Manchester United Thread 25/26 - Teamtalk/Transfers/Gossip Mod Note in OP 26.09.24

johnnyryan89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123710817#Comment_123710817

Yup, if you are going to judge him 5 to 10 games into the season you might as well have sacked him back in May and found a new manager.

Iseedeadpixels

But surely after 10 games (just over a 1/4 of the season) and it's still the same with new signings it's not working and change is needed?

JRant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123710852#Comment_123710852

There's a bedding in period for new players as well. It may very well take 5-10 games for things to start to gel properly.

fergiesfolly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123710852#Comment_123710852

What's your definition of not working though... If he has them playing as he wants and I see definite patterns of play, attractive football, a good work ethic and camaraderie within the team and results showing some improvement I'm in till the end of the season.

New front line and a difficult set of opening fixtures is an uphill battle from the start. It won't help the team if they're getting it in the neck when they're only getting going. Let them get on with it and we'll give them our full support.

Iseedeadpixels

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123710869#Comment_123710869

Still being 15th, getting over run in midfield, still poor at defending cut backs.

bucketybuck

Its a bit hard to follow the shifting requirements in here at times.

It had been said that if the team started the season playing as badly as they did last season, that Amorim might finally have to take accountability, no?

But now we are saying that buying 3/4 good players means that he needs more time than that?

fergiesfolly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123710908#Comment_123710908

Personally, I don't think any part of the team functioned correctly last season, from back to front.

Bringing in an entirely new front 3 and possibly more first team replacements, I'm willing to wait while they bed in and the team as a whole, adapts. My expectation is wholesale improvement across-the-board. But that'll take time.

I also think,( as do most I presume) that the rooting out of winging, moaning parasites will have a huge impact on the morale of the squad. And I think that will also have a huge impact on how each player and the squad in general performs this season. So if this squad gells quickly, we could get a massive uplift in results sooner than expected.

FourFourRED

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123710837#Comment_123710837

If after 15 games have been played and say there are no mitigating factors like injuries to multiple first team players, or crazy suspensions - and the team aren’t doing well and are hovering in bottom half of the table below 12th, you can and definitely should judge but judging doesn’t always have to mean sack him. You should be asking yourself why is it not working and could the manager be doing better? You’d be naive not to. There isn’t much left to blame at this point and hopefully less reasons when the transfer window ends. (A GK who could be a starter & Baleba would be so significant).

A lot is different or has changed this season to set Amorim up for success.

• He has been allowed to remove players with a poor attitude and/or ability from the squad (unless some of the ‘bomb squad’ return which would be disappointing)
• He’s been given two forward players with great numbers in the PL
• Sesko coming in maybe wasn’t his first choice but he should be a better performer than Højlund
• Carrington upgrade should reap some benefits
• He’s had a full pre-season. Ideally Sesko and Mbeumo join earlier but these things take time
• No European football means less games, fresher players and more time to train and coach the players.

I don’t see it going as badly as last season, especially as he was gambling on trying to win the EL which ultimately didn’t pay off but league position didn’t really matter much towards the end anyway. My point is basically that Amorim shouldn’t be viewed on either end of the scale only - it shouldn’t be either ‘back him it’s not his fault’ vs ‘sack him’.

If it is still bad by then, what else but not the manager? What will more time achieve? How many other managers would be getting more from this squad? Will 1 or 2 more players make a drastic difference? All of these things would need to be asked instead of just defaulting to it’s the club, it’s not the manager.

I would be very slow to call for him to be sacked anyway because I’m tired of seeing managers come and go and he is very likeable.

JRant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123710908#Comment_123710908

It's almost like there's nuisance to this. We could be sitting in 10th and be 2 or 3 points off top 5 after 10 games. It's a small sample size and hard to make any judgements based on it. Now, if we are playing dogshıt and not getting a sense of the team improving then that's a different conversation but from preseason we've seen better attacking patterns than last season already.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123710968#Comment_123710968

We have been hearing that "attacking patterns are better" since Amorim started, its one of those phrases that has very little meaning any more.

Regardless, we agree that it isn't about league position after 10 games, it is about performance. So if we still aren't scoring goals, can't compete in midfield and are still making mistakes all over the field, then finally people will have to start expecting something from the guy in charge.

It can't be this scenario where if performances improve thats on the manager, but if they continue to be poor that it isn't his fault.

Caustic

WE had awful luck/bad variance/poor finishing in front of goal last season we were -11 under our npxg last season the worst in the league, even if we return to average or a bit below it'd be 10 goals added with no improvement. The worst offender was actually bruno but pretty much every player ended with a minus bar 3.

DataDude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123711066#Comment_123711066

From memory I think we over performed expected goals conceded by a similar margin? The previous season under ETH was one of the biggest outperformances relative to expected in living memory. 15 or so points more than we should have I believe.

This team has had very stable performance of 78 games that indicate we are between 13th-16th best team in the league.

Signings appear to have been great but I fear people are forgetting how big the gap to top 4 really is. I think the squad is at a minimum 2 CMs and a CB (probably 2) from being competitive at the top level. RWB and GK need new starters too.

Caustic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123711080#Comment_123711080

Last season the xga against was 53.8 and we conceeded 54 the season before we did way over perform xga against was 69 and conceeded 58.

I think our lack of scoring put us in lots of bad game states when we should have been winning and also added pressure to the defense and attack, now its hard to say exactly how much everything can improve if finishing alone does but i think itd be fairly significant especially under a manager who at least talks about controlling matches more then whatever ten haggs style evolved into at united.

Also we will have had such high turnover of first team players between 3 seasons ago plus a new manager its hard to say how significant that data is over hose 78 gmaes in terms of predicting this season

JRant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123710988#Comment_123710988

Have we? Because our attack was fairly brutal last year and we couldn't buy a goal for the second half of the season so I'm not sure who was saying that. Our co trol of games greatly improved, we conceded far less chances per game once RA took over. Individual mistakes cost us last season but that was more die to not being able to score.

It's okay to go into this season with a healthy dose of realism as results were awful towards the end of the season. However, if you can't get even a little excited for this coming season with a whole new forward line then I don't know what to say. We'll have plenty of time to give out about certain results and games but for now I'm going to be a bit more optimistic than usual and am.looking forward to this season.

DataDude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123711105#Comment_123711105

Must be different XG models. I was looking at this one which has a different view on XgA for last year.https://understat.com/league/EPL. Similarly different for 23/24.

I do agree with your points around lack of goals negatively impacting everything else and turnover of players/managers.

Caustic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123711117#Comment_123711117

Ah fair enough i use fbref which i think are opta stats the ones the premier league use not sure where understat get thiers.

Ya i wont say im positive going into next season but its funny how much a team cab change even due to a few bits lining up better

DataDude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123711123#Comment_123711123

I think Sesko alone for Hojlund will make a huge difference as at the very least it will see us win/retain significantly more balls in the final 3rd.

I do still have serious concerns the team has never shown any ability to control a game or consistently play out from the back to build attacks. I don’t know if that’s due to the awful midfield personnel or if it’s a system issue.

Headshot

I've been reading up on Baleba and you would expect if he has another great season it'll be near impossible for utd to buy him with the likes of Madrid circling

It's now or never for utd

johnnyryan89

https://youtu.be/dByBJdbrtBs

Needs to happen so Alternative MUFC can play this banger of a song, I'm a Baleba.

Iseedeadpixels

Some unreliable rumours of DCL coming in as backup.

johnnyryan89

Lucky for him United have just updated Carrington so comfy new medical room for him to enjoy.

caviardreams

Sorry if posted already - another inside piece on the sesko deal from The Athletic. Loving some of their stuff recently.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6542893/2025/08/09/benjamin-sesko-manchester-united-transfer-newcastle/

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123711219#Comment_123711219

Unfortunately necessary if we are moving Hojlund. Big downgrade mind.

Iseedeadpixels

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123711252#Comment_123711252

But happy to sit on the bench and at a PSR attractive £0!!! Needs to be on a Michael Owen type contract though.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123711106#Comment_123711106

Its nothing to do with excitement, that is a different topic altogether.

Its about the expectations, and I only noted that the expectations were already starting to be reduced despite good changes having been made and the season not even started yet.

Last season was dogshit. Now we have added good players, pushed out some toxic players, and had a full pre-season. So if we start the season poorly, that should not be handwaved away.

To the 3 lads and their daily "negative nancies will be in soon enough" posts I'll just say this. It isn't negative to think that the team has the tools to do a lot better than they have. Used to be that expecting a good start was considered optimism.

Avon8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123711080#Comment_123711080

Yep we were 15th in the league table for XG (for-against) in the 23/24 season. The writing was completely on the wall then and it was the first huge mistake by Ineos not to trust the numbers at that point and get swayed by the FA cup win. Last year under Amorin was a decent improvement (from a terrible low base) despite real results not turning out that way

I know XG isn't for everyone but it's a very accurate predictor of future performance. Ole's opening run of games where we had an amazing run of results was out performing XG to a ridiculous extent. Pep's first season where he finished third, you could see clear signs of the dominance that was to follow in the years after

johnnyryan89

Last thing the club needs is another wannabe fashion icon. Especially one that's a sick note.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123711287#Comment_123711287

Then its rely on Harry Maguire as emergency striker again. With the better crosses it could well work, I just thought we'd want to somewhat avoid that scenario :pac:

Iseedeadpixels

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123711298#Comment_123711298

Tbf Maguire getting his noggin to a last ditch cross is great to watch 😅

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123711314#Comment_123711314

I'd back Maguire over DCL to actually get on the end of crosses.