The 5-3 away to Leicester under LVG still haunts me, I’d be concerned it’s the type of performance and result that this team has in it if it goes gung-ho against anyone with a bit of quality. It certainly freaked the feck out of Van Gaal, and it’s the type of thing Mourinho went way over-the-top to guard against.
A 'better' push for 4th even if I think its beyond him and anyone else given the form of those above us. Even if we finish 6th thats ok if the football stays at a good level. The important thing is getting the structure of the club right with Ole in charge from youth and scouting to first team and I think he'll improve us there more so than league position!
Man we lost 5-0 to Newcastle under Fergie.
Aye I remember, lost 6-3 at The Dell around the same time. It was panic stations all around, although we were Champions and went on to win the league again with ease.
I think the 6-1 against City did affect Fergie in a big way, when you consider how we started that season all guns blazing and then look at how we approached the title decider at the Etihad later on. It may be unrelated to the 6-1, but I’ve always felt that those couple of months at the start of 11/12 were the last time we saw Fergie’s United in full flow. As entertaining as 12/13 was at times, I don’t really recall a consistent, extended run of great form and blowing teams away.
Man, LVGs tenure would have been so so different if that Leicester game had gone out way. He just became shell-shocked.The 5-3 away to Leicester under LVG still haunts me, I’d be concerned it’s the type of performance and result that this team has in it if it goes gung-ho against anyone with a bit of quality. It certainly freaked the feck out of Van Gaal, and it’s the type of thing Mourinho went way over-the-top to guard against.
What about we all need to stop creating this type of thread, just enjoy the football, don't think too much and only start mentioning 4th place in March or April if we really do in.
Is this going to work against the rest of the top six?
Aye I remember, lost 6-3 at The Dell around the same time. It was panic stations all around, although we were Champions and went on to win the league again with ease.
I think the 6-1 against City did affect Fergie in a big way, when you consider how we started that season all guns blazing and then look at how we approached the title decider at the Etihad later on. It may be unrelated to the 6-1, but I’ve always felt that those couple of months at the start of 11/12 were the last time we saw Fergie’s United in full flow. As entertaining as 12/13 was at times, I don’t really recall a consistent, extended run of great form and blowing teams away.
Jesus it was one game, let's wait and see if he can beat Huddersfield, Bournemouth and Reading before asking what happens when he plays a good side
But then we might as well close redcafe? The whole point is to discuss? People only enjoy winning football. Ole will suffer and so will his legacy if we go backwards. Legends as big as him have all been sacked and abused because of a poor string of results.
Liverpool had the same problem before they bought VVD.
It is obvious that our defense is a big worry;but when a team is always on the front foot;the opposition will camp in their half defending thereby giving our defense little or nothing to do;we saw it yesterday against Cardiff;our defense played a high line.
The danger is when a team lumps balls over the line ;they can create a one vs one with DDG.Just like they did against Lindelof
The solution is to play defenders with pace and good recovery;and to train DDG to come of his line early enough to make clearances just like City and Liverpool.
If you give a defensive coach this city team;they will concede about the same number of goals as we have conceded or more;but their attacking and possession football masks their deficiencies;nothing masks a bad defense like attacking football;this is also true for that great Barca side.
Look, we’re gonna lose a game or two under Ole. Even if he is some natural managerial genius (which he probably isn’t) he isn’t gonna be able to get us playing like this consistently every game, in half a season. It took Pep a year, Klopp and Poch two odd - The former two just scraping into the CL places in their first years, 16+ points off the top. It’d be silly to expect us to skip that step. Somewhere down the line we’ll be exposed, and if we play with such gay abandon against the likes of PSG, we could possibly get turned over.
However, all I really want from Ole is to prove there are the makings of an exciting attacking side in there, which I’m convinced there is, and which so far he’s doing. We still need a few players to get right back to the top, but hopefully this period can show we don’t need quite as many as some think. This squad finished 2nd under Mourinho, without ever putting in a performance like that, so it’s daft (and always was) to think it isn’t top 4 quality.
There’ll be teething problems, inevitably, but the benefit of this custodial interim thing, is that I reckon most fans will be pretty forgiving as long as we put on a show, and look like we’re going in the right direction.
Is this going to work against the rest of the top 6?
It has been pointed out that even Jose's United would have beaten Cardiff. Albeit we would probably have had to come back from behind. However, we couldn't beat Southampton.
Anyway, once we come up against a proper team, and Ole gets to see that this managing United lark is a bit tricky dicky, how will we fair?
Ole said himself that we need to improve more but the pattern of play that creates goal opportunities we have to practice especially with support from fullback which is one of his biggest weapon to attack and pressing as a units, Lindelof and Jones should stay wide with Matic stay back in line between them while fullback push higher. I'd say the way we play against Cardiff is so far away from his images and how he wants us to play because fullback hasn't threatened much, we're at between 40-50% perfect away from his ideal team but if we get used to the style of play under Ole and improving in the style of play over the course, we'll be playing better than we played against Cardiff before.
