Yeppers! Woodward should have told Ole to get fecked if he knew that list wasn't obtainable. I don't necessarily blame Ole for shooting for the stars when it comes to the targets. He want's to win trophies and he needs his players to do that and he was probably given some idea that his list was doable.
ESPN: Man United missed all of Solskjaer's targets including Sancho, Grealish - sources
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Not having it, mate. Our defence was quite good last season.
Are you on some kind of WUM here? The question is if Sancho or Grealish were non attainable targets, it would take Woodward 5 mins to say that to Ole. So that Ole can give a revised lists or go ahead and say we are done for the transfer window.
Why would they drag the whole thing over the whole window and then make some buys in the final hours?
Last season was not some great achievement imo, sorry.. What and who are Man Utd ? A team satisfied with a top four finish, a country mile behind the team in second let alone the Champions? You trust last season as a standard for our team, club then that's up to you. Yes it was an improvement on the year before (which was real s***), but I haven't seen four top defenders at United for years now, and if OGS cannot see that as a priority, and if he,as you suggest, may feel 'confident' in them, then I am pretty much lost for words.
We're all over the place at the back, both defensively and as a unit that begins to build our play.
We keep buying and overpaying for Defenders, and how many are actually good enough? I'm fed up with it. Get some top defenders in.
On the bright side I guess we do have a D.O.F now seeing as though Woodward is picking the transfers.
Which is fine by me. Better a DOF making that decision than Woodward. I would imagine the manager might give some suggestions. But even if not, idc. I think we need a DOF to make sure that even if OGS is fired, the next manager that comes in, doesnt have to overhaul the whole squad. He can just pick up the baton and run.
Again, the same defenders (who I agree have been poor this season) had a very good record last season. It is possible to play players back into form, perhaps Ole is more confident in his ability to do that than you are.
I can only imagine what Ole is thinking at the moment. Got 0 of his requested signings, the defense has been a complete shit show, just lost 6-1 and the other teams vying for 4th have all strengthened, some quite significantly. If he was thinking long-term before, he has to be thinking far more short term now.
He has enough problems of his own design that he should worry. I hope he thinks of them also.
This. Perfectly said.
Its unreal that more people are not calling out the incompetence of Woodward and co. Glad the likes of Neville and Evra are speaking out.
I didn't. If you think I'm basing this on this window then you're mistaken. He's been a joke all along.
Well he is the de facto Director of Football, unqualified as he is. Woodward seems to prefer blocbuster, statement signings while his managers have different preferences based on their agenda and philosophies. Its a marriage designed for maximum instability. Don't forget Woodward was the one bragging around the industry that United had so much spending power only to find out that kind of bragging leads us to a poor bargaining position.
Evidently it mattered enough to the club. We don't have unlimited funds like oil clubs. Its about maximising what we can get with what we do have. Grealish is not that. Would be another Maguire. Decent enough player at a way over inflated price which would eventually crush him.
Ole's tactics are pretty basic. He needs the individual brilliance of top top players for him to succeed
Imagine being Solskjær giving team talks after the premier league restart, telling players if only they can get top 4, the club could add Sancho, Grealish and Upamecano to the squad and they could challenge for the title, only for the club to renege on that promise and not deliver on a single one of them. His credibility with the squad would be utterly shot and that partly explains Shaw's comments on needing additions as well as the hangover to start the season.
Go support them then! Simple. Such moaning on here, it's absolutely draining.
He would be a fool if he told them that.
Those 3 players would cost 200m+
That was never going to happen during COVID-19.
I mean like others have said the issue is Sancho. it's clear we saw Grealish wasn't happening early and switched interest to VDB (which makes sense and was sensible). I know management is incompetent but I think they just completely fecked up the whole saga with Sancho. And they should be blamed for missing that one.
Other ones I don't really think we "missed out". One of them signed a new contract to stay at his club for an extra season like as soon as the window opened.
It's clear the window was a disaster but in reality if the club had just leaked at the start of September that we weren't pursuing Sancho due to covid issues I don't think people would be as pissed off as they are now.
Other ones I don't really think we "missed out". One of them signed a new contract to stay at his club for an extra season like as soon as the window opened.
It's clear the window was a disaster but in reality if the club had just leaked at the start of September that we weren't pursuing Sancho due to covid issues I don't think people would be as pissed off as they are now.
Everything is so directed towards transfers these days. We have an unbelievable set of kids coming through that will soon be coming into their own. What about them? What about garner, laird in the midfield? Chong who is doing well at a big German club. It's not all about shiny new signings that half the time don't work out anyway!
Guy be better off spending his time worrying about his own club the greedy little swine, but then thats deflects away from the fact they are seen as the city of the lower leagues, owners of that one club worth 3 and a half billion and he is demanding EPL bail out the likes of his team.
It doesn't matter if you have a DOF or not. You'll always have someone above him putting limits on transfers.
If Ole wanted Sancho & Grealish for 200 million... more fool him.
Blame Woodward all you like, but that would've been utterly fecking idiotic. I don't even know where Grealish would play.
Blame Woodward all you like, but that would've been utterly fecking idiotic. I don't even know where Grealish would play.
Aye. We didn't get Gazza, we didn't get Shearer, we didn't get Kluivert, we didn't get Celio Silva (OK, lucky there probably!), we didn't get Ronaldinho, we didn't get Robben, we didn't get Batistuta, and we didn't get tons of other players we had an interest in one time or another.
We moved on without them.
Widely reported that Villa weren't even willing to listen to anything under 80m, hence why Grealish signed the new 5 year contract.
Widely reported that Dortmund wanted 120m.
2 players, 200m quid.
We didn't get Paul fecking Hirst for God's sake. So we went and got Eric.
Exactly.
That would be extremely difficult in a normal climate. Never mind during a global pandemic.
He says he talked to the club about Neymar, Muller and Ramos, so some of his targets were quite high. He seemed stunned we can't get those players...
David.
ESPN didn't have a clue who our 'targets' were all summer.
A simple bit of common sense said we were never going to spend the amounts required for that list.
A simple bit of common sense said we were never going to spend the amounts required for that list.
God yeah, and I remember being gutted at the timeDavid.
Having to "settle" for Eric was terrible for the club.I'm sorry but that entire list is galactico targets. Sancho alone would have crossed out the other targets. Unless they told him the budget was far higher than it was he should have had some targets that weren't a continuation of last summer's overpayments
Well he did say about Neymar and of course if Neymar is available, you explore the possibility of signing him. Though, after Neymar it was Sadio Mane and Mahrez whom were very attainable.He says he talked to the club about Neymar, Muller and Ramos, so some of his targets were quite high. He seemed stunned we can't get those players...
David.
Anyway there is a clear pattern on us consistently underperforming in the market no matter who the manager is or who his targets are.
Galatico prices, for non-Galatico players.
Best player on the list by a mile is Sancho and whilst he's rightfully incredibly highly rated by everyone, he's hardly a guaranteed galactico signing at this point in his career.
coaching is no longer the rule. It is transfer window, then the next, changing personnel, next transfer window, new players, more players and so on. Some managers in England are mostly reliant on individual talent nowadays
That's the word I was looking for. It was a galactico dream like Perez was in our ears
He bought half that defence though so he must take some of the blame, and the cost of the players he wanted he might as well have asked for Messi
So many questions :
- Why did we delay 4 signings till deadline day?
- Why did we not find an alternative to Sancho?
- Why were we chasing Sancho till deadline day?
- Why are we so bad at managing to trim our squad?
- Why have we not bought a single undisputed first XI player?
Truly baffling. Heads should roll for this kind of incompetence.
- Why did we delay 4 signings till deadline day?
- Why did we not find an alternative to Sancho?
- Why were we chasing Sancho till deadline day?
- Why are we so bad at managing to trim our squad?
- Why have we not bought a single undisputed first XI player?
Truly baffling. Heads should roll for this kind of incompetence.
How many managers do get their first choice list of players, let alone at the sorts of prices mentioned?
I don’t know if some of you are being intentionally obtuse but just because Ole allegedly had Grealish, Sancho, Upamecano/ Ake as his primary preferred targets, it doesn’t mean he expects to get all of them at the same time. He may have indicated he is ok with getting Vdb instead of Grealish if it means that Sancho is gettable. Not getting any of the first choice players in the list and not strengthening any of the key first team roles is something that Woodward and Judge should have to be answerable for.
Absolutely, so many great players we've missed out on (Players miles better than Sancho) we'll get by.
But a recent article posted from the athletic says both Ole and the club were insistent on holding out for Sancho making it hard to get alternatives till late in the window
He should hat resigned (if he has balls)