Mourinho : "Transfer spend is not enough"

[haram]

£600M spent on this squad, yet he wants MORE investment!? Real Madrid spent less in 2009 to get their Galacticos..

The cheeky ****. Hope Woodward tells him to do one.

If he can't manage the club on a budget then maybe it is time for us to part company. A good coach should be able to manage his players and get the best out of them.. but he's proven himself to be a "Cheque Book Manager" who needs massive overhauls.

1. He did not spend all that money
2. The player that were signed by van gaal werent good enough, and so more money had to be spent to rectify that
3. Most of the money Jose spent was on Lukaku and Pogba
4. We are second behind fecking man city
5. There is still players not good enough to win the league in this team
6. United were behind City to begin with

 

[MarchingOn]

Would you consider Valencia part of Dead Wood FC? Because I'm fairly certain that 3 years ago, most United fans had him topping the list to be thrown out ASAP.
This perennial talk of dead wood having to be shipped out seems to me a highly volatile business.

I wouldn't.

More so worried about the types that having nothing positive to contribute on a weekly basis:

£600M spent on this squad, yet he wants MORE investment!? Real Madrid spent less in 2009 to get their Galacticos..

The cheeky ****. Hope Woodward tells him to do one.

If he can't manage the club on a budget then maybe it is time for us to part company. A good coach should be able to manage his players and get the best out of them.. but he's proven himself to be a "Cheque Book Manager" who needs massive overhauls.

How many of today's 11 were brought in under Jose's watch?

The money spent is irrelevant to his point if he had little to do with it.

 

[haram]

The fact that any United fan can have the temerity to back Jose and attack City on this issue of transfer spending outstands me. It is literally the biggest bullshit defence I have ever seen to back the manager. I get that some want to back Jose come what may but seriously please don't use this excuse he hasn't been backed enough in terms of transfer money it is ridiculous.

City might be outspending us but the difference isn't enough to explain the gap in playing style and results so far this season. Jose could feed some of our fans any type of shit and they'd lap it up and back him to the hilt - it is embarrassing to see.

With better scouting we could have spent money on more players and not blow it all on a massive donkey like Lukaku for instance and I said from day one 4 targets a summer is not enough to revamp this squad and he's had two summer windows to sort shit out and he hasn't (part of blame goes on ED too who I am convinced is a moron).

Stop making jibes at City and look fecking closer to home. Have a hard look at your own managerial decisions, negative comments you made after certain games which invited pressure onto certain players like Lukaku. The blanket defence approach we took against Liverpool which killed the teams momentum and exposed how limited we probably are and destroyed the aura of invincibility we were building at the start of the season.

He spent money to try to catch up to City. We were a joke under van gaal and signed a bunch of average players. City are STILL spending. If we do not spend they will continue to win. It's as simple as that. They were ahead of us before and they are now.

 

[SCP]

José Moaninho complaining about lack of money guess Dyche or Puel have invested more I guess...

 

[LeftyBlaster]

Yes. That's his point. Well done.

What and you agree with him do you? That we need a better squad to beat Burnley? To play better football in general? We have the tools to do so. It’s on Jose that our attacking movement is shit and that we always revert to brain dead crossing and a lack of organisation and creativity. Don’t be stupid.

 

[Kevin]

This thing about pep having a so called world class squad?

De bruyne and sterling have propelled a level under peps management. Neither were their current level.

He bought in players like sane, jesus and turned them in to world beaters. Two young players who will be at city for a decade.

He's solved their keeper issue with ederson who looks world class.

He has made players like stones and kyle walker who I most never rated that highly to now looking like top class players.

Even otamendi looks superb.

Fabian Delph is reborn in a new position.

Aguero and silva the two world class players he inherited. Aguero has been on the decline and he has replaced him brilliantly. Injuries are killing aguero.

Silva slots perfectly in to his side. We have our own in mata who was awesome at Chelsea. Just look at his numbers in terms of goals and assists. When moyes bought him, he was our best player. Now regressed heavily under mourinho.

Yahya toure who was one of cities main men does not get a game.

Kompany who was their star defender no longer needed. So was zabaletta.

To put it simply, pep has revolutionised city.

He has made a team that was relying on aguero, toure, kompany, Hart to a team that now is fresh, young with a real future and a style of play. The scary thing is city have bought for the future.

Our best player remains David de gea who Jose did not buy. De gea is the best keeper in the world who Jose inherited.

We look like a team that throws money but has no style. To use the so called lack of money excuse from Jose is an insult to the club.

Sure points wise we seem fine. But we got pretty lucky with winning a fair few of those points and it masks the problem.

As I said before, we have no real style of play and it's getting worrying.

Yep. The same players that caftards now use to highlight how amazing city's squad is (sterling and otamendi for example) are he ones that got ridiculed on here last season. It's simple: their manager improved them over time.

This notion that Pep has some sort of galactico squad and thus gets no credit for what he is achieving (break all sorts of records in his second season when the caf have deemed him a 'fraud'+"his tektix dun wurk in our sewpa liegue" and doing it in style with good progressive football) is an increasingly popular one, a last defensive mechanism utilized when there really is nothing else you can say about their football and results. There have been enough teams in premier league history that have better players on paper than the current City squad. Pep is making the difference.

Now what does this all have to do with Mourinho? IMO he should get far more from the current squad and he is so far failing, barking for more money (hardly chicken feed what he has had to spent so far). I am not even confident that with this manager the football would improve that much by simply buying world class player x or y because after nearly 2 seasons we still don't see the usual assurance and maturity of a Mourinho team into his 2nd season. Worrying.

 

[haram]

What and you agree with him do you? That we need a better squad to beat Burnley? To play better football in general? We have the tools to do so. It’s on Jose that our attacking movement is shit and that we always revert to brain dead crossing and a lack of organisation and creativity. Don’t be stupid.

No. He is not saying we need to spend £500 million to beat Burnley. Also, regardless of how much you spend, no team is going to win every game. We are second in the table but we need more to compete with City. Only a fool would think otherwise.

 

[JPRouve]

In your opinion Lukaku isn't better. Your opinion. You are wrong in my opinon but whatever.

You can choose to be flippant about Mourinho signing players to fit a 352 but the fact is he is trying to build a squad. A squad which was filled with a lot of average and he is trying to correct it for the long term. Who says he wont use Tuanzebe?

Maybe you should realise that it is a process and considering where we were and the mess we were in it will take time. We are sevond behind the best team in the world at the minute. The same team which were already ahead of us to begin with.

People want him to completely change the squad in 2 years after 3 years of damage are deluded.

Hey, don't start that bs with me, he can take all the time he wants and all the money that goes with it but don't go around pretending that he isn't the one who made the decisions, again, playing with a back 3 wasn't a necessity and that decision meant spending money in areas that weren't a priority, he chose to spend big on a striker that isn't and wasn't that good because he likes his style. I'm not telling you that he needs to deliver a treble, nor that we need to win the title, I'm just telling you that the argument that he had to buy players that weren't fullbacks or wingers is a lie, a lie that is made to protect Mourinho from his own choices.

 

[Peanut Butter]

He has to be ruthless. Sell deadwoods and stop over rating average players like fellaini. It's comical how we are begging a donkey like fellaini to sign a contract. That shows how far we have fallen. This is the same club who said feck off to the likes of Beckham, RVN, tevez and almost sold rooney as he was keeping the club on ransom but now are begging fellaini to sign a contract.

I always stick up for Jose and the club but well said. This is so true.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

I believe Martial was the most expensive teenager when you bought him 2 years ago (so was Shaw before that), more expensive than both Sane and Jesus, and also Golden Boy winner. You also paid more for Depay than City paid for Jesus.
So the problem clearly is not lack of investment, but that the investments didn't pan out quite as well, for various reasons (managerial changes an important one).

As you say it's not the lack of investment, but with all three of those coming in under van Gaal - it just underlines how shit our strategy has been for quite a while.

 

[BocaJuniors]

I don't know of any other club that buys big name players which turn to shit so regularly like United. Something is seriously wrong, it happened to LvG and now to
Mou.

 

[haram]

Yep. The same players that caftards now use to highlight how amazing city's squad is (sterling and otamendi for example) are he ones that got ridiculed on here last season. It's simple: their manager improved them over time.

This notion that Pep has some sort of galactico squad and thus gets no credit for what he is achieving (break all sorts of records in his second season when the caf have deemed him a 'fraud'+"his tektix dun wurk in our sewpa liegue" and doing it in style with good progressive football) is an increasingly popular one, a last defensive mechanism utilized when there really is nothing else you can say about their football and results.

Now what does this all have to do with Mourinho? IMO he should get far more from the current squad and he is so far failing, barking for more money (hardly chicken feed what he has had to spent so far). I am not even confident that with this manager the football would improve that much by simply buying world class player x or y because after nearly 2 seasons we still don't see the usual assurance and maturity of a Mourinho team into his 2nd season. Worrying.

Yes but all of this ignores the fact that City had a better base to start with. Players like Sterling had already proven themselves at the top of the PL and were signed for £50 million. Pep walked into City and had players like De Bruyne and Aguero already. Jose had to sign Pogba and Lukaku and use his budget. No one said it was chicken feed but the fact is we cannot ignore the damage done by Van Gaal. Some of those players will be gone this summer.

 

[Sayros]

I think he should be given the chance to see out this season, and be given another year. If he can’t get over the hump by then, maybe there will be better options available than what’s out there right now.

Again, I think Jose is doing a decent job, there is progress from last season on the league table. What I worry about is a lack of identity and player development.
I also start seeing signs of concern when he’s blaming players, spending, etc.
His point of United being interested in the transfer market automatically raises the price of their target is pointless because you can say that about any big/rich club. You think PSG, Madrid, City, Barcelona get fair prices? So why complain about that?

He deserves a chance to get more signings and to have a full season with a squad more to his liking. I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to blame him being second, City is in another planet right now and they won’t sustain that IMO. However it’s more than fair to be concerned about a lack of clear tactics and development. The motivation issues we see from some players is on him as well. A guy like Mourinho can’t field players who are acting like it’s another day in the office.

 

[SAFicus]

Ok name the attackers from our team that would get in the other top 6 teams? I’m very interested to hear. Lukaku isn’t better than Kane or Aguero. He wouldn’t suit Liverpool. Not sure Chelsea fans would prefer him to Morata or likewise Arsenal with Lacazette.

Then you have our piss poor wide options. City have Sane and Sterling who would walk in our team. Liverpool have Mane and Salah. Arsenal have Sanchez. Spurs have Son. Hazard, Pedro and William would walk into our teams.

Then at number 10 we have Mata and Lingard, I’d take Coutinho, De Bruyne, Eriksen and Ozil. So maybe you can enlighten me about these world class attackers we have? Because I’m not seeing much.

First off you have already admitted that whether Lukaku would get in ahead of Lacazette or Morata is debateable therefore your definitive "none of our attackers would get in" is nonsense already. I also believe Lukaku could play in the Liverpool side and earn a starting spot, but I do have to accept there is some logic to you disagreeing here.

I would guarantee Martial would be starting for Arsenal, he would probably start for Spurs and Chelsea too as Sanchez and Hazard are as much strikers and cams these days as anything else.

As for CAM itself I reckon Pogba would play CAM at Spurs with their CDM's and as good as Erikson is Pogba is better.

Beyond that I will just genrally state that Mkhitarian at dortmund would have walked into a good number of the top 6. His manager and system showed how good he is. So if he went to Liverpool or Spurs chances are he would look a different player and earn a starting spot. The same applies to all players so if you want to say certain players aren't suitable for United that's fine, but your statement is too generalistic and doesn't consider enough factors.

 

[Ashley R1+O]

I don't think the quotable is what he actually means here. It takes time to build the guts of this team and it is pretty clear there are gaping holes in this team that are filled by players who might get by as top footballers but have a fair element of bottle. I don't know how long it will take Mourinho to instill bottle into this team, nor how you go about buying it in.

Difficult task in a club like this. I think it will take a few years.

 

[Larseno]

I agree with Mou on this. We pay way to much. Mostly I think this is because we are desperate to sign certain players so they can jack up the price. And we have a lot of cleaning up to do. We have a lot of players with high wages thats not even near the standards on City. Chelsea are not world class in all positions but they have very clear rolls and have very good players in key positions. This is something Mou have improved by a mile, but its still not enough. But we have to clean up. There are a lot of decent players, but they are not good enough to be starters. Blind, Darmian, Rojo, Fellaini, Herrera, Young and maybe even Lingard despite hes recent form, are all players that would never get much chances in other big clubs. And if we compare us to other teams on wingers we have to talents(Rash and Martial), a player that doesnt rise to hes potential (Micky) and a playmakertype without any pace (Mata) in wing position. Two of them are unfinished products that performe uneven. Micky cant settle inn or isnt compatible with Mous style of play. Mata is a pushover defensively but us creative enough to be a threat. The fact that Lingard is our best player right now in attack says it all. No ability to dribble. Not a great passer. Just very good at running and putting himself in the right positions. Also a decent finisher. Almost like a Dele Alli lite. We need some balance between talented youngsters and world class. Right now I would only say that De Gea and Pogba are the only ones that are world class. Maybe not even Pogba since I expect even more of him. Lukaku looks uninspired. And I cant blame him. We are not able to hit a decent cross. Lukaku has been amazing when we are able to hit him with crosses. Thats hes biggest strength. City have used a lot of money on players, but Pep is using them in an excellent way. We dont have the space to buy decent rotational players because we have a squad full of half-decent players that we have to sell with big losses because they dont perform and have high wages. We need to strengthen our squad. I dont think we need another CB if we dont go for a big player. I think Bailly, Jones, Smalling and Lindeløv would do the job well enough that we dont need another half decent player. I would like to see us strengthen the RBack bacause I would like us to be a threat from the corners. Someone that is an allrounder that can hit crosses. I would like to give Shaw a chance since I think he has shown promise in the last month, but also here we dont need another rotation player. Mid looks good after Matic came and Herrera gives a good option on the bench. But Herrera is not steady and lacks to much to dominate games. And so we have the wingers. Rash and Martial are able to create something from their dribbling, but they lack the killer touch in finishing and are not decent crossers. Great in counterattack, but lacks something against an organized defense. Micky is NOT living up to hes potential and I think we should have at least one world class winger that perform steady. We need a Hazard, Coutinho or Eriksen type. Someone who can create something with a killer pass. Someone who is a threat to the goal now and then. Someone who can hold up the ball and dont lose it. And that I think is our biggest weakness. I was hoping Micky could be that one and I still think he can be, but not the way the game is set up by Mou. I would love if we got Perisic last summer. I think he would be perfect, but again the price was to high for a player that was almost 30years old. We need maybe 2 new players to make our best Xl very good. But again we dont have good replacements if we get key players injured.

 

[Bojan11]

Yep. The same players that caftards now use to highlight how amazing city's squad is (sterling and otamendi for example) are he ones that got ridiculed on here last season. It's simple: their manager improved them over time.

This notion that Pep has some sort of galactico squad and thus gets no credit for what he is achieving (break all sorts of records in his second season when the caf have deemed him a 'fraud'+"his tektix dun wurk in our sewpa liegue" and doing it in style with good progressive football) is an increasingly popular one, a last defensive mechanism utilized when there really is nothing else you can say about their football and results. There have been enough teams in premier league history that have better players on paper than the current City squad. Pep is making the difference.

Now what does this all have to do with Mourinho? IMO he should get far more from the current squad and he is so far failing, barking for more money (hardly chicken feed what he has had to spent so far). I am not even confident that with this manager the football would improve that much by simply buying world class player x or y because after nearly 2 seasons we still don't see the usual assurance and maturity of a Mourinho team into his 2nd season. Worrying.

Do you really think prof that this current team can win the league? Yes Pep is doing a great job with 17/18, which I can’t see another start like this happening again. But the fact is in a normal season we wouldn’t be that far behind.

The issue is our attackers are so poor. We don’t have anybody consistent enough in attack. One match Mata could be flavour of the month. Then Lingard. Then Martial or Lukaku after that. The attacking options are probably the worst Mourinho has had in his career since Porto. Porto are probably better as atleast they could say they won the champions league with Benny McCarthy as their striker. Deco was consistent.

 

[Cristiano Lell]

I think he should be given the chance to see out this season, and be given another year. If he can’t get over the hump by then, maybe there will be better options available than what’s out there right now.

Again, I think Jose is doing a decent job, there is progress from last season on the league table. What I worry about is a lack of identity and player development.
I also start seeing signs of concern when he’s blaming players, spending, etc.
His point of United being interested in the transfer market automatically raises the price of their target is pointless because you can say that about any big/rich club. You think PSG, Madrid, City, Barcelona get fair prices? So why complain about that?

He deserves a chance to get more signings and to have a full season with a squad more to his liking. I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to blame him being second, City is in another planet right now and they won’t sustain that IMO. However it’s more than fair to be concerned about a lack of clear tactics and development. The motivation issues we see from some players is on him as well. A guy like Mourinho can’t field players who are acting like it’s another day in the office.

That's the interesting thing. Mourinho is doing a decent job, the EL win even was great. You are 2nd with a very good points, you won your CL group etc.

So when, in a thread about public statements of his, there's talk about how he needs to get 'over the hump', and should 'be given a chance to see out this season', as you also write, this tells me that by now his public statements, which are all geared at protecting and promoting himself, are actually the main thing hurting him.

He's saying this stuff to protect his work from criticism, but his work seems to get him far less into trouble than the stuff he says these days, which is of course ironic as he used to be the master of 'mind games'.

 

[liamp]

The fact that any United fan can have the temerity to back Jose and attack City on this issue of transfer spending outstands me. It is literally the biggest bullshit defence I have ever seen to back the manager. I get that some want to back Jose come what may but seriously please don't use this excuse he hasn't been backed enough in terms of transfer money it is ridiculous.

City might be outspending us but the difference isn't enough to explain the gap in playing style and results so far this season. Jose could feed some of our fans any type of shit and they'd lap it up and back him to the hilt - it is embarrassing to see.

With better scouting we could have spent money on more players and not blow it all on a massive donkey like Lukaku for instance and I said from day one 4 targets a summer is not enough to revamp this squad and he's had two summer windows to sort shit out and he hasn't (part of blame goes on ED too who I am convinced is a moron).

Stop making jibes at City and look fecking closer to home. Have a hard look at your own managerial decisions, negative comments you made after certain games which invited pressure onto certain players like Lukaku. The blanket defence approach we took against Liverpool which killed the teams momentum and exposed how limited we probably are and destroyed the aura of invincibility we were building at the start of the season.

Great post; basically sums it up for me. I saw this on Reddit, but there's a graph that shows the 5 year net spend of this year's CL teams. The graph pre-dates Jose, but Jose's dealings account for more than half of this spend. We can attack City and their spending all we like, but look at us compared to the rest of the European elite.

 

[haram]

Hey, don't start that bs with me, he can take all the time he wants and all the money that goes with it but don't go around pretending that he isn't the one who made the decisions, again, playing with a back 3 wasn't a necessity and that decision meant spending money in areas that weren't a priority, he chose to spend big on a striker that isn't and wasn't that good because he likes his style. I'm not telling you that he needs to deliver a treble, nor that we need to win the title, I'm just telling you that the argument that he had to buy players that weren't fullbacks or wingers is a lie, a lie that is made to protect Mourinho from his own choices.

No. He signed Lukaku because he thinks he is a good player. You are the one who thinks he isn't. There is not much I can say to you in regards to that.

Also where did I pretend he didn't make these decisions?

Like I said he is building a SQUAD over multiple years. He signed Lindelof looking to the future and in regards to a potential 352 system which more teams are starting to use. He will sign more players this year and fill more gaps and get rid of players like Blind and Darmian. I am saying that he couldn't overhaul the mess van gaal left in 2 years, yet he is still in second place, behind a team we were already behind.

 

[Marcky411]

Real wanted 30m more for him from us than they sold him to Chelsea.

Deal was all but done, Morata even coloured his hair red, then they pushed through the Lukaku deal (Lukaku is also costing us 90mil).

 

[Bojan11]

First off you have already admitted that whether Lukaku would get in ahead of Lacazette or Morata is debateable therefore your definitive "none of our attackers would get in" is nonsense already. I also believe Lukaku could play in the Liverpool side and earn a starting spot, but I do have to accept there is some logic to you disagreeing here.

I would guarantee Martial would be starting for Arsenal, he would probably start for Spurs and Chelsea too as Sanchez and Hazard are as much strikers and cams these days as anything else.

As for CAM itself I reckon Pogba would play CAM at Spurs with their CDM's and as good as Erikson is Pogba is better.

Beyond that I will just genrally state that Mkhitarian at dortmund would have walked into a good number of the top 6. His manager and system showed how good he is. So if he went to Liverpool or Spurs chances are he would look a different player and earn a starting spot. The same applies to all players so if you want to say certain players aren't suitable for United that's fine, but your statement is too generalistic and doesn't consider enough factors.

Lukaku would get nowhere near the Liverpool squad. He’s too slow on the ball. There’s a reason they got rid of Benteke.

Pogba has done nothing yet to show he can play as CAM especially ahead of someone like Eriksen. You are again choosing players based on reputation and fees.

Mkhitaryan was hit and miss for Dortmund. He certainly wouldn’t walk into the Liverpool side ahead of Salah or Coutinho.

No my statement isn’t generalistic. The other teams around us have world class talent whilst we have too many work in progresses.

 

[haram]

Great post; basically sums it up for me. I saw this on Reddit, but there's a graph that shows the 5 year net spend of this year's CL teams. The graph pre-dates Jose, but Jose's dealings account for more than half of this spend. We can attack City and their spending all we like, but look at us compared to the rest of the European elite.

This doesn't take into account the complete shite van gaal bought and the fact that Mourinho had to spend to rectify it. The players van gaal bought were only good enough to challenge for top 4.

 

[Coxy]

This doesn't take into account the complete shite van gaal bought and the fact that Mourinho had to spend to rectify it. The players van gaal bought were only good enough to challenge for top 4.

The same principles can be used for other teams too - were not special.

 

[haram]

How deluded are some of you that us being in second place considering the complete shambles van gaal left us in deserves this shit storm. Actually look at what we are competing with in City and tell me Mourinho is wrong for saying we need to spend more. The garbage van gaal left us with set us back a lot more than people are recognising.

 

[CarwynWilliams23]

Our signings have poor been regardless of the price. I would say, post Fergie only these players were the proper signings
- Mata
- Pogba
- Martial
- Bailly
- Romero
- Shaw
- Matic
- Lukaku
- AdM
410 mil

Poor/Average
- Rojo
- Herrera
- Depay
- Schneiderlin
- Mkhi
- Darmian
- Blind
- Fellaini
182 mil

We have persisted with the average ones for far too long. We have three CMs, three fullbacks and two wingers in the average list. And those are the positions we are struggling in these days. Had we spent this money on better players, we would have been up there in the table. We should be starting to ship a few and improve upon these. January couldn't have come sooner.

I have seen signs of improvement in Lindelof.
Ibrahimovic signing has taken us back with the striker department. Yes he scored important goals, but we should have bought a better striker and build a team. Stop gaps won't work.

I remember Herrera tearing us a new one when we played Atletico Bilbao 6-7 yrs ago. Jose seems to think he is a man marker/defensive midfielder, he is not. An attacking manager/coach would have got the better out Mhki, Herrera and Depay perhaps. Imagine Mhki in Klopp's Liverpool side, would be a different player.

 

[Bastian]

Jose cannot be judged on the spending that took place under LVG. He would never have bought those players. It's made his job harder, not carried it forward on a wave of added quality.

 

[haram]

The same principles can be used for other teams too - were not special.

We are above all those teams. We were finishing in 7th, 5th etc. Jose did not leave Conte a pile of shit. Klopp has had more time to fix things and his defence is still a bag of shit. Everyone is spending money.

 

[mazhar13]

Well, I had a feeling that he would come out with this given that he'd eventually be questioned over his team's performances in relation to the club's spending.

Having said that, spending more on world class players who can carry attacks won't be easy this time around. With the market as inflated as it is, we have to be wary with how we spend our money now. So far, Mourinho has done a good job spending on players with Mkhitaryan looking like the worst of the lot (even then, he had a good first season). However, for us to be challenging for titles, the level of our squad has to be very, very high if he and the coaching staff are not going to build a cohesive attack. We also have to be patient with our younger, talented players as they will have their poor performances.

We will have to be patient and hope that Mourinho doesn't decide to give up too soon. It's obvious that Mourinho is still not done with building his squad, and we'll most likely be spending some more before we get to that point.

 

[edgar allan]

First off you have already admitted that whether Lukaku would get in ahead of Lacazette or Morata is debateable therefore your definitive "none of our attackers would get in" is nonsense already. I also believe Lukaku could play in the Liverpool side and earn a starting spot, but I do have to accept there is some logic to you disagreeing here.

I would guarantee Martial would be starting for Arsenal, he would probably start for Spurs and Chelsea too as Sanchez and Hazard are as much strikers and cams these days as anything else.

As for CAM itself I reckon Pogba would play CAM at Spurs with their CDM's and as good as Erikson is Pogba is better.

.

There is little to debate regarding Lukaku, he would not get into either side. Never mind that he is not anywhere near as good as their players but he would completely upset their style of playing
Martial's reputation might get him a place however the standard of his play over the last 2 seasons wouldn't. He is consistently inconsistent.
Pogba....our supposed one world class outfield player who has yet to demonstrate that he can live up to his reputation.

 

[Litch]

I'm willing to put a big bet with you that he has the EPL in the bag, and a really good shot at the League Cup. People make out like the City team is full of world class players, Pep's actually working with some pretty average players like Delph, Fernandinho, and Otamendi. The likes of Walker, Sane, Sterling, De Bruyne, are probably no better than their Utd equivalents. My opinion is - Pep's making the most of what he has and was presented with, and Jose isnt. Conte likewise did the same last year, and won the title (playing the likes of Moses).

You put your bet on, yours is still based on opinion, mines based on fact. People talk like Jose never done anything in his career. Today, if I don't wake up tmw, Pep is a million miles behind Jose. When Pep takes unfashionable teams to CL finals, then I'll rate him. No doubt superb manager but let's be honest, he's walked into 3 clubs that were full of world class players. Jose walked into Utd with one, that probably wanted to leave anyway.....

 

[Bojan11]

I remember Herrera tearing us a new one when we played Atletico Bilbao 6-7 yrs ago. Jose seems to think he is a man marker/defensive midfielder, he is not. An attacking manager/coach would have got the better out Mhki, Herrera and Depay perhaps. Imagine Mhki in Klopp's Liverpool side, would be a different player.

Mkhi had his worst season under Klopp.

Even Van Gaal couldn’t get the best out of Depay yet managed to with Rashford and Martial. Depay was a waste of money. He couldn’t dribble and wasn’t really fast.

 

[Litch]

1. He did not spend all that money
2. The player that were signed by van gaal werent good enough, and so more money had to be spent to rectify that
3. Most of the money Jose spent was on Lukaku and Pogba
4. We are second behind fecking man city
5. There is still players not good enough to win the league in this team
6. United were behind City to begin with

Spot on....

 

[Jericholyte2]

Jose doing what Jose does best. Moaning. Moaning, Moaning.

Just Accept it Jose, you evaluated the team before taking the job, enough with the complaining. If you don't think we can win the league, don't tell the fans that we can - only to start making excuses when things don't go your way.

Get on with it, play the football we want to see, BUILD a team, there are thousands of footballers you can't tell me you can't find the right ones.

You should have been adamant to get Perisic or had a plan B.

Let the progress be tangible/noticeable.

Wow us with the stye of play, stop the negative tactics. The responsibility is yours Jose, you wanted it. Stop the whinging

Warning: long post ahead.

This is where the money issue comes in with vast sums spent poorly. Pep took a punt that replacing good chunks of the squad would work, Jose has been looking at more incremental changes, but if you look at our squad, the depth and quality is seriously lacking:

(Deliberately not including the kids)


GK:

TBH I think we have the best 1st and 2nd choice partnership in football, DDG is the best in the world whilst Romero would walk in to most teams (a mate of mine keeps going on about how he'd repay her have Romero over any Loverpool keeper for example)

RB: needs replacing next 1-2yrs

Valencia - A failed winger who was shoe-horned into the role by Fergie has adapted into a pretty good RB. 32yrs old though and the legs can't last forever.
Darmian - Came with potential, a few good performances, but loss of confidence combined with injury and infrequent play time has critically results in a pretty poor performer

LB: Needs either faith in Shaw or immediate replacement

Young: Our first choice of a failed winger being shoe-horned into the position and through hard graft and stamina has made him decent in the role. Again, wrong side of 30 for a PL full-back and not the defensive nouse to manage the role long p-term.

Shaw: Crippled both literally for a year and then confidence with the bit part he's played since return. Looks like this may be starting to come back and is refreshing to see an actual LB playing in LB role.

CB: plenty of options but quality / consistency misusing

Bailly - Very good, great potential but has been injury prone. Due to added physical pressure of PL?
Jones - I'll put an argument to anyone that he is actually England's best CB. When playing consistently he shows his quality. Just too damn injury-prone
Lindelof - Looks OK but good potential. Have send flashes on what could be but also many inconsistencies which need to be ironed out.
Rojo - Can be very good at times but I'd imagine would be 3rd choice if Bailly and Jones are both fit.
Smalling - Not good enough - would use Axel more
Blind - not really a CB, not really a LB, not really a DM - would let go if decent offer comes in.

CM: first choice pretty great but NO DEPTH AT ALL to cover either the deep-lying creativity of Pogba or the solidity of Matic. Needs significant investment.

Pogba - Class but can try to do too much, clearly has the quality but needs to be more consistent and calm down with some of the crazy tackles.
Matic - Great buy, does a damn good job as the DM
Herrera - lots of energy, I rate him alongside a Park, should be a squad player
Carrick - just hope the guy gets over the health issues. Enjoy the coaching role
Fellaini - somehow going to leave the club for a free. Does he actually think he's going to go anywhere else near the United level?

No. 10: slow or inconsistent. Needs significant investment

Mkhi - has flashes of greatness against lesser teams who defend poorly but zero impact in big games. Feel he lacks the physicality for the PL and is Kagawa 2.0. Think he'll be sold if decent offer comes in.
Mata - love the guy but not consistent or physical enough as a PL no. 10. Would keep him as a squad player
Lingard - Real Jelyll/Hyde situation. When he bad he's shocking but is making more of an impact would keep him around to see how he progresses.

RW: .................only every use people out of position for this role. Heavy investment needed.

LW: Only two real options, neither are natural LWs. Should look for options to help Martial and move Rashford to the middle.

Martial - clear from the 352 matches that he prefers being a CF but think can develop into a very good inside forward from the left.

Rashford - isn't a winger

ST: one full striker who's severely lacking confidence, one who is nowhere near match fitness, and two who are played as wingers. Heavy investment needed

Lukaku - I'd been crying out for us to buy him for ages, still think he'll be great. Hold up play has improved but needs to relearn the position a bit to account for the way teams play against United.

Ibra - Needs minutes to get match fit but really worried that he can't really run anymore. Was worried we might have paid for not getting another striker in alongside Lukaku, unfortunately looks like it might be the case.

Rashford - showed he can make an impact but is played on the wing

Martial - see Rashford.

 

[Williams1960]

Yes but all of this ignores the fact that City had a better base to start with. Players like Sterling had already proven themselves at the top of the PL and were signed for £50 million. Pep walked into City and had players like De Bruyne and Aguero already. Jose had to sign Pogba and Lukaku and use his budget. No one said it was chicken feed but the fact is we cannot ignore the damage done by Van Gaal. Some of those players will be gone this summer.

De bruyne was nothing to the level he was now.

De bruyne had not proven anything before in the prem and under pelligrino did not do much. Pep changed his position and now he is the best CM in the world.

Aguero isn't even a regular anymore. More is toure. Nor is company. Hart, zabaletta and sauna shown the door.

Sterling was a pansy at Liverpool and they felt they had ripped city off. Sterling was hit and miss for city before pep came along.

Maybe at best city had a slightly better squad than us. But pep has improved almost all his players and the players he has bought in play to his way.

We had spent big under lvg. Then mourinho got his main buys in pogba and lukaku alone costing about £180m! We perhaps could have bought 5 players instead at 30-40m. Look at Liverpool with salah and chamberlain. Both cost a combined 75m. We could easily have got them both.

Even Rooney seems to have his old fight back at everton. Something he lost completely last year under mourinho.

Everything just points to a picture of players not improving and the style of play diminishing. Yes on paper, two trophies and second. In reality, we won the league cup when saints were the better side.

We won the Europe league playing no team of note and even then hardly set the world alight.

We are second and our best player has been ddg. Says it all.

Not just that, pep is entertaining his fans and even me as I am a lover of football. I love seeing great football and that's what peps team is playing and it pains me to say that.

We on the other hand are playing hoofball. Someone tell me what the tactics today were against burnley? Launch it long over and over?

As bizarre as it may sound but I'd rather us not be second hand and be say 4th but playing good football and have a philosophy and a progressive outlook. I haven't felt this low going to old Trafford, not even in the moyes era. Yet we have picked up points but it's been largely awful.

 

[dichinero]

The same principles can be used for other teams too - were not special.

I swear it's a different stick used to measure around here. Had this been an another club, this lot will be tearing into the opposition manager for crying for not getting 8 out of the 9 players he asked for.

Imagine the meltdown if he only got 7 of of the 9. Crikey!

 

[The red panther]

How many clubs in Europe spend more than us?

City and PSG

But to be fair other clubs did not need to spend as much money as we do.

Imo the team that SAF left us in 2013 was a team that in terms of individual quality left alot to be wanted but worked because they were a team and the glue holding that team together was SAF's coaching. With him gone the one who would take over had alot of work to be done. I mean just look at the players had back than, nobody apart from DDG would play in any of the top clubs. It needed some serious investments and the club hired a clown like Moyes to do that daunting job and than hired a clown like LVG to do it. The clubs has been mismanaged for a number of years now and the fact is that the team that Mourinho inherited needed alot of fixing. So if you want to compair us to teams like Barcelona, Real, Bayern etc who still spend quiet alot but maybay not more than us the reality is that we actually have alot of catching up to do and we simply need to spend more than them.

But we do need to stop spending such huge sums of money on average players. Luckily Mourinho has been rather good with his transfers but the reality is he still needs alot more.

 

[Toad]

Meh excuses, he wanted four in the first transfer window and he got four. He wanted four last window and he got three of his choices and didn't get the fourth cos he had no alternates.

The board has backed him and this just sounds like more excuses to me.

Also you say Di Maria is a waste so shouldn't count but include rubbish like bravo, nolito,bunch of other failed signings to city's total.

Would Perisic have even made us anywhere near as good as City at the moment. No. Spur of the moment excuses if you ask me.

 

[ivaldo]

We lost to a team below us.

Unless you go the entire season without losing, you can't win the league without this happening. Fergie never did it. Is he shit too? Unbelievable.

 

[AshRK]

One thing I will surely say is we are going in the right direction and the next manager will have a much better squad than many realize and that is why I want Jose to have one more window where he can add more quality and get rid of more deadwood. Most of his buys are here to stay (Yes including Lukaku) and the next manager will have better condition.