EtH transfers carte blanche
Man United's most baffling decisions
- Thread starter Nas-JR
- Start date
-
In the latest edition of the United Hour Podcast, Imran (@Annihilate Now!) & Jamie (@Vault Dweller) are here to discuss disappointed FA Cup exit at the hands of Brighton - confirming our shortest season in over 100 years. They also discuss the news that Michael Carrick is set to be United's manager until the end of the season.
Trying to sell Marcos Rojo every year, failing and then just extending his contract anyway. That was the second stupidest decision. The first being to sign him because he was left footed and Louis Van Gaal saw him play once.
On the DDG sale, there was never a fax machine, that was a joke that emerged on Twitter the following day and took off from there.
Real took too long to upload the necessary documents to FIFA's Transfer Matching System, and then they blamed United for waiting until the last minute to send them those documents. I'm of the opinion we never actually intended to sell him and that was our way of fecking with Real in response to them coming in very late with a bid.
Hmmm. He was replaced with Valencia really and the other two you mention were just in the same window
Some of our baffling contract extensions down the years have always got my billy goat.
Anderson
Rooney... twice.
Phil Jones, just about twice.
Juan Mata, the highest paid nice-guy cheerleader on the planet
Fellaini's extra year.
The Rashford that had lost his pace and could get outrun by an Ipswich CB from League 1.
Probably plenty more that I can't recall right now.
Anderson
Rooney... twice.
Phil Jones, just about twice.
Juan Mata, the highest paid nice-guy cheerleader on the planet
Fellaini's extra year.
The Rashford that had lost his pace and could get outrun by an Ipswich CB from League 1.
Probably plenty more that I can't recall right now.
Hiring Moyes was the biggest and, as others have said, we have been chasing our tail ever since. Additionally, giving all managers total control and backing them without critical thinking from a senior leadership team whose interests are the long term future of the club.
Moyes was so uninspiring and obviously a bad choice. I always thought the rumours were a clear red herring, as Moyes was just such a bad choice. He was also known for dithering in the transfer market and continued to do so here, cancelled our Thiago deal and chased Fabregas all summer instead while dicking his former club around for Baines and Fellaini. Evra said that Fergie had Cristiano coming back and wanted Bale too, if the Board put the money up and brought in a top drawer coach they would possibly have joined and our trajectory changes.
Moyes was so uninspiring and obviously a bad choice. I always thought the rumours were a clear red herring, as Moyes was just such a bad choice. He was also known for dithering in the transfer market and continued to do so here, cancelled our Thiago deal and chased Fabregas all summer instead while dicking his former club around for Baines and Fellaini. Evra said that Fergie had Cristiano coming back and wanted Bale too, if the Board put the money up and brought in a top drawer coach they would possibly have joined and our trajectory changes.
I'm using this thread as a bit of an education but I am still not sure what Wilcox has done in his career to give him the reputation and power he has at United in our rebuild, and ultimately a fallout with him is the ending of a project.
So till I am told, I am going to say - Giving Wilcox a huge amount of power at Man Utd when we are trying to rebuild
So till I am told, I am going to say - Giving Wilcox a huge amount of power at Man Utd when we are trying to rebuild
The summer of 10/11
Whilst we were buying Bebe, Smalling, Chicarito and Lindegaard…City were acquiring Dzeko, Yaya, David Silva and Milner
Whilst we were buying Bebe, Smalling, Chicarito and Lindegaard…City were acquiring Dzeko, Yaya, David Silva and Milner
Pretty much every senior level decision post-2009ish
Surely Moyes was a 6 year deal and that was bad enough.
Why do you people always have to make an already bad thing sound even worse with exaggeration
S
That looks almost a decent comparison for our last 14 years!
Surely there's way worse comparison windows than that?
That looks almost a decent comparison for our last 14 years!
City were trying to turn a mid-table side into a one capable of winning titles.
We were one of the best sides in Europe with an established core of very good to world class players.
The approach to transfers was understandably very different.
2014 (I think):
The high-tech scouting network with state of the iPads
The high-tech scouting network with state of the iPads
I just remember being pretty disgusted at that particular window.
We’ve signed a lot of great players from a position of power. Keane, Cole, Ruud, Ronaldo, Stam, Yorke…that one summer alone on Anderson, Nani, Hargreaves and Tevez.
We should have continued in that vain. Skimping back for a few summers really hurt us long term when there were brilliant players to be had
That is when the rot started as far as I’m concerned. SAF just managed (with his brilliance) to squeeze every ounce out of his squads
Ole didn't want him, making it all the more hilariously baffling
In fairness, the new stadium is great
My understanding is that Ole's tactics required CBs that could quickly get back to their position/track back and full backs that could cross, which didn't suit either player. In fact, after watching a few of his spider tackles, it quickly looked like half of the time AWB was constantly out of position but bailed out by his tackles.
Tbf, Chicharito was a great signing at the time and ended up scoring 20 in all competitions. He ended up winning Matt Busby's Man United's player of the season, scored 3 in the knockouts as United got to the CL final. Smalling was a good signing too for the future and had a good career. The other two not so much but United still had van der Sar and then got De Gea.
The big one United missed out on around that time was Hazard and they were close but he chose Chelsea after they won the CL. Fergie didn't like paying the agent fees.
It could have been better sure, but it doesn't rank anywhere near the most baffling things we've done, and the comparison to what City did is entirely irrelevant.
High ones obviously, the same ones he set himself as a player.
But has never done as a manager?
It all comes back to signings:
Djemba 2
Kleberson
Bebe
Dong
Manucho
Taibi
Sanchez
Schneiderlin
Mhkitarian
Hargreaves
DiMaria
Fellaini
Pog-back
Mount
Sancho
Zirkzee
Donny VDB
Antony
Hojlund
Djemba 2
Kleberson
Bebe
Dong
Manucho
Taibi
Sanchez
Schneiderlin
Mhkitarian
Hargreaves
DiMaria
Fellaini
Pog-back
Mount
Sancho
Zirkzee
Donny VDB
Antony
Hojlund
Last few years of Fergie genuinely weren't great in terms of transfers. He somehow kept it going through sheer force of will. Scholes coming out of retirement should've been our first clue.
Devon Loch and Rock of Gibraltar
A lot of the SAF-era names you mentioned were low risk, low cost punts on young players. They shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as our more expensive flops that we tried to actually build squads around.
Deciding against signing haaland after oles glowing reference
Ole knew what the buzzwords were and so he used them. Quick attacking, pressing, front foot. Most of it was just talk. His gameplan was always a fairly simple one, stay compact and reserved and once the ball gets to you, get vertical as fast as possible. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it but it isn't the most difficult thing to figure out. There was what Ole talked about and what we've seen - he also said he wanted us to be the most hardworking team in the league. Nothing came off it. There is a lot to criticize about Maguire and AWB, but I don't think that they didn't fit the playstyle is one of them.
And for the record - Bruno running at CBs or GKs high up, alone and with nobody else from our team around only to look back and be disappointed isn't an organized press. Even when it happened so regularly that it might as well have been prepared.There were a few performances where we were really up for it and were aggressive. But that was mostly restricted for games against good teams, where the players seem to find ways to motivate themselves.
RR tried to have us press for the first game when he came in and abandoned it instantly because he knew that our players weren't ready for it. That wasn't them losing their abilities all of a sudden. And while being demotivated towards an interim is certainly a factor, that didn't kick in that early.
Well, who doesn't like quick CBs and FBs that can chip in with some assists here and there. Not sure what you heard but I thought, the overall consensus is that Ole played a fairly simple game plan but managed to do that fairly well. Until most teams had figured out that we didn't have any other string to our bow. For the style he played, Maguire and AWB were perfect. The struggles started when teams didn't give us space anymore and we were forced to play stuff where we weren't comfortable. Thats when the wheels came off, up to a point where AWB was even targeted in possession by opposition coaches.
I don't think it all comes back to signings. There were quite a few obviously very bad ones where we really looked like mugs, Fellaini, Antony, but for most of those names, thats purely hindsight talking. Wasn't Bebe almost for free? Schneiderlin was such a welcomed signing at the time, he was probably the equivalent of Anderson this season. Mkhy was a streaky player but quite a good one. Sancho was regarded an absolute top talent. Zirkzee in isolation wasn't a bad idea. Same for Hojlund. There is always a time, a place and a price. The recruiting was terrible but thats not down to individual names - more the cluelessness and plan-lessness we showed more and more obviously.
There are too many to remember - it would be the length of the Encyclopaedia Britannica by now. The club has made continuously bad decisions on transfers and coaching appointments since we won back the league in 2007 (a strange starting point I know but how much value did we get out of the big money spent on Anderson and Hargreaves that summer? And those two look good compared to most of the signings that followed).
Allowing a manager to get into a row with two shareholders over horse spunk.
Hiring an accountant and putting him in charge of footballing decisions.
No huge surprise when he starts going after players who don't fit with what the team needs, but will be good for marketing purposes.
No huge surprise when he starts going after players who don't fit with what the team needs, but will be good for marketing purposes.
Ah well, I stand corrected then. Still seemed a bit weird to Not use his experience in the sporting director role in any way and instead bin all his valid advice, no?
Forgot about Valencia to be fair! Good shout
Hahaha honestly I noticed it and decided to keep it in exactly for the reason you provide . I'll change it now thoughSurely Moyes was a 6 year deal and that was bad enough.
Why do you people always have to make an already bad thing sound even worse with exaggeration
There was a 3/4 year period here they handed new contracts out for fun! There's Lingard and martial. Set us back so much in the grand scheme of things as we barely managed to move any of them.
Perhaps an unpopular opinion but selling Højlund replacing him with Šeško instead of improving the midfield. I firmly believe Højlund would've had a better season for us than the previous one.
I still hope Šeško will come good for us but I really think we needed a better midfielder.
Also think we could've done without Cunha and kept Bruno as 10.
I still hope Šeško will come good for us but I really think we needed a better midfielder.
Also think we could've done without Cunha and kept Bruno as 10.
Heres another for the list.....
Youre the interim manager. You basically have a free hit. All you have to do, is the basics. Nothing daft, nothing left field. Just the sensible, straight forwarded decisions.
So with that being said.... Can someone, please, anyone, explain to me why Cunha is on the right, and Dorgu on the left.
It makes absolutely zero sense at all.
Why does every united coach these days have to do their own little thing that noone else on the planet would do?... Is it ego? Is there some unknown rule that you have to do 5 shots before naming the team?
We are actually looking pretty dangerous in possession, but it just feels like we have hamstrung ourselves for absolutely no reason. I just can't wrap my head around it at all.
Youre the interim manager. You basically have a free hit. All you have to do, is the basics. Nothing daft, nothing left field. Just the sensible, straight forwarded decisions.
So with that being said.... Can someone, please, anyone, explain to me why Cunha is on the right, and Dorgu on the left.
It makes absolutely zero sense at all.
Why does every united coach these days have to do their own little thing that noone else on the planet would do?... Is it ego? Is there some unknown rule that you have to do 5 shots before naming the team?
We are actually looking pretty dangerous in possession, but it just feels like we have hamstrung ourselves for absolutely no reason. I just can't wrap my head around it at all.