Getting players with the right mentality

[Alabaster Codify7]

Dont worry he’ll be gone in the summer but most players will be here.

Which is equally worrying, I agree. The problem has always been two-fold.

 

[Hawks2008]

Mentality is a bit subjective. I think the most common criteria is sprinting frankly. Beyond that, fans know little.

A top player, one with genuinely special ability, should hopefully be determined to be a great player. The notion that players ‘really want to play for Manchester United’ is conveniently often aligned with players who can’t get into a better team than Manchester United. For a British player, if he was not a United fan, he’s more likely to have grown up hating us than anything else. The thing is, a player should be ambitious and want to go to the top, so if he played for Swansea, of course he should want to go to United. But that also depends on his options. Ramsey and Bale, when presented with an alternative superclub at the time, both went elsewhere. Choosing us over a move to Leeds or Newcastle proves nothing.

A player like Neymar is probably seen as uncommitted, in fact, I’ve read his name in this very thread as an example of a player to avoid. However, he is extremely committed to being a great player, and as a result never lets his team down for club or country. He can never be accused of ‘not playing’. He is protective enough of his own reputation for that. A club like Real or Barca would never say ‘we should stay away from a player like Neymar’. They would sign him, he will be great there, and win lots of trophies. This has nothing to do with any love or commitment to them. Neymar would leave Barcelona and sign for Madrid today. The point is, they match his ambitions.

When you aren’t a very good team it’s easy to view every top player as one to avoid. The likes of Neymar would be as happy to play for us as anyone else, if we were at the top of the game. Players who don’t have that option are happy to be here than at small and average clubs. It’s normal. There is little to suggest that Pogba hates United, as is often implied. He’s not even Latin and just doesn’t like the city or something. He considers it home. I’m sure if we were a stronger side he’d have no doubts. That problem will remain unless we just adopt a strategy of signing players who wouldn’t be wanted at better teams.

Great post.

 

[AR87]

Perreira and Mata got new contracts, Jones And Rojo were both kept despite begin worse than Smalling.

Was that because of mentality or ability or simply because he had to get rid of a centre back and no one would take those two (Smalling also has desire to play football). Actions aren’t always driven by reasons people think or would like them to be.

1. Rojo got his new contract before Ole came in.

2. Jones getting a new contract was a poor choice from Ole. That's a mark against him.

3. Pereira is on 30k/week wages. That's cheap, easy to move, and considering we were already short in midfield, we needed to keep some warm bodies around. I doubt strongly that Ole views Pereira as anything more than a stopgap.

4. Mata got a 2 year deal, to help keep some veteran presence and leadership in the locker room. He's played sparingly and is likely to be phased out. His wages nor presence in the squad prevent United from addressing CAM or RW. Thus we seem to have all but officially signed Bruno, have been linked strongly to Maddison and Grealish, and Sancho is a long-term target. Mata, like Pereira, is a stopgap for the time being, because we need bodies and he won't ever be an issue in the dressing room.

 

[Roboc7]

1. Rojo got his new contract before Ole came in.

2. Jones getting a new contract was a poor choice from Ole. That's a mark against him.

3. Pereira is on 30k/week wages. That's cheap, easy to move, and considering we were already short in midfield, we needed to keep some warm bodies around. I doubt strongly that Ole views Pereira as anything more than a stopgap.

4. Mata got a 2 year deal, to help keep some veteran presence and leadership in the locker room. He's played sparingly and is likely to be phased out. His wages nor presence in the squad prevent United from addressing CAM or RW. Thus we seem to have all but officially signed Bruno, have been linked strongly to Maddison and Grealish, and Sancho is a long-term target. Mata, like Pereira, is a stopgap for the time being, because we need bodies and he won't ever be an issue in the dressing room.

That’s my point though he’s not being ruthless just letting players go to bring others in.

My original point was manager sets the tone, a manager whose happy City played a full strength side in a semi final isn’t right for this club or setting right standard for his players.

 

[spiriticon]

To be fair, you gave a poor example of a talented player vs a good example of a grafter. Not every grafter becomes Henderson, in fact most ply their trade lower in the table.

Of course there is a spectrum to everything. Not every talented player is lazy ass and not every grafter is Sunday-league quality either.

But IMO hard grafters start low and end on a high whilst lazy talents start high and end on a low (in general), thus I feel hard grafters tend to achieve more over time.

The best type of player of course, is one that has immense talent as well as non-stop graft, like Cristiano. In those cases it's a non-stop high level of acheivement.