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Rash judgement
Let’s just set charity aside for a moment, we’ll come back to that in a moment, let’s just talk football.
Marcus Rashford is 24 years old. At this age, is he the same level as a 24 year old Beckham, Giggs, Rooney, Nani & Young? I won’t even bother mentioning Ronaldo out here, because quite frankly nobody can compare to him. Despite his tender age, Mason Greenwood is already a better footballer than Rashford.
Let’s face it, Rashford has not lived up to the promise shown in the early days and is pretty much on his way to be an average player. To go with the adage of form is temporary and class is permanent, well, Rashford has been very good on a temporary basis and mediocre for most of the time. 10 goals in 2021 in all competitions for Man Utd. He would struggle to start for Watford ahead of the likes of Dennis, Sarr & King. May be he could be a starter at Norwich.
Now let’s talk about his charity work. He’s excellent at that. He’s mediocre at playing football. What about him leaving Man Utd and fully concentrating on charity work. That would definitely increase social welfare in Great Britain, Alex, South London, wouldn’t it?
To your point thayden, ever since he began his charity work, Rashford’s on pitch behavior has been terrible! He has an air of entitlement, opposing players can’t tackle him, at the slightest of touches, he will look at the referee and wave his hands in the air, as if this is not allowed since he is heavily involved in charity. He tracks back at walking pace. When he has the ball 9 out of 10 times he loses it, stopping any momentum that the team is creating. Wake up Marcus! This is the Premier League, your off field achievements count for nothing on it.
Turiyo Damascene, Kigali, Rwanda – This is sports at its highest level. I will give you an example, Kobe Byrant wanted to become the best basketball player, he focussed solely on basketball during his career, anything that would not help him improve as a player, he will just cut it out. The Robson’s, the Keane’s, the Evra’s, the Ferdinand’s have all mentioned the sacrifices required & removal of distractions to be at the top level to win trophies! Rashford does not get that and does not seem to be bothered putting in the efforts and hard work. he is just excellent at finding excuses for his abysmal performances to brainwash the Rashford FC fan club!
Rashford is on big wages financed by fans all around the world to perform on the pitch. He does everything except that! In that sense he is no different to the likes of Falcao & Sanchez who came to Man United just for the money. He is just a home grown money chaser. Now for those who would argue the club pays his salary, the club earns money through tv rights, merchandising, gates receipts, sponsorships – all of these which is ultimately paid by fans all around the world. Also he is no different to Mario Balotelli, always distracted by off field events and outcome on the football pitch remains mediocre.
Brian from Wexford put in some interesting points out here and as expected he gets the stick from the Rashford FC fan club. People need to realise that just because Rashford is doing charity does not mean he will not be called out for bad performances on the football pitch. If Rashford doesn’t want to be called out he should leave Man Utd and join another team to avoid scrutiny.
Cheers
Ashwin, Man Utd fan
Heart of the matter
I’m not going to repeat the countless mails and tweets slating United’s performances but the root of the problem is midfield.
I’d argue that 15 out of 20 teams in the league have a stronger midfield pairing than what United currently have to offer.
If your midfield is that poor you are going to be exposed defensively and struggle creatively. United have had midfield problems since Scholes retired for the second time and Carrick was aging but still could do a job. They have tried to solve it but have prioitised the wrong type of player Or signed players who did not compliment each other e.g Pogba, Di Maria, Fellaini, Blind, Herrera, Fred, Matic. That’s about 200-250m in transfer fees but these are symptoms of hiring/sacking managers who have different philosophies.
Lots of rumours about Neves but I fear he could be another Schneiderlin, remember him? Another 20-30m.
If Ragnick does one thing in January it has to be to sign a CM or two that will actually move united forward, if he gets that right then all this current overaction will be forgotten and United’s performances should improve.
Paul (MUFC) Dublin
Bin ’em all
This probably won’t get posted, but hard working fans deserve more.
They are insulting you, ridiculing you, showing they don’t give a shit about you or the club, nothing but themselves. Hey at least Lukaku said it on Camera.
Although we don’t exactly know their names, being the cowards we all know they are by leaking it to the press, let’s all have a guess shall we.
Pogba called back from his holiday is high on my list of the trouble makers. Seeing him dance with his ‘friend’ Bailly on unsocial media as if they’re top of the freakin league. Fine dance away but why post it? Considering, they both looked ridiculous, why post it?
Pogba being the guy who goes AWOL every winter and stolen the club’s money for 5 years, thinks he’s far better than he is, has caused numerous problems in the past.
His clique that includes Bailly, Rashford, Martial, Lingard, no surprise tension arises when the prima Donna gets called back from Dubai. He’s got history, let’s not forget that.
We have the Maguire captain clown who is supposed to manage the dressing room, Lingard posts a photo of him in a West Ham shirt and that seems fine, get the F**k out of here Lingard. Maguire shows zero leadership so he can go as well.
People saying Ronaldo is the problem, you’re mental. This is a guy that has won more individually than that entire squad has won combined. Scored more than most of them will ever have appearances, has been on top for the best part of his entire career. Yet these guys who are serial losers won’t listen, but they’ll moan and bitch, not to the manager but to the board?
F**k em all, bin the lot of them, I’d say stick them in the reserves but by-eck you don’t want that toxic mess playing with future prospects heads.
They’re all crying because their mate Ole got sacked, they’ve had it easy for his entire reign. No matter if they played sh*t, Ole was their mate so he wasn’t dropping them. Now you get AWB, Shaw, Fred, Rashford, Captain Fantastic, not knowing if they’ll be automatically picked, you got Lingard, Bailly who are not freakin good enough moaning about getting minutes. Yeah let’s pick Bailly for him to be either sent off, score an own goal, or get injured. Let’s play Lingard so he can get his name relevant again to maybe start another clothing range.
You got Pogba in the back ground being the total dick he is, he ain’t signing a contract, doubt he’ll play again so its simple. Pay his contract up and bin him off. Same with Lingard, get shot of them.
Then their is Bruno, dropped for last 2 games. Rightly or wrongly it doesn’t matter. Everyone gets dropped at some point, don’t cry over it ffs, it’s embarrassing.
Talk is that Ronaldo us upsetting the players who have, literally all season been sh*te. Do they want a cuddle? Awe bless them. They have been called great players for far too long, they’ve had this smoke blown up their arse and they believe themselves to be untouchable.
I would seriously get every player in that squad in 1 room, then I’d get the average skint fan who saves up for months to go to a match to stand in front of them and tell them that if they want to leave then get your agent to hand in a transfer request. I say agent, as they wouldn’t have the balls to do it themselves. Takes the piss and shows how hypercritical the likes of Rashford is (don’t pretend he ain’t part of it) when he goes on about feeding kids but ya know what, pay ya money for me not to give a sh*t.
It doesn’t matter who it is, De Gea, Fred, Pogba, Ronaldo, Rashford, Maguire? Don’t wanna be at the club then F**k off. Trouble is they won’t, nobody is gonna match their salaries, so let them go for any offer. A F*”king pound will do.
Utd need to stop being just a brand and get back to being a football club. People will say that by giving the players away means I know nothing about how a business works. Yes because keeping Martial on 300k a week for the rest of his contract makes perfect business sense. Just get rid.
If this once great club wants to stay relevant, they almost all need to go. Best thing the fans at OT can do, is boo the lot of them. Turn your backs, they don’t care about you. You’re paying your hard earned money to watch them perform when the news is they generally don’t give a sh*t about you, the club, or the manager, because it’s not Ole. Because Ole who did less as a manager than LVG and JM despite having longer and more money.
Nobody knows who the cliques are, cowards on the pitch, cowards in life.
That group of players are an absolute joke, they are insulting the fans, they don’t care about you. And as the older generation slowly goes away, if they don’t sort it, their loyal fan base will decline, because if the dad or mum falls out of love, the kids will too.
Mike.
Ranking the 29 Manchester United players by right to gripe
…Can I correct a few myths about this squad ,First of all it’s hardly a hodge podge the survivors from the Fergie years are clearly divided into those who transcend eras and are the core of the team Rashford, De Gea, Shaw and those whose time is up and they will probably be gone by summer (Mata, Lingard, Martial, Jones).
Even the remaining players from the Jose era (Matic, McFred, Pogba, Bailly, Lindelof) can be divided along similar lines depending on how you personally view their use long term.
The rest are Ole’s men and seeing as he was a pragmatist, there is really no ideological issue for new managers to worry about, Those who can’t adapt will disappear. Point is we aren’t the Man United Gary Nev described 3 years ago with Darmian, Fellaini and Rojo loitering around,.
Jon raising a point but here’s the thing, we have transfer windows to fix some of the holes (including at least one defensive midfielder this window). We have also spent a lot of the last two years cultivating young players a lot of whom are doing better than Chong whom you listed. If even 3 of Laird, Brandon Williams, Teden Mengi, Tuanzebe, James Garner and Hannibal successfully make the jump to this level then we should be fine in 2023/24, when this will be an issue and lets not forget Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City will all have to shed the core of their squads (The likes of Salah, Mane, Van Dijk, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Walker, Silva, Rudiger, Kante) if the same theory is applied.
Bottom line United needs to stop looking at who the manager is and hold whoever is playing accountable. Stop wasting time on philosophy and rebuilds, prune the trouble makers (Pogba, Maguire) and unnecessary/unproductive (Martial, Maguire ), Increase standards and the big trophies will comeback.
Timi, MUFC
Jones in midfield
Possible solution to defensive midfielder: Victor lindelof or Phil Jones; go to a back three of Varane, wan bassika on the right and Shaw on left, Telles left wing back, dalot right wing back, Mactominay or Fernandes centre mid with either Lindelof or Jones as DM, allowing you to play Sancho, Ronaldo, Greenwood in attack (interchangeable)
Ronald
Mun Utd
Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s when I was surviving my late teenage years in a backwater even by Australian backwater standards, there was a guy who seemed to have it all: Munners.
If you ever went to Munner’s house he had everything:
– BMX with tuffs? Check
– And also a 10 speed? Check
– A Honda XR 250? Check
– Sega Megadrive, Amiga 500, Super Nintendo? Check, check & check.
– Adjustable basketball backboard with a spring ring for dunking NBA-style? Check.
– Swimming pool? Check.
– A pumping sound system seemingly refreshed with new CDs every week? Check.
And if you were ever out with him he was clad in the latest and greatest:
– New school uniform every year? Check.
– Bad Billy’s for summer swimming? Check.
– Okanui’s for when the Bad Billy’s got boring? Check.
– Happy Pants? Check.
– 501’s? Of course, what are you, a loser?
But Munners was always running with different people of different ages and often from all over the district. He had no set group of mates and didn’t really play much organised sport. His parents were pretty absent and as occasional guests to his house you rarely saw them. Most of my mates’ parents didn’t really know them either which was weird for such a small town. They were simply known to ‘have money’ and seemingly for everyone else existed somewhere ‘over there’ in that vague otherness that lazily explains social difference in remote, sleepy Australia or probably anywhere for that matter.
I was reminded of Munners and that nostalgic period by the many mailbox contributors discussing Man U and their disarray.
Munners had it all in one sense, but absolutely nothing in another, just like United.
As I think back most of his stuff was barely used. In hindsight I reckon it was bought to fit in or impress or something other than to use and enjoy. I was in awe then, but now it just seems sad. By contrast, my old Malvern Star BMX was patched, repaired and welded back together over years just so I could keep riding around. I guess my bike was more like the Darren Anderton that Tottenham kept forever repairing because they bloody well had to!
So Munners is pretty much Man U. Loads of money and happy to use it on… stuff. Whether that stuff was needed, useful or would bring any true enjoyment didn’t much matter to him, and doesn’t much matter to United.
When you have that kind of money, it’s the having that matters. Good luck Munners United, you’ll need it.
Dr Oyvind, Earth.
Serie A > BT Sport
Have been watching the Italian football on BT sport recently, and the quality of football on show has been very good. There is definitely a shout of Serie A being the most entertaining league outside of the Premier league to Premier league fans. The Roma-AC Milan game was a great example, Roma lost 3-1 but Nicolò Zaniolo was the best player on the pitch and a great talent would love to see him the Premier league he looked like a Hybrid of Chiesa/Havertz, Tammy Abraham popping up with a clever flicked goal wrong footing the keeper. And the intensity of the game was unreal tackles flying in and players who clearly don’t like each other and make it known, goals, skills, red cards and missed penalties. Great entertainment, on to the Napoli-Juventus and the action continues a great game so far great intensity a firey game and its just hit half time with Napoli leading 1 nil, I advise anyone who likes football with a bit of spirit in it, Serie A is a fantastic shout. But to the elephant in the room. BT Sports commentary and punditry, now everyone knows the pundits are pretty useless and talk nonsense most of the time about Var and other nonsensical dribble. But I have to point out how bad the commentary is also. In about the 24th minute of the Juve match Moratta who I am not a big fan of was clearly fouled from behind and the commentator said “I don’t know about that looks like he went down a bit too easy for me there”, after having studs raked down his calf. Now fast forward about 4 minutes and Insigne has the ball on the edge of his area and Weston McKennie put a hand on his back and brushed off him, insingne goes down and the same commentator starts to praise Insigne for “winning a great foul there for his team feels the touch, goes down and relieves the pressure”. I don’t know who the commentator is but to say 2 completely opposite opinions on fouls that could only be explained by player bias he wanted Moratta to be stronger because he’s a 6 foot striker, but Insigne is small and as the captain won a “smart” fould for his team by going down easy. All within less than 5 minutes its like they don’t even hear what they’re saying. Anyway I don’t know what the point of that rant was, I guess along the lines of Serie A is a great watch for any football fan if you can get past the annoying punditry/commentary. (P.s Chiesa just scores a cracker from the edge of the box to equalise just as I hit send)
Aaron cfc Ireland.
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