Manchester United are back but Weghorst and Sancho are sub-standard

Manchester United fans are very happy to be good again, but there are a couple of very obvious weak links.

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Man Utd are proper again
Breathtaking, simply breathtaking! That was European football at its very best in what is basically a Pre pre-Quarterfinal of Europe’s premier second-tier competition.

Both teams showing positive intent, clear cut chances at either end, lots of errors, contentious refereeing decisions, goalkeepers at their best and somehow both could have done better for their respective first goals and could do nothing about the second. 16 goal attempts each and 2-2 on the night. Wow, just Wow!!!

Expected United to put up a decent fight but this was beyond my expectations. If only we had a stronger bench the result could have been much better. Barca brought in all their five subs, all like for like replacements but we could only bring in Garnacho. Which makes me believe that with Licha and Sabitzer to come in and also potentially Antony to return, we can actually win this.

Also it was evident that Weghorst has his limitations, definitely a stop gap signing. Sancho wasn’t good, he always seems to operate at 70%, be it his runs or shots or trying to take on the opposition. And Wan-Bissaka resorted to being insecure and indecisive.

All in all the tie is far from over, bring on Old Trafford.

As a side note, a lot of our opposition fans seem to give us positive vibes. There are a lot of likes for United these days. I can only safely assume that this is purely down to us not having won anything. Once we start winning and I hope it happens soon, we will have our fair share of haters again. People still talk highly of Monaco, Ajax and to an extent Spurs and their respective seasons because they all fell short.
Vasanthan, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

…So it seems incompetence isn’t just restricted to English officials. Some of those decisions, or lack of them, were astounding. Regardless, a draw seems about right, we played really well and can take great confidence into the game next week.

We needed more composure at times, especially when we were 2-1 up, but it’s easy to get caught up in a game and make bad decisions. Delighted with most of that performance yet mildly disappointed with the result – which shows how far we have come under TH this season.
Garey Vance, MUFC

Get him Wout of the club
Manchester United made a very big mistake in signing Weghorst albeit it is only a loan till the end of the season. His performance continues to be below average if not bad unabated. A case in point is his poor performance against Barcelona when he wasted arguably the best goal scoring chance in the game. More importantly, it is becoming increasingly imperative for United to drop him, field Marcus Rashford as the striker and give more playing time to Garnacho to give him needed experience.
Professor (Dr) David Achanfuo Yeboah

Sancho is done
When we bought Sancho I thought he was £20mil to expensive and now I believe that number should have been £40mil lower.

I was praying for Garnacho to come on when we were 2-1 up so that we could kill the game off whilst Barca had the highline. Sancho brought nothing to the game but to slow up our tempo and that miss was awful.

We should bite the bullet and sell him to Newcastle and invest time into Garnacho. Sancho is just another overhyped English player.
Manc from SA

About that takeover
As the deadline looms for the takeover of my club the echoes of the Busby babes rings sweetly in my mind’s ear I thought I would write a mail as a couple of things are on my mind.

Firstly I really hope we don’t end up In the hands of Qataris Saudis or state funded not because I’m racist but because the human rights issues are too much to overcome. I really can’t see myself being able to be a fan anymore if it went ahead or a hedge fund ownership or another Glazer style ownership.

My second point is people will say my opinion doesn’t matter because I am not from Manchester I am not even from the UK I am from Dublin but I am nearly 38 and I have supported Utd since maybe 6 or 7 years of age and been through the highs and lows mostly highs. I love utd I watch every game on TV or streamed I can’t remember the last game I missed.

Unfortunately I can’t go to every game and I believe of course the match going fans opinions should be the priority the main voice of the clubs fanbase I just wish to put across the side of the fans that unfortunately can’t go to the games every week but on match day my mood will depend on the result of my team. In all these years friends have been made and lost girlfriends have come and gone unfortunately relatives have passed away but one thing remains my love for my club I may not live in the city but I feel it’s my team my first true love you may be call me a “plastic fan” but if you understand the love I feel for my beloved reds there would never be a doubt in those minds as I sing along to “going on the piss with Georgie Best”
Kenneth, Dublin

Man City fans like trophies, obvs
So, Duck asks “Do city fans prefer all the money and trophies to any semblance of personality and authenticity ?”

As he/she/they is genuinely interested, I will have a stab.

Of course I do!

The trophies are real whereas the lack of Personality and Authenticity are just things that you have imagined to make yourself feel better about losing.

I know this because I felt the same as you do about Liverpool in the 80s and later about United. You are only fooling yourself at the end of the day.

Hope this helps.
Dave, CTID

About that kneejerk Arsenal reaction
This has been doing my head in for a while now with how people discuss players based on tiny sample sizes. This was very obvious by reading the mailbox today.

I’ll start with Nketiah. “Nketiah is not the man we need at centre forward”. Duh, he’s our second choice striker. Jesus is our first option. He’s injured. What are we meant to do? There’s no problem with someone like Nketiah being a backup and you have to accept that we will pick up injuries. We aren’t going to have a player as good as Jesus waiting to take his place when he’s injured. Maybe down the road as we build our squad that can happen but we need to remember this is a very new team. Nketiah is a good 2nd choice striker to have. It’s unfortunate we’ve missed Jesus for so long but Nketiah has had many good moments in the 2 months he’s been first choice.

“Martinelli isn’t as good as his initial promise suggested”… He’s 21 years old and has 7 goals this season. He’s on the right track. A dip in form is to be expected. He can still be a great player. It’s the same nonsense people were spewing about Rashford last season. A player’s development isn’t always linear.

I’ve also seen people give out about Odegaard and White being out of form. White has played 2 bad games this entire season (Everton and Man United). This team overperformed massively. Now they’re getting stick for having a dip (2 losses, 1 draw). Since when do we judge players and teams on such tiny sample sizes?!
Dion B

…Losing to City hurts, but I feel pretty confident any team in the Prem would lose to the best team in the Prem with their best CF and CM missing.

As much as I now feel much more confident in Jorginho as a back up (and Eddie has also excelled) they are not at the same level, they don’t enable their other starters to excel as much and they don’t command fear/warrant the extra attention which creates space and overloads on the pitch.

Spurs without Betancur and Kane or Utd without Casemiro and Rashford wouldn’t have got the results at City they did, not Brentford without Toney.

I feel slightly more relaxed about Arsenal now tbqh – I still think we’re good for a title challenge, but I’d rather we start rotating with a view to Europa League and having the whole squad up to speed than burning our players out entirely trying to go stride for stride with City.

The one criticism of Arteta I think is warranted is a slightly spotty rotation/substitution record. If we’d remained with a little bit of daylight perhaps the temptation to keep redlining the squad would have stayed – as it is, perhaps best player management can come in a bit.

Which sounds like getting excuses in early, I know, but I think trading a 50% chance of Prem glory and 50% complete flame out of season for a 30% Prem glory, 60% 2nd place and EL final glory, 10% flame out is desirable for all the Arsenal fans like me who aren’t quite old enough to have seen our last European win and suffered too many heartaches.
Tom (plus all Arsenal fans know we’re in for the long haul with this team, they’re still the youngest in the Prem and all our summer targets are exciting and similarly future looking) Walthamstow

On that Ederson/Nketiah clash
My starter for ten is that the Ederson/Nketiah incident certainly should be a foul. It would be anywhere else on the pitch and I am not aware there is any rule to the contrary. Ederson could easily have closed down the gap and stopped short without making contact.

But having said that, those sorts of “after he gets his shot away” contacts happen all of the time and I genuinely cannot recall another one ever being given before (I’m sure they have, but I can’t recall seeing it) – it’s as close to an unwritten rule as its possible to get in football.

Now, there is no such thing as an unwritten rule – the rules are what they are – but it is fair to say that there is an almost universal interpretation that those aren’t given. So even though on paper it is difficult to say that shouldn’t have been a foul, there is an absolutely vast body of precedent that says it isn’t.

Mediawatch says every other incident of this type is a mistake and this one was right, but that’s a bit of a one-eyed reading. In practice, that sort of contact is never normally called a foul, so in giving a pen here the ref is breaking with accepted practice – the press are not being ridiculous in questioning why it was given. If the PL came out and told the club’s that they were going to start interpreting the rules the way the ref did in the Arsenal/City game (and did so consistently), then fine (I’d be in favour of that) but that is not how the rule has been interpreted in any other football match I’ve seen.

Maybe this weekend or next there’ll be another pen like that so the refs can say they were consistent, but it’ll then be years before another team gets a penalty like Arsenal’s again.
Andy (MUFC)

Back to reality
To all the gooners who collectively creamed themselves in the mailbox on January 23rd thinking the league was in the bag, to quote Eminem.. “Snap back to reality, oh there goes gravity”.

At least the spirit of Wenger still exists and top four is still on!
Dazza, Dublin, LFC

…Let’s not over complicate stuff on why Arsenal lost and City won. Arsenal just don’t play well in February, simple as that. As it has been for all their title challenges in the past 15 years.
Gaurav MUFC Amsterdam (are we in the title race?)