Mourinho's signings at United

mariachi-19

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Eric Baily (Shit - should be sold)
Zlatan Imbrahimovich (Olddie but a goodie - Gone but not forgotten)
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Shit - Sold)
Paul Pogba (very very good when he's on it, inconsistent - questions marks if he wants to be here)
Victor Lindelof (See Pogba but less good - should keep wants to be here)
Romelu Lukaku (Shit - sold)
Nemanja Matic (good for 3 months then shit - should be sold)
Alexis Sanchez (outrageously shit - on loan, should be sold)
Fred (inconsistent, flashes of quality - needs more time)
Diogo Dalot (handy player who I believe needs to play on the right wing more - prospect)
Lee Grant (who?)


So 5 players of which 3 of them were not deemed world class but haven't yet been deemed horrendous signings. that could quite easily fall to 2 being Pogba and Zlatan depending on how the others develop.

feck me, people complain about the Glazers not giving him money, but you can hardly blame them. There's no coherence or consistency in those players either. Its literally a scatter gun approach.
 

simonhch

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You are right that there was really no forethought. We signed Bailly and Lindelof for nearly the combined price of Van Dijk for example. We never looked to sign the right players, we just looked to aimlessly overhaul the squad with players who might work. Not surprising most flopped.

The worst was Sanchez. I honestly thought he had been signed to play on the right wing. When he came in the first game and displaced an in form Martial, I knew this entire management group was strategically clueless.
 

jackal&hyde

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Agree with most of that except Baily. I think there is a good player there that we might never see due to his injuries.
 

Karlos PFC

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Eric Baily (Shit - should be sold)
Zlatan Imbrahimovich (Olddie but a goodie - Gone but not forgotten)
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Shit - Sold)
Paul Pogba (very very good when he's on it, inconsistent - questions marks if he wants to be here)
Victor Lindelof (See Pogba but less good - should keep wants to be here)
Romelu Lukaku (Shit - sold)
Nemanja Matic (good for 3 months then shit - should be sold)
Alexis Sanchez (outrageously shit - on loan, should be sold)
Fred (inconsistent, flashes of quality - needs more time)
Diogo Dalot (handy player who I believe needs to play on the right wing more - prospect)
Lee Grant (who?)


So 5 players of which 3 of them were not deemed world class but haven't yet been deemed horrendous signings. that could quite easily fall to 2 being Pogba and Zlatan depending on how the others develop.

feck me, people complain about the Glazers not giving him money, but you can hardly blame them. There's no coherence or consistency in those players either. Its literally a scatter gun approach.
Eric Baily (huge potential when signed, actually we've seen some glimpses of him in his 1st season. And personally I haven't given up on him just yet)

Zlatan (came cause of Mourinho in the first place, but quality nonetheless)

Mkhitaryan (part of the deal for Pogba, had a terrific last season in Dortmund noone expected him to flop that way. Had a great Europa league.)

Pogba (not a Mourinho signing, actually If I remember correctly I read some where that Ed has been working on his transfer the past 3 years.)

Lindelof (huge potential, but I think I can remember how the caf responded to his first season here)

Lukaku (not even close to shit, you're just too biased)

Matic (very good first 6 months, still quality for his age and better than Mctominay, people moan about Carrick when he left but all he was doing was 3m passes sideways, no risk no anything)

Alexis (worst transfer ever by a mile, I think we can agree on this one)

Fred (has potential, but I'm leaning on flop, I think with a real coach would deploy his talent better. Pep wanted him, he would be able to get that out of him)

Dalot (ok, has potential, needs time)

Grant (goalkeeper's coach)

feck me people still moan about Mourinho like he's the second coming of Moyes(hate that cnut)
But Mourinho got us playing some great stuff on his 1st season that everybody seem to forget, yeah not perfect but you could see that with one or two twitches we could be challenging.
 

PieCrust

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Mostly agree, but still not sold on Lindelöf, as he's shit in the air and as a result gets bullied quite often by physical players.

Lukaku is also not shit, not great, but certainly not shit. But wasn't the right ST for us as Jose brought him in to be a Drogba clone while their skill sets are completely different. Quite baffling really.

I used to believe in Bailly, but I think he's done. Outside of one run of excellent form, he's been shit and it's not just due to injuries.
 

Yagami

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Out of all of them I'd say only Zlatan delivered (so far depending on those who are still here), and I'm not a big Zlatan fan. I like Pogba and Matic, too, but I personally wouldn't put either in the successful transfer category.

It's why - even though I agreed with José in that we needed another CB - I completely understand why he wasn't bought one as, after 1 season each, he'd already seemingly deemed his first 2 CBs not good enough.

Plus, for some bizarre reason, he was constantly complaining (amongst other things) about not having ball playing CBs yet sold our best one in Blind.
 

tenpoless

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I thank him for Zlatan and Dalot. Zlatan because He brought the arrogance back to ManUnited (granted only for 2 seasons) and Dalot because I believe He's actually a very good prospect.
 

Ekeke

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I thought Zlatan was a good pickup at the time and did fairly well for the most part. But then it turns out he was being paid to be a megastar and he certainly wasnt that for us
 

amolbhatia50k

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It's a complete mess both in terms of transfer activity and his actual development of the players. We desperately miss having a manager who can do those two things - identify the right players for the system, and then develop the individuals and collective to reach new heights.
 

Skills

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Didn't people want to keep him on as Director of Football, because he was doing the right things in the transfer market? Some nutjobs also wanted to keep Van Gaal on as a DOF.

This clubs fanbase has some really weird attachment issues with whoever sits on the managers chair.
 

ayushreddevil9

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Didn't people want to keep him on as Director of Football, because he was doing the right things in the transfer market? Some nutjobs also wanted to keep Van Gaal on as a DOF.

This clubs fanbase has some really weird attachment issues with whoever sits on the managers chair.
Not only that, for those who are from academy regardless of how shit they are
 

ayushreddevil9

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Disagree with Lindelof assessment. He is shit.

A CB that has nothing special when it comes to defending.
 

kps88

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This isn't really exclusive to Mourinho. Our signings have been poor since SAF left.
 

MackRobinson

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I honestly wonder if that's the worst 2-3 year string of transfers by any manager at a large club. Best player is clearly Pogba but his time at United has been underwhelming (regardless of who is a fault). That's a damming list.
 

Raw

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Moyes
Mata - underperformed but gave us good moments
Fellaini - shit signing but at least gave us some good moments, sold

1/2 players still here. None of them are first 11 players.

LVG
Shaw - injuries fecked up his career but should still stay, at least as backup if we get a new LB
Herrera - good signing that only became good after LVG left, left on a free
Rojo - shit, should be sold
Di Maria - shit and didn't want to be here, sold
Blind - decent utility player, sold
Valdes - LVG hated him, left
Depay - shit, could have been good under another manager, sold
Darmian - shit, sold
Schneiderlin - shit, sold
Schweinsteiger - shit, sold
Romero - good
Martial - good

4/12 players still here, 3 of them who deserve to stay. 2 of which are first team players.

It's fair to say that it's not just the managers, it's whoever's above the manager. A DoF is utterly critical if we want to avoid shit like this.
 

Skills

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Moyes
Mata - underperformed but gave us good moments
Fellaini - shit signing but at least gave us some good moments, sold

1/2 players still here. None of them are first 11 players.

LVG
Shaw - injuries fecked up his career but should still stay, at least as backup if we get a new LB
Herrera - good signing that only became good after LVG left, left on a free
Rojo - shit, should be sold
Di Maria - shit and didn't want to be here, sold
Blind - decent utility player, sold
Valdes - LVG hated him, left
Depay - shit, could have been good under another manager, sold
Darmian - shit, sold
Schneiderlin - shit, sold
Schweinsteiger - shit, sold
Romero - good
Martial - good

4/12 players still here, 3 of them who deserve to stay. 2 of which are first team players.

It's fair to say that it's not just the managers, it's whoever's above the manager. A DoF is utterly critical if we want to avoid shit like this.
It's the fact that the lunatic managers we hire get given a lot of rope to sign the players they want. When the club actually steps in to stop them, the last one lost his shit and sabotaged us.

The manager first, club second strategy is the biggest reason why we're constantly rebuilding while the likes of Madrid/Barcelona get on with it.
 

Raw

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It's the fact that the lunatic managers we hire get given a lot of rope to sign the players they want. When the club actually steps in to stop them, the last one lost his shit and sabotaged us.
Exactly. There's no continuity in terms of transfer strategy or style of play. A DoF would fix this yet for some reason we seem to want to continue with this shit. If after Ole we bring in another manager who vastly differs in playstyle then I give up on the management ever wanting the best out of this club.
 

Havak

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This is why I'm willing to just sit down and let Ole's plan unfold.

We might finish 7th one season, we might not win a trophy, our football might be inconsistent etc. But at least there'd be consistency with the squad and manager.

If Ole hasn't cut it by the time his contract is coming to an end then fair enough, don't renew it. But let him get a squad of players who want to be here, playing the same way etc. It'll be much easier for the next manager to step in rather than having to try and juggle players who have ideas from different managers bed into them. 3~ solid years of Ole improving fitness and the togetherness of the squad will be beneficial in the long run, even if it means bringing in someone else at that point.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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These kinda threads are always clouded by revisionism. The OP calling Mkhi shit and Dalot handy is proof of that. Mkhi won us a European trophy, Dalot has done nothing but sit on the treatment table. You call him "handy" because you think he has potential, while Mkhi is "shit" because you've seen how his second season and spell at Arsenal went. Hindsight 20/20 and all that. Mkhi was a far more successful signing than Dalot so far.

You're doing it with Lukaku and Fred as well. Lukaku was shit yet Fred showed flashes of quality? You telling me that has nothing to do with the fact that Lukaku has left and Fred is still here? Lukaku has been a far better signing than Fred so far.

Sorry to call you out but I just hate biased revisionism. Maybe in the future Fred and Dalot will turn it around, but right now Lukaku and Mkhi were easily the better signings.
 

Sir Scott McToMinay

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Fred needs more time?
He was a 50m transfer, a player like that should slot right in from the get go.

Its been over a year and he can’t even make the squad, quite possibly our worst ever signing buck for buck, he has been an awful transfer.
 

romufc

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Do the Manutd board ever get together with the owners and then look at money spent by Ed Woodward?

You would look at the signings and money spend and the starting 11 and think.. what on earth has gone on?

Apart from this summer, Pogba and Lindelof are the ONLY Jose starters.

How anyone can defend Jose on this is beyond me. The reason I say this, Jose has experience of working with difficult boards at Madrid and Chelsea but he signed well.

At United, his signings are actually so bad.
 

romufc

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Fred needs more time?
He was a 50m transfer, a player like that should slot right in from the get go.

Its been over a year and he can’t even make the squad, quite possibly our worst ever signing buck for buck, he has been an awful transfer.
Yes he does need more time.

1. He was signed by Jose, then Jose said Fred won't start until we get better defensively and we didnt.

2. Ole came in and he had McT, Matic, Pogba and Herrera starting.

3. Fred has been given a run of 3 games at the most?

For a player coming from the Ukrainan league, he needs time to adapt that means playing in the team.

Look at Fabinho, took 6 months to settle in but he did so because he was being played.
 
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He's better than Bailly, which is really the best you can say about him. He's average, we want him to be better than he is.
I think Bailly has better qualities as a defender. Much more aggressive, quicker, very good at tackling especially 1v1.
 

Judas

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I think Bailly has better qualities as a defender. Much more aggressive, quicker, very good at tackling especially 1v1.
On paper. On paper Bailly is great, but in reality, he's rash always injured and looks like an accident waiting to happen every time he plays. He's been in decline since his first season, and has regressed massively. I was a big fan, hopeful for his future with us, but you have to come to terms with the fact it's probably not going to happen for him at Utd, unless he has a massive change in fortune and performance.
 

Revaulx

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Didn't people want to keep him on as Director of Football, because he was doing the right things in the transfer market? Some nutjobs also wanted to keep Van Gaal on as a DOF.

This clubs fanbase has some really weird attachment issues with whoever sits on the managers chair.
Well I really like LvG but the signings on his watch were no better than on Jose’s.

If the pair of them had magically been provided with better players, I’d back LvG to have got more out of them than Jose though.
 

Will Singh

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We could go back to the last years on SAF and see we haven’t really signed anyone who has been world class, it’s down to how they are managed.

I don’t think Mourinho made bad signings it’s just how they turned out to be for us, Mkhitaryan was player of the year for Dortmund and I think also in the league so it wasn’t a bad signing, Sanchez was amazing for Arsenal and I don’t think no one would have thought how bad that’s turned out.

Pogba has been a massive disappointment as he sometimes look like he could offer so much more then he gives but even so what he gives us makes him our best player by a mile.
 

TsuWave

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Lindelof is shit. I don’t know if he put a genjutsu on the fanbase to think he’s decent, but he is shit, and has been shit for the majority of his time here, incredibly suspect defender, so much so that average performances from him were hailed as good/great. The guy is shit.
 
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Lindelof is shit. I don’t know if he put a genjutsu on the fanbase to think he’s decent, but he is shit, and has been shit for the majority of his time here, incredibly suspect defender, so much so that average performances from him were hailed as good/great. The guy is shit.
Do what? :lol:
 

MikeUpNorth

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Harsh on Matic. He was a good signing at a reasonable price.
 

United58

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It's fair to say that it's not just the managers, it's whoever's above the manager. A DoF is utterly critical if we want to avoid shit like this.
Until this happens, we'll continue to slide. We're very close to being a mid-table side now. Sounds like apocalyptic hyperbole but we really are dire at the moment
 

ICHM

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If we hadn't paid £32M for Lindelof and he was an academy player, he would be in the U23 side. Don't rate him at all, Bailly is the better player, but he's made of glass.
 

Greck

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Lindelof is shit. I don’t know if he put a genjutsu on the fanbase to think he’s decent, but he is shit, and has been shit for the majority of his time here, incredibly suspect defender, so much so that average performances from him were hailed as good/great. The guy is shit.
Isn't shite but is incredibly suspect and I'd expect fans to say he isn't good enough for the same reasons Jones and Smalling weren't good enough. A CB with a potential weekly mistake in him. Once he's served up enough of those timidity errors in big games he'll be on everyone's deadwood list
 

Lentwood

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Eric Baily (Shit - should be sold)
Zlatan Imbrahimovich (Olddie but a goodie - Gone but not forgotten)
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Shit - Sold)
Paul Pogba (very very good when he's on it, inconsistent - questions marks if he wants to be here)
Victor Lindelof (See Pogba but less good - should keep wants to be here)
Romelu Lukaku (Shit - sold)
Nemanja Matic (good for 3 months then shit - should be sold)
Alexis Sanchez (outrageously shit - on loan, should be sold)
Fred (inconsistent, flashes of quality - needs more time)
Diogo Dalot (handy player who I believe needs to play on the right wing more - prospect)
Lee Grant (who?)


So 5 players of which 3 of them were not deemed world class but haven't yet been deemed horrendous signings. that could quite easily fall to 2 being Pogba and Zlatan depending on how the others develop.

feck me, people complain about the Glazers not giving him money, but you can hardly blame them. There's no coherence or consistency in those players either. Its literally a scatter gun approach.
This is why the majority of clubs have structures in place to ensure transfer targets are identified and pursued in a strategic manner

Of course if you let the manager dictate transfers, you’ll get a scattergun approach based on his current feelings at any given moment and the need for short-term results
 

Raw

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These kinda threads are always clouded by revisionism. The OP calling Mkhi shit and Dalot handy is proof of that. Mkhi won us a European trophy, Dalot has done nothing but sit on the treatment table. You call him "handy" because you think he has potential, while Mkhi is "shit" because you've seen how his second season and spell at Arsenal went. Hindsight 20/20 and all that. Mkhi was a far more successful signing than Dalot so far.

You're doing it with Lukaku and Fred as well. Lukaku was shit yet Fred showed flashes of quality? You telling me that has nothing to do with the fact that Lukaku has left and Fred is still here? Lukaku has been a far better signing than Fred so far.

Sorry to call you out but I just hate biased revisionism. Maybe in the future Fred and Dalot will turn it around, but right now Lukaku and Mkhi were easily the better signings.
I agree to an extent. Though Mkhi took a long time to get integrated with the team in the Europa League winning year, and even when he came back he wasn't that good with only 4 goals and 1 assist in the league. His Europa League goals were vital though so I guess calling him a shit signing is a bit much.

And yeah, Lukaku was definitely a lot better than Fred. In hindsight he wasn't a great signing and his playing style simply didn't fit what we wanted, but he still scored quite a few goals for us whereas Fred has been a complete nothing player.

I guess overall the OPs point was that the signings just haven't worked out, and if the likes of Fred and Dalot don't show any reason why we should keep them then they'll be off too.
 

Scroto Baggins

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A bit harsh on some of the players. Lukaku shit? He was good, not great but good, he will always get compared to the two freaks in the league Aguero and Kane. But for perspective the only person with the same sort of goal return and consistency(100+ goals) as these two strikers per game in the history of the league is Henry. Then there is daylight to the next player. Aguero is on 0.7 goals/game, Kane 0.69 goals/game, Henry 0.68 goals/game. Shearer was 0.59 goals/game. just let those numbers sink in for Aguero, Kane, and Henry. There are player with better returns such as Salah, but remains to be seen if he can keep that same ratio up if he gets to 100 goals.

Bailly has had a terrible run with injury, there is a player in there somewhere, he needs time on the pitch and to work on the mental side of the game.

Fred is another who needs time and good coaching. He needs to find some confidence, but if he does leave I can see him being successful elsewhere.

Matic for the price was a good investment.

Yes Sanchez has been outrageously shit, I think we can all agree on that. And Mkh was average overall, still had some moments.