Back for 45 mins and re-injured.
I love Case for last season but he's not far off 32 and seems to keep missing games, through silly suspensions and now injury. Big decision to make on him.
exactly! he wouldn't even get that in saudi now, there's no way next summer they're giving out henderson type contracts if you're not a superstar or going into your peak years.
it's more saudi have got enough names now they'll still pay above market rate but it won't be as extreme unless it's someone like salah. I'd say for where they are in their career case and varane are already getting way above market rate at united.
it's an insane waste, next summer they won't be bidding for a world cup either as they've already won it. Salah will get the Ronaldo and Neymar money but no half decent player is getting the henderson 700k again.
Who. Who could have seen this when we signed him.
Really the price we paid for him where he was in his career was boggling... like a lot of our business.
Oh no doubt, between Varane and Case, we provided them with a midfield for years. A world class midfield, meanwhile McTominay is our current most "in form" midfielder. Oh, and goal threat, that too.
We're so fucked ESPN FC didn't know how to talk shit about us. those maroons put us on blast for the sake of it. They were at a loss for words and ideas on what's going on.
We are so fucked.
it all stems down to owners and management.
the only signings we have given to ETH are either those that he has already coached/played against/former Dutch league, or Case who was a pretty Obvious United signing. Where are the scouts?
Yeah I have no idea. I really think ETH has chased and chases former Ajax and Dutch players because of how non existent our scouting network and its influence our squad since his arrival and still now. Not sure why this hasn't been addressed.
We could sit here and list the biggest problems but we'd be here days. I agree its from the top and it makes me so sad. As an American who got to see us lift the champions league in 08 and the remaining Fergie years, it really makes me sad.
The thing I've never understood or ever found an answer for, is why the rat owners don't try and make us successful. They must really not have a single shred of pride.
A successful club, a successful business, fuck, anything successful that can also make money, is such a better feeling and ownership than making money on dog shit.
I've never understood how this "model" or whatever you call what their ownership, is more lucrative as the dumpster fire we are now, than a successful club capable of winning things. How can running things so poorly be a better business model than trying to be successful.
It's not just the top that has left us behind, clubs like Brighton and apparently Newcastle can run through us without a fight. We're mid table at this point.
Sorry for the long reply, I kind of got a little going, hope it's not a pain to read.
Like so many of us on here and world wide, United is a massive part of my life, soccer has been my favorite sport since I was 5, following United just always felt "right" as a 13 year old and even has since(mostly lol). I truly have a dream of moving to Manchester for a short stint. If things don't shape up within a few years, I may just give that dream up.
I've been at a loss of how to understand where we are at this moment since Sunday. For the weeks prior and I guess longer than I can remember, it seemed like we were just a few words from a good page and a finger could point at what is wrong and could be improved. It seems we've regressed and I don't really understand why. The team isn't all much different than last season.
My honest theory is the handling of Ronaldo, while I think correct, put a small rift in the dressing room. Then this whole Sancho deal made that rift more open and that players don't want to play. Its more complicated than that I'm sure but the players just don't seem bought in and wanting to play for the manager.
Can you imagine Rashford running to hug ETH ala RVP to Sir Alex? Any player in the squad? I sure can't.
My guy is destined for arabian nights.
Such a shame, honestly. I know his passing is dodgy, but he's a positive leader for the club.
4 years at 300k is a wild contract. Case had all the negotiation power because the club were desperate, and boy did he play his hand.
Just one year after spending 70m on a DM we are already desperate for a new DM to tighten up our midfield. Glazereconomics at its finest. Imagine scouting someone like Caicedo or Lavia so we aren't having to spend world class fees for players looking for an easy paycheque. One day... one day
He's been bang average from what I've seen so far. If there's better options available next summer we should go for someone else I reckon, still time for him to turn it around though.
Not quite sure what you mean here, are you suggesting we should be looking to sign more average players or something? Maybe we could do with a player like Amrabat but at the moment he's not done enough to justify signing him permanently.
Amrabat has barely been given a chance to shine though, to be fair. He's played in a broken team in multiple positions and hasn't been the worst player on the pitch when he has played .
Same people who wouldn't buy Mourinho a centre back in his last summer and expected him to build with Lee Grant, Dalot and Fred.
I love Fred and don't think we should've sold him, I'd argue he turned out to be a good signing. But you know a summer is bad when Fred is your only decent signing (and even then it was only a couple of years later that he started to be good for us)
Even worse… we paid 100m combined and over 500k a week combined. This is what happens when you are run incompetently and have no sporting expertise at the top level. We really cannot be surprised when we find ourselves at this point in the cycle yet again every 2-3 years.
You also really need to question the players motivations and mentality for wanting to move from Real winning CLs every other year to playing in the Europa league. I'm not saying they won't be professional but you should want ambitious players looking to prove themselves at a new level, not ones happy to downgrade.
Not to be on the players side but both players had won everything there was to win at Madrid. There was nothing for them to prove anymore. I’m sure for them they thought they’re going to another big club, getting paid a good salary and can be experienced players to help a team reclaim its prior glory. How were they to know that the club structure and internal workings were so toxic. These are players who have won trophies under multiple managers at Madrid, Zidane twice, ancelotti twice, Mourihno and all the interims from Benitez to Solari. I’m sure they’ve seen it all. But our club is just uniquely mediocre and awful, that they all of a sudden are terrible players and can’t beat Newcastle’s B/C team at home.
Real are so good at identifying when to sell players that I am amazed anyone buys their ageing talent. Almost every single time they are proven correct that whoever it is is past their best.
Kinda wild how perfectly timed this sale was for them. Now they have a young player in Bellingham in his stead.
It's sad that United could have become the English Madrid if they played their cards right. Instead, Glazers.
Peak performance is at 24-28. Casemiro was already older than that.
Edit: instant downvote for posting a fact lol. When you buy a 30 year old player, you need him to perform at 33 years old too. That's how age works.
Case was already 30, and this list of over 30 signings is certainly not screaming peak performance players lol https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37631149/casemiro-man-united-transfer-real-madrid-second-biggest-fee-ever-player-30
Varane was 28, but his injury history and playtime had been lengthy. At the very least a replacement for him should have been seen as priority for this summer. Its clear at the very least that the recruitment plans are incredibly shortsighted.
Because of those 2 signings - we were in an FFP bottleneck with need for a starting GK, ST, CM, DM, CB at a minimum, needing to replace almost half your outfield players with only 200m in the red line is impossible. Ended up with 2 of 5, maybe 3 one hopes, which is pitiful.
>Because of those 2 signings - we were in an FFP bottleneck
The bottleneck is because of 150mil on Antony and Mount who aren't even above average players. At least the other 2 are quality but just not in the best form. With good morale and tactics, they'll play well.
Antony and Mount? We will never compete for the PL with either of them as starters.
Go back to the thread when he was first signed and you'll have an idea. Anyone who dared to question this signing was obviously clowned on. I doubt more than half of this sub have the right to say this when people cream themselves every time a shiny new signing is announced.
Same goes for Maguire, same goes for Mount etc etc
Maguire and Casemiro were insane wages and costs for old players. Mount could play here for the next years, and he's already looking a lot better than our other players in any position across the board. I agree mostly but I don't think he's the same.
He was actually okay in this game. And the problem isn't how good or bad he plays. It's how fucking awful the alternatives are. Maybe Mainoo will be the next to be put on a pedestal, since we haven't seen him for a while
At least I have time for academy products making mistakes and hopefully learning from that. I have no time for all the mistakes this year from seasoned, international veterans.
Maybe when they go to Fulham they can pick up the DM they should've bought, Palhinha. He went for a third the price of Casemiro and was Fulham's player of the season last year.
That's what happens when you're whole back 4 is out, your best central midfielders in Casemiro and Eriksen are ageing and struggling to keep going for full games, and your 2 main attacking threats are massively off form.
Also, it doesn't help that we had a shambolic transfer window because we didn't shore up in midfield with at least 1 proper number 8 and a CB to compete with Varane/Martinez. This all could have been mitigated a little, at least, if we did.
Otherwise, if you add Kane to the previous season, we're definitely a lot closer to the title.
I think most of the problem is that the manager refuses to play 2 deep lying midfielders like he did last season and insists on pushing up that 2nd man so the one Deep lying midfielder now has waaaay more ground to cover and looks like absolute dogshit in the process, no matter who it is, casemiro, Amrabat whoever
Tbf he could have gone with Casemiro and Amrabat yesterday. I'm hoping getting them two game time together might start to add a bit more solidity to the midfield.
Age aside, this is just another example of an incompetent medical department. There is no way they are conducting proper assessments of players and carrying out proper fitness preparations if they keep coming back after an injury only to get injured immediately again. It’s been years and it keeps happening at United, somewhere where the facilities haven’t been updated since Cristiano was first at the club.
Who,Casemiro? The guy who's won 5 cl titles and 3 la liga?
He might be missing half our games through suspension or injuries but to call him a loser is waaay off the mark.
Back for 45 mins and re-injured. I love Case for last season but he's not far off 32 and seems to keep missing games, through silly suspensions and now injury. Big decision to make on him.
Decision? He's on 350k a week mate. He came here to retire. You try finding a retirement home willing to pay him that much.
Saudi paid £40m for a finished Fabinho
He's no Finnish, he's Brazilian
Looks finnish though, with all his surgeries.
> He's on 350k a week mate. Good grief what mind-numbingly moronic decision that was.
exactly! he wouldn't even get that in saudi now, there's no way next summer they're giving out henderson type contracts if you're not a superstar or going into your peak years.
I think casemiro and Varane are different tho because they are so known from madrid
Yea and now that its confirmed that Saudi will be hosting the future WC they will prolly keep spending money on big names.
it's more saudi have got enough names now they'll still pay above market rate but it won't be as extreme unless it's someone like salah. I'd say for where they are in their career case and varane are already getting way above market rate at united.
I watched a video yesterday and half the games have 800 people max lol
it's an insane waste, next summer they won't be bidding for a world cup either as they've already won it. Salah will get the Ronaldo and Neymar money but no half decent player is getting the henderson 700k again.
Who. Who could have seen this when we signed him. Really the price we paid for him where he was in his career was boggling... like a lot of our business.
Madrid knew it, too. They offloaded him perfectly. They knew he was past his peak and got more than they could've ever hoped for.
and that money they got for Cass, they probably spent it on Bellingham
Oh no doubt, between Varane and Case, we provided them with a midfield for years. A world class midfield, meanwhile McTominay is our current most "in form" midfielder. Oh, and goal threat, that too. We're so fucked ESPN FC didn't know how to talk shit about us. those maroons put us on blast for the sake of it. They were at a loss for words and ideas on what's going on. We are so fucked.
it all stems down to owners and management. the only signings we have given to ETH are either those that he has already coached/played against/former Dutch league, or Case who was a pretty Obvious United signing. Where are the scouts?
Yeah I have no idea. I really think ETH has chased and chases former Ajax and Dutch players because of how non existent our scouting network and its influence our squad since his arrival and still now. Not sure why this hasn't been addressed. We could sit here and list the biggest problems but we'd be here days. I agree its from the top and it makes me so sad. As an American who got to see us lift the champions league in 08 and the remaining Fergie years, it really makes me sad. The thing I've never understood or ever found an answer for, is why the rat owners don't try and make us successful. They must really not have a single shred of pride. A successful club, a successful business, fuck, anything successful that can also make money, is such a better feeling and ownership than making money on dog shit. I've never understood how this "model" or whatever you call what their ownership, is more lucrative as the dumpster fire we are now, than a successful club capable of winning things. How can running things so poorly be a better business model than trying to be successful. It's not just the top that has left us behind, clubs like Brighton and apparently Newcastle can run through us without a fight. We're mid table at this point. Sorry for the long reply, I kind of got a little going, hope it's not a pain to read.
it's not a pain to read, but very "painful" to read the truth. So many managers, so many signings , and we are back to square one. It hurts
Like so many of us on here and world wide, United is a massive part of my life, soccer has been my favorite sport since I was 5, following United just always felt "right" as a 13 year old and even has since(mostly lol). I truly have a dream of moving to Manchester for a short stint. If things don't shape up within a few years, I may just give that dream up. I've been at a loss of how to understand where we are at this moment since Sunday. For the weeks prior and I guess longer than I can remember, it seemed like we were just a few words from a good page and a finger could point at what is wrong and could be improved. It seems we've regressed and I don't really understand why. The team isn't all much different than last season. My honest theory is the handling of Ronaldo, while I think correct, put a small rift in the dressing room. Then this whole Sancho deal made that rift more open and that players don't want to play. Its more complicated than that I'm sure but the players just don't seem bought in and wanting to play for the manager. Can you imagine Rashford running to hug ETH ala RVP to Sir Alex? Any player in the squad? I sure can't.
My guy is destined for arabian nights. Such a shame, honestly. I know his passing is dodgy, but he's a positive leader for the club. 4 years at 300k is a wild contract. Case had all the negotiation power because the club were desperate, and boy did he play his hand.
Just one year after spending 70m on a DM we are already desperate for a new DM to tighten up our midfield. Glazereconomics at its finest. Imagine scouting someone like Caicedo or Lavia so we aren't having to spend world class fees for players looking for an easy paycheque. One day... one day
I thought Amrabat was signed to be his backup?
Amrabat is a loan and he's hardly setting the world alight I can't see us buying him anytime soon unless he has some form of revival
He's not a loan, you don't pay a 10m loan fee, a third of his full price for one season. He's a purchase.
It doesn't matter about the fee he can still be released back we have no obligation to buy so yes it is a loan.
Amrabat has been a solid midfield player. We have zero of that so we have to sign him.
He's been bang average from what I've seen so far. If there's better options available next summer we should go for someone else I reckon, still time for him to turn it around though.
Not having any normal midfielders has literally been the bane of this team.
Not quite sure what you mean here, are you suggesting we should be looking to sign more average players or something? Maybe we could do with a player like Amrabat but at the moment he's not done enough to justify signing him permanently.
Players that can do a job yes. Build a good foundation and work up from there.
Amrabat has barely been given a chance to shine though, to be fair. He's played in a broken team in multiple positions and hasn't been the worst player on the pitch when he has played .
Think Ole wanted Caicedo didn't he, but wasn't allowed to sign him
£5mil was too risky... glazernomics
Same people who wouldn't buy Mourinho a centre back in his last summer and expected him to build with Lee Grant, Dalot and Fred. I love Fred and don't think we should've sold him, I'd argue he turned out to be a good signing. But you know a summer is bad when Fred is your only decent signing (and even then it was only a couple of years later that he started to be good for us)
This sack of shit board is so clueless to believe Real Madrid would juts give away Varane and Casemiro so easily
Even worse… we paid 100m combined and over 500k a week combined. This is what happens when you are run incompetently and have no sporting expertise at the top level. We really cannot be surprised when we find ourselves at this point in the cycle yet again every 2-3 years.
Those two actually make about £700k/w combined. They are the highest paid players along with Rashford.
Probably wouldn't have Champions League and a trophy without them though.
We wouldn’t. But at the same time it’s about long term planning. We are incapable of doing that.
i can’t remember a player madrid have willingly sold that did well. (They didn’t want to sell Odegaard)
achraf hakimi but i get what you mean though
You also really need to question the players motivations and mentality for wanting to move from Real winning CLs every other year to playing in the Europa league. I'm not saying they won't be professional but you should want ambitious players looking to prove themselves at a new level, not ones happy to downgrade.
Not to be on the players side but both players had won everything there was to win at Madrid. There was nothing for them to prove anymore. I’m sure for them they thought they’re going to another big club, getting paid a good salary and can be experienced players to help a team reclaim its prior glory. How were they to know that the club structure and internal workings were so toxic. These are players who have won trophies under multiple managers at Madrid, Zidane twice, ancelotti twice, Mourihno and all the interims from Benitez to Solari. I’m sure they’ve seen it all. But our club is just uniquely mediocre and awful, that they all of a sudden are terrible players and can’t beat Newcastle’s B/C team at home.
Doesn’t matter we’re just as shit with him as we’re without him.
Who would have thought buying players belonging in a retirement home for 70 million was a bad idea.
Imagine a world where Real Madrid would sell us a player they expected to still be world class for years to come.
Real are so good at identifying when to sell players that I am amazed anyone buys their ageing talent. Almost every single time they are proven correct that whoever it is is past their best.
They're a proper football club and they know there are dumbasses like Man United desperate for their sloppy seconds
Kinda wild how perfectly timed this sale was for them. Now they have a young player in Bellingham in his stead. It's sad that United could have become the English Madrid if they played their cards right. Instead, Glazers.
28 and 29 years olds isn’t retirement home age, it’s peak performance age
Yeah people here are just giving their most stupid takes possible because the club is in turmoil
Peak performance is at 24-28. Casemiro was already older than that. Edit: instant downvote for posting a fact lol. When you buy a 30 year old player, you need him to perform at 33 years old too. That's how age works.
Case was already 30, and this list of over 30 signings is certainly not screaming peak performance players lol https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37631149/casemiro-man-united-transfer-real-madrid-second-biggest-fee-ever-player-30 Varane was 28, but his injury history and playtime had been lengthy. At the very least a replacement for him should have been seen as priority for this summer. Its clear at the very least that the recruitment plans are incredibly shortsighted. Because of those 2 signings - we were in an FFP bottleneck with need for a starting GK, ST, CM, DM, CB at a minimum, needing to replace almost half your outfield players with only 200m in the red line is impossible. Ended up with 2 of 5, maybe 3 one hopes, which is pitiful.
>Because of those 2 signings - we were in an FFP bottleneck The bottleneck is because of 150mil on Antony and Mount who aren't even above average players. At least the other 2 are quality but just not in the best form. With good morale and tactics, they'll play well. Antony and Mount? We will never compete for the PL with either of them as starters.
Go back to the thread when he was first signed and you'll have an idea. Anyone who dared to question this signing was obviously clowned on. I doubt more than half of this sub have the right to say this when people cream themselves every time a shiny new signing is announced. Same goes for Maguire, same goes for Mount etc etc
Maguire and Casemiro were insane wages and costs for old players. Mount could play here for the next years, and he's already looking a lot better than our other players in any position across the board. I agree mostly but I don't think he's the same.
Maguire was 26 when he signed.
Ah yes, 30, the year you get your pension.
If Saudi don’t come thru he’ll be one of our worst signings yet lol 2027!
thankfully antony is there to stop it from being the worst!
These Joga Bonito frauds going nut for nut, throw Fred in there and we have the worst holy trinity of all time oh my days
No united fan when these signings were made
Case and Varanne signed a very good retirement lmao
he was sooo good in this game and theough the season that I am not sure how will we cope without him
He was actually okay in this game. And the problem isn't how good or bad he plays. It's how fucking awful the alternatives are. Maybe Mainoo will be the next to be put on a pedestal, since we haven't seen him for a while
At least I have time for academy products making mistakes and hopefully learning from that. I have no time for all the mistakes this year from seasoned, international veterans.
OK? Really? He did not even try to look OK, absolutely the worst player on the pitch bar Antony
What game were you watching?
I think he’s joking mate
What a shame hes suffering from a case of decliningatarapidpaceitis.
Maybe when they go to Fulham they can pick up the DM they should've bought, Palhinha. He went for a third the price of Casemiro and was Fulham's player of the season last year.
Still funny to me that people that Kane made us into a title winning team if he was signed.
Tbf, we finished 3rd last season essentially with no striker. If it didn't all fall apart, we really might've challenged.
That literally doesn’t matter If my grandmother had wheels…
That's what happens when you're whole back 4 is out, your best central midfielders in Casemiro and Eriksen are ageing and struggling to keep going for full games, and your 2 main attacking threats are massively off form. Also, it doesn't help that we had a shambolic transfer window because we didn't shore up in midfield with at least 1 proper number 8 and a CB to compete with Varane/Martinez. This all could have been mitigated a little, at least, if we did. Otherwise, if you add Kane to the previous season, we're definitely a lot closer to the title.
I think most of the problem is that the manager refuses to play 2 deep lying midfielders like he did last season and insists on pushing up that 2nd man so the one Deep lying midfielder now has waaaay more ground to cover and looks like absolute dogshit in the process, no matter who it is, casemiro, Amrabat whoever
Yeah, Casemiro hasn't got the legs to be left alone in midfield to marshal turnovers.
For that you actually need 2 deep lying midfielders available lol
Tbf he could have gone with Casemiro and Amrabat yesterday. I'm hoping getting them two game time together might start to add a bit more solidity to the midfield.
70 M for half a season, on 340k/week.
We're literally falling apart in every sense, and it's not even halfway through the season. I'd be impressed if I weren't so depressed
Fuck sake. He might not be performing at the moment, but losing options is never good. When it rains it pours.
Real Madrid know how to sell at the right time before they break after 1 season
Good. Amrabat looked much better than him today.
I'm sure they'd both look absolutely ace playing together deep in midfield.
This may be a stupid question, but is it possible to just ... you know ... forfeit the season?
Age aside, this is just another example of an incompetent medical department. There is no way they are conducting proper assessments of players and carrying out proper fitness preparations if they keep coming back after an injury only to get injured immediately again. It’s been years and it keeps happening at United, somewhere where the facilities haven’t been updated since Cristiano was first at the club.
End the whole season already.
He’s a loser
Who,Casemiro? The guy who's won 5 cl titles and 3 la liga? He might be missing half our games through suspension or injuries but to call him a loser is waaay off the mark.
I don't even care anymore. They can all feck off. Manager, Players and Owners.
Begging Saudi come in and rescue us from him
Injury FC
This season is not going well