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

The goalkeeper situation is concerning me I must admit.

In some ways it should be easier to address than the midfield. A short term stop gap wouldn't help much in midfield because Casemiro and Ugarte are already in that category, although Ugarte needs to seriously get his head out of his hole.

In goal, a stop gap would be a considerable upgrade on what we have.

So when Donarumma, Costa, Lammens are all being linked with big teams for sensible money (other than Donarumma) but we don't seem to have any serious links, I do fear that we're going to stick with what we have.

It should not be difficult to upgrade that position.

This is just a popularity contest. To suggest that Maguire, Casemiro, Mata, McTominay etc. were actually better football players for man united than Pogba is so nonsensical it’s not even worth discussing. This is why stats are so important. They cut through bias.

Yes he was toxic. Yes he was dislikeable. But his on field contributions is not remotely comparable to that lot.

Rashford is the only one who could possibly have a realistic shout in that list. De Gea obviously but it was outfielders only.

The only guy I added because I liked him more is Mata. The others all, despite what stats tell you, have contributed more positively to Manchester United. As I outlined in my opening post stats will tell you whatever you want them to tell you, I remember the games with Pogba and all the issues around his best position(s) and the requirements to free him up etc etc. Simply put Paul Pogba is not the second best player at Manchester United over the past decade.

And why are you excluding GKs? As we've seen on Sunday GKs contribute massively to teams being either successful or failures

In your opinion. The facts would (overwhelmingly and in every possible way) suggest otherwise.

If you were to ask all the players and mangers of the time - who was a more impactful and important player for Man United. McTominay or Pogba, you would get more than a few chuckles.

This is just revisionism and bias for a player who is very dislikeable vs one that is very likeable. It’s also comparing a player absolute performance vs the expectations placed on them.

Here is an actual player and captain who played with him talking about him. Couldn’t be more true. Best player on the pitch (which he regularly was) or absolutely slated. https://youtube.com/shorts/fSDiZ36CdcY?si=mLPzyjMBzDSACckt

Interesting that Gary Neville could finish in top 4 this Season on MNS…….providing they sign a decent keeper ASAP……

Is this a backhanded dig at Amorim and the board that likes of Onana are going to cost us 10-15 points this Season?

Bayindir has has already cost us at least 1.

It’s boring waiting around for the next game but never boring enough to feel the need to revisit the Paul Pogba debate

Not more Pogba debates

I'll just say this:

Look at the slack that Hojlund has been cut despite being by far and away our worst first choice #9 in PL history over a decent sample size.

Media spin and player personality can have an oversized influence on fan perspective when it comes to judging a player's performance levels. There's clearly often a struggle to separate these dimensions and it can certainly be seen with Pogba (in a directly opposite sense to Hojlund).

He's a great all rounder, probably not as physical as Baleba but his stats are impressive. He scored at the weekend too.

Edit: Just to say, the most Baleba-esque substitute knocking around is Dario Essugo at Chelsea. He was signed for around 20m from Sporting during the summer but will struggle to get minutes at Chelsea. We should be hitting them up for a loan because he'd do better than either Casemiro or Ugarte. Essugo and Agoume together would be a real game changer for our midfield.

Essugo + £25 mill for Garnacho . Problem solved and we can go and buy Agoume

Nah I summoned it when I suggested him as one of the worst value signings.

I shoulda known its like feckin Candyman, just say that name once and it opens the portal to summon the "STATISTICS",

Unrelated but I think everyone can agree that - damn Tony Todd was such a badass. Fúcker held two separate great horror franchises for decades. He is a legend, that voice was hypnotic.

Would be great, but Essugo has just landed at Chelsea so they won't sell him. We could certainly take him on loan, reduce the Garnacho fee accordingly and then buy Agoume if Sevilla would sell him this late into the window.

Especially when you consider Chelsea got £25M for Ugochukwu and are willing to listen to bids for Chukwuemeka if an offer close to his £40M release clause is offered.

Hjulmand is an average player. Looks good in the league he is in. If he was any use one of the Spanish Clubs would have picked him up