A real case of the "grass is greener" syndrome going on here.
It's really puzzling because mostly everyone between here and the moon agreed before the season started that we had a lot of work to do, and we aren't going to compete for the title this season, but rather develop youngsters and give them a chance to bloom, while trying to get into the top4. We are going this route because we have had almost 7 years of spending sprees that have brought us nearly nothing. With GREAT managers at the helm no less. And I see people here wanting to bring in journeymen managers who have managed about 20 clubs in their careers.
We get rid of Lukaku who is the opposite of what we want. Lukaku has the turning ability of a cruiseship, and ball handling ability of a wall. The only problem we are currently facing is that our go-to striker in Marcus Rashford has managed to somehow lose all confidence over the course of 6 games, after being absolutely great in the first one. Alexis Sanchez scored what, 4 goals in his entire career? And now people suddenly feel he was to great solution after all? It'd be nice if we didnt forget history 30 seconds after it happened once in a while.
Last night, Scott McTominay stood alone at the 5 meter mark with open net, and he heads the ball over the goal. That is how close we came to winning the game last night. Same story with Marcus Rashford against Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton. Missed penalties, missed open nets. The game was always there for the taking. We've had 1 bad game all season, against West Ham, every other game we deserved the win but personal mistakes squandered everything.
Remember the game against Southampton? EIGHT shots on goal. 1-1. The problem we have is inherently with the end product. Our defense this season is great, absolutely phenomenal compared to last season. Lindelöf is about to lose his starting position to Tuanzebe once AWB and Shaw are both healthy.
We tried to buy Dybala, Eriksen, Sancho, Mandzukic and Longstaff during the transfer window. Jadon Sancho is a target next summer. Mandzukic might be a depth option in January, Dybala fell through due to his image rights, Eriksen wants to move to Spain, Longstaff was priced at £50 million.
Thing is, we signed 3 players who have all performed above and beyond except for maybe Maguire who I already expected to be very good. James is exceeding everyones expectations by far, and AWB is an absolute phenomenon as a defensive rightback.
We're not losing matches left and right are we? We've lost 2. Same as Tottenham and Chelsea. 3 draws. All of which we would have won, had the quality of the player product been better. That is on the players, not the manager. You do not need a manager to tell you how to put the ball in the net 5-10 meters away. These are adults, they know how to do that.
A rebuild is just that, a rebuild that reshapes the very identity and structure of the entire football team. It takes time, several transfer windows, you play a mix of veterans and young kids that will eventually grow into men. Mason Greenwood is already seeing a lot of gametime. He is 17 years old and playing like a man.
This is not the end product of this version of Manchester United, this is the very first stepping stone. Either you trust in the process, or you go on thinking that the grass is always greener, and act like fans of the opposing team every time we play a game until we are winning again and the team is suddenly worthy of your support.
