Ok, I did already respond in detail to that poster's next response but here goes the Sunday special:
We have spent more than all those clubs.
Yes, we have. Under 4 different managers who all have different ideas about what their version of Manchester United should look like. That means players churn, devaluation of assets and ending up with a group of players that are not the desired squad by any of those 4 managers. I think that has been made abundantly clear by both Louis van Gaal and Mourinho in their media coverage. Ole now has Rojo, Jones, Lingard and Romero just rotting in the squad while Dalot and Pereira are playing on loan. But I guess any manager you replace Ole with immediately makes all those title-winning footballers and at least one of them competes for the Ballon D'or the next year?
We could do anything those clubs do in the transfer market. We should be able to attract the best managers, the best players, the best youth players.
This, for me, is one of the biggest logical fallacies with Manchester United fans. Yes, we have the money to do whatever we want, in theory. But life doesn't work like that. For any player transfer to happen you need the following sides to agree: selling club (unless out of contract, like Cavani), player, player's agent, buying club. I see that our club is being attacked by fans for not giving into selling clubs' demands (Sancho). Then it other cases the club is being attacked for giving into demands (Maguire). In different situations fans say we should never deal with sh!t agents like Raiola (Pogba) but in other cases we should have done everything to get players in (Haaland).
Now there is also the players' perspective. What has Manchester United won since 2013? One FA Cup, one League Cup and one Europa League. And we have qualified for the Champions League...4 times? Fans think that such recent performance makes us the most attractive destination for EVERY player in the world we may want to get? That puts us even lower than teams like Sevilla. I really wish people would one day wake up and be a bit smarter but then again I'm being the fool here..
When we don't have the "here and now" pedigree what does that leave us? Money. We can attract top talent by paying top dollar. We tried that, remember? How did it work out? And it's not like we've given up on that strategy either. I'm just really happy Woodward has calmed down on his Galactico dream and didn't go for someone like Bale, for example.
Ole's transfers have been a resounding success for me. All players still have something to prove. None are relying on their past success. All are yet to hit their peak years (except Cavani who is a stop-gap solution + brings a wealth of experience and I would love to hear from anyone why he hasn't been a good transfer) and have a role to play to in our squad building. The main question mark is Daniel James, who has lost his way in 2020 and I do hope for his sake that he works hard in the background and is prepared to seize his opportunities in the coming league games.
The club is run like shit.
Not sure what the reason and comparison is here. For me, the main argument for this is the fact that the club hired 4 managers that have almost no similarities between them which always meant that with each new manager we need a massive rebuild of the squad and underlying infrastructures.
Another big negative (but this one must be a positive for a lot of fans, judging by their posts on similar topics) is the previous years focus on buying star players. Di Maria, Falcao, Schweinsteiger, Lukaku, Sanchez, even Pogba and Mata. Bastian was over the hill and many pointed so when we got him but he sold a lot of shirts, so difficult to argue with that. Mata has been a good, loyal servant but because of having to play for 4 managers who either didn't need him or didn't know how to use him he never really hit top gear.
And then Pogba. Maybe he was a huge reason why Mourinho was ultimately sacked. We will never know. Maybe his agent speaks without his permission. I doubt it but I guess we will never know about that too. But were people excited when we got #PogBack? You bet they were. And his commercial value for the club has probably paid off his transfer amount by now. Regardless of all that, I think having him in the squad right now is a net negative because of the ethos and spirit Ole is trying to instill in the players. That no one is above the club and they all work for the team, not the other way around. Pogba is a great footballer and he is not selfish on the field but the drama around him off the field is unnecessary, to say the least.
I cannot understand how an institution the size of United would then hire a manager with no prior experience at the top level.
Simplistic and basic argument. If "institutions the size of United" never hired managers with no prior experience at the top level Guardiola probably never would have been the manager he is right now. Real Madrid probably wouldn't have won three Champions League trophies in a row because Zidane wouldn't have been appointed. Even one "beloved" Kenny Dalglish wouldn't have won his 3 titles with Liverpool.
It wouldn’t happen in any other industry.
That's the sign of someone speaking without knowing their stuff. There are countless examples of CEOs promoted internally, inherited the position or identified with potential from a lower position. For anyone interested in a few big cases following similar patterns, I suggest reading
The Outsiders. And that's just CEOs. We can spend a whole day arguing if a company CEO is equivalent to a football club's manager. If one decides to go a level lower in company hierarchies (executive management) then the similar cases will multiply ten-fold.
8 years on from Sir Alex’s retirement and we still haven’t had an attacking manager. Moyes - defensive, Van Gaal - possession, Mourinho - defensive, Solskjaer - counter attack.
I don't know how to address this. How does one categorize managers? What type of manager is Klopp, for example? If Solskjaer is a counter-attacking manager, then Klopp is one too, surely. That's Liverpool's biggest strength, catching teams high up the pitch and hitting them with pace.
But then van Gaal is categorized as possession(-based?) manager. Ok, then Guardiola surely is a possession(-based?) manager too, right?
And just for fun and a nice morning mental exercise, what type of manager was Sir Alex? He sure wasn't defensive, right? I think most people would say that his Manchester United teams were best known for their counter-attacking prowess. And if that's true, then....8 years on from Sir Alex's retiremennt and we now have a manager with the same style. And that's bad somehow?
That’s why United fans are not happy because we want to win with attacking football.
With our very last game we have broken another record of scoring 3 or more goals in consecutive away games. That's just the latest ATTACKING record. For me, we are playing quite the attacking football under Ole. Sometimes we lure opposition to create space to ATTACK and I guess some fans do not like or understand that. I wonder what's the ideal style they would prefer. Is it Klopp's or Guardiola's, or something else?
Ole has done some things right but I can’t see us winning trophies under him.
It would've been amazing if you could see things into the future. If you truly can, please use your gift for good.
Whenever the pressure is on we end up losing.
I disagree. Winning away to PSG in March 2019 was under some pressure, wouldn't you agree? Or maybe we were expecting to lose and it doesn't count. Ok, how about Leicester on the final day of last season? Not enough pressure?
Losing to Chelsea, City and Sevilla in the three semi-finals last season sucked. A lot. And from those three I would say that our team really should've beat Sevilla. And Martial really should've scored one of his many chances. But teams lose big games and they move on. For anyone who hasn't been around or paid attention, check out the first 3 years of Klopp's reign at Liverpool. It's a story of lost finals. I really wished they sacked him so they wouldn't go on to win the Champions League and Premier League trophies in the last 2 years....
Of course, the fact that someone else overcame such big losses doesn't mean Ole will. But the statement "whenever the pressure is on we end up losing" is both not true and not indicative of the future.
His entire tenure has been a constant chase to reach the pack, we are just about to get there, and then the team blows it.
What were and are people's expectations? He replaced a Mourinho side that was desperately falling down the table. And Mourinho himself couldnt' secure back-to-back top 4 finishes. Neither did Louis van Gaal. But Solskjaer is expected to not chase but lead the pack? Why? And by the way, he did deliver top 4 last season.
Is our squad better than the other 19 teams in the Premier League? Are our players that good to expect we are the best team in the country?
To beat PSG and Leipzig and still not get out the group sums up his tenure.
The Leipzig loss was heavy and the several games in a row when we start slow to concede is a major worry. While individual games can be attributed to individual player mistakes, there is a pattern of poor starts in recent games. I hope no one believes that Ole and his staff do not see that. I am sure he is addressing this issue. And I'm sure because he has addressed every other issue he has faced since being appointed.
And the disappointment from not progressing from the group comes only after beating PSG away and Leipzig at home. I don't know how other people really felt when the draw was made but I wasn't confident we will get out of this group. PSG are still last season's finalists and Leipzig are still last season's semi-finalists. The sad truth is that we blew our chance in Istanbul with stupid mistakes. I class them as individual mistakes but that's me.
People still talk about us being inconsistent which really doesn't hold water. We are the most consistent and in-form team in the Premier League in 2020. We have had a few bad games but are delivering results. And I hope that continues today.
Text in purple are quotes from Josep Dowling's post.
