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United have raked in £100m though, including selling homegrown players. I don’t rate McTominay at all, but he gives his all, and it’s a bit sad to see someone there 2o odd years shipped on as it suits the FFP rules.
Transfer window's nearly over, anyone on here been signed by Chelsea?
Not Stanno - he's a Bluenose. 😀
@dander - unfortunately he’ll forever be remembered as one half of the disastrous McFred midfield partnership that induced so much swearing amongst United fans. Probably unfair, but there you go
Sancho on loan to Chelsea? Just bizarre. We paid 75 million for a player who mainly sat in the bench, then was sent out on loan to the club we paid the 75 million to, and now he’s off on loan to Chelsea, where he’ll no doubt spend his time warming the bench.
Meanwhile Sterling is off on loan to Arsenal, who presumably felt they were missing someone who could reliably find the corner flag or row Z with their efforts on goal?
Oh and Toni has effectively retired. Off to the Saudi Pro League/Sleepy Meadows Home for the Greedy and Bewildered
Off to the Saudi Pro League/Sleepy Meadows Home for the Greedy and Bewildered
Says the United fan....
Usual mental window, last minute loans are always weird, but Chelsea still appear to be run by a 12 year old with access to Championship Manager, Brighton were the biggest net spenders as well. Big clubs relatively quiet, City made a large profit, Liverpool and Newcastle made small profits, as stated, ManU spent big again, think they're around £500 million net spend with Ten Hag now, so should really be pushing for top 3 this year.
You have to feel for Toney, he wanted a big team, but none of them came in for him, he's a player who hasn't made a huge fortune and is getting on, so you can see why he's gone out to the Saudi league, plus Brentford basically told him he's gone, one way or another.
It'll be interesting to see the newly promoted teams and how they do, i see Ipswich were the second biggest net spenders, just ahead of ManU, if they go down straight away that's a hell of a lot of debt for 1 year to sustain in a 3 year period (and only 1 EPL season), they could be in real trouble, the newly promoted seem to have to either make a big gamble, or accept they're going straight back down and spend modestly.
@binners - I've got a feeling that Sterling might find the form he was in a few years ago. Arteta managed to turn Havertz from Plug in the Beano to a half decent team player last year, so there is hope for Sterling.
Sancho was in good form at Dortmund last year. It's obvious that something at Man U isn't right, well it's everything by the stories we hear. ETH is simply awful - his Ajax success was that he was lucky to have such a talented pool of players in peak form.
I'm really looking forward to another year of mediocrity from your lot.
Toney is a weird move but the betting ban blotted his copy book. Maybe moving somewhere without bookies will be good for him?
@doris5000 - Shrewsbury have bagged a great player in Alex Gilliead, really disappointed Bradford have let him go. Not necessarily the most technically gifted player but he'll give you 100% week in, week out. Massive engine too, he can run forever. Hopefully you stay up so we can play you next season 😉
Best. Reveal. EVER. 😀
i see Ipswich were the second biggest net spenders, just ahead of ManU, if they go down straight away that’s a hell of a lot of debt for 1 year to sustain in a 3 year period (and only 1 EPL season), they could be in real trouble,
Very worrying from a longer term perspective. Even with my blue rose tinted glasses on we are not the kind of team who are "definitely" long term Premiership, and I'd sooner we bounce up and down like Norwich rather than go big and go bust.
I’ve got a feeling that Sterling might find the form he was in a few years ago. Arteta managed to turn Havertz from Plug in the Beano to a half decent team player last year, so there is hope for Sterling.
You're talking about a player they spent £65 million on, who had a struggle at Chelsea during their mental period (still ongoing!), it's not as if Arteta took a gamble on someone like Dele Alli and turned them around.
It’s obvious that something at Man U isn’t right, well it’s everything by the stories we hear. ETH is simply awful – his Ajax success was that he was lucky to have such a talented pool of players in peak form.
A fair appraisal. I look forward to seeing if any of our latest signings can fail as dismally to deliver as Antony did last season
You won a trophy.
Ming the Merciless lookalikey comp?
Player contract latest from Leeds.
You won a trophy.
…and finished 8th, 31 points behind city, with some truly abject performances, after an outlay of what?… £1.5 billion?
If you’re Spurs then that’s your best season for 40 years, or whatever, but we’re not. The FA Cup win was a double-edged sword, because it saved Ten Hag from the definite chop and I suspect we’re in for a pretty serious reality intrusion tomorrow afternoon. We were tonked by Brighton last weekend and only managed to squeak 3 points at home against Fulham the week before. Not a great start, is it?
Under Ten Hag it still looks as disjointed and incoherent as ever and none of us are any the wiser about what it is he’s actually trying to do
Ref in the Arsenal game just likes the sound of their fans whining post-match, clearly.
Wasn't really a second yellow, was it?
The 2nd yellow was ridiculous.
I can't even see where he is meant to have kicked it? It just sort of bounces off the side of his foot?
He nudges it to the side while being booted by the Brighton player. Time-wasting? He doesn't even move it more than a couple of feet.
Was there today and great to see a ref that didn’t give every free kick when players fall to the floor (Saka and tbf Pedro).
Couldn’t see what Rice got the second yellow for as it was down the other end but having watched it on the way home he clearly kicks the ball away as Veltman was about to take a quick free kick. You expect Rice to be a bit smarter than that when he’s already on a yellow. Maybe he just assumed the ref wouldn’t be brave enough to send him off at the Emirates.
Was weird, but the upside is that AFTV clips are a real treat this evening!
Could be worse though, i'm hazarding a guess that people are actively avoiding Sean Dyche this evening as well, christ how hopeless are the Everton players, sure fire bet to go down.
Haaland starting the season slow i see.
Haaland starting the season slow i see.
He actually seems like he's grown a bit, when will it end, when he's completely transformed into the Kraken?
In other news Reading are up to 8th - and no points deducted so far.
Just watched Everton on MOTD. Dear god, they’re awful! Having been 2-0 up they could easily have lost that 5-2
I used to absolutely despise Villa under Paul Lambert because they were ****ing awful yet still managed to avoid relegation, season after season, by the skin of their teeth, despite looking like a shit pub side. I cheered when they finally got what they deserved and went down and hoped they’d never darken the Premier League ever again. Look at them now.
I now feel exactly the same about Everton. We’re 3 games in and I’m already hoping they go down. They probably need to.
As an Evertonian, Binners can go fu k himself.
Its going to be a long season! And yes, we’re going down!
Its going to be a long season! And yes, we’re going down!
Everton have stunk out the league for years yet are masters at clinging on to survival.
I didn't see it, but the fans reckon West Ham played pretty well yesterday yet still lost 1-3. Such is the PL gulf.
@w00dster - how do you feel about the state your club is in though? I’m pretty vocal about the ongoing shambles at Old Trafford which led a couple of days ago to the absurdity of a player we paid 75 million for going out on loan to a club that finished above us last season, presumably to stay within FFP rules. Go figure
Everton is a basket case and has been for years. The continuing on/off takeover saga. The owners who seem to be even more incompetent than ours (quite the achievement!), the woeful performances on the pitch and last weekend the team weren’t just booed off, a section of the fans waited at Euston station to hurl abuse at their own squad! Mental!
Yeah, West Ham did well in patches, Bowen is starting to look like the complete package now, Kudus always dangerous and so on, biggest thing for me was the strikers, City had Haaland on fire, WHU had Antonio, who tries like mad, but has no real quality in front of goal, Ederson also had the save of the weekend at the end as well, fingertips onto the post.
Today's going to be interesting with ManU vs Liverpool, ManU really need to show they're level pegging with Liverpool, still think they missed a trick not signing Onana, he's slotted in well at Villa and with ManU, that midfield were missing one thing, and Onana for me is the guy who would've filled it best, i don't know much about Ugarte though, so maybe that'll work out better.
Given our respective performances so far this season, I’m not confident, but I said that last season and the arse-kicking I expected didn’t materialise. It’s either going to be a cagey draw or we’ll get absolutely humped today
I don’t know much about Ugarte though, so maybe that’ll work out better.
TH will probably play him as a right back or a central striker or maybe stick him in goal
Edit: apparently he’s not playing today as he wasn’t registered in time.
Having seen a re-run of the whole game, Everton should have been out of sight before that final 10 minutes, when, agreed, Bournemouth could have scored another two or three. Profligate and brittle.
Yeah, just watched highlights on MOTD. That was an implosion by Everton.
Haaland doing what he does, but he can’t play every game can he? Who plays then? Foden false 9?
I think Harland will be coming off after 60 mins in quite a lot of games, they will manage his minutes rather than numbers of games. Then 30 mins with Foden, De Bruyne or Bobb (when he recovers from injury) as a false 9 (all three on the pitch revolving positions) it is probably a pretty good tactic. It would be a nightmare for defenders, a proper target man for the first 60 mins strong fast physical battle, and then a switch of mental focus to deal with movement and rotation.
Ederson also had the save of the weekend
I though Areola made a better save in that match. For the Eddison save, that was always where the shot was going, the keeper was set and ready, still a good save, but he was set and just had to get the execution right. The Areola save from De Bruyne, the shot was whipped in quickly to the opposite corner the keeper was expecting, he had to react to less conventional shot quickly.
He nudges it to the side while being booted by the Brighton player. Time-wasting? He doesn’t even move it more than a couple of feet.
The offence is delaying the restart, not timewasting or kicking the ball away. If he hadn't nudged it three inches away then play would have restarted, he delayed it, it's an automatic no discretion yellow card.
(it was also cute play by the Brighton player, who probably was aiming for the kick to hit Rice and claim it that way, Rice just made it even easier....I couldn't work out what he was restarting for, just seemed to be hoofing it upfield. Put another way the only purpose of restarting was so that Rice could delay it and get booked - but that's 'part of the game' now)
I can only assume the earlier Brighton one was because he wasn't sure it had gone out, but in that case his first touch in keeping it in but getting it into row F was woeful 😉 - should have been yellow too.
Evertonian here. Checked scores at 4pm yesterday, looking good. Then final scores... FFS. I can't imagine that we won't be bottom of the league come May. Best stadium in the championship etc.
If you’re Spurs then that’s your best season for 40 years, or whatever, but we’re not.
No, you're Man Utd - the new Spurs?
Spurs are at St James's today. 6-1 and 4-0 barcodes wins from our last couple of visits so let's see if we can at least not embarrass ourselves today!
No, you’re Man Utd – the new Spurs?
I know! That’s my point. We really shouldn’t be, but we are (give or take the odd recent trophy) 😉
I think Harland will be coming off after 60 mins in quite a lot of games
Or when he gets his hatrick, whichever comes first. He’s going to lay waste to all previous goalscoring records, thus guaranteeing another title for Citeh
did I hear MOTD right; Haaland on 7 is second in the team goals charts currently behind Man City (9) and then come Chelsea and Brighton with 6 each.
Newcastle will not be thrashing Spurs later. I'm worried that Son and Solanke will run a back four missing Schar and Botman all over the place. I like Burn and Krafth as back ups, but against the better attacks just a bit susceptible.
At the other end ..... who knows.
just seen team news - no Solanke. Hmmm, that's good news for us.
Forgotten about Reading then? [Smiley face]
The offence is delaying the restart, not timewasting or kicking the ball away. If he hadn’t nudged it three inches away then play would have restarted, he delayed it, it’s an automatic no discretion yellow card.
I think the ref looked apologetic for having to issue that second yellow card, but Rice put himself in that position so no sympathy.
Haaland is truly terrifying when he's in this form - his stats on MOTD last night were crazy - pretty close to a goal a game, a hat trick every 9(?) games when people like Shearer were running at 30-40 games!
Forgotten about Reading then? [Smiley face]
as it happens, sat here watching Newcastle (the first team I ever saw, taken by my Grandad) wearing a pair of Reading leisure shorts (my home town and most watched team)
Most of the time there's not been a conflict, rare periods of capability never overlap.
Top win for the R's yesterday, something seems to be happening there and Selles takes a load of credit given the way his hands are tied.
Is Casemiro playing his way out of a Saudi Arabia move? Not good news for the Old Trafford accountants.
He’s a complete liability. Sunday league stuff for both goals. He was absolutely shocking for the latter half of last season, doing exactly the kind of thing he’s done today, but he’s still here and still starting every game.
We’ve got absolutely nothing going forward either, despite all the possession we had at the start. Completely toothless! Has Rashford actually touched the ball yet?
I’m going to go for 4 or 5 nil if it carries on like this
I'm just struggling to work out who Mark Goldbridge is going to blame for this with McTominay now in Italy!
Newcastle were lucky to get 3 points today.
Casemiro hauled off at half time for a teenager.
I’ll reappraise that scoreline. Maybe 7 or 8 nil?
Still no idea what formation/system/whatever ETH is trying to play. Surely on thin ice. Gareth in!!
Think they gave up trying at 3-0, summed up by the liverpool player who had a tap in from 3 yards, but decided to try and skin another couple of players!
Still no idea what formation/system/whatever ETH is trying to play
Nobody in a red shirt today seemed to have the remotest idea either. I honestly haven’t got a clue, watching us so far this season. Liverpool just shut down the game when the third goal went in. They knew they could leave that United squad out there until next weekend and they still couldn’t score, so they could rest some of their big guns and just have a bit of a leisurely kickabout.
Another absolutely ****ing pitiful performance! Embarrassing! Topped off by the usual inexplicable substitutions from Ten Hag.
We’re in 14th in the table at the moment - exactly where we deserve to be - but if this carries on then that’s where we’ll be finishing. If we’re lucky.Woeful! They look even worse than the back end of last season when they all seemed like they’ve just given up
On an unrelated note: please stop Daniel Sturridge opening his mouth on telly ever again. I keep waiting for Keane to finally have enough of the clown and deck him
Impossible not to feel nerves before a game against Utd. No matter what the form says.
That was disappointingly easy.
The atmosphere (only going on the radio sound) seemed terrible. It felt like they gave up after the first one went in, let alone 2 or 3. United were beaten by half time and seemed to accept that.
Inexplicable substitutions. Ten Hag has no visible plan. No style. No starting 11. Old Trafford's a shithole. Empty seats everywhere for the last fifteen minutes.
It’s ****ing brilliant. 😀
This is a first. I’ve found myself agreeing with Piers Morgan
https://Twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1830271844504805404?s=46&t=1lK7Dw1b6RqGJyvufO-trQ
Nobody in a red shirt today seemed to have the remotest idea either. I honestly haven’t got a clue, watching us so far this season.
Pretty sure this is a cut and paste from last seasons thread at this point of the season!
Looks like Arne Slot is showing signs that he's settling in.
Pretty sure this is a cut and paste from last seasons thread at this point of the season!
Indeed. Groundhog Day. It’s all depressingly familiar
Was at OT today and the thing that struck me was how physically strong Liverpool looked. They won all the important battles but was as if they still had something in reserve, their fitness levels were excellent and they never looked tired for a minute, heads up and shoulders back at all times.
It's clear that Arne Slot's style is going to be less heavy metal and more hard rock. They're going to finish above Arsenal this season and they're going to wrong-foot a few teams with their more solid tactics.
Spotted this mad statistic earlier...
Goals at Old Trafford
All competitions since 24 January 2021:
Marcus Rashford 31
Bruno Fernandes 29
Cristiano Ronaldo 17
Scott McTominay 13
Mohamed Salah 10
Anthony Martial 10
Fitness wise, I should think that’s the United players not playing for, or trusting the manager and tactics. Maybe when he gets the rest of his Ajax team in situ they’ll be on a similar wavelength.
Fitness wise, I should think that’s the United players not playing for, or trusting the manager and tactics. Maybe when he gets the rest of his Ajax team in situ they’ll be on a similar wavelength.
They seem to constantly have a lengthy injury list (similar to Newcastle) so you have to question what they are doing in training to break so many players.
He's had 2 full seasons & spent more than enough money (& 20 players) to put his stamp on the team.
Come on, he's not Harry Potter,...
ETH, the gift that keeps on giving.
At least now they have a proper structure around the club - he and all the other managers since Fergie have operated without this. I doubt it’ll make much difference mind.
In the big news of the weekend Matlock Town FC's manager has left by mutual consent! He was appointed on 3rd May! 🙂
I doubt it’ll make much difference mind.
The first 3 games of the season have proved that any of us hoping for any improvement from the new sort-of-owners are just pissing in the wind
Same old, same old…
https://Twitter.com/betfair/status/1830300292749070464?s=46&t=1lK7Dw1b6RqGJyvufO-trQ
That Alan Shearer clip is fantastic! 😀
that ETH video is by Bryans Gunn on twitter - well worth a follow, his vids are always brilliant:
Newcastle were lucky to get 3 points today.
They’re lucky to have any points at all. They’ve played like a relegation team so far yet somehow have 7 points. Gordon looks pissed off, Bruno has lost it, Isak is starved of service and Longstaff is as inept as ever. If it wasn’t for Joelinton and Barnes we’d be down there with Everton.
Howe is also making some poor decisions. Why marginalise Trippier when he’s still one of our best and most experienced players? Why the continued reluctance to play Barnes and Hall? And what’s going on with this Steve Bruce sit back and play on the counter?
Amazing how much can change in a few months. There’s obviously lots going on behind closed doors and they need to sort it out before the the crap performances turn into crap results.
I would argue he's protecting Trippier - given his age & the fact he didn't have a summer break
I'm reading Trips could be off to Turkey, seems daft to me.
maybe he wants some shiny new teeth?
I would argue he’s protecting Trippier
Nope. Pretty sure he's turned against Trippier because of all the stuff in his personal life. Howe doesn't like his players in the tabloids, especially his senior ones.
And what’s going on with this Steve Bruce sit back and play on the counter?
Dan Burn and Emil Krafth don't have the pace to cope with players running in behind them, which is always going to happen when playing the high pressing game they used to, he's gone back to the style of play that we had just after the takeover but I agree we've been poor so far. Playing badly and still picking up points didn't happen last season
God knows how we got him but Elliot Anderson has been fantastic for Forest, playing beyond his years for a 21yr old.
maybe he wants some shiny new teeth
I thought you signed for Liverpool if you wanted those?
God knows how we got him but Elliot Anderson has been fantastic for Forest, playing beyond his years for a 21yr old.
FSR at it's worst, being forced to sell a homegrown talent to balance the books. 13 years of development.
God knows how we got him but Elliot Anderson has been fantastic for Forest, playing beyond his years for a 21yr old
You got him because of the ridiculous PSR rules that force a club with no debt and the richest owners in world football to sell players they'd rather keep. As a Toon fan I was pretty p****d off to see him sold, with Bruno, Joelinton and Tonali he wasn't going to be a regular starter but I've always thought Anderson was a better player than Sean Longstaff who was regularly picked ahead of him. The applause he got from the Toon fans after he was subbed in the Carabao Cup said it all