It's pre-season and we are in dire straits

Ranchero

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I really wish that meant that we were all singing Money for Nothing and the players for free.

But no.

We have effectively bought one first team player for £50m in Wan Bassaka. I would definitely take that. But everyone knows that on its own is not going to make much difference to United's position.

Right now Solskjaer has said we are "working on a case or two" transfer wise. ONE OR TWO??!! That is just not good enough.

And he says: "It's a long-term and it's a short-term project. You cannot just think three years down the line, so we've got short-term goals as well."

It's short term that is the issue. I do hope that this is not an early sign that we are again going to have a poor transfer window, and that, oh it will be okay in another year or two.



Even in the most positive scenario, and we brought in Bruno Fernandez and Maguire (I'd prefer Diop) that is not going to cut the mustard.

Right now we have Pogba's agent saying he wants another challenge. So i would hope we are doing more than a couple more deals. Bruno Fernandez CANNOT be our replacement for Pogba. Pogba needs replaced.

And while most fans would love the idea of Pogba at his best and Fernandez in midfield, that is not going to happen. If the Frenchman stays, he will bring us down, as he did at the end of last season.

But this Fernandez idea has gone on so long, it smacks of him going somewhere else .. while Spurs snap up the impressive Ndombele and City quietly snap up Rodri.

It is UNITED that need the midfield quality... desperately. And have done for years, hence our over-reliance on Pogba. But still we are dragging our heels.

Then there is Lukaku... if he goes, there has GOT to be a replacement. So 'looking at a couple of more deals'? Surely not. SURELY not.

Right now we have a replacement for Valencia but none for Fellaini or Herrera. And we have GOT to be looking at replacing Pogba and Lukaku now.

But the whole feel from the club right now is one of desperation. Signing up Andreas Perreira to 2022 smacks of standing still (at best). What are our coaching staff seeing in him that we haven't seen. He is not good enough.

Add that to the idea that McTominay is the future...well again what are they seeing? Yes he is improving but does anyone in the Premier League even below us covet him? I look at him and see Tom Cleverley.


And while I am a Mata fan, he has the finest football brain in our squad - even I agree that giving him a two year deal with an option of a third smacks of utter desperation.

While young Tielemans, the kind of player we really need, is likely to become a Leicester player for a mere £40m, we go chasing the untried and untested Longstaff from Newcastle.

So where are we as we head off to Australia to start our pre-season? In a worse position in squad terms than last pre-season. And you know what Mourinho's response was to the last pre-season.
 

seanboy

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I won't read all of that because I'm sure it's full of hysterical nonsense.
 

Zoo

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Yay another thread with pictures.
 

George The Best

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Going to be a lot of free seats on the plane out to Oz on Sunday. Bless them, they should be really able to stretch out and get some rest.
 

Jersey Heel

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Romeo and Juliet is probably my favorite song of theirs. Maybe Sultan of Swing.
 

Toddler

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Agreed. Im sad, and angry because there is so much potential in United. We are an absolute powerhouse in terms of marketing, finance and fanbase. And yet the football side is at this point, a joke.
 

Xaviboy

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8th next Season. I can't see huge improvements happening in the next 5 weeks in the starting 11. Pogba goes and we won't replace properly.
 

sullydnl

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The summer thus far has been pretty much what I expected so I'm not particularly downcast.
 

hobbers

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Sheesh. Breathe. We are not supposed to turn this around in 1 season. Give it time.
But it's also a question of are we even trying to get on a platform which we can build on and turn it around?

Right now we are one AWB-not-hitting-the-ground-running away from having an even worse first and second eleven than last season. With a manager whose lack of acumen is undoubtedly putting off some prospective players and a CEO who has become famous for low-balling and a contract negotiator now famous for being taken for a ride by every agent under the sun.

I hope I'm wrong about all of this but it looks more and more like Ole is being set up as the patsy to once-and-for-all sell us the "we're now essentially just an upper tier mid-table club trying to reach top four" line. That's been the status quo for every season post Fergie, bar the first seasons under LVG and Mourinho, but far worse than that, I think Ed wants it to become the benchmark.

And it's one thing for Arsenal or Spurs to become penny-pinching "blessing if we manage a top four finish" sides with their swanky new stadiums, but the Glazers have spent feck all on anything at the club, ever.
 

Big Ben Foster

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What's up with this trend of Daily Mail-esque threads full of unnecessary pictures?

Do agree with the general sentiment of the OP though.
 

Drainy

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Issue with the quality of the squad if Pogba, Lukaku and de Gea leave, which seems possible. However, its at least promising that we're working towards a game plan and recruiting on that basis, rather than putting random players with big reputations together and hoping it works.
 

degea_s_fringe

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We are so far away,we have a squad of Brothers in arms,so why worry. We cant pick up world class talent on every street.
 

The Irish Connection

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You’re right. It’s actually scary. Still time, but already we’ve failed to bring in the players before pre season. It’s feeling like another typical Woodward transfer window. If we don’t replace pogba, have a poor transfer window and a couple of the signings we do get struggle we could easily end up in the bottom half of the table come Christmas.

What I will say is we will be better off without pogba if we replace him with a solid defensive mid and solid attacking midfielder. Basically pogba flatters to deceive that he is a complete box to box midfielder but in reality he doesn’t do the attacking or the defending well or consistently enough. Plus he ruins team spirit, and professionalism. If pogba and Lukaku are sold I would also be disappointed if we didn’t make a bid for Sancho.

I hope if things still look dodgy in a couple weeks people really start to help ramping up the pressure on glazers, board and recruitment.
 

Yagami

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I love how posters who say anything negative about the club are still labelled as moaning drama queens.

They've been right for 6 years now and some still think they overreact and are short-sighted.
 

Web of Bissaka

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Yeah, the pre-season signs are just not that promising at the moment.

I'll be giving the manager and squad chances first though -- start of the soon season start in August. Who knows if it'll turn out to be far better and exciting than expected.

My expectations this pre-season is already dialed down low, so it won't hurt too much if it'll be bad.
 

humdinger

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It’s definitely feeling a bit scary just now. I think unless we make a couple of really astute signings we’ll go backwards this year.
 

The Irish Connection

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And the thing is, when you look at the players available for reasonable money, it is more than possible to get in good players for the positions needed: cb, rw, cm, dm. Loads of good players available for those positions. I just hope we see some serious movement in the coming weeks.
 

Womp

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I'm just shocked that some people even bother moaning anymore. I go into every season expecting us to be shit, I'll be pleasantly surprised when (if?) we ever manage to turn it around.
 

wolvored

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Lets wait and see what we have when the season starts. Lets see when this fitness training Ole is going to implement has had chance to make a difference. Way too early to say yet that we are in dire straits.
 

manuchamp88

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Some good points but we need a replacement in first before getting rid of the Sultan of Bling (Pogba).
 

100

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I'm looking forward to the season. Mostly because it's shit without football. We've signed Wan-Bissaka.



Hopefully we'll get top four and be able to play in the CL



I can see us really climbing the table next season

 

Red_toad

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Agree with everything, but whatcha gonna do?
Start a thread on Redcaf and moan about it obviously.... We all need yet another thread complaining about lack of transfer activity..... Every single summer..... :rolleyes:
 

Roberto420

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I'm looking forward to the season. Mostly because it's shit without football. We've signed Wan-Bissaka.



Hopefully we'll get top four and be able to play in the CL



I can see us really climbing the table next season

:lol:
 

UnitedObsession99

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Geez this is the moanest whinest thing I've seen since one my ex girlfriends.

Signing new deals doesn't mean no ambition. It means sensible owners protecting their investment or in some cases maintaining positive personalities/ experienced heads. You can complain if the salary isn't right, but unless you work in the United finance team I'm guessing you'll never really know what they get paid.

Secondly, we have significantly improved our back 4 by adding Wan Bissaka. And yes we are weakened in midfield, but Herrera whilst a hardworker was not exactly a goal maker. More game time for Fred/ Pereira/ McTominay doesn't exactly sound exciting, but we aren't going to be miles off there.

James is a little healthy extra competition to kick Martial in the arse or to give Martial chances up front, so that can also only be positive.

Ndombele for Spurs is probably enough that as it stands means they keep 3rd place. Unless they lose Eriksen and don't replace, i can't see that changing even if we sign 4 more players.

Chelsea are materially weaker without Hazard. He was miles ahead of everyone else on goals and assists, no other player achieved over 8 in either category.

Arsenal are barely doing anything and were hardly convincing last year.

Wolves, Leicester and Everton were a lot of points behind and we had an awful start and end to the year. Everton's form picked up and they will improve this year, but unlikely to push top 4.

Basically we haven't even finished buying players and we are probably already favourites for 4th, with just Arsenal for competition.

Buying several players will secure 4th, but probably no better. It's the reality of where we are and is why longer term investment is a sensible route. City have an almost perfect team, Liverpool similarly have an incredible collection of players gelling well together. We just have to accept that and be first in line after this lot are finished. That might be 3/4 years away. As long as we keep adding youngsters with massive talent we'll be fine.

We are not worse off than last season. We are maybe equal squad wise, but another years development of various players and an introduction for the youngsters means we could collectively be better off.

Pogba is a nuisance, but if he goes I'm confident we'll replace. And if he doesn't I'm sure he can be professional, he needs to be to keep other clubs interested.
 
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Infestissumam

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@UnitedObsession99 good post, fully agree.

I get that people are impatient, but there's still a lot of time. And let's face it, things at Chelsea and Arsenal look pretty dire too ... top 4 should certainly be a possibility for us in any case, anything beyond that is probably unrealistic IMO. But 4th place, continuous development and a good summer 2020 should put us in a much better position for 20-21.
 

Eriku

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I think we’re going to be positively surprised.

I think a lot of the fundamentals have been lacking. True winners know they earn every bloody thing they get, and that you can’t coast on being some sort of Adidas or Nike poster boy with good highlight reels.

I doubt Ole’s just lying about people having reported back in good nick, and we’ll see just how much hard work will get you with good talent, which we have.

I’ll leave it at that. Feel free to quote me in November if we’re in free fall.
 

adman

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So this is what our great club has been reduced to. Celebrating the fact that Chelsea and arsenal won't strengthen enough and hopefully Tottenham won't buy more, while we eek out 4th place and at the same time Liverpool and man city fight for top honours.
 

marukomu

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Cheer up everyone. The rebuild will take time. Getting rid of the shite will, too. We still need to stay a little competitive.
 

diarm

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I'm looking forward to the season. Mostly because it's shit without football. We've signed Wan-Bissaka.



Hopefully we'll get top four and be able to play in the CL



I can see us really climbing the table next season

:lol:

I was just about the ask what the fecking point was with the pictures? Did OP think we needed reminding of who these players are?