Post by danielbuggery on May 13, 2017 19:36:57 GMT
Since we're at the tailend of the season where it's just cup finals and the odd league game that has some meaning to it, it's probably a good time to put out the ratings for teams players.
I also like to think it's interesting and insightful to read everyone elses opinions on their own teams players and such, instead of hearing cliches from your average pundits.
Paul Pogba - Erratic. There are some games he looks pretty ordinary and there's some where the £89m is lived up too. The constant chopping and changing in central midfield throughout the season probably haven't helped him, as well as moving to a faster pace, more pressing type of football in the Premier League compared to Serie A. There are times where he spends a little too much time holding and/or shielding the ball, by which time a team parking the bus has already gone back into it's shape, as well as we seemingly don't have players making forward runs on a regular basis which visibly annoys him in certain games. He's been unlucky too with the many times he's hit the woodwork and there are times where it feels like he thinks the worlds on his shoulders because of that price tag and tried those Steven Gerrard-like 30 yard shots at goals too much. I think he needs a good DM next to him to relieve him of most of the defensive duties, so he can do what he does best by providing killer through balls to forwards, running at players shrugging them off with strength and unleashing those long rangers which end up in the back of the net. As we saw at Euro 2016, defensive work hampers his ability at this present moment of his career. - 7/10
Jesse Lingard - For certain games against certain teams he turns in a pretty good performance. He has the habit of squandering easy chances and scoring hard chances. If he works on his finishing then he'd be a good player to have. At the present moment I'd have him down as a squad player with him as a starter in certain bigger games. He has good versatility too but we could definitely buy a better player. - 7/10
Michael Carrick - Solid but as he ages, the physical ability seems to be waning away. I think he'll be kept on for one more season given that Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger were not up to Jose's standards. He shouldn't be in a two man central midfield these days either. His tactical awareness and positioning sense is still second to none but it's a moot point if he hasn't got the legs for it. - 7/10
Ander Herrera - A player who has improved under Jose. Adds the bite and tenaciousity in midfield we've lacked in midfield for some years. A passionate player and the type of player you'd class as "He's a cunt but he's our cunt" with his playacting and physical approach. He does have some shortcomings but I don't think that doesn't need to be addressed urgently as of yet. He's kind of good at both attack and defence but never excels at both. Sir Alex had scouted him and earmarked for Moyes and I can see why. Herrera is the kind of player Sir Alex would have bought and played a lot, and won trophies with him. - 7.5/10
Marouane Fellaini - A player who is unfortunately maligned and associated with an short-lived era that most Utd fans would like to forget. He has uses against certain teams but in the bigger picture he's not a Utd quality player. He's clumsy, over-physical and baited easily by opposition players. He shouldn't be in a central midfield for me. He should be in an attacking midfield role knocking it down for attacking players to latch onto, as well as harassing DMs and centre-backs. I wouldn't be disheartened if he left. - 6.5/10
Morgan Schneiderlin - A player who I thought Jose would like but clearly not as he got sold off in January and barely played before that. It seems like maybe Utd is a level too high for him. He wasn't that convincing last season either. One of LVG's bad buys. - 5/10
Bastian Schweinsteiger - A weird one. Lots of stories about him taking the piss and treating the whole Utd experience as a well paid holiday, coupled with Jose not being a fan of him overall. It's clear from last season he's deteriorated physically and has got a bit of a belly to him whenever I see him play now, but I don't understand why he can't play in a three man central midfield to offset that loss of physical presence. I guess it's because he's too similar to Carrick maybe and Jose would rather have him, rather than the guy who allegedly made frequent trips back to Munich. If he moved to the MLS and no other decent European team would pick him and his wages up, I'll guess that upon being sold off by his beloved Bayern, he was just going to coast it the reminder of his career and pick up easy money due to the increasing injuries, which means you're out with Jose at the helm. - 5/10
Ashley Young - Reinvented into somewhat of a wing-back. Dependable enough when called upon, especially when we play 3 at the back. Good squad option to have I guess... He doesn't even look that rusty when he does feature on a sporadic basis. - 6.5/10
Henrikh Mkhitaryan - A strange start of the season where he barely featured at all. Jose then started to play him towards the middle of the season and looked like a genius for doing it, as his performances were getting good. However it seems in recent weeks his performances have gotten lesser. I don't know whether the amount of games have taken their toll or if it's one of those 'difficult first season' things. He has a silkiness to him which is eye-catching but then loses the ball cheaply. Almost frustrating at times. It's a bit like Nani used to be. It's harsh to criticise a player in his first season at a new club and league though... especially in a season where that club has been chopping and changing on a frequent basis either due to injuries or Jose trying to find out ways to make the team work. - 7/10
Juan Mata - At times he looks like our most competent finisher outside of Zlatan. He has neat touches and intelligent runs which break down an opposition bus. I'm glad he's back after initial reports saying the groin surgery would rule him out for the season as I have a feeling he'll be instrumental in the Europa League final against Ajax. Lots of important goals and assists provided by him this season. - 8/10
Memphis Depay - Arguably LVG's worst buy next to ADM. Tactically naive and just not good enough at the high level at the moment (still time to improve). I think the jump from Eredivisie from Premier League was too big for him. I've read that he's been performing slightly better at Lyon though. - 3/10
Wayne Rooney - Urrggghhh... Sir Alex looks like a fucking genius now in hindsight when he effectively tried to get him out the door four years ago, as RVP was a much better forward. Fergie seemed to have a superpower like knack of knowing when a player was done and knowing they would be descending from their peak and boy was he right about Rooney. Jose probably knew he wasn't good enough to start for Utd when he came in, and knew that dropping him would incur shitstorm from the English press. Rooney was given enough rope to hang himself at the start of the season with Watford away being the final length. Barely featured after that and will hopefully be on the way out this summer. He started out young and he's burning out young. - 5/10
Anthony Martial - Caught second season syndrome bad... He has some personal issues to deal with, namely I believe the divorce with his wife as well as a kid involved, which at 21 years old isn't the best thing to have on your mind along with the high pressures of playing for one of the biggest teams in the world. Inconsistent and in some portions anonymous this season but he's still young and a different manager with a different playstyle doesn't help him either. I think he plays better as a wide forward than a centre forward at the moment too. Hopefully he'll be better next season. - 6.5/10
Marcus Rashford - Early season cameos looked like he picked up where he left of. Lost the shine in the middle of the season and like last season he regained his form in the later stages of the season. There are makings of a fine player there. At the present he shouldn't be played as a lone target man as his hold-up play and movement isn't that great. Remarkably he's played in 50 games this season too. - 7.5/10
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - In terms of presence on the pitch, the closest to Cantona we've had since Cantona retired. His hold-up play is amazing and assist contributions are better than I imagined they'd be. He went through a patch of missing easy chances which cost us points, and it felt like if he couldn't score then we're fucked because no-one else could score. He singlehandedly won us the EFL Cup against Soton and put in a world-class performance in terms of making the most of the chances presented to him. It was just our luck that a man who has barely been injured in his career suffers the worst injury an athlete can sustain (a torn ACL) and has been robbed a chance to win a European trophy in his home country. I'm glad to hear that given his age that the injury has effectively ended his career, but he does present the most interesting dilemma to Utd... in whether we keep him, buy a new first choice centre forward and let him leave, or buy a new first choice centre forward and keep him... given that he probably won't be available until 2018 anyway. Interestingly the contract to extend has been on the table for Zlatan for another season, but he has still not signed it. Some will argue that we will miss that matchwinning figure that we lack and some say that we look slow in attack with him in it, making us easy to park a bus against. There's speculation whether he's waiting for us to get into the Champions League so he can have that one more crack at that before going to the U.S., or whether he just wants to go the U.S. and live in LA to pick up huge easy money and live the exotic lifestyle, while being the charismatic face of MLS and raising it's profile as many have tried to do. Jose has a huge decision to make over his future and it's not an easy one by any means. - 9/10
Took a long time to do mine so there might be some stuff I might add later on another post as an amendment. There's probably some in there that I haven't given too much thought too than others and probably forgot some things.
I also like to think it's interesting and insightful to read everyone elses opinions on their own teams players and such, instead of hearing cliches from your average pundits.
David De Gea - Solid as ever. Not called upon as much as has been in the previous two seasons but probably because Jose has improved our defending. Rumbling of him going to Real Madrid this summer. It'd be a shame to lose him obviously but it wouldn't hurt so much since our defending has improved under Jose and the large amount of money we'll get for him will get us a very worth replacement and/or a stellar centre-back to add to our squad to go with Bailly and compete with Rojo (hopefully) - 9/10
Sergio Romero - Solid when called upon. He deserves to play in that final in Stockholm. More comfortable under Jose than LVG, probably due to Jose improving our defending - 8.5/10
Sergio Romero - Solid when called upon. He deserves to play in that final in Stockholm. More comfortable under Jose than LVG, probably due to Jose improving our defending - 8.5/10
Luke Shaw - Returning from horror injury at such a young age meant that we were probably not going to an immediate return to very early last season form. Mourinho seems to not like his mentality more than his physical ability. LVG was also not a fan of him in the early pre-season (regarding his weight issues). I hope that the leg break hasn't seriously hampered his ability because it'd be pretty sad. Some extremely quick flashes in the pan but albeit distinctly average - 6/10
Daley Blind - Still as sturdy as last season. He is susceptible to the occasional brainfart game here and there (Celta Vigo 2nd leg) but otherwise a classy and intelligent footballer. A great utility player too which every team should have. I just wish he had more pace because that's the one thing he clearly lacks and everyone knows it - 7.5/10
Eric Bailly - A gem of a find. Looks raw at times but otherwise a fine young centre-back who can improve. Suffered a dip post Chelsea injury and post-ACON but has regained that form. I'd love to see us buy a quality and experienced centre back to partner with him but there's more pressing areas in the squad that need to be dealt with first. - 8.5/10
Chris Smalling - Regressed from the LVG era and lapsed back into brainfarts. It doesn't look like he'll be good with his feet which is what you need to be if you're going to be a good centre-back at the level Utd aspire to be at. I think LVG's ultra possession and defensive play made him look better than he actually was. I wouldn't be too bothered if we sold him. - 6/10
Phil Jones - Once in a while he puts in a great performance but then either goes out and ruins it with a bull in a china shop like performance or gets injured. He's becoming a bit too much of a sicknote to be relied upon, especially when you hear that some of the most recent injuries he's had are from him being clumsy. I think one of either him or Smalling will go this summer. - 6/10
Marcos Rojo - Improved a ton under Jose. Him and Bailly struck up a really partnership together and it was a real shame to see him pull up with ACL. At the start of the season I had him down as our worst centre-back but he's been one of the first names on the team sheet this season. I hope the injury hasn't blighted his ability because he definitely has earned his place for next season. Just don't play him as a left back because bad stuff happens when he does. - 8/10
Antonio Valencia - This season has proved that he has successfully transformed into a solid right back. His final third play is still frustrating to watch though which is odd and maybe poetic considering him being a solid right winger for so long. His rarely used left foot often creates the best chances too(!) - 8/10
Matteo Darmian - A little more improved under Jose than LVG. Not great at all going forward but a decent option defensively and has pretty good versailitity. I'd keep him around for another season but the Italian clubs want him and I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to leave to go back there and play in that type of football that suits his game more, which seems to be a bit of ongoing trend with Italian footballers and the Premier League. - 6/10
Tim Fosu-Mensah - Not featured as much this season. Clearly he has talent but is still a little too raw for Jose to trust him to go on a run of games. Maybe needs a good loan season somewhere to progress his game. - 6/10
Daley Blind - Still as sturdy as last season. He is susceptible to the occasional brainfart game here and there (Celta Vigo 2nd leg) but otherwise a classy and intelligent footballer. A great utility player too which every team should have. I just wish he had more pace because that's the one thing he clearly lacks and everyone knows it - 7.5/10
Eric Bailly - A gem of a find. Looks raw at times but otherwise a fine young centre-back who can improve. Suffered a dip post Chelsea injury and post-ACON but has regained that form. I'd love to see us buy a quality and experienced centre back to partner with him but there's more pressing areas in the squad that need to be dealt with first. - 8.5/10
Chris Smalling - Regressed from the LVG era and lapsed back into brainfarts. It doesn't look like he'll be good with his feet which is what you need to be if you're going to be a good centre-back at the level Utd aspire to be at. I think LVG's ultra possession and defensive play made him look better than he actually was. I wouldn't be too bothered if we sold him. - 6/10
Phil Jones - Once in a while he puts in a great performance but then either goes out and ruins it with a bull in a china shop like performance or gets injured. He's becoming a bit too much of a sicknote to be relied upon, especially when you hear that some of the most recent injuries he's had are from him being clumsy. I think one of either him or Smalling will go this summer. - 6/10
Marcos Rojo - Improved a ton under Jose. Him and Bailly struck up a really partnership together and it was a real shame to see him pull up with ACL. At the start of the season I had him down as our worst centre-back but he's been one of the first names on the team sheet this season. I hope the injury hasn't blighted his ability because he definitely has earned his place for next season. Just don't play him as a left back because bad stuff happens when he does. - 8/10
Antonio Valencia - This season has proved that he has successfully transformed into a solid right back. His final third play is still frustrating to watch though which is odd and maybe poetic considering him being a solid right winger for so long. His rarely used left foot often creates the best chances too(!) - 8/10
Matteo Darmian - A little more improved under Jose than LVG. Not great at all going forward but a decent option defensively and has pretty good versailitity. I'd keep him around for another season but the Italian clubs want him and I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to leave to go back there and play in that type of football that suits his game more, which seems to be a bit of ongoing trend with Italian footballers and the Premier League. - 6/10
Tim Fosu-Mensah - Not featured as much this season. Clearly he has talent but is still a little too raw for Jose to trust him to go on a run of games. Maybe needs a good loan season somewhere to progress his game. - 6/10
Paul Pogba - Erratic. There are some games he looks pretty ordinary and there's some where the £89m is lived up too. The constant chopping and changing in central midfield throughout the season probably haven't helped him, as well as moving to a faster pace, more pressing type of football in the Premier League compared to Serie A. There are times where he spends a little too much time holding and/or shielding the ball, by which time a team parking the bus has already gone back into it's shape, as well as we seemingly don't have players making forward runs on a regular basis which visibly annoys him in certain games. He's been unlucky too with the many times he's hit the woodwork and there are times where it feels like he thinks the worlds on his shoulders because of that price tag and tried those Steven Gerrard-like 30 yard shots at goals too much. I think he needs a good DM next to him to relieve him of most of the defensive duties, so he can do what he does best by providing killer through balls to forwards, running at players shrugging them off with strength and unleashing those long rangers which end up in the back of the net. As we saw at Euro 2016, defensive work hampers his ability at this present moment of his career. - 7/10
Jesse Lingard - For certain games against certain teams he turns in a pretty good performance. He has the habit of squandering easy chances and scoring hard chances. If he works on his finishing then he'd be a good player to have. At the present moment I'd have him down as a squad player with him as a starter in certain bigger games. He has good versatility too but we could definitely buy a better player. - 7/10
Michael Carrick - Solid but as he ages, the physical ability seems to be waning away. I think he'll be kept on for one more season given that Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger were not up to Jose's standards. He shouldn't be in a two man central midfield these days either. His tactical awareness and positioning sense is still second to none but it's a moot point if he hasn't got the legs for it. - 7/10
Ander Herrera - A player who has improved under Jose. Adds the bite and tenaciousity in midfield we've lacked in midfield for some years. A passionate player and the type of player you'd class as "He's a cunt but he's our cunt" with his playacting and physical approach. He does have some shortcomings but I don't think that doesn't need to be addressed urgently as of yet. He's kind of good at both attack and defence but never excels at both. Sir Alex had scouted him and earmarked for Moyes and I can see why. Herrera is the kind of player Sir Alex would have bought and played a lot, and won trophies with him. - 7.5/10
Marouane Fellaini - A player who is unfortunately maligned and associated with an short-lived era that most Utd fans would like to forget. He has uses against certain teams but in the bigger picture he's not a Utd quality player. He's clumsy, over-physical and baited easily by opposition players. He shouldn't be in a central midfield for me. He should be in an attacking midfield role knocking it down for attacking players to latch onto, as well as harassing DMs and centre-backs. I wouldn't be disheartened if he left. - 6.5/10
Morgan Schneiderlin - A player who I thought Jose would like but clearly not as he got sold off in January and barely played before that. It seems like maybe Utd is a level too high for him. He wasn't that convincing last season either. One of LVG's bad buys. - 5/10
Bastian Schweinsteiger - A weird one. Lots of stories about him taking the piss and treating the whole Utd experience as a well paid holiday, coupled with Jose not being a fan of him overall. It's clear from last season he's deteriorated physically and has got a bit of a belly to him whenever I see him play now, but I don't understand why he can't play in a three man central midfield to offset that loss of physical presence. I guess it's because he's too similar to Carrick maybe and Jose would rather have him, rather than the guy who allegedly made frequent trips back to Munich. If he moved to the MLS and no other decent European team would pick him and his wages up, I'll guess that upon being sold off by his beloved Bayern, he was just going to coast it the reminder of his career and pick up easy money due to the increasing injuries, which means you're out with Jose at the helm. - 5/10
Ashley Young - Reinvented into somewhat of a wing-back. Dependable enough when called upon, especially when we play 3 at the back. Good squad option to have I guess... He doesn't even look that rusty when he does feature on a sporadic basis. - 6.5/10
Henrikh Mkhitaryan - A strange start of the season where he barely featured at all. Jose then started to play him towards the middle of the season and looked like a genius for doing it, as his performances were getting good. However it seems in recent weeks his performances have gotten lesser. I don't know whether the amount of games have taken their toll or if it's one of those 'difficult first season' things. He has a silkiness to him which is eye-catching but then loses the ball cheaply. Almost frustrating at times. It's a bit like Nani used to be. It's harsh to criticise a player in his first season at a new club and league though... especially in a season where that club has been chopping and changing on a frequent basis either due to injuries or Jose trying to find out ways to make the team work. - 7/10
Juan Mata - At times he looks like our most competent finisher outside of Zlatan. He has neat touches and intelligent runs which break down an opposition bus. I'm glad he's back after initial reports saying the groin surgery would rule him out for the season as I have a feeling he'll be instrumental in the Europa League final against Ajax. Lots of important goals and assists provided by him this season. - 8/10
Memphis Depay - Arguably LVG's worst buy next to ADM. Tactically naive and just not good enough at the high level at the moment (still time to improve). I think the jump from Eredivisie from Premier League was too big for him. I've read that he's been performing slightly better at Lyon though. - 3/10
Wayne Rooney - Urrggghhh... Sir Alex looks like a fucking genius now in hindsight when he effectively tried to get him out the door four years ago, as RVP was a much better forward. Fergie seemed to have a superpower like knack of knowing when a player was done and knowing they would be descending from their peak and boy was he right about Rooney. Jose probably knew he wasn't good enough to start for Utd when he came in, and knew that dropping him would incur shitstorm from the English press. Rooney was given enough rope to hang himself at the start of the season with Watford away being the final length. Barely featured after that and will hopefully be on the way out this summer. He started out young and he's burning out young. - 5/10
Anthony Martial - Caught second season syndrome bad... He has some personal issues to deal with, namely I believe the divorce with his wife as well as a kid involved, which at 21 years old isn't the best thing to have on your mind along with the high pressures of playing for one of the biggest teams in the world. Inconsistent and in some portions anonymous this season but he's still young and a different manager with a different playstyle doesn't help him either. I think he plays better as a wide forward than a centre forward at the moment too. Hopefully he'll be better next season. - 6.5/10
Marcus Rashford - Early season cameos looked like he picked up where he left of. Lost the shine in the middle of the season and like last season he regained his form in the later stages of the season. There are makings of a fine player there. At the present he shouldn't be played as a lone target man as his hold-up play and movement isn't that great. Remarkably he's played in 50 games this season too. - 7.5/10
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - In terms of presence on the pitch, the closest to Cantona we've had since Cantona retired. His hold-up play is amazing and assist contributions are better than I imagined they'd be. He went through a patch of missing easy chances which cost us points, and it felt like if he couldn't score then we're fucked because no-one else could score. He singlehandedly won us the EFL Cup against Soton and put in a world-class performance in terms of making the most of the chances presented to him. It was just our luck that a man who has barely been injured in his career suffers the worst injury an athlete can sustain (a torn ACL) and has been robbed a chance to win a European trophy in his home country. I'm glad to hear that given his age that the injury has effectively ended his career, but he does present the most interesting dilemma to Utd... in whether we keep him, buy a new first choice centre forward and let him leave, or buy a new first choice centre forward and keep him... given that he probably won't be available until 2018 anyway. Interestingly the contract to extend has been on the table for Zlatan for another season, but he has still not signed it. Some will argue that we will miss that matchwinning figure that we lack and some say that we look slow in attack with him in it, making us easy to park a bus against. There's speculation whether he's waiting for us to get into the Champions League so he can have that one more crack at that before going to the U.S., or whether he just wants to go the U.S. and live in LA to pick up huge easy money and live the exotic lifestyle, while being the charismatic face of MLS and raising it's profile as many have tried to do. Jose has a huge decision to make over his future and it's not an easy one by any means. - 9/10
Jose Mourinho - In hindsight he probably went even more grayer when he saw the quality of squad left to him. Managed the phasing out of Rooney well and managed Mkhitaryan's delayed appearances well too. He seems to be on a mission to ditch the players not good enough for him in Schneiderlin, Depay and Schweinsteiger. The Chelsea away game was a turning point for him as we seemed to have improved defensively after that and we went on an (albeit meek) unbeaten run in the league. He clearly seems to know that finishing has been one of the reasons why we were where we are in the league. The only annoying thing is the use of the sit deep and counter attack tactic, when we can't counter attack properly... so all we're left with is just inviting unnecessary pressure by letting the other team have the ball, coupled with our lack of finishing ability. I approve of his shift in focus towards the Europa League from the Premier League at this point too. At the end of the season, we'd have played 64 games and I'm sure he'll have learned more enough about of this squad to know who to buy and who to sell. He could potentially finish this season with a Double (or a Treble since he seems to count the Community Shield) and in these highly competitive times where trophies now mean a lot more than they used too, that'll be a successful first season for him... - 8/10 if Europa League is won. 7/10 if not
Took a long time to do mine so there might be some stuff I might add later on another post as an amendment. There's probably some in there that I haven't given too much thought too than others and probably forgot some things.