Damage done by previous regime

[RedDevilQuebecois]

So much ole's cultural reboot, he looks to have left us in a worse state in terms of player personalities than what any of the other past managers did.

This.

If I had to seek a bigger blowhard of a Manchester United manager, I don't think I would need to seek any further than Ole. He epitomized the team as a whole: nothing but talk. He and his coaching staff allowed the unsufferable egos to take over in the locker room; the coaches from the previous regime did nothing to to bend to their will. One thing I don't ever want to hear ever again is that a manager wants to be a "players' coach." Why? Because that is a pathetic excuse for anyone who is not willing to assert his plan on the team as he should, but is willing to be nothing but a cheerleader. I can find other prople to be cheerleaders without being this close to the team.

 

[bugmat]

It's more than evident now.
1. Players are not anywhere near as fit as required to press effectively for 60 let alone 90 mins.
2. Lack of discipline from some players, to adhere to tactics.
3. Recruitment done in defence the past years exposed horribly. AWB, maguire nowhere near the quality required. Which is why we are having to fall back on second string players.

Can something actually be coached into these players given they have been effectively on a holiday for the past 3 years or is it too much to ask from an interim manager?

I agree with this post. The bad habits and the poor recruitment means it will take Ralf a while to untangle this mess. We better be ready to not have Europe next year - I'd suffer that if it meant we sorted out the team composition, system and tactics for preseason and next season.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Did anyone really think we would be challenging for the title off the back of buying Wan Bissaka? There were tentative hopes of a title challenge this season after singing Sancho, Varane and Ronaldo but I don't remember similar chatter back in 2019 after signing a 20 year old fullback from Palace.

But regardless, sorry I'm not having that Darmian shit mate. Darmian was a much worse player than any fullback we currently have, people complain about AWB's ability going forward but at least he tries which is more than could ever be said for Darmian who got a nose bleed if he crossed the half way line. Easily the worst fullback I've seen in 30 years of watching United, a wet fart of a footballer.

You're not having that Darmian shit and I'm not having AWB shit signed for 50m. It's a fair trade.

In case of Darmian we paid low price for extremely limited player, in case of Bissaka we overpaid at least double for a player who has basic problems in controlling the ball. Junior football academy type of shit. His movement coordination should be checked by highly qualified doctors to see if anything's wrong with him.

 

[Lennon]

We shouldn't fool us! We are the new Liverpool before their last championship! A traditional club with a big name, nothing more ... But unlike us, Liverpool have 2 CL wins and 2 finals. We haven't played a role for a long time - not even in the national cup competitions. We live in and out of the past and that has been our undoing for almost 10 years. We have no structure in the club, no leading players and by no means any quality players. There is a lack of tactical understanding, there is a lack of willingness to fight, there is a lack of and worst of all - mentality! Face it, we won't play a real role at the top in the years to come if we don't finally restructure the club in the right way. Let's forget this top 4 pressure and definitely any title claims ... I can only partially blame the Glazer's because there was always money for new players.

 

[sugar_kane]

Would love to know whether Ole had any real say on any of these:

• Giving massive contracts to unproven youth players
• Extending contracts on fringe players to preserve value
• Signing Ronaldo
• Selling Dan James

The first point has been an issue for years, and has contributed to a sense of entitlement and junior team members feeling like they've 'made it'.

The second has also been an issue long before Ole's time, and is clearly an overall club strategy which is self defeating financially but also from a squad morale perspective.

I think with Ronaldo Ole like most of us was blinded by the romanticism of Ronaldo's return, and the fear of him going to City, but I also think there was a strong element of the club/Fergie driving it through.

On Dan James, he's no huge loss but I keep going back to how Ole started him in almost every big game, and even played him on the weekend he was sold. I feel like by selling him Ole sold out on his own principles somewhat.

 

[stevoc]

You're not having that Darmian shit and I'm not having AWB shit signed for 50m. It's a fair trade.

In case of Darmian we paid low price for extremely limited player, in case of Bissaka we overpaid at least double for a player who has basic problems in controlling the ball. Junior football academy type of shit. His movement coordination should be checked by highly qualified doctors to see if anything's wrong with him.

No I'd agree AWB wasn't worth £50m at the time and certainly with how he's progressed. In truth even with English tax we probably still overpaid £15-20m for him considering he only had one good season.

My point was he's still better than Darmian was, so Darmian at £14-16m or whatever it was we paid for him. Was also way overpriced considering just how brutal a footballer he was for us. At least Wan Bissaka's a decent defender and as I said tries to contribute to the attack.

 

[Van Piorsing]

No I'd agree AWB wasn't worth £50m at the time and certainly with how he's progressed. In truth even with English tax we probably still overpaid £15-20m for him considering he only had one good season.

My point was he's still better than Darmian was, so Darmian at £14-16m or whatever it was we paid for him. Was also way overpriced considering just how brutal a footballer he was for us. At least Wan Bissaka's a decent defender and as I said tries to contribute to the attack.

I get your point. My point is we swapped Darmian for Wan Bissaka and another example - Smalling for Maguire and we're still nowhere near any challenge. Not much has changed in terms of quality. In fact we're far off winning any trophy whatsoever.

Wan Bissaka being better than Darmian is hardly a progress, just rolling around in different type of mud.

 

[Acheron]

I think you wasted a lot of time and resources backing someone like Ole but the current problems trail back to Mourinho's period. It was understandable that he was sacked (he should had been sacked a lot sooner once the board decided against backing him up) but what never made sense to me was not getting rid of someone like Pogba. There are a lot of players with a bad attitude but they haven't won anything, maybe they're paid a lot to the point they don't feel they need to put more effort and keeping underperforming managers for so long doesn't help the case either.

 

[tomaldinho1]

I think you wasted a lot of time and resources backing someone like Ole but the current problems trail back to Mourinho's period. It was understandable that he was sacked (he should had been sacked a lot sooner once the board decided against backing him up) but what never made sense to me was not getting rid of someone like Pogba. There are a lot of players with a bad attitude but they haven't won anything, maybe they're paid a lot to the point they don't feel they need to put more effort and keeping underperforming managers for so long doesn't help the case either.

I think it's the combination of Ole/Mou that is most damning. Forget the dross both served up on the pitch, one is vastly experienced, pragmatic and volatile, the other is inexperienced, pragmatic and passive. Any player with negative influence who might get pissed at a hard day's training or being dropped for a game is going to have a field day in that dressing room.

 

[JPRouve]

I think you wasted a lot of time and resources backing someone like Ole but the current problems trail back to Mourinho's period. It was understandable that he was sacked (he should had been sacked a lot sooner once the board decided against backing him up) but what never made sense to me was not getting rid of someone like Pogba. There are a lot of players with a bad attitude but they haven't won anything, maybe they're paid a lot to the point they don't feel they need to put more effort and keeping underperforming managers for so long doesn't help the case either.

You could have gone with almost any other player in the team but went with one of the few that doesn't have a history of bad attitude and that has won things. It takes some doing.

 

[stevoc]

I get your point. My point is we swapped Darmian for Wan Bissaka and another example - Smalling for Maguire and we're still nowhere near any challenge. Not much has changed in terms of quality. In fact we're far off winning any trophy whatsoever.

Wan Bissaka being better than Darmian is hardly a progress, just rolling around in different type of mud.

No I get your point mate and I don't necessarily disagree. I just thought Darmian was such an abysmal player for us that it needed highlighted.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

I think you wasted a lot of time and resources backing someone like Ole but the current problems trail back to Mourinho's period. It was understandable that he was sacked (he should had been sacked a lot sooner once the board decided against backing him up) but what never made sense to me was not getting rid of someone like Pogba. There are a lot of players with a bad attitude but they haven't won anything, maybe they're paid a lot to the point they don't feel they need to put more effort and keeping underperforming managers for so long doesn't help the case either.

Pogba who has no history of bad attitude and who has won shit loads…

Why choose him when almost any member of the Utd squad would fit your description better!?

 

[Nou_Camp99]

Articles like this are nonsense. Villa have improved under Gerrard. Spurs have under Conte. Their fans were lamenting the football played by Smith and Nuno just like ours were with Ole.

So what gives? Why has our football not got better? We can't blame Ole anymore when other clubs who changed manager at a similar time we did have seen vast improvement.

Ralf hasn't made the right choices basically. We don't have the right players for this new system and he will lose the fans before Easter is my guess.

 

[croadyman]

Articles like this are nonsense. Villa have improved under Gerrard. Spurs have under Conte. Their fans were lamenting the football played by Smith and Nuno just like ours were with Ole.

So what gives? Why has our football not got better? We can't blame Ole anymore when other clubs who changed manager at a similar time we did have seen vast improvement.

Ralf hasn't made the right choices basically. We don't have the right players for this new system and he will lose the fans before Easter is my guess.

Would be nice if these players actually gave a shit about something other than how much money they are earning. Keane is right about these players being different to his time

 

[Leftback99]

Articles like this are nonsense. Villa have improved under Gerrard. Spurs have under Conte. Their fans were lamenting the football played by Smith and Nuno just like ours were with Ole.

So what gives? Why has our football not got better? We can't blame Ole anymore when other clubs who changed manager at a similar time we did have seen vast improvement.

Ralf hasn't made the right choices basically. We don't have the right players for this new system and he will lose the fans before Easter is my guess.

True. It's not got better because he hasn't really changed anything. If anything he's picked worse lineups from options available and stuck them in an alien formation, like he's hardly watched us before.

Add in the coaching team that the players respected being ripped up for MLS ones, it doesn't look good at all.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

True. It's not got better because he hasn't really changed anything. If anything he's picked worse lineups from options available and stuck them in an alien formation, like he's hardly watched us before.

Add in the coaching team that the players respected being ripped up for MLS ones, it doesn't look good at all.

Shambles. Well and truly lost the plot.

 

[roseguy64]

True. It's not got better because he hasn't really changed anything. If anything he's picked worse lineups from options available and stuck them in an alien formation, like he's hardly watched us before.

Add in the coaching team that the players respected being ripped up for MLS ones, it doesn't look good at all.

Andy Mitten was making this point on the The Athletic's Man Utd podcast. Sounds like the players haven't taken to the new coaches yet.

 

[croadyman]

Andy Mitten was making this point on the The Athletic's Man Utd podcast. Sounds like the players haven't taken to the new coaches yet.

We are screwed but hopefully shows the people who think these articles wrote by Lewis & Wheeler are just media BS

 

[Polar]

I don’t blame Rangnick for anything. It’s the system not the manager. No manager obviously are able to fix an unbalanced squad before they get sacked. Someone have to be responsible for buying parts and someone else to drive the car.

We probably also can put som blame on the regime under SAF’s last years. United likely started to sleep in class already then. The regime wasn’t able to develop the organisation and build a system which secured continuity and success. United depended to much on one superhuman individual or manager, SAF, and that isn’t the recipe for “eternal” organisational success.

 

[Leftback99]

Andy Mitten was making this point on the The Athletic's Man Utd podcast. Sounds like the players haven't taken to the new coaches yet.

We're probably relying on Phelan and Fletcher to hold it together. I doubt it was considered that we'd lose McKenna and Carrick and be bringing in Ralf's back ups with the upset that would cause.

 

[saivet]

Would be nice if these players actually gave a shit about something other than how much money they are earning. Keane is right about these players being different to his time

The same Spurs fans were lamenting their players attitude under Jose and Nuno as well

 

[roseguy64]

We are screwed but hopefully shows the people who think these articles wrote by Lewis & Wheeler are just media BS

We're probably relying on Phelan and Fletcher to hold it together. I doubt it was considered that we'd lose McKenna and Carrick and be bringing in Ralf's back ups with the upset that would cause.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-year-same-problems/id1495072403?i=1000546837593

He starts talking about it from minute 13 until Luke Shaw and then 32 minutes in for a bit.

 

[Hugh Jass]

I think you wasted a lot of time and resources backing someone like Ole but the current problems trail back to Mourinho's period. It was understandable that he was sacked (he should had been sacked a lot sooner once the board decided against backing him up) but what never made sense to me was not getting rid of someone like Pogba. There are a lot of players with a bad attitude but they haven't won anything, maybe they're paid a lot to the point they don't feel they need to put more effort and keeping underperforming managers for so long doesn't help the case either.

Especially when he said he wanted to leave. But no offer him a 400k week contract instead. Who on gods green earth is making these decisions.

 

[Acheron]

Pogba who has no history of bad attitude and who has won shit loads…

Why choose him when almost any member of the Utd squad would fit your description better!?

Well, let's just say Martial but Pogba stood more to me because he's a bigger profile player and remember reports of him wanting out of the team. Maybe it was a bad example my bad.

 

[El Jefe]

Ronaldo's interview has pretty much confirmed that we not only took a major backwards step in our football but more importantly the mentality and character of the squad.

There is so much damage to be undone from Ole's time here. We've essentially had a supply teacher in control of a class for three years.

 

[anant]

Ronaldo's interview has pretty much confirmed that we not only took a major backwards step in our football but more importantly the mentality and character of the squad.

There is so much damage to be undone from Ole's time here. We've essentially had a supply teacher in control of a class for three years.

Hmm. Guess what our finishes in last 2 seasons were?

Look, the team Ole left behind was bloated and needed trimming, but blaming everything on Ole is not really right! I mean this is the very team that was producing comeback wins consistently. Surely they arent mentally weak.

I'm not denying something has gone wrong with the side, but some of the stories like there was no coaching, no mentality, poor side, etc. just don't add up.

If it's a poor side and we're finishing in top 4 for 2 consecutive seasons, then Ole/ his coaching team was good. If there was no coaching and just individual brilliance, then where is that now? Surely the entire side can't be going through a slump at the same time. If his man management was bad, I'm pretty sure he'd have left with players hating him - like what happened with Mou, rather than players posting on their SM heartfelt messages, and by all accounts, players liked Ole at a personal level

 

[justsomebloke]

Said all I wanted to said. Considering the cumulative effect, Ole reign was the most damaging so far. Plus another 110m wasted buying players he can't or won't use (VDB and Sancho). If I recall he has the most/second most spending between any other managers in the league since his tenure. Our players have been too complacent under him because he is a nice guy who wanted to be liked by all players. Also handing all that garbage contract extensions really hurt us. Do people really think Ragnick in his first month will fix all this crap that has been done for 3 years ? We played like bunch of drunk people meeting for the first time in a sunday league match under Ole and it wont be easy to fix that.

Wearily and with a strong sense of futility, I point out the basic and obvious contrast between this description and the reality of a team that achieved consecutive 3rd and 2nd-place finishes in the Premier League.

 

[DutchCruijff]

Keeping on Henderson, Bailly and Lingard are/were baffling to me.

Henderson? He needs game time and you expect him to share the #1 with a guy you've just provided with a 300K+ per week contract? Henderson was never going to be satisfied with a bit part League Cup + FA Cup role. Should have let him go on loan to another EPL club. Maddening.

Bailly? He's a crock, unfit, not consistent enough, there's a good CB in him but he was NEVER going to get decent game time once we purchased Varane. He was 4th choice. Should have cashed in on him, especially with his injury record. Maddening.

Lingard? Overpriced him, clubs didn't go near him, Ole wanted him to stay and promised him game time - I don't believe any of this gash of Lingard forcing a stay - so we've lost out on a £15m fee + £10m salary for near a year, for what? 200 minutes of game time? Maddening.

DVB? £40m and he's benched. Maddening.

This club is run by clowns, Ole had a big part in this. An absolute mess. We're mid way through January and STILL not arrivals despite us crying out for a RB and Central Midfielders.

The level of incompetency is astounding. The way they've wasted hundreds of millions - AWB for £50m still cracks me up - is fraudulent, one would get lined up against a wall in an authoritarian state for this level of incompetency.

 

[devilish]

Keeping on Henderson, Bailly and Lingard are/were baffling to me.

Henderson? He needs game time and you expect him to share the #1 with a guy you've just provided with a 300K+ per week contract? Henderson was never going to be satisfied with a bit part League Cup + FA Cup role. Should have let him go on loan to another EPL club. Maddening.

Bailly? He's a crock, unfit, not consistent enough, there's a good CB in him but he was NEVER going to get decent game time once we purchased Varane. He was 4th choice. Should have cashed in on him, especially with his injury record. Maddening.

Lingard? Overpriced him, clubs didn't go near him, Ole wanted him to stay and promised him game time - I don't believe any of this gash of Lingard forcing a stay - so we've lost out on a £15m fee + £10m salary for near a year, for what? 200 minutes of game time? Maddening.

DVB? £40m and he's benched. Maddening.

This club is run by clowns, Ole had a big part in this. An absolute mess. We're mid way through January and STILL not arrivals despite us crying out for a RB and Central Midfielders.

The level of incompetency is astounding. The way they've wasted hundreds of millions - AWB for £50m still cracks me up - is fraudulent, one would get lined up against a wall in an authoritarian state for this level of incompetency.

Henderson made sense. DDG was showing signs of decline and he needed to be properly challenged. The mistake on that matter was to give Henderson a silly salary. It would also be a huge mistake if we sell him instead of loaning him to an EPL side. DDG is not as great as we portray him to be.

Bailly and Lingard should have been sold off. VDB should only have been bought if we previously bought a top DM or 2, we sold Pogba off and we had a manager with enough spine to bench Bruno once in a while.

Ole's obsession of hoarding players bordered to the ridiculous. By the time he left we had 3 EPL standard goalkeepers + an ancient 4th goalkeeper and we had 3-4 players for every position upfront. Also why on earth did he keep Grant, Matic and Mata here? It was evident that they were finished as EPL level players.

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

Feel bad for Ole, being shit on by the player he loved most. Needs to set alight his Rashford shirt Fernando Torres style.

 

[11101]

Hmm. Guess what our finishes in last 2 seasons were?

Look, the team Ole left behind was bloated and needed trimming, but blaming everything on Ole is not really right! I mean this is the very team that was producing comeback wins consistently. Surely they arent mentally weak.

I'm not denying something has gone wrong with the side, but some of the stories like there was no coaching, no mentality, poor side, etc. just don't add up.

If it's a poor side and we're finishing in top 4 for 2 consecutive seasons, then Ole/ his coaching team was good. If there was no coaching and just individual brilliance, then where is that now? Surely the entire side can't be going through a slump at the same time. If his man management was bad, I'm pretty sure he'd have left with players hating him - like what happened with Mou, rather than players posting on their SM heartfelt messages, and by all accounts, players liked Ole at a personal level

We pulled performances out of the bag because we have some incredibly talented players. No more, no less. Not since those first few months of Ole's reign have we really looked like a consistent, well drilled team.

The players aren't hating on him now because they liked him. He's a nice guy by all accounts. I'd like him too if he let me do whatever i wanted. Still, that's why we are where we are. The players didn't respect or fear him and he allowed them to call the shots. Ronaldo coming in unsettled things because he demanded higher standards than the manager or the Captain, and that's a fecking huge problem and will be tough to fix. Some of our players wont or can't meet those standards.

 

[Amir]

At least we're done with the whole "Solskjaer left a great squad" thing.

 

[Andycoleno9]

"Ole deserves to build his own squad". I hope that people who were repeating this (especially FC Mates) realise how costly is to give freedom, time and backing to wrong guy.
Day by day we see something new which is broken.

 

[Roane]

Oles regine has been by far the worst for me. It's not his fault in my honest opinion, the fault lies with those who hired him (basically a novice for a club such as UTD) but even more for giving him a contract past the initial idea of a "cultural reset".

I was happy with Ole coming in, didn't expect any major trophies etc. Just saw it as breathing space to have a think and put in a plan.

Of all the managers Ole was the least experienced and setting up with novice coaches and assistants was the big error for me.

Over time all his good turned into bad. We all supported the signings of Amad etc and liked the buy young and build theory. This was ofset by having Cavani and Ronaldo which was a turn for me.

Getting rid of the "deadwood" was something we got behind but giving players big money contracts indid that good work and creates deadwood.

How much if these were Oles decisions? Nobody knows but it was under his watch so I guess he gets the negatives. I feel a more experienced manager would have not been as easy going with contract situations.

What's striking for me is that bar Ole (and maybe Moyes) lioes of LVG and Jose pretty much said how much harder the job was than they anticipated. The focus being the players and mentality and commitment etc. Now we have the same with Ralf.

What's becoming clear to me is that we need a huge rebuild and reset. Yet the Ole signing was supposed to be this.

I feel for Ole. I think his love for UTD has basically bit him on the face. He shouldn't have been put in that position and I can see why he maybe couldn't turn it down.

 

[anant]

We pulled performances out of the bag because we have some incredibly talented players. No more, no less. Not since those first few months of Ole's reign have we really looked like a consistent, well drilled team.

The players aren't hating on him now because they liked him. He's a nice guy by all accounts. I'd like him too if he let me do whatever i wanted. Still, that's why we are where we are. The players didn't respect or fear him and he allowed them to call the shots. Ronaldo coming in unsettled things because he demanded higher standards than the manager or the Captain, and that's a fecking huge problem and will be tough to fix. Some of our players wont or can't meet those standards.

But again, how does this work? If we were riding on individual talent, then where is that now? Surely, it's too big of a coincidence that everyone loses form at the same time.

And players liking the manager for giving them freedom - look it's insane to think that manager's pep talk before the game was "go enjoy yourselves out there", because team with no tactics or even a team that shows slight naivety will get trounced 5-0, 6-0 every week irrespective of how good the side is - and that showed towards the end of his reign

He deserved to be sacked, but the truth is a lot more closer to the middle rather than one extreme that people like to think - he took Utd to a point, but was unable to take the final step.

 

[11101]

But again, how does this work? If we were riding on individual talent, then where is that now? Surely, it's too big of a coincidence that everyone loses form at the same time.

And players liking the manager for giving them freedom - look it's insane to think that manager's pep talk before the game was "go enjoy yourselves out there", because team with no tactics or even a team that shows slight naivety will get trounced 5-0, 6-0 every week irrespective of how good the side is - and that showed towards the end of his reign

He deserved to be sacked, but the truth is a lot more closer to the middle rather than one extreme that people like to think - he took Utd to a point, but was unable to take the final step.

Relying on individual talent doesn't mean you win every game, or lose every game, the players are too good for that. What it means is you get incredibly unpredictable results and performances. Some great performances (Newcastle, Leeds and others), some thrashings (Liverpool, City), some surprises and great comebacks (PSG) and a whole lot of mediocrity in between.

A well coached and organised team puts consistent performances in, even if they don't win every game. We never did that under Ole.

Rangnick has thrown the old approach away and is working on the consistent structure. It will take time and there will be a drop as the individual performances are no longer there, but the consistency has not yet arrived.

 

[alexanderplatz]

The thread title should say "Damage done by a clueless board and Fergie".

We have finally lucked out getting a man who thinks on a macro level about the game.

The board does not know anything about football. So they always went to Fergie for advice.
The first advice he should have given them was to get a committee with football knowledge to advice on the next appointment after he retired.
It was all downhill from Moyes on.

It was nice to see the old man celebrate his 80th birthday in front of the supporters.
Hopefully from now he simply goes home to play with grandkids after watching the game.

wow
Fergie was there to get results and he did so. Wasn’t up to him to build the club and put the structure in place for the future. His job was to win trophies and he did that whilst refusing to buy superstar players.

Current situation is to do with the owners and the approach to signing players and culture. Been close to ten years now but sure it’s all Fergie’s fault.

 

[stevoc]

Keeping on Henderson, Bailly and Lingard are/were baffling to me.

Henderson? He needs game time and you expect him to share the #1 with a guy you've just provided with a 300K+ per week contract? Henderson was never going to be satisfied with a bit part League Cup + FA Cup role. Should have let him go on loan to another EPL club. Maddening.

Bailly? He's a crock, unfit, not consistent enough, there's a good CB in him but he was NEVER going to get decent game time once we purchased Varane. He was 4th choice. Should have cashed in on him, especially with his injury record. Maddening.

Lingard? Overpriced him, clubs didn't go near him, Ole wanted him to stay and promised him game time - I don't believe any of this gash of Lingard forcing a stay - so we've lost out on a £15m fee + £10m salary for near a year, for what? 200 minutes of game time? Maddening.

DVB? £40m and he's benched. Maddening.

This club is run by clowns, Ole had a big part in this. An absolute mess. We're mid way through January and STILL not arrivals despite us crying out for a RB and Central Midfielders.

The level of incompetency is astounding. The way they've wasted hundreds of millions - AWB for £50m still cracks me up - is fraudulent, one would get lined up against a wall in an authoritarian state for this level of incompetency.

Did he really? How much?

 

[stevoc]

Feel bad for Ole, being shit on by the player he loved most. Needs to set alight his Rashford shirt Fernando Torres style.

What were these Rashford quotes?

 

[Beans]

But again, how does this work? If we were riding on individual talent, then where is that now? Surely, it's too big of a coincidence that everyone loses form at the same time.

And players liking the manager for giving them freedom - look it's insane to think that manager's pep talk before the game was "go enjoy yourselves out there", because team with no tactics or even a team that shows slight naivety will get trounced 5-0, 6-0 every week irrespective of how good the side is - and that showed towards the end of his reign

He deserved to be sacked, but the truth is a lot more closer to the middle rather than one extreme that people like to think - he took Utd to a point, but was unable to take the final step.

I do think Ole changed tactics and tried to attack more this season, which was disastrous. I think with Varane, Sancho and Ronaldo coming in convinced him he had what he needed to dominate the ball.