Fixing Utd is easy - but it's not going to be a quick process.
You need to get them set up like the likes of Brighton, have a philosophy of how they play & identity. Have an entire culture.
Manager wise they need someone like Ancelotti, someone who can deal with the players they have. Not a Ten-Hag or the like with their own philosiphy of how they should play.That takes time & growth.
I wonder if he’ll change the formation to 4-3-3, or similar?
Think it's more fundamental than that. Seems obvious to me that the players don't respect Amorim and refuse to do what he's instructing them to do. They think they know better basically. That may well be true but even in a 4-3-3 they'd be expected to play specific roles and put 100% effort in and I don't see them doing that for Amorim even if he changed the system.
They think they know better basically
Very much this. The players are doing what they’ve done with every other manager. They’ve downed tools like a bunch of 1970’s union reps and now they’ll just sit it out until Amorim is sacked and the next sacrificial mug is brought in. Then the whole depressing merry-go-round starts again
If Ipswich hadn't got knocked out by Bromley I'd be laughing
Looks like they have just completed their sticker book of the Albion back line with the signing of Furlong 😂
They think they know better basically
Very much this. The players are doing what they’ve done with every other manager. They’ve downed tools like a bunch of 1970’s union reps and now they’ll just sit it out until Amorim is sacked and the next sacrificial mug is brought in. Then the whole depressing merry-go-round starts again
See, that i just don't understand, you've had 4-5 different sets of players and you're telling that EVERY one of the 50+ players has downed tools for the 4-5 different managers ? I can't see how or why that would ever be. Players want to play and to win surely, irrespective of who's manager, who's owners, who's, well, whoever.
anyone see the interview with the grimsby manager afterwards? what a breath of fresh air to hear a manager talk that way about motivating his team and how to bring them all on instead of the usual inane garbage about a game of two halves, we go again saturday etc. with a personality like that he should go far.
There's an amusing analysis in the Grauniad. I don't understand any of it but it reminded me of some 70's NME article about an obscure band.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/aug/28/ruben-amorim-manchester-united-grimsby
The jungle devours. The vines reclaim. The river always wins. The terrain is unfathomably hostile and every bright new thing must ultimately be strangled. Even the idea of imposing discipline and order on this rampant chaos feels like arch futility, a kind of category madness. Yet perhaps the futility is the point, a silken sporting vision to set against United’s hard corporate edges, a blanket of hallucinations that feels more real than the real. This is his mountain, his jungle, his steamship. And no opera house ever built itself.
Players want to play and to win surely
They do. But if they have a manager they don't respect and don't like they're not going to play for him. I don't know much about Amorim or Ten Hag before him but it's clear that for whatever reason the players didn't buy into what they were/are doing. They are both ideologues who have a 'my way or the highway' approach along with disciplinarian methods to enforce it. Contrast that to the approaches of other managers who have a much more flexible and collective approach and you can see why Man U struggle while other teams prosper. Do you see Eddie Howe, Slot or Arteta (left Guardiola out as he's a different case) banging on about their 'process' and how the players need to accept it? No, they talk about building teams around the players capabilities and always talk about 'the group' and the collective approach. Also they're bloody good coaches who can teach the players stuff that makes them better, I've never had the impression that Ten Hag or Amorim can do that.
Afternoon. I'd love to poke a bit of fun at Utd but as a Spurs fan I feel it will be a short lived moment of joy. Then again....... hahaha 😆 enjoy those short moments I guess.
I'm a bit baffled why Levy hasn't tried to go for mainoo or garnacho. We've gone for pretty much every other option!
At least we now know it wasn't Mavis the tea lady's
Any accountants on this thread?
I understand how amortisation works, but how does it actually affect the accounts?
You buy a player for £50m on a 5 year contract. Obviously his value depreciates by £10m each year. After a year you sell him for £45m. Is this £5m 'profit' reflected in that years P&L? If so, how do you deal with the outstanding depreciation. is it spread across the remaining 4 years (£10m depreciation on an asset you don't have along with +£11.25m per year in the bank.) To me the simplest way is for the palyer to have cost £10m in year one followed by a £5m profit in year two, but I get the feeling it in't quite as simple as that.
I thought it was you buy a player for 50 mill, that is amortised at 10 mill a season even if you sell him, that "amortised" 10 mill per season still continues, but when you sell him that is money into the accounts for the season he is sold.
I think there are about 130 different methods. 😉
RM.
This is not the 1st time an overseas manager has underestimated the English lower leagues.
The English football pyramid is probably the strongest in the World.
The 2nd division in Portugal gets similar attendances to our 4th division (League 2).
He thought he would just turn up and win by 5 or 6. He probably thought they were part timers, just like every other European 4th division.
In the post match interview, he didn't even seem to know the name of the team they had just been beaten by.
One of the methods is having the rules written in your favour, but manu still **** it up even with that advantage.
Players want to play and to win surely
Did you see the match last night? Have you watched United over the last couple of seasons?
if they really put a shift in and still lost, you could live with it. But last night was typical United. Swanning around looking like they really just couldn’t be arsed, even when they’re 2-0 (should have been 3-0) down against a side three divisions below them.
There’s obviously a dressing room culture at the club where the players seem to accept embarrassing, pitiful displays like last night (and the whole of last season) with a shrug. Nobody cares.
There are no leaders in the dressing room, no discipline, no standards, absolutely no desire to win whatsoever, as ultimately they know the manager will be the one sacked and they’ll just see out their vastly overpaid contracts, regardless of results. They know the owners will just line the next idiot up for more of the same
And now breathe binners, breathe
I know. I know. I said I was going to try and consciously uncouple from it all this season and try not to care any more
It doesn’t work like that though, does it? 😩
I'm reading Garnacho to Chelsea deal is struck. If that's so then maybe that means Chelsea aren't interested in Xavi Simons any longer..... I'm sure Levy can still find a way to get gazumped on that deal.
If that's so then maybe that means Chelsea aren't interested in Xavi Simons any longer....
As I understand it Chelsea wanted both players & getting one didn't preclude getting the other. It's more dependent on outgoings (presumably Jackson) & Simons has agreed everything with Chelsea although who knows how these transfers actually work in the end.
Getting a new manager won't solve the issues, so we're sticking with Noel Hunt.
Chelsea in 'get everyone!' Shocker. No surprise there. How they comply with sustainability rules i can't fathom....conor Gallagher funds Simons, garnacho, and, and, and, and?!
How they comply with sustainability rules i can't fathom
Expensive & creative accountants. Also, they sell a lot of players.
Just looking at Spurs CL draw. It isn't fixed is it ..PSG again, bodo again, dortmund again again again. Should we progress i predict Milan in the next phase
The sell the ladies team to themselves on a future “this will be what it’s worth when the ladies games grows at 2000% in the next 5 years”!!!!
@DrJ - that article was mostly indecipherable cobblers, but this summary was on the money. A theatre of the absurd indeed…
Who do you pity most, Solskaer, ETH or Amorim?
I thought Everton were similarly down the swanny this time last year but we got Moyes back in first, ha.
2nd season I still don't understand this Champions league - there's a big league, but not everyone plays everyone, & the teams you do play, you play once, either at home or away?
It's confusing & I hate the format, it makes no footballing sense.
It’ll no doubt make financial sense, isn’t making lots of money the point?
2nd season I still don't understand this Champions league - there's a big league, but not everyone plays everyone, & the teams you do play, you play once, either at home or away?
It's confusing & I hate the format, it makes no footballing sense.
Stepping stone to a European Super League
So the toon are about to sign the German Peter Crouch. Given Monday nights direct approach against Liverpool I reckon Eddie Howe is bringing route one football back to the Premier League. 😳
I watched some of the recent U21 Euros and was quite impressed by him. Like the aforementioned Peter Crouch he was surprisingly good with his feet.
I understand from sources however that there are still some contractual issues to sort out, specifically Medium-sized Dan Burn isn't overly happy at losing the rights to the Big tag.
I know the Isak situation has been done to death and people have valid reasons for considering Newcastles POV and sitting the guy on the bench for the next 3 years to rot.
But i havent seen much mention of the benefits to newcastle in the long term for selling him in relation to PSR. I dont know the exact calculations but from what i have read profits on players dont just release X for X amounts. Ie sell him for £100m profit, i believe translates to something like £400m in PSR leeway. Surely this is a huge benefit to a cash rich club in their accounting. Isnt this how Chelski took advantage and why they closed the 7 year loophole?
So Newcastle sell him for £100m profit. This £100m allows them to buy 4 £100m players with amortisation over 4/5 year contracts at £25m per annum.
Happy to be corrected as i have no ball in the game but i thought this was quite a big incentive to a club who are struggling to invest money they already have.
Happy to be corrected as i have no ball in the game but i thought this was quite a big incentive to a club who are struggling to invest money they already have.
The biggest incentive is getting rid of petulant dickhead who thinks he's bigger than the club. It's clear from his latest comments that Howe has washed his hands of him and he won't want him hanging round like a bad smell. He'll be sold by Monday, it's just a question of how much. For my money I just hope they force him to forego any loyalty bonuses in return for a lower transfer fee. The thought of him walking away with a percentage of the transfer fee as reward for his 'loyalty' turns my stomach.
Seems Xabi Simmons is signed for Spurs..... although no photo holding the shirt and shaking hands with Frank yet so I'm not sure i believe it.
3+ days to go..... Levy loves late deals.... will we see more through the doors yet?
We have an issue with a real lack of home grown players though, which will restrict the size of our CL squad by about 3 spots it seems.
@PrinceJohn yes a bid weird but, everyone plays 2 teams from each pot (seeding), one home and one away. So everyone plays a pot A team at home, a pot A team away, a pot B team at home, a pot B team away, a pot C team at home, a pot C team away, a pot D team at home, a pot D team away.
The motivation to use it (after money) was to in increase the apparent number of top team (pot A) clashes.
It means that your team's pot/seeding/uefa coefficient is much important than it was under the old system. Spurs crept into pot B i think, just, but that really makes no difference, we still play 2 teams from pot A, 2 from pot B, C, and D.
Top 8 in the final league straight to round of 16. 9 to 16 play off for a chance to reach the round of 16. 17 points upwards is likely top 8. So 5 wins, 2 draws and only one loss is the aim.
Yeah not buying it - the beauty of football is it's simplicity - the Champions league has become anything but. The only good thing about this format is that it stopped the ridiculous farce of teams knocked out getting to play in the UEFA cup (or whatever it is called now)
The only good thing about this format is that it stopped the ridiculous farce of teams knocked out getting to play in the UEFA cup (or whatever it is called now)
That's going to come as news to the twin powerhouses of Scottish football, defeated by those monsters of European football, Brugge, and Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan
Wow that Leeds Newcastle game has left me wishing I'd watched Michael McIntyre's Big Show.
I was a bit worried that following our relegation last season, Shrewsbury Town had decided to take inspiration from our overachieving neighbours and go for our own, special, version of Back To Back.
Fortunately, as we thrashed Accrington Stanley 0-0 at home today, we now have 2 points from the first six games and aren't even bottom of the league any more. Thr future's bright!
Wow that Leeds Newcastle game has left me wishing I'd watched Michael McIntyre's Big Show.
😆
Yep neither team was much good up front today but TBH I'm happy with 4 points after 3 games. Clean sheets a bonus after the Arsenal/Wednesday games.
Don't think many people would have had man utd above man city at this stage of the season
Much better from West Ham today. Forest fell apart at the end.
What a free kick from Szoboszlai.
