Our most successful period wasn't after 2005, but I get what you mean.
Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap
- Thread starter davidmichael
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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We just beat them 4-0 in the Intergalactic Cup, we’ll put 7 past them when it actually means something. FdJ will be begging to join.
This is his life from now on. CH, bench, CH, bench, CH….
@Berbaclass has done serious bits in this thread. Legendary numbers, Ronaldo & Messi would be proud of this consistency.
The first indication that United think this may not happen will be a drip feed of articles about how EtH has been surprised/ impressed by [insert Eriksen, McFred or Savage / Iqbal] and sees them as playing a key role in midfield.
It will still claim we are following events in Barcelona "with interest" but that will be the first drip from the dyke wall.
It will still claim we are following events in Barcelona "with interest" but that will be the first drip from the dyke wall.
I think Harry Kane might be a more apt comparison here. Puts up impressive numbers but fails to walk away with the prize.
looks a lot more like a rotation team for Barcelona and still on the bench. maybe it's barca trying to pressure him, maybe something else. with that report about him being open to a pay cut we need to hope it's false or some spin by the club and the next spin is that barca are having difficulty from the player finding an agreement.
Four league titles and three CL finals in five seasons. At worst it's a tie with late 90s/early 2000s.
We never managed to replace Roy Keane up to this very day. Let's not derail this thread, please.
I wouldn't read much into anything you see in preseason. Xavi is experimenting with the squad. The first 'message' about playing time and position to de Jong will be the first La liga game, if he's still at the club by then.
Yet 3 of the newbies get a start, only Raphinha misses out despite scoring a screamer last game
If you really wanted to keep the player and tempt him to sign an adjusted contract why would you repeatedly bench him, tell him his favourite position is no longer where he will play then give him minutes at CB (where he also won’t play as a starter).
The whole situation is bizarre and illogical
The whole situation is bizarre and illogical
Burning sensation?
The article in The Athletic said that it was par for course that the high-ups within Barca are always wanting to rid of a few players though out the history of Barcelona.
They are used to it and usually fight through the pressures.
People aren't impatient for not giving the current squad time because uh, they've been given enough time. Mctominay and Fred have been underperforming for years now, they've both spent almost 5 years at club as senior players. On the point that "rebuilds take time, multiple windows and years to complete", it only took Barcelona one summer window to completely revamp their squad. And they're broke, apparently. What's our excuse? The "rebuild takes time" is just a narrative the United press and journalist the club uses to placate the fans into accepting mediocrity. Buying 3 completely new midfielders to completely replace our double pivot to a level resembling that of a top club, was not an unachievable goal. We could've done that instead of wasting our budget on Malacia and Martinez, for example.
Actually referring to anti muppetry. The ones taking in Barca propaganda like it's gospel
But half of the players selected today are not registered so won't be able to play in competitive fixtures. Ironically, it's because of Frenkie's wages that they cannot be registered, so Barca will basically be forced to play him once the real action starts.
My ideal solution would be we sell Ronaldo to PSG on condition they sell Messi to Barca, and Barca sell de Jong to us. I'm sure with a bit of financial engineering, pulling a couple of levers or transferring a couple of brown envelopes, we can sort out the deferred wages issue.
He can still be an impact sub so I won't get too excited yet until he's made Camp Nou's new men's restroom attendant.
Yeah weird to say the least, bordering on bullying but he's too blind to see Erik will give him his ideal position. Yes we can't offer Champions League this season but will have again and also give him the midfield for him to flourish.
He'll be paid accordingly too.
But at least he will be at his Mecca, the dream of every dutch player.
He's not getting in their midfield as first choice is he? So he is going to be a very expensive backup in a World Cup year. Wonder why LVG hasn't been in his ear like he has in Timber's.
Is there anyone who can even come close to him on the dutch team in the role LVG has him playing? his spot may be secure whether he is a weekly starter or not.
Maybe wait and see how Barcelona play before declaring them back, because I don't see it. But also, yeah, rebuilds can't be done in 1 window, but you can get on track. Our objective isn't a title challenge this season, just like if Barca was in the prem they would be far away from city and Liverpool too. That's just the reality. Also - Barca are retarded with their finances, unless you think mortgaging your future for a 34 year old striker is "smart business".
Also, stop lumping Fred in with McTominay. One is a starter for Brazil and is always among our very best players. The other plays CB for Scotland instead of midfield. There's a big difference.
Fair enough, I'm not super high on Garner but as a sub spot in the squad I'm ok with it. Eriksen is the main one where I think you're wrong, he's pretty much been back to his form from a few years ago since he's come back. Think he'll surprise you. Also he wouldn't have come if ten hag didn't tell him he'd be a regular. So there's no chance he's a backup.
Agree. Barcelona is a horrible team, dislikable for so many reasons. But one thing they have proven again to us. It is that you don't need 4 fecking years to rebuild and compete for trophies.
Yeah we need to follow their model. If we're not winning, we might as well be insolvent. And if we're already insolvent, try to go out with a bang.
I think the build up will be massively different with Shaw actually being there instead of Telles who is garbage, with Martinez at LCB who is an excellent ball playing CB, with Eriksen in the side, and mainly with Ten hag as coach. The difference has been night and day. Sure it's just pre season, but I'd say it's a very clear difference and you'd have to be blind not to see a difference. We are on playing with clear patterns and movement off the ball, clear linkup between players already and that will only improve with more practices.
2nd half against villa is proof more training is needed, learning how to adapt to conditions, fatigue and calm down when the opposition has a little spell which always happens. Its only been a few weeks.
On Fred/fdj, none of us really know what ten hag will do, I feel like he'd partner them and have Fred just play a different role than right now (and he did allude to Fred playing a few different midfield roles).
With the squad, I think our starting 11 is talented and has high potential. I think our depth is tumescent. With our current squad best 11, I think Ten Hag could get us to be the 3rd best side in the league, but only if we had a ton of injury luck. As it is, I worry if any of Dalot, Fred, Sancho/martial/Rashford are injured. Wan Bissaka looks like he can't be arsed in a backup role, if Fred is out then we're experimenting a bit though I think we could make it work between Eriksen or Bruno playing deeper, but the front 3 worries me the most. Elanga isn't a premier league footballer IMO. None of the depth would be able to have an impressive loan in the Prem. Will ignore Ronaldo for now since nobody knows what's happening there. But that's what worries me most. You need competition and depth in attack. Can't afford playing a championship level footballer with 1 injury, and that's the only place in our squad where that happens.
Barca wouldn't compete for trophies in the Prem and won't compete for the CL. Not a chance.
That's not right though. Pre-season is the place to start putting game plans into action. A chance for the manager to shape the team for that opening game. There is zero chance that FDJ is in the starting eleven on the opening day of La Liga if he continues to be a bench player during these pre-season games.
Real knocked out our League's three strongest teams on the way to winning it last year, so I wouldn't be too sure about that. I certainly hope they don't though, that's for sure.
Mess of a club: "You are not needed here, take a pay cut or leave"
Vs
Frenkie the beach lover : "I love beaches in sunny Spain"
Vs
Frenkie the beach lover : "I love beaches in sunny Spain"
They did only because they have some weird destiny with the CL where everything falls perfectly for them year after year. They got outplayed by pretty much all of the English sides but were resilient and got over the line. Real Madrid is also a much better side than Barcelona on their day, though they're aging in key areas so will need to adapt with that. Tournament football is different to league football though, Madrid wouldn't really compete for the Prem with City and Liverpool either with their consistency.
Experimenting? He's already confirmed de Jong is now a CB in his eyes and this is in direct contradiction to de jongs own words when he said LVG knew how to play him in better positions.
Especially Matic, I don't know how someone could watch his good games in which he demonstrated quite clearly what we were missing and decide to go with thia idiotic pursuit and then end up declaring its either we get De Jong or nothing. If the likes of Garner and Martinez don't somehow give us a different midfield combo then this season is DOA.
Exactly. Even if he were starting the fact that it's at CB should be sending shockwaves for him. We heard a lot of noise early this summer about FDJ being misused by Barca and that being why he plays better for the Netherlands. Now Xavi has gone and moved him to defense..that's such a strong message and it's being overshadowed by budget issues. Barca don't value the kid and have had issue with his performance that's been building for months. He is not a good fit.
Someone posted that meme from Office Space which was just too perfect.
That’s fair. Especially if we don’t sing any other midfielder. However I won’t be calling for ETH’s head if there is clear improvement and we’re missing couple of players from competing. The sad reality is though, is that we are nowhere near we used to be obviously, so it’s hard to attract top players like we used to, I hope ETH can turn it around for use, with trophies, and with actual style of play.
Ok everyone calm the f down. DeJong is coming by hook or crook. He isn’t as important to Barca as he is to us as they have good midfielders . Secondly if the keep him the gotta pay him a lot so they’d rather pay his deferred wages and get rid. He also won’t choose Chelsea over his former manager.
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