Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap

[Rake]

I’m just gonna trust our tier 1s on this one, they’ve never been wrong in the past, they’re not going to be wrong now.

Even Nurse tweeted last night...

 

[FrankDrebin]

If you can’t find good food in such a diverse city the size of Manchester that’s more a you problem than the place itself.

Indeed. Find its always a bizarre and lazy criticism.

 

[Plant0x84]

Yes, oddly. As there's just as many things saying it's not close as the opposite.

Obviously everything reported is 100% true and reliable. We should believe EVERYTHING.

 

[phelans shorts]

Indeed. Find its always a bizarre and lazy criticism.

are you suggesting that the De Jong’s wouldn’t be eating at the Moon Under Water or (insert Weatherspoons of choice) every night

 

[Mmm-Qatarian]

If De Jong has actually not communicated that he's willing to move to United, that would mean we've briefed our journalists (Whitwell etc.) that he's open to joining without receiving any assurances on his end. I don't think this is very likely.

 

[Andy_Cole]

I stayed in Manchester for 3 weeks and I can understand why she might not like it, food is crap, the wheather is horrible but the people are generally nice.
This is why having an a good English core might be nice.
My issue though is why do City South American and Spanish contingent don't complain about this?

Food near city centre:
Top Asian Fusion: Ivy Asia, Tattu
Amazing Neopolitan Pizza: L’Antica Pizzeria, Rudys
American Pizzas, Romano (Detroit) American Pies (Chicago)
Quirky Vietnamese St Food: Vietshak
Incredible Burgers: Burgerism, Almost Famous, Honest Burger
Indian Street Food: Tiffin Room, Bundobust
Classic Indian: Curry Mile
Amazing Kebabs: Curry Mile/ levenshulme (Levenshulme Bakery probably the best)
Thai: Thaikun
Japanese: Umezushi

I’ve eaten worldwide and most of these match the worlds best. So I disagree with you there.

 

[LazyGoal]

Indeed. Find its always a bizarre and lazy criticism.

You only have one one star resturant and one bib resturant. That is very poor for a city like manchester. So there is a point here somewhere.

https://guide.michelin.com/gb/en/gr...ster/restaurants/1-star-michelin/bib-gourmand

 

[Rockets Redglare]

Food near city centre:
Top Asian Fusion: Ivy Asia, Tattu
Amazing Neopolitan Pizza: L’Antica Pizzeria, Rudys
American Pizzas, Romano (Detroit) American Pies (Chicago)
Quirky Vietnamese St Food: Vietshak
Incredible Burgers: Burgerism, Almost Famous, Honest Burger
Indian Street Food: Tiffin Room, Bundobust
Classic Indian: Curry Mile
Amazing Kebabs: Curry Mile/ levenshulme (Levenshulme Bakery probably the best)
Thai: Thaikun
Japanese: Umezushi

I’ve eaten worldwide and most of these match the worlds best. So I disagree with you there.

You forgot about Wings.

 

[Andy_Cole]

You forgot about Wings.

LVG’s favourite! Good Chinese grub.

Or some incredible Chicken wings there is Bunny Jackson’s.

 

[Rockets Redglare]

LVG’s favourite! Good Chinese grub.

Or some incredible Chicken wings there is Bunny Jackson’s.

I miss Louis, he was always hilarious.

 

[sugar_kane]

I stayed in Manchester for 3 weeks and I can understand why she might not like it, food is crap, the wheather is horrible but the people are generally nice.
This is why having an a good English core might be nice.
My issue though is why do City South American and Spanish contingent don't complain about this?

Where are you from out of interest?

Manchester’s food scene is great these days, guess you visited a long time ago or just went to the wrong places?

 

[Judas]

Also if you've got the money, you can eat well anywhere.

 

[Mmm-Qatarian]

The way some people talk about living in Manchester when considering a player's interest, you'd think it was the biggest shithole on planet Earth.

I'm not from Manchester myself but my dad's a Manc so I've been there a fair few times and, whilst sure it's not as attractive as Barcelona, on the whole it's still a really nice city.

 

[Rado_N]

I stayed in Manchester for 3 weeks and I can understand why she might not like it, food is crap, the wheather is horrible but the people are generally nice.

You should have tried leaving the Arndale food court.

 

[E-mal]

Always wonder at this sort of bizarre post on food.
As if all players are limited to just using some working class greasy spoon cafe.

I am basically referring to everything including groceries. But again food was not the only part of post.

 

[Red the Bear]

It seems the threads got derailed a bit but if you're rich you're gonna eat well in every single major city on the planet, even in someplace like Pyongyang.

He'll be fine.

 

[Judas]

I am basically referring to everything including groceries. But again food was not the only part of post.

Did you spend your 3 weeks visiting Manchester's many ASDA's?

 

[TheDosser56]

Obviously Manchester United briefed Whitwell because they needed positive spin after losing out on Darwin Núñez to Liverpool. This is what the club does.

Lets hope it's actually true the player is open to coming to Manchester United.

The Dutch and De Jong play tonight. Let's see what quotes come out after the game.

I still hope we can get De Jong before the tour, in a few weeks but we might need to cough up and pay about 80M if we want to get the player in before the tour to settle in, get use to his teammates etc. Manchester United won't get a chance to sign a better player this transfer window. If that means overpaying by 5-10M the club will do it.

Otherwise Manchester United can try to get a reduced fee and play the long-game until August and risk City or PSG getting involved.

If I was the club I'd want to get the player in as soon as possible, even if it means caving in to what Barcelona want. Because like I said United won't get a chance to sign a better player this transfer window.

 

[Posh Red]

I moved to Manchester about two years ago and the food has been great.

 

[phelans shorts]

I moved to Manchester about two years ago and the food has been great.

and as a posho you’re sure more likely to be in the tax bracket the De Jong’s would be compared to!

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

I stayed in Manchester for 3 weeks and I can understand why she might not like it, food is crap, the wheather is horrible but the people are generally nice.
This is why having an a good English core might be nice.
My issue though is why do City South American and Spanish contingent don't complain about this?

They are paid about a £500k per week offshore in ME.

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

I moved to Manchester about two years ago and the food has been great.

Yeah, the fact there is a huge, very wealthy community of Latin players, they can get good food. He's just a flake.

 

[RaddyRed]

We can start an online petition to get the Dutch pancake house reopened. This will seal the deal after Manchester's food scene disappeared overnight.

 

[Rockets Redglare]

I am basically referring to everything including groceries. But again food was not the only part of post.

You’re talking shite. The players have private chefs and will have the best ingredients money can buy, they’re hardly doing their weekly shop round Herons.

Manchester is a fantastic city with real culture and history, I find it really strange to hear some United fans constantly shit on it.

 

[Herman Toothrot]

Food near city centre:
Top Asian Fusion: Ivy Asia, Tattu
Amazing Neopolitan Pizza: L’Antica Pizzeria, Rudys
American Pizzas, Romano (Detroit) American Pies (Chicago)
Quirky Vietnamese St Food: Vietshak
Incredible Burgers: Burgerism, Almost Famous, Honest Burger
Indian Street Food: Tiffin Room, Bundobust
Classic Indian: Curry Mile
Amazing Kebabs: Curry Mile/ levenshulme (Levenshulme Bakery probably the best)
Thai: Thaikun
Japanese: Umezushi

I’ve eaten worldwide and most of these match the worlds best. So I disagree with you there.

Yeah and would add to that Hello Oriental, WOOD, Canto, Elnecot, Nell's, El Gato Negro and that's just the city centre. There are excellent places in Chorlton, Didsbury and even Stockport these days. Manchester is also a great base for exploring the famous restaurants in Cumbria and The Lakes.

Wrong thread, but if you've no affection for Manchester, then you've no business following United. You don't have to be from here, you don't have to think it's the best city in the world (it isn't) but if you activity don't like the city, get fecked.

 

[Posh Red]

and as a posho you’re sure more likely to be in the tax bracket the De Jong’s would be compared to!

Haha I wish! My username is based on the club from the town I grew up in I’m afraid.

 

[Posh Red]

Yeah and would add to that Hello Oriental, WOOD, Canto, Elnecot, Nell's, El Gato Negro and that's just the city centre. There are excellent places in Chorlton, Didsbury and even Stockport these days. Manchester is also a great base for exploring the famous restaurants in Cumbria and The Lakes.

Wrong thread, but if you've no affection for Manchester, then you've no business following United. You don't have to be from here, you don't have to think it's the best city in the world (it isn't) but if you activity don't like the city, get fecked.

Tried Nells for the first time the other day. Was fecking lovely.

 

[Bilbo]

A huge part of ETH’s remit is to coach the shit out of the existing players we have, not just sign new ones. I know this gets a lot of grief on here, and that makes me hesitate to say it, but Fred is a starter for Brasil. One of the best three national sides on the planet. He’s not a shit player. He’s got an incredible engine. I genuinely believe that ETH can make a Fred/De Jong double pivot work very, very well. It all comes down to coaching, systems, and players understanding what’s expected of them.

Before we signed Bruno Fernandes, it was obvious he was a special player, he combined an incredible work rate, a will to win, determination, and an eye for goal. Gradually most of that has slipped away, mainly through a sheer lack of coaching, and a general acceptance of apathy and mediocrity within the club. After a pre-season friendly against Sporting three years ago, Klopp described Bruno as an incredible player. The perfect player I think he said. Said he could do everything and was everywhere, all the time. He wanted to sign him but they didn’t have the budget. And that was the player we saw when he came, but it just ebbed away.

I honestly believe that a Fred, De Jong, Fernandes midfield, playing to its full potential in a properly coached team, would be truly superb. But it all comes back to coaching. Yes, I want us to see a few new faces this summer, but I am far more interested to see what ETH can do with our existing squad. The cycle of just replacing players and managers when it all goes tits up has to change.

At various points all of Rashford, Sancho, Fred, Bruno, Shaw, and Varane have all been highly coveted and/or top class. A really good manager should get a tune out of those players, because they are good players. Very good players, playing in shit systems, in a toxic environment. Whether they are part of that toxicity is almost irrelevant. A good manager and leader should be able to turn that around and get their buy in. Mostly, anyway.

We spent 80m on Maguire. He was never in a million years worth that. We’ve all seen he has the turning circle of a small oil tanker, but he was also never the completely useless lump of hilarious lard he has been for the last 12 months. He was a good player with some obvious deficiencies. Now he is a terrible player with almost no redeeming qualities? No, don’t buy it. Again, he should be able to be coached into some decent form, because there was a time when he was pretty good.

A player like De Jong is the catalyst to bring the idea and system together. To knit it all together from the middle of the park. He will have a multiplying effect on those around him. Like Carrick used to. The system, the approach, the understanding, instructions, and mentality are always more important than the player. That’s how the best managers extract incredible things from teams that are far greater than the sum of their parts. Fergie and Klopp are prime illustrators of this. We came third once with Giggs and O’Shea playing central midfield for half the season.

The squad needs a gradual overhaul for sure, an aggressive ball playing Center half would be another catalysing piece, and I think a versatile inverted, left footed right sided forward would be a very sensible addition. But the real success next season will come down to the coaching of our existing squad.

I’d like to see a serious squad built over the next 3-4 transfer windows, than a rush to fill spots and replace broken parts that may not actually be broken. Just poorly serviced. This summer getting 2-3 quality additions, then giving ETH 12 months to indoctrinate his ideas, methodology, rebuild the culture, and make a truly studious, informed analysis of who works and who doesn’t, and then hitting the market more aggressively, is the way to go IMO. It’s not flashy, it doesn’t satisfy the muppets, but it’s the desperately needed strategic approach that has been lacking for nearly a decade.

When you understand the system, you understand the player you need. That’s when you can start to use data analytics to make better recruitment decisions, and stop with this YouTube, eye test scouting nonsense. There are constantly players emerging who are on the cusp of becoming top talents. Where was Tchouameni two years ago, or Bellingham, or Haaland 3 years ago (we missed him on two moves), or Declan Rice 3 years ago. There are loads more and there will be loads more. But it’s hard to buy these players speculatively, thinking “well they may turn out great but we don’t have a plan to currently use them, so let’s watch them develop elsewhere to prove themselves and then spend 100m if they make it”. I know we tried with Bellingham, and sort of half arsed tried with Haaland, but they both went to clubs that knew what they were getting and most importantly how they would use them. That’s no coincidence. All the data analytics in the world don’t mean anything if you don’t know how you play or what you really need.

That is ETH’s job next season. And that’s why I support his pursuit of De Jong. Not because he’s a top player, because top players don’t mean a thing in a poorly coached and unstructured side, but because he knows exactly how he wants to use him, how he wants him to play, and where he fits in.

Outstanding post

 

[Teja]

A huge part of ETH’s remit is to coach the shit out of the existing players we have, not just sign new ones. I know this gets a lot of grief on here, and that makes me hesitate to say it, but Fred is a starter for Brasil. One of the best three national sides on the planet. He’s not a shit player. He’s got an incredible engine. I genuinely believe that ETH can make a Fred/De Jong double pivot work very, very well. It all comes down to coaching, systems, and players understanding what’s expected of them.

Before we signed Bruno Fernandes, it was obvious he was a special player, he combined an incredible work rate, a will to win, determination, and an eye for goal. Gradually most of that has slipped away, mainly through a sheer lack of coaching, and a general acceptance of apathy and mediocrity within the club. After a pre-season friendly against Sporting three years ago, Klopp described Bruno as an incredible player. The perfect player I think he said. Said he could do everything and was everywhere, all the time. He wanted to sign him but they didn’t have the budget. And that was the player we saw when he came, but it just ebbed away.

I honestly believe that a Fred, De Jong, Fernandes midfield, playing to its full potential in a properly coached team, would be truly superb. But it all comes back to coaching. Yes, I want us to see a few new faces this summer, but I am far more interested to see what ETH can do with our existing squad. The cycle of just replacing players and managers when it all goes tits up has to change.

At various points all of Rashford, Sancho, Fred, Bruno, Shaw, and Varane have all been highly coveted and/or top class. A really good manager should get a tune out of those players, because they are good players. Very good players, playing in shit systems, in a toxic environment. Whether they are part of that toxicity is almost irrelevant. A good manager and leader should be able to turn that around and get their buy in. Mostly, anyway.

We spent 80m on Maguire. He was never in a million years worth that. We’ve all seen he has the turning circle of a small oil tanker, but he was also never the completely useless lump of hilarious lard he has been for the last 12 months. He was a good player with some obvious deficiencies. Now he is a terrible player with almost no redeeming qualities? No, don’t buy it. Again, he should be able to be coached into some decent form, because there was a time when he was pretty good.

A player like De Jong is the catalyst to bring the idea and system together. To knit it all together from the middle of the park. He will have a multiplying effect on those around him. Like Carrick used to. The system, the approach, the understanding, instructions, and mentality are always more important than the player. That’s how the best managers extract incredible things from teams that are far greater than the sum of their parts. Fergie and Klopp are prime illustrators of this. We came third once with Giggs and O’Shea playing central midfield for half the season.

The squad needs a gradual overhaul for sure, an aggressive ball playing Center half would be another catalysing piece, and I think a versatile inverted, left footed right sided forward would be a very sensible addition. But the real success next season will come down to the coaching of our existing squad.

I’d like to see a serious squad built over the next 3-4 transfer windows, than a rush to fill spots and replace broken parts that may not actually be broken. Just poorly serviced. This summer getting 2-3 quality additions, then giving ETH 12 months to indoctrinate his ideas, methodology, rebuild the culture, and make a truly studious, informed analysis of who works and who doesn’t, and then hitting the market more aggressively, is the way to go IMO. It’s not flashy, it doesn’t satisfy the muppets, but it’s the desperately needed strategic approach that has been lacking for nearly a decade.

When you understand the system, you understand the player you need. That’s when you can start to use data analytics to make better recruitment decisions, and stop with this YouTube, eye test scouting nonsense. There are constantly players emerging who are on the cusp of becoming top talents. Where was Tchouameni two years ago, or Bellingham, or Haaland 3 years ago (we missed him on two moves), or Declan Rice 3 years ago. There are loads more and there will be loads more. But it’s hard to buy these players speculatively, thinking “well they may turn out great but we don’t have a plan to currently use them, so let’s watch them develop elsewhere to prove themselves and then spend 100m if they make it”. I know we tried with Bellingham, and sort of half arsed tried with Haaland, but they both went to clubs that knew what they were getting and most importantly how they would use them. That’s no coincidence. All the data analytics in the world don’t mean anything if you don’t know how you play or what you really need.

That is ETH’s job next season. And that’s why I support his pursuit of De Jong. Not because he’s a top player, because top players don’t mean a thing in a poorly coached and unstructured side, but because he knows exactly how he wants to use him, how he wants him to play, and where he fits in.

+ a million.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Some people are really bad at reading between the lines. This deal is all but done. I'd go as far as to say it would be announced already if it wasn't for these international games. Great signing.

 

[GailSpaceWynand]

A huge part of ETH’s remit is to coach the shit out of the existing players we have, not just sign new ones. I know this gets a lot of grief on here, and that makes me hesitate to say it, but Fred is a starter for Brasil. One of the best three national sides on the planet. He’s not a shit player. He’s got an incredible engine. I genuinely believe that ETH can make a Fred/De Jong double pivot work very, very well. It all comes down to coaching, systems, and players understanding what’s expected of them.

Before we signed Bruno Fernandes, it was obvious he was a special player, he combined an incredible work rate, a will to win, determination, and an eye for goal. Gradually most of that has slipped away, mainly through a sheer lack of coaching, and a general acceptance of apathy and mediocrity within the club. After a pre-season friendly against Sporting three years ago, Klopp described Bruno as an incredible player. The perfect player I think he said. Said he could do everything and was everywhere, all the time. He wanted to sign him but they didn’t have the budget. And that was the player we saw when he came, but it just ebbed away.

I honestly believe that a Fred, De Jong, Fernandes midfield, playing to its full potential in a properly coached team, would be truly superb. But it all comes back to coaching. Yes, I want us to see a few new faces this summer, but I am far more interested to see what ETH can do with our existing squad. The cycle of just replacing players and managers when it all goes tits up has to change.

At various points all of Rashford, Sancho, Fred, Bruno, Shaw, and Varane have all been highly coveted and/or top class. A really good manager should get a tune out of those players, because they are good players. Very good players, playing in shit systems, in a toxic environment. Whether they are part of that toxicity is almost irrelevant. A good manager and leader should be able to turn that around and get their buy in. Mostly, anyway.

We spent 80m on Maguire. He was never in a million years worth that. We’ve all seen he has the turning circle of a small oil tanker, but he was also never the completely useless lump of hilarious lard he has been for the last 12 months. He was a good player with some obvious deficiencies. Now he is a terrible player with almost no redeeming qualities? No, don’t buy it. Again, he should be able to be coached into some decent form, because there was a time when he was pretty good.

A player like De Jong is the catalyst to bring the idea and system together. To knit it all together from the middle of the park. He will have a multiplying effect on those around him. Like Carrick used to. The system, the approach, the understanding, instructions, and mentality are always more important than the player. That’s how the best managers extract incredible things from teams that are far greater than the sum of their parts. Fergie and Klopp are prime illustrators of this. We came third once with Giggs and O’Shea playing central midfield for half the season.

The squad needs a gradual overhaul for sure, an aggressive ball playing Center half would be another catalysing piece, and I think a versatile inverted, left footed right sided forward would be a very sensible addition. But the real success next season will come down to the coaching of our existing squad.

I’d like to see a serious squad built over the next 3-4 transfer windows, than a rush to fill spots and replace broken parts that may not actually be broken. Just poorly serviced. This summer getting 2-3 quality additions, then giving ETH 12 months to indoctrinate his ideas, methodology, rebuild the culture, and make a truly studious, informed analysis of who works and who doesn’t, and then hitting the market more aggressively, is the way to go IMO. It’s not flashy, it doesn’t satisfy the muppets, but it’s the desperately needed strategic approach that has been lacking for nearly a decade.

When you understand the system, you understand the player you need. That’s when you can start to use data analytics to make better recruitment decisions, and stop with this YouTube, eye test scouting nonsense. There are constantly players emerging who are on the cusp of becoming top talents. Where was Tchouameni two years ago, or Bellingham, or Haaland 3 years ago (we missed him on two moves), or Declan Rice 3 years ago. There are loads more and there will be loads more. But it’s hard to buy these players speculatively, thinking “well they may turn out great but we don’t have a plan to currently use them, so let’s watch them develop elsewhere to prove themselves and then spend 100m if they make it”. I know we tried with Bellingham, and sort of half arsed tried with Haaland, but they both went to clubs that knew what they were getting and most importantly how they would use them. That’s no coincidence. All the data analytics in the world don’t mean anything if you don’t know how you play or what you really need.

That is ETH’s job next season. And that’s why I support his pursuit of De Jong. Not because he’s a top player, because top players don’t mean a thing in a poorly coached and unstructured side, but because he knows exactly how he wants to use him, how he wants him to play, and where he fits in.

Excellent post!

Last season seems to be some weird kind of anamoly. Players who have been good to great the past few years, all of a sudden, turned into a shadow of their past selves - I don't know if this was related to fitness or the amount of games some had had to consistently play but it does truly baffle me how fast everything went to shit.

Maguire and Rashford seem like the biggest losses but others including Bruno, Shaw, AWB, McT and even Telles somewhat have all regressed. Here's hoping Ten Hag changes that and gets more out of the current crop.

I wouldn't mind though if the board decides to give ETH more signings like we did with LVG after finishing 7th. I also like to think ETH will make good use of youth: I believe a couple of players are ready for the step up including Mejbri, Garnacho, Garner and Amad/Pellistri though the last two had disappointing loans.

 

[Tavern in the town]

Don’t footballers have their own personal chefs? They can eat whatever the feck they want.

 

[Marwood]

I stayed in Manchester for 3 weeks and I can understand why she might not like it, food is crap, the wheather is horrible but the people are generally nice.
This is why having an a good English core might be nice.
My issue though is why do City South American and Spanish contingent don't complain about this?

Because if you can't enjoy yourself as a millionaire in Manchester and Cheshire there's something badly wrong.

How lofty have people become where every mouthful of food has to be Michelin starred?

 

[Marwood]

A huge part of ETH’s remit is to coach the shit out of the existing players we have, not just sign new ones. I know this gets a lot of grief on here, and that makes me hesitate to say it, but Fred is a starter for Brasil. One of the best three national sides on the planet. He’s not a shit player. He’s got an incredible engine. I genuinely believe that ETH can make a Fred/De Jong double pivot work very, very well. It all comes down to coaching, systems, and players understanding what’s expected of them.

Before we signed Bruno Fernandes, it was obvious he was a special player, he combined an incredible work rate, a will to win, determination, and an eye for goal. Gradually most of that has slipped away, mainly through a sheer lack of coaching, and a general acceptance of apathy and mediocrity within the club. After a pre-season friendly against Sporting three years ago, Klopp described Bruno as an incredible player. The perfect player I think he said. Said he could do everything and was everywhere, all the time. He wanted to sign him but they didn’t have the budget. And that was the player we saw when he came, but it just ebbed away.

I honestly believe that a Fred, De Jong, Fernandes midfield, playing to its full potential in a properly coached team, would be truly superb. But it all comes back to coaching. Yes, I want us to see a few new faces this summer, but I am far more interested to see what ETH can do with our existing squad. The cycle of just replacing players and managers when it all goes tits up has to change.

At various points all of Rashford, Sancho, Fred, Bruno, Shaw, and Varane have all been highly coveted and/or top class. A really good manager should get a tune out of those players, because they are good players. Very good players, playing in shit systems, in a toxic environment. Whether they are part of that toxicity is almost irrelevant. A good manager and leader should be able to turn that around and get their buy in. Mostly, anyway.

We spent 80m on Maguire. He was never in a million years worth that. We’ve all seen he has the turning circle of a small oil tanker, but he was also never the completely useless lump of hilarious lard he has been for the last 12 months. He was a good player with some obvious deficiencies. Now he is a terrible player with almost no redeeming qualities? No, don’t buy it. Again, he should be able to be coached into some decent form, because there was a time when he was pretty good.

A player like De Jong is the catalyst to bring the idea and system together. To knit it all together from the middle of the park. He will have a multiplying effect on those around him. Like Carrick used to. The system, the approach, the understanding, instructions, and mentality are always more important than the player. That’s how the best managers extract incredible things from teams that are far greater than the sum of their parts. Fergie and Klopp are prime illustrators of this. We came third once with Giggs and O’Shea playing central midfield for half the season.

The squad needs a gradual overhaul for sure, an aggressive ball playing Center half would be another catalysing piece, and I think a versatile inverted, left footed right sided forward would be a very sensible addition. But the real success next season will come down to the coaching of our existing squad.

I’d like to see a serious squad built over the next 3-4 transfer windows, than a rush to fill spots and replace broken parts that may not actually be broken. Just poorly serviced. This summer getting 2-3 quality additions, then giving ETH 12 months to indoctrinate his ideas, methodology, rebuild the culture, and make a truly studious, informed analysis of who works and who doesn’t, and then hitting the market more aggressively, is the way to go IMO. It’s not flashy, it doesn’t satisfy the muppets, but it’s the desperately needed strategic approach that has been lacking for nearly a decade.

When you understand the system, you understand the player you need. That’s when you can start to use data analytics to make better recruitment decisions, and stop with this YouTube, eye test scouting nonsense. There are constantly players emerging who are on the cusp of becoming top talents. Where was Tchouameni two years ago, or Bellingham, or Haaland 3 years ago (we missed him on two moves), or Declan Rice 3 years ago. There are loads more and there will be loads more. But it’s hard to buy these players speculatively, thinking “well they may turn out great but we don’t have a plan to currently use them, so let’s watch them develop elsewhere to prove themselves and then spend 100m if they make it”. I know we tried with Bellingham, and sort of half arsed tried with Haaland, but they both went to clubs that knew what they were getting and most importantly how they would use them. That’s no coincidence. All the data analytics in the world don’t mean anything if you don’t know how you play or what you really need.

That is ETH’s job next season. And that’s why I support his pursuit of De Jong. Not because he’s a top player, because top players don’t mean a thing in a poorly coached and unstructured side, but because he knows exactly how he wants to use him, how he wants him to play, and where he fits in.

Good post but I don't agree with this bit. Feels a bit like the same old mistake.

As good as de Jong is on the ball he needs player to pass to and to receive passes from. One player can never be a catalyst or the one who knits it all together.

If we'd had de Jong this season it wouldn't have made much difference. We'd be a bit better but without like minded players around him it's just more of what we do. Asking individuals to perform miracles game after game, which they might now and again. But eventually so much being asked of them takes its toll and their game disintegrates. As has happened with Bruno.

We can't make the same mistake with de Jong(or whoever comes in) as we did with Bruno.

No one player can bring a team together. They're just another piece.

 

[RedRoach]

Because if you can't enjoy yourself as a millionaire in Manchester and Cheshire there's something badly wrong.

How lofty have people become where every mouthful of food has to be Michelin starred?

They probably get to buy or rent one of these magnificent houses in the Cheshire country side and have an on demand private chef https://www.jackson-stops.co.uk/cheshire/sales

Life must sure be hard

 

[Sandikan]

It seems the threads got derailed a bit but if you're rich you're gonna eat well in every single major city on the planet, even in someplace like Pyongyang.

He'll be fine.

It's like when people say certain players couldn't handle living abroad.
As if they'll be in their own in some squalid corner of town, trying to cut it down the local bartering market.

 

[sewey89]

“The food is crap”

 

[RedChisel]

Glad people are sticking up for Manchester. This narrative that it's some wasteland with one restaurant gets old. This isn't the 70s where Gammon and chips was the height of haute cuisine.

 

[phelans shorts]

They probably get to buy or rent one of these magnificent houses in the Cheshire country side and have an on demand private chef https://www.jackson-stops.co.uk/cheshire/sales

Life must sure be hard

Quite a few recently have based themselves dead in the centre (City particularly) and I believe Ten Hag is doing the same living in the same complex on Deansgate as Pep and a few City players. Plenty of options from there.

 

[KirkDuyt]

Yeah and would add to that Hello Oriental, WOOD, Canto, Elnecot, Nell's, El Gato Negro and that's just the city centre. There are excellent places in Chorlton, Didsbury and even Stockport these days. Manchester is also a great base for exploring the famous restaurants in Cumbria and The Lakes.

Wrong thread, but if you've no affection for Manchester, then you've no business following United. You don't have to be from here, you don't have to think it's the best city in the world (it isn't) but if you activity don't like the city, get fecked.

Oh come on, who cares what United fans from around the globe think of the city of Manchester. Rotterdam is an ugly shithole, doesn't mean I love Feyenoord any less.