We give up such baby**** soft goals.

Didn't see the first half. What I've seen in the second half has been quite discouraging.

This is two games and I honestly have no idea what the strategic game plan is. There is no shape and no structure at all. Whatever Mount is supposed to be doing he either isn't doing it or can't do it.

ETH can say "we want to be the best counter attacking team in the world" but we are miles from doing that.

Bissouma for 30MM looking like the steal of the century today

Shaw is literally playing as CAM. That speaks volumes.

Lets start Garnacho when Ronaldo at his age was coming off the bench. Erik needs to start Sancho.

Play Sancho as false 9 and move Rashford back to the left. Give Pellistri a shot at RW over Antony.

It took me awhile. But as long as the Glazers own the club, we won't win again and nothing will truly change. No point in getting to worked up just like Aggie sports.

Possible deal with Palace for Dean Henderson. Would be nice.

Manchester United are exploring the market for new second goalkeeper — with 2/3 names being considered. 🔴 #MUFC

Dean Henderson, still expected to leave with Crystal Palace now interested to replace Guaita. pic.twitter.com/djOAFSKHOd

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 20, 2023

Per Fabrizio, Mason Greenwood will no longer play for Manchester United. Future outside the club.

🚨 BREAKING: Mason Greenwood will NO longer play for Manchester United.

United and Greenwood have mutually agreed that his future will be away from Manchester United following the conclusion of the club's internal investigation. pic.twitter.com/K2Tg65e2tk

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 21, 2023

So it is interesting, the leaks we saw last week, were they trial balloons sent out to gauge response? Were they true leaks that changed the opinion of Richard Arnold? Was it as Arnold says in his letter, one of the contingencies they were planning for (this option does not pass the smell test in any way to me)?

It is interesting that the club has determined, per their investigation, that Greenwood did not commit the alleged acts, yet are still parting ways. This is a way the club can avoid any claims by Greenwood that they harmed his career: "We paid out your contract, we cleared your name, now go forth and play soccer wherever you would like."

It was definitely the best way forward. Greenwood needs to go to the Saudi league or Turkish league, somewhere that will not be too concerned with his past, and United could never afford to bring him back.

I don't particularly like how the last week went, would have rather we got the statements we got today before the leak/trial balloon of last week. But I think this is the right resolution and the right path forward for all.

Overall this was really the only feasible outcome in the long term for the club and Greenwood. Now we can get back to focusing on:

Hating the Glazers a tiny bit more every day that they drag us into mediocrity
Continuing to offload dead weight from the roster
Improving our scouting/incoming transfers
Debating if Ten Hag is the real bald fraud
Daily Maguire bashing (he sucks, lol)

And most importantly:
Playing better football

Yeah I'm not sure how to take the club's statement that he didn't do it beyond trying to avoid liability of saying he did it. If he actually didn't do it, like if he and his partner are into really weird stuff and were roleplaying, and she got really mad at him over something and released stuff on the internet, then you get him to give you permission to say that, you weather that storm and you move on. You release him without substantive explanation if you think he either did it or pretty much did it. But then that would be inconsistent with what they've done up until now.

Or Richard Arnold thought he could sell a redemption arc story up until the past week, figured out he misread the room, and did this instead. And I'm not trying to be flippant, but that's the simplest explanation I have right now.

The fact that Arnold brought up the girl's family and let us know that United included them as part of the process is really curious. Definitely gives credibility to the club position that Greenwood didn't do it. If they are wrong in their assertion then the family would now be in a position to really do damage to the team. The mom or dad coming out and saying "we don't know what Arnold was talking about, we think he did it and we shared that with the club" would be a real dagger for United, so they must be pretty sure that the facts support his innocence.

IF I were guessing on last week, I would guess the club concluded their investigation, determined he was innocent, and were going to bring him back, until they realized the public opinion against it. Whether it was an intentional trial balloon or a leak I am not sure, but that seems like the most likely scenario.

honestly, it no longer matters. United definitely did another horrible job handling the situation. that's really what matters. the Glazers are terrible owners, and we will always be a former glory until they are gone.

Me too. Appreciate that.

I think I'll largely echo what most have said. One thing that I would ask Arnold after reading his statement is what acts does he think Greenwood was being "charged" with? Because if he literally means charged with as in a court of law then he's entirely missed the point. And if he means charged with as in by society then he clearly misread what has bothered most especially as he goes onto say that Mason has admitted that he made mistakes.

My takeaway from this is that they never really understood what many people were objecting against, felt confident that they could prove he didn't actually do the things that people were offended by so started to develop a plan to bring him back, and then realized last minute that the thing they were trying to prove didn't happen was actually irrelevant and that they had been trying to disprove the wrong thing. And then, and only then, they kind of sort of started to understand what people actually were offended by and decided to just bail because it wasn't worth the trouble anymore.

And I absolutely agree that this was all a show to see how their decision would play out and give them the option to bail if they didn't Iike the blow back. There's no doubt in my mind that's not what happened. It is entirely too coincidental that their 7 month "investigation" concluded a week after the Athletic report came out. It it not believable to me that the investigation as he describes it should take a full 7 months. And given the utter ineptitude in how this club has been run…with poor, misguided leadership that values commercial interests and nothing else, the much more believable conclusion is that they half assed a weak as hell "investigation" that they did not push because they did not want to. They didn't want to nor were able to show strong leadership and resolve the issue in a timely manner. They ignored it and eventually came to a conclusion that they wanted to get to. But even then, they didn't have the guts to actually make a decision and only did so once their decision was known and they could redo and plauibly came that it was their decision all along.

I'm glad MG will no longer be a United player. I'm glad I can watch them and not feel complete shame. But it's the fans and staff that objected with loud enough voices that led to this outcome, not the club leadership, and that's a somewhat satisfying but also depressing thing. The stewards of the club, and relatively new ones at that, continue to prove to be inept in actually leading the club in the proper way.

Thunder18 said:

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Now we can get back to focusing on:

Daily Maguire bashing (he sucks, lol)

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Just because I thought it was funny, Everton accepted a Saudi bid for Demarai (sp?) Grey and no one apparently really knows whether he'd have interest or not. They haven't tried to take Maguire (as far as we know).

* The Saudis like big names. He's the former captain of Manchester United
* Everyone knows we would take 30M
* The problem is his wages, and they pay stupid wages that make our stupid wages appear not so stupid
* Southgate said playing for Saudi would not stop him from picking Jordan Henderson

And… they haven't come sniffing around Maguire at all. Can a Saudi club please give Ole a job? Please? Save the fridge! Lol. (I joke, but… seriously please?)

* Southgate said playing for Saudi would not stop him from picking Jordan Henderson

I think Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham plus the fact that Hendo is now Slow-o make that a moot point.

texagbeliever said:

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* Southgate said playing for Saudi would not stop him from picking Jordan Henderson

I think Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham plus the fact that Hendo is now Slow-o make that a moot point.

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you're not wrong on Hendo. but, Rice is pretty damned slow. he is just really skilled in most other ways.

Who can predict on Southgate. Maguire has been starting CB and he can outrun a turtle. Well… the old ones anyway. My point was that Southgate says he may pick from Saudi club players, and the way it looks right now Maguire might play for United if Varane and Lindelof had to have their legs amputated. And it would still depend on whether Malacia was healthy enough that he could move Shaw over. You would think minutes in Saudi would at least be better than not even making the bench at United.

In all seriousness, I can't tell what Maguire wants. Allegedly United did offer him 6M. That's basically 60k per week for the last two years of his contract. Sign a 3+ year deal at West Ham and you are ahead. I don't know how much he thinks he will make as a 32 year old player that has barely seen the pitch in two years, but it won't be a lot.

Now reports saying Mount may be out 4-6 weeks with a hamstring injury...not an ideal situation. It's obviously far too early and I honestly hope MM and EtH prove doubters like me wrong, but I am still confused about why he was our first transfer target this window and what his long term role with the team will be from a tactical standpoint.

ETH is taking a big swing. The kind of swing that he probably feels he can take after last season's relative success.

He clearly has a way he wants to play. And last season he didn't play it. He tried it for 2 games but the team was nowhere close to able to fulfill it so he had to abandon it. He made a pragmatic decision to change course...and it worked for the most part.

I doubt he changes course so quickly this season. He knows his players need time to hone his tactical vision. He'll give them that time if he sees enough positives in the performances in steady improvement. And thus far, it sounds like he does see it even if everyone else is wondering what is going on. My guess is that as long as sees improvement and the team cobbles together enough points to stay within reach of the top 4, he won't abandon his tactical vision. If even one of those things doesn't happen, he'll likely be forced into some pragmatic changes by Sept/Oct. He's won some good faith but if say, this team is mid-table at the beginning of October, that good faith will have evaporated.

The Mount injury probably does change things a bit though. The most obvious replacement for Mount is Eriksen and he can't do what ETH was asking Mount to do. It's a non-starter. We might see some tactical adjustments this week that cause the team to look tactically similar to last season which might induce some short term improvement. But, I doubt that ETH is tearing up his tactical vision...it will likely only be shelved for a bit.

Shaw apparently has a muscle injury...so in.addition to Malacia being out and Williams going on loan it looks like we'll be seeing Dalot or maybe Alvaro Fernandez at LB? Maybe we try to play a back 3 and put McT in midfield?

Dalot played there last year when Shaw and Malacia were not available. My guess is that's what happens again although I personally wouldn't mind seeing Fernandez given a go against Forest. Doubt it happens though.

I'm sure Dalot will be used for the most part, would be good to blood Fernandez or maybe even Marc Jurado against Forrest

As expected Dalot for Shaw at LB. Eriksen in for Mount and Rashford pushed wide left with Martial up top. I wonder how long he can go?

Good lord. Down 1-0 at 1:40. What horrific play on that corner and counter.

Down 2-0

2-0 at 3:50. Set piece header. The defenders just stood there. You couldn't open any worse if you tried.

ETH wants to play counter offensive ball. You can't do that down 2-0 and the other team bunkering all 11 men deep. We are about to find out the mental make up of this squad right now. In particular if Bruno is going to wear that armband can he do anything besides pout. Someone needs to take charge.

2-1 17'. Rashford on the hard drive to the touchline, cross and Eriksen is right there to drive it in near post. That was nice and a good response. Now we look like a team wanting to play.

Casemiro just missed an open net from 3 feet out.

Mathguy64 said:

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Casemiro just missed an open net from 3 feet out.

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Casemiro's first few games have me a bit worried. His legs don't look there.