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

but then we ONLY have Garncacho and Bruno for the 10.
It is simply unrealistic to think they can both start, never mind finish, every game - so Zirkzee as a 10 option has to be used.

If we lose against Everton, Ipswich and Leicester, we'll be in real relegation trouble. I don't see us getting anything off Arsenal to be honest.

That being said, I see us beating Ipswich and Leicester, so that's relegation pretty much out of the picture (if not mathematically).

Mad to think that's what we're looking at. Even crazier to think that depending on results, we could finish the weekend in 12th or 16th and the table wouldn't look so bad.

If we lose all 3 to Everton, Ipswich and Leicester even I one of Amorims biggest defenders would start to think it's not working and honestly it could happen.

I don't think we will lose all of the upcoming games but my test will be 'are we still playing like a 15th place side?'. We need to start looking like a 7th-10th place team soon, at the very least. That would still be dire but a tangible improvement on what we've been served up so far.

Mitch pretty much covered it. Amorim mentioned the changes he needed to make out of possession due to having Zirkzee at 10.

My overall point would be that it would be beneficial to minimize these changes (stick to Rasmus or Hojlund at 9, together with stopping the WB and midfield changes) until we can nail down a certain way of play both in and out of possession. I think we need that foundation in place, before progressing to other variables.

Well he's lost 8 out of 14 already and I've seen zero improvement in performance.

I don't know who they might get to replace him, it's a mess. Tuchel would have been the obvious solution if he was still available. I'm pretty confident that performances and results would not be anywhere near as bad if we had a manager of that ilk.

Its getting into March and absolutely nobody is even confident of beating Ipswich and Leicester, two sides adrift at the bottom of the table.

This team finished 8th last season and won the FA cup, added 200m worth of players in the summer and let go a ton of deadweight.

And now we aren't sure we can beat Ipswich or Leicester. This ain't right.

If Ipswich & Leicester were to pick up another 4 points or so across their three games in the same period, and Utd are within 5 points of the relegation zone with nine games left, and in absolute freefall, I think Ratcliffe would have to bring in someone to avoid his money going down the drain of the Championship

I will never understand people thinking it would be ok to drop into the championship.

The club is broke, it needs every penny it can get and that means every place it climbs in the PL matters. I think it is about 20m difference in prize money between 8th and 15th, so that is 20m that will be missed right there due to this poor performance.

Just being in the PL gives about 100m, how can they rebuild without that?

Being outside the PL basically means a guarantee of no European football the following year, so good luck budgeting or selling sponsorship based on that.

This whole idea of writing off the season is very shortsighted, every single one of those league places matters right now.

If Amorim was to be sacked, I wonder would he take Berrada and/or Wilcox with him - not as employees obvioulsy but if we ended up sacking him cause of relegation form after 4 months, it would speak terribly to both the decisions of Berrada and Wilcox, as well (and more importantly) the faith the could or would be put in them from that point. Or would it hasten an appointment of a sporting director and remove some of the football authority from Berrada and Wilcox (ie. you don't pick the manager).

I don't think he will be sacked, I think the club have a plan for the summer to support him and get him the profiles needed as I think there is a long term plan and this season is 'just' a horrible bump. But obvioulsy there is a fear that even with the right players we don't gain the performance consistency needed.

I do think that whatever players we buy in the summer will be better long term buys as well though - I think we will be versatile, flexable players with speed and strength - so i don't think we will be in a place where we'd be starting from scratch again if things don't pick up significantly next season, and if Amorim looks like he's guiding us to midtable next season I'd consider him to be under big pressure.

Any failing manager in history can point to flaws/issues in his squad to explain underperformance. I think we've to be careful not to give him a complete pass based on the real squad issues he has. He deserves leeway for the challenges that exist but not a get out of jail free card that absolves him of all responsibility.

It's obvious that there's deep issues with the environment at Utd and that's evident in the performances of players like Rashford and Antony the second they get out the door. While the causes of that can't be laid at Amorim's door, he is supposed to be part of the solution in changing that and I've so far seen zero evidence of him having any sort of positive impact. Given how charismatic he is in front of the media, I'm shocked that it looks like he hasn't been able to improve the environment at the club so far. There's no positive energy coming out of he and his team as a unit. It's all crap.