Does United have a disproportionate amount of players with "attitude"?

BarryWinks

Full Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2022
Messages
519
It's gonna be a long season on the caf that's for sure.

Very reminiscent of threads popping up early in Jose's and Ole's final seasons.
 

VivaRonaldo85

Full Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2018
Messages
2,004
Over £150 million spent on Sancho and Antony. Let that sink in for the return we are seeing. On top of a decrepit Martial continuing to stink the place out after the club decided he wasn’t right when sent to Sevilla only for them to send him back!

I would question all 3 players attitude, in particular Martial who I believe is the most naturally talented but doesn’t have anything between the ears. The other two are dreadful and costly signings for our club .
 

AndyMUFC86

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Oct 18, 2021
Messages
193
Yes

And it’s a culture set by the glazers. The glazers only interest is what can they gain/take from the club. This culture has passed through the entirety of the club with us now toxic from top to bottom
 

Livvie

Executive Manager being kept sane only by her madn
Scout
Joined
Jun 5, 2000
Messages
41,730
I'm not convinced Jadon Sancho has been treated entirely fairly. Not when I see players like Anthony Martial turning in a bad to average performance nearly every time he plays - or Anthony working hard but achieving little. It's been going on for years with other players too - with the old 'The manager sees them in training' excuse. Well we see them in the matches, and the same players are selected time and time again regardless of performance, whilst others are punished immediately for one bad one.
 

RedDevilQuebecois

Full Member
Joined
May 27, 2021
Messages
8,178
Yes

And it’s a culture set by the glazers. The glazers only interest is what can they gain/take from the club. This culture has passed through the entirety of the club with us now toxic from top to bottom
Right on the money. The Glazers are the same people who allowed their NFL team to sign a man under several indictments for sexual misconduct at the time on top of being a total asshole of a person - Antonio Brown. If they allow that kind of crap in North America, they will do the same at United.
 

hobbers

Full Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
28,412
You cant throw out insane contracts to any 18-23 year old who has got by almost solely on talent, and expect them to work hard enough to maintain it.
 

jem

Full Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
9,328
Location
Toronto
Wouldn't every club have it's fair share of idiots?

At City there was Mendy, Walker the shagger, de Bruyne the cuckold, and there are probably more.

I think it's more about how these issues are managed, at United everything gets blown out of proportion because we're not winning
Oh? Tell me more!
 

KikiDaKats

Full Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2015
Messages
2,607
Location
Salford
Supports
His Liverpool supporting wife
It’s not unique to United but we seem to be the only top club to platform and indulge them.

The last 5 years I’ve constantly looked at our players and expressed my low opinion for a majority.

Seeing the statement by Ronaldo and a low-key one by Eriksen that’s not made headlines, just confirms my beliefs.

This club creates in-house lions and when they encounter external adversaries, they crumble like flies. I’d rather have Sancho make a full blooded challenge and get a red card than giving ETH a cheek or instead of Bruno berating his team mates/ref preference will be to see it against opponents. The trend here is comfort zone which extends to places that are not covered by cameras for public consumption.
 
Last edited:

George Owen

LEAVE THE SFW THREAD ALONE!!1!
Joined
May 7, 2010
Messages
15,903
Location
Gold Coast, Australia
When you are losing you are always looking for what's wrong and you blame everything under the sun. Before Sanchez, Pogba, Lukaku, Lingard, Henderson etc had bad attitudes they are gone now we have to find someone else with a bad attitude. Get rid of Rashford, Bruno, Martial and someone else will take over, just like we always have a new scapegoat. It never ends.
He has attitude, but the one we needed more of. Don't compare with the cancer.

He is a serial winner, desperate to win, ultimate professional, first in the gym/training and the last to go home. Used to play with the best professional players in the world.

He just showed frustration because he arrived at the club and probably found Pogba, Jlingz, Rashford and Martial doing tik tok dancing videos in the locker room, Luke Shaw eating hamburguers, etc. And all these idiots got mad because he was the better paid player, when they are literally nobodies who have won nothing in their life footballing wise.

This last decade has been such a surreal time and I hope we can move on as soon as possible from these lazy weak mentality players. Luckily some are gone, but we still have Martial, Shaw and now Sancho. I want to give Rashford one more chance but also his time might be up soon.

We paid these kids (they never grew up) so much undeserved money that they thought they made it and fried their brains, lost their hunger before their careers even truly started. They have shown feck all to deserve more than a random Brighton player.

Amrabat, Bruno, Dalot, Lisandro, Varane, Casemiro, Garnacho (seems so), Højlund, (someone else? edit. forgot Amrabat) are a step forward in the right direction, attitude/mentality wise. But we need 11 with the same mentality to be ever be able to compete. At least 10, so they can carry a bad mentality but talented player like Juventus/France players did for Pogba. Maybe Rashford could be that player for us, but the team can't carry more than one. The rest need to go.

Hopefully ETH can finish the job but I don't have high hopes. With their big wages and long contracts, some of these players won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Rant over.
 
Last edited:

Big Ben Foster

Correctly predicted Portugal to win Euro 2016
Joined
Mar 19, 2008
Messages
12,851
Location
BR -> MI -> TX
Supports
Also support Vasco da Gama
It’s not unique to United but we seem to be the only top club to platform and indulge them.

The last 5 years I’ve constantly looked at our players and expressed my low opinion for a majority.

Seeing the statement by Ronaldo and a low-key one by Eriksen that’s not made headlines yet, just confirms my beliefs.

This club creates in-house lions and when they encounter external adversaries, they crumble like flies. I’d rather have Sancho make a full blooded challenge and get a red card than giving ETH a cheek or instead of Bruno berating his team mates/ref preference will be to see it against opponents. The trend here is comfort zone which extends to places that are not covered by cameras for public consumption.
Wait, what's this Eriksen statement all about?
 

KikiDaKats

Full Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2015
Messages
2,607
Location
Salford
Supports
His Liverpool supporting wife
Wait, what's this Eriksen statement all about?
It’s from a while back, when asked about young players coming to him for advice. He just laughed it off and said it doesn’t really happen because the young players already know what they’re doing.
 

SirMonteyne

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jul 26, 2014
Messages
292
Location
@CAF
In this club, it appears that this excuse is frequently utilized. Nevertheless, effective attitude management is crucial for attaining triumph in team-oriented pursuits, whether it be sports or business. Every successful team confronts attitude problems within their squad, and those who excel in their field frequently possess a certain degree of self-assurance, or I'd say "attitude" problem. Coaches shouldn't use attitudes as excuses.
 

flappyjay

Full Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2016
Messages
5,935
He has attitude, but the one we needed more of. Don't compare with the cancer.

He is a serial winner, desperate to win, ultimate professional, first in the gym/training and the last to go home. Used to play with the best professional players in the world.

He just showed frustration because he arrived at the club and probably found Pogba, Jlingz, Rashford and Martial doing tik tok dancing videos in the locker room, Luke Shaw eating hamburguers, etc. And all these idiots got mad because he was the better paid player, when they are literally nobodies who have won nothing in their life footballing wise.


This last decade has been such a surreal time and I hope we can move on as soon as possible from these lazy weak mentality players. Luckily some are gone, but we still have Martial, Shaw and now Sancho. I want to give Rashford one more chance but also his time might be up soon.

We paid these kids (they never grew up) so much undeserved money that they thought they made it and fried their brains, lost their hunger before their careers even truly started. They have shown feck all to deserve more than a random Brighton player.

Amrabat, Bruno, Dalot, Lisandro, Varane, Casemiro, Garnacho (seems so), Højlund, (someone else? edit. forgot Amrabat) are a step forward in the right direction, attitude/mentality wise. But we need 11 with the same mentality to be ever be able to compete. At least 10, so they can carry a bad mentality but talented player like Juventus/France players did for Pogba. Maybe Rashford could be that player for us, but the team can't carry more than one. The rest need to go.

Hopefully ETH can finish the job but I don't have high hopes. With their big wages and long contracts, some of these players won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Rant over.
He is part of that heap as far as I am concerned. Coming in and downing tools be before he had done anything. Those dancing clowns were even playing better than he ever did in a United shirt, that's the worst part.
 

JeffFromHK

Full Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2021
Messages
1,105
Anyone feel that our academy graduates in recent years are particularly prone to attitude or motivational problems?
Pogba, Morrison, Brandon Williams, James Wilson, Januzaj, Lingard, Henderson, Macheda, Andres Pereira, Hannaibal, Chong, Garnacho, Greenwood etc, and to a lesser extent, Rashford, all had certain negative news about their attitude or professionalism. Elanga and McTominay are seemingly the only players whom I can't think of any similar news - but they both are not that talented as players.

So many of our academy players feel like spoilt kids to me.
 

Pexbo

Winner of the 'I'm not reading that' medal.
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
68,752
Location
Brizzle
Supports
Big Days
Anyone feel that our academy graduates in recent years are particularly prone to attitude or motivational problems?
Pogba, Morrison, Brandon Williams, James Wilson, Januzaj, Lingard, Henderson, Macheda, Andres Pereira, Hannaibal, Chong, Garnacho, Greenwood etc, and to a lesser extent, Rashford, all had certain negative news about their attitude or professionalism. Elanga and McTominay are seemingly the only players whom I can't think of any similar news.

Our academy players always feel like spoilt kids to me.
How on earth can you put Rashford in that list?

There’s such a range of issues among that group which are virtually incomparable. Why is Pereira in there? Garnacho? Chong? Hannibal for all intents and purposes applies himself well he just plays on the edge. Something we used to love Rooney for.

Ultimately not being good enough isn’t a bad attitude although some of those players were poor professionals.
 

JeffFromHK

Full Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2021
Messages
1,105
How on earth can you put Rashford in that list?

There’s such a range of issues among that group which are virtually incomparable. Why is Pereira in there? Garnacho? Chong? Hannibal for all intents and purposes applies himself well he just plays on the edge. Something we used to love Rooney for.

Ultimately not being good enough isn’t a bad attitude although some of those players were poor professionals.
For Andreas,
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...as-Pereira-Manchester-United-U21-fixture.html
He was also filmed going to night clubs often as a teenager in his early years.

Garnacho was late for team meeting

Rashford's on-pitch attitude is obviously not good. He is really not that much a fighter in last couple years

For Hannibal:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/man-utd-hannibal-mejbri-tunisia-26612518
https://tribuna.com/en/news/manutd-...-mengi-slams-hannibal-mejbris-postmatch-cond/

Our fans perhaps also play a part in spoiling our academy kids, they hype our academy kids up too much and they gain recognition, fame and money they don't deserve yet.
 

redmanc

Full Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2003
Messages
6,961
Location
There is no spoon.
Yes but until the deadwood and the cliques are cleared on, replaced with hungry competitive players chomping for first team football, this issue will remain.
 

Pexbo

Winner of the 'I'm not reading that' medal.
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
68,752
Location
Brizzle
Supports
Big Days
For Andreas,
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...as-Pereira-Manchester-United-U21-fixture.html
He was also filmed going to night clubs often as a teenager in his early years.

Garnacho was late for team meeting

Rashford's on-pitch attitude is obviously not good. He is really not that much a fighter in last couple years

For Hannibal:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/man-utd-hannibal-mejbri-tunisia-26612518
https://tribuna.com/en/news/manutd-...-mengi-slams-hannibal-mejbris-postmatch-cond/

Our fans perhaps also play a part in spoiling our academy kids, they hype our academy kids up too much and they gain recognition, fame and money they don't deserve yet.
Periera went to clubs as a teenager? That was about a decade ago, he since became a first team player he, proved he didn’t have the quality and now found his level at Fulham.

Garnacho was late for a meeting so he gets put on a list with alleged domestic abuser Mason Greenwood.

Rashford who scored 30 goals last year off the back of injury issues and being written off is on the same list.

For Hannibal did you know you’ve linked an article based on a quote by Anton Ferguson?
 

JeffFromHK

Full Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2021
Messages
1,105
Periera went to clubs as a teenager? That was about a decade ago, he since became a first team player he, proved he didn’t have the quality and now found his level at Fulham.

Garnacho was late for a meeting so he gets put on a list with alleged domestic abuser Mason Greenwood.

Rashford who scored 30 goals last year off the back of injury issues and being written off is on the same list.

For Hannibal did you know you’ve linked an article based on a quote by Anton Ferguson?
For Hannibal:
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/man-utd-mejbri-news-latest-22756572

Perhaps you are one of those indulging fans I talked about.

I stated an obvious "there is something wrong with our club's culture, particularly the academy" for the good of the club and you play nit-picking for the sake of United fan class of 92 sentimentalism.
 

Ricardo de la Vega

Full Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2013
Messages
1,012
I'd say probably not. I'd suggest we have a lack of leadership in the dressing room, combined with underperformance and frustration which is why our dirty laundry gets aired more. Every club has 'characters'. They're part and parcel of top-flight football where a lot of people have huge egos, are type-A personalities, are narcissists or otherwise. Usually they're kept in line by real leaders of men, which we lack.
 

Pexbo

Winner of the 'I'm not reading that' medal.
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
68,752
Location
Brizzle
Supports
Big Days

Son

Full Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2019
Messages
1,727
This seems to be a recurring theme with our players over the last few seasons and I am struggling to understand is this just normal for any club, are we unlucky or is the club toxic?
Giggs slept with his brothers wife and beat women seemingly. It was swept under the rug then but now he’d get hung and quartered… rightfully so I might add.
 

Unam333

Full Member
Joined
May 26, 2008
Messages
5,821
Yes

And it’s a culture set by the glazers. The glazers only interest is what can they gain/take from the club. This culture has passed through the entirety of the club with us now toxic from top to bottom
It's both actually, a culture thing and players not having appropriate behavior and personalities.

Martial's ex-wife once criticized the club for not protecting and giving guidence to Martial when he was still young and new at the club. I really feel that club should do more to prepare the players mentally.
 

Buster15

Go on Didier
Joined
Aug 28, 2018
Messages
13,515
Location
Bristol
Supports
Bristol Rovers
Over £150 million spent on Sancho and Antony. Let that sink in for the return we are seeing. On top of a decrepit Martial continuing to stink the place out after the club decided he wasn’t right when sent to Sevilla only for them to send him back!

I would question all 3 players attitude, in particular Martial who I believe is the most naturally talented but doesn’t have anything between the ears. The other two are dreadful and costly signings for our club .
Stunningly awful isn't it. And I do agree that Martial is highly talented. At least Antony shows some effort. Certainly not something you could accuse Martial and Sancho of doing.
Eye watering money spent for such miniscule output.
 

stw2022

New Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2021
Messages
3,687
The threshold for toxicity isn't an allegation, the evidence for which doesn't even meet the threshold for arrest.

The hysteria has been fecking insane.
 

ifightdragons

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Oct 9, 2019
Messages
245
Rashford, Martial, Sancho...

They all fall into the same bracket as Pogba and Lingard. They all seem the happiest and most focused when it's all about social media and marketing their brand to the TikTok generation.

Many footballers are narcissists, but they are a level above with their self-indulgence, and lack any kind of leadership qualities.

Martial has become more anonymous with the years, which is good. But he is also useless on the pitch.

Rashford has immense qualities, and will score a good amount of goals. But he behaves as a luxury player, and hardly ever plays well for 90 minutes, even if he ends up scoring.

I consider them all part of a hugely negative culture, and not team players.

I am willing to bet that Rashford will never be part of a team that wins the Premier League. I find his goal celebration the pinnacle of irony, as he is a mentally weak player who every season will go through long spells of being sulky, in a bad mood and underperforming. He lacks the mental toughness and is obviously afraid of tackles and duels, and lacks the toughness to put in an effort when it comes to pressing and defending.

The worst kind of team player, who views himself as the superstar. And those are the types of players that we give the biggest contracts to, and the players a majority of our fanbase puts on a pedestal and praise as footballing gods.

We get what we deserve.
 
Last edited:

Von Mistelroum

Full Member
Joined
May 21, 2015
Messages
4,066
No, we're just a club where toxicity is inherent from the top down. The owners and the people they employ to run the club will inevitably have a knock-on effect throughout. Toxic owners and management will create a toxic atmosphere throughout the club.
 

G-MUFC

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Dec 3, 2018
Messages
173
No, we're just a club where toxicity is inherent from the top down. The owners and the people they employ to run the club will inevitably have a knock-on effect throughout. Toxic owners and management will create a toxic atmosphere throughout the club.
Completely agree. There's a weak culture at Manchester United which allows these kinds of attitudes to grow. This has been the case for years and nothing really seems to change.
 

HTG

Full Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
Messages
6,013
Supports
Bayern
I don’t think you have a disproportional amount of these players. What I believe is that you are lacking the structure in the club and leadership by other players to manage these players.
 

AndySmith1990

Full Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2021
Messages
6,259
I doubt we have a disproportionate amount of players with bad attitudes or weak mentalities in comparison to other clubs. I think the issue is more the lack of accountability that exists due to a poor working culture that has been present at the club for years. Like with any organisation that culture starts at the top.

We have bad owners who are only interested in profiting from the club. That has led to poor upper management being put in place who aren't fit for purpose when it comes to running a football club. It's cultivated a toxic working environment where players lack motivation and work ethic as they're happy to ride the United gravy train. They become self entitled and believe themselves to be better than they are, without feeling the need to continuously prove themselves. We also lack real leaders to help mentor younger players
 

Sandikan

aka sex on the beach
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
53,354
I think even if we had the super clean living Neville brothers here now that the press would find a way to depict them as bad attitude wretches.
 

Roboc7

Full Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2014
Messages
6,678
I doubt we have a disproportionate amount of players with bad attitudes or weak mentalities in comparison to other clubs. I think the issue is more the lack of accountability that exists due to a poor working culture that has been present at the club for years. Like with any organisation that culture starts at the top.

We have bad owners who are only interested in profiting from the club. That has led to poor upper management being put in place who aren't fit for purpose when it comes to running a football club. It's cultivated a toxic working environment where players lack motivation and work ethic as they're happy to ride the United gravy train. They become self entitled and believe themselves to be better than they are, without feeling the need to continuously prove themselves. We also lack real leaders to help mentor younger players
This sums it up really well and it’s the reason why managers can’t do much about it. If you go back and look at the club bragging about their cultural reboot 4 years ago it’s an embarrassment as things are just as bad if not worse.

The issues stem from the owners, the senior leadership they appoint and filter down. Everyone knows the club is a gravy train where there is no accountability for failure because all that matters is the owners lining their pockets, there is no desire to be successful.
 

Crimson King

Full Member
Joined
May 11, 2013
Messages
3,090
I don't think so. I think there's just been one horrible example recently that's skewed people's perception.

I also think that it gets picked up and highlighted a lot more in the media when somebody does step out of line. There's plenty of players at smaller clubs who seem to be pretty terrible people, but it never gets the air time. You see snippets of it online from people who have encountered them, or know people that have been personally involved with them.

People have completely forgotten about Zouma kicking that cat. I'm not saying he deserved to be hounded out of football for it, but I imagine it would still be making headlines every time he touched a ball if he was a United player.
 

fallengt

Full Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2011
Messages
5,603
Woodward set this culture. By giving players mega contract, unearned.
These players already have "I've made it" attitude before they even win a game for club.
 

Hughes35

Full Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2014
Messages
2,606
The money wasted on Martial, Sancho, Pogba, Anthony, Maguire, Lukaku, Di Maria etc who have had questionn marks over their character really is quite astounding.

That's without the homegrown tools like Lingard and Greenwood.
 

Partridge

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jul 1, 2021
Messages
715
Location
Linton Travel Tavern
I think it's a combination of toxic culture, stupidity, wrong recruitment, paying too high a wage to some very average players. In conclusion, a cluster feck. The real cause was lack of preparation for Ferguson's departure. We all saw what happened, the club has never really recovered, and we have bounced from one shit manager to another. Apart from Jose, who we all knew would invetiably explode at our club, as per his habit.
 

Acole9

Outstanding
Joined
Feb 17, 2013
Messages
12,507
I don't want to harp on too much about the SAF days but we used to do our due diligence on players personalities etc. Before signing them, not just scouting them on talent alone. I know that's probably quite a tricky process but we had more good eggs than bad.
 

NoLogo

Full Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2009
Messages
19,892
Location
I can't remember why I joined this war.
The money wasted on Martial, Sancho, Pogba, Anthony, Maguire, Lukaku, Di Maria etc who have had questionn marks over their character really is quite astounding.

That's without the homegrown tools like Lingard and Greenwood.
Just came across our most expansive transfers list on transfermarket.

Absolute shocking that our top 6 purchases can all be seen as major flops at this point, and there are even more flops in that list than just the top 6. A monkey pointing at random names would have probably done a better job recruiting players than the people in charge of our club.
 

Hughes35

Full Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2014
Messages
2,606
Just came across our most expansive transfers list on transfermarket.

Absolute shocking that our top 6 purchases can all be seen as major flops at this point, and there are even more flops in that list than just the top 6. A monkey pointing at random names would have probably done a better job recruiting players than the people in charge of our club.
It's impressive isn't it?

The worst thing is you can tell instantly with most of them that their attitude is bad within about 2 minutes. Scouts clearly aren't doing their homework on players personalities as well as they should be.