The Tactixology

Now that United have a coach who insists on a progressive game model and more control with and without the ball, you can begin to see more clearly the enormous errors of our recruitment and team buillding. 🧵 For the past 10 years, with some sporadic exceptions, United have been buying: - big-name players - players known to the manager - players bought to address a specific gap For example, afer losing the first two league games of the ETH era, we went for Casemiro because it was decided that a DM was urgently needed. And he was the biggest name available. But not much thought was given to what kind of a DM he is; whom he ought to be paired with; what might his trajectory be in a season or two. Consider how much we’ve spent on two RW options who were either completely misprofiled (Sancho) or their PL adequacy completely misjudged (Antony). In general, broader team dynamics, player profiles and tactical compatibility were rarely considered. This has led to: - bloated wages & transfer fees - misprofiled & misused players - short-term planning & constant overhauls - poor team composition & missing profiles This approach, sadly, was quite prominent during the ETH era as well. He held a transfer veto, was heavily involved in recruitment and usually opted for big name players with whom he had some kind of a previous connection with. Many often seem to forget the magnitude of turnover in the past 2 years: we’ve replaced ~75% of the whole squad, with only a modest number of players remaining from the Ole era. This was an open heart surgery on a FM level. Unfortunately, it was not a very successful surgery. All of this means that United currently have: - a lot of good players who don’t necessarily fit well together - a lot of good players who are not ideal for what Amorim wants them to do - a number of average & overpaid players who are not suited to top levels of the PL - lots of missing profiles & traits This will take years to correct.