Sancho and Antony latest ingredients as Man Utd cook up a mess of a meal
Something’s rotten in the state of Man Utd. Is it just that Ten Hag is average? Or should we remember the millimetres?
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Is it the cooks or the seasoning?
It has suddenly dawned upon me that something is very wrong at Manchester United, and maybe somebody here can explain why.
As we all saw, Sancho decided to speak out and say the opinions of his management team were wrong. This won’t end well, and it’s a bit shocking.
Why does he feel it’s ok to go public like that? Why was there a three month sabbatical last year? What other club sends away a player, not injured, for three months, and on £300k per week?
Then there was the whole Phil jones situation. Nice lad and all, but to give a perennially injured player £100k contract and then letting him see it out while barely ever appearing? Similar to the crocked Ibra, who got a one year extension after an acl injury. It seems more charity than strategy.
D eGea, 12 years, 545 appearances & a record 4 time Player of the year award, should have gotten a real send off.
I’m not sure why he and Tuanzebe cannot find a club right now either. De Gea is last years golden glove winner and Tuanzebe was once a rising star rocking Villa Park who could have stayed but for United rejecting £25m. Are they bad or do clubs know something we don’t?
Bailly just went for free, and Besiktas said they hope he is respectful. That’s a former Man Utd £30m cb being told to behave as if he were six. We all remember Ronaldo’s unceremonious exit as well, but why does this happen at this level?
You then get news today that United’s £80m left footed forward from Brazil may be not so different from the English version he replaced, and of course that situation itself.
Some are club based decisions and some are individual acts, but they’re all stemming from one place with not much or great explanations.
What can and cannot be allowed seems to become more blurry as the Fergusons years fade finally away. Maybe it’s the culture, maybe just a series of random happenings or maybe both?
I don’t want to speculate, but there is an increase in frequency and volume of hard to explain situations at United, with attitude being a fundamental issue in many instances.
A little salt gives delight to the stew, but too much spoils it after all.
ETH appears to be working on the culture, but he’s not the only cook in the kitchen. There needs more due diligence from management, and this maybe needs something from the top to really get going. A hard reset with the Glazers leaving.
Calvino
Impossible? Ten Hag has just been average
There is one way the manager you all were sycophantically referring to as E10H about five minutes after he started could shut the biased media up. He could, you know, start being good. I’m not sure its ‘thuh meeja’ that’s making him crap at coaching his players.
Big Uncle Ange has single handedly shown what it takes to very quickly change the course of a club. Yano, be good, and be Aussie.
TGWolf (I’m well aware football is chaos and I’m just trolling) THFC
…The most successful thing ten Hag has done this season is spout such complete nonsensical ramblings about a standard offside so that a large proportion of the Man U fan base is buying in to this excuse instead of properly looking at their team in yet another insipid away defeat to a top team, or questioning their £90m right winger who has 1 league goal since last October- and who appears to come under little scrutiny.
Or how about the man management of publicly calling out Sancho when it could have been much easier to do that behind closed doors? Take the defeat, learn the lessons and improve performances on the pitch. But for a genuine var error not giving wolves a penalty and a 50/50 one giving Rashford a penalty v Forest Man U could be finding themselves down in 16th and it wouldn’t be an unfair reflection of their performances so far this season
Rich, AFC
…You know in American sports they have specialist coaches for certain situations?
Perhaps Man Utd could employ a manager for away games against Top Ten teams in the Premier League?
Or – maybe – a manager who can improve, coach, motivate and manage footballers ?
Saigon Adam , Villa Fan ( 7th and cup for us ), Saigon
Man Utd were millimetres off a win though
Enough of the knee-jerk fatalism, already.
And that’s not a slight on F365 as much as it is some mailboxers and, of course, the overflowing, oppressively tedious cesspit that is platforms like Twitter and it’s unhealthy influence on the broader conversations about sport.
Manchester United went to Arsenal, a team which is better than they are at this point in time, and were millimeters away from a perfect away performance.
Not a mind-blowing, statement-making, Club-defining, all-time great performance, but a winning one in a tough match away from home.
They soaked up pressure, took the lead, copped an equaliser, stuck at their task and when the manager made a few subs those subs created what could easily have been the winner.
The margin(s) between success and failure were as fine as Garnacho straying offside by what, millimeters? A centimeter?
Why have we lost the ability to discuss such results with perspective? Fair play to Arsenal for finishing the stronger and winning the points – but they’ll know despite the quality of their play they got away with one just as much as United would feel aggrieved to have been denied a winner.
It’s the beauty of sport: sometimes you win, sometimes you lose; sometimes you play well and lose, sometimes you play poorly and win etc.
So please, for the love of god, can we please stop the preposterously over-the-top carry-on whenever a team loses. It’s tiring.
Sean Peter-Budge, Melbourne
…Cmon guys, Man Utd lost their first 2 games last season against brighton and Brentford. And still finished in top 4. This season we have lost to spurs and arsenal (late on). Let’s stay positive and support the team rather than writing the season off already.. Having said that, we play Brighton next… fingers crossed
Nitz
Enjoying the Man Utd complaints
Just want to drop by and say I’m loving all the complaints from Man Utd fans about all the correct decisions that were given on Sunday, and I’d be happy to read more.
If ever there was a game that showed how VAR can be a positive influence, it was that game on Sunday.
If you play plucky underdog, counter attacking, mid table football, expect the better teams to roll you over more often than not.
Jbrusty
Hav a life
4 games.
We’ve had 4 games in which Arsenal have taken 10/12 points.
4 games in which Kai Havertz has looked…fine? Needs to do more for £65m, hopefully will do, but is putting in 6/10 performances.
Somehow, this apparently warrants 500 words of tortured analogy from everyone’s favourite mailbox whinger on how Arsenal fans are akin to hard Brexiteers.
Gonna be a long international break.
David, Gooner, Sheffield
…I feel I need to apologise for being another contributor to this topic, but I had to bite. The degree that some of the mailers on this ‘ere mailbox think they know everything is utterly ridiculous. Unless you tell me that Stewie Griffin is a pseudonym for Pep or Alec Ferguson, that is.
Come on, get real. Yes we were told that Denilson or Flamini would be the answer and yes we wanted to believe it because where they played before, they were showing promising signs. Sadly it didn’t work out for them or, quite frankly, thousands of other players who sign for elite football clubs. Odegard was regarded as a flop at Real Madrid. Van Persie was regularly taking ‘air shots’ until he found his shooting boots.
The joy of football and of actually ‘supporting’ a team is exactly around that. Support. I’ve been a proud Gooner since 1996. I’ve seen amazing times, to the point where I was actually bored of all the wins at one stage as I’d become so desensitised. I mean, not really, but there was less drama for a while with a forgone conclusion, for sure.
The contributors to this site, to social media and to podcasters and vloggers (is that still a thing?) actually know very little. I read lots about psychology and I work in sales. I love to fantasise about being the manager (seeing as I’ve long since outgrown the chance to play number 9). I think we all do. But that’s what this is, just fun.
To be so utterly joyless about your football club, and one that came a close and unexpected second last season and currently sits second this season, is completely narcissistic. Have fun with it, enjoy the ride. Get behind the team. Sure, pontificate about the unknown trajectory for Havertz (and previously the maligned Fabio Vieira), for sure. But don’t get so wound up and depressed about it. We are an awesome club, but most other supporters would think that, and nor should they. Unless they support Man United or Chelsea.
JazGooner, Cobham (love driving passed the Chelsea training ground and booing with my kids)
…Wow, some really have got a bee in their bonnet about a certain Kai Havertz haven’t they? I get it, there is always an angle or talking point when it comes to football clubs, but my word people are getting awfully worked up about him.
It seems nobody can really do right for doing wrong. Criticise him and its too soon to judge, say he needs time and ‘HE’S BEEN HERE FOR THREE YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’
Much like all football debates, its a bit of both. He does deserve a bit more time. It has been 4 games and whilst he hasn’t set the world alight, he hasn’t been nearly as bad as people think. he is playing with new players and in a different system and it can take a few games to get used to. At the same time, an international top flight player should be able to get basic passes right and make contact with the ball in a shooting opportunity. High transfer fee or not, hitting a pass to the opposition when under little pressure really isn’t something that should be happening.
So lets all just calm down, wait a bit and offer criticism that is warranted. I know this mail wont garner clicks like F365’s most famous troll Stewie, but sometimes its nice to be a little bit level headed.
Peter Griffin (go to bed Stewie)
…Dom’s email is an absolute masterclass in constructing a straw man to then dissemble. Can he point me toward the fans who are blaming other fans for Havertz’s poor performances?
Secondly, Arteta’s apparently disrupting a winning team by playing Havertz. Strange, because didn’t Havertz play in all of those winning performances?
It’s Arteta’s fault that Viera is being disregarded… the same Viera who has impacted matches from the bench? The Viera that looked entirely out of sorts last season and is now growing into his role. I’m not entirely sure why Trossard and Smith-Rowe are mentioned because I’ve never seen either play as an 8 and I’ll have to bow to Dom’s superior knowledge of both players if he thinks they can do so.
Dom believes that the money should have been spent on another defensive midfielder to back-up Partey… so, Arsenal would go into the season with four defensive midfielders for potentially one spot having spent £105m on Rice? That really doesn’t seem like a good way to build a squad.
I have no idea why he feels Arteta deserves any ire at all – Arsenal have won 3/4 games this season and drawn one. The draw was disappointing, but Havertz wasn’t responsible for Fulham’s late equaliser, nor was he responsible for their opener. This whole narrative around Havertz is beyond ridiculous, if he had seen signed in the January window and the title charge was derailed by Arteta making mid-season changes to a settled team then I’d understand the complaints but we are 4 games into a new season.
I am not for one second saying that Havertz is playing well, nor do I know that he ever will play well for Arsenal. I am in favour of him being rotated a bit more, and perhaps starting the next couple of fixtures on the bench. I do feel that Arteta has signed him because he was available and is now having to rejig his team accordingly rather than him being identified as the perfect replacement/upgrade for Xhaka, but fans like Dom (and certain sections of the media) are creating a huge story around him that, for now at least, is far from the biggest story in football.
Chris in Cardiff (Armchair Arsenal fan)
Oh Jordan
“I’ve gone above and beyond to help [the LGBTQ+ community]. I’ve worn the laces. I’ve worn the armband. I’ve spoken to people in that community to try to use my profile to help them. That’s all I’ve ever tried to do.”
Piss off Mr Henderson, wearing laces, armbands (not at the world cup though) and speaking to people isn’t going above and beyond. It’s no more going above and beyond than corporations changing their social media logos to rainbows during Pride. It’s empty gestures. Actions show wether you’re going above and beyond.
Start by wearing rainbow laces and armband for your current club. Put out statements on your social media supporting LGBTQ+ rights. Speak after games in Saudi mentioning LGBTQ+ rights. Publicly meet with humans rights groups.
He won’t though will he. He can mop up his tears with his mountains of cash while people in the country he works in live in fear of the governments secret police taking them away never to be seen again.
Will (He even did the ‘some of my best friends are gay’ bollocks)
READ: The 11 worst answers in Jordan Henderson’s execrable interview explaining his Saudi Arabia move