Manchester United Teamtalk/Transfer/Gossip 23/24 - [New Thread Available]

I’d agree with most of that, the only thing that does irk me is why he wasn’t allowed out out on loan. You can’t keep a player like that just for League cup games. But Donny is not the first player in the world to be signed by a club and not used by the manager, so I’m not sure why people are getting so upset about it.

Somebody compared it to Jose and shaw! Jose kept insisting Shaw publicly and basically called shaw a lazy idiot and that Jose had to do all the thinking for him, not exactly the same is it?

Id still love to know why he was signed. Was the expectation that Pogba would be sold? I don’t believe signings are made simply because a manager says they want a player so I don’t know how people confidently lay the blame of signings on a managers door. Particularly at a club that has a predictable history of making stupid and bad signings.

A managers role has changed a lot over the years and their job now is primarily manage the squad they are given . The days of a Barry fry actually negotiating with a player are long gone. There has to be a process with the manager involved to different degrees on different transfers. Donnys signing reminds me a bit like Matas, a quality looking signing for a decent price and very attainable but not necessarily one that the team needs.

Honestly I don’t know. I’d like to see more of Donny to see what he can do, it feels like Ole is suffering what a lot of United managers suffer when they don’t want to take many risks with squad and play the same “trusted” players.

when I think of Darren Fletcher I think of McTominey, maybe unfairly or because of similarities. Fletcher was not an exceptional central midfielder, neither was carrick. I remember how much abuse (unfairly) Carrick used to get on RTE for passing the ball sideways and back so much.

He was an extremely reliable central midfielder who helped things transition and tick over but remarkably unremarkable at any one particular trait. Not an exceptional passer , tackler or shot. His passing was good but he wasn’t doing scholes defence splitting passes every week.

I don’t see why Fred or McT can’t be that consistent sort of midfielder. Perhaps it’s down to the balance of the team and the lack of a system many highlight. If a better tactical minded manager came in, why couldn’t these midfielders be as good as Liverpool’s central midfield that seems to be fine regardless of who plays in it.

Maybe they aren’t good enough but I think they may suffer because of Oles limitations.

I was thinking there about teams under Ferguson. I’m fairly sure John O shea played central midfield a couple of times and remember fletcher and Carrick (and others ) playing centre back. I think those two might of actually played as our central defence in one game (was it against Fulham?). I think Ferguson was able to do that regularly , play players in different positions without massive drop in standards.

I mean Park had some engine on him but he wasn’t the worlds best central midfielder. This ties in with the complaints against Ole that he has no identifiable team system that the makes things work. You can play in a way where McT and Fred do a job that is enough for the team.

Actually reminds me that uniteds transfer and squad building issues didn’t just start in 2013 it’s just that SAF was far superior at papering over the cracks.

I think you can’t paper over Oles deficiencies but it’s hard to not look at the squad and see it as unbalanced. It’s kind of like a half galactico hybrid without the Makele to protect the defence. This is why the DM role is so important, you nearly need a Kante level type player if you are going to have 4-5 attacking players further up the park. Otherwise you need 2 solid central midfielders.

What is a shame is that, Ole or not, it does look like one really top DM and the team will definitely challange at the top.

Ole, for me, needs to start dropping and rotating under performing players. Greenwood’s been poor, Rooney had to work hard out the wing so don’t want to hear any nonsense about how the youngster should be facilitated anywhere else. Put your head down, work hard and just do your job.

Bruno is a funny one, hard to have him rested or dropped , he works so hard in fairness but sometimes feels like games are passing him by. But like Ronaldo, Bruno can make something out of nothing.

The elephant in the room is Pogba. I think of him kind of like Ruud in his final season. Ruud was the best out and out striker I ever saw at United, just lethal. But in his final year , saf wanted to change how the team played, build it around Ronaldo but also Saha. I remember the league cup final where United were superb with Saha leading the line and they looked more like a great team.

it wasn’t that Ruud wasn’t exceptional player, he was and he was by far our best striker. But when he played he had to be the focal point and the team “suffered” or was limited in how it could play. I think shoehorning Pogba (who is top quality when he performs) has been a problem for Ole and Jose. It’s not actually the managers fault IMO as neither were allowed to offload the player.

The player was looking for a move since 2017, it’s not that the club couldn’t possibly of sold him. But this doesn’t look on paper like something a United manager should get sympathy for. “Oh poor Jose/Ole having to figure out how to fit a world class central midfielder into their team”. Same thing happens with Moyes and Mata and it’s a reaccuring theme at the club that’s easy to dismiss.