I would like to chime in on one thing that irks me a bit and that is fans going in on Rangnick.
There are things that belong to the manager. There are things that belong to the players. And there are things that are sort of balanced between the two. As a fan, I do not consider myself a Rangnick supporter. But I am backing Rangnick because every new manager deserves an opportunity and I feel he is taking his and delivering. I will not touch club management which is another story. Will not touch the Board which is a nightmare in itself. Will only approach this from the tactical aspect.

Let's be objective about this.

6 months to a year ago, how did United play? Our midfield routinely gets ripped to shreds even by bottom of the table teams. We lose the midfield. We defend deep. McFred sits just above the penalty box in front of the defence as a Back 6. The front 4 gets no service and is disconnected from the game. Hopefully our defence holds and a bit of individual magic means we sneak a goal. Familiar?

We have been hearing a lot of criticism the last 3 games so lets examine them.

Burnley, Boro, West Ham. Did we lose the midfield and go back to a Back 6? No. We had the majority of possession in each of these games.
Are we waiting for individual briliance to sneak a goal? It wouldn't hurt but the system Rangnick put out not just took possession but generated a fair amount of shots on goal.

18 shots vs West Ham. 1 goal.
30 shots vs Boro. 1 goal.
22 shots vs Burnley. 1 goal.

That is improvement. With the chance creation, the players have to shoulder some of the responsibility. And the goals we concede? I certainly don't have to point out if we conceded because of a system issue or individual error.


Expectations at the start

I had posted before when Rangnick first joined that we would need to wait until at least March to see some notable improvements. If not the end of the season.
Because problems take time to fix. Our biggest failure was a lack of tactics and players not knowing what they should do. Roughly speaking, the process is like the below :

1. Assess the players.
2. Find a formation that gets the best out of the players.
3. Drill into them a style of play that defends well and creates chances.
4. Get results with the style of play with man management in the squad.

RR has obviously done (1). He's tried the 4-2-2-2 which didn't work and is going with a more stable 4-2-3-1. So that's step (2) done.
We are now in stage (3). We are not shipping 4 goals a game. In fact, we are defending rather well minus the silly individual errors. Plus we are creating a fair amount of chances but players aren't converting. What's not clicked is that the players are still getting used to it and sustaining the setup/momentum is still a challenge. The team can look disjointed over long periods and that will come down as the players adjust to what RR wants. The players have to own it now. Ridiculous VAR decisions. Bruno missing an open goal. Ronaldo missing a penalty. Maguire being Maguire. These are temporary things that'll blow over if they stick to the plan.

That is good improvement in the past 4 months which is why I'm happy to back RR.

RR has gotten this improvement with a weaker squad than Ole. The Board has screwed him by blocking players, weakening the team and not bringing anyone in. Murtough screwed the manager by apparently giving players leave without informing. RR is like the only sane teacher in a playground run by kindergarten kids. Plus, he speaks frankly which is a breath of fresh air after Vibes FC.

Not a single Man Utd ex players dare to say this

It's a trend in the last few games now. we started very brightly, control the first 20 minutes, created numerous of great chances, but converted to one goal.

In the 2nd half, the opponents started to grasp our game, things got balance, our players tiring and opponents scored in counter attack or through our defensive mistakes.

Positive thing, our defence are getting a bit better and our midfield seem capable to control the vast majority of the games, but conversion rate are poor.

It is quite opposite to Ole's days which our conversion rate were higher, midfield often over run by average sides, and defence were unreliable.

Rooney new bio.....

'I went into Alex Ferguson's office, and I said to him: "What's the plan here? At the minute, we've brought in two young English players who are unproven." I remember Alex Ferguson's response was, "Get out of my office".'

Scary fergie.

Compare this with the news today that United players wants Poch.
Wonder if this is another part of player driven media to even influence manager appointments.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/manchester-unit...manager-sources

One of the major problem is RR comes in as an INTERIM manager, he is not backed in transfer windows, players are not fully committed especially those are not favored. As long he steady the ship, finish top 4 then is job well done.

Yes i would agree with u, MANU seem to play with a system now, but i dont get the idea of playing BRUNO so high up the pitch, as this will limit his space to create chances, unless is to accommodate POGBA in the team.

Still can't get over martial eh?..lel

I laughed when he told his sevilla teamate after training....‘there’s a lot of running here’".....finally that guy realize he needs to run in football?..pretty much sum up what we knew bout him..kek

If we needed someone technical but not willing to do any run, we could have gotten some street performer..can juggle the ball whole day on the same spot...lol

yea i also noticed this... and usually second half they will gg, its like after break... they converted back to ole ball mode... not only after the opponents scored... first half we keep creating and shooting, but semua tak kena

the young fans these days wouldn't have the patience to see through this transition period... they will just tot that by sacking ole, everything will be rosy... even now u play with a system... alot fans still in #RRout mode lol... as for maguire in the first 11... wad choices do RR have... jones not exactly able to play in every match when bailly and lindelof is not in... maguire being super injury free get the perks of playing all games whether u like him or not... lol

I not even mad when Maguire on this field because I know all defenders are not fully fit but to call RR is a another puppet is just ridiculous

For Maguire, fans need to realize we need to also look at it from a corporate perspective as Manchester United are a corporate business first and foremost. Not a football club. We are a brand.

Maguire is a 80M investment. If the new managers comes in and doesn't play Maguire for whatever reason, it is likely to be a Boardroom level issue at the club. No business people wants their 80M investment to further depreciate in value because of lack of playing this. Plus he is the captain. Not playing the captain is bad for the brand. Even if Rangnick wanted to drop him permanently, the decision is not his to make as interim manager. He already dropped Maguire to the bench for a couple of games and I am afraid that is the extent of what Rangnick will be allowed to do.

yes v unfortunate for us. sadly jones cant stay fit. hopefully will not renew the contract of this english captain.

The Board gave Phil Jones a 5 year contract renewal when he was spending half his time in the treatment room.
What do you think the Board will do with Maguire who can stay injury free and has the captaincy?

#EnglishPassport

That's the answer I believe. It's because Pogba is on the pitch and plays the role of deeper creator. So Bruno will make those runs to create a passing option for Pogba.
We already saw it before. Remember the Leeds game at the start of the season where Fernandes played almost as a shadow striker? He scored a hattrick as Pogba's passes kept finding him. Pogba got 4 assists that day if I recall correctly.

This time there were chances but everyone's finishing masuk longkang.


This post has been edited by statikinetic: Feb 10 2022, 01:34 PM

lol aint about Martial.. United really does not like technical ballers.. lots of them before this like Mkhitaryan n Kagawa..

lol talk about willing, these are pro ballers with high wages, u force them, dont give em any options.. like holiday in the middle of season or rehab elsewhere.. the hell club like United let these millionaires footballer do whatever they want?

i laughed also when he said ‘there’s a lot of running here’.. shows that United really backwards in training.. no surprise when players left the club they start win trophies.. no wonder Alexis wanna go away right after 1st training session..

This post has been edited by silvertoes: Feb 10 2022, 02:36 PM

Pogba and Fernandes can be great midfield trio with a very good CDM. RR only have Fred, Mactominay and Matic to alternate. I believe this department are getting better in term if winning the midfield battle since Pogba's return, without really excelling it.

Of course, it's only Boro and Burnley. But the numbers of chances created seem improving.

A dogfight for #4.

Modern players now has bigger sound than the manager, they can gang up and oust the manager if they don't like the manager

Thats because this club is run by a bunch of clowns, you dont hear that from Bayern players.

Wonder who are these majority

This kind of twitter post jus to stir up controversy je. Mana got truth one

If its true some players voicing out their preferred manager..
Hope CR7 n his agent make some move to get his choice in as well, trust this serial winner GOAT more than the others..