goals to shots ratio so far. Nothing like an out of context fact to prove nothing!

 

[4LEX]

Writing Onana off now seems weird. You’d think United fans would learn after De Gea started poorly and ended up being their best player for the best part of a decade.

Theres a few differences in the sense De gea was a lot younger and was built like a skinny kid. Also given the weaknesses in the Utd side, that £50m could've been better spent. As a result they hit FFP limits and were fishing around for cheap loans on deadline day. If it ain't broke, don't fix it etc.

I think 4LEX is one of the lunatic fringe Billyboots was taking about

Fair play to Onana for speaking to media after. Horrible mistake, yet I thought he was good apart from that. Clearly miles more comfortable on the ball, and made several good saves.

Utd could do with a settled team for a while, and get used to how they defend as a team.

Conceded 4 goals and was good? What's that about the lunatic fringe.... He made a few decent saves when the game was over, just like he did on Saturday. As I said, brave signing by ETH but he needs performances and clean sheets very soon. What are your genuine hopes for the season?

 

[Swango1980]

Theres a few differences in the sense De gea was a lot younger and was built like a skinny kid. Also given the weaknesses in the Utd side, that £50m could've been better spent. As a result they hit FFP limits and were fishing around for cheap loans on deadline day. If it ain't broke, don't fix it etc.



Conceded 4 goals and was good? What's that about the lunatic fringe.... He made a few decent saves when the game was over, just like he did on Saturday. As I said, brave signing by ETH but he needs performances and clean sheets very soon. What are your genuine hopes for the season?

Ohh, so he should have saved all 4 goals now. The second goal smashed into the bottom corner, the Kane penalty and the smash from close range at the end???

Apart from the howler first goal, he has not had an error prone start to his career at Utd. But, he has a team in front of him that have gifted easy chances to the opposition and they've punished us.

My hopes for the season is that most of the first team in ETH eyes get fit and stay fit, and that no more players get prosecuted or down tools like Sancho.

 

[Reemul]

I think Onana will be a weak point for Utd, he hasn't looked particularly good since he arrived. Sure Man Utd have their issues, he might just be one of them.

 

[Billysboots]

Ohh, so he should have saved all 4 goals now. The second goal smashed into the bottom corner, the Kane penalty and the smash from close range at the end???

Apart from the howler first goal, he has not had an error prone start to his career at Utd. But, he has a team in front of him that have gifted easy chances to the opposition and they've punished us.

My hopes for the season is that most of the first team in ETH eyes get fit and stay fit, and that no more players get prosecuted or down tools like Sancho.

It does grind my gears when a goalkeeper is singled out for criticism when a team is shipping goals.

There is obviously no escaping the fact that Onana was horribly at fault for Bayern’s first, but he could do nothing about the rest. And I don’t recall him having the finger pointed at him for too many other goals so far this season.

The issue is three fold for me. First, United are utterly incapable of retaining possession higher up the pitch. Arsenal away was a classic case in point. They played some lovely stuff deep in their own half that day, ironically with Onana being central to most of it. But almost every time they crossed half way they gave possession away cheaply, inviting pressure onto themselves time and again.

Second, Casemiro has not only had a below par start to the season when judged by the standards he set last year, but it is glaringly obvious to all that he is desperately in need of quality alongside him. I note 4LEX’s observation that the club were scrambling around for loan signings on deadline day but that rather detracts from the fact that Amrabat was a target for most of the summer. How they got him through the door is all rather irrelevant - what matters is they got him, he’s a quality player in the eyes of every pundit I have heard talk about him, and he can only add some steel to a really soft central midfield.

And finally, any defence which is missing three of its first choice players is bound to struggle. Dalot is nowhere near the defender AWB is, and Lindelöf has proved any number of times that he is way too lightweight at the top level. The defence is makeshift, and it shows.

I recall 4LEX being hugely critical of ETH’s appointment to begin with, so Onana’s mistake for one goal, and United’s inability to keep a clean sheet, is perhaps being used rather unfairly as a means of bringing all this to the manager’s door because of his signing of one player.

The problems are far wider than that, many of them beyond the control of the manager.

 

[backwoodsman]

If the defence leave the goalkeeper as a sitting duck, then it's hardly fair to blame the goalie for all the goals.

 

[Bdill93]

So my two best mates jet off this morning to Poland for tonight's game. This is the one and only time I hate where I work as I cant book time off and be with them.

AVFC back in Europe, 5.45KO - Warsaw away

UP THE VILLAAAA

 

[Tashyboy]

The lad’s come to a team with a shambolic back line who concede shots from central positions. He’s going to let in goals based on that alone. See so many brain dead comments on social media quoting the stat about his goals to shots ratio so far. Nothing like an out of context fact to prove nothing!

For someone that has stated opinions are nothing without facts. You are now picking and choosing which facts are relevant.
Bottom line Onana has not settled well. And having seen Claudio Bravo replace Joe Hart, I know exactly where Alex is coming from.
Re Utd, listening to OGS yesterday. He was quite scathing in his opinions of some of the players in the dressing room. TH has a big job on his hands.

Edit to say, when my lad saw that Utd had signed Onana he said Utd have signed a quality keeper. He follows Keepers like most football fans follow strikers.

 

[TimShady]

For someone that has stated opinions are nothing without facts. You are now picking and choosing which facts are relevant.
Bottom line Onana has not settled well. And having seen Claudio Bravo replace Joe Hart, I know exactly where Alex is coming from.
Re Utd, listening to OGS yesterday. He was quite scathing in his opinions of some of the players in the dressing room. TH has a big job on his hands.

Edit to say, when my lad saw that Utd had signed Onana he said Utd have signed a quality keeper. He follows Keepers like most football fans follow strikers.

Your lad seems to be Fab Romano, as opposed to any other person with a Sky and BT subscription.

 

[Orikoru]

Writing Onana off now seems weird. You’d think United fans would learn after De Gea started poorly and ended up being their best player for the best part of a decade.

Whenever I've watched Onana in previous years this doesn't look out of character for him. I remember him dropping a clanger against Liverpool a couple of years back, I don't think he's ever been mistake-free exactly. Such is the modern game where being able to pass it is inexplicably valued more than keeping the ball out of the net. We're probably not far away from a time when Pep or someone sticks Stones in nets for a cup tie.

 

[Billysboots]

Re Utd, listening to OGS yesterday. He was quite scathing in his opinions of some of the players in the dressing room. TH has a big job on his hands.

It’s times like this I wish that, just this once, Solskjaer would forget what a thoroughly decent, principled man he is, and just name names!

But, if I was to hazard a guess, I’ll set the ball rolling with Martial, Ronaldo, Dean Henderson, Jesse Lingard, Jadon Sancho and Paul Pogba. Each either had an enormous ego, an attitude problem or both.

Thankfully only a couple now remain. But there are still others in the squad nowhere near good enough.

 

[Tashyboy]

It’s times like this I wish that, just this once, Solskjaer would forget what a thoroughly decent, principled man he is, and just name names!

But, if I was to hazard a guess, I’ll set the ball rolling with Martial, Ronaldo, Dean Henderson, Jesse Lingard, Jadon Sancho and Paul Pogba. Each either had an enormous ego, an attitude problem or both.

Thankfully only a couple now remain. But there are still others in the squad nowhere near good enough.

Saw a link yesterday on Facebook. Rooney had lost a game playing for utd, he was still livid the day after and he walks into the training ground changing room and Pogba and Lingard was dancing to music coming from a music box. He picked it up and launched it across the room. He said their attitude stunk. He quoted where Pogba and Lingard are now and said it don’t surprise him.
I kinda get where OGS is coming from in not naming players, esp if he wants to continue managing as will players trust him. But he has said what fans have thought for years. There’s problems with players at Utd.

 

[Orikoru]

It’s times like this I wish that, just this once, Solskjaer would forget what a thoroughly decent, principled man he is, and just name names!

But, if I was to hazard a guess, I’ll set the ball rolling with Martial, Ronaldo, Dean Henderson, Jesse Lingard, Jadon Sancho and Paul Pogba. Each either had an enormous ego, an attitude problem or both.

Thankfully only a couple now remain. But there are still others in the squad nowhere near good enough.

I'm curious, why Dean Henderson? Obviously I'm not privy to any inside information, but surely all he wanted was to play?

 

[Billysboots]

I'm curious, why Dean Henderson? Obviously I'm not privy to any inside information, but surely all he wanted was to play?

It comes from any number of sources that Henderson was one of the most disruptive members of the dressing room. Some of the things he said publicly would tend to support that suggestion.

 

[clubchamp98]

It comes from any number of sources that Henderson was one of the most disruptive members of the dressing room. Some of the things he said publicly would tend to support that suggestion.

Boils down to who is in charge of recruitment.
Paying the sort of money for players that UTD have, they need to do their homework better.
if they do start being disruptive get shut.

Unfortunately keepers make mistakes but when they do it’s costly.
until Onana did UTD were well in the game and should have been ahead imo.

 

[Tashyboy]

The old uns are the best

 

[Tashyboy]