This is why Mkhitaryan going to play for United under Mou was such a weird signing in the first place. When he got to Dortmund from Waxtap he had confidence issues and mental strength issues.
Playing under a manager like Mou who routinely throws his players under the bus seemed like a terrible fit when the decision was made. It looks even worse now that United are struggling and Mou is busy acting like a fool.
Kardashian or Kallstrom?
Anyone’s guess, this man won’t even give one of the best attacking midfielders in Europe a bench spot and he’s starting Jesse Lingard.
I can’t understand Jose’s team selections either, its absolutely mind boggling.
United would be far better without Pogba and Ibra. They are holding them back.
Pogba was the best player on the park on Saturday though, I still have faith he will come good.
Gosh, What kind of rival fan are you?
He should play in a 3-5-2 or in a 4-3-3/4-3-1-2. That’s the only 3 formations where he looks good.
It took Ozil about 2 seasons to really hit form with us so I’m sure pogba will turn it on as well. Not sure if man utd have 2 seasons worth of patience in them though.
I wonder how morale and motivations will be affected by the treatment of Schweini, dropping of Rooney, dropping of Martial, Schneiderlin and Depay. Player’s have to be dropped but you get the feeling squad harmony has already taken a hit.
Mourinho’s playing some absolute caveman football starting with Fellaini over Schweini and Carrick or even Schneiderlin.
That’s the media narative but Ozil was still a very effective player for us from day one. Pogba is proving himself to be a final third player, which is fine but they thought they were purchasing a midfielder who could play with a CAM. He’s not a trequartista who’ll orchestritate possession and he won 't put in that much of a defensive shift. He needs a free role, which he’ll somewhat have against parked buses but without it he’ll look painfully average. So ironically he’ll be at his best against bus parking relegation candidates but it’ll weaken their balance all the more against top teams.
Ozil’s numbers weren’t bad at all during those first two seasons. He was just injured quite often. If he would have played 35 games in each of those seasons, he would have hit 10+ assists. I feel like Ozil’s bad form in his first two seasons for us is exaggerated.
I feel with Ozil we also manage our expectations a little more these days.
Understanding his style and not getting caught up on bollocks like his facial expressions
He started well but he was absolutely dire in the second half of his first season. And prior to the Chelsea game where he got injured in the second season, he used to fall over his own feet and get pushed off the ball with a worrying frequency.
And now he’s arguably the best number 10 in the league and he arrived here off the back of success with national team, Real Madrid and Bundesliga clubs and in his mid 20s. Pogba is younger and he’s moved to a team seemingly in disarray and one where nobody seems to know what’s going to come out of the circus next. I’d hardly crucify him for that especially given it can’t have been anymore than 9 or 10 games since he arrived.
That’s mostly true, he expected to get the fouls from the refs but we’re more leniant here. He still managed around 3 key passes per game in his first couple of seasons, which was joint top with David Silva. He has weaknesses in his game like Pogba, you can’t expect him to score loads or press and defend.
Don’t get me wrong, I rate Pogba as an elite final third player but he’ll play poorly if played out of position, ie B2B or DLP or DM. The mistake United have made is simply buying the best attacking players from PSG, Juve and Dortmund and expect it to work without thinking about what their team actually needs.
Most players the world over would play poorly if you played them out of position. The mistake United made isn’t in who they’ve signed it’s more to do with how they’re operating as a team under Mourinho. He’s clearly carried last seasons bad form into this season and maybe the players and staff are tired of his confrontational managerial style. I know there were a lot of rumblings in his final ill fated season at Chelsea about the atmosphere he created and it doesn’t look like he’s managed much differently at United.
They have plenty of good midfielders and defenders who have struggled under LVG and are now struggling under Jose. Darmian is a very good full back but he arrived at the Euros in the summer in the worst “physical and mental condition” of anyone in the squad. Bailly looks a good player. Smalling is obviously a decent defender. Blind reads the game well and is versatile. Shaw is probably the best English LB.
In midfield they have Schneiderlin who at one point was one of the best box to box midfielders in the league. Herrera is an engine. Pogba is a top midfielder. Carrick can still hold his own. They have the options in the defence and midfield it’s literally a case of the manager finding the right balance in the team. I don’t actually believe Mourinho will be that guy but it’s so difficult to criticise the performances of individuals at United when evidently the man in charge isn’t performing the way he has in the past. You could say his downfall started at Real Madrid in his final season and save for that second season at Chelsea (where they laboured to the title following a Christmas defeat) he’s pretty much not shown he has what it takes to motivate the players anymore.
Brave he is, foollish too ,up his own arse for sure ,but he’s not nearly bad as the stats obsessed windbag that is SRCJJ !
United are really a mess when their best CM is still Carrick.
Here comes the man who can barely write a legible sentence. If you bothered to read the post above I just stated I feel like stats skew things and can’t always be used to support a point. Just like the other day when I said I didn’t believe stats were a contributing factor in determining which player is better.
But you’re probably referring to when I told you stats are important in the modern game as they are, because clubs rely heavily on them when scouting players and monitoring player performance. But that’s for coaches and clubs, fans shouldn’t have to buy into stats too much unless they’re analysing something but they aren’t the be all and end all for the regular fan.
That’s all true about the key passes stats where a key pass maybe a side ways pass or a pass resulting in a long shot but there’s plenty of time Ozil has laid it on a plate, like about 5 times for Theo in his first game against Sunderland I think it was. In the first year and he was definitely top 2 or 3 in the league at that time
I agree with most of that, I don’t think Mourinho’s doing a good job. Like you say Schneiderlin is the ball winner they need, Herrera is a good all rounder and is starting now and Carrick and Schweini are the best playmakers they have. Rashford also doesn’t work as well on the wing. He’s also criminally ignoring top class talent like Martial and Mkhitaryan. All in all though good news for us and let’s hope he keeps that up by the time we visit OT. The thing is he rubs players the wrong way, even Ronaldo was having digs at him after he left and that’s a player he didn’t treat like crap.