01 Jan 2020 14:56:06
So here we are at the dawn of a new decade. What will it bring? Who knows. It seems we are starting the decade with a divided club, no direction, no vision, no idea.

Some like the familiarity of Ole, what he is trying to do, they appreciate he might not be the man to get us back to the top, yet he seems to be doing a decent job of weeding the garden and planting the seeds of hope. His moving away from players without the right attitude, while giving talented young hungry players a chance is refreshing and will likely bare fruits long after he has gone.

While others live in the here and now, and it is hard to argue that results have been good enough. While performances have been hit and miss. They want him sacked immediately and someone who they feel is more suitable long term brought in. This especially escalates when a perceived "top" manager loses his job and becomes available.

I fall into the former, which will surprise no one. My view is that you need to put the wheels back on the cart and make it roadworthy before you attach a stallion to the front. Otherwise we will end up failing again as we have previously.

Mourinho and LvG had fantastic CV's and had top level pedigree, as does Allegri who several people would like now. Yet, without the correct structure behind them they will fail. When they do, we will be left with another half built squad, with several new players who might not fit the next managers vision.

We are a club struggling to find an identity after Sir Alex. His character was all consuming, he was able to influence many level of the club and had the foresight to plan in the short, medium and long term. Very few managers plan longer than a year or so into the future as few will last longer than that.

So, the important question might be how far are we from challenging? Well, we clearly have some serious work to do to our squad.
We have the makings of a good defence, yet we seem fragile in defence. AWB should be a shoe in at RB, yet there are question marks over his ability going forward. Maguire has decent at CB, but for the fee paid many are expecting more. Lindelof has regressed and Tuanzebe has had a few injury issues which have stopped him having a run. While Williams looks are best LB, but has only played a few games and is still raw and rash at times.
Midfield is a mess, McTominay looks good enough, Pogba and Matic want out. Fred has improved but still doesn't look quite good enough to be first choice for a title challenging side.
Rashford, Martial, James and Greenwood look very promising as a dynamic and frighten forward line. Yet they lack consistency as is expected of young players. They also struggle against deep siting teams without a player who can find them between the lines rather than in behind.

Most people would agree we need at least 2 probably three midfielders, a RW, and a more experienced striker. While most wouldn't rule out a new CB or replacing Shaw.

So, that's at least 5 maybe 7 new players.

Whilst I agree that we will need those players to challenge over the course of the season, I do wonder how far away are we.

Looking at the EPL table:

Liverpool W18 D1 L0
Leicester W13 D3 L4
Man City W13 D2 L5
Chelsea W11 D2 L7
Man Utd W8 D7 L5
Spurs W8 D6 L6

Its clear where are true problem lies and its drawing too many games. We have lost less games than Chelsea and Spurs, and the same number as the defending champions City. We have only lost 1 more than Leicester. While Liverpool's form is frankly ridiculous. While we have drawn the most games of the top 6, with the four teams above us COMBINED having only drawn 1 game more than us.

So although our squad seems to be quite a long way from where we would expect it to be in order to challenge, we only need to turn draws into wins and suddenly we would be much higher in the table.

If we had signed Bruno Fernandes in the summer, and he played every game instead of Lingard or Pereira and he managed say 8 goals and 8 assists. Which isn't out of the question given his form over the last couple of years. Where in the table would we be with an extra 16 goals? That would give us 48 goals, or 1 more than Liverpool currently have.

I think given how this season has panned out, if we had signed Bruno Fernandes in the summer we would be at least 10 points better off which would put us 2nd/ 3rd.

That is with a squad that is according to nearly all United fans well short of quality and with a manager many don't feel is good enough, while we have had to deal with a spate of injuries to key players.

We need to remember that while our squad is far from perfect, the same could be said for most teams in the league.

So let's try and start this new decade off with a more positive frame of mind, it won't stop the rot, but we will likely be happier and healthier for it.

1.) 01 Jan 2020
01 Jan 2020 15:28:37
Sounds quite sensible.
The lack of depth makes it harder than it usually is.
We seem to play some players sometimes 4 times in 2 weeks and yet expect the same consistentcy which is maybe asking bit too much.
AWB, Lindelof, Maguire, Rashford, McTominay, Fred have played far more games than they should have.
Then there are players woefully out of form or not there yet.

If I were taking the shots, I'd push both Matic and pogba out and sign 2 midfielders this January or maybe 1.

I hate players that keep flirting that they want to move. Get decent money for them and let them out.

Replace them with any 1 of Bruno, grealish, Zakaria or kalvin Phillips.
Bruno I'm 100% sure can play in a 2 man midfield better than pogba can.
Phillips is performing really well this season.
Zakaria too.
and grealish is having a terrific season as well.

I know Matic played well against Burnley but against teams with midfield runners he misses them.

Players that actually stay fit for a course of season, don't like useless posts to stir up the media.

Even if that means that Garner or Levitt have to play more, I'm okay with that.

We are way too soft as a club.

2.) 01 Jan 2020
01 Jan 2020 15:37:08
Happy New Year Shappy - It's my assertion that we are not too far away but with every promising dawn comes a depressing set back.

This is undoubtedly a team for the future but we must also take care of the present. I believe in the precocious talents of Rashford and Martial and it is my assertion that if we could acquire a really good No10 and RW our team would improve immeasurably. Greenwood genuinely excites me and we could be seeing the birth of another wonderful academy graduate.

Recruitment will be the key moving forward. Targeting the right players, in the key positions to allow this team to mature and evolve. Get this right and maybe the dawning of a new decade might coincide with the emergence of a new and exciting Man Utd.

3.) 01 Jan 2020
01 Jan 2020 16:15:01
#stepintherightdirection
#breathoffreshair.

4.) 01 Jan 2020
01 Jan 2020 17:21:02
Shappy, good post. But why didn't we buy Bruno Fernandes? He has been playing superbly in the past two years. He's full of goals and assists, and yet, we're not even considering him?
Why aren't we in the market for Grealish in addition to Fernandes?
Hope we are going to buy in January market.

5.) 01 Jan 2020
01 Jan 2020 18:19:29
AAA, I think the reason we didn't sign Fernandes was ultimately down to money.
The club came out with the line originally that they weren't interested, then it was they looked at him but felt he gave the ball away too much.
Both are bull. The truth is the club made a ridiculously low offer and thought they could bully Sporting due to them being a precieved "smaller" club and they had some financial issues that needed sorting.
When Sporting didn't crack and give in the club was left unable/ unwilling to pay what was required.
Simple as that. I don't know if the club still thought a deal could be done for Jadon Sancho, or was saving money to use elsewhere. However, in hindsight that looks foolish now.

For me the club need a creative No.10, a creative wide player, a different sort of striking option and a proper defensive midfielder who can not only shield the back four but pass forward with confidence and purpose.

For me Kalvin Phillips or even Adrien Rabiot could be good options at CDM.
Bruno Fernandes or James Maddison at CAM.
David Neres or Steven Bergwijn at RW and either Edison Cavani or Raul Jimenez for striker.

6.) 01 Jan 2020
01 Jan 2020 23:12:10
Attack man as I've posted already Fernandez has just signed a new long term deal with sporting. Also why would he sign for us. We are going nowhere fast.