I agree that Liverpool probably aren’t that much better than us. They’ve just had a world class manager that got the most out of some average players. Bit like Fergie did, we never really had a world class squad under Fergie, I mean some players was but he made average players look world class. Arsenal I’d say have a very strong squad all round. Plus they’ve had years playing together under Arteta so have developed really good. I think that’s what we’re aiming for under ETH, a young squad that can grow together and challenge for top trophies. It is very hard to sign a world class ST who guarantees you goals. I think only Kane and Haaland probably fit that profile now. We have 2 young ST, with a world class ex ST now coaching them. Time to develop our own goal machine.
Erik ten Hag | 2024/25
- Thread starter Cheimoon
- Start date
Yep, we have finally had a summer where we targetted profiles over names. So its now time to develop our players into real top players.
I think if we can develop Hojlund Garnacho and Diallo, they can be our goal scoring trio. The good thing is they seem to be mates off the pitch which kind of helps, they all want each other to do well, hopefully we see that on the pitch and they look for each other.
The way Amad plays, I can see Hojlund getting goals in the box, he has this cut in and backpost cross that we need to make use of against low blocks.
Max Allegri
We're in a new era of sports journalism.
A twitter twat has created a website where they make up news based on something some other bellend made up and posted on twitter, with half the article using rehashed tweets.
What a time to be alive.
United without any question had world class squads in 98-99 and 07-08, possibly one or two others as well where we came up just short in the CL while winning the PL trophy.
One of our problems today is that we have nothing close to a world class squad. As this season started there wasn’t a single player you’d rub your hands together over and say yep he’s world class.
One of our problems today is that we have nothing close to a world class squad. As this season started there wasn’t a single player you’d rub your hands together over and say yep he’s world class.
Not scoring enough goals this season will be determintal to the team's progress.
I agree in terms of the trio you mentioned, Rashford and Bruno are the main guys and they both must lead in performances, but the other 4 attackers (Hojlund, Zirkzee, Amad & Garnacho) must manage some consistency to score and hopefully they develop that part of their game.
Exactly, even though they are young, players seem to peaking earlier now, you dont generally see players get to 26 then peak.
So that excuse that people us "not in his peak yet" needs to be stopped. Look at Rashford, this should theoretically be his peak but is he any better than he was 3/4 years ago? Is Bruno any better than when he first joined us? Amad is 23 now and really needs to step up to the plate, the early signs are he is going to do that which is good.
100%.
Our attackers must step up this season, no matter how well the team defends or controls the midfield, if our attackers don't convert chances, we'll be in trouble.
Exactly, no excuses really now, we have quality and depth so there is nowhere to hide now. Last season we had to rely on Hojlund, Rashford, Garnacho who didn't really set the world alight.
This season with Martial, Sancho replaced with Amad and Zirkzee, hopefully we can play the players in form whilst the players out of form push the starters when given the opportunity.
Those opportunities will come, we have Europa league which should be where the subs and fringe players play, a bit like how we did it against Barnsley.
Then when you have Garnacho and Rashford scoring, all of our wingers know, its deliver or bench. Then it is up to the manager to decide, if Rashford is not delivering he needs to be dropped, likewise with the others.
I will also say, I know we dont like Antony and he hasn't done much for us to back him, I kind of like his attitude, he seems to want to play for the club and it seems he understands why he isn't starting and he knows there will be opportunities to play, its then up to him to take those and push Amad
He's looking relaxed and confident. I like it. I think we'll go on a bit of a run now. Hopefully Hojlund can get 20 minutes tomorrow and gradually build his fitness.
Great to see finishing improve last 2 games as, especially away from home, first goal so important.
Would be ironic if ETH forces Levy’s hand on Ange. Villa will pose a real threat up front.
Well maybe we should have brought in ONE RECOGNISED goal scorer instead of two youngsters one who is injury prone and shown absolutely nothing to indicate he will be a success. Hojlund is a bloody disaster and a waste of money. I’m not sure on Zirkzee because even he said he’s a number 9.5 what ever the hell that is.
You can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear.
Huh? Since when? Why have such a downer on him? Explain your workings.
How is Højlund a disaster? He’s not even had a chance this year. Showed promise with his goal in pre season against Arsenal. Didn’t have to bad of a first season in a dysfunctional team.
What is this new narrative?
I guess there's never been a world class squad in the PL then.
So I’m guessing you’re saying John O Shea, Fletcher, Fabio, Rafael, Gibson. All them are world class? Like I said we had world class players under him but never a full squad of them.What is this new narrative?
I guess there's never been a world class squad in the PL then.
There's never been a team I can think of that had a squad that only contained 'world class' players
Take any so-called world class squad in the PL and you'll find players like this. You think City have/had a world class squad while destroying the league? Delph, Zinchenko, Sane, Laporte, Ake, Akanji, Cancelo?
SAF is widely acknowledged to be an all time great and easily the best manager the PL has ever seen. We don't need to pretend it was an Aberdeen v Old Firm situation.
Ye but my point was he could make average players world beaters. Pep sold most of city’s average squad when he took over and replaced with superstars.
Ye but pep got rid of most of them. Only 2 of them remain and there good players in a system. Fergie didn’t sell all our average players he made them world beaters.
Shown nothing and a bloody disaster? Really??? Such hyperbolic nonsense. He has shown there's plenty there to work with.
Each of them played a very important role in one or more PL wins. They were moved on after Pep made them 'world beaters'.
Seems like Pep just likes to keep signing average players and making them star in title challenges. Maybe folks in the "Pep is the greatest manager of all time" thread would have something to say about that.
But could pep beat an AC Milan side by playing 7 defenders?
That’s the spirit!
This is spam.
There never was a squad made up entirely of only world class players. The notion is ridiculous.
A "world class squad" means a squad at the highest level of squads in relation to other squads in the world. Clearly, say, our 2007-08 squad is one hell of a world class squad.
Usually we fold after a couple of solid performances. Lets see what we show tomorrow but to finally tuen things around we need to go on a very good, consistent run
Surely there comes a point we just ban some of these sources. If I just made some social media and called myself United4Eva or something and just spewed this kind of stuff I’d have no credibility. Why do they get air time at all?
There's never been a single team in football history that fits this criteria.
I’d say Barcas was pretty close. The point I was trying to make is Fergies teams weren’t full of superstars like the majority of peps teams.
Currently, I'd say it's the quartet of Haaland, Rodri, Gvardiol, and KDB that gives City that edge over other elite teams' squads, other than Pep himself obviously. All the other players they have, you can find better or similar ones at other clubs. And City's current squad isn't really perfect.
Isn’t it funny after 2 wins in a row and scoring some goals there’s all this nonsense about max Allegri. Why on earth would we part ways with ETH after 2 wins anyway? If it was gonna happen it would have after the Liverpool game. Hate the media trying to stir things up a day before we play a game. Focus on city and how they didn’t win their champions league game or something!
Exactly. Bloody disaster my arse. Højlund had a great first season, especially considering the circumstances. The unjustified hatred towards him has been ridiculous. He’s a great finisher despite having received little service.
I mean, three possibilities:
1. He shows progress, makes the CL spots this year, challenges for the PL and /or CL in the next year. Wins a title and challenges consistently for titles and wins one every few years. This is the “ride off into the sunset” scenario.
2. Shows progress, makes a CL spot this year and keeps his job, but never really challenges for a major title. Eventually gets sacked.
3. Fails to make CL spots this year and is sacked. Could possibly implode and get sacked during the season.
I sort of take offense to your “and one of the other three falling down”. No, the manager of Manchester United is paid a lot of money, like a top 5 salary. It’s not good enough to back into a title. He needs to go and grab it. That’s the job. With the amount of money spent on the squad, the expectation is major trophies.
What we’ve seen so far, I would put scenario 1 at less than 10%. Maybe others think it is a bit higher, but even at 20%, that’s still a low chance. If that’s the case, why waste time? Obviously, we would need to see strong performances and results in the next run of matches. Outside the top 4 by the new year and I think it’s danger one for him.
There are some here who say Licha is world class. Not me, but some.
I appreciate and share the sentiment but at the same time we all have to appreciate how entitled it sounds. We've been shit for decades because of the Glazers. That doesn't get fixed with a chequebook overnight. I think it's gonna be a long long time, to quote Elton John.