The manager has lost the players

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As a player who has won multiple CL's, a World Cup, Premier League trophies, whatever, you name it, I would find it incredibly hard to buy into the ideas of a manager, irrespective of what he did as a player, who has only managed in Norway and was sacked off by Cardiff after they went through relegation, that is a few seasons in and has shown nothing. I'm not saying a manager has to have won something to be respected but I feel like even the most decorated of players would respect a manager if he brought some new, fresh, exciting ideas to the table that can be seen to work and generate excitement, what exactly, in terms of the football we play on the pitch, has Ole brought to the table for the past 3 seasons, and it's not even like it's improved, same football thats slow and cannot break down teams, same mistakes, same terrible ingame management, same rewarding of mediocre players with more minutes instead of giving marginalised players a chance... Honestly, what is there to buy into as a player? His supposed excellent man management is massively overrated as well, I mean it wasn't exactly hard to pick up a lot of players on the back of the very toxic environment Mourinho had created by the end, but look at the likes of how he treats DVB and such for examples of fantastic man management.
 

Says who? The players who play no matter how badly they do? What do the players who don't play say?

The new guys probably can see the difference between a winning setup and a non-winning setup, between an organized defense and whatever that was yesterday, between a team that can pass and a team that doesn't.
 
But a 100% of what? What should a player do who does not get clear instructions? Run around like a headless chicken to show "he gives 100%"? These are professionals that know that this would be useless at this level. When you don't trust in what you do, you lose your drive to do it, that is absolutely human and happens everywhere.

You need to be convinced by what you are doing to do it well, it is as simple as that.
100% effort, I’m not disagreeing with what your saying. What I’m trying to say is not giving it 100% to make it look bad on Ole in order to get him sacked! That’s just bad character IMO and I don’t like to see it, I think Pogba was behind this when Mourinho and lost the dressing room!
 
I think it will be signing Ronaldo that gets him sacked. He is one of the few players on the planet who will be backed by the board if he shows his disgust at the performance of the team. If Pogba had stormed off muttering like he did against Everton, all the press about Pogs would have been negative. If CR7 shows he is disgruntled consistently, the board will listen. He's on too much money to be kept here unhappy, and we will only get the best out of him when he is happy. We should be doing a lot better with the talent we have.
 
100% effort, I’m not disagreeing with what your saying. What I’m trying to say is not giving it 100% to make it look bad on Ole in order to get him sacked! That’s just bad character IMO and I don’t like to see it, I think Pogba was behind this when Mourinho and lost the dressing room!
I see your point, yes it is a bad sign if players do this deliberately. Sadly that is just the natural spiral downwards in such situations. Even if you can identify one player leading this kind of rebellion, he can only get the team behind him if they all have lost faith in the manager already. Happens at every club in the world from time to time, always horrible to watch for the fans. Only option you have left is praying the board signs the right replacement fast.
 
From the looks of it Ole manages them easily on individual level, so he has probably majority of players on his side as they show their happiness about him on almost every occasion.

What Ole lost or perhaps never had could be dressing room as fully focused collective... just some friendly & polite individualities in the dressing room like Juan, Nemanja, Jesse or Pogba.
 
Relative high isn't actual high... That last tweet isn't positive at all, do we have the source?
 
Fair enough. I agree on a long-term strategy. I wonder what the long-term strategy is under Ole, and I'm not being coy, when it comes to how the team plays?

I would prefer an interim manager now and making sure we find a suitable manager for next season as soon as possible (so they can liaise early with Murtough, Fletcher, et al). I just don't think it's to the team's benefit to have this season unravel further. It's a young team, confidence is more fragile without experience, and the good work Ole has done in terms of the atmosphere could quite easily disintegrate if it continues much longer. Think we differ just on our expectations. I don't think Ole will improve it enough from now on.
I think the strategy should be to bring in an head coach in future on a 3 year deal which is analysed by Murtough and Fletcher after 2 years to see if progress is being made and if not to start looking for the replacement. The head coach shouldnt have any previous ties to the club, so sentimentality doesnt creep in (we havent had a successful ex player turn coach/manager anyway). The squad should be built on a specific way of playing. One which we match the head coach to, not the other way around, so a squad structure from the youth to the players bought in to match the structure, not how many shirts will a player shift. For me this is the only way forward.
 


But of course. They are on 100s of k a week and don't really have to push themselves too hard to win anything of note. The manager does not demand it, and the board does not demand it.

All they have to do is keep wandering about the pitch looking lost, apologise on social media to fans on a weekly basis, and keep looking forward to the next game.
 
I think the strategy should be to bring in an head coach in future on a 3 year deal which is analysed by Murtough and Fletcher after 2 years to see if progress is being made and if not to start looking for the replacement. The head coach shouldnt have any previous ties to the club, so sentimentality doesnt creep in (we havent had a successful ex player turn coach/manager anyway). The squad should be built on a specific way of playing. One which we match the head coach to, not the other way around, so a squad structure from the youth to the players bought in to match the structure, not how many shirts will a player shift. For me this is the only way forward.

Yeah, pretty much. Which means if ten Hag is the desired candidate, we shouldn't appoint someone completely different because we can't wait for summer. If Ole wasn't presiding over an absolute shit show now where the players seem to have lost their mojo completely, I wouldn't mind him in the job until summer, but as it is I think it's desirable to get in an interim manager until summer. They could tie up a deal with ten Hag now and immediately start addressing his concerns with the team, which obviously can't happen if they keep Ole until the end of the season, at which point, we might have Pogba tied down on a 400K deal, Lingard extended, Maguire's deal bumped by a 100K or so, etc.
 
But of course. They are on 100s of k a week and don't really have to push themselves too hard to win anything of note. The manager does not demand it, and the board does not demand it.

All they have to do is keep wandering about the pitch looking lost, apologise on social media to fans on a weekly basis, and keep looking forward to the next game.
I don't believe that at all. There might be some players who think like that, but if the majority of the squad is happy not challenging for titles, then you have a massive mentality problem in the dressing room. Especially the new signings came there to win something and had every reason to feel like they were the missing piece to elevate that team, I refuse to believe that someone like Ronaldo, Varane or even Sancho is happy playing that way.
 
The manager has lost the players

He must be long sighted, cos they are all sitting on the bench unused mostly, in front of him.
 
In other words he doesn't push and of the players so they can all get their fat paychecks without actually trying to improve.

That's one way of looking at it. I still don't think that the majority of the United players would have that mindset, though. If they start to believe that a manager is out of his depth and that they're unlikely to win trophies under him, I can't imagine the idea that he'd play them regardless of their form outweighing the frustration that comes with being stuck with an inept manager.
 
i heard a lot of the away fans left before the end, can you confirm? That would have never happened when i used to travel to away games
Yes my cousin and son went he said fans were leaving really early. A few went after the 4th goal. He left when they announced the additional time.
 
I don't believe that at all. There might be some players who think like that, but if the majority of the squad is happy not challenging for titles, then you have a massive mentality problem in the dressing room. Especially the new signings came there to win something and had every reason to feel like they were the missing piece to elevate that team, I refuse to believe that someone like Ronaldo, Varane or even Sancho is happy playing that way.

I was being a little sarcastic there, and maybe the tweet itself is false. But if I were a player in that team at the moment, I do not see a reason to be harmonious at all in terms of potential of winning anything or even just feeling good after a game knowing you've played alright.

Why would you be happy with Ole's man management right now? Is it because he's telling them that it's ok that we are this bad?

I'd rather read tweets about a 'passionate conversation between the players and coaching team about what has gone wrong lately'. If there is anybody who is feeling harmonious in that United dressing room right now, I would like to know why.
 
The first time I got the sense he'd lost/ was starting to lose the dressing room was during our pathetic CL loss to Young Boys. There was that image, which I actually said at the time I thought would prove defining, of Ronaldo and Bruno gesticulating and effectively managing behind him while he stood meekly....

Image here: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....ferdinand-slams-ronaldo-touchline-antics/amp/

I'd never got the sense of him losing the dressing room before especially given all the compliments about his man management skills, until that moment...

The trouble for him with finally having winners in the squad is that they actually want to win things. He no longer has a team of yes men. There were rumours about rifts with Bruno last season, perhaps actually they were true.
 
But of course. They are on 100s of k a week and don't really have to push themselves too hard to win anything of note. The manager does not demand it, and the board does not demand it.

All they have to do is keep wandering about the pitch looking lost, apologise on social media to fans on a weekly basis, and keep looking forward to the next payday.
Fixed.
 
The performance on Wednesday night will be telling. If the players can’t get up for a must win CL game after that shit show on Saturday then they’re definitely downing tools and at that point a managerial change is never far away.
 
Sad times these days.
I recall a story by Jim White about SAF. It was in his book on the fabulous 93/94 season the title of which eludes me at the moment.
It was about the FA Cup Semi final against Oldham.I think Eric was suspended for the game.
Anyhow we were well below par on the day all perspiration but no inspiration struggling to beat Oldham of all teams.Late on , out of nowhere Oldham get a spawny goal and it looked like our goose was cooked and our bid for the double was over.
White looked over at SAF who looked depressed, defeated , broken on the touchline.For about 5 seconds! He was quickly roaring out instructions, lambasting the ref, the linesman, the United players , everyone.Literally raging against the dying of the light.
White had actually felt sorry for SAF for an instant and thought “ Who would want to be a manager?
Of course the lads responded and Hughes smashed in his famous equalizer in the dying seconds .We thumped them 4-1 in the replay and did the double.
I just never got the sense from Ole that he’s got anything like the minerals for this job.
 
I hate feeling the way I do, but I can’t wait until he’s gone. I think a lot of people don’t realize how much better off we’ll be once he’s gone. His tactics are poor and the lack of organization is shambolic for a manager at any level.

Personally I think he’s gotten a fairly easy ride for the most part. He’s done a decent job of stabilizing the club, but let’s be honest, the club was in such a poor state after Mourinho it wasn’t going to take all that much to improve the mood and ship a few players out. He’s spent a ton of money and has no idea how to manage a squad let alone get the best out of players.

Also, this narrative of him being a young inexperienced manager needs to stop. In what other profession is 48 years old considered to be young? Wish him all the best but will not miss him once he’s gone.
 
Sad times these days.
I recall a story by Jim White about SAF. It was in his book on the fabulous 93/94 season the title of which eludes me at the moment.
It was about the FA Cup Semi final against Oldham.I think Eric was suspended for the game.
Anyhow we were well below par on the day all perspiration but no inspiration struggling to beat Oldham of all teams.Late on , out of nowhere Oldham get a spawny goal and it looked like our goose was cooked and our bid for the double was over.
White looked over at SAF who looked depressed, defeated , broken on the touchline.For about 5 seconds! He was quickly roaring out instructions, lambasting the ref, the linesman, the United players , everyone.Literally raging against the dying of the light.
White had actually felt sorry for SAF for an instant and thought “ Who would want to be a manager?
Of course the lads responded and Hughes smashed in his famous equalizer in the dying seconds .We thumped them 4-1 in the replay and did the double.
I just never got the sense from Ole that he’s got anything like the minerals for this job.
Indeed, managers can be popular with the players but they also need to be frightened of him as well. A mixture of love and fear is the motivation most competitive sportsmen need. Who could really 'fear' Ole? Klopp and Pep are guys with nasty streaks and aren't afraid to confront when necessary, this is Ole's weak spot.
 
But of course. They are on 100s of k a week and don't really have to push themselves too hard to win anything of note. The manager does not demand it, and the board does not demand it.

All they have to do is keep wandering about the pitch looking lost, apologise on social media to fans on a weekly basis, and keep looking forward to the next game.
That's probably the case with some of the players we have but I just cannot see the likes of Ronaldo and Varane being one of them. These 2 especially are serial winners and will not be happy with the way things are going. If they feel our coaching staff is inept, I am sure they will do everything in their power to push for a change.
 


I agree with him.

For far too long we've either started games so flipping slowly, or spent the last 20 minutes clinging on for dear life, or if we're exceptionally lucky, both in one game

How can we all see this but it continues to happen game after game after game, often coupled with awful football

I'm sick of us having a small team mentality, it seems a draw is almost celebrated

I watched Brentford against Liverpool and watching them show no fear and really get at Liverpool and take the game to them, while looking like they had a clear plan with every player knowing their job and fully committed to the cause. Yes they "only" drew but there was no trying to play it safe and play for the draw, which as a newly promoted side they'd have been entitled to do

It was light and day from watching us, despite us having a far better squad
 
Says who? The players who play no matter how badly they do? What do the players who don't play say?

The new guys probably can see the difference between a winning setup and a non-winning setup, between an organized defense and whatever that was yesterday, between a team that can pass and a team that doesn't.

Yeah the big guns in that dressing room clearly need to speak up before it's too late to save the season, interesting to see complete contrast in dressing room views from Rich Fay and Paul Hirst but hard to know who is right
 
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Lost his players? Not a chance.
 
Our players also made similar reaction under Mourinho in his 3rd season. Newcastle 3-2, Chelsea 2-2, Juve 2-1, out of my head. Doesn't mean anything to be honest. They play for themselves at the end of the day. They don't want to get embarrassed.
 
They didn't down tools for Mourinho when they were thrown left, right and center around bus station, so don't think Ole will ever have this problem.
 
He lost the players in the first half because that formation is not one you expect to see at this level and especially when confidence is so low.
 
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