Nice post. Absolutely agree.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 26
- Goals
- 5
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 3
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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Usual high work rate performance but he had one peach of a cross that I wish Cavani would have been on the end of.
I’d offer work rate we need more than that
His goals last season came from the opening few games, he offered nothing for the rest of the season
So I’d say it’s exactly the same
he is a kick and run merchant on the ball, you can tell from where he crosses the ball, he’s always running out of room
We have. That guy normally is the tallies man who wins you games and is better than everyone else.
Normally you build a team to make him function instead we build a team for the workers. Completely against what made SAF successful.
He deserves the criticism I’m not going to argue against that. I’m arguing against the fact that Dan James is our go to. He’s pants.
Martial is not good enough go even attempt to do anything like that with. He's been given every opportunity in multiple positions and he has failed to live up to the expectation of his talent.
I'm not James biggest fan, but right now he is playing better than Martial and offers more and should be played ahead of him.
0 chance.
When will we learn that work rate alone isnt enough. Need to get Amad more minutes because we cant be relying on James between now and season end, thats asking for trouble. He has proving he isnt good enough with the ball countless times
Fair enough he plays ahead of Martial though as his form has been horrible. We better spend in the summer
Fair enough he plays ahead of Martial though as his form has been horrible. We better spend in the summer
He's not our go to. Cavani or Pogba are, but they are both unavailable. James recent good form means he's next in line of the group of three after that (Mata and VDB), with Amad not ready to be thrown into these games yet. The fact that James, who's struggling to be our 6th choice in the three attacking positions, is outperforming Martial is an issue with Martial, not James or Ole.
SAF built teams that combined both aspects. Our best players had both the skill and the workrate (even players like Ronaldo worked their arse off offensively even if they didn't provide much defensively). In the big games we'd often bring in players like Park, Fletcher, O'Shea and Phil Neville ahead of more talented players (Fletch obviously had that 18 month period where he stepped up from that level) because the extra defensive contribution built a more solid base for the team.
Pogba is not a wide player. You know we spent upwards of 30m on one in Jan though
We have regularly played Pogba in one of the wide positions this season in the bigger games. He was obviously ahead of James in the pecking order for those positions until he got injured.
He offered as much as any of our other attackers yesterday.
He was very good with his work rate yesterday but his decision making is the problem. We can’t have too many poor decision making players in our attack. Having one is fine but not having 2 or 3. The decision making in the final third is something that Sancho offers but not James.
Yes but I don't think it was very effective hence "Pogba is not a wide player". We havent won many big games this season
Or possibly Amad could, I would still sign Sancho though
A squad player at the most right now. Works well as an option coming off the bench or starting games when we have to rotate. Can't critisize him. His effort is admirable no doubt.
He was probably our best attacker last night actually
That says a lot in all the wrong ways.
He’s limited but at the end of the day his contribution far outweighs the likes of Martial.
The industrious chasing down constantly and tracking back does help the team.
He was one of our better players yesterday.
The industrious chasing down constantly and tracking back does help the team.
He was one of our better players yesterday.
Yeah, generally speaking if he's our best attacker of the night, you know we're up for some disappointing result.
Cant argue with that at all. Effort alone he is ahead of Martial. Sadly the talent isnt there. No idea what has happened to Martial this season, looks not interested.
If all I had to do was run around I’d fancy it but stop being so literal and see the point is just having energy off the ball doesn’t make you a good footballer
No one is saying otherwise
Difference is that was James playing “good” where as rashford is out of form
You can fancy all you want, you wouldn't even match the work rate of U18s, U21s. It's insane how quick, strong they are and also their stamina.
Well yeah, James isn't good enough
Yeah it’s a real shame. I was on the fence for a long time with Martial but this season has been nothing short of appalling from him.
One or two of the worst showing from him this season made my mind up, I’m done with waiting for him to be bothered. He needs to be moved on, I think Ole knows that now.
Agreed. But at the minute with Pogba and Cavani out, Martial and Donny playing like they’ve never seen a football before we don’t have much choice.
Cant fault his effort.
That's about it, apart from that he's a bit of a dud.
I always hoped he'd be a cracking squad player, but i'm not all that convinced...
That's about it, apart from that he's a bit of a dud.
I always hoped he'd be a cracking squad player, but i'm not all that convinced...
More turnovers than passes completed.
At least he tried hard though...
At least he tried hard though...
More turnovers than passes completed.
At least he tried hard though...
Thought he was decent and seems a lot more stronger on the ball.
A lot of our fans don’t actually support honest hard work and a positive mentality. You can’t win. Anyone who works hard doesn’t have enough quality while fans have gone mental defending Pogba and Martial over the years because they are talented. Talent+ reputation+ big wages but without application = 6th place but they’ll then place the blame everywhere else. It’s the manager it’s this it’s that. It’s the players mentalities. I wish we’d a few more players with the workrate of James and Fred if only to shake things up a little bit more. James probably has more goals and assists than martial and Greenwood combined in 2021 and you wouldn’t think it going by our fans when he was included in the team yesterday. Do they actually watch us play at all or are they just on here complaining non stop about absolutely everything? Hes had a very sold few weeks and another decent game yesterday and fans are still here giving him a hard time and using him as another stick to beat the manager with. It just goes around in circles till he inevitably has a bad game and all the usual suspects are back saying see I told you so.
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To be fair to him about 4-5 of them were hospital passes from AWB in the first half.More turnovers than passes completed.
At least he tried hard though...
Really lazy plays with little thought behind them about how James was supposed to received a pass on the line with 2-3 players breathing down his neck.
I like James and I thought he was our most dangerous player yesterday. I don't expect him to start in games where we will have a ton of possession but in the big games he can be a key player. I can see Ole using him like how SAF used to use Park...
One swing, no see-saw
The guy was a waste of space for over a year till a few weeks ago when he started to resemble a footballer again, his bad form was almost as bad and as long as Lingard's.
This is the best version of him and it's still nothing special and very far from what's needed in his position.
This is the best version of him and it's still nothing special and very far from what's needed in his position.
To be fair he’s learning the off the ball better than any of our attackers at this point. His run for the header was Bruno’s wet dream and clearly something James didn’t have in the locker a year ago. However his inability to protect/shield the ball is comical. How can you make it to the highest level, with a tiny frame like his and not learn how to protect the ball? Gets dispossessed because of it almost every other touch.
This reminds me of a post I saw on reddit the day James signed. A poster excitedly said something along the lines of "I'd love to see 10 signings like this instead of more megastars". All I could think was: "if you'd rather spend £150 mil on 10 mid table Championship players than on one or two world class players, what kind of team exactly do you expect us to end up with?" I'd expect to end up with a midtable Championship one.
That's what I think when I see quotes like the above. If you'd rather have more hardworking players who are lacking technically at the expense of more productive and gifted players, what kind of team do you think we'd end up with? We'd just be a clogging Burnley, or a Gareth McAuley-Era West Brom. But "Pashun" am I right?
That's why you make proper signings like Bruno who provides both.
Arguing for one over the other is bollocks when we can afford to buy quality players with the work rate, you don't want to end up with all the fancy techniques but 0 work rate either, because that's how you end up like Arsenal during the end of Wenger's reigns, still winning feck all.
He's our new Lingard really but at least James might grow. I actually think he's done okay lately, people are being a bit harsh.
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