Castles: Mourinho believes Man Utd squad's broken. Will take at least two transfer windows to repair

[BennyBlanco]

Herrera is nowhere near title winning quality, nor is Valencia any more

Valencia has been up there as our best player so far, what games you been watching.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

We're turning into Arsenal with all these endless three-year plans.

 

[Minimalist]

I don't dismiss the problem he's suggesting but the solution to buy more players is kind of worrying. We've been doing just that. We're just hoping Mourinho buys the right players - that's about the only difference we can hope for.

 

[Scholesy]

Silly excuse for bad management, get's embarrassing.

This

Our squad is perfectly fine to win the league. Maybe if he had dropped Rooney from day 1, use Martial and Mhk over Lingard more, used Carrick more....Mourinho is very poor so far, he is to blame

 

[Unmutual]

One of our problems is that we've ended up with too many players who are almost good enough. So close that it almost seems wrong to dismiss them out of hand. Shaw, Jones, Young, Valencia, Blind, Schneiderlin, Lingard or Darmien for example. None of them are so obviously bad that ditching them is a no brainer. There's a strong argument for playing or keeping any one of them.

But you can't have half a squad like that. We do.

 

[Jed I. Knight]

If he's able to take us "to a level expected of the club" within two transfer windows, I'd be absolutely delighted. Suprised, and delighted, because that would mean we'd be amongst the best in Europe again over the summer.

 

[VP89]

Herrera is nowhere near title winning quality, nor is Valencia any more

But Martial and Rashford suddenly are? Where are you getting this logic from exactly?

 

[cyberman]

Having Hazard in such form is a big difference too. Our wide areas have had some really poor combinations and performances this season.

I agree but we are controlling games and missing some excellent chances, it's not as if we're missing a creative spark over the last 5 weeks. We just can't score.

 

[Stacks]

Pretty obvious.

Too many average players.

Too many average players earning top coin.

This.

Yup.

Agree

Agreed. Assuming he means two summer windows (only skimmed the article because of all the horrible adverts). I'd expect us to be pretty close after next summer though.

More excuses. Pochettino and Klopp did not inherited star studded 1st teams or squads. Neither did Conte. In fact on paper, many (neutrals) expected us to be in a title challenge, based on the 150m invested on supposedly, 2 world class players and a player of the year. If Jose needs £500 mill to buy a new team everywhere he goes then he has problems with his management as many can get something from what they have. In fact any manager worth his salt should be able to achieve this.

 

[Snow]

We're turning into Arsenal with all these endless three-year plans.

Always the same manager at Arsenal. New managers bring in new plans.

 

[settembrini]

Castles has zero credibility imo. He wrote article after article last summer insisting we were signing another centre back even though we had already made the four signings Mourinho said he needed.

 

[Philadelphian]

That Chelsea side create no more chances than we do against lesser teams. They also lost to Arsenal and Liverpool and are yet to play City.

They've clocked up more points because they recovered from their blip. I think we have too, we're just far more unlucky than they are at this stage.

Except they do create more chances, and they create them both on the break and when teams are sitting back. We only create when teams sit back because we don't have any forward players that can counter quickly.

 

[Stacks]

That doesn't excuse mourinho. He should manage to get results as well now.

Pretty sure no one would disagree that adding even more top quality players is needed if we want to be on the level of Bayern, Barcelona or Real Madrid. At the same time, I'd say our squad in terms of quality compared to all the other teams in the Premier League is not really that much different.

The day I stop hearing this wretched phrase will be a glorious one.

Same old rubbish every season. This team should be performing better than it is. The difference between us and the teams above us is that they are spending less money and have managers that look like they know what they are doing? So, we need another £1bn before the manager can make it work? Ridiculous excuses.

Silly excuse for bad management, get's embarrassing. Liverpool and Chelsea can get way better results with worth squads, likewise Tottenham. On an international level the same..quite some successful clubs with worth squads - Dortmund, Sevilla, Atletico...

Yeah but our team imo isn't all that different from Chelsea in terms of quality. Talentwise we are pretty similar with maybe even being better in a few areas. Difference though is that Conte is getting the best out of average players like Moses pedro and all.

I thought there would be interest in this. Personally, I think if Mourinho's 'camp' have briefed this piece to Castles they have done him a disservice.

Man Utd should win the title this season. The mentality in the squad is an issue. Yet you cannot put our inability to beat the likes of Stoke and Burnley down to mentality. Too many players went off the boil after losing to City in the league. That is mostly the players' fault. It is also the manager's responsibility to lift the players after a big loss though. Some will argue some of the soft minded players we have won't respond to Mourinho's motivational efforts. I do not think that explains why we could not convert more than one of 61 shots over two games.

I back Mourinho but I don't want excuses and this piece reads like a lot of excuses.

I'm with you guys. Jose was an excuse generator last season also and the new guy is working wonders all of a sudden! 6 wins and 0 goals conceded in. That's what I expected us to be like under Jose in fact.

 

[BennyBlanco]

More excuses. Pochettino and Klopp did not inherited star studded 1st teams or squads. Neither did Conte. In fact on paper, many (neutrals) expected us to be in a title challenge, based on the 150m invested on supposedly, 2 world class players and a player of the year. If Jose needs £500 mill to buy a new team everywhere he goes then he has problems with his management as many can get something from what they have. In fact any manager worth his salt should be able to achieve this.

Agree with every word.
Of course the Caf's collective logic is all our formerly good players are broken, we need to buy new ones!

 

[JPRouve]

does that include his own signings?

Does that include himself?

 

[stevoc]

Though Woodward encouraged Van Gaal to spend unprecedented sums on both transfer fees and salaries, the Dutchman's quixotic decisions on both purchases and sales ultimately served to weaken United's squad, stripping it of both experience and leadership.

Can't say i disagree with this bit of the article. Van Gaal sold way too many and brought too many in, in too short a space of time. Some of the players sold needed to go but few if any were actually replaced with superior players. Added to that we lost a tonne of experience, players who had won multiple titles and played 50-60 CL games were tossed out and replaced with much less experienced players. That in my opinion contributed greatly to the mess we find ourselves in right now.

 

[VP89]

Except they do create more chances

They actually don't

And they create them both on the break and when teams are sitting back. We only create when teams sit back because we don't have any forward players that can counter quickly.

What offensive teams have Chelsea played, where they have created more than us? Liverpool, Arsenal?

They thrashed us in what was a freak result, and all of a sudden Conte is miles ahead of Mourinho. We had 2 games where we should have won 4-5 nil and our manager's set up was spot on, but ended up throwing them away. Had we not done so, its 6 points closed on them.

They deserve to be ahead of us but I'm not going to be so knee jerk as to say Conte is doing a better job with them than Mourinho. Both teams create the same amount of chances.

 

[Jacko21]

Don't see anything surprising in this.

We knew even before Mourinho arrived that he wanted a profound remodelling of the squad.

Had he indeed been watching us from February onwards last season, he would've seen everything he needed to in order to reach a verdict and come up with a POA.

 

[Snow]

More excuses. Pochettino and Klopp did not inherited star studded 1st teams or squads. Neither did Conte. In fact on paper, many (neutrals) expected us to be in a title challenge, based on the 150m invested on supposedly, 2 world class players and a player of the year. If Jose needs £500 mill to buy a new team everywhere he goes then he has problems with his management as many can get something from what they have. In fact any manager worth his salt should be able to achieve this.

OP is about transfer window, not actual money spent.

Pochettino has bought 15 players since he joined Tottenham and he has sold even more. Klopp has been at Liverpool for only 2 transfer windows but he has already brought in at least 6 players (4 of which are in hist starting 11) and sold more.

United can't bring in more players without getting rid of some and that has been made a little harder by Moyes and LvG in some cases because they decided to give average players a big extension.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Always the same manager at Arsenal. New managers bring in new plans.

Maybe that's part of the problem then. Having an all-powerful manager who calls all the shots made sense when we had one of the greatest managers of all time who stayed at the club for decades. It doesn't work very well otherwise, as we're finding out with all the constant chopping and changing.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

But Martial and Rashford suddenly are? Where are you getting this logic from exactly?

My opinion. You know, pretty much the point of a message board

I've seen Martial and Rashford turn in match winning performances. I've never seen Herrera do that. I genuinely don't understand the whole Herrera hoo-rah. I don't know what he's meant to supposedly be good at, aside from enthusiastic celebrations. He's not a good passer, not a good tackler, doesn't score goals.

 

[WhoDaGOAT]

Herrera is nowhere near title winning quality, nor is Valencia any more

Herrera has been our best player this season.

 

[BennyBlanco]

OP is about transfer window, not actual money spent.

Pochettino has bought 15 players since he joined Tottenham and he has sold even more. Klopp has been at Liverpool for only 2 transfer windows but he has already brought in at least 6 players (4 of which are in hist starting 11) and sold more.

United can't bring in more players without getting rid of some and that has been made a little harder by Moyes and LvG in some cases because they decided to give average players a big extension.

Spurs lineup last game

• Lloris -already at the club
  
• 2Walker - already at the club
• 15Dier - purchase
  
• 5Vertonghen - already at the club
  
• 3Rose - already at the club
  
• 12Wanyama - purchase
  
• 29Winks - already at the club
  
• 19Dembélé - already at the club
• 10Kane - already at the club
  
• 23Eriksen - already at the club
  
• 9Janssen - purchase
  

 

[Celestiale]

Maybe that's part of the problem then. Having an all-powerful manager who calls all the shots made sense when we had one of the greatest managers of all time who stayed at the club for decades. It doesn't work very well otherwise, as we're finding out with all the constant chopping and changing.

Very good post..this can indeed be solved with a sporting manager. Klopp demanded one for Liverpool and got one, in the Bundesliga it also shows it's benefits. Sporting managers are more long time at clubs, sort out transfer business and money, while the manager (German "Trainer") does training, tactics, manhandling etc. Especially for clubs in transition phases this is a good solution.

 

[Stacks]

No matter how good you are you can't click your fingers and turn shit or even just average players into champions. It's a process and I think we're already seeing a change in performances, results will follow.

See Ranieri, Klopp

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Herrera has been our best player this season.

Why? What's he done?

 

[Adisa]

Michael Carrick, David de Gea, Phil Jones, Wayne Rooney, Chris Smalling, Antonio Valencia, Ashley Young. And the most prominent and well-remunerated of that group has turned himself into a managerial headache for Mourinho.

The solution is simple

 

[Catt]

The outcry on here over everything Mourinho says or allegedly has said is quite something.
I agree with most of that article and in particular the part about losing experience.

 

[Snow]

Spurs lineup last game

• Lloris -already at the club
  
• 2Walker - already at the club
• 15Dier - purchase
  
• 5Vertonghen - already at the club
  
• 3Rose - already at the club
  
• 12Wanyama - purchase
  
• 29Winks - already at the club
  
• 19Dembélé - already at the club
• 10Kane - already at the club
  
• 23Eriksen - already at the club
  
• 9Janssen - purchase

Last lineup, not their best. It's missing Alderweireld, Alli, Son (who won them that last game). Eriksen and Lamela were both recent arrivals and Kane had just broken through under Sherwood.

You don't think that's a significant change? In case you haven't noticed, this season Tottenham haven't been playing as well as the last.

 

[Hugh Jass]

One poster mentioned we need ten new players. That is sensationalist. We need about three/four top players.

 

[WhoDaGOAT]

Why? What's he done?

I take it you haven't been watching United games this season.

 

[ThomasEmil]

Castles:
PAY TO WIN WILL MAKE YOU WIN... SOME DAY

 

[SirAF]

Pretty obvious.

Too many average players.

Too many average players earning top coin.

Yup, this.

 

[WhoDaGOAT]

One poster mentioned we need ten new players. That is sensationalist. We need about three/four top players.

Exactly. A good coach makes his players better. It can't be just spend, spend, spend.

 

[VP89]

My opinion. You know, pretty much the point of a message board

I've seen Martial and Rashford turn in match winning performances. I've never seen Herrera do that. I genuinely don't understand the whole Herrera hoo-rah. I don't know what he's meant to supposedly be good at, aside from enthusiastic celebrations. He's not a good passer, not a good tackler, doesn't score goals.

Meh, wonders of a forum I suppose. I'm glad you're in the minority at least.

 

[Deleted member 101472]

Not an excuse. Leicester won the league easily last year with mostly average players. Needs to work on installing the correct work ethics with what he has Before doing anything else.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

I take it you haven't been watching United games this season.

Yep. He's enthusiastic, celebrates well, runs around a bit. But as I've been saying for ages, and nobody can answer, what actually makes him a good top level footballer? Doesn't score, gives the ball away too much, can't tackle. Sell me on him because i don't get it. If you think he's been the best, why? What's he done to be the best so far?

Mata has been our best player this seasom imo

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Meh, wonders of a forum I suppose. I'm glad you're in the minority at least.

Yet another who says a player is good but can't back it up more than "you're wrong" and unfortunately you're in the majority

 

[BennyBlanco]

Last lineup, not their best. It's missing Alderweireld, Alli, Son (who won them that last game). Eriksen and Lamela were both recent arrivals and Kane had just broken through under Sherwood.

You don't think that's a significant change? In case you haven't noticed, this season Tottenham haven't been playing as well as the last.

He came in and got the best out of the squad inherited, and added 4-5 quality performers over 2 years with shrewd deals. Mourinho's already added 4 muppet superstars for the tune of 150mill.
You make it sound he (Poch) has had to do wholesale changes, which is false. Ditto Klopp
Mourinho should be able to get better results with this group of players, muppets demanding superstars in every position just to challenge in the PL is such tripe.
We've seen from Klopp, Conte and Poch wholesale turnovers of a squad aren't needed to improve, good managment is.

Yet another who says a player is good but can't back it up more than "you're wrong" and unfortunately you're in the majority

Try watching our games a bit more closely, perhaps.

 

[SteveJ]

One anonymous source said: "I can't believe that I don't get as much respect as Wenger does...I mean...Mourinho needs new players."

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