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

Both can be true though.

He can be performing poorly, making poor decisions and also have been badly supported this summer. This is what our new Footballing dept / structure was brought in to avoid!!

The point is not to defend Ruben and his system - at this stage it's clear as day it isn't working and doesn't suit the players.

The point is Ruben is the manager (and still is) because our football department looked at his work in Sporting and decided we wanted to move forward with a similar setup here.

We get Ruben to the club, get through a shitshow of a season and then we start developing doubts, concerns after the manager who has a very specific system fails badly with a squad who aren't setup for that system

At that stage there are 2 options :

1 - make sure he has the players to play the system you hired him for, if he fails after that there are no excuses and move to another manger who can work that system or similar as it matches up with your long term vision for the club still.

2 - pull the plug as his setup no longer matches up with the longer term vision at the club. Replace with someone who does.

What you DON'T DO is sign players who aren't as needed because they are available or more getable and then persist with the guy who you know won't change or adapt his system(which you brought him to the club to play).

We have a reduced schedule this season so we could have got by with Bruno, Mount, Zirkzee, Mainoo and Amad for the 10 roles. With a better striker and better midfield either side of them they would have been fine, not perfect but fine. Certainly less of a drop off when you compare other areas.

We NEEDED a Striker who could step in straight away.
We NEEDED a Keeper who could step in straight away.
We NEEDED a new center midfielder x2.
We NEEDED wing backs to make the system work better if we are to persist with it.

Instead we got 2 new players to play 10, a position we argurably needed the least reinforcing in.

A young striker who will need time to adapt to replace our failing young striker who was struggling to adapt.

A young Keeper who had just broke into the 1st team for a Belgium club side 12 months before - again will likely need time / may never be good enough.

No center midfielder, no wing back.

Promoted our 2nd choice keeper who wasn't good enough to displace our 1st choice keeper who wasn't good enough.

Ruben has lost my faith with his decisions but those above the manager are STILL making incredibly poor decisions.

That is a **** hand to deal any manager, weather Ruben is good enough or not is a separate issue!!

Dorgu got his first PL assist, in todays new world of zero expectations being placed on Manchester United players or managers, that is clearly a successful month for him.

Excellent synopsis of where United are right now. If it was as simple as replace Amorim with a more competent Coach, the fix you feel could be relatively straightforward.

But it's difficult to:

a) Understand how the Ineos recruitment policy in the Summer aligned with this Coach's vision of how he wants the team to play

b) Have much faith that Ineos will get the next big decision right, because almost every decision during the last 16 months have been poor ones

Like many fans, I'm incredibly frustrated by some of the things RA is, or is not doing. And he has to answer for his mistakes and there have been plenty of those.

But I do really believe Berrada & Co. are showing considerable incompetence here also.

One thing I know about this forum is that if you dare criticise anything then you are just a negative nancy, so despite INEOS making mistake after mistake, there are people who don't like it being discussed.

Pointing out INEOS flaws is like pointing out early in the transfer window that the transfer policy is all wrong. All you get is people saying its too soon to know that.

Anyway, regardless of that. Regardless of INEOS making mistakes, that still is not a reason to overthink the new manager appointment.

The vast, vast majority of manager appointments are a complete crapshoot. Good managers fail, bad managers go on a run and pick up a trophy. Most of the time it hinges on a few sliding doors moments, a player getting injured or a goal being given. Then you get momentum and it goes from there.

Very few managers are as incompetent as Amorim, most have at least a baseline and thats why the new manager bounce is a thing. At the other end of the scale, very few are genuinely Ancelotti style guarantees.

So just do the due diligence, do the interviews, pick one and get the **** on with it. And if he fails, then do it again, and again, until you get the one that works.

I know the club has been burned before, but there is no need to overthink this at all.

I don't really care if people criticise INEOS, I just see it as a waste of time. It's not really constructive. They're the ones in sporting control, if you want to try to change that then maybe get a flight to Manchester and get your placards out, and see how you get on. Maybe set up a protest account on Twitter. Or if you want to argue for the Glazers to resume decision making on the team, knock yourself out.

At least when we're discussing team selections, transfers and managers, we can debate over realistic alternatives and scenarios that are possible and might actually happen.

If anything we have given managers too much time. Have any gone on to do anything great? We need to act quicker and eventually one will click.

Misleading tag line on the video, "we are going to change the system" obviously to get utd fans to watch it thinking there's some big reveal. 🙄 He didn't mention anything about the system or changing it, unless there's more of the interview to be released!

Bruno won't be dropped.

Football is a funny old game isn't it, glasner name is rightly being touted as a possible replacement for Amorim especially as he plays a 3atb.

To play devil's advocate a little this time last year or close enough Palace had played 8 games had no wins, just above the relegation zone there was starting to be plenty of talk about him being moved on from palace, people giving out about the formation etc even after 18 games they were 16th 3 points of relegation and no one would be looking at him for the united job.

Fast forward 9 months and he is a very hot property and being widely regarded as doing an excellent job at place again rightly so after being unbeaten for so long and an Fa cup, charity shield and most recently beating the champions fairly easily.

Of course there are obvious caveats, palace aren't united, he had a great start to his palace career so had credit in the bank, was dealing with losing his best players etc

This isn't a post saying Amorim should get more time but i was just looking at the table last season earlier and was thinking how perceptions can change so quickly in football especially these days and that it's a funny old game