Hold on your butts. We are going to give Villa plenty of chances.

Are we playing with 8 CBs?

Ugly. Bizarre. But a win.

Another easy win, never any doubt! lol.

(If you have high blood pressure, this is a rough year in all seriousness lol)

Sofascore xG is 2.5 Villa - 1.8 United. Easy win. lol

What a win!


And double rods to the whiniest fanbase I've maybe ever heard.

Your heart thanks you for missing most of that match.

Well, if you want.a glass-half-full view of our GD, we started the day -1 compared to West Ham and are ending it +6.

Ideally we should be looking to go 3-1-1 in that stretch. Realistically I could see us struggling to achieve that

Dre_00 said:

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No kidding. I left the house after the first 20 minutes so that was by far the least stressful way to experience that match.

If anyone is thinking that the games have been more stressful than usual recently, you aren't wrong. 4 of the last 6 EPL games have been decided by 1 goal (1 draw to Tottenham and the 3-0 over West Ham the 2 exceptions). In those 4 games, the game winning goal was scored in the...

82nd minute (3-2 W vs. Villa)
82nd minute (2-1 L vs. Forest)
90+7th minute (4-3 W vs. Wolves)
86th minute (2-1 W vs. Villa)

Looking ahead, next 5 games are:

@ Luton
Fulham
@ City
Everton
Sheffield United

This team is capable of losing each and every one of those matches but, with the obvious exception of @ City, that's about the easiest run of 5 games that a team looking to climb the table could ask for.

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Man I would love to be at that Luton match. Love it when the big historic clubs go and play at these historic old smaller pitches.

a couple of newsworthy articles



https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/13/sir-jim-ratcliffe-all-clear-premier-league-manchester-united


https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/14/manchester-united-face-battle-to-lure-dan-ashworth-from-newcastle

Sounds like Ashworth wants to make the move. So now it's up to ManU and Newcastle coming to an agreement.

Berrada and now maybe Ashworth. Ratcliffe isn't messing around.

Two years now at Newcastle but his previous four at Brighton were far more impressive.

https://www.football365.com/news/man-utd-dan-ashworth-signings-ranked-mitoma-isak-feature

Used the piece above to get an overview of Ashworth's work. Has made 31 signings while at Brighton and Newcastle. Not all are stellar but I would say most fall into the category of "holy crap, what a steal" or "too early to tell if good/bad". What's also striking is that, in many cases, the fees paid are so low that even if the player doesn't excel, they can likely move on for minimal loss or even sometimes a profit. The ones that stand out to me.

Mitoma - 2.5 million
Jan Paul van Hecke - 1.7 million
Sven Botman - 31 million
Leandro Trossard - 13 million
Tino Livramento - 32 million
Moises Caicedo -24 million (think the article is wrong? always heard that Brighton paid something like 5 million for him)

Plus some other young players with small transfer fees that are out on loan but seemingly developing and could potentially be flipped.

Fees paid have significantly increased since moving to Newcastle but you would expect that. Even if Ashworth were to find the next Mitoma while at United, no club would allow United to pay a mere 2.5 million for one of their players.

All cart before the horse of course but interesting (to me anyways).

If the post above is that cart, here's the horse

https://theathletic.com/5275694/2024/02/15/why-manchester-united-want-dan-ashworth/?source=emp_shared_article

For those that don't have a subscription, the highlights.

Ashworth is good friends with Brailsford and has expressed interest in moving to United. There has been some conflict at Newcastle which also creates an advantage for United. Ratcliffe and co want a sporting director in place by the summer, but that likely will only happen if United pay the "very high" asking price to release restrictions/obligations that Ashworth not work for rivals for up to 1 year after leaving Newcastle. But Newcastle is up against FFP and that plus the conflict mentioned might encourage Newcastle to let him leave if the price is right.

Murtough would likely be shown the door if/when Ashworth (or another person) is hired. United didn't want to pursue Ashworth until Berrada was confirmed so there would be clarity for Ashworth (or any candidate) as to who they would work for and how that relationship would work. If United confirm Ashworth, they want to quickly move on to a recruitment specialist (following the same logic...clarity to the candidates who they would be working for and how that relationship would work).

Anyway, if United can pull this off then it's likely the best case imaginable and an exponential leap forward in execution of a plan and organizational structure. Even if they don't get Ashworth, you can already see the impact of smart people with a logical plan in place.

Ashworth has said yes. Newcastle claim they want 6mm pounds and for Ashworth to wait a year.

0:39. Thank you Luton.

Couldn't ask for a better start

I know it was a pretty easy goal with just the keeper, but is that 5 matches in a row for Hojlund?

Edit: Ben Jacobs just posted I'm on Twitter that it was 6 PL games in a row.

Everything is coming up Milhouse!

Hojlund with a brace in under 8 minutes

Can we please have one of these 5-0 laughers that everyone else gets?

ETA. I guess not.

Nope

So sloppy after the opening 10'. Genuinely can't keep possession

Case doing everything in his power to get a stupid red today

Casemiro is a lucky boy. Pull him now.

Entire midfield and defense getting absolutely rinsed by Luton right now

Great. Shaw hurt. Headed to locker.

Shaw off injured now we get 45+ of Iceman at LB (even though Dalot has shown the ability to play decently on the left and Victor hasn't). I'm sure we'll also see McT on for Case at HT

Shaw was not supposed to play because he wasn't healthy. I was surprised he started. It's a testament to how thin the back line is. Dalot is the only healthy non CB on the team.

Good thing we sent Reguilon back to Tottenham early

Luton with 60% possession. And it's mostly been positive possession.