United Hour Podcast - Day Bright Robbery

Rood

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So this is now going to be the podcast megathread, the latest episode should be available on the integrated Spotify player below and we will be using threadmarks for each episode so just click the threadmark menu for the links.

Thought this great week for the club, with wins over Jose's Spurs and Pep's City, was a fitting time to do it and also ties in with a few changes on the podcast.

We are making an effort to try and record every week now, cant promise this will go all season but we will be more regular at least, plus we will be throwing a few extra shows with opposition fans into the mix whenever we find someone who is up for it

I dont know if anyone will even notice but we have changed hosting provider from Podomatic to Transistor so if you were subscribed on Podomatic then you need to resub but I think the vast majority listen via Apple, Spotify or the various Android podcast apps anyway

Transistor (for direct download or stream): https://unitedhour.transistor.fm/episodes
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKK24eVljWHHOhl7KNb8_9A
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/united-hour/id902792476
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manchesterunitedpodcast/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/United_Hour
Spotify:



Also wanted to give a shout out to @12OunceEpilogue and @mckenic who don't get the limelight on the show but are vital parts of the podcast team taking on the editing side of things

Anyway thanks to all of you who have supported us so far and do please keep the feedback coming ...
 
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Darkhorsez

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Thanks - nice to hear a positive one! Really liked the analysis particularly the panel on Scott’s development and attributes.
 

#07

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The first show of the new era features Colm @Duafc , Ashwin @AR87 and @Raees focusing on the mega derby win and pretending they never doubted Ole, Fred, Lingard et al !

An interesting pod. Glad you picked up the point about McTominay making the difference between Sheffield United and Villa, and Spurs and City. A Man Utd team should not have to score 3 or 4 goals against Sheffy Utd or Villa to get wins. That's how much we fall apart without McTominay's dynamism in midfield.

You guys talked up Fred and his recovery is again testament to McTominay. Fred next to Andreas is half the player. It's ridiculous that we've spent 3/4ths of a billion since Fergie and left our midfield with one proper dynamo. No top four if we don't address that in January.

The stuff about United being a counter attacking team is interesting. On the one hand it's obvious we like to attack at speed. On the other there's very little in the points we've surrendered from winning positions to suggest we are good at absorbing pressure. That's another reason why the Spurs and City wins were so surprising. It took Villa like a minute to equalise against us, it took Sheffield United like five minutes. Again highlights how important it is to have real depth in the defensive midfield area. We are a long way from having Carrick, Hargreaves and Fletcher as options.

If you look at our recent record of goalscoring it's not bad. I can't remember when we last failed to score twice. However, we are relatively easy to get at. Let's not kid ourselves that we drop points cos teams sit back and sucker us. Sheffield United, Villa and others have been happy to take us on in midfield, dominate the ball and get at us. Everton will get physical, they will contest every 50/50. Those are precisely the kind of games where we've been shown up this season. I think if Everton do just come to defend we'll be fine, we have enough that eventually we'll score even if it looks ugly. If they make it a battle though, then it all depends on McTominay continuing to play out of his skin.

PS) None of this is Ole's fault. The club chose not to replace Herrera (or Fellaini) with mobile, powerful, younger midfielders.
 

Rood

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An interesting pod. Glad you picked up the point about McTominay making the difference between Sheffield United and Villa, and Spurs and City. A Man Utd team should not have to score 3 or 4 goals against Sheffy Utd or Villa to get wins. That's how much we fall apart without McTominay's dynamism in midfield.

You guys talked up Fred and his recovery is again testament to McTominay. Fred next to Andreas is half the player.

PS) None of this is Ole's fault. The club chose not to replace Herrera (or Fellaini) with mobile, powerful, younger midfielders.
That's totally on Adreas IMO, on the last pod I actually gave MOTM for Villa to Fred as he had so much extra work to do to compensate for Andreas deficiency at CM

Agree that it's not Ole's fault that we are light in midfield (I've seen many jokers in the Ole Out threads coming up with bollocks reasons to the blame on him for everything) - although I will say that I always felt McT is effectively Fellaini replacement but yes we still need another in place of Herrera
 

2 man midfield

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Good listen as usual, makes a nice change to have such positive subject material!
 

Rood

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Good show lads - not enough humble pie eaten by @Duafc and @Raees though :keano:

@Raees you said in the pod that you predicted Leicester would finish top4, are you saying you predicted this preseason?!
 

MyOnlySolskjaer

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Good listen, looking forward to the next one. It will be an interesting listen, especially if we end up losing to Everton after all of this. Are you planning to do any special podcast or segment related to transfer rumours for January to cater to the Redcafe transfer muppets like myself?

Anyways, keep up the good work! Appreciate all of your efforts.
 

Duafc

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Good show lads - not enough humble pie eaten by @Duafc and @Raees though :keano:

@Raees you said in the pod that you predicted Leicester would finish top4, are you saying you predicted this preseason?!
I don't think those games really changed my outlook too much at all.

I'm holding fire until New Year at the earliest. Anything less than 10 from the next 12 won't do.
 

Raees

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Good show lads - not enough humble pie eaten by @Duafc and @Raees though :keano:

@Raees you said in the pod that you predicted Leicester would finish top4, are you saying you predicted this preseason?!
Pre-season prediction was...

Liverpool (win title)
City (2nd)
Spurs (3rd)
Leicester
United
Chelsea
Arsenal

I have a lot of love for Brendan Rodgers, so that is why I thought he could do it. In my podcast from October, I also mentioned it there too.
 

Rood

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Pre-season prediction was...

Liverpool (win title)
City (2nd)
Spurs (3rd)
Leicester
United
Chelsea
Arsenal

I have a lot of love for Brendan Rodgers, so that is why I thought he could do it. In my podcast from October, I also mentioned it there too.
Wow, I hope you put money on that! any link to where you posted this prediction preseason? I want proof!!
 

Rood

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We are now on YouTube for anyone who prefers to listen or subscribe via that platform - if we ever get our act together we might even one day sort out some video stuff

 

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Great to see one large Podcast thread guys. Big well done to you all from the guys on the pods to the editors and everyone else who contributes.

I love listening to you guys every week as I tend to find I agree with a lot of the opinions that are put over and enjoy the healthy debates. Good crack as well!

Will be listening to the newest pod this afternoon so will post again afterwards but keep up the great work guys :)
 

Kerry Donaghy

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Huge relief to here someone talking some sense about the goalkeeping situation in this podcast.
It's a massive issue and until we change our goalkeeper, we are going to struggle to keep clean sheets, no matter how much money we spend on defenders.

Making the odd world class save doesn't compensate for conceding so many other goals due to a lack of awareness, ability and courage when it comes to commanding the box, it's as simple as that.
 
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MyOnlySolskjaer

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Good podcast again, addressed some interesting areas such as goalkeeping, lack of overlapping fullbacks and the inability to beat a low block with the current style. Enjoyed it.
 

Mainoldo

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You can’t say Martial is not good enough but they say if he went to a class team he would be good.

Just proves he’s not the problem. We are!!
 

Duafc

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You can’t say Martial is not good enough but they say if he went to a class team he would be good.

Just proves he’s not the problem. We are!!
I think that totally makes sense.

Any individual player may perform wildly differently in possession teams, counter attacking teams, good teams or bad teams - there's also a tonne of examples of big fish in small pond players who play up when they are the main man and can never replicate the form after a big move - I think the inverse is also true, some players, particularly 'luxury' players look unbelievable when it's all going well or with fantastic footballers around them, and less so in a different less 'able' team.

Of course it's harder to play amazingly when the quality around you isn't great or the throughballs etc aren't coming, particularly at the top end of the pitch but some players are more likely to maintain a performance level despite other issues than others, thats clear to me.

Specifically on Martial I think the point (or mine anyway!) was that his ability/talent/skill is largely beyond doubt. It's other more intangible but equally important aspects of a player that may unfortunately mean he never quite becomes the player we would all hope for - of course that's in part because of the team he plays in and the managers he's played under but not as much as it's down to himself imo.

On the one hand I totally think we have been a bit of a player ruining club post Fergie, but I also dislike the sometimes self-deprecating mantra that we've been a burden to some players and couldn't give them enough... whatever... and that they'd be better off elsewhere as I see a fair bit with the like of Pogba or Martial.
 

Mainoldo

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I think that totally makes sense.

Any individual player may perform wildly differently in possession teams, counter attacking teams, good teams or bad teams - there's also a tonne of examples of big fish in small pond players who play up when they are the main man and can never replicate the form after a big move - I think the inverse is also true, some players, particularly 'luxury' players look unbelievable when it's all going well or with fantastic footballers around them, and less so in a different less 'able' team.

Of course it's harder to play amazingly when the quality around you isn't great or the throughballs etc aren't coming, particularly at the top end of the pitch but some players are more likely to maintain a performance level despite other issues than others, thats clear to me.

Specifically on Martial I think the point (or mine anyway!) was that his ability/talent/skill is largely beyond doubt. It's other more intangible but equally important aspects of a player that may unfortunately mean he never quite becomes the player we would all hope for - of course that's in part because of the team he plays in and the managers he's played under but not as much as it's down to himself imo.

On the one hand I totally think we have been a bit of a player ruining club post Fergie, but I also dislike the sometimes self-deprecating mantra that we've been a burden to some players and couldn't give them enough... whatever... and that they'd be better off elsewhere as I see a fair bit with the like of Pogba or Martial.
I agree with your points but I think it’s only the bitter taster in our mouth that makes you say the last sentence. Yes I agree it’s not all about the club and there has been many examples of players playing good in crap teams. I mean good players... otherwise no player would ever make a step up to United. I.e. it Louie Saha doesn’t play well in an average Fulham team he doesn’t get his move here.

However what we forget is that we are situated in a different parallel.. although we might not be the best team in England we still have an aura and presence about us which means it’s not easy to perform around average quality. You will get found out similar situations happen at Barca and Real when they wasn’t the best. Which is why you see players like Riquelme; Robben; Sneijder; Majority of Inter players late 90’s early 00’s succeed away from them. The club has to be right for good players to be successful and thinking it’s just a hard work and passion thing will mean we will continue down this unsuccessful path.
 

Alock1

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You can’t say Martial is not good enough but they say if he went to a class team he would be good.

Just proves he’s not the problem. We are!!
Did we say he's not good enough?

I just said he doesn't have the mentality to really make it at one of the biggest clubs. Talent wise we acknowledged he was.

If he was a long term starter at a title winning team in a top league, I'm sure there would have been a mentality shift to accommodate it.
 

Mainoldo

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Did we say he's not good enough?

I just said he doesn't have the mentality to really make it at one of the biggest clubs. Talent wise we acknowledged he was.

If he was a long term starter at a title winning team in a top league, I'm sure there would have been a mentality shift to accommodate it.
You said he didn’t have the mentality and then referred the proper mentality as Jamie Vardy? Didn’t get what that meant as Mbappe doesn’t look like a headless chicken like Vardy but he’s many moons ahead of him.

I think you are compare appearance once again when judging a very talented player. There’s nothing wrong with his mentality.
 

DVG7

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It's so strange to think that we can still have goalkeeping issues despite the fact most football fans would probably stick De gea in and around their top 5 GK's right now, and certainly for this decade. The reality is he's soft, to the extent that it comes across like he's scared at times. I've lost count the amount of times a ball has been slipped in behind our defence and our defenders initially look like they want to shepherd the ball because they expect De gea to be coming off his line and he just never does. Have we ever seen De Gea use his head to clear a dangerous ball over the top? I can't think of a time, but that happens when a GK takes up that sweeping position ala Ederson at City/Neuer at Bayern. I would contend that the way those GK's play the game when they aren't shot stopping is the correct way for a GK to play these days.

If you make a decision as a goalkeeper to come and punch the ball, you have to flatten everyone in your way. The referee will never give a penalty for that, so may as well be as physical as possible. He is one of the finest shot stoppers and spectacular save artists at an all time level IMO, but his position is about much more than that and ifI could get him to add one thing to his game, it would be to stand 20-25 yards form his goal more often and be comfortable coming out to clear up some danger for his defenders.
 

Rood

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SqueakyWeasel

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Taking the next corner instead of Jones!
Please do bother!

There are Threadmarks for each episode so you can just click the one you want and quote that post with your comments

If you want positivity then listen to last week's show rather than this week:
https://unitedhour.transistor.fm/episodes/united-hour-manchester-is-red
:lol: Just listened to it. Now I'm plowing straight on through to this week's pod … although I'm more than a little bit worried that Colm might take all the positivity back!

Will always follow and support you guys whenever I can as I appreciate the work that goes into creating each pod but times have been a bit tough for me lately and I'm unfortunately playing catch-up.

The new format is not exactly conducive to commenting on older episodes but I do like the fact that I can find everything in one place.

OK, I'm diving in! Fully prepared to be bummed out :eek:
 

mckenic

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Honestly, thanks for sticking with it! I know it sounds trite but everyone involved is chuffed to know people listen. Agree/disagree, comment/dont we just appreciate that you took the time!

I know Rood, as well as an excellent host, does a lot of the admin and corralling, arranging schedules and topics, passing on links and doing the write-ups, posting to social media etc... as well as the stuff he does I dont know about! I hope the single thread with threadmarks eases the load of having to post a new thread, show title and blurb and comment and reply every week!

So really, thanks for listening (and I hope things even themselves out for you mate!)!
 
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Duafc

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:lol: Just listened to it. Now I'm plowing straight on through to this week's pod … although I'm more than a little bit worried that Colm might take all the positivity back!

Will always follow and support you guys whenever I can as I appreciate the work that goes into creating each pod but times have been a bit tough for me lately and I'm unfortunately playing catch-up.

The new format is not exactly conducive to commenting on older episodes but I do like the fact that I can find everything in one place.

OK, I'm diving in! Fully prepared to be bummed out :eek:
:lol::cool:

There's plenty positive on this pod, right up until the Everton, DDG, Ole, Martial discussion :nervous:
 

SqueakyWeasel

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Taking the next corner instead of Jones!
Honestly, thanks for sticking with it! I know it sounds trite but everyone involved is chuffed to know people listen. Agree/disagree, comment/dont we just appreciate that you took the time!

I know Rood, as well as an excellent host, does a lot of the admin and corralling, arranging schedules and topics, passing on links and doing the write-ups, posting to social media etc... as well as the stuff he does I dont know about! I hope the single thread with threadmarks eases the load of having to post a new thread, show title and blurb and comment and reply every week!

So really, thanks for listening (and I hope things even themselves out for you mate!)!
Thank you!

I've listened since the very start and I will continue to do so as often as I can. Really appreciated!
 

Rood

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:lol: Just listened to it. Now I'm plowing straight on through to this week's pod … although I'm more than a little bit worried that Colm might take all the positivity back!

Will always follow and support you guys whenever I can as I appreciate the work that goes into creating each pod but times have been a bit tough for me lately and I'm unfortunately playing catch-up.

The new format is not exactly conducive to commenting on older episodes but I do like the fact that I can find everything in one place.

OK, I'm diving in! Fully prepared to be bummed out :eek:
Ive not had a chance myself yet to hear the latest episode but Im not expecting much positivity from the line up of Colm, Raess and Alex after a draw at home to Everton - but dont worry Ill be back soon !

cheers for the support hope the new year brings some better luck for you mate
 

Adcuth

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If this was fifa I'd be going

De Gea

Laird Tuanzabe Maguire Williams

Mctominay Fred

James Gomes Rashford

Greenwood

Edit. Although I also have Telles, Tomori and Fernandez


*** sorry guys, move this to the match day thread. Phones being a dick ***
 
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Rood

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listened to the pod, I kind of knew what to expect given the Everton result and the panel who are all either openly or closet 'Ole Out' !

I do think there is still too much unfair criticism of Ole given there has been clear improvement recently, fair enough to complain on the coaching where there is still work to be done but when you are moaning about things said in press conference then its too far - yes his pressers are pretty bland but we needed that after the negative atmosphere under Jose plus I am sure it doesnt reflect what hes saying in the dressing room which is what counts (Lingard been on record this week saying he was getting a lot of flack for poor performances)

On DDG - I think we are suffering because we have a new defence who havent fully understood that his weakness is crosses, I think the likes of Smalling came to understand what DDG is good and what not so made sure to protect him in these kind of areas. Yes he should do better but its also a clear foul, I doubt David is going to improve that much on the high balls at this point in his career but he's still outstanding in other areas.

Anyway I'll be back on the next one to make sure the other side of the argument is represented :devil: