Man Utd: ‘INEOS are not being held to ransom’ as optimism abounds

Man Utd fans are the only ones writing in about how optimistic they are for the new season, and they have so many reasons.

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Reasons to be cheerful about Man Utd

Utd 18th in the mood rankings seem harsh (aka clickbait) but I’ll bite.

As a Utd fan I am cautiously optimistic. However, having 3rd place in the league as a supposed ceiling does not dampen my mood one bit. City and Arsenal were head and shoulders above the rest last season and you don’t claw that back over one summer transfer window.

Things to be optimistic about:

Yoro, Zirkzee, Hojlund not being the only striker. Having Mainoo (seems silly but this time last year he hadn’t started for us).

Then there’s the possibility of Shaw back and Mount actually playing. I would have liked to be optimistic about having less injuries than last season but that hasn’t started well…

And the cautious part:

Bloody injuries already before the season kicks off.

Can E10H actually get the team playing in a way that has patterns of play, is attacking and creates chances (e.g. the opposite of last season).

Will we manage to get rid of Casemiro and find a better and younger midfielder?

Will we have 4 fit defenders come season start?

With all that, I couldn’t care less about league position this year. Not even Champions League places. I want to see some progress. A better transfer policy (seems OK so far), getting rid of dead wood (easier said than done) and steady improvements to playing style that build us back to serious contenders in a few years’ time. We’re already realistic contenders for any cup competition we enter, not many sides can claim that.

With all the issues other clubs have, Villa having to play Champs League, Liverpool new manager, Chelsea being Chelsea, Spurs being Spurs, I’d say Newcastle might have the best chance of finishing in 3rd or 4th. The rest are a bag of liquorice allsorts, you never know what you’re going to get.

If you can’t be optimistic now you never will be,

Jon, Cape Town (somewhat bitter that our noisy neighbours can sell off the second best striker in the league and probably won’t be any worse for it)

Man Utd transfer reasons to be cheerful

The new season gets underway this week with the Community Shield. Still nothing more than a glorified friendly, but a significant step up in action from the utterly nonsensical pre-season tours of the last couple of weeks. And it’s nice to see United back at Wembley I suppose. We’re there because we won the FA Cup. Never a bad thing to be winning trophies, although we remain a ways away from the Premier League or Champions League (haven’t even qualified for that regularly, never mind compete for it!)

But anyway, back to business. With the first full season of an INEOS-controlled Manchester United about to get underway, I figured now is a good time to take stock of their first summer transfer window. The behind the scenes and boardroom changes look great on paper, but they will take time to manifest significant change on the pitch, so it’s far too soon to judge. So the recruitment is the most readily available bar we have to judge the new regime by.

The proof will be in the pudding, of course, and if United miss out on Top 4, things will immediately be judged a massive failure. Regardless of whether this summer is a 10/10, or a 2/10, United will not be back dining at the top table for another 2-3 seasons at least. But I have been hugely impressed with a number of aspects of the INEOS approach.

1) First of all – whether restricted by FFP & PSR rules, or just enhanced by actual common sense – United have resisted the urge to splash the cash(TM) on “superstar” signings. No more di Marias, or Pogbas, or Lukakus. No more obsession with the final piece of the jigsaw when all of the other pieces are all over the floor.

We are finally looking at raising the floor of the squad rather than trying to raise the ceiling with galactico signings.

July saw support/competition for Rasmus Hojlund – so sorely lacking last year, and the signing of Leny Yoro – not just an exciting name with a lot of potential, but even as he stands today (okay, bad choice of words), a centre half in the right mould for a ten Hag system. Varane was a great name – but there was a reason Real Madrid were willing to let a 28-year old center back move on at the time.

De Ligt and Mazraoui would be two more solid additions. Sure, they won’t have Ballan d’Or clauses in their contracts, but they would ensure that if Dalot or Martinez get injured (which let’s face it, they will), then the entire game plan does not have to disintegrate with them. Their replacements are similar styles of player now, not Maguire & Wan-Bissaka who are wildly different.

2) United are not being linked with every Tom, Dick & José…

To be honest, the refreshing lack of links to every footballer under the sun is a win in itself. It shows me that the new leadership have a handle on any leaks that may have been at the club before, and, more realistically, have more understanding of how to play the PR game with agents and journalists. Manuel Ugarte is the only midfielder that United have been properly linked with all summer. That deal is now seemingly dead, but I’m confident that United can still pull off a much-needed midfield reinforcement before the end of the summer. Not Frenkie de Jong…

3) INEOS are not being held to ransom. I’m pretty sure United made a couple of bids for Jarrad Branthwaite, knowing they would be rejected, for no reason other than to be publicly seen to walk away from a deal. But that’s fine by me. Even as a PR move, it shows the new United is different from Ed “we can do what others only dream about in the transfer market” Woodward. This is all a bit Football Manager, and we know nothing of the wages, etc., but walking away from a £70m Branthwaite to sign de Ligt and Mazraoui for a combined £60m is smart business, and good squad building.

4) There’s actually a recruitment strategy! There is still time for this one to change, but it seems that INEOS don’t hold the same fear as their predecessors when it comes to making a signing. They’re not afraid to do nothing rather than making a bad signing, or a signing not in the plan. Leny Yoro, perhaps, wasn’t a major part of the plan at the start of the summer – or maybe he was and the Branthwaite negotiations was a bit of playing possum. Either way, by all accounts, there was a willingness to make a move if Madrid didn’t fancy it, and United made a move.

But anyway… Think of all the panic signings that United made in the last 10 years. Even some “good” signings should never have happened. Exhibit A – Casemiro. Absolutely dynamite in his first season, for sure, but you had still dumped £70m and a five-year, £300k-ish a week contract on a 30-year old midfielder. No matter how well he played, you still have to throw another £70m-odd at a replacement in 2 years. Where we find ourselves right now.

Fellaini on Deadline Day. Antony after the Brentford game. Cristiano Ronaldo just because Man City wanted him. Alexis Sanchez just because Man City wanted him. More 30+yr old strikers than you can name. Giving Chelsea the money to buy prime N’Golo Kante, and taking a beaten down Nemanja Matic and his wages off their hands for good measure. £80m on Harry Maguire after refusing to spend £30m on him 12 months earlier, the list goes on and on.

United have spent £200m on right wingers over the last two summers, and they still need to buy a right winger.

Sometimes doing nothing is better than doing the wrong thing. I’m glad to see that INEOS appear to recognise this.

Realistically, United still need to sell at least five and buy at least five to start competing for top honours again, but I’m encouraged by INEOS recognising that that cannot be done in one window.

If United can get another couple over the line in some key positions, which appear to be in the works, and we can stay relatively healthy I believe Top 4 is a genuine possibility.

By next summer, the new regime will have their feet under the table, and much more time to plan and target recruits.

There will be some more dark days ahead I am sure, but I’m encouraged and the future does look bright.

But then again, it always does before the season starts for every club!

James, MUFC

READ: We have Man Utd in the bottom three of the Premier League mood rankings

Offside injustice for all

I think Andy (MUFC) is missing one vital factor on what is the basis for all this moaning and whining about marginal offsides: the player appears to be level and therefor onside but a toe or an armpit is being flagged as offside.

I think we can all agree that disallowed goals for marginal offsides invoke a deeper sense of injustice than goals given for marginal onsides. With the daylight rule there will obviously still be marginal calls but when on the losing end of one of those disallowed goals for a marginal offside, everyone will be able to see an attacking player quite a bit in front of the defender and the honest feelings about this should be that the attacking player needed to time his run better.

It’s common sense really but unfortunately flies in the face of what PGMOL are all about, so it will likely never be implemented.

Seamus, Sweden

How to fix offside

The solution to offside is a simple one with the following steps:

1. Get rid of VAR and return to the ref’s on field decision being final.

2. Leave the rule as it is

3. Accept that referee and line folk will endeavour to make the best decision possible in good faith.

4. Accept that you are an adult and you can expect that sometimes it may go in your favour and other times it will not but there is no conspiracy or to be more concise “grow the hell up”.

5. Return to enjoying the free flowing game with occasional talking points as it was meant to.

6. Ban Sky and other TV channels from “trial by freeze frame” so we never speak of VAR again.

Happy days

Paul (World peace next) Rhodes

Pep would play a 3-10-0

In the previous mailbox, Dave of Dublin made the suggestion that teams should benefit via being able to add an additional player to their line up in the event of an opposition red card (rather than the opposition losing one).

However, his suggestion lost all credibility when he speculated that Guardiola would play a 4-5-5 formation, proving he has never seen Man City (or a Pep team) play. Clearly Pep would play a 3-10-0 (or 3-9-1 if he could be arsed with Haaland) with the midfield consisting exclusively of dimunitive 5′ 6″ clones created through splicing the genes of Bernando and David Silva in some horrible Jurassic Park-esque experiment in an underground bunker in Abu Dhabi.

D*cky (Would love to see a Pulis 12-1-1 formation with 12 centre backs and Walters upfront) Malb*lls

…Great idea by Dave (I’m banned from posting again, aren’t I?), Dublin, about red cards adding a player to the other team instead. I don’t think Pep would play 4-5-5 though, more like 4-1-8-1 and buy all the attacking midfielders. Rodri would obviously play.

How about make it every second red card adds a player. The first one removes a player as it does now. Or just blow John Nicholsons mind and introduce blue cards to add a player.

Zdravko

…I’ve just convinced myself. Blue cards for time wasting.

Zdravko

…Especially diving. Then it might actually be coached out of the game. The whole team would be on to divers to cut it out.

Zdravko