Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion
- Thread starter Samid
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Ole actually got it spot on tactically today. We had Wolves chasing shadows and should've been 3-0 up in the first half. It's a pity Lukaku and Lingard missed sitters and then Fred made a error which gifted them a way back in the game.
Still talking about 15 points been enough for top 4 from our remaining games, in the post match interview.
Nuno (Wolves' manager) seems capable of doing something like that.
Sorry but this will be a long post/rant, I don't really know in which thread to write my thoughts in, and I only have 3 posts available, but I guess the Ole the manager thread is a good option. Mods feel free to move it.
First let me say I have full faith in Ole, and call me crazy but I don't believe our board is as braindead as people here would like you to believe, mainly because i don't believe every little media news story that comes out, and I think it's crazy how people believe clickbait articles about Ed this and mythical Ed briefings. We are Man Utd and any news about us generates clicks. We might not be the best team anymore, but we're still one of, if not THE most famous team in football.
As a consequence it's now become fashionable to blame Ed for everything.
What has Ed actually done wrong? Every Man Utd fan was in love with the model that the manager was the king, that we should continue with what we had done in the past, and it's easy to say that when you had a titan of football in SAF leading your club for over a quarter of a century.
The truth is Ed backed 3 managers with over half a billion pounds, with players that the managers and everyone here wanted at the time, and we thought they were great purchases at the time, so you can't criticize someone with after the knowledge of hindsight. Ed did what all of us wanted.
His only real feck up and I'll admit it's a huge feck up, was giving Mourinho that extension to his contract, and then vetoing his proposed signings. Though again Mourinho was doing well at the time, and only started turning super toxic after the contract extension was signed.
Also say what you want about wages (except Sanchez of course), but I have a hard time believing the reports about our teams wages, every week, it seems to get higher and higher, for no reason except to be dramatic. Kind like how transfer costs are always misrepresented... 1 journalist says it's 50mil pounds, next a EU blogger says 60 mil euros, BBC takes it and says 60mil pounds, another EU journalist then quotes BBC at 70mil Euros, SKY Sports then take that number and instead of converting it says 70mil pounds and so on.
Naturally we need a DoF, but the thought that Woodward controls the signings and picks himself to renew Jones and Rojo without any input is nuts, just nuts guys.
You don't think we offered Herrera a new contract until 5 minutes ago? He's probably had that renewell contract for way over half a year, just the player decided to hold out for more money or a longer length on the contract. Again don't believe everything you read, journalists just put X+Y together to make a story, with X or Y being anything happening at the moment.
I'll get back to the DoF topic in a moment...
Now I'm going to talk about Ole, too keep it on topic, but most of the rest of my post will be about the team...
Believe me or not, but I actually wanted Ole as our manager after SAF retired, he of course wasn't my first choice, Pep, Klopp being the obviously choices, but I argued with my mates endlessly over why he would be better than Moyes. He did great with our reserves, then went to Norway and won 2 league titles. Gollum kept Everton mid table with shit football, easy choice.
But then again Cardiff happened, and I want full on pro-LVG after Moyes so maybe I'm just retarded.
For me, Ole says all the right things, and he wants all the right things, he talks about playing the ball forward, getting players in the box, nobody should be working harder than a United side, or run more than us, and if you watched his Molde side, they play like a lesser United side of old, and do all these things. It's what won him 2 titles there with an inferior squad.
He trusts young players, and most of the time makes the correct tactical changes and subs when needed, with the exception of Matic and Lingard, who must have secretly have stolen all our previous managers sex tapes, and threaten them with it for playing time, and bonuses.
Ole understands United, and more importantly understands what's needed to succeed at a mammoth club such as Man Utd, having been here, and won titles elsewhere.
I know people like to shit on his Molde achievements, but it's similar to SAF winning the league vs Celtic, you can't knock that shit.
Finally everyone is high on the DoF boat, yet reading through that thread it's absolutely obvious that nobody knows what the role is, to the point where there are suggestions for Cantona or Evra. It's like the hate train for Ed Woodward is so big that anyone will do.
Do people realise that DoF/CEO's like Van Der Sar, Overmars, Nedved, Zorc, Bayern lot, actually went and got a degrees post career, so they are actually qualified. People throw names about like Cantona, Evra, Co92, it might be a nice fantasy, but it doesn't work like that in real life, not just any person can do it. Also Paul Mitchell who is a glorified head scout, not a DoF, he would be a great head of recruitment.
Anyway on to the team...
DDG = Great, incredible shot stopper, but lacks in build up play and passing, but that wouldn't be a problem if he could trust his defense to pass it out more.
Romero = Great back-up but people who say they wouldn't mind losing De Gea because of him are deluded, Romero always has a brain fart in him and he makes me nervous. Good for back-up for no way is he a first choice keeper for a title challenging team.
Grant = Meh, hope it was just a year long contract.
Smalling = Good defender, not great, wins headers, but it is a myth that he is a good header of the ball, most of the balls he wins end up being nice easy lofted passes back to the opposition, great defenders win headers and find their teammates, whether to feet or head the ball into their paths. Smalling rarely does this. Plus every time he's on the ball it seems to cause panic.
Lindeloff = Calm, sometimes too calm, good defender, but his ball playing abilities are way over hyped, he is definitely no Hummels, Ramos, Bonucci, Ferdinand on the ball, he isn't even better than Jonny Evans. Yet he is one of the few we have that can play out even if it's just at an average level.
Jones = Great back-up, most teams would love a third choice defender as good as him, and Jones actually has leadership skills, his only problem is staying fit.
Bailly = Rash, no intelligence, his one blessing is his physicality, but he can't seem to stay fit. He's also quiet and doesn't communicate. Should be sold, I'd prefer Jones as back up because of he's homegrown and has more leadership.
Rojo = Probably sold, so no comment.
Axel = Over hyped, 21 years old, world class defenders tend to be starting and playing consistently in top leagues by that age, could still be a late bloomer, so would keep as back up.
TFM = Athletic at a young age and nothing more, so over hyped, no intelligence. People who want him to be a RB or a DM are lunatics, the lad has zero skill on the ball, again another example of loving a player because he runs, and gets stuck in, rather than being an actual footballer.
Young = Needs to be back up next season, people say he regressed heavily when he joined us as a winger, and love to bring up his Villa stats, but forget that he took every set piece for them which inflated the stats. He was never good enough, he's passionate but braindead.
Dalot = I have confidence in him, has everything you want in a young 20 year old full-back, since they are basically the modern wingers for top teams at least, problem is he a little sloppy in his defensive work, and for a top team it shouldn't be a problem, we don't have the players to cover, our defenders aren't good enough and our DM isn't a DM, Matic is a fraud. Also he is not a RW, so stop with that, the fact that he plays there for us is more on the state of our team than him being a good option for the position.
Valencia = Gone.
Darmian = Gone.
Shaw = Our only left back, great defensively, good going in driving forward, with a great touch, and good short passing but he's actually average in attacking, he's definitely the least of our problems, he's a back up though.
Matic = Just feck off, for some reason there is a weird myth that he's a defensive midfielder. What does he do in defense? He must have the worst defensive stats for any DM in the history of football, never tackles, always just lets opponents run past him, never tracks his attacker all the way into the box, and he is never in the right position. As for on the ball he is average at best. He is neither a destroyer like Makelele, Casemiro, Kante nor a interceptor and deep playmaker like Carrick, Alonso, Pirlo, Busquets. Matic is a passenger at best, and lets Herrera do all the work for him, but somehow gets away with it, so bizarre.
McTominay = Starting to grow on me, but I'm unsure if it's because 'anything is better than Matic' or if it's because he's good, he's definitely no Carrick or Alonso that's for sure.
Herrera = Fantastic squad option, but not worth the huge contract he's asking for, players in Herrera's mould seem to be everywhere at the moment, so I'd be sad to see him leave, but he's not irreplaceable.
Fred = Call me crazy, I like Fred, he's a positive forward thinker, but I'm not sure if he's good enough at this level, he really should have replaced Herrera by now. He's very rash and inconsistent. His biggest problem seems to be his first touch, once he has the ball under control he does good.
Pogba = Our best player by a wide margin, gets tremendous hate by people who believe everything they read, Pogba's biggest fault was his performances actually kept Jose in the job longer until the end, people just love to remember some weird mistakes he makes when he's actually the only one trying to do something positive on the pitch while the rest of the team hides, our biggest problem is we don't have players that match him. Teammates pass him the ball then run away, because they expect him to do something special, but what ends up happening is he is left with no passing options. Other people just have some crazy expectations from him as well, like they want him to be Kante, Pirlo, Kaka, Messi rolled into one, and like those players just mentioned never ever ever gave the ball away either.
Mata = Lovely bloke, but he just doesn't have the physicality, when he has time on the ball he's great, but that rarely happens in the PL, also he is no RW. Gone in the summer.
Pereira = Great squad option, will never be first choice, but is good to have on the bench because he can play many positions, and I like to have the back ups to the first team being academy / home grown players, hence why I'm for keeping Jones and for selling Bailly.
Lingard = The curious case of Benjamin Lingard, for some reason still known as a youngster, while being 26. Again there is another myth, this one being that he has great off the ball movement, when it's absolutely nothing special, in fact it's the minimum you'd expect, also his movement, isn't the kind where he tricks opponents with clever fients or a change of direction, instead his movement is just that... simple movement, he's always moving, never still, which can be a double edged sword, since he is never where you expect him to be when you turn over possession, and want to play a fast ball forward. Finally he's below average on the ball for a title challenging team, he's OK when he does not have time to think, but give him time, his ego comes him and he always tries something stupid, or messes up simple passes by just casually playing the ball.
Rashford = Not as good as he thinks he is, he has great attributes, and can do great things on instinct, but give him time to think, and like Lingard he'll 80% of the time do the wrong thing. He's very inconsistent, and even though it's his 3rd season of top flight football I don't feel he has progressed as he should have, he is very loose with his touches and tends to over do things, running the ball out of play. Unlike Lingard though Rashford does actually have good off the ball movement, his runs have purpose, and are dangerous. Also for people saying he's being played out of position, and that ST is his best role, I don't think he even knows, since a year ago he said he prefers ST, and now last week or 2 weeks ago he said he prefers the LF/LW position. I feel he's just making excuses for under performances, because his ego can't blame himself.
Martial = Inconsistent, but dangerous, if only we could roll Rashford and Martial into one player, because together they'd cover each other's weaknesses. Martial's off the ball movement is terrible, but his skill is great, if only he had the ego of Rashford.
Sanchez = We all wanted him, and cried for joy when he arrived, and nobody cared about the wage, but unfortunately he just lost at one extra step needed for this top level, he tries hard, but his legs can't keep up with his brain. Unfortunate risk, please no more old players.
Lukaku = Never rated him, never will, for such a unit to be so bad in the air and holding up the ball it's bizarre, and his first touch is infamous, of course he will still score goals because he is a tank of a striker, and is for sure PL level, just not top 6 level.
Now onto transfer targets...
People who are going crazy for AWB, Rice, Partey or any average ball playing footballers need to sit the feck down, AWB is argubally better than Young on the ball, so I couldn't care less if he's the Messi of right backs defensively, we are not West Ham, our aim is to dominate and to win leagues and titles. Buying average players because they are solid and can do a job is such bullshit.
I watch football to be entertained, give me Roberto Carlos, Marcelo, Alves and Cafu bombing down the wings at a risk of losing, than boring defensive first football. I want wave after wave of attacks like the old days, and you don't achieve this is defense minded first players.
Neves just passed rings around our whole midfield twice in 3 weeks, yet he doesn't get the accolades because he doesn't fly into every tackle or run around aimlessly all game, which is why Carrick was so underrated, Alonso at Liverpool was criminally underrated as well, with Gerrard and Mascherano getting the media's attention then it was Alonso actually dominating the midfield.
I'd love us to sign Neves, Sancho, and another box to box like Ndombele/Bruno Fernandes/Rabiot, before anything else, get is firing on attack and then suring up the defense comes easy.
We need a fantastic passer deeper, and Neves is the guy, since we struggle to play the ball out from defense, Neves will be our Pirlo, Pogba is Pogba, and we just need to find a prime Vidal.
Martial -- Rashford -- Sancho
-- Pogba --------- Ndombele/Bruno Fernandes/Rabiot
---------- Neves
Shaw ---------------------- Dalot
------ CB ---------- CB
----------- DDG
Obviously RB is another problem area, but I don't rate AWB, we are not Stoke and should not pursue defensive fullbacks. Unfortunately I don't know of any other right backs who jump out as must haves players that are available, so I suggest to wait rather than just panic buying for the position just because.
I also don't think we will buy more than 3 players, people expecting 4-5 are living in video game world.
CB is of course another position, but apart from De Ligt, who screams must have? Skriniar, no thanks. Koulibaly, sure but not at 100mil, plus and I know people love to make fun of it, but Koulibaly relies on his athletic attributes way more than his intelligence or positioning, hence why he makes so many spectacular tackles, but at 28, as soon as he loses just a tiny step, those great tackles will turn into dangerous fouls.
Anyway sorry for the insanely long post, I'm drunk, and upset from the result, but I just want to say it's definitely not all doom and gloom, but I think there is a ego in the squad where players believe their hype too quickly.
Ole's biggest job is to keep them grounded, something which Fergie was fantastic at. I believe upper management is more about dealing with top players egos, than tactics since any manager on merit in the top 10 should be good tactically, obviously there is exceptions such as Pep with his total football, but even then when plan A doesn't work, he rarely has a good plan B.
So in the end, it's important to improve the attack, and midfield, and because we can't do everything at once the defense can wait, just as long as we bring the excitement back, after all, the best form of defense is a great attack.
First let me say I have full faith in Ole, and call me crazy but I don't believe our board is as braindead as people here would like you to believe, mainly because i don't believe every little media news story that comes out, and I think it's crazy how people believe clickbait articles about Ed this and mythical Ed briefings. We are Man Utd and any news about us generates clicks. We might not be the best team anymore, but we're still one of, if not THE most famous team in football.
As a consequence it's now become fashionable to blame Ed for everything.
What has Ed actually done wrong? Every Man Utd fan was in love with the model that the manager was the king, that we should continue with what we had done in the past, and it's easy to say that when you had a titan of football in SAF leading your club for over a quarter of a century.
The truth is Ed backed 3 managers with over half a billion pounds, with players that the managers and everyone here wanted at the time, and we thought they were great purchases at the time, so you can't criticize someone with after the knowledge of hindsight. Ed did what all of us wanted.
His only real feck up and I'll admit it's a huge feck up, was giving Mourinho that extension to his contract, and then vetoing his proposed signings. Though again Mourinho was doing well at the time, and only started turning super toxic after the contract extension was signed.
Also say what you want about wages (except Sanchez of course), but I have a hard time believing the reports about our teams wages, every week, it seems to get higher and higher, for no reason except to be dramatic. Kind like how transfer costs are always misrepresented... 1 journalist says it's 50mil pounds, next a EU blogger says 60 mil euros, BBC takes it and says 60mil pounds, another EU journalist then quotes BBC at 70mil Euros, SKY Sports then take that number and instead of converting it says 70mil pounds and so on.
Naturally we need a DoF, but the thought that Woodward controls the signings and picks himself to renew Jones and Rojo without any input is nuts, just nuts guys.
You don't think we offered Herrera a new contract until 5 minutes ago? He's probably had that renewell contract for way over half a year, just the player decided to hold out for more money or a longer length on the contract. Again don't believe everything you read, journalists just put X+Y together to make a story, with X or Y being anything happening at the moment.
I'll get back to the DoF topic in a moment...
Now I'm going to talk about Ole, too keep it on topic, but most of the rest of my post will be about the team...
Believe me or not, but I actually wanted Ole as our manager after SAF retired, he of course wasn't my first choice, Pep, Klopp being the obviously choices, but I argued with my mates endlessly over why he would be better than Moyes. He did great with our reserves, then went to Norway and won 2 league titles. Gollum kept Everton mid table with shit football, easy choice.
But then again Cardiff happened, and I want full on pro-LVG after Moyes so maybe I'm just retarded.
For me, Ole says all the right things, and he wants all the right things, he talks about playing the ball forward, getting players in the box, nobody should be working harder than a United side, or run more than us, and if you watched his Molde side, they play like a lesser United side of old, and do all these things. It's what won him 2 titles there with an inferior squad.
He trusts young players, and most of the time makes the correct tactical changes and subs when needed, with the exception of Matic and Lingard, who must have secretly have stolen all our previous managers sex tapes, and threaten them with it for playing time, and bonuses.
Ole understands United, and more importantly understands what's needed to succeed at a mammoth club such as Man Utd, having been here, and won titles elsewhere.
I know people like to shit on his Molde achievements, but it's similar to SAF winning the league vs Celtic, you can't knock that shit.
Finally everyone is high on the DoF boat, yet reading through that thread it's absolutely obvious that nobody knows what the role is, to the point where there are suggestions for Cantona or Evra. It's like the hate train for Ed Woodward is so big that anyone will do.
Do people realise that DoF/CEO's like Van Der Sar, Overmars, Nedved, Zorc, Bayern lot, actually went and got a degrees post career, so they are actually qualified. People throw names about like Cantona, Evra, Co92, it might be a nice fantasy, but it doesn't work like that in real life, not just any person can do it. Also Paul Mitchell who is a glorified head scout, not a DoF, he would be a great head of recruitment.
Anyway on to the team...
DDG = Great, incredible shot stopper, but lacks in build up play and passing, but that wouldn't be a problem if he could trust his defense to pass it out more.
Romero = Great back-up but people who say they wouldn't mind losing De Gea because of him are deluded, Romero always has a brain fart in him and he makes me nervous. Good for back-up for no way is he a first choice keeper for a title challenging team.
Grant = Meh, hope it was just a year long contract.
Smalling = Good defender, not great, wins headers, but it is a myth that he is a good header of the ball, most of the balls he wins end up being nice easy lofted passes back to the opposition, great defenders win headers and find their teammates, whether to feet or head the ball into their paths. Smalling rarely does this. Plus every time he's on the ball it seems to cause panic.
Lindeloff = Calm, sometimes too calm, good defender, but his ball playing abilities are way over hyped, he is definitely no Hummels, Ramos, Bonucci, Ferdinand on the ball, he isn't even better than Jonny Evans. Yet he is one of the few we have that can play out even if it's just at an average level.
Jones = Great back-up, most teams would love a third choice defender as good as him, and Jones actually has leadership skills, his only problem is staying fit.
Bailly = Rash, no intelligence, his one blessing is his physicality, but he can't seem to stay fit. He's also quiet and doesn't communicate. Should be sold, I'd prefer Jones as back up because of he's homegrown and has more leadership.
Rojo = Probably sold, so no comment.
Axel = Over hyped, 21 years old, world class defenders tend to be starting and playing consistently in top leagues by that age, could still be a late bloomer, so would keep as back up.
TFM = Athletic at a young age and nothing more, so over hyped, no intelligence. People who want him to be a RB or a DM are lunatics, the lad has zero skill on the ball, again another example of loving a player because he runs, and gets stuck in, rather than being an actual footballer.
Young = Needs to be back up next season, people say he regressed heavily when he joined us as a winger, and love to bring up his Villa stats, but forget that he took every set piece for them which inflated the stats. He was never good enough, he's passionate but braindead.
Dalot = I have confidence in him, has everything you want in a young 20 year old full-back, since they are basically the modern wingers for top teams at least, problem is he a little sloppy in his defensive work, and for a top team it shouldn't be a problem, we don't have the players to cover, our defenders aren't good enough and our DM isn't a DM, Matic is a fraud. Also he is not a RW, so stop with that, the fact that he plays there for us is more on the state of our team than him being a good option for the position.
Valencia = Gone.
Darmian = Gone.
Shaw = Our only left back, great defensively, good going in driving forward, with a great touch, and good short passing but he's actually average in attacking, he's definitely the least of our problems, he's a back up though.
Matic = Just feck off, for some reason there is a weird myth that he's a defensive midfielder. What does he do in defense? He must have the worst defensive stats for any DM in the history of football, never tackles, always just lets opponents run past him, never tracks his attacker all the way into the box, and he is never in the right position. As for on the ball he is average at best. He is neither a destroyer like Makelele, Casemiro, Kante nor a interceptor and deep playmaker like Carrick, Alonso, Pirlo, Busquets. Matic is a passenger at best, and lets Herrera do all the work for him, but somehow gets away with it, so bizarre.
McTominay = Starting to grow on me, but I'm unsure if it's because 'anything is better than Matic' or if it's because he's good, he's definitely no Carrick or Alonso that's for sure.
Herrera = Fantastic squad option, but not worth the huge contract he's asking for, players in Herrera's mould seem to be everywhere at the moment, so I'd be sad to see him leave, but he's not irreplaceable.
Fred = Call me crazy, I like Fred, he's a positive forward thinker, but I'm not sure if he's good enough at this level, he really should have replaced Herrera by now. He's very rash and inconsistent. His biggest problem seems to be his first touch, once he has the ball under control he does good.
Pogba = Our best player by a wide margin, gets tremendous hate by people who believe everything they read, Pogba's biggest fault was his performances actually kept Jose in the job longer until the end, people just love to remember some weird mistakes he makes when he's actually the only one trying to do something positive on the pitch while the rest of the team hides, our biggest problem is we don't have players that match him. Teammates pass him the ball then run away, because they expect him to do something special, but what ends up happening is he is left with no passing options. Other people just have some crazy expectations from him as well, like they want him to be Kante, Pirlo, Kaka, Messi rolled into one, and like those players just mentioned never ever ever gave the ball away either.
Mata = Lovely bloke, but he just doesn't have the physicality, when he has time on the ball he's great, but that rarely happens in the PL, also he is no RW. Gone in the summer.
Pereira = Great squad option, will never be first choice, but is good to have on the bench because he can play many positions, and I like to have the back ups to the first team being academy / home grown players, hence why I'm for keeping Jones and for selling Bailly.
Lingard = The curious case of Benjamin Lingard, for some reason still known as a youngster, while being 26. Again there is another myth, this one being that he has great off the ball movement, when it's absolutely nothing special, in fact it's the minimum you'd expect, also his movement, isn't the kind where he tricks opponents with clever fients or a change of direction, instead his movement is just that... simple movement, he's always moving, never still, which can be a double edged sword, since he is never where you expect him to be when you turn over possession, and want to play a fast ball forward. Finally he's below average on the ball for a title challenging team, he's OK when he does not have time to think, but give him time, his ego comes him and he always tries something stupid, or messes up simple passes by just casually playing the ball.
Rashford = Not as good as he thinks he is, he has great attributes, and can do great things on instinct, but give him time to think, and like Lingard he'll 80% of the time do the wrong thing. He's very inconsistent, and even though it's his 3rd season of top flight football I don't feel he has progressed as he should have, he is very loose with his touches and tends to over do things, running the ball out of play. Unlike Lingard though Rashford does actually have good off the ball movement, his runs have purpose, and are dangerous. Also for people saying he's being played out of position, and that ST is his best role, I don't think he even knows, since a year ago he said he prefers ST, and now last week or 2 weeks ago he said he prefers the LF/LW position. I feel he's just making excuses for under performances, because his ego can't blame himself.
Martial = Inconsistent, but dangerous, if only we could roll Rashford and Martial into one player, because together they'd cover each other's weaknesses. Martial's off the ball movement is terrible, but his skill is great, if only he had the ego of Rashford.
Sanchez = We all wanted him, and cried for joy when he arrived, and nobody cared about the wage, but unfortunately he just lost at one extra step needed for this top level, he tries hard, but his legs can't keep up with his brain. Unfortunate risk, please no more old players.
Lukaku = Never rated him, never will, for such a unit to be so bad in the air and holding up the ball it's bizarre, and his first touch is infamous, of course he will still score goals because he is a tank of a striker, and is for sure PL level, just not top 6 level.
Now onto transfer targets...
People who are going crazy for AWB, Rice, Partey or any average ball playing footballers need to sit the feck down, AWB is argubally better than Young on the ball, so I couldn't care less if he's the Messi of right backs defensively, we are not West Ham, our aim is to dominate and to win leagues and titles. Buying average players because they are solid and can do a job is such bullshit.
I watch football to be entertained, give me Roberto Carlos, Marcelo, Alves and Cafu bombing down the wings at a risk of losing, than boring defensive first football. I want wave after wave of attacks like the old days, and you don't achieve this is defense minded first players.
Neves just passed rings around our whole midfield twice in 3 weeks, yet he doesn't get the accolades because he doesn't fly into every tackle or run around aimlessly all game, which is why Carrick was so underrated, Alonso at Liverpool was criminally underrated as well, with Gerrard and Mascherano getting the media's attention then it was Alonso actually dominating the midfield.
I'd love us to sign Neves, Sancho, and another box to box like Ndombele/Bruno Fernandes/Rabiot, before anything else, get is firing on attack and then suring up the defense comes easy.
We need a fantastic passer deeper, and Neves is the guy, since we struggle to play the ball out from defense, Neves will be our Pirlo, Pogba is Pogba, and we just need to find a prime Vidal.
Martial -- Rashford -- Sancho
-- Pogba --------- Ndombele/Bruno Fernandes/Rabiot
---------- Neves
Shaw ---------------------- Dalot
------ CB ---------- CB
----------- DDG
Obviously RB is another problem area, but I don't rate AWB, we are not Stoke and should not pursue defensive fullbacks. Unfortunately I don't know of any other right backs who jump out as must haves players that are available, so I suggest to wait rather than just panic buying for the position just because.
I also don't think we will buy more than 3 players, people expecting 4-5 are living in video game world.
CB is of course another position, but apart from De Ligt, who screams must have? Skriniar, no thanks. Koulibaly, sure but not at 100mil, plus and I know people love to make fun of it, but Koulibaly relies on his athletic attributes way more than his intelligence or positioning, hence why he makes so many spectacular tackles, but at 28, as soon as he loses just a tiny step, those great tackles will turn into dangerous fouls.
Anyway sorry for the insanely long post, I'm drunk, and upset from the result, but I just want to say it's definitely not all doom and gloom, but I think there is a ego in the squad where players believe their hype too quickly.
Ole's biggest job is to keep them grounded, something which Fergie was fantastic at. I believe upper management is more about dealing with top players egos, than tactics since any manager on merit in the top 10 should be good tactically, obviously there is exceptions such as Pep with his total football, but even then when plan A doesn't work, he rarely has a good plan B.
So in the end, it's important to improve the attack, and midfield, and because we can't do everything at once the defense can wait, just as long as we bring the excitement back, after all, the best form of defense is a great attack.
Massively depressing tonight. We’ve gone backwards a bit, but I think people are right in saying mistakes and missed chances cost us more than anything.
It’s just really hard to take after gaining so much ground to be in with a real chance of top 4 only to bottle it at the end.
Ole definitely deserves to spend big. If Madrid offer enough we should let pogba go, he’s not a team player really, get kante or doucure and your man Bruno Fernandez and build from there..
In positive news, mctominay played well and it’s always nice to see homegrown lads do well.
Hopefully we can pull it out of the bag again over the next month, and then properly build with 3 or 4 top players coming in. Just hope that if we do miss out champions league that we can attract those top players.
It’s just really hard to take after gaining so much ground to be in with a real chance of top 4 only to bottle it at the end.
Ole definitely deserves to spend big. If Madrid offer enough we should let pogba go, he’s not a team player really, get kante or doucure and your man Bruno Fernandez and build from there..
In positive news, mctominay played well and it’s always nice to see homegrown lads do well.
Hopefully we can pull it out of the bag again over the next month, and then properly build with 3 or 4 top players coming in. Just hope that if we do miss out champions league that we can attract those top players.
Why does he?
This match should have been over and done with inside the first 20 minutes. Not his fault the players miss sitters. The performance was nowhere near as bad as the result, we were the better team for the majority of the game. It just appears that posters on here who wanted the Spurs bottler are just bitter the job was given to Ole.
It was anything but bad management, he had us playing much better than the FA Cup game. The players let him and us down, nothing whatsoever to do with Ole.
People whinge and whine about too many bad performances but really there's only been one and a half (Wolves FA Cup and Watford). Arse and Wolves we were the better team but the players just aren't good enough.
Too many so-called fans on here who just throw their toys out the pram at the slightest hint of things not going exactly as they want.
good post.
Peformances have worrying nosedived. I expected us to lose to Wolves and that shouldn't even be the case.
Ed Woodward was second-guessing the manager who finished second in the ELP with this 'hopeless' team, wouldn't pay 10m over the odds for Perisic a player that seemed crucial to the manager's plan.
The idea OSG is going to 'backed fully' is laughable, Woodward saw what OSG archived with our useless players in his honeymoon phase and thought, appoint OSG, buy a couple of decent players & Gareth Bale.
Then it would be plain sailing, a team playing the "Utd way" and a no drama manager who feels like a lotto winner. Happy days.
Thank god for that. Perishit had been dire throughout the season
He needs to find a consistent with dominant style of play and has to make changes in that direction in the summer. Lukaku is a plucky top 6 CF. Dalot is not really a RW. Lingard is a hard worker. Fred is terrible. This isn't a midfield and forward 6 built to play dominating football. It's early days and Ole need to use the summer to show that he can take us towards becoming a team that truly controls football matches.
His management of the red card situation was terrible whatever people like it or not really, and backfired when we went down in the result.
Dealing with things like red cards is an integral part of his job as a manager. He failed to do that and his subs were terribly managed.
That's not excusing the players, but at the same time saying he is blameless for the result is a bit delusional for me.
He's the permanent manager now so his decisions will be taken with more consideration.
We played better after we made a sub and went down to ten men, definitely didn't handle the sending off poorly.
Not the point you back or manager or you don't.One of the certainties of football managers will always buy crap players, nobody cares that SAF bought Kleberson or Djemba Djemba.
I think the point is that he was hired on the assumption that he was able to motivate, and show that the mid table players which you refer to, were actually high quality, and that he unlike Jose, was able to get the best out of them.
If that then is not the case, and they are actually bad players, as seems to be the mantra now, then United have hired a manger who very much like David Moyes lacks experience at the top level, and history may well be repeating itself.
The reactionary thing was actually hiring a manger on the basis of a good run, and the fairytale return of a United legend. All the board had to do is wait till the end of the season.
The problem isn’t really his lack of talent (which remains the to be seen) but that precisely because of his lack of experience at this high level, doubt, and lack of confidence in him will set in and infect everybody rapidly (players fans media) probably in a vicious self fulfilling prophecy making the job itself basically impossible.
Can’t be put down to Lukaku either, as united have now been beaten by the same wolves team/manager over 2 games.
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Mou could not stop making bad signings though. Mkhitaryan, Sanchez, and his constant need to strengthen the same position again and again (ex Cb) . Then he went on losing the dressing room which regressed in him not trusting our best XI and relying on the belgian donkey instead. Where is he now? Ah yeah china
We're a good project for him.
I just don’t get the whole “we need 15 points out of last 6 games to make top 4.” All this does is feed into the complacency that has plagued the club the last 6 years. Doesn’t exactly set up the team to be motivated to win every game which may be what is needed to make top 4. We need to go into every league game with the mindset that every point matters and we need to get every single one.
The fickle nature of some of ours fans these days continue to astound me. When Mourinho was sacked, literally no one expected us to even be in the mix for top four.
Ole came in, did a fantastic job to put us back in, got the players to raise their games and brought a fresh breath of air. Now the season is approaching the end, it is typical that some of the players are knackered and mentally burnt out. Injuries have also hit us as well and the 'actual' quality of some of our players are beginning to show.(not up to standard) This is reflected in the last 4 to 5 results.
This does not in any way represent the totality of OGS's short reign neither does it mean it will always remain this way.
He will make necessary changes and get us back to the level of intensity and quality a team befitting our status in World football. He understands the expectations of the fans and the club. I dare say also that if any other manager was appointed, we would not even be this close to getting top 4.
Granted that OGS may not have been everyone's cup of tea and some would understandably have opted for Pochettino, Zidane, Allegri or whoever... Are you telling in me in all honesty that they would have gotten more out of most of our average players like Ole has within this short period?
Probably not I say and everyone would bang on about giving them the Summer or 2 transfer windows to clear our and inject quality. We gave Mourinho and LVG time. We would hypothetically have given whoever is appointed not called OGS. Why can't we do same with him? At least give OGS the benefit of the doubt and let him tweak the team come Summer. He's already said he is working on this alongside the board. Let's be patient. It's not all doom amd gloom. We will be alright.
Ole came in, did a fantastic job to put us back in, got the players to raise their games and brought a fresh breath of air. Now the season is approaching the end, it is typical that some of the players are knackered and mentally burnt out. Injuries have also hit us as well and the 'actual' quality of some of our players are beginning to show.(not up to standard) This is reflected in the last 4 to 5 results.
This does not in any way represent the totality of OGS's short reign neither does it mean it will always remain this way.
He will make necessary changes and get us back to the level of intensity and quality a team befitting our status in World football. He understands the expectations of the fans and the club. I dare say also that if any other manager was appointed, we would not even be this close to getting top 4.
Granted that OGS may not have been everyone's cup of tea and some would understandably have opted for Pochettino, Zidane, Allegri or whoever... Are you telling in me in all honesty that they would have gotten more out of most of our average players like Ole has within this short period?
Probably not I say and everyone would bang on about giving them the Summer or 2 transfer windows to clear our and inject quality. We gave Mourinho and LVG time. We would hypothetically have given whoever is appointed not called OGS. Why can't we do same with him? At least give OGS the benefit of the doubt and let him tweak the team come Summer. He's already said he is working on this alongside the board. Let's be patient. It's not all doom amd gloom. We will be alright.
Before the season started, the expectation was for us to mount a serious title challenge.
Aiming for top 4 is already a compromise for our bad start. Ole has to pick up where we left off
Ole has to be ruthless in the summer a good clear out is needed
Fecking hell, The ink on his contract is not even dry yet and people are already calling for his head 
. I dont know if our fans are massively entitled or just delusional, but there is no magic fix that will turn us into champions overnight. Fact is he is still at 11W, 2D and 2L in the PL and has knocked out PSG from the CL. Its not perfect, but perfect in football is not achievable
If we still are languishing outside the top 4 this time next year then legitimate questions might be asked. He might be the right manager for us, he might not, but taking out the pitchforks NOW is not only knee jerk, its bordering on insane
. I dont know if our fans are massively entitled or just delusional, but there is no magic fix that will turn us into champions overnight. Fact is he is still at 11W, 2D and 2L in the PL and has knocked out PSG from the CL. Its not perfect, but perfect in football is not achievableIf we still are languishing outside the top 4 this time next year then legitimate questions might be asked. He might be the right manager for us, he might not, but taking out the pitchforks NOW is not only knee jerk, its bordering on insane
That is just a poor excuse. No it is not down to Pogba. This is something the entire team changed. We don't do 1 touch passing as much as we did in the first 2-3 matches. Our transition to attack is slower.
How long we will talk about that great Ole's run? It was great run, he did excellent job lifting players spirit, brought good mood in whole club and had results. It was great short term job. Fantastic. As a caretaker he was 10/10.
But it is history now. Now it is time to talk about him as a Man Utd manager. Forget that run, forget how nice guy he is and the fact that he is our legend. Lets look how things stand now. 3 months after he took over.
1) Are we playing good football? No
2) Are we playing that "United way" attacking football? No. We play on counters against teams like Watford at OT.
3) Do we have results? Not anymore
4) Did he resolve our problem with deadwood? Yes, he gave them new contracts. He did that. He said that he was the one who adviced Ed to give Young and Jones new contracts. He plays Lingard 90 minutes every single game.
5) Do we see his signature in our general play? I don't see it. I see squad which have problems to dominate Watford, Leicester, Wolves, Saints.
Our form and attitude now is very low. If players play badly and have bad attitude, it is on coach. He is the one who picks them. He is the one who can drop those players or lift them up. He is payed to find solution.
Most managers have bright start in their clubs. It is common thing. Especially in big clubs when you have players who can decide games purely on their individual quality but after first few months you can see how good manager is.
This is not attack on Ole. He is what he is. This is attack on Ed. I don't see any logic why he gave him contract now. His first plan was to wait end of season and then decide. After we sacked Jose, i said that with next manager we must not feck up. Sooner or later our ride on SAF's legacy will stop and we will be in real danger to become Arsenal or Spurs. To drop from giant club to big club who fights for top 4 every season. Club who buys players AFTER giant clubs buy the best.
But it is history now. Now it is time to talk about him as a Man Utd manager. Forget that run, forget how nice guy he is and the fact that he is our legend. Lets look how things stand now. 3 months after he took over.
1) Are we playing good football? No
2) Are we playing that "United way" attacking football? No. We play on counters against teams like Watford at OT.
3) Do we have results? Not anymore
4) Did he resolve our problem with deadwood? Yes, he gave them new contracts. He did that. He said that he was the one who adviced Ed to give Young and Jones new contracts. He plays Lingard 90 minutes every single game.
5) Do we see his signature in our general play? I don't see it. I see squad which have problems to dominate Watford, Leicester, Wolves, Saints.
Our form and attitude now is very low. If players play badly and have bad attitude, it is on coach. He is the one who picks them. He is the one who can drop those players or lift them up. He is payed to find solution.
Most managers have bright start in their clubs. It is common thing. Especially in big clubs when you have players who can decide games purely on their individual quality but after first few months you can see how good manager is.
This is not attack on Ole. He is what he is. This is attack on Ed. I don't see any logic why he gave him contract now. His first plan was to wait end of season and then decide. After we sacked Jose, i said that with next manager we must not feck up. Sooner or later our ride on SAF's legacy will stop and we will be in real danger to become Arsenal or Spurs. To drop from giant club to big club who fights for top 4 every season. Club who buys players AFTER giant clubs buy the best.
And get who exactly?
I think you need to chill.
Ole has done a great job so far, and once again only time will tell if it's the right call, not sure if you are really understanding that? Or whether you're just choosing to ignore it because it actually makes sense and blows your narrative to bits?
It's amazing how Perisic achieved God like status here. He is just average and has been poor for 2 years, with occasionally turning up. Somehow he would solve our problems.
Fecking hell, The ink on his contract is not even dry yet and people are already calling for his head
If we still are languishing outside the top 4 this time next year then legitimate questions might be asked. He might be the right manager for us, he might not, but taking out the pitchforks NOW is not only knee jerk, its bordering on insane
Ironically ManUtd fans shit on Madrid fans for being spoiled brats and all that.
Fecking hell, The ink on his contract is not even dry yet and people are already calling for his head
If we still are languishing outside the top 4 this time next year then legitimate questions might be asked. He might be the right manager for us, he might not, but taking out the pitchforks NOW is not only knee jerk, its bordering on insane
Agreed. It’s things like this that have stopped me posting much on the Cafe recently. It’s not even his squad yet, and to have us even in the fight for the top 4 considering the first half of the season is miraculous. And last night, if players don’t make individual mistakes or miss absolute sitters we win the game no problem. We might have a hell of a lot of issues, but my word give Ole time to at least address the squad.
Please tell me you’re not being serious? We had to go on an unbelievable run to even be in contention, we were miles away from top 4 and I think anyone who said at the time that top 4 was the minimum required by Ole was being far too unrealistic in their ambitions.
Do you laugh at your own nicknames? Perishit.. Jesus Christ..
A
Completely agree,
OGS, overall has not put a foot wrong and has far exceeded of what was expected of him back in December.
However our senior players let OGS down last night; Pogba - non-existent, Young - red card, Big Rom - missed chances.
When Young was given his marching orders, we needed someone to step up and take charge on the pitch. For me, that man was Pogba - United always had leaders all over the pitch. We had none last night.
Fecking hell, The ink on his contract is not even dry yet and people are already calling for his head
If we still are languishing outside the top 4 this time next year then legitimate questions might be asked. He might be the right manager for us, he might not, but taking out the pitchforks NOW is not only knee jerk, its bordering on insane
Completely agree,
OGS, overall has not put a foot wrong and has far exceeded of what was expected of him back in December.
However our senior players let OGS down last night; Pogba - non-existent, Young - red card, Big Rom - missed chances.
When Young was given his marching orders, we needed someone to step up and take charge on the pitch. For me, that man was Pogba - United always had leaders all over the pitch. We had none last night.
I wanted Ole as permanent manager during honey moon as well but only if the board'd hold on to that decision till season over.
Everyone was wanting Ole to take the seat after PSG games, for average caf poster, I understood the fickleness but for directors of biggest football club in the world, I expected the board to be more rational and they weren't.
Our purple patch was cool and all but top 4 should've always been the main criteria. Yes, no one had expected us to be this close before Ole came but punching above his weight as an unproven manager, wasn't that the point to hire Ole? If he can't then what gives?
Time will tell but so far this is more idiotic than Roberto Di Mateo's case. Roman Abramovich at least waited till Chelsea's last game. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Ole, I just hate our board for making hasty decision
Everyone was wanting Ole to take the seat after PSG games, for average caf poster, I understood the fickleness but for directors of biggest football club in the world, I expected the board to be more rational and they weren't.
Our purple patch was cool and all but top 4 should've always been the main criteria. Yes, no one had expected us to be this close before Ole came but punching above his weight as an unproven manager, wasn't that the point to hire Ole? If he can't then what gives?
Time will tell but so far this is more idiotic than Roberto Di Mateo's case. Roman Abramovich at least waited till Chelsea's last game. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Ole, I just hate our board for making hasty decision
Arsenal fans are savaging us. I hope they lose their 5 away games!
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After or just before he signed his contract why did he decide to change the football played? The football was great the results where coming but after the Arsenal defeat things changed and Ole decisions for subs and using the players like Paul differently why did he need to change all that was working well. Seems odd.
I do actually.
Even worse then.
Can you been banned for using the word savaging?
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