Yup. Owen, Scholes and Hargreaves ripped into the management and tactics. Owen especially.
Ole’s former team-mates who are now pundits refusing to call a spade a spade
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There seem to be a clear distinction in mentality between the failed managers (Keane, Gaz, Souness) and those who had never dabbled into management (Carragher, Richards, Owen and Hargreaves)
Point of order here is that Owen never played with Ole and has no connection to him as far as I'm aware, which is why there's no filter and he can be objective.
That, and he's Michael Owen.
To be fair Neville was similar to Mourinho.
Nevilles point is bang on because who the fek are we going to replace him with.
The only one I would like right now is ten hag and Poch but they will come and I feel they wouldn’t be able to control the players.
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No, their job is to attract attention to the show and they're doing a great job at it. Sky wouldn't give a shit about what they said as long as it attracts more viewers and doesn't get them into any trouble.
I think the paying public deserves honesty if not quality. And if Neville and co cannot provide that they have no business commenting on our games.
I'm sure Ole was very critical too, same with Hargreaves. Neville on the other hand is embarrassing, comes up with nonsense like 'proven managers with good CVs have already failed".
Owen is right. But the mistake Owen is making is that this has been happening for three years. The way we play has never been consistent.
We haven't been building towards anything for three years. This is why I have wanted him gone for the past two. To be fair, I never wanted him to be given the role permanently.
Exactly what I was going to say. Although Hargreaves doesn't have any link with Ole either does he?
Scholes also made similar comments. And to be fair to Owen, he's not the same drab pundit he was when he started.
Feck me what a situation we're in. When Owen spoke more sense than all the ex players combined.
Do you mean Scholes with the bolded? Neville has become a parody of himself when it comes to his selectivity regarding United.
I think they had brief crossover as OIe was leaving as Hargreaves came in.
I haven't seen the Scholes bit yet, to be honest. What I meant about Owen is that he quite renowned for being loyal to no-one so he'd have no qualms saying what he's going to say regardless. But kudos to him for meting out comment on every aspect of us and not honing in on soft targets because he's pals with the manager/staff.
I don't expect them to call for his sack but you can read between the lines.
Gaz on the other hand is asking for more time.
Gaz on the other hand is asking for more time.
Not going to make difference anyway. The board won’t change their perspective based on Neville, Keane and Scholes. They had set their standard and expectation and theirs are the same with arsenal board. The big root problem is actually bigger than the manager, it’s the board. They are the ones making decision. They are the ones who allow this keep happening and refusing to set their standard on the same as the fans.
Micah Richards comes across as an intelligent and likeable bloke. Ex City player and all.
I think Keane pretty much says it without doing so. Neville and Scholes full of shit.
I think Keane pretty much says it without doing so. Neville and Scholes full of shit.
Keane's mindset is that players are ultimately responsible for what's going on out there on the field. He's been consistent about this. He used to say in his books how the United dressing room practically ran themselves.
I bet he'd say different if he's the one who had to go out there with zero coaching and tactical setup, running around trying desperately to out fight a well organized Pep Guardiola team.
Sure, we'd look a smidge better but the result would be the same.
Neville is thick as pig shit. Don't appoint a better manager because we did that once and it didn't work out 
It is not that he isn’t saying that. It is more that he is saying explicitly that Ole should get to the end of the season, and if he wins FA Cup or Europa League (implying that it is ok to not pass the group stage of UcL again), he should get the next one.
In my humble opinion, the best way out of this is for OGS' former team mates in the media to let him know that his legacy is best preserved by admitting that he is unable to take United further and to tender his resignation in the best interests of the club.
OGS probably feels that he needs to protect his fellow coaches but, at the end of the day, the goose is cooked and if his staff are viewed by other teams as worth hiring then so be it. If not that's the nature of the beast
OGS probably feels that he needs to protect his fellow coaches but, at the end of the day, the goose is cooked and if his staff are viewed by other teams as worth hiring then so be it. If not that's the nature of the beast
because all of them want to be in Ole position, they want to get this job without having any experience, they want the open budget and v long time with the excuse of building, all of them are similar to Ole so they put themselves in his place, they live it.
and don't forget that they were pushing in the media to give Ole a long contract during his interim period, so they are part of the problem and they can't admit it, so they have to blame the players or anyone else but not the manager that they helped to be in his position.
and don't forget that they were pushing in the media to give Ole a long contract during his interim period, so they are part of the problem and they can't admit it, so they have to blame the players or anyone else but not the manager that they helped to be in his position.
Given Keane had one of the most high-profile bust ups of all time, I’m surprised he can’t appreciate the disruptive effect of having a manager you don’t respect. Ditto Neville wasting the last years of his international career under Steve McClaren.
Maybe any publicity is good but I think this situation is making Neville look ridiculous and at risk of losing credibility not just among United fans. Any normal football fan can see these answers are full of shit.
Neville has criticised the tactics and indirectly criticised Ole by saying we never play well. Whenever he gets asked about Ole he then waffles and talks about Jose and LVG all the time.
It's annoying to listen to but there has been criticism there, albeit watered down.
It's annoying to listen to but there has been criticism there, albeit watered down.
He's basically bullshitting his way now. Talking about how the tactics and coaching are not good enough but then when you ask him does Ole needs to go, he says no, citing LVG and Jose.
It's like someone complaining about how hot the weather is in the summer but when you ask him whether he needs to take off his winter jacket, he says no because "when I wore a bomber jacket last summer it was the same, I was sweating my balls off."
Sometimes you just need to take off that jacket and put on that trendy new t-shirt people have been raving about.
Devil's advocate:
- They've been mates with a likeable person for over 25 years, and this likeable person is now at his lowest professional ebb.
- Half of them didn't grow up supporting United (Keane was a Spurs fan, Scholes was an Oldham fan, etc).
Put yourself in their position. Would you go on national TV and demand one of your mates be sacked from an incredible opportunity, even if he wasn't showing he was up to it? If your mates are worth less to you than Man United winning trophies, your priorities are all over the place.
With all that said, they do need to start finding ways to provide fair and critical analysis. Keane struck the right balance towards the end yesterday when he said he'd ask Ole why he keeps playing Fred without saying "Ole's got to go." Pretending Ole's decision-making isn't a problem is unprofessional, but there's ways to go about it without publicly flogging a mate.
- They've been mates with a likeable person for over 25 years, and this likeable person is now at his lowest professional ebb.
- Half of them didn't grow up supporting United (Keane was a Spurs fan, Scholes was an Oldham fan, etc).
Put yourself in their position. Would you go on national TV and demand one of your mates be sacked from an incredible opportunity, even if he wasn't showing he was up to it? If your mates are worth less to you than Man United winning trophies, your priorities are all over the place.
With all that said, they do need to start finding ways to provide fair and critical analysis. Keane struck the right balance towards the end yesterday when he said he'd ask Ole why he keeps playing Fred without saying "Ole's got to go." Pretending Ole's decision-making isn't a problem is unprofessional, but there's ways to go about it without publicly flogging a mate.
Keane keeps banging on about desire and character...its no wonder he cant get a job in management.
The answer can't just be "desire and character" every time. I don't believe for a second this group of players doesn't care or don't try. It's just that when there's a total lack of organisation and players lack belief in the plan, the energy and the concentration drains out of you.
The answer can't just be "desire and character" every time. I don't believe for a second this group of players doesn't care or don't try. It's just that when there's a total lack of organisation and players lack belief in the plan, the energy and the concentration drains out of you.
I just don’t get why Gary bangs on about LVG/Jose failing and they’re are afraid to sack Ole. Lampard, a household name at Chelsea was sacked and brought in a world class manager and now look at them. The mind boggles
I get that but I assume you work or have worked with people. Is it really likely in a squad of 25 you are all best mates? These pundits act like they got invited to Ole’s bar mitzvah. If it was Jordi Cyruff Or Ronny Johnson I could understand.
I absolutely do, and in every job any of us will have worked there will have been people who are genuinely nice people that you publicly shame like that. I get it, it's frustrating for us fans and keeping Ole at the club is detrimental to United as a whole, but we've all had a colleague about whom we couldn't say a bad thing. It seems Ole was that player, and it's impairing the pundits' ability to give an accurate reflection on his performance.
Agreed
I think because Gary is the best pundit people want him to have the same opinion as them so that they feel validated in some type of way, and when he doesn’t they lash out at him.
He’s making excellent points though
Hes an atrocious pundit and it goes back before Ole. Hypocrite on several matters from ESL to general managerial sacking views, talking about rebuilds with us, seeing Pogba petulance and judging differently to Kane petulance etc etc.
Hes actually dogshite and has been called out for a while. The Ole views just make him a parody at this point. No one takes his views on the matter seriously anymore, hes like a younger Souness on the matter who just digs his heels in and comes across borderline insane.
The same opinion thing is hilarious. Generally in the past year or so if you have the opposite view or logic to Neville you're probably on the right track.
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Also, defending Rooney and talking crap about silent domination when it was obvious he's finished.
Bloody hell, I’d take Michael Owen as our manager over what we’ve got.
Bit far that.
Nobody asked Neville or Scholes to lambast Ole, they could have been subtle and polite about it, but a spade's a spade
"yeah, i love him, he's my mate and all that, but he's having a mare to be honest"
If Ole can't accept being told the truth than he's an arse of a friend, it's not like Gary and the rest aren't sticking their career on the line to defend the indefensible.
"yeah, i love him, he's my mate and all that, but he's having a mare to be honest"
If Ole can't accept being told the truth than he's an arse of a friend, it's not like Gary and the rest aren't sticking their career on the line to defend the indefensible.
Yep and the lady interviewer asked Gary the most simplest of questions: "We're the other managers that United hired like Van Gaal and Mourinho on top of their game at the time of the appointments?"Neville is thick as pig shit. Don't appoint a better manager because we did that once and it didn't work out
Neville fails to answer even that question. Instead he doubles down.
How he is in a job as a pundit is beyond me.
Roy Keane, Scholes are minutes away from calling Ole's out. Deep down they know Ole isn't good enough.
Neville on other hand...Well, feck him.
Neville on other hand...Well, feck him.
I wouldn't but I've read enough "Isn't Sancho just another Kagawa or Mkhitaryan" type posts to know that some would