Sassy Colin
Death or the gladioli!
A month since @Sassy Colin started this thread and there's still no signings even remotely close.
Wtf
It's gone much better than expected, actually.
A month since @Sassy Colin started this thread and there's still no signings even remotely close.
Wtf
And what? I answered your question, you said there werent linked with anybody else and they clearly wereAnd.....
Then sack him or hire a DoF. It's madness to use your doubts about a coach as an excuse for not improving the team.I'm wouldn't be surprised if the board weren't giving Mourinho a lot of money. His transfers have been very hit and miss. The only one's you could really call flat out successes so far are Lukaku, Matic, and maybe Pogba, assuming he actually stays, and two of them cost an absolute bomb. He's also failed to addressed some of our most glaring weaknesses by not signing a right winger, full backs, and spending 70m on two center backs who are jsut pure potential more than anything.
For a manager known for being astute in the transfer window, he hasn't really done a great job with the £300m they already gave him (this summer not included).
I'd agree that Griezmann was at his peak two years ago , however he was excellent in the WC And his form hasn't fallen off a cliff like Sanchez last year.
I'm surprised there haven't even been any concrete links since the Fred and Dalot signings other than the lingering Perisic stuff. May be the board is keeping their cards close this time but even Duncan Castles is silent. We did get some business done in January with Sanchez but left back and right winger are still problematic areas.
Mourinho's latest comments about expecting to start the season with Shaw, Smalling, Bailly and Valencia in defence makes the probability of signing either a LB or CB even more unlikely than before.
Fingers crossed we are close to a top quality right winger or next season could be a real struggle.
Have you not learnt by now that you should take everything Jose says with a pinch of salt.
What are you talking about? Ever since he became our manager he's been clear about what our transfer plans are and every window we've always done, or tried to do, exactly what he says. If he says that he expects those four players to be our back four at the start of the season then there's zero reason to assume he's lying.
This is one thing. People keep on saying to take what Jose says with a pinch of salt. But since he became our manager he's been very honest and upfront about our transfers. So if he's saying something transfer related I'm inclined to take it at face value.What are you talking about? Ever since he became our manager he's been clear about what our transfer plans are and every window we've always done, or tried to do, exactly what he says. If he says that he expects those four players to be our back four at the start of the season then there's zero reason to assume he's lying.
when you saidThis place.....I didn't suggest that we we close to city or that he wasn't a good player.
100% game of poker going on here. No way Woodward and the board members will allow Liverpool & Chelsea to take over social media with all their signings whilst the united fans are feeling depressed. There will be a chain reaction of stuff which I will outline below.
Here is how I believe it will go down
Chelsea want to sign Higuain & Aleksandr Golovin.
Real Madrid will Sign Hazard & Thibaut Courtois
Manchester United will then sign Gareth Bale from Madrid.
Spurs will then sign Martial from us with Toby Alderweireld coming our way.
Then I suspect we will get another player or two if we are lucky. Probably Sandro if reports are to be believed.
If we get:
Fred
Dalot
Bale
Sandro
+ a fully rested Sanchez from last year
We should be good to go.
Keep the faith reds!!
Bollocks
Spot onIt didn’t go worse. Berbatov had already made Tevez redundant. The quality of the playing squad going worse is hyperbolic at best. United did not finish lower than 2nd from Ronaldo’s departure to SAF/Gill’s departure. We always competed. We lost the league on goals difference(2012) & Drogba’s offside goal at OT(2010).
You won’t go into Herrera’s stuff cos you would lose the debate. It was years ago but it was under Woodward. Don’t cherry-pick - it happened under Ed’s watch.
We have a very poor defence. Do not let the goals against/clean sheets of last season fool you otherwise. You should thank De Gea’s heroic saves - our defence is bottom fodder at best. Smalling/Jones are a liability and I have simple statistics to back it.
2017/18 Season
Ederson - 70 shots faced - 20 goals conceded.
De Gea - 120 shots faced - 23 goals conceded
Lloris - 82 shots faced - 24 goals conceded
Courtois - 84 shots faced - 27 goals conceded
Karius/Mignolet - 87 shots faced - 34 goals conceded.
United played the most defensive of these teams and yet our goalie faced 120 shots on target. Our defence is nothing to write home about. Just be thankful we have a superhuman goalie otherwise we would have finished below Arsenal.
Nothing about Woodward’s signings have been sensible. Look at the other giants in Europe making astute signings. Players like Neymar, Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, etc should be playing for Man Utd. We make so much money - the turnover is like top 3 in Europe but only 2 of our players are world class in a squad of 30 players.
Remember this quote......”We could do things in the market that other clubs can dream about.” Yep, Woodward made that statement and he went on to buy Fred(his buttprint is still very visible on the Brazilian bench in Russia), Grant(a fifth-tier goalie) and Dalot(a no-mark fullback who will understudy a retired winger). Woodward is right....none of Man City or Liverpool would dream about the calibre of these mediocre players.
The reality is that he has not backed Jose Mourinho. Look at what Pep has bought....City were in a healthier state than United before 2016 and yet City have bought thrice the number of players Jose has bought. Pep spent about £250m on his defence alone - that is the kind of financial backing I expect from Woodward but he’s lagging behind.
You can dress this however you want but Woodward is doing a terrible job. Yet, when Jose fails to achieve the goal of securing the PL, the media would blame Jose when all the fault lies at the doorstep of Ed. Woodward has been bringing a dagger to a gunfight since SAF departed and this is why we have finished only twice in the top 4 in the last 5 seasons. It’s an embarrassment! In any other industry, Woodward would have been given his P45 for a shoddy job.
In this transfer window
Chelsea have Made 1 signing
Liverpool Have made 2 signings (keita doesnt count as they signed him last year)
City have made 1 Singing
Spurs have signed no one
only arsenal have made strides in the transfer market of anyone in the top 6 and they finished 6th .
We are doing ok with the sigings we have made so far. Its a world cup year things will get moving faster now that the cup is over. All of the rumours make it apear as if clubs are wheeling and dealing and signing players left and right. That is just not the case.
City are way ahead of us. They don’t need to make signings
Liverpool have added Keita, Alisson, Shaq, Fabinho to this season’s roster and have addressed some of their issues. They still may buy Fekir. Also VVD was added in Jan and you saw his impact in the CL.
These are the two teams best positioned to fight for the league.
Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal and us will fight for the top 4
Jeez this thread is depressing. Who exactly is it that you guys even want?
Delaney has still delivered. Nothing can stop him. We’re in for Thiago and Lewandoski apparently.
Feels a bit like Mourinho is setting up to be paid off this season, having not been supported in the transfer market versus our main rivals. Next stop lost dressing room?
We don't control the immigration system of the US. We've signed two first team players. Half our squad isn't there because they performed well for their countries and made it far in the World Cup so that means there's lots of quality in the team.Seriously what is going on?
We have a pre-season where half our squad isn't there and no striker.
One of our best players can't even get a visa, surely this should have been checked months ago.
We have signed one first team player.
We have given Fellaini a new contract.
It really starts to make you wonder do the people in charge have a clue what they're doing.
I still want to believe he's in it for the long haul and is dedicated to getting us back to the top, but I'm not sure where that belief is really coming from at the moment.
I don't think there's too much to worry about, we will probably do more business in the window, I think were just being careful with our targets. I'm not going to hit panic mode until there's only 1 week left and we've not signed anyone else.
I think were making sure that we get the right players for the right price, we don't want clubs taking advantage of our lack of RW and desire for a LB and CB, for example the Ante Rebic links, £40m is a ridiculous price, so were probably looking for more suitable alternatives; The same goes for Willian at over £60m. I don't like that were not making transfers, 'll happily admit to being a transfer Muppet, but I do like that we're being cautious with our approach.
And that's the whole point, we already know the 'right players' as you put it, but as I said earlier, we need to get them at the right price. There is absolutely 0 point going spending £20m too much on every player because that will mean that clubs will inflate their prices even more than they already do.But doesn't that basically mean the scouts have been doing nothing all year? Why are we still "looking for the right players" in the summer? Rebic might not be a concrete link but even Perisic is an example of our lack of creativity when it comes to buying players. There are at least 30 players worldwide who would improve us on the right wing. Maybe only five of those will become world class in the future, but our scouts are paid to find them. Hopefully things are quiet because we're negotiating and not because we're still looking around.
Go on explain why?