How’s it going my good people? Well, pre-season friendlies are up and running and the transfer window is in full swing.
But before we go there it’s been made clearer than ever that desperate times create desperate reactions.
I’m sure you’ve all seen clips from Man United’s training facility at Carrington, or should I say, the ‘AON Training Complex’ on social media. Complete with 1000s of retweets and comments by United fans hyping up the standard drills coach Erik ten Hag was putting the team through.
Like really basic stuff, possession in a small quarter, give-and-go passing etc.
Either they’ve never seen or been involved in football training, or they’re deluded, or they think Harry Maguire has miraculously transformed into some kind of close touch Ronaldinho clone?
I heard similar sentiment on the radio… by the way, if you really want to get a handle on what’s going on (football-wise) in England, tune into Talk Sport. Great source for news and banter!
But yeah, United fans are (again) convinced that the upcoming season is gonna be a good one for them.
It’s based on the Ten Hag appointment and of course you can’t discount it. It’s happened so often. A new coach comes in, straightens out the dressing room and all of a sudden there’s a change of attitude on the pitch.
“Do you really think [Marcus] Rashford or [Jadon] Sancho can be that bad again?” asked one caller. For their sake I hope they ain’t, but the on-air conversation was soon brought into perspective when ‘Doug’ (a United fan living in London) brought up the bigger issues… terrible owners sucking money, a stadium that is in desperate need of revamping and staff throughout the club talking about the “toxic environment” they work in.
The negative chat around United’s upcoming campaign has been further fuelled by Ten Hag’s alleged “non-negotiable” five Golden Rules.
Paul Scholes issued his view in a short message on Instagram, saying: “Not sure I would’ve coped without my personal chef and no agent to moan to.”
In a tongue-in-cheek dig regarding the new nutritional regime (more fish and veg) and the more hands-on player approach the coach is implementing. Players will be dropped if they are late for training or team meetings and aren’t allowed to drink alcohol during match weeks.
The team has also been told that individuals will be exiled by Ten Hag if he finds any of them leaking dressing-room information, which had been a problem for every boss in the post-Alex Ferguson era.
To be honest, the new guidelines seem like normal, sensible stuff to me? The scary thought is that some of the team members were drinking, eating crap and selling stories to journalists, therefore creating the need for a more stringent culture change.
Back to pre-season and transfers.
Of course the results mean little… even today’s Liverpool v United clash in Thailand. Besides the marketing aspect, the purpose is to start physical preparation for the season, while checking out fringe players, new combinations and tactical changes. I’m not sure why everyone doesn’t get that?
Transfer-wise, well, besides the Ronaldo drama (I think he’ll stay at Old Trafford), Spurs seem to be the big builders.
Jeez, they’re gonna sign a whole new team the way they’re going. Elsewhere, unlike the knobhead section of Chelsea’s social media following, I’m over the moon with the signing of Raheem Sterling. In this day and age he has to be considered a snip at under £50m, a tried and tested top end Premier League player moving into his prime years! Go on my son!
Less than four weeks to go to kick-off! Be good, chat next week, bye byeeee.