Sancho problems prove Manchester United need to follow Liverpool ‘example’ before spending millions

Editor F365
Manchester United need more James Milners

Manchester United keep chasing expensive, commercial signings instead of establishing the sort of foundation Liverpool did with players like James Milner.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

 

It’s all gone South
This is no reaction to the football because it isn’t to do with football.

To my mind Southgate has very little time left as the England manager, over the years he’s built up a considerable amount of capital outside of the footballing sphere by being socially aware and positive, something a lot of football fans have appreciated (and some have hated ofc).

Well with picking Henderson he’s shown that he’s willing to be socially aware only as long as it has suited him, much the same as Henderson, and he’s basically thrown away all of that capital. As such I think if there’s any sort of blip in form with this extravagantly talented squad no-one’s going to be bothered to defend the man in the waistcoat, if he is willing to be a hypocrite then why should we give a sh*t, on the heap with you Southgate.
Will Goodey

 

Southgate has done incredibly well with England.

But. If he was coming in fresh now, Maguire and Henderson would be sacrificed immediately by him and never seen again.

Ditch the loyalty, and put players in on merit and not reputation.
Paul

 

READ MORE: Rating the players as England go through the motions against Ukraine

 

Selection box
Every time England play, Gareth will pick a starting eleven.  The most important decision in my opinion, though, is the choice of the eleventh player in the team as this will determine the match strategy.  Don’t believe me?  Let me take you through the selection process.

We start at the back with a keeper and a back four.  Everyone has their own idea about which players are best in those positions and Gareth has an established pecking order in each position but everyone agrees need a keeper, a left back, a right back and at least two centre backs.

Then we look up front and it’s the same story.  We pick Kane and two wide men.  We can argue about the wide choices but everyone agrees we need two names.

That leaves us needing three more players, all in the middle of the pitch.  And we know that Bellingham and Rice will be two of those players.

Which leaves us with one empty place in the team and a big strategic decision to make.  We have three strategic options:
– there’s the safe option of a defensive midfielder like Henderson or Phillips.  A strategy that we might use against France or Argentina.
– there’s the aggressive option of a number 10 like Mount, Foden, Eze or Maddison.  Definitely the strategy to use against whipping boys like Malta or San Marino.
– there’s the in between strategy of an up and downer or playmaker like Gallagher or TAA
– and there used to be a fourth option of picking an extra defender but, touch wood, I think Gareth has binned this one.

And, you know what?  We dropped points against Ukraine not because of a decision over Maguire vs Tomori or Rashford vs Maddison or even Henderson vs Phillips.  Gareth screwed up on the type of player he picked as his eleventh selection.  Ukraine are one of those in between sides that call for the third strategy.  With TAA unavailable, this was a job for Gallagher as that eleventh player.  Instead we went for the first option and picked a team to play against France.

Simples.
Steve Mills

Harry Kane holds his head in his shirt during England's draw at Ukraine.
Harry Kane holds his head in his shirt during England’s draw at Ukraine.

 

Yet another failed summer
Manchester United.

When I started following the team from Belfast in the ’60s, I was brought to a lifetime of support by being in total awe of George Best. A bloke called Louis Edwards chaired the board. He was a butcher. His son Martin followed and was lucky to pass on selling the whole kit and caboodle for a fiver to a bloke because he could do keepy uppy.

But they ran the club properly. They bought the players the manager wanted, when he wanted them. They had an eye on the fans, and the year I spent in Manchester, United won the FA cup stopping a Liverpool double, phew. David Gill took over. He looked the part, a tall, well dressed man, working along side Sir, and delivering multiple championships and cups. But now the place looks like it is run by the butcher’s lad who delivers packages wrapped in brown paper on a bicycle.

They don’t buy the players the manager wants and they can’t even sell the ones he wants rid of. They hold out for too much, so end up paying the difference in salaries for another year. They claim that because they are United, other clubs ask too much for players. Yet that’s exactly what they do, they ask for too much because they think other managers will be thrilled to have ex-United players. As a result, there are now about ten unwanted players hanging around, disgruntled, damaging morale, who if sold would have generated the dish for new first-class players.

The executives think they are clever. They think they will outsmart the other teams. But summer after summer, for about ten years now, we listen to the speculation, knowing that the chances of United signing a game changer are nil.

Blame the Glasers, they want to make money and nothing else, but blame them for the right thing. Employing second rate numpties who make the club look ridiculous.
Tim McKane

 

Manchester United need more Milners
I think that the current Sancho situation is a perfect example of where Utd have been going wrong in the transfer market – prioritising reputation and commercial value over doing the research on whether a player has the correct cultural fit and attitude to be part of a winning team. Too many examples of clearly very talented players being signed, but who seem to lack that team ethic or mental resilience. It’s fine bringing in a couple of match winning mavericks, but you need an existing core of “Milners’ to set the example and establish that culture.

Ferguson would bin someone off as soon as they got too big for their boots, Utd now proactively go out and sign them. And if Ferguson did gamble on a mercurial talent (e.g. Ronaldo), he could rely on a changing room full absolute metronomes like Keane or Neville to demand a standard of professionalism and dedication from them.

Utd have out spent every other team in world football over the last 10 years, but where are the leaders? The captain Fernandez is talented and passionate, but petulant and flaky. Obviously don’t have any insight into what’s happened behind the scenes with Sancho, but I suspect he’s moved from an environment at Dortmund where they demand the best out of each other, to a changing room of ‘big time Charlies’ who are primarily concerned with the number of followers they have on Insta.

When you’re dealing with a group of young men who are blasted with fame and money, the priority should be searching out a core of players that set a super professional standard, and build from there. The Glazers seem to simply exist to sign ‘flashy’ players to sell shirts and keep the fans happy while they pocket millions, but Utd fans seem to encourage / enable them by demanding high profile signings every window. Basically – less Pogbar, more Milner.
Simon, Bristol LFC

 

Scott McTombappe
Not sure why there has been all the fuss about Man United needing a striker. All they needed to do was unleash Scott McTominay a la Steve Clarke. 6 goals in 5 qualifying games. Erling who?

5 wins from 5 matches now. All we need now is 2 points from 3 games. And even if we lost 3 in a row, Norway would have to win all of their last 4 games to finish ahead of us.

In other words, see you in Germany!
Mike, LFC, London

 

Scotland are ready
We’ll be coming!
Tartan Army Shaun

 

Indirect FKs
So another dreaded international break is in full flow and although it probably came at a good time for my team, it bores the absolute tits off me. Games are generally one-sided with very little jeopardy other than another couple of names on the physio table. They should just get qualifiers out of the way in one big block in winter, so these weekends don’t get interspersed and I can fully disengage rather than leaving me temporarily contemplating doing “normal” things on a Saturday. And I know there is lower league football but United take up enough of my time and you have to pick your battles.

This got me thinking what other changes I would like to see, and the current offside interpretation is an obvious one. But that’s been flogged to death so no dice. How about indirect free-kicks in the box, when’s the last time you saw one of those?

They are pure chaos, as the defending team scrambles on the line helpless like a bunch of Sunday League cloggers, and the attacking team tries to disguise the obvious rocket into the top corner, before the ball is nudged to the side and all hell breaks loose. It’s the footballing equivalent of a Royal Rumble!

The laws of the game state that an indirect free kick can be awarded when a player is “guilty of dissent, using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or action(s) or other verbal offences”. So why not award indirect fks in the box and include things like diving and GKs time-wasting? “You want to hold up an imaginary card like you’re some 80’s Wall Street trader, well now the whole class is lining up to take one in the mush”.

Anyone else any other hopes and dreams to share? We will get through this together, but don’t dare mention the rugby.
Garey Vance, MUFC

 

Quiet down on the Arabia
Football365 need to get past this Saudi bashing! Maybe I’m wrong, but is football not supposed to be the distraction? The world is a shitty place, we all know it. Change can and does happen. Broaching the subject of Saudi Arabia is one thing, but to belittle the whole continent of Asia as Matt Stead did is beyond the pale for me. Maybe ‘Nassaji Mazandaran of Iran, Indian champions Mumbai City and Uzbekistan’s Navbahor’ don’t mean much to some, but they do to the millions of football fans in the most populated continent on the planet. Asia likes football, too.

Maybe you don’t like the Middle-East taking players away from Europe, the only place with a competition worth winning.. Maybe you simply don’t like Saudi Arabia. Whatever your reasons, shitting over all of Asia isn’t a good look.
Bagpuss

(MC – the intention was to belittle Ruben Neves, not the whole continent of Asia. Obviously.)

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