Football News: The start of the season hasn't gone as Manchester United supporters would have hoped

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The start of the season hasn't been what Manchester United supporters would have hoped, in fact it's been pretty poor. Pre-season promised so much and yet it just hasn't delivered.

For some people this has come out of the blue for others it's not that surprising. I am one of the more optimistic posters yet I'm not surprised by what we are seeing.

I knew going into this season that the size of the rebuild was huge, not only on the pitch but off of it too. Ole talks about a culture reset which sounds very similar to what Sir Alex had to do when he took over, only now instead of a drinking culture there is an ego centric culture.

Not only is there the wrong mentality running through the playing staff there is a questionable mentality running through the corridors of the club right up to the board room.

How do the owners of the club envision the club? Where is our place in the world standings in their eyes? And what ambition do they have to get us to where they want/ believe we should be?

Unfortunately, owners and the people running things and making these key decisions aren't easily removed, and their actions have further reaching consequences.

I suspect we will see only enough investment to keep the club at a certain level to maximise profit through minimal investment. However, these guys won't be here forever.

However, no one supports United because of the action in the boardroom. Fans are interested in the action on the pitch. If we were seeing football like they are over at the Emptihad then no one would give a monkeys about what is happening at the club higher up.

The issues on the pitch are easier to sort out, but they are time consuming. We have a decent squad if everyone is fit and on form. Yet the reality of that is this rarely happens.

We have a very thin squad in numbers, in quality and in experience. However, the old crop needs cutting down, the field needs ploughing, seeding and given time to grow if you want to see a new crop come through.

Players such as Blind, Darmian, Valencia and Fellaini are decent squad options. But they will never become first choice players in a top team. But while they are there they take minutes away from players such as Tuanzebe, McTominay and Dalot. Players who are far more likely to develop into genuine first choice options. Or at the every least better squad options than those who came before them.

The issue with young players is inconsistency and a lack of experience. They will make mistakes and it will cost us points. Every great player in our history who played developed at our club from a young age made mistakes that cost us points. Ronaldo, Rooney, Neville, Scholes, Beckham, Giggs, Best, Charlton etc etc. They all made mistakes, that's how you learn and grow and improve to fullfil your potential.

This season was always going to be inconsistent at best. Yet the truth is that even with another couple of signings things wouldn't be dramatically better. We need 10-12 players, AND time for the young players in our squad to develop. This is a 2-3 year project at the very least.

There is a lot of criticism of our manager, but what "mistakes" has he really made? Which players sold do you think would genuinely make a difference this season? Lukaku and Herrera maybe, yet neither wanted to be here. Which signings has he made that you think are poor signings? He is attempting to play more offensive and entertaining football even though with this squad LvG's style might be more appropriate to getting results.

For me the only "mistake" he has made is not switching it up tactically so far. I understand the logic in switching to 4231, it gives us an extra body further forward, will also giving us an extra body deep in midfield to shield the defence.

Yet when that extra body is our least useful defender from a defensive view point and our best midfielder from an offensive view point it is actually stiffuling us in attack. Either 433 or 4312 might make a better use of the players we have available. It would allow us to have an extra body in midfield and be better placed to control the game at the very least.

Either way, we need to get behind our players and hope they can turn it around. If not then why do we even put ourselves through it.

Written by Shappy September 30 2019 15:17:09