All posts
Longform
Why do United managers fail?
From Van Gaal to Amorim, United have appointed managers to atone for the last one rather than to build the next thing.
Longform
The Mainoo Problem
Mainoo's value sits in receiving under pressure and turning out of it, the connector function Amorim's pivot partner for Bruno is not being asked to provide.
Longform
How Ten Hag's initial success created a ghost
The compact block, primitive baiting and vertical attacking that worked in 2022/23 became the end product rather than the pathway, and United never moved past it.
Longform
Do players make the tactics or do tactics make the players?
Why the idea has to precede the personnel, and what Ten Hag's refusal to commit to one approach costs United in recruitment, coaching time and identity.
Longform
Hostages of history
Three causes: a club that never replaced Ferguson's structure, a manager whose principles stopped adapting, and a media war neither side could win.
Longform
Life after death
Thirty-five years after Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford, United are still structured around a man who wove himself into every pore of the club.