I've always been a football purist at heart. Ideally, you want pragmatism in certain situations, but more often than not, you want your team to win, and win big. The 14-15 season under Van Gaal caused a permeation of low level acceptance from Utd fans. We began to think of Smalling as a great CB, when in reality, for most opposing managers, he's a pressing point on the ball. Not once have I ever seen Smalling break the lines creating numerical advantages in the final 3rd. We accepted him solely for his athleticism and tackling lmfao. Vidic and Rio knew how to progress the ball, Smalling doesn't.

Our biggest drop off in quality the last few years has definitely occurred in midfield.Herrera was hailed as a "poor man's Scholes" when in reality, he's nowhere near the player 2007-2010 Fletcher was for us. Anything past a 5 yard radius is foreign to him and his press resistance is nil. He's limited, yet we sing his praises every week. Spain's 8th choice midfielder is supposedly of Utd standard. Schneiderlin, despite his minimal playing time, is no better either. With the ball, he's quite limited bar the occasional switch of play. No need to rail on Fellaini as anyone with a working brain can see he's shit.

What disgusted me was the acceptance of last week's result at Anfield. I agree about it not being an easy place to play, but when your best midfielder is isolated back to goal with no numbers around him bar Ibra, what do you expect? My overall point is we've surrounded world class players with bang average talent, and are rightly suffering for it. We need to place an emphasis on technical quality, not physicality and brawn. I see a lot of ppl going off on Ibra, and as someone who watched PSG consistently last ssn, the criticism is head scratching. When any player goes from Di Maria, Pastore, Verratti, Motta, Lucas, Silva etc to players who lack experience, there will be a drop off in performances.

Pogba's intensity without the ball has hurt the team admittedly. He needs to play deeper. It's important for his development. It's where the best CMs play: the no. 8. Modric, Luka, Iniesta etc. Using Herrera as his partner isn't a bad decision at present, but a player like Weigl, Paredes, Tielemans is needed in the future since Carrick doesn't have the legs. In times like this, I wish we had a manager like Pep/Tuchel/Klopp who could offer the individual coaching needed to better players. Most football junkies who watched Pogba at Juve saw that he rarely played in central midfield after Conte’s stint. He was the one associating with full backs and letting Marchisio/Pirlo/Vidal build play behind him. In truth, he was a left midfielder, not central. At Utd, he needs to learn how to dictate games. It’s that simple. We’re going nowhere this ssn if he can’t dictate team tempo. Forget the goals/assists. That’s not what he’s needed for with players like Mata, Martial, Ibra, Mkhi, Rashford in the team. Right now, Pogba’s biggest problem is identity. Is he a #8 or #10? Mou has to figure that out cuz for me, he’s far from a #10.

Mourinho may be on the decline for all we know. Simple instructions like defending the halfspaces to prevent cutbacks, pressing opposition when without the ball, have become foreign to this club. The man cannot coach combination play, that’s why the speed of our passing pales in comparison to Liverpool, Arsenal, City etc.. I thought Mou would build on the Mata-Pogba-Ibra understanding they developed vs Stoke, but he chose not to. Our midfield 2 move the ball at a snail’s pace (Herrera, Fellaini) and Rashford, despite his amazing talent, cannot combine with others in tight spaces. I hope his development doesn’t stunt under Mourinho, because Mourinho has never shown that he offers individual coaching. I rate Mou’s tactical acumen but when we’re going forward, it just seems there’s no fucking identity in possession. Everything’s either a long range effort, or played wide for cross after cross.

Overall, we need to prioritize technical quality again. Players like Smalling, Fellaini, Young etc should not sniff the team. Lingard is solid, but he should be a squad player at best. I want Utd to be in the Madrid/Barca/Bayern/Atleti echelon again. We won't achieve that with our midfield and defensive line at present.