United's pre-season: cause for genuine optimism or still too early to tell?

fastwalker

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On the face of it, the results of the pre-season have not been that bad: W3 D2 L1. Some of the performances have been impressive. There seems to be an actual system emerging and evidence of an ETH footballing philosophy also seems to be taking hold. Not only that but we have had the opportunity to see impressive performances from some of the young players such as Zidane and seemingly rejuvenated senior players such as Martial.

But in reality what have we learnt? I am not so sure. I for one watched the Community Shield with our two biggest rivals and saw the team that we whacked 4-0 reshuffled , refocused and look much more like the side that beat us 9-0 on aggregate last season. By contrast, their pre-season has been indifferent.

Yes, I think there are some definite positives from United's pre-season, but I am not entirely sure what they amount to and what should be read into these. What do others think? Cause for genuine optimism or too early to tell?
 
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bosnian_red

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Obviously genuine optimism. We have a top coach in, might take time but it's clear he is a top coach, and we can finally start to build a proper system and develop as a team. We had arguably the worst coaching group in the premier league the last few years, and that's not an exaggeration. Ole wasn't getting other premier league jobs yet managed here for 3 years, and then Rangnick brought in a bunch of MLS level coaches with him. Its completely changed now.

Of course, at the end of the day it's all about expectations. If you expect us to match city and Liverpool this season or next and compete for the league and CL right away, you're in for disappointment. If you expect us to reach that level eventually, but to go through continual progression and show improvement over time, and getting the most out of our players through a good style of play (but understand it'll take time), then you'll be happy.
 

dutchred

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Updating this topic instead of creating a new one.

Reason for optimism

Great new manager

Der Gea …. Ball distribution and general outplay is improving , we need to see how much that improves for the rest of this season. No really good backup, though I really rate Viterk from our youth

Defence

Dalot Is there a better right back in Europe (certainly in the top 3)

Varane Same as above for a right centre Back

Martinez What is there to say

Shaw Back to his best, not many lb’s better than him

There is no better defence in the PL

Issues

Back up none for Dalot unless we recall Laird or sign someone like Frimpong

Absolutely no back up for Varane and Martinez. Neither Lindelof nor Maguire are good enough to play the ETH way. We should get rid of both and some of the other younger CB’c ,keep Mengi and fredricson and sign a good CB Jasko Gravdiol looks a great prospect, as does Antonio Silva at Benfica. Both are very young

Midfield

Casemiro No Better DM in world football

Eriksen Good for 45 minutes but tires quickly

Bruno Ups and downs but ups definitely outweighs downs



Midfield needs improvement

Issues

Need a backup for Casemiro, neither Mac or Fred are near good enough. I have been really impressed by Amrabat of Morocco in this WC.

Start using Mainoo and Iqbal in rotation with Eriksen and next year Mejbri will be back

No obvious replacement for Bruno. Use Eriksen if Bruno is unavailable. I still hope that Sancho would take this role

Attack

Antony/Diallo Good and needs time.

Martial /? Excellent but needs a back up. Would love to get Joao Felix

Rashford/Garnacho

Issues

Badly need a back up for Martial.

Diallo is not available till next season



We are in good shape if everyone is available only time will tell

but we need back up for Dalot, Casemiro and Martial

I remain an optimist
 

Tigersam

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Attack

Antony/Diallo Good and needs time.

Martial /? Excellent but needs a back up. Would love to get Joao Felix

Rashford/Garnacho

Issues

Badly need a back up for Martial.
Would the logical move be to do what Portugal have done: replace Ronaldo with Ramos? What is his contract situation at Benfica, does anyone know? Surely Bruno and Dalot could put a good word in too.
 

SirReginald

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Updating this topic instead of creating a new one.

Reason for optimism

Great new manager

Der Gea …. Ball distribution and general outplay is improving , we need to see how much that improves for the rest of this season. No really good backup, though I really rate Viterk from our youth

Defence

Dalot Is there a better right back in Europe (certainly in the top 3)

Varane Same as above for a right centre Back

Martinez What is there to say

Shaw Back to his best, not many lb’s better than him

There is no better defence in the PL

Issues

Back up none for Dalot unless we recall Laird or sign someone like Frimpong

Absolutely no back up for Varane and Martinez. Neither Lindelof nor Maguire are good enough to play the ETH way. We should get rid of both and some of the other younger CB’c ,keep Mengi and fredricson and sign a good CB Jasko Gravdiol looks a great prospect, as does Antonio Silva at Benfica. Both are very young

Midfield

Casemiro No Better DM in world football

Eriksen Good for 45 minutes but tires quickly

Bruno Ups and downs but ups definitely outweighs downs



Midfield needs improvement

Issues

Need a backup for Casemiro, neither Mac or Fred are near good enough. I have been really impressed by Amrabat of Morocco in this WC.

Start using Mainoo and Iqbal in rotation with Eriksen and next year Mejbri will be back

No obvious replacement for Bruno. Use Eriksen if Bruno is unavailable. I still hope that Sancho would take this role

Attack

Antony/Diallo Good and needs time.

Martial /? Excellent but needs a back up. Would love to get Joao Felix

Rashford/Garnacho

Issues

Badly need a back up for Martial.

Diallo is not available till next season



We are in good shape if everyone is available only time will tell

but we need back up for Dalot, Casemiro and Martial

I remain an optimist
Dalot is not the best rb in Europe. Hakimi and James for a start are better. Good form doesn’t mean good player, unless he can maintain it.

There is no better defense? Try Newcastle and Arsenal. Clearly it will change but at present there’s 9 teams with better defensive records than you with United being the 6th best in the league as it stands.

Optimism is good but it needs to be paired with perspective and grounded in reality.
 

TheReligion

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Dalot is not the best rb in Europe. Hakimi and James for a start are better. Good form doesn’t mean good player, unless he can maintain it.

There is no better defense? Try Newcastle and Arsenal. Clearly it will change but at present there’s 9 teams with better defensive records than you with United being the 6th best in the league as it stands.

Optimism is good but it needs to be paired with perspective and grounded in reality.
I assume he meant on current form with Dalot and in terms of our fully fit defence (our record was superb prior to Varane getting injured).

That said I agree to temper expectations.

Not bad for the new bosses first few months though.