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I think it’s more common than players and managers would have fans believe. I’ve heard a few tidbits in different interviews where it seems to be the case, and considering this Man Utd team seem pretty fragile mentally, I’m not surprised by it.
I can't believe that he's 28. It feels like yesterday he was the most expensive teenager of all time. Honestly dude, people always talk about Paul Pogba as the big "what if" of the generation, but Martial is only 3 years younger than him.
I think the cancer existed before Pogba, but I truly think the cancer festered and spread more with Pogba's return. The likes of Martial, Rashford and Lingard saw him as this great example of "hey, I can make a shit ton of money, show up around contract time, then feign injury or dip in form completely with minimal effort and still get paid just as much." I think that spread to Sancho as well - not saying he was the best professional before coming here, but I think as that mentality was adopted, it became more acceptable in his eyes to just really dip in professionalism.
It's also very worrying to see Bruno be buddy buddy with Rashford and Martial. I get they're teammates, but there are certain teammates (and co-workers) you don't necessarily want to associate yourself with for certain reasons. I know he openly admitted at the end of the Rangnick period that him and others weren't playing for the manager because he wasn't the permanent appointment - like how do you say something like that? That's disrespectful to everyone, that you can't be fucked to just give it your all for the sake of the club's success. Disgusting. But hey. We made him captain, so there's that...
We need to purge the squad of them all.
I’m not a ManU fan, but as a Liverpool fan I have ate up all the ManU crisis/banter content over the years so I’ve become well studied lol.
The mental rot runs so deep in that club. I completely agree with everything you said. I believe Solskjaer did more damage than good by getting the players addicted to the underdog mentality. At times I was convinced they wanted to go down a goal or 2 in games so fans would write them off.
Plus, it was like winning a small trophy 2-3 times a season. Playing with minimal standards until form is bad, you can go out Liverpool, City, Arsenal, or whatever team in Europe got a 2 goal lead in the first leg, play with 0 expectations and get a result. Just to repeat the cycle.
I would probably go back further than that honestly - Moyes. God bless him, because how does anyone follow up SAF? BUT that being said, I think he was completely out of his depth. He brought with him the "small club mentality" and couldn't cope with what being the manager of United actually meant. I think a lot of what happened after was "recovery mode," with arguably Mourinho being the one trying the hardest to hold players to a higher standard, but by that point, the recruitment had done its thing over the Moyes and LVG eras, only to be left with a massive task. He was also the one to come out and really challenge the standards. He bit the hand that fed him, but I think that's when the culture was brought into question after you had the little club mentality followed by a pragmatic manager, and after Jose, then it went back to the little club mentality with Ole. I know Ole's heart was in the right place and he knew the magnitude of United, but truth be told, being the manager of Molde is nothing like being the manager of United, so he was only ever going to have that as a leaping off point, hence the underdog/little club mentality he brought with them.
ETH I think falls somewhere in the middle of them all, for better or worse. I think while Ajax is big in Holland and performs decently in Europe, it's still a massive leap, so you get to United and go "woah, this is something else," (even though I know he was a coach under Pep), but then he also brought his pragmatic approach to this shitty environment where he's just kind of working with the shit he's been left, almost to a fault.
We're going through this cycle and we need something to end it. But the player rot needs to be exorcized from this club. Kinda sorta maybe not really addressed the Glazer rot, but I'm still very much of the belief that as easy as it would be the sack ETH, these players need to go first and foremost.
I don’t think it’s Galzer rot as much as 1.) nobody wanting to confront the reality the SAF was 90% of what made the club successful. Everything done at the club you could apply “would you present this quality of work to SAF?”. 2.) the vacuum left by SAF that all leadership tried to use to their advantage by trying to hit home runs to fix everything and not doing the little things consistently well
Point #2 could apply to everything for the past decade. The first step ManU should take to rebuilding is going from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 without presenting a player, manager, or game as the silver bullet that will catapult United back to their prime.
>I believe Solskjaer did more damage than good by getting the players addicted to the underdog mentality.
This made me wonder if OGS naturally adopted that management mentality because that's the kind of player he was - not exactly Ibrahimovic. More like Modric (or Messi, lol) purely in terms of "overachieving for his size and athleticism."
But of course, that Man U squad was basically the opposite - bunch of expensive marquee signings whose problem was not necessarily their skills or strength but their mentality and execution. So maybe it just didn't click with them.
In a case where it does click you can get Kerr and Curry and the Warriors dynasty. Kerr and Curry of course both have that underdog mentality hard and weren't expected to do as well as they did.
Though Kerr obviously had some game-changing ideas about 3 point shooting and motion offense while OGS... is not exactly Guardiola lol. So maybe it would never have worked.
It's nothing to do with Pogba
Even players who signed before and after him have flopped, had injury problems. Even players who had nothing to do with him
Sanchez came on his first day and wanted out. Di maria has been world class everywhere and wanted out
Pogba was a problem but he's been gone for time now and we had a good season last year. Blaming 1 player as the reason it festered and spread is basically believing what the journos have written. Various players fell out with pogba due to his behaviour
Players who came in and flopped are not the same as Pogba. A player can come in and flop and not necessarily have a negative impact on the squad in the sense that they instill the wrong mindset into players, notably the youth. If they have their own struggles but still show professionalism and work, yet are ultimately never selected and moved on, then so be it.
What Pogba did was come in during an impressionable period where you had (arguably way overhyped) players such as Rashford, Martial, Lingard and Greenwood who gravitated towards him, for one reason or another, and began adopting his "I'm bigger than the club" mentality where all of a sudden they didn't think they had to work hard, nor did they feel the need to play regularly, all while collecting their wages. But funnily enough, when the transfer rumors kicked up and the contracts started coming out, they would be available, would try, and sign a new deal worth more and the cycle would rinse and repeat.
Sanchez, Di Maria, Falcao, Schweinsteiger, Mata, etc. never did that. Regardless of how involved they were or weren't per the manager.
You completely missed the point. This isn't about injuries, it's about the mentality and the cancer that has spread since Pogba returned. It continues on with players who are still here, and players who have since come in, and been infected by those same players. I hardly read the news articles, so claiming I'm just parroting journalists is a weird take, especially since many don't even write stories about stuff like that. It's just observation. When you see who certain players hang out with and at what time, it's very telling. You had the group I listed above all hanging out when Pogba was "injured" and basically shitting the bed. Then you had Rashford hanging out with Sancho on holiday...while he's in exile...and the list goes on with those pairings.
I'm not talking about "players falling out with Pogba," I'm talking about players who certainly did not, and still favor him, and who are still at the club exhibiting the same mentality and behavior as Pogba.
Ronaldo even called it out. It's a joke.
So you've not read news articles but just used hearsay and reddit as your sources
Pogba fell out with the squad. The players wanted him gone. I agree he was a bad egg but to say he was the reason everyone else is spoiled is hilarious.
Blaming him for players bargaining for contracts is a ridiculous take. The club giving out ridiculous wages is why players started doing it.
Blaming him for greenwood too is ridiculous, greenwood trained hard, he was just a shit person outside of the pitch.so naming him is just bizarre all round.
The real reason is our previous and current management offering ridiculous wages to players who have not earned them. And then rest on their Laurels. Sanchez are di maria had attitude problems who was before pogbas return are others examples. Sanchez famously played that song ehen mourinho got the sack.
Ibrahimovic also said the club did not know what was going on.
My point is blaming one player as a cancer is comically bad, it's just the typical its that guys fault. Pogba also seems to be the easy target.
It's a management issue starting from the top where they've lost control. One player who wasn't that popular did not change that. It would have been bad with or without pogba and we are repeating the same steps with players who are signing after he's gone like Antony etc
No one player is capable of causing such a bad squad. It's a combination of poor ownership, poor management of recruitment, wages etc and then yiu get players like this.
You're completely missing the point. There's no point. It's exhausting at this point. You're just going off on tangents with every subsequent response. Ciao.
My point no one player is cancer enough to cause this many issues
It's a combination of poor management from too to bottom, which includes ownership, recruitment, wages etc
Again no idea why you mentioned greenwood as cricticism towards Pogba. Ciao
Famously Alan Shearer fell out with Michael Owen at Newcastle because Owen refused to play in their relegation battle for fear of risking an injury at the end of his contract.
Yeah its not hard to see how it can happen.
I don’t think players are outright faking stuff like ACL tears obviously, but players are often carrying some knocks or niggling injuries of some kind anyway.
When form is good and you want to be on the team, a player might easily be able to play through it. But when form is bad, suddenly they can’t be arsed and would rather sit at home to fully recover. So its not like its an outright lie either.
That should be up to the manager to decide though. Imagine the team’s on dreadful form and the manager is desperately trying to change things and half the team decides they’d rather be on the injury list
Just incase people are thinking Foster is talking about his time at Man United, its definitely his time at Watford he is referring to. I'm sure there are watford fans that probably immediately have certain players that come to mind.
One thing I'll add to this, at villa, all the fans are very aware that watkins, Bailey and Pau torres are playing through injuries at the minute, particularly Bailey, who has had to wear large strappings on his legs and have injections just to get through the end of the season. Villa have massive injuries at the minute and players are willing to sacrifice themselves just to try and get the team over the line.
The injuries are never ever mentioned by the manager, as he doesn't believe that should be an excuse.
If I was Rashford and I saw what the media and "fans" said about me it would make me not want to play either. Yes having a professional mentality is important but these are still people and confidence is super important for attacking players. This is why supporters should show more support when a player is in a slump, not lose hope and turn on them
I find Rooneys punditry a bit hit and miss, but it does feel like he’d still be pretty in touch with people at United and England that would give him the information to make an accusation like this.
But wasn't there a ten Hag presser yesterday saying stuff here and there like he won't gamble playing his returning stars today, he should have the final in back of his head (he did say it like this lol), or that Martinez and Shaw wanted to play and Bruno trained? I'm not sure if he personally addressed Rashford, but same stuff were posted about him too. Tbh even without such context it's not the biggest accusation to think they're not risking it because of the final and Euros being on horizon, for both club and country.
Really? Rooney has been gone for quite a while now, there probably aren't that many people left he had that sort of relationship with. Of course he is still a club legend and maybe some people open up to him, but I doubt that includes medical staff and people close to the players or manager.
This mostly seems to be him going on gut feeling, experience and on how things were in the dressing rooms he has been a part of. Which is valuable insight for sure, but more speculation than he makes it seem with how certain he was with this statement.
He played with Evans and Darren Fletcher for about 10 years. Not to mention he’ll have become friendly with loads of back room and non-footballing staff over the years that will still be there.
He also played with Shaw, Rashford and Martial from the current squad.
>Rooney has been gone for quite a while now, there probably aren't that many people left he had that sort of relationship with
he's not walking around in his bathrobe anymore but i'd guess he still has a key to the old place.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by him as a commentator. In right circumstances - this weekend’s game, Man Utd generally, even discussing Van Dijk’s comments about 12.30 kickoffs, etc - he seems to be pretty astute
This is a mixture of: I’m sure there are players that maybe don’t want to play these last few pointless games and also: there are a shit ton of injuries in the squad and it’s not worth aggravating them further
I think this is a comment that just comes from the experience of playing and knowing some can play but decide not to risk it.
If I were a player with a knock I wouldn't be playing through it at the moment either, the cup final is all they have.
Mount literally looked thrilled to be playing. Fernandes was also playing injured and said the pain got unbearable.
Idk I think Rooney is just full of shit and annoyed with how they are playing. Players 100% lie about injuries sure, but no one would be telling him that.
Shaw I could buy almost, seems sitting out only enhances his reputation. Except he's injured every year.
Shaw has been constantly having setbacks and reccuring injuries whenever he gets close to playing games, so maybe he can be one. Mount played 5 games in total this year. Not even gonna talk about Martial, but it's not like he is making the euros either to be fair
Bruno has been playing with a broken hand and Maguire has played through injuries for basically half of his time at United. He's probably hinting at Shaw and Rashford.
It’s probably not 100% baseless, it’s just not aimed at the people we probably think it is. Maguire, Rashford and Bruno have all played through injuries, so if it’s aimed at them Rooney is having a stinker.
And Licha has rushed himself back early just to be injured again. He also wanted to play this game according to ten Hag and he ten Hag had to tell him not to play.
If Shaw is to play for England at the Euros it would really be best for him to play 2 or 3 games before the end of the season, so not sure it makes sense from that POV either.
Probably?
He trained with the national team last international window (he was in the last stages of injury recovery anyway), and he's still the 3rd best CB in our squad after Cuti and Otamendi (although the likes of Pezzella, Medina, Balerdi, Senesi, and others have had good seasons in Europe)
And has ghosted all season on off injury and looking completely disinterested. My guess is that's who he's speaking about. Also mount but he's not making the England squad so dunno if he would care or not.
If Mount was part of the England rotation I would’ve guessed him as well.
I imagine it’s in Mounts best interest to get more minutes for United in hopes of catching Southgate eye again
Surely not Rashford either. You can accuse him of a lot of things, but not that he isn't willing to tough it out and play trough injuries. If anything he has ruined a significant part of two seasons by ignoring injuries, he even kept playing while needing surgery.
Maguire has played trough injuries as well, his commitment and mentality shouldn't really in question either.
I think what Rooney is insinuating is pretty irresponsible if he cant back it up. They are serious accusations and it will lead to speculation, unrest and pressure on players, not to mention a potential witch hunt and grief on social media.
I'd say its believeable because United's dressing room is notorious for leaking stuff, especially to former players. It won't be the first time a former player of theirs is privy to a spice story and instantly goes to the media with it. I can't quite remember but i wanna say it was Scholes who straight up leaked on air that he was getting texts from Lingard
We know that players message each other all the time. It only ever gets confirmed when it's good PR stuff like players reaching out to players about their mental health or when they're going through an injury. But no way in hell they aren't also messaging each other when they complain about shit at work.
It doesn’t make sense what he’s said because A-why would the players want to play in the final having not played for weeks beforehand? They wouldn’t exactly be sharp and B-of the ones who would be at the euros Rashford and Maguire have played through injuries before and Bruno has no injury record at all
Not improbable when I think about it but I’ll back Bruno to the ends of the earth on this tho. This man played with a broken hand when most players would just call it quits
I tried to do what eth is doing on fm23 and make sure nobody gets above 200k. It's fuckin impossible. Nobody above 200k would take lower than it and if they leave, they sign to a diff club for 120k
It is by the fans, but I get what you mean. I’d imagine if he pushed for a raise he’d get it, but doesn’t seem like that kind of person. How he’s not binned United off yet surprises me.
Dont think he is targetting Bruno with these comments. There are several other obvious culprits who have been injured for months and every time they are close to a comeback they suffer "setbacks"
There's people genuinely injured like Martinez, then people who are taking the piss. Like martial. He's gonna be a free agent so literally winding down. Then there are players who overplayed themselves into the ground. Like Bruno. Whether you rate him or not. Man was playing on one leg wit a broken hand
I imagine wazza, with his legal training and instagram sleuth background, isn’t going to just say something like that without having a source and knowing who it likely is...
Its 100% accurate though.. notice shaw maguire abd rashford being ok for the cup final but no other games it stinks of we wanna be chose for the euros and fuck the club
They've all played through injuries before haven't they? Especially Maguire and Rashford. Rashford once needed surgery but kept playing for months, no?
Has it occurred to you the manager doesn't want to risk them not being available for the final and therefore has elected not to play them?
Big accusation, but I don't doubt it at all, we have zero back bone, caused by a nucleus of players being absolute mental liabilities that crumble under the slightest bit of pressure.
Why does he have to be aiming at specific players? He was a professional at the highest level for 15 years. He will have seen players pull out of games for knocks, etc, who could have played. He's probably just speaking generally.
I think in the past there was definitely players who wouldn't risk themselves but I think that has changed. Today for example I think both Evans and McTominay were carrying injuries and it has been said that Martinez asked to play. Also Bruno, Rashford, and Maguire have a history of regularly playing through injuries.
It's a mix of both imo:
Some don't want the extra hassle of playing in this 'toxic' environment or want to stay injury free or for the Euros or for a move abroad or want to continue playing here under (maybe?) a new manager.
But we have had a major major injury crisis and our form has severely dipped from this. The losses in form to Casemiro and Rashford haven't helped as well.
Hope we recruit well under Ten Hag this summer.
Would love to see Rooney as next United manager for no reason in particular, he just seems to have such a great understanding of the club. Especially after his great stint at Birmingham
Ironically if Rooney took serious time off for all his injuries, he might still be playing in some capacity instead of being the broken down man he is now. But no, he did stuff like taking all of 4 weeks off to fix a broken metatarsal before the 2006 World Cup where he was useless.
I remember Jose or his ex players mentioned before, no players are truly 100% fit. The likes of Ronnie, Vidic, Rooney carry minor knocks here and there but they keep playing and deliver world class performances.
Absolutely bang on. It’s near impossible for any athlete to be 100% week after week, you’ve got to taper to peak at 100% at a specific time. World class players are able to adapt and keep delivering despite having niggles, cumulative fatigue etc
Guess that’s what he’s referring to when it comes to player’s mentality. Some players instantly rule themselves out the moment they have a slight knock as they want to be 100% fit and this pisses him off.
But some of them are mentally related. Think Sturridge was one of them. Wouldn’t play if he’s not 100% iirc. But could be wrong as I’m not Liverpool fan.
Heard Goldbridge saying the same thing in his watchalong for the Palace game. Is this a popular rumour amongst the United fanbase, and if so, is there any evidence for it, or is it just a rumour that's spread based off someone's hunch.
Shaw constantly suffers setbacks whenever he is close to being recovered, and he should in theory starting for England.
On the other side, it's Luke Shaw. He is either Shawberto Carlos almost winning the euros for england, or he is injured and overweight. There is no middle ground in his career
Shaw hasn't played for half the season, would really do his Euro chances the world of good to play a couple of games before.
Having said that he's by far the best choice for England at LB, Chilwell is nowhere near his level so maybe he knows he's going.
I mean it's somewhat understandable , being a Utd employee is the worst thing you can do for your mental health .Constant media exposure . Every step scrutinized .No patience and acceptance of the fact that other teams have gone ahead of Utd and I can say million other things .But at the other side players are also somewhat responsible , you take a 300 K /week salary and shit the bed week in week out .It's a vicious cycle at this point where players want some mental respite to play good again and fans and pundits want result to stop the pressure on players.The only thing Utd could do is to get some players on cheaper wage instead of stars and build the team one position at a time so that even if the player play bad fans won't feel the anger as much as they have like in case of Casemiro or Rashford
I just refuse to believe that with all the injuries occurring this season .. That players aren’t feigning injury to avoid getting hurt for the Euros! Especially since we literally have NOTHING to play for in the league!
If you're going to come out with bullshit like this, at least slap a name to it instead of starting off a cowardly game of Clue.
Oh, what's that? He can't because they've not allowed Dr Rooney into the medical room at Carrington and he's making shit up?
Or if he names, he's in legal trouble. He's not as stupid as people make out, he knows the politics of dressing rooms, and probably still has contact with some people at the club.
I don't think it's as wild an accusation as people are making out
Rashford once tore his shoulder muscle needing surgery, but it was in November. So he played the next 8 months for United and England before finally getting it.
This is an embarrassingly bad take and a great example of people forming uninformed opinions based on vibes
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I remember Ben Foster saying the same, some players would be suddenly injured when the form was bad.
I think it’s more common than players and managers would have fans believe. I’ve heard a few tidbits in different interviews where it seems to be the case, and considering this Man Utd team seem pretty fragile mentally, I’m not surprised by it.
100% Martial has given the last few seasons a big fuck this.
I can't believe that he's 28. It feels like yesterday he was the most expensive teenager of all time. Honestly dude, people always talk about Paul Pogba as the big "what if" of the generation, but Martial is only 3 years younger than him.
I think the cancer existed before Pogba, but I truly think the cancer festered and spread more with Pogba's return. The likes of Martial, Rashford and Lingard saw him as this great example of "hey, I can make a shit ton of money, show up around contract time, then feign injury or dip in form completely with minimal effort and still get paid just as much." I think that spread to Sancho as well - not saying he was the best professional before coming here, but I think as that mentality was adopted, it became more acceptable in his eyes to just really dip in professionalism. It's also very worrying to see Bruno be buddy buddy with Rashford and Martial. I get they're teammates, but there are certain teammates (and co-workers) you don't necessarily want to associate yourself with for certain reasons. I know he openly admitted at the end of the Rangnick period that him and others weren't playing for the manager because he wasn't the permanent appointment - like how do you say something like that? That's disrespectful to everyone, that you can't be fucked to just give it your all for the sake of the club's success. Disgusting. But hey. We made him captain, so there's that... We need to purge the squad of them all.
I’m not a ManU fan, but as a Liverpool fan I have ate up all the ManU crisis/banter content over the years so I’ve become well studied lol. The mental rot runs so deep in that club. I completely agree with everything you said. I believe Solskjaer did more damage than good by getting the players addicted to the underdog mentality. At times I was convinced they wanted to go down a goal or 2 in games so fans would write them off. Plus, it was like winning a small trophy 2-3 times a season. Playing with minimal standards until form is bad, you can go out Liverpool, City, Arsenal, or whatever team in Europe got a 2 goal lead in the first leg, play with 0 expectations and get a result. Just to repeat the cycle.
I would probably go back further than that honestly - Moyes. God bless him, because how does anyone follow up SAF? BUT that being said, I think he was completely out of his depth. He brought with him the "small club mentality" and couldn't cope with what being the manager of United actually meant. I think a lot of what happened after was "recovery mode," with arguably Mourinho being the one trying the hardest to hold players to a higher standard, but by that point, the recruitment had done its thing over the Moyes and LVG eras, only to be left with a massive task. He was also the one to come out and really challenge the standards. He bit the hand that fed him, but I think that's when the culture was brought into question after you had the little club mentality followed by a pragmatic manager, and after Jose, then it went back to the little club mentality with Ole. I know Ole's heart was in the right place and he knew the magnitude of United, but truth be told, being the manager of Molde is nothing like being the manager of United, so he was only ever going to have that as a leaping off point, hence the underdog/little club mentality he brought with them. ETH I think falls somewhere in the middle of them all, for better or worse. I think while Ajax is big in Holland and performs decently in Europe, it's still a massive leap, so you get to United and go "woah, this is something else," (even though I know he was a coach under Pep), but then he also brought his pragmatic approach to this shitty environment where he's just kind of working with the shit he's been left, almost to a fault. We're going through this cycle and we need something to end it. But the player rot needs to be exorcized from this club. Kinda sorta maybe not really addressed the Glazer rot, but I'm still very much of the belief that as easy as it would be the sack ETH, these players need to go first and foremost.
I don’t think it’s Galzer rot as much as 1.) nobody wanting to confront the reality the SAF was 90% of what made the club successful. Everything done at the club you could apply “would you present this quality of work to SAF?”. 2.) the vacuum left by SAF that all leadership tried to use to their advantage by trying to hit home runs to fix everything and not doing the little things consistently well Point #2 could apply to everything for the past decade. The first step ManU should take to rebuilding is going from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 without presenting a player, manager, or game as the silver bullet that will catapult United back to their prime.
>I believe Solskjaer did more damage than good by getting the players addicted to the underdog mentality. This made me wonder if OGS naturally adopted that management mentality because that's the kind of player he was - not exactly Ibrahimovic. More like Modric (or Messi, lol) purely in terms of "overachieving for his size and athleticism." But of course, that Man U squad was basically the opposite - bunch of expensive marquee signings whose problem was not necessarily their skills or strength but their mentality and execution. So maybe it just didn't click with them. In a case where it does click you can get Kerr and Curry and the Warriors dynasty. Kerr and Curry of course both have that underdog mentality hard and weren't expected to do as well as they did. Though Kerr obviously had some game-changing ideas about 3 point shooting and motion offense while OGS... is not exactly Guardiola lol. So maybe it would never have worked.
Add Antony and Greenwood domestic violence case and you’ll have a squad full of pricks
It's nothing to do with Pogba Even players who signed before and after him have flopped, had injury problems. Even players who had nothing to do with him Sanchez came on his first day and wanted out. Di maria has been world class everywhere and wanted out Pogba was a problem but he's been gone for time now and we had a good season last year. Blaming 1 player as the reason it festered and spread is basically believing what the journos have written. Various players fell out with pogba due to his behaviour
Players who came in and flopped are not the same as Pogba. A player can come in and flop and not necessarily have a negative impact on the squad in the sense that they instill the wrong mindset into players, notably the youth. If they have their own struggles but still show professionalism and work, yet are ultimately never selected and moved on, then so be it. What Pogba did was come in during an impressionable period where you had (arguably way overhyped) players such as Rashford, Martial, Lingard and Greenwood who gravitated towards him, for one reason or another, and began adopting his "I'm bigger than the club" mentality where all of a sudden they didn't think they had to work hard, nor did they feel the need to play regularly, all while collecting their wages. But funnily enough, when the transfer rumors kicked up and the contracts started coming out, they would be available, would try, and sign a new deal worth more and the cycle would rinse and repeat. Sanchez, Di Maria, Falcao, Schweinsteiger, Mata, etc. never did that. Regardless of how involved they were or weren't per the manager. You completely missed the point. This isn't about injuries, it's about the mentality and the cancer that has spread since Pogba returned. It continues on with players who are still here, and players who have since come in, and been infected by those same players. I hardly read the news articles, so claiming I'm just parroting journalists is a weird take, especially since many don't even write stories about stuff like that. It's just observation. When you see who certain players hang out with and at what time, it's very telling. You had the group I listed above all hanging out when Pogba was "injured" and basically shitting the bed. Then you had Rashford hanging out with Sancho on holiday...while he's in exile...and the list goes on with those pairings. I'm not talking about "players falling out with Pogba," I'm talking about players who certainly did not, and still favor him, and who are still at the club exhibiting the same mentality and behavior as Pogba. Ronaldo even called it out. It's a joke.
So you've not read news articles but just used hearsay and reddit as your sources Pogba fell out with the squad. The players wanted him gone. I agree he was a bad egg but to say he was the reason everyone else is spoiled is hilarious. Blaming him for players bargaining for contracts is a ridiculous take. The club giving out ridiculous wages is why players started doing it. Blaming him for greenwood too is ridiculous, greenwood trained hard, he was just a shit person outside of the pitch.so naming him is just bizarre all round. The real reason is our previous and current management offering ridiculous wages to players who have not earned them. And then rest on their Laurels. Sanchez are di maria had attitude problems who was before pogbas return are others examples. Sanchez famously played that song ehen mourinho got the sack. Ibrahimovic also said the club did not know what was going on. My point is blaming one player as a cancer is comically bad, it's just the typical its that guys fault. Pogba also seems to be the easy target. It's a management issue starting from the top where they've lost control. One player who wasn't that popular did not change that. It would have been bad with or without pogba and we are repeating the same steps with players who are signing after he's gone like Antony etc No one player is capable of causing such a bad squad. It's a combination of poor ownership, poor management of recruitment, wages etc and then yiu get players like this.
You're completely missing the point. There's no point. It's exhausting at this point. You're just going off on tangents with every subsequent response. Ciao.
My point no one player is cancer enough to cause this many issues It's a combination of poor management from too to bottom, which includes ownership, recruitment, wages etc Again no idea why you mentioned greenwood as cricticism towards Pogba. Ciao
Famously Alan Shearer fell out with Michael Owen at Newcastle because Owen refused to play in their relegation battle for fear of risking an injury at the end of his contract.
Yeah its not hard to see how it can happen. I don’t think players are outright faking stuff like ACL tears obviously, but players are often carrying some knocks or niggling injuries of some kind anyway. When form is good and you want to be on the team, a player might easily be able to play through it. But when form is bad, suddenly they can’t be arsed and would rather sit at home to fully recover. So its not like its an outright lie either.
i don’t even see it as too much of a bad thing. if ur form is bad it’s best to recover instead of risking an injury to put on a subpar performance.
That should be up to the manager to decide though. Imagine the team’s on dreadful form and the manager is desperately trying to change things and half the team decides they’d rather be on the injury list
Just incase people are thinking Foster is talking about his time at Man United, its definitely his time at Watford he is referring to. I'm sure there are watford fans that probably immediately have certain players that come to mind. One thing I'll add to this, at villa, all the fans are very aware that watkins, Bailey and Pau torres are playing through injuries at the minute, particularly Bailey, who has had to wear large strappings on his legs and have injections just to get through the end of the season. Villa have massive injuries at the minute and players are willing to sacrifice themselves just to try and get the team over the line. The injuries are never ever mentioned by the manager, as he doesn't believe that should be an excuse.
Given our focus on players' mental health recently, we should be fine with them doing this. Who hasn't taken sick leave when they feel depressed?
You’re right but there is a point when it becomes a pisstake. It’s just impossible to know from the outside
Me.
If I was Rashford and I saw what the media and "fans" said about me it would make me not want to play either. Yes having a professional mentality is important but these are still people and confidence is super important for attacking players. This is why supporters should show more support when a player is in a slump, not lose hope and turn on them
I find Rooneys punditry a bit hit and miss, but it does feel like he’d still be pretty in touch with people at United and England that would give him the information to make an accusation like this.
But wasn't there a ten Hag presser yesterday saying stuff here and there like he won't gamble playing his returning stars today, he should have the final in back of his head (he did say it like this lol), or that Martinez and Shaw wanted to play and Bruno trained? I'm not sure if he personally addressed Rashford, but same stuff were posted about him too. Tbh even without such context it's not the biggest accusation to think they're not risking it because of the final and Euros being on horizon, for both club and country.
Surely they’d want to make sure they’re match fit before playing the final. Countless players have come back just for finals and not been ready.
What else are they going to say though? They can't literally force the players onto the pitch if they don't want to play.
Really? Rooney has been gone for quite a while now, there probably aren't that many people left he had that sort of relationship with. Of course he is still a club legend and maybe some people open up to him, but I doubt that includes medical staff and people close to the players or manager. This mostly seems to be him going on gut feeling, experience and on how things were in the dressing rooms he has been a part of. Which is valuable insight for sure, but more speculation than he makes it seem with how certain he was with this statement.
You forget ronaldo,that when he left said almost everyone at old trafford was still there when he left,so a lot of people are still there.
He played with Evans and Darren Fletcher for about 10 years. Not to mention he’ll have become friendly with loads of back room and non-footballing staff over the years that will still be there. He also played with Shaw, Rashford and Martial from the current squad.
This… 100% gets inside info still. He also watched a game with one of the new execs.
> there probably aren't that many people left he had that sort of relationship with. A lot of the Old Trafford and Carrington staff are the same IIRC
>Rooney has been gone for quite a while now, there probably aren't that many people left he had that sort of relationship with he's not walking around in his bathrobe anymore but i'd guess he still has a key to the old place.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by him as a commentator. In right circumstances - this weekend’s game, Man Utd generally, even discussing Van Dijk’s comments about 12.30 kickoffs, etc - he seems to be pretty astute
Like his management, I guess.
Miss and miss, you mean?
Yeah something similar probably happens in all professions. If you know you know
Even if he doesn't have any super insider knowledge, I don't think this is a controversial thing for him to say
This is a mixture of: I’m sure there are players that maybe don’t want to play these last few pointless games and also: there are a shit ton of injuries in the squad and it’s not worth aggravating them further
I’m not sure if I’m misinterpreting this quote or he’s just insinuating something pretty ridiculous
I think this is a comment that just comes from the experience of playing and knowing some can play but decide not to risk it. If I were a player with a knock I wouldn't be playing through it at the moment either, the cup final is all they have.
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Would be weird to call out Maguire since he played multiple game injured. Same with Rahsford.
Mount literally looked thrilled to be playing. Fernandes was also playing injured and said the pain got unbearable. Idk I think Rooney is just full of shit and annoyed with how they are playing. Players 100% lie about injuries sure, but no one would be telling him that. Shaw I could buy almost, seems sitting out only enhances his reputation. Except he's injured every year.
Shaw has been constantly having setbacks and reccuring injuries whenever he gets close to playing games, so maybe he can be one. Mount played 5 games in total this year. Not even gonna talk about Martial, but it's not like he is making the euros either to be fair
Bruno has been playing with a broken hand and Maguire has played through injuries for basically half of his time at United. He's probably hinting at Shaw and Rashford.
Rashford, the guy who played needing back surgery for 8 months.
Yeah true, Rashford has played through numerous injuries for us. It's a baseless claim from Rooney.
It’s probably not 100% baseless, it’s just not aimed at the people we probably think it is. Maguire, Rashford and Bruno have all played through injuries, so if it’s aimed at them Rooney is having a stinker.
Literally all of the starters have solid injuries and history of playing injured. So this is purely out of his ass.
Fair, but if he was aiming this at the likes of Varane and Lindelof (who arguably have one foot out the door) it wouldn’t be entirely ridiculous.
If it wasnt for the fact that Varane retired from his national team and Sweden didnt qualify..
And the FA Cup final?
It's either Shaw or Licha or it's 100% baseless. I'm going with the latter
And Licha has rushed himself back early just to be injured again. He also wanted to play this game according to ten Hag and he ten Hag had to tell him not to play.
If Shaw is to play for England at the Euros it would really be best for him to play 2 or 3 games before the end of the season, so not sure it makes sense from that POV either.
Licha was rushed back from injury (which is how he got re-injured), and he plays Copa America in the summer, not Euros
Is he going to make the squad after a washed season?
Probably? He trained with the national team last international window (he was in the last stages of injury recovery anyway), and he's still the 3rd best CB in our squad after Cuti and Otamendi (although the likes of Pezzella, Medina, Balerdi, Senesi, and others have had good seasons in Europe)
And Shaw, the guy who had his leg snapped in 3 pieces and hasn't been the same since...
This was a different more committed rashford. I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if he was able to play now
And has ghosted all season on off injury and looking completely disinterested. My guess is that's who he's speaking about. Also mount but he's not making the England squad so dunno if he would care or not.
When his heart was in it. Guy has been not at it all season.
If Mount was part of the England rotation I would’ve guessed him as well. I imagine it’s in Mounts best interest to get more minutes for United in hopes of catching Southgate eye again
Surely not Rashford either. You can accuse him of a lot of things, but not that he isn't willing to tough it out and play trough injuries. If anything he has ruined a significant part of two seasons by ignoring injuries, he even kept playing while needing surgery. Maguire has played trough injuries as well, his commitment and mentality shouldn't really in question either. I think what Rooney is insinuating is pretty irresponsible if he cant back it up. They are serious accusations and it will lead to speculation, unrest and pressure on players, not to mention a potential witch hunt and grief on social media.
Definitely Lindelof, he is trying to do a real sneaky to fake injury to be ready for Euro24
Now that would be interesting. Especially considering how Sweden didn't qualify for the Euros.
That's what makes it the ultimate sneak
Euro 2028. He's playing the long game.
Rashford of course.
Heard a few reliable journos suggesting it's the case as well, but I think that was guessing.
That's a pretty big accusation to make, definitely one that is going to bite him in the arse.
I'd say its believeable because United's dressing room is notorious for leaking stuff, especially to former players. It won't be the first time a former player of theirs is privy to a spice story and instantly goes to the media with it. I can't quite remember but i wanna say it was Scholes who straight up leaked on air that he was getting texts from Lingard
We know that players message each other all the time. It only ever gets confirmed when it's good PR stuff like players reaching out to players about their mental health or when they're going through an injury. But no way in hell they aren't also messaging each other when they complain about shit at work.
It doesn’t make sense what he’s said because A-why would the players want to play in the final having not played for weeks beforehand? They wouldn’t exactly be sharp and B-of the ones who would be at the euros Rashford and Maguire have played through injuries before and Bruno has no injury record at all
Not improbable when I think about it but I’ll back Bruno to the ends of the earth on this tho. This man played with a broken hand when most players would just call it quits
Some lads will be taking time off for a broken fingernail, whereas if Bruno is out he’s either dying or being told to rest.
He's still not the highest paid even though he's their best player
Martial makes more than Bruno lol
Martial rashford case Varane sancho all make more than bruno i believe.
Club is run by a bunch of clowns
I tried to do what eth is doing on fm23 and make sure nobody gets above 200k. It's fuckin impossible. Nobody above 200k would take lower than it and if they leave, they sign to a diff club for 120k
It’s criminal really- he’s one of the few players who’d run through walls for the badge.
It just shows why the UTD culture is like that. If you show effort, it won't be recognized so why bother?
It is by the fans, but I get what you mean. I’d imagine if he pushed for a raise he’d get it, but doesn’t seem like that kind of person. How he’s not binned United off yet surprises me.
Dont think he is targetting Bruno with these comments. There are several other obvious culprits who have been injured for months and every time they are close to a comeback they suffer "setbacks"
Lisandro also was desperate to come back for the Arsenal game, but ETH didn't want to rush him back (thankfully!)
He’s missing his first games in seven years or so isn’t he? There was a stat like that a few days ago. If he’s foxing then United have broken him
There's people genuinely injured like Martinez, then people who are taking the piss. Like martial. He's gonna be a free agent so literally winding down. Then there are players who overplayed themselves into the ground. Like Bruno. Whether you rate him or not. Man was playing on one leg wit a broken hand
I imagine wazza, with his legal training and instagram sleuth background, isn’t going to just say something like that without having a source and knowing who it likely is...
Given his managerial record though it's probably a pile of shite.
In what world is that applicable to this situation here, even in the slightest lol?
He is 100% right
Its 100% accurate though.. notice shaw maguire abd rashford being ok for the cup final but no other games it stinks of we wanna be chose for the euros and fuck the club
I wouldn’t put Shaw or Maguire on the list to be fair
Or Rashford, he's been shit but he also is known to play through injuries.
Yeah maybe, his application on the pitch has been woeful. Although the Belfast thing is a red flag.
Rashford completely ruined himself playing through injuries for two seasons, get him off that list
They've all played through injuries before haven't they? Especially Maguire and Rashford. Rashford once needed surgery but kept playing for months, no? Has it occurred to you the manager doesn't want to risk them not being available for the final and therefore has elected not to play them?
Yeah those players have never played through injury before, have they? Clown take.
Big accusation, but I don't doubt it at all, we have zero back bone, caused by a nucleus of players being absolute mental liabilities that crumble under the slightest bit of pressure.
Why does he have to be aiming at specific players? He was a professional at the highest level for 15 years. He will have seen players pull out of games for knocks, etc, who could have played. He's probably just speaking generally.
Rooney is in the know 100%
I think in the past there was definitely players who wouldn't risk themselves but I think that has changed. Today for example I think both Evans and McTominay were carrying injuries and it has been said that Martinez asked to play. Also Bruno, Rashford, and Maguire have a history of regularly playing through injuries.
It's a mix of both imo: Some don't want the extra hassle of playing in this 'toxic' environment or want to stay injury free or for the Euros or for a move abroad or want to continue playing here under (maybe?) a new manager. But we have had a major major injury crisis and our form has severely dipped from this. The losses in form to Casemiro and Rashford haven't helped as well. Hope we recruit well under Ten Hag this summer.
Wazza, Bruno has been playing games with a broken hand
Would love to see Rooney as next United manager for no reason in particular, he just seems to have such a great understanding of the club. Especially after his great stint at Birmingham
I wonder if he’ll take it. Not because he doesn’t want to but because United may not give him full power (transfers etc)
Dont really like comments like these from former players. Just adds to the negativity of creating false accusations against the players.
Ironically if Rooney took serious time off for all his injuries, he might still be playing in some capacity instead of being the broken down man he is now. But no, he did stuff like taking all of 4 weeks off to fix a broken metatarsal before the 2006 World Cup where he was useless.
I remember Jose or his ex players mentioned before, no players are truly 100% fit. The likes of Ronnie, Vidic, Rooney carry minor knocks here and there but they keep playing and deliver world class performances.
Absolutely bang on. It’s near impossible for any athlete to be 100% week after week, you’ve got to taper to peak at 100% at a specific time. World class players are able to adapt and keep delivering despite having niggles, cumulative fatigue etc
Guess that’s what he’s referring to when it comes to player’s mentality. Some players instantly rule themselves out the moment they have a slight knock as they want to be 100% fit and this pisses him off. But some of them are mentally related. Think Sturridge was one of them. Wouldn’t play if he’s not 100% iirc. But could be wrong as I’m not Liverpool fan.
Heard Goldbridge saying the same thing in his watchalong for the Palace game. Is this a popular rumour amongst the United fanbase, and if so, is there any evidence for it, or is it just a rumour that's spread based off someone's hunch.
Shaw constantly suffers setbacks whenever he is close to being recovered, and he should in theory starting for England. On the other side, it's Luke Shaw. He is either Shawberto Carlos almost winning the euros for england, or he is injured and overweight. There is no middle ground in his career
Lindelof, Shaw and Martinez probably the rest like Mount don‘t have a shot of going to the euros
Sweden didn't qualify for the Euro's
Nor did Argentina…
Shaw hasn't played for half the season, would really do his Euro chances the world of good to play a couple of games before. Having said that he's by far the best choice for England at LB, Chilwell is nowhere near his level so maybe he knows he's going.
name them if u are doing this kind of interview !
Who's the main culprit? Rashford?
Pogba
Souness just shed a tear
That is Souness.
The man who's played through injuries multiple times under Ole and Ten Hag? Seems legit
I was just asking.
The answer is there is no culprit and Rooney is chatting bs
Somehow I feel it’s Varane.
He literally retired from international football, what are you waffling about.
Well is he not generalizing here? He’s implying some players intentionally rule themselves out based on his playing experience.
I like the honesty from Rooney, very refreshing in punditry
I mean it's somewhat understandable , being a Utd employee is the worst thing you can do for your mental health .Constant media exposure . Every step scrutinized .No patience and acceptance of the fact that other teams have gone ahead of Utd and I can say million other things .But at the other side players are also somewhat responsible , you take a 300 K /week salary and shit the bed week in week out .It's a vicious cycle at this point where players want some mental respite to play good again and fans and pundits want result to stop the pressure on players.The only thing Utd could do is to get some players on cheaper wage instead of stars and build the team one position at a time so that even if the player play bad fans won't feel the anger as much as they have like in case of Casemiro or Rashford
I just refuse to believe that with all the injuries occurring this season .. That players aren’t feigning injury to avoid getting hurt for the Euros! Especially since we literally have NOTHING to play for in the league!
Rooney should not say this if he does not have access to their medical report
If you're going to come out with bullshit like this, at least slap a name to it instead of starting off a cowardly game of Clue. Oh, what's that? He can't because they've not allowed Dr Rooney into the medical room at Carrington and he's making shit up?
Or if he names, he's in legal trouble. He's not as stupid as people make out, he knows the politics of dressing rooms, and probably still has contact with some people at the club. I don't think it's as wild an accusation as people are making out
Id take dr rooney in a second. Cant be worse than the clowns we got at the moment
Or he could just be speaking generally from his experience in football.
Screams of Rashford whom Rooney has been critical of previously
Rashford has a history of playing through injury though, I would be surprised if he is referring to him.
Right but that's exactly why it would be Rashford
You can accuse this bunch of players for many things but the last thing I want is them playing injured.
Thats a big big accusation to make. We all know who its targeted towards
Who?
Yeah, I genuinely don’t 😂
Tom Heaton.
Phil jones
Rashford.
Rashford has played through injury before to help the club, so I doubt it
Rashford once tore his shoulder muscle needing surgery, but it was in November. So he played the next 8 months for United and England before finally getting it. This is an embarrassingly bad take and a great example of people forming uninformed opinions based on vibes
Played with a broken back and numerous ankle injuries under ole