The problem we have is that even the positives are spun to be negatives under Ole. A lot of our players are playing quite a bit better than they did previously.
- Rashford has gone up a level. He is now in the group of top strikers in this league. Europe even.
- McTominay has vastly improved
- Fred has gone from a collossal waste of money to a player that we can rely on
- Martial is scoring and assisting and has a smile on his face
- Greenwood and Williams are emerging and have been handled excellently
All of these things are real positives for this club, whatever happens. These positives have all happened under our current coaching staff, and there is no guarantee that any of this would have happened under different managers, but instead of giving any credit for this there are comments made that suggest they would be even better under a better coach. That we are actually hurting these players.
There is no doubt that I have been excessive in my defence of this mgmt sometimes, often because I'm so offended by the unfair and extreme criticism that they receive. I almost feel compelled to be a counter argument just to maintain some balance on here.
Any poster that was sensible enough to claim "there have been quite a few positives in the last 12 months, but I'm concerned that Ole hasn't shown enough tactical acumen to take us all the way" wouldn't be offensive. I could understand someone having that point of view.
This place has just been vicious though. Over the top. Every thread hijacked by it, and posters that have the nerve to still back this group and are willing to be patient are openly insulted. "Deluded" "a cult" "obvious WUMs" "brainwashed by Woodward" etc etc etc etc. Its created a massive divide that didn't need to be there.
The majority of the backers are here after every result. Keeping the faith, looking for positives. We always show up no matter what. It's not the same with everybody though. The post match threads after a good win are empty. People cant even bring themselves to congratulate the team or praise a player for playing well. They cant allow themselves to just enjoy it.
Beat Norwich - they are shit. Beat City away and Spurs - we can only play one way, a failure of the coaching staff. Beat Chelsea 4-0 - what about those chances they missed though. It was a lucky win. We were 5 minutes away from beating Liverpool. Zero credit for that. Never mentioned.
Lose to City however, and it's complete outrage. If as expected we lose to Liverpool, it will be the same. There is no perspective or balance to any of this. If we refuse praise because we are expected to beat Norwich, then the criticism should be equally muted because we are expected to lose to Liverpool or City right now. It wont be though. It's ironic that the people who call others deluded are themselves deluded enough to think that this squad is on that level right now.
The point of this post is to call for balance on here. If you are big enough to criticise then be big enough to call out a positive when you see it too. You can be Ole out and still be able to do that, and you can be Ole in and still criticise a performance.
One thing we ALL can agree on, you are no rocket scientist. But Google all you want 