Bruno Fernandes ‘undermines’ Ten Hag tactics as Man Utd fingers crossed for Aston Villa thrashing
Manchester United would be better off with Mason Mount than Bruno Fernandes, who ‘undermines Erik ten Hag’s tactics’.
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Bruno the Man Utd problem
I think we can agree that United have some problems, but it’s not all as bad as it sometimes seems. I’ll start with the good.
We have made some good signings, that need to bed in. People quickly forget that few players join a club or certainly a new league and immediately land delivering top performances. Very few. It generally takes 6 months to a year. And sometimes they just don’t work out. But so far these are looking positive.
We’ve fixed some major issue areas, particularly adding to defence. We want to see Yoro in the side, to give quality competition in CB. Yeah Maguire is doing “fine” but he’s still Maguire (i.e. prone to a big fuck up, diving in, getting out of position etc). Ugarte will settle and be good too.
We have some good competition in many positions. Wing especially. But across the pitch we keep picking up injuries that kill this.
We have won some silverware. Not many clubs get to do that a year. We expect more, but that’s from a former time and that’s not where we are right now. We will be back there, but for the first time there is actually a plan and work underway to get there.
We shed a load of players that needed to go. That was well overdue and there’s still more to go, but finally some of that dead weight is gone.
We have invested very well in the next generation. Whoever is there to manage it will have a veritable collection of diamonds to work with. And they absolutely must be made to use them when they’re ready.
Ok, on to the bad.
Up front, all our chances rest on young Højlund. We signed a guy who could fill in there, but he’s not a striker. Now, Højlund is a cracking player, and if we feed him, he’ll score, but…
Bruno, is not a consistent creative genius, and he doesn’t seem to like passing to the striker (preferring a pass out wide). He can do great things but most of the time – and let’s not beat around the bush here – he is terrible at retaining possession. Compare him with KDB, Palmer, Odegaard. It’s not pretty.
People thought De Gea was great because he would pull off a huge save. No. He looked great because of those saves, but he was a problem and many of those saves were from crises of his own making. Bruno is similar. I personally don’t like him, don’t rate him, don’t think any big club would seek to buy him. People will say he’s carried us, but most of the time he has undermined the tactics. I get it now when Ronaldo was demanding he passed to him. I would rather have Eriksen or Mount in his position, because they can keep the ball as well as use it just as well.
Injuries. I don’t know why, but we have had a rolling injury crisis for years now. Is it the training? Is it the players? Is it just bad luck? I don’t know but it has caused serious issues with building consistency and also offering much needed competition. They need to look at why and fix the cause.
Manager. Now this one is tricky. I like Ten Hag. He is very good tactically, as former players have said. And we’ve seen it. He knows what he wants to do. The problem as I see it is he is not very flexible or reactive to games as they unfold. He makes a decision and will stick with it regardless (see: subbing Rashford when playing well, and we needed him on the pitch). A plan is good but you need to adapt too.
Like I said before the season, the manager now has to deliver. Once the squad is fully available, and it seems to be getting back at long last with Hojlund’s return, there are no excuses. I’m still confident, but the next few games will be critical.
And if not, Ruud will be fine. Just please drop Bruno.
Badwolf
Post-Fergie bosses
I think I can provide a reasonable synopsis of how most sensible United fans feel to Ciaran’s question. But first, Niall’s email is one of the worst ever published, so one should acknowledge that. Impressive stuff. Historically bad. On United ‘regimes’ post Fergie: – Moyes: actually the best moneyball manager out there in terms of points per dollar spent pre United – so Glazers are keen. Has a style. Proven track record. Scottish. Made the tiniest bit of sense if you squinted. If he’d come in and adjusted to United – the literal league champions – it might have been different. Instead he thought he knew better. He did not. I found that period kind of funny more than anything else, his record of having clubs beat United that hadn’t since before time etc. He’s a decent manager. United don’t need one of those.
– Van Gaal: Best preseason ever. Had the personality. Was building a system. Worst transfer record of any of the managers here. I think if he’d stayed United would have improved, but the run of consecutive matches without a goal or even an attempt in the first half was soul-destroying. First time in my entire cognisant life I missed watching matches. So had to go.
– Jose: Literally no one thought this would work. Sad, hated husk of a human being joins a club desperately in need of energy and a new lease on life. Rode the wave of Zlatan being even better than most thought, other than that he was dreadful, and a pure Ed Woodward pick. He’s the worst, never wanted him and knowing each loss contributed to his inevitable departure made it okay.
– Ole: The only joy we’ve really had since Fergie. One of the United faithful’s favourite players, takes over – starts winning and playing amazing stuff. Creates a great attack, has a system that really just needs a midfield. Spends 2 years not buying a midfield. Gets fired because there’s no midfield.
– ETH: Finally, United hire a manager at the right point in their career, somewhat proven, interesting tactically, ambitious, seemed a great fit. First half of the first season: nailed it. Then part-time bouncer Andy Carroll cuts down Eriksen for no reason and the PGMOL decide it’s time for a decade of cumpenance on Casemiro and United die a death with no midfield. And those two never come back, because they’re old and done. Rashford falls out of love with football, so the goals dry up. Second season is the worst injury run I’ve ever seen, so I’m happy enough to see what happens. Now I see it. He’s cooked. BUT. He’s gotten rid of over 30 players that have played in the first team, and despite the Antony signing, I do believe the squad looks better now than at any point in the above. So…
– Next? Whoever it is, they have the parts to make the top 4. Will they? Only if they’re in soon.
Ryan, Bermuda
The lowest ebb
Ciaran asks what really is the lowest ebb for that lot across the Pennines, sporting wise surely getting relegated whilst watching Leeds win the title. But of course that came before football was invented
Steve from the Gelderd End
Man Utd fan hopes for Villa thrashing
I was always disgusted by fans who wanted their team to lose just so the manager could be sacked, and here I am today hoping that Villa thrashes us so we can finally move on from this fraud. My trust in INEOS revolutionizing anything has completely gone with their faith in Ten Hag. Everybody can see that this guy is not qualified to manage United. I never thought I’d despise a United manager more than Moyes, but Ten Hag and his constant excuses are draining. I haven’t watched a single minute of United this season because I’ve been so repulsed by the fact that he is still the manager. Please, Villa, put us all out of our misery today.
Mason Wild
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Carragher rubbish
So Jamie Carragher believes it is an insult to Klopp and Arteta’s early work, at Liverpool and Arsenal respectively, to suggest their teams were ever as consistently bad as this United side, using goal difference in the Premier League to make this point. If this is the yardstick used to measure a team’s consistency then it begs the question of why we bother using points to determine league position?
What is interesting is that he focuses on goal difference rather than something arguably more meaningful, such as win rate or points per game. He does this because the real insult here is to everyone else’s intelligence, as Jamie omits the key stats to stick the boot into United.
In terms of all competitions, Ten Hag has a win rate of 56%. After the same number of games, Klopp’s win rate was 51% and Arteta’s was…56%. As regards the PL, in his first 82 games Ten Hag has won 142 points (1.7 PPG) – Klopp won 151 points (1.8 PPG) and Arteta won…142 points. And that’s not even factoring in the mess our club was in when TH took over, a mess that we have only begun to clear up this season under new a new ownership model.
Yes there are issues on the pitch, it’s obviously not quite working at the moment. TH is not a moron, he can see this too and knows we need to improve. But for Carragher to suggest Klopp’s Liverpool or Arteta’s Arsenal were never as “consistently bad” at the beginning of their tenures is, frankly, a load of balls.
Garey Vance, MUFC
Van Dijk whataboutery
I know you like to wind up Evertonians but in that pile of unpunished fouls, you failed to mention van dijk himself.
In the same game, he took out James Rodriguez who never played for us again as he couldn’t get over that injury.
So next time you think about some wind up, at least be fair.
In my opinion, pickers was just sticking up for his team mate. But no, you ignore that and perpetuate a false narrative.
Fat Mat (Gordon, haha hahahaha)