Who will be this seasons scapegoat?

De Gea/Ronaldo were pretty big problems this past season tbf.

And I'll say Mount/Antony.
 
McTominay. He's the player with the most negative online reputation right now, so he'll get blamed for everything - even when it isn't his fault.

The target for scapegoat is all about being in the spotlight for new transfers. Right now that's CF. But second place is DM. Assuming we get Hojlund at CF, he'll be given the benefit of the doubt for at least a couple of seasons. So it'll be the backup DM who's gets the most undeserved hate this time around.
 
Yes, he was. Dave was almost universally criticized for costing us the FA Cup, a criticism which I don’t agree with but I’m obviously wrong about that. And he was universally criticized for his mistakes (the ball to Maguire, which was Maguire’s fault…and Dave’s mistake later, which he alone is accountable for), the second leg v Sevilla, a criticism I agree with although I don’t go as far as Dave’s critics hear that Dave alone cost us the EL title.

But the truth is that we were played off the park by City, which no one argues did not deserve their FA Cup victory over us on the day. And in truth Sevilla beat us comprehensively in the second leg and in no way was all Dave’s fault; and in the first leg we lost control of midfield late and conceded two freak own goals which Dave could do nothing about, but for which he was mercilessly hammered here anyway because it was oh so easy to make Dave our whipping boy by then.

No one argues that Dave alone cost us the PL trophy, so we’re good there. But the caf and the larger social media hysteria machine is in near-universal agreement that Dave cost us both the FA Cup and the EL trophy. Feel free to deny this, but such denial would be laughable.

That goal with Maguire was definitely Maguire's fault.

As to the rest, if you say so. "almost universally" alright mate
 
That goal with Maguire was definitely Maguire's fault.
It was both of their faults. De Gea played a shit pass that was slow, bouncing and behind where Maguire wanted it, putting Maguire under much more pressure than he should have faced. Maguire still should have done better but totally messed it up. Anyone trying to say it was all De Gea's fault or all Maguire's fault is quite blatantly biased either to or against one of them. Both of them fecked up and both should be called out on it.
 
McTominay. He's the player with the most negative online reputation right now, so he'll get blamed for everything - even when it isn't his fault.

The target for scapegoat is all about being in the spotlight for new transfers. Right now that's CF. But second place is DM. Assuming we get Hojlund at CF, he'll be given the benefit of the doubt for at least a couple of seasons. So it'll be the backup DM who's gets the most undeserved hate this time around.

I really cannot see McTominey featuring much.

He was on the fringes at best last year and we have signed Mount and heavily linked to Amrabat also. Plus, i'd play Mainoo over McTominey in a heartbeat.

People will hate on Anthony unless he starts showing more end product, despite him being a good player.
 
Probably Mount, because he comes with the ”average overpriced English player” reputation. Antony and Sancho will also be deservedly bashed for being terrible at football.
 
Antony and Mount.

The right answer.

Antony will be underwhelming again and Mount will play fine but as soon as he has a stinker we’ll be all over him.

Sancho on the other hand is guna pleasantly surprise us.
 
Threads like this only cause toxicity and serve to build fake narrative. It implies that certain players will receive criticism because they aren't liked rather than because of their performances. It's immature nonsense

/thread.

If a player is consistently underperforming, he is called out. This isn't scapegoating.
 
The new season is all about improving the goals scored, which was not good enough last season. All the lads expected to produce and score goals including the new striker/strikers will be analysed to intense levels this season.
 
The scapegoat for last year was clearly Weghorst. Ronaldo barely played and DDG was decent enough for most of the year.

The scapegoat will be the player who plays many minutes but delivers very little output. The candidates going into next year are Sancho and Antony, joined by any of our new signings should they not settle well.
 
Have a feeling that Garnacho will go a similar way to Greenwood. He will continue to show promising displays but will be called greedy and start to frustrate a vocal minority of fans. This will begin to filter into the discourse, and over the course of the season, Garnacho will end up underrated. Just like what happened with Greenwood.
 
The new season is all about improving the goals scored, which was not good enough last season. All the lads expected to produce and score goals including the new striker/strikers will be analysed to intense levels this season.
Got to agree on this. Only rashford came good last year in terms of goals. Everyone else didn’t contribute enough. If we fail to land a top forward it’s going to put the pressure on all our frontline and ultimately will cost us on our season targets
 
If he stays, Maguire, obviously. Even if he doesn't start a single PL match, for some people he'll be to blame for every defeat and every goal we concede. For reasons.
 
I previously thought Mount, but no, that’s incorrect.

It’ll undoubtedly be Hojlund.

His signing is already highly divisive, and he’s being signed for an absolutely huge fee (relative to what he’s achieved / shown thus far) to seemingly lead the line at the biggest PL club.

If he doesn’t hit the ground running - he will certainly be the scapegoat, it’s unavoidable really given the context.
 
Threads like this only cause toxicity and serve to build fake narrative. It implies that certain players will receive criticism because they aren't liked rather than because of their performances. It's immature nonsense
This. There is nothing wrong with accountability and criticizing poor performances.
 
/thread.

If a player is consistently underperforming, he is called out. This isn't scapegoating.

Thank you. Can't stand how people are derided for naming "scapegoats" when in reality they are just calling a player shit because he's playing like it.

There have been a few notable actual scapegoats (Pogba in a couple of his seasons, Ronaldo in his first season back for us, Ibra), but for the most part the players that are often criticized deserved it. fecking Rashford was a disgrace in that Ole/Ragnick season for both his effort and performance, but last year he deservedly got tremendous plaudits for his bounce back season. It was deserved both ways.
 
Why’s that then?
Mostly my personal bias, haven't warmed up to him and never really rated him as player that much.

For a more objective answer assuming we won't go for any blockbuster names such as kane which seems quite likely at this point he'll be considered our star signing of the window and having given him the no7 shirt will only compound that notion, several bad performances one after another and I have no doubt pressure will start pilling up like there's no tomorrow.
 
Isn't a scapegoat someone that gets the blame despite their performances not being particularily worse than the others?

Sancho and Antony can't be scapegoats as they both were underperforming heavily last year.

Rashford is a likely target if he does just half of what he did last season and has a season that's just okay.
Onana is another possible target if he doesn't live up to the ridiculous hype he's had on here (which I can only assume applies to the rest of the fanbase as well).
 
Ah so many to choose from:

Mount and Antony will be the obvious ones.

Sancho and Erikson worth a shout.

Not even Including martial, Mctominay and Maguire.
 
Probably Onana.

"BUT DE GEA WOULD HAVE SAVED IT"

No, but really no, De Gea wouldn't have saved it because De Gea hasn't saved it since 2018.
 
wondering how well Wan Bissaka will cope with a more passing team.....

Antony seems to already wind people up quite a bit