hope to see vdb and cavani play

and yeah our defenders look better when they are properly shielded. calling them all s*** is knee jerk.

last year maguire played every game and we only conceded 3 more goals than liverpool in the league, so why is he made out to be diabolical now? Come on, the manager has to get the balance right and protect the back 4. any defence that is constantly exposed will concede goals.

Maguire belongs in Leicester

a good player that a good coach can utilise well. he isnt worth 80 million but thats not his fault we paid that much.

They conceided 12 goals, which is almost the most in the PL thus far. They're currently standing 16th. There's plenty of reason to look at the defence, because they are absolutely awful. How is that Oles fault? You want him to play 3 defensive midfielders like a relegation candidate? The entire midfield has to cover for them. Build up? Give Fred or Fernandes the ball because nobody in the back four is able to pass an easy ball forward. Mark a striker? Just add a another defensive midfielder because marking isn't the job of a defender.

Honestly, how does Ole needs to project the backline even more according to you? Maybe I'm a little harsh, but this mediocrity is killing me.

can you explain to me how the defence only conceded 3 more goals than Liverpool last season then? its the same players.

Good performances of De Gea? Midfield doing a decent job covering their ass? Better performance of the defence? Playing multiple games with 5 defenders? Teams performing bad after the Covid break while United got the flow going? Are we seriously bigging up a backline which ended 3rd 15 points behind City and 33 behind Liverpool. And that doesn't even excuse their defending for this season.

good performances from de gea? Lol

yes we kept more clean sheets when matic played. thats one reason. but every team usually has a dm that helps to balance the team and help the defence.

we didnt play that many games in a 5

im not bigging anything up. but there is evidence that these defenders can produce good performances and clean sheets when the team is balanced.

you defend and attack as a team. why are people just looking at the defenders when it comes to conceding goals?

We currently have two controlling midfielders and it still isnt balanced enough. To me it has nothing to do with balance. The match against PSG showed Ole is able to cover that when the defence is doing its job and everybody gives everything. But we cant ignore these personal mistakes in the back four. Why shouldnt we mention that?

I agree youre defending and attacking as a team so Im not blaming them for every goal. But when youre looking at the build up, the pressing (which the backline should coach or decide not to do when not confident enough) and the marking it's looking really poor. I mean I'm not getting mad at Rashford for the fact Wan-Bissaka loses the ball a lot of the time, that doesnt make sense. You could say the frontline is static, but a team like Manchester should be able to do better when it comes to build up and pressing.

The pressing from the front and the midfield is also a problem. thats a coaching issue. which again brings me to the fact that the team as a whole has to defend better. no one said these defenders are world class but we have kept clean sheets before so they are definitely not f***ing s***.

like I said, its impossible to only concede 3 more goals than Liverpool last season if they really are that bad. It is not like we are an ultra defensive team that constantly shields the defence either.

I hope Ole and Pogba have had a chat and can move forward together.

Pogba needs to start if we have any shot of top 4 / champions league run.

Same goes for Greenwood.

Depends really

If he's not going to try then he's not worth starting. Benching him might motivate him

We need to start playing VDB somewhere, I still don't know what he can do lmao

anybody here play fm? I just had craziest thing occur in fm20:

20-21 season...tottenham got relegated. no chicanery on my part - they were terrible till February, sacked Mourinho, brought in Ancelotti from Everton and he did even worse. they finished 18th relegated on last day of season.

bizarre. kane/son got picked off for relatively cheap afterwards.

bruno, pogba, vdb can't play together. you can probably shoehorn vdb into the mid bc he is more industrious than pogba and bruno but a midfield of those 3 together on a consistent basis isn't going to work.

this might work on paper but we would have to see.

They had Kane and Son and still got relegated?

Yep. Mourinho went in the worst possible way. Never seen it before. With Chelsea when he got sacked the second time actually - I think he had them in like 15th through September or something I guess would be the closest thing in real life.

Intrigued to watch dayot up close today...

Thats amazing. Live for those random fm calamities.

Had a similar-ish one in my save (albeit not as bad). Roma in 2022-23, having won the title two seasons earlier, were 20th at Christmas. But a change of manager managed to rescue them to 16th by the end.

Gaz is really great on tv very well spoken

Jamie on the other hand.....

vdb starting, bruno on the bench

guess it makes sense to give him first break of season today - be rested for arsenal on weekend.

same with telles. pogba has no excuses tonight. he's playing in his comfortable role. i expect some good things