[Reddevildans]

Hes just not a central midfielder. He's basically a finished number 10 who can make an impact off the bench. He really shouldn't be starting games but ETH hasn't learnt a thing since last season. If we play him in the middle he needs 2 others next to him with legs.

Hes also ex spurs which means he doesn't have the bottle to make an impact when it matters and goes missing in big games..I.e missed that chance at the end yesterday. Don't expect much when it matters.

 

[Gandalf Greyhame]

Just a reminder that he left Spurs 4 years ago because they considered him surplus to requirements in his own words. After which he's played for Inter, had a cardiac arrest, taken time off, recovered, and then played for Brentford before our recruitment identified him as the only viable creative passer for our double pivot in midfield, alongside an 18 year old academy graduate.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I've never really liked Eriksen so I wouldn't have been happy with his transfer at the best of times, but bringing him in as a stopgap at the point in his career that we did was especially awful. A big part of it is that I'm tired of us not properly addressing the midfield. The last time I thought we did was in 2007 where, after we won the league with a great duo in Scholes and Carrick, with Fletcher in there as a rotational option, we added Anderson and Hargreaves. That's nearing 20 years ago now.

Yeah and how did that work out for us?!

 

[tomaldinho1]

He was absolutely brilliant last season until he got injured. After that he hasn’t been the same. His running stats aren’t the worst. Sometimes he covers more km than anyone. All that running and none of it is effective. He can’t get himself in the right position quick enough.

When he’s fresh, he’s still got quality on the ball but he does need to be absolutely fresh and 60 mins a week is his absolute limit. We’re not blessed with options but he is being overused!

Yep that Carroll challenge effectively ended his career at the top level. Decent squad player to have as a sub for the last 20mins if we were a possession heavy team but all at sea in the current system.

 

[Sylar]

His performance was how I expected? He can only play once a week and even then it's only 60 mins at most but really, just one half.

He was absolutely brilliant last season until he got injured. After that he hasn’t been the same. His running stats aren’t the worst. Sometimes he covers more km than anyone. All that running and none of it is effective. He can’t get himself in the right position quick enough.

When he’s fresh, he’s still got quality on the ball but he does need to be absolutely fresh and 60 mins a week is his absolute limit. We’re not blessed with options but he is being overused!

I'd agree with this. The injury last season didn't help at all. Thought he worked so well with Bruno and casemiro before that

Yeah and how did that work out for us?!

We won the European cup and premier league the next season and got to the final the season after?

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Just a reminder that he left Spurs 4 years ago because they considered him surplus to requirements in his own words. After which he's played for Inter, had a cardiac arrest, taken time off, recovered, and then played for Brentford before our recruitment identified him as the only viable creative passer for our double pivot in midfield, alongside an 18 year old academy graduate.

He was a free transfer and he’s been good, played a big part in United finishing 3rd last year. And the team has been even worse when he was injured for the most part. Eriksen is far from the problem.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

His performance was how I expected? He can only play once a week and even then it's only 60 mins at most but really, just one half.


I'd agree with this. The injury last season didn't help at all. Thought he worked so well with Bruno and casemiro before that



We won the European cup and premier league the next season and got to the final the season after?

Doesn’t make either of them anything other than bad signings. Hargreaves and Anderson are terrible examples to use if you’re trying to argue for more investment in the squad.

 

[Sylar]

Doesn’t make either of them anything other than bad signings. Hargreaves and Anderson are terrible examples to use if you’re trying to argue for more investment in the squad.

Bt it was better intent. We bought them hoping for maybe ten years.
Anderson played a big part in helping us get to that second European final too. I agree with the process thought of @Yagami because we were on top, we added dynamic players to our midfield to give us options. We won more trophies.
What we should have done is added another midfielder after the loss to Barca especially after seeing how Barca dominated us.

We can say Anderson didn't turn out how we wanted and Hargreaves injuries affected him, but the way we went about it was right. If anything we should have done more whilst on top but neglected that and mostly went for short term since then (bringing back scholes, basty, matic, eriksen, casemiro)

I had no issues with us getting Herrera and then pogba. Mount reminds me of us getting Mata.

Thing is when we did add Hargreaves and Anderson, our options were strong, we could rotate and plan for injuries.

 

[arthurka]

Good to see you agree. He is absolutely finished as a starter at a top club. Luckily he will play here couple of more years as we aren't close to being a top club.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Bt it was better intent. We bought them hoping for maybe ten years.
Anderson played a big part in helping us get to that second European final too. I agree with the process thought of @Yagami because we were on top, we added dynamic players to our midfield to give us options. We won more trophies.
What we should have done is added another midfielder after the loss to Barca especially after seeing how Barca dominated us.

We can say Anderson didn't turn out how we wanted and Hargreaves injuries affected him, but the way we went about it was right. If anything we should have done more whilst on top but neglected that and mostly went for short term since then (bringing back scholes, basty, matic, eriksen, casemiro)

I had no issues with us getting Herrera and then pogba. Mount reminds me of us getting Mata.

Thing is when we did add Hargreaves and Anderson, our options were strong, we could rotate and plan for injuries.

Basically every player you mention was not good enough. The fundamental problem we have is that the last central midfielder we signed who was an undisputed success was Michael Carrick, sixteen years ago. Just throwing money at the problem doesn’t fix anything. We need to sign better central midfielders, not just more central midfielders.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Just a reminder that he left Spurs 4 years ago because they considered him surplus to requirements in his own words. After which he's played for Inter, had a cardiac arrest, taken time off, recovered, and then played for Brentford before our recruitment identified him as the only viable creative passer for our double pivot in midfield, alongside an 18 year old academy graduate.

He was a free transfer and actually a pretty shrewd buy at the time, I'm fine with him being in the squad and he's still a good player. It's more so that we're relying on him orchestrating our whole build up in 2024 when he's declining, which is the issue for me.

 

[MiracleInMadrid]

I bet it's a matter of time before he's injured again.

Out with an injury for a month and then thrown straight back in the team playing 90 minutes two matches in a row.

 

[Lay]

He was a free transfer and actually a pretty shrewd buy at the time, I'm fine with him being in the squad and he's still a good player. It's more so that we're relying on him orchestrating our whole build up in 2024 when he's declining, which is the issue for me.

I'm not sure what we are keeping him for. He doesn't influence games positively at all. He's bullied every game, plays lightweight passes and disappears after 30 minutes. He was mediocre at best at Inter and he's even worse now

 

[Guapa]

Far from our worst player but like many others not what's required going forward.

 

[Lee565]

He's basically our new mata, great technically and at set pieces but the legs aren't there

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

I'm not sure what we are keeping him for. He doesn't influence games positively at all. He's bullied every game, plays lightweight passes and disappears after 30 minutes. He was mediocre at best at Inter and he's even worse now

The alternative is McTominay or Amrabat.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

The alternative is McTominay or Amrabat.

Jesus wept

 

[Red_toad]

The alternative is McTominay or Amrabat.

Should be Gore or Hannibal replacing him after 50/60 minutes every game, seems a bit pointless trying to use McTommy as anything remotely resembling a holding midfielder role, it's been tried by numerous managers for a few season and simply doesn't work.

 

[Cassidy]

The alternative is McTominay or Amrabat.

Or Dan Gore

 

[Yagami]

Yeah and how did that work out for us?!

They played their part in us winning the double. The clubs second best ever season. Not too shabby, I'd say.

 

[Gandalf Greyhame]

He was a free transfer and he’s been good, played a big part in United finishing 3rd last year. And the team has been even worse when he was injured for the most part. Eriksen is far from the problem.

He was a free transfer and actually a pretty shrewd buy at the time, I'm fine with him being in the squad and he's still a good player. It's more so that we're relying on him orchestrating our whole build up in 2024 when he's declining, which is the issue for me.

Oh, I have no problem with the value of the free transfer and the skills he brings to the table. My point is that we should not be building a midfield around or relying on Christian Eriksen. He should be an option, not the main plan. Just pointing out how horrible our recruitment has been that it's come down to this.

We went from Herrera, Matic, Pogba, Mata under Jose to Mainoo, Eriksen, McTominay, and Bruno. (Casemiro is always injured or suspended).

 

[TheReligion]

They played their part in us winning the double. The clubs second best ever season. Not too shabby, I'd say.

Yeah three league titles in a row, two league cups, a European Cup and back to back finals. And a World Club Cup.

 

[Yagami]

Yeah three league titles in a row, two league cups, a European Cup and back to back finals. And a World Club Cup.

Long term, yeah, injuries ruined them both, but their signings were us properly addressing the midfield. We already had a class one in Carrick, Scholes and Fletcher, but that wasn't enough. We added one of the most promising young players in the world at the time in Anderson and another midfielder around his prime in Hargreaves. After finally getting our title back, we weren't messing around. We continued to strengthen ourselves by adding them (alongside Tevez and Nani) and we got even better.

Course, they weren't key players like a Ronaldo in attack or Ferdinand and Vidic in defence, but they played their part. Hargreaves started a lot of our big games, and Anderson showed plenty of promise as well as scoring one of the pens in the final.

 

[TheReligion]

Long term, yeah, injuries ruined them both, but their signings were us properly addressing the midfield. We already had a class one in Carrick, Scholes and Fletcher, but that wasn't enough. We added one of the most promising young players in the world at the time in Anderson and another midfielder around his prime in Hargreaves. After finally getting our title back, we weren't messing around. We continued to strengthen ourselves by adding them (alongside Tevez and Nani) and we got even better.

Course, they weren't key players like a Ronaldo in attack or Ferdinand and Vidic in defence, but they played their part. Hargreaves started a lot of our big games, and Anderson showed plenty of promise as well as scoring one of the pens in the final.

I agree with you mate

 

[Yagami]

I agree with you mate

Talking about that team... I miss those days

 

[TheReligion]

Talking about that team... I miss those days

We were spoilt. The only thing we didn’t get was another European Cup (were more than capable).

I think the good times will return and genuinely believe the INOES news will be the catalyst but it will take some time and patience.

There’s also plenty to be excited about in the young players we have and what we have to come through.

 

[Yagami]

We were spoilt. The only thing we didn’t get was another European Cup (were more than capable).

I think the good times will return and genuinely believe the INOES news will be the catalyst but it will take some time and patience.

There’s also plenty to be excited about in the young players we have and what we have to come through.

I still remember a Fergie interview before the 2008 final talking about how it wasn't right that we only had two European Cups at the time, listing all the other clubs ahead of us. You look back on that interview and you know he was not going to lose that night.

This is why people like me need people like you! The optimism you show is always nice because you don't always want to think negatively about the club. I'm definitely excited about a lot of our talents, and you have to have some faith in our new direction as a club.

Sorry, back to Eriksen!

 

[Bobski]

There were many games even early in the salad days of last season were Eriksen's physical weaknesses were commented on. Some like to make out as if he only started to struggle after that Andy Carroll tackle but that is not exactly true. Really he should only ever have been a squad option. Pretty shocking that we could be heading into next season with all of Cas, Eriksen, McT, Amrabat, Donny needing to be shipped out and it would not take much to convince me it is time to move on from Bruno either.

 

[TheReligion]

I still remember a Fergie interview before the 2008 final talking about how it wasn't right that we only had two European Cups at the time, listing all the other clubs ahead of us. You look back on that interview and you know he was not going to lose that night.

This is why people like me need people like you! The optimism you show is always nice because you don't always want to think negatively about the club. I'm definitely excited about a lot of our talents, and you have to have some faith in our new direction as a club.

Sorry, back to Eriksen!

We are unfortunate in the CL. The Porto game and the ‘offside’, coming up against that Barca side when we did. I could go on. We’ve certainly underachieved in the competition and should be on 5. Even in our early years of dominance domestically the three foreigners rule heavily impacted us in Europe given we had to include Giggs, Keane, Irwin, Hughes in the quota along with Schmeichel, Cantona and Kanchelskis.

I often get accused of being too optimistic and I’m fine with that. I do genuinely see things changing now though with Ratcliffe and the dilution of the Glazers.

EtH will be a big call though and I’m interested to see where they go with it in the summer.

 

[glasgow 21]

Lets be honest, he is another set piece specialist that has died on the hill that is Man United. Corners are sub standard and never get free kicks over Bruno who scores them like never. Legs are gone and it now looking like a Sunday league game where the guy gets a game cause his Dad's the coach.

 

[Yorkeontop]

So the mob went straight to the McTominay thread?

 

[BarstoolProphet]

So the mob went straight to the McTominay thread?

Like for like sub really. Both were shocking. Atleast you can maybe get a goal from McT.

 

[flameinthesun]

So the mob went straight to the McTominay thread?

It's pretty much expected Eriksen performance. When coming up against a much more physically dynamic midfield he struggled. It didn't help that throughout the game it seemed like him and Mainoo were isolated in the midfield which is pretty remarkable seeing as there were two of them there.

 

[Mailo]

The Pensioner.

 

[DWelbz19]

So the mob went straight to the McTominay thread?

It’s kind of implied this guy will be gone sooner or later. How long does he even have left on his contract?

We actually turned down potential big money offers for McTominay.

 

[lost7]

Mr Invisible

 

[mattunited1978]

Along with evans, worst players on the pitch

 

[Ekeke]

Poor performance

 

[Telsim]

So the mob went straight to the McTominay thread?

You can forgive them for forgetting Eriksen was on the pitch.

 

[massey]

His legs have gone as I said In the match day thread he should only be used as a sub in games now and against really poor opposition the games moved on nearly every premiership team will out run you in midfield if you have passengers I don't blame eriksen I blame ten hag for starting him tbh and never learning.