Wot, no transfers? It's all happening now!

[romufc]

Well he has been allowed to sign 5 players which is half a team added to already established stars like De Gea Matic Pogba Martial and Rashford. So we should be doing better than what we are. Of course we still need more players, just wanted to debunk people saying Ole has had no backing because that's not at all true

He was allowed to make 5 signings yes. A team that wants to win the league needs 11 players. When Ole came in, Martial, Rashford were not established stars.

He came in and we needed a CB, RB, RW, ST, CAM, CM. He has got CB, RB, CM, CAM but we have not had a RW for 8 years now. We sold a ST and LW in Sanchez.

 

[Paxi]

If he got sacked for making negative comments about the owners then I think media, ex players and more importantly fans would erupt - I would love to see them recovering from it.

He would be the ultimate martyr. Would probably do him more good to be honest as well run clubs will look at his stint at Cardiff and United and see that he ultimately failed because he had inept owners.

 

[croadyman]

DM if we sign a right winger. As Martial Greenwood and Rashford at a push are more than good enough depth at ST

Boggles the mind that Ole seems to see this position as such low priority when there is no other proper DM in the squad other than Matic

 

[red4ever 79]

He was allowed to make 5 signings yes. A team that wants to win the league needs 11 players. When Ole came in, Martial, Rashford were not established stars.

He came in and we needed a CB, RB, RW, ST, CAM, CM. He has got CB, RB, CM, CAM but we have not had a RW for 8 years now. We sold a ST and LW in Sanchez.

Dont start making stuff up. People were saying he hasn't been backed at all. He has. Of course we still need more players no one is disputing that. Quality of the squad is not good enough many players kept on contracts that should have been let go. However let's not pretend poor ole has had no backing. Team should be performing better than what it is.

 

[romufc]

Dont start making stuff up. People were saying he hasn't been backed at all. He has. Of course we still need more players no one is disputing that. Quality of the squad is not good enough many players kept on contracts that should have been let go. However let's not pretend poor ole has had no backing. Team should be performing better than what it is.

How am I making things up?

He has been backed last summer, you do realise football is ever evolving? If Manutd made £100m last summer, you dont expect them to say its fine if we make £20m this year cause we made alot of money last year?

You have to improve year on year.

Since Ole has come in, the following players have left. Lukaku, Fellaini, Herrera, Darmina, Young, Sanchez, Smalling (almost) and the following have come in. AWB, James, Maguire, Bruno, VDB.

7 out 5 in. Now you can all blame Ole for spending £80m and £50m on players but it is not his decision to negotiate. The clubs fault for not getting more money for the players they sold.

The team got 3rd and 3 semi finals - you are meant to kick on after that, you can do that by signing more players.

We havent had a RW for 8 years yet the manager has been fully backed?

7 players out 5 players in... Yeah hes been backed.

 

[Andycoleno9]

He was allowed to make 5 signings yes. A team that wants to win the league needs 11 players. When Ole came in, Martial, Rashford were not established stars.

He came in and we needed a CB, RB, RW, ST, CAM, CM. He has got CB, RB, CM, CAM but we have not had a RW for 8 years now. We sold a ST and LW in Sanchez.

Lets not go full fm here. I agree that he was not backed fully (for title challenge he wasn't for sure). But when he came he had:
Gk- solved
Central defenders: needed one who will make others better. Lindelof, Smalling and Bailly are not dross defenders. They just needed one top defender to play with them. Ole spent 80 mil on Maguire. That i call backed. He could have bought two defenders for 40 for example or buy better defender than Maguire. So he was backed in that position.
Full backs: needed right back. Spent 50mil on that. Backed
Midfielders: spent 100mil on two mc. Had Pogba, Fred, McT and Matic. Backed.
Attack. He had Rashford, Martial, Lukaku, Sanchez. That is solid attack. He decided to sell two of them. He decided to buy James. But i agree that he wasn't backed enough there. He needed rw and backup striker.

So, he was backed but not enough to make us title challenger. But with that money spent he could and should have buy smarter for sure.

 

[The White Pele]

A few days to go but you have to say this looks like being another amateurish window from United’s perspective.

Sancho has clearly been the primary target. He seems interested in joining, by many accounts personal terms are agreed. The fee required is known and is not an outrageous sum for this player in the market.

However, there is also a need to strengthen other areas. So if Dortmund aren’t budging on the fee then United can choose between the following:

1. Have a bigger summer outlay than planned to land Sancho and also strengthen other areas. Dream scenario for the fans but problematic possibly for the club

2. Prioritise Sancho over other areas. If we deem Sancho a must have then pay the fee and postpone other signings until future windows. Do what we can with stop-gaps.

3. Prioritise overall squad strengthening. Instead of spending all the budget on Sancho. Go and buy 3 or 4 players for ~£120m instead. Strengthen the overall squad in a few positions but risk losing the opportunity to land your number 1 target in future windows.

At the moment we have gone for the least optimal option 4: spend £40m on a talented player in a non critical area to improve depth. Don’t land primary target and don’t improve other areas of the squad which need investment.

Where is the logic in this? If we finish with just 1 new player who is not a guaranteed starter then the approach is nonsensical. Surely we are not £40m apart in our valuation of Sancho, so if we were to only sign one player, why would you not stump up the cash for the number 1 target Sancho and not sign VDB?

Otherwise, once we have made the decision to sign VDB due to interest from other clubs, if we then can’t afford Sancho why would we still pursue this and why don’t we have sufficient targets lined up to strengthen in other areas?

Very frustrating when we had opportunity to build on a promising second half of the last season. Squandered.

 

[Craig Ward]

Boggles the mind that Ole seems to see this position as such low priority when there is no other proper DM in the squad other than Matic

Ole has 4 players he can use in a deeper midfield position:
Fred/McTom/Matic/Pogba.

None of them are leaving this window - we wont be signing a DM this window.

I'm not saying any of them are world beaters - they all have flaws as DM's but we got 3 days left and we are really struggling to do the most basic transfer deals that could ever be done.

We will sign a DM next summer when Matic can no longer move and people realise Pogba and McTom are pretty much hopeless at doing the DM job. We will only address the issue when it becomes a problem, obviously

 

[romufc]

Lets not go full fm here. I agree that he was not backed fully (for title challenge he wasn't for sure). But when he came he had:
Gk- solved
Central defenders: needed one who will make others better. Lindelof, Smalling and Bailly are not dross defenders. They just needed one top defender to play with them. Ole spent 80 mil on Maguire. That i call backed. He could have bought two defenders for 40 for example or buy better defender than Maguire. So he was backed in that position.
Full backs: needed right back. Spent 50mil on that. Backed
Midfielders: spent 100mil on two mc. Had Pogba, Fred, McT and Matic. Backed.
Attack. He had Rashford, Martial, Lukaku, Sanchez. That is solid attack. He decided to sell two of them. He decided to buy James. But i agree that he wasn't backed enough there. He needed rw and backup striker.

So, he was backed but not enough to make us title challenger. But with that money spent he could and should have buy smarter for sure.

Well he was backed last summer, I am not disputing that. He is not being backed right now which is my concern. Money could have been better used, yes but that comes down to the negotiators as well.

Is it his fault the negotiating team is incompetent at its job? Is it Ole who decides how much salary a player gets?

 

[Andycoleno9]

Well he was backed last summer, I am not disputing that. He is not being backed right now which is my concern. Money could have been better used, yes but that comes down to the negotiators as well.

Is it his fault the negotiating team is incompetent at its job? Is it Ole who decides how much salary a player gets?

We are pretty much on same page here. Yep, this summer was cluster feck. Especially in situation where rivals are buying players.
But for last part i don't agree. Now, this is based on my opinion so maybe i am wrong; i think that manager gets budget. His CEO tells him that he has xy money for signings. So, when he finds out that two defenders will cost 130mil he can say; "No thanks". Lets switch to other targets"

 

[romufc]

We are pretty much on same page here. Yep, this summer was cluster feck. Especially in situation where rivals are buying players.
But for last part i don't agree. Now, this is based on my opinion so maybe i am wrong; i think that manager gets budget. His CEO tells him that he has xy money for signings. So, when he finds out that two defenders will cost 130mil he can say; "No thanks". Lets switch to other targets"

People are forgetting what the aims for us should be, which is the title. To do so, you have to be backed every season unless the board loses confidence in the manager.

Liverpool won it win a canter and still have spend £70m on their squad.

Okay lets say, the board told Ole this was the budget and he fecked up and signed two expensive defenders.

Does that mean he didnt have a budget this summer? If he did, Ole would have known how much he can spend on Sancho and VDB? Surely, if the board said Ole this summer you have £100m to spend and you've spent £35m on VDB so you are left with £65 which will not get you Sancho so find someone else.

Why are we still in for Sancho then?

 

[AltiUn]

I'm so unspeakably disappointed in this transfer window. The sad thing is there's absolutely feck all I can do about it, Woodward and Judge aren't going to take an ounce of blame or responsibility, the Glazers will continue to absentmindedly leech and Solskjaer will take the bullet. I absolutely despise everything our club represents and what we've become. There was so much opportunity for us to finally kick on, after 7 years, instead we decided to set fire to our new house before we even put the roof on.

 

[esmufc07]

We seem to have gone back to the summer of 2013, chasing unrealistic targets and as the window closes we start seemingly trying to chase anybody we can find. But meh I can't find the energy to get angry about football anymore.

 

[red4ever 79]

How am I making things up?

He has been backed last summer, you do realise football is ever evolving? If Manutd made £100m last summer, you dont expect them to say its fine if we make £20m this year cause we made alot of money last year?

You have to improve year on year.

Since Ole has come in, the following players have left. Lukaku, Fellaini, Herrera, Darmina, Young, Sanchez, Smalling (almost) and the following have come in. AWB, James, Maguire, Bruno, VDB.

7 out 5 in. Now you can all blame Ole for spending £80m and £50m on players but it is not his decision to negotiate. The clubs fault for not getting more money for the players they sold.

The team got 3rd and 3 semi finals - you are meant to kick on after that, you can do that by signing more players.

We havent had a RW for 8 years yet the manager has been fully backed?

7 players out 5 players in... Yeah hes been backed.

Majority of the players out were not first team players. I stopped reading when you mentioned Sanchez, as mentioned I am not disputing that we shouldnt add more players, just people were saying he hasnt been backed at all.

 

[MikeUpNorth]

I think there wasn't any plan at all.

No, there definitely was a plan. But it was a plan written on the wall in shit.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Dont start making stuff up. People were saying he hasn't been backed at all. He has. Of course we still need more players no one is disputing that. Quality of the squad is not good enough many players kept on contracts that should have been let go. However let's not pretend poor ole has had no backing. Team should be performing better than what it is.

Better than 3rd ? I think 3rd is reasonable given the squad

 

[romufc]

Majority of the players out were not first team players. I stopped reading when you mentioned Sanchez, as mentioned I am not disputing that we shouldnt add more players, just people were saying he hasnt been backed at all.

Clearly you watched alot of United games pre Ole.

Fellaini - 18/19 14 PL games and 5 CL games - first team player.
Young - 18/19 30 PL games and 7 CL games - First team player
Herrera - 18/19 - 22 PL games 2 CL - First team player
Smalling - 18/19 - 24 PL games and 8 CL games - First team player
Alexis - 18/19 - 20 PL games and 4 CL games - First team player
Lukaku - 18/19 - 32 PL games and 7 CL games - First team player

The only one was Darmian. Clearly all of those players were first team because they all got alot of game time.

Again, I am not saying he hasnt been backed at all, he got backed enough last season to get top 4. If our aims are to battle with top 6 then fair enough, he has been backed.

If our aims are to close the gap on the teams above us, he needs to be backed more this season. We are going into a second season without a proper backup to LB, CDM, LW, ST and without a RW.

We will play 2 games a week from now until end of January at least. This squad cannot cope with it. James is championship quality and he is our rotation option when Greenwood, Martial or Rashford cannot play.

 

[croadyman]

I'm so unspeakably disappointed in this transfer window. The sad thing is there's absolutely feck all I can do about it, Woodward and Judge aren't going to take an ounce of blame or responsibility, the Glazers will continue to absentmindedly leech and Solskjaer will take the bullet. I absolutely despise everything our club represents and what we've become. There was so much opportunity for us to finally kick on, after 7 years, instead we decided to set fire to our new house before we even put the roof on.

Yeah it's hard to accept when you see our once great club being rotted away by leeches and there is not a damn thing we can do about it whatsoever

 

[Grylte]

I better buy extra popcorn for this weekend, all the transfer tweets, frustration and whining will be great to watch, and oh so sad.

 

[croadyman]

I better buy extra popcorn for this weekend, all the transfer tweets, frustration and whining will be great to watch, and oh so sad.

Never realised it was such a joke to love your club and be fecked off seeing it going down the pan due to leech owners and an incompetent board

 

[Grylte]

Never realised it was such a joke to love your club and be fecked off seeing it going down the pan due to leech owners and an incompetent board

That's why i added the sad part at the end, i'm one of the worst transfer muppets... The first thing i do every morning is to check the transfer tweets!

I am as frustrated as anyone, but i'm sure if nothing happens, the meltdown will be popcorn worthy.

 

[El-Manos]

3 days left... things are looking very bleak indeed. This is inexcusable incompetence from us. An absolute farce.

 

[pocco]

Dont start making stuff up. People were saying he hasn't been backed at all. He has. Of course we still need more players no one is disputing that. Quality of the squad is not good enough many players kept on contracts that should have been let go. However let's not pretend poor ole has had no backing. Team should be performing better than what it is.

Spot on. We need signings to compete for trophies now. But what we have should be good enough to blow most teams away in the league and should finish top 4. Nobody is expecting PL or CL after our crap window, but we still expect good football, top 4 and a good cup run in at least the FA Cup.

 

[Smores]

Clearly you watched alot of United games pre Ole.

Fellaini - 18/19 14 PL games and 5 CL games - first team player.
Young - 18/19 30 PL games and 7 CL games - First team player
Herrera - 18/19 - 22 PL games 2 CL - First team player
Smalling - 18/19 - 24 PL games and 8 CL games - First team player
Alexis - 18/19 - 20 PL games and 4 CL games - First team player
Lukaku - 18/19 - 32 PL games and 7 CL games - First team player

The only one was Darmian. Clearly all of those players were first team because they all got alot of game time.

Again, I am not saying he hasnt been backed at all, he got backed enough last season to get top 4. If our aims are to battle with top 6 then fair enough, he has been backed.

If our aims are to close the gap on the teams above us, he needs to be backed more this season. We are going into a second season without a proper backup to LB, CDM, LW, ST and without a RW.

We will play 2 games a week from now until end of January at least. This squad cannot cope with it. James is championship quality and he is our rotation option when Greenwood, Martial or Rashford cannot play.

Playing time is irrelevant, they're players widely considered by the fan base as no where near good enough. He's been backed with 4 players of the required quality so that's clearly a significant backing and improvement.

The only way he's not been backed is replacing the lost depth but that's why I always tell people they shouldn't get excited about outgoings before incomings.

Most managers have to manage squads where not every player is of the required quality. We seem to be at a point where for the first time we don't expect our manager to make do and apparently go as far as saying top 6 will do. Top 6 after the signings we've made is a joke.

 

[devilish]

Dont start making stuff up. People were saying he hasn't been backed at all. He has. Of course we still need more players no one is disputing that. Quality of the squad is not good enough many players kept on contracts that should have been let go. However let's not pretend poor ole has had no backing. Team should be performing better than what it is.

Some of the things Ole did were good. For example he removed the toxic environment left by Mou, he played some decent football, he gave kids a chance and he improved players like Rashy and Martial. In some other areas he wasn't. He spent 80m on an average CB, 50M on an average RB and 15m on a Championship level winger. Our tactics seems to be meah as well.

Was he backed? At top club's standards he wasn't. Sure we spent big last summer but if things remain the way they are now then he certainly wasn't backed this summer. Should the squad perform better? I think it should. There again none of our managers was able to do better then Ole did so I guess our strength in depth is truly shite.

 

[AltiUn]

Some of the things Ole did were good. For example he removed the toxic environment left by Mou, he played some decent football, he gave kids a chance and he improved players like Rashy and Martial. In some other areas he wasn't. He spent 80m on an average CB, 50M on an average RB and 15m on a Championship level winger. Our tactics seems to be meah as well.

Was he backed? At top club's standards he wasn't. Sure we spent big last summer but if things remain the way they are now then he certainly wasn't backed this summer. Should the squad perform better? I think it should. There again none of our managers was able to do better then Ole did so I guess our strength in depth is truly shite.

My big issue is that I worry whoever our next manager is will face the exact same issues Solskjaer has faced with the board, when every manager ends up failing spectacularly you have to start wondering are they set up to fail? I think the squad could be performing better too, Solskjaer's system doesn't elevate the players but rather the players are the ones who elevate the system. A better manager would get more out of our squad but not enough to challenge for a league, and I don't think any manager we have while the current board is in place have the capacity to back a manager to help him achieve a title win. We just seem to be stuck in an endless cycle.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Guess that's that...

Embarassing from the club setting him up to fail like this after he accomplished last seasons aim and deserved backing

Looks like Mata's good performance against Brighton Reserves came at just the right time then - no need for a new right winger

 

[cj_sparky]

3 days left... things are looking very bleak indeed. This is inexcusable incompetence from us. An absolute farce.

It's fine we'll sign some Championship players like King, Brooks and Rodon before the 16th October.

 

[AltiUn]

It's fine we'll sign some Championship players like King, Brooks and Rodon before the 16th October.

I don't think we'll sign anyone, we've left it very late.

 

[croadyman]

It's fine we'll sign some Championship players like King, Brooks and Rodon before the 16th October.

Excuse me while I go and throw up at the prospect of signing championship level tripe

 

[croadyman]

Looks like Mata's good performance against Brighton Reserves came at just the right time then - no need for a new right winger

Ugh this is disgraceful beyond words

 

[romufc]

Playing time is irrelevant, they're players widely considered by the fan base as no where near good enough. He's been backed with 4 players of the required quality so that's clearly a significant backing and improvement.

The only way he's not been backed is replacing the lost depth but that's why I always tell people they shouldn't get excited about outgoings before incomings.

Most managers have to manage squads where not every player is of the required quality. We seem to be at a point where for the first time we don't expect our manager to make do and apparently go as far as saying top 6 will do. Top 6 after the signings we've made is a joke.

Well, it is not irrelevant, if you are first team you will play more games. The quality bit is very subjective, it doesnt matter what you, me or anyone else thinks as long as the manager thinks they are good enough.

Again, I have never mentioned that he is not backed, he has not been backed enough to close the gap.

You are wrong here in my opinion. I agree you have to make do in some instances you have to make do. Let me ask you, If one of Martial / Greenwood/ Rashford are injured and the other has played alot of games, who do you bring in?

Arsenal - Auba, Lacca, Pepe, Saka, Willian, Willock, Martinello
Chelsea - Werner, Havertz, Giroud, Tammy, Mount, Pulisic, Ziyech
City - Aguero, Jesus, Sterling, Mahrez, Ferran, Bernado, Foden
SPurs - Kane, Vinicius, Bale, Son, Moura, Bergjwin
Manutd - Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, James, Ighalo, Lingard

James, Ighalo and Lingard wouldnt even get into any other squad, let alone come as first rotation option.

You expect our manager to out perform other teams who have better quality in the attacking half?

 

[cj_sparky]

Excuse me while I go and throw up at the prospect of signing championship level tripe

It's our level though isn't it...lol

 

[red4ever 79]

Better than 3rd ? I think 3rd is reasonable given the squad

I meant more the start this season

 

[RedNed77]

Excuse me while I go and throw up at the prospect of signing championship level tripe

Brooks might be OK assuming we don't spend too much on him (£20m or so) and get rid of James at the same time. We can always stand having a punt or two as long as we've not got a bench full of them, and they tend to be easier to shift as long as you don't pay them OTT wages.

I'd rather him to Ocampos. Much better a cheap Brooks than a relatively expensive 27 year old workhorse. We'll end up persevering with a mediocre RW on daft wages for the next 3-5 years due to sunk cost fallacy.

 

[red4ever 79]

Clearly you watched alot of United games pre Ole.

Fellaini - 18/19 14 PL games and 5 CL games - first team player.
Young - 18/19 30 PL games and 7 CL games - First team player
Herrera - 18/19 - 22 PL games 2 CL - First team player
Smalling - 18/19 - 24 PL games and 8 CL games - First team player
Alexis - 18/19 - 20 PL games and 4 CL games - First team player
Lukaku - 18/19 - 32 PL games and 7 CL games - First team player

The only one was Darmian. Clearly all of those players were first team because they all got alot of game time.

Again, I am not saying he hasnt been backed at all, he got backed enough last season to get top 4. If our aims are to battle with top 6 then fair enough, he has been backed.

If our aims are to close the gap on the teams above us, he needs to be backed more this season. We are going into a second season without a proper backup to LB, CDM, LW, ST and without a RW.

We will play 2 games a week from now until end of January at least. This squad cannot cope with it. James is championship quality and he is our rotation option when Greenwood, Martial or Rashford cannot play.

With the team and squad we currently have it should be more then capable of top 4 and playing good attractive football. We should at least look like a team that bears some resembalance of being coached. We need 2/3 more players added to what we have. Every player you mention in your list is nonsense, we dont miss any of them.

 

[devilish]

My big issue is that I worry whoever our next manager is will face the exact same issues Solskjaer has faced with the board, when every manager ends up failing spectacularly you have to start wondering are they set up to fail? I think the squad could be performing better too, Solskjaer's system doesn't elevate the players but rather the players are the ones who elevate the system. A better manager would get more out of our squad but not enough to challenge for a league, and I don't think any manager we have while the current board is in place have the capacity to back a manager to help him achieve a title win. We just seem to be stuck in an endless cycle.

I don't think that our board wakes up in the morning and say that they are happy with entering CL glory on alternate year. So no, technically speaking, I don't think that Ole is set up to fail. However we do have an issue, something no modern manager whether he's Ole or Klopp can sort ie the lack of a football knowledgeable board who knows their stuff including a DOF. These people are instrumental as they are the ones who analyse the work being done by scouts, who negotiate transfers and who make sure that the club is a well oiled machine both when bringing players in, moving players out and handling contracts. United need to realise that the old fashioned manager who used to do everything on his own doesn't exist anymore. No one has that skillset simply because every modern manager has people above him who do that job for him.

So what do I think its going on at United? The manager is asked which players he want. Since he's a rather busy man who doesn't have an entourage of trusted men doing the scouting for him and separate the wheat from the chaff then he would go for players he knows or trust. That means some ex player from his previous club (ex Fellaini, Bastian, Valdes, Blind, Depay etc), a big name signing on crazy money (ADM, Pogba etc) or players from a league the manager follows (Maguire, AWB etc). The trouble with that is that usually those players aren't really that great or they are outrageously expensive. That lead to the club starting to doubt the manager's judgement which then lead with them not trusting him with big money. It happened with Mou and its happening with Ole as well following him spending 130m on 2 meah defenders who are nowhere near to WC. If rumours are true Ole wanted Grealish and he ended up with VDB and he wants Sancho and might end up with Dembele or Sarr instead.

The solution to this issue is for us to have at least a top quality DOF. Unfortunately Woodward has the Glazer's trust and Woody seem to only trust people who came from the same university he came from (Arnold and Judge). Which means that managers will constantly find the same issues Ole found.

 

[devilish]

It's fine we'll sign some Championship players like King, Brooks and Rodon before the 16th October.

I doubt that they can play in the CL though.

 

[cj_sparky]

I doubt that they can play in the CL though.

No they cannot, Champions League registration is day after the European window. Still give the David Brooks fan club optimism.

 

[romufc]

With the team and squad we currently have it should be more then capable of top 4 and playing good attractive football. We should at least look like a team that bears some resembalance of being coached. We need 2/3 more players added to what we have. Every player you mention in your list is nonsense, we dont miss any of them.

If we were playing only PL football then yes, this team is good enough. We are playing CL football too now. Players get tired, players get injured. If Martial gets injured, who do we have? We are relying on a 18 year old Striker from our academy to be our first choice RW for the whole season?

If Luke Shaw gets injured because he will, is Williams good enough?

Let me ask you, would you be happy if Ole said this group is good enough to finish top 4, I will sacrifice all other cups including CL, would you be happy?

We need to close the gap on the top, feck top 4. Your ambitions are matching the clubs ambition now.

Whether we miss them or not, the reason they played so many games is because there was no one else. This is the problem, we have got rid of players who were playing and not replaced them all. We have started to replace them and then stopped this season. That is my issue, we were building something and all of a sudden we stopped.

Its like building a house where you have put in the foundations and walls but stopped just as soon as you get to the roof.