Why is this Man Utd side seen as inconsistent?

[#07]

Breaking the usual habit of starting a thread with a tweet, I'd like to ask why the CAF thinks that Man Utd are currently viewed as inconsistent?

Based off of facts, I cannot find any reason to label the current Man Utd as inconsistent. Man Utd finished 3rd last season. In other words, we achieved as many or more points than 17 other Premier League sides. To do this you must achieve a certain level of consistency.

Likewise, with a quarter of the league played, we are a few points off the top of the Premier League table. Again, this would not be possible if Utd were hugely inconsistent. As the aforesaid inconsistency would be reflected in our points total.

I can only think that people say we are inconsistent because we don't play well every weekend? However, who does?

Even under Fergie we were not brilliant every week. Far from it actually. However, some of our best memories came from being rubbish for a half. I seem to remember Gabi Agbonlahor giving Chris Smalling a warm time and going in 2-0 down at Villa before Chicharito turned it into a 3-2 win. Or being garbage against Newcastle over Christmas but finding a way to win 4-3 in the last minute, again thanks to a Chicharito winner.

Many of our memorable comebacks under Fergie were the result of being crap for a half or more, then Sir Alex doing something to shift momentum. We could all compile lists of favourite Utd comebacks, because there are so many. However, very few of those would contain games in which we obviously outplayed our opponents for more than 30-45 minutes.

So is it just performance people are talking about as inconsistent? If not, what is it?

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Because our performances are inconsistent.

 

[VorZakone]

I think some posters think the team can do even better than what they're currently showing.

 

[el3mel]

We are consistent away from home. At Old Trafford though we are terrible.

 

[MZX7]

A classic example would be the two halfs of the most recent game against West Ham. Let me know if you can't find the inconsistency.

 

[OleBoiii]

If we continue our post Bruno PL form(24 PL games now, so it's a good sample size), then we'll end up with 81 points, give or take. Multiple teams have won the PL with less than that. You typically need around 86 points to win the league, depending on the year, so we're obviously still not where we want to be. But we're getting closer.

We're not that far away from being a genuinely good team again, but we're too reliant on Bruno. We can't take the foot off the pedal in the transfer market. Imagine this team with a great goal scorer and a decent DM. We'd be flying.

 

[MrSingh2002]

I have to agree to some extent with the OP. In the Fergie days we had our fair share of shit performances too. It just happened that we more than usually found ways to win.

Sometimes it felt like we had good consistent runs under both LVG and Jose with predictable styles of play. Those predictable styles of play actually won us some trophies too.

Ole I don't feel is at the tactical level of Jose or even LVG and doesn't appear to have much of an identity or style of play besides counter attacking.

Ole is more Fergie than Jose or LVG in that he focuses more on the individuals work ethic and attitude rather than well drilled patterns of play or using the same sequences of build up play.

What we can see from the team is that they're becoming more hard working and are pushing each other on and off the pitch to be better. The frustrating thing for the fans is we don't see consistent control during the games but perhaps that's not Oles intention as he wants to play counter attacking football.

Fergie won the trophies that meant that nobody could question his tactical ability as even after dry spells he would always hit back with a new team he had built. Ole needs the trophies to stop the fans questioning the somewhat inconstant periods of form or the occasion shit performances. Only trophies can keep United fans off his back.

 

[Stretfordender]

Simple - mentality. The majority of our squad are mentally weak and until that changes and we’ve got players prepared to be leaders we’ll continue to be inconsistent.

 

[slored1]

Because we never have any consistent runs of good performances. Last season was the only time I saw us play consistent good in Ole's tenure, right after the lockdown period.

We can fluctuate from 0 to 100 during the game even, can't remember the last time we played 90 minutes of good football straight. Almost like we need to be losing to start winning, it's bizzare really.

 

[treble_winner]

We can fluctuate from 0 to 100 during the game even, can't remember the last time we played 90 minutes of good football straight. Almost like we need to be losing to start winning, it's bizzare really.

I think our two wins in the Champions League against PSG and RB this season could be classed as 90 minutes of playing well.

 

[Withnail]

Simple - mentality. The majority of our squad are mentally weak and until that changes and we’ve got players prepared to be leaders we’ll continue to be inconsistent.

That is absolute nonsense.

Teams that are mentally week don't do comebacks like we've been doing lately. They also don't recover from a run of bad form to put straight wins together and climb from 14th to 4th.

 

[sglowrider]

Simple - mentality. The majority of our squad are mentally weak and until that changes and we’ve got players prepared to be leaders we’ll continue to be inconsistent.

Wrong.

We have the youngest squad in the league. Like kids, they are bound to be inconsistent whether as individual players or collectively.

 

[Plymouth Red]

Much of the inconsistency comes from our players making errors that you’d except to see in a Sunday league, not the PL.
Time after time, we win the ball only to give it away again with our next pass. We seem incapable of stringing passes together across 90 minute, which lifts the opposition and puts us on the back foot.
We also have too many players who can’t defend or tackle that well. Again, we put ourselves under pressure unnecessarily.
I see these tasks as the basics for any professional player, let alone at a potential PL or CL winning team. Hollywood passes and goals are great and we all love to see touches of genius. It’s more likely to get results if we just kept doing the basics right each and every time.

 

[Dec9003]

We are consistent away from home. At Old Trafford though we are terrible.

Being consistently bad at Old Trafford is still consistency.

 

[sglowrider]

That is absolute nonsense.

Teams that are mentally week don't do comebacks like we've been doing lately. They also don't recover from a run of bad form to put straight wins together and climb from 14th to 4th.

He is probably projecting.

 

[Sandikan]

Because we seem to go behind in every game? Before quite often having a storming end to a game?

 

[JPRouve]

That is absolute nonsense.

Teams that are mentally week don't do comebacks like we've been doing lately. They also don't recover from a run of bad form to put straight wins together and climb from 14th to 4th.

I agree with you on the mentally weak part, it's not the issue. My guess is a lack of experience and a lack of leadership. And by saying that we lack leadership, I'm not insinuating that there is no leadership at all but that there is maybe a lack of consistency in that leadership due to not enough leaders whether they lead by example or vocally.

 

[Leftback99]

Because people are comparing us to the level Liverpool and City have set in the last two years winning nearly every game, rather than the 3rd-6th place teams (as we have been for the last 7 years) who are all just as 'inconsistent' as us or more so.

 

[youmeletsfly]

There might be a few reasons:
- Team is very top heavy - good attacking players(albeit not good finishers - Eg: Martial)
- Tactics are shit when we start the game. To me it seems Ole gets his shit wrong and corrects at half time, or the players are fecking dumb
-

 

[lex talionis]

Perhaps because we are inconsistent. We were poor, perhaps even shambolic, in the first half against West Ham. But we were flying high in the second half. We were shocking against Spurs, but have put in a few decent performances against other PL. We destroyed RB Leipzig but then were horrific against Bakshit or whatever that Turkish club is called.

Find consistency and we’re a club to be reckoned with. But we need to find that consistency, which we just don’t have right now. There’s no sense in arguing otherwise.

 

[lysglimt]

You can accuse our players of a lot - but mentally weak ? Never

Our season was slipping away after that defeat at Spurs - we got hammered by Palace and Spurs.

We scored an owngoal after 2 minutes against Newcastle and won
Everton took the lead - we won
Southampton scored twice - we won
West Ham destroyed us for 45 minutes - in the end we won comfortably.

We may be many things - but we are not mentally weak. A mentally weak team would never find themselves 4th in the table after that start

 

[bosnian_red]

We are inconsistent, within games, game to game, week to week. Everything about it. Lineups chopping and changing, individual performances, collective performances... a big, and probably the main reason we win games is down to a good collective mentality, desire, determination, and then individual quality pulling us through. That will inherently lead to inconsistency as its not collective tactics or a superior play style that leads to dominant performances, but more just battling through and having superior individual quality. Good for cups. Not the best for long term league consistency.

 

[GenZRed]

Breaking the usual habit of starting a thread with a tweet, I'd like to ask why the CAF thinks that Man Utd are currently viewed as inconsistent?

Based off of facts, I cannot find any reason to label the current Man Utd as inconsistent. Man Utd finished 3rd last season. In other words, we achieved as many or more points than 17 other Premier League sides. To do this you must achieve a certain level of consistency.

Likewise, with a quarter of the league played, we are a few points off the top of the Premier League table. Again, this would not be possible if Utd were hugely inconsistent. As the aforesaid inconsistency would be reflected in our points total.

I can only think that people say we are inconsistent because we don't play well every weekend? However, who does?

Even under Fergie we were not brilliant every week. Far from it actually. However, some of our best memories came from being rubbish for a half. I seem to remember Gabi Agbonlahor giving Chris Smalling a warm time and going in 2-0 down at Villa before Chicharito turned it into a 3-2 win. Or being garbage against Newcastle over Christmas but finding a way to win 4-3 in the last minute, again thanks to a Chicharito winner.

Many of our memorable comebacks under Fergie were the result of being crap for a half or more, then Sir Alex doing something to shift momentum. We could all compile lists of favourite Utd comebacks, because there are so many. However, very few of those would contain games in which we obviously outplayed our opponents for more than 30-45 minutes.

So is it just performance people are talking about as inconsistent? If not, what is it?

A big reason why we finished thirdis because both Chelsea and Leicester were inconsistent last season, especially Leicester since they started really good last season.

 

[DrRodo]

Spoiled fans only want every game to be a breeze of fresh air, batter every rival 4 nil, every player to have silk feet, make telepatic runs, and play like barca 09 even against monsters like psg

 

[Stretfordender]

That is absolute nonsense.

Teams that are mentally week don't do comebacks like we've been doing lately. They also don't recover from a run of bad form to put straight wins together and climb from 14th to 4th.

Agree teams that are mentally weak don’t usually do comebacks like yesterday etc etc. But teams that are mentally weak usually are as the post suggests inconsistent.

 

[Ballache]

Because, bar Bruno, our players are inconsistent. Especially our forwards. When they're on it, we can beat anyone but you never know what you get.
Martial turns from prime Anelka to Bellion from week to week. Rashford is inconsistent in front of goal and Greenwood is 19.

 

[Stretfordender]

Wrong.

We have the youngest squad in the league. Like kids, they are bound to be inconsistent whether as individual players or collectively.

Wrong love it.

Agreed, the kids are still inconsistent at the present time and that’s because they’re mentally weak. Until we get over this we will remain inconsistent.

 

[Trophy Room]

I think the winners of the last few seasons have skewed our view of consistency in the premier league.

 

[The_Midfielder]

We miss too many chances.. we do not have. a killer goalscorer .. Rashford, Martial , Greenwood are good but miss easy chances ..
If we start putting them in.. we will be. a consistent team...

 

[cyberman]

Because we never have any consistent runs of good performances. Last season was the only time I saw us play consistent good in Ole's tenure, right after the lockdown period.

We can fluctuate from 0 to 100 during the game even, can't remember the last time we played 90 minutes of good football straight. Almost like we need to be losing to start winning, it's bizzare really.

Nobody really plays well every week. Its a lack of awareness of others performances and shows a very insular outlook

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

More performances than results, but they do say it's a good sign to win when not playing well.

Be nice if we could do both a few more times, though, as in play well and win.

 

[Foxbatt]

It will be accepted if we kept winning. Jose was accepted so long as he was winning. We don't play good football usually but we win sometimes. Games we should win, we lose and games we could lose we win.
Look at Hojbjerg at Spurs. He cost them only 15 million yet he is already one of their best midfield players.
He plays to a set plan and has the discipline to do so too.
Our players are not like that. It is all down to Bruno. When he plays well we play well.
We should be able to get anyone in and still play to a certain level.

 

[Bobski]

Inconsistency is not just around results.

Look at how Utd play, the massive swings in level of performance, not just from one week to another, but one half to the next. They can go from looking like a top class side, a threat to anyone, to a comedy outfit in a few mins.

 

[Matt851]

Wrong.

We have the youngest squad in the league. Like kids, they are bound to be inconsistent whether as individual players or collectively.

Always think its a bit simplistic to solely attribute poor performances to mentality. Roy keane always attributes our inconsistency to mentality and lack of leadership but thats very much his way of thinking. However there must be something psychological to explain why we often start games looking so lethargic

 

[Withnail]

Agree teams that are mentally weak don’t usually do comebacks like yesterday etc etc. But teams that are mentally weak usually are as the post suggests inconsistent.

I don't follow.

You're saying mentally weak teams can be inconsistent but I don't believe inconsistency is necessarily caused by mental weakness.

In this instance this team have shown resilience in coming back from bad starts and have pulled performances out the bag when under pressure.

What reason do you have to claim the majority of this squad are mentally weak?

 

[Tom Cato]

In 2020, there are no consistent teams in the Premier League. Apparently.

Unless you mean consistently poor.

 

[Lentwood]

I think some people remember that during the SAF years we regularly used to win all 38 games in a PL season, scoring 400+ goals in the process and playing football so dazzling and entertaining that even opposition fans up and down the country routinely applauded us for the entire 90 minutes

 

[Plymouth Red]

I think some people remember that during the SAF years we regularly used to win all 38 games in a PL season, scoring 400+ goals in the process and playing football so dazzling and entertaining that even opposition fans up and down the country routinely applauded us for the entire 90 minutes

We had plenty of off days during his time, but there weren’t many matches when I felt that a few of our players obviously were not that bothered or committed. The collective mentality of his teams seemed to be very different to what we see today.

How do you think SAF would have dealt with today’s team? Would he have allowed Pogba to stroll around the pitch or to become the distraction that he’s become? That’s not forgetting the fact that his overall performance since returning has been underwhelming.

And how would he have handle Martial’s prolonged lack of form and effort?

Would he have accepted the lack of focus and basic skills that we now see regularly across the squad?

SAF made many mistakes and if he had his time again, I’m sure he would do many things differently. But I don’t think he would tolerate a great deal of what we see routinely today and that’s what winds me up about now compared to his time in charge.

 

[Lentwood]

How do you think SAF would have dealt with today’s team?

Remember it took SAF 5 years to build a side capable of winning the title. If we’re using SAF as the comparison, most of this forum would have been calling for his head in 1988.

Ole has been very smart. Mourinho alienated himself by being overly critical of players he ended up relying on.

Solakjaer has been very positive and kept players onside but I’m 100% sure some of these players are being tolerated rather than being seen as long term solutions

The one thing we all agree on is that OGS played with fantastic players during his playing career - in my opinion he knows what a “United standard” player looks like and how they act. It just takes time to build a squad of 23 in that imagine. It can’t be achieved in three or four windows

 

[manichester]

Teams come out and put a lot of effort against us in the first half, they think we are weak against the press. In the second half energy levels drop and we can exploit more space.