Next permanent manager | Poll updated

[7even]

Ole’s beginning of the end phase has now officially started and it would be incompetence if the board hasn’t already started discusions about how to move forward regarding who’s going to be our new manager. Otherwise the board is dysfunctional because a boards job is to be at least six month ahead of the CEO regarding strategial decision making and our long term visions.

Keeping our current manager is of course an option but highly unlikely if we’re continuing to drop points in current pace.

From my perspective the board has limited options of who to choose. Our squad is more then matured to require better results. We have high profile players like Ronaldo, Varane and Pogba so the window for instant success is short and we probably also have obligations and incentives with our sponsors so we probably must choose the best short term candidate who can deliver us instant success.

There is three obvious candidates available as far as I can see. Conte. Ten Hag. Zidane. They all have their pros and cons.

Without speculating who’s the best option I think the board will go for the safest short term alternative.

The hard part in this process is when and how to make a smooth transition. The club can’t sack Ole the same way they did with our previous managers. They has to have some sort of sensitivity so they don’t end up in a unfavorable position against some sections of our fans and match goers. Previous experience has probably learned them to think twice before execute such a dramatic decision.

In my world, but maybe I’m naive, I think they will inform Ole before officially inform the public about the decision to hire a new manager. They will probably ask him to be a care taker in a short period until the transition is officially done. It requires a good relationship between the board and Ole and his team. Maybe some sort of extra financial package besides his normal compensation or maybe, if that’s what he wants, offer him a new role higher up in the hierarchy. Who knows what his feeling is after such a emotional roller coaster?

Whatever happen it will be a hell of a ride for all of us.

 

[francobaresi]

I think it's Ten Hag for me. But we will dither over it, and miss out. I have no doubt at all

Same for Potter, who I'd be very happy with. He'll go somewhere like Spurs and do a great job

 

[Resch]

To find a new manager, you have to think about Manchester United and about the idea of football United should play. Its not about name, the fame of a manager, its about his ideas. We changed the manager and the style of our football too often. But with an idea about football Manchester United you can change the manager without starting from 0.
Take a look at Salzburg, they change most of the team and the manager every two years. They use unexperienced manager, but they are still successfull. Rose, now at Dortmund, Marsch now at Leipzig (he is not a good manager, but within the System, he was able to perform). Now Salzburg has Jaissle, 33 years, started with 14 wins and 1 draw (against Sevilla), after loosing all 3 strikers this summer. His attack has an average age of 20....

 

[The White Pele]

If Poch is able to get the best out of his star players, have them playing cohesive attacking football and has a serious crack at the Champions League then he would be the number 1 choice for me.

Surely PSG is only a short project for him as I doubt Ligue 1 is where he wants to be long term.

 

[izak]

Bring in Mancini Now!!

 

[fergosaurus]

If it's a choice between Poch and Zidane I hope for the latter. I'd trust Zizou to take one look at McFred and urgently sort out the midfield.

 

[hungrywing]

To find a new manager, you have to think about Manchester United and about the idea of football United should play. Its not about name, the fame of a manager, its about his ideas. We changed the manager and the style of our football too often. But with an idea about football Manchester United you can change the manager without starting from 0.
Take a look at Salzburg, they change most of the team and the manager every two years. They use unexperienced manager, but they are still successfull. Rose, now at Dortmund, Marsch now at Leipzig (he is not a good manager, but within the System, he was able to perform). Now Salzburg has Jaissle, 33 years, started with 14 wins and 1 draw (against Sevilla), after loosing all 3 strikers this summer. His attack has an average age of 20....

How often do ten Hag and Rose and

Our squad is only a Hannibal Mejbri and Ethan Laird away from being a good possession team imo. I can see that coming to fruition under Ten Hag, who has shown he can manage a squad and develop players whilst competing against the best teams in the Champions League on a small budget.

One thing I've been wondering is how often ten Hag and Rose and Nagelsman etc face teams that play one of the ways that we seem to have trouble with.

 

[matt10000]

What’s wrong with Ole?

Two points from top of league, still in Champions League and people talking about next manager.

Yes it hasn’t clicked last few games but that’s life, things don’t just run perfectly all the time.

Yes maybe Ole has taken is as far as he can but it is a bit early in the season to tell.

 

[Bobcat]

To find a new manager, you have to think about Manchester United and about the idea of football United should play. Its not about name, the fame of a manager, its about his ideas. We changed the manager and the style of our football too often. But with an idea about football Manchester United you can change the manager without starting from 0.
Take a look at Salzburg, they change most of the team and the manager every two years. They use unexperienced manager, but they are still successfull. Rose, now at Dortmund, Marsch now at Leipzig (he is not a good manager, but within the System, he was able to perform). Now Salzburg has Jaissle, 33 years, started with 14 wins and 1 draw (against Sevilla), after loosing all 3 strikers this summer. His attack has an average age of 20....

This. We tried the "big names" and they did no better than Ole who was in comparison a complete novice. Even big names like Zidane and Conte are going to be a gamble because we have no idea how they are going to turn out.

 

[Resch]

What’s wrong with Ole?

Two points from top of league, still in Champions League and people talking about next manager.

Yes it hasn’t clicked last few games but that’s life, things don’t just run perfectly all the time.

Yes maybe Ole has taken is as far as he can but it is a bit early in the season to tell.

Oh forgot, he is new at the club and needs time to form his team, to implement his ideas.

 

[gajender]

What’s wrong with Ole?

Two points from top of league, still in Champions League and people talking about next manager.

Yes it hasn’t clicked last few games but that’s life, things don’t just run perfectly all the time.

Yes maybe Ole has taken is as far as he can but it is a bit early in the season to tell.

It's almost 3 years of inconsistent boring football if it hasn't clicked till now it probably never will , as you yourself said it's still early in the season we have all to play for so why deliberately continue to ruin our season rather than course correct .

 

[Womp]

How often do ten Hag and Rose and


One thing I've been wondering is how often ten Hag and Rose and Nagelsman etc face teams that play one of the ways that we seem to have trouble with.

That's irrelevant as a manager with a progressive style is more equipped to deal with that defensive style. They focus on posession, which allows your forwards/FB's to progress into the opposition's half, it pins the opposition back which makes counter attacking more difficult etc. They focus on quick, lateral and vertical passing, which identifies spaces in the opposition's defence, allows our forwards to be isolated against their fullbacks etc.

People thinking that kind of progressive coaching won't improve our results and performances at this stage is clutching imo. Granted, none of these managers are probably as good as Pep, but the guy came into the league and has shite all over it with that progressive approach.

You've got teams like Brighton who have extremely average players in comparison, matching or even bettering our xG.

The reason we struggle so much against those teams, so often, is because of our style. We are very slow at moving the ball, our passes are very predictable, our players take too many touches, our attackers are far too often quite deep in our half etc. etc.

 

[AndySmith1990]

I don't know who the next manager should be, but I do know that as part of the recruitment process our board should actually do some due diligence for once and have a set of criteria for any potential manager to meet. Forget big names and focus on the things that matter.

One of the key things should be to ensure any new manager is happy to work with the players we already have, and won't insist on 3 years and hundreds of millions of investment before their vision can take shape. I'm fed up of hearing how every new manager needs obscene money and a stupidly long time to make a difference, when that simply isn't the case at other big clubs.

It also goes without saying we need a top coach who is able to get our group of very good players functioning as a very good team. At the moment people say we have the best team we've had in years, or we're a great team on paper. We're not; we're a great group of players but a fairly lousy team.

I'm not knowledgeable enough when it comes to world football, but surely there must be lesser known coaches out there who could potentially be the next Klopp or Pep? In any case I believe that's what we should be looking for. In my opinion we've got every manager wrong since Ferguson, none have been a good fit for different reasons, but there's no reason we can't eventually get it right.

 

[matt10000]

Oh forgot, he is new at the club and needs time to form his team, to implement his ideas.

It took SAF six seasons to win the league, I know I was there.

 

[Womp]

It took SAF six seasons to win the league, I know I was there.

This line is so fecking tedious at this point. There are so many reasons it's such a fecking ridiculous statement without context. SAF had a history of winning, Ole hasn't won anything of note but some extremely low level trophies, the last coming like 7 years ago. SAF had to come into a club and change the whole club, Ole joined a team that had some of the best players in the World, spent a further half a billion on players and both our football and results are still the same since the day he walked through the door.

3 years in, half a billion spent and we are still playing extremely average football, getting played off the park by teams with far lesser players and the results are still extremely consistent. We still only look good when we can counter attack. SAF's best trait was his ability to adapt, I'd argue that's one of Ole's weakest points so far. He hasn't fixed our midfield dilemma, he hasn't identified (or been able to fix, at least) the issues with our football, his substitutions can be quite questionable and seem forced/predictable more than anything, he is struggling to completely utilise his squad/bench. The list why the comparison is shite, goes on and on. We should have kept Moyes around, LVG, Jose etc. they didn't get 6 years either.

This isn't decades ago, the game has changed. The best managers can imprint their ideas onto a team within weeks/months, not 3 fecking years and a half a billion pounds.

 

[Gehrman]

This. We tried the "big names" and they did no better than Ole who was in comparison a complete novice. Even big names like Zidane and Conte are going to be a gamble because we have no idea how they are going to turn out.

You never know how they are going to turn out. That goes for everything.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

It took SAF six seasons to win the league, I know I was there.

I want United to be a success under Ole. And I would stick with him currently.

But this “Fergie didn’t win the league for X years” isn’t the way to defend Ole. Different times, different teams, different finances.

The club is signing Varane, Sancho & Ronaldo in one window.To push the title race to May isn’t a big ask. If Sir Alex had similar backing in his first 3 years then he’d have won the league much earlier

 

[9 Stone Elvis]

It took SAF six seasons to win the league, I know I was there.

By that logic every single manager in the country should be given six years with the expectation that if you do that you will be rewarded with 20 years of unparalleled success afterwards. Only you wont because its a stupid statement. Ole is not Sir Alex.

 

[Adnan]

How often do ten Hag and Rose and


One thing I've been wondering is how often ten Hag and Rose and Nagelsman etc face teams that play one of the ways that we seem to have trouble with.

Quite often actually and Rose's Dortmund only yesterday played against Augsburg who are a team who set up in a compact block. And it took 72% possession and around 20 shots on goal to break their resolve. And BVB did that without Haaland which makes it more difficult.

I think our issue isn't the low block but rather our inability to sustain attacks. Teams who setup to stifle us, also manage to break through our midfield and forward pressure far too easily imo. If we as a team could improve our defensive transitions then I believe we'd have much better joy as far as sustaining attacks go. Which in-turn would help us create overload potential in various attacking zones.

 

[matt10000]

By that logic every single manager in the country should be given six years with the expectation that if you do that you will be rewarded with 20 years of unparalleled success afterwards. Only you wont because its a stupid statement. Ole is not Sir Alex.

Many called for SAF head ar the time, but others could see progress behind the scenes with SAF and a complete overhaul of the squad, there are many parallels.

Yes you can pick holes in the argument just like you can any comment but there are similarities too.

 

[matt10000]

This line is so fecking tedious at this point. There are so many reasons it's such a fecking ridiculous statement without context. SAF had a history of winning, Ole hasn't won anything of note but some extremely low level trophies, the last coming like 7 years ago. SAF had to come into a club and change the whole club, Ole joined a team that had some of the best players in the World, spent a further half a billion on players and both our football and results are still the same since the day he walked through the door.

3 years in, half a billion spent and we are still playing extremely average football, getting played off the park by teams with far lesser players and the results are still extremely consistent. We still only look good when we can counter attack. SAF's best trait was his ability to adapt, I'd argue that's one of Ole's weakest points so far. He hasn't fixed our midfield dilemma, he hasn't identified (or been able to fix, at least) the issues with our football, his substitutions can be quite questionable and seem forced/predictable more than anything, he is struggling to completely utilise his squad/bench. The list why the comparison is shite, goes on and on. We should have kept Moyes around, LVG, Jose etc. they didn't get 6 years either.

This isn't decades ago, the game has changed. The best managers can imprint their ideas onto a team within weeks/months, not 3 fecking years and a half a billion pounds.

I stopped reading at ‘fecking’ it invalidates everything after it.

 

[Gehrman]

Many called for SAF head ar the time, but others could see progress behind the scenes with SAF and a complete overhaul of the squad, there are many parallels.

Yes you can pick holes in the argument just like you can any comment but there are similarities too.

It's something people have been saying since Moyes. Saf was an anamoly. Just like we should want the best players, we should want the best managers.

 

[Womp]

I stopped reading at ‘fecking’ it invalidates everything after it.

Cheers, good response.

 

[lilcurt]

Many called for SAF head ar the time, but others could see progress behind the scenes with SAF and a complete overhaul of the squad, there are many parallels.

Yes you can pick holes in the argument just like you can any comment but there are similarities too.

It's completely different to SAF. He has already proven he would win the the underdog by what he did at Aberdeen. He also didn't have the calibre of players at his disposal in the early days compared to what Ole has now.

I feel as a fan base we look for the smallest similarity between the two to cling onto.

Ole is very simply not good enough, he never will be.

I thank him for where he has got us to now, it is better than when he arrived. Time to go now and hand it over to someone who can take the next step.

 

[Womp]

Should have been Nagelsmann, given his age and progressive style, I wouldn't have been surprised to see him stick around for a good amount of time. Rose was another good call, so was Tuchel, but we missed them due to our insistence on sticking with Ole.

Ten Hag would be my next choice. I fear if we dawdle, Barca will be in for him though, leaving us with Conte and Zidane, who are more pragmatic coaches - similar to Ole in that regard, just much better.



Short video and the music is rubbish, but how close and available the players are, how quick the passes are, the movement off the ball etc. all being done with lesser players.

Potter and what not, as interesting as it'd be, I think it would be too big a step for the club to consider.

 

[Strelok]

What’s wrong with Ole?

Two points from top of league, still in Champions League and people talking about next manager.

Yes it hasn’t clicked last few games but that’s life, things don’t just run perfectly all the time.

Yes maybe Ole has taken is as far as he can but it is a bit early in the season to tell.

Atm the biggest problem with Ole imo is how to handle Ronaldo. He has never ever had to deal with such level of a megastar, legendary status and influence. If he fails, and I think he'll it'll cost him his job.

People are obsessed with young upcoming managers from the smaller clubs with say, a possession or pressing style according to the current trend but tbh they're what I'm dreafull of the most.

First, with a fixed philosophy in mind they'll be chopping and changing our current squad to fit their fixed ideas. For example our squad by no mean would fit the possession based football. We have like maybe two CBs who would fit in that. Our squad was bought and assembled to play direct, fast football.

Second, they have basically no experience of how to deal with the so called megastars and non football issues. Which is rampant at any top club.

Third, they have basically no experience of how to deal with the enormous pressure at the top clubs. One, two bad results and people gonna call for their head.

Imo Zidane is the best and most logical choice. He had the CV, the prestige to deal with the megastars. He had proved he know how to deal with non football issues and pressure at a top club. If he could survive that at Madrid he'd do it anywhere. And the most important part, he had proved he know how to take a squad to the next level without much chopping and changing. Which we absolutely don't need now.

 

[soapythecat]

What’s wrong with Ole?

Two points from top of league, still in Champions League and people talking about next manager.

Yes it hasn’t clicked last few games but that’s life, things don’t just run perfectly all the time.

Yes maybe Ole has taken is as far as he can but it is a bit early in the season to tell.

He’s not up to it. We’ve had a relatively easy fixture list so far this season and we have been largely outplayed, we look weak and toothless yet have one of the best squads around. He has every tool he’s asked for and still can’t get it right.
Not just this season either. Pretty much ended 3rd of last season scraping results whilst playing poor football.
He’s the luckiest manager around to havegood players to bail him out, because he doesn’t set them up well at all.
Lets have the same conversation after our next 6 games where I don’t see where a win will come from unless we find some form.

 

[Judas]

Bring in Mancini Now!!

Are posts like this, calling for Mancini, actually serious? It's hard to know what's parody and what isn't on here lately.

 

[hungrywing]

That's irrelevant as a manager with a progressive style is more equipped to deal with that defensive style. They focus on posession, which allows your forwards/FB's to progress into the opposition's half, it pins the opposition back which makes counter attacking more difficult etc. They focus on quick, lateral and vertical passing, which identifies spaces in the opposition's defence, allows our forwards to be isolated against their fullbacks etc.

People thinking that kind of progressive coaching won't improve our results and performances at this stage is clutching imo. Granted, none of these managers are probably as good as Pep, but the guy came into the league and has shite all over it with that progressive approach.

You've got teams like Brighton who have extremely average players in comparison, matching or even bettering our xG.

The reason we struggle so much against those teams, so often, is because of our style. We are very slow at moving the ball, our passes are very predictable, our players take too many touches, our attackers are far too often quite deep in our half etc. etc.

Could you elaborate on how a manager who might be proven able to handle such teams consistently could be irrelevant? IMO, just like Adnan outlines below, if there are data showing that they face those types of teams quite often and handle them perfectly fine, it'd help to convince the board should the situation ever arise.

Quite often actually and Rose's Dortmund only yesterday played against Augsburg who are a team who set up in a compact block. And it took 72% possession and around 20 shots on goal to break their resolve. And BVB did that without Haaland which makes it more difficult.

I think our issue isn't the low block but rather our inability to sustain attacks. Teams who setup to stifle us, also manage to break through our midfield and forward pressure far too easily imo. If we as a team could improve our defensive transitions then I believe we'd have much better joy as far as sustaining attacks go. Which in-turn would help us create overload potential in various attacking zones.

Yes, I'd have assumed so regarding the first bolded part. It would stand to reason that they'd consistently come up against teams who try to frustrate or disrupt them.

Regarding the second bolded part, which could be anything from a relatively "simple" midfield issue to something as complex as teams having figured out our shape and where to position themselves to disrupt it the most, is there a single greatest element/worst offender in your mind? Is it midfield and right back, solvable by Mejbri and Laird, like you posted somewhere else?

 

[tomaldinho1]

This. We tried the "big names" and they did no better than Ole who was in comparison a complete novice. Even big names like Zidane and Conte are going to be a gamble because we have no idea how they are going to turn out.

In truth, United have never, and it’s genuinely shocking, hired a ‘big name’ attacking manager post SAF. Moyes was a fan of being hard to beat and basically making us Everton 2.0, LVG was essentially retired, known to cause issues and his star had long since fallen, Mou was the worst appointment stylistically possible but yet in desperation we brought him in praying he’d win big trophies. Then the board panicked, Ole came in and ‘steadied the ship’ whatever the feck that means from a footballing sense.

United talk the talk about attacking football, DNA and that’s all we do and have done now for years. We’re hot air merchants, great at soundbites, we know all the buzzwords but we’re clueless how to actually implement them.

Hire an attacking manager who has built a team in a big league in the last 5 years, that immediately qualified many many candidates. It’s not rocket science, you don’t know if it’ll work and they’ll win enough games but you should see good football at the very least.

 

[led_scholes]

Zidane

Pros: winner, knows Ronaldo and Varane and was interested in signing Pogba and VDB. Also, currently unemployed.

Cons: sometimes his football has been a bit meh.

I definitely prefer Zidane over Conte. I can see arguments about Ten Haag, but I don't think he would leave now. Potter too soon.

 

[LuisNaniencia]

He’s not up to it. We’ve had a relatively easy fixture list so far this season and we have been largely outplayed, we look weak and toothless yet have one of the best squads around. He has every tool he’s asked for and still can’t get it right.
Not just this season either. Pretty much ended 3rd of last season scraping results whilst playing poor football.
He’s the luckiest manager around to havegood players to bail him out, because he doesn’t set them up well at all.
Lets have the same conversation after our next 6 games where I don’t see where a win will come from unless we find some form.

 

[AneRu]

Many called for SAF head ar the time, but others could see progress behind the scenes with SAF and a complete overhaul of the squad, there are many parallels.

Yes you can pick holes in the argument just like you can any comment but there are similarities too.

There are many parallels but save for two; what had Ole done in his previous gigs to warrant faith, Sir Alex had achieved the extraordinary whilst Ole got Cardiff relegated. Then there is the issue with different eras - if Sir Alex in 1986 had been able to break records on defenders, teenage prodigies, a twenty goal midfielder in addition to inheriting the likes of Pogba, De Gea, Rushford and Martial he wouldn't have needed six years.

 

[Hansi Fick]

Quite often actually and Rose's Dortmund only yesterday played against Augsburg who are a team who set up in a compact block. And it took 72% possession and around 20 shots on goal to break their resolve. And BVB did that without Haaland which makes it more difficult.

I think our issue isn't the low block but rather our inability to sustain attacks. Teams who setup to stifle us, also manage to break through our midfield and forward pressure far too easily imo. If we as a team could improve our defensive transitions then I believe we'd have much better joy as far as sustaining attacks go. Which in-turn would help us create overload potential in various attacking zones.

I think that's a very good analysis, I get a similar feeling watching you play.

 

[::sonny::]

Luis enrique
Mancini
Ten hag
Marco rose
Conte
Brendan rodgers

 

[Adnan]

Could you elaborate on how a manager who might be proven able to handle such teams consistently could be irrelevant? IMO, just like Adnan outlines below, if there are data showing that they face those types of teams quite often and handle them perfectly fine, it'd help to convince the board should the situation ever arise.



Yes, I'd have assumed so regarding the first bolded part. It would stand to reason that they'd consistently come up against teams who try to frustrate or disrupt them.

Regarding the second bolded part, which could be anything from a relatively "simple" midfield issue to something as complex as teams having figured out our shape and where to position themselves to disrupt it the most, is there a single greatest element/worst offender in your mind? Is it midfield and right back, solvable by Mejbri and Laird, like you posted somewhere else?

The reason I brought up Hannibal and Laird was due to some people posting that we didn't have the players for possession football. And I believe if we had a coach who wanted to implement a possession game style, then we do have young players who could IMO elevate us above some of the players already in the team when it comes to controlling the game via possession.

I personally believe our positional game off the ball is a real big issue. And it's the reason why the opposition break through our forward and midfield pressure far too easily. And the reason for that is because it seems too many of our players are given too much freedom in the final third. And then the two midfielders (McFred) are also either positionally suspect or weak in the duel which exposes the back line way too easily. Last season for long periods we defended in a block of 6 which not only helped the two CBs and McFred, but it also meant the fullbacks were more reserved which made us a effective team on the counter attack. The difference this season is we're trying to play with more risk and adventure and it's exposing several players on the turn over for the reasons already mentioned. Will he (Ole) revert back to type soon? I'm keeping a close eye on it and Rashford is back soon.

 

[chris123]

Should have been Nagelsmann, given his age and progressive style, I wouldn't have been surprised to see him stick around for a good amount of time. Rose was another good call, so was Tuchel, but we missed them due to our insistence on sticking with Ole.

Ten Hag would be my next choice. I fear if we dawdle, Barca will be in for him though, leaving us with Conte and Zidane, who are more pragmatic coaches - similar to Ole in that regard, just much better.



Short video and the music is rubbish, but how close and available the players are, how quick the passes are, the movement off the ball etc. all being done with lesser players.

Potter and what not, as interesting as it'd be, I think it would be too big a step for the club to consider.

My choice as well. We've tried the pedigree options before, and that's not to even say that Conte or Zidane wouldn't work. But I'd much prefer we go with the ballsy choice with a young coach who can implement a radically different style of football. To me we should be looking at the way Liverpool's style of play transformed under Klopp rather than trying to copy the Chelsea model of cycling through quick-fix managers every 2-3 years. That latter option has really only worked for Chelsea.

 

[matt10000]

There are many parallels but save for two; what had Ole done in his previous gigs to warrant faith, Sir Alex had achieved the extraordinary whilst Ole got Cardiff relegated. Then there is the issue with different eras - if Sir Alex in 1986 had been able to break records on defenders, teenage prodigies, a twenty goal midfielder in addition to inheriting the likes of Pogba, De Gea, Rushford and Martial he wouldn't have needed six years.

Very true and good points.

SAF actually inherited some great players like Gary Baily, Paul McGrath, Brian Robson, Gorden Strachen, Norman Whiteside, Frank Stapleton…….the problem was aging squad and the fact that Robson and his mates were spending their afternoons at the Gold Club getting pissed.

 

[vanderpants]

How can people compare Ole to SAF, its like chalk and chesse

 

[Bestietom]

We have some huge games coming up in the next 2 months. I think the results from these games will create plenty of debate about our manager and coaches and if we need to change or stick.
Leicester away
Atalanta. home and away
Lverpool
City.
The results of these games will determine if we have improved enough and do we need change. The big debate will only start in earnest then. imo.