The "OK Calm Down Everyone, We'll Be Fine" Thread

[bosnian_red]

Seriously though. We are decimated with injuries. Most of these will shortly pass (barring the fullback ones, so please for the love of god stay fit Reguillon and Dalot). We all know Eriksen can't play at a high level in midfield for 90 minutes, let alone in successive games.... let alone in successive games away to Bayern. Ten Hag knows this too, and bought 2 new midfielders to address this. They are probably back this weekend. There's no use freaking out over an issue that is literally only an issue because of shite injury luck.

The game against Brighton was extremely bad. But it was a one off in the grand scheme of things. It was a one off in that the Brighton game was a bad tactical plan where Ten Hag didn't adapt at all to the opposition. That had me worried, but only worried if Ten Hag didn't see the issues quickly and persisted with it. Nothing wrong with trying a new thing when you have absences. We quickly reverted back to a normal formation and it brought a better performance, albeit still a defeat. But an understandable defeat. Bayern are one of the top 3 favourites for the CL, and I am pretty confident that we'll give them a good game at home (if that game even has any relevance at that point, as I'm guessing both clubs will be qualified by then) as we will have actual midfield options to put next to Casemiro. On the topic of Casemiro... yes, he's older. But there is still a quality player in there. It's not easy to play next to a complete 0 off the ball like Eriksen, especially not against Bayern. Put Amrabat next to him and literally that issue is solved.

It's been a shit start to the season, the amount of off the pitch issues and distractions have obviously impacted morale around the club, and then we've had a couple of nightmare fixtures to contend with while we are dealing with our morale at rock bottom plus a nightmare (and fluke) injury list. We now have a good run of 7 much lighter fixtures, which happens to coincide with our 2 new midfield signings who are also our youngest senior midfielders being available for selection. Let's give everyone a chance here.

In terms of positives, I'd say there are plenty of positives. Dalot has looked good this season. Reguillon looks excellent on the left and is giving our attack a new dimension with his overlapping. Hojlund is night and day from what we had up top last season and he will both score plenty, and facilitate the others scoring more. Signs of a partnership with Rashford and Hojlund which should only grow. People are freaking out about Onana but I'm also pretty comfortable with him to be honest. Hard period for everyone to stay focused but he'll get past it and be fine.

Now of course, we need to see progress, performances and results. I'm sure we will, but given the context of the injury crisis we are dealing with, it's understandable that it'll take a bit of time to get there. I'm looking forward to the Burnley game, rebuild our confidence and mental state over the next few weeks and then hopefully approach the City game as a completely different team.

 

[AndySmith1990]

You could almost write a script of how events will transpire in the timeline of every United manager.

I swear every single time it follows the same pattern, including the threads that are made on here.

After a promising first season we're now into the inevitable shit second season. We're at the stage where fans are dividing and taking sides for or against the manager. In 2-3 months it'll be a ~90% majority in the against camp. A couple months later he'll be sacked

Reckon Carrick will come in as caretaker this time and end up getting the full time gig to become our Ole 2.0

 

[Acquire Me]

Well said mate.

 

[bosnian_red]

You could almost write a script of how events will transpire in the timeline of every United manager.

I swear every single time it follows the same pattern, including the threads that are made on here.

After a promising first season we're now into the inevitable shit second season. We're at the stage where fans are dividing and taking sides for or against the manager. In 2-3 months it'll be a ~90% majority in the against camp. A couple months later he'll be sacked

Reckon Carrick will come in as caretaker this time and end up getting the full time gig to become our Ole 2.0

Let's wait we actually have players to pick from before jumping to this point though, eh?

 

[Zoo]

I think we’ll recover too. Starting at Burnley hopefully.

 

[ti vu]

Define "fine" for short term please.

1. Avoid relegation
2. Qualify for ECL
3. Qualify for EL
4. Qualify for CL
5. Title challenge and/or deep run in CL
6. Win League Cup and/or FA Cup and/or CL/EL and/or PL.

Unfortunately some progress is not good enough for second season if we fail badly on objective like CL qualification for next season while improving our football (the latter has been very bad).

 

[RedOrange]

The game against Brighton was extremely bad. But it was a one off in the grand scheme of things. It was a one off in that the Brighton game was a bad tactical plan where Ten Hag didn't adapt at all to the opposition. That had me worried, but only worried if Ten Hag didn't see the issues quickly and persisted with it. Nothing wrong with trying a new thing when you have absences.

You'll have to pick one of "Ten Hag didn't adapt" or "Ten Hag shouldn't have tried a different tactic", those two statements directly contradict each other.

 

[astracrazy]

I think we’ll recover too. Starting at Burnley hopefully.

I think if we can get a win, adding in a few injury returns after, the ball will start to roll tbh

 

[VP89]

I genuinely think wel go unbeaten (or close to) in our next 7 games, winning the majority and the same knee jerk fans wanting him out will probably want to perform fellatio on him.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Well said. The doom and gloom on here is shocking.

 

[foolsgold]

There's a lot of positives if you're willing to look for them. Once we get something close to a first team squad on the pitch we'll improve rapidly, we'll not finish any lower than last season.

 

[bosnian_red]

You'll have to pick one of "Ten Hag didn't adapt" or "Ten Hag shouldn't have tried a different tactic", those two statements directly contradict each other.

Because football managers can make 1 decision and they have to stick with it?

It's fine to try new things. Ten hag tried a new tactic, that wasn't the issue. The tactic didn't work after they adapted after 15 minutes. Ok. Adapt to that change. That was my issue with the weekend. We didn't adapt to their change and let them have the advantage. Thankfully, that specific situation has been a one off IMO.

 

[Samid]

This is how RAWK used to be in it's prime. Lots of false hope built on nothing but delusion.

 

[Mickeza]

Burnley is huge. Get a win there and we have 4 winnable home games on the trot. Get the confidence up, players back and shut the media up for a while.

 

[bosnian_red]

Define "fine" for short term please.

1. Avoid relegation
2. Qualify for ECL
3. Qualify for EL
4. Qualify for CL
5. Title challenge and/or deep run in CL
6. Win League Cup and/or FA Cup and/or CL/EL and/or PL.

Unfortunately some progress is not good enough for second season if we fail badly on objective like CL qualification for next season while improving our football (the latter has been very bad).

Probably 4 while improving the football which has always been my target this season for us.

 

[RedOrange]

Because football managers can make 1 decision and they have to stick with it?

It's fine to try new things. Ten hag tried a new tactic, that wasn't the issue. The tactic didn't work after they adapted after 15 minutes. Ok. Adapt to that change. That was my issue with the weekend. We didn't adapt to their change and let them have the advantage. Thankfully, that specific situation has been a one off IMO.

What change did they make? A midfielder shifting 10 feet towards the touchline in the buildup isn't that big a deal. All 3 Brighton goals were scored because midfielders didn't track back. That's not a tactical issue, it's a mental one.

 

[Okey]

This thread title surely should be followed by a gif of Onana doing the 'calm down' routine, No?

 

[Unam333]

Not worried at all. Luck wasn't on our side. Our season begins on Saturday. Time to string a couple of wins together.

 

[Livewire1974]

This is how RAWK used to be in it's prime. Lots of false hope built on nothing but delusion.

Sadly becoming true

 

[tomaldinho1]

There’s a worrying majority who don’t seem to watch the game or simply refuse to look at any positives, that’s why annoys me. This wasn’t like the Wolves game for example where we’re atrociously bad. We played fecking well until the Onana howler, lost our heads for four minutes and then were good again, scored and kind of fell of a cliff fitness wise from about 65/70mins. Then the frantic end but I hear a lot on here about how we should better on the ball etc. Go rewatch that first period, we were popping it though them with ease and Reguillon especially was getting joy down the left. Bruno was even reigning in his usual stupidity (until that left footed shot which is still probably rising). Onana was starting everything and they weren’t troubling us at all. There is something building here I’m certain.

 

[bosnian_red]

I genuinely think wel go unbeaten (or close to) in our next 7 games, winning the majority and the same knee jerk fans wanting him out will probably want to perform fellatio on him.

• Burnley away
• Palace home (cup)
• Palace home
• Galatasaray home
• Brentford home
• Sheffield Utd Away
• Kobenhavn home
• City home

Agree. Genuinely think we will go on a great run up until that City game and look a completely different team. I was briefly concerned with the Brighton game, but fine after today. Clubs go through shit runs, especially show when you combine off the pitch issues with an injury crisis & a shit run of fixtures. We've had all of those in this period. With Amrabat and Mount returning this weekend I think and Varane shortly, the midfield will look rejuvenated, we can rotate our center backs a bit, and in general we'll be fine. Especially with the bounce back mentality that I think we'll show now. Wouldn't surprise me if we win them all before City and then give them a good game.

 

[VP89]

What change did they make? A midfielder shifting 10 feet towards the touchline in the buildup isn't that big a deal. All 3 Brighton goals were scored because midfielders didn't track back. That's not a tactical issue, it's a mental one.

It's also a physical and qualtiy one. If mainoo, Mount or Amrabat were fit I don't think we see Eriksen and McT.

 

[bosnian_red]

What change did they make? A midfielder shifting 10 feet towards the touchline in the buildup isn't that big a deal. All 3 Brighton goals were scored because midfielders didn't track back. That's not a tactical issue, it's a mental one.

Split the centerbacks further, build up through the wings, play wider. It's a very obvious and easy change to make, that's what the issue was. Everybody knows the issues with a diamond formation. Brighton easily adapted to showcase them. We also had Eriksen covering the middle to wide spaces which was a recipe for disaster, predictably. It was a dumb set up. It wasn't even so much in the goals they scored. They finished hot, whatever. It was how easily they kept possession, how easily they played around us, how much time and space they had on the flanks and how much time it took our players to get to theirs. That is literally a tactical issue. A clear issue caused by the tactics in that game, the one and my guess only time we'll see that formation used. It doesn't work against smart teams. That's why nobody uses it.

 

[Wheato]

Martinez seems to be back to his best. Didn't give Kane a sniff all night.

And in that last quarter of the game, we saw a glimmer of prime Casemiro.

Reguilon on loan looks like a masterstroke. He's been our best player for 2 games. Miles better than Dalot.

I think Hojlund is going to be decent as well. If we can get wingers that pass the ball to him, I think he will score lots of goals.

 

[the_cliff]

We played against one of the best teams in the world, with 12 first team players out. Had a dodgy penalty against us and an error by the GK that literally gave them a goal. A team that brought on Coman and Muller off the bench when we had people in here begging for Hannibal to come on. The pre game thread was full of people predicting 4-0s 5-0s etc.

We lose 4-3.

And everyone here goes ape shit.

I see the same people that were predicting 4-0s to Bayern losing it in the post match thread and ETH thread. This has become a joke of a community.

 

[Jazz]

Glad to see this thread. We need to calm down and not add to the toxicity surrounding the club. I saw some positives today as well.

And stay away from click bait articles etc. Honestly, it's not that difficult to avoid.

Let's just concentrate on supporting the team and manager. Negativity is only making the situation worse.

 

[bosnian_red]

Not worried at all. Luck wasn't on our side. Our season begins on Saturday. Time to string a couple of wins together.

Also, this. Sometimes when it rains, it pours. We have everything going against us currently and the injuries will start easing from now on. The luck will inevitably also turn. The difference in Garnacho's goal vs Arsenal was nothing more than luck, as was Hojlunds vs Brighton. Today Pellistri's early chance (that IMO is surely a pen) and then VAR overturning the handball call (a nothing header back in from close proximity... to be fair it's a pen for me but VAR absolutely never overturns that). The handball vs Spurs not called. We've had a shit run of luck to start the season to compound everything, and football is decided by tiny margins. When you are on the wrong end of a lot of 50/50 decisions or moments in a short period of time, combined with injuries and off the pitch distractions, then it's understandable that heads will fall. That doesn't last though.

 

[sullydnl]

Aye, I'm not overly concerned at the moment. We've had tough opening fixtures while being decimated with players being absent. Even for the very best teams that combination can do damage, and we're not one of the very best teams. And even within those games, we've had some bad luck.

Looking ahead, we have players like Varane, Amrabat and Mount returning imminently. We also have a relatively easy run of games: Burnley, Palace, Palace, Galatasaray, Brentford, Sheffield United, Copenhagen. We'll see where we are once that run is over at the end of October.

 

[Blood Mage]

You could almost write a script of how events will transpire in the timeline of every United manager.

I swear every single time it follows the same pattern, including the threads that are made on here.

After a promising first season we're now into the inevitable shit second season. We're at the stage where fans are dividing and taking sides for or against the manager. In 2-3 months it'll be a ~90% majority in the against camp. A couple months later he'll be sacked

Reckon Carrick will come in as caretaker this time and end up getting the full time gig to become our Ole 2.0

This unfortunately. It was obvious to me after that pre-season what type of season we were going to have and I got called a doomer for it. Very reminiscent of Ole and Mourinho's final seasons so far.

 

[JPRouve]

I largely agree. We are not far from being good but ETH needs to make the required tactical changes, he needs to densify the middle which unfortunately won't happen until at least Mount, Mainoo and Amrabat are back or maybe later if neither of them add something. The other thing is that without Varane the defense is a disaster which is likely due to him being the only one able to lead his group.

 

[RedOrange]

Split the centerbacks further, build up through the wings, play wider. It's a very obvious and easy change to make, that's what the issue was. Everybody knows the issues with a diamond formation. Brighton easily adapted to showcase them. We also had Eriksen covering the middle to wide spaces which was a recipe for disaster, predictably. It was a dumb set up. It wasn't even so much in the goals they scored. They finished hot, whatever. It was how easily they kept possession, how easily they played around us, how much time and space they had on the flanks and how much time it took our players to get to theirs. That is literally a tactical issue. A clear issue caused by the tactics in that game, the one and my guess only time we'll see that formation used. It doesn't work against smart teams. That's why nobody uses it.

The whole point of the keeping narrow 4-1-2-1-2 and clogging the middle of the pitch was to encourage Brighton to build up through the wings. You make them play the ball to either side, seal off the other side of the pitch through the middle, and press heavily. It worked fine for most of the match. The problem was, yet again, that Eriksen, McTominay and Bruno all declined to track runners into the box. There's no tactical tweak for mental mistakes at this level.

 

[Dominos]

The problem we have is if we don't sort our shit out starting this weekend the season can be over before it's even started.

A couple more bad results in the next 4 league games you're looking at being 10+ points behind 4th place before November. At that point a full squad won't even be able to save us because there's too much of a deficit, and even with a full squad we've got major weaknesses in the team.

We absolutely have to grind out wins in the next 4 games.

We're very very reliant on Amrabat coming in and transforming our midfield to save our season, and frankly we don't know if he's even that good given he's never attracted an elite club before us.

 

[Zlatan 7]

Seriously though. We are decimated with injuries. Most of these will shortly pass (barring the fullback ones, so please for the love of god stay fit Reguillon and Dalot). We all know Eriksen can't play at a high level in midfield for 90 minutes, let alone in successive games.... let alone in successive games away to Bayern. Ten Hag knows this too, and bought 2 new midfielders to address this. They are probably back this weekend. There's no use freaking out over an issue that is literally only an issue because of shite injury luck.

The game against Brighton was extremely bad. But it was a one off in the grand scheme of things. It was a one off in that the Brighton game was a bad tactical plan where Ten Hag didn't adapt at all to the opposition. That had me worried, but only worried if Ten Hag didn't see the issues quickly and persisted with it. Nothing wrong with trying a new thing when you have absences. We quickly reverted back to a normal formation and it brought a better performance, albeit still a defeat. But an understandable defeat. Bayern are one of the top 3 favourites for the CL, and I am pretty confident that we'll give them a good game at home (if that game even has any relevance at that point, as I'm guessing both clubs will be qualified by then) as we will have actual midfield options to put next to Casemiro. On the topic of Casemiro... yes, he's older. But there is still a quality player in there. It's not easy to play next to a complete 0 off the ball like Eriksen, especially not against Bayern. Put Amrabat next to him and literally that issue is solved.

It's been a shit start to the season, the amount of off the pitch issues and distractions have obviously impacted morale around the club, and then we've had a couple of nightmare fixtures to contend with while we are dealing with our morale at rock bottom plus a nightmare (and fluke) injury list. We now have a good run of 7 much lighter fixtures, which happens to coincide with our 2 new midfield signings who are also our youngest senior midfielders being available for selection. Let's give everyone a chance here.

In terms of positives, I'd say there are plenty of positives. Dalot has looked good this season. Reguillon looks excellent on the left and is giving our attack a new dimension with his overlapping. Hojlund is night and day from what we had up top last season and he will both score plenty, and facilitate the others scoring more. Signs of a partnership with Rashford and Hojlund which should only grow. People are freaking out about Onana but I'm also pretty comfortable with him to be honest. Hard period for everyone to stay focused but he'll get past it and be fine.

Now of course, we need to see progress, performances and results. I'm sure we will, but given the context of the injury crisis we are dealing with, it's understandable that it'll take a bit of time to get there. I'm looking forward to the Burnley game, rebuild our confidence and mental state over the next few weeks and then hopefully approach the City game as a completely different team.

Massive long post but you were questioning the manager yourself after the weekend

 

[Ubik]

The problem we have is if we don't sort our shit out starting this weekend the season can be over before it's even started.

A couple more bad results in the next 4 league games you're looking at being 10+ points behind 4th place before November. At that point a full squad won't even be able to save us because there's too much of a deficit, and even with a full squad we've got major weaknesses in the team.

We absolutely have to grind out wins in the next 4 games.

We're very very reliant on Amrabat coming in and transforming our midfield to save our season, and frankly we don't know if he's even that good given he's never attracted an elite club before us.

Tbf we don't need elite, we need a midfielder with legs than can pass and stay solid. Even Fred would've made a difference today.

 

[bosnian_red]

The whole point of the keeping narrow 4-1-2-1-2 and clogging the middle of the pitch was to encourage Brighton to build up through the wings. You make them play the ball to either side, seal off the other side of the pitch through the middle, and press heavily. It worked fine for most of the match. The problem was, yet again, that Eriksen, McTominay and Bruno all declined to track runners into the box. There's no tactical tweak for mental mistakes at this level.

It worked fine for 15 minutes before we had to suddenly cover 20 yards every time they made a switch just to close someone down. It didn't work for the game. Yes tracking runners in the box is a concern. Them getting in those positions repeatedly is the bigger concern. Stop them from playing through us so easily.

And yes, keeping a narrow formation encourages opposition to build wide. They did it effortlessly. It only makes sense to do it if you are confident your midfielders can cover those wide spaces quickly and efficiently (obviously Eriksen can't), and you think your fullbacks can dominate their overload on the wings. Which ours can't. It didn't work at all. You make a tactical tweak to address a clear superiority the opposition has due to the tactical setup. You can't tactic out individual mistakes or concentration, but you sure can tactic out constantly being outnumbered in areas of the pitch and players having so much time on the ball before a player gets to them, due to the ground they have to cover.

 

[Woziak]

The problem we have is if we don't sort our shit out starting this weekend the season can be over before it's even started.

A couple more bad results in the next 4 league games you're looking at being 10+ points behind 4th place before November. At that point a full squad won't even be able to save us because there's too much of a deficit, and even with a full squad we've got major weaknesses in the team.

We absolutely have to grind out wins in the next 4 games.

We're very very reliant on Amrabat coming in and transforming our midfield to save our season, and frankly we don't know if he's even that good given he's never attracted an elite club before us.

I think ETH is betting on Kobie Mainoo as much as Amrabat ?

 

[bosnian_red]

Massive long post but you were questioning the manager yourself after the weekend

Yep I was annoyed at him which I said in that post. The #1 issue last weekend for just how easily Brighton found it against us was the system being garbage. It was a system we've never used before. Hopefully it's a system we don't use again. Given we reverted away from it right away and saw a much more normal level (before the heads collectively dropped and created issues more from personnel (injuries) or mentality), I'm ok with it. I don't know if he is ultimately going to be good enough to have us actually reach that top tier, but we have a long way yet he can take us, so long as he doesn't have shit shows like last weekend (happens to everyone, Klopp, Pep, Sir Alex.. just prove they are rare occurrences).

 

[Thom Merrilin]

I think those who are saying "this is our typical second season when it all falls apart" are missing some of the nuance.

For one there are the injuries. Not too much to say except it's basically unprecedented.

Second, we've actually played some really positive football this season albeit not for extended spells.

Yes, the results have been poor and even a bit embarrassing at times but I still see progress despite having many key players either injured or unavailable.

 

[Dominos]

Tbf we don't need elite, we need a midfielder with legs than can pass and stay solid. Even Fred would've made a difference today.

Yep we should have 6 first team midfielders who have both good physicality and good ball retention. One or the other is not enough. And some of the midfielders we have have neither...

And the fact we've signed 4 CM's to still have a terrible midfield is just unforgiveable for anyone involved in the decision making.

 

[bosnian_red]

The problem we have is if we don't sort our shit out starting this weekend the season can be over before it's even started.

A couple more bad results in the next 4 league games you're looking at being 10+ points behind 4th place before November. At that point a full squad won't even be able to save us because there's too much of a deficit, and even with a full squad we've got major weaknesses in the team.

We absolutely have to grind out wins in the next 4 games.

We're very very reliant on Amrabat coming in and transforming our midfield to save our season, and frankly we don't know if he's even that good given he's never attracted an elite club before us.

You don't always need an elite player. Sometimes you just need a player who plays the role you need. Amrabat for what it's worth is a very good one, but both him and Mount will provide a huge difference. Eriksen is a complete 0 off the ball. That's not a huge deal, we know he isn't too useful there but he can still provide a lot of use as part of the squad. The issue happens when everyone else is injured and then you gotta play Bayern away right after he started vs Brighton.