Ole never won me over completely. I always felt he was tactically inept. Sure, the record against big teams were favorable. But it has always been defending good and hit them on the counter. That works fine as long as we don't concede first. On the games we conceded first it wasn't always smooth sailing. And on few of the games against other big clubs, even they didn't attack and seemed were content to play for a draw.
Now, talking about playing against defending teams, it's another story. United doesn't feel like having much strategy. Even during tail end of last season, if we look closely, opponents were able to read our game much efficiently and it's the individual brilliance of players that got us through. Lately it has been just side passes without penetrating opponents box. I don't see much runs from the players. That makes me wonder whether they practice those in training. I need more passion from the coach (Only instant of this that I can think is Ole shouting at Lingard for playing bad). I want him to come to the lines and instruct the players, make tactical decisions when opponents are playing good and implement them rather than wait till HT to change anything.
Even I can guess what our players are gonna do while watching TV :-
- Rashford and Martial will try to do a 1-2 or shoot;
- Pogba will try to find that killer pass but he sits on the ball too much that the opponent has time to position themselves or pick the ball from him. And sometimes he tries to try flashy passes than simple ones.
- AWB will try to attack in the wing, reach the final 1/3rd and then pass back
- greenwood will try to cut back and shoot
- Matic is so slow most of the time that chance for counter goes by (except few instances that I can count in 1 hand)
I wish De Gea was more commanding in his box. Would like him to shout at his defenders when they make mistakes (Henderson does that). Why play Cavani if you are not playing to his strength? If we find it hard to penetrate opponent box, WTH can't we try aerial balls as a last resort??
Telles - I had great expectations on him. I expected him to bombard the box with crosses and Cavani to finish off (martial for all his ability is no poacher in the box). Was looking forward for Utd to play with 3 in the back when Telles plays high up the pitch against defending teams.
I believe its not good to change coaches frequently but Ole had time to implement his vision and he has failed to do that. We need someone with more experience. Would love Allegri/ Poch. Even inexperienced ones like Hasenhuttl/ Nigelsman seems to have more tactical awareness than Ole.
Last but not the least, its time that Board own upto their mistakes. Woodward is great in commercial side of business but we need a DoF asap (maybe try to get Van Der Sar). DoF will help to sort out transfer targets better, rather than spending heavily as per new manager's vision. The latter will result in a lot of dead wood. And Matt Judge should be thrown out of transfer discussion table. He has no clue about getting price right.
Wow. Spilling one's gut sure feels good.
Yeah because it worked out so well last time we bought him.
