The most toxic squad of first team players that have ever been assembled at Manchester United...

[clonsolar]

Although he is in poor form, and 3 of those 4 players haven't been options for ages in fairness.

Why did it baffle them? He has being playing terrible.

 

[Sandikan]

Why did it baffle them? He has being playing terrible.

Exactly.
It was more the bizarre playing of two attacking mids up front that baffled.
Especially as we've tried it before and it didn't work and secondly because we're not City, with their set up .

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Exactly.
It was more the bizarre playing of two attacking mids up front that baffled.
Especially as we've tried it before and it didn't work and secondly because we're not City, with their set up .

Yeah I actually was intrigued to see it when the lineup first came out because I thought we would see more of a diamond in midfield with Bruno furthest forward, but it was really more of Bruno and Pogba having completely free roles while Elanga and Sancho were instructed to stay super wide. Disappointing.

 

[Foxbatt]

Whatever they want I am against it. As some have said these guys need to sold ASAP.
Since when did staff decide who their boss is going to be?

 

[SuperiorXI]

Whatever they want I am against it. As some have said these guys need to sold ASAP.
Since when did staff decide who their boss is going to be?

Since we handed most of them ridiculous contracts, can't get rid of them thus giving them an unprecedented level of power.

 

[choccy77]

I really want the season to just be over now.

Complete reset needed.

Can't wait for the clearout.

Even Jones has been making some noise today.

 

[altodevil]

The whole culture is an embarrassment. It really is more bother than it's worth supporting this club these days.

 

[choccy77]

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Let 'em fecking go! And a few more to that list too!

I'd keep Ronaldo and let VDB leave and Shaw.

If they get a good price for Rashford and he doesn't want to stay, I'd let him go as well.

 

[Solius]

I'm sure a lot of what the journalists are saying is bollocks but some of it has to be true. There's just too much for it not to be.

Getting big supply teacher classroom vibes from this squad. feck anyone off who isn't being professional, no matter how good they are.

 

[altodevil]

Goldbridge is garbage - but his rant on the players and their wages right now is surprisingly spot-on

 

[Elcabron]

I stated that the current squad is the most toxic one that I have ever seen assembled at Manchester United for the following reasons:
> The professionalism of the players
> The attitude of the players

It was as clear as day against Leicester, that the players have checked out.
That comes under professionalism and attitude.

There are three issues I think:

1. Those leaving on a free this summer won't give two hoots if we are in CL next season or not e.g. Cavani, Lingard and Pogba - why would they? Pogba said in an interview during the break that the season is already over. The other squad members who don't get games such as Jones and Bailey probably aren't that bothered either as they know they are on the way out.

2. Uncertainty over the next manager is not ideal, it's another distraction that is not helping.

3. The interim tag for Ralph is certainly a hindrance. Players don't seem bothered to try and play for Ralph.

Those three issues combined are the major contributing factors to what we are seeing now on the pitch performance wise. Solution = mass clear out and new manager.

 

[SirReginald]

I'd keep Ronaldo and let VDB leave and Shaw.

If they get a good price for Rashford and he doesn't want to stay, I'd let him go as well.

Ronaldo has made noise about leaving to win trophies just like Pogba.

It’s interesting to see just how many players could (and should) leave, especially in a single window. Realistically you might have 4 in/4 out rather than half a squad, but if it did happen I wonder what effect that would have on your teams effectiveness and cohesion.

 

[choccy77]

Ronaldo has made noise about leaving to win trophies just like Pogba.

It’s interesting to see just how many players could (and should) leave, especially in a single window. Realistically you might have 4 in/4 out rather than half a squad, but if it did happen I wonder what effect that would have on your teams effectiveness and cohesion.

Better to rebuild and use a season for that and bring in and move out players over 3 windows overall.

Need a solid core and spine and get that in place from Day 1.

New CB required.... Striker Required and Rice in midfield.

That would be bare minimum example.

We probably need a right Wing and Wing back also.

 

[jem]

For all the [sometimes fair] criticism Rasford has received this season not starting him on Saturday in the face of the no striker alternative was a ridiculous move.

I was all for RR coming in & firmly believe it’s as much an issue with playing staff as anything but this squad is still be mismanaged.

why though? He’s been utter garbage lately. What makes anyone think he’d have done an even serviceable job?

 

[Foxbatt]

why though? He’s been utter garbage lately. What makes anyone think he’d have done an even serviceable job?

Yes and he came in the 2nd half and did feck all.

 

[Foxbatt]

I really want the season to just be over now.

Complete reset needed.

Can't wait for the clearout.

Even Jones has been making some noise today.

Jones? What's he saying now?

 

[choccy77]

Jones? What's he saying now?

Same old crap before about abuse in the street and also about playing against Wolves

 

[Fergies Gum]

Some of our players now briefing the media they dont want Ten Hag as manager.

 

[roseguy64]

Jones? What's he saying now?

Nothing that should make anyone upset unless they're a terrible person.

 

[Devil81]

Some of our players now briefing the media they dont want Ten Hag as manager.

Is that the case or is it more a case of the press completely fabricating a story.

Why wouldn't they want Ten Hag?

It doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[Manncunian]

Is that the case or is it more a case of the press completely fabricating a story.

Why wouldn't they want Ten Hag?

It doesn't make any sense to me.

They want someone with weak leadership who can be manipulated into doing what they want them to do. Think of Ole.

Ten Hag wouldn’t be a pushover.

 

[Suedesi]

It's a testament to the job Ed Woodward has overseen since 2013. We have a bloated squad with 7-8 players who have no chance of playing week in week out, being paid handsomely to effectively rest on their laurels. The decision to extend someone like Mata and pay him reportedly 160k a week is borderline criminal - who the fck looked at Juan 2-3 years ago and said "can't risk losing him, better tie him to a new deal".

Bonkers.

 

[jem]

Yes and he came in the 2nd half and did feck all.

I can’t remember his last good game. He’s clearly gone the Dele Alli route.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

why though? He’s been utter garbage lately. What makes anyone think he’d have done an even serviceable job?

We apparently spent the whole week practicing with a striker formation to then change tact entirely. If he doesn’t rate Rashford [rightly or wrongly] don’t continue throwing him on in an attempt to save the shambolic performances RR is residing over [something Rashford isn’t particularly looking capable of anyway].

As for serviceable, the strikerless nonsense wasn’t particularly servicable either. What I would do is put square pegs in square holes, whilst squad management has been horrendous for too long on Saturday we had one striker-come-winger in the squad & we didn’t utilise him till the second half. That’s malpractice imo.

Overall, I find the criticism of Rashford [who I believe has been terrible for too long] hard to stomach when McTominay continues to occupy a space in our starting 11. If we were picking players based on how servicable a job they do we’d struggle to get 11 men out on the pitch. On Saturday we had one forward available, play him - don’t bring him on to save the job then wonder why he looks as devoid of confidence as ever.

 

[Foxbatt]

We apparently spent the whole week practicing with a striker formation to then change tact entirely. If he doesn’t rate Rashford [rightly or wrongly] don’t continue throwing him on in an attempt to save the shambolic performances RR is residing over [something Rashford isn’t particularly looking capable of anyway].

As for serviceable, the strikerless nonsense wasn’t particularly servicable either. What I would do is put square pegs in square holes, whilst squad management has been horrendous for too long on Saturday we had one striker-come-winger in the squad & we didn’t utilise him till the second half. That’s malpractice imo.

Overall, I find the criticism of Rashford [who I believe has been terrible for too long] hard to stomach when McTominay continues to occupy a space in our starting 11. If we were picking players based on how servicable a job they do we’d struggle to get 11 men out on the pitch. On Saturday we had one forward available, play him - don’t bring him on to save the job then wonder why he looks as devoid of confidence as ever.

Well he has been devoid of confidence when Ole was here. When he kept playing Rashford people kept saying he should be rested. But Ole gave him all the more and chance to get his form back. He just could not be arsed to make an attempt. When RR gives him chances he did the same. Whether he comes on as a sub or starts the game he should perform. There is no point in giving him chance after chance when he does not even bother to make an attempt.

 

[jem]

Well he has been devoid of confidence when Ole was here. When he kept playing Rashford people kept saying he should be rested. But Ole gave him all the more and chance to get his form back. He just could not be arsed to make an attempt. When RR gives him chances he did the same. Whether he comes on as a sub or starts the game he should perform. There is no point in giving him chance after chance when he does not even bother to make an attempt.

That's exactly it, and even an in-form Rashford has never particularly looked great playing through the middle, which given the availability of Sancho and Elanga, is where he would have been used (ie. covering for the absent Ronaldo.) Bruno didn't get up to much, but I'd still have him in there, even in some weird false 9 role, than Rashford, who hasn't looked up to it in ages.

 

[711]

Some of our players now briefing the media they dont want Ten Hag as manager.

Quotes or it's bollocks.

Don't waste too much of your time, it's bollocks.

 

[croadyman]

Quotes or it's bollocks.

Don't waste too much of your time, it's bollocks.

They are still lazy feckers who down tools on a manager at the drop of a hat

 

[Stig]

I don't buy it.

We just happen to consistently sign toxic players because... why exactly? Are Man City or Bayern or Real Madrid full of model professionals, paragons of the sport, compared to our uniquely unruly and ill-disciplined individuals?

I posit that most professional football players are roughly similar - there are problematic individuals, sure, but no one in this bunch is a Mario Balotelli or I don't know, Joey Barton. It's poor recruitment, poor management, and a subsequently deteriorating club culture, as opposed to simply 'toxic players'.

Let's just look at Anthony Elanga. He's just 19 year's old.

Came to United at 12 year's old from Sweden.

Made is first team debut just last season.

Then 3 weeks ago he's starting for the first team in the 2nd leg of the round of 16 in a European tournament.

Left his home country at 12 year's old to join on of the world's biggest teams, and now he's starting in a big European game. How excited would he have been ? Probably the biggest game of his life so far. Can you imagine ?

The pundits showed him not tracking back and they blamed him for the goal that put us out. For not tracking back. All he was supposed to do was run. Run back and defend. That's it; and he didn't.

I see this as symptomatic of our problems. How can he not have had the motivation or adrenaline to run back 20 yards and defend ?What is it about the state of the team or the dressing room that a young man getting to live his dream simply doesn't try ?

I'm not blaming Elangar, somehow the club has failed him and we see it in nearly all the other players - he just epitomized it for me in that moment against Athletico.

 

[Stig]

The most toxic collection of unnecessary apostrophes that have ever been assembled on Redcafe...

Prince Andrew's quickly-deleted 'desperate' message show's how clueless he is, says expert. - From the Mirror.

There is one here too.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Well he has been devoid of confidence when Ole was here. When he kept playing Rashford people kept saying he should be rested. But Ole gave him all the more and chance to get his form back. He just could not be arsed to make an attempt. When RR gives him chances he did the same. Whether he comes on as a sub or starts the game he should perform. There is no point in giving him chance after chance when he does not even bother to make an attempt.

He wasn’t looking devoid of confidence last season though, he was playing badly & injured. He then came back & his pal had lost his job as manager, which has affected him the same as most of the Ole favourites. Badly.

This forums has an obsession with its perceptions of ‘effort’. Rashford is a player in horrendous form who at points looks to have forgotten to play the game but I find it tedious going back & forth on his commitment when he played the majority of last season in need of surgery. He’s hiding on the pitch currently, which is bad enough but had current Caf fave Elanga not committed one of the most brain dead moments in a season laden with them, he’d have finished off the best piece of attacking skill we saw [from United] on the weekend.

I’m all for RR [any coach] eliminating players in any way they see fit but facts are the alternative was a formation that was found out against Citeh dramatically & did absolutely nothing against Leicester. We aren’t a particularly fluid team at the best of times so to train in one way for a week then change that entirely with less than 24 hours to go is nonsensical.

People seem to have written off Rashford which is fine, trouble is the alternative wasn’t any better. There’s a habit on here to think that things will suddenly get better by deducting players people don’t like. You’ve had a response admitting Bruno didn’t get up to much being played in a position that didn’t really benefit him or the team but they’d rather see that happen because [enter Rashford slander]. I can’t tell you what Rashford would have done had he started, it likely would have been another poor performance but I fail to see how we could have looked worse with a striker on the pitch in a practiced formation as opposed to whatever that was meant to be.

You’re right he should perform as sub or starter, not sure where I said he shouldn’t. Another comment I’d lay at the squad before singling out players.

 

[manutddjw]

This sounds like the stories we’d hear from Chelsea ages ago where certain cliques would conspire to get the manager fired and the results would reflect it. It’s blatantly obvious who the problems are. Rio said that he gets calls from agents asking not to criticize their players. Think about who in the squad would have representatives that could contact Rio and it’s easy to figure out.

Go listen to Ronaldo’s interview and speaks volumes about the players. We brought in one of the best players ever, who has been a model professional and should’ve inspired the squad, yet it was more important to get a selfie and put it on instagram then to be a winner like him.

 

[Slysi17]

For god sake. These people that are saying its not the players fault. Can't they be critized and say they played rubbish. And the job analogy. Guess what. Unlike these players who are paid 100,000 pounds or so a week, I got an accounting degree. Then didn't get a job in it and was in a minimum paid job for 6 to 8 years where I didn't progress. I have now gone back to study at University doing a statistics degree. I have had to go through 6 years of study plus 8 years of a rubbish job just to get a well paid job which is decent. I think its shameful against people who work in low paid jobs when these people are compared to professional footballers. A normal person losing their job can be catastrophic for them.

 

[wolvored]

The fault lies with the board as they are the constant. This club reward failure or mediocrity. I won't go into specific players as we all know who they are, but when we sign a player, if he isn't good enough or is injury prone, we more often than not give them a new contract instead of moving them on. This is no motivator, as they can just be exactly the same with no consequence.
Now compare that with manager signings, where the board seem to get that right. Once the penny drops we ain't gonna be challenging for the league any time they are sacked.
I was hoping with the new ceo and a dof things would change, but with the news that Rashford and Shaw are to be offered new contracts, I'm not so sure.

 

[JeffFromHK]

The fault lies with the board as they are the constant. This club reward failure or mediocrity. I won't go into specific players as we all know who they are, but when we sign a player, if he isn't good enough or is injury prone, we more often than not give them a new contract instead of moving them on. This is no motivator, as they can just be exactly the same with no consequence.
Now compare that with manager signings, where the board seem to get that right. Once the penny drops we ain't gonna be challenging for the league any time they are sacked.
I was hoping with the new ceo and a dof things would change, but with the news that Rashford and Shaw are to be offered new contracts, I'm not so sure.

we are just a perfect example of a poorly run company profiteering on its past glory.
The board is filled with random bankers and accountants and sons-of-a-business-man who know nothing about football and is plagued with nepotism.

 

[Tincanalley]

The most toxic collection of unnecessary apostrophes that have ever been assembled on Redcafe...

Yay!

 

[Wibble]

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/toxic-squad-or-just-not-good-enough-i´ll-go-for-the-latter.469717/