“ If De Bruyne (£68m) has an off day, City have Mahrez (£61m), Sterling (£57m), Silva (£45m), Foden, Gundogan (£24m), & Ferran (£21m)

Pexbo

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Fully agree. There are issues with our side but this is the biggest one.
 

DelPotro

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Why is it mutually exclusive? They have better players AND better coaching. We've also spent a similar amount of money compared to City. So you can't really say they just rely on spending more than us.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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He’s employed by the club.

Their squad didn’t cost much more than ours anyway, so what’s he even saying here? They’ve bought better?
 

groovyalbert

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No point in comparing us and City currently.

They've invested with a long-term vision in mind, for a coach they've been preparing to have manage them for over ten years.

Since Pep has joined, we've also spent loads but in a mostly scatter-gun/ill-defined manner.

The only comparisons that should be made should be within the context of Ole's tenure, as it's only since he's arrived that we've stuck to a somewhat long-term plan.
 

GazTheLegend

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Something something gameplan

I keep saying it to people at work, City bought a 70 million defender in summer to replace the 55 million defender that wasn't working. Its turned out that an older 50 million defender has worked better with the 70 million player. People in the media have literally forgotten about the -existence- of Nathan Ake, who really wasn't that much cheaper than Harry Maguire.

Man Utd have a 60 million defender that hasn't quite worked, alongside a 25 million defender, a 30 million defender, and a youth player. Up front, two youth team promotions, a free signing, a 35 million striker and a 9 million championship buy.

Its the wasted money spent by OTHER managers that has caused us some consternation but it's sort of interesting to consider where our players came from in relation to cities. Dean Henderson looks like an an improvement over what many might have said was the best goalkeeper in the world 2 years ago. Its strange times.
 

Yorkeontop

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He's making a point to an argument I'm certainly not making. I don't expect us to match City or even Liverpool. We are not even exploring a middle ground approach found between what they and us do. From what I've seen, Allegri lives in this realm. Ole could find it as well with a change of approach but it would probably take a different group of coaches.
 

The Irish Connection

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Well City cheated to get those lot too. It’s true though, we can’t take a punt on someone at 50m and then get a replacement the following season if he doesn’t play well.
 

Donkey's Ears

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VDB has barely been used by Ole even when fit and even when we desperately needed goals. He has spent 130m on the defence which wasn't our biggest issue and still isn't a huge strength.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Harry Maguire cost more than any player in their squad.

Ole spent nearly £100m this summer on players he never uses.
 

Rozay

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Well some of our players came from the academy. If he were to use market values he should say ‘Bruno is off, United have £120m Rashford, £20m James, £70m Greenwood’ etc.

Gundogan wouldn’t be performing the same for us. Jesus isn’t a better player than Martial. VDB would be 3x the player at City.

And not to mention, Palace were missing half their team, including the only player in their fecking squad worth more than £30m.
 

Negative Red

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It doesn't help when you play two defensive midfielders against Crystal Palace and refuse to take Rashy off when he's having another stinker. I question the mentality more than anything at the minute.
 

Ludens the Red

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Thoughts team?
One minute he’s moaning about us not spending the next he’s moaning that he wants us to spend. He even said he was glad we didn’t sign Sancho just so he could praise Ole for being top in Jan :lol:

He’s an absolute clown and because of that I completely understand you of all people quoting him.
It makes complete sense.
 

GazTheLegend

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He's making a point to an argument I'm certainly not making. I don't expect us to match City or even Liverpool. We are not even exploring a middle ground approach found between what they and us do. From what I've seen, Allegri lives in this realm. Ole could find it as well with a change of approach but it would probably take a different group of coaches.
That middle ground is where we are right now though. Second place, given the money every other team has spent in the league, versus what city have spent, feels like the limit. The only exception is Chelsea, for obvious reasons, who are underachieving in truth.
 

MrMarcello

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I'd say both right and wrong, and extremely biased if true about being employed by the club.

There were times SAF had the likes of O'Shea, Cleverley, Obertan, the Twins, etc. in midfield and it was obvious coaching/tactics made a big influence on the match.

But there are times that a coach can only do so much with what he has at his disposal.

City do have an embarrassment of riches, like that person who once lived in the trailer park but won the lotto and now has seven cars to choose from. I'd imagine Pep would somehow make the United side work more cohesive no matter who was playing (and would likely have signed different players). He'd also have a noticeable philosophy and tactics.
 

Bojan11

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Something something gameplan

I keep saying it to people at work, City bought a 70 million defender in summer to replace the 55 million defender that wasn't working. Its turned out that an older 50 million defender has worked better with the 70 million player. People in the media have literally forgotten about the -existence- of Nathan Ake, who really wasn't that much cheaper than Harry Maguire.

Man Utd have a 60 million defender that hasn't quite worked, alongside a 25 million defender, a 30 million defender, and a youth player. Up front, two youth team promotions, a free signing, a 35 million striker and a 9 million championship buy.

Its the wasted money spent by OTHER managers that has caused us some consternation but it's sort of interesting to consider where our players came from in relation to cities. Dean Henderson looks like an an improvement over what many might have said was the best goalkeeper in the world 2 years ago. Its strange times.
What? Ake cost £41m and Maguire cost £80m. How is that not much cheaper?
 

Pexbo

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Poor us, with barely a pair of coins to rub together. :(
Well no, that’s reductio ad absurdum. This simply explains why we are second but 14 points behind City in first.
 

Zoo

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That’s fine if Ole had done all he could to win the game yesterday. But he carried on with the same system, refusing to risk by overloading the box and committing players forward.
 

hobbers

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Chose to spend £135m on Maguire and AWB, didn't improve the defence.

Chose not to sign a right winger or a (fully fit 50+ games a season) out and out centre forward.

And no, going after an overrated £120m English winger who we couldn't afford doesn't constitute properly addressing the right wing issue. No different to absolving Moyes from any blame because we somehow didnt manage to sign Gareth Bale.

Martial used to offer some creative output, now has nothing to offer. Rashford is playing the worst football he ever has in his career in the last 6 weeks or so. Why are they both declining? Why did Ole spend £40m on top goal-scoring midfield talent from the Eredivisie only to never play him?
 

Siorac

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Now let's do the same with Leicester City who are one point behind us. What do they do if their 90m midfielder is out and their 60m midfielder is having an off game?
 

hubbuh

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We've got one of the worst defensive records of any top side yet we've poured hundreds of millions into it.

Also, saying Mata and VdB are missing and therefore we're left without is an odd point. They've barely played this season even when fit!
 

charlenefan

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Harsh to put Rashford on a par with James
 

RedDevil@84

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The truth is somewhere in the middle. If we had all those players, we would still have struggled because those players will not be playing at the levels they are playing for City.
It is true that having infinite money helps, but their recruitment and administration and how the club is run is way different. Our entire recruitment seems so random, with no continuity and our negotiation department struggles to close even simplest of deals. Our only way is throw a lot of money. And for the players, we couldn't even get the best out of the likes of Ander, leave alone Pogba. We end up calling them average or saying they are not putting enough effort for the team or saying the manager sucks, depending on our own bias.
 

sullydnl

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We've spent as much or more money than anyone else bar City in that time. If our options look so thin then we have nobody to blame but ourselves and our shoddy recruitment that has seen us waste so much of that spending.

I doubt many have much sympathy for one of the richest and most profligate clubs in the world complaining about someone else outspending them.
 

Pexbo

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Harry Maguire cost more than any player in their squad.

Ole spent nearly £100m this summer on players he never uses.
Pep has spent £421m on his defence, citing the cost of one player is hardly an argument. When you have bought loads of defenders that are £45m-£65m, there’s a good chance you are going to stumble across a back line that does the job.
 

dinostar77

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We would have had plenty of creative options as well if previous managers didnt say no ( moyes no to thiago, lvg no to kroos and kdb, mourinho no to mahrez and bernado silva) and the club at that time didnt have a scattergun approach to transfers.

We will get there, Ole is working on the squad to get the right blend.
 

Yorkeontop

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That middle ground is where we are right now though. Second place, given the money every other team has spent in the league, versus what city have spent, feels like the limit. The only exception is Chelsea, for obvious reasons, who are underachieving in truth.
I was talking about the way we play. Results wise, a trophy and top 4 would be my middle ground.
 

RashyForPM

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Thoughts team?
Jeez this is a stupid tweet. Why don’t we start rattling off the cost of Palace, Arsenal, Spurs, Leicester, Brighton, Sheff Utd, Everton and WBA’s squads? Had enough of all the excuses by fans. It’s getting to the point now where because of the desperation to keep Ole in charge to fulfil his 100 year project, we’re letting expectations drop to intolerable levels. Moyes and LvG moaned about high expectations, we battered them and they were sacked. Now, Ole is actually lowering the expectations himself and fans are delighted with it.
 

hobbers

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So yeah, the tweet is right.

It's not just about shit coaching, it's also shit management.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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Now let's do the same with Leicester City who are one point behind us. What do they do if their 90m midfielder is out and their 60m midfielder is having an off game?
Plummet down the table and drop loads of points which is the case for every team bar City.