I personally think OGS has done an admirable job with the squad he had to work with.
The squad is far from good enough to compete with our cross town rivals for the premiership.
Nothings changed still two or three world class players away from mounting a serious challenge.
We have been missing sitters .. if we get a clinical striker .. maybe the draws will be wins
Hmm I think with everyone fit we could of maintained a good record and wouldn’t of fell behind city by as much or at all. You also need a striker which we just don’t have. We’ve played some good stuff this year at times and it’s definitely getting better or was until pogba
Pogba was a big loss and I think only him and Bruno have the skills to break down the park the bus teams.
I disagree, there's an imbalance in the team right now that we are winning inspite of. The entire right side is pretty much unproductive and other than Pogba who has been injured for a large portion of the season, none of our midfielders are comfortable recieving the ball and playing progressively. I cannot imagine that our ability to dominate the lesser teams won't be enhanced by upgrading these positions. Regardless of whether it's a big or small team, we struggle against any team that gets the opportunity setup defensively against us. This is partly down to our patterns but also because of our limited offensive weapons. How many times have we heard the phrase "we need to move the ball quicker"? The better your players are technically, the easier it is to accomplish this.
I really don't know why this keeps coming, given that the record massively disproves the point. The simple fact is that we win almost all of our games against weaker teams who play a low block. Obviously it can be debated which opponents fit into the definition of a weaker team that plays a low block, but if we exclude big 6 + Leicester, and Everton this season, the following is true: Since Bruno's arrival we have lost precisely TWO such games in the PL - against Palace and Sheffield United. Additionally, we have draws against Palace and West Brom this year, and against West ham, Southampton, Everton and Wolves last year. That's it. The rest of them, we've won.
It's complete BS that "we're usually poor against settled teams".
Also, it simply is not correct that we rely on counterattack goals, and struggle to score from established play.
This season, we have (CL+PL):
Penalties: 12
Corners and free kicks: 9
Counterattacks: 21
Established play: 30
And, counterattack goals were more preponderant in the CL games than in the PL.
If we consider Palace, Newcastle, WBA, Southampton, West Ham, SHU, Wolves, Burnley and Fulham weaker teams who play a low block against United, our goal distribution against them in 14 games where we have scored at least one goal is like this:
Corners/free kicks: 3
Penalties: 3
Counterattack goals: 8
Established play: 20
Here's what our goals have been against weaker, low block teams:
CRP: 1 established
NEW: 1 off a corner, 1 established, 2 counter
WBA: 1 Penalty
SOU:
Agreed but we are also second so not doing that bad compared to say Liverpool.Maybe but every team misses chances and has injuries. I don't think we've been unusually bad at this.
I agree that there are issues in the team and maybe if we had different players OGS would play differently but I don't think there is much of a plan when we're against defensive teams.
This is it. It almost doesn't matter who we play in different positions – they all seem incapable of passing it accurately. After two passes, the next one is slightly mis-placed...which causes the next one to be even worse...and then we lose the ball.We seem incapable of any pattern of play in the final third. If we're not passing the ball backwards to our defenders or sideways in midfield we can't string more than 3 passes together. Such a poorly coached team.
Are we sure that Telles and van de bek are football player;
I don't think so.
Ole is a miserable coach.
He can,t improve us.
Fire him.
No it hasn't.Yes but its different for a goalkeeper and outfield player. With Bruno, our outfield play has improved massively.
They can't. It would be a lie that Trump would be proud of.Honestly, after these last four games. West Ham, Milan twice and Leicester.
Someone please come in here with a straight face and say “the football is much better” than it was under Lvg and Mourinho.
Yeah. We’re boring way more often than we’re entertaining aren’t we. There’s been a few games, Leeds probably being the highlight, but I reckon about 75% of the time we’re a pretty ugly watch.The odd freak performance aside such as City away, I can’t recall the last time I thought, “wow we were outstanding and looked a brilliant attacking outfit”. Every game feels like a sigh of relief when we win and a shrug of the shoulders and acceptance when we don’t win given how poor the quality is throughout.
Ole's football right now.
The thing is other than City this season I can't remember the last time I watched anyone this season and thought that.The odd freak performance aside such as City away, I can’t recall the last time I thought, “wow we were outstanding and looked a brilliant attacking outfit”. Every game feels like a sigh of relief when we win and a shrug of the shoulders and acceptance when we don’t win given how poor the quality is throughout.
I woke up every morning hoping to see headlines of LVG being sacked. It got so bad I started dreaming of it and that's not an exaggeration at all.People have short memories, the LVG period was awful, i remember tearing my eyes out and even creating a petition. Jose was pretty bad, but he won us two trophies. Ole's time has been a story of good and terrible spells. We seem to do well (results, not perfmances) for 10 games then terrible for 20. We have no consistency and no passion. Team selections usually consist of Ole's favourite and most trusted players and Ole has no plan b. I have been a firm Ole outter for a while because of this issue but right now I would take new coaches over sacking Ole purely because Carrick and co at the helm of coaching is just miserable, they all look clueless on the touchline. I still have no belief or evidence that Ole can be a success manager winning trophies so at the end of this season, I'd love to say goodbye but this just will not happen.
No it hasn't.
Honestly, after these last four games. West Ham, Milan twice and Leicester.
Someone please come in here with a straight face and say “the football is much better” than it was under Lvg and Mourinho.
No it’s not, hence why this discussion has gone on for so long. We also had games against Palace, Sheffield United and West Brom and many many more.Not in these four games but football isn't about just last few games.
No it’s not, hence why this discussion has gone on for so long. We also had games against Palace, Sheffield United and West Brom and many many more.
By saying “football is more than just the last few games”. You were implying this poor football wasnt a problem previously. It most definitely was and most definitely has been discussed endlessly. This thread being made was purely a breaking point and created a more centred discussion.The fact of a discussion about something taking place is no proof of one side being true. And when you say, "so long", this thread was created 19 days ago! As I posted before in this thread, this is a due to the goals drying up in last couple of months as a result of our attacking players being out of form, and generally a more defensive approach taken by Ole, possibly due to us leaking goals. Before this, this was nowhere the dominant narrative and people actually enjoyed watching us apart from those who prefer a Pep style system football ( I don't). You can in fact check neutral's opinions about us.
And to the extent it is about actual footballing actions that can be measured by stats, as I said the comparative stats were posted in this thread. Do refer to them.
Good post. fecking xG.I don't understand why someone would use stats to prove how boring or otherwise our style of play is. How does a fan watch a match and think whether he was entertained or not will be determined in the days and weeks to come as the full story emerges as to how entertaining or otherwise the match was and how well or badly we played. The whole thing just exemplifies the insane rabbit hole we're in with football where stats have gone from mildly interesting pieces of trivia to the thing people genuinely seem to base their opinions around now. It's bizarre.
Honestly if you see us play 6 games and you like what you see during those games, or you don't like what you see or you sometimes like what you see and otherwise don't - isn't that you bring to the table in these dicussions?
"I thought I was entertained by football in this period but looking back at the stats I can clearly see how wrong I was, I will now seek therapy to ensure that any thoughts of pleasure are suppressed as these figures clearly prove what a fool I am"
Honestly a thread, effectively, about whether we play better football now or before (or indeed in the future) is entirely subjective and yet - stats, stats, stats, stats, stats. Some need to learn to form an opinion for once. This is my theory behind why some people aren't bothered by the impact of VAR on flow of the game, because the spectator enjoyment isn't important to them. They'll just glance up occasionally from their phone knowing they can find out how well it went after the game by finding out which player had the better pass completion rate in the final third than anyone else.
About Bruno, no clue why Ole even rested him. Before international break. We saved him vs Leicester City for Portugal? Crazy, no?With Bruno, Ole's squad is better than the rest. Without Bruno, that's a difficult question to answer. But then again, don't forget all the players are getting wiser and better with each year except for a few.
It was a strategy.About Bruno, no clue why Ole even rested him. Before international break. We saved him vs Leicester City for Portugal? Crazy, no?
Ole brought small club mentality. And slowly fans accepted that. Because of love for Ole player they can't see how standards dropped. From Jose and Lvg we demanded trophies and title challenge. Now 4th spot is great and sign how manager is doing great job. Our manager after 2,5 years in charge says that we are "in very good position" in league and that cups are only good for ego. Every time when we are out from some cup he is calm about it and talks about progress. And fans again accept that.I feel like you are one of the 0.1% of this forum who actually understands the standards of this club & isn’t brainwashed by sentiment for this fraud. What has happened to our fans? The standards are on the floor. We’re supposed to be the British Madrid/Bayern. Their fans would never accept this.
It's true. With Mourinho at least there was a demand for excellence. Even when he finished 2nd the expectation was for him to deliver a challenge and trophies. Top 4 and smaller trophies was the bare minimum. Now being a CL team seems to be the ultimate glory and fans are happy for Ole to keep slowly improving us and learning his trade on the job, and hence the whole cultural reset etcOle brought small club mentality. And slowly fans accepted that. Because of love for Ole player they can't see how standards dropped. From Jose and Lvg we demanded trophies and title challenge. Now 4th spot is great and sign how manager is doing great job. Our manager after 2,5 years in charge says that we are "in very good position" in league and that cups are only good for ego. Every time when we are out from some cup he is calm about it and talks about progress. And fans again accept that.
On transfer market from world class players we became club who try to sign players who "really, really, really want to play for us".
And the best part is; main trait for players became passion. "Working his socks off" and "he runs all match" became more important than skill. Who cares that players like James, AWB or McT can't control the ball. Did you see how much passion they have?