Another bad loss to another bad team.

Thought he had a good game otherwise but Maguire didn't get the memo to step up. That was way too easy but that's what happens when you're pushing up for a late goal and you aren't a very good team.

Maguire once again late to the offside trap. We make it so easy for other teams

Dre_00 said:

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Also I've learned that we gotta start doing more small pushes in the back because they don't seem to call it in the EL or the EPL. Think Yoro got the same little push that Maguire got against Rangers.

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They just called that against Amad.

I don't know but starting a game without a striker when your team struggles to score seems like a strange idea even if both of you strikers are struggling. Passing was way off today where players expected a teammate to be somewhere they weren't even near to. Garnacho had some early success but Richards pretty much put him in his pocket. Amad was off today and looked like Palace made a concerted effort to double him from time to time. Amorim can point fingers at suspect performances but his selection and subs were highly questionable IMO.

Of course they did.

This one was on Amorim. Mainoo isn't a false 9. This set up was a mess.

I'll give him credit for being willing to try things out of the ordinary but it was clear in the 1H that it didn't work and he waited way too late to adjust.

On the plus side, only 2 games in the next 2 weeks so less times to watch them crap the bed. That game @ Spurs on the 16th could be a relegation 6 pointer.

Honestly, I don't know what it will take to right this club.

Lots and lots of time. Ineos shot themselves in the foot when they re-signed EtH, binned him after 3 months and replaced him with a manager the squad was never built for. It's going to take a long time to get the players and if they lose patience in a year or two and bin Amorim, we'll be back at square one just like every few years for the last decade.

Don't forget chasing Dan Ashworth for months only to turn around and run him out. It's amazing how much capital both money and goodwill that Ratcliffe has already burned through.

Yep...he had to clear the lowest possible bar and somehow managed to just plow right through it, kick it right into the stands and stab the fanbase in the eye with it.

Sounds like no Tel deal will not happen. Bayern rejected two bids. Saw elsewhere that they wanted an obligation to buy, sounds like we didn't. In fairness, we probably need a deal that largely mirrors Rashford's, and Rashford is not out on an obligation to buy.

Manchester United have now seen two offers rejected by Bayern for Mathys Tel. As things stand this evening, talks are off, as @FabriceHawkins called.#MUFC exploring other options. Still a chance they place a late-window offer for Christopher Nkunku.🔴 pic.twitter.com/qr2Z4r2gCP

— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) February 2, 2025

Tel appears to have great potential but I also wonder if bolstering an underproducing forward line with a 19 year old that has only 12 career league goals and pays minimally is the right play. Or maybe a better way to say it...he's a great player to add that could turn into a superstar and he would likely do very little to make this team better in the final 3 months of the season.

Tel to Spurs on a straight loan. The story was we had agreed personal terms, we were Tel's preferred destination (allegedly), but Bayern wouldn't agree without an obligation to buy. So how we miss out when the deal becomes a straight loan is perplexing. That said, he's a potential player so he's probably not going to make a huge difference this year, but… we could use a player for depth with both Marcus and Antony going out.

maybe Bayern was trying to stick us with the United tax once again, and we finally said no. it's probably going to take a few transfer windows to fix the United tax.

If it's a straight loan for half a year, you can't get that much of a United tax. Loan fees are only a couple mil at most. We'd have to cover his wage, but I think he's on about 100k Euros per week. So 2mil in wages.

Watch us both make Europa final and he scores the go ahead goal. That is in light with our luck.

Showstopper said:

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If it's a straight loan for half a year, you can't get that much of a United tax. Loan fees are only a couple mil at most. We'd have to cover his wage, but I think he's on about 100k Euros per week. So 2mil in wages.

Watch us both make Europa final and he scores the go ahead goal. That is in light with our luck.

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I spot some BAS leaking into your United fandom.

They are similar experiences at the moment.

You may be right on the loan fee; this is from a Google news search which has the loan fee from Spurs at 6.5M pounds, which is a lot for a half year. This isn't a high quality source (to me, anyway) but it's on the internet right? When has there ever been misinformation on the internet?

https://tbrfootball.com/the-loan-fee-tottenham-have-paid-bayern-munich-to-take-mathys-tel-until-end-of-the-season/

I don't feel as bad about not getting Tel; Spurs are paying 10M loan fee for a half season loan per Plettenberg (who basically gets info from Bayern). 55M-60M option (not cheap) for a player that has ultimate control and told them "no" once.

I assumed they weren't overpaying because they've traditionally been fairly… well, cheap… but this is on par with something we'd have done a few years ago.

🚨⚪️ FC Bayern will receive a loan fee of €10 million for Mathys #Tel. As first via @cfbayern and confirmed.

In addition, Tottenham will cover five months of his salary, amounting to around €2 million gross.

For the summer, #COYS have secured an option to buy of around… pic.twitter.com/Am05v3Riyh

— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) February 4, 2025

That is an atrocious deal. 12 million in fees and salary for a player that likely won't stay with you beyond the end of the season. If United had pulled the trigger on that deal I'd be furious. Paying 12 million for Tel the rest of the season would have more than negated the income from saving on Antony and Rashford's salaries.

I mean, also…. He's potentially good in the future… but right now he's not, and Bayern presently has Kane, Olise, and Sane upfront. I mean, you can see what will happen, Bayern will see how he does at Spurs, if he does well, they will let his agent know they would be interested in negotiating a new contract, he comes back, and he starts replacing probably Sane who is either at or near 30. If he doesn't, they pocket either 10M plus a fee in the summer if they need to sell, or if the option kicks in, they get 65-70M (55-60 plus 10) euros from a player they bought for like 20M a couple years ago. Or he does well and Spurs outbid Bayern on salary and convince him to stay over overtures from Bayern (this seems pretty unlikely; Bayern typically pays pretty high salaries, leaving aside the Spurs-trophy jokes).

I don't know, there are a lot more ways this goes bad than well. Spurs are basically paying 12M for the privilege of developing Bayern's player, and if it doesn't work out, they have the ability to buy him for a lot of money. They almost need my BAS scenario to happen for this to be a good deal.

Yeah, I can't think of a realistic scenario in which this ends well for Spurs. The best case scenario that is somewhat realistic is that he kills it at Spurs and then he leaves for Bayern or some other team that will battle for league titles and play in the CL. Which would be fine if that 12 million spent meant and his performances played a large part in them qualifying for the CL or avoiding relegation. But they are not a threat to get relegated without him and they aren't qualifying for the CL with him unless they win the EL.

So basically, if he performs well and/or scores in the Europa League final on their way to winning it all, then it will be money well spent. Otherwise, it's a massive overpay when compared to the return on the investment.