Do you still harbor resentment towards the players for last season?

I still distrust the majority of the squad and a lot of them have a lot to do to win me back over. Not that they care.
 
Yes.
The behaviour and attitude of certain players was totally unacceptable, and they won't be forgiven by me until they perform a complete U turn.
 
I don't really "resent" them, but then I didn't really like a lot of our players to begin with. By and large our squads over the past few years have played dull, insipid football and there's not been much to endear me to the team. I have not, and will not, ever be one of those people who will end up liking a player just because they wear the United shirt. They have to be exciting to watch, or performing well, or generally do something to endear me to them. My three favorite players over the past few years have been Pogba (permanent sick note), Martial (hasn't looked himself for a while) and Greenwood (we know why this is no more) and all three of them for one reason or another have been let downs. While it may be unfair to the players, being individual cogs of such a poor collective leads to me not being particularly fond of them as individual players either. The first team players left behind (outside of the new ones) who I actually like are Dalot, Varane, Bruno, Sancho, Shaw (when he cares to play to his potential), Bailly and Ronaldo. The rest of them I am pretty indifferent to.

It's a stark contrast to the SAF days when there were players who weren't the most outstanding but I was still fond of because they were all part of a collective good unit. Perhaps if we look better under ETH then that might change and the indifference might shift to like.
 
Who are we supposed to resent?
  • It's hard to blame players for not being good enough. Which is most the team; AWB, McFred, Bruno (last season), Lindelof. Nothing wrong with their attitude - they just struggled to perform or a just not first team quality for a top 4 side.
  • The real problems, Pogba and Lingard are gone.
  • I don't think Maguire was ever toxic, just a poor season and overly defensive of critcism.
  • Rashford obviously had given up, but he's given absolutley everything in previous years, including playing through back injury.
  • Shaw may still be an issue going forward, we'll have to see.
  • Martial is on his very last chance.
 
HookedOnAPhelan said:
.. or do you blame it all on the managers?

So, I think we're all looking forward to the new season, even if I doubt anybody expects us to challenge for the title this time around. And though I generally try not to be a negative dude or hold any grudges, I still can't seem to completely forget or forgive the embarrassing clusterfeck that was last season. Finishing sixth is one thing, but being embarrassed to the extent that we were against Liverpool and City twice... (as well as numerous other stinkers, obviously), well, I do find that somewhat hard to forgive. I mean, City and Liverpool never allowed themselves to be embarrassed like this by us when we were on top and dominating English football for 20 years - regardless of how shitty their teams/managers were.

Thoughts?
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I blame the owners and the board for the last 9 years of failure. Woodward primarily and the Glazers for allowing him to stay in his job when he was obviously inadequate and failing.
 
Not really, I do think my opinion on some of the players ability has diminished and I was a little shocked at Rashford as he really stood out for lack of effort at times and I had placed him on a bit of a pedestal.

Football is an interesting job though as the fans who are ultimately the consumer are desperate for you to succeed no matter what. If Martial bangs in 25 goals and plays to the level he is capable of then I will sing his praises non stop and totally forget the past.
 
Ikon said:
Yes.
The behaviour and attitude of certain players was totally unacceptable, and they won't be forgiven by me until they perform a complete U turn.
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Agreed. Losing I can deal with, laziness I cannot. Where was the respect? Where was their work for their wages? Where is their competitive spirit?
 
Brwned said:
The difference in Rashford’s energy levels in pre-season vs. the second half of last season is so stark that I don’t know how you could consider him to have been trying hard.
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Perhaps although players energy levels are generally somewhat different at the beginning of the season compared with the end of the year for obvious reasons. And similar to the two others I mentioned, nothing was working for him. He was messing up basic passes, couldn't beat a man and couldn't even hit the target, his head looked completely gone and like he needed time away - which is what he's now had. I'd also add that he seemed to play a lot of football under RR from the right, which was ridiculous given he'd he looked half the player playing there under Ole even when his general form had been good.
 
Both obviously. The players who didnt perform well enough while some others were closer to it, or did perform well enough shows they could have done better. And the players who constantly made individual mistakes cant blame that on the manager. Thats a you problem
 
If you harbour any sort of resentment towards the players or even the managers for that matter you take football way too seriously
 
No I don't harbor resentment against the players, maybe one or two gave 'less than their best' at times, but most tried to give all they could, it just wasn't good enough.

However as many have already alluded to in earlier posts, our current position has a lot to do with lack of proper succession planning prior to and after SAF's departure and given that the club was then and certainly is now being run as a business it was surprising to witness the lack of succession planning, and the time its taken to realise this and to make changes... so the blame must rest on the owners, they are the only ones who can change this, but they cannot do it overnight.

Those of us old enough to remember when the Busby era finished, will no doubt see lots of parallels with what has happened in the last ten years, with what happened then. Although Martin Edwards brought us SAF, he also turned United from a family hobby to a family business, then to a public listed business... and the rest as they say is history.

Maybe we have turned a corner we shall just have to wait and see... but resentment no, just sadness.
 
We had and have a good squad of players. Ole got a song our of them with limited coaching experience, a 2nd and 3rd place finish, some good counter attacking and some fight, we were probably the best team in world football at come backs for over a year, the team showed fight.

We have an improved coach now, some positions are weaker ie. Losing pogba and matic some are stronger ie adding Sancho eriksen and varane.

I think much of the crazy performances last season were down to ralfs strange man management. To this day I have no clue what he was trying to achieve. The players are much better than that. Add a FDJ and we have a good 11, some decent squad options, a good coach, a few gaps which need to be filled but aren't an excuse to finished 10th or whatever
 
pocco said:
I do. I try my best to mentally get over it but I told myself I'd never forgive certain things last season. I can forget bad performances from players I felt probably do care but were just rubbish. The likes of Maguire, McFred and a few others. Though if I see that form continue then I'll be of the opinion that they're just not good enough.

However, the one person I have a dislike for is Rashford. I thought he was one of a few that genuinely had a shocking attitude, his PR machine was shameless, briefing the media about interest from Barca etc. then saying he's giving us another chance. He's held beyond reproach by certain pundits and supporters. I just think he's all wrong. Not to mention the stories about his personality off the pitch. Obviously I don't know the guy, but from everything I see and I've heard from people that have met him, he's completely fake.

From a lad born in Manchester, he should have been setting standards. Yet he's been the absolute worst of all. If/when Garnacho or Antony/whoever took his place, I'll be happy.
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Cheers mate. Your sentiments are exactly like mine which saves me time writing my own post.
Crashoutcassius said:
I think much of the crazy performances last season were down to ralfs strange man management. To this day I have no clue what he was trying to achieve.
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He was trying to make the players accountable for their actions which is a basic for any professional player. The players didn't respond, downed tools and RR threw them under the bus. Rightly or wrongly it was the players attitude that set the ball rolling.
 
HookedOnAPhelan said:
.. or do you blame it all on the managers?

So, I think we're all looking forward to the new season, even if I doubt anybody expects us to challenge for the title this time around. And though I generally try not to be a negative dude or hold any grudges, I still can't seem to completely forget or forgive the embarrassing clusterfeck that was last season. Finishing sixth is one thing, but being embarrassed to the extent that we were against Liverpool and City twice... (as well as numerous other stinkers, obviously), well, I do find that somewhat hard to forgive. I mean, City and Liverpool never allowed themselves to be embarrassed like this by us when we were on top and dominating English football for 20 years - regardless of how shitty their teams/managers were.

Thoughts?
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I blame it all on the people working above the managers. A long list of incompetent fools. Even the current group seems to be no different from whatever Woodward and his minions were doing. Just saying the right things in order to not look like the fool before.
 
I knew I would regret saying anything!

downunder red said:
Had a feeling this is what happened.

The big question, if this is true, is why is he still here ???
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He hasn’t been around the team in preseason and it’s been impossible to shift him to a team he wants to go to. The person no longer works there so I don’t have current info.

HookedOnAPhelan said:
I don't doubt you've been told that, but it seems strange that this (as far as I know) hasn't made it out to the media. And if Ronaldo is so bad and toxic and largely to blame for last season, why is the club still keeping him around the team? I wouldn't want anyone like that anywhere close if I was in charge.
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See above.

Figgins said:
I'm not being funny; I'm not buying that blame for all the implosion is on Ronnie and Woodward. Players were awful at the very basic elements of being a football player, cannot run, cannot pass cannot defend. Then the players lost MG, PP etc and leaks. Smacks of blame shifting.

It's also very telling those new signings and some youth players are better than those who down tools etc etc last season. If Ronnie told them a few home truths and that is being considered toxic ETH might just struggle.
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I have a lot more context I won’t share. Blame can go around, but I boiled it down to the most pertinent two factors.

ayushreddevil9 said:
If what you're saying is true then the board again comes across as idiotic and that too of the highest order.
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Yes.

Highfather_24 said:
Struggling to imagine what exactly Ronaldo did that was so toxic. Have never heard something like that before, but who knows.
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It’s pretty bad.

Rightnr said:
Imagine if we had sources like this during the Fergie days.

Everyone would be on trial for being 'toxic' for wishing us to win. Also funny how that senior coach didn't say anything about other players, as if they were all blameless.
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He did. But I boiled it down to the two most pertinent factors. A lot more context I won’t share.
 
I'm not sure what type of person I would be if I woke up each morning and harboured resentment for a group of multi-millionaires who knock a football about for a living.

Am I still disappointed about last season? I guess so...but meh - looking forward to the new season
 
Any player who signed for the club prior to last season, and particularly those left who played under LVG and Mourinho...I wouldn't bat an eyelid if they disappeared. I know I'm typing it out now, but I wasn't particularly present in any threads in respect of Pogba,Matic, Lingard, Mata or Cavani because between all 5 they were either over the hill, known poisoners or just downed tools. Good riddance.

Ronaldo is Ronaldo, I want him out because he's not the forward you want in 2022 and other than that romance of seeing a GOAT contender putting on the shirt again, it was just such a stupid move.

Sancho is clearly a better player than he was able to show last season, as is Varane.

The rest obviously have had more time at the club and have seen more than one manager depart.

Happy that EtH has essentially wiped the slate clean and said play well for me and you're here to stay. But I hope he's true to his core principles of professionalism and can ride through any drama that will inevitably rise because he asked a player to run a bit harder or do an extra day around Xmas.
 
I don't resent the players.

People under estimate confidence in sport and bad results, bad press, bad atmosphere all contribute to a downward spiral of confidence that it is hard to get out of.

SAF was the master at keeping his squads on an upward spiral of confidence, through his man management no matter what. Hopefully ETH can do the same using his own methods, style of play, management etc.
 
Nah, not really.

This is a new era and I'm willing to give them all a clean slate, even though I don't have a particular fondness for some of them. The reality is; I expect quite a-few to be shipped out over the next 2-seasons or so, but while they're still here, I'll be giving them my full support and hoping they can all hit some form.

Now, do I hold a grudge against the manager that allowed such a shitty dressing room atmosphere to fester for 3-years? Yes.
 
Why harbour any resentment towards the players? The board successfully gathered a bunch of perfectly average players and the players delivered just that - average performance nearly every week.
 
If you do move on and support the team. Too many fans are concerned with the past, you still have some bringing up Pogba and Lingard whenever they can.

EtH has joined now, so in the same way he doesn't really give a feck about last season, I don't either.
 
Forevergiggs1 said:
He was trying to make the players accountable for their actions which is a basic for any professional player. The players didn't respond, downed tools and RR threw them under the bus. Rightly or wrongly it was the players attitude that set the ball rolling.
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It just isn't good enough. His job is to get performances from players. The prior two managers and even Michael Carrick were able to do that.

Ill accept that he was trying to do that. But that isn't his job. His job was to improve performances. He made performances worse, on a longer time scale than oles last 10 games he made them spectacularly worse.
 
simonhch said:
I knew I would regret saying anything!

I have a lot more context I won’t share. Blame can go around, but I boiled it down to the most pertinent two factors.
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I respect and appreciate that you shared. I'm just cynical of someone's story, it's not bias free. I don't mean you interpretation of the story, just the information you were given.
 
I would say 'disappointed' fits better. I thought the overall performances (individual and all-round team performances) were pretty terrible, and just the general attitude of the players was disappointing. It's not so much losing or drawing games, or even winning games, it's more about how the games were played. When other teams came to Old Trafford, it generally did feel like we were second in every department, including professionalism. We were out-run, out-played, out-thought, out-fought, and out-passed in so many games. What's worse is that too many of these performances just became acceptable, as if the players were happy to just pick up their paycheques and pose for Instagram. It needs to be about the game, again. I'm optimistic that ETH will bring us back towards those values.
 
HookedOnAPhelan said:
.. or do you blame it all on the managers?

So, I think we're all looking forward to the new season, even if I doubt anybody expects us to challenge for the title this time around. And though I generally try not to be a negative dude or hold any grudges, I still can't seem to completely forget or forgive the embarrassing clusterfeck that was last season. Finishing sixth is one thing, but being embarrassed to the extent that we were against Liverpool and City twice... (as well as numerous other stinkers, obviously), well, I do find that somewhat hard to forgive. I mean, City and Liverpool never allowed themselves to be embarrassed like this by us when we were on top and dominating English football for 20 years - regardless of how shitty their teams/managers were.

Thoughts?
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I definitely harbor resentment to alot of the squad. Its why I personal wanted up to 17 of them gone this summer
 
Unsure why some players get umpteen chances. Even the talented ones downed tools last season.

Ten Hag has miracles to work
 
Most of them are OK/decent players who have been under coached and have declined. But adding that they are overpaid and have inflated egos, they proved last year that they don't want to try. Ultimately, they are bad professionals who even in their best are not capable of being in a winning team. If want revolution, then this should be the last year of Maguire, Rashford, Shaw, Martial, DDG. It doesn't even matter how well they will do (which I doubt). They are just rotten.
 
Swedish_Plumber said:
Unsure why some players get umpteen chances. Even the talented ones downed tools last season.

Ten Hag has miracles to work
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Yup, EtH has a bigger challenge than sone people realise. Maybe a bigger challenge than the board realise.

Rashford is a prime example of getting so many chances - it's basically been by default. We've had no other viable options so he continues to start despite atrocious form. Compared to say Chelsea, who are/were stocked enough they can drop/sell Lukaku, Havertz, Warner, Mount, Pulisic, Hudson-Odoi, Ziyech, Abraham if they aren't performing. Rashford is currently default LW because Sancho has to start RW as nobody else can, Martial is both injured and seemingly has had little interest in playing LW for a few years, and Elanga is not a viable candidate.
 
I harbour more resentment towards the decision makers at the club who refuse to replace them year on year.

We don't do proactive transfer windows. We had our worst ever Premier League season last year and you could genuinely have made the argument to replace most of the first eleven. We've signed 3 players. It's been going on for years and it still hasn't changed.
 
You make it sound like some kind of twisted sexual relationship.

I am not fecking bitter at them because they let me down once. I resent them because half of them are shit - past and present
 
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