19 Aug 2022 22:07:18
Whilst I'm not really unhappy with Casemiro - he brings composure and a winning mentality, I wonder what this signing means.

Firstly. He's slow and now faced with a quicker league.
I worry that he and Slab could look like driftwood at times if the system doesn't suit.

Secondly. As he's not a typically progressive player, he's not particularly suited to a high-press system.

Now, before I get all the usual sneering, I believe this signing suggests, perhaps only temporarily, the possibility of an amendment to the initial style of ten Hag's PL era - one that is more akin to the style of Ole.
If that is where we're going then this could be an excellent signing that, although expensive, provides a solid shield - nothing flashy, nothing bold, just solid.

Now, let's be fair, Matic has always been slow and was never dynamic, he was just composed and solid. He did a lot of dirty work at United when playing in the Mourinho/ Solskjaer systems.

Casemiro is the right signing for the right system, for the next couple of years we could see a system like Ole's - one that actually plays more to the strengths of Fernandes, Rashford and Sancho.

Is that what EtH actually wants?
Probably not, but he now has a better impression of the magnitude of the job at hand and might now be looking to start by making the team solid.

That said, Slab is still of great concern to me - he makes the team as solid as yoghurt.

1.) 19 Aug 2022
19 Aug 2022 23:45:23
Casemiro isn’t an awful player to sign in isolation, he’s pretty good, but no more than that. I think some people are trying their best to remove all context from the signing, probably to convince themselves it’s actually a good move, which i understand. What is being a football fan if not constantly assuming the best case scenario for your team?

From the outside looking in, I think this transfer is as hilarious and as typically United as it gets. Like I say, Casemiro isn’t a bad player, he’s decent, but with a very low ceiling. I don’t think he is in the same league as Fabinho and Rodri, or the likes of Alonso and Busquets from years gone by.

He is an immobile midfield enforcer, who has spent his entire Madrid career being made to look better than he is by the far superior technical wizards playing either side of him. To give you an example that you can all relate to, imagine if it was Madrid signing Nicky Butt for 60 million and 350k a week (adjusted for inflation) back in the day. As solid as Butt was, would that not sound absolutely preposterous?

He will make the United midfield better, of course he will, but so would anybody else. Varane was also an improvement on Maguire and Bailly, but it hasn’t really sorted much out. Decent enough player, but overrated and made to look far better than he was by Ramos. For the emphasis being placed on him by United and by the journos, it feels like another classic United farce. It seems as though they think this is going to be some kind of transformative, blockbuster signing, a legend of the game on par with the greatest players to grace his position, when in reality it’s just some bloke who kicks people about a bit and runs in treacle.

None of the signings that United have made so far have been absolutely awful, they just seem like a complete waste of time. Martinez can’t be any worse than his fellow centre backs, but he’s 5’8 and will probably never be the answer based on that alone. Eriksen is a number 10 who is incapable of playing in a pressing side, and has been used every position apart from as a number 10 so far, mainly because United signed him without realising that nobody actually plays with them anymore.

Casemiro can’t be any worse than Fred or McTominay, but I don’t see how he ticks any of the boxes for what United need. For that money, you could have got Ndidi or someone similar, who would be sufficiently experienced while still being younger, would probably have been hungrier, have a higher ceiling, be more suited to ten Hag’s requirements and generally be better in every single way.

Instead, you have yet another signing who is on the wrong side of 30, on an insanely long contract, is too immobile to play in the ten Hag double pivot and press, and probably isn’t good enough on the ball to play out in the way ten Hag wants either, which as we have seen, is possibly the biggest structural flaw with this United side at present. He will cost more in terms of transfer fee and wages than either Fabinho or Rodri did, despite not being even half as good. He obviously isn’t the answer.

United clearly don’t have a scouting department, and if they do, I imagine they must just be sat messing around all day and claiming as much on expenses as they can get away with. Surely this signing is a direct reaction to the recent results and the Jim Radcliffe rumours, as it seems to have been decided completely on the spot. Does anybody seriously believe that United have been tracking Casemiro for months and believe he fits the profile of what they need? The club have been messing about all summer and refusing to improve the squad, but when the situation is so bad the only way to stave off a riot is good PR, they will act.

This signing is absolute insanity and the only thing that would be even more silly would be if they actually paid the money being touted for irony. I know some United fans will be desperate to believe this is a good signing and that some thought had been out into it, but please, don’t buy the kool aid that these clowns are trying to sell you. It’s a panicked distraction tactic of the most egregious kind and I, for one, have never seen anything like it.

2.) 20 Aug 2022
20 Aug 2022 00:20:02
AW… I hate to admit but I think you’re going to be right. Papering over cracks again, that money could’ve brought 2 players who suited EtH style with the correct scouting and recruitment but that would be asking far too much… it all goes back to the structure of the club mate. I’m scared of how much further we could sink yet.

3.) 20 Aug 2022
20 Aug 2022 00:56:55
Cassemiro is class, often plays ahead of fabinho for brazil and regularly puts in MOTM performances for real in big games, against Barca, or in UCL finals (like liverpool and juve) .

Quite how we got here I have no idea. We certainly look like the drunken sailor lurching around europe looking for an attractive lady to take home for the season.

But that said, cassemiro is a fantastic addition who instantly improves one of our biggest weaknesses. He also brings a level of mental toughness and confidence to a team that looks bereft.

4.) 20 Aug 2022
20 Aug 2022 00:57:37
*money for Antony, not irony.

5.) 20 Aug 2022
20 Aug 2022 01:37:03
Mate, you're missing the point of this signing entirely.

From just 2 PL games, EtH has a greater understanding of his squad's limitations.
I reckon he arrived with the belief that any player can learn to adapt to a new system, United have proven him wrong.

This pressing system requires players, proper players with the aptitude to get busy and hustle.
This system does not suit Dalot, does not suit Maguire, nor does it suit Shaw, Lindelof, AWB, McFlurry, VdB, Fernandes, Rashford, Sancho, Martial, Elanga or Ronaldo. De Gea is pish on the ball.
That's 14 senior first-team options who cannot adapt to his preferred style.
RR identified the limitations of this squad, hence the '10 signings' talk.

Now, if 14 of your senior options are unable to adapt, either quickly enough or at all, then you must concede to this initially by making signings that complement them.
It's not rocket science.

Ideally, I'd prefer to see his favoured system, but we just don't have the squad to produce it.

Malacia and Martinez bring that ability with them, and the likes of Savage and Iqbal certainly have the potential, but that's not enough to be effective in his preferred system.

He's simply discovered that his job requires at least an initial 2-year period of blending his squad to make it work to his standards, but right now he just needs some degree of stability and effectiveness.

Dream signing?
Absolutely not, but necessary when you properly consider the capability of the squad.

6.) 20 Aug 2022
20 Aug 2022 03:18:24
Woolback

I guess we will see and hoping you are dead wrong. I do agree that if this window and players brought in so far and looks like more yet to come does not pan out, the club is in deep deep trouble.

I also think casemiro needs a polished number 8 next to him and hope we get savic in or even neves. Martinez will end up at left back i suspect.

7.) 20 Aug 2022
20 Aug 2022 03:33:09
Tbone

One thing everyone needs to stop is thinking eth had nothing to do with casamero. He is % driving our transfer strategy. We would not have signed him otherwise.

We lost 3 months getting involved with fdj and the soap opera its turned out to be.

Anthony and everything else in the news are all his selections. If it works out we have hired a great manager, if it does not don’t blame the recruiting deparment, blame eth.

On a different note, i have this sense that rashford gets sold late in the window.

8.) 20 Aug 2022
20 Aug 2022 12:32:54
I see what you’re trying to say Woggle, but it simply doesn’t add up.

Firstly, you’re projecting massively. It’s only been a week since the Brentford game and we haven’t seen United play since then; how does anybody know that ten Hag has thrown in the towel and decided to alter his approach? He could, and I imagine probably will, send them out with the same tactics against Liverpool and it will not end well, at which point your argument could fall apart.

Secondly, even if he does decide to play this pragmatically and oversee a gradual shift over a couple of seasons, I fail to see how Casemiro fits into that? If you want to change the way United play, how does repeating the same mistakes in the transfer market, instead of signing someone more suited to the style of play, help build towards that goal? Signing more players in the 30+, 350k, 5 year contract, 70 million, overrated bracket who are both immobile and inadequate on the ball will not help the cause at all.

It’s quite obviously more of the same mistakes from United, and if ten Hag is indeed personally choosing all of these signings that don’t seem to fit what he is trying to do, then I would be worried already. Additionally, while you could argue the ‘leadership’ and ‘character’ element is important, were the likes of Ronaldo and Fernandes also not at one point considered to be leadership material? Now look what’s happened to them, they’re whining brats.

If any players are going to establish leadership at United, it will be from younger, hungrier players that suit the managers vision and believe in it, not overpaid moaners with an inflated sense of self importance.