Manchester United Should Go Defensive

Hi all, not been on for a while just sat back strapped myself in for the ride and read articles. The sad loss of the Lawman jolted me into writing a few words. The present situation with the men’s team is a mess. Just taking Brighton as an example, eight first team players combined average salary equals approximately two of the Manchester United (MU) players, who can’t get in the team with one not even in the squad!

The amount of money MU have spent on average players over the last few years is criminal when you compare teams such as Nottingham Forest, Brighton, Bournemouth and Brentford, all who sit above MU in the Premier League. I would suggest that the departure of Ashworth was a result of his unofficial recommendations made over the summer on transfers.

How would McTominay have performed in the new tactics as a no. 10? Two top players in Shaw and Mount sat permanently in the medical room, yet no new LB came in over the summer!

High salaries, long term contracts on players that do not fit into Ruben Amorim’s tactics have placed MU in a financial situation almost impossible for new players to arrive. The only method is to shift players on loan with MU having to subsidise the salary. How ridiculous is this?, as MU will still have the problem until the end of the contracts, unless the player actually performs for the new team and decides to take a salary reduction and transfer at a far lesser fee then purchased.

I expect that even if we shifted a player like Anthony at a reduced fee, we still would be paying for his transfer fee installments to his previous club for a couple of years! Would be interesting to know what outstanding installments MU still have on the large transfer fees over the last few years.

I struggle to accept that players are unable to play in a new system. Most professional players are able to adapt as seen in previous games by top coaches changing tactics during a game. However, it is obvious we have no proper wingbacks which is causing major issues.

Questions are being asked now of Amorim’s reluctance to change tactics even in games when losing, unlike other top coaches do during games. My fear is many Premier League teams now know MU’s weaknesses and are able to concentrate on exploiting these, especially in midfield unless we are playing a top team when we fall into a defensive back five supporting midfield and so look solid.

There also seems to be mental issues with players playing so called lesser teams, meaning MU struggle allowing midfield to be outnumbered as seen now in many games even from a bottom of league team.

MU set off this season with a minimum target of top four. How things have changed now reality has settled in that players MU have spent millions on are not even of average Premier League standard in some cases. We don’t see many teams wanting to purchase them even last summer when most were on offer, as they were protected with high salaries and long-term contracts!

Now the target is to avoid relegation, yes relegation! I’m sure SJR would not have predicted this when he took over the footballing side of the club in December 2023. Even protected young players in the summer transfer market seen as MU’s future are now according to the media options for transfer!

My suggestion at present is to go defensive with the present squad, As has been proven against top teams, so MU gets points on the board to get clear of a possible relegation battle, then move towards new tactics. Also, no panic buying right now, but wait until the summer as we all know that’s the best time for transfers with better players available.

The good news is that potential new players will have the pleasure of a new world class training facility to tempt them into signing. But who am I to judge a seventy-four-year-old bloke who was lucky enough to see the three brilliant statue players outside Old Trafford, live!

Written by The fox January 20 2025 12:30:53