The not good enough's

I think it's fairly obvious that United won't be challenging the likes of Madrid, Bayern or Barcelona while the following continue to line up for us regularly.

Lingard
Fellaini
Valencia
Blind
Smalling
Jones
Carrick
Darmian

:Garyoldmangif:

Lukaku.
Lindelof.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Lukaku.
Lindelof.

Bring back Memphis

Originally Posted by Bunker Buster

Bring back Memphis

Obviously bantz but I'll be honest, the lad Rom worries me a tad.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Obviously bantz but I'll be honest, the lad Rom worries me a tad.

Heard the argument a few times that it does not matter how bad his all round game is if he scores 30 goals. Reductive argument, the game is more nuanced than that.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

Heard the argument a few times that it does not matter how bad his all round game is if he scores 30 goals. Reductive argument, the game is more nuanced than that.

You don't get 25+ league goals for United just by being a good counter attacking outlet.

He will need to improve plenty.

valencia not good enough at right back, maybe.

Just too many.

Jose must be shaking his £#%&!ing head at the size of the task. He'll get another couple of seasons nqat. Will need them as well.

Originally Posted by Cream

Just too many.

Jose must be shaking his £#%&!ing head at the size of the task. He'll get another couple of seasons nqat. Will need them as well.

he'll need to wake the £#%&! up, the serial offending @#%&!.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Obviously bantz but I'll be honest, the lad Rom worries me a tad.

He's a bit of a donkey but he's our donkey now

Let's see how he does this season but I wasn't in favour of his signing as he's a bit of a shit footballer and we already have too many of those and not enough really good footballers

Sparky isn't wrong
Hard to play quality football when you have so many weak links in the chain however Jose needs sort his shit out as well
His tactics sometimes look very outdated

Originally Posted by Sparky***

I think it's fairly obvious that United won't be challenging the likes of Madrid, Bayern or Barcelona while the following continue to line up for us regularly.

Lingard
Fellaini
Valencia
Blind
Smalling
Jones
Carrick
Darmian

Hard to argue with any of those tbh. Obviously age is the mitigating factor in Carrick's case, and I have had time for Blind in the past, but he was £#%&!ing hopeless tonight and on this tour generally I'm afraid.

Too many players for whom the main objective seems to be reaching the dressing room blameless, despite the result.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

Heard the argument a few times that it does not matter how bad his all round game is if he scores 30 goals. Reductive argument, the game is more nuanced than that.

He won't get 30 goals unless we can figure out a way to get some creation around him.

Originally Posted by ZiggyStardust

He's a bit of a donkey but he's our donkey now

Let's see how he does this season but I wasn't in favour of his signing as he's a bit of a shit footballer and we already have too many of those and not enough really good footballers

Sparky isn't wrong
Hard to play quality football when you have so many weak links in the chain however Jose needs sort his shit out as well
His tactics sometimes look very outdated

What type of football do we honestly expect a Mourinho team to play? If the aim is to play a highly technical ball possession style then you do not buy Lukaku and put so much trust in Fellaini, also do not spend a summer chasing Perisic and Matic. It is going to be very physical with plenty of direct stuff, a major focus on the counter attack, solid defensive shape and giving the likes of Pogba, Rashford and Mikitaryan a platform for individual excellence.

We looked shit against Madrid and Barca but they are levels above the teams in the PL. Expect a very strong league performance, but it is unlikely to be pretty.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

What type of football do we honestly expect a Mourinho team to play? If the aim is to play a highly technical ball possession style then you do not buy Lukaku and put so much trust in Fellaini, also do not spend a summer chasing Perisic and Matic. It is going to be very physical with plenty of direct stuff, a major focus on the counter attack, solid defensive shape and giving the likes of Pogba, Rashford and Mikitaryan a platform for individual excellence.

We looked shit against Madrid and Barca but they are levels above the teams in the PL. Expect a very strong league performance, but it is unlikely to be pretty.

It's a misnomer that Mourinho chooses to play a pragmatic game. He can, but it's largely dependent on the players he has available and what he thinks it takes to win individual matches. I've seen his Chelsea, RM and even Inter domestically play some great stuff, but he had the players to do it. We may have a big, deep squad, but much of it is below standard if competing for the title and Europe is the aim.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

What type of football do we honestly expect a Mourinho team to play? If the aim is to play a highly technical ball possession style then you do not buy Lukaku and put so much trust in Fellaini, also do not spend a summer chasing Perisic and Matic. It is going to be very physical with plenty of direct stuff, a major focus on the counter attack, solid defensive shape and giving the likes of Pogba, Rashford and Mikitaryan a platform for individual excellence.

We looked shit against Madrid and Barca but they are levels above the teams in the PL. Expect a very strong league performance, but it is unlikely to be pretty.

Amazes me that after 15 years of Mourinho as a manager, people still allow themselves to be surprised at him continuing to do and value the things he always has done. We have a manager who publicly patted himself on the back for playing hoofball against Ajax kids.

We should be a challenger, but like you I'm not expecting fantasy football.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Amazes me that after 15 years of Mourinho as a manager, people still allow themselves to be surprised at him continued to do and value the things he always has done. We have a manager who publicly patted himself on the back for playing hoofball against Ajax kids.

We should be a challenger, but like you I'm not expecting fantasy football.

We played to win, and we did. Who in that squad was capable of ripping Ajax to shreds if we set our stall out that way? Bear in mind we'd spend the whole season watching our forwards -Ibra aside- stink the place up.

Originally Posted by utd99

We played to win, and we did. Who in that squad was capable of ripping Ajax to shreds if we set our stall out that way? Bear in mind we'd spend the whole season watching our forwards -Ibra aside- stink the place up.

Nobody mate. We had to play like that otherwise we'd have had no chance against a side as amazing as Ajax.

Btw being pragmatic - which Mourinho undoubtedly is - doesn't mean your team or perhaps more specifically your players can't produce some great football. None of Mou's sides have been known for it though. It's a perception being pushed after the event now.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Nobody mate. We had to play like that otherwise we'd have had no chance against a side as amazing as Ajax.

Btw being pragmatic - which Mourinho undoubtedly is - doesn't mean your team or perhaps more specifically your players can't produce some great football. None of Mou's sides have been known for it though. It's a perception being pushed after the event now.

That's bullshit. I've seen plenty of Mourinho teams play the opposition off the park. He gets the reputation he has because he can also be realistic about what it takes to win games and trophies.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Btw being pragmatic - which Mourinho undoubtedly is - doesn't mean your team or perhaps more specifically your players can't produce some great football. None of Mou's sides have been known for it though. It's a perception being pushed after the event now.

Yes, like yourself I find it odd the deniable of what seems obvious about Mourinho. Entertaining has never been a priority, it is all about winning and using his players in the manner he thinks is best to achieve that. At times that has produced some great football, his Madrid team were one of the best in that area that I can recall but he has always preferred to minimize risk.

It is not even really a criticism of him, these are the qualities that people favoured when calling for him to get the job, his winning mentality and focus.