"We've caught up 8-9 points before"

Brwned

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I thought this was a really magical moment from Ole, in contrast to Mourinho's interview after Sevilla with his "I sit in this chair with Porto, Man United out, I sit in this chair with Real Madrid, Man United out" bollocks.

Both of them fully conscious of the past, but Ole's only thinking about the club and the standards it sets for itself, while Mourinho's only thinking himself and his stature in the game. Watching it back again that attitude from Mourinho really is uniquely self-centred.

But also Ole's perspective does feel unique. He's not thinking about his Manchester United or the players that are there now, it's just Manchester United, we came back against Arsenal in 2003, we can come back this time, it's nothing special.

Whatever happens I think we should appreciate how special it is to have someone with that affection for the club in that position.
 

Canagel

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This too. What a contrast from Mourinho constant belittling of club and players
 

VeevaVee

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Yeah. Ole’s worked out exactly how everyone was feeling and is countering it. And I fully believe he believes it too. That’ll surely have a great effect on the players.
 

Raw

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It's so refreshing to have a manager that doesn't belittle the club and players! Don't know what he'd say during a bad period of results for us but I'm sure it'll be respectful and not a platform for the manager to list a bunch of excuses.
 

Yakuza_devils

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For once, it's refreshing to see us play bold attacking football again after 3 failed managers. I swear I can't remember how many times I fallen asleep while watching Man Utd game under them.

For now, I just want to enjoy watching our football again. Just hope we continue playing this way. However, I think we will missed out on top 4 because Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs are more consistent than us.
 

ArmchairCritic

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It's great. Between Phelan, Ole and Carrick we have from my quick mental maths 22 out of SAF's 27 years of the club covered. That's an incredible amount of experience and understanding of what it takes to be a United player and how to coax the most out of different generations of players. Add McKenna on top of that who is a very highly rated coach and a big United fan it feels like for the first time in a long time we have people in charge who have the club's best interests at heart. I think a lot of yesterday came from Ole trusting the players and staff, something SAF was brilliant at and has been missing ever since he went.

This is not going to fix everything and we'll take a few difficult losses no doubt but it is so much better to see United playing without fear.

I also liked the little barb Ole managed to get in at Jose about beating Sevilla with Molde :devil:.
 

Adam-Utd

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Mourinho never once apologised or admitted he got it wrong. You can guarante Solskjaer will be more humble when we do lose.

No wonder the players got fed up of him, he’s an egotistical maniac who plays shite football.

I’d literally laugh my head off if RM hire him again.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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Mourinho should have been sacked on the spot after that post match presser vs Sevilla.

It was despicable hearing him talk how he knocked us out with his previous teams.

Ole has been a breath of fresh air. I'd love for him to be our Zidane. Would be magical.
 

Sarni

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This too. What a contrast from Mourinho constant belittling of club and players
Yes this one was particularly great. Not just contrast from Mourinho but from all three managers after Ferguson.
 

Bilbo

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I thought this was a really magical moment from Ole, in contrast to Mourinho's interview after Sevilla with his "I sit in this chair with Porto, Man United out, I sit in this chair with Real Madrid, Man United out" bollocks.

Both of them fully conscious of the past, but Ole's only thinking about the club and the standards it sets for itself, while Mourinho's only thinking himself and his stature in the game. Watching it back again that attitude from Mourinho really is uniquely self-centred.

But also Ole's perspective does feel unique. He's not thinking about his Manchester United or the players that are there now, it's just Manchester United, we came back against Arsenal in 2003, we can come back this time, it's nothing special.

Whatever happens I think we should appreciate how special it is to have someone with that affection for the club in that position.
Spot on. Those comments from Mourinho were absolutely unacceptable. He got away with that extremely lightly.
 

Pav1878

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For once, it's refreshing to see us play bold attacking football again after 3 failed managers. I swear I can't remember how many times I fallen asleep while watching Man Utd game under them.

For now, I just want to enjoy watching our football again. Just hope we continue playing this way. However, I think we will missed out on top 4 because Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs are more consistent than us.
My feelings exactly. So good to look forward to games again and match of the day!

And we can go into the PSG games with a little hope at least rather than a sense of doom.
 
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crossy1686

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Mourinho never once apologised or admitted he got it wrong. You can guarante Solskjaer will be more humble when we do lose.

No wonder the players got fed up of him, he’s an egotistical maniac who plays shite football.

I’d literally laugh my head off if RM hire him again.
Solskjaer said something in his post match interview that made me realise that he know's what he's talking about. It was something along the lines of "We knew we wouldn't beat Cardiff today if this became a fight, so we didn't let it". That's experience talking and a good understanding of the game.
 

Pexbo

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Just saw Ole’s post match press conference and one of the things that got me buzzing was his answer to the question about getting Top 4.

He said it’s only 8 points and we have overcome worse many times in the past and you know what? Manchester United always get better in the second half of the season.

I absolutely loved that reply from him. He doesn’t give a crap about the last few years. He sees the club the same way he has always seen it and has the same standards, expectations and confidence he has always had and that can only be infectious amongst the players. That and the way he is constantly repeating what an amazing group of talented players he has let’s you know that he recognises the biggest challenge he has is changing their mentality to a positive one and he’s making all the right noises for that.

I’m so looking forward to this second half of the season. If we can use the next three games to gain some momentum, Top 4 is a real possibility. Our goals conceded column is obviously an absolute joke but we have only scored 5 less than Liverpool, 1 less than Chelsea and 4 more than Tottenham. The safety switch is off now and we’re primed to go at teams.

Can’t fecking wait.

Said this in another thread, basically same sentiments as yours @Brwned


The fact is that Mourinho was conditioning the media and fans to temper expectations because he knew he was failing and it’s a better reflection on him if it was down to the players.

The biggest issue with that is that it was also conditioning the players and they’d lost all confidence, motivation and belief. Ole knows his job is to reverse that because the fact is that we do have a selection of fantastic players in this squad.
 

The White Pele

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I think it’s very deliberate, wise and also refreshing messaging from Ole with some of the quotes he came out with yesterday.

On multiple occasions he was keen to acknowledge the quality we have in the squad after months of hearing the opposite from Jose. He also credited the performance of the back 4 being the foundation for the win, which I thought was a bit generous but clearly a move to try and restore confidence to a few individuals.

He was also talking about us as if we are the United of old. “We’ve made up gaps of 8-9 points before” and “we’re always strong in the second half of the season”. He wants us to forget about the United of the last 6 years and return the mindset of everyone at the club: the players, the staff and the fans to the winning mindset that we all had when he was last at the club. I loved it. He’s not intimidated by the history of this club, he is looking to embrace it.
 

snk123

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I thought this was a really magical moment from Ole, in contrast to Mourinho's interview after Sevilla with his "I sit in this chair with Porto, Man United out, I sit in this chair with Real Madrid, Man United out" bollocks. Watching it back again that attitude from Mourinho really is uniquely self-centred.
I'm surprised you had to watch that back to find it self-centred. For many of us, that was the last straw. How can you play ultra defensively against a struggling Sevilla and then say it's not a big deal, we were going to be out in the next round anyway. And that too as a Manchester United manager.

What a defeatist clown we had as a manager (and I was a big supporter). This season he had kept us telling that top 4 no chance - top 6 definitely!
 

Danny Roberts

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If City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs lose 7 games and we win those 7, we'll be top of the league. Treble's still on lads!
:)

That's the spirit! Why stop at the treble? If City get kicked out of the League Cup for being cnuts and they enforce Rule VI, sub-rule C, on the geographically nearest replacement we can do the quadruple!
 

Adam-Utd

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Solskjaer said something in his post match interview that made me realise that he know's what he's talking about. It was something along the lines of "We knew we wouldn't beat Cardiff today if this became a fight, so we didn't let it". That's experience talking and a good understanding of the game.
Yep, why fight them when you can outplay them? Mourinho used to want to win the battle first, but that’s not always required.

Early days yet but I think we’re in good hands. If we can smash huddersfield at home
We will be soaring.
 

Brwned

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I'm surprised you had to watch that back to find it self-centred. For many of us, that was the last straw. How can you play ultra defensively against a struggling Sevilla and then say it's not a big deal, we were going to be out in the next round anyway. And that too as a Manchester United manager.

What a defeatist clown we had as a manager (and I was a big supporter). This season he had kept us telling that top 4 no chance - top 6 definitely!
I knew most things he said were self-centred and remembered that being a particularly ludicrous moment, but re-watching it again just brought it all back up! I honestly can't think of any other manager in any other scenario that would come out with a line like that. It's embarrassing that the club decided to suck it up because we had a manger who could get us to 2nd place.

The most bizarre thing to me is that it was clearly something he'd thought through in advance of the presser. That's genuinely all he was thinking about after getting kicked out in embarrassing fashion. I sympathise with the man because he clearly never wanted to be there, but didn't have the courage to do the right thing for everyone and leave this summer. He was weak.
 

Kapardin

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Can't do anything about top 4, it's not in our hands. We basically need a monumental collapse from Chelsea and Arsenal, arguably the two weakest teams.

One thing Ole can do is continue focusing on honing our attacking play and preparing for next season. And beefing up our embarrassing GD for the sake of pride atleast. The next 3 games are easy enough on paper, if we can score 3-4 goals in each of those games, our GD would start looking quite decent.
 

Wumminator

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Not being funny but where were these threads at Mourinho was making his comments or before he was signed Brwned. You’re an influential member and were all for Mourinho.
 

Robbo's Shoulder

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Top 4 is a massive ask even if we have bridged bigger gaps in the past, relying on 2 of Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs to blow up while having to go on title winning run ourselves is asking a hell of a lot. The damage has already been done although you can't rule out anything in football.
 

Eric's Seagull

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Can't do anything about top 4, it's not in our hands. We basically need a monumental collapse from Chelsea and Arsenal, arguably the two weakest teams.

One thing Ole can do is continue focusing on honing our attacking play and preparing for next season. And beefing up our embarrassing GD for the sake of pride atleast. The next 3 games are easy enough on paper, if we can score 3-4 goals in each of those games, our GD would start looking quite decent.
On paper if we play to form there is a good chance we could win 7 out of 8 (plus hoping for a good one against Spurs) mate and score a shed load of goals (20+) in the process. Just take each game at a time enjoy the ride and see how it goes
 

NinjaZombie

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I'm surprised you had to watch that back to find it self-centred. For many of us, that was the last straw. How can you play ultra defensively against a struggling Sevilla and then say it's not a big deal, we were going to be out in the next round anyway. And that too as a Manchester United manager.

What a defeatist clown we had as a manager (and I was a big supporter). This season he had kept us telling that top 4 no chance - top 6 definitely!
That was when he lost me, to be honest. You just know he was a self serving cnut who never had the club's interest at heart. Also, you only put up with him to win trophies, and when the guy couldn't even beat Sevilla, what was the point?
 

witchtrials

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I'm sure lots of it is down to temperament, but Ole's circumstances lend themselves to this kind of attitude too.

For him to prove himself he knows we have to improve drastically and immediately, whereas the previous managers - setting the stage for a long reign - had an interest in downplaying short term expectations in favour of patience in a way that easily spills over into a kind of "we can only aspire to one day emulate the quality of our rivals, and for this season settle for top 4" fatalism.
 

snk123

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That was when he lost me, to be honest. You just know he was a self serving cnut who never had the club's interest at heart. Also, you only put up with him to win trophies, and when the guy couldn't even beat Sevilla, what was the point?
It was again not about the fact that we lost, it was the manner. How we were setup and how we played.
And how can we forget about the "There are many players in Sevilla who will play direct in my team.". That wasn't the truth - we had quality players then and we have quality players now who would play directly in Sevilla team.
 

JB08

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Can't do anything about top 4, it's not in our hands. We basically need a monumental collapse from Chelsea and Arsenal, arguably the two weakest teams.

One thing Ole can do is continue focusing on honing our attacking play and preparing for next season. And beefing up our embarrassing GD for the sake of pride atleast. The next 3 games are easy enough on paper, if we can score 3-4 goals in each of those games, our GD would start looking quite decent.
I don’t think it would be a monumental collapse, even. We’re 8 points behind Chelsea - if we beat them at Old Trafford, we have to make up a 5 point gap. Of course it’s doable, even if unlikely.
 

Jed I. Knight

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Mourinho should have been sacked on the spot after that post match presser vs Sevilla.

It was despicable hearing him talk how he knocked us out with his previous teams.

Ole has been a breath of fresh air. I'd love for him to be our Zidane. Would be magical.
Agreed, he should've been kicked out of the club the next day. And the fact that we let him stay for so long despite him only getting worse with denigrating the club to make himself look better after that still makes me absolutely furious.

Thankfully, we now have someone who knows what Manchester United should be in the hot seat. Whatever happens in the future, that should be the number one requirement when looking at candidates for the manager position.
 

Shiva87

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Not being funny but where were these threads at Mourinho was making his comments or before he was signed Brwned. You’re an influential member and were all for Mourinho.
Don’t you honestly think this is the better approach ? Post after the manager is gone about his failings?

I’m not sure if @Brwned was Jose out or not but I pretty much was after that interview. It is the single most cringeworthy interview I have seen from a United manager. But while he was here, what was the point of talking about it everyday. He was making things toxic for himself anyway
 

Jed I. Knight

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I don’t think it would be a monumental collapse, even. We’re 8 points behind Chelsea - if we beat them at Old Trafford, we have to make up a 5 point gap. Of course it’s doable, even if unlikely.
Yeah, as long as we beat Chelsea and Arsenal when we play them in the second half of the season, we basically need to lose two less matches than both teams to sneak ahead of them over 19 games. Unlikely? Sure. Impossible? No way!
 

Shiva87

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Top 4 is a massive ask even if we have bridged bigger gaps in the past, relying on 2 of Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs to blow up while having to go on title winning run ourselves is asking a hell of a lot. The damage has already been done although you can't rule out anything in football.
Chelsea and Arsenal both have managers who are in their first season in England. they still haven’t had a season without a Xmas break. Most managers who go to the PL always talk about that being a big change. If the gap is closer at the end of this period, then the math looks dramatically different. Let’s hope they both drop a few points now, and we win a few on the bounce.
 

Brwned

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Not being funny but where were these threads at Mourinho was making his comments or before he was signed Brwned. You’re an influential member and were all for Mourinho.
As far as I can see, this is the last post I made about Mourinho in a matchday thread. Here's the last post I made in someone else's thread about Mourinho:

Simplistic way of trying to paint anyone who is unsupportive of Jose’s project as a ‘fair-weather’ fan.
Nope. You're the one categorising groups of fans into different moral realms, and placing yourself in the most laudable one. I'm just talking about you. If you want to categorise me into your weird groups, try this one:
Mourinho's suck a dick. Can't help throwing his own players under the bus to protect his own ego. It's the complete opposite of how Sir Alex was, or even how Mourinho was a decade ago. Madrid fecked him up.
It was in September 2016. My opinion on that hasn't changed at all.
Just like Raees, you're keen to put someone into a neat little box - either they share your view, or they're in the wrong, biased, and in the other camp with all those other people. That camp is very broad and doesn't fit your simple description, unfortunately. For example, here's my view when we got Moyes:

More likely you'll keep telling us how much we regret missing out on him (like Hazard) while we're looking at another title. You keep looking at the superstars like Falcao and Mourinho while we carry things on with Phil Jones and David Moyes. I wonder what people will say when we win a title this time? It can't be Sir Alex making us a one-man team any more. Maybe people might finally admit we've got quite a good team.
I was never particularly keen on a superstar manager like Mourinho, and I was swept away by the romanticism of a continuation of the boot room culture and Scottish heritage much like you were when we first replaced Sir Alex. I would rather we kept Ole than went for Zidane. I thought Mourinho looked a shell of himself for most of his time at Chelsea, and it was hopeful that he'd rediscover his magic. But then I also think Mourinho is our 3rd best manager ever, up until now. And I think it's quite possible that'll remain so for another decade or more - I'm not at all convinced we'll just bounce back. Things aren't quite as simple as you'd like them to be.

You happened to remember that one thread and decided to categorise me in a certain way, which is pretty weird. Even weirder that you decided to - as you see it - call me out on it, based on the caricature you created. And all this on the internet, with a stranger. Honestly man, you should wonder what that's all about. If you're talking about internet personalities rather than football, you're probably not using this place for the right reasons. I'd rather just talk about football. Or talk to real people in the real world.
 

cyril C

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I thought this was a really magical moment from Ole, in contrast to Mourinho's interview after Sevilla with his "I sit in this chair with Porto, Man United out, I sit in this chair with Real Madrid, Man United out" bollocks.

Both of them fully conscious of the past, but Ole's only thinking about the club and the standards it sets for itself, while Mourinho's only thinking himself and his stature in the game. Watching it back again that attitude from Mourinho really is uniquely self-centred.

But also Ole's perspective does feel unique. He's not thinking about his Manchester United or the players that are there now, it's just Manchester United, we came back against Arsenal in 2003, we can come back this time, it's nothing special.

Whatever happens I think we should appreciate how special it is to have someone with that affection for the club in that position.
Don't get carry away yet, the job is only 1/3 done. Apart from playing with passion, we still need to get back to the team playing mode instead of relying on individual effort. The 3rd goal has a bit of this so it is coming back. Finally there is a need to fix the defensive leaks, which can only be tested after new year against better teams. And BTW, this is only the basics of football team, we haven't seen Ole's tactics, coaching, Plan B and so on, a long way to go.
 

RAVred

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Still early days... We have a very easy fixture list up until spurs and we should win every game. If we ride that momentum Im very confident in us getting back in the top 4 mix
 

Brwned

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I hadn't even remembered commenting on that at the time, but that 2nd thread gives a pretty direct answer to you Twigg. What was I saying at the time? Mainly this:
It's entirely plausible that this is the beginning of him alienating members of the team that he still needs to play an important role for at least the next season, sowing discontent in the wider team as a result, ultimately alienating himself from the team before blowing it all up and moving on. We've seen all of that happen before. It's not like we can say Mourinho is careful about how he handles these things.
This is probably the only time I've made a big prediction that ended up true. But it was all very predictable wasn't it. You know what you get with Mourinho unfortunately...