Are we ready for the start of the season?

I think it's been a disappointing few weeks. I think INEOS's U-turn on Ten Hag was weak, and whatever you think about whether he should be the manager or not the way he ended up staying could not have been more damaging to his authority.

That's been followed up by a list of targets virtually identical to the profiles we went after last summer, injuries, poor performances, and the usual inability to shift players. A lot of this is because of damage done before the summer, and we're stuck trying to clean up a mess, but it's not hugely encouraging for this season.

Frankly, I don't really give a shit about pre-season, but it would have been nice to rebuild the optimism by having something tangible on the pitch to hang on to. On the plus side, no other side looks ready either, so there's still time for us to catch up.
 
Nowhere near ready, probably going to have a worse first 11 against Fulham than we did at the start of last season. Not prioritising a new CDM is terrible planning, IF Casemiro starts the season for us it’ll be the exact same issues we had last year with teams strolling through us shooting at will.
 
ForeverRed1 said:
Not even close. Too many injuries, too similar to the team we had last season. You’d of expected we would have sold a few more of these players but clearly we can’t make people buy our players. They’re expensive, on big wages, it was never going to be easy. Sancho, Maguire, mctom, Casemiro, awb, lindelof probably would have all been sold by now if we had takers willing to pay for them… issue being, we don’t.


We got to hope for a few sales in the next week.
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This comment is spot on and sums up what appears to be the majority of a pessimistic outlook for our future season.
 
Nope, not ready at all.

Its going to be another painful season isnt it :(
 
If you watch the football other teams who we’re supposed to be competing against are playing, absolutely not.
 
Same trajectory as last season, performances in pre-season have marginally improved but not to the extent that United look a consistent team.

I don't think the players and club will benefit with ETH purely from a coaching perspective but he has demonstrated the capacity to win domestic competition. Not necessarily the League / European titles but ones held in less regard.

It's not a coincidence that one-off games the players turn up but longer campaigns are found wanting.
 
The transfer window started out promisingly but our inability to offload players have affected our preparations for the next season.

I'm starting to think with the way international football eats into the footballing calender almost every season nowadays, plus the need to balance the books because of PSR, the transfer window system should be abolished.
 
Just poor planning regarding the DM especially, if we are not signing anyone at least get Amrabat back.
He is much better than Cass at the moment.
 
We need to sign two ball-playing midfielders and get the De Ligt and Mazraoui deals over the line between now and the end of the window to be truly ready to compete.
 
The problem which I think many flagged from memory is you can’t just drop the reputation for being big spenders who will get desperate. It takes time, and losing out on transfers, for selling clubs to realise (hopefully) we aren’t schmucks anymore.

You can see it in the sales as well, holding out for bigger fees when previously we’d have sold in my opinion.

I’m not fussed about charity shield, feel like we should rest most key players. I do worry for when the PL kicks off.
 
My main worry is the injury spree. I’m still confident we’ll be in the hunt for top four but only if we can return to some kind normalcy in terms of fitness.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
The problem which I think many flagged from memory is you can’t just drop the reputation for being big spenders who will get desperate. It takes time, and losing out on transfers, for selling clubs to realise (hopefully) we aren’t schmucks anymore.

You can see it in the sales as well, holding out for bigger fees when previously we’d have sold in my opinion.

I’m not fussed about charity shield, feel like we should rest most key players. I do worry for when the PL kicks off.
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Problem is the players who have not yet played a game due to the tourrnament football need some game time. A couple of behind closed door kick arounds is not really enough. Of course you then are terrified these players pick up an injury. Why do we seem to get pre-season preparations so wrong.
 
Stop crying because of the Liverpool result. 5 of the outfield starting back 6 are not even the team that will play the majority of the season.

Dalot and Mazraoui replace AWB, Shaw replaces Amass, all of Martinez, De Ligt, Maguire, Yoro replace Evans and Lindelof, Mainoo replaces Collyer, Hojlund and Zirkzee replace Sancho.

Garnacho and Bruno will also be in the team.

Why are you all ignoring the fact that most of the starting team vs Liverpool are no where near to the main team?
 
My positivity from maybe a month ago has turned to worry. Early progress in the transfer market gave us all hope, but it’s been quiet ever since and this, coupled with one of the new signings being injured along with Rasmus has given us cause for concern.

That said, there is time and I think transfers will happen in and out. I do worry about the decreasing value of the players we need to shift and the stupid offers being made.

The injuries we pick up are mind boggling and that needs to be addressed, but it’s really too early to panic. We’ll know come September if the pessimism is justified. A lot can change between now and then. I remain hopeful-ish.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
Stop crying because of the Liverpool result. 5 of the outfield starting back 6 are not even the team that will play the majority of the season.

Dalot and Mazraoui replace AWB, Shaw replaces Amass, all of Martinez, De Ligt, Maguire, Yoro replace Evans and Lindelof, Mainoo replaces Collyer, Hojlund and Zirkzee replace Sancho.

Garnacho and Bruno will also be in the team.

Why are you all ignoring the fact that most of the starting team vs Liverpool are no where near to the main team?
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Neither was Liverpool's.
 
The usual inability to shift the highly-paid dross in the squad has resulted in another window of feet dragging and postponement on that much-needed open heart surgery. The end of season fantasies about the Saudis sweeping in to pick up Casemiro's wages and buffet tab have given way to the cold reality that he and all the other wastes of a shirt are still here and it's August. Now we just need a few alarming losses to kick off the season to trigger giving in and paying whatever Bayern want for De Ligt and Mazraoui to complete the Man Utd summer bingo card (with the star prize of bringing Amrabat back on deadline day).
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
Stop crying because of the Liverpool result. 5 of the outfield starting back 6 are not even the team that will play the majority of the season.

Dalot and Mazraoui replace AWB, Shaw replaces Amass, all of Martinez, De Ligt, Maguire, Yoro replace Evans and Lindelof, Mainoo replaces Collyer, Hojlund and Zirkzee replace Sancho.

Garnacho and Bruno will also be in the team.

Why are you all ignoring the fact that most of the starting team vs Liverpool are no where near to the main team?
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I don't see anyone using the Liverpool game as a bearing. I doubt many have seen it, I certainly haven't because I don't care about friendlies, except watching highlights of some players. What people are saying is valid regardless of that.

Also, Mazraoui and De Ligt aren't signed yet.
 
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The-Mezzala said:
Absolutely not ready. We have too much deadwood still at the club. Yoro out, not enough signings, midfield and defence still a worry. Think its going to be another long season
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Agreed.
The INEOS storm appears to have petered out a bit, and there have been no significant outgoings other than Greenwood, which was as easy as falling of a log.
So basically, its pretty much the same squad once again.
 
We’re not. We’re weaker this season than we were last season. It’s gonna be another poor campaign, unfortunately.
 
I’m starting to feel this season will end up being worse than the last given the injury outlook and the increasing probability that we may start the season poorly.
 
Let’s face it, we were never challenging for the title, so top 4 is our best bet. We will probably start off poor but with 3/4 games under their belt, our missing players and any newbies will kick on. So no we are not prepared for the season start, but hopefully it will go like TH first season start where we gradually improved, but not the thumping losses of course.
 
Leftback99 said:
Villa and Chelsea
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Chelsea have signed a lot of players I’ve never heard of - selling their best midfielder last year, have an unproven manager and lost their best defender from last year on a free.

They lost to Man City and were 4-0 down yesterday despite having a stronger eleven out than City.
 
Wumminator said:
Villa have sold two starters (signed two more), lost every single pre season game and have their best attacker yet to link up with their squad.
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You didn't ask how have Villa's pre season results gone. They've strengthened their squad more than we have.
 
Difficult to say for certain but it doesn’t feel like it and if I was EtH I’d feel let down by the club again, we’ve just not been good enough in the transfer market up to now.

EtH will take the blame for a slow start I’m sure, but feels like he’s fighting with one arm tied behind his back imo
 
At this point im not sure we are, half our regular starting XI are going in to the nee season having not played a minute of pre-season (unless there is another game in the week which isnt good for fitness and conditioning plus we still need to sign 1 or maybe 2 wingbacks and a DM to have a squad that can try to compete for top 4 whilst also playing in 3 cup competitions.
 
lex talionis said:
My main worry is the injury spree. I’m still confident we’ll be in the hunt for top four but only if we can return to some kind normalcy in terms of fitness.
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I agree. I feel confident to be in a top 4 battle. Last season shouldn’t happen again.

Pre season means very little in terms of results.
Performances are generally better this preseason compared to last season.

We’ll get the Bayern duo, and we’ll get Ugarte.
We’ll get rid of McTominay, AWB and maybe Lindelof.
I haven’t ruled out saying bye to Sancho too.

The squad will look more balanced before the window closes and I’m sure with the Euros/Copa guys coming back things will be better.
 
Wumminator said:
Chelsea have signed a lot of players I’ve never heard of - selling their best midfielder last year, have an unproven manager and lost their best defender from last year on a free.
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They've bought Leicester's best player, replaced 39 year old Silva with a decent PL proven CB. And will have 3 starters in James, Lavia and Nkunku back from injury who were all unavailable for most of last season. Also changed an under performing manager
 
Leftback99 said:
They've bought Leicester's best player, replaced 39 year old Silva with a decent PL proven CB. And will have 3 starters in James, Lavia and Nkunku back from injury who were all unavailable for most of last season. Also changed an under performing manager
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We have signed one of the best young prospects in the world, a back up striker and have Mount, Shaw and Martinez back who were unavailable for most of last season.
 
We're nowhere near ready and as it stands, I expect ten Hag to be gone by Christmas.

Casemiro should have been shipped out last summer, yet we're keeping him for another season as our valuation is too high as we don't want it representing a loss on FFP/PSR.

We need to sell AWB, McTominay and Lindelof and bring in a RB, de Ligt and Ugarte to try and salvage things as the squad is too light.
 
Wumminator said:
We have signed one of the best young prospects in the world, a back up striker and have Mount, Shaw and Martinez back who were unavailable for most of last season.
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What question is that answering?
 
Even though we are improving the structure and inner workings of the club with proper football people but at the end of the day we still have Ten Hag as our manager and injuries won't let up, so next season is more likely to be a repeat of the last.
 
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