Unpopular Opinions Thread

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Late to the party but can I just take the time to applaud the @Pexbo post. Absolutely hits the nail on the head for me and it is very telling that no one has countered with anything convincing whatsoever.

We are on the up, it doesn't happen overnight but it is happening. We are certainly a better team than we were 12 months ago and the shambles that Moyes left behind is slowly being fixed. Thanks for restoring a bit of faith in this forum for me Pexbo.
 
steeeb said:
I think Smalling is the player that'd affect us the most if he was taken out of the team or injured.
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i think this too. We would struggle with a Rojo Blind partnership. Smalling has looked the best Defender in Europe thus far this season.
 
Not sure if this is an Unpopular Opinion but I must say that I think this week is the first time I've genuinely questioned the direction this club is headed. Between LVG who I'm far from convinced about and the way we have conducted the transfer window in the latter stages I can't help but feel worried. Now I hope I'm just overreacting but I don't know, There just seems to be TOO many question marks at the moment.
 
JoaquinJoaquin said:
Not sure if this is an Unpopular Opinion but I must say that I think this week is the first time I've genuinely questioned the direction this club is headed. Between LVG who I'm far from convinced about and the way we have conducted the transfer window in the latter stages I can't help but feel worried. Now I hope I'm just overreacting but I don't know, There just seems to be TOO many question marks at the moment.
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I would be lying if I said I hadnt thought and worried about this too. Its so different from what we have been used to. Is different always a bad thing?. No of course not, but what we have become and still becoming is pretty bad. Just throwing an obscene amount of money around hoping stars can solve the riddle that is actually Van Gaal and his poor man management. If we still had SAF and he had Di Maria,Nani, Falcao and Van Persie in his team alongside Herrera and carrick/Schneiderlin then we would be comfortably winning the league and being one of the teams to beat in the champions league. The personnel we had from last year is NOT the reason we only just scraped 4th. The Manager and his direction is. Antagonizing the players leading to them all wanting to leave and replacements bought in every summer is so unstable. That refresh and go again with new players mentality is woeful.
 
Lewis.no.9 said:
I would be lying if I said I hadnt thought and worried about this too. Its so different from what we have been used to. Is different always a bad thing?. No of course not, but what we have become and still becoming is pretty bad. Just throwing an obscene amount of money around hoping stars can solve the riddle that is actually Van Gaal and his poor man management. If we still had SAF and he had Di Maria,Nani, Falcao and Van Persie in his team alongside Herrera and carrick/Schneiderlin then we would be comfortably winning the league and being one of the teams to beat in the champions league. The personnel we had from last year is NOT the reason we only just scraped 4th. The Manager and his direction is. Antagonizing the players leading to them all wanting to leave and replacements bought in every summer is so unstable. That refresh and go again with new players mentality is woeful.
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Not a chance.

Di Maria was absolutely awful for us, Falcao is absolutely done. Van Persie and Nani are so close to being English champions again they're now playing in the Turkish and Portuguese league.
 
Twigginater said:
Not a chance.

Di Maria was absolutely awful for us, Falcao is absolutely done. Van Persie and Nani are so close to being English champions again they're now playing in the Turkish and Portuguese league.
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Nani is also in the Turkish league.
 
Lewis.no.9 said:
I would be lying if I said I hadnt thought and worried about this too. Its so different from what we have been used to. Is different always a bad thing?. No of course not, but what we have become and still becoming is pretty bad. Just throwing an obscene amount of money around hoping stars can solve the riddle that is actually Van Gaal and his poor man management. If we still had SAF and he had Di Maria,Nani, Falcao and Van Persie in his team alongside Herrera and carrick/Schneiderlin then we would be comfortably winning the league and being one of the teams to beat in the champions league. The personnel we had from last year is NOT the reason we only just scraped 4th. The Manager and his direction is. Antagonizing the players leading to them all wanting to leave and replacements bought in every summer is so unstable. That refresh and go again with new players mentality is woeful.
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:rolleyes:
 
Twigginater said:
Not a chance.

Di Maria was absolutely awful for us, Falcao is absolutely done. Van Persie and Nani are so close to being English champions again they're now playing in the Turkish and Portuguese league.
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Mate the dude played Park Ji Sung and Rafael in midfield against Arsenal and we still comfortably beat them. Di Maria was woeful ONCE Van Gaal started trying to make him abide by his rules. Read the Di Maria quotes once he signed for PSG. Everyone who has left us has stated how ridiculously tough his philosophy is to work with. The players only seemed shit because of how stifled and rigid they are being asked to be.
 
Lewis.no.9 said:
I would be lying if I said I hadnt thought and worried about this too. Its so different from what we have been used to. Is different always a bad thing?. No of course not, but what we have become and still becoming is pretty bad. Just throwing an obscene amount of money around hoping stars can solve the riddle that is actually Van Gaal and his poor man management. If we still had SAF and he had Di Maria,Nani, Falcao and Van Persie in his team alongside Herrera and carrick/Schneiderlin then we would be comfortably winning the league and being one of the teams to beat in the champions league. The personnel we had from last year is NOT the reason we only just scraped 4th. The Manager and his direction is. Antagonizing the players leading to them all wanting to leave and replacements bought in every summer is so unstable. That refresh and go again with new players mentality is woeful.
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Even if that were true, it really says more about SAF than it does about Van Gaal.
 
Lewis.no.9 said:
Mate the dude played Park Ji Sung and Rafael in midfield against Arsenal and we still comfortably beat them. Di Maria was woeful ONCE Van Gaal started trying to make him abide by his rules. Read the Di Maria quotes once he signed for PSG. Everyone who has left us has stated how ridiculously tough his philosophy is to work with. The players only seemed shit because of how stifled and rigid they are being asked to be.
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Park Ji Sung and Rafael were quality players.They managed to beat an Arsenal side containing Djourou, Chamakh, Denilson and Diaby.

Di Maria was just awful. If everyone who leaves hates him why have half his signings as a United manager been players he's worked with before?
 
Lewis.no.9 said:
Exactly. SAF was the right manager, Van Gaal isnt.
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You can't compare Van Gaal to a manager who spent almost 3 decades managing the club. It's just an incredibly unfair comparison. To expect any manager to come in and just pick up where SAF left off is delusional.
 
Lewis.no.9 said:
I would be lying if I said I hadnt thought and worried about this too. Its so different from what we have been used to. Is different always a bad thing?. No of course not, but what we have become and still becoming is pretty bad. Just throwing an obscene amount of money around hoping stars can solve the riddle that is actually Van Gaal and his poor man management. If we still had SAF and he had Di Maria,Nani, Falcao and Van Persie in his team alongside Herrera and carrick/Schneiderlin then we would be comfortably winning the league and being one of the teams to beat in the champions league. The personnel we had from last year is NOT the reason we only just scraped 4th. The Manager and his direction is. Antagonizing the players leading to them all wanting to leave and replacements bought in every summer is so unstable. That refresh and go again with new players mentality is woeful.
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We didn't scrape to 4th. We had a 7 point lead over Spurs. That's not scraping to 4th.

On paper we had a good squad. But look at the injury list we had. Carrick played maybe 2 months. Shaw was the same. Falcao was just back from an injury and for the first half even he was unavailable most of the time. Blind was out for a month or so. RvP was average even when he was fit. Di maria seemed like he was just waiting for a game before injuring his hamstring. Jones Evans and Rafael were more often injured than not. Herrera and Lingard were injured 60 minutes in the very first game itself for instance. De gea and mata were probably the only players who were fit for most of the season. Even Valencia was fit only after September or so. We often struggled to put forward a fully fit first choice team and the only possible time we did that we had our good run of form. Other than SAF no manager could have achieved anything with a squad like this so its harsh to blame the manager. not liking the manager is your choice but you are putting forward facts that are baseless. It makes me wonder if you actually followed us last season:rolleyes:
 
#1 I had hoped this wasn't the case this season but I still shit myself when Carrick isn't in the starting XI. Schweinsteiger doesn't look fit to me and his best action has been when he has come on against weaker opposition.

#2 I miss Rafael. Although Darmian has done well and ignoring a couple of rash decisions and picking up unnecessary yellow cards has looked solid defensively. However, we have created next to nothing down the right this season. The couple of times Darmian has got into good positions he has been a bit clueless as to what to do next and it normally results in a corner kick (Valencia was slating repeatedly for this last season). We are a team that dominates possession, and an attacking fullback is essential to these sort of teams e.g. Alves at Barca, Zabaleta at City a couple of years back. I am concerned Darmian looks like a centre back playing at fullback at the moment. Still really like him but we need to see more going forward
 
DanNistelrooy said:
#1 I had hoped this wasn't the case this season but I still shit myself when Carrick isn't in the starting XI. Schweinsteiger doesn't look fit to me and his best action has been when he has come on against weaker opposition.

#2 I miss Rafael. Although Darmian has done well and ignoring a couple of rash decisions and picking up unnecessary yellow cards has looked solid defensively. However, we have created next to nothing down the right this season. The couple of times Darmian has got into good positions he has been a bit clueless as to what to do next and it normally results in a corner kick (Valencia was slating repeatedly for this last season). We are a team that dominates possession, and an attacking fullback is essential to these sort of teams e.g. Alves at Barca, Zabaleta at City a couple of years back. I am concerned Darmian looks like a centre back playing at fullback at the moment. Still really like him but we need to see more going forward
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Darmian is alone on the right side and he is a defender.
 
JohnnyLaw said:
You can't compare Van Gaal to a manager who spent almost 3 decades managing the club. It's just an incredibly unfair comparison. To expect any manager to come in and just pick up where SAF left off is delusional.
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end of the day, in this day and age with how Footballers are, to get the best out of anyone (which will lead to success) you have to man manage them properly. Make then feel loved and in return they will enjoy their game and confidence will be high including scoring goals (the thing we are mostly lacking currently) Im not comparing them interms of time or trophy haul. But fact remains that SAF would have had them same bunch of players firing on all cylinders, not hinder their game, make them lose confidence and enjoyment for the sport and make them feel like they want to get out of this club and away from him ASAP.

Van Gaal takes no prisoners in his approach, and you will find that this style will only work on the minority of players. The Majority, especially when superstar type players, will respond and react badly and instead of getting the class potential and play from said player, they play like shit and want out due in part from Row's with Van Gaal.
 
prath92 said:
We didn't scrape to 4th. We had a 7 point lead over Spurs. That's not scraping to 4th.

On paper we had a good squad. But look at the injury list we had. Carrick played maybe 2 months. Shaw was the same. Falcao was just back from an injury and for the first half even he was unavailable most of the time. Blind was out for a month or so. RvP was average even when he was fit. Di maria seemed like he was just waiting for a game before injuring his hamstring. Jones Evans and Rafael were more often injured than not. Herrera and Lingard were injured 60 minutes in the very first game itself for instance. De gea and mata were probably the only players who were fit for most of the season. Even Valencia was fit only after September or so. We often struggled to put forward a fully fit first choice team and the only possible time we did that we had our good run of form. Other than SAF no manager could have achieved anything with a squad like this so its harsh to blame the manager. not liking the manager is your choice but you are putting forward facts that are baseless. It makes me wonder if you actually followed us last season:rolleyes:
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what I meant by scrape fourth was because we had a great run just prior to the end of the season, then turned to absolute shit in the last few games and limped over the line to fourth. Wasnt a strong controlling grasp of fourth, it was just a feeble end.
 
Lewis.no.9 said:
end of the day, in this day and age with how Footballers are, to get the best out of anyone (which will lead to success) you have to man manage them properly. Make then feel loved and in return they will enjoy their game and confidence will be high including scoring goals (the thing we are mostly lacking currently) Im not comparing them interms of time or trophy haul. But fact remains that SAF would have had them same bunch of players firing on all cylinders, not hinder their game, make them lose confidence and enjoyment for the sport and make them feel like they want to get out of this club and away from him ASAP.

Van Gaal takes no prisoners in his approach, and you will find that this style will only work on the minority of players. The Majority, especially when superstar type players, will respond and react badly and instead of getting the class potential and play from said player, they play like shit and want out due in part from Row's with Van Gaal.
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It's actually the opposite, people respond better to a boss who treats everyone the same(and fairly) and don't cuddle some players, it's a minority that needs cuddling. And this minority has to deserve the cuddling otherwise you create resentment among the rest of the players.
 
JPRouve said:
It's actually the opposite, people respond better to a boss who treats everyone the same(and fairly) and don't cuddle some players, it's a minority that needs cuddling. And this minority has to deserve the cuddling otherwise you create resentment among the rest of the players.
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oh yes of course it is. Thats why most players (who have been worldies) who have either played under him in the past, or currently who wanted out of the club seem to be a majority over players who are responding well. The ones that "Arent complaining" publicly still look shot and not enjoying their football at present under this guy.
 
Lewis.no.9 said:
oh yes of course it is. Thats why most players (who have been worldies) who have either played under him in the past, or currently who wanted out of the club seem to be a majority over players who are responding well. The ones that "Arent complaining" publicly still look shot and not enjoying their football at present under this guy.
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Be serious one second, it's not most players, you have Luca Toni, Ibrahimovic, Di Maria and a player at AZ, in the last 15 years.
 
Lewis.no.9 said:
what I meant by scrape fourth was because we had a great run just prior to the end of the season, then turned to absolute shit in the last few games and limped over the line to fourth. Wasnt a strong controlling grasp of fourth, it was just a feeble end.
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Yes where we had our best midfielder injured, meaning our best striker had to cover in midfield and we had to play a striker who was appalling all season up front. Besides the west brom game wasn't because of the lack of chances. They got a lucky deflection which caught our keeper unaware. We even got a penalty which we missed. I really doubt any other manager could have done anything else that day.
 
prath92 said:
Yes where we had our best midfielder injured, meaning our best striker had to cover in midfield and we had to play a striker who was appalling all season up front. Besides the west brom game wasn't because of the lack of chances. They got a lucky deflection which caught our keeper unaware. We even got a penalty which we missed. I really doubt any other manager could have done anything else that day.
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luck doesnt enter into it. So Moyes got sacked for being unlucky?

I must admit, the "Unpopular opinions" thread isnt a place I expected people to.... complain about an unpopular opinion? :lol:
 
Lewis.no.9 said:
Hernandez, RVP, Falcao was reduced to tears, Rafael, Nani, Ribery
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Ribery publicly claimed that he was superior to his teammates and therefore needed to be treated like a prince, who does that?
Hernandez wanted to play, LVG felt that he wasn't good enough or wasn't the type of player he needed.
RVP wanted to stay and LVG think he is past it.
Rafael wanted to stay but LVG preferred someone else.
Nani was an outcast under SAF, Moyes and LVG, but obviously it's LVG faults.
Falcao was on loan and failed to impress.

There isn't even the beginning of a fault from LVG in those cases, though I do think that United need a DOF someone who will deal with all the cuddling, contract talks, transfers..., because continental coaches don't do that they are training ground coaches, particularly someone like LVG.
 
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Lewis.no.9 said:
what I meant by scrape fourth was because we had a great run just prior to the end of the season, then turned to absolute shit in the last few games and limped over the line to fourth. Wasnt a strong controlling grasp of fourth, it was just a feeble end.
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We didn't scrape fourth in the end but we happened to be extremely lucky that our rivals for fourth went to shit. That helped a-lot.
 
Lewis.no.9 said:
luck doesnt enter into it. So Moyes got sacked for being unlucky?

I must admit, the "Unpopular opinions" thread isnt a place I expected people to.... complain about an unpopular opinion? :lol:
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He was sacked because he didn't achieve targets. LvG was given a target of getting back into CL he did. Sure you can be worried about playing exciting football or not though. But he gets results as Netherlands NT and us last season showed
 
SteveJ said:
Our transfer policy seems increasingly concerned with boosting the commercial brand rather than boosting the prospect of success.
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I realise you made this post over a week ago but what makes you think so? Of our signings this summer, the only one with a high 'commercial' profile is Schweinsteiger and I certainly think his arrival very much boosted our prospects of success.

You could say that the Di Maria and Falcao signings last season were more about dickswinging than about actually strengthening the squad but we got rid of them ASAP and made very sensible signings on the most part (and made one massive gamble).
 
JPRouve said:
Darmian is alone on the right side and he is a defender.
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Mata has played him in a few times (especially in the Newcastle game) and he was wasteful. Agree on the most part though, we offer absolutely nothing from the right - and that's down to both Mata and Darmian IMO.
 
I am excited by the small squad we have which'd perhaps guarantee more game time for the likes of Pereira, Wilson, Martial. If nothing, it'd be great to see youngsters play a part in the team as key player in a long time.
 
DanNistelrooy said:
Mata has played him in a few times (especially in the Newcastle game) and he was wasteful. Agree on the most part though, we offer absolutely nothing from the right - and that's down to both Mata and Darmian IMO.
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I understand you, but in my opinion it's Mata's duty to be dangerous on the right side, he is useless defensively and Darmian does a great job defensively almost alone, criticizing him for his lack of offensive efficiency is extremely harsh. He obviously has to improve but he is a defender, we haven't bought an attacking fullback.
 
JPRouve said:
Ribery publicly claimed that he was superior to his teammates and therefore needed to be treated like a prince, who does that?
Hernandez wanted to play, LVG felt that he was good enough or wasn't the type of player he needed.
RVP wanted to stay and LVG think he is past it.
Rafael wanted to stay but LVG preferred someone else.
Nani was an outcast under SAF, Moyes and LVG, but obviously it's LVG faults.
Falcao was on loan and failed to impress.

There isn't even the beginning of a fault from LVG in those cases, though I do think that United need a DOF someone who will deal with all the cuddling, contract talks, transfers..., because continental coaches don't do that they are training ground coaches, particularly someone like LVG.
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I agree with everything you've written.
 
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