Manchester United Thread 25/26 - Teamtalk/Transfers/Gossip Mod Note in OP 12.02.26

Maybe we're just sick of losing and being sh!te, and just want to see the club moving forward.

Take away the two cups under Ten Hag, it's been a constant sh!tshow of underachievement since Mourinho (and that was limited to secondary competitions). More than that, it's been poor football bar a few times under Olé where it seemed to click for a while.

I think a lot of fans are just frustrated, and very frustrated at the same mistakes being made over and over and over again. Big name castoffs from other clubs, huge money for unproven players, panic buys (did we need to bring back Ronaldo?), young players not improving like players of similar ages at other clubs. Different managers, bad managerial appointments. Lack of ambition too, everything feels flat. The coaching in the club, the S&C/medical side of things that sees us with so many sick notes and lacing fitness, the debt. The whole thing is frustrating, oft times infuriating.

We just want something to go right for the club, and seeing players rip it up at other clubs and then come to United and fall apart or not develop at all, or fall flat performance wise, well it all adds to the frustration. In all honesty, Bruno apart, when was the last time we brought in a player and they developed into a world class talent during their time at the club? And then the players get questioned as to why the standard that brought them to United, isn't being hit at United.

But it's less about the player I feel, and more about the frustration at not seeing any overall improvement on the field for years on end. All a player does is put a face to that frustration, and some players, because of their massive fee, record somewhere else, reputation, or whatever, become more of a focus for that frustration. We'd love to see every one of them rip it up, but when they don't, that frustration comes up again. Of course it doesn't help when we blow up ordinary players as the next big thing simply because they joined United, and they don't live up to expectation either, but players not playing to their potential, well it grates like fcuk.

Still though, it's just general frustration. And until we start competing again, really competing, then a lot of it will feel like wasted money on players/managers that are not good enough, and fans will grumble and lash out at whatever, and some players become the face of that.

I think we're just sick of the situation, and see no hope of it changing soon, and try to find the reason why, and some players get the brunt of it.

There'll be no deviation from the system. The system is all. It'll be (assuming everyone is fit);

Lemmens

Dalot - Yoro - De Ligt - Shaw - Dorgu

Bruno - Mainoo/Ugarte

Mount - Cunha

Sesko/Zirkzee

Heaven or Martinez to be the first substitution as well.

Many ex-players, journalists and a huge number of fans have already run of out patience with him. Personally, most of the patience I see comes from INEOS who have backed him publicly.

Which is a whole other discussion really.

I mean sesko was highly rated and in high demand Newcastle at least were in for him. And a number of premier league clubs were interested in him. Everyone said we needed a striker this season especially after last season. If anything it was Cuhna Mebumo who one would argue should not have been signed over a midfielder.

Isak, Etikhie, Gyokeres, Sesko, Woltermade, Wissa were pretty much the striking options that were signed this summer.

We are obviously behind a number of clubs so our options were the last 3, maybe Watkins (who himself had had a very poor season) people can complain but they also need to be realistic, this is the market united are working in.

And sesko has shown so much more he is an huge upgrade on hojund how quickly people forget him losing every ball played up to him and falling over constantly when wrestling defenders he has like playing with 10 last season, and That's just sesko being ok. That's how bad hojund was

The problem in the middle of the park will persist no matter who we bring in until one of Amorim or Bruno leaves or Amorim changes to 3 in the middle of the park. Say we bring in one of Wharton / Anderson / Baleba, then you still have the problem with them having to play with Bruno. Bring in two of them well then what happens to Bruno ?

I don't see any improvement in our mid field unless we go 433 or Bruno goes

Bringing in two would mean our midfield wont immediately disintegrate when Casemiro leaves the pitch.

I know Bruno is the cause of most if not all our ills for some but Case's age is the biggest issue in midfield. If Case leaves we already would need 2 to replace him regardless of Bruno's future. Let Bruno and Case leave we'll need 4 by right but more likely 3 and pray Mainoo suddenly develops dramatically into a world class playmaker.

For anyone that's wondering, as it stands, our PL record this season after 16 games is;

P/16 - W/7 - D/5 - L/4 - GF/30 - GA/26 - GD/+4 - PTS/26

At our current rate, this translates to a 38 game record of;

P/38 - W/17 - D/12 - L/9 - GF/71 - GA/62 - GD/+9 - PTS/62

For the record, that would have been good enough for 8th place last season (24/25), 7th in 23/24 (we finished in 8th that season), and 7th in 22/23 (we finished 3rd with 75 points).

So we're on track for 7th/8th in the table on the average of the last 3 seasons.

You have heard of Mainoo ?? Collyer to come back in. He will play Bruno every minute there is. So as I said unless he changes system or Bruno goes its irrelevant who we bring in

Is that the guy who is seen as Bruno's back up? The one I mentioned in my post at 3:44? So how does he address the squads "single holding midfielder" issue - the same one that Mainoo is not currently addressing this year? How does Mainoo fix that next year, Unless you mean Mainoo's brother is actually a world class holding midfielder we can sign?

Our current holding midfielders are Casemiro and the unplayable Ugarte (guess you didn't hear off him if you cited Mainoo instead).

Thats why 2 DMs are needed if Case leaves, hes currently the only playable one so we'd need a new starter AND new backup. Thats why I've advocated keeping Case on a reduced contract next year to act as that back up to Wharton/Anderson/Ederson.

We need two good CMs either way, imo.

Casemiro's time is running out. He clearly tires around the 60 minute mark.

Bruno is not suited to playing centre midfield. Ugarte has not worked out. Collyer is not good enough.

Whether Amorim stays or not, there are some questions about Mainoo. He showed great promise in the 23/24 season, but can he do it consistently? Hard to give a convincing answer when Amorim plays him so little - but his form had dipped prior to RA's arrival anyway.

And it's clear Kobbie needs legs and athleticism around him in midfield to be effective.

Our game load is exceptionally light this season; No European football. No Carabao cup games (bar one horrific outing in August).

Fatigue and rotation are definitely important factors to consider, we have to at least aim and plan for European games next year. And with that comes a need for a larger squad.

I said EtH should have been sacked.
I also said 8th flattered us because it did, we were saved by hero moments from Bruno and McT at times. We are a 15th place side by performance, imo.

8th, by performance, would be an improvement on that. but imo if we finish below 6th I'd have no problem with Amorim being sacked for it. it would be a failure.

But I'd also argue that deciding whether there is progress, or sufficient progress, based purely on position or points, is stupid.

I don’t agree with this at all, I mean obviously Casemiro is nearer the end of his career than the beginning but he’s still a very important player for this United team.

To say he’s not related to a DM is miles off to be honest… not making any tackles or interceptions ( I’m not sure that’s true) against Bournemouth is a shallow way to Judge a number six anyway.

A defensive midfielders job isn’t just about counting tackles , its positioning, screening passing lanes, slowing transitions and organising the midfield.Casemiro often holds his zone to prevent passes rather than diving in, ( this doesn’t show in tackle stats) he doesn’t always get this right ( he’s human) and when he doesn’t he picks up yellow cards.

I think he’s been excellent this season, he does so much that goes unseen and it’s only when he leaves the field we can appreciate how vulnerable we become without him.

Casemiro is finished. Any guy who can only manage 60 mins a week due to not having g the legs should be nowhere near Manchester United. As well as that he's not playing as a holding 6 which is why we have so many problems in middle of the park. Both himself and Bruno get caught too far up the pitch and our centre have stated why too deep

You seem to be missing my point re new players. Say we bring in both Anderson and Wharton in Jan. Amorim will still play Bruno as one of the 2 pivots meaning you can only play either of the 2 new lads. Problem still exists that we get overrun in the middle of the park because Amorims system requires both middle of the park players to push up. So nothing changes until Amorim either changes his system or is replaced or Bruno goes and Mainoo / Anderson comes in beside a Wharton

I can't see Anderson or even Wharton signing for us. They will have a list of suitors after them.

I'm only using them as examples...replace with whoever will sign for us