I think Manchester United were going all out to win the title. However, when you consider who they did and didn't sign and who they have, it's impossible to see how they'd put a functional 11 out on the field. Their priorities are all over the place. For instance, being prideful about previous signings is counter-productive. It's been obvious that Pogba wasn't doing it at a level that justified his fee for a long time. However, rather than cut their losses and move him to Madrid when they had a chance, they kept persisting and are in a position where they either make him the highest paid player in the Premier League or let him leave for free. However, they haven't even persisted with Pogba correctly. I personally don't view him as world-class but Juventus and France have got much better use out of him by playing him in a specific role and tailoring the rest of the midfield to him. So you keep hold of a player because you'll lose face by selling him but you don't do anything to make him potentially perform better. I'm not a fan of the phrase "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing time-and-again, and expecting different results" but in this case it fits like a glove. They have this bloated football structure that makes no sense, full of people with no experience or who have failed upwards. They have a football director AND a technical director, two people with basically the same job title and neither of them are doing it right. In fact, they have lots of people with Director or Head in their job title. Still major playing decisions seem to be made above their pay grade so what is the point of layers of middle management that can't influence anything? It seems to me that if Malcolm Glazer didn't become incredibly wealthy, the Glazer sons would be hanging on their father's coat-tails in whatever endeavour he ended up in. If his business never progressed past buying, selling and repairing watches, that is what they'd be doing. They don't have any useful purpose. To use an American phrase, "they started on third but act like they scored a home run". They weren't worth the expensive educations they received.
If we were going 'all out' to win a title ole would've been sacked after Leicester and if we were really serious he would've been sacked after the europa league final our board doesn't care about trophies just revenue and reputation that's why they signed ronaldo
I wonder what your definition of world class is if you don't think Pogba is world class? I'm asking in good faith. My view is that Pogba isn't unlike a lot of "world class" players insofar as with the right manager and tactical setup, his strengths are one of the key components of his team's playstyle. Of course, all 11 players should be putting in equal effort on the pitch, but there are always 2-4 players who are the real "game changers", as in they carry the team. Pogba is one such player when he plays for France as well as for United, if you watch United play day in day out. I think Pogba has glaring weaknesses in his game; poor concentration and awful tackling are the standout ones. But for me he is also one of the best long passers from deep in the world, perhaps second only to Kroos in terms of consistency and quality. His dribbling skills are great, albeit not among the best. His shooting is incredible, though he doesn't show it often. He's also quite underrated in and around the box. Pogba has been "poor" at United because Jose (and arguably even Ole) didn't know how to use him, as well as recurring injuries. His start to this season was incredible, and he was superb last season after covid if you paid attention. He carried United the season Jose got sacked, and then he disappeared the season after, but to injury.
I thought their previous second placed finish was more down to other teams failings than their own form. At the start of the season I thought top four (and probably forth) would be where they finished (they still could) Rangnick settling quickly will define their season. The squad always looked good enough on paper to compete but for me the problem seemed to be the manager
United finished on 81 points that season, it ws hardly to do with others stumbling along the way. The Treble winning team didn't accumulate that many points
I agree that 2nd place was only due to others failing, however that only shows how poor Ole is. If you look at how much they've spent since Ole has been there, in the last 5 years AND in the last 10 years, they should definitely be challenging in BOTH seasons.
@@kiriakoz yeah theres been alot of money spent since Sir Alex retired, but the problem with the club is for most of that time signings were decided by people like Woodward who have zero idea about football. Like it or not Rangnick has inherited a better squad than the one that Ole took over 3 years ago. Oles problem was he hit his ceiling, he should have only had 2 seasons in charge, he fixed alot of the damage that LVG and Jose caused. After finishing 3rd and 2nd in his 2 full seasons United should have thanked him and brought in a top manager that could handle the egos and take us to the next step.
How about a "What on Earth is Going on with St. Pauli?" A more positive version of your series. This time last season they were in a relegation scrap, after the winter break, was the best team in the division, and currently sit in first. Their main striker was on an immense goal drought before being let go on a free from Schalke. If you wanted to watch a couple of their matches, I'd be more than happy to let you borrow my log in, they have English commentary now
These days a lot of punditry is very entertaining but often light on actual debate or criticism. Some pundits like Souness almost feel as if they're actually "embracing the meme". People like Carragher and Neville often have a lot to add to discussion and are fascinating to listen to when they are properly debating things. However, it often feels like Sky ask them to discuss very specific topics because they know it will lead to very clickable videos online. As an example, I love the moments where they look back at older moments or teams and properly analyse what made them special. It's brilliant commentary whilst also being highly entertaining. Carragher and Rafa Benitez is probably my favourite
That's the problem, Sky will squeeze everything out of each pundint's "marketability". It's a bit sad that people like Roy Keane don't realize they're just being used for their clickability instead of their actual insight.
@@lucioledizerot196 I think Keane realises it and doesn't care. If they pay his wages he knows his persona and he'll live up to it. That said, I didn't know he could do a decent impression of Maguire.
Souness not liking Pogba isn't really a meme it's just that Pogba fans get tilted when anyone dare criticise their favourite player. We saw a similar thing with Martial when apparently anyone who thought he was average had an "agenda" they've gone awfully quiet now though for some reason.
You also have to realize how important branding is with this signing. There are many young fans that have never seen United be a real title contending team. Getting in someone with the prestige of Ronaldo will do major numbers for them in terms of likeability for the next generation of fans.
It would have been awful and good for football if Ronaldo went to City. Awful because it would ruin his prior legacy at United and good because it would make the UCL much more interesting.
I think Roy Keane was always going to be right though. It boils down to the United squad being imbalanced and having the worst manager out of United, City, Liverpool, and Chelsea with Ole. On paper they were bound to end up 4th best considering City’s consistency; Chelsea’s defensive structure; and Liverpool’s firepower. As a United fan it doesn’t surprise me that we aren’t competing on such a level. Realistically, we should be 4th overall as a team. And maybe get one up in the Cups where games are one and done
So to start the season you think United would be 4th? Last year you finished 2nd Liverpool didn’t sign anyone of note in the summer, Chelsea had a big blip and only really signed one player and city didn’t sign a striker, any United fan who claims to have expected to finish 4th after spending sooo much in recent years is bullshitting
@@macaulaymcgregor768 you can spend all the money in the world but the club had no direction. Transfers were sometimes putting square pegs in round holes. Liverpool also had their integral CB partnership recover from injury, Chelsea had won the UCL and I wouldn’t say that had any blip of note compared to recent weeks. And City are well renowned for their consistency and even without a recognised striker, ability to get goals. United were at best going to be 4th with an imbalanced squad and an incompetent manager. I would have loved to see a title challenge but I’d be lying if I said that I expected them to win the league. Challenge, sure, but in my mind they were the 4th best team in the league at the beginning.
@@veuxrei the blip referee to last season Chelsea not current, and ok fine you thought they would finish 4th but I’d say United looked a lot better last season than this year, some of the signings was amazing then you get results like 4-1 Watford, 4-2 Leicester and 5-0 Liverpool (which should have been a lot more) sack off players like cr7, pogba, and varane and promote youth
@@macaulaymcgregor768 then what you just said coincides with what I think. They looked better last season and finished second. I thought going into this season, they would finish lower so I don’t quite get what your point is. I don’t know whether you’re criticising me, or United or if it’s even a criticism or just an opinion piece. Either way, United have been promoting youth as well so that a meek point.
No I didn't have my memory wiped out. I remember very clearly how much the team struggled at many points against "smaller" teams during the last 2 seasons, more so in 20/21, despite 3rd and 2nd finishes. Whatever the pundits or bookies said before a ball was kicked this season, I was waiting for the sand castle to crumble. I also remember Gary Neville very clearly, whenever asked, constantly trying to save his friend by lowering expectations after Sancho and Varane signed. He knew, and he is one of the many complicit to the illusion of "Ole's done a great job". Anyone who thought United was nailed on for a title challenge or top 2-3 finish again was lying to themselves and conveniently forgot all the bad performances, passive in-game managements, and unsustainable over-achieving lucky escapes.
lifelong United fan and I agree with you, pre season we were being talked about as title contenders, not sure I was ever confident about it, but certainly I expected us to be competitive at the very top before the season began. I love Ole but I think his time had definitely come to an end, Rangnick I think is a really smart appointment so hopefully he can get us top 4 at least still this season.
lol remember Mourinho and Van Gaal at Man United? I wouldn't keep my hopes this high. hell, if even Jürgen Klopp can't win the Premier League title every season with his phenomenal Liverpool team, I have no hopes for a Man United team and a new manager that has never managed a English a team before in his life or for a matter if fact never won a title in his coaching career period. that guy is mostly known for being a sporting director. not a coach.
My take on the points in this video: We need to remember that whilst United finished 2nd last season, it doesn't mean "well next season they're contenders right?". Finishing 4th this season would essentially be the equivelent achievement due to how much better Chelsea and Liverpool are this season compared to the last. I think Ole's sacking was inevitable if United really had ambitions of winning the title. He did a fine job of rebuilding it's true but they were always going to need someone else to go H2H with the likes of Klopp, Pep and Tuchel. The point about what they signed Ronaldo for was a bit immature from Jamie Carragher. They've already qualified for the KO stages in the Champions League (first time since 2018). You can almost singlehandedly point to Ronaldo for getting them through. Whilst their start to the Premier League has been rocky we're only in December and much could change, if they do manage to finish 4th it would not be a bad result simply because of how good the competition is this year.
He did a shit job rebuilding. The squad is unbalanced, no young CF, no DM, Fred/MCT as starters. AWB not suited to modern gam attacking fullbacks, Maguire a slow not suited to high line. He just spent a bunch of money on obviously good players but the actual squad building is shit.
You have to take into account the fact that Liverpool were missing their best defender for nearly the whole season and that Chelsea were European champions. Along with Man City winning the league easily Man U were simply no where near them. It seemed quite obvious that last season was a fluke for Man U and they were still a long way off the title
Liverpool missed their 2 main midfielders as well as they were playing at CB because of VVD injury so they were effectively 2 first team defenders and 2 first team midfielders missing for most the season plus Thiago had 3 Months out plus the other games he missed
Sure was a lucky second, but signing some of the best players in the world in each of their positions in Ronaldo, Varane and Sancho surely was a statement of intent, they weren't going to be convinced by telling them "We might win the league in 3 years but until then win us the FA Cup right lads?" If United wanted to win the league in three years, they'd be much better off giving Greenwood an extended run rather than signing a 36 year old on high wages.
United's underlying stats all throughout Ole's tenure were worrying. They were due a falloff like this until they changed the manager. Had they got rid of him in the summer, they had a chance but if Ole stayed in charge they wouldn't have finished far off the bottom three at their pace at the time.
I totally agree with your assessment of Ole leading into this season. He was a great choice to stabilize the club post Jose but their mistake was giving him another contract before this season. That added pressure to Ole and scared him when results didn’t go his way
@@quandaledingle7812 I personally think that's simplistic thinking, impossible to prove and taking away the man's credit. I'm no Ole romantic but he's one of our own. I think it's shocking how some fans treated him.
Dirty James I don't give a flying fuck if he's one of our own he's a terrible manager and he's the reason we're trophies since 2017. I'd rather have the worst man alive in charge of united then nice guy, one of our own ole if it meant we won major honours that three years of ole ball was some of the worst football I've ever seen in my life, and finishing second is no achievement so don't even bring it up
@@DirtyJamesUK some people just can’t remove emotion from events. The way we played wasn’t great but he truly did stabilize the dressing room through post Jose and the Glazer’s idiotic Super League debacle. There are few other managers who could keep the dressing room together through both. Again, not the best manager but the right man for two years, should have been replaced before the club’s hand was forced
@@matt_ski05 Yes and no. You're definitely right, he did a fair amount of good too, that people somehow wilfully ignore. But he was making progress so I can't see when he could have been sacked. Sack a man that finishes 3rd in his first full season? Or sack him when he finishes 2nd the next season, having been top after Christmas? OR sack him in his 3rd season when he is supported well in the transfer window but the team results and performances actually start to regress? I think he was sacked at the right time. The game when I said "This has to stop, its just not turning around for him" is the game he was sacked.
Not sure what circles you frequent Alfie, but we all laughed at the lad in our group chat who thought Man U were favorites for the title at the start of the season. Top 4 favorite sure, but there was always a drop off from City/Liverpool/Chelsea. You are right though the media had them flying once Ronaldo came in and clearly the intention was to compete and clearly they did move forward.
I mean that there's a drop off between CIty/Liverpool and Chelsea as well. Football at the start of the season is just so transfer centric that these gaps get ignored
Plenty of United fans creamed themselves royally, especially after that 5 - 1 win vs Leeds in the first game. I think to suggest otherwise is a re-writing of history to prevent hurt feelings. I actually think United could've challenged if they'd spent the Ronaldo money (wages + transfer fee) on a quality DM, so to suggest it's ridiculous now is only kidding yourself. I never thought they could win due to the lack of balance of the team. If you look at money spent (since Ole arrived, in the last 5 years + in the last 10 years) and combine it with the respective wages bills, there's no doubt they SHOULD be challenging.
Sure the media did, but it's a little weird that Alfie treats them as real title contenders here right? All the actually credible people (in my eyes) had them firmly in 4th this season. Sure they may have been closer to third than fifth in terms of expectations, but they were really not close to either
Although the other points about the disappointment being covered up is still certainly true, bc it really is being pretended that they belonged to some sub-top group pre-season
Broke: Ronaldo was signed to get through the Champions Leage Woke: Ronaldo was signed to win the league Ascended: Ronaldo was signed to prevent Man City from signing Ronaldo
great video as always. honestly the public discourse around manchester united to me as an outsider always seemed completely seperated from reality and overall intensely biased.
For me, the most interesting aspect of the United collapse is that despite all the drama and lack of major success, they still remain the biggest club in world.
United finished 2nd last season thanks to Liverpool playing pretty much all year without a proper CB and a makeshift midfield & Chelsea having a poor first half of the season due to Lampards performance. Not forgetting the ridiculous amount of penalties United were awarded in the first half of the season. Anyone with any semblance of football knowledge could see they finished about 2 or 3 places higher than they should have based on their performances. They were always going to struggle again this season with their rivals back to full strength and their luck with dodgy penalties drying up.
Everything before the season started was about Solskjaer's job being on the line if he didn't win the league after such investment. To say otherwise that Man Utd weren't ever targeting the title is nonsense.
At NO point did I think United would make a title challenge this season. Getting 2nd was by default. LFC finished 6 points behind them conceding less goals with the injuries we had! As this season has proved with our results LFC/Man City play at a different level to the chasing pack
Yet United should've got 80+ points last season. Played 3 premier league games in 6 days 2 of those games against Liverpool and Leicester and had a must win europa league match the Thursday before it was, 4 games in 10 days You say Liverpool had injuries so did United Cavani had injuries, banned for speaking in his own language for discrimination when he was discriminated against by the FA. Pogba had covid, got injured when United were top of the league vs Everton, which neatly coincides with Uniteds title challenge falling off Martial had a bad injury. Rashford was playing injured for most of the season. Maguire had his Greek holiday fiasco at the start of the season. Sure Liverpool had injury problems but lets not make like other teams didnt. Liverpool were stupid letting go of a CB going into a season with 3 players for 2 position. But thats besides the point. United easily 80 points last season, while having a problem with defense and attack, which United got a pacey, strong in the air CB that rivals VVD, when VVD was playing for Southhampton or Celtic Varane was winning back to back UCL's and multiple la liga's United had problem breaking down low blocks, got in a winger that has 15+ goals and 15+ assists in a league season(I think the only other player to do that is Messi) United then who had a problem scoring goals got one of the worlds best striker right now and overall best goalscorer ever to have played. Then even if you think Liverpool and City will beat United in head to heads. Liverpool sure, City lost 3 of the previous 4 league games vs United with 1 draw. So United can compete with them. Chelsea havent beaten United in the league for years
You say United shouldnt win the league which is completely fine but this team is better than a draw at Southhampton, Everton and a losses to Villa/Watford Whats that 10 points United shouldnt have dropped and puts them on par with Liverpool points this season. Despite losing to City, Liverpool and Leicester
I believe that it was the fault of so called United fans who caused United's home game against Liverpool to be postponed leading to fixture congestion!!
I think a major reason everyone is trying to retroactively bin the season. Is because most of these people are incredibly misinformed on Ralf and think this is a just a caretaker job and not a foundational movement by the club to actually, and this is a crazy idea, be a football team instead of a business.
We'll see if that is actually the goal. I was positively surprised when Ralf came in with the consultancy role. Hopefully this is a sign that united is going to make serious footballing decisions from now on, but it could just as well be a farce and people with no knowledge will continue running the club.
Roy Keane is wrong. Look at the splash signings they've made in the last 3 seasons - Sancho, Varane, Ronaldo, Cavani, Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Fernandes. That's an incredible amount of star power to bring in - all top players in their positions - and money to splash out (plus van de Beek and Dan James who cost £60m combined) in just 3 seasons. They should be competing right at the top of the league right now.
It's funny. A few months ago, after their great ends to the season and amazing form in the Euros, both Maguire and Shaw were praised by just about everyone and seen as great players. But after their start to this season (which I won't argue that it hasn't been bad), they're seen as terrible players and everyone has forgotten about how they played a few months ago. (I know this was mentioned in the video but it wasn't expanded upon in the way Shaw and Maguire are seen now.)
@@daniel4002 it was only non English people who are obsessed with England that had enough pig headed denial to look at stats and performances and steadfastly refuse to admit how well they were playing
@@daniel4002 Maguire was statistically one of the best defenders in Europe last season. It's a stigma because he was made a meme due to his big head and inflated transfer fee - neither of which are his fault, mind you. Couldn't care less if non-English people think Maguire is shite. Shite defenders don't make the Euro's TOTT. And yes, he's been absolutely awful this season. There's no getting past that. He'll be back to a decent level once his confidence returns. Rangnick would be smart to prioritise this. Can't be nice to live with the abuse he gets.
I saw ManU finishing 2nd last season as an overperformance similar to the underperformance of Brighton in the sense that they were lucky/unlucky to finish where they finished. In United's case of overperformance because Liverpool had a bunch of injuries, Chelsea had Lampard for the first portion of the season. ManUnited not having title aspirations is wrong however as clearly they did with splashing cash on Sancho, Ronaldo, etc.
Man Utd should realistically be able to challenge for SOMETHING with the world class squad they have. As much as I like to make fun of Maguire, he was one of the world's best centre backs statistically last season, and with varane that defense should be solid. The midfield and attack is world class in every position except cdm, and your whole team shouldn't have to be world class to win something. Mcfred should honestly be good enough cause everyone else is world class
De Gea - W.B (Dalot), Varane, Maguire, Shaw (Telles) - VdB (McTominay), Fred (Matic) - Sancho, Bruno, Rashford (Greenwood) - CR7 (Cavani, Martial)... Surely the should be aiming to win the Premier League this year or the next at most
They've got a wage bill 370% of the PL average and 140% that of the next highest club. (something like that I may be a little out). The idea that they should have gone into the season as anything other than title challengers is a joke. I think few things exemplify the failures at every level at Manchester United than this point about the wages. It really hits at the crux of the matter which is that they've overspend and underperformed on a statistically significant level.
As a United fan I always try to be as objective as possible when it comes to any opinions on the club. But I seriously cannot understand people who say signing Cristiano Ronaldo was a mistake…If your club has the chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, you sign him. There is no debate, he’s one of if not the best players of all time, how on earth do you turn down the prospect of having him at your club?…
Easily. He’s extremely limited in what he does well nowadays (even if he’s world class at finishing). You have to rearrange your entire team to play for him. Signing him ramped up the pressure for the team to compete, which it wasn’t built to do this year anyway. And signing him didn’t solve a need - Man U was great going forward, they always needed defensive help, particularly in midfield.
First time I hear someone mentioning schalke around the situation of CR fitting in under ragnick. As a Portuguese person I just believe the man will fit in wherever he wants to, cause he’ll do the work.
Keane and Carragher probably aren't idiots. They know a heated debate over Ronaldo will get views, they'd argue over the price of a matchday pie if that's what people wanted to see.
I don’t think there is a rewriting of history, so much as there was a vocal portion of football fans who saw United finish second and then make 3 huge signings and said United have to win the league now, and a few months later the more measured football fans who realised United only finished second because Liverpool had an injury crisis and Chelsea had a Lampard in charge for half the season, who realised actually Varane is quite injury prone, Ronaldo doesn’t really fit the system that was in place, and United had failed to sign a quality CDM for what feels like the tenth summer in a row. Actually, was winning the title ever a realistic goal for this season? I would agree they should be doing better than they are. They shouldn’t have performed as poorly as they did against Liverpool and City, and they’ve dropped points poorly all season. I think the club agrees with that too, after the sacking of Solskjaer and with the news several players are set to leave the club. But I don’t think it’s revisionist history to say United were never going to win the league this season, whether the club was trying to with their signings or not. I think most United fans would tell you their expectations were much more reasonable. It’s only over eager fans and pundits with short memories who would have predicted United to win the league this year.
Keane just failed to think on his feet. Instead of tying himself to this silly "to win cups" comment, he could have just said that the signing of Ronaldo was done to improve the team/squad, which is self-evident and can't realistically be dismissed.
Glad you made this video, because I remember thinking at the start of the year that this could be the biggest gap between the top four teams and the rest of the league in a while... and then United promptly decided to make me look like an idiot. They were "one DM away" from a title charge yet fast forward and some act as if they had Watford's squad lol.
There's only one problem, really; the need and desire to get an instant success. Of everything that happened at the end of Ole era, it's just up to bad luck and bad timing of injuries and off-form from some key players. What they needed was times to shake off these while new players settled in and gelled properly with the way of United being playing since Ole came in. Now, with the new manager, there are two ways this could go: 1. The players finally gelled, and could play as a team and make whatever tactic Ralf laid out, worked. 2. The team started from scratch again, making any imbalance that exists more obvious, players are getting desperate to show their quality so that they won't be offloaded elsewhere or worst, ends up on the bench just before World Cup, thus opened up for more mistakes to happen, overworked and injuries. Anyhow, I don't see letting go Ole actually making their problem any worst or any better. Players can have off-forms, it's just so happened that the current Man United squad being off together at the same time. Bad results went onto the head and make these mistakes and off-form more telling, and the manager took the chop.
Even under ragnick united will continue the cycle theyve been for the last 4-5 years. Play solid, energetic football for a couple of months, maybe get a surprise result in their favor (idk beating liverpool in the fa cup or something like that), then slowly but surely wear down and end up the season trophyless and proud that they had a “decent” year (despite having one of the best squads in England).
I think united had a very good team by the end of last season and most importantly a settled 11 with Cavani as striker, Pogba on Lw and Greenwood as RW.. Sancho and Varane were definitely needed.. however, the signing of Ronaldo definitely caused a big stir in the plans.. and not signing a defensive midfielder was definitely the nail in the coffin.. Ronaldo's definitely starting every game policy hampered the balance of the team.. and Ole just couldn't find a tactical solution to get the best out of Ronaldo.. Cavani thrived because he had to work very hard off the ball to score goals.. meanwhile Ronaldo is a Rolls Royce.. you have to create chances for him instead of him working for them.. but he guarantees goals so you can't fault.. but thats where Ole and his management fucked up.. thinking Ronaldo and Cavani are the same type of strikers.. Although given Ronaldo has carried united this season.. but who knows how would united have played with a similar starting eleven as last season..
Im a United fan, before the season started we had the 4th best squad in England, a squad which is also massively unbalanced at that. I never believed we'd win the league but I did think we'd at least challenge.
For me it wasn't the imbalance of the squad that destroyed my optimism but rather the incompetent manager. Ole was never suppose to be given such a role. It was yet another poor appointment from Woodward
1) Moyes out of his depth 2) Van gaal having the philosophy of 80 percent 2 shots off target 3) Mourinho, Mourinho 4) Solskjaer back to club values, but had to clear up 3 previous managers hole digging and never had the respect He did a good job and built a good squad but it went full ranieri. Seems like the lesson they've learnt is that no one can do this job on there own and they need to change to management structure in the club to take the pressure off the coach. End of an era, you will never see a Ferguson or a Clough again at the top level.
Anyone that thought united would win the league with Fred and McTominay in midfield and Ole in charge is either absolutely clueless or inanely deluded. Yes we made some good signings but we didn’t address our two biggest weaknesses from last season which was the two holding midfield positions
I'm not in the UK, but amongst my football fan friends, there was never any doubt that United wouldn't challenge for the title. Their points tally last season was relatively low, and the finished second based on everyone else having issues. Ronaldo in our view was always going to score goals, and somehow make United worse, like he did with his last season with Juventus. We were joking at the beginning of the season as to how the bookies had United the second favorites to win the league. We genuinely felt like we were in a vacuum, surrounded by solid United propaganda.
In my country Sweden, were public service still plays a vital role, pundits are often more neutral, tactically driven and use their brain more than their heart. Most of their coverage is built on analysis and statistics rather than to let loose their inner supporters and to moan about how bad the situation is for their club. That factor has always made me cringe when I watch the Sky Sports pundits. The metaphor with the chimpanzee sums up my whole experience with Sky Sports. It seems to me that all those pundits are there just because they were successful players and not because they are competent pundits. I seldom listen to Sky Sports discussions anymore because I can't stand the bias, the public support and the overly passionate nature of the pundits. If I want to listen to supporters moan and discuss I can meet my friends, have a beer and watch the matches on the couch. If I want to listen to pundits I want neutrality, objectivity and calm discussions, and that's why I always take the swedish pundits more serious than the english pundits. Most of the pundits in Sweden were crap players, yet they are superior in terms of punditry, probably because they are journalistically educated and not taken in because they have a famous name. They feel that they could use T.V. to make a difference in terms of punditry and not as an opportunity to moan about how pissed they are because their club is crap. That said, this tendency is more appearent in the coverage of our domestic league than in the coverage of international football, since our coverage of PL, La Liga and Serie A starts to go in the path of Sky Sports. That's a shame and I hope it ends sooner or later, since that's not the kind of punditry I'm comfortable with.
Maguire never looked like a United captain he was poor for 2/3 of the season last season, United were suppose to be in a title race but Solskjear was sooo pooor he single handedly put us out the title race, we lost 5 games in under him while liverpool, city and chelsea lost 1 or 2…. But now we have Ragnick so top 4 is still nailed on but solskjear damaged our season.
Only reason why Man United finished 2nd last year was because Liverpool got destroyed by injuries and Chelsea had Lampard. Still United finished 12 points behind City with only 74 points, do I have to remind you that Liverpool and City both finished with 90+ points for numerous times in the last 5 years? City even managed to hit 100 points. And you are gonna tell me that a United team that can barely get 74 points can compete with that?
While Manchester United might re-write history I will rewrite this video suggestion: Day 6: Top 7 football clubs that have similar logos (FC Barcelona and Consolat Marseille, Benfica Lisbon and Hamm Benfica)
Last season was a false dawn for Man Utd for numerous reasons and Liverpool had an injury crisis and didn't even have a proper defense for most of the season it was always going to be a struggle to maintain a title challenge although I didn't expect things to go so sour for Ole Gunner Solskjaer this season but the task was simply too much for him and United had no choice but to act.
14:18 well even though Barca and Milan are rebuilding it can not be said that they are not as big clubs as Real and Juve respectively both economically, culturally & economically!
Ole often was 5th or 6th best manager of the traditional top 6. When he was sacked he was the 5th best manager in league, only ahead of Arteta. His players struggled, outside of the period of time they got a astronomical amount of penalties, when forced to possess the ball and take the game to defensive sides, which occurs in most the games United play. Ultimately, they needed a manager that can make players more comfortable on the front foot, breaking down low blocks, and pressing, neccesary when playing any team that not one of 5 or 6 teams.
Roy Keane always thinks that United are underperforming also-rans who couldn't hold a candle to his United teams. He would say that barely a handful would be good enough to get into his title winning squads, therefore United cannot be considered challengers.
Oles buddies are re-writing history to protect him. You’ll see them claim that he “fixed the club behind the scenes” and that “he left the club in a better place”
With al due respect and even owning a Solskjaer jersey myself...as long as he was manager United was never gonna get a Premier League, last year was more a string of good results while everyone else collapsed around them. But the part that they reinforced the squad to aim for titles is indeed true, or at least thinking about the long run, save for CR7
united were never going to immediately be a compact team when they literally brought in half of a new starting 11. sadly, they psychologically sank as well and it cost them the whole beginning of a season. it's true that they weren't going to be a title contender and it was visible from the first ball they kicked when the season began.
I took Keane saying that Ronaldo was brought in to help Utd challenge for cups was him saying that it was unrealistic for people to expect Utd to challenge for the league this season since last season was a false finish because Chelsea did poorly under Lampard and Liverpool had the injuries. He kept saying “that’s their level. That’s where they are right now”, and one considered where Utd would have finished had Liverpool and Chelsea not had issues last season, and where Utd are now, his point is valid. Utd are a cup team. That is their level and I don’t think that one has to change the history of expectation in order to agree.
So many good points, where to start! 1) CR7 would not sign with a team that could not compete for the PL 2) New coach has shown he fits bests players 3) Before the season MANU were in the top4 conversation, and fighting for 1st place, etc...
I rememberthinking the team was unbalanced and had a major problem with the Manager. But a lot of my friend thought they would challenge for everything. As a Bayern fan I thought they were delusional.
Ronaldo would only need to spend his last years in europe in the best league and therefore being more relevant that at Juventus. the one point you missed, Alfie.
What i see in the comments talking about how last season was a step forward and etc etc, didnt notice or mentioned that the were mostly playing counter attacking whether it be at home or away.. They got all the way to second (heck even went top) but never truly could sustain any momentum towards that part before man city flew pass for that stretch of period (4 games in january) that ole and Manchester united couldn't get win..Just shows how of a fluke that second place was..
The team with the biggest wage bill in the league should be aiming to win the league. It is as simple as that. United have failed miserably and the media doesn’t want to address it.
All of this makes you realise how amazing Alex Ferguson was, bringing massive consistent success over literal decades. It seems as though the club is chasing that ghost and can’t quite get it right. When the new manager comes in after Rangnick that will be another 3-5 years of rebuilding and that’s assuming the right guy comes in that can get the job done. Man City took 4-5 years and Liverpool took 3 years and that was with the best managers around. It cannot be stressed how important it is for Man Utd to get in a manager of the level of Pep and Klopp in this next appointment - or else they could have a Liverpool on their hands and still be waiting for another league title in 30 years time. It’s already coming up to 10 years since they won the league - what’s another 20 between friends? ☺️
Ferguson took 5-7 years to win anything (depending if you count the fa cup in 1990 or the league in 1993 as the first big trophy) if he were manager now - based on the united board approach - hed have been fired in 1988
Imagine signing Varane, Sancho and Ronaldo and still genuinely believing that Man Utd didn’t have a “Win everything now” thought process in those transfers. Like you mentioned, you don’t sign those type of players with the 24/25 season in mind.
Please do a video explaining Why it is difficult if clubs to rewrite their glory days after experiencing a slump. Barcelona, Arsenal, Manchester United are among some of the clubs that have struggled, recent years, to rewrite their glory days. What are their common mistakes what can they do to get back to their best?
United had a balanced formation at the start of the season and started with a bang. Then they signed Ronaldo and had to wedge him into the starting 11 which unbalanced Fernandes as the playmaker, Cavani as forward, etc and afterwards everything fell apart.
It’s funny that all the pundits are now saying Liverpool could challenge for the PL title. That’s not what they were saying at the beginning of the season and I was beginning to think I had false memories of their previous predictions
Some of the pundits on BT sport drive me mad, they always demolish goalkeepers for the slightest mistakes, constantly get player names wrong and hardly know any background on the teams that are playing.But, what really annoys me, is they flip flop at which team they are going to back, depending on who is winning at the time.
@@anubhav111196 and Liverpool. Neville is very articulate he's very good at etting a point across, but a lot of the stuff he spouts is actually nonsense.
HITCSevens, please do a video about the best XI in the Premier League since 1992 in each position e.g Schmeichel, Cech in goal, Neville, Azpilicueta, Walker at right back. It would be brilliant.
I agree with this video, I myself thought the addition of Varane was big and considering they finished 2nd last season, I thought Man U were decent value at 9/1.
Im a united fan, I was worried about the balance of the team, And was proven right, None of use really thought we would be chasing the premier league, Simply because of the midfield
@@simplyballing1592 He was fine last season getting us to second, I liked the man, He just struggled progressing from a counter attacking game to a posssession one, But its the players workrate that dropped, But he should be given credit for enhancing the scientific dept / scouting and academy which had been damaged under jose's reign
My dad as a diehard Manchester United fan and he hates Maguire thinking he is “absolutely shit” (myself a Juventus fan, well Liverpool was my first love back in 85/86 who I still support as I’m English but Juventus are my true love supporting them since 91)
All this does is make me yearn for the days of Alan Hansen as Match of The Day analyst. Even in one of his more tired "passing, power, pace" schticks it was always infinitely better. The problem right now is that these ex-players don't let go of their bias/club loyalty and it makes watching the games a chore if you were to be a neutral. Sky is banking on people who support both clubs, they don't care for the odd neutral. That's why the marketability of the Premier League is great because if one has had enough, don't worry lad, you'll be replaced.
United finished 2nd in the league last season, that and the new signings gave fans and pundits the idea that they'd be challenging for the title. That idea was driven by A) typical fan optimism, and/or B) ignorance. Anyone unbiased nor ignorant could see that Liverpool were going to come back stronger this season and that Chelsea were a new side with Tuchel at the helm, not to mention 'smaller' sides improving such as West Ham. If you think that's coming from hindsight then just consider which club Ronaldo's first choice of transfer.
Great and balanced video as always. Breath of fresh air compared to a lot of football sensationalist drivel published every second. I'll preface this comment by saying it was time for Ole to leave, especially when the club actually had an actual alternative other than Poch. Thank you for backing Ole's skills as a manager, and actually recognising his achievements at Man Utd.
Isn't punditry just a glorified commentary? Not sure if I have understood that correctly, though. Besides, still love the consistency of Eddie Howe pun.
Day 1 of asking Alfie to do a video on social media’s ever strengthening grip and influence on football, as well as certain big name players buying parts of rating app/statistics companies and having their statistics embellished. Such as the case with Cristiano Ronaldo’s brand deal with Livescore and their penchant to publish fake statistics to embellish his image.
I thought the exact same thing. They got second and objectively upgraded, so the thought they suddenly wouldnt be even be close ti winning the PL made no sense to me. City didnt do anything in the transfer period and sure Chelsea got significantly better, but still it would be logical to say they would do better than last year
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I think Manchester United were going all out to win the title. However, when you consider who they did and didn't sign and who they have, it's impossible to see how they'd put a functional 11 out on the field. Their priorities are all over the place.
For instance, being prideful about previous signings is counter-productive. It's been obvious that Pogba wasn't doing it at a level that justified his fee for a long time. However, rather than cut their losses and move him to Madrid when they had a chance, they kept persisting and are in a position where they either make him the highest paid player in the Premier League or let him leave for free.
However, they haven't even persisted with Pogba correctly. I personally don't view him as world-class but Juventus and France have got much better use out of him by playing him in a specific role and tailoring the rest of the midfield to him. So you keep hold of a player because you'll lose face by selling him but you don't do anything to make him potentially perform better. I'm not a fan of the phrase "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing time-and-again, and expecting different results" but in this case it fits like a glove.
They have this bloated football structure that makes no sense, full of people with no experience or who have failed upwards. They have a football director AND a technical director, two people with basically the same job title and neither of them are doing it right. In fact, they have lots of people with Director or Head in their job title. Still major playing decisions seem to be made above their pay grade so what is the point of layers of middle management that can't influence anything?
It seems to me that if Malcolm Glazer didn't become incredibly wealthy, the Glazer sons would be hanging on their father's coat-tails in whatever endeavour he ended up in. If his business never progressed past buying, selling and repairing watches, that is what they'd be doing. They don't have any useful purpose. To use an American phrase, "they started on third but act like they scored a home run". They weren't worth the expensive educations they received.
You're on point with your assessment. I just hope Ralf Rangnick does improve the recruitment side when he moves upstairs.
If we were going 'all out' to win a title ole would've been sacked after Leicester and if we were really serious he would've been sacked after the europa league final our board doesn't care about trophies just revenue and reputation that's why they signed ronaldo
No Ronaldo was bought all about money he is just a cash cow
@@SimonCowie86 absolutely, glazers dont give a fuck about him as a legend of the club or anything else
I wonder what your definition of world class is if you don't think Pogba is world class? I'm asking in good faith.
My view is that Pogba isn't unlike a lot of "world class" players insofar as with the right manager and tactical setup, his strengths are one of the key components of his team's playstyle. Of course, all 11 players should be putting in equal effort on the pitch, but there are always 2-4 players who are the real "game changers", as in they carry the team. Pogba is one such player when he plays for France as well as for United, if you watch United play day in day out.
I think Pogba has glaring weaknesses in his game; poor concentration and awful tackling are the standout ones. But for me he is also one of the best long passers from deep in the world, perhaps second only to Kroos in terms of consistency and quality. His dribbling skills are great, albeit not among the best. His shooting is incredible, though he doesn't show it often. He's also quite underrated in and around the box.
Pogba has been "poor" at United because Jose (and arguably even Ole) didn't know how to use him, as well as recurring injuries. His start to this season was incredible, and he was superb last season after covid if you paid attention. He carried United the season Jose got sacked, and then he disappeared the season after, but to injury.
I thought their previous second placed finish was more down to other teams failings than their own form. At the start of the season I thought top four (and probably forth) would be where they finished (they still could) Rangnick settling quickly will define their season. The squad always looked good enough on paper to compete but for me the problem seemed to be the manager
Easily was the manager, under a competent manager they would be challenging
United finished on 81 points that season, it ws hardly to do with others stumbling along the way. The Treble winning team didn't accumulate that many points
Nevermind, disregard what I've said, forgot they finished second last season.
I agree that 2nd place was only due to others failing, however that only shows how poor Ole is. If you look at how much they've spent since Ole has been there, in the last 5 years AND in the last 10 years, they should definitely be challenging in BOTH seasons.
@@kiriakoz yeah theres been alot of money spent since Sir Alex retired, but the problem with the club is for most of that time signings were decided by people like Woodward who have zero idea about football. Like it or not Rangnick has inherited a better squad than the one that Ole took over 3 years ago. Oles problem was he hit his ceiling, he should have only had 2 seasons in charge, he fixed alot of the damage that LVG and Jose caused. After finishing 3rd and 2nd in his 2 full seasons United should have thanked him and brought in a top manager that could handle the egos and take us to the next step.
You used "memory" and "logic", this is not allowed in the united pundit rule book
How about a "What on Earth is Going on with St. Pauli?" A more positive version of your series. This time last season they were in a relegation scrap, after the winter break, was the best team in the division, and currently sit in first. Their main striker was on an immense goal drought before being let go on a free from Schalke. If you wanted to watch a couple of their matches, I'd be more than happy to let you borrow my log in, they have English commentary now
Drugs
They are no longer first.
@@tarik6990 that's the funny thing about "currently" huh? It really only applies to the moment it was said or written
@@christopherhicks8107 The thing is St. Pauli need to be good for a lot longer to attract attention.
These days a lot of punditry is very entertaining but often light on actual debate or criticism. Some pundits like Souness almost feel as if they're actually "embracing the meme".
People like Carragher and Neville often have a lot to add to discussion and are fascinating to listen to when they are properly debating things. However, it often feels like Sky ask them to discuss very specific topics because they know it will lead to very clickable videos online.
As an example, I love the moments where they look back at older moments or teams and properly analyse what made them special. It's brilliant commentary whilst also being highly entertaining. Carragher and Rafa Benitez is probably my favourite
That's the problem, Sky will squeeze everything out of each pundint's "marketability". It's a bit sad that people like Roy Keane don't realize they're just being used for their clickability instead of their actual insight.
entertaining is what gets the clicks and brings in the $€£ so of course they over do it and is why sky sports puts DEBATE in their vid titles
@@lucioledizerot196 I think Keane realises it and doesn't care. If they pay his wages he knows his persona and he'll live up to it. That said, I didn't know he could do a decent impression of Maguire.
Watched Monday night football pre match for about 5 minutes. Gary neville said Manchester United at least 12 times in a few sentences, it's so cringy.
Souness not liking Pogba isn't really a meme it's just that Pogba fans get tilted when anyone dare criticise their favourite player. We saw a similar thing with Martial when apparently anyone who thought he was average had an "agenda" they've gone awfully quiet now though for some reason.
You also have to realize how important branding is with this signing. There are many young fans that have never seen United be a real title contending team. Getting in someone with the prestige of Ronaldo will do major numbers for them in terms of likeability for the next generation of fans.
let's be honest, it all boils down to "We don't want Man City to get him" and "his t-shirt sales have already repaid the transfer"
It would have been awful and good for football if Ronaldo went to City. Awful because it would ruin his prior legacy at United and good because it would make the UCL much more interesting.
I think Roy Keane was always going to be right though.
It boils down to the United squad being imbalanced and having the worst manager out of United, City, Liverpool, and Chelsea with Ole. On paper they were bound to end up 4th best considering City’s consistency; Chelsea’s defensive structure; and Liverpool’s firepower. As a United fan it doesn’t surprise me that we aren’t competing on such a level.
Realistically, we should be 4th overall as a team. And maybe get one up in the Cups where games are one and done
Roy is full of shit 😂😂
So to start the season you think United would be 4th? Last year you finished 2nd Liverpool didn’t sign anyone of note in the summer, Chelsea had a big blip and only really signed one player and city didn’t sign a striker, any United fan who claims to have expected to finish 4th after spending sooo much in recent years is bullshitting
@@macaulaymcgregor768 you can spend all the money in the world but the club had no direction. Transfers were sometimes putting square pegs in round holes.
Liverpool also had their integral CB partnership recover from injury, Chelsea had won the UCL and I wouldn’t say that had any blip of note compared to recent weeks. And City are well renowned for their consistency and even without a recognised striker, ability to get goals. United were at best going to be 4th with an imbalanced squad and an incompetent manager.
I would have loved to see a title challenge but I’d be lying if I said that I expected them to win the league. Challenge, sure, but in my mind they were the 4th best team in the league at the beginning.
@@veuxrei the blip referee to last season Chelsea not current, and ok fine you thought they would finish 4th but I’d say United looked a lot better last season than this year, some of the signings was amazing then you get results like 4-1 Watford, 4-2 Leicester and 5-0 Liverpool (which should have been a lot more) sack off players like cr7, pogba, and varane and promote youth
@@macaulaymcgregor768 then what you just said coincides with what I think. They looked better last season and finished second. I thought going into this season, they would finish lower so I don’t quite get what your point is.
I don’t know whether you’re criticising me, or United or if it’s even a criticism or just an opinion piece. Either way, United have been promoting youth as well so that a meek point.
Day 6: Do a documentary on Guy Roux, a man who spent 44 years in total at AJ Auxerre as their manager
That would be interesting better than boring prem stories everyday😉
No I didn't have my memory wiped out. I remember very clearly how much the team struggled at many points against "smaller" teams during the last 2 seasons, more so in 20/21, despite 3rd and 2nd finishes. Whatever the pundits or bookies said before a ball was kicked this season, I was waiting for the sand castle to crumble. I also remember Gary Neville very clearly, whenever asked, constantly trying to save his friend by lowering expectations after Sancho and Varane signed. He knew, and he is one of the many complicit to the illusion of "Ole's done a great job".
Anyone who thought United was nailed on for a title challenge or top 2-3 finish again was lying to themselves and conveniently forgot all the bad performances, passive in-game managements, and unsustainable over-achieving lucky escapes.
lifelong United fan and I agree with you, pre season we were being talked about as title contenders, not sure I was ever confident about it, but certainly I expected us to be competitive at the very top before the season began. I love Ole but I think his time had definitely come to an end, Rangnick I think is a really smart appointment so hopefully he can get us top 4 at least still this season.
lol
remember Mourinho and Van Gaal at Man United?
I wouldn't keep my hopes this high.
hell, if even Jürgen Klopp can't win the Premier League title every season with his phenomenal Liverpool team, I have no hopes for a Man United team and a new manager that has never managed a English a team before in his life or for a matter if fact never won a title in his coaching career period. that guy is mostly known for being a sporting director. not a coach.
My take on the points in this video:
We need to remember that whilst United finished 2nd last season, it doesn't mean "well next season they're contenders right?". Finishing 4th this season would essentially be the equivelent achievement due to how much better Chelsea and Liverpool are this season compared to the last.
I think Ole's sacking was inevitable if United really had ambitions of winning the title. He did a fine job of rebuilding it's true but they were always going to need someone else to go H2H with the likes of Klopp, Pep and Tuchel.
The point about what they signed Ronaldo for was a bit immature from Jamie Carragher. They've already qualified for the KO stages in the Champions League (first time since 2018). You can almost singlehandedly point to Ronaldo for getting them through. Whilst their start to the Premier League has been rocky we're only in December and much could change, if they do manage to finish 4th it would not be a bad result simply because of how good the competition is this year.
He did a shit job rebuilding. The squad is unbalanced, no young CF, no DM, Fred/MCT as starters. AWB not suited to modern gam attacking fullbacks, Maguire a slow not suited to high line. He just spent a bunch of money on obviously good players but the actual squad building is shit.
@@ultimateblaze23 couldn't agree more, it's insane how much they spend in both transfer fees and wages the last few years, only now be where they are.
You have to take into account the fact that Liverpool were missing their best defender for nearly the whole season and that Chelsea were European champions. Along with Man City winning the league easily Man U were simply no where near them. It seemed quite obvious that last season was a fluke for Man U and they were still a long way off the title
Liverpool missed their 2 main midfielders as well as they were playing at CB because of VVD injury so they were effectively 2 first team defenders and 2 first team midfielders missing for most the season plus Thiago had 3 Months out plus the other games he missed
True, but Ole could only compete with what was in front of him. But i agree it was a lucky 2nd...
Then you also have to take into account that United have been missing their best center back and midfielder for most of the games this season
@@timsmith1323 and we are just going to brush off that Thiago was abysmal when he was on?
Sure was a lucky second, but signing some of the best players in the world in each of their positions in Ronaldo, Varane and Sancho surely was a statement of intent, they weren't going to be convinced by telling them "We might win the league in 3 years but until then win us the FA Cup right lads?" If United wanted to win the league in three years, they'd be much better off giving Greenwood an extended run rather than signing a 36 year old on high wages.
United's underlying stats all throughout Ole's tenure were worrying. They were due a falloff like this until they changed the manager. Had they got rid of him in the summer, they had a chance but if Ole stayed in charge they wouldn't have finished far off the bottom three at their pace at the time.
Who would win if all the PL managers played in a hunger games (Forrest Terrain)
Probably Klopp or maybe Dyche
I reckon viera
I totally agree with your assessment of Ole leading into this season. He was a great choice to stabilize the club post Jose but their mistake was giving him another contract before this season. That added pressure to Ole and scared him when results didn’t go his way
You could've put literally anyone in oles position and they would've done the same job the atmosphere was so toxic around mourinho
@@quandaledingle7812 I personally think that's simplistic thinking, impossible to prove and taking away the man's credit.
I'm no Ole romantic but he's one of our own. I think it's shocking how some fans treated him.
Dirty James I don't give a flying fuck if he's one of our own he's a terrible manager and he's the reason we're trophies since 2017. I'd rather have the worst man alive in charge of united then nice guy, one of our own ole if it meant we won major honours that three years of ole ball was some of the worst football I've ever seen in my life, and finishing second is no achievement so don't even bring it up
@@DirtyJamesUK some people just can’t remove emotion from events. The way we played wasn’t great but he truly did stabilize the dressing room through post Jose and the Glazer’s idiotic Super League debacle. There are few other managers who could keep the dressing room together through both. Again, not the best manager but the right man for two years, should have been replaced before the club’s hand was forced
@@matt_ski05 Yes and no. You're definitely right, he did a fair amount of good too, that people somehow wilfully ignore. But he was making progress so I can't see when he could have been sacked. Sack a man that finishes 3rd in his first full season? Or sack him when he finishes 2nd the next season, having been top after Christmas?
OR sack him in his 3rd season when he is supported well in the transfer window but the team results and performances actually start to regress?
I think he was sacked at the right time.
The game when I said "This has to stop, its just not turning around for him" is the game he was sacked.
Not sure what circles you frequent Alfie, but we all laughed at the lad in our group chat who thought Man U were favorites for the title at the start of the season. Top 4 favorite sure, but there was always a drop off from City/Liverpool/Chelsea. You are right though the media had them flying once Ronaldo came in and clearly the intention was to compete and clearly they did move forward.
I mean that there's a drop off between CIty/Liverpool and Chelsea as well. Football at the start of the season is just so transfer centric that these gaps get ignored
Plenty of United fans creamed themselves royally, especially after that 5 - 1 win vs Leeds in the first game. I think to suggest otherwise is a re-writing of history to prevent hurt feelings. I actually think United could've challenged if they'd spent the Ronaldo money (wages + transfer fee) on a quality DM, so to suggest it's ridiculous now is only kidding yourself. I never thought they could win due to the lack of balance of the team. If you look at money spent (since Ole arrived, in the last 5 years + in the last 10 years) and combine it with the respective wages bills, there's no doubt they SHOULD be challenging.
Sure the media did, but it's a little weird that Alfie treats them as real title contenders here right? All the actually credible people (in my eyes) had them firmly in 4th this season. Sure they may have been closer to third than fifth in terms of expectations, but they were really not close to either
Although the other points about the disappointment being covered up is still certainly true, bc it really is being pretended that they belonged to some sub-top group pre-season
With the team they have they should be challenging for the league title
Broke: Ronaldo was signed to get through the Champions Leage
Woke: Ronaldo was signed to win the league
Ascended: Ronaldo was signed to prevent Man City from signing Ronaldo
great video as always. honestly the public discourse around manchester united to me as an outsider always seemed completely seperated from reality and overall intensely biased.
For me, the most interesting aspect of the United collapse is that despite all the drama and lack of major success, they still remain the biggest club in world.
Real Madrid beg to differ
@@myhatmygandhi6217 Thats a point. I would say Real are well within their right to claim that title, too.
United finished 2nd last season thanks to Liverpool playing pretty much all year without a proper CB and a makeshift midfield & Chelsea having a poor first half of the season due to Lampards performance. Not forgetting the ridiculous amount of penalties United were awarded in the first half of the season.
Anyone with any semblance of football knowledge could see they finished about 2 or 3 places higher than they should have based on their performances.
They were always going to struggle again this season with their rivals back to full strength and their luck with dodgy penalties drying up.
Even Alfie turning full on mainstream and ignoring the Red Bull elephant. Genuinely expected better
Everything before the season started was about Solskjaer's job being on the line if he didn't win the league after such investment. To say otherwise that Man Utd weren't ever targeting the title is nonsense.
At NO point did I think United would make a title challenge this season. Getting 2nd was by default. LFC finished 6 points behind them conceding less goals with the injuries we had! As this season has proved with our results LFC/Man City play at a different level to the chasing pack
Yet United should've got 80+ points last season. Played 3 premier league games in 6 days 2 of those games against Liverpool and Leicester and had a must win europa league match the Thursday before it was, 4 games in 10 days
You say Liverpool had injuries so did United Cavani had injuries, banned for speaking in his own language for discrimination when he was discriminated against by the FA.
Pogba had covid, got injured when United were top of the league vs Everton, which neatly coincides with Uniteds title challenge falling off
Martial had a bad injury.
Rashford was playing injured for most of the season.
Maguire had his Greek holiday fiasco at the start of the season.
Sure Liverpool had injury problems but lets not make like other teams didnt. Liverpool were stupid letting go of a CB going into a season with 3 players for 2 position. But thats besides the point.
United easily 80 points last season, while having a problem with defense and attack, which United got a pacey, strong in the air CB that rivals VVD, when VVD was playing for Southhampton or Celtic Varane was winning back to back UCL's and multiple la liga's
United had problem breaking down low blocks, got in a winger that has 15+ goals and 15+ assists in a league season(I think the only other player to do that is Messi)
United then who had a problem scoring goals got one of the worlds best striker right now and overall best goalscorer ever to have played.
Then even if you think Liverpool and City will beat United in head to heads. Liverpool sure, City lost 3 of the previous 4 league games vs United with 1 draw. So United can compete with them. Chelsea havent beaten United in the league for years
You say United shouldnt win the league which is completely fine but this team is better than a draw at Southhampton, Everton and a losses to Villa/Watford
Whats that 10 points United shouldnt have dropped and puts them on par with Liverpool points this season. Despite losing to City, Liverpool and Leicester
@@imo098765 except they are not as they dropped points in games they should be winning e.g losing 4- 1 to newly promoted Watford
I believe that it was the fault of so called United fans who caused United's home game against Liverpool to be postponed leading to fixture congestion!!
Ronaldo was signed to prevent city from getting him.... End of
I think a major reason everyone is trying to retroactively bin the season. Is because most of these people are incredibly misinformed on Ralf and think this is a just a caretaker job and not a foundational movement by the club to actually, and this is a crazy idea, be a football team instead of a business.
We'll see if that is actually the goal. I was positively surprised when Ralf came in with the consultancy role. Hopefully this is a sign that united is going to make serious footballing decisions from now on, but it could just as well be a farce and people with no knowledge will continue running the club.
Roy Keane is wrong. Look at the splash signings they've made in the last 3 seasons - Sancho, Varane, Ronaldo, Cavani, Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Fernandes. That's an incredible amount of star power to bring in - all top players in their positions - and money to splash out (plus van de Beek and Dan James who cost £60m combined) in just 3 seasons. They should be competing right at the top of the league right now.
Thank you so much for this video. Some nonsense flying round
Wow. I'd forgotten that Raul played for Schalke at the end of his career. Crazy.
It's funny. A few months ago, after their great ends to the season and amazing form in the Euros, both Maguire and Shaw were praised by just about everyone and seen as great players. But after their start to this season (which I won't argue that it hasn't been bad), they're seen as terrible players and everyone has forgotten about how they played a few months ago. (I know this was mentioned in the video but it wasn't expanded upon in the way Shaw and Maguire are seen now.)
Even when Maguire was playing really well, people seemed to steadfastly refuse to believe he was anything but terrible.
@@daniel4002 it was only non English people who are obsessed with England that had enough pig headed denial to look at stats and performances and steadfastly refuse to admit how well they were playing
@@jamesduffy7549 bro
@@whitestrake8 hence why your comment history is full of Harry kane- obsession
@@daniel4002 Maguire was statistically one of the best defenders in Europe last season. It's a stigma because he was made a meme due to his big head and inflated transfer fee - neither of which are his fault, mind you. Couldn't care less if non-English people think Maguire is shite. Shite defenders don't make the Euro's TOTT.
And yes, he's been absolutely awful this season. There's no getting past that. He'll be back to a decent level once his confidence returns. Rangnick would be smart to prioritise this. Can't be nice to live with the abuse he gets.
I saw ManU finishing 2nd last season as an overperformance similar to the underperformance of Brighton in the sense that they were lucky/unlucky to finish where they finished.
In United's case of overperformance because Liverpool had a bunch of injuries, Chelsea had Lampard for the first portion of the season.
ManUnited not having title aspirations is wrong however as clearly they did with splashing cash on Sancho, Ronaldo, etc.
They only bought ronaldo so he didn’t go to city you’d have been better using varane and sancho instead
Rubbish Ole didn't lose a game away for a year and half, we were crap at home. He couldn't get the balance right.
Man Utd should realistically be able to challenge for SOMETHING with the world class squad they have. As much as I like to make fun of Maguire, he was one of the world's best centre backs statistically last season, and with varane that defense should be solid. The midfield and attack is world class in every position except cdm, and your whole team shouldn't have to be world class to win something. Mcfred should honestly be good enough cause everyone else is world class
Can you make a list of the greatest squads ever assembled that underperformed massively
Just think of all the England squads post 1966 up to 2021...easy...
Madrid's Galacticos,
Current Belgium and
2016 Barça
The Galacticos
De Gea - W.B (Dalot), Varane, Maguire, Shaw (Telles) - VdB (McTominay), Fred (Matic) - Sancho, Bruno, Rashford (Greenwood) - CR7 (Cavani, Martial)... Surely the should be aiming to win the Premier League this year or the next at most
They've got a wage bill 370% of the PL average and 140% that of the next highest club. (something like that I may be a little out). The idea that they should have gone into the season as anything other than title challengers is a joke. I think few things exemplify the failures at every level at Manchester United than this point about the wages. It really hits at the crux of the matter which is that they've overspend and underperformed on a statistically significant level.
Exactly. You get a good 6 months and united offer them 100k+. Masters of giving people over 100k to do nothing
@@elliotcoffman2643 Newcastle do a similar thing to a bit of a lower degree.
As a United fan I always try to be as objective as possible when it comes to any opinions on the club. But I seriously cannot understand people who say signing Cristiano Ronaldo was a mistake…If your club has the chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, you sign him. There is no debate, he’s one of if not the best players of all time, how on earth do you turn down the prospect of having him at your club?…
I would never want him at Liverpool, for a myriad of reasons
Easily. He’s extremely limited in what he does well nowadays (even if he’s world class at finishing). You have to rearrange your entire team to play for him. Signing him ramped up the pressure for the team to compete, which it wasn’t built to do this year anyway. And signing him didn’t solve a need - Man U was great going forward, they always needed defensive help, particularly in midfield.
Pundits have a memory going back one match. Everything else is ancient history.
First time I hear someone mentioning schalke around the situation of CR fitting in under ragnick. As a Portuguese person I just believe the man will fit in wherever he wants to, cause he’ll do the work.
Keane and Carragher probably aren't idiots. They know a heated debate over Ronaldo will get views, they'd argue over the price of a matchday pie if that's what people wanted to see.
You are the best channel on this platform. Thank you for continuing to do what you do :)
I don’t think there is a rewriting of history, so much as there was a vocal portion of football fans who saw United finish second and then make 3 huge signings and said United have to win the league now, and a few months later the more measured football fans who realised United only finished second because Liverpool had an injury crisis and Chelsea had a Lampard in charge for half the season, who realised actually Varane is quite injury prone, Ronaldo doesn’t really fit the system that was in place, and United had failed to sign a quality CDM for what feels like the tenth summer in a row. Actually, was winning the title ever a realistic goal for this season?
I would agree they should be doing better than they are. They shouldn’t have performed as poorly as they did against Liverpool and City, and they’ve dropped points poorly all season. I think the club agrees with that too, after the sacking of Solskjaer and with the news several players are set to leave the club.
But I don’t think it’s revisionist history to say United were never going to win the league this season, whether the club was trying to with their signings or not. I think most United fans would tell you their expectations were much more reasonable. It’s only over eager fans and pundits with short memories who would have predicted United to win the league this year.
Keane just failed to think on his feet. Instead of tying himself to this silly "to win cups" comment, he could have just said that the signing of Ronaldo was done to improve the team/squad, which is self-evident and can't realistically be dismissed.
Glad you made this video, because I remember thinking at the start of the year that this could be the biggest gap between the top four teams and the rest of the league in a while... and then United promptly decided to make me look like an idiot. They were "one DM away" from a title charge yet fast forward and some act as if they had Watford's squad lol.
There's only one problem, really; the need and desire to get an instant success.
Of everything that happened at the end of Ole era, it's just up to bad luck and bad timing of injuries and off-form from some key players. What they needed was times to shake off these while new players settled in and gelled properly with the way of United being playing since Ole came in.
Now, with the new manager, there are two ways this could go:
1. The players finally gelled, and could play as a team and make whatever tactic Ralf laid out, worked.
2. The team started from scratch again, making any imbalance that exists more obvious, players are getting desperate to show their quality so that they won't be offloaded elsewhere or worst, ends up on the bench just before World Cup, thus opened up for more mistakes to happen, overworked and injuries.
Anyhow, I don't see letting go Ole actually making their problem any worst or any better. Players can have off-forms, it's just so happened that the current Man United squad being off together at the same time. Bad results went onto the head and make these mistakes and off-form more telling, and the manager took the chop.
Even under ragnick united will continue the cycle theyve been for the last 4-5 years. Play solid, energetic football for a couple of months, maybe get a surprise result in their favor (idk beating liverpool in the fa cup or something like that), then slowly but surely wear down and end up the season trophyless and proud that they had a “decent” year (despite having one of the best squads in England).
Day 18: Best Players With Two Surnames XI
I think united had a very good team by the end of last season and most importantly a settled 11 with Cavani as striker, Pogba on Lw and Greenwood as RW..
Sancho and Varane were definitely needed.. however, the signing of Ronaldo definitely caused a big stir in the plans.. and not signing a defensive midfielder was definitely the nail in the coffin..
Ronaldo's definitely starting every game policy hampered the balance of the team.. and Ole just couldn't find a tactical solution to get the best out of Ronaldo.. Cavani thrived because he had to work very hard off the ball to score goals.. meanwhile Ronaldo is a Rolls Royce.. you have to create chances for him instead of him working for them.. but he guarantees goals so you can't fault.. but thats where Ole and his management fucked up.. thinking Ronaldo and Cavani are the same type of strikers..
Although given Ronaldo has carried united this season.. but who knows how would united have played with a similar starting eleven as last season..
How about not having a good manager in the dugout? The man was clearly out of his depth. Ole was a poor appointment from Woodward to begin with
Im a United fan, before the season started we had the 4th best squad in England, a squad which is also massively unbalanced at that. I never believed we'd win the league but I did think we'd at least challenge.
For me it wasn't the imbalance of the squad that destroyed my optimism but rather the incompetent manager. Ole was never suppose to be given such a role. It was yet another poor appointment from Woodward
1) Moyes out of his depth 2) Van gaal having the philosophy of 80 percent 2 shots off target 3) Mourinho, Mourinho 4) Solskjaer back to club values, but had to clear up 3 previous managers hole digging and never had the respect
He did a good job and built a good squad but it went full ranieri.
Seems like the lesson they've learnt is that no one can do this job on there own and they need to change to management structure in the club to take the pressure off the coach.
End of an era, you will never see a Ferguson or a Clough again at the top level.
Anyone that thought united would win the league with Fred and McTominay in midfield and Ole in charge is either absolutely clueless or inanely deluded. Yes we made some good signings but we didn’t address our two biggest weaknesses from last season which was the two holding midfield positions
I'm not in the UK, but amongst my football fan friends, there was never any doubt that United wouldn't challenge for the title. Their points tally last season was relatively low, and the finished second based on everyone else having issues. Ronaldo in our view was always going to score goals, and somehow make United worse, like he did with his last season with Juventus. We were joking at the beginning of the season as to how the bookies had United the second favorites to win the league. We genuinely felt like we were in a vacuum, surrounded by solid United propaganda.
In my country Sweden, were public service still plays a vital role, pundits are often more neutral, tactically driven and use their brain more than their heart. Most of their coverage is built on analysis and statistics rather than to let loose their inner supporters and to moan about how bad the situation is for their club. That factor has always made me cringe when I watch the Sky Sports pundits. The metaphor with the chimpanzee sums up my whole experience with Sky Sports. It seems to me that all those pundits are there just because they were successful players and not because they are competent pundits. I seldom listen to Sky Sports discussions anymore because I can't stand the bias, the public support and the overly passionate nature of the pundits. If I want to listen to supporters moan and discuss I can meet my friends, have a beer and watch the matches on the couch. If I want to listen to pundits I want neutrality, objectivity and calm discussions, and that's why I always take the swedish pundits more serious than the english pundits. Most of the pundits in Sweden were crap players, yet they are superior in terms of punditry, probably because they are journalistically educated and not taken in because they have a famous name. They feel that they could use T.V. to make a difference in terms of punditry and not as an opportunity to moan about how pissed they are because their club is crap.
That said, this tendency is more appearent in the coverage of our domestic league than in the coverage of international football, since our coverage of PL, La Liga and Serie A starts to go in the path of Sky Sports. That's a shame and I hope it ends sooner or later, since that's not the kind of punditry I'm comfortable with.
Words can't describe how good this content is Alfie
Maguire never looked like a United captain he was poor for 2/3 of the season last season, United were suppose to be in a title race but Solskjear was sooo pooor he single handedly put us out the title race, we lost 5 games in under him while liverpool, city and chelsea lost 1 or 2…. But now we have Ragnick so top 4 is still nailed on but solskjear damaged our season.
This comment makes no sense at all
@@bri1085 you lack understanding thats all
Only reason why Man United finished 2nd last year was because Liverpool got destroyed by injuries and Chelsea had Lampard. Still United finished 12 points behind City with only 74 points, do I have to remind you that Liverpool and City both finished with 90+ points for numerous times in the last 5 years? City even managed to hit 100 points.
And you are gonna tell me that a United team that can barely get 74 points can compete with that?
My fave part of this vid is when u put up Eddie howe's pic and said "anyhow"
I came to the comment section to see who else would have noticed that precise moment... hehe... no pun intended indeed
While Manchester United might re-write history I will rewrite this video suggestion:
Day 6: Top 7 football clubs that have similar logos (FC Barcelona and Consolat Marseille, Benfica Lisbon and Hamm Benfica)
Last season was a false dawn for Man Utd for numerous reasons and Liverpool had an injury crisis and didn't even have a proper defense for most of the season it was always going to be a struggle to maintain a title challenge although I didn't expect things to go so sour for Ole Gunner Solskjaer this season but the task was simply too much for him and United had no choice but to act.
ngl i thought Man Utd signed CR7 just to make sure City didn’t
People also forget that before Christmas last season, Pep basically stated he thought they couldn't win the league.
14:18 well even though Barca and Milan are rebuilding it can not be said that they are not as big clubs as Real and Juve respectively both economically, culturally & economically!
Milan have a richer history than juve
Ole often was 5th or 6th best manager of the traditional top 6. When he was sacked he was the 5th best manager in league, only ahead of Arteta. His players struggled, outside of the period of time they got a astronomical amount of penalties, when forced to possess the ball and take the game to defensive sides, which occurs in most the games United play. Ultimately, they needed a manager that can make players more comfortable on the front foot, breaking down low blocks, and pressing, neccesary when playing any team that not one of 5 or 6 teams.
I've been binging on these videos lately since I've been ill and had to go to hospital.
Hope you get well soon!
@@HITCSevens Thank you Alfie!
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Roy Keane always thinks that United are underperforming also-rans who couldn't hold a candle to his United teams. He would say that barely a handful would be good enough to get into his title winning squads, therefore United cannot be considered challengers.
TOP 7 RECOVERIES FROM "CAREER ENDING" INJURY WHETHER IT OCCURRED ON THE PITCH OR NOT , WITH RESPECT TO ERIKSEN AND AGUERO...
Oles buddies are re-writing history to protect him. You’ll see them claim that he “fixed the club behind the scenes” and that “he left the club in a better place”
With al due respect and even owning a Solskjaer jersey myself...as long as he was manager United was never gonna get a Premier League, last year was more a string of good results while everyone else collapsed around them.
But the part that they reinforced the squad to aim for titles is indeed true, or at least thinking about the long run, save for CR7
thought this was going to be about how everyone now believes Man Utd played really aggressive attacking football under Fergie
united were never going to immediately be a compact team when they literally brought in half of a new starting 11. sadly, they psychologically sank as well and it cost them the whole beginning of a season. it's true that they weren't going to be a title contender and it was visible from the first ball they kicked when the season began.
I took Keane saying that Ronaldo was brought in to help Utd challenge for cups was him saying that it was unrealistic for people to expect Utd to challenge for the league this season since last season was a false finish because Chelsea did poorly under Lampard and Liverpool had the injuries. He kept saying “that’s their level. That’s where they are right now”, and one considered where Utd would have finished had Liverpool and Chelsea not had issues last season, and where Utd are now, his point is valid. Utd are a cup team. That is their level and I don’t think that one has to change the history of expectation in order to agree.
So many good points, where to start! 1) CR7 would not sign with a team that could not compete for the PL 2) New coach has shown he fits bests players 3) Before the season MANU were in the top4 conversation, and fighting for 1st place, etc...
I rememberthinking the team was unbalanced and had a major problem with the Manager.
But a lot of my friend thought they would challenge for everything.
As a Bayern fan I thought they were delusional.
Ronaldo would only need to spend his last years in europe in the best league and therefore being more relevant that at Juventus. the one point you missed, Alfie.
What i see in the comments talking about how last season was a step forward and etc etc, didnt notice or mentioned that the were mostly playing counter attacking whether it be at home or away.. They got all the way to second (heck even went top) but never truly could sustain any momentum towards that part before man city flew pass for that stretch of period (4 games in january) that ole and Manchester united couldn't get win..Just shows how of a fluke that second place was..
We've been playing counter attack since Sir Alex times, doesn't being a problem back then looking at the trophy cabinet
@@izzfp9802 🤦🤦🤷🤷, dropped your nose 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
@@ritchierich2793 yours too
The team with the biggest wage bill in the league should be aiming to win the league. It is as simple as that. United have failed miserably and the media doesn’t want to address it.
Fuck off, the media have addressed how poor United have been all season. Don't have to make up shit to sound right.
This guy rates Ole 😂
Had to switch off at that point
All of this makes you realise how amazing Alex Ferguson was, bringing massive consistent success over literal decades. It seems as though the club is chasing that ghost and can’t quite get it right. When the new manager comes in after Rangnick that will be another 3-5 years of rebuilding and that’s assuming the right guy comes in that can get the job done. Man City took 4-5 years and Liverpool took 3 years and that was with the best managers around.
It cannot be stressed how important it is for Man Utd to get in a manager of the level of Pep and Klopp in this next appointment - or else they could have a Liverpool on their hands and still be waiting for another league title in 30 years time. It’s already coming up to 10 years since they won the league - what’s another 20 between friends? ☺️
Ferguson took 5-7 years to win anything (depending if you count the fa cup in 1990 or the league in 1993 as the first big trophy)
if he were manager now - based on the united board approach - hed have been fired in 1988
Imagine signing Varane, Sancho and Ronaldo and still genuinely believing that Man Utd didn’t have a “Win everything now” thought process in those transfers.
Like you mentioned, you don’t sign those type of players with the 24/25 season in mind.
When the manager is clearly inept then it's not so far fetched
As always, great video.
Also day four of asking "What on Earth is going on at Atlético Tucumán"?
Please do a video explaining
Why it is difficult if clubs to rewrite their glory days after experiencing a slump.
Barcelona, Arsenal, Manchester United are among some of the clubs that have struggled, recent years, to rewrite their glory days.
What are their common mistakes what can they do to get back to their best?
Excellent and interesting as usual.
United had a balanced formation at the start of the season and started with a bang. Then they signed Ronaldo and had to wedge him into the starting 11 which unbalanced Fernandes as the playmaker, Cavani as forward, etc and afterwards everything fell apart.
It’s funny that all the pundits are now saying Liverpool could challenge for the PL title. That’s not what they were saying at the beginning of the season and I was beginning to think I had false memories of their previous predictions
Some of the pundits on BT sport drive me mad, they always demolish goalkeepers for the slightest mistakes, constantly get player names wrong and hardly know any background on the teams that are playing.But, what really annoys me, is they flip flop at which team they are going to back, depending on who is winning at the time.
I’ll never understand Alfie’s issue with bookies
Roy Keane and Gary Neville both said they didn't think man Utd would win the league this season and that the other 3 where we'll ahead
Gary Neville said that United needed a player like Kane to come in before they signed Ronaldo, then changed his tune again after Ronaldo was signed
You make that seem like its not a reasonable thought. Like why would you get Ronaldo and then another expensive striker? Hateing for hating sake eh?
@@bri1085 Gary Neville is a decent pundit, but he loses his mind when he talks about utd
@@anubhav111196 and Liverpool. Neville is very articulate he's very good at etting a point across, but a lot of the stuff he spouts is actually nonsense.
HITCSevens, please do a video about the best XI in the Premier League since 1992 in each position e.g Schmeichel, Cech in goal, Neville, Azpilicueta, Walker at right back. It would be brilliant.
I agree with this video, I myself thought the addition of Varane was big and considering they finished 2nd last season, I thought Man U were decent value at 9/1.
Im a united fan, I was worried about the balance of the team, And was proven right, None of use really thought we would be chasing the premier league, Simply because of the midfield
What about the manager not being good enough. Ole was clearly not a top level manager in the world game
@@simplyballing1592 He was fine last season getting us to second, I liked the man, He just struggled progressing from a counter attacking game to a posssession one, But its the players workrate that dropped, But he should be given credit for enhancing the scientific dept / scouting and academy which had been damaged under jose's reign
My dad as a diehard Manchester United fan and he hates Maguire thinking he is “absolutely shit” (myself a Juventus fan, well Liverpool was my first love back in 85/86 who I still support as I’m English but Juventus are my true love supporting them since 91)
All this does is make me yearn for the days of Alan Hansen as Match of The Day analyst. Even in one of his more tired "passing, power, pace" schticks it was always infinitely better. The problem right now is that these ex-players don't let go of their bias/club loyalty and it makes watching the games a chore if you were to be a neutral. Sky is banking on people who support both clubs, they don't care for the odd neutral. That's why the marketability of the Premier League is great because if one has had enough, don't worry lad, you'll be replaced.
United finished 2nd in the league last season, that and the new signings gave fans and pundits the idea that they'd be challenging for the title. That idea was driven by A) typical fan optimism, and/or B) ignorance. Anyone unbiased nor ignorant could see that Liverpool were going to come back stronger this season and that Chelsea were a new side with Tuchel at the helm, not to mention 'smaller' sides improving such as West Ham. If you think that's coming from hindsight then just consider which club Ronaldo's first choice of transfer.
Great and balanced video as always. Breath of fresh air compared to a lot of football sensationalist drivel published every second.
I'll preface this comment by saying it was time for Ole to leave, especially when the club actually had an actual alternative other than Poch.
Thank you for backing Ole's skills as a manager, and actually recognising his achievements at Man Utd.
Isn't punditry just a glorified commentary? Not sure if I have understood that correctly, though.
Besides, still love the consistency of Eddie Howe pun.
I'm definitely not the only one who rewinds to see Eddie Howe when I hear Anyhow
The problem with United, and I say this as a United fan myself is that we could have played brilliantly this season and still come third.
Even if they were intending to challenge, they were still clearly at least 2 or 3 seasons from actually being a serious contender.
Day 1 of asking Alfie to do a video on social media’s ever strengthening grip and influence on football, as well as certain big name players buying parts of rating app/statistics companies and having their statistics embellished. Such as the case with Cristiano Ronaldo’s brand deal with Livescore and their penchant to publish fake statistics to embellish his image.
I thought the exact same thing. They got second and objectively upgraded, so the thought they suddenly wouldnt be even be close ti winning the PL made no sense to me. City didnt do anything in the transfer period and sure Chelsea got significantly better, but still it would be logical to say they would do better than last year
I think most people considered United in the race for the title but no sane person other than Utd fans actually expected them to win it
Day 297: Ways to fix VAR with your suggestions