Man Utd stuck in ‘infinite loop’ and still buying ‘you’ll do’ players under Erik ten Hag
Is the Man Utd banter era still going strong? They are still having Marouane Fellaini-style transfer windows.
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Man Utd under Ten Hag still buying average players
Nietzsche’s theory of eternal recurrence is a philosophical concept which states that time repeats itself in an infinite loop, and that exactly the same events will continue to occur in exactly the same way, over and over again, for eternity.
I don’t know if the guy was in to football, but he certainly describes what it feels like to be a Manchester United fan over the last 10 years post Ferguson.
Another transfer window draws towards its conclusion, and once again Manchester United are a team in disarray- declaring interest in seemingly every average player they can think of, with no evidence whatsoever of a cohesive plan, or long term strategy.
They purchased a midfielder in Mason Mount who so far, rather than proving to be a missing piece in the Ten Hag puzzle, has posed more questions for the side than answers. A 60 million pound attacking midfield peg for a round defensive midfield hole.
They bought an excellent goalkeeper- but allowed their vastly experienced number 1 to leave for free, before selling promising talent Kovar, and Dean Henderson to Crystal Palace- meaning energy has been focused in recent weeks on an entirely unnecessary search and expenditure for a backup goalkeeper.
Much of their summer transfer budget has been spent on a largely unproven 20 year old Hojlund who scored 9 goals last season. For context, Kane scored 32. Salah 30. Benzema 44. You cannot expect a young developing player to arrive at a club and lead the line, with no seasoned support to share the burden.
Clearly, the club had anticipated shoehorning Mason Greenwood back into the squad. Unfortunately, this turned out not to be grounded in any reassuring new evidence from the everlasting internal investigation, but in a vague hope we’d all forgotten about it all. Ultimately, such whimsical, spineless decisions crumple under slight scrutiny from the woman who does the maths on countdown- and the inevitable U-turn has left this sorry club desperately short of firepower- and shredded what was left of their integrity along with it.
They stripped Harry Maguire of the captaincy, made him 4th choice centre-back, but have allowed him to insist on staying. The injury to porcelain-legged Varane leaves the bizarre situation of the club relying on a player the manager doesn’t trust, and they tried to get rid of repeatedly, in the heart of defence. Nothing says ‘you’re my guy you got this’ like a summer spent telling you to take a pay cut and move to West Ham.
There seems to be no sporting direction. Transfer targets consist of mid-table players that Erik Ten Hag has tenuously managed at some point. Recruitment is forever reactive- endless panic buys of ‘you’ll do’ type players to cover injuries, instead of a curated squad robust enough to cope with the natural loss of various players over a season.
If Manchester United want to compete for titles- heck even for the top 4- they have to have a plan- not yet another summer panic buying this years Marouane Fellaini on August 31st.
Mike (stop the ride I want to get off), Oxford
Harsh on Ange?
Very long time reader, a lot of respect for writers past and present. However, I have to say the serial negativity about Spurs every time something doesn’t go plan is really starting to grate. Some of the Spurs content feels like it comes from those melodramatic fan accounts, rather than a non-partisan footballing website.
Surely an away defeat to a good Fulham side is not cause for a meltdown. Surely four games into a new regime is not the time to be getting on the back of the manager. I agree that it was a shame we’ve been knocked out, but even if Spurs had won the Carabao cup, people would still have bemoaned it as a Mickey Mouse trophy. There are going to be missteps and mistakes, but the manager has got to be given the right to fail, without every time we lose the fan base losing its heads.
Chris, London
Harsh on Neymar?
When I saw Coutinho at number 2 of the all time worst transfers, I was genuinely struggling to think who would be number 1. And I was extremely surprised to see Neymar there.
In terms of wasted potential, yes he’s high, but worst big money transfers?
173 games for PSG 118 goals 77 assists. They’ve recouped a healthy 90 million Euros or so. It’s not exactly shocking. For contrast, Mbappe has 262 games played 215 goals 98 assists. Mbappe’s goal ratio is higher, his assist tally is lower.
I would put Joa Felix, Coutinho, Lukaku, Pogba, Hazard, Higuain, Pepe, Kepa, Torres, Shevchenko, Kepa all above Neymar. Basically everyone on the list and more. They were actively bad. Neymar hasn’t been. And seriously, how is Ousmane Dembélé, 11th most expensive signing of all time, with his 40 goals in 185 games not on this list? I can’t see any argument that says he was a better signing than Neymar.
Mike, LFC, Dubai
Award questions
Arsenal fan here, but I’m trying to understand why Saka has won the PFA YPOTY over Haaland. Surely if someone is good enough to win the actual POTY and is also eligible for YPOTY, he should win both. I understand that it’s voted for by fellow players but I’m wondering if it’s a joint consolation vote to ensure Saka’s effort last season doesn’t go unrecognised. Interesting to see that the last 5 YPOTY awards have all been won by English players. Will that become 6 in 6 next year? Who do you think is most likely to win it then?
Iyanu S, Lagos
…Can someone please explain how Saka won the Men’s PFA Young Player of the year award ahead of Erling Haaland? How does a player who has been in England all his life and had 14 goals and 11 assists win the award ahead of a player who came in from Germany to the “toughest league in the world” and scored 36 goals and had 8 assists in his first season when he should be coming to grips with the physicality of the “best league in the world”? Don’t forget that a lot of signings often take a year to get used to Pep’s methods.
You can’t even use age as a defence because Haaland is just 23 years old so you can’t call him old. So what possible explanation is there for such robbery?
It’s almost as if scoring 30+ goals in the toughest league in the world isn’t an achievement but I could swear I saw articles on F365 bemoaning how Kane scoring 30 goals in the EPL was overlooked because of Haaland’s goals last season.
It’s almost as if Haaland didn’t win the award because he’s not English but I’d like to see what other mailboxers think of this award to Saka.
Courage
Oh Stewie
I got as far as ‘Jesus is the furthest thing from an elite striker’ (paragraph 2 of…12?) scrolled down to confirm that it was Stewie and moved on with my day.
Lawrence SA
Kai silver lining?
I previously questioned what formation Arsenal were playing before realizing I got it completely wrong – mainly because due to Kai we’re actually only playing with 9 outfield players.
Given we’ve been playing with 10 men – and 9 for about half an hour when Tomi got sent off – I’d have to say 2 wins and a draw from the first three games is actually pretty good.
MAW, LA Gooner (Please, for the love of god do not start him this weekend…)
Kai me a river
Graham Simons, take up stand up, that was top drawer. Kai Havertz is hardly starting a new job is he? It’s not like he’s suddenly joined the NFL? He’s playing football, a game he has been pretty rubbish at for at least three years now. He’s just doing it in a different coloured shirt. Pretty sure Henry and Bergkamp didn’t need a century of premier league games before they came good. No doubt you Gooners are being as empathetic about the other 60million flop in North London?
Jerome Cross, Bristol Spur
How much for Gabriel?
I don’t think Dale, Swindon Wengerite, knows how Arsenal do their transfer business. The chances of getting 150/175 million for Gabriel are zero.
The Arsenal model (for their best players anyway) is usually to let them run down their contract until it has no more than a year left and sell them for an absurdly low price. Or, in extreme cases, let them run down their contract completely and lose them for absolutely nothing.
We’ll probably hold onto Balogun until he’s able to go on a free to Man City.
This is the Arsenal way (although Anelka was a notable exception. I guess David Dein handled that one!).
Stu – Gunner in France (appreciating and understanding all the mailbox support for Havertz but I just can’t see it myself. Hope I’m wrong)
Take my Pep away
Why haven’t we seen a Saudi club try and nick Pep? It’s a match made in hell/heaven. He’d have unlimited funds to play with (that’s his thing isn’t it?), won’t have to worry about FFP, and the Premier League would be a more even field.
Taz
Great goal, meh player
One of the best goals I ever saw was by one Dean Windass esq.
Long punt forward by the keeper, controlled on his thigh, flicked over his head and over his marker, ran round and smashed the volley in from about 30 metres! Probably playing for Bradford.
Ordinary player, extraordinary goal.
Dan
…Christopher Illingworth asks about great goals from meh players – as a Leeds fan I’ve plenty of meh players to choose from but I guess my favourite has to be Carlton Palmer away at Wimbledon.
At the time Wilko said something like “Carlton thought he’d scored goal of the season, he didn’t even get the best goal of the half” as it was upstaged by a Yeboah thunderbastard.
Steve, Leeds – 5 clean sheets in the last 50 games, maybe we should be looking at the defence and not all these wingers and midfielders?
…Hi Christopher Illingworth. Fun topic. How about Erik Edman v your lot?
Matt Carr, Spurs, Wilmington, NC