If we subscribe to that theory then he thought it was wiser to spend 35M on a Bruno back-up he barely used than on a midfielder? You don’t see anything wrong with that?
Solskjaer's legacy and his future
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
If we subscribe to that theory then he thought it was wiser to spend 35M on a Bruno back-up he barely used than on a midfielder? You don’t see anything wrong with that?
Getting Fernandes transformed the team. So who knows, being rather one dimensional, maybe Solskjaer thought having someone decent to cover for Bruno and give him a rest here and there might be as important.
Don't think so. Ole is no Pep but he isn't that dumb. This is probably even worse than just saying he thought his options in midfield were good enough. It would mean he was prioritizing signing the back up of a player that was going to play nearly every game over upgrading first team areas in dire need. Talk about misplaced priorities, a successful first team midfield signing would do more for us than some bruno backup playing cup games. Don't buy it, he is a mediocre manager not a daft one.
On one hand we dream of competing with City and then baulk at spending 35M on a backup. That's the price for players at the highest level, just look at City and Chelsea's sqaud. And he was bought in 2020, not this season. Sure he didn't get to play much but that was due to Bruno being brilliant and after a shaky start, us having a decent enough season.If we subscribe to that theory then he thought it was wiser to spend 35M on a Bruno back-up he barely used than on a midfielder? You don’t see anything wrong with that?
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It's like buying a spare set of fancy wheels when your car engine are imploding and need fixing asap. You dont see anything wrong with it ?
We are in a worse state than when Mourinho left. That's his legacy.
How funny is that the squad Mourinho left went on a great winning strike during the interim manager that followed him, while the top class squad Ole left is still as shit as it was under him.
But..but..he left us at a much better place and made a cultural reset.
Those 3 years we wasted under him will feck us up for quite some time. Under a proper manager we would have been title challengers already by now.
But..but..he left us at a much better place and made a cultural reset.
Those 3 years we wasted under him will feck us up for quite some time. Under a proper manager we would have been title challengers already by now.
Everybody knows ole did all of the negotiations. All of them, signed all the cheques too.
Around 98% of the fanbase.
The mood/atmosphere he created for the majority of his stay was a nice break from the doom and gloom that surrounds the place now, and with every other manager that has tried to step out of the shadow of SAF.
The level of dislike towards Ole for much of his time here was too strong for a lot of people to look at things rationally. For those people it's a perfect position to be in. If Ralf had hit the ground running, it's because we now have a 'proper coach'. If we continued to struggle it's because Ole left behind an awful squad. There is no scenario that doesn't allow them to justify their own stance.
Spot on
2 billion wasted and nothing to show for it
No one can seriously say the team underperformed the two full season Ole was in lead. He did a decent job and the future looked promising.
I think everything would have looked very different if we’ve added a world class CM and didn’t buy Ronaldo last summer. United wasn’t able to attract or bring in a CM and decided to buy Ronaldo on impulse. I don’t blame Ole for this, but people higher in the hierarchy.
I think everything would have looked very different if we’ve added a world class CM and didn’t buy Ronaldo last summer. United wasn’t able to attract or bring in a CM and decided to buy Ronaldo on impulse. I don’t blame Ole for this, but people higher in the hierarchy.
I never said anything about the actual price, don't make this discussion about things I did not say. You're evasive and not answering my question. I will ask again: You think it's normal he decided to spend the budget at his disposal on a back-up and later on a winger, both of whom he did not know how to use? Instead of strengthening our area of weakness? An area which, according to you, stopped us from competing with City.
Well yeah clearly he thought for last season our midfield options would be enough. And given how we finished 2nd I'd say he wasn't too far off the mark. By all accounts he realised our current midfield options weren't good enough to actually win stuff and he tried to rectify it by wanting to buy a CM/DM this previous summer, only for the Ronaldo purchase to make it not possible.
Also possible that the midfielders he wanted just weren't available and he decided to stick with what we have which was an error that cost him his job. All of which does nothing to counteract that this season's disintegration shouldn't detract from a decent couple of seasons before that. They weren't great, but they were decent, certainly much better than what we are seeing now.
The perfect position would be to have a board that knows what it's doing and hires the right people for the right positions. Which then leads to United winning trophies. That's the perfect position to be in for everybody. Not a clueless board that cannot identify when a manager is out-of-his depth, which ends up in a car crash almost three years later. And a possible exodus of players this summer. That's not the perfect position to be in for anyone, at all.
In all fairness it's impossible to know for sure. We don't know the politics at United. It's not out of the question that the club were making transfer decisions outside of what the managers wanted.
Based on nothing other than my own opinion, I think the club were trying to move towards a more patient approach. We knew we needed a midfielder or two and we probably knew exactly who it was that we wanted, but we couldn't get them this summer and decided to wait until we could, rather than risk a mistake. That would be sensible in my view.
It's also not out of the question that Ole simply didn't prioritise signing a midfielder, but looking at Matic's age and Donny's failure to earn a place in the team I find this to be unlikely.
His legacy is teams like Wolves coming to Old Trafford and dominating the play and no one truly batting an eyelid due to it being such a common occurence. Perhaps the biggest challenge for Ralf and the next guy is getting Manchester United playing like a proper big club again and get rid of the stench of Solkjaer's reactive, beta football.
£130 million on two defenders who aren't up to the job
A midfield completely and utterly abandoned
Ageing strikers on huge wages
That's about the jist of it
And ironically, that passion he talks about, who can win that 50/50, who has the desire to get onto the end of the ball, this squad that he assembled show none of those characteristics.
A midfield completely and utterly abandoned
Ageing strikers on huge wages
That's about the jist of it
And ironically, that passion he talks about, who can win that 50/50, who has the desire to get onto the end of the ball, this squad that he assembled show none of those characteristics.
Tielemans instead of Maguire that summer and things would probably look different.
Think you are spot on. If I remember right, both Ole and the club quite early said the club wanted to change their transfer strategy. Among mother things be more patient and wait for their prioritised target, and like you said avoid being desperate, impulsive and risk mistakes. Wouldn’t say United has followed that strategy wholeheartedly
He mostly managed like an ADHD-afflicted chimp, throwing his own turds at the wall hoping some of them would stick, and for a long time an almost supernatural level of luck meant that more often than not they did. Unfortunately for him (but probably fortunately for the rest of us) this could only last so long and his sheer lack of ability was eventually fully exposed. A 'world class' midfielder would have made about as much difference to his naturally-born incompetence as a cheap band aid would for a chainsaw wound.
Think you are spot on. If I remember right, both Ole and the club quite early said the club wanted to change their transfer strategy. Among mother things be more patient and wait for their prioritised target, and like you said avoid being desperate, impulsive and risk mistakes. Wouldn’t say United has followed that strategy wholeheartedly
No we still can't manage to get it quite right.
On the one hand we have targets that have clearly been marked for some time. The likes of Bruno, Varane & Sancho are clear examples of the club having a plan and executing it. Even Cavani, which on the surface looked like a panic buy due to deadline day, was someone we were looking at all summer and we got the deal done on our terms.
Then on the other we have transfers that look reactionary, such as Donny and Ronaldo. I understand that the club sometimes have to act when a great deal presents itself (which without hindsight Donny was), or when something blows up out of the blue as with Ronaldo.
I think our squad issues are slightly overblown at times. We are IMO two strong midfield signings away from having a completely different look about us. I'm looking forward to the likes of Pogba, Lingard, Mata & Co leaving for free this summer. Time for a fresh start, and I think those midfield signings (if we get it right) will see a leap forwards in quality similar to what we experienced when Bruno came in.
Of course. I'm just trying to find some reason - wrong as it may have been - behind it.
In reality it's probably something simpler as Solskjaer not fancying something he saw once VDB arrived.
Serious question.
Why isn’t he ever even mentioned in any of the recent managerial turnovers? Surely he could do a job at Everton or Watford for example.
When will we see him back in the PL?
Why isn’t he ever even mentioned in any of the recent managerial turnovers? Surely he could do a job at Everton or Watford for example.
When will we see him back in the PL?
Never i'd say.
Why would you want to manage anyone else when you were at United and failed?
He prob has enough money to not have to bother with the pressure he'd be under
Because their goal would be to actually not get relegated.
Because he's shite. And the answer is probably never.
Think we all know why.
These clubs would probably hire Fred the Red before talking to Solskjær, that’s how extremely bad he was. In all seriousness, and I am sure your thread isn’t, Solskjær’s gig is up and he will never get such a job again in England. If he for some reason did, because Hodgson isn’t exactly inspiring or remotely successful himself, his incompetence would shine through even more.
A combination of not being English and everyone just remembering the bad bits of his reign with his sacking still in the fairly recent past.
Would have been interesting if he had a Europa League trophy to his name though.
Would have been interesting if he had a Europa League trophy to his name though.
He isn't being mentioned, period. It's hard to see if he's up to anything right now, unless he is active on his own personal social media. Probably on an extended vacation after a few stressful years managing the club.
Because it's your job? Is he supposed to leave football forever and become a hermit?
Yep, he needs one decent gig in mainland Europe and a fair few would give him another go over here.
Because he’s crap.
Not going to make any outlandish claims about Ole's coaching skills here but it is a fact that he is more qualified and has actually accomplished more as a Manager than Frank Lampard for example and yet Frank gets linked with every opening going and seems likely to actually get the Everton job. I do think Ole is not really looking for a new job right now and would probably prefer not to coach in the PL for a different club but it does not alter the fact that the media perception of Ole shows a clear anti English bias. Fat Frank is one of our own so he has instant credibility whereas Ole is a foreigner with a funny accent so clearly can't be taken seriously.
A rhetorical question really.
Getting sacked from Chelsea is something that nobody takes seriously. Everyone gets the sack there.
Because he's not very good.
At the bottom end of the table he got Cardiff relegated.
At the top end he was given the world and failed.
PL bosses are either trying to push for top 4, or avoid relegation. He's shown he's no good at either.
edit: unless you give him half a billion to spend.
At the bottom end of the table he got Cardiff relegated.
At the top end he was given the world and failed.
PL bosses are either trying to push for top 4, or avoid relegation. He's shown he's no good at either.
edit: unless you give him half a billion to spend.
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