Utd now just another big club | All "United losing identity" stuff here

hurricane thunderclap

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Part of (if there is such a thing) as the United way is in flowing and attacking football , our academy couldn't produce it at the present time (no shame Chelsea spend a fortune looking for young stars) So we splash out on world class game changers and that is our identity.
 

predator

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Football fan synonyms: Impulsive, knee jerkers, impetuous. Etc.

We have only splashed majorly this summer because we were in a crisis. If the club go another year without Champions league football then there would be a serious meltdown across the whole institution. I don't think we'll carry on doing what City, PSG, Barca, Madrid and Chelsea have done in recent years. They buy expensive players when they already look strong and in a position to compete. Over the past year we have looked extremely average and in no way a challenger for silverware.
We may have changed our ethos regarding transfers this summer but I would expect business as usual next season if we do get back to winning ways.
 

Amadaeus

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This new identity is not bad to be honest. We made fun of City, Chelsea, Psg and Madrid for some of the expenditures they made in the past, but they are the club in football who currently looks the strongest and their style of football are not that bad either. I have no doubt if we continue to buy world class player at the rate of those clubs aforementioned, we will find some form of balance and all the fans will appreciate this new identity. However, hopefully we will not completely ignore our youth like those clubs. A good balance between buying world class players and promoting acedemy graduates ala Baracelona is the way to go.
 

Adzzz

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Any notion we've lost 'our identity' is utter bollocks, it's not even worth discussing. Bizarre nonsense.
 

ravi2

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Any notion we've lost 'our identity' is utter bollocks, it's not even worth discussing. Bizarre nonsense.
Agreed, I know no one in real life who actually feels this way.
I and all my MUFC supporting friends are thrilled.

Some people are never happy.
 

Miscemayl

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Glad we are evolving.
Sticking to "identity" while accepting mediocrity is simply complacent stubborness and nothing to be happy about.

Our identity is winning, that should be our ideal!
 

Sherzad

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There is a bit about promoting youth in this article..

 

Lynk

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United was only unique because of Ferguson. Having a manager with the vision to forge not just one team but 3 or 4 at the HIGHEST level is almost unthinkable now, added to that the sheer number of titles he won.
 

Mersault

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I'm sad to see Danny leave, but other than that I see nothing at all in this losing identity business. It's perfect when we've got talent coming through like the '92 class, Wes Brown, Januzaj - that level of potential. But there is no reason we should be settling for mediocrity just because having players who come through the ranks being our ethos. If they're good enough they're good enough, if not, ship them out.

I don't think Van Gaal is unreasonable at all when it comes to this and I assume he'll be more ready than SAF in his later years to give youth an actual chance. His record speaks for itself. Blackett is already in the team and will benefit enormously from training under Van Gaal and hopefully Wilson too.

It's not Van Gaal's fault that we had half a squad of players nowhere near good enough. He gave players a chance, was fair, even Ashley Young and Valencia managed to get a stay of execution. But Van Gaal also has the balls other people don't have.

Making the most money in the league and not strengthening where we seriously lack quality is beyond depressing. That's been addressed somewhat. Though of course, there's the Glazer aspect to the whole thing.
 

El Zoido

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The poll at the bottom of the article - "is LVG right? Is the United job easier than the Spurs job?"

Didn't he say Spurs would have been the easy option?
 

Eyepopper

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If our identity is Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley maybe we're better off losing it.
 

The Man Himself

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http://www.theguardian.com/football...er-united-not-sold-soul-bought-big?CMP=twt_gu

Manchester United have not sold their soul – they’ve always bought big

Good article by Daniel Taylor.
Just now finished reading it before popping in this thread :)
We have always spent big and we have given chances to academy players too. Ours is kind of middle road to just spending or just relying on academy. In the end, for a club of our size, players should be of that calibre. If we get them from academy, nothing like that. Else we need to splash when needed as was the case this summer.
 

Danny1982

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Honestly, when you saw our performance and result today, which feeling did you have? Identity lost, or identity restored?
 

Adzzz

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Honestly, when you saw our performance and result today, which feeling did you have? Identity lost, or identity restored?
Well it was a fundamental United performance. Give no heed to the media, they all question Mata's role at our club. Laughable nonsense.
 

Siorac

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Honestly, when you saw our performance and result today, which feeling did you have? Identity lost, or identity restored?
Honestly, I'm nowhere near fecked up enough in the head to think winning a league game against QPR in September has any influence on our identity.
 

Shark

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Honestly, when you saw our performance and result today, which feeling did you have? Identity lost, or identity restored?
Identity lost.

I missed Valencia and Young crossing it to each other at the other side of the pitch. I missed Fletcher and Cleverly providing no pace, awareness or creativity. I missed Nani losing the ball in dangerous areas or hitting a shot miles over the bar. I missed Hernandez killing our link up play. I missed Welbeck missing a sitter and falling on his arse inside the box. Bring it all back ffs!
 

Renegade81

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Rip the Danny Welbeck Arsenal Player thread. It was good while it lasted. Our new identity is born.
 

Danny1982

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Honestly, I'm nowhere near fecked up enough in the head to think winning a league game against QPR in September has any influence on our identity.
:confused:

I think you need to calm down a bit so your head can understand what people are saying. Nobody is talking the future and the potential or even the meaning of this game. I'm talking about the feeling you had when you were watching the game.
 

Siorac

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:confused:

I think you need to calm down a bit so your head can understand what people are saying. Nobody is talking the future and the potential or even the meaning of this game. I'm talking about the feeling you had when you were watching the game.
Relax, I was just kidding. It was a bit insulting though, sorry about that.

I still believe that this whole "identity" debate is pointless. What I felt during the game was that we played well and the new signings seemed to fit in quickly which is promising.
 

KeninDC

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Today I had the pleasure of watching Manchester United. It's been a while; for the past year I've been watching some guys in red pretending to be United.

Welcome back.
 

thejtrain

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How dare we field so many stars and have a few in the bench too? Not to mention benching our bestest youngster Januzaj while only playing Evans and Blackett. Clearly the identity is broken because that's very much unlike us.
 

CLARiiON

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I am not good with United's history. But did you guys ever have many players in the playing eleven like Barca do from academy? I don't think I heard that much rumbling in past about United's academy players, I could be very wrong though. Is all the fuss made beacuse of Welback?
I was looking forward to Januzaj, as I have seen very little of him. I guess his chances to get decent playing time also reduced beacuse of recent purchases.
 

KM

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I am not good with United's history. But did you guys ever have many players in the playing eleven like Barca do from academy? I don't think I heard that much rumbling in past about United's academy players, I could be very wrong though. Is all the fuss made beacuse of Welback?
I was looking forward to Januzaj, as I have seen very little of him. I guess his chances to get decent playing time also reduced beacuse of recent purchases.
When did you start watching football? I'm not criticising you but the class of 92 is fairly recent!

Before that it there were the Busby Babes and the post munich babes team too.
 

Winrar

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If there was any identity we lost today, it's the static, zombie passing football that we've witnessed especially last season.
 

#07

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From one extreme to the other with the press sometimes.
 

Xaviesta

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From one extreme to the other with the press sometimes.
This is the type that'll get a vast amount of comments, which is what the author and the telegraph will love.
 

Dante

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We have lost our identity. Most people don't care, but that doesn't mean it's not true for others.
 

sullydnl

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If we've lost our identity that easily then it mustn't have been much of an identity in the first place.
 

dannyrhinos89

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Only the boring old farts complain about us losing our identity.

Falcao and Di Maria become available to sign but whatever who cares let's ignore them and continue playing rubbish like welbeck and cleverly to retain our identity because that's what matters.

People need to just accept football has moved on. The class of 92 was a one off that's more than likely never going to happen again. If a player isn't good enough then he isn't good enough home grown or not.
 

Havak

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It would be senseless to not purchase quality players if they're available and want to come to your club - and of course, we have the funds, which we did. Are Di Maria and Falcao (and promoting Wilson, a youth player, keeping our supposed 'identity') upgrades on Welbeck, Hernandez, and Kagawa? Of course they are. Blackett has played every game so far and our two captain's are players who have been here since they were teenagers...

People will just complain because United have spent money on players in a similar vain to Chelsea, City, and Real Madrid. However, let's not forget that we earned that money in a different way to those clubs. Whether that makes huge spending any 'better' or 'fair' doesn't even matter, this is just how the game is now (if we can really call it just a game any more).
 

Amir

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We have lost our identity. Most people don't care, but that doesn't mean it's not true for others.
Unless you overload him with guidelines which will prevent him from doing things his way, the identity pretty much comes and goes with the manager. Obviously you can bring in a manager who fits the way you want your club to be, but it's never a 100% compatibility.

If you hear what Fergie says about the youth system he found at United when he joined in 1986, it appears to have been neglected. That doesn't go along with what's supposed to be our identity. Maybe it just wasn't a big thing for Atkinson, so it suffered. We were lucky to have the same manager for 26 years which gave us great stability, but that's over and done with. We have to accept that with different managers, different owners, different CEOs, the way we do things will shift here and there.