Bollocks. We've got Herrera, Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Rashford, Mata and Martial to take up our front six spots. We've got Carrick, who is still a canny hand. Lingard isn't a mug either, in spite of generally not being good enough. There's multi millions of pounds of talent littered all over this team and it's up to the manager to get the best out of them in an attacking sense. That we've scored less league goals than Bournemouth gives credence to this, unless you think Josh King and Marc Pugh are the "decent" footballers we don't get the luxury of having in our squad.
We've had clear outs. We just need our managers to start doing their jobs.
Like I said, score two goals and we win this tie.
Comparing our goals scored to Bournemouth is questionable, not only have we missed a plethora of chances all season long but teams don't approach the games the same way they do Bournemouth.
Whether or not money has been glittered doesn't mean shite, these aren't Jose's players. It's really no coincidence that our best defender, best midfielder and best striker were all players Jose brought in this summer.
Compare our squads to teams like Bayern etc, why is it that those teams never seem to struggle no matter who they hire manager? It's because their squads are world class, our squad is full of mediocrity. Darmian, Fellaini, Lingard, Jones, Smalling Etc. can all do a job, but aren't of the required standard.
What other top team has an 18 year old kid with no experience leading the line? Don't get me wrong, I love Rashford and think he's destined for greatness but he's still a kid and his lack of experience is telling in games like today.
There's a reason we sell these players and they move to mediocre teams, because they're mediocre players. Depay at Lyon, Morgan to Everton etc. when you have a squad with a very small few quality players (let's be honest, 3? Maybe 4 at a stretch) it'll reflect in the performances.
Barcelona hire managers that are shite and they win champions league, Bayern continue to dominate no matter who comes in, Real Madrid the same. Meanwhile we've had 3 different managers who have all struggled, starting to see a pattern yet? The squad is always much more important than the manager, Jose is a world class manager, one of the best around, but he can't turn shit into wine. He's no SAF.
Its the end of the season, we have injuries to key players, players are fatigued and aren't going to get any sharper. We have no space for mistakes, Jose is doing what he has to which is win these games at all costs, even at the expense of expansive football. He's capable of it, as he showed earlier on in the season, but we're at the business end of the season now, we can't be risking playing that brand of football, squandering a billion chances like we have been infamous for this season and losing the game.
Given all that we are still on track to end the season with 3 trophies, albeit small ones and champions league qualification, that's the signs of a top manager.
That's why I'm going to excuse these dire performances at this stage, all we need is the wins. I'll judge him more harshly next season but as long as we see further progress I'm happy. This squad is still far away from being amongst the elite again imo.
That's just how I see it anyway, people are going over the top with this doom and gloom shite. We haven't played good football in years, our football was pretty shit towards the end of SAF too, was down to individual brilliance by RVP etc. shit football isn't new to us, at least now we are winning trophies with it, unlike under LVG and Moyes. Things will
Hopefully improve.