OneMoSalah

Rabiots not really a holding midfielder though, he’s more box to box although I think he’s likely flexible enough to play as a 6. Not sure how he’s done for Juve but he used to be a very good, well rounder midfielder. Did you just make this up? Or is there a source? I thought it was very well stated Tuchel was impressed by Kounde and wanted him last summer to be our RCB in a back 3. No? There seems to be much more talk re Boehly leaning heavily on Tuchel for his input as opposed to under previous managers with Roman due to the circumstances re Marina and Cech leaving but until we sign a couple of players we won’t truly know. And if this is a long term strategy or temporary to a DoF comes in and they can sort of delegate/pick up some of the slack and maybe allow Tuchel to work more on coaching (although obviously to be on same page and have his opinions taken in as I am sure he did under with Marina) or even to take some of the responsibility off of Boehly so he can focus on other areas too. For me, Tuchel has always said and hinted he is much more at home focusing on coaching as opposed to the politics of the media handling and transfers so we have to see. He has had disputes before regarding transfers when being more involved and he has openly admitted this about his time at Paris and Dortmund so he might not want to be as hands on as he will be this summer (until we get things up and running with regards to the structuring of the club with the changes and a DoF).

Lol 3/4s of the replies to that thread is embarrassing. Little babies crying on twitter because we haven’t signed someone yet despite having to restructure a lot of the upper management/senior positions in the club. Swear half of our fanbase will never learn. Pretty interesting read, lot of good ideas but remains to be seen how it goes. Lot of people skeptical but his background, track record and past experiences are very impressive.

Rumblings Cech wanted the club to keep Lukaku for another season as he felt he showed he was strong in moments towards end of season. Not sure what he saw. Also, talk he felt as if his authority was deteriorating with the new ownership so he felt it was right to go.

If she was a director of football all points would be valid. But she was a chief executive/director of the club. Not a director of football. Two different roles. Michael Emenalo is the closest thing we’ve had to a DoF. Petr Cech’s role too maybe had bits of it. She has final sign off on deals as she was effectively the most important or powerful person on the business side of it barring Roman himself. Undoubtedly. Does that mean she would be abrasive and push her own agenda re signings? I doubt it. Which is usually the narrative and has been for years which is incredibly mind numbing to read as its clear it isn’t. She was also heavily involved with getting and renewing club sponsorships etc so its clear she wasnt a director of football as when has any DoF been involved in thr commercial side of things? For players the managers didnt necessarily want, Most clubs (barring perhaps the City’s, Madrid’s, PSG’s who also have the pulling factor now as well as the vast finances) never have only one target 9\10 times unless its an exceptional circumstances or position, they have a plan B, C or D. Which again it is definitely run by a manager because why spend money on someone who wont bring a return on an investment? Mourinho on Zouma back in the day for instance, Zouma was suggested by someone in scouting and Mourinho OK’d it. Courtois and De Bruyne also scouted heavily by the club and suggested to Villas-Boas who said lets do it. Mata too. Also maybe there has been times when someone’s pushed for a player who financially is difficult to get (Lampard with Rice for instance was a big one) which yes she can pull the plug but I doubt she makes that decision alone as well. Or without other input. I mean good business people and leaders in successful organisations usually don’t make decisions without other input. Scouting of these players you named was a big issue. But again how often barring the exceptional circumstances do clubs get 99% of transfers right? There is a magnitude of things too, some players end up doing well at some teams and then not doing well at others, some aren’t just up to the standard and then theres the circumstances where they just aren’t fancied by managers when coaches change and they end up rotting on the bench. Thats ultimately what has affected our transfers more than anything, player X Y or Z is for manager X Y or Z. Then we change and it goes tits up or they don’t fit or want to leave. No long term stability or plan is ultimately one of our worst enemies in sustaining success (although we’ve still managed to do well).

Hardly 🤣 Talk about throwing a respected and highly successful person under the bus now they are on their way out…. although I am glad she is being asked to stay available for the new owner at present because she is clearly good at her job and can still contribute. Whether or not she picked signings (again I doubt it severely, she was the last person to sign off on deals, that was a given in her role - which prior to her was probably Roman, who also had the final sign off on some horrible signings but don’t see you saying his legacy will be poor or he picked players although he did push heavily for Sheva and Ballack) she wasn’t exactly going and watching players and picking them without input from others. That wasn’t her role and for years to have seen this nonsense branded around here by many users, it is simply moronic to assume she randomly had a brainwave and thought ok lets sign Kepa, Lukaku, Werner, Ziyech (or anyone else who struggled) etc and put these into motion herself. Just an easy target now shes on the way out. In fact, I would go as far as saying, moronic isn’t even the word. This narrative comes from people who are living in some sort of deluded fantasy that previous managers and the scouting department shouldn’t shoulder a lot of the blame. They should. Clearly. In fact I would say 75% of the blame for bad transfers at least lies with them. Easily. I mean to say our transfer record is as bad as Uniteds or Barcelona’s is absolutely mind blowing 🤣 I mean barring Liverpool and City recently every big club has had some shockers but thats the transfer market. Our transfer record over the past 10, 11, 12, 13 years or so has been pretty good and Marina will have had final sign off on a lot. I mean signings like Hazard, Mata, Costa, Courtois, Matic, Kante, Kovacic, Rudiger, Chilwell, Mendy, Silva, Cahill, Jorginho, Fabregas, Giroud, Alonso, Pedro, Willian, Azpilicueta, Ramires off the top of my head have all been successes and contributed to the club in a big way. Even the likes of de Bruyne, Salah, Lukaku (1st time round), Luiz all made the club shedloads of money as well as multiple other loanees to comply with FFP and be reinvested so this narrative that Marina has fucked hundreds of millions is absolutely mind boggling. Plus you look at the recent integration of Mount, James, Chalobah, the money raised by sales of Tomori (FL should of tried harder to play him and never let him go out on loan to Milan because he is a sore miss just now with AC and Rudi away) and Abraham, the academy has also served us well on and off the pitch. Ok she wasn’t the chief executive to 2014 but its widely been reported since 2010 she was Roman’s main representative at the club due to being his chief assistant and was heavily involved in transfers and contracts. I think it shes goes elsewhere and is half as successful and makes an impression like she did here, some of you might start to see her value instead of making daft accusations that she alone is responsible for X, Y or Z. We complained about the board and others beforehand but personally I think with Marina leaving, it is a huge gap to fill. And for your post to say what we won despite her? With despite her in bold. That is absolutely mental 🤣 She was hugely involved in getting Jose back as well as Conte and Tuchel in the door, in fact a lot would say she probably had the most involvement.

This would be a great move. But we must confirm one of Dembele or Sterling first before letting any attackers go (Timo, Ziyech etc) after Lukaku basically being confirmed to go.

Yes but he’s not exactly going to be doing it blindly or chasing League 1 players lol, don’t worry. Someone who has taken over a European super club and runs a hugely successful franchise as it is, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is as shrewd as he’s made out to be. He undoubtedly will have done his homework, as will scouts at the club and he will undoubtedly have huge inputs from Tuchel on preferred targets. Getting jumpy because nothing has happened yet is standard OTT panicking for on here but theres so much other things that need to be done ie. new chairman, someone replacing Marina long term, all the loose ends and structuring/restructuring after the take over, replacing/continuing sponsors who left/suspsended deals after Roman was sanctioned amongst others undoubtedly plus new deals for Reece and Mason will be a top priority. It sure doesn’t happen overnight. Patience is needed for this first month or 2.

Maybe next time you could get a job at the club and stop this from happening…. 😂

If we get him for £30-40m (lot of talk about £35m being the fee) I think it will be a pretty good deal. Hopefully means we see the back of Werner and Ziyech too. Will definitely provide goals and assists. Theres no way we are paying what City want for a player with one year left on his deal - £60m apparently…. And regardless, we need more than just Dembele. We need to upgrade on Ziyech, Timo and potentially even look at what does CHO offer, who I think may end up getting loaned out at this rate based on his overall development as a footballer the past 3 seasons. Not to mention Lukaku going. Plus Dembele has still very much got to prove his consistency, fitness and that he can deliver regularly. Just because hes on a free doesn’t necessarily mean hes going to instantly be an absolute steal or save us cash as theres still a lot of ifs and buts with him. No doubts he is a good player with a huge ceiling but barring the last half a season and his first 2 big seasons in France and Germany the rest has been very meh due to inconsistencies, lack of focus and injuries. I do think TT can get more from him than others as shown at Dortmund. I doubt the new owner is going to hamstring Tuchel in his first major window and blow too much money on Sterling and CBs when we 100% need a striker now it looks likely Lukaku will go. Its clear there will be more leaving too.

Similar sorts of player maybe but Eriksen is someone who boasts good technical ability and vision to unlock defences which is an issue United have struggled with for years and years (and will be a huge stumbling block for ten Haag if he cannot find a way to get past these) as well as an ability to score goals. Plus Ronaldo, Maguire etc will thrive off his set piece deliveries too. He is a good player and United having Fernandes and Eriksen for that more attacking midfielder role/number 10 position is good for them unfortunately. Particularly as there was weeks/months when Fernandes was particularly off form and struggled and they didn’t have an adequate quality back up. Maybe he wont start every week but he probably didn’t expect/doubted he would play for another big club after Inter Milan. If anything, I would go as far as saying it is actually a smart move by Man United. He is a big improvement on Juan Mata and someone who will undoubtedly suit ten Haag’s philosophy much more than Mata too.

I reckon he will get sacked in his first 18 months. Just strikes me as the sort of manager who was a great player but won’t cut it as a manager.

Still not entirely convinced about Kounde. Kept a closer eye on him after last summer and quite frankly I don’t see him as the player which he seems to be made out to be. Looks a decent CB but I am not really sure if it would be right to say he is an outstanding one now or could be in the future. On De Ligt though - 100% yes though, if thats possible and not as expensive as maybe first thought, do it. His age, profile, experience, mentality and leadership skills at his age, to think he will only keep on adding to what he’s already achieved so far in his career in terms of the improvements he’s made and levels he’s played at, I think its a no brainer really.

This Van Dijk being one of the best PL CB’s of all time is absolutely baffling. He hasn’t done half as much as any of those, Rio, Terry, Vidic but this Liverpool love in has accelerated van Dijk, who is a very good CB no doubt, to some sort of godlike CB when he has only really played at a top top level for 2.5-3 years. He has 1 PL, 1 CL, 1 Carabao Cup, 1 Super cup, 1 Club World Cup and 1 FA Cup to his name. The others trophy haul and general consistency in the PL dwarfs Virgils by a mile. He is the best CB in the PL alongside Ruben Dias, Laporte etc but top 5 of all time?? Laughable.

Would say thats a bit outrageous to say re Aubamayang, he scored like 10 PL goals in his first half a season when he signed for Arsenal, then 22 in his first full season, 22 again in his second season and then 10 in a injury hit season prior to falling out Arteta. He was anything but horrendous in the PL. Couldn’t be further away from the truth. And IIRC Lamps tried to sign him here prior to him signing that huge contract renewal. Aye And also by that logic on Lewa I am guessing your not expecting much from Haaland at City then? Or anyone else from the Bundesliga? I mean Lewa will score goals at any level, at any club. Like Benzema. Like Ronaldo. It wouldn’t even be in doubt, you don’t do what he’s done in world football over the past 10 years and not be capable of playing in the PL. I mean Ronaldo carried Man Utd. At 37.

Precisely. Plus, not to mention the fact he has had to suffer all the Russian/Ukraine questions over the months because of Roman-Putin links, all the ownership questions and a on a personal level a separation from his wife too. Its been a tough few months. Anyone questioning if he is the right man to lead this club next season and beyond, or anyone who has any doubts should be giving themselves a reality check. The one thing that will be an absolute necessity after this takeover goes through, is that we keep the guy who has played a huge huge huge part in the last year and a half here. It is clear we need reinforcing in key areas. The manager seat isn’t one. Better finishing and we would of had much more points.

Tbf if money was the issue and thats how we’ve gotten to this stage of him leaving, again with Rudiger also, it is very disappointing. To lose 2 of our key defenders due to breakdowns in salary negotiations based on them thinking they deserved a bit more, its not anything we’ve really seen happen here in recent times.

Either way I am not surprised, I think he should of been starting but if he’s looking out for his own interests then that sort of bitters the end of his spell here. But suppose thats football these days, guys whose heads aren’t in it will do this.

Lets see how this goes. We played better second half and in ET also. Alonso probably our best player today if I am honest.

Pulisic could have had a hattrick FFS.

Pretty poor performance if I am honest. Particularly defensively. Obviously its a bit cagey and we’ve had chances but Diaz is a huge issue. Reece and Trevor need to do more there going back the way. Much much more. Reece is probably too high and too wide when we don’t have the ball, leaving Trev exposed. We need to increase the intensity though and play a bit quicker/sharper, too much faffing about.

Another big chance. Pass too late and very average first touch. TT getting into them at the sideline, should be 2-0

Yeah out right side is struggling with Robertson and Diaz. Massively. James may as well have just not been there, gave Robertson acres. They need to get a grip defensively and fast because that will keep attacking there as soon as they can. Got to score that chance there, got to.

Chalobah and James sleeping already. Diaz is running riot out there….

Mendy’s distribution gonna cause us a problem if he’s kicking it as slack as he did there a few mins ago to try find Alonso.

Wheres this Lukaku been? If he had played like this much much more often in games he’d started, maybe he’d of got more goals. Not even just the goal. Just seemed to move a lot more. Not standing about as often. Not disinterested in linking with players.