Addressing two common trains of thought at the moment

[Ali Dia]

Onana, De Ligt, Yoro, Nouss and Ugarte all look like upgrades in their positrons and age groups. What the next manager needs to do is get the forwards working for each other and helping the team going backwards. I think we need to tighten it up a lot, be more pragmatic and our quality will hopefully shine through. We have a lot of quality but we’ve too many players gone off the boil, injured or looking unmotivated at the same time. Hopefully a fresh positive manager can get a lot more out of the likes of Rashford or else we finally sell him and be done with it.

 

[TheReligion]

Then you and I have completely different mindsets. I don’t particularly enjoy supporting what was once an elite sporting institution that’s gradually become a laughingstock in the past decade and watch us flouder in ineptitude. Something like that is t going to make me sit back and smell the roses and say “at least we had a good night, that’s better than some clubs!”.

If that’s how you feel then more power to you but just because others don’t, it doesn’t mean they are “spoiled” or being overly negative, especially in the instance that we’ve probably gone through the worst 18 months of performances (barring a game or two) in the modern history of the club. Expecting fans to smell the roses and be happy to be alive after that is a bit naive, any fanbase will be a bit jaded after that.

We do have different mindsets and with all due respect perhaps you need to open your eyes a little.

No one is saying accept the unacceptable but if you can’t appreciate the trophies, moments and certain nights of magic, many of which will never be seen or felt by the rest of the league, then you’re not thinking bigger picture.

I wanted EtH gone and I’m happy with Amorim. I’m still able to acknowledge the moments the team gave us under him though. I’m also able to look to the future and prefer to see the positives we have moving forward as a club rather than hone in on everything negative.

It’s interesting really as posters want the atmosphere around the club to improve, and suggest misery under Ten Hag, whilst coming on the Caf to whinge about anything they can now he’s gone to whoever who will listen.

 

[sunama]

I have to agree with @TheReligion. The forum has become increasingly negative and cynical of late, to unnecessary levels.

Well, we are in 13th place, which is the lowest league placing we've had (at this stage of the season) for decades.
So yes, given that we have had the worst start to the season in decades, it follows that the negativity will also be at its highest ever on this forum.
Conversely, if in the next couple of years, we are in 1st place in November, I promise you that there will be a lot of positivity on this forum.

The posts on this forum reflect our performances on the pitch.

 

[Solius]

Well, we are in 13th place, which is the lowest league placing we've had (at this stage of the season) for decades.
So yes, given that we have had the worst start to the season in decades, it follows that the negativity will also be at its highest ever on this forum.
Conversely, if in the next couple of years, we are in 1st place in November, I promise you that there will be a lot of positivity on this forum.

The posts on this forum reflect our performances on the pitch.

13th is just a number this early on. We're also 4 points off third.

I guess that's a perfect example of outlooks people choose!

 

[bringbackbebe]

Most people underestimate how bad a squad we had end Ranknick and the slow upgrades to position that's been happening since. Below is a like for like comparison between the two seasons. Except LB and ST, we've had a vast improvement in almost all other areas. ETH could not elevate the levels of play from these group players but he definitely did improve the squad and overall culture. Hopefully Amorim can help existing players improve their levels.

2021-22​	2024-25​	Remarks​
David de Gea​	André Onana​	Downgrade – but only slightly​
Dean Henderson​	Altay Bayındır​	Upgrade – Improved attitude​
Eric Bailly​	Lisandro Martínez​	Upgrade​
Phil Jones​	Leny Yoro​	Upgrade​
Harry Maguire​	Harry Maguire​	Upgrade – over 21-22 Maguire​
Raphaël Varane​	Matthijs de Ligt​	Upgrade – younger, less injury prone​
Victor Lindelöf​	Victor Lindelöf​	Downgrade – due to injury issues​
​	Jonny Evans​	Extra Player​
Aaron Wan-Bissaka​	Noussair Mazraoui​	Upgrade​
Alex Telles​	Tyrell Malacia​	Downgrade due to injury issues​
Diogo Dalot​	Diogo Dalot​	Upgrade – over 21-22 Dalot​
Luke Shaw​	Luke Shaw​	Downgrade due to injury issues​
Fred​	Casemiro​	Upgrade​
Nemanja Matić​	Manuel Ugarte​	Upgrade​
Paul Pogba​	Kobbie Mainoo​	Upgrade​
Scott McTominay​	Mason Mount​	Downgrade​
Donny van de Beek​	Christian Eriksen​	Upgrade​
Bruno Fernandes​	Bruno Fernandes​	No Change​
Marcus Rashford​	Marcus Rashford​	No Change​
Juan Mata​	Amad​	Upgrade​
Mason Greenwood​	Alejandro Garnacho​	Upgrade – due to off field issues of former​
Jadon Sancho​	Antony​	No Change – both terrible​
Cristiano Ronaldo​	Rasmus Højlund​	Downgrade? Depends​
Anthony Martial​	​	Upgrade – frees up wages​
Edinson Cavani​	Joshua Zirkzee​	Downgrade​
Anthony Elanga​	Ethan Wheatley​	No Change – Elanga was never United level​
Jesse Lingard​	​	Upgrade – no more antics from him​

 

[JE-365]

IMO the overall of our creativity and attacking players in the squad are average or below average. The money that we spent on Mount (£55m), Zirkzee (£35m), Hojlund (£60m), and Antony (£79m) wasn’t good enough to replace the previous attackers. I feel that it was bad investment because in term of creativity and attacking players, I think we had far better when Ole was in charged.

The front four of Bruno, Pogba, Cavani and Greenwood or Bruno, Rashford, Martial, and Greenwood were far more exciting and more balanced than what we are currently have.

On the positive note, we have new head coach who’s going to play a system and formation that we haven’t use before and I’m excited to see how this will affect the current squad. It might suit our attackers more and we could see massive improvement in their performance, which will make the money we spent look much better than what I feel right now.

Another positive note, I thought we have better characters in our squad than what had previously. ten hag tried to invested the money on players with some likeable characters to win trophies.

 

[Sir Erik ten Hag]

Right now the only player I would absolutely 100% write off would be Lindelof and even then a niggling voice at the back of my mind complains

Other than that I am happy to give every other single player a mostly clean slate, only mostly clean because if they do not pick up their prior dirty slate will be re-instated.

I was ready to write off Dalot, possibly one of the worst players I had ever seen, but unbelievably under ETH he improved 100 fold, if possibly one of the worst players I have ever seen in a utd shirt can turn it around under the worst Man utd manager I have ever seen, well then I am willing to believe anything can happen

The players who had the most dramatic turnaround at United to me was Fellaini. He went from an absolutely hated transfer to a decent midfielder under Van Gaal and Mourinho.