5 bad apples at Manchester United, 3 of them we are all in agreement with

SirAnderson

Full Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2014
Messages
24,363
Location
Johannesburg, South Africa
Just last month he was in the press saying that he has wasted 5 years at Manchester United.

At the time he said that, we were in the hunt for 4th place and Champions League football next season.
Rather than knuckle down for the team, he just though of himself and brought negativity.
So being honest is now known as being unprofessional?
Just have to go look at the new Pogba thread that was created about how people feel about his team here, and that would be the most said aspect of his time.
 
Joined
Jun 26, 2014
Messages
22,078
Location
Behind the right goal post as "Whiteside shoots!"
We are yet to see a quality defensive midfielder play in front of Maguire in a United shirt.

Maguire's weakness is his pace, which can be addressed with developing a better positional sense and reading of the game. There is ability there, we see it when he's in an England shirt.

Rashford's weakness is his attitude. Rashford is never going to change his attitude, his ego is too big for him to be able to do that.
Thing is with England is (1) teammates around him and (2) that in the majority of games, they’re playing opponents who are inferior (majority of Euros and WC qualifying) and some of their actual group games. It’s only the odd group game and maybe last 16/last 8 they generally play someone decent… someone who will put real pressure on the defence, incl Maguire. When they’re playing San Marino, Albania and Andorra, Maguire is never going to look like he’s struggling?

Then add that he has players like Walker and Stones and TAA around him (all playing for well coached teams?), he’s going to look better?

Then add that he generally has not one but two hard wording MFers (Rice and KP) in front of him to reduce attacks, minimise the challenge, support him.. and again, it’s easier in England games.

So United can get better players (fine) and we can be better coached (fine) but we can’t play the club equivalent of Andorra and San Marino most weeks.… the PL is the most competitive in terms of smaller clubs putting up a fight. Add the fact that he’s slow (something no amount of coaching is going to help.. he’s going to get slower too) and he’s a liability.

(Oh, and he’s the worst captain I’ve ever seen at United which hurts but isn’t the reason I want him gone).

I don’t rate Shaw or Rashford or Martial or AWB (or some others) but I can see attributes that MIGHT make them players ETH can coach/work with. Maguire… nothing.
 

Ali Dia

Full Member
Joined
May 10, 2013
Messages
14,321
Location
Souness's Super Sub/George Weahs Talented Cousin
I don’t think Rashford or Pogba work nearly hard enough on the pitch. Martial too. This is the worst period in our recent history with them as our main players and amongst our biggest earners. They shouldn’t get a free pass and season after season to buck up just because they are home grown. There are other players out there who will work way harder. Nobody should be safe from the chop if they aren’t doing it.
 

devilish

Juventus fan who used to support United
Joined
Sep 5, 2002
Messages
61,675
I disagree with this notion entirely and it's just illogical to blame the players when it's as clear as day that the way the club has been run is the root cause of our issues

the club and squad morale is in the toilet, and has been for years for the most part

new (and highly successful) players join, perform well for a while and then turn to shite

Bruno was world class at first but is now struggling, he mentality was elite when he joined

we'd have to be the unluckiest club in the world for this to be a coincidence and we've somehow acquired a large group of top-level pros who are lazy/unprofessional.

It's not a coincidence though, the problem is the club and not the players.

it's like when a well-intentioned cop joins a corrupt police force, they might stand-firm for a while but after a year or two they end up bent just like the the rest of them
Both come hand in hand. Players come in and they become complacent because the club is a mess, it takes ages to get the bad apples out of the team and we're just happy with a 4th place and ample media attention. That doesn't mean that its not the players' fault as well. They are supposed to do a job and they should be doing it in a professional way
 

Mmm-Qatarian

Full Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Messages
1,477
The problem isn't a case of "bad apples", and frankly until we get this ridiculous notion that everything will be fixed by replacing a few players out of our heads we are going absolutely nowhere as a club.

How many "bad apples" to we have to root out before we start to accept that maybe it's the entire fecking orchard that keeps on producing them that's the problem?

(As an addendum, I find it so laughable that people are pinning so much of the blame for this season on Shaw when he's not even been in the team for a good number of our crappiest performances)
 
Last edited:

tjb

Full Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2013
Messages
3,328
One of the weirdest things about fans of any sport in general is the tendency to blame the good players rather than the shit ones. Imagine singling out these players who’ve all shown they can actually play quite well at various points for either club or country, when you’ve got blokes like McTominay and Wan-Bissaka stealing a living.
Boom. You've nailed it. Outside of Pogba, too much has been made about toxicity in the team. It's a combination of lack of quality in key areas and poor management that is the reason why we are here.

Our issues come in the middle of the pitch...yet it's always our defenders or attackers that get blamed.
 

Fluctuation0161

Full Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2016
Messages
8,164
Location
Manchester
Lingard
Rashford
Pogba
Shaw
Maguire

Out of the 5 bad apples above, it is our academy products that need to be churned out of the club immediately... for good.
If they haven’t already, then pack your bags Lingard, Rashford, and Pogba

Enough is enough.

There is no hiding place for those 3 players anymore. It is those 3 players who have been stinking out the place for far too long, and they have been taking us fans for mugs.
They think that because they are products of our academy, they are above everyone else in the dressing room. No heart, no desire, no fight on the pitch, no effort, sauntering around, poor body language, no tracking back, blind alleys, don’t care about the fans, undermining the manager, don’t want to be at the club, GET OUT!

The two salvageable apples:
Shaw and Maguire

Shaw is a good left-back, we know he puts the effort in, and fights for the shirt. The problem with Shaw is that he has too much to say, and that can often undermine the manager. He can salvage his United career by keeping his mouth shut, and letting his performances on the pitch do the talking for him.

Maguire is a good defender, who has been playing horribly in a United shirt. When he plays in an England shirt, he always has really good quality defensive midfielders playing in front of him – something which he doesn’t have at Manchester United.
We know in the long term that his pace will always be a weakness of his, so he must develop his positional sense and with that a better reading of the game.
Just as Luke Shaw does, Harry always puts effort in and fights for the shirt.

Ten Hag must address Harry’s delusions of grandeur, as he isn’t as good a defender as he thinks he is. A period out of the team would go a long way in not only addressing Harry’s form when required, but would also give him a reality check as well.
Maguire isn't salvageable in a high line or high press system.
 

MiceOnMeth

Full Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Messages
1,780
Absolutely mental to suggest that Harry Maguire has more to offer United than Rashford going forward. Rashford is bereft of confidence while Maguire is bereft of ability.
Rashford is bereft of giving a shit which is worse than Maguire being a bit shit
 

Hammondo

Full Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2015
Messages
6,854
Absolutely mental to suggest that Harry Maguire has more to offer United than Rashford going forward. Rashford is bereft of confidence while Maguire is bereft of ability.
Rashford is also limited in ability.
 

Trigg

aka Trippin_Stoned
Joined
Mar 24, 2004
Messages
5,946
Location
Sowerby Bridge
Lingard
Rashford
Pogba
Shaw
Maguire

Out of the 5 bad apples above, it is our academy products that need to be churned out of the club immediately... for good.
If they haven’t already, then pack your bags Lingard, Rashford, and Pogba

Enough is enough.

There is no hiding place for those 3 players anymore. It is those 3 players who have been stinking out the place for far too long, and they have been taking us fans for mugs.
They think that because they are products of our academy, they are above everyone else in the dressing room. No heart, no desire, no fight on the pitch, no effort, sauntering around, poor body language, no tracking back, blind alleys, don’t care about the fans, undermining the manager, don’t want to be at the club, GET OUT!

The two salvageable apples:
Shaw and Maguire

Shaw is a good left-back, we know he puts the effort in, and fights for the shirt. The problem with Shaw is that he has too much to say, and that can often undermine the manager. He can salvage his United career by keeping his mouth shut, and letting his performances on the pitch do the talking for him.

Maguire is a good defender, who has been playing horribly in a United shirt. When he plays in an England shirt, he always has really good quality defensive midfielders playing in front of him – something which he doesn’t have at Manchester United.
We know in the long term that his pace will always be a weakness of his, so he must develop his positional sense and with that a better reading of the game.
Just as Luke Shaw does, Harry always puts effort in and fights for the shirt.

Ten Hag must address Harry’s delusions of grandeur, as he isn’t as good a defender as he thinks he is. A period out of the team would go a long way in not only addressing Harry’s form when required, but would also give him a reality check as well.
That's an interesting take... And by interesting I mean mental.
 

MikeKing

Full Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2017
Messages
5,125
Supports
Bournemouth
Rashford is bereft of giving a shit which is worse than Maguire being a bit shit
Thats my feeling too. If we could choose... Obviously we would all like to save Rashford and Pogba. Realistically, Maguire and Shaw could provide something or at least be less harmful to the team. However, we should replace them all. Maguire and Shaw struggles with their mentality as much as those other guys and might well be damaged goods at this point.
 

Tarrou

Full Member
Joined
May 13, 2013
Messages
25,632
Location
Sydney
Both come hand in hand. Players come in and they become complacent because the club is a mess, it takes ages to get the bad apples out of the team and we're just happy with a 4th place and ample media attention. That doesn't mean that its not the players' fault as well. They are supposed to do a job and they should be doing it in a professional way
That doesn’t make any sense to me. We’ll just have to agree to disagree on that one.
 

DevilRed

Full Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2011
Messages
12,932
Location
Stretford End
Not sure why Rashford has been included.

Shaw has also been our player of the year multiple times.

But I get the frustration. Right now everyone looks wank.
 

Leftback99

Might have a bedwetting fetish.
Joined
Jan 11, 2015
Messages
14,390
There's no way we can go into next season with Dalot and Telles starting games. Should be sold as soon as possible.
 

jesperjaap

Full Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2014
Messages
5,726
They could disagree all they like. Doesn’t change the rules. There are people here who would gladly fill the squad with imports.
I want the best players and of coruse its good to see youth products and British players. That was a big part of our gret sides, buying the best of British Robson, Ince, Keane, Cole etc etc

But its much harder to do now with all the money at certain clubs, the rush to capture players as youths, the premiership prices.

There are lots of British players Id love to sign, but they are virtually all at big clubs or too expensive for our immediate needs
 

rooney2009

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2009
Messages
2,609
Location
London
Shaw is definitely good enough and our form dropped off when he got injured
AWB is trainable and a new coach might make him into a good squad player
Not sure about Maguire or Martial or even Rashford
They have all developed a lazy culture,comfortable culture and we hope the new Manager can change the culture of the Team
They are a team of footballers that hate running or working hard especially during difficult periods
 

Green_Red

New Member
Joined
May 29, 2013
Messages
10,296
Absolutely mental to suggest that Harry Maguire has more to offer United than Rashford going forward. Rashford is bereft of confidence while Maguire is bereft of ability.
That comment should close the thread.
 

redshaw

Full Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2015
Messages
9,689
Just to counter this brexit FC thing, we have Varane, Lindelof, Telles and Dalot on today and are playing comically bad against Arsenal as well as Bruno gifting goals and missing pens.

We're just so shite this season bar Ronaldo.
 

Idxomer

Full Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2014
Messages
15,266
It's funny how all those "bad apples" aren't playing today.

The problem has always been the same, the quality of the players and coaches not who's toxic and all those intangibles that are impossible to prove.
 

stw2022

New Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2021
Messages
3,687
Watch the ones who make $$ off their public image as true-red, United through and through who’ll be leaking stories about how more successful clubs want to sign them in the next 72 hours
 

Roboc7

Full Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2014
Messages
6,660
If you keep rewarding failure, having no accountability, no ambition, massively overpaying everyone and accepting mediocrity then squad will be full of players with a poor attitude.
 

TsuWave

Full Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2013
Messages
14,281
"3 of them we're all in agreement with" - guy having a conversation with himself
 

Josep Dowling

Full Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2014
Messages
7,655
I don’t mind Shaw but he’s constantly injured which in itself is an issue. I think only last season was he playing most weeks.

Rashford is likely to be kept but we are never going to get him to press. I just hope ETH identifies his style early on then buys players to fit that style of play. I’m tired of managers coming in suddenly thinking they can change the way a player plays. Trying to press with Pogba, Rashford, Ronaldo, Martial, Greenwood was never going to happen. If we wanted to play pressing we should have kept James.
 

KeanoMagicHat

Full Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2019
Messages
4,032
It's funny how all those "bad apples" aren't playing today.

The problem has always been the same, the quality of the players and coaches not who's toxic and all those intangibles that are impossible to prove.
Spot on. As you highlighted the stats of "good apple" McTominay in his performance thread.
 

tenpoless

No 6-pack, just 2Pac
Joined
Oct 20, 2014
Messages
16,326
Location
Ole's ipad
Supports
4-4-2 classic
I wouldn't consider Lingard a bad apple. In my eyes he's a Westham player being loaned back to United. So he's not really our apple anymore.
 

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
65,865
Location
France
Said at the time we were chasing top 4 and Champions League football next season:
"You have to be honest, the last five seasons have not satisfied me – really not at all. This year it is dead, we won't win anything."

Then goes on to undermine Rangnick in the same interview:
"I get along very well with [Deschamps], he gave me a role that I know, but at Manchester United do I really have a role? I ask the question but I don't have an answer."

Disrutpive. Unprofessional. I'll be glad once he leaves, and it can't come soon enough.


https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/paul-pogba-man-utd-contract-26534158
For context this part is specifically about trophies and what he wants in the future.