Do you think Manchester United players are ‘downing tools’?

23 comments

1. He had them playing great football last year, I don’t think they’re playing to get Ten Hag sacked

2. No, I don’t think many of them have the tools in the first place, though

3. No but lets be honest a lot of them are not good enough be be starters..Maguire, Dalot, Wan Bisaaka, Antony, Evans etc good squad options but they shouldn’t be starting..

4. In general.. no. I think most players respect the manager and believe in what he is trying to do.

   But he came into a squad with a serious amount of deadweight and United’s recruitment/ selling department is a fucking shambles, so we’ve ended up with half-retired ex-Madrid players, panic loans like Weghorst and have spent eye watering amounts on attacking players that were never going to perform to the levels that their price tags would suggest.

   Even so, there’s a core of players there who seem to understand what it’s going to take to turn things around and that ETH is capable of doing it.

   Unfortunately, some players – like Sancho – never even picked up their tools to begin with.

   Other players – like Maguire and Scotty – got a major kick up the hole and have pulled their thumbs out of their arse.

5. Downing tools is a loaded term and I don’t think they’re by any means near open revolt.

   They’re going through a pretty poor run of form which could very well correct itself at some point, it’s just the cycle of boom and bust that Man U have gone through constantly since Fergie left.

   What I’m not sure of is if ETH has the man management skills to address poor morale in the team, obviously just going by impressions but he doesn’t seem to be an arm round the shoulder type at all and as has become a stereotype, modern players don’t react well to the old school, disciplinarian types anymore.

6. No. They were up 2-0 last night and playing comfortably before the red. A lot of the players looked happy and determined as well. So much is being made about Man United and ETH, people just forget they’ve had problems with injuries, there have been controversies about players outside of football, the club decided to give Evans a longer contract when he was initially only brought in for pre season because Maguire couldn’t decide if he wanted to leave or not.

   Does anyone remember how bad Liverpool were a couple seasons ago when they had their own injury crisis? There was a period they lost 6 out of 7 games and 5 of those losses came at home and everyone was just using the excuse of oh there are injuries in the team it’s difficult.

   But when it’s Man United, who finished 3rd last year with this manager, won a cup with this manager and reached another cup final with this manager, all of a sudden it’s the manager who is wrong?

   I know Klopp had more achieved, distinct style of play, good recruitment system, won the league and champions league. But I still think ETH deserves the same treatment. There were some awful moments last season they took some hammerings, I picked reaching the FA Cup final as a highlight but of course losing it wasn’t great but there was enough in that season to suggest he had done a good job.

   Everyone says oh sack the manager but what do they actually think that will achieve?

7. I don’t think so. Yesterday they actually played pretty well until the red card. And they did fight until the last minute. The game before this one, though it was not good, there was also the desire to win. If they wanted Ten Hag sacked, these few games would have been the moment but they’ve been looking better than they did in weeks.

   I think some United players struggle with attitude and bad mentality, but I don’t think they do it on purpose.

8. There is a core of players who seem to have the motivation to do things better. Onana, Fernandes, Rashford, Wan Bissaka, Maguire, Shaw, Martinez, Casemiro seem to care enough to realize that things will turn around if the manager is given time to actually work with the team and get proper support from the management at the club. Even if their levels of talent are highly variable.

   Compare that to the likes of Sancho who seem happy enough to rot in the reserves rather than actually prove that they are worthy of a place in the team.

   There is a lot of deadweight in the squad which is proving hard to shift due to our stupid recruitment policy. Which seems to be emergency loans, overpaying for unproven talent, and giving huge wages and big contracts to players so we cannot sell them when needed.

   There was a video earlier showing how gutted Fernandes was after last nights match. I’m glad I saw it because it shows there is fight there. But turning this around will take a lot more than fight.

9. In my opinion no. Rashford’s purple patch is over, wrong Ten Hag’s signings that may have been great in the Netherlands but are just not good enough for the PL, Madrid fleecing UTD with Varane and Casemiro, injuries and tactics. In my opinion Bruno is the one standing out and I think he and maybe 2 or 3 others are of UTD quality while the rest just aren’t. I would put it down to years of wrong transfers and lack of manager’s tactical ability.

10. Downed tool? Not yet.

    But I do believe they have a weak mentality that easily collapsed if thing doesn’t go their ways in the match.

    Some gets frustrated turn into anger ( Antony , Garnacho ) , some switched their brain off into auto pilot ( Dalot, McT) , some turn into stubborn old mule ( Bruno, Rashford is the type that will attempt the same thing again and again if it doesn’t work the first few times).

    All these collapse in mentality results in lack of focus on the game and forgetting their training / planning.

    ETH , in opposite of Ole, he’s the same type technical manager as Arteta or Pep, requires your brains to be always turned up: where is the ball position on the field? Where are you on the field? Where are your markers? Where are the opponents standing? Which directions to take the ball next, which areas are u supposed to move to next.

    He wants players to be always thinking on their feet, on and off the ball. Too bad he’s only allowed to remind all players to focus once at half time.

    United players need to be trained mentally, they let external stuff affect their focus too easily. Combined this with poor form and unfair ref calls against United every game this season, it spiral further into frustration

11. Team comfortably ahead in an away game in ECL. Debatable red card and team still in control for much of the second half with ten men.

    Making this judgement on the basis of yesterday’s game would be ridiculous.

    But his record across the season isn’t good enough, and actually the team last season were fortuitous to end the season where they did.

12. No, takes like that forget these people are human. You hire a personal trainer that ask you to go diet and train every single day and then however many months later you’re no better and tell me your work rate and effort is the same as day 1. You might want to keep it up, but you simply can’t bring it.

13. I think it’s clear there is a divide and not everyone is 100% in support of ETH. It’s very clear that some players are either distracted or just don’t like Ten Hag’s methods, but play on as they’re paid to do so.

    If I was to select those who I think have stopped trusting or respecting ETH from an outside perspective, I would say Casemiro, Varane, Eriksen, Rashford, Martial have all changed their point of view on the manager and or feel let down by certain decisions made by him. On and off the pitch.

    I would not say for one second that every single player in that club respect Ten Hag and wants to bleed red for him. THAT is very clear. I go to most games and I’ve seen a drastic change in player and manager interaction (I sit close to dug outs) … Things have become quite icy that’s for sure. I don’t think the entire dressing room all have the same mindset right now and thats detrimental

14. No, and that’s a ridiculous suggestion. It’s about application more than effort. If they weren’t trying, they’d not have got 0-2 ip

15. There is an agenda but their also is a mentality issue with the team.
    Pundits can’t wait to repeat the same things each others are saying over and over. Even using the same phases.

16. With regards to the squad – Man Utd needs to remove and find replacements for Bruno, Rashford, Anthony, Shaw, Maguire, Martial & Scott McT. They have zero character, are the most toxic bunch in the whole squad and the prime reason behind Jose getting sacked from the club. They believe themselves to be untouchables. They definitely need some really good players with a great attitude and character.

17. No we’re just shit and have a bunch of mediocre players

18. I would say calling them drowning fools is more accurate

19. No they are just human.

    How would it affect your work if the media was constantly saying you were bad at your job. It happens time and time again, footballers are young men and the constant criticism gets to them.

20. Club is rotten – like a broken freezer. Perfectly good players/manager enter it and it’s just a matter of time before the mould catches them.

    Hojlund looks like the only one unaffected but he will soon turn too – it’s inevitable.

    The freezer needs replacing with a new one. Start from the top of the club.

21. They can do a lot worse than ten hag

22. What I think fans don’t realise and ex players forget is how small the margins are between the best players and teams and crap ones. Small changes in confidence and form can have massive consequences to results.

    Look at Liverpool last year. Over the last few years Liverpool are a team you’d never accuse of ‘downing tools’ one if their biggest strengths was their mentality and fighting spirit. They also had a proven world class manager who the players wouldn’t go against but at times last season they look liked they’d forgotten how to pass the ball 5 yards. The reason was they where all mentally tired from the season before and a few of them had lost half a step. This completely ruined a well oiled machine and the results reflected that.

    If that can happen to a successful group like Liverpool it’s no surprise it can happen to united. The problem is Man U is a confused and dysfunctional club and this feeds into the players. When things go wrong the players heads go down and people hide. Players don’t want to be in firing line and everyone just focuses on not making a mistake rather than trying to win a game.

23. Not really

    Man U have just made plenty of shite signings over the years and it’s all added up.

    Hojlund seems decent, Martinez too, but beyond that?

    One good season out of Casemiro and there’s now the question of if he’s on the decline.

    Either Ten Hag can’t identify top 6 quality players or Man U desperately need a new Director of Football to take care of signings