Imagine how well they'd be doing if Paul Ince was in charge.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer | W15 D2 L4
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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.
Imagine how well they'd be doing if Paul Ince was in charge.
Most in form team in the universe, anyone could do it. Solskjaer is underachieving.
Scary to think we'd be smashing everyone 0-0 and most out of in-form in Europe if not the universe under Ince, we should appoint Paul Ince as permanent manager. Ole is just shit manager
Can guarantee one thing this week. Solskjaer won't turn up to the Busby Babe's memorial wearing a hoody and jeans.
Taking an emotional step back and looking at the 10 games under Ole, the only thing we've objectively learnt is where most of our squad stands.
We've realized how good players like Pogba, Martial, Rashford, Herrera and even Lindelof are, and how we can play good football if instructed to do so. We've also learnt that our defence is shit, and that Jones, Bailly, Young, Valencia and Rojo all need to be replaced. Shaw and Dalot aren't pulling up trees, either, but they're young and deserve a chance. In midfield, we need to do better than Pereira and McTominay as backup, and upfront Lukaku and Sanchez need to up their game soon. It is possible that a better manager can get more out of the underperforming players, but that is the assessment right now.
Haven't really learnt much about Ole other than that he is a 'United' manager who handles his pressers well, knows how to motivate some players, can play good football and is tactically good at counter-attacking. The Spurs and Arsenal games, the only big tests so far, were both ones where our counter-attack was pretty much spot on, but we failed to control the midfield and needed to defend deep in our half. Against 'smaller' sides, we've done the job, but that should be a bare requirement, really.
It has been said on here over and over again, but the next month and a half is where we truly get to assess Ole himself, and how he manages rotation, fatigue, motivation, tactics and in-game changes. This is our fixture list:
9th Feb - Fulham (A) - PL
12th Feb - PSG (H) - CL
18th Feb (?) - Chelsea (A) - FA Cup
24th Feb - Liverpool (H) - PL
27th Feb - Crystal Palace (A) - PL
2nd Mar - Southampton (H) - PL
6th Mar - PSG (A) - CL
10th Mar - Arsenal (A) - PL
16th Mar - City (H) - PL
After the City game on the 16th, I think we can look back and take a call on whether or not Ole should be in the dugout next season. That Liverpool game will have a huge say in proceedings, I'd imagine.
We've realized how good players like Pogba, Martial, Rashford, Herrera and even Lindelof are, and how we can play good football if instructed to do so. We've also learnt that our defence is shit, and that Jones, Bailly, Young, Valencia and Rojo all need to be replaced. Shaw and Dalot aren't pulling up trees, either, but they're young and deserve a chance. In midfield, we need to do better than Pereira and McTominay as backup, and upfront Lukaku and Sanchez need to up their game soon. It is possible that a better manager can get more out of the underperforming players, but that is the assessment right now.
Haven't really learnt much about Ole other than that he is a 'United' manager who handles his pressers well, knows how to motivate some players, can play good football and is tactically good at counter-attacking. The Spurs and Arsenal games, the only big tests so far, were both ones where our counter-attack was pretty much spot on, but we failed to control the midfield and needed to defend deep in our half. Against 'smaller' sides, we've done the job, but that should be a bare requirement, really.
It has been said on here over and over again, but the next month and a half is where we truly get to assess Ole himself, and how he manages rotation, fatigue, motivation, tactics and in-game changes. This is our fixture list:
9th Feb - Fulham (A) - PL
12th Feb - PSG (H) - CL
18th Feb (?) - Chelsea (A) - FA Cup
24th Feb - Liverpool (H) - PL
27th Feb - Crystal Palace (A) - PL
2nd Mar - Southampton (H) - PL
6th Mar - PSG (A) - CL
10th Mar - Arsenal (A) - PL
16th Mar - City (H) - PL
After the City game on the 16th, I think we can look back and take a call on whether or not Ole should be in the dugout next season. That Liverpool game will have a huge say in proceedings, I'd imagine.
Harsh on Bailly, no? He barely had 2 years of organised football behind him when he signed, was our best defender in his first season and for some reason had been ostracised by Jose ever since.
He came back in to the fold against Bournemouth and had a good game until he foolishly got sent off. Then came back in v Arsenal and had another good game, rested v Burnley and now played well again vs Leicester (outside of that brainfart with the backpass in the first couple of mins). If Shaw and Dalot are young and deserving of slack, what is Bailly, considering he's only 9 months older than Shaw and without the footballing education the former has had? He and Lindelof should definitely be the first choice defence moving forward for the rest of the season.
Whoever comes in, in the summer will most likely take Bailly's place, and fair enough if that will be the case, but Bailly has definitely shown enough here to be in the first team plans in the long-term. And if we buy someone who's in the 28-30 age range, I wouldn't be surprised if Bailly eventually usurps them and makes the spot his in the next 2 years or so.
Dalot and Shaw are given the benefit of youth because they have done the right things so far, and have some fixable weaknesses in the game.
Bailly might be young, but he's an absolute madman. His lack of positioning as a CB scares me, he makes rash inexplicable decisions, is pretty poor in the air, cannot organize at the back, isn't very composed on the ball for a ball-playing CB and throws himself into wild tackles - not like Vidic, mind you, but more of a headless chicken way. Apart from his athleticism (and he's not very fast either), I haven't seen much from him to say that he'll come good in the future. You can't just teach some of these things - which is why I don't us getting anything out of him. Rather use the game time he'd potentially get to develop a new, young CB with potential.
I'd like to see Smalling next to Lindelof for the rest of the season, by the way, as I believe the former is the best header of the ball we have, and the most physical and experienced. I don't have a problem with us giving Bailly time by keeping him as a squad player hoping he'll come good, I just don't see him being good enough for our starting XI.
In relation to the bolded above, this was also the case for the majority of the Fergie era. Probably since Keane left, the midfield was the weakest area of the side. United rarely controlled the midfield in the really big games which generally involved adding extra bodies in midfield and looking to win based on the strength of the defence, the quality in attack and devastating counter attacks.
Would it be great to have a midfield that can dominate in the big games? Of course. But for now, I don't think that is what is most important.
I was a fan of Jose coming in to replace LVG because I thought he would be able to bring back the winning mentality that has been missing at the club. But it's becoming clear that the easiest way to do that is for the club to feel like United again. Set the values of the club and remind the players how privileged they are to play for United. Ole has done that and in no time, a culture that took 26 years to build and a few months to destroy is back at the club. That is an amazing achievement.
I agree that the big tests are still to come but, for me, the club feeling like United again is a really strong platform from which to build. No other manager guarantees being able to do that.
I’m always sceptical about texts beginning with ‘The only thing we’ve learnt’. It usually means ‘I’ve only seen one thing, and if anybody else has seen something I’ve missed, it’s better for my ego to claim that they’re blind and hallucinating than to look closer at what they’re pointing at’. Luckily your post continues on the lines of Monty Python’s take on the Spanish Inquisition.
One thing I’ve noticed, is that we’ve played five away games since Christmas. The opposition have ranged from ‘mildly challenging (a Cardiff that had not lost at home for a good while); fairly tough (Newcastle and Leicester, (see Man City and Liverpool)); to very tough (Spurs and Arsenal away).
In those five games we’ve tried to attack from the start in all of them. We have been pinned back and not dominated the midfield against four of them. Our defence has been put under pressure by four out of five. And in those four performances, we’ve let in one goal.
Even if we’d parked the bus completely, that would have been a highly impressive feat. We haven’t. We’ve seldom defended with more than seven outfield players. And we’ve been constantly been looking for the attack, shoving both full backs high quickly when possible.
Would that have at all been possible with a shit defence? Not in a million years. Not with four times ninety minutes of Ole vs Bayern luck would it be plausible even.
This comes after changing much of how we’ve defended, with higher and broader backs and cb’s when we attack, and with more zonal play and less man marking when we defend, things that normally will take some time before fully mastering.
I’ll say I’ve learned that our defensive players are better than they’ve been credited with, and that Solskjær is more adept at defensive game planning than many have expected, based on his willingness to attack.
I've claimed that it's the only thing we've objectively learnt - perhaps I wasn't clear. There is no debating that some players are definitely better than they were before Mourinho left, and there's no debating that others have been equally abject since. The other points I've made are all arguable, and I might be backtracking on my opinions on them later on. Ironically, I didn't expect a Spanish Inquisition on that front.
This is one of those times where stats do not tell you the whole story. One goal conceded is a metric which needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Off the top of my head, here are defensive errors we've made:
Leicester: We were an Evans and a Maguire header away from conceding - both seemed straightforward. Bailly also made some bizarre decisions multiple times in that game, and Ashley Young played an entire team onside from that freekick where Vardy's overhead kick went straight to De Gea.
Newcastle: Rondon had a sitter early on which he dithered over before Jones tackled from behind. Atsu had multiple chances where he could have been through on goal and made the wrong decision. Our set pieces looked calamitous with Jones messing up big time.
Tottenham: Watch the highlights, and you'll realize how it was all De Gea. We were found out again and again - near post, far post, set pieces, open play - time and time again De Gea saved us. A good defence should not rely so much on the keeper, and our full backs had no idea where our center backs were. Lindelof perhaps the only other defender who did okay, everyone else was caught out.
We were lucky to not have conceded more. Also, I'm curious why you didn't include the home games, where Huddersfield, Bournemouth, Brighton and Burnley have all scored against us.
I agree with you on the bolded part, and Ole deserves credit for that - to keep the threat of counter attacks lingering in the mind of every opposition player charging forward to help their attack. I also agree that Ole is employing far less man marking, and that our full backs push higher up with exceptions here and there. But apart from Lindelof, I cannot see how any of our defenders have improved under him. Ole's defensive organization is yet to be properly tested, in my opinion.
That said, I'd be more than glad to eat humble pie over that assessment a month and half from now.
Good post. I've been surprised at how much negative sentiment our defense is still getting despite also being the best performing defense in the league since Ole joined. Of course there's scope for improvement but the improvements made should not be ignored, and it also says a lot about Ole's abilities.
As had been the case in Mourinho's 2nd season with us, our goals conceded statistic doesn't tell the whole story. Has it been down to us conceding few chances, which is a credit to our defensive organisation and/or players? Or has it been mostly down to our goalkeeper?
I have no idea what the answer to this question is tbh. Just throwing it out there.
Goalkeeper has certainly helped but I think our defense too has been remarkably better than it was before. Even if we compare to other defenses in the league, we are nowhere near as bad as we once were.
I've claimed that it's the only thing we've objectively learnt - perhaps I wasn't clear. There is no debating that some players are definitely better than they were before Mourinho left, and there's no debating that others have been equally abject since. The other points I've made are all arguable, and I might be backtracking on my opinions on them later on. Ironically, I didn't expect a Spanish Inquisition on that front.
This is one of those times where stats do not tell you the whole story. One goal conceded is a metric which needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Off the top of my head, here are defensive errors we've made:
Leicester: We were an Evans and a Maguire header away from conceding - both seemed straightforward. Bailly also made some bizarre decisions multiple times in that game, and Ashley Young played an entire team onside from that freekick where Vardy's overhead kick went straight to De Gea.
Newcastle: Rondon had a sitter early on which he dithered over before Jones tackled from behind. Atsu had multiple chances where he could have been through on goal and made the wrong decision. Our set pieces looked calamitous with Jones messing up big time.
Tottenham: Watch the highlights, and you'll realize how it was all De Gea. We were found out again and again - near post, far post, set pieces, open play - time and time again De Gea saved us. A good defence should not rely so much on the keeper, and our full backs had no idea where our center backs were. Lindelof perhaps the only other defender who did okay, everyone else was caught out.
We were lucky to not have conceded more. Also, I'm curious why you didn't include the home games, where Huddersfield, Bournemouth, Brighton and Burnley have all scored against us.
I agree with you on the bolded part, and Ole deserves credit for that - to keep the threat of counter attacks lingering in the mind of every opposition player charging forward to help their attack. I also agree that Ole is employing far less man marking, and that our full backs push higher up with exceptions here and there. But apart from Lindelof, I cannot see how any of our defenders have improved under him. Ole's defensive organization is yet to be properly tested, in my opinion.
That said, I'd be more than glad to eat humble pie over that assessment a month and half from now.
Nobody expects TSI (they all rather expect the unexpected).
Goals don’t tell the whole story, but neither do they tell no story. I picked the away games because that’s where the defensive play and organization would be most tested and found out, particularly with the opposition we’ve had. I find it interesting that when a year or more ago, when this defence where letting in the least goals in the league, they were not getting credit because it was due to Mourinhos defensive five-man midfield protecting them. When Mourinho actually tried half-heartedly to play more on the front foot early this season, high press, higher full backs, we were punished brutally and the defenders got the blame. Now Ole (and some of the same back room staff) organizes us to be on the front foot, so the defense should really be found out, particularly away against good opposition. We have been asked questions, yes, but in totality, the chances you mention (and the other ones in those games you curteously didn’t mention), honestly isn’t very much even for a top team in those kinds of matches. The last 30 mins against Spurs were really the only crisis in there, and compare that to the chances we admitted in our two grand away wins in our last top two finish (Arsenal and City away), it’s not much. Top teams experience that frequently, the difference is that top top teams let in fewer goals in those matches in the long run. 1 goal in four aways like that is quite a good run regardless of luck.
There will always be mistakes, and quite a few have had to do with misunderstandings of roles when marking man or zone, who takes who, what spaces to fill. That is to be expected when drilling a new defensive style, I think. But the defenders in my view has done this better than the midfielders, and has managed to smother most danger well in companionship with Skinny Dave. They should be commended for that, and it’s not only Lindelöf and Shaw. I don’t know which defences you compare them with if you are calling what we’ve seen defensively the last ten games ‘shit’ (as certainly by implication you did).
Apart from that I agree we don’t know how this will look in the next ten games, or the next thirty, or possibly the next hundred. But no need to get ahead of ourselves, huh?
From a football prospective I believe Ole is proving game in and game out that he’s deserving of the role as manager on a permanent basis.
From someone who has been going to OT and away matches since being on my Dads shoulders (aged two) it’s always been about the enjoyment and excitement that supporting Manchester United gives you.
Over the last several years we’ve completely lost that identity and lost who we are as a club. Of course us fans have maintained the standards we’ve set ourselves as the best in Europe (imo) but from a football prospective and the club as a whole it was unrecognisable to the team we’ve all known and loved.
Over the past seven weeks the ‘real’ Manchester United has come back. From the players, the staff and the club as a whole. The club has a unity that we never had with Jose as to a lesser extent LVG.
If Ole continues to progress and play ‘the United way’ then he should get the job or certainly be in the discussion. For me at this current time it’s Ole or Poch. I’d be more than happy with either.
From someone who has been going to OT and away matches since being on my Dads shoulders (aged two) it’s always been about the enjoyment and excitement that supporting Manchester United gives you.
Over the last several years we’ve completely lost that identity and lost who we are as a club. Of course us fans have maintained the standards we’ve set ourselves as the best in Europe (imo) but from a football prospective and the club as a whole it was unrecognisable to the team we’ve all known and loved.
Over the past seven weeks the ‘real’ Manchester United has come back. From the players, the staff and the club as a whole. The club has a unity that we never had with Jose as to a lesser extent LVG.
If Ole continues to progress and play ‘the United way’ then he should get the job or certainly be in the discussion. For me at this current time it’s Ole or Poch. I’d be more than happy with either.
I don't quite agree, but fair enough.
Firstly, Mourinho's defence did get a lot of credit last season. The criticism was that it was because of the deep midfield, but the fact that we were close to the top in the least goals conceded charts did make headlines.
Secondly, I do not disagree that Ole has conceded fewer chances than Mourinho did, while attacking more effectively than Mourinho did. However, I think that it was more down to Jose being new and naive to the whole attacking business rather than the defence stepping it up now. Jose knows how to set up teams to counter attack - his record breaking Madrid side were a testament to that. But proactively going on the front foot and taking the game to the opposition? Not his cup of tea and he failed miserable at it. We were going through a phase where every single defender seemed clueless. The defence has been lacking under both managers (it's the same set of defenders after all), but Jose made it look significantly worse.
I've gathered some stats to illustrate this in games that Mourinho couldn't win, but Ole did:
Lost 0-3 at home under Jose.
Herrera/Jones/Smalling/Valencia/Shaw - 304/699 touches: 43.4%
Won 1-0 away under Ole.
Young/Lindelof/Jones/Shaw - 192/556 touches: 34.5%
Drew 2-2 at home under Jose.
Rojo/Bailly/Smalling/Dalot - 237/628 touches: 37.7%
Won 1-3 away under Ole.
Young/Lindelof/Bailly/Shaw - 205/555 touches: 36.9%
Lost 3-2 away under Jose.
Young/Lindelof/Bailly/Shaw - 334/771 touches: 43.3%
Won 2-1 at home under Ole.
Young/Lindelof/Jones/Dalot - 240/688 touches: 34.8%
Look at the number of touches the defenders had, their heatmaps, and the percentage of total touches. Under Ole, the defence sees less of the ball in central regions and moves it wide or forward very quickly before the press arrives. That is why they don't look as poor. As for comparisons, I'm not looking at other teams, but rather at the standards expected of United defenders in terms of mistakes made, chances conceded and the general calm they emanate.
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I don't understand why people keep spinning this line as if any other manager would just come in and win all these games anyway. So if you're going to judge OGS after this run of games, I can safely assume that if he comes through the other side with his dignity in tact, then he should be appointed permanent manager on 17th Mar?
You do understand that whoever is in charge of United is going to go on a losing streak at some point.
Sorry but that is the biggest load of bollocks i've read on here in quite some time.
Old Trafford is not in two parts. The players have nothing against the Owners and Old Trafford has not changed one bit since the Glazer's took over. In fact, up until Ferguson's retirement, our performances dramatically improved once they took ownership of our club which included one of our most successful spells in the history of the club.
I would also hardly say there's a lack of charisma on behalf of Ed Woodward. Compared to David Gill who generally kept out of sight, Woodward has been quite chatty with the public and has not hid his ambition in wanting to push Manchester United to the pinnacle of world football. In fact, the highlighted part of the text above, demonstrates quite clearly what utter shite you're sprouting as the last two players we went toe to toe with against Manchester City and Liverpool, (Sanchez and Fred), we got.
Sorry, but I am over people throwing shit on our owners who have heavily invested in this club (even if they have taken profits - its a business for fecks sake, we're not a charity) and been let down consistently by poor management from people who, in reality, should have taken their opportunities far better than they have.
Our club is not a poison chalice. Its where supposedly great managers, will be found out for how full of shit they actually are. They get a massive cheque book, stability and unwavering support from the fans so there is no excuse.
All three have practically been given an open book to re-write their own legacies and have fluffed their lines. Whether its through sheer ineptness or not being able to deal with the pressure of being the boss of the biggest club in the world, you want the big seat you either put up of feck off.
Right now Ole is putting up and its fecking fantastic to see.
It's Ole's management style that has the players happy and focussed on performing devastating attacks
I'm pretty sure happy Ole the Utd legend inspires them far more than boring Poch who sets his team up to cross and sounds like glue drying in interviews
I'm pretty sure happy Ole the Utd legend inspires them far more than boring Poch who sets his team up to cross and sounds like glue drying in interviews
All you need to do is smile, you know, then swung, ten victories in a row (well, almost). Being a manager is really easy. Funny than Ince failed at it.
Best form in Europe but still caftards aren't content. Former player that everyone likes that is getting a tune out of the squad...how can you not have optimism about this? I reckon a good set of performances over the next few weeks lands him the job in the board's eyes. Doesn't have to win every game, but is competitive and gets decent results.
But he hasn't lost a game guys. And we haven't beaten Liverpool, PSG, Chelsea, and City back to back. If Poch were our manager he'd have us guaranteed winning all big games with a tactical masterclass where the opposition doesn't get a single shot on goal, Dave never has to touch the ball and none of our defenders get beaten once by Neymar or Salah.
No. The club ambition is lower than him. Ole suit us better because even if he talks about how united should be winning titles he won't push the board to achieve it and will be happy to only work with what he has , improving squad isn't the concern for.
That makes no sense. The club's ambition has always been to win everything. I don't know how you can be higher than that? In terms of spending you can't say we don't have ambition. From all our management hirings you can't say we have less ambition.
If fact Mourinho's ambition was just results and winning trophies where Manchester United's ambition is to do that and also play entertaining football that can get them more following and hence make the club more marketable. So the Club should have hired someone with the same ambitions as them not someone with less like Mourinho.
Smalling , Jones , Mata , Young, Herrera , all possibly renewed / already renewed and will be here next season and you still talk about how club has ambition to win ? We need a proper squad to compete for all cups but those players has passed their peak and definitely can be upgraded but club prefer to save money rather than replacing. Do you think top coach and proven winner like Pep and Mourinho would be happy with that level of ambition ? Pep for example went run to the board asking dozen of players to replace players that were a champion under Mancini/Pellegrini while we , the richest club in the world are happy with average , past-it players if City worked like us , Zabaleta , Kolarov , Joe Hart , Mangala would all still be there and they will not even competing for title now.
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Jones and Mata maybe. You're really underrating the rest. And this isn't a video game, you can't just get rid of an entire squad and replace them. That has nothing to do with a club's ambition thats just how things work. Also Smalling is 29. This is the age centre backs enter their peak. Sergio Ramos is 32. Thiago Silva is 34. Bailing on the guy who has been our only semi reliable defender for years just as he's entering his peak years is absolute madness.
I dunno man. Mourinho kept Zouma around at Chelsea. He's no Beckenbauer. Otamendi is decent but hardly anything special either. And the players that really showed a lack of ambition *cough*Fellaini*cough* the supposed man with great ambitions kept on at the age of 30. Young was one of Mourinho's favourites as well.
If you pay attention to the players he was rumoured to want, they all seem to be past their peak ages as well. So was that the the club lacking ambition or simply realising that what was in their best interests long term was no longer aligned with was was in Mourinho's best interest? Because it definitely seemed to me that Mourinho wanted to win something pronto and feck off with no regard for what he left behind.
As for Pep replacing the ageing players at City, Mourinho absolutely was given that as well. He bought 4 players in the first window, 3 the next and then Sanchez in the winter and then 2 this past summer. He could have bought a whole first 11 if he wanted. How ambitious was Jose when he bought 2 centre backs but kept playing Smalling and Jones? How ambitious was he when he bought Pogba (he wanted him at Chelsea too) and then try to turn him into his own ideal version of a box to box/DM that basically wasn't allowed to what we paid the 100m for him to do? How ambitious was it to buy Lukaku and then keep sticking with him as first choice striker at the expense of the much younger and brighter prospect he kept snidely dissing? How ambitious was it to buy Fred instead of a proper fullback and sticking with Valencia and Young. He liked both those players btw, it wasn't just the club keeping them it was him too. He shipped out a lot of players too. He shipped out Rooney (which I still give him props for), Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, Carrick, Blind. He also shipped out a lot of the young players that were showing promise coming out of Van Gaal's reign except Rashford and Lingard (I haven't seem much out of Dalot that I didn't see in Varela for example).
There is a very weird underrating of our players thats going on here. I wonder if it comes from watching your team all the time while watching the rest in just highlights or smaller doses so you end up seeing all your players' flaws and gaffs.
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This part on Ince from the link about Incey :
Nobody deserves that bloody takedown... scratch that, this is really fitting for that bumbling duckling of a man.
For a man who, “as a manager”, knows how “relatively simple” it is to “solve problems in the short term”, Paul Ince is really bloody bad at solving problems in the short term.
Nail, meet head
a top club don't blame the manager when the player they bought flop. They simply get rid of them, look at Barca, Yerry Mina, Paulinho , all those flop gone and being replaced. 140M Coutinho has been wank but nobody blame the manager, instead they just went and buy De Jong for next season. Chelsea got rid of Morata , replace him with Giroud and then Higuain. City bought Bravo, Pep doesn't like and then went to buy Ederson. Only in United , a manager get the blame when their purchase didn't hit the ground running, beside i am pretty sure both Lindelof and Bailly weren't his main choice, his main choice would be more experienced and expensive, both were young and have resale value which Woodward must love to. We finish second last season but instead backing Mourinho properly , Woodward bought farmer from Ukrainian league and 19 years old RB who hasn't play much competitive yet. I doubt any of them were Mourinho first choice in his short list.
Because at Manchester United the manager has way more influence over signings than at those clubs. Now I'd like that to not be the case, but it doesn't change the fact that its true. It was made pretty clear by Mourinho himself that he gave names to Woodward and Woodward tried to make it happen. We don't really know if those names were suggested by the club recruitment department and Jose just chose the ones he linked or did he use his own recruitment team (I heard this was the case but I'm not sure) who came up with names themselves. And in this area I kinda agree with Mourinho that the club lacks some structure. But that has nothing to do with ambition.
That's amazing when you look back and try to remember where we were and the general feeling that it was irrecoverable under Jose!
Almost impossible to believe that, a mere 6-7 weeks later, we could be in the top 4 by Saturday lunchtime
Some murmurings that Ole as manager would see us not having enough of a draw for players to come to OT. Nonsense, Ole is a legend of the game.
I'm firmly for appointing him now because he just gets what the club is about and is United through and through. And winning nine out of ten games isn't a fluke. Get through this month well and things will be clearer to the board that Ole is the man for the job.
I'm firmly for appointing him now because he just gets what the club is about and is United through and through. And winning nine out of ten games isn't a fluke. Get through this month well and things will be clearer to the board that Ole is the man for the job.
Ole also got relegated with Cardiff to be fair.
This part on Ince from the link about Incey :
This is brilliant.
He shat on Pogba, Lingard and few other players but he could have lifted the spirits in dressing room. Btw this is very good point.
One of Ince's reasons that Ole was no good is that he was relegated with Cardiff - the article in question used those facts for that reason.
What?
You do realize fecking Mouhrino almost drove the club too ruin just three months ago, alienated our best players and generally had made us into a laughing stock. And the players you listed: Young can still do a job as a squad option and a 1 year contract wont tie us down forever. Smalling and Jones are decent CB options on the bench as well. Herrera is arguably our most important players besides Pogba and DDG. Mata might have declined quite a bit, but as with the other, i still think he can do a decent job as a squad option. Even considering that, Jose had plenty of opportunities to get rid of these players and he never did. Comparing anyone to Pep is also unfair since hes a gun for hire coach that has never been at a club that does not have unlimited funds.
I think most fans agree that the squad is in need of an overhaul, but we cant replace 10 players in one window and especially not in January, that would be utterly mental.
Is Mourinho a winner or was he a winner? How come he has been sacked from Madrid,Chelsea and United in his last 3 jobs? If he´s such a winner they surely would have keept him right? What has happend in his last 3 clubs is that he get´s everybody against him by behaving like a Primadonna blaming everything and everyone but himself when things go wrong. How come Ole has been able to go on a 10 match unbeaten run with the same players if your estimate of Mourinho is right? Mourinho spent 400 million on players and could not get them going so behaving like a spoilt brat he demanded more money. Look at the stats of both Pogba and Rashford and how they have both proved Mourinho wrong. Ole is a proper leader and this turnaround has been remarkable while every game that goes by makes Mourinho look more and more like the arrogant, negative Primadonna that should have never been given the privilege of being the boss at Man Utd. His behaviour against Chelsea doctor Eve Carneiro tells a lot about the guy.