Nothing wrong with a good grammar lesson occasionally.
Kieran McKenna as our next assistant manager| Simon Stone confirms the promotion
- Thread starter KM
- Start date
Mourinho to be their assistant
Joke aside, SAF has mentioned numerous times that at a certain point he did not run the training sessions anymore. McKenna won't change our style completely, since Mourinho will be the one to dictate how the team should play but I hope there will be an improvement when we are actually attacking.
This can only be good news. I can't have been the only one who, upon seeing another attack fizzle out due to poor movement and narrow build up - "what do we actually do in training?"
Getting fresh ideas from a young coach who is keen on getting the ball forward quickly can only be a good thing. From the sounds of it, McKenna will be choosing what drills we do in training. I'd hope he already has some ideas in how to get the best out of our attack.
Getting fresh ideas from a young coach who is keen on getting the ball forward quickly can only be a good thing. From the sounds of it, McKenna will be choosing what drills we do in training. I'd hope he already has some ideas in how to get the best out of our attack.
This is true. Mourinho will still decide how we plan McKenna will be judged on how good he can interpret Mourinho’s tactics. Overall will be good experience for him and just hope he can improve how me counter attack as our selection of pass is shocking.
Joke aside, SAF has mentioned numerous times that at a certain point he did not run the training sessions anymore. McKenna won't change our style completely, since Mourinho will be the one to dictate how the team should play but I hope there will be an improvement when we are actually attacking.
Mourinho is notoriously hands off with players he doesnt trust. He gives players huge tactical briefings and massive workload on the pitch and just folds his arms and sees how they respond to this overload.
If they respond positively he puts an arm around your shoulder and becomes friends with you. If they respond negatively then he will increase the workload even more or freeze you out completely. The whole idea behind Mourinho's management philosophy is to create a self sustaining team and self sustaining players (even if you cut off the head the body will still function). This is why both his Chelsea and Madrid players adopted aspects of his tactics long after he left; the players were fundamentally changed by him.
This management style looks to be hit and miss with modern players. Some modern players embrace the challenge while others need to be hand held.
I believe McKenna will do nothing regarding our tactics and style of play. However, I believe he will be a counter balance to Mourinho's cut throat management style which will help remove these huge swings in form that we have seen from players like Pogba and Rashford. When they are struggling with understanding a certain instruction, or wanting to interpret a situation in a slightly different way to Mourinho they will have McKenna as an intermediary.
If they respond positively he puts an arm around your shoulder and becomes friends with you. If they respond negatively then he will increase the workload even more or freeze you out completely. The whole idea behind Mourinho's management philosophy is to create a self sustaining team and self sustaining players (even if you cut off the head the body will still function). This is why both his Chelsea and Madrid players adopted aspects of his tactics long after he left; the players were fundamentally changed by him.
This management style looks to be hit and miss with modern players. Some modern players embrace the challenge while others need to be hand held.
I believe McKenna will do nothing regarding our tactics and style of play. However, I believe he will be a counter balance to Mourinho's cut throat management style which will help remove these huge swings in form that we have seen from players like Pogba and Rashford. When they are struggling with understanding a certain instruction, or wanting to interpret a situation in a slightly different way to Mourinho they will have McKenna as an intermediary.
I know SAF used to have his assistant take training and hopefully they can give some new ideas and add a few things to our attacking play.
Joke aside, SAF has mentioned numerous times that at a certain point he did not run the training sessions anymore. McKenna won't change our style completely, since Mourinho will be the one to dictate how the team should play but I hope there will be an improvement when we are actually attacking.
During the transfer window? not that much. Just want to watch how We play with a 'new squad'. Can't really get excited over signings anymore.So are you excited or not?
Its a welcome and exciting change for Man United. At least it tells that Mourinho is willing to change which we will know as time goes by. Mourinho needs to work mainly on man management/player related issues and let staff do other things keeping emphasize on attacking football. The advantage with bringing McKenna on board is in future he might be a good candidate for manager's job at United. With Jose allowing, McKenna will bring attacking display which has been missing for a few years.
I hope this enhances our younger players as well Mckenna's own tactical/management qualities (if he even has tge latter).
Filling Rui's shoes is a big thing. Jose has had him for 15 years or so? Mckenna has a long way to go to earn Jose's trust. Also this pre-season will be limited because of World cup. It will be interesting to see how players react to this change. I wont expect things to change immediately.
This fitness coach acquisition is what i am interested in. The way we played some of the games with no pace and energy could it be lack of fitness?
This fitness coach acquisition is what i am interested in. The way we played some of the games with no pace and energy could it be lack of fitness?
Signs of the latter years of Fergie.
Put the training tasks to the team and he just pick the team based on coaches reports and recommendations.
hopefully.
Put the training tasks to the team and he just pick the team based on coaches reports and recommendations.
hopefully.
Hard to imagine with our facilities and support. I think it is more a mental thing
I’m not sure that’s quite how it worked lol.
It's a pretty well known fact Muelensteen / Phelan ran training most the time, but Fergie would concentrate on other aspects.
Obviously he would oversee training but he didn't actually control it, he didn't have the time to do everything efficiently, so he was happy to delegate it.
Clearly he trusted his staff and it worked.
I’m not doubting that but if we all think Fergie was picking teams on coaches recommendations we are abit naive. He’d highlight how he expected us to play and the coaches would get that across to the players. Team selections and player reviews would have all been done by Fergie.
If Mourinho is planning the same thing then it would work the same. The only thing we can hope for is what we see isn’t actually how Mourinho sees us playing however his coaching staff have been failing to get the idea across to the players.
Rui was instrumental to the high energy Porto team from what I've read. I doubt it was down to him why are players look lethargic sometimes.
Obviously if a player is slacking in training then they won't play (see Luke Shaw/Kevin De Bruyne) but yeah he won't plan everything on that alone.
I do wonder though what Mourinho does with them in the offensive side, he clearly gets his teams drilled to be compact/tight in defence and good at defending deep in the box.
I hope that Mckenna will be allowed to have offensive drills, it's something we need to work on massively. I can't really see what else we can do defensively to improve.
Our fitness was noticeably worse than our rivals also, so bringing in this new coach will help that fingers crossed.
The change was overdue. New ideas need to be injected to overhaul our approach. However we still more quality on bench.
https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/sport...d-manchester-united-remarkable-story-14691270
Nice little article on Kieran.
Even better that there's a Ballinamallard / Fermanagh link.
My local Irish League team!
Nice little article on Kieran.
Even better that there's a Ballinamallard / Fermanagh link.
My local Irish League team!
Time for a bump, think we should have a thread on him in the Player Performances Forum, would anyone be kind enough to make it?
Excited to see the kind of football we play and how much influence will Jose let him have on the players.
Excited to see the kind of football we play and how much influence will Jose let him have on the players.
Just curious. How can we tell how much of an influence McKenna will have on Jose's tactics?
If our football becomes more exciting, then it's down to McKenna?
And if we play boring defensive football, then McKenna doesn't really have much say in Jose's tactics?
Is that the barometer we will be using?
If so, the Nostradamus in me says this will turn out to be another Jose bashing thread.
I don't know, it's really hard to tell the influence of an assistant manager. I'm hoping that even if we don't start playing free flowing football, we will improve in attack, and credit for that must then go to McKenna
Isn't that the obvious answer? It's simple logic really.
If something would have improved re playing style because of Jose or some of his coaches it would have improved by now, after 2 years working with the players.
If it does suddenly after appointing McKenna, it would be reasonable he is the factor, or maybe Carrick who is also a new influence.
I agree with you.
What this thread is basically saying is no credit to one of the finest managers of all time if we suddenly start playing well.
Pointless to bump.
That makes sense. The improvement in attacking playing style would have shown up last year, after Mou had had 12 months working with squad. If its obvious that its improved this season, then its safe to assume McKenna, maybe Carrick, and maybe the new fitness coach have had a big influence
Then of course Mourinho should take credit for upgrading his coaching team, SAF complimented himself with very good coaches and it worked. Jose should do the same, and it won't take away anything from his future successes, if he has some that is.
He will carry on as Faria replacement and Mourinho will still dictate matters. There will be no change in tactics as Mourinho will stick to his usual way. The only good thing to come out of this could be that more Youth will get a chance.
Not really as our attack is far from settled and players will improve. Sanchez was still finding his feet, Pogba finding consistency will transform our attack as well a more functioning midfield and right wing. An actual right back that doesn't ruin attacks would be nice too.
Not that i really care where credit goes as long as we improve its just obvious where this thread will go
Maybe a bigger dream could come true for
him if he can one day become the main man.
If we can't get excited about our transfers, our last hope will probably be that this guy has a big impact on Mourinho. Runs behind the defence, movement off the ball, attacking combinations, set pieces, implementing youngsters like Chong and Gomes, etc.
There are tons of things where he could improve us if has the balls to stand up for his opinions and not just be a quiet shadow like Giggs was to LVG. I do believe he'll be a more vocal figure than both him and Carrick because he has the managing experience to back his claims up.
There are tons of things where he could improve us if has the balls to stand up for his opinions and not just be a quiet shadow like Giggs was to LVG. I do believe he'll be a more vocal figure than both him and Carrick because he has the managing experience to back his claims up.
Last edited:
That would be the dream for most of us. He turned down his countryman Brenton and the scousers when he was only 28, but didn't think twice when United came calling. Finally an young, attacking manager who knows what the club is all about.
This season will be very important for him because if we keep playing the same football and don't bridge the gap to City, we need to get Mourinho out and McKenna's stock won't be high to stay on as an assistant, never mind manager.
He is not the assistant manager, he's first team coach alongside Carrick. Mourinho has already said he's not having an assistant.
Nitpicking at its finest. They're all assistants to the manager, that why I said an assistant. First team coaches McKenna and Carrick, as well as fitness coach Walker.
Not really? It's been two years, let's not kid ourselves, this is as far as it goes for attacking play from Mourinho. If he hasn't been able to settle our attack til now, he won't do it. Look at other coaches, they leave a mark in style of play in even shorter time, Jose has done that also, but his strengths lie elsewhere, and it's evident. We are a much more solid unit, harder to score against, dare I say even stronger mentality has been installed.
Alexis introduction has been handled poorly, and it's down to Mourinho. Pogba has been here 2 years and it's still not evident what formation are we playing. Right wing has been neglected for the last 4 transfer windows, while Jose went and bough another CB who didn't bring anything to the table for a lot of money. Not bringing at least one full back last summer is all down to Jose himself.
I have a dream for the 2018/19 season. My dream is that we somehow - against almost impossible odds - try not to have Mourinho bashing posts in every single thread on this website? Can’t we all work together to make this happen? Do it for the children!
That's still just a Jose moan retrospectively looking back on what he's done and doesn't address any of my points raised about areas for improvement that won't be on McKenna . Do you actually dispute any of those points?
Whether Jose has been here 2 years is inconsequential to Sanchez fitting in or our right wing/full backs being solved. McKenna isn't going to be in charge of our signings or choosing the team.
It's not bashing, It's just the reality. I want Jose to stay because I think at this moment of time it is the best for the club. In the meantime I don't have to defend him blindly.
The first comment I replied in this thread was questioning how can an improvement in playing style be attributed to the new coach instead of Mourinho. I think it's logical that if there is some it would be down to fresh ideas of a new infuental coach, that's why I mentioned Carrick also. That would be if they are given such a role.
After 2 years of Jose we already know what to expect from him and what not, his coaching team as well. Ultimately if there is something positive from this coaching additions, the credit would come to Mourinho at the end. Goog managers learn to evolve an upgrade, one way is to surround himself with good coaches.
Sure. Ultimately everything we see on the pitch is down to Mourinho, good or bad. The buck stops with him.
I’d just like to think we can discuss McKenna’s influence without the usual bickering about Mourinho.
Good stuff. Played with and against some of the lads in that pic
I think some people on this thread are being too optimistic about the influence McKenna will have on Mourinho's tactics and style of play.
But I think McKenna, indeed Carrick too, can help improve the consistency and performance of individual players.
But I think McKenna, indeed Carrick too, can help improve the consistency and performance of individual players.