Forget the result, why are we so rubbish at football?

[Di Maria's angel]

We never look functional. Are we just doomed?

 

[TsuWave]

Because these are in our starting XI:

DDG
Shaw
Maguire
Dalot
Fred
Mctominay
Bruno
Rashford

all are shit

 

[Canagel]

Players aren't good enough. It's not that difficult.
Ralf told us about these players and we ignored him.

 

[SirAF]

Players aren't good enough. It's not that difficult.
Ralf told us about these players and we ignored him.

This.

 

[Ayoba]

Because these are in our starting X!

DDG
Shaw
Maguire
Dalot
Fred
Mctominay
Bruno

I'd add rashford to that list too. fecking shocking, an absolute nothing performance today.

 

[Ayoba]

Players aren't good enough. It's not that difficult.
Ralf told us about these players and we ignored him.

Exactly!

 

[space]

McFred.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Players aren't good enough. It's not that difficult.
Ralf told us about these players and we ignored him.

We wouldn't look out of place in league 1 or 2.

 

[Someone]

No confidence, mentally broken. Every time someone gets the ball they get a PTSD episode. Also really poor characters, no real winners.

 

[tenpoless]

We need a new manager (which we have) and new team, which means at least 8 new first teamers.
That's the only way.

 

[fallengt]

Same lineup as two years ago, plus Martinez and Eriksen.
Not difficult to figure it out whose fault is it.

 

[Quagmire Maguire]

Players aren't good enough. It's not that difficult.
Ralf told us about these players and we ignored him.

Agreed!

 

[Nick7]

Not got a clue. Our players were doing the opposite of what they were doing in pre-season today. Big difference between friendlies and the real thing but feck the players were about 5 seconds slower with everything today.

 

[Slevs]

Because we only change managers when its clear as day half the starting squad needs to be shipped for not being good enough for several seasons now.

Shaw
Rashford
McTominay
Fred
Dalot

We just change managers thinking they'll turn them into world class players whereas they've been exposed several seasons now under different managers.

 

[In Rainbows]

1. Our midfield should be arguably our best technicians, and they are arguably our worst on the ball. This causes them to hide away from the ball, to quickly pass it back (never holding the ball and progressing it forward), and are unable to pass between the lines. I thought the CBs did a better job at progressing the ball and that's pathetic.

2. McFred, Dalot, Bruno, and de Gea were all nervous for some weird reason

This completely messed up any instructions given by Ten Hag. They started to do better in the 2nd half after he talked to them, but it was too late.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

Lower table midfield.

Bruno tricked everyone. He's not that good.

No ball carriers, no dribbles, no player comfortable in uncomfortable areas, no defenders to start a decent attack, an overrated keep that has excellent reflexes in close but is bad at everything else.

 

[RVN1991]

Our midfield has been a disaster for a while now. We were playing with Anderson and Cleverly at one point and the standard has only gotten worse since

 

[Hugh Jass]

Id say half the team is not technical enough to play one touch football. Mctominah cannot. shaw cannot. Rashford cannot.

You need players who can pass one touch.

Just like Brighton were doing to us. It looked like Ole was still in charge today we were so poor. Only moving Erikson to MF changed things.

But still we badly need De Jong.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Same lineup as two years ago, plus Martinez and Eriksen.
Not difficult to figure it out whose fault is it.

You really believe that? You don't we're capable of just some consistency? Accurate passing or looking like a team that has played together before?

 

[Majima]

Because we're starting the same players who've already proven their complete failure to play a pressing style?

DDG, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay, Rashford, Bruno, all still starters. All are hopeless.

Ten Hag hasn't got a chance of turning this sorry lot around. We could have Pep and Klopp as his assistants and it wouldn't change a thing until they're all replaced.

 

[hobbers]

Half the players out there have championship standard ball control.

 

[space]

2016/17– Fellaini, Herrera
2017/18– Matic, Pogba
2018/19– Pereira, Fred
2019/20– McTominay, Pogba
2020/21– McTominay, Pogba
2021/22– McTominay, Fred
2022/23– McTominay, Fred

 

[Siorac]

I'd add rashford to that list too. fecking shocking, an absolute nothing performance today.

After 18 months of poor form, the inevitable conclusion is that it isn't about form anymore. It's his level now.

 

[Yagami]

We will only improve once we start signing press resistant players and players who can dribble.

 

[Canagel]

We wouldn't look out of place in league 1 or 2.

The worst thing for me is that there is no sign of this squad being overhauled any time soon. Ten Hag will be the next manager thrown under the bus and the same players will be here under a new regime. It will be a long road back to the top.

 

[The Firestarter]

Can't make a new brothel with old hoes.

 

[JeffFromHK]

because our players are not good enough and/or not suited to possesion based football. many of our players lack fight as well.

De Gea - basically lack everything as a goalkeeper apart from shotstopping. No command, sweeping, ball playing, high ball claiming
Maguire - slow - making him prone to counterattacks. a bit panicky when pressed and loves to aimlessly head the ball forward without pressure. always lack urgency and feels casual when we are behind
Shaw - lethargic, casual. lacks fight and urgency.
Dalot - zero defending ability.
Fred - prone to mistakes and possesion loss, panicky
McTominay - jogging master. he lacks everything apart from duels and picking fights. contrary to many fans' thinking, he LACKS fights. he just loves to avoid taking responsibility and refuses to make sprints.
Rashford - plays like he is a rival fan forced to put on man utd shirt. lacks fight, urgency. makes no runs, fails to win any duals.
Bruno - good creativity, but no ball shielding. prone to mistakes and posession losses.

 

[flappyjay]

We never look functional. Are we just doomed?

I believe or maybe I am biased in thinking football is played in midfield. Since sir Alex left the only proper midfielder we have had is Matic who was on his last legs. United fans seem to have forgotten it too. I grew up thinking it was normal for midfielders to be good passers of the ball (Scholes and Carrick) and everything else was extra. Fast forward to today our midfielders are tenacity and hardwork and no passing ability. There are way too many midfielders outside the top 6 who would waltz into our midfielde.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Poor coaching. Managers who sequentially make no sense. Awful recruitment.

 

[Leg-End]

It's impossible to turnover a complete squad rehaul in one window and particularly not at the top level of football but that being said we haven't even started.

I don't think United or at least those in charge will ever admit defeat on some of these players, too scared to lose "value" and too scared to admit things are dire. Things probably will get worse before they get better, 3 weeks left in a window just means overpaying, January will be the same. It's never going to happen for most of this lot, in all honesty would you care if one our big rivals wanted one of our players? Not that they would but we don't have a single player you wouldn't dare to lose, that's shocking for Manchester United.

Unless we have an amazing turnaround in the next month, my optimism is gone, those in charge are just Glazer yes men, actions speak louder than words and all we have is words.

 

[Siorac]

We will only improve once we start signing press resistant players and players who can dribble.

Yes. Being comfortable on the ball under pressure must be a prerequisite for every single player we sign. No more "can do a job even though he isn't the best with the ball" plodders.

 

[Ekeke]

Crap spineless spine of the team

We needed 1 CB and 1 DM to come in and toughen us up in this aspect. We got 1 CB and we're putting all our eggs in a midfielder that wont fix it either

 

[fallengt]

You really believe that? You don't we're capable of just some consistency? Accurate passing or looking like a team that has played together before?

Yes? They're average washed up players, half of premiere clubs have figured how to deal with them long ago.
You think two Brighton's goals came from Dalot' side for no reason?

 

[RedSky]

Replace our two starting midfielders and we'd be a much, much better team. We'd still have issues but we'd be far more competitive.

 

[Yagami]

Yes. Being comfortable on the ball under pressure must be a prerequisite for every single player we sign. No more "can do a job even though he isn't the best with the ball" plodders.

100%

We can't pass through teams because once our players receive it under pressure, they fail to shield it, and we have no one who can open a team up by dribbling past a player or two. It's a massive hindrance.

 

[Lecland07]

Because these are in our starting XI:

DDG
Shaw
Maguire
Dalot
Fred
Mctominay
Bruno
Rashford

all are shit

It is going to take years to get rid of these and fix the team. We are not going to be able to sign their proper replacements until some of them are shifted.

I will throw in Ronaldo to that list, also.

We have moved on quite a bit of dross, but just have so much of it. It is going to take years.

 

[Leftback99]

It's not just on the ball. We have next to zero physicality and aggression in the team. The likes of Rashford, Sancho and Bruno barely challenge for anything, especially in the air. Then you have the likes of Dalot and McTominay who are Championship level players.

Nothing new, the squad simply isn't good enough and no manager will fix that without replacing them with quality.

 

[The Purley King]

If you don’t control central midfield in a game you are snookered immediately.
We haven’t bossed central midfield since carrick was playing. Needs upgrading asap and Ericksen is not the answer.
Should have sent Iqbal on at half time at least he can control a football……..

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

1) Body position of our players.
2) Passing to the wrong side of the body, behind them when advancing up the pitch.
3) Zone of the pitch players occupy, they don't vacate that area and when they do, they it's chaos.
4) Lack of technique when passing, just lazy, lacks zip, angle and spin is wrong.
5) Passing angles are too flat/horizontal and played to slow, instantly triggering the other teams press. Verticality of our passing is worst in the league.
6) We never move towards the ball when a pass comes into a player, we wait for it to arrive, allowing teams half a second to set.
7) Touch is really bad combined with the ball being received at the wrong angle.
8) We are always square on to players with the ball - you never should be at amateur level yet at pro level, here we are.
9) No off the ball movement. And when there is the lack of passing vision and technique means we don't make the pass.

 

[Castia]

Crap spineless spine of the team

We needed 1 CB and 1 DM to come in and toughen us up in this aspect. We got 1 CB and we're putting all our eggs in a midfielder that wont fix it either

In the grand scheme of things I don’t think we even needed a CB as priority. We have Varane on the bench and Lindelof not in the match day squad, those 2 options are a million miles ahead of anything we have in reserve for midfield or attack.

We’ve spent about 170m on CB’s in the past 3 summer windows, why can’t they realise prime Cannavaro and Nesta would look bang average with that midfield in front of them.