I certainly don't think that 9 games in which we have started well overwrites a full season of stagnation and going backwards. But equally, it is totally unfair to put losses down to bad management and wins down to luck.

They perform like a set of individuals and Solskjaer does not have anything like the tactical astuteness that the likes of Tuchel and Guardiola have at the top end of the table. McTominay is ok, certainly not a title challenging central midfielder, and him and the poor Fred are unable to provide the balance and platform for the attacking players to attack safe in the knowledge that the midfield battle will be won. The team tend to play as a series of very talented individuals rather than a well drilled team. Van Gaal and Mourinho both got sacked. Although I suspect that the latter's medals will not be eclipsed by Solskjaer. Is 16 successive losses anything but an embarrassment?

United will IMO never genuinely compete for the title with Solksjaer in charge, he will never make a team packed full of quality better than the sum of its parts. The weakness on the pitch is the midfield, the attacking options are as good as any and the back 4 is really good too, but the middle part of McTominay and Fred is average/poor. They need a top manager otherwise the likes of Ronaldo, Pogba, Fernandes, Rashford, Varane etc will only take them so far. Burnley look like they have a talent in Cornet although he got injured yesterday. I suspect that Burnley will be fine as always though. Norwich have seemingly again poorly prepared for a Premier League season, they get a lot of credit for how they are run but their recruitment once they go up leads to embarrassment on the pitch, 16 successive losses at this level. Watford and Brentford look much more at home at this level.

The grim feeling of walking off a game having beaten a Premier League team.

Brilliant performance, no one really less than 7 out of 10. Thought the front 3 were excellent. Gallagher looked like a different animal, his technical ability and first touch are sorely lacking but he was putting himself about, got his goal, was running in behind, was as good a performance from him as I remember. Dolan was really good, excellent assist and also a nicely taken goal, and generally was a threat, very impressive. Brereton is really chalking the numbers up in front of goal, and also the way that the 3 were played has received much criticism including from myself with Dolan central, today it was bang on. In midfield, the 3 dovetailed well. Travis was tenacious, Buckley kept winning the ball back, I still think he needs to work on getting that final ball right more often, that is the next step and he certainly did for the first goal, and I though Rothwell was as good as he has been for a while too. Shout out for Pickering, I felt I was justified in suggesting that he took a few games to get to grips with things, he now looks very steady, good on the ball and really good at anticipating things, a world away from the clowns we have had there in recent years, Ayala is excellent, Lenihan was good and him going off disrupted us for 15 minutes, and Nyambe again was good and saved Kaminski's blushes at one point. Credit to Mowbray aswell. Shouldn't be in the job but you can't reasonably do anything but praise the start to the season, that is down to him as was the rubbish season last season. Just a shame that the team will soon be broken up into small pieces due to the disinterest of the owners.

What utter rubbish.

Or finished in the top half and got to the semi final of the cup in his full season here, which only got away from us really when Samba got sent off. I don't think that anyone really considers Allardyce on par with Hughes and Souness based on his time here, although to be fair he did get a comparatively very bad hand. Both obviously had much more time, and the financial landscape had somewhat moved on both elsewhere and indeed here, Souness brought in plenty for decent amounts, Hughes did very well in the market but tended to be able to buy someone each summer, I remember a summer under Allardyce when we could only afford an unwanted Benjani on a free and Mame Diouf on loan.

There is an element of sensibility and prudence but to the degree that we are cutting back, seemingly unable to offer our more established players competitive contracts to protect their value with a potential sale down the line, I suspect that it is counter productive. I also think that FFP is seen by some as the primary barrier to Venkys spending money, I am not sure there is much substance to that and certainly not much evidence.

I find it very puzzling the general attitude even amongst the fans in the cups, as many seemed happy to lose to Morecambe as those unhappy to see us fall to an embarrassing loss. Suppose we have a league campaign that will fizzle out to focus on.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/19599557.blackburn-rovers-ceo-venkys-finance-macron-talks-start-seaon/ Seems clear that Venkys have instructed considerable financial cutbacks, no mention of FFP either. Happened before and is happening again, exaggerated by Covid.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2021/september/-We-have-to-find-the-answer-to-get-his-body-to-a-state-of-robustness-/ Sounds like Rankin Costello is still well away from first team involvement having picked up a hamstring injury. His injury proneness is a huge worry, he makes Ayala look robust. With Nyambe set to leave on a free, Rankin Costello will seemingly be next in line, which itself is questionable, but he is of no use if he is made of glass.

Still?

Number 10 is certainly a more suitable position compared to where he is now. I would play him there too.

The young talent we have contracted into next season are Wharton, Buckley, Dolan, Rankin Costello, Pickering, Edun and Carter. Some potentially useful players but im not sure how much excitement that crop gives me. Travis is the stand out and even he only has 18 months left and probably wouldnt generate a major fee.

Exactly plus the losses are higher than they need to due to their own negligence and ineffeciency, both personally and based on the below par people that they employ.

Are you going to divulge or is it more cryptic and meaningless speculation?

The most depressing thing is that 4 players who lets face it, none of who will come close to having Premier League suitors and indeed from that interview have no specific interest still have no interest in renewing at the shell of a club we have today under these twats. We should have sold at least some of them in the window, and I can only imagine the paltry wage offered to them all.

None of us do, but there has been no suggestion that had we not sold Armstrong, that we was over 10m over the threshold. Mowbray has mentioned the lack of budget repeatedly but always from a perspective of how our poor sorry owners have been affected by the pandemic etc. Never anything about FFP, including when he said that we could potentially sign a forward, or when Waggott discussed to the fans forum about Obafemi rejecting us and another striker having a medical and failing it. Hence why I think that an assumption that we are right on the line of FFP even now is a struggle to believe.

I never once suggested that we should "overspend." There is a difference between overspending and spending a fraction of income generated, as I suspect you know yourself having regularly championed Healey, Nisbet etc who would have cost fees.

Clarkson has not impressed when given game time in the first team, looks miles off. How was Edun @rigger

https://the72.co.uk/250944/reading-poised-for-points-deduction-in-the-championship/ Reading seemingly set for a points deduction in a league which is becoming even more uncompetitive as deductions are handed out so easily.

Had that happened, then Kean could have come in sooner and got us relegated a season earlier.

I don't think he did dictates games, he isn't that type of player. He didn't dictate the game v Swansea, they had the ball and we just repeatedly pressed their idiotic playing out from the back tactics successfully, it wasn't a game won through Rothwell controlling it. He is someone who commits players and takes them on, something which is better further forward. He has disappointed this season but is not helped playing so deep. I would have him further forward, either as one of the 2 further forward midfielders in a 3, or behind the striker.

How do you know he does? Even if he does, it doesn't suit him there. His strength is running at players and committing them in the final third. In front of the back 4, he isn't going to dictate games, he leaves gaps in front of the defence and his main strength is totally subdued.

Kaminski Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Pickering Travis Johnson Khadra Rothwell Brereton Butterworth We have kept 2 consecutive clean sheets so I wouldn't change the structure of the defence to try to counteract Cardiff at home. Back 4 (and keeper) picks itself. Further forward, its about as many players in positions that suit us as possible. Brereton as a central striker is a struggle, I would put him back wide where he is better. Poveda and Dolan were particularly poor at the weekend, give Khadra a start. Rothwell isn't a central midfielder, get him running at players in the final third, Johnson can give us some physicality if he is fit enough, failing that, Edun or Davenport.