The worst thing about the Rabiot thing - apart from us actually wanting him - is the lack of urgency on it. If we really are gonna buy him them surely we should have wrapped the deal up super quick, especially as
1) no one else wants him
2) he’s apparently lacking match fitness so the sooner we get him in the sooner we can play him
We seem to be that guy in a night club who spends all night hitting on 7’s and 8’s and ends up walking out the door at 01:55am with a 3 (or a predator at 23:00pm who shouts siuuuu when he climaxes).
Had we wrapped Rabiot up the day after the Brighton game like we really could have had we moved with Kanchelskis like pace, we maaaay have had Rabiot ready for the Liverpool game.
Rabiot
posted on 12/8/22
comment by Slippin’ Robb (U22716)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Rosso out here drippin’ in finesse (U17054)
posted 31 seconds ago
One more:
“Any manager worth his salt can look at a squad in one week of training and know who’s good enough or not.”
I don’t think you really mean or believe that. If you do, well, I’m sorry, but it isn’t really a very well informed position.
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How much is a good amount of time? Especially considering he’ll have seen these players play long before he took over and I’d imagine scouting info is made available to all coaches and he’ll hardly be arriving at the club without having a fairly good idea about what he’s about to inherit. I doubt he’ll need long at all to know that AWB is terrible at going forwards or that McT is useless with the ball on the turn etc
He certainly won’t need a whole season to decided who to keep or not. Nor should he. A rebuild doesn’t ever need seasons written off.
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I didn’t say a season. He’s seen *one* competitive game though, ffs, and a few friendlies across which most players played a sum total of 180 mins or so.
He’s in a much more informed position to say now, for example, “OK, Antony can’t be so much of a priority. Shelve that for now, and reallocate that cash to focus on ensuring we get multiple midfield reinforcements.”
It isn’t the be-all and end-all, or an overwhelmingly powerful reason to purposefully delay transfer business. But the extra days of training and game days he’s seen (particularly last weekend) can only have helped in terms of player assessment and transfer prioritisation.
posted on 12/8/22
United fans would have been calling for Klopp’s head after his first full season in charge, I have no doubt about that.
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I doubt it, if you remember when Klopp took over, that team they had was abysmal, however he still got them playing some pretty good football and they also reached the EL final. Inconsistent yes, but there were clear signs there was progress.
The reason why some Utd fans are losing patience is that its the same mistakes being repeated over and over again. City like you said already had a plan before appointing Pep, there's no evidence that Utd had one when appointing ETH or any other previous managers based on what's happened this summer (and past 8 years). It's all talk, like the mention of a DoF every time the results are bad, but nothing happened, just weather the storm, then quiet on that front again once results picked up.
ETH is a good coach and if he took over City or even Liverpool, with their structure he would have done well, not at Utd though. Likewise Pep or Klopp would really struggle at Utd because there is no structure or vision. All starts from the top, till that changes, we'll remain a banter club.
The board is the definition of reactive, not pro-active.
posted on 12/8/22
"It's all talk, like the mention of a DoF every time the results are bad, but nothing happened"
Manchester United does have a Director of Football though. And a Deputy Director, and a Technical Director.
Whether they're the right people for those jobs is a legitimate question.
You are correct about the board being an absolute disaster, and if it turns out that no further signings are done by the end of the window, then yes, that will be another stick to beat them with.
Until then, given that in reality we have absolutely no idea whatsoever what is going on behind closed doors, personally, I will be reserving judgment on the window.
posted on 12/8/22
If only there was someone at the club who had worked with the squad these past few months and who has a great record of recruiting players who EtH could have spoken to to get a good idea of what was needed this summer.
posted on 12/8/22
What’s interesting is that last summer (bar the obvious complaints of us yet again ignoring vital positions) there weren’t too many complaints about our ability to actually get deals done. In fact, many were praising the club for getting Dortmund, Madrid and Juve to come down on their asking prices.
Given what’s transpired since, we’re fighting a huge battle to get the actual targets we want, whilst not being taken for mugs.
There’s obviously been a cumulative damage, but I think last season has damaged the reputation of the club really badly.
posted on 12/8/22
comment by Darren The King Fletcher (U10026)
posted 5 minutes ago
What’s interesting is that last summer (bar the obvious complaints of us yet again ignoring vital positions) there weren’t too many complaints about our ability to actually get deals done. In fact, many were praising the club for getting Dortmund, Madrid and Juve to come down on their asking prices.
Given what’s transpired since, we’re fighting a huge battle to get the actual targets we want, whilst not being taken for mugs.
There’s obviously been a cumulative damage, but I think last season has damaged the reputation of the club really badly.
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In fairness we weren’t really competing with anyone for those players
Real were more than happy to get rid of an injury prone player off their books
Juventus were more than happy for mugs to get rid of their Ronaldo problem
Dortmund of course did lose a bit of money compared to had they sold Sancho the season before but it wasn’t like we had any rivals for the deal to take place.
Our biggest issue seems to be that as you say, our club reputation has taken a hit but also not being in the CL is hurting us and as the ex players on ESPN said the other day, players talk and I doubt anyone with any ambition wants to waste their best years at a comedy club like ours. Pogba wasted his best years at us when once upon a time he was the next big thing. Players see that and don’t want any of that.
posted on 12/8/22
Worth making a distinction between understandable feelings of pessimism at detecting familiar signs of failure and dysfunction on one hand, and concrete judgement of our handling of the transfer window on the other.
Rosso has set out the reasons we should defer judgement. The data we have to support a pessimistic take is vivid but unreliable. What we hear from the rumour mill is largely all we have to go on but dodgy and incomplete. What we know of past failures is relevant but we have no way of knowing whether lessons have been learned and whether or not the club is doomed to repeat mistakes. We may very well do so, but we can't really know yet.
One thing I'd add is that our ability to execute the right transfers this summer isn't purely about making the right decisions and enacting them competently. We're also constrained by the piled up legacy of years of strategic, financial and sporting incompetence. That serves to very much narrow our options and margin of error.
posted on 12/8/22
comment by Darren The King Fletcher (U10026)
posted 4 minutes ago
What’s interesting is that last summer (bar the obvious complaints of us yet again ignoring vital positions) there weren’t too many complaints about our ability to actually get deals done. In fact, many were praising the club for getting Dortmund, Madrid and Juve to come down on their asking prices.
Given what’s transpired since, we’re fighting a huge battle to get the actual targets we want, whilst not being taken for mugs.
There’s obviously been a cumulative damage, but I think last season has damaged the reputation of the club really badly.
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In the eyes of potential signings, without doubt.
And as for their clubs, they’ll be interested in what they think United have in the bank (which is a lot), how desperate a situation the club is in (which is pretty facking desperate), and how desperate they think the club is to sign their player.
So yeah, the negotiating position is weak, particularly for players clubs know United would be considering as signings for the first team.
Couple that with what players know United have been willing to part with in wages, and it’s nothing short of a nightmare situation of the club’s own making over the last decade.
posted on 12/8/22
It’s such a risky move coming to United nowadays. So many careers have been destroyed by this useless club. Eddie Hearn would struggle to sell the club to players.
posted on 12/8/22
Utd are a rudderless ship, no clear direction.
Only players interested in coming to Utd are mercenaries who want a payday without making any effort. The ones with ambition would stay well away, and rightly so.
Watch the club offer Rashford a new contract with double the salary for doing nothing the past few years.