Manchester United have somehow emerged from the January transfer window with even fewer attacking options than before.
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How have Man Utd worsened their attacking options?
I’m very much in two minds about United’s transfer window. On paper it doesn’t do much for us in the short term but it in the long term we might have signed some quality young players for a small enough amount (less than £30m combined) that we might actually sell all of them for a profit even if they don’t turn out to be top quality.
On the one hand I quite like the business we have done: some depth for the future on the left side with two young physical and quick wing backs, at least one of whom looks good going forwards and might actually provide an answer for a season long problem on the short term. And we’ve signed a young left sided centre back for free. A position where Everton wanted to charge us £70M in the Summer.
Doesn’t matter if he turns out to be shit he’s free and will almost certainly provide us with a profit should he be sold. Given Martinez’ injury he’s at least a body in the squad. The signing of two young wing backs (or at the very least, attacking full backs) also signifies something of a long term approach to squad building, suggesting that even without Amorim, full backs attacking the box will remain a feature of our play.
We’ve also avoided any panic buys or loaning a past it centre forward. Or Wout Weghorst. With the loans of Rashford, Antony and Malacia we’ve got a fair whack of wages off the club for six months. This obviously makes it easier for us to comply with PSR in 24/25, making it more likely we avoid a points deduction amidst next year’s inevitable relegation battle. Maybe it’ll give us a little extra to work with in the summer and puts said players in the shop window.
But then… look at United. We are so bad going forwards. It feels like we needed to do something here. Our two forwards have a combined xg of less than six and have scored five goals between them (yeh it’s not shooting that’s their problem). Spurs, though they’ve been gash for a while now, score goals for fun yet still were so desperate to sign Mathys Tel (a shot machine) that they showed absolutely zero shame in being rejected and having another crack.
Not saying Tel is the answer for United, he may well be more of a left forward than a striker, but it turns out he was available on loan and United weren’t even attempting to beat Spurs. You’d have to say that Spurs look more likely to win the Europa League because they can score goals than United who really can’t. Spurs haven’t been more likely to win a trophy than United for about 60 years.
And if not Tel then surely there was someone who could do some sort of job? Our current depth chart at centre forward reads:
Hojlund
Zirkzee
Mainoo
Jorge Vital
There isn’t any sign of any young forwards coming through the ranks that can play there right now, though as with Rashford someone might surprise us. Even with the cups, this season is a write-off. I’m taking my son to Old Trafford for his first competitive game and I’m gravely concerned that the whole experience will put him off football for life. But then he’s Scottish, so that’s maybe a good thing.
I think we’ve started making good decisions for the long term. I’m just petrified of the worst-case scenario this season (relegation) though we are helped by the current bottom four being utter tripe.
I am not however at the stage that Aman is, who is so upset he can’t even get his facts straight (Pogba was our record signing) and whilst I think it is partly their fault, I doubt many strikers would be able to outscore Hojlund and Zirkzee’s xg enough to make any sort of fee worth it, certainly not 150. And contrary to His Honourable Gentleman (I assume) Dr Yeboah, I hope that Amorim sticks to his guns. Ten Hag changed immediately and achieved short-term success and look where we are now.
That said, if we don’t start to see improvement now he’s got some training time (still not totally convinced with that argument) it’s going to be increasingly choppy.
Ashmundo (just 11 more points, please)
READ: January transfer window winners: Rashford, Nottingham Forest, Spurs, Manchester City and more
…As February roles in, we are faced with the prospect of watching a once great Empire crumble further into chaos. I’m not talking about the US, but my beloved Manchester United.
Much like our friends across the pond, this once imperious force on the global stage, now fail to even get basic decisions right.
United have scored 28 league goals this season. Tottenham, 1 league place below them, are on 48.
Leicester, 18th- in the relegation zone- have 25.
Anyone who has watched even a single United game in recent months can see they are woefully short of ideas and confidence in front of goal.
They desperately need a driving force up front, a leader, who instinctively knows how to work a goalkeeper and find the back of the net. Hojlund and Zirkzee are promising talents, but neither is anywhere near ready to lead a team of United’s ambition – even if that ambition is a top half finish and a Europa cup run.
Why, once again, are we left scratching around on deadline day, hoping for an 11th hour loan of yet another exciting but unproven player, only to be beaten to it by Tottenham? Where is the planning? The organisation?
It’s an embarrassment for a club of United’s history and success. Next they pathetically send out the client journalists to try and spin this tall tale that they “didn’t want to waste money on a loan fee”- what, were they hoping Bayern would lend Tel to us for free?
You don’t need a FIFA pro license, or an MBA from Harvard, to work out that a team woefully lacking in goals, languishing in 13th– will not be improved by not only failing to sign any attacking players, but letting two of your current ones leave on loan.
Rashford and Antony were not starters- but they were good depth. This season has seen Sancho, Greenwood, McTominay (occasional makeshift CF) and now Antony and Rashford depart.
If we concluded the problem is the team, not the manager, then we probably need some new people in that team, even if they can’t be very expensive people.
They are now reliant on Garnacho and Diallo providing their wide forward attack, for a whole half a season, including European and FA cup football.
Even in the unlikely event they actually start winning matches, these players will need a rest at some point. Are we bringing on Johnny Evans on the right wing at 75 minutes? Or perhaps that 60 year old goalkeeping coach Amorim seems so fond of?
So much for Sir Jim and co “doing things differently”- the only difference is we failed to get the last minute panic buy over the line this year. If they didn’t want a loan player, why did they go in for him?
It can simultaneously be true that Manchester United need to recruit savvy long term reinforcements in the summer, whilst desperately needing something in the interim to save what is left of their season.
Whilst the likes of Tel did risk being yet another underwhelming gamble, surely they could have found an older player to fill the void for 6 months?
Henrik Larsson was a prime example in the Ferguson era, during a time when Manchester United understood the importance of goals. Ighalo was much the same for Ole. Even Weghorst, whilst a little lacking in the ball-in-the-net department, worked so hard for United during Ten Hag’s brief spell of promise.
Alvaro Morata was clearly available. Would Danny Welbeck have turned down the chance for a brief cameo back home at United? Would Jamie Vardy not have been tempted to wear that famous shirt in the dying embers of his career? Could Mitrovic, Ivan Toney, Memphis Depay or Olivier Giroud not be tempted back to the premier league? They all know how to score goals- something this United team at the moment sorely do not.
They are a club in chaos – changing their manager 4 months after the rest of the planet realise it is an inevitable necessity, and belatedly appointing one of huge promise, only to deprive him of the basic personnel needed to have any success in his job.
They insisted he move immediately in November, when his strong preference was to come this summer, only to force him to undergo the humiliation of seemingly writing the season off, gutting the team, and undermining his reputation and morale before making any attempt to model a team in his image.
The Glazers and Ineos will not last. What a mess.
Mike, (this time next year Rodney we’ll be millionaires) Oxford
On Arsenal celebrations and Pep
I dunno what all the grumbling about Arsenal is about.
They scored a good win over a team who mocked them last time and turned that mocking against them. That is peak football if you ask me. Arsenal fans should be allowed to enjoy it. As should the team and staff.
On the topic of Pep he isn’t a manager for building something new, never has been. As someone else pointed out, he’s the manager for building on top of a good foundation. Each time he has taken over players who already won trophies, we’re already experienced. In the case of Bayern despite his two doubles he was a failure really because he took over a treble winning team and was asked to win the Champions League and never did. At least at City he can say that he did what was asked, he delivered the Champions League that everyone begged him for.
But he’s a bit like Jose. He’s world class in very specific circumstances. He couldn’t take Aberdeen to stardom like Alex. Or take a fallen giant with no budget like Liverpool to winning every trophy. It’s just not in his wheel house. That’s no slight because what he’s done is still impressive. But City likely need someone else to build a new team now, that’s not Pep’s skill set. Pep is the next step guy, not the first step guy.
Finally there are people who say the prem is not as competitive as it used to be. Absolute hogwash. This is probably the most competitive season in its history. Small clubs actually taking the game to big clubs, and winning! The only thing that’s worse now than the past is refereeing. Which is genuinely the lowest quality it’s ever been and seems to get worse.
Lee
Pep’s biggest challenge is actually himself
City fan here. I suppose I am responding to Patricio’s assessment that Pep has hit his 1st challenge and failed. His mail sounds as if it was an AI summary at the top of a Google search for ‘Fraudiola’.
Of course when you do so well so consistently, you are seen to be having it easy rather than actually overcoming road blocks and when you struggle as he is now, you are supposedly hitting the very first obstacle. It’s as if spending a truckload of money and getting back a dominant team year after year is child’s play. Hi United for the last 10 years (getting worse the more money they spend). Hi Boehly’s Chelsea.
No, keeping a great team on top as he has done is a challenge regardless of the financial backing.
And yet, I am incredibly frustrated with Pep. The view from the inside is different, but still somewhat damning. As I see it, the challenge that Pep seems unable to overcome and the reason why this collapse has been as dramatic as it has is his own philosophical stubbornness. This is his Achilles’ heel.
I don’t doubt that the Rodri injury was the straw that broke the camels back, and that the aging, small and injury-laden squad is making Pep’s job significantly more difficult. But he is not helping the team or himself by refusing to see the forest for the trees.
If I had 10 mins of the man’s time I would ask, why he has allowed City to become so rigid and predictable. In the early days of Pep’s time at City he instilled his distinctive philosophy of choking the opposition with possession, a high defensive line, synchronised pressing and fluid fullback positioning. Yet through the talented feet of Ederson and the likes of the pacey Sane, he had the perfect foil. As the opposition sought to press high themselves, the were undone as City were also capable of going long, or breaking fast. Defenders could never relax and box City in so deftly as they do today. It does not surprise me that City’s best play of late was against Chelsea. The ease of which sending the ball long got Chelsea turned upside down was stark.
And so it is incredibly frustrating to see Pep almost intentionally stomp out this part of City’s game out for the Arsenal match. Let’s face it, everyone pretty much has his number right now as the religiously performed slow build up high line is just a one-dimensional boxing glove in a wind-up box compressing a spring until it rebounds viciously in our faces at a much greater rate than it successfully forces the defense into submission.
The fleeting moments of joy for City vs Arsenal came not from pinning them back as Pep is so fond of, but the few times a player tried something different usually Marmoush or (surprisingly) Kovatic, moving towards the opposition box at pace.
Pep has indeed been found out, as he does not seem willing to try anything but to slowly strangle the opposition to death. He refuses to acknowledge any other approach to putting the ball in the net. So fed up of seeing Foden receive the ball under pressure and invariably give it straight back to the passer rather than try something risky. Fed up of seeing Nunes… full stop? No a bit harsh, but he can’t defend and he has one move on the right flank. Worst of all, I’m fed up of seeing City turn their nose up at exploiting the oppostion on the counter, with a fast break. They have lost their instincts
This isn’t a call for Pep to scrap his tactics, but you have to mix in some variety to keep the defenders guessing. It’s so utterly basic in it’s premise. Like playing Rock-Paper-Scissors and always picking paper, it’s doomed to fail. As long as the ball never goes in behind them, defenders won’t panic, their job is simple, and the way to counter it is well-known. Haaland’s not to blame. Like any number 9, he needs that unpredictability to make him hard to mark. Not once did I see us respect his runs in behind. Reduced to trying to get on the end of the occasional cross into a crowded box, he’s utterly wasted.
This is Pep’s biggest test, overcoming his own stubbornness.
Nick
READ: 16 Conclusions on Arsenal 5 Manchester City 1
Actually the worst miss ever
I’ve grown to learn not to take the Stewie bait, but I don’t know what’s funnier – Stewie writing in at half time before Arsenal walloped City, Havertz getting one of the goals or the fact he thinks Havertz’s miss was the worst ever.
The worst miss ever actually came in the second month of the Premier League and involved Rocket Ronnie Rosental and Aston Villa.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London
Stewie is back…
Arsenal fans deary me. I can’t even recall a similar level of iconic celebratory dancing when Spurs went to Etihad (where Arteta has never won) and spanked Pep 4-0, a more impressive result. Were Arsenal fans graceful about that result? Or, did they down-talk that result with the caveat that “Pep is cooked”? 🤔 Of course, now that Arsenal finally get a win vs a totally destroyed Pep Citeh, it is being celebrated like the discovery of genome editing. In reality, it’s a team that’s spent over £750m finally getting a strong result, against a washed Pep team. Even Amorim spanked Pep a few months back didn’t he?
What I want to address is the usual intellectual dishonesty of Arsenal fans. It’s understandable they’re all excited to finally beat a Pep side convincingly (who hasn’t this season? 🙄). Their latest “woe betide poor Arsenal” is “aren’t we allowed to enjoy ourselves”? First off, here’s that MAGA DEEP STATE parallel again: exactly who is preventing Arsenal from enjoying themselves? Is this like the “War on Xmas” Fox News tells us about every December? The apparent one where you are “not allowed to say merry Xmas anymore”? Because the WOKE RADICAL FAKE NEWS MEDIA won’t let us! 😂. What the F are these Arsenal fans on about? Celebrate and enjoy, if you see the achievement as such! The problem is, Arsenal fans are constantly projecting. Their first reaction to the “Greatest result ever”? Whine that the world isn’t impressed with your pyrrhic victory! So you see, the only people “preventing” Arsenal fans from enjoying themselves iiiiis….Ah yes: Arsenal fans!
And here’s that Trump analogy again: Arsenal fans, do you have any realisation of how ridiculous it looks when there’s endless conspiracy theories after every dropped Arsenal point – but, rarely a word is said about the refs after a victory (MLS freak incident aside)? This is the equivalent of shouting “RIGGED FAKE FRAUDULENT ELECTION, STOP THE COUNT!”, when you lose….but conversely not a squeak about ethics or integrity when you do win! Funny that.
Did Arsenal fans let Brighton fans enjoy their well-earned point at the Emirates? Ah right, no. PGMOL DEEP STATE COLLUSION! Of course. Were Bournemouth fans allowed to enjoy a famous home win? Again, no chance: PGMOL BROOKLYN BASEMENT HILLARY CLINTON EMAILS. Were Citeh fans able to enjoy a 97th-minute equaliser? Nope! PGMOL AND UAE PETROSTATE COLLUSION! TOTALLY RIGGED PROCESS! So opposition fans are never able to enjoy wins against Arsenal you see, as those are only ever handed to them by the “Deep State refs”. But naturally, the Deep State never gives favours for Arsenal. Right? Nope, never profit from the system.
Who remembers how precious Arsenal fans were about Haaland lightly chucking a ball at Gabriel? It’s “bantz”, it’s shithousing (which Gabriel excels at btw) and all’s fair in love and war etc….Except – on these very 365 pages, various Arsenal fans virtually DEMANDED the UN appoint a Special Rapporteur to look into post-conflict Emirates violence in an extraordinary UN General Assembly session. 😂😂 Ridiculous. For a flicked football that wouldn’t harm a toddler. Every perceived slight is positioned as some “anti Arsenal” plot, by unnamed dark forces – perhaps it’s RADICAL ANTIFA 🤔
Ultimately Arsenal fans, this Citeh padding – which was admittedly very good – reminds me of the Wenger days when Arsenal would play pressure-free games against eg Fergie ManYoo around March, with the full knowledge that there’s no chance either team can win the title because Mourinho has it sown up already. Which always results in Arsenal’s best performances, the ones where there’s little pressure. Which is what that match was: in the cold light of day, when the Emirates InfoWars tinfoil-hat Massive are over their hangovers from that Emirates Kool-aid, there will be no getting away from the fact that Arteta has presided over yet another season of Failure.
The preseason objectives were clear: a PL title win, after coming close (and choking) twice. Every single bookie in the UK had Arsenal down as one of the 2 favourites for the title preseason. Liverpool (despite apparently having a World 11 Slot inherited, albeit one that finished behind Arsenal two years running, remember) were not in any equation. Every Arsenal fan was focused on Pep and Citeh, so overlooked were Liverpool. The fact that Slot has so effortlessly made a mockery of Arteta’s five years of PR FAKE PROCESS is an abject humiliation, and we all know it, we all see it. With the exception of those sipping on that Emirates kool-aid.
Arsenal are going to finish the season trophyless – again. And That is going to be the main talking point this May, not thrashing a finished Citeh. 🙄
MLS looks a sensational talent: why did Arteta spend nearly £50m on Calafiori? Having blown more on Zinchenko previously? How much on full backs is that! Yet the attack is totally lopsided. Arteta is going to win naff all this season. No amount of diversionary bollocks and hand-wringing can change that.
You can all talk as much shite about Haaland as you want but the reality is that at 24, he has won trophies nobody in that Arsenal squad will ever touch (CL, PL). Manager included. SHAME!
Stewie Griffin (Netflix FC)
Pedant corner
I’m a big fan of the BBC. It’s a wonderful institution that no matter how much Murdoch paid for Tories try to dismantle it, it continues to sit at the centre of the nation’s rich cultural heritage. However, it has followed football media to the depths of football baiting headlines.
‘Emphatic Arsenal put five past City to cut Liverpool’s lead’
Arsenal 5-1 Manchester City: Teenagers Nwaneri & Lewis-Skelly score as Gunners run riot – BBC Sport
Every weekend it’s the same. Just riling up, narrative driven nonsense that bares no relation to footballing reality. It’s been the same for a few seasons now. Arsenal have not cut Liverpool’s lead. The lead was 6 points. Now the lead is 6 points. No lead has been cut. The other way is just as bad. Team plays early and its team x goes 3 points clear. No they don’t. They’ve just played earlier in the day.
“Emphatic Arsenal put five past City to maintain breathing distance on Liverpool”. There you go. Fixed it. Still good narrative. Still got Arsenal, Liverpool and City in the same headline. And not bollocks.
