Solskjaer target 5 signings; 6 players could leave [BBC, Telegraph, Guardian]

Paxi

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So a possibility is a fact is what you're saying?
Yeah I had a brain fart. It’s very realistic that we could be in the shit come Xmas, from judging on our past results and statistics. In fact I’d be thrilled if we’re seriously in the mix for top 4 at Xmas. I feel like we’re going to finish 7th with Everton or Wolves pipping us. I’d call that a total shit show.
 

Paxi

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Would you be happy with this window if Sancho and a top CM were guaranteed in Jan?
Of course. Investment in the squad is always good especially with excellent players.
 

Bojan11

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Why do people keep banging on about Sancho? Why would he want to join us especially if we look nowhere near the top four? What am I missing?

We should be solving issues for the present.
 

Garethw

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I just cannot believe we haven’t signed at least one midfielder.
 

Ikon

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Why do people keep banging on about Sancho? Why would he want to join us especially if we look nowhere near the top four? What am I missing?.
The Sancho pipe dream is lost on me too, he turned us down THIS season, why is that choice guaranteed to be different next season...and how much will his valuation increase too..?
 

croadyman

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Ole's all british transfer strategy has really cost us this summer. I genuinely thought this story was rubbish but how wrong was I.
 

oreon

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Ole's all british transfer strategy has really cost us this summer. I genuinely thought this story was rubbish but how wrong was I.
It's clever branding to disguise the fact the club doesn't want to spend. Last year Woodward used the excuse the market is overinflated. It's pretty straightforward, the Glazers didn't make the funds available.
 

Judas

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Painfully poor window when you look at the squads of the teams we're competing with for top 4.

Can't believe we've let the attack and midfield go backwards, and expecting to have a better season? Ole is a miracle worker if we finish higher.
 

momo83

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Ole is out of his depth and overwhelmed. He talked a good talk but during the action of the transfer window he’s not got what it takes.

It’s clear as day that what we need is a CDM, and just a normal CM. Yet in the last week of the window we’ve wasted time chasing Dybala, and then Ericson...

If the players we were chasing were say Neves, Verratti, Kante etc and those deals fell through then I’d say ok the board flopped and clearly let Ole down.
But fact that Ole made a statement sale in Fellaini and didn’t have anyone in mind to replace him or Herrera says a lot.

It’s said that at Cardiff he was “nice enough... but clearly out of his depth” imagine what managing Man Utd must be doing to him.
 
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ravi2

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Pogba barely has any help on the midfield. Can't say I blame him when he inevitably leaves next summer and with the work Ed has done this summer Ole might be leaving as well when we don't make top 4.
 

ForestRGoinUp

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It's clever branding to disguise the fact the club doesn't want to spend. Last year Woodward used the excuse the market is overinflated. It's pretty straightforward, the Glazers didn't make the funds available.
Don’t want to spend and/or can’t attract continental stars anymore. If they had stuck to their strategy (when have they ever done that?) I suppose they could have saved themselves the embarrassment of being turned down by Dybala and Eriksen in the same summer Lukaku and Pogba were trying to force moves out.

Could have 8 or 9 Brits in some lineups though so let’s see how that goes...
 

Marcus

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Erm. Isn't it possible that Ole is putting pressure on the club internally to get more signings, but just putting up a brave United front externally? Isn't this the most logical reason for his statements? Rather than him being naive?
 

cfkane

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It’s very realistic that we could be in the shit come Xmas, from judging on our past results and statistics.
As they say in the world of finance:
Past Performance is Not Indicative of Future Results
 

Gasolin

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Erm. Isn't it possible that Ole is putting pressure on the club internally to get more signings, but just putting up a brave United front externally? Isn't this the most logical reason for his statements? Rather than him being naive?
No, only his Cardiff time counts and people want to see him fail at all cost because, hey, he's a nobody.
 

oreon

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Don’t want to spend and/or can’t attract continental stars anymore. If they had stuck to their strategy (when have they ever done that?) I suppose they could have saved themselves the embarrassment of being turned down by Dybala and Eriksen in the same summer Lukaku and Pogba were trying to force moves out.

Could have 8 or 9 Brits in some lineups though so let’s see how that goes...
The Dybala breakdown has a lot to do with his image rights and agent fees. That transfer was going to turn to be a lot more expensive than advertised. Even Spurs are having trouble sorting that out. On Eriksen, fair enough he didn't want to join but I can list you other players who want to. Bruno, SMS, Tielemans, Pepe were all open to coming to UTD. Even Ndombele would have joined if we actually were interested. There were other options if they were serious about spending the money. I mean Tielemans at 40 mill should have been a no brainer.
 

SteveW

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Erm. Isn't it possible that Ole is putting pressure on the club internally to get more signings, but just putting up a brave United front externally? Isn't this the most logical reason for his statements? Rather than him being naive?
Of course it is. Whether he gets what he wants is another story but he's clearly targeted more players.

If he doesn't get them he will have to do his job and try to make the best of it with the players he has. Like Poch did last season. Criticising the board in public has never been a managers remit regardless of what some immature supporters on a message board may think.
 

SteveW

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Ole is out of his depth and overwhelmed. He talked a good talk but during the action of the transfer window he’s not got what it takes.

It’s clear as day that what we need is a CDM, and just a normal CM. Yet in the last week of the window we’ve wasted time chasing Dybala, and then Ericson...

If the players we were chasing were say Neves, Verratti, Kante etc and those deals fell through then I’d say ok the board flopped and clearly let Ole down.
But fact that Ole made a statement sale in Fellaini and didn’t have anyone in mind to replace him or Herrera says a lot.

It’s said that at Cardiff he was “nice enough... but clearly out of his depth” imagine what managing Man Utd must be doing to him.
He wanted Longstaff so he clearly wanted a proper CM. Just hasn't happened for whatever reason.

Still clinging to the hope someone might come in today.
 

oreon

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There are rumours Everton are in for Rojo for 15 million. So our next spend could end up around 50 million. Man that's infuriating. The people running the club dont give a damn. It's ridiculous
 

Jonno

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The two main signings are good, no question, but it feels like it's only half a job done, the midfield has lost two players, both regular starters, and neither has been replaced, and again it feels like the RW has been mostly ignored.

Even if Ole is a top manager, then I don't understand how he's supposed to get us functioning properly with these glaring deficiencies in the squad, and there is absolutely nothing to suggest he'll be cut any slack if it all unravels once again.
Problem is, you can't fix it all in 1 window. I feel like we've made a stride forward in quality and balance. Next summer I believe we'll make another in terms of midfield and attack. Excellent start to the rebuild in my opinion.

And plus, once the defence is stable, the midfield and attack will click. We were all over the place last season because we changed our back 4 every game.

McTomminay will start 40+ games and in fairness he looks solid in that position. He's fast, energetic, good tackle, good pass, good in the air, good work ethic.
 

eggwithsideburns

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It's almost beyond belief that at some point this coming season we probably have to suffer through this:

-----------Rashford
Martial - Mata - Lingard
-------Pogba - Matic
Just cant get excited for the season knowing we will see that line up. After all the money we have spent over the last years somehow that's the best team we can field. 2 of that line up are academy players, we didn't spend well at all :S

Supporting united is like being told your going to disneyland but ending up at butlins.
 

Smores

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Problem is, you can't fix it all in 1 window. I feel like we've made a stride forward in quality and balance. Next summer I believe we'll make another in terms of midfield and attack. Excellent start to the rebuild in my opinion.

And plus, once the defence is stable, the midfield and attack will click. We were all over the place last season because we changed our back 4 every game.

McTomminay will start 40+ games and in fairness he looks solid in that position. He's fast, energetic, good tackle, good pass, good in the air, good work ethic.
No that isn't a problem as no one is expecting everything to be fixed in one window. It's a pointless sound bite.
 

Ikon

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Problem is, you can't fix it all in 1 window. I feel like we've made a stride forward in quality and balance. .
I accept that the accumulation of problems won't be fixed in one three month transfer window, and the signings that we have made are terrific, however, we had the funds and the opportunity to make serious inroads to the Midfield issues too, and we simply haven't done it.

Solskjaer isn't a fool, neither are Carrick & Phelan, they must clearly see the alarming problem with Matic, but as a club we haven't replaced him, nor Herrera, nor Fellaini...
Leaving that until next summer when we could have acted now, will likely mean that valuations for players will increase and so will the competition from Liverpool, City and Chelsea, and we might still not be able to offer Champions League football.

We could and should have begun addressing the Midfield.
 

Judas

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This "slow rebuild" only works if we do enough this season to convince our best players to stick around, if we don't, we're back to square one as more holes will appear in an already hole ridden squad.
 

Red Viking

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There is no project to believe in currently as we speak if we are honest. I would not blame Pogba or DDG if they want to go els where as being stuck in a dead end club that is just happy making money is demoralizing for any footballer with ambition.
 

JoaquinJoaquin

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There is no project to believe in currently as we speak if we are honest. I would not blame Pogba or DDG if they want to go els where as being stuck in a dead end club that is just happy making money is demoralizing for any footballer with ambition.
Pogba being sold is our funds for next Summer, and De Gea will leave if he gets a chance at any other top European club. Problem for him is that most don't need a GK, But I suspect Real Madrid and PSG may need one by next Summer.
 

Jonno

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I accept that the accumulation of problems won't be fixed in one three month transfer window, and the signings that we have made are terrific, however, we had the funds and the opportunity to make serious inroads to the Midfield issues too, and we simply haven't done it.

Solskjaer isn't a fool, neither are Carrick & Phelan, they must clearly see the alarming problem with Matic, but as a club we haven't replaced him, nor Herrera, nor Fellaini...
Leaving that until next summer when we could have acted now, will likely mean that valuations for players will increase and so will the competition from Liverpool, City and Chelsea, and we might still not be able to offer Champions League football.

We could and should have begun addressing the Midfield.
To be fair though, we could have stumbled into the CL last season despite a complete meltdown from Mourinho who was so bad he subsequently getting sacked, Ole having to come in and stabilise with a broken squad. All of this and we still nearly made top 4. I don’t think it will be that difficult to get into the top 4 in this new season.

It’s a stride forward in terms of squad quality, we’ve flogged a spare part in Lukaku, and we’ve replaced him with Greenwood and James which will allow Martial and Rashford to play up in their natural positions, we’ve sured up our defence with two massive upgrades, I think with these improvements and the fact we’ve had a harmonious, consistent pre-season under Ole, we will be a more consistent side next season and we will win more games.

It’s not ideal, but top 4 and a cup would be an adequate season for us during this re-build. Next summer we can add midfielders and strikers if needed.
 

sunama

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Would you be happy with this window if Sancho and a top CM were guaranteed in Jan?
I would be ecstatic if we signed Messi and Ronaldo in January. But I fail to understand the point you are making.
 

croadyman

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I will be honest I'm not keen on Ole's all British approach and worry it will affect our targets next summer.
 

prateik

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Need to shift a couple of players before the European window closes..

Didn't add.. at least get rid of the players not needed..

That's all we can do now.. don't feck that up
 

Sterling Archer

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Need to shift a couple of players before the European window closes..

Didn't add.. at least get rid of the players not needed..

That's all we can do now.. don't feck that up
Indeed. I want the deadwood gone so we can bed in Gomes, Axel, Chong and Garner. It will at least make it easier to watch than the faces that have let us down season after season.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Would you be happy with this window if Sancho and a top CM were guaranteed in Jan?
Happy? Over the bloody moon. But we're not signing him mid season. I'd be ecstatic if that happened next season too.
 

beingshe7don

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We needed a midfielder, Ole.... You could have signed Tielemans for 35m before he went to Leicester.
 

Water Melon

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Ole was still expecting a signing or two after Harry was "done dealio". For whatever reasons we have not brought in anyone. If there is no CL next season too, I can see DDG and Pogba leaving. Hopefully, the kids and Fred step up big time.
 

Giggs86

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I can totally understand Mourinho now for throwing a tantrum and destroying our season from the get go. The expectations are to be competitive but how exactly can a manager do that while he is forced to work with such incompetent, penny-pinching management.