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

I'm not sure we've seen signs of any significant culture change. Don't get me wrong, its great to get rid of some of those listed, we've gotten rid of some negatives, but I'm not seeing any real signs of positive changes. We seem to be in the midst of another bad egg forming in Mainoo for example... Not that I think he's a bad egg, but it's in the making due to many factors.

2025 is an important year, it's more or less the end of the honeymoon period (bit of a stretch to call it that I know) for Ineos. They'll soon move away from the relatively nice position / period of being able to talk about fixing other people's problems... and will likely have to start fixing some of their own problems soon.

Will 2025 go down as some watershed moment... There's not a lot pointing to that at the moment other than getting rid of a few of those players.

It could be the year that Ineos signed an unknown keeper to solve their problem, the year that they persisted with Bruno in CM due to going all out on two no.10's, the year they created Hojlund 2.0 by repeating the same mistake, the year that they didn't act fast enough on the manager they went all in on.

I hope things get better but there's nothing to say they can't get worse either. That's my cheery thought for the day.

Seven managers in twelve years.

That’s the stat. That’s the cycle. And that’s what’s driving people bananas.

How on earth can you look at that and not see the problem is beyond the manager. The constant reset, the rinse-and-repeat chaos.

Until that cycle breaks, nothing changes.

The club keeps hiring the wrong guy, so you end up in the same position. With the exception of Amorim, the decision to appoint all managers post Fergie has been made not by experienced football people, but by bankers.

But besides that, other than Moyes, it's not like any of them weren't given plenty of time. They were all left in place until they were stinking the place out.

Unfortunately INEOS came in and immediately made the wrong decision in retaining Ten Hag. They then brought in Amorim who had to be pushed into the job mid season. It started badly and got worse from there. I think it was game over after Grimsby. Persisting with him for another month or two, probably until the next international break, only writes off another season.

Just bring in Roy Keane for the rest of the season.

Lol. He'd be a disaster.

I agree. Its been 5 games into a season where people predicted we'd finish around 8th.. 6th at a push.

Game 1: Arsenal at home. Based on how we played, we should have at least got a draw. An expected result for a team that would finish around 8th.
Game 2: Fulham Away. Unlucky to draw this, should have put it to bed in the first half. An expected result for a team that would finish around 8th.
Game 3: Grimsby. A shocker, no excuse.
Game 4: Home win to Burnley. Scraped a win really, but dominated this game. An expected result for a team that would finish around 8th.
Game 5: City away. We didn't play well at all, but lost away to City. An expected result for a team that would finish around 8th.

People said they could accept losses or draws if we look like the team is making progress and playing a bit better. We all knew it was a difficult start to the season, but there have been definite signs of improvement. We need a convincing win somewhere to build the confidence to go and score goals and put teams to bed.

Amorim might not work out, and I know it doesn't look great, but I've no apatite to tear it up and start again with someone new just yet. Get through this tough start, get a few wins on the board and see how we are in a few months at least.

He’s persisting with playing our best player out of position where’s he’s not as effective. Constantly, every game.

Theres a lot him and the club have done right off the pitch in the past 12 months but on the pitch, its the worst it’s been in 30 odd years.

He’s had 12 months to make us semi decent. Hes utterly failed, the Europa League Final should’ve been his swan song. Desperate that game and Bruno one of the worst on the pitch. We hear he needs new players for his system but sure all managers want new players - make do with what you have and improve the players at your disposal. I’m sick of listening to him tbh.

Spurs got a similar bounce from Ange and the media and people were raving about him for his first 5 or 6 months. That went south quickly. I like Franke but wouldn't be judging him at spurs yet.

Franke, Glasner and Ireola are good managers but I think they would carry the same risk as any other manager coming in. A huge jump in expectations and pressure compared to any job they've had so far.

I wouldn't want Van Nistelrooy near the job but in fairness he had the best run of results of any manager in the last few years. He had Ugarte and Casemiro playing well in midfield and won what 4 out of 5 games?

I'd be unhappy if Amorim isn't given at least another 5 games. I'd still give him the season but I'd understand why some would want him gone.

On another point.....I've been reading through the posts here, what's been written in the press and the never ending inputs from former players and worse post match interviews from current players. And what stands out with all of it, is that everyone still treats Manchester United as a big club. We're not. We haven't been for a while now. There's a big stadium. A big fan base. And a big financial arm. But we are not a big club. Big clubs win or compete for the big prizes. And we're nowhere near. Everyone talks like all we need is the tweak this or that and all of a sudden, the sleeping giant that is Manchester United will suddenly burst back to life and rule the PL again. And that's not happening. Liverpool fooled themselves for three decades that they could bounce back if only...... something. And it took a mammoth overhaul for LFC to retake the summit. But they have.

It'll be the will, skill and determination of the management Glazer/Ineos and the manager / coach be that Amorim or whoever that might be.

But we go nowhere while we all believe that all we need is the name Manchester United and some magic dust sprinkled on top to reignite the winning machine we once were.

Accept we're a mid level club and that it will take a herculean effort to bridge the gap to the top and we might have a better mindset to achieve that aim.

Yeah and I wouldn't even put us in the same category as Milan and Juve. They are big clubs but they're missing the revenues to be able to compete with the most powerful clubs in the future. Liverpool were also in this category recently but being in the Premier League gave them the opportunity to move out of it (for now).

Utd have never been in that category and probably won't anytime soon because they're too big, they'll continue to generate massive revenues for the foreseeable future.

Expectations are broadly set by what a club can do financially, not the sporting success they've achieved in recent years.

From Ineos' perspective, I think they'll definitely give him those 5 games. We/they still haven't seen the front 3 they've invested so heavily in play together yet (for any decent period of time), so time will be given. 6 or 7 points from those 5 games probably gets him another month or so as well. Hard to see 7 points from those games at present though.

Amorim is their guy, their decision, they won't be quick to get rid of him / acknowledge a mistake of their own.

The inability to score is a more pressing concern (and has been for some time under Amorim).

We have 1 non penalty/OG goal in 4 PL games. That is astonishing.

We weren't exactly free scoring under EtH either, remember Big Wout up front.

It's so odd given the attacking talent we have and have had.

Hopefully they go on and win it now.