[K13]

All good teams have a spine, experienced players who play week in week out. At the moment our spine is very fragile.

Arguably our spine is De Gea, Young, Lindelof, Shaw, Matic and Pogba. The forwards are tricky because ideally it should be Sanchez but for many reasons that has yet to bear fruit.

Out of those regulars yesterday, Shaw was banned, De Gea and Pogba are wanting pay parity with Sanchez and as such are in dispute with the club, Young has done a great job but looks as though he needs a weeks rest but was still pressed into action, Matic has been injured/ill and looks slow and ponderous against the more youthful Mctominay and Lindelof has not had a regular defensive partner this season.

In any team when the regulars are struggling it is hard for the support cast to play consistently well. I am sure that behind the scenes these are the players that Ole will be speaking to especially De Gea, Pogba and Matic. He will be encouraging the others but also asking for more but he will save his ire for his regular / most experienced players because great managers do not take the easy option and attack the support staff they go right to the source.

Who can forget the Keane interview which ultimately led to his departure. Sir Alex's biggest problem was an influential member of the team wanted to pass the performance buck onto players who were still very much in the learning curve. So I imagine Ole will do exactly the same. The fire in his eyes yesterday suggested it will be happening now and when our spine is strong again we will be a better team.

 

[londonredmaniac]

Where to start? It was an abomination...and I doubt most of the cnuts will wake up in their mansions this morning and give much of a feck.

Anyway, of all the epic shite of the entire cnut that was that 'performance' yesterday, one thing bothered me above everything.

Everton won 4-0, a half decent Everton side...

They didn't even have to play out their skin to do it. They played well, but I'd expect a phenomenal performance for that result.

We made it so so easy for them. The second goal was utterly ridiculous. The time to turn, the space to just walk into...go on lad, have a go. It was pathetic.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

If some of these players either know or are under the impression they are on the way out, why should they care if we are in the CL or the EL? We would care as we are United fans, most of these aren't. They are just masquerading as professional footballers.

 

[Ibrahimorich]

I blamed Moyes, Van Gaal and Mourinho.

It’s the players and has been all along.

I still think it's totally fair to blame Moyes

 

[sunama]

I just read this.
Here are the highlights.

United have lost six of their past eight games in all competitions...

United only managed one shot on target against Everton, have been out-run by their opponents in 15 of 17 games in the Premier League under Solskjaer and have now conceded more goals than they have in a league season for 40 years.

Manchester United have gone 11 consecutive matches without a clean sheet in all competitions for the first time since December 1998.

This was Everton's biggest win over Manchester United in any competition since a 5-0 victory in October 1984, and the Reds' biggest loss in the Premier League since a 4-0 defeat by Chelsea in October 2016.

It was a fifth consecutive away defeat across all competitions for United, their longest such run since March 1981, when they lost five in a row under Dave Sexton.

They have also lost three successive Premier League away games for the first time since a run between December 1995 and January 1996.

I still think it's totally fair to blame Moyes

True.
Any abuse he gets, is not enough, IMO.

 

[Bestietom]

Some players here make my blood boil. They are not playing for the club and just strolling through games. Oh for keano do give them a good kick up the arse.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Some players here make my blood boil. They are not playing for the club and just strolling through games. Oh for keano do give them a good kick up the arse.

That is all he is good for, because he is useless coach and manager.

 

[Bestietom]

That is all he is good for, because he is useless coach and manager.

Who mentioned manager or coach. He was our best captain ever and showed it in every game he played. He never let anyone drop their performance level.

This is what I'm talking about.

 

[tony54]

You people seem to think Woodward is scouting and buying these players. No. It’s the managers. Same setup as when SAF was in charge. Mourinho bought Matic, Fred, Dalot, Zlatan, Pogba, Lindelof, Sanchez. LvG bought Martial, DiMaria, Schweinsteiger, Blind, Falcao, Schneiderlin, Depay, Robo. Moyes bought Fellaini. All of this is well documented. Woodward writes the checks.

We’ve the second most net spend on players in the last 5 years at 500m+, about 200m behind City. We’ve spent tons of money. These were bad buys, no doubt. Tottenham has a net spend of 35m over the last 5 years.

Woodward has written tons of checks. There are three reasons we are where we are:
1. The managers have made poor decisions in the transfer market.
2. We need a more modern structure with a DoF.
3. We lost our culture, our philosophy and our soul.

I’m not defending Woodward. He definitely bears some of the responsibility. He hired these managers. But let’s be honest: managers who felt they had to win immediately bought poorly, and most of these players don’t have our ethos. Because the managers didn’t have our ethos.

Its true what you say but at the end of the day we have bought too msny dud cast offs and i class pogba and martial in that catagiry too. If they were any good their clubs would not have sold them, top players stay put. Woodward and the glaziers are just sucking the profit out of the club, they dont have any passion for the game or club. Greedy stealers is all they are.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

The “e word” (embarrassing) has been overused in the post Fergie era but it looks as though we are now literally the laughing stock of Europe. Which is not great really.

 

[SirAF]

The “e word” (embarrassing) has been overused in the post Fergie era but it looks as though we are now literally the laughing stock of Europe. Which is not great really.

Just keeping the ball is a struggle of epic proportions

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Just keeping the ball is a struggle of epic proportions

It’s incredible. I think it was @noodlehair who made a post ages ago expressing his amazement at how often clubs from much lower down the league looks streets ahead of us at basic passing triangles. He’s right. It’s got to the point where I was watching fecking Burnley last night and wondering if we’ll ever be able pass the ball out of defence as slickly as they do.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

It’s incredible. I think it was @noodlehair who made a post ages ago expressing his amazement at how often clubs from much lower down the league looks streets ahead of us at basic passing triangles. He’s right. It’s got to the point where I was watching fecking Burnley last night and wondering if we’ll ever be able pass the ball out of defence as slickly as they do.

I've been saying this since the Derby game - we're one of the worst footballing teams in the top divisions. It's shocking just how bad we can be trying to do the simplest of things.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

The “e word” (embarrassing) has been overused in the post Fergie era but it looks as though we are now literally the laughing stock of Europe. Which is not great really.

That passage of play was grotesque. The whys and the wherefores of where we are as a club are one thing but how has it got to the stage where we're playing football schoolboys would be ashamed of on national television?

 

[Raw]

The “e word” (embarrassing) has been overused in the post Fergie era but it looks as though we are now literally the laughing stock of Europe. Which is not great really.

Feck me. No wonder we're so tired when we're busting a lung trying to keep possession

Reminds me of that clip that surfaced of United players in training passing about in a circle with a player trying to intercept in the middle (can't remember the name for that type of training). It was embarrassingly poor, especially when shortly before there was one with City doing it so effortlessly.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Feck me. No wonder we're so tired when we're busting a lung trying to keep possession

That is a bit pathetic.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Feck me. No wonder we're so tired when we're busting a lung trying to keep possession

Reminds me of that clip that surfaced of United players in training passing about in a circle with a player trying to intercept in the middle (can't remember the name for that type of training). It was embarrassingly poor, especially when shortly before there was one with City doing it so effortlessly.

I think it’s called a rondo. I remember Rio talking about how it was something they did constantly and with great intensity under Fergie. Really took pride in being good at it. I’m guessing that’s not been the case for quite some time...

 

[Fracture90]

We need that Benny Hill music for that video.

 

[noodlehair]

It’s incredible. I think it was @noodlehair who made a post ages ago expressing his amazement at how often clubs from much lower down the league looks streets ahead of us at basic passing triangles. He’s right. It’s got to the point where I was watching fecking Burnley last night and wondering if we’ll ever be able pass the ball out of defence as slickly as they do.

The problem is stuff like that requires movement and working hard to get into positions. Something our players seem actually quite incredibly determined not to bother doing.

Carragher made a point the other day that it looks like the blip was the first 10 or so games under Ole where our players worked hard. Where as them strolling about trying to do the bare minimum is the norm.

The idea it was down to Jose's tactics or negativity is long out the window now. This lot just have driven him mad and you start to understand why it must be very difficult to not slag them off to the media. Ole is already struggling to defend them and he's only been here a few months.

You can't do anything with a team that won't work as hard as it's opponents.

 

[R'hllor]

Football aint for that lot. At least its funny to watch, if you arent on edge to cry.

 

[Tomuś]

Some players here make my blood boil. They are not playing for the club and just strolling through games. Oh for keano do give them a good kick up the arse.

Knowing how we are run at the moment, Pogba would ask for him to be booted out and follow it with a 'he fecked with a wrong baller' line.

 

[TMDaines]

The “e word” (embarrassing) has been overused in the post Fergie era but it looks as though we are now literally the laughing stock of Europe. Which is not great really.

I think this was the moment I launched a cushion across the room.

 

[R'hllor]

Thought it would be good idea to re-watch a game, pay more attention to certain stuff, wouldnt recommend to anyone. Just finished and not only that i dont feel well now, dont even remember my own name.

 

[breakout67]

I think this was the moment I launched a cushion across the room.

Must have been a really wet pitch. A comedy of errors, made me really mad when that happened as well.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

The problem is stuff like that requires movement and working hard to get into positions. Something our players seem actually quite incredibly determined not to bother doing.

Carragher made a point the other day that it looks like the blip was the first 10 or so games under Ole where our players worked hard. Where as them strolling about trying to do the bare minimum is the norm.

The idea it was down to Jose's tactics or negativity is long out the window now. This lot just have driven him mad and you start to understand why it must be very difficult to not slag them off to the media. Ole is already struggling to defend them and he's only been here a few months.

You can't do anything with a team that won't work as hard as it's opponents.

True that. The km other teams put in that we don’t aren’t all about sprinting up and down the pitch. I was watching De Jong closely in the Ajax-Juventus game and it really struck me how quickly he moves into space every time he releases the ball. Not quite a full sprint but close enough. Only a few yards each time but that all adds up. The contrast with the (lack of) effort our own superstar CM puts into moving round the pitch was fecking sickening.

 

[noodlehair]

True that. The km other teams put in that we don’t aren’t all about sprinting up and down the pitch. I was watching De Jong closely in the Ajax-Juventus game and it really struck me how quickly he moves into space every time he releases the ball. Not quite a full sprint but close enough. Only a few yards each time but that all adds up. The contrast with the (lack of) effort our own superstar CM puts into moving round the pitch was fecking sickening.

People put too much emphasis on spibts I think. No doubt we lad behind in those stats too, but if you aren't moving as much as the opponent in general, you can't press them effectively, you can't pass or move effectively, because the opposition will always be closing down or taking up the space on the pitch.

It's written all over all of our performances. I can't remember another team where it's so obvious they aren't working as hard as the opposition, and it's been going on for years. When you look at the stats for most of our games at times it's the equivalent of the opposition having one or two extra players. The idea this doesn't make a significant difference is ridiculous.

I know it's easy to blame Pogba as well but he's far from the only culprit. Martial just walks about. Lukaku. Matic seems to cover less ground by the game. It's only really Rashford who I consistently see trying to force the issue, which is why I find the criticism on here of him a bit amazing, when the rest of our team can't seem to do something as basic as work hard enough.

Mourinho did moan a lot about our players, but you still see the likes of Martial just moping through a game now. People seem to overlook that even though they might disagree with slagging off certain players to the press about their attitude, it wasn't happening for no reason.

 

[StuCol]

There was a bit of half arsed pressing by the forwards, with the midfield acres away. Rendering any press a complete waste of time.

The whole thing was soul destroying to watch.

The players coming out an apologising (likely under duress) is too little too late. They have no backbone. Consequently, the team has no backbone.

Worst of it is that we know there will only likely be 1 or 2 changes in the summer. We’ll be linked with every top player and his dog and overpay for mediocre ones in the end. Jones, Smalling and Young will somehow still be claiming a wage from Manchester United next season.