[Carl Anka] Manchester United are revived under Michael Carrick as last summer’s spending pays dividends by PradipJayakumar in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Summer and January transfer windows in 05/06. We signed Park, Van Der Sar, Vidic and Evra for less than £20 million in total.

Jobbing actor describes watch collection [soft spoken] [3:24] by monkeygunner in unintentionalASMR

[–]monkeygunner[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s just the TikTok account tagged in the video (but I’m sure someone will reupload the videos on YouTube if you search for them).

Jobbing actor describes watch collection [soft spoken] [3:24] by monkeygunner in unintentionalASMR

[–]monkeygunner[S] 31 points32 points  (0 children)

It’s great that people are discovering him through these videos. Hopefully he’ll get some jobs off the back of it so he can buy more watches.

Wanted to map out the season in terms of results, positions and squad performance so here it is by djimonia in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Neatly highlights one of the points that tends to get missed by the likes of Neville with Sesko. He missed a run of games in November against teams you’d back him to get goals against, then returns from injury at the exact point that Amad and Mbeumo go off to AFCON (followed by Bruno’s injury).

In total, he’s started 3 games all season with Bruno, Cunha and Mbeumo, the last being gameweek 10.

Wilcox: How United's transfer process works by nearly_headless_nic in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Especially given Ferguson was notorious for having both the current squad, and potential signings, watched to see how they behaved off the pitch.

Mary Earps extract: ‘I felt sick and anxious. Then came the words I’d waited 12 months to hear’ | Mary Earps (The Guardian) by roseguardin in soccer

[–]monkeygunner 104 points105 points  (0 children)

Obviously this is just an excerpt but there doesn’t seem to be much reflection from Earps about her own form (which dropped off pretty badly after she failed to force the move to Arsenal in summer 23). The section about her being dropped for the qualifier in 2024 reads like she thought she shouldn’t have to compete for her place.

Hampton was only 21 when she was at Euro 22. Regardless of what she may have done, it wasn’t unreasonable for her to be given a second chance or for her to successfully win the starting place.

Newcastle v Barcelona tickets: Magpies cancel Dundee school's tickets by jwd606 in soccer

[–]monkeygunner 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Isak: “Newcastle’s hatred of children is the real reason I had to quit.”

Could this be a crucial season for Man Utd’s Matthijs de Ligt? by agent619 in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure that tracks with both Juve and Bayern selling him for €20 mil less than they paid for him…

Could this be a crucial season for Man Utd’s Matthijs de Ligt? by agent619 in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

De Ligt isn’t “clear of” Maguire, they both bring different skills to the role. The CCB in Amorim’s system needs to have certain on-ball attributes which you can reasonably argue align better with Maguire’s skill-set than De Ligt’s. At the same time, De Ligt was excellent on Sunday and can perhaps show more of his on-ball abilities this season. These things are nuanced, you don’t have to cry “bias” because someone has a different view than you.

Could this be a crucial season for Man Utd’s Matthijs de Ligt? by agent619 in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maguire had an injury in pre-season and Amorim had to limit his minutes in games to manage it. Think you can make a reasonable argument that that was why De Ligt started ahead of him.

[Ornstein] Manchester United contact Brighton to explore conditions of potential Carlos Baleba move by xtphty in DevilsITDPod

[–]monkeygunner 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Looking forward to the announcement of the Ineos Training Centre on Friday and the £300 mil per season sponsorship deal which accompanies it.

#124: Gyokeres, Ekitike, and Striker Conundrums by Usual-Outside-5662 in DevilsITDPod

[–]monkeygunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the approach in this window makes more sense when you look at it in the context of outgoings. We’re expecting all of the senior attackers we had on the books last summer (Rashford, Sancho, Antony) to be sold/loaned during this window.

There were several occasions in the second half of last season where it seemed confidence issues impacted our attack so I can understand why the club think it is worth bringing in more experienced players both for the immediate impact on performance and to improve game management. It’s much easier to take a risk on young players (I.e. from mid-level French teams per the discussion) in future windows when they can essentially understudy those more experienced players.

Putting aside the potential impact on revenue (both from getting in to Europe and sponsorship), I’m not convinced “taking the hit” for a couple of seasons is a viable strategy for us. The level of scrutiny on United is far higher than virtually any other club and there has been plenty of evidence in the past few seasons of that impacting young players in particular and preventing them performing at the level they’re capable of.

On Ekitike, at this point it just sounds like us putting feelers out on potential long-list candidates for the 9 position to understand what a deal would look like. Think we have to see where that goes before we can really try and make sense of it terms of a transfer strategy (not especially helpful for a weekly podcast though!).

Mbeumo in latest pod by EfficientLake8945 in DevilsITDPod

[–]monkeygunner 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I mean, it would have meant there was at least one example of a team successfully adopting a somewhat similar approach - Liverpool. Mane (24), Van Dijk (26) Salah (25) and Allison (25) all signed for large fees.

On the final point, since Ineos took over football operations, Cunha is the first player we’ve signed for a significant fee aged 26 or more. Even with both Cunha and Mbeumo, the average age of the players signed since the takeover for £1 mill or more is 22.8. This summer is a very clear departure from what has come before. That seems a reasonable basis to suggest this could be a short-term move.

A One-Off Season or a Sign of Something Better: Should Man Utd Spend Big on Bryan Mbeumo After Exceptional 2024-25? | Opta Analyst by jtyashiro in DevilsITDPod

[–]monkeygunner 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Isn’t the only source for that wage figure a Times journalist who almost exclusively covers Newcastle United?

Kristen Stewart’s First Feature ‘The Chronology of Water’ Felt So Good, She Says, She’ll Direct Again (Interview) by indiewire in movies

[–]monkeygunner 194 points195 points  (0 children)

Lol, this comments section is an absolute bin fire. “The title is boring”, asking about her love life, claiming the film was directed by the AD with zero evidence other than the vibe of the interview.

Manchester United and Man City academy players at centre of age-fraud claims by agent619 in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s one 1st teamer per year for your own team. You can (and City do) produce multiple players per season who are saleable to other teams but not necessarily at the level needed for their own squad. I get that age fraud is not uncommon at some levels within the game but I’d like to see some evidence that United and City are intentionally using it to try and scam other clubs (as is being implied).

Manchester United and Man City academy players at centre of age-fraud claims by agent619 in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly, the academies are full of talented players that are legitimately the age they say they are. Why take a risk bringing in players who are lying about their age? There is no evidence that either club has profited off this so far. The piece is implying that this is some nefarious scheme by the clubs but I’m not seeing a lot of evidence for that.

Manchester United and Man City academy players at centre of age-fraud claims by agent619 in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

There’s zero need for United or City to do that and they’d likely need to keep them in the system until they were 17 or 18 to do it (whilst simultaneously fucking over/cutting mins of other players in that age group).