[Wheato]

He was head and shoulders Arsenal's best player for 2-3 years. Actually looked out of place in their team he was that good. Goals and assists. Now he can't make a 5 yard pass to a teammate. The other thing is he has passed 30 now, so it doesn't look like he is going to re-capture his form. China is the only place that can take him now. Or he will just bleed us dry for another 3 years. The other annoying thing is that we were flying up until the point where he signed.

 

[ArjenIsM3]

His regression reminds me a lot of Wayne Rooney's.

 

[gza the genius]

One more proper preseason should probably get him back on track! If that fails we could always just shuffle him back and forth between positions that way any time he's terrible we can just say it's because he needs to play in a different position. Problem sorted. Then we can offer him a contract extension to maximize his sell on fee.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Given his wages, I don't think he will go anywhere else. So hope he finds some form sooner or later. As Ole said, it is all in his hands. He can either try hard and find a way to get back into form, else take his salary and stay in a backup role.

 

[BurtSpangle]

I just hope this is our last ever foray into the transfer market for a big name over the age of 26. We've been burned every time, with perhaps the exception of Zlatan

Have you ever considered it's because we haven't had a world class attacking coach in that time? I find it hilarious how people always jump to blame the players when it's abundantly clear that offensively we have been crap for years.

According to the Cafe, world class players like Di Maria, Mata, Sanchez all magically turned into crap players when they joined us, and it was just coincidence. Then you look at others like Depay, Mkhitaryan, Martial, Rashford, players who have enough quality to be good players in a good system but are/were inconsistent and only good in moments. Conversely, see someone like Sterling, not a world class player by any means but plays in a side that is coached in great detail so he knows exactly what he needs to do in certain areas, exactly where his teammates will be, exactly what movements to make etc etc.

This is why I'm dubious of hiring Ole permanently. Like it or not, he was schooled by Tuchel last night. I'm not sure what type of coach he is. If he is very much in the Fergie mould, I'm not sure that will cut it any more.

 

[Adcuth]

Quick thought, could Alexis start the 2nd leg in the Pogba role. He's lost some speed and doesn't look half then player he was playing in that left sided role. Could he be moved into pogbas role then hopefully our front 3 are all fit.


Martial - Rashford - Lingard

Sanchez - Matic - Herrera

 

[Van Piorsing]

Superb player losing his world class aura within the moment of joining this club.

I'm not surprised but just tired of this shitty occurrence over and over again.

 

[Canagel]

My friend calls him momentum killer. ruinimg the flow of our game every single time.

 

[crossy1686]

Have you ever considered it's because we haven't had a world class attacking coach in that time? I find it hilarious how people always jump to blame the players when it's abundantly clear that offensively we have been crap for years.

According to the Cafe, world class players like Di Maria, Mata, Sanchez all magically turned into crap players when they joined us, and it was just coincidence. Then you look at others like Depay, Mkhitaryan, Martial, Rashford, players who have enough quality to be good players in a good system but are/were inconsistent and only good in moments. Conversely, see someone like Sterling, not a world class player by any means but plays in a side that is coached in great detail so he knows exactly what he needs to do in certain areas, exactly where his teammates will be, exactly what movements to make etc etc.

This is why I'm dubious of hiring Ole permanently. Like it or not, he was schooled by Tuchel last night. I'm not sure what type of coach he is. If he is very much in the Fergie mould, I'm not sure that will cut it any more.

Bollocks

 

[JMack1234]

When we signed Sanchez I was ready to skip down the local high street singing La Vida Loca but this signing has been a totally unmitigated disaster.

I don't whether he's lost a lot of confidence or if he's just got a bit older and lost a little bit of pace. Probably both but it doesn't really matter, we pay him the money we pay him to perform on nights like last night and he came on and was totally and utterly useless.

We need to try and cut our losses with this guy. We'll still have to pay the vast majority of his wages but we could still do with getting him out of the club and moving on.

 

[Handré1990]

He’s got to go. It probably won’t happen though, since we were so generous with his salary.

 

[Le Red]

I said it on here months after we signed him. He's old and has lost his burst of pace. The Caf age scientists never agree though. Apparently 31 is the new 20.

Going by your logic Ronaldo and Robben should've been shot behind a barn already.

 

[Litch]

Better than a 21 year old, better than technical player with no pace that the fans want to on from, better than a player that has never played on this level in club football and is also in poor form.

Seriously though, do you find his performance(s) acceptable for one who has been on the level of hazard, de bruyne just 2 years ago?

Maybe it's me but I think there's been mitigating circumstances. Could have joined the club at a worst time in its most recent history? If you were an attacking player under Jose, your game generally went backwards or stagnated. Not played consistently either with niggles or injury. Also seemed there was a period where if he was fit but fell out of favour with Jose. Ole's appointed and given the form of the other players plus recovering from injury just means he's always had limited minutes. Maybe he should have taken more advantage of those minutes but never easy coming off the bench under any circumstance.

 

[Stacks]

Superb player losing his world class aura within the moment of joining this club.

I'm not surprised but just tired of this shitty occurrence over and over again.

Pssst, he was shit for Arsenal all season. So much so that they were ranting about him on Arsenal Fam TV. Many thought it was because he wanted to leave and had Iost his passion. The reality is the Rooney-esque decline had kicked in. United should stick with a formula of high quality young players with huge potential like City are doing. It's our safest bet

 

[edgar allan]

Maybe it's me but I think there's been mitigating circumstances. Could have joined the club at a worst time in its most recent history? If you were an attacking player under Jose, your game generally went backwards or stagnated. Not played consistently either with niggles or injury. Also seemed there was a period where if he was fit but fell out of favour with Jose. Ole's appointed and given the form of the other players plus recovering from injury just means he's always had limited minutes. Maybe he should have taken more advantage of those minutes but never easy coming off the bench under any circumstance.

Mitigating factors for a 19 year old youth team player maybe but for a supposedly world class player on a huge salary not so much.
Or expectations of him are so low but he still underachieves, it is to much to ask for him to make a successful forward pass?

 

[Sandikan]

He'll be starting for a bit now, so it really is last chance saloon.

If he hasn't shown his worth with a run of starts over the next month, then 1 1/2 years in, we really need to do our best to ship him in the summer, which is no easy mission.

 

[Sandikan]

Have you ever considered it's because we haven't had a world class attacking coach in that time? I find it hilarious how people always jump to blame the players when it's abundantly clear that offensively we have been crap for years.

According to the Cafe, world class players like Di Maria, Mata, Sanchez all magically turned into crap players when they joined us, and it was just coincidence. Then you look at others like Depay, Mkhitaryan, Martial, Rashford, players who have enough quality to be good players in a good system but are/were inconsistent and only good in moments. Conversely, see someone like Sterling, not a world class player by any means but plays in a side that is coached in great detail so he knows exactly what he needs to do in certain areas, exactly where his teammates will be, exactly what movements to make etc etc.

This is why I'm dubious of hiring Ole permanently. Like it or not, he was schooled by Tuchel last night. I'm not sure what type of coach he is. If he is very much in the Fergie mould, I'm not sure that will cut it any more.

Schooled?
He had the shocking luck of the two key players to our set up coming off injured at half time and then having to dip into our weak squad.

He could have gone all out defence, but at home, and after all the praise for bringing the "old" United back, plus trying to rely on our defence to keep quality out, that would have been even less satisfying.

 

[Sandikan]

He was head and shoulders Arsenal's best player for 2-3 years. Actually looked out of place in their team he was that good. Goals and assists. Now he can't make a 5 yard pass to a teammate. The other thing is has has passed 30 as well, so it doesn't look like he is going to re-capture his form. China is the only place that can take him now. Or he will just bleed us dry for another 3 years. The other annoying thing is that we were flying up until the point where he signed.

The whole thing is just bizarre.
City were hell bent on signing him, and he'd been one of the top scorers and best players in the league not long before.
We couldn't believe we got him.

Roll on a year and a month, and he looks like he's lost all pace and explosive bursts. Still can be neat and tidy on the ball, but normally miles from goal, and just can't get past anyone. It's shocking.

 

[shamans]

Going by your logic Ronaldo and Robben should've been shot behind a barn already.

See that's the problem. People look at some exceptionally fit players with amazing genetics (zlatan, Ronaldo or Zanneti) and think the rule applies for everyone.

 

[Josh 76]

There is only one postion that he can play which he wouldn't look crap. And that CF. Just leave him up their running around in circles and making a nuisance of himself.
Try him their, with Rashford and Lukuku either side against Chelsea. Nothing else we can really do with the injuries.

 

[Bobski]

Even in his best years at Arsenal he was still extremely wasteful with the ball. He was the best player, the star, on a poor team, and that gave him massive freedom to get away with, and reinforce bad habits. He shows little ability to adapt to the changes in his game and play in a less individual manner, not the smartest player frankly.

 

[Gandalf Greyhame]

This popped up in my feed today:

There is only one postion that he can play which he wouldn't look crap. And that CF. Just leave him up their running around in circles and making a nuisance of himself.
Try him their, with Rashford and Lukuku either side against Chelsea. Nothing else we can really do with the injuries.

I think we'll see this sooner or later, Alexis as the false nine with pace on either side.

 

[kouroux]

Going by your logic Ronaldo and Robben should've been shot behind a barn already.

You won't get an answer because his point makes no sense. One cannot generalize like that when it comes to age up to a certain point. Every player is different

 

[forevrared]

I've slept on the performance now and had time to reconsider without the emotion of having just watched his performance.

Still think he's shit.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Pssst, he was shit for Arsenal all season. So much so that they were ranting about him on Arsenal Fam TV. Many thought it was because he wanted to leave and had Iost his passion. The reality is the Rooney-esque decline had kicked in. United should stick with a formula of high quality young players with huge potential like City are doing. It's our safest bet

Vaild observation. I agree but not finding any type of ongoing form in a club like Manchester United is borderline unprofessional. Surely Mourinho or Ole can require more from him than let's say Memphis... 30 years old Rooney could still score a cracker from time to time and inspire team to better play. With Sanchez there's just minimum at best with occasional goal to piss off BludFarm TV.

I miss Zlatan. Old, slow but still could pull something from a hat that would give the lads confidence. We need to sign these special players when they're in the right age, rising as inevitable team assets and leaders.

 

[GledTheRed]

Come on China, pay his wages so we can get Jadon.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

One more proper preseason should probably get him back on track! If that fails we could always just shuffle him back and forth between positions that way any time he's terrible we can just say it's because he needs to play in a different position. Problem sorted. Then we can offer him a contract extension to maximize his sell on fee.

He's finished man.

There's no point giving him further chances. He's absolutely done at the top level.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Apparently he got injured while he was warming up when he collided with a linesman. So that explains why he was so sh*t.......oh wait.

 

[mu4c_20le]

that cant be serious

 

[Canagel]

 

[el3mel]

What a hopeless case.

 

[RedOranje]

The situation with Sanchez is enough justification for the club to never release another stupid intro video.

He really let us down last night.

Get rid and change the song to "We've got Herrera, Paul Pogba, and Fred..."

 

[RedDevil@84]

Wait what?? He was injured in warmup and made the bench? And then had a crap game.
And now he is unavailable or what? Jeez.

 

[Adnan]

I just hope we can offload him somehow at the end of the season. Just hope he gives us a few decent performances until then.

 

[fallengt]

 

[Fracture90]

The people saying he should be playing as a CF are forgetting his legs are completely gone, he lookes like he has gravity boots on. Fekin hell with my 100+ kg's ill be quicker and more agile than him at this point.

If there's a position in team he could play in, it's Pogbas position where his creativity and passing ability would still be an asset, whilst his lack of pace and speed would be somewhat covered by Herrera, Matić, LW and Shaw.

 

[Fracture90]

BTW did he got injured during the warmup before the game or when he had to replace Lingard?

 

[Josh 76]

The people saying he should be playing as a CF are forgetting his legs are completely gone, he lookes like he has gravity boots on. Fekin hell with my 100+ kg's ill be quicker and more agile than him at this point.

If there's a position in team he could play in, it's Pogbas position where his creativity and passing ability would still be an asset, whilst his lack of pace and speed would be somewhat covered by Herrera, Matić, LW and Shaw.

Dropping Pogba for Sanchez. It's Valentine's day today, not April fools day.

 

[Josh 76]

He even struggles to jog when warming up. (Im serious). His body must be so battered.

I knew it

 

[In Rainbows]

Give his minutes to Greenwood. Can't do worse than Sanchez and he'll get needed experience for age 18 season next season.