United Thread - 2023/24

Tracking back said:
When I listen to rag fans these days all I hear is:

The problem is X

The problem is Y

The problem is Z

Could the actual problem be that their club has seen it's best days?

When the pisscan left in 2013 I predicted that the rags wouldn't win another Premier League title for at least twelve years. I was being conservative in my assessment at the time. I really wouldn't be surprised if the rags never recover from this limbo phase they find themselves in.

It does make me wonder where this desperate optimism the rags are holding onto that they'll be back in their "rightful" place, is coming from.

As it stands their "rightful" place is about ninth in my opinion.
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I think someone posted on here that taking Busby and Ferguson out you have a decent but not great trophy haul. Basically 2 managers in their history have done something extraordinary - apart from that they're behind Preston North End for league titles ........I think.....
 
With the injury to their defender (I presume as he has no goals or assists) Hojlund I thought I’d compare stats with a comparable City defender


IMG_0645.jpeg
Overview:
Pretty similar though Ruben edges it on clean sheets.

IMG_0648.jpeg
Matches: So they’ve played the same number of matches, but Ten Hag clearly rotates his backline or decides to go on the attack later in the game by swapping out a defender for another attacker.

IMG_0647.jpeg
Team play: this is where you can see the real Hojlund stand out, with his transition into an attacking player with those 4 crosses…

IMG_0646.jpeg
Attacking: well , hojlund wipes the floor here in his attacking stats (remember he’s a defender, so is unexpected to score or assist), Dias needs to work more to come close to being thought of as an attack minded defender.

IMG_0650.jpeg
Defending: another tight set of stats… with hojlund the defender sadly giving away a penalty.
 
JASR said:
With the injury to their defender (I presume as he has no goals or assists) Hojlund I thought I’d compare stats with a comparable City defender


View attachment 98478
Overview:
Pretty similar though Ruben edges it on clean sheets.

View attachment 98479
Matches: So they’ve played the same number of matches, but Ten Hag clearly rotates his backline or decides to go on the attack later in the game by swapping out a defender for another attacker.

View attachment 98480
Team play: this is where you can see the real Hojlund stand out, with his transition into an attacking player with those 4 crosses…

View attachment 98482
Attacking: well , hojlund wipes the floor here in his attacking stats (remember he’s a defender, so is unexpected to score or assist), Dias needs to work more to come close to being thought of as an attack minded defender.

View attachment 98485
Defending: another tight set of stats… with hojlund the defender sadly giving away a penalty.
Click to expand...
How long are they going to keep their heads in the sand about Hojlund? They've convinced themselves that 0 goals or assists in 9 league games is absolutely fine because he bagged a few in the Champions League (half of those against Galatasaray and Copenhagen).
 
Fuzzy80 said:
United are most in form PL team over the last 5 PL games (I know this as a United fan, decent bloke TBF sent it on our WA), but even he was tongue in cheek about it as they are an awful team at present.

Under Tan Hag 50 games in the PL United seem to get a lot of single goal wins in games that on paper should win easily (like yesterday), but then end up losing convincingly in big games and some none big games.

As you don’t get any more points for winning convincingly or are worse off for being hammered/ outplayed etc. this means reality does not reflect in the table.

So I think your eyes see the bad team and players but when you step back since starting in PL Ten Hag has finished 3rd and currently 6th (with less then a 1/3 gone), so doesn’t deserve to lose his job for me.

They have a goal difference of +12 in 50 games which is madness and really something around 8th-10th place. Put in context City is +81, Arsenal +61, Liverpool +42, 2 of which have played 1 less game.

It’s a proper pattern over a decent period of time, so I doubt it will change, without something significant changing.

Which means overall United will beat most of teams they should beat (although they will lose/ draw quite a few as their margin for error is so small).

They will probably get CL through 5th, could get a cup win at a stretch with a lot of luck but will most likely go out as soon as they play someone like City, Liverpool, Arsenal, if not before against an easier team. Will probably end up in Europa Cup going out in later stages, based on these last 50 games.

All whilst getting spanking by City/ Liverpool plus other PL teams also someone decent in Europe. Plus continued losses of points against the teams they should beat.

All season they have won 1 out of 18 games convincingly (more than 1 goal). That was C Palace @ home in the cup and even then Palace had rested players and went back 4 days later and beat them in the league.
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Great post. And all true. Long may it continue in this rinse and repeat pattern.
 
ysmsa said:
They won about 5 PL titles playing like this.
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Absolutely.

Even at their most successful under the pisscan they never really controlled games or dominated the opposition, they didn't even play particularly attacking football unless it was the final five minutes and they needed a goal to get something from the game.

For the most part they played just the same as they do now... park the bus hoofball and relying on snatching goals on the break against the run of play.
 
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