₦airaland Forum

Leyqute:
I still don’t understand this Glazer defense. It’s obvious that they’ve run the club into the ground. Any damage SJR may have inflicted on United in the last 12-18 months pales greatly in comparison.

“It was the opposite,” he says, “with fairly rigid patterns of play defined in advance. There was very little flexibility in terms of adapting on the pitch. The game plans were very, very precise, with lots and lots of information. It was different.”

As an instinctive player, Varane preferred more autonomy, which he had at his previous club and with France. “We could say to each other, ‘You have to do it more like this’, instead of a system that was, let’s say, a bit blocked by the coach’s instructions.”

Varane describes his relationship with Ten Hag as “a bit idiosyncratic”. “It’s hard to find the right words. It was very tense at times. Sometimes he made an effort to listen to the players’ feedback. Sometimes he made decisions without listening to the players’ feelings. So there were ups and downs. It was complicated at times.”

Varane was Ten Hag’s first-choice centre-back in that 2022-23 season but from the October to mid-December of the following campaign he did not start a game, despite being available. He played only 18 minutes in nine league games during that period and did not feature in a Manchester derby which United lost 3-0 to City at Old Trafford. At the time, Ten Hag told the media it was for “tactical reasons”. It was perceived by some at the club that Varane could not cope physically with the manager’s desire to play a high line. United were left with a high press but a low-block defence, which left big gaps in between.

According to Varane, Ten Hag did not offer him an explanation for leaving him out, other than it was for the best of the team. “We had a robust discussion. We told each other some truths, but then I didn’t play for almost two months. I said I didn’t agree with certain ways of doing things regarding the relationship between him and the team. It wasn’t something that I thought was good for the team because some of the players weren’t at all satisfied. It was not good in terms of the relationship with the coach.

“He said ‘OK, I hear what you said’ and after that I didn’t play.”

Varane did not feel Ten Hag was making an example of him but he did with other players and cited Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho as examples. He believes Ten Hag “wanted to gain respect through fear, perhaps”. “He always needed an example of a player who was alone the entire time he was at Manchester. He did that with at least one important player on the team. He was always in conflict with certain leaders of the group. That is his way of managing.

I also have to recognise what was good (about Ten Hag’s management). He gave me the peace of mind to come back from my injury to play in the FA Cup final. He was counting on me. That was very positive, because it allowed me to play my role in the team,” says Varane. “We had ups and downs. I can’t say everything was bad. There were complicated moments.

The players really came together for the same goal with a clear idea of how to play,” he says. “It is not only an individual achievement but a collective one, to make the players believe that it was possible. The players accepted the challenge and managed to forget everything negative that had happened to really be 100 per cent in this match.

I wanted the best for the team. Sometimes I said things to the coach, not for me, but for the team, or because players felt things. The FA Cup (final) was not about proving something to him at all. My motivation was to achieve with the team, to make the fans happy and above all to experience this feeling of entering the pitch as a gladiator who returns victorious. It’s the best feeling.

The manager admitted after the game that he “didn’t know” whether it had been his last match in charge, but following an end-of-season review, led by United’s new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS business empire’s sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford, Ten Hag was kept on. “I was surprised he stayed,” says Varane. “The connection with the group no longer existed.

He wanted to stay for another year but during conversations, which involved United’s then football director John Murtough and Brailsford, it was clear that club and player were not aligned. “I didn’t know who the coach would be. I didn’t know if they wanted to change the squad a lot or not. I had no visibility, so it’s difficult to commit when you don’t know exactly what you’re committing to."

The two parties mutually agreed to end his contract and Varane left as a free agent. “It wasn’t problematic,” he says.

Even from the inside as a player, there wasn’t a clear structure on how things were going to work. There hasn’t been a fixed methodology for years. At Madrid, they have a defined way of doing things at every level of the club. At Manchester (United), it was not clear or defined enough to know how to recruit, how to play, how to communicate. There weren’t the same procedures, processes, structure.

“It’s not one person’s responsibility. That’s the problem — we don’t even know whose fault it is. It has to be in the overall structure of the organisation. There were too many people involved in the decision-making process, so we didn’t know who was really making the decisions. I can’t say who was responsible, I don’t know. It was a bit of everyone and a bit of no one.”

At Madrid, you can see that for years there has been a framework. A player is added, some leave, but there is always a solid foundation. When you recruit young, talented players, they have to learn before they can play. It gives them time to develop. When I arrived, at the age of 18, I had no responsibilities in the dressing room. I was just there to learn. At United, they can recruit a very expensive young player and immediately play him, with all the responsibilities in an extremely difficult league. He’s got a huge weight on his shoulders straight away.”

Varane feels United have “succumbed to the pressure of expectation”. “You have to be able to build a long-term strategy while resisting the daily pressure and matches every three days. That’s what’s difficult. For years, the fans have been expecting to win immediately. Those who take the decisions to achieve these goals want to achieve them straight away.

“You have to be calm in a storm in the knowledge you are building something. Sometimes, when the storm came, we needed to make quick decisions, change something. At Real Madrid, people accept the pressure and know how to live with it.

“When I say that the players are in the best conditions at Madrid, it’s because we’re trying to protect them from that pressure. There’s enough pressure already playing on the pitch, with the fans, media and social media. That’s why there was a bit of a protective atmosphere around the players at Madrid. It’s the club where there’s undoubtedly the most pressure. But whether it’s the coach, or the way the club handles difficult situations, it’s really a protection against that pressure. At Manchester, that wasn’t the case.”

During those years at United, Varane shared the dressing room with his best friend in football, Bruno Fernandes, who along with David de Gea and Marcus Rashford, were the players at the club who impressed him the most. “Even in difficult moments, they are capable of doing extraordinary things. It’s difficult to perform well individually when the team is struggling. You have to be very very strong,” he says.

Speaking about rashford: Staying for so many years with this level of intensity and demand, years when the overall atmosphere is often negative because performances are below expectations, it’s very, very difficult. For him to change his environment is positive. He is someone who loves the club and who gives everything for the shirt. But I’m surprised he’s going (to a club) so close to Manchester. I imagined him going further than a few kilometres away.”

afrodoc2:
Zirkzee played better when he moved into CM than Casemiro.

We should just be using Casemiro to complete training teams. He should not step on the pitch again for us.

Meanwhile the number of times Bruno gave the ball away in those last 20 mins was incredible.
Zero composure.

larride:
What’s exciting about it?

larride:
See bench

ChristineC:
the youth players should get the minutes.

afrodoc2:
Mainoo also injured for a few weeks.

Chido Obi, Moorhouse, Kone, Amass, Harrison all travelled with the first team to London.

Wahala! Wahala!! Wahala!!!

Leyqute:
Seems Luke Shaw has suffered an injury setback. Going to be out for another 4 weeks at least.

CrystalTiger:
Amorim should just resign.. INEOS have messed him up big time..

Just imagine the attacking options at a manager's disposal ffs, any injury to Amad and it's all gone for us uptop..

afrodoc2:
That is why I said we will play Chido Obi this season. We are 1-2 injuries away from being forced to play him.

afrodoc2:
This loss is on Amorin. Bad starting lineup and substitutions.

Mrviktor:
Brighton are prepared to allow Evan Ferguson to depart the club permanently in the January transfer window.

The 20-year-old Republic of Ireland international has attracted widespread loan interest from Premier League rivals and top-flight clubs abroad, but Brighton are also open to the possibility of selling Ferguson at the right price if the circumstances suit both the club and the player.

Brighton sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, indicated a permanent bid for Ferguson has already been rejected.

The Athletic reported in November that Brighton were expected to make Ferguson available for loan during the winter transfer window, while the DealSheet on January 28 cited interest from West Ham United, Everton and Bournemouth, alongside other Premier League clubs.

@AndyNaylorBHAFC 🔗 /4aD02GZ




Hear me out

Gambit001:

Na Onana skull I wan reset

Mrviktor:
Rashford definitely enjoyed this one.
Lwkmd
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Go and watch manutd latest WhatsApp channel post

Fletcher and amori were late to training
The players had to beat both of them



See lindelof lol

nitrogen:
Agree with you. But my issue is that Amorim is overdemarketing the player. We should be cashing in on his sale, but every disparaging comment on him from the coach seems to do more harm than good. Just stop answering questions on Rashford. We should not sell him for cheap.

Leyqute:
VDBeek too. It’s less on them and more on us though. We’re the ones who are poor at negotiating and identifying the right talents that fit our squad.

Leyqute:
Dem no born am well! All these ones wey him and Vini dey do na child play. By the time Antony starts tearing La Liga up, e go shock dem.

CrystalTiger:
I wish Martinez would constantly be trying that kind of pass, did it against city and last night..

They'd need to sell one of Hojlund and Zirkzee in the summer.. Can't have two of them here..