What was the plan in the summer?

Josep Dowling

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We sold Fellaini in January.

Herrera’s contract was winding down with no sign of a contract being offered to him. During that time he had seen Martial, Rashford and Shaw all receive mega new contracts for, in truth, doing very little for this club at the time. Is it any wonder he wanted a major pay rise?

On top of this Jones and Young get contract extensions. We then needed to get rid of a CB after signing Maguire. Who decided that keeping Jones and extending his contract was better than losing Smalling on loan? Who decided to extend Young’s contract only to sell him 6 months for £1.5m?

De Gea after his worse season for us gets given a £350k a week contract that is unheard of for a GK.

So before the summer we have lost two midfielders. Lukaku is sold, Sanchez is loaned out, Darmian is sold.

We sign 3 players that does not strengthen the attack for the first 11. James was never meant to be that type of signing.

And now after an injury crisis and depleted squad in January there is no movement to bring in players! How is this even possible?

Where is the plan here? What exactly were they trying to achieve? I can’t see how they have managed to feck this up so much. It’s not difficult to understand if you sell players you need to replace those players with equal or better quality.

Woodward, the manager and scouts have majorly fecked up and I can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.
 

Relevated

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The plan was to do what Mourinho was asking us to do, but don't let Jose do it

We signed Maguire, which he wanted. Pogba doesn't play, as mourinho would have preferred. Mctominay a regular when fit, suited mourinho.

So it makes you think what was the point in the board falling out with mourinho just because he wanted to spend a few more quid because of some failed transfers? I know, we had a toxic atmosphere and the football was very bad. We probably did make the right decision

The point im trying to make is that do we really know what we're doing?
 

Jibbs

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Our net spend was almost zero last summer when a massive rebuild was required. This is a sign of owners not caring at all about league position or anything. Unless there is a massive dent on revenue stream and share prices, they won't care.
 

Garethw

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It’s utter utter incompetence from top to bottom.
Woodward and Solskjær (the two individuals that are supposed to be steering this ship) are woefully out of their depth and both should be replaced ASAP.
It’s not going to happen though.

I’m absolutely gutted. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever believe it would be this bad after SAF retired.
 

Andycoleno9

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You want to say that you don't see the plan? You have whole thread about THE plan
 

AshRK

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We have sold or let go of 8 players since Ole took over and have just bought 3. We are in a mess, have zero ambition and zero planning. Ole like Jose like Van gaal is another pawn who will be gone but the virus will stay.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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We have a plan?

We use a scatter-gun approach in everything.

Our summer window was awful.
 

hollywoodpass

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Completely agree. It makes no sense at all. In fact its negligent. We have employed a manager with no credentials at all and gutted the team and the contracts totally baffling.

The only sense any of it could possibly make is that Ole is deemed as a temporary manager overseeing a clear out of players so that a new manager can come in and make their our recruitment from scratch. Not signing anyone this window when we so desperately need it gives added weight to this as well.
 

MoskvaRed

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It seems there is no plan beyond trying to keep milking the club until a buyer comes along at the right price. Not that Woodward, Judge and Ole would be capable of devising and implementing a coherent strategy for the footballing side of the club in any case.
 

The Brown Bull

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We had a plan last Summer?
News to me.
We spunked 80 mill on a defender who was no better than what we had and 50 Mill on a right back who is unproven.
Did zilch to address our midfield and attack.
Sickening.
 

Bojan11

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Brexit signings.

Just be thankful we didn’t waste another £50m on Longstaff.
 

Sandikan

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It was a sort of two pronged strategy to reduce the wage bill a lot and start targeting quality young British players.
As if it was the mid 90s when that was a good idea and before squad rotation kicked in.

In the end we trimmed the squad too much meaning we have to overuse the same players, resulting in loads of injuries..
Which leave us totally low on quality and...

Losing at home to burnley
 

RedStarUnited

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The plan was to do what Mourinho was asking us to do, but don't let Jose do it

We signed Maguire, which he wanted. Pogba doesn't play, as mourinho would have preferred. Mctominay a regular when fit, suited mourinho.

So it makes you think what was the point in the board falling out with mourinho just because he wanted to spend a few more quid because of some failed transfers? I know, we had a toxic atmosphere and the football was very bad. We probably did make the right decision

The point im trying to make is that do we really know what we're doing?
Because Jose himself was shit and isnt exactly doing wonders with Spurs either.

Its okay for Jose and. ole to both be shit.
 

norm87cro

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Pogba not going Judas on us I guess. And I have to say they should have seen that one coming. Not replacing Lukaku is definetly down to Ole or/and the board.
 

MikeKing

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Good OP. This is the thread that should get a lot more activity than other Ole threads. To find the answer to the question right here is a lot more relevant than the typical manager bashing the fans have gotten accustomed to at this club. I don't have the answer but I believe in a plan, and not acting out of panic, but it seems we probably don't have a plan, is still paniced we just do not act. So we're basically frozen, maybe thats our plan.

We have sold or let go of 8 players since Ole took over and have just bought 3. We are in a mess, have zero ambition and zero planning. Ole like Jose like Van gaal is another pawn who will be gone but the virus will stay.
Facts. Has been massively neglected for years.
 

Njord

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I keep thinking about which players I expected more from before the season, and I can really only see these four:

De Gea, Lindelöf, Maguire and Lingard.

Mata, Matic: felt both were way over the top, and I'm actually surprised they've contributed as much as they have.

Mctominay, Fred, Rashford, Greenwood, Williams: the first two have reached heights I didn't think possible for them before the season, Rashford has been better than expected and the two youngsters have taken well to senior football, which is never a given.

Shaw, Martial: feel both are too inconsistent for players in their mid twenties, but they're doing the same this season as they have done since they came, and I'm not really surprised by their seasons. Starting to understand why Mourinho didn't really like either.

Pereira, James: Based on their careers so far I couldn't be sure if they were good enough for the PL, because neither has really dominated at any kind of second tier level. Pereira is performing as expected, James started better than expected, but is now back to expectations.

Wan-Bissaka is new, young and performing about as well as expected. I hoped Pogba could carry us to the CL, but he's been injured the entire season.
 

Denis' cuff

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We have sold or let go of 8 players since Ole took over and have just bought 3. We are in a mess, have zero ambition and zero planning. Ole like Jose like Van gaal is another pawn who will be gone but the virus will stay.
Yep - asset stripping continues as predicted 13 years ago

Ole is not the answer but he sure ain’t the problem

it’s like going on holiday and leaving the doors of the house wide open, then blaming the cat when you come back to find you’ve been ransacked
 

bosnian_red

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Don't forget to mention Pogba. We might as well have sold him because despite needing strengthening in attacking midfield for ages, he's been out for the whole season, is obviously leaving in the summer, and we still haven't done anything about it or strengthened the position at all. We extended Mata's contract because it's far cheaper for Woodward and the Glazers to do that then it is to buy someone new.
 

Skills

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Our manager wanted to play progressive, high pressing football. So he bought one of the slowest CBs in the league... for a world record fee.
 
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THE UNITED WAY innit.

That was 100% the plan, nostalgic nonsense. Rid the squad of anyone that could be deemed as mercenary, spunk cash on local British lads who understand the United way. Longstaff would have made it 4 from 4 from the British isles.

We know this was the plan, so why ask the question?
 

Jacko21

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I find it hard to believe Ole was satisfied with just the three recruits. Because if he was, that’s misguided beyond belief. Or did he have assurances that the likes of Herrera and Lukaku would be replaced?

We were only ever going to be one or two injuries away from being in a position where rotation becomes impossible and (quality) options are limited. See strikers. See midfield. See central defence.
 

Will Singh

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We’ve got hillbillies running the club so the plan is there is no plan! They don’t know whether to check there ass or scratch there watch.
 

MAME DIOUF 32

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There's no real plan because the club has perceived throwing a few hundred million at being in the top 4 as being less risky than thinking a bit more long term.
 

Josep Dowling

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You want to say that you don't see the plan? You have whole thread about THE plan
My point is a lot of us could see this situation a mile off. When Lukaku was sold and we had no one lined up I was extremely worried, then they loaned out Sanchez even after this situation. Pure stupidity and utter incompetence. We didn’t have enough players to rotate, especially with the Europa League. And Solskjær has made no attempt to drop out of any of the cups, even risking an already injured Rashford in the process!

We lose our only target striker in Haaland and don’t seem to have any other option and now back to scouting players were linked with in the summer.
 

manunited1919

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The plan is to put fans to the test. Ed believes fans will put up with anything and continue supporting the team. I think he is right in terms of match-going fans: they will continue to sing Ole’s name even if we end up in relegation battle. But I would bet we are already losing millions of fans worldwide. The next piece we will observe in this slow-motion train wreck that is MUFC, is revenue will come down.
 

acrebo

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it’s like going on holiday and leaving the doors of the house wide open, then blaming the cat when you come back to find you’ve been ransacked
But the cat was too busy napping in its bed while the intruders were ransacking the place, when it could at least have been hissing at them from the doorway...
 

Dr Fink

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Never mind that, what was the plan tonight. Burnley have played the same way for over ten years, yet he didn’t have a clue how to play them. FFS.
 

redshaw

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It was clear, keep the net spend low, offload some players to reduce the wage bill a bit and hope for the best.
 

Amerifan

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The plan last summer was to make it to this summer. The plan this summer is to make it to next summer. After bringing in 9 new players and determining if Ole is the right man, 2022 is the year we compete again.
 

Ghostrider318

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Dont think we've had a plan for 7 years , so it makes sense that we dint have one for this summer. Since SAF left how many players that we signed are still at the club (excluding the ones made this summer) ? Mata, Matic, pogba, Shaw, Martial, Fred, Rojo, Bailly, Dalot. Baring pogba not a single one can be termed as quality. Heck almost everyone in that list is either injured regularly or their legs have gone.

Our approach has been extremely scatter gun and reactive. There is no plan set in place. There does not seem to be a vision to get in players who play a certain way, who fit a system and that is again largely down to the fact that we dont have a manager who lasts more than 2 years. We have an idiot for our CEO who has no business making footballing decisions so this is what we get.

If and when Ole is sacked, what do we do with the 'English players', 'Youth , Courage, Success' approach ? Does the next manager follow it ? or does he bin it ? If he does bin it, what about the players we just splunked 140m on ?

Sack ole any day of the week but as long as Ed is in charge we will continue to have no plan
 

KeanoMagicHat

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Imagine getting in 5 expected first-team players (not gonna count Lee Grant) over 3 transfer windows and selling or putting on loan 9 first-team players and expecting to end up with a better squad as a result.

So they've looked at the team that finished 2nd in 17/18 in the league and taken out:

- The top scoring forward in the squad and top scorer by 14 goals in his previous season (Lukaku)
- Club legend and playmaker who had played 464 games (Carrick)
- One of the best midfielders post-Ferguson and someone with real passion for the club (Herrera)
- One of the most unusual but effective midfielders in the league (Fellaini)
- A player terrible for United but a former top 20 in the world player (Sanchez)
- One of the best defenders post-Ferguson and a good club man (Smalling)
- One of the most astute ball-playing defenders in the world (Blind)

And they thought this was enough to replace them with:

- A player who was improving but still with obvious limitations (Fred)
- A 20-year-old seemingly injury-prone full-back who had only played 28 senior games in his career (Dalot)
- A 22-year-old winger from the Championship who had only played 39 senior club games (James)
- A 21-year-old promising full-back who was very good in the PL the previous season (Wan-Bissaka)
- A 26-year-old England international centre back (Maguire)

Deciding that these players were enough to promote to fill the gaps:

- A player who was never really deemed good enough for United before, now back at 23 (Pereira)
- A 17-year-old striker who had played only one senior game (Greenwood)
- A 19-year-old who had never played a senior game (Williams)

And really expect winning football from that? To compete in the Europa League with extra fixtures, and play full teams in the cups as well? Managed by a man without the credentials to manage a club of this stature? It's delusional and incompetent. There should have been 3-4 extra replacements there, it's basic stuff.
 
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Green_Red

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We sold Fellaini in January.

Herrera’s contract was winding down with no sign of a contract being offered to him. During that time he had seen Martial, Rashford and Shaw all receive mega new contracts for, in truth, doing very little for this club at the time. Is it any wonder he wanted a major pay rise?

On top of this Jones and Young get contract extensions. We then needed to get rid of a CB after signing Maguire. Who decided that keeping Jones and extending his contract was better than losing Smalling on loan? Who decided to extend Young’s contract only to sell him 6 months for £1.5m?

De Gea after his worse season for us gets given a £350k a week contract that is unheard of for a GK.

So before the summer we have lost two midfielders. Lukaku is sold, Sanchez is loaned out, Darmian is sold.

We sign 3 players that does not strengthen the attack for the first 11. James was never meant to be that type of signing.

And now after an injury crisis and depleted squad in January there is no movement to bring in players! How is this even possible?

Where is the plan here? What exactly were they trying to achieve? I can’t see how they have managed to feck this up so much. It’s not difficult to understand if you sell players you need to replace those players with equal or better quality.

Woodward, the manager and scouts have majorly fecked up and I can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.
Not sure if youve heard this one yet, Woodward is clueless.
 

oz insomniac

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The real history of the clubs demise started with the appointment of Woodward after the Glazers purchase. The club has basically hovered around 5th, since, made disastrous managerial decisions and signings which seemed to be influenced by social media clicks, then compunded all of that by giving the club to a massvly inexperienced club legend to manage. What could go possibly go wrong?

It seems as tif the club has to bottom out even more than we are witnessing to see a change we to the overlords.
Woodward is absolutely useless and the owners have no real interest other than dividends and share value, rarely attend games and even Woodward as CEO lives in London , so what real connection has he and the likes of Judge really have to the club other than broking the financial gift of Man Utd to the puppets that own the most famous club.

Until Woodward is gone, an experienced manager with a defined playing style is appointed, and a HOF type to assist on planning, just get used to West Ham level of performance. Let's face it THEY DONT CARE.

The level of interest worldwide is decreasing swiftly, longer is it a requirement to get up early and pay for streaming etc, we all now wait for the result without any real expectation. That's reailty of 2020 and Ed has overseen it!
 

RedSky

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We have sold or let go of 8 players since Ole took over and have just bought 3. We are in a mess, have zero ambition and zero planning. Ole like Jose like Van gaal is another pawn who will be gone but the virus will stay.
Indeed. Lack of investment in a squad already lacking quality.

My guess is we decided to trim the squad and then give our young promising players a go to see if we could cut some corners in the market. Rendering this season an experiment or 'transition' rather than actually attempting to invest seriously and pushing to narrow the gap.

We have been unfortunate that one of our best players has been injured for the majority of the season with Rashford now fecked as well. Martial being out for a while also made us struggle in the final third as Rashford felt the pressure of being the only attacking threat. But you need to plan for such problems and we clearly haven't.

This transfer window has been nothing short of a farce frankly.
 

devilish

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A- Hire a manager who will stay in Woodward's thumb and has the top reds blessings
B- Exploit that to get rid of players on the higher salary band. The fans won't bother as they got legend at the wheel
C- Make a killing in terms of profits
D- Hopefully sell