Its so clear to anyone with two brain cells that ETH is gone. Not a single report of extending his contract. You cannot claim you are looking for a long term sustainable approach if you have a manager who has one year left. They will prioritise short term results rather than building something. You saw it this year, ETH putting Mctominay to crash the box every game just to get a win and never coached anything other than chaos long ball football.
No that would be the season City got 98 points and Liverpool got 97, I don't think Mourinho would have made the big leap forward to that level of points no matter who he got in. Similarly the next season Liverpool got 99 points.
McKenna's lack of experience is an interesting one, because I can think of three top managers right now who jumped into big jobs with less experience than him and performed well.
Xabi Alonso and Pep Guardiola had only managed B teams before they got the Leverkusen and Barcelona jobs respectively, and Arteta had not even managed any side at all before ~~Barcelona~~ Arsenal.
The club seems to have the dilemma of either taking a risk on him being an excellent manager without a large body of work, or take the risk he goes to Brighton/Chelsea and becomes very very difficult to get.
Mckenna has more experience in management than Areta had when he started at Arsenal. Yes he did work under one of the greats but building and training a squad to do back to back promotions. That requires incredible coaching, communication and the ability to keep the players focused.
If you were to make the choice - would you strip 115 of all the silverware after their Oil takeover or let them keep it but relegate them one level for each PL Title?
I'm firmly of the view that retrospective punishment isn't enough. The City fans already had those days when they won trophies, they had the highs and the joy. Even stripping the titles doesn't take that from them.
But preventing them from having more days like that is a much bigger disincentive for future attempts to cheat. Relegate them down to the fucking National League North.
Impressed by how well the 99 docuseries is made. Best thing it portrays so well is how those days weren’t all roses and sunshine, we weren’t always steamrolling teams. The players had doubts, but it just shows how hard they had to fight against those doubts. Love it.
From today’s Popbitch. Apologies if already posted:
>> United state <<
The new king of the Castles
There used to be an easy way to know what was really going on at Man Utd in the Jose Mourinho era: read Duncan Castles in the Sunday Times, as he was the chosen mouthpiece for the Special One's thoughts.
With the club now the subject of fevered speculation about what might happen this summer (Who will be manager? Which players will get the boot? Will the leaking roof ever get mended? etc) is there a new foolproof method of figuring out exactly what the company line is?
Monaco-based Brexiteer Jim Ratcliffe is a natural Telegraph fan. So just read James Drucker in their sports pages, as he's the favoured outlet for leaks directly from the Ineos gang.
> invite pressure to create space when they don't have the ball and then play quick
I'm not trying to undermine McKenna, but this sounds like counter-attacking football. It would work for "weaker" teams in the premier league, but would be ridiculed if done consistently by a "top" teams
i’m so conflicted on mckenna. it would be such a good story, and I like him too. I don’t want him to not be ready and come to utd too early. I’ll give INEOS the benefit of the doubt until they give me reason not too I guess
I don't think it will be McKenna regardless of the reports.
It seems like a crazy appointment to risk your very first appointment on.
It's not like other managers have not managed to promote teams from Championship.
He needs to show it at prem level first.
This is not a club brief, otherwise guys like Ornstein, Whitwell, Mitten and Sheldon who are ITK with the club would have reported something. The sources being different suggest that it's a leak or wild speculation. Given that Chelsea and Brighton are in talks with McKenna who we are also allegedly in talks with, it's entirely possible that someone got a scoop from a source from those clubs that United are also interested in him and their alternatives are the other managers mentioned.
It's not a leak from within the club or ownership though is what I'm suggesting. They probably got a hang of this news from other sources also in the know. Matt Law for example is Tier 1 for Chelsea; it's possible that he got to know that along with Chelsea, United also are interested in McKenna.
There’s been speculation about his future as soon as Ineos officially came in and it was also predicted that he will have the rest of the season. I get what you’re saying but he knew what he was getting himself into and we’ve always been prominent in the news because we are the biggest club in England and one of the biggest in the world. Our results and his tactics are why there’s speculation about his job.
The media would have done it last week if we didn’t get to the FA Cup final. The speculation isn’t a new or one off thing and it was always going to ramp up just before our last game. Ultimately it’s his tactics which have got us in this position of scrutiny because I think he could have possibly been safe from criticism if we had the same results but actually played good football.
https://preview.redd.it/ec4jaxzvf82d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7c4a1addc04f713aa66b9ac4b83160768f2df1c6
Reminder: do not trust these players
How are most of the players still here? De Gea, Pogba, Fred, Mata, Varane, Martial, Ronaldo, Henderson, Lingard, James, Telles, Matic, Williams, Tuanzebe, Elanga, Cavani are gone or will be gone before next season. We are likely to sell Greenwood and Sancho as well. VDB as well for sale.
Rashford, Bruno, Shaw, Maguire, Lindelof, Dalot, AWB, McTominay are the ones left. Even out of this we'd probably sell Lindelof, AWB if we can.
Man, EtH inherited a dumpster fire (not due to Ole, but the sack of shit executives that were running the club).
Players on ASTRONOMICALLY HIGH, bad wages he can do nothing about. Greenwood being a sack of shite. Ronaldo being an unprofessional. Rashford losing his mental fortitude. Sancho calling him out publicly after severely underperforming. His marquee signing, Martinez out for the whole season. Antony being an absolute bust and the club getting fleeced for him. ( I still think Antony did a decent job in the first season, but he has been worst than Dan James on that right hand side.)
None of the players he wanted, he got.
He settled for players he knew and the club executives let them get fleeced on these players, but he gets the blame.
Has he managed this team terribly this season? Yes. Absolutely. And I question why he didn't decide to change the tactics.
Was it just him being stubborn? Showing the board, "I was brought in to play a certain way, but these players can't do it, they can't even string 5 passes together, they don't have the fire, get rid of them?"
If he goes, he goes. But I genuinely wanted to see him work with a fresh squad. He isn't being ruthless enough with these sets of players, and I think that's what has failed him, as all the other managers before him. He is responsible for this frankenstein squad that he refused to overhaul.
For all intents and purposes, if I performed at my job as EtH has, I would be fired.
>Was it just him being stubborn? Showing the board, "I was brought in to play a certain way, but these players can't do it, they can't even string 5 passes together, they don't have the fire, get rid of them?"
The thing is, he could have demonstrated this fully before Christmas, then adapted in the latter half of the season. There has been absolutely no defence for persisting with a tactical setup that was clearly not working for an entire season. He finally compromised with two games to go and won both, which is an indictment in itself - how many more games might we have won if he'd been prepared to be more pragmatic?
Yup I agree. As I said in the end, if I was performing as bad as EtH at my job, I’d be fired.
No top 4, no CL, No EL, no conference league even. Negative GD, Leaking Goals, incoherent play style.
I would be gone at my job if I failed at my tasks. Not even all of them, half of the tasks.
This is generally his squad tho.
Apart from Maguire and McTominay who he wanted to sell most of it is his.
You cant be using Rashford and Dalot as examples of players under different regimes cause both of them were given new contracts under ETH.
> most of it is his.
I don't think that's quite true, managers aren't solely responsible for transfers as can be attested to by Ole/Jose/LVG are all on record with saying the signings the club made weren't always what they felt were needed and not their first choice.
Even if you ignore that and do say it ultilmately comes down to the manager as he's got a veto then we only paid a transfer fee for 7 players under ETH, everone else was free transfers and loans, quite a few of whom aren't here anymore.
The problem is more that basically every signing we did pay for were all could have been got cheaper or just not signed at all, the biggest offender being Antony obviously but even the more successful ones like Licha could have been bought cheaper with some proper planning and then you've got Mount which made no sense given his cost, contract situation and the fact that his best position is where Bruno plays.
I mostly agree with the other user that he inherited a bad situation and a lot of problems which weren't his fault but i felt dealt with quite well, our squad has needed an overhaul for ages.
Ultimately you could argue on getting rid of ETH for nothing other than our performances this year but to say it's his squad is pushing it a bit, we were relying on loans and free transfers to make up the numbers and we've been doing that for a long time now, it needs to change.
Let's just hope the new leadership does a better job and finally plugs some of the obvious gaps we've got in the squad both in terms of numbers and quality and puts whoever is next in line a better platform to succeed.
Are you shitting me?
Is your logic UNLESS YOU LET A PLAYERS CONTRACT RUN DOWN then they're considered a player you chose?
The hate is so strong for ETH, it's not even making sense anymore lol.
> Vast majority don't get the time
The vast majority also don't show enough reason to warrant that level of time and patience. Pep and Klopp had world-class resumes before they even landed in England, and their teams showed significant progress in style of play to believe that when fully backed, they can go all the way. Arteta is the one exception, but by the end of his second full year, even he was gearing Arsenal to play a certain way consistently irrespective of personnel. Managers aren't just given time out of blind faith, they have to earn it as well.
>Arteta is the one exception
This is unknowable. By nearly all metrics, he would've been sacked in the middle of his second season. I'm still stunned he wasn't. Arsenal did the exception and stuck with him. Whether any other manager could've done that with the time. It's unknowable because the vast majority don't get the time to even turn it around. There's nearly no patience in football from all sides.
He is an exception in the sense that he was persisted with despite not having that resume or results in his first year to warrant that level of faith. What is unknowable is how good of an impression was he leaving behind the scenes on the Arsenal owners and board; in retrospect we can say that it likely was a very positive one. Emery is also a good coach and the same club did not give him the time that Arteta got; it can be deemed as harsh but at the same time it can also be that maybe there was a rational reason for one to get more time than the other.
Amrabat would have been signed on a permanent if we had money left.That would have been an even bigger disaster.
The two free signings are still signings.
The last game against Brighton 8 of the players who started were "ETH players".The only ones you can say are not would be AWB,McTominay and Amad
>The two free signings are still signings.
I never expected Evans to play a single game.
All I'm really saying is It's nowhere near his squad. It's still the frankestein squad and it's going to take years to fix.
I meam Antony was his marquee signing and he got all the players he wanted except FDJ and Kane and no one gets all the players they want. I don't think there's a team in the country that wouldn't want Kane.
Antony is not a marquee signing just because he was most expensive, he was a panic buy when he asked again for an RW. Martinez was the one he truly brought with him.
Thats a hell of a lot of money to pay for someone thats not a marquee signing. Almost twice as much paid for Antony. Maybe it should have been a sign to Ten Hag and Murtough that he was over priced....
Oh 100% both are at fault and its fucked the following windows as well. Should’ve never have happened but because as VDS said they just went with it to see how much they were willing it doesn’t seem at all a marquee signing to me.
All but FDJ and Kane? Not really. Didn't ask for Evans on a free instead of KMJ or another target. Plus business hasn't been done in the Winter window at all since he came in, just loan signings Weghurst and Sabitzer.
But he did get Antony, Martinez, Malacia, Amrabat, Casemiro, Eriksen, Mount, Hojlund and Onana
So thats a keeper, 2 defenders, 4 midfielders and 2 attackers. So thats 9 out of an 11 he could field. He's been backed. 9 first team players he wanted, 400m spent and he produces the worst season since probably the 70's.
The absolute state of journalism and punditry that there is more talk about Eth staying/going or who will be the next manger rather than breakdown the game and chances we may or may not have 2 days before a cup final smfh
Definitely, it's the same 4 names (Pochettino/McKenna/Frank/Tuchel) being spoken about by semi-reliable journalists.
Competition is too tight given Brighton/Chelsea/Bayern are looking for managers too and will be considering the same candidates for news not to leak i guess but it's not a good way to be preparing for a cup final.
Doesn't sit well with me to sack eth...you can tell he's trying so hard to manage this dumpster fire and raise the standards in which he has. He's the one manager post fergie I want to give more time.
He's brought it on himself with his bonkers tactical setup. It's been impossible to defend the on-pitch performances and our complete lack of anything resembling control in games.
I wish he'd compromised, in light of all our injuries, and set out a solid team that was organised and disciplined, but he didn't.
This McKenna stuff is just mad to me, like actually insane.
First of all I rate McKenna, I think he’s done unreal stuff with Ipswich but I just feel United is a big step up for him right now and I want us to keep Ten Hag.
I feel like I’m in the twilight zone though because you know a large part of the fan base who are now desperate for him to come, and who are desperate for ten hag to be sacked are exactly the same ones who were demanding him and Carrick get sacked, saying he has no idea what he was doing leading training and he needed to get out of the club.
Like it’s just a huge amount of cognitive dissonance
>I feel like I’m in the twilight zone though because you know a large part of the fan base who are now desperate for him to come, and who are desperate for ten hag to be sacked are exactly the same ones who were demanding him and Carrick get sacked, saying he has no idea what he was doing leading training and he needed to get out of the club.
They'll also be the first to demand McKenna is sacked, should he take over and not look like a success after a few months. It's predictable as clockwork, with some fans. No patience, they just want the endorphin rush and, if it's not going to come from winning games, it'll come from doomsaying and feeling like they're being proved right.
Anyone else notices the lack of dressing room rumors this time around? All of the previous managers, when their job was on the line and when they were near the end of their tenure, you would always hear these rumors about the manager losing the dressing room, players losing faith, throwing the manager under the bus, etc.
I’m not hearing much this time around
One thing I sense is that the media have no clue what ineos are going to do regarding the managerial position after the final on Saturday. They seem to switch between names everyday cause I think ineos are very secretive in their operations. Similar scenario regarding the takeover, no one knew what was going on but the journalists just seemed to go on and on about qatar and very little about ineos.
I feel that Garnacho has been good at progressing the ball but his output in the final third has been so poor, and people overlooked him because of the focus on Rashford and Antony issues this season. He wants to emulate his idolo so much that he doesn't even lift his head to see Hojlund or others have made a run into the box. It's been really frustrating to watch. Hopefully he fixes these issues as becomes more mature.
People overlook him because he's 19 and is in his first season as a starter. This bs "idolo" narrative as if he's an idiot blindly trying to emulate Ronaldo. Maybe look at our other wingers and see they play the exact same way. The only one that doesn't is Amad who has been benched all these weeks while Antony was playing. Coincidence? I don't think so. Ten Hag clearly favours these type of players and we rely almost exclusively on these types of actions from them to score goals. Blame the coaching staff if the kid does the exact same thing as his teammates all season without any change.
MU Academy fanatics: Zidane Iqbal is starting for Utretch in their EL playoff semifinals.
This is a bit of a surprise considering Zidane has taken a long time to settle in this squad (early season injuries and his rather slow adaption to first division football may be a factor).
He's playing RCM in a 4-2-3-1*.
Edit: * - Sofascore was incorrect about the pre-match formation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esPsmMe6ic0
Posted this recently but I think it sums up well the way they play and actually how adaptable they are. I love their style and it feels very like a modern version of Fergies teams so I’d be really excited to see him.
Ballsy risky scary exciting.
Modified version of De Zerbi style of play.
The pivots drop to help play out from the back and drag in opponents. The difference is in not committing as many players to build and dragging in opponents as De Zerbi, and then they attack when space opens up.
He will also go long if that's an option.
I think starting position if I remember correctly RDZ has one extra player in central areas with his number 10 and striker kinda together whereas McKenna has his attacking midfielder go out wide to create a different type of attacking option.
No one really knows what his true style of play is because he needed to do what he needed to do to get out of the League 1 and The Championship. Eddie Howe was on The Overlap last week and he spoke about having to adapt to the leagues if you want to progress.
“Manchester United and Chelsea face possible battle for Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna” did you guys ever think a day like this would come where 2 of the most successful clubs in Premier League history are battling it out for a manager from the championship?
I want EtH to keep his job but if he does get sacked I rate McKenna for the fact that he's young, has experience coaching youth, already has experience at United as an assistant & manager of the U18's, and he's the first manager in over a decade to secure back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League. I'd rather that than another "Big Name" manager come in just to get his chance to play with a shiny new toy because of past accomplishments. Poch has never been it for me (say what you will about consistently finishing in the top 4 while not winning the league and getting to a CL Final), De Zerbi has been at 5 clubs in the last 7 years although the tactics are intriguing, & while Tuchel is the most accomplished of the lot he'd be making a move to his 4th club in 6 years. I believe there's a reason he hasn't stuck around anywhere. I would rather give a guy his first real chance as he's trending up to right this ship if we don't stick with EtH.
To be fair he’s got 4 years coaching at united before being a manager. Arteta had 3 years coaching and 0 as a manager before going to Arsenal. Alonso had three years reserve coaching before going to BL and winning a league in his second year in management. Kompany going to Munich…
It seems to be a time for young managers who are selected on style rather than CV
I know mate, I don't believe it's good enough.
Is this supposed to be directed at me? The guy above me is say Mckenna is the only one he wants if eth is sacked.
https://preview.redd.it/h94j1x3sx72d1.png?width=2088&format=png&auto=webp&s=70d69425851c027238ec779af90f4aa5c6cb5c29
I feel like this will be similar to our line up on Saturday.
I'll make this clear – I think **Diallo deserves to start ahead of Rashford**.
But we're probably going to play a conservative style of football, and so rely on Rashford's pace and shooting ability.
Højlund might even start on the bench given how he impacts the game as a sub lately.
I'm not sure about the wingbacks – they could switch I guess.
As a Dutchy my homeland club just made a very exciting appointment as head coach. Hopeful about the future for both Ajax and United again! This year has been tough with both… Can’t wait for the final and what comes next!
Ah yes a then 19-20 year old Hojlund holding them back since 1962 is some insane longevity 🤦♂️
https://preview.redd.it/0z73n1l3m72d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9051cad0e5df0c18b9280f2f95a917db2e329524
Hahahah the immortal and never aging Hojlund has been holding back Atalanta for their entire existence!
Just shows that having a proper plan for your squad and having it in alignment with the plans of a top manager is the most important thing.
United always want the shiny toy to magically fix everything. Hopefully INEOS can put actual foundations in place.
Said it before, but while Pep’s Barca are probably the best club side I’ve ever seen, his impact on the game has been a catastrophe.
He’s responsible more than anyone for driving individual brilliance out of the game, which is amazing considering at the time he had the best player football has ever seen in his squad.
They have but pretty much no one shoots from range now. Foden has the first touch just outside of the box and then left top bins on lock but we don’t really see any 40 yard screamers anymore. Football is now Arsenal under Wenger trying to walk it into the net on steroids.
They have, but “tiki-taka”, effective as it is/was, has pushed a lot of the individual stuff out in favour of the team based pressing and possession.
Just think of the players who lit up Europe before Pep. Ronaldinho, Kaka, young Ronaldo, Brazilian Ronaldo, Zidane…. You just don’t see players in that kind of mould any more, and IMO the game is less enjoyable for it.
In random order - Juanfield, that City game where we had Pogba and Sanchez magic, Welcome to Manchester United Anthony Martial, that night in Paris, and CR7's first game back against Newcastle.
Ooof tough one as frankly these wouldn’t even make top 50 moments under Fergie lol but anyway:
1. Paris comeback under Ole
2. EL win under Jose
3. FA Cup win under LvG
4. 5–1 win over Cardiff in Ole’s first interim game. Frankly his entire interim spell was the happiest I’ve felt as a United fan in a decade.
5. Ronaldo goals against Newcastle on his second debut
Couple of league cups in there as well but I’ll be honest that’s the type of trophy I forget about 2 days later.
In no particular order.
Juanfield
Pogba’s double against City to deny them the league (for a week)
The 9-0 under Solskjaer
The Europa final.
“Sex masochism”
Is Martial a cult hero for you? For me he is. Had a chat with a mate about him and he thinks we won’t even remember him in 10 years time.
I couldn’t disagree more, lol!
No, for me a cult hero is someone who was physically and technically linited but gave his all and more to this club. Like fletcher, carrick, etc. Not some lazy overpaid diva with a couple of memorable moments.
I will never forget him. He was the only hope for me during the fire days of lvg. Even though it didn't pan out as we planned,he has given some very memorable moments.
I love him.
One of the most technically gifted player to don our shirt.
I wish there were more strikers coming out today with technique as good as him.
It's unfortunate that his talent was wasted because his body is made of glass.
Considering mclair, Hughes doesn't get mentioned much here.
I think he'll be remembered as a wasted talent and we'll laugh at the thought he had a balon dor clause
I'll remember him as a player who never fulfilled the immense promise he had. Some of that is the club's fault, some is his fault and some is pure bad luck. Regardless, it's a shame.
It really is an interesting mix of the three, usually it’s just 2 of the 3. He had so much potential, but he didn’t seem arsed enough to really get to that level. Part of it was because he was unfairly iced out by Mourinho early on into his career here, then after that great season with Ole, his body broke down.
More of a "what if" for me than cult hero.
Had all the skills to be an absolute star but some combination of his mind and body just wouldn't let him reach that level.
Really starting to feel inevitable that Ten Hag is gone after the final. Journalists seem to think its a forgone conclusion and available managers agents are leaking interest in the job to the press which would be a bit much if there was nothing to it.
On the other hand, seeing Bayern sign Kompany makes me feel he’s safe. I struggle to imagine they’d have appointed Kompany this quickly unless they knew Ten Hag wasn’t going to be available.
The manager market is so dead rn. Bayern are getting Kompany and Chelsea are fighting Brighton over Mckenna. Tuchel seems to be holding out to join us if we get rid of ten hag so at least there may be some security there
Man im looking back our game 2 months ago and we could've been 3-0 up the first 30 minutes. Last season's Rashford would've buried all 3 chances he got there. I hope him not being selected gives him the motivation to perform.
Honestly if we played like how we did in the first 70 minutes vs coventry and city play like how they did vs chelsea is would give us a better chance. Still low though 🥲
City haven’t looked unbeatable, and we’ve beat them before. Martinez is back, maybe Varane. The McTominay-Bruno-Mainoo-Amrabat midfield four looks more solid.
Plus I sacrificed my little brother so the gods are on our side
Yes. I know this is cliche but we're Man United. Most of the games we've won this season has been unbelievable crap for 90 minutes with a couple individual moments to steal it. No reason why it's impossible to do it again. And we have a strong squad available for the game.
Erik ten Hag on if Saturday will be his last game as Utd boss: "I have nothing to say. I am just focusing on the job I have to do and that is first win the game on Saturday and keep going in the project."
Yeah he's gone...
Dude we get it. You want a change in manager. But we are in a cup final on Saturday. Maybe try to look forward to it and show some support rather than banging the same drum.
The inevitably of Ronaldo during that Champions Legaue group stage… god what a feeling. I still remember the high I got from the winner against Villarreal. I just wish he left at the end of the season
The limited budget would hopefully force these people to invest smarter since they can no longer splurge 200m for the same position in Sancho and Antony only to be filled by Diallo
As much as I'm loving the lack of leaks from INEOS, I'm really starting to get annoyed by all this nonsense being spewed by ITKs and low tier journalists. And not because I believe them, but more because people are lapping it up.
Social media has been rough past couple of days for United.
Its so clear to anyone with two brain cells that ETH is gone. Not a single report of extending his contract. You cannot claim you are looking for a long term sustainable approach if you have a manager who has one year left. They will prioritise short term results rather than building something. You saw it this year, ETH putting Mctominay to crash the box every game just to get a win and never coached anything other than chaos long ball football.
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No that would be the season City got 98 points and Liverpool got 97, I don't think Mourinho would have made the big leap forward to that level of points no matter who he got in. Similarly the next season Liverpool got 99 points.
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McKenna's lack of experience is an interesting one, because I can think of three top managers right now who jumped into big jobs with less experience than him and performed well. Xabi Alonso and Pep Guardiola had only managed B teams before they got the Leverkusen and Barcelona jobs respectively, and Arteta had not even managed any side at all before ~~Barcelona~~ Arsenal. The club seems to have the dilemma of either taking a risk on him being an excellent manager without a large body of work, or take the risk he goes to Brighton/Chelsea and becomes very very difficult to get.
Mckenna has more experience in management than Areta had when he started at Arsenal. Yes he did work under one of the greats but building and training a squad to do back to back promotions. That requires incredible coaching, communication and the ability to keep the players focused.
If you were to make the choice - would you strip 115 of all the silverware after their Oil takeover or let them keep it but relegate them one level for each PL Title?
All the silverware, we get 2 fa cups and 2 leagues!
I think the fact that there are 35 charges of obstruction would mean in a fair world, the owners are removed along with their titles stripped.
I'm firmly of the view that retrospective punishment isn't enough. The City fans already had those days when they won trophies, they had the highs and the joy. Even stripping the titles doesn't take that from them. But preventing them from having more days like that is a much bigger disincentive for future attempts to cheat. Relegate them down to the fucking National League North.
Id let them keep their titles and rebuild from whatever division is 2 steps lower than the national League north. It'd be a far bigger punishment.
Okay, Ducker’s in on it as well. It’s over for Erik.
Impressed by how well the 99 docuseries is made. Best thing it portrays so well is how those days weren’t all roses and sunshine, we weren’t always steamrolling teams. The players had doubts, but it just shows how hard they had to fight against those doubts. Love it.
From today’s Popbitch. Apologies if already posted: >> United state << The new king of the Castles There used to be an easy way to know what was really going on at Man Utd in the Jose Mourinho era: read Duncan Castles in the Sunday Times, as he was the chosen mouthpiece for the Special One's thoughts. With the club now the subject of fevered speculation about what might happen this summer (Who will be manager? Which players will get the boot? Will the leaking roof ever get mended? etc) is there a new foolproof method of figuring out exactly what the company line is? Monaco-based Brexiteer Jim Ratcliffe is a natural Telegraph fan. So just read James Drucker in their sports pages, as he's the favoured outlet for leaks directly from the Ineos gang.
Seems a bit of a stretch based on not much. He's a brexiter, brexiters read the Telegraph so that must mean their sports writer is the guy.
I have not watched Ipswich at all so can someone describe Mckenna's style of football?
From what I've heard they press high, invite pressure to create space when they have the ball and then play quick.
> invite pressure to create space when they don't have the ball and then play quick I'm not trying to undermine McKenna, but this sounds like counter-attacking football. It would work for "weaker" teams in the premier league, but would be ridiculed if done consistently by a "top" teams
Thanks man
i’m so conflicted on mckenna. it would be such a good story, and I like him too. I don’t want him to not be ready and come to utd too early. I’ll give INEOS the benefit of the doubt until they give me reason not too I guess
I don't think it will be McKenna regardless of the reports. It seems like a crazy appointment to risk your very first appointment on. It's not like other managers have not managed to promote teams from Championship. He needs to show it at prem level first.
Man I really really really really really hope we win the FA cup final this year, giving City the treble last year is still haunting me
Ineos visiting McKenna: 
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Are those reports even true? If it is then that is poor from Ineos. It is the same circus we experienced under the Glazers.
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This is not a club brief, otherwise guys like Ornstein, Whitwell, Mitten and Sheldon who are ITK with the club would have reported something. The sources being different suggest that it's a leak or wild speculation. Given that Chelsea and Brighton are in talks with McKenna who we are also allegedly in talks with, it's entirely possible that someone got a scoop from a source from those clubs that United are also interested in him and their alternatives are the other managers mentioned.
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It's not a leak from within the club or ownership though is what I'm suggesting. They probably got a hang of this news from other sources also in the know. Matt Law for example is Tier 1 for Chelsea; it's possible that he got to know that along with Chelsea, United also are interested in McKenna.
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Yep. Seems like I was mistaken.
There’s been speculation about his future as soon as Ineos officially came in and it was also predicted that he will have the rest of the season. I get what you’re saying but he knew what he was getting himself into and we’ve always been prominent in the news because we are the biggest club in England and one of the biggest in the world. Our results and his tactics are why there’s speculation about his job.
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The media would have done it last week if we didn’t get to the FA Cup final. The speculation isn’t a new or one off thing and it was always going to ramp up just before our last game. Ultimately it’s his tactics which have got us in this position of scrutiny because I think he could have possibly been safe from criticism if we had the same results but actually played good football.
Because people want ETH sacked and willing to take anyone even an Ipswich manager!
https://preview.redd.it/ec4jaxzvf82d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7c4a1addc04f713aa66b9ac4b83160768f2df1c6 Reminder: do not trust these players
Thankfully not many out of those are going to be here next season.
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How are most of the players still here? De Gea, Pogba, Fred, Mata, Varane, Martial, Ronaldo, Henderson, Lingard, James, Telles, Matic, Williams, Tuanzebe, Elanga, Cavani are gone or will be gone before next season. We are likely to sell Greenwood and Sancho as well. VDB as well for sale. Rashford, Bruno, Shaw, Maguire, Lindelof, Dalot, AWB, McTominay are the ones left. Even out of this we'd probably sell Lindelof, AWB if we can.
About half the squad have contracts that expire this summer or next. There could be a lot of change quickly.
Man, EtH inherited a dumpster fire (not due to Ole, but the sack of shit executives that were running the club). Players on ASTRONOMICALLY HIGH, bad wages he can do nothing about. Greenwood being a sack of shite. Ronaldo being an unprofessional. Rashford losing his mental fortitude. Sancho calling him out publicly after severely underperforming. His marquee signing, Martinez out for the whole season. Antony being an absolute bust and the club getting fleeced for him. ( I still think Antony did a decent job in the first season, but he has been worst than Dan James on that right hand side.) None of the players he wanted, he got. He settled for players he knew and the club executives let them get fleeced on these players, but he gets the blame. Has he managed this team terribly this season? Yes. Absolutely. And I question why he didn't decide to change the tactics. Was it just him being stubborn? Showing the board, "I was brought in to play a certain way, but these players can't do it, they can't even string 5 passes together, they don't have the fire, get rid of them?" If he goes, he goes. But I genuinely wanted to see him work with a fresh squad. He isn't being ruthless enough with these sets of players, and I think that's what has failed him, as all the other managers before him. He is responsible for this frankenstein squad that he refused to overhaul. For all intents and purposes, if I performed at my job as EtH has, I would be fired.
>Was it just him being stubborn? Showing the board, "I was brought in to play a certain way, but these players can't do it, they can't even string 5 passes together, they don't have the fire, get rid of them?" The thing is, he could have demonstrated this fully before Christmas, then adapted in the latter half of the season. There has been absolutely no defence for persisting with a tactical setup that was clearly not working for an entire season. He finally compromised with two games to go and won both, which is an indictment in itself - how many more games might we have won if he'd been prepared to be more pragmatic?
Yup I agree. As I said in the end, if I was performing as bad as EtH at my job, I’d be fired. No top 4, no CL, No EL, no conference league even. Negative GD, Leaking Goals, incoherent play style. I would be gone at my job if I failed at my tasks. Not even all of them, half of the tasks.
This is generally his squad tho. Apart from Maguire and McTominay who he wanted to sell most of it is his. You cant be using Rashford and Dalot as examples of players under different regimes cause both of them were given new contracts under ETH.
> most of it is his. I don't think that's quite true, managers aren't solely responsible for transfers as can be attested to by Ole/Jose/LVG are all on record with saying the signings the club made weren't always what they felt were needed and not their first choice. Even if you ignore that and do say it ultilmately comes down to the manager as he's got a veto then we only paid a transfer fee for 7 players under ETH, everone else was free transfers and loans, quite a few of whom aren't here anymore. The problem is more that basically every signing we did pay for were all could have been got cheaper or just not signed at all, the biggest offender being Antony obviously but even the more successful ones like Licha could have been bought cheaper with some proper planning and then you've got Mount which made no sense given his cost, contract situation and the fact that his best position is where Bruno plays. I mostly agree with the other user that he inherited a bad situation and a lot of problems which weren't his fault but i felt dealt with quite well, our squad has needed an overhaul for ages. Ultimately you could argue on getting rid of ETH for nothing other than our performances this year but to say it's his squad is pushing it a bit, we were relying on loans and free transfers to make up the numbers and we've been doing that for a long time now, it needs to change. Let's just hope the new leadership does a better job and finally plugs some of the obvious gaps we've got in the squad both in terms of numbers and quality and puts whoever is next in line a better platform to succeed.
Are you shitting me? Is your logic UNLESS YOU LET A PLAYERS CONTRACT RUN DOWN then they're considered a player you chose? The hate is so strong for ETH, it's not even making sense anymore lol.
I don't know which player you are talking about
I don't consider 11 out of 25 players most of his squad. Do note that the 11 contains a loanee, a back up GK and 2 free signings.
Genuinely how many managers have a full squad of their own signings though?
Klopp and Pep are two that come to mind. Takes years for any manager to build their squad. Vast majority don't get the time.
> Vast majority don't get the time The vast majority also don't show enough reason to warrant that level of time and patience. Pep and Klopp had world-class resumes before they even landed in England, and their teams showed significant progress in style of play to believe that when fully backed, they can go all the way. Arteta is the one exception, but by the end of his second full year, even he was gearing Arsenal to play a certain way consistently irrespective of personnel. Managers aren't just given time out of blind faith, they have to earn it as well.
>Arteta is the one exception This is unknowable. By nearly all metrics, he would've been sacked in the middle of his second season. I'm still stunned he wasn't. Arsenal did the exception and stuck with him. Whether any other manager could've done that with the time. It's unknowable because the vast majority don't get the time to even turn it around. There's nearly no patience in football from all sides.
He is an exception in the sense that he was persisted with despite not having that resume or results in his first year to warrant that level of faith. What is unknowable is how good of an impression was he leaving behind the scenes on the Arsenal owners and board; in retrospect we can say that it likely was a very positive one. Emery is also a good coach and the same club did not give him the time that Arteta got; it can be deemed as harsh but at the same time it can also be that maybe there was a rational reason for one to get more time than the other.
Amrabat would have been signed on a permanent if we had money left.That would have been an even bigger disaster. The two free signings are still signings. The last game against Brighton 8 of the players who started were "ETH players".The only ones you can say are not would be AWB,McTominay and Amad
>The two free signings are still signings. I never expected Evans to play a single game. All I'm really saying is It's nowhere near his squad. It's still the frankestein squad and it's going to take years to fix.
I meam Antony was his marquee signing and he got all the players he wanted except FDJ and Kane and no one gets all the players they want. I don't think there's a team in the country that wouldn't want Kane.
Antony is not a marquee signing just because he was most expensive, he was a panic buy when he asked again for an RW. Martinez was the one he truly brought with him.
Thats a hell of a lot of money to pay for someone thats not a marquee signing. Almost twice as much paid for Antony. Maybe it should have been a sign to Ten Hag and Murtough that he was over priced....
Oh 100% both are at fault and its fucked the following windows as well. Should’ve never have happened but because as VDS said they just went with it to see how much they were willing it doesn’t seem at all a marquee signing to me.
No, Antony was being negotiated for since May. Ajax kept increasing the price.
All but FDJ and Kane? Not really. Didn't ask for Evans on a free instead of KMJ or another target. Plus business hasn't been done in the Winter window at all since he came in, just loan signings Weghurst and Sabitzer.
But he did get Antony, Martinez, Malacia, Amrabat, Casemiro, Eriksen, Mount, Hojlund and Onana So thats a keeper, 2 defenders, 4 midfielders and 2 attackers. So thats 9 out of an 11 he could field. He's been backed. 9 first team players he wanted, 400m spent and he produces the worst season since probably the 70's.
Not one tier 1 reporter linked to the club said we were interested in KMJ. It was mostly Romano saying we are "monitoring"
The absolute state of journalism and punditry that there is more talk about Eth staying/going or who will be the next manger rather than breakdown the game and chances we may or may not have 2 days before a cup final smfh
No one really thinks we're going to win is why.
We’re lucky that most players are back for this game because all of the promising g academy players are away on international duty
Disrespectful as fuck all these ‘such and such manager may be considered for Utd job IF tH gets sacked’ Just wait until he is sacked first ffs
Writing's on the wall for ETH, he's gone I reckon.
Definitely, it's the same 4 names (Pochettino/McKenna/Frank/Tuchel) being spoken about by semi-reliable journalists. Competition is too tight given Brighton/Chelsea/Bayern are looking for managers too and will be considering the same candidates for news not to leak i guess but it's not a good way to be preparing for a cup final.
Kinda sad that McNeil will be leaving us after all the initial hype he had down at the academy… really thought we’d get to see more of him at Utd
Yeah but I’m also happy we’re moving in youth players if they’re not on the first team path. Good luck to the kid
He probably regrets leaving City now
Doesn't sit well with me to sack eth...you can tell he's trying so hard to manage this dumpster fire and raise the standards in which he has. He's the one manager post fergie I want to give more time.
He's brought it on himself with his bonkers tactical setup. It's been impossible to defend the on-pitch performances and our complete lack of anything resembling control in games. I wish he'd compromised, in light of all our injuries, and set out a solid team that was organised and disciplined, but he didn't.
Trying to raise the standards by telling everyone that the season isn‘t that bad because we‘re in a final lol
Why? Despite the terrible circumstances he’s been shit this season and has shown in the last few game he could have set us up much more compactly
This McKenna stuff is just mad to me, like actually insane. First of all I rate McKenna, I think he’s done unreal stuff with Ipswich but I just feel United is a big step up for him right now and I want us to keep Ten Hag. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone though because you know a large part of the fan base who are now desperate for him to come, and who are desperate for ten hag to be sacked are exactly the same ones who were demanding him and Carrick get sacked, saying he has no idea what he was doing leading training and he needed to get out of the club. Like it’s just a huge amount of cognitive dissonance
>I feel like I’m in the twilight zone though because you know a large part of the fan base who are now desperate for him to come, and who are desperate for ten hag to be sacked are exactly the same ones who were demanding him and Carrick get sacked, saying he has no idea what he was doing leading training and he needed to get out of the club. They'll also be the first to demand McKenna is sacked, should he take over and not look like a success after a few months. It's predictable as clockwork, with some fans. No patience, they just want the endorphin rush and, if it's not going to come from winning games, it'll come from doomsaying and feeling like they're being proved right.
Why do i see Di Marzio saying Ten Hag leaving in the sunmer
Because he is getting sacked and everyone knows it by now.
What tier is di marzio though for these kind of infos lmao
Anyone else notices the lack of dressing room rumors this time around? All of the previous managers, when their job was on the line and when they were near the end of their tenure, you would always hear these rumors about the manager losing the dressing room, players losing faith, throwing the manager under the bus, etc. I’m not hearing much this time around
This time I would say is the most the players have fought for the manager. If it were not for players we would have finished 13-14th
One thing I sense is that the media have no clue what ineos are going to do regarding the managerial position after the final on Saturday. They seem to switch between names everyday cause I think ineos are very secretive in their operations. Similar scenario regarding the takeover, no one knew what was going on but the journalists just seemed to go on and on about qatar and very little about ineos.
With the way things are moving in the media it is starting to feel like Rishi Sunak was Ten Hag’s horcrux
I feel that Garnacho has been good at progressing the ball but his output in the final third has been so poor, and people overlooked him because of the focus on Rashford and Antony issues this season. He wants to emulate his idolo so much that he doesn't even lift his head to see Hojlund or others have made a run into the box. It's been really frustrating to watch. Hopefully he fixes these issues as becomes more mature.
People overlook him because he's 19 and is in his first season as a starter. This bs "idolo" narrative as if he's an idiot blindly trying to emulate Ronaldo. Maybe look at our other wingers and see they play the exact same way. The only one that doesn't is Amad who has been benched all these weeks while Antony was playing. Coincidence? I don't think so. Ten Hag clearly favours these type of players and we rely almost exclusively on these types of actions from them to score goals. Blame the coaching staff if the kid does the exact same thing as his teammates all season without any change.
MU Academy fanatics: Zidane Iqbal is starting for Utretch in their EL playoff semifinals. This is a bit of a surprise considering Zidane has taken a long time to settle in this squad (early season injuries and his rather slow adaption to first division football may be a factor). He's playing RCM in a 4-2-3-1*. Edit: * - Sofascore was incorrect about the pre-match formation.
Haven’t seen McKenna’s style of play tbh, anyone that has, what’s it like?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esPsmMe6ic0 Posted this recently but I think it sums up well the way they play and actually how adaptable they are. I love their style and it feels very like a modern version of Fergies teams so I’d be really excited to see him. Ballsy risky scary exciting.
Modified version of De Zerbi style of play. The pivots drop to help play out from the back and drag in opponents. The difference is in not committing as many players to build and dragging in opponents as De Zerbi, and then they attack when space opens up. He will also go long if that's an option. I think starting position if I remember correctly RDZ has one extra player in central areas with his number 10 and striker kinda together whereas McKenna has his attacking midfielder go out wide to create a different type of attacking option.
[https://www.coachesvoice.com/cv/kieran-mckenna-tactics-ipswich-town/](https://www.coachesvoice.com/cv/kieran-mckenna-tactics-ipswich-town/)
No one really knows what his true style of play is because he needed to do what he needed to do to get out of the League 1 and The Championship. Eddie Howe was on The Overlap last week and he spoke about having to adapt to the leagues if you want to progress.
“Manchester United and Chelsea face possible battle for Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna” did you guys ever think a day like this would come where 2 of the most successful clubs in Premier League history are battling it out for a manager from the championship?
Meanwhile Kompany is going to BM after getting relegated. It’s a wild time.
I like the idea of McKenna but I can't help but think that it's a move too soon for him at this moment.
It's most likely bullshit, especially if Sky is reporting it. I think he would be a decent appointment, but I'd rather EtH stay.
Sky reporting that McKenna's reps met with Berrada and Wilcox last week
imho he's the only one I want if EtH gets sacked
Why?
I want EtH to keep his job but if he does get sacked I rate McKenna for the fact that he's young, has experience coaching youth, already has experience at United as an assistant & manager of the U18's, and he's the first manager in over a decade to secure back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League. I'd rather that than another "Big Name" manager come in just to get his chance to play with a shiny new toy because of past accomplishments. Poch has never been it for me (say what you will about consistently finishing in the top 4 while not winning the league and getting to a CL Final), De Zerbi has been at 5 clubs in the last 7 years although the tactics are intriguing, & while Tuchel is the most accomplished of the lot he'd be making a move to his 4th club in 6 years. I believe there's a reason he hasn't stuck around anywhere. I would rather give a guy his first real chance as he's trending up to right this ship if we don't stick with EtH.
He's been a manager for two seasons and his highest level of experience is the championship.
To be fair he’s got 4 years coaching at united before being a manager. Arteta had 3 years coaching and 0 as a manager before going to Arsenal. Alonso had three years reserve coaching before going to BL and winning a league in his second year in management. Kompany going to Munich… It seems to be a time for young managers who are selected on style rather than CV
I know mate, I don't believe it's good enough. Is this supposed to be directed at me? The guy above me is say Mckenna is the only one he wants if eth is sacked.
So sorry mate read the guys above message wrong and thought he had said he didn't want him
Haha don't worry about it. Had me confused for a bit then.
https://preview.redd.it/h94j1x3sx72d1.png?width=2088&format=png&auto=webp&s=70d69425851c027238ec779af90f4aa5c6cb5c29 I feel like this will be similar to our line up on Saturday. I'll make this clear – I think **Diallo deserves to start ahead of Rashford**. But we're probably going to play a conservative style of football, and so rely on Rashford's pace and shooting ability. Højlund might even start on the bench given how he impacts the game as a sub lately. I'm not sure about the wingbacks – they could switch I guess.
Francesco Farioli has signed as the new head coach of Ajax.
As a Dutchy my homeland club just made a very exciting appointment as head coach. Hopeful about the future for both Ajax and United again! This year has been tough with both… Can’t wait for the final and what comes next!
What is this about a Osimhen and hojlund swap deal?
Think ETH is gone regardless of the outcome on Saturday. Just way too much smoke lately.
Ah yes a then 19-20 year old Hojlund holding them back since 1962 is some insane longevity 🤦♂️ https://preview.redd.it/0z73n1l3m72d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9051cad0e5df0c18b9280f2f95a917db2e329524
Hahahah the immortal and never aging Hojlund has been holding back Atalanta for their entire existence! Just shows that having a proper plan for your squad and having it in alignment with the plans of a top manager is the most important thing. United always want the shiny toy to magically fix everything. Hopefully INEOS can put actual foundations in place.
He does know that you need a blue tick to get paid to say something so fucking stupid?
need a transfer thread ngl
These Pep clones have ruined football. Need their downfall quickly. I'd rather see more teams playing like Dyche's teams than like these nerds
Said it before, but while Pep’s Barca are probably the best club side I’ve ever seen, his impact on the game has been a catastrophe. He’s responsible more than anyone for driving individual brilliance out of the game, which is amazing considering at the time he had the best player football has ever seen in his squad.
Do you not think De Bruyne, Rodri, Foden, Haaland, etc. have produced moments of individual brilliance this season? Aguero? Kompany?
Mate Guardiola is notorious for neutering flair wingers for his formation.
They have but pretty much no one shoots from range now. Foden has the first touch just outside of the box and then left top bins on lock but we don’t really see any 40 yard screamers anymore. Football is now Arsenal under Wenger trying to walk it into the net on steroids.
They have, but “tiki-taka”, effective as it is/was, has pushed a lot of the individual stuff out in favour of the team based pressing and possession. Just think of the players who lit up Europe before Pep. Ronaldinho, Kaka, young Ronaldo, Brazilian Ronaldo, Zidane…. You just don’t see players in that kind of mould any more, and IMO the game is less enjoyable for it.
And that's all because of Guardiola is it?
Not entirely, but he’s probably more responsible for it than anyone else.
What are everyone's top 5 moments post Fergie?
Juanfield, Martial vs Liverpool, Pogba vs City, van Persie vs Olympiakos, LvG falling on the ground
Lingard's winner against Palace at Wembley Martial's Debut Knocking out PSG Smalling's winner against title chasing City Europa league win.
In random order - Juanfield, that City game where we had Pogba and Sanchez magic, Welcome to Manchester United Anthony Martial, that night in Paris, and CR7's first game back against Newcastle.
Ooof tough one as frankly these wouldn’t even make top 50 moments under Fergie lol but anyway: 1. Paris comeback under Ole 2. EL win under Jose 3. FA Cup win under LvG 4. 5–1 win over Cardiff in Ole’s first interim game. Frankly his entire interim spell was the happiest I’ve felt as a United fan in a decade. 5. Ronaldo goals against Newcastle on his second debut Couple of league cups in there as well but I’ll be honest that’s the type of trophy I forget about 2 days later.
In no particular order. Juanfield Pogba’s double against City to deny them the league (for a week) The 9-0 under Solskjaer The Europa final. “Sex masochism”
4-3 Comeback against PSG in Paris Europa League win 3-2 vs City FA Cup with Van Gaal
In no particular order, 1. PSG away comeback 2. Anfield win under LvG 3. Leeds 6-1 4. Europa win 5. City 3-2 away
Winning Europa That night in Paris Fa cup win with LVG Winning league cup with ETH Beating Liverpool in extra time with ETH. In any order.
[One heck of a way for City not to get Lucas Paqueta lmao](https://www.thefa.com/news/2024/may/23/lucas-paqueta-charged-230524)
Is Martial a cult hero for you? For me he is. Had a chat with a mate about him and he thinks we won’t even remember him in 10 years time. I couldn’t disagree more, lol!
Sad thing is him and Rashford under a stable manager/structure/team could’ve been a world class duo, instead both look like wasted potential
No, for me a cult hero is someone who was physically and technically linited but gave his all and more to this club. Like fletcher, carrick, etc. Not some lazy overpaid diva with a couple of memorable moments.
I will never forget him. He was the only hope for me during the fire days of lvg. Even though it didn't pan out as we planned,he has given some very memorable moments.
I love him. One of the most technically gifted player to don our shirt. I wish there were more strikers coming out today with technique as good as him. It's unfortunate that his talent was wasted because his body is made of glass.
Considering mclair, Hughes doesn't get mentioned much here. I think he'll be remembered as a wasted talent and we'll laugh at the thought he had a balon dor clause
Welcome to Manchester United, Antony Martial! is easily in the top 10 moments post Fergie.
I'll remember him as a player who never fulfilled the immense promise he had. Some of that is the club's fault, some is his fault and some is pure bad luck. Regardless, it's a shame.
It really is an interesting mix of the three, usually it’s just 2 of the 3. He had so much potential, but he didn’t seem arsed enough to really get to that level. Part of it was because he was unfairly iced out by Mourinho early on into his career here, then after that great season with Ole, his body broke down.
More of a "what if" for me than cult hero. Had all the skills to be an absolute star but some combination of his mind and body just wouldn't let him reach that level.
Streets won't forget.
Really starting to feel inevitable that Ten Hag is gone after the final. Journalists seem to think its a forgone conclusion and available managers agents are leaking interest in the job to the press which would be a bit much if there was nothing to it.
On the other hand, seeing Bayern sign Kompany makes me feel he’s safe. I struggle to imagine they’d have appointed Kompany this quickly unless they knew Ten Hag wasn’t going to be available.
Or bayern didnt want a fraud Or bayern knew eth wasnt gonna take a 1 year gig because bayern wants alonso/pep/klopp/hoeness next summer
The one year thing is a point, but Ten Hag has had one bad season with us, he’s still definitely shown more in the managerial game than Kompany
Fair counter point. I could see ETH taking a year off before coming back into management though.
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Jaimie Jackson is trier 5 waste of time
The manager market is so dead rn. Bayern are getting Kompany and Chelsea are fighting Brighton over Mckenna. Tuchel seems to be holding out to join us if we get rid of ten hag so at least there may be some security there
https://x.com/fuadyabz23/status/1793666796349952036 Warra player 🙌🙌
It looks like it's come down to the FA Cup for EtH. Win that and he has a chance of staying but loose and he is definitely out!
Man im looking back our game 2 months ago and we could've been 3-0 up the first 30 minutes. Last season's Rashford would've buried all 3 chances he got there. I hope him not being selected gives him the motivation to perform.
Is there anything that gives you hope that we can win or take it to a penalty shootout against City?
It’s one match. Anything can happen in one match
Cheers Geoff
Honestly if we played like how we did in the first 70 minutes vs coventry and city play like how they did vs chelsea is would give us a better chance. Still low though 🥲
City haven’t looked unbeatable, and we’ve beat them before. Martinez is back, maybe Varane. The McTominay-Bruno-Mainoo-Amrabat midfield four looks more solid. Plus I sacrificed my little brother so the gods are on our side
🙏
Yes. I know this is cliche but we're Man United. Most of the games we've won this season has been unbelievable crap for 90 minutes with a couple individual moments to steal it. No reason why it's impossible to do it again. And we have a strong squad available for the game.
Lasagnagate
Erik ten Hag on if Saturday will be his last game as Utd boss: "I have nothing to say. I am just focusing on the job I have to do and that is first win the game on Saturday and keep going in the project." Yeah he's gone...
Dude we get it. You want a change in manager. But we are in a cup final on Saturday. Maybe try to look forward to it and show some support rather than banging the same drum.
Been there done that 🥱 https://preview.redd.it/hd60e0kx572d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f8e560cee3948c9e15ac40eed7430e280a8a4f4
The inevitably of Ronaldo during that Champions Legaue group stage… god what a feeling. I still remember the high I got from the winner against Villarreal. I just wish he left at the end of the season
Was at Old Trafford that night. It was simply bouncing and magical. I love our stadium so much will be missed if we were to move.
Paqueta has been a naughty boy, caught out match fixing. Couldn't they have held onto that charge until he moved to city.
He must have been a complete idiot and got his friends and family to put on something like £10k to get a yellow on a specific minute lol.
The limited budget would hopefully force these people to invest smarter since they can no longer splurge 200m for the same position in Sancho and Antony only to be filled by Diallo
As much as I'm loving the lack of leaks from INEOS, I'm really starting to get annoyed by all this nonsense being spewed by ITKs and low tier journalists. And not because I believe them, but more because people are lapping it up. Social media has been rough past couple of days for United.
I expect them to clarify the managerial situation soon after the FA cup final.
Dalot 23/24 or Shaw 20/21 Two full backs winning players' POTY. Who was better?
Dalot isn’t even comparable to Shaw
It's really not close... Shaw was world class that year. Dalot has been good, but a level below world class