Carrick

[JoelfuckingGlazer]

It's amazing what a decent run of form and performances can do to shift the outlook. All of a sudden, the changes we've made behind the scenes do look credible and recruitment performance looks much, much better. Look at who we've signed under INEOS:

Yoro - still a work in progress but has a high ceiling, very young and his value is protected.
Ugarte - flop, but only 25 so we have decent chance of recouping 30m of the 45m we paid.
Zirkzee - flop, but we'll get our money back
Dorgu - hit and only going up in value
Mazraoui and De Ligt, hits for what we paid
Heaven - a steal at 1m
Lammens - hit, only going up in value
Cunha - hit
Mbuemo - hit
Sesko - similar to Yoro.

Even the flops haven't been disasters financially and the hit rate is good.

I follow that Muppetier guy. I'm 50/50 on how he sees players and the game but he's clearly got a senior contact in with INEOS, and his commentary on what's going on with the running of the club is well informed. Apparently the plan for last summer was always to fundamentally fix the forward line which we did. Plan for this summer is to do the same with the midfield and then summer 27 will be a case of the same for the defence (by which time we'll need at least a full back and centre back). Makes a lot of sense as an approach and the target price range is 40-60m for bigger signings, with anything higher than that having to have as low a risk profile as possible. So, while we may be in for Anderson in the summer, any second midfielder would have to be at a lower price and he's name checked some interesting targets we're scouting.

So all of a sudden you can see a pathway whereby if we get the manager call right, and we have a solid summer of the right 3-4 signings we could be in the title mix next season, and have a very good chance of that being the case the following year.

Our biggest problem with any sense of rebuild has always been recruitment being shit. That seems to have been sorted now.

[dozer]

Carrick will be making Ratcliffe, the board and Berrada rethink the massive rebuild we apparently need. Going with a highly sought after technical coach and believing his bullshit about needing to suffer, possibly needing to be relegated, and not being able to play half decent football because the tools he was working with were so shit - only for the Boro manager to show him how good this squad can be, changes everything (providing we don't tank from here on in).

Amorim being shit and a cunt, and Carrick going back to basics and just getting what United is cos he learned under Fergie, has given us all a much clearer idea of how United are meant to play football.

Tbf we're probably also seeing the impact of the new expertise Ineos have employed. They've literally changed everything behind the scenes; processes, personel - the lot. So the open heart surgery has taken place and maybe we're seeing the benefit now. I certainly think the quality of signings has improved despite being broke and despite being shit.

Yep. Technical and tactical geniuses are basically frauds. Ole had to suffer being called a "PE teacher" by the fans because of this misconception. Why does Pep need to buy so many players - he's still doing relatively poorly. He'll fix that by buying a lot more in the summer, not by being a tactical genius. He's a great manager because he knows this while other managers think the sun shines out of their arse.

Just hire people who are strict in enforcing discipline, who don't smell their own farts and are good at identifying new players. By people I mean the manager, ceo and club directors. Defining squad discipline should be a club policy, rather than a manager peddling his own beliefs - this way there are less chances of players falling out with managers.

[Felwin]

It's amazing what a decent run of form and performances can do to shift the outlook. All of a sudden, the changes we've made behind the scenes do look credible and recruitment performance looks much, much better. Look at who we've signed under INEOS:

Yoro - still a work in progress but has a high ceiling, very young and his value is protected.
Ugarte - flop, but only 25 so we have decent chance of recouping 30m of the 45m we paid.
Zirkzee - flop, but we'll get our money back
Dorgu - hit and only going up in value
Mazraoui and De Ligt, hits for what we paid
Heaven - a steal at 1m
Lammens - hit, only going up in value
Cunha - hit
Mbuemo - hit
Sesko - similar to Yoro.

Even the flops haven't been disasters financially and the hit rate is good.

I follow that Muppetier guy. I'm 50/50 on how he sees players and the game but he's clearly got a senior contact in with INEOS, and his commentary on what's going on with the running of the club is well informed. Apparently the plan for last summer was always to fundamentally fix the forward line which we did. Plan for this summer is to do the same with the midfield and then summer 27 will be a case of the same for the defence (by which time we'll need at least a full back and centre back). Makes a lot of sense as an approach and the target price range is 40-60m for bigger signings, with anything higher than that having to have as low a risk profile as possible. So, while we may be in for Anderson in the summer, any second midfielder would have to be at a lower price and he's name checked some interesting targets we're scouting.

So all of a sudden you can see a pathway whereby if we get the manager call right, and we have a solid summer of the right 3-4 signings we could be in the title mix next season, and have a very good chance of that being the case the following year.

Our biggest problem with any sense of rebuild has always been recruitment being shit. That seems to have been sorted now.

Loving the positivity.

Made almost the exact same assessments of the signings myself before we turned our season around, but got into fisticuffs with Dozey about it. It's a world away from chasing bombastic signings that agents are peddling around. The more we fell for those players, the more smart the agents got at marketing the next one to us too. If nothing at all, we've broken that cycle.

Important to add to the strategy is how the first summer was focused on market opportunities. Yoro, Zirkzee, De Ligt, Mazraoui and Ugarte were all atypical signings for us. Yoro the bright young thing who should only increase in value, activated the release clause on Zirkzee as it was deemed to be under market value, De Ligt and Mazraoui have been excellent squad additions for the price, Ugarte was a highly rated DM who was available for the price PSG signed him for. The oldest was maybe Mazroaui who was 25-26 when we signed him, so their ages were all good too.

As for the midfield strategy this coming summer, CL football + finishing above Liverpool (and maybe even City at a stretch) will put us in the best position to attract Anderson/Baleba. As with Semenyo, there will be more lucrative offers out there for them both, I'm sure. But if Baleba's head has really been turned, then we might be in a good position there and IMO we need to push the boat out for Anderson as he just reeks of a traditional United signing. 23/24 years old, lighting up the league whilst playing for a traditionally smaller club? Snap him up.

[Jason]

Tuchel, widely tipped for utd has signed 2 year extension. So rules him out of convention.

[dozer]

Tuchel, widely tipped for utd has signed 2 year extension. So rules him out of convention.

Thank God. I think we interviewed him before the Amorim signing so I didn't expect this move to happen. If they saw issues with him before and hired an unknown manager instead, why would Ineos hire him now?

[Felwin]

Tuchel, widely tipped for utd has signed 2 year extension. So rules him out of convention.

Thank God. I think we interviewed him before the Amorim signing so I didn't expect this move to happen. If they saw issues with him before and hired an unknown manager instead, why would Ineos hire him now?

Agreed. Dodged a bullet there. He's a miserable, abrasive, defensive coach. No thanks.

[nineteenninetynine]

I couldn’t care less about England as a national team but has he managed England in a proper game yet? He’s likely walked a qualifying stage that they should be walking but to give him an extension without a World Cup or Euros is a bold move.

[JoelfuckingGlazer]

Yeah i wasn't hot on Tuchel.

But who's really in the pool? Especially if they want PL experience. It's slim pickings.

[swampash]

If he lands CL football Carrick will probably get the nod...assuming he wants it.

[JoelfuckingGlazer]

Our xG for conceded goals under Carrick:

• City — 0.35
• Arsenal — 0.42
• Fulham — 0.39
• Spurs — 0.49
• West Ham — 1.11
• Everton — 0.28
• Crystal Palace — 0.35

We're much more organised. The key question when we consider Carrick as a permanent option, is whether he can move us into being a more expansive and effective side in games against lower block teams. His remit as interim is clearly to simplify things, improve the sense of spirit in the team and connection with fans and get what he can, out of what he has. A sound brief, and its working, but the permanent role demands more - we need to evolve beyond our current limits if we're going to compete for big titles. And in fairness the squad still needs work for us to be able to do that too.