Are we sleepwalking into a disaster?

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Our starting 11 has plenty of skill and talent. Lacking depth in the front 3. Defence depth is good and midfield depth isn't the worst in that we have depth for our most important player in it (Bruno/Eriksen). Even with Fred, I think Garner could be a very able deputy. Attack needs depth urgently.
 
One bad half (mostly with reserves) and we are back.
 
Frank Grimes said:
We have a top coach imo. Our squad looks bereft of skill and talent though. We play in 2 weeks. Are we fecked?
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There is no walking towards disaster, we are already in the middle of it. We have become a meme club over the last decade, but now with a proper coach in place for the first time in a decade let's see if we are able to get back to where we belong.

Our aim for the next year is top 4, and honestly our squad is a little bit lacking but let's see how our coach is able to get us playing.
 
There’s still 5 weeks left in the window. Midfield, RB and striker signings required or yes, this is a potential disaster. I have great hopes for our coach but expecting him to get a tune from the likes of Martial is delusional.
 
We’d have comfortably finished top4 if it wasn’t for the Greenwood situation combined with all our forwards deciding to go on work stoppage due to the arrival of Ronaldo
 
Depth is a real problem, depending on form and luck with injuries we could have a decent season (not by the standards we should be aiming for, but by recent years) or a disaster.
 
I think we have a very good squad. If ETH gets all the players working, we will have a very good season (top 4 fight). Lot of people underplay our squad strength based on last season. our team is much much better than the results of last season. Add a committed striker, we will be there and there about the top 4 spot.
 
What disaster you are referring to?

Relegation?
Going into Administration?
Ten Hag replaced by Ole?
 
bosnian_red said:
Our starting 11 has plenty of skill and talent. Lacking depth in the front 3. Defence depth is good and midfield depth isn't the worst in that we have depth for our most important player in it (Bruno/Eriksen). Even with Fred, I think Garner could be a very able deputy. Attack needs depth urgently.
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Do we? DDG is a great keeper but he can't dominate the box, Maguire is massively overrated, Varane is always injured, Malacia and Dalot are unproven, Rashford has a lot to prove, Ronaldo is 37 years old and wants out and the least said about CM the better. I think we lack both quality and strength in depth.
 
Not really feeling this thread.

Il give it a light 6.
 
We are as far away from the much talked about "rebuild" as we could be. But knowing how we have operated over the last 10 years it was never going to be a properly handled rebuild.
 
Somewhat yes - it’s clear that we have holes in our squad. Ronaldo leaving will crate another one.

While filling every weak position is unrealistic, we should have sealed up the 2 MF positions and have a contingency plan for the striker position
 
Sky1981 said:
Well 2 years ago we're not sleepwalking. But 70k people cheering the bus driver all the way to the cliff.
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Jose fans always ignoring his stint for threads like this :lol:
 
Define fecked. To some, challenging for top 4 is fecked. I think the club’s standards (fans included) have dropped so low that finishing top 4 for me would be a massive success.

I’m okay not to overpay EUR70M+ for Antony or EUR90M+ for Frenkie because I think it doesn’t make financial sense and they can likely be had for much cheaper next year. I do wish we could have scouted and identified achievable alternatives/targets earlier, and we still need a forward + midfielder at the very least. Squad players are fine.
 
With the same squad we had on tour - yes.

If the only additions are Eriksen and Martinez - Probably.

If we further add only a midfielder or a forward - maybe

If we add both a midfielder and a forward - no.
 
If we play the same team we played on tour, kinda yes in the early part of the season. Eriksen and Martinez will help in the long run. Even with them though, top4 will be hard to look at.

Even with Anthony and FDJ I have my doubts about top4 for obvious reasons:
- Goalkeeper is kinda shit, especially considering the way ETH wants him to play
- All fullbacks are kinda shit (Malacia included here for now)
- Even with FDJ and Eriksen in the middle, we still miss the 3rd player to link them up properly
- Ronaldo is gone, so that's minus 20 goals . You can't hope Martial or Rashford will come up with those 20 goals at the moment.
- There isn't one player in the squad who can carry the team for a while and, to me, that's more worrying than everything.

Think we just need to wave goodbye to any expectation this season and let ETH do his work.
 
Our problems weren't going to be solved in one window and it surprises me people think we were going to sign 8 players.
 
Well, we DO need a thread where we can just be utterly depressed without being victimised. Could this be the one?

If not, kindly direct me to the appropriate thread so that I can vent my utter frustration with the way our most important transfer window in the last decade has gone so far.
 
Some muppets are so incredibly obsessed with the transfer market. That was never going to be our biggest job this season. The proper job is actually coaching our already talented players.
 
Reasonable people don’t expect a thing from us this season, so if our football is better than last season, I don’t really think it’s a disaster as long as we are top half of the table. And if Ten Hag manages to implement anything, that shouldn’t be a problem.

There are plenty of potential issues like De Gea, Ronaldo, our captain, our RBs, our midfield, a potential lack of right mentality in the front three (and the whole team). But I think that Ten Hag and everyone else are well aware of these issues, and I hope the club becomes more ruthless when fixing these issues. We are a meme club in a transition period, so don’t expect too much yet.
 
Idxomer said:
With the same squad we had on tour - yes.

If the only additions are Eriksen and Martinez - Probably.

If we further add only a midfielder or a forward - maybe

If we add both a midfielder and a forward - no.
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Seconded. If there are no reinforcements, we will be playing Phil Jones in midfield by October.

The reason I'm not that excited for new season is because instead of coaching the team, ETH will be doing patching job everywhere but defense (which is surprisingly packed and I don't fully understand those moves). Hopefully there's a greater plan to it though.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
Some muppets are so incredibly obsessed with the transfer market. That was never going to be our biggest job this season. The proper job is actually coaching our already talented players.
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I never played footies professionally, so when it comes to training I am clueless.

Can a player realistically improve after a couple of months of training? I thought this had to be done from a young age?
 
I don’t care if we finish 8th/9th as long as there’s progress. Arnold and Murtough still have a lot to prove in terms of backing Ten Hag and helping him address the problems in the squad. So evolution rather than revolution is the likely scenario.

I just hope the fan base will be patient
 
Pearl.Jam said:
Ridiculous thread..
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Seriously. Not saying it may not be a disaster. There’s always that risk. But we’re not sleepwalking. We’re actively changing things and looking for a formula.

Sleepwalking would be if we still had Ole.
 
If you expect us to start competing right away then yes, but this season is about rebuilding and learning an entirely new playing style.

I don't expect top 4 considering the competition and lack of squad depth, just want a proper footballing side atm. We will hopefully bring through some young players for a few spots and add a bit of quality in others.
 
Click bait style thread title.

Do we have a lack of depth in our squad? Might have been less dramatic.
 
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