I think this is spot on. On paper, his transformation of the squad has been excellent - outgoings as well as incomings. Lukaku, Sanchez, Darmian, Smalling, Young, all moved on. That was a big job and he did it efficiently. Fernandes, Varane, AWB, Maguire, Ronaldo, Sancho, VDB and Cavani are all excellent acquisitions, on paper. The issue is how they have been misused and mismanaged. I think many of us thought this might happen with Ole - that he would help transition the club out of the Mou hangover and then someone more skilled would be needed to take over the project. We are at that point now. Conte would be my choice to run with this squad now. IMO he could have a Tuchel effect and take us to the next level.
Ole's Recruitment whilst at the wheel at United
- Thread starter Sparky Rhiwabon
- Start date
I think this is spot on. On paper, his transformation of the squad has been excellent - outgoings as well as incomings. Lukaku, Sanchez, Darmian, Smalling, Young, all moved on. That was a big job and he did it efficiently. Fernandes, Varane, AWB, Maguire, Ronaldo, Sancho, VDB and Cavani are all excellent acquisitions, on paper. The issue is how they have been misused and mismanaged. I think many of us thought this might happen with Ole - that he would help transition the club out of the Mou hangover and then someone more skilled would be needed to take over the project. We are at that point now. Conte would be my choice to run with this squad now. IMO he could have a Tuchel effect and take us to the next level.
He has spent a an absolute fortune in his 3 years at the club - if he hasn't got a decent defensive midfielder that is because he has prioritised other areas. How do other managers cope that operate on a fraction of United's budget?
If not the Best, definitely better than 2013-2018 signings.
Reason behind our today’s struggle is many below par signings between 2013-2018
Reason behind our today’s struggle is many below par signings between 2013-2018
Trophy's are things that can look good on paper but the team could be shit or playing like it. When the squad starts playing good football consistently, I'll say it's improved.
If you look at the players individually, the recruitment under Ole has been excellent overall.
The problem is that the recruitment hasn't been done with any kind of overarching footballing philosophy in mind, so the pieces don't fit together nearly as well as they should and the whole is less than the sum of the parts. Its not just Ole's crap coaching, its the players too.
Maguire is an excellent CB for a team that plays a low block or mid-block, but not for a team that wants to play a more open game.
AWB would be a good RB for a team that will build in a 3-2-5 kind of formation where he effectively becomes the RCB in a back three in possession. But not for a team where he is expected to provide the width in attack or get on the ball a lot higher up the pitch.
DVDB would be a very good CM for a lot of 4-3-3 possession-based teams, obviously not for Ole.
Bruno is a legit world class player but he needs the team built around him because he wants to have the freedom to go anywhere in the final third and he positions himself more like a second striker than a third midfielder when you are building up.
Ronaldo is Ronaldo but he also needs the team built around him.
Sancho is an incredible talent who was accustomed at Dortmund to having very little defensive responsibility and lots of freedom to roam the pitch. But you already have a CAM with license to go anywhere in Bruno and two young wingers/wide forwards in Rashford and Greenwood who also want to be the winger with less defensive responsibility. The team would be better if you had bought a RW with less final third talent but who would work their socks off without the ball, stick to their tactical assignment, and be more helpful in building play.
Varane should be able to excel in any setup. World class signing.
Cavani also was an excellent signing, especially for the price.
The problem is that the recruitment hasn't been done with any kind of overarching footballing philosophy in mind, so the pieces don't fit together nearly as well as they should and the whole is less than the sum of the parts. Its not just Ole's crap coaching, its the players too.
Maguire is an excellent CB for a team that plays a low block or mid-block, but not for a team that wants to play a more open game.
AWB would be a good RB for a team that will build in a 3-2-5 kind of formation where he effectively becomes the RCB in a back three in possession. But not for a team where he is expected to provide the width in attack or get on the ball a lot higher up the pitch.
DVDB would be a very good CM for a lot of 4-3-3 possession-based teams, obviously not for Ole.
Bruno is a legit world class player but he needs the team built around him because he wants to have the freedom to go anywhere in the final third and he positions himself more like a second striker than a third midfielder when you are building up.
Ronaldo is Ronaldo but he also needs the team built around him.
Sancho is an incredible talent who was accustomed at Dortmund to having very little defensive responsibility and lots of freedom to roam the pitch. But you already have a CAM with license to go anywhere in Bruno and two young wingers/wide forwards in Rashford and Greenwood who also want to be the winger with less defensive responsibility. The team would be better if you had bought a RW with less final third talent but who would work their socks off without the ball, stick to their tactical assignment, and be more helpful in building play.
Varane should be able to excel in any setup. World class signing.
Cavani also was an excellent signing, especially for the price.
TIL managers are supposed to be scouts.
So Ole’s biggest plus as a manager is doing something a DOF should be doing.
Why do you keep using this phrase? They are also known as Manchester United fans, just maybe ones that don't agree with your views, which you have made abundantly clear.
Divisive, unconstructive posting makes the forum a way less pleasant place.
Yeah because we praised the 'scouts' when Fergie uncovered gems. You know, all those well known scouts that we talk about all the time on here.According to you, Ole isn't actually culpable for anything whatsoever. Which begs the question: what the feck does he actually do? You've made a holy show of yourself on here this week. It's over for Ole, time to move on.
According to you, Ole isn't actually culpable for anything whatsoever. Which begs the question: what the feck does he actually do? You've made a holy show of yourself on here this week. It's over for Ole, time to move on.
Have I? I've been quite moderate. I've even been vocal that its probably time to move on.
I have however been told to feck off, been alled an asshole, a cultist and several other things. Redcafe is such a nice welcoming space where we can have different opinions. Truly.
What I said is true though, managers dont unearth talents. They may decide to buy them, but the scouts are the ones that discover the talents in lower leagues. I'm not sure why that is even up for debate.
Because that's been the reality of the fanbase for the last 3 years now?
Feels a bit late now to be coming down hard on divisiveness, when it was fine for 3 years and arguably even encouraged. We have an entire thread in the general forum who's purpose was to mock Manchester United fans who didn't agree with the forums party line.
Maguire, 6 - meh, a decent player, but way too expensive
AWB, 3 - poor signing, especially for that price
Varane, 7 - seems like a smart signing so far. I like it.
Bruno, 10 - top-class signing
Telles, 2 - how anybody can say that this signing has been good is beyond me, you seriously can't even argue for it
DvB, 1 - I don't think he's a poor player, but obviously Ole doesn't like him. Maybe the strangest signing in our history
Heaton, 6 - seems like a decent signing
Sancho, 5 - hardest one to judge, he just doesn't seem necessary for that price if we're believing in Amad or Greenwood
Ronaldo, 5 - he can score goals but I don't see this going well for our team
James, 2 - absolutely not good enough. The only positive is that we got a decent fee for him
Cavani, 7 - smart signing for a season or two, although not fit often enough
Amad, 7 - a signing I really like, doesn't feel like a United one. Would've played a lot under a brave and progressive manager
Pellistri, 5 - hard to see the point of him so far
AWB, 3 - poor signing, especially for that price
Varane, 7 - seems like a smart signing so far. I like it.
Bruno, 10 - top-class signing
Telles, 2 - how anybody can say that this signing has been good is beyond me, you seriously can't even argue for it
DvB, 1 - I don't think he's a poor player, but obviously Ole doesn't like him. Maybe the strangest signing in our history
Heaton, 6 - seems like a decent signing
Sancho, 5 - hardest one to judge, he just doesn't seem necessary for that price if we're believing in Amad or Greenwood
Ronaldo, 5 - he can score goals but I don't see this going well for our team
James, 2 - absolutely not good enough. The only positive is that we got a decent fee for him
Cavani, 7 - smart signing for a season or two, although not fit often enough
Amad, 7 - a signing I really like, doesn't feel like a United one. Would've played a lot under a brave and progressive manager
Pellistri, 5 - hard to see the point of him so far
Bit of a bizarre trail of thought: throughout my lifetime people have praised managers for unearthing gems etc. I mean, unless you think people have gone around praising scouts? Technically a scout takes an in-depth look at players, but very often managers identify 'said targets'. Just to add, top managers have a certain profile of player that they go for, and have scouting and analytics teams constantly sourcing these players. Not something Ole obviously took an interest in, given we have no discernable profile for our players.
Yeah, you seem to pop up in threads defending him with nonsense. I'm not surprised people have had a go at you. You seem extremely rattled at the prospect of him being sacked. It's a strange hill for anyone to die on at this point, given what's transpired over the past 5 days or so. I honestly don't think you're remotely ok with the notion of him being sacked. You sound entirely unconvincing when you try to state otherwise. I guess Ole's tenure will be a harsh lesson in why only a very minuscule amount of managers should get the same kind of hero-worship that Fergie was afforded.
It hasn't been as toxic as it is now. You certainly didn't have several posters getting hysterical about wanting us to lose, attacking the many fans who won't do that as part of the problem.
It's pretty tiresome how the Ole toxicity spills into even random threads too.
That thread in the general predates Ole and it's had many incarnations before that. It attacks hysterical posting of any nature and isn't a closed shop.
Bruno - obvious, signed too late
Maguire - an ok but hugely underwhelming signing, we should have gotten much better for the price.
AWB - barely OK for top 4, not good enough for title winning team
Cavani - desperate signing, very useful.
Sancho - signed too late, and so far is being totally wasted
Van de Beek - complete waste
James - complete waste for 2/3 of his tenure here
Telles - a waste
Ronaldo - forced signing
Varane - obvious signing. We'd be nuts to not sign him so says nothing about recruitment ability.
Bottomline: too many wasted and damaged good footballers. NONE are a "great find", not even "exceeded all expectation" the way VVD was for Liverpool. Bruno could have been same impact for us as VVD, and was for a season but not anymore.
Final verdict: mostly negative run of signings.
I look at his signings in a different way,
Has he improved our defence? Not if you look at the goals conceded and number of consecutive games without a clean sheet
Has he improved our midfield? Not if he continually plays McFred
Has he improved our RW - No, spent 140m and still relies on Greenwood
Has he improved our defence? Not if you look at the goals conceded and number of consecutive games without a clean sheet
Has he improved our midfield? Not if he continually plays McFred
Has he improved our RW - No, spent 140m and still relies on Greenwood
I agree with this tbh.
You need at least some bottle to win a final which this team hasn't yet shown so I would still consider winning something an improvement.
I agree with this, a bit harsh on AWB but understandable.
overall Ole has improved the squad, the players he brought + the likes of Shaw, Rashford & Greenwood, means the expectation on Ole this year was to mount a title challenge, which he failed to do so, hence why he is deemed by many here as not good enough
I'd say the forum has been just as toxic for the last 3 years. At the moment the negativity is overwhelming because of the position the club is in - but the toxicity is just the same.
Also wrt to that thread, that may have been the original purpose or the justification of that thread - but in reality, just a quick skim through that thread tells you exactly about the reality of what actually happens in it. Maybe it just needs to be moderated more heavily?
Arguably one of the best CDs at the Euros and you don't think he should start here.
On the other hand I agree with AWB, Telles and Ronaldo. Too early to tell with Sancho and Varane and I still have hopes for VdB when we have a new manager.
Its not a bizarre trail of thought at all. Managers buy players, scout identify player and introduce them to the club, its their job. The manager gets praise (or abundant criticism) when they work out. That's how this works. You know that.
I've made some pretty lengthy posts about why I wanted Ole to succeed here in the past and the importance of continuity up to the start of this season. This season has not been good and I havent really been all that vocal, probably more snarky than usual since the mood around here is at an all time low, and the club just isnt doing great. Its fine that you think I post nonsense or seem rattled if that makes you feel big, more power to you. I'm disappointed we are at this stage because I really wanted this project to work.
It would be nice if we could return to a state where posters calm themselves a bit with the massive need to complain and be as negative as entirely possible. Its exhausting.
Bruno- 10 .... Not much to say here
Maguire- 4 .... Brought some stability and was rarely injured, but we badly overpaid for an average defender who's better in low blocks
AWB- 5..... He's a great tackler and at the time was a good signing, just hasn't developed as much on the ball as I think many hoped)
Cavani- 10.... Brilliant signing for cheap, brought another dimension of attacking instincts in the box and has also scored some vital goals. Hasn't played as much as you'd hope but I don't think anyone expects him to at this age
Sancho- 6.... He'll come good but probably not with this coaching staff. It's obvious he's a brilliant footballer that's struggling to fit in currently, but the signing itself is a good one and fills a vital need we had.
Van de Beek- 5.... didn't cost much which ups the rating because he's a useful player but fecking Ole refuses to use him. Frustrating because there are signs of a good footballer in there but tough when he doesn't fit in our side at all.
James- 3.... he was cheap but uninspired and seemingly signed because of a Giggs recommendation. Was never good enough for how we wanted to play but for the price I didn't mind the gamble
Telles- 5.... solid backup for cheap and seemed to push Shaw on last year. I have no issues with him, even if he wasn't quite as good going forward as I would like.
Ronaldo- 8... too early to rate but it's obvious he's as elite as ever in front of goal and has saved our UCL campaign himself basically. Stylistic questions are pointless imo because we didn't have some set style before we bought him anyways, and without him we would have been rolling out a teenager or an underperforming Frenchman for many of those games.
Varane- 10... hurt unfortunately but for that price getting him was a brilliant signing, he's clearly a class above everyone else we had.
Overall somewhere in the 7/10 range for me. There's a lot of good/useful footballers he's signed but the overwhelming theme is that he hasn't figured out a way to get them to play together. Still, a lot to work with for the next man in.
Maguire- 4 .... Brought some stability and was rarely injured, but we badly overpaid for an average defender who's better in low blocks
AWB- 5..... He's a great tackler and at the time was a good signing, just hasn't developed as much on the ball as I think many hoped)
Cavani- 10.... Brilliant signing for cheap, brought another dimension of attacking instincts in the box and has also scored some vital goals. Hasn't played as much as you'd hope but I don't think anyone expects him to at this age
Sancho- 6.... He'll come good but probably not with this coaching staff. It's obvious he's a brilliant footballer that's struggling to fit in currently, but the signing itself is a good one and fills a vital need we had.
Van de Beek- 5.... didn't cost much which ups the rating because he's a useful player but fecking Ole refuses to use him. Frustrating because there are signs of a good footballer in there but tough when he doesn't fit in our side at all.
James- 3.... he was cheap but uninspired and seemingly signed because of a Giggs recommendation. Was never good enough for how we wanted to play but for the price I didn't mind the gamble
Telles- 5.... solid backup for cheap and seemed to push Shaw on last year. I have no issues with him, even if he wasn't quite as good going forward as I would like.
Ronaldo- 8... too early to rate but it's obvious he's as elite as ever in front of goal and has saved our UCL campaign himself basically. Stylistic questions are pointless imo because we didn't have some set style before we bought him anyways, and without him we would have been rolling out a teenager or an underperforming Frenchman for many of those games.
Varane- 10... hurt unfortunately but for that price getting him was a brilliant signing, he's clearly a class above everyone else we had.
Overall somewhere in the 7/10 range for me. There's a lot of good/useful footballers he's signed but the overwhelming theme is that he hasn't figured out a way to get them to play together. Still, a lot to work with for the next man in.
you're right of course - no need to complain and be negative, everything's fine!
So, during Fergie's time at the club when people praised him for unearthing gems, you went against the grain and praised our scouts? Fair enough.
Yeah, you have been snarky which is why people have had a go at you. We all wanted it to work, but some - like you - seemed far too obsessive and protective about Ole. I'll be honest, I don't get it. Maybe because I've always been able to separate Ole the player, and Ole the manager as two entirely different entities. It's absolutely clear it's not going to work, so I have no idea why you seem so intent in going against the overwhelming consensus. There's been far too many excuses for Ole imo, and they have to stop. I came into this season full of positivity, but it's been absolutely drained from me.
There was a time when you could call the reactions on here OTT, but that won't fly anymore, unfortunately. This place will only unite if people stop becoming weirdly obsessed with our managers, before they've achieved anything of note.
Fees taken into consideration. Disregarded them, Maguire is a fine signing and James/Telles are not.
Good:
Bruno
Cavani
Ronaldo
Varane
Okay:
James
Telles
Bad:
AWB (It's incredible how you can play in a team with Ronaldo and not deliver a single useful cross)
Maguire
VDB
Sancho (Could still come good obv, but right now it's 80m or whatever to keep Donny company)
Good:
Bruno
Cavani
Ronaldo
Varane
Okay:
James
Telles
Bad:
AWB (It's incredible how you can play in a team with Ronaldo and not deliver a single useful cross)
Maguire
VDB
Sancho (Could still come good obv, but right now it's 80m or whatever to keep Donny company)
Some of you are being pretty harsh on Telles. He was signed to be the back up to Shaw and except for maybe one time hasn't been a disaster when called upon. He also was signed for 15 million Euro not 20, not 25.
Maybe the negativity has ratcheted up the toxicity. Judging by the number of reported posts alone, it's definitely increased markedly as this season has progressed.
You know the gen is more lightly modded than other forums. It may take the piss, but there isn't the vitriol in it seen in the football forums.
Roll on the next three games...
Bruno hit
Maguire hit
AWB hit
Cavani hit
Sancho too early to say
Van de Beek miss
James miss
Telles miss
Ronaldo too early to say but just for how happy you lot were, hit.
Varane too early to say, hard to see it being a miss once he gets playing.
Maguire hit
AWB hit
Cavani hit
Sancho too early to say
Van de Beek miss
James miss
Telles miss
Ronaldo too early to say but just for how happy you lot were, hit.
Varane too early to say, hard to see it being a miss once he gets playing.
Bruno: the best of the bunch and transformed the team immediately
Maguire: mixed bag and you'd expect more for a record fee
AWB: had his moments but mostly shit
Cavani: very good
Sancho: potentially excellent
Van de Beek: good player who hasn't been given a fair crack
James: crap
Telles: meh, but at least it got Shaw playing like prime Cafu last season
Ronaldo: excellent so far
Varane: a Rolls Royce of a defender who will be great for us
Maguire: mixed bag and you'd expect more for a record fee
AWB: had his moments but mostly shit
Cavani: very good
Sancho: potentially excellent
Van de Beek: good player who hasn't been given a fair crack
James: crap
Telles: meh, but at least it got Shaw playing like prime Cafu last season
Ronaldo: excellent so far
Varane: a Rolls Royce of a defender who will be great for us
Bruno kept him in a job
AWB and Maguire expensive but good, maybe not as good as the money spent
Cavani great job
The rest have been misses to this point
AWB and Maguire expensive but good, maybe not as good as the money spent
Cavani great job
The rest have been misses to this point
Buying a 40M player last season with no clue on how to play him.
Buying an 80M player this season with no clue on how to play him. Worse, we have not sold any attackers and now have too many players in attack.
Buying a 36 year old Ronaldo (with big wages) with no clue on how to play him. He's essentially been directly swapped with Cavani.
A combined 170M+ spent on defense (Maguire, AWB and Varane) with no improvements shown. These are all decent players (except Varane, who's a notch above). But they were way too overpriced. AWB is decent sometimes, but is awful in attack. I'm curious to see if we have conceded lesser or more goals per game under Jose.
The one position where we were lacking from the Jose days (a good midfielder) has not been addressed.
Dan James, Amad and Pellestri all signed for small sums. But one is already out the door, and the other two have barely played any significant minutes.
Only Bruno is a non arguable good signing.
Buying an 80M player this season with no clue on how to play him. Worse, we have not sold any attackers and now have too many players in attack.
Buying a 36 year old Ronaldo (with big wages) with no clue on how to play him. He's essentially been directly swapped with Cavani.
A combined 170M+ spent on defense (Maguire, AWB and Varane) with no improvements shown. These are all decent players (except Varane, who's a notch above). But they were way too overpriced. AWB is decent sometimes, but is awful in attack. I'm curious to see if we have conceded lesser or more goals per game under Jose.
The one position where we were lacking from the Jose days (a good midfielder) has not been addressed.
Dan James, Amad and Pellestri all signed for small sums. But one is already out the door, and the other two have barely played any significant minutes.
Only Bruno is a non arguable good signing.
People keep saying this. I think he’s done exactly what a DOF wouldn’t do. He’s ended up hoarding players like Lingard and Bailly (then not using them). He bought Tom Heaton for seemingly no reason. He bought players who can’t play together in his side (VDB). He has youth teamers he rates (Amad, Hanniba, Elanga) but keeps buying forwards and blocking their path.
He‘d be awful as a DOF when you think of it. His recruitment has been a mess in terms of squad building. Now he’s paying the price for that because the squad is now unmanageable because of its structure. The bad thing is that the youth team players could have been really useful back up if he’d kept the squad trimmed. That might have made his job easier.
How can VDB be a 5? Considering we paid a good sum for him (40M) and he's barely made it to the team. The transfer is an absolute shambles every way. For the club and the player.
I could understand this if we already had a midfield of Kroos, Modric and Casemeiro, but we literally have no good midfielder and yet he barely got a chance.
Ole's recruitment has been fantastic, I never in a million years thought I would see Ronaldo back in a red shirt again, but Ole made that dream a reality, he also brought in two world class defenders in Harry Mcguire and Raphael Varane. I think if given more time we will begin to see Ole's long term plan come to fruition. We allowed SAF a chance even when it looked like he was not the right man and the rest is history, we are in fact doing slightly better this season than we were at the same point last season, don't get me wrong, I too wanted Ole to get sacked after that disgusting 5-0 defeat but I do not think a knee jerk sacking is going to help especially when all the signs (barring the 5-0 defeat) point towards an improvement. Don't let the Liverpool scum take us back to square 1 by getting Ole sacked, we should pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and get ready for the next game and for those next 2 vital games we should show our full support to Ole and the lads.
Bruno - 9/10 - Obviously been transformative for us and is arguably the reason why Ole remains in the job. He can be incredibly frustrating at times, but a slam dunk success.
Maguire - 4/10 - A four may seem harsh but you can't ignore the price (or a least I can't). For me, it's a simple thing with Maguire. He's a man who's been elevated way above his ability. He was made captain in a desperate attempt to have this leader at the back that we've been missing for years but he's just not up to the job (at least not yet, anyway). He's a decent defender but in no way an automatic starter. There's really not much between him and Lindelof. He starts automatically becuase of the price tag and the captaincy - that's it. Becuase it's sure as shit isn't about performances.
AWB - 6/10 - Started off well and I thought we really had a gem on our hands. He still excels at one-on-one tackling, but there's a lot of weaknesses in his game. Not the best going forward which can be a real hindrance and his positional play at times is terrible. I have faith he can improve though.
Cavani - 7/10 - Love his attitude and it's a shame to see him sidelined now Ronaldo has come in. I think he may suit us better in terms of team balance.
Sancho - 3/10 - It's too soon to evaluate him really. He's come into a team that's all over the place at the moment. He hasn't settled at all, he was bought for the RW position but has barely played there. He's shown glimpses of quality and under a different coaching staff, I think he could excel. Confident he will come good.
Van de Beek - 1/10 - What more can be said about the man, the myth, the legend that is Mr. Van Beek. A disaster, and not all of his own making either. Got no fecking idea why this transfer happened.
James - 5/10 - Became a bit of a punching bag for some on here, but he was fine. Obviously nowhere near good enough for us, but was useful on occasions and seem like a great lad. Good luck to him.
Telles - 5/10 - He's...fine. I guess. Not sure what else to say about him really. He doesn't really stir up many emotions in me.
Ronaldo - 7/10 - Tough one to evaluate. Obviously, we didn't need him. He was signed on emotion and in a highly functioning team, he would be excellent...probably. But we are not a highly functioning team, and I'm not sure how balanced we are with him in it. Saying that the man can still score goals and has scored some important ones for us already this season. Get the team sorted and he can still be a potent tool. At the moment, it's not quite working.
Varane -7/10 - Think he's been solid. Again, it's hard to really rate him because we're all over the fecking shop as a team. We're conceding goals for fun which may not look great on him, but it's really not his fault. Obviously been injured for a while. Again, like Sancho, if we can get this team sorted he could be excellent for us.
Maguire - 4/10 - A four may seem harsh but you can't ignore the price (or a least I can't). For me, it's a simple thing with Maguire. He's a man who's been elevated way above his ability. He was made captain in a desperate attempt to have this leader at the back that we've been missing for years but he's just not up to the job (at least not yet, anyway). He's a decent defender but in no way an automatic starter. There's really not much between him and Lindelof. He starts automatically becuase of the price tag and the captaincy - that's it. Becuase it's sure as shit isn't about performances.
AWB - 6/10 - Started off well and I thought we really had a gem on our hands. He still excels at one-on-one tackling, but there's a lot of weaknesses in his game. Not the best going forward which can be a real hindrance and his positional play at times is terrible. I have faith he can improve though.
Cavani - 7/10 - Love his attitude and it's a shame to see him sidelined now Ronaldo has come in. I think he may suit us better in terms of team balance.
Sancho - 3/10 - It's too soon to evaluate him really. He's come into a team that's all over the place at the moment. He hasn't settled at all, he was bought for the RW position but has barely played there. He's shown glimpses of quality and under a different coaching staff, I think he could excel. Confident he will come good.
Van de Beek - 1/10 - What more can be said about the man, the myth, the legend that is Mr. Van Beek. A disaster, and not all of his own making either. Got no fecking idea why this transfer happened.
James - 5/10 - Became a bit of a punching bag for some on here, but he was fine. Obviously nowhere near good enough for us, but was useful on occasions and seem like a great lad. Good luck to him.
Telles - 5/10 - He's...fine. I guess. Not sure what else to say about him really. He doesn't really stir up many emotions in me.
Ronaldo - 7/10 - Tough one to evaluate. Obviously, we didn't need him. He was signed on emotion and in a highly functioning team, he would be excellent...probably. But we are not a highly functioning team, and I'm not sure how balanced we are with him in it. Saying that the man can still score goals and has scored some important ones for us already this season. Get the team sorted and he can still be a potent tool. At the moment, it's not quite working.
Varane -7/10 - Think he's been solid. Again, it's hard to really rate him because we're all over the fecking shop as a team. We're conceding goals for fun which may not look great on him, but it's really not his fault. Obviously been injured for a while. Again, like Sancho, if we can get this team sorted he could be excellent for us.
The fact that you say it's probably time to move on, after conceding 9 goals in the last two league games, and picking up 1 point from a possible 12, suggests to me that you're not as moderate as you might think. After the Liverpool game you said his position is untenable but since then it looks like you're starting to backtrack a little.
Bruno was an amazing signing. Varane looks to be a very good signing. Maguire, AWB, Sancho are turning to be massive flops given the money spent. DVB, and partly Sancho, no fault of their own. Jury is out on Ronaldo, I'd love to see him get a run with a proper coach.