So was it a good pre-season? Anything you take from it going into the season proper?

I terms of pre season workout, playing some intense games to get into match rhythm and all that, I'll say this was an excellent pre-season for a lot of the players, I'm saying all that ignoring performances during the game, the team never had a proper pre season for 2 seasons in a raw if I remember correctly so at least this much of working out, training and playing games was really good.
 
simonhch said:
Fantastic pre-season. You can see in our ball retention and pressing, so both with and without the ball, the massive amount of work that has been put in on the training field. Like all good sporting projects and change initiatives, it’ll take some time and there will be some bumps in the road. But I really like what I am seeing. We know there will be excessive hyperbole after each win, and unbridled doom mongering after each loss. But that’s a fan problem, not a footballing one.
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Said it better than me, indeed it was a great pre-season and it's evident a lot of work was done on the training pitch and that of course is not the end yet, Ten Hag has a lot of work ahead of him and it will take time for it to come all together
 
I'm very sceptical about the changes to our playing style. It's not that I don't see them, there are some glimpses, but I have seen too many pre-seasons to know this is not easily translated to serious EPL games. As things stand, we will play the same starting XI which ended last season, and most likely the same way. Rome wasn't build in a day, it takes more time and most likely personnel changes as well.

Fitness for first XI looks good.
Squad looks shite.
ETH vibrant.
Good atmosphere around the club.
A lot of things still to do this monts if we don't want another catastrophe this season.
 
On the whole it's been positive. I mean of course it's been positive, at the end of last season we barely even resembled a football side, now we don't look too bad.

Biggest stand out for me has been just how notable the drop of in performance is beyond our first team players. In particular, what EtH seemingly wants the team to do off the ball in the press - there's a marked difference between those who've adapted well and those who clearly need more time to adjust.

Malacia/Shaw
Martinez/Lindelof
Maguire
Dalot

Fred
McTominay
Bruno

Rashford
Martial
Sancho

So far, the above group of players are the only ones that seem to execute what EtH wants us to do off the ball, beyond them there's a pretty clear drop off. Im not saying they're our best players, and some of those (Bruno for example) have rightly caught flak for their quality on the ball throughout pre season. However this is the group I see carrying out EtH's off the ball instructions the best.

As the season progresses, I expect to see more of our players join the ones listed above such as Varane, VdB, Eriksen so hopefully we'll have a core of at least 15/16 players who can drop in and out without the whole thing falling apart.

Regarding our work on the ball I'd say we look a little more measured, but it's going to take time. I imagine winning the ball high up and transitioning quickly will be where many of our goals come from to start the season.
 
Pre-season results are notoriously unreliable in terms of gauging how a team is going to start a season.

The keys things are plenty of minutes in the tank for most our first team squad and no significant injuries to talk of. Plus plenty of good coaching from ETH and his team which the players seem to be taking on board.

We should be ready for next week and that all we can ask for. Whatever the result it certainly won't have anything to do with poor preparation.
 
I think in terms of getting the players ready it was a good pre season. I never expected the players to master Ten Hags system in a month of training. We are probably going to see the system in full effect around November for now we will probably see it in moments.
 
Borys said:
I'm very sceptical about the changes to our playing style. It's not that I don't see them, there are some glimpses, but I have seen too many pre-seasons to know this is not easily translated to serious EPL games. As things stand, we will play the same starting XI which ended last season, and most likely the same way. Rome wasn't build in a day, it takes more time and most likely personnel changes as well.

Fitness for first XI looks good.
Squad looks shite.
ETH vibrant.
Good atmosphere around the club.
A lot of things still to do this monts if we don't want another catastrophe this season.
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Confidence > playing style > squad.

Confidence is key. Watch this squad play after going on a 5-game winning streak.
 
NewGlory said:
I loved it. We were able to witness a glimpse of Ten Hag genius, and I have never been more excited about our youth. They may or may not live up to their potential, and I am 100% certain they would be wasted with majority of other managers we were linked with, but they do have potential and Ten Hag is probably the best manager to make the best of them (even better in this aspect than Pep and Klopp, I am sure). So while I am prepared for the worst (considering our degenerate club executives and the joke of transfer window) I am also extremely curious to see what Ten Hag does with the little he has and the youth.

P.S. Chong needs to go. There is a lot of heart in that kid, and some physical talent, but not even nearly enough football intelligence and the gap is so huge that I doubt even Ten Hag can fix it. Kid seems just unable to make quick, right decisions, at high speeds required in grown-ups games.
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Very strange last paragraph.
 
Shakesey said:
Confidence > playing style > squad.

Confidence is key. Watch this squad play after going on a 5-game winning streak.
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I would put it around a bit.
A good playing style and structure will increase players confidence - as a result the squad inefficiencies can be covered.

If you look at Pep teams, they can replace some key players and still play great football because the structure and instructions are there. Makes it so much easier to embed new players as well. I believe this is what ETH will aim for.
 
Borys said:
I would put it around a bit.
A good playing style and structure will increase players confidence - as a result the squad inefficiencies can be covered.

If you look at Pep teams, they can replace some key players and still play great football because the structure and instructions are there. Makes it so much easier to embed new players as well. I believe this is what ETH will aim for.
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Fair enough. I argue that confidence, talent and commitment contribute 90% to success in sport. I'm not diminishing the importance of structure, mind you.

"If you look at Pep teams, they can replace some key players and still play great football because the confidence is there."
 
I thought it was a good preseason, we did well especially the first team. There was clear change in the game, team is working well off the ball and also on the ball players are making runs, looking for good options rather than trying to be a hero.

It's still very early, we need lot of time to become lot of things as second nature.

Also lack of depth in the attack is very worrying, Elanga can't be counted as option. He is not ready to be the first sub. Garnacho looks very interesting player, if he plays with same intensity and fearlessness in most games, he will be in first team squad.
 
Chong needs to go. He has been with us too long to not have improved. Not even good enough to be an impact or squad player.
 
Fortitude said:
Are you expecting us to be outside the top 4 come the end of the season?

I think for me, I was hoping everything would be ready and aligned for us to go for fourth; I had no more hope or expectation than that.

But us probably having to now find our feet for a period of the actual season was something I hoped we would have avoided via a full camp.
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Youre putting too much on preseason, as others have pointed out it bares little resemblance to the real thing. It’s a chance to test fitness levels, individual players and see where people are at. It’s going to take a good portion of the season for the squad to fully grasp the new ideas so it’s second nature. Top 4 might be beyond us this year
 
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I'm not sure it's been a great pre-season off the pitch.

I try to be realistic about transfers. I appreciate we're not playing Football Manager and these are real people we're dealing with but still....I cannot for the life of me work out why it takes us soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long to do anything!

Most people agreed going into this Summer that we needed a CF, a CM and a RB. What have we got? An AM, a CB and a LB! I'd argue none of the players we have signed improve our XI much, if at all.

At the same time, who have we sold? We have released a few players who should have been gone 2/3 seasons ago...but how many players have we received a fee for? I can only think of Pereira. Why is Jones still here? Why is Tuanzebe still here? Why is Bailly still here? Why is Telles still here? What are we doing with Amad, Garner, Pellistri, Chong, Brandon Williams...if they're not going to be playing, what are they doing at the club still?

I try to see the logic in what the club do and give them the benefit of the doubt but...if we're being really honest...let's say our results under ETH are not fantastic next season and we finish 5th/6th. Then again the year after, they're not great again and we limp into 4th. Then 3rd season, we're 7th at Christmas and ETH is sacked. Could we HONESTLY look back at the business we have conducted and say we did everything to give the manager the best chance of success again? I'd argue based on the early evidence...not really.

Our signings so far have been the usual "players the manager knows" targets we've gone for under Moyes, LvG and Jose. What do our team of 100s of Scouts globally do? How many players have moved on a free this Summer that would have improved our squad? I bet 20+ easily. Where are the £15/20m gems from South America or Eastern Europe that every other team seems capable of uncovering? Why have we once again seemingly based our entire transfer strategy around one player?

Again, I'm trying to be positive but IF this season doesn't go well, I think we'll view this pre-season poorly in hindsight.
 
I dont buy unto the thinking that pre season results don't matter. Good teams win football matches.

There have definitely been positive signs, but truth of the matter is this squad is nowhere near good enough. Ten Hag has been set up to fail, and he basically has to turn water into wine with a number of positions in the side.

I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm concerned, but it's not exactly filling me with confidence that haven't won in our last 3 (unless you include a behind doors game against a side not even in the football league). Especially when you consider how much further ahead we are in our preparation to the 2 Spanish sides.
 
On the pitch it’s been a pretty good preseason - I am confident Ten Hag is an exceptional manager and he has hired fantastic coaches. Having someone like McClaren about (and now Benni!) who has been a manager at the top level is also a fantastic coup, as much as he has been slightly a joke figure in some circles, because there aren’t many teams that have a league winning manager and ex international manager as an assistant coach.

The team is playing some good football and is often on the front foot - more aggressive, more dynamic, fast press. There’s a lot more to come but for a few weeks we are already better at this style than we ever were under Ralf. Theres a clear way of playing too and that gives me confidence that I know what I gonna get with Utd next season. There is a slight concern that not many have played a full 90

OFF the pitch it’s been abysmal - yes, our signings have been good so far but they’ve come in way too late. To only have Malacia on the tour was shocking because we were already so light in squad depth. Now we are in a position where we are going to have to bed Martinez and Eriksen in during the first few weeks. It seems we have missed out on the managers prime targets, De Jong, Antony, Timber, and we face a scramble during August potentially to find back ups to the first two and also we may have to replace Ronaldo, who has brought some some not needed preseason drama. If we do end up with De Jong and Antony, we’re gonna overpay and we are going to have to wait until mid September to see what the manager envisaged at the earliest.

Overall, 6.5 -10 and that’s only off the basis that I think Ten Hag has done everything he can with this squad so far. We need reinforcements though, because otherwise I don’t think we’re good enough, even with his coaching ability, to get 4th.
 
Not enough goals in the tem is my biggest takeaway.
If Ronaldo goes - we need at least 1 maybe 2 strikers - experienced on a free maybe and a yung promising striker.
Whats the over/under on the strikers.

Martial - 14
Rashford - 12
Sancho - 12
Elanga - 5
Bruno - 12
Fred / Mct / Erikson - 15
Defence - 12

Thats 72, dont think thats enough for 4th is it??
Obviously Im making most of that up but it seems likely. Mind you if we can tighten up at the back that will certainly help matters
 
Good:
No serious injuries
Learning the ETH system
I like our 3 signings

Bad:
Our squad is weaker than last year and than our rivals
Ronaldo drama
De Jong drama
transfer window in general has been a shambles.

less than 7 days till the season starts.
 
Delighted with manager and new staff. Also happy to see system and patterns in play.

On the other hand, we again were a disaster on transfer market
 
I'm excited. For the first time in over a decade we have a manager who is arguably at the cutting edge of football. We have a relatively young team and I think that with proper coaching and buy in from the players we will have a good season and compete for top 4 and enjoy the football we play along the way.

My biggest concern is with the fanbase because I don't trust them. I don't trust them not to turn on the manager at the first signs of any struggle despite backing Ole to the hilt while watching utter dross on the pitch for years. I don't trust them not to back Ronaldo over the manager if he stays.

If we get FdJ, get rid of Ronaldo and bring in a new forward I will feel even better.
 
Enjoyed the football we played. Players look like they know what they should be doing and are enjoying doing it. Not exactly there yet. But very encouraging signs.
 
Main concern for me is that Bruno hasn’t been firing.

We have a hugely gifted player in him, so if Ten Hag doesn’t get the best out of him it could be the difference between 4th and 6th place
 
GazTheLegend said:
We need midfielders
Every summer
No midfielders signed
Every summer
Even just one would be nice
Don't they understand
Midfield is really important
In football terms,
Defence is important,
Forwards are a nice luxury,
Inept midfielders make things impossible.
Even if you can defend or score,
Losing is inevitable without a midfield
Defending is much harder,
Endlessly giving the ball away,
Really really does make it stupidly hard
Stupid management really.
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I see what you did there, and Im sure Murtough will read every first letter and take action.

… or at least a plane flying over Old Trafford with the message
 
For me there are a lot of positives. But the biggest one is the fact that Ten Hag knows the kind of football he wants to play and imposes it against the opponent, instead of letting them play while we defend. I've had enough of those.
 
Fortitude said:
I expected to see a progressive preseason leading to us being drilled and ready to execute by our first game. I don't feel like that has happened.

It has been a disjointed one with us barely even having an xi out who are likely to feature next week.

That could prove costly come the end of the season.
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Didnt ETH say after the Rayo Vallecano match that some players met for the first time that match?

It is way too early to draw any sort of conclusion.
 
Pre-Season was decent with clear improvements in the way we are playing already.

The main negative is our squad depth, is desperately short and that needs sorting asap.

We need at least 3 new players, with a RB, CM, and Forward being the priority, and that’s with Ronaldo staying.

If that doesn’t get sorted, then it will be another season of struggle, despite the improved play and coaching.
 
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Bulldog United said:
I'm already suicidal thinking about the season ahead.

We've had a shocker of a transfer window.
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Suicidal? Really?

OT:

Positives:
  • Ten Hag has quickly implemented a better style of play.
  • Seems to have quickly made decision on his first team squad and what he needs to improve - and seems to be steadfast in getting the players he wants (not compromising)
  • Rashford, Sancho and Martial look extremely fit and confident again.

Negatives:
  • Mainly the transfer window. It's not been terrible - but we're yet to address priority areas.
  • Midfield remains an issue. I think if we eventually get De Jong, the wait will be justified. The midfielders we've missed out on because of focussing on De Jong were all overrated and far from being success, so really not bothered. I worry that if De Jong doesn't come off, we'll overpay for mediocrity (e.g. £60-70m for Neves)
  • Lack of depth in forward areas has been highlighted. Literally one injury away from relying on Championship level talent. Other than the Sesko interest which I think is dependant on Ronaldo leaving, its worrying we've not made any real attempts to sign a versitile forward (making me worry that it's the clubs intention to try and bring back Greenwood part way through the season)
 
Football has been pretty good. You can tell how ETH wants us to play - I just don’t think we have the squad to do it successfully enough all season. I think we will struggle for goals in games when we need a win and the opposition are stuck in sitting deep. We lack the quality.
I don’t see us finishing higher than 6th until we get some better players in.
 
I think our youngsters are way overrated in general. The only ones ready for for rotational roles in the first team are Iqbal (at a stretch) and Garnacho.
 
Hammondo said:
I would say its a better squad than last season
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I'm curious to know how you see this. Compared to last season we have lost Cavani, Greenwood, Lingard, Mata and Pogba as attacking players. We have signed one player, Eriksen, to replace them.

In the defensive midfield, arguably the weakest position in the squad we've lost Matic without replacing him.

In defence we've signed a young left-back for a position in which we already had two decent options. Debatable whether said player will start.

We were already well stocked in central defence but have signed another player who is likely to start. Does Martinez-Maguire sound like much of an improvement on Varane-Maguire? I doubt many would have thought that a year ago.

Obviously there's still time to bring in enforcements and De Jong would be a significant upgrade. But as of now, I think it's very hard to argue the squad is better than last season.
 
I feel broadly positive

Im optimistic about the long term.

In the short term we will struggle especially in scoring goals. This obviously due to the transfer dealings. Literally a couple of injuries up top and we are screwed.

i predict lots of low scoring draws this year based on a bit more control, a bit more defensive solidity and a lack of consistent quality up front.
 
I'll be the debbie downer and say while we have improved quite a bit in attack, our defense, especially in transition and off long balls looks about as weak as it did during most of last season. Our first choice midfield still cannot keep the ball and see out a game when the result depends on it. There'll be some painful decisions to be made, as Eriksen deserves to start over Bruno and Malacia deserves to be in over Shaw and I don't know how that will affect the squad morale to go with Ronnie throwing a strop if he doesn't get his move.
 
Jev said:
I'm curious to know how you see this. Compared to last season we have lost Cavani, Greenwood, Lingard, Mata and Pogba as attacking players. We have signed one player, Eriksen, to replace them.

In the defensive midfield, arguably the weakest position in the squad we've lost Matic without replacing him.

In defence we've signed a young left-back for a position in which we already had two decent options. Debatable whether said player will start.

We were already well stocked in central defence but have signed another player who is likely to start. Does Martinez-Maguire sound like much of an improvement on Varane-Maguire? I doubt many would have thought that a year ago.

Obviously there's still time to bring in enforcements and De Jong would be a significant upgrade. But as of now, I think it's very hard to argue the squad is better than last season.
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I believe Martinez is better than any of our other CB's and will make a big difference.

I think Erikson is better than any midfielder we have had since Carrick.

Plus a good left-back. I am happy.

We lost players, but most of them were useless. We are light up front, and I definitely want a new RW, but midfield comes first always imo.
 
The pre-season has been pretty good, with the players showing signs already of adapting to Ten Hag's methods. The fitness levels already look better than they did under Ole. Some of the youngsters are showing real promise.

The positivity has unfortunately been somewhat undermined by Ronaldo acting like a pathetic child and the old familiar problem of United's transfer market ineptitude. These two factors have undoubtedly detracted from Ten Hag's good work and each need to be resolved asap.
 
We looked like a functional football team and played with a much higher intensity than last season.

Hugely positive signs. Still a huge amount to do and I am not expecting miracles this season but I think we are going to see continual improvement towards being a very good side.
 
Very good pre-season. Clear style of play emerging which is high risk but wonderful to watch. We haven’t managed to sustain it over 90 minutes yet but our high pressing and intensity has been a joy to see - and has led to us having control and sustaining attacks the way a top team needs to.

It’s been a poor window though and I seriously do worry about our attacking options and the number of goals in the team. We have the coach, now we need to have a very good month in the market to give him the tools to deliver.
 
- Really optimistic that if we back ETH fully we will return to the top again.
- We have a really thin squad and need probably 3 more additions without losing anyone.
- Think the season will be a lot like the Atletico/Rayo games where we dominate but struggle to bury teams.
 
In truth there’s very little to be optimistic or hopeful about. Even our pre season wins over palace and Liverpool were against their reserves and kids. The last couple of games haven’t been particularly great either. People talk about an improvement in fitness levels but I’ll wait till the Brighton game before making that judgment.

Our transfer window has been borderline pathetic, failing to address clear weaknesses in the squad in the central midfield, right back and centre forward positions. Our squad is smaller than last season too.
I’ve liked what I’ve seen from ten haag but he isn’t a miracle worker, not sure how he can do much without being given the required tools.
Arsenal and Spurs have strengthened significantly, we were too far behind city, Liverpool and Chelsea as it was. My take from the last few months is that the hierarchy at this club are satisfied with failure and all the media pieces of this and that changing was a load of shit to keep fans on board.
The optimism from some is purely down to default things like ‘new manager’ and ‘new season’ and passing and pressing a bit but we’ve basically not done any of that in a year so it’s probably caught some by surprise. However when you analyse everything else, all signs point to continued failure.
 
Lentwood said:
I'm not sure it's been a great pre-season off the pitch.

I try to be realistic about transfers. I appreciate we're not playing Football Manager and these are real people we're dealing with but still....I cannot for the life of me work out why it takes us soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long to do anything!

Most people agreed going into this Summer that we needed a CF, a CM and a RB. What have we got? An AM, a CB and a LB! I'd argue none of the players we have signed improve our XI much, if at all.

At the same time, who have we sold? We have released a few players who should have been gone 2/3 seasons ago...but how many players have we received a fee for? I can only think of Pereira. Why is Jones still here? Why is Tuanzebe still here? Why is Bailly still here? Why is Telles still here? What are we doing with Amad, Garner, Pellistri, Chong, Brandon Williams...if they're not going to be playing, what are they doing at the club still?

I try to see the logic in what the club do and give them the benefit of the doubt but...if we're being really honest...let's say our results under ETH are not fantastic next season and we finish 5th/6th. Then again the year after, they're not great again and we limp into 4th. Then 3rd season, we're 7th at Christmas and ETH is sacked. Could we HONESTLY look back at the business we have conducted and say we did everything to give the manager the best chance of success again? I'd argue based on the early evidence...not really.

Our signings so far have been the usual "players the manager knows" targets we've gone for under Moyes, LvG and Jose. What do our team of 100s of Scouts globally do? How many players have moved on a free this Summer that would have improved our squad? I bet 20+ easily. Where are the £15/20m gems from South America or Eastern Europe that every other team seems capable of uncovering? Why have we once again seemingly based our entire transfer strategy around one player?

Again, I'm trying to be positive but IF this season doesn't go well, I think we'll view this pre-season poorly in hindsight.
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I think EtH deserves credit for what he seems to have managed to do with the playing side. We look sharper, able to pass a ball and we seem to have discovered how to effectively press (at least when “the king” isn’t playing). In short we actually look like a football team with a competent manager, who are capable of playing decent football for the first time in about 8 years.

But EtH deserves the criticism for the transfer side of things. There’s no way the club have made a decision to only sign Ajax or former Ajax players, so that is on him.

We’re an injury to Fred away from not actually having a single passable senior midfielder. Our squad is ridiculously thin in certain areas. 18 year olds fresh out of the youth setup are good for experimenting with when the pressure is off. They shouldn’t be your bench and who you’re looking at to bring on and change a game when it’s not going well.
 
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