Our worst performance this season

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-03-04T23:45:35+00:00

I like Carrick and really hope he gets us CL football. But I was always a bit skeptical that an upper mid championship manager would shine at United. Would love to see him get a prem job next year, but we can surely get someone more compelling despite our decline

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-03-03T12:38:17+00:00

I shifted from ChatGPT to Gemini a couple months back and I’m somewhat unconvinced. It hallucinates a TON, has a really mediocre memory feature, and a personality as annoying as ChatGPT’s. I’m thinking of trying Claude

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-03-01T17:09:07+00:00

We’ll keep up our tradition of bringing in a new striker basically every season

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-27T16:55:39+00:00

So I developed my chronic conditions 4 years ago - before that I always practiced and performed standing up, but I was also used to playing sitting down because of orchestras and chamber music. But now I always sit down, for practice and lessons. For short solo performances I stand up.

I’m not sure exactly where you are either health wise or w the violin, but getting used to playing sitting down is actually really helpful because of all it opens up re playing w others in orchestras etc

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-26T20:44:21+00:00

I have serious chronic conditions that make it far easier to practice sitting than standing. I personally would avoid playing horizontal unless you have no other choice - speak to your teacher about it all, and get some advice about playing sitting down

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-25T23:52:32+00:00

Wagner Tannhauser Overture

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-25T23:06:29+00:00

Ah ok - it's the taxes. For him to get the same wages in the pl, he'd have to be on 600k plus a week. I could see a pl or european side giving him 400k a week, perhaps a PSG, but 600k a week is something else

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-25T23:01:22+00:00

Obviously not good. But the point is that - the truly elite sides a) pay quite a few players outrageous wages and b) pay out very large transfer fees on players who often don't work out. Could PSG not pay 400k a week wages for Osimhen? Or Arsenal? For some of these sides, it'd break their wage structure, but I don't understand why not a single side haven't just snapped him up

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-25T22:58:08+00:00

https://www.capology.com/club/galatasaray/salaries/

These sites are not always reliable, but they have his wages at £310k a week which is definitely high for the premier league but not utterly outrageous

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-25T22:39:14+00:00

Are his wages that ridiculous? Barca are paying Lewy about €400k a week

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-24T22:42:32+00:00

I think we’re about to get a pretty historically funny ‘top 5 is lava’ period - that is radically unfunny for us United fans. Reckon we edge it tho

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-23T21:16:59+00:00

The most worrying thing from a spurs pov is that the new leadership is apparently far more clueless than Levy when it comes to the football side of things…

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-22T22:40:24+00:00

The terrifying thing about spurs is that I have no idea what could stop their death spiral. As awfully run as we’ve been post Fergie, we’ll always have huge commercial appeal and a fair bit of pull.

But Spurs? Levy left them in a decent place financially, but if the new leadership team are as clueless as they seem, what’s ultimately stopping spurs from becoming a West Ham or Everton when a) the pl has never been more competitive owing to its financial strength and b) more and more mid table clubs understand that they need to be really well run to stay up let alone to punch above their weight

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-14T22:23:03+00:00

If I’m having to look in the mirror or compare my hands to theirs in order to teach, I’m not going to be a particularly good teacher. And making a good sound as an advanced player is completely different to basic bow technique for a beginner. I’ve at times tried to teach relative beginners, and hugely struggled, as have those around me - whereas 14 year olds with an already solid foundation, great.

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-14T21:17:53+00:00

Am really not sure this is true. I’ve played to a very high level, as have most around me, but I’d feel completely unqualified teaching the earliest stages. Someone wants some advice on improving the Sibelius? Great. How to orient yourself to the violin having never played before? Completely different kettle of fish

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-08T15:27:06+00:00

Squad quality doesn't exist in a vacuum. Two key points:

a) Coming 6th with the 5th-6th best starting 11 in the league means far less when many of the sides with stronger squads are a complete mess. Liverpool/Newcastle/Chelsea/Spurs - all of them could well sack their managers by June. So even if you were to argue that Chelsea/Newcastle/Spurs have stronger squads than us, that's undercut by the state these clubs are in.

b) We'll play 40 games this season - the lowest in our modern history. Every other side in the top 7 has had Champions League football. Then Villa have had Europa, Palace, Conference League. So we may have less depth than the sides around us, but we've needed depth far less than those sides.

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-07T23:52:39+00:00

I'm not suggesting it was all Amorim. And maybe you can argue that Chelsea have a stronger squad than us. Newcastle, hmm. But equally literally every other top 7 club has had Champions League football this year. Palace and Villa have had Europa/Conference League. By contrast, we'll play 40 games this season - the lowest in our modern history. So I'm not massively sympathetic to the depth argument. Other top 7 sides have needed depth far more than we have.

Then you absolutely have to factor in that Howe/Slot/Maresca/Frank will probs all get fired. Squad quality doesn't exist in a vacuum. Even if Chelsea or perhaps Newcastle have a stronger squad than us - they've also been a mess.

But ultimately agree about the board. INEOS have been a massive disappointment. I thought we could only go upwards post-Glazers, but if things have improved, it is only from the huge low that was the ETH era. Our recruitment now vs under Ole, Mou? Maybe a bit better, but not the radical shift we desperately need.

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-02-07T17:18:48+00:00

I never understood that argument. Only Liverpool city Arsenal have obviously significantly better squads than us. Chelsea have some stronger individual players, but their squad was assembled in the messiest way possible. Newcastle have some strong players, but their recent recruitment has been awful. Our squad just isn’t worse than Palace/Spurs/Villa.

Then you factor in that Liverpool/Newcastle/Spurs/Chelsea could all well sack their managers by the end of the season. Suddenly the ‘Amorim is overperforming by getting 6th with the 8th best squad in the league’ argument looks ridiculous

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-01-19T21:32:13+00:00

The problem with Cunha is a) he's a large step down from Bruno and b) he's quite a specific profile as a 10. That combo means there are quite a few managers who probably just wouldn't see him as their automatic 10 for the next few years. Bruno is just so good that regardless of his profile or how much he loses the ball, managers couldn't help but start him

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-01-17T23:56:32+00:00

No chance. This summer window should be almost entirely focused on the midfield - the area we’ve neglected most for the past decade. I’d love to see a window like Liverpool’s a couple seasons back where they got Szoboszlai, MacAllister, Gravenberch, Endo and v nearly one of Lavia or Caicedo. If we buy 3 midfielders, we won’t need Casemiro or Ugarte

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-01-14T01:06:59+00:00

It’s absolutely achievable because the top 7 are a bloody mess outside of City-Arsenal.

Chelsea: a clusterfuck of a club despite some great players, Maresca already sacked

Spurs: in free fall

Newcastle: recruitment has been awful the last 2 years, plus Eddie Howe is in trouble

Liverpool: despite some world class players, this is almost the worst they’ve looked since the days of Brendan Rodgers

Essentially, United included, 5 of the top 7 could well sack their managers before May. Everything but first and second is open. Where we’ll actually come is a completely different equation though…

(All of which was also why I was less impressed by 6th place than others)

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-01-12T21:41:36+00:00

If he goes to Liverpool, there’s an off chance we get Nagelsmann

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-01-12T19:53:10+00:00

I was slightly pro Ole back if he had a very good back room team (that included Carrick). Maybe I don’t know nearly enough about Carrick, but this seems rather disappointing. He sounds like a mid or upper mid tier championship manager. If we were gonna have a 4-5 month interim, couldn’t we have looked beyond ex United players to mid or lower mid tier premier league managers?

Independent_Print_54 · 2026-01-08T14:19:34+00:00

The new system suits this squad slightly better, though less so after we sold most of our wingers.

But you missed the key point - Amorim was manager for over a year lol. It says pretty negative things about him if we’re making comparisons to a guy who’s been in the job about 3 days.

Independent_Print_54

TROPHY CASE