Spurs appear to be going backwards as Coach Ange comfortably beat them 4 times last season
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You soe himâŚ.
By providing assists for equalisers?
Wrong thread in fairness.
No longer Prince Andrew.
I know youâd never intend to hurt me & Iâve been caught in the crossfire here, but Iâd taken my lads to football training last night & GAA this morning. So when we got home around midday & with my current life partner away at a hen, I decided to sit down, switch off & take in the 12.30pm EPL offering. I think youâre right about Spurs, Absent their creative types, they donât have enough to sustain a top 4 position really.
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Madrid should go for MBuemo or Saka and fuck off Vini. The two lads both want to play in the same areas and MBappe is just the better player.
They could go handy with Sesko and play Bruno and Cunha off Bryan. It would be the end of Zirkee though. Zirkzee is highly regarded in Italy and I could see him going back for about the same money they paid. Heâd be a serious player in a team that dominate possession and against low block defences. United probably wonât be that any time soon.
Vini is another Neymar. Granted heâs been subjected to shocking racial abuse but he is a bit of a fannynonetheless
Fabulous player, but I think Neymar was another thing again. Heâs a bit underrated to me. Iâd say Madrid might ease him out alright though, heâs getting opinionated and he has done the job for them. I think heâd be great at Arsenal if Arteta could let a couple of little things go. Heâd be like a dog as well with a point to prove.
Neymar took awful punishment, and adapted his diving as a result, but he is a fanny
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I canât even listen to the talk of the devils podcast. That was as bad as Iâve ever seen.
Is there a trophy for that?
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Comedy sells
Brexit Jim will be patting himself on the back for that while club legends like Scholesly and Butty treated like dirt
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Paul Dickov would never be treated that way at City.
Sacking all those people on minimum wage has really driven up the valuation.
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Andy mitten reporting were all in for Elliott Anderson.
Canât remember his name but man United have some history of buying a mid fielder off Nottingham Forrest.
Jim White isnât too happyâŚ
Manchester United set the pace for decades, now they are the definition of mediocre
From the team and stadium to recruitment and the manager, where once club set the pace, now they have been overtaken by all and sundry
Gift this article free
Bruno Fernandes was unable to rescue United from a demoralising defeat against 10-man Everton Credit: Shutterstock/Adam Vaughan
25 November 2025 2:09pm GMT
Ahead of arriving at Old Trafford on Monday night, ticket holders received a text from the club: âBeer taps have now been installed in your block,â it read. âSo now you can have a draught beer at the game. Enjoy!â Something to drown your sorrows about the current state of Manchester United; well, at least consolation was to hand. That is what you call foresight.
Mind, United fans should be used to it by now. After watching an abject defeat by a 10-man Everton side, it became clear for the faithful that what they were witnessing was the end of yet another false dawn. That has become the principal currency of the club in the 13 seasons since Sir Alex Ferguson retired: hope of recovery that rapidly turns out to be hollow.
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Remember the insistence in 2016 after Louis van Gaal won the FA Cup that this was the kick-start of a new era? Or when JosĂŠ Mourinho delivered two trophies in his first season? Or when Ole Gunnar Solskjaerâs team beat Paris St-Germain in the Champions League? Or when Erik ten Hag lifted the FA Cup with a young team that spoke of future glory (and two years later had been completely disbanded)? Each was meant to be the harbinger of better times, a return to the glory days. Turnarounds were on the way. They were back. Until they werenât.
Such has been the institutional decline at United, that Ruben Amorim actually managing to string five league games together undefeated counted as indicative of better times ahead. Never mind that two of those five were sketchy draws achieved with last-minute turnarounds, the background changes were paying off. Good days were coming.
Against David Moyesâs obdurate Everton, however, such claims were quickly shown to be made of dust. All the old faults were on display: the glaring lack of confidence, the inadequacy of so many of the playing squad, the paucity of improvisation. Not to mention the lack of leaders.
Ruben Amoriom cut a familiarly dejected figure on the touchline at Old Trafford on Monday Credit: Getty Imges/Carl Recine
Once United was a byword for including in their line-ups players who would, in times of adversity, take responsibility. They would make things happen. But these days there is no Bryan Robson in the line-up. No Roy Keane to lead by example. No Wayne Rooney to seize the ball and by sheer force of will sort it all out.
Atmosphere neither revolutionary nor angry, just weary
Hapless and hopeless, this was a team passing the ball ponderously and predictably across the back line, eventually pushing it out to the wide man, who by now was covered by two defenders, who was obliged to pass it back to start the whole pedestrian sequence again. And again. Never at any point did they look as if they would take advantage of having an extra man. Indeed, far from turning out to be an act of self-destruction, Idrissa Gueyeâs sending-off in the 13th minute allowed the visiting side to sit back and leave it to their hosts to set the pace, knowing full well they were utterly incapable of upping the tempo.
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High in the Stretford End, a vast new safe-standing area was opened up for the first time. It was a makeover, it was hoped, that would generate an energised positive atmosphere. Instead the mood among the fans, mute and dismayed, was the opposite of exuberant. With so little to lift the spirits, a fug of disappointment hung in the air. It was neither revolutionary nor angry. Just weary. They had seen it all before. This is what United, the side that for 25 years thrilled their followers with audacious, winning football, have become: mediocre.
For sure, some blame must lie with the manager and his dogmatic insistence on a formation which allows so little in the way of improvisation. Against 10 men, here was the opportunity to pin the opposition back, push forward constantly with little fear of breakaway or retaliation (especially against a side managed by Moyes). Instead, the insistence of retaining a back three meant Everton were never outnumbered. It meant in midfield they could retain parity. Actually more than that, the elegant James Garner, yet another example of the United systemâs inability to recognise talent in its own ranks, dominating his hugely over-remunerated former colleagues with an ease bordering on contempt. In response, Amorim was reduced to swapping Patrick Dorgu for Diogo Dalot, the footballing equivalent of shuffling the deckchairs around on the Titanic.
âWe are not even near the point to fight for the best positionsâ
Thus do the statistics continue to pile up against Amorim: on the anniversary of his arrival at the club, he has presided over 39 league games, delivering just 12 wins, with nine draws and a staggering 18 defeats.
Still, no one could accuse him of a lack of self-awareness. âWe are not there, not even near the point that we should be to fight for the best positions in the league,â he said after the game.
Even the iconic Old Trafford is falling behind news grounds such as those of Tottenham and Everton Credit: AP /Dave Thompson
And he is right. That is what United now are: off the field and on it they are simply ordinary. Where once they set the pace, now they have been overtaken by all and sundry. Manchester City and Liverpool win the trophies. Arsenal dominate the league. Brentford, Bournemouth and Brighton win the recruitment game. Tottenham and Everton have way more glamorous stadiums. Crystal Palace know how to hire a manager who can actually deliver a winning version of 3-4-3.
What was all too depressingly obvious on Monday night was that Old Trafford has become the home of a mid-table operation in all respects. But at least the beer taps are working.
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