The “Ole doesn’t have the players to work with” myth

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Yes, but we have to believe that isn't the case.

By which I mean - it doesn't actually make any sense that they would do. As I keep saying, the owners have spent an awful lot of money on players and wages since Fergie retired. Which indicates that they aren't satisfied to spend an absolute minimum and simply milk the "brand" for all it's worth. They have been incompetent in the extreme - so far: wasted an obscene amount, having no identifiable plan, replacing managers according to a pattern which makes no logical sense. But they have spent money on the monstrosity.

The hope is that they have now come around to the idea that a radically different approach is needed.

And if that "radically different approach" is real, but 100% tied up to whatever Ole G. Solskjaer happens to be doing - we might as well call it "not radically different" and dismiss it as another short-term, scatter-gun style decision.

In short, the hope would be that if Ole brings in a new profile of signing, and keeps offering minutes to promising academy players (both of which he has done so far), BUT fails to deliver in terms of what happens on the pitch - he will indeed be sacked, and replaced by someone who will continue to adhere to the new approach but who will also be a significantly better manager, as such.

Hope, I'm afraid, is the key word. Not certainty. And - as I've said before - it would be much easier to believe in the reality of this scenario if we had already announced appointments on the "football side" of a certain kind beyond the manager, that is someone with actual authority (a DOF figure, in short).

You won't find anyone disagreeing with the need for a different approach. Still, the results don't make Solskjaer's tenure sustainable at this point even if there is a (vague) plan about continuity from Woodward. And many among the Ole-in posters have clearly attached this new plan solely to Solskjaer as we're already witnessing attempts at degrading the work a man who has done one of the best rebuilding jobs in England in the past 5 years. That's what agitates a lot of people. As i mentioned in my previous post, there's only so much patience and faith you can show when the man in charge has <30% win percentage after nearly a calendar year at the helm. All managers must earn their time and Solskjaer must do the same. If he's doing everything right (playing youngsters, buying the right players, instilling the right attitude) but the team is in its worst position on the PL table (which will most likely be the case at the end of the season), then surely his level is not Manchester United and we should already be looking for better alternatives who follow the same principles as he does.

 

[Buster15]

We can only take him at his word, and that is what he says. So he should be judged accordingly on that.

Wrong. He should be judged by his actions and not his words. Talk is cheap.

 

[Leftback99]

Excellent coaching and in game management to get the 3 goals yesterday. Some nice patterns of play.

 

[SirReginald]

As an outsider looking in it is clear to me and many others that there is something very wrong at your club.

Firstly, playing staff. Half your squad or perhaps more, simply arent good enough for a team like United.

Your recruitment has been atrocious (thanks for the 40 mil for Matic) and not well thought out at all. There is a lack of synchronicity and chemistry as all your players have very different play styles.

The age profile of your team is also very wrong. Ole likes to point out your team is young but your squad is either at the beginning of their careers or the end. Pogba and De gea aside, who else is mature and at a peak level befitting your club? Jones, Fred, lingard are not the right level.

It also has a clear lack of leadership in your team. The more experienced pro's seem to have a lot of personal issues with the club and outside the club and often seem too distracted to lead your younger players. Having Ashley Young as captain, with little to no previous captains experience really says it all.

Second obvious problem is pitch side staff and their level of coaching ability.

I said it yesterday about Jones and I'll say it again. Your recent history of developing young players is horrific. Jones was a solid up and coming centreback who was messed about playing in 3 or 4 different positions and is now jack of all trades. Macheda, Januzaj, Fosu-mensah have all showed promised and disappeared. Rooney never became World class, was allowed to smoke, eat burgers and get over weight and never quite got over that line from elite to world class.

On match days, your coaches all sit there very glum and bored and say very little (Carrick I'm looking at you).
Ole has admitted he doesnt get too involved in the training side.
Who is leading this team!?

Finally Ed has to go. I cant think of one good thing he has done for your club besides getting a ton of sponsorships. On the footballing side it has only gone downhill since his arrival.

While it's unfair to pin everything on Ole, he also hasn't helped the situation and he sanctioned the departure of players that would have at the very least, bolstered your paper thin squad. His CV is nothing to write home about and there are serious reservations he is capable and qualified to get you back to where you need to be.

 

[Foxbatt]

Excellent game management to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory. If he had a sound plan we would not have been 2-0 down in the first place. We would not have been over run in midfield. Shef Utd a team that got promoted played better than Manchester United and if not for DeGea would have won the game easily. The man has no clue in coaching a top team and does not know even how to train players to take a corner. We have not taken a decent corner since he took over last season.
He needs to go ASAP. A mid table manager at the most. A relegation manager most probably.

 

[Alvaro Maestre]

He has the spirit but knows nothing about preparing for a game. I think he needs more coaching.

 

[Suedesi]

Of course, we do. When we decided to put our own attacking weapons to good use by employing tactics which aimed to hit Wilder's 352 where it hurts the most defensively, we tore them to shreds for 20 minutes. They were looking for a hole to hide into and they couldn't find it. The problem was that for the vast majority of the game our goal was to simply negate them by turning the game into a one-goal contest. It cost us yesterday, it has cost us against Bournemouth, Southampton, WHU and Newcastle and it has led to some drab performances in Europe but, fortunately, the opposition at this stage in the EL can't hurt us. This is very valid criticism about our tactics and the way we approach games in which we expect to face some difficulties but we know that we should be winning more often than not. You can't simply wave it away and say we'll see what we'll do in the next transfer window. Long-term planning is fine but part of the reason a manager is being paid the big bucks is to find solutions to day-to-day problems that occur.

Furthermore, which manager gets all his wishes granted every summer? An injury crisis is always something to worry about when you make your plans in pre-season. And we knew that we were going to have Thursday night football. Again, the criticism is about how these predicaments are being dealt with. For instance, Martial's injury forced a monumental merry-go-round in our attacking roles which, subsequently, led to an underwhelming period of performances for both Rashford and James. It took us about a month to come up with the 352 which freed the aforementioned players up a bit. Threadbare midfield with both Pogba and McT missing? Understandable, but don't change the role of the one midfielder you have available. Fred will never be good enough as the deepest midfielder. Work during the break with Tuanzebe or Garner (or even Matic for just one game) because it could have allowed you to play Fred and Pereira in their natural roles. Thin squad? Absolutely. But show us that you have thought about it beforehand and you're not just trying to find water in the middle of the desert while you're blindfolded too.

Which brings me to the final point. Nobody should get that much of a leeway. When it's rumoured that Longstaff and Rice are your choices in the midfield, you can't convince me that you couldn't find a midfielder to simply hold in front of the back-four. After all, i could take his word for it and believe that he was speaking the truth when he said that he had the team he wanted. When you tell me that you want Dybala but he's not attainable, i will be more willing to believe you if you don't go on and hand Mata, Pereira and Lingard new deals. Because when you do it, you signal that you're content with what you've got and that the rebuilding job is going to take about half a decade (if we keep renewing the dross because the right players aren't available). I believe these are valid concerns too.

Anyway, i enjoy reading your posts. They're very well written and well thought. But if you read this one again you'll see that you're giving Solskjaer a free pass for what is any manager's prime concerns: Working out his options and his tactics beforehand in the case of an injury crisis or two games p/w situations. I can forgive a lot of things in the name of long-term planning but not such abysmal results and performances. And my biggest concern is that if the high echelons decide to write the season completely off by removing any kind of standards, it will set a very bad precedent. We must have something to measure ourselves against, otherwise, Solskjaer's tenure will do more bad than good in the end despite his noble intentions.

Great post.

 

[Florida Man]

So the fact we changed formations and started a comeback is somehow a negative? We're missing Pogba, Mctominay, and matic. We're not gonna be good with them out as we don't have the depth currently. It takes more than one transfer window to fix the issues we had before Ole joined. Is it his fault that Jones couldn't clear a simple through ball and Pereira can't control a simple pass? Our current league position is just the level of our squad currently. We have a decent enough first XI as we can see from our record in big games but over the course of a season the other players have to make contributions and were just not getting it from them.

Yes it is because he picked them to play.

 

[Greck]

It's unbelievable. It's not like most of pundits and 90% of the CAF were convinced that we'd easily get Top4 ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal and contend with Spurs for 3. Most people had written Chelsea off (novice manger, transfer ban, best player sold), and Leicester was in no one's radar to finish top 6. Make no mistake, we're massively underperforming and the current management team bears a huge part of it

Not just that, they had Lampard down for realistic sack race contender. On opening day when we saw their starting XI people said they might get relegated this season because it was underwhelming

 

[Florida Man]

Frank Lampard has only had since the summer, has lost his best player and took over a team with a transfer ban. It took Frank about 3 games to have Chelsea playing the way he wants them to play. With ZERO spending.

Ole is a myth, and the myth will be shattered sooner or later. He won't be managing us next season.

Why use Frank as a comparison when you can use SAF, a once in a lifetime manager, as a comparison instead?

 

[Ancient Of Days]

Excellent game management to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory. If he had a sound plan we would not have been 2-0 down in the first place. We would not have been over run in midfield. Shef Utd a team that got promoted played better than Manchester United and if not for DeGea would have won the game easily. The man has no clue in coaching a top team and does not know even how to train players to take a corner. We have not taken a decent corner since he took over last season.
He needs to go ASAP. A mid table manager at the most. A relegation manager most probably.

Wouldn't even call this clown a relegation manager as no prem club fighting for survival worth their salt would gamble on a chancer who blags his way through management.

Couldn't hack it even in the championship as was getting schooled there with his Cardiff team after he relegated them.

After he gets sacked here, he'll have to beg Molde to take him back or go the punditry route and blag his way on sky sports.

 

[norm87cro]

He surley doesn't have a midfield to work with currently. Not replacing Herrera is something he should be held responsible since taking over. Apart from that we have a board that is not keen on spending and a primadonna midfielder who wants to leave. Fred and Pereira are not good enough at it was plain to see against a Championship side yesterday

 

[momo83]

Don't you love how some fans love to invoke Fergie, a literal once in a lifetime manager in world football, as an argument for keeping Ole?

Haven’t heard any rational point for keeping Ole for a long time. Before it was fair points like “give him a window and judge in November” cool i never agreed and always thought this would be the outcome but i got the argument...

Now all arguments for keeping Ole are emotional ramblings. Comparisons to SAF Or just “if you can’t see what’s happening then you’re not a fan”

 

[Tel074]

Fergie used to so yeah, Jesus wept often, once even against Real Madrid in the Champions League.

And yeah, a top manager wouldn’t have been so fecking daft as to play Andreas and Fred, it’d have been Axel, Jones who have previous of playing the role or someone else more balanced for it, Garner was a better option. feck, I’d have told Carrick to polish his boots before playing an away game with that midfield.

Not a chance do Pep, SAF, Klopp, Mourinho start that midfield today, not on your life.

Fersuson also used to play Roy Keane does that mean he still would ? Jones is diabolical and is even worse in midfield ...

 

[Leftback99]

It's unbelievable. It's not like most of pundits and 90% of the CAF were convinced that we'd easily get Top4 ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal and contend with Spurs for 3. Most people had written Chelsea off (novice manger, transfer ban, best player sold), and Leicester was in no one's radar to finish top 6. Make no mistake, we're massively underperforming and the current management team bears a huge part of it

Gotta love these sweeping statements that can't be backed up.

Forget City, I think there's a decent chance we'll finish below at least one of Leicester, Everton or Wolves next season with these players.

All three have a better defence and midfield than us and are in a better position to add to specific positions to improve further.

 

[MikeKing]

Haven’t heard any rational point for keeping Ole for a long time. Before it was fair points like “give him a window and judge in November” cool i never agreed and always thought this would be the outcome but i got the argument...

Now all arguments for keeping Ole are emotional ramblings. Comparisons to SAF Or just “if you can’t see what’s happening then you’re not a fan”

There is plenty of reasonable viewpoints and arguments that supports Ole as the manager, at least for the foreseeable future. As you say though, it comes from trust so you'll naturally get an emotional response from folks. Trust in it self is something Ole has to work to keep, he's still got it now from some but everyone knows he has to show more to keep that trust. Stability is one point for not sacking him. Attacking football is another. Trusting youth and give chances to Martial, Rashford, Williams, McTominay etc. Considering how unbalanced and young our squad is I don't think we're doing too bad.

I don't think anyone feel we're overachieving, while more and more feel like Ole is making the team worse. I suspect me and a few others think just that the team is where it's at naturally due to the young age and lack of quality which speaks neither negatively to Ole or the players as they're really trying their best out there, and there is a few positives to keep the trust for now. How we have put ourselves in this position is a different matter and not about blaming Ole or the players, because they haven't been contributing to this mess rather just been a part of sustaining it while trying to solve it.

I do think a lot of folks aren't thinking through this. They just see a few positives and want a quick fix that will make this team amazing, like a magic manager. Our club and fans really just want SAF back, in every way it's apparent.

 

[bondsname]

I do think Ole is incapable of bringing us to the very top and we should definitely go for Poch, but our current squad is.. pretty bad.

I love Lindelöf but he is not good enough. Sure, maybe he can pass the ball, but in duels (especially headers) he loses way too much. I don't think he is a calming presence in the defensive line either, whereas Maguire is.

Our midfield consists of Fred, Mctominay, Pogba and Garner. Mctominay is showing signs of becoming a great player, Fred is incredibly inconsistent, Pogba is arguably our best player technically, but I see him as a luxury player, and Garner is nowhere near ready yet. Don't get me started on Pereira and Lingard.

Our front three is fecking rapid and are devastating on the counter. James, Rashford and Martial can be mouth watering to watch. But if one of these get injured however, we are screwed.

If you compare our squad to City or Liverpool, or any top dog in Europe, you'll see we have a very poor squad in terms of quality, except our front three. Ole really should've gone for an extra midfielder and another striker to increase the squad depth.
This team should however be in the top 4 if we went injury free all season, but that's just wishful thinking. Of course we would lose Martial and Pogba, and now Mctominay. An elite club should always have a backup plan. Hope the coaching staff learned their lesson.

How the coaching staff went into this season with no squad depth is laughable. Really stupid decision.

But yeah, Ole is incapable and coaches an incapable squad.

 

[Foxbatt]

A good manager will not let his squad be so run down in the first place. It is not that he was forced to sell players. He chose the decision to sell those players. Some of you want to have the cake and eat it. You cannot have both ways. You keep saying that this midfield is not good enough and they are the worst midfield in the PL. Not good enough for what? Then you keep saying that Ole did not get the players he wanted. Well in that case he could have picked any midfield player in the PL and they would have been better than what we have. So why didn't he? Whose fault is that? Ole Gunnar's fault entirely. The man has become a disaster for Manchester United as a manager. This is why never appoint former players in case things go bad it will not be easy to sack them. I hope for once Woodward does the right thing and get rid of him. No need to sack him. Part company by mutual consent and pay him off whatever is needed for him to go.

 

[dev1l]

A good manager will not let his squad be so run down in the first place. It is not that he was forced to sell players. He chose the decision to sell those players. Some of you want to have the cake and eat it. You cannot have both ways. You keep saying that this midfield is not good enough and they are the worst midfield in the PL. Not good enough for what? Then you keep saying that Ole did not get the players he wanted. Well in that case he could have picked any midfield player in the PL and they would have been better than what we have. So why didn't he? Whose fault is that? Ole Gunnar's fault entirely. The man has become a disaster for Manchester United as a manager. This is why never appoint former players in case things go bad it will not be easy to sack them. I hope for once Woodward does the right thing and get rid of him. No need to sack him. Part company by mutual consent and pay him off whatever is needed for him to go.

Yesterday we had 3 senior midfielders out due to injury - Pogba, Matic and McTominay. Pogba and McTominay would have started ahead of Fred and Pereira. Is this Ole s fault too?
Not to mention that Ole does not has total control on who stays and who is sold. Both Van Gaal and Mourinho complained about this

 

[Foxbatt]

Who said Matic is injured. He has not featured in Ole's team September. If a manager does not take into consideration that he is going to have injuries then he is too stupid to be a manager. He does decide who stays and who goes. He may not be able to control how much the club pays a player but it is silly to even think he has no say in who stays or who goes. HE certainly could have picked any player in the PL and they would have been better than what we have according to people who excuse him and blame the players. Jose and LVG did not complain about players to go and who stays. Yes they complained about not getting the players they want and it is not the same as selling the players a manager wants to stay. it is unbelievable that the club would sell a player that the manager wants.
Furthermore it is also stupid to play a two man midfield away to Sheffied United. He could have played Jones and Fred and Pereira or even Garner or Axel in midfield. That would at least ease the pressure on our poor two man midfield.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Matic just returned to training this week.

 

[dev1l]

Who said Matic is injured. He has not featured in Ole's team September. If a manager does not take into consideration that he is going to have injuries then he is too stupid to be a manager. He does decide who stays and who goes. He may not be able to control how much the club pays a player but it is silly to even think he has no say in who stays or who goes. HE certainly could have picked any player in the PL and they would have been better than what we have according to people who excuse him and blame the players. Jose and LVG did not complain about players to go and who stays. Yes they complained about not getting the players they want and it is not the same as selling the players a manager wants to stay. it is unbelievable that the club would sell a player that the manager wants.
Furthermore it is also stupid to play a two man midfield away to Sheffied United. He could have played Jones and Fred and Pereira or even Garner or Axel in midfield. That would at least ease the pressure on our poor two man midfield.

Matic was injured while on duty with Serbia and is still recovering.
Axel was reportedly not ready for a full 90 mins after recovering from an injury.
Jose is on record saying Fred was not really his choice.
Jones hasn't played in midfield for ages while Garner is too raw.

 

[Foxbatt]

Matic was injured while on duty with Serbia and is still recovering.
Axel was reportedly not ready for a full 90 mins after recovering from an injury.
Jose is on record saying Fred was not really his choice.
Jones hasn't played in midfield for ages while Garner is too raw.

Quote Reply
Yeah so put a two man midfield? This is a joke. No you put Jones in there though he has not played in midfield. Or Garner or Axel. If Axel does not last the whole 90 mins then at least we would not have lost the midfield battle from the start and get our two midfield players knackered by half time. Matic is no longer injured and should have been in the squad at least. Ole is clueless and he needs to go. He should have realised that he would get injuries and he should have bought one midfield player at least when he sold off Fellaini and Herrera.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Excellent coaching and in game management to get the 3 goals yesterday. Some nice patterns of play.

Yes, 7 minutes of great coaching yesterday.

 

[vivaronaldo]

ole just got dominated for 70 mins against shef utd...he is not even coming close to bringing the best out of these players ...

his tactics or lack there off , scare no one

 

[M4nu4Life]

I would like to see how he goes with a fit Pogba, one more mid and one more striker.


Give him that and 2 months.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Fergie famously beat Arsenal with Rafael and O’Shea in CM. He won a league with Cleverley and Anderson and he outplayed Bayern with Gibson in CM.

Klopp has Henderson looking a top CM.

I could go on and on but the short answer is, yup you’re right.

I like Klopp's method of keeping the attack and defense the same and constantly rotating the engine (aka the midfield). SAF used to do that all the time, and because of that people always underrated players like Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson, etc...much like we are underrating players like Henderson, Milner and Ox in Liverpools midfield. With that being said, Klopp has also been very fortunate to not have a lot of injuries to his front 3. We are just starting to see that now with Salah's ankle injury. United on the other hand has been very unfortunate with injuries. I almost felt sorry for Ole yesterday for only having 1 senior player to pick from to play in midfield and having to play a #10/7 in a more defensive role. I also don't think that Klopp could have done much better with our team this year with all the players we have had out. It is very clear that we need midfielders. It's good that Fred is now putting in good games and can be trusted to start, but he should be one of the guys who is rotated, not starting every day. Right now we have 8 players out injured and that's the lowest that the DL has been in a long time. So while everyone likes to bash on Ole, the real culprit here is Woodward. How could he expect us to go into a season with only McTominay, Fred, Pogba and Matic in midfield is a real head scratcher...

 

[lysglimt]

Haven’t heard any rational point for keeping Ole for a long time. Before it was fair points like “give him a window and judge in November” cool i never agreed and always thought this would be the outcome but i got the argument...

Now all arguments for keeping Ole are emotional ramblings. Comparisons to SAF Or just “if you can’t see what’s happening then you’re not a fan”

May have something to do with people simply giving up trying to argue against arrogant posts like this ?

 

[Un4givableB]

I would like to see how he goes with a fit Pogba, one more mid and one more striker.


Give him that and 2 months.

We could add Pogba and Messi to the team, yes we would win more games but we would never be more than the sum of our parts.
OGS might know what he wants to do on the pitch but he has no idea how to implement it. He clearly out of his depth.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

I like Klopp's method of keeping the attack and defense the same and constantly rotating the engine (aka the midfield). SAF used to do that all the time, and because of that people always underrated players like Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson, etc...much like we are underrating players like Henderson, Milner and Ox in Liverpools midfield. With that being said, Klopp has also been very fortunate to not have a lot of injuries to his front 3. We are just starting to see that now with Salah's ankle injury. United on the other hand has been very unfortunate with injuries. I almost felt sorry for Ole yesterday for only having 1 senior player to pick from to play in midfield and having to play a #10/7 in a more defensive role. I also don't think that Klopp could have done much better with our team this year with all the players we have had out. It is very clear that we need midfielders. It's good that Fred is now putting in good games and can be trusted to start, but he should be one of the guys who is rotated, not starting every day. Right now we have 8 players out injured and that's the lowest that the DL has been in a long time. So while everyone likes to bash on Ole, the real culprit here is Woodward. How could he expect us to go into a season with only McTominay, Fred, Pogba and Matic in midfield is a real head scratcher...
[/QUOTE]

We don't have that many injuries. Mctominay, Shaw and Pogba are our only starters out. Matic and Rojo is not a big blow. Having three players out is normal during a season. We have had far worse injury problems in the past with 10 players out or more and we have coped with it better.

 

[Foxbatt]

But Ole is the man who cut down our midfield. He said he only wanted certain players. Those certain players did not want to come. Now if our midfield is the poorest in the PL, shouldn't he have just got anyone from the PL? No he didn;t want that. Look at Leicester. They bought the Turkish CB for 24 and Teilemans for 40. That is 64 only. They still have 14 million from the sale of Maguire to us. Both those players are playing way much better than anyone we have. Why didn't Ole look at them? There are plenty players available who hare better than what we have now. It is Ole's fault that he did not get any. This is like Moyes story where he was waiting for Fabregas and Bale and Ronaldo. Does Ole think any top world class player is going to play for United and a midtable club and to be coached by a non entity in coaching terms?

 

[ayushreddevil9]

We don't have that many injuries. Mctominay, Shaw and Pogba are our only starters out. Matic and Rojo is not a big blow. Having three players out is normal during a season. We have had far worse injury problems in the past with 10 players out or more and we have coped with it better.

3 starters is many injuries. Also when 2 of them are midfielders, an area that is already thin in numbers

 

[roonster09]

3 starters is many injuries. Also when 2 of them are midfielders, an area that is already thin in numbers

Yeah, also Matic’s Injury is a big blow too considering we have 4 CMs and 3 are injured.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

That was partly down to him. He needed to buy at least two in the summer.

What if he wanted to buy but the board failed to deliver?

 

[shamans]

Haven’t heard any rational point for keeping Ole for a long time. Before it was fair points like “give him a window and judge in November” cool i never agreed and always thought this would be the outcome but i got the argument...

Now all arguments for keeping Ole are emotional ramblings. Comparisons to SAF Or just “if you can’t see what’s happening then you’re not a fan”

Gotta love this one. The patronizing "us REAL fans who sing ole ole ole understand"

 

[meamth]

There is no way he is going to be successful simply because he has no clue. Are you telling me that 9 international players do not know how to take a corner for 6 months at least? That they cannot work out a variation that they are practicing day in and day out? Put half of CAF who can kick a ball properly and head a ball and they would do a better job on the corners at least.
It shows that we are not practicing this at all. We have a players like Maguire, McTominay. Lindelof, Pogba and even Jones and Rojo and even AWB who can head a ball. Yet we never, even seem to get a near post or any variations. I have really no idea what they do on the training ground. We don't even seem pull one back on the corners for a long range shoot. It is always into the keeper's hand( we do not even try to block him) or to the far post looking for Maguire. A Sunday pub team would organise a better set piece.
And people are saying Ole is going to take us forward? Don't be ruddy ridiculous.

Wow. Caf teaching professionals now?

If it's that easy pub teams should be in the premier league now with 70 goals from corner.

 

[meamth]

As an outsider looking in it is clear to me and many others that there is something very wrong at your club.

Firstly, playing staff. Half your squad or perhaps more, simply arent good enough for a team like United.

Your recruitment has been atrocious (thanks for the 40 mil for Matic) and not well thought out at all. There is a lack of synchronicity and chemistry as all your players have very different play styles.

The age profile of your team is also very wrong. Ole likes to point out your team is young but your squad is either at the beginning of their careers or the end. Pogba and De gea aside, who else is mature and at a peak level befitting your club? Jones, Fred, lingard are not the right level.

It also has a clear lack of leadership in your team. The more experienced pro's seem to have a lot of personal issues with the club and outside the club and often seem too distracted to lead your younger players. Having Ashley Young as captain, with little to no previous captains experience really says it all.

Second obvious problem is pitch side staff and their level of coaching ability.

I said it yesterday about Jones and I'll say it again. Your recent history of developing young players is horrific. Jones was a solid up and coming centreback who was messed about playing in 3 or 4 different positions and is now jack of all trades. Macheda, Januzaj, Fosu-mensah have all showed promised and disappeared. Rooney never became World class, was allowed to smoke, eat burgers and get over weight and never quite got over that line from elite to world class.

On match days, your coaches all sit there very glum and bored and say very little (Carrick I'm looking at you).
Ole has admitted he doesnt get too involved in the training side.
Who is leading this team!?

Finally Ed has to go. I cant think of one good thing he has done for your club besides getting a ton of sponsorships. On the footballing side it has only gone downhill since his arrival.

While it's unfair to pin everything on Ole, he also hasn't helped the situation and he sanctioned the departure of players that would have at the very least, bolstered your paper thin squad. His CV is nothing to write home about and there are serious reservations he is capable and qualified to get you back to where you need to be.

1. Half of the playing squad you mention has some potential, we went for that after failure with FM-esque signings. Whether they can be world class or not, that's up for the debate.

2. We're fixing this, just this season. We had decent recruitment over the summer albeit missing some replacements for the players that have left.

3. We're not that horrific to be honest. Jones had a promising young career, but his development stunted because of his injuries. (Do you blame the club for that downfall?) Macheda had decent potential, then he lost his focus, same with Januzaj. Fosu Mensah is currently injured, hasn't been in the first team long enough to be considered disappeared, he's coming back though. Rooney was world class for a period of time. (He fulfilled his potential to be england's best player) - eating burgers, smoking, over weight, I don't know if you know Rooney personally, but that is just bollocks isn't it.

4. Fergie in the modern days doesn't involve in the training session that much, he left it to Phelan or Quieroz. It's a process of giving these youngsters chances to develop. Running around, scolding in the touch line will put unnecessary pressure.

5. Ed has to go, agreed.

 

[mu4c_20le]

We don't have that many injuries. Mctominay, Shaw and Pogba are our only starters out. Matic and Rojo is not a big blow. Having three players out is normal during a season. We have had far worse injury problems in the past with 10 players out or more and we have coped with it better.

It is no coincidence that the top performing teams like Leicester and Chelsea have had minimal injuries this season. Liverpool looked shaky when their keeper was out, got lucky not to drop points during that period.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

As an outsider looking in it is clear to me and many others that there is something very wrong at your club.

Firstly, playing staff. Half your squad or perhaps more, simply arent good enough for a team like United.

Your recruitment has been atrocious (thanks for the 40 mil for Matic) and not well thought out at all. There is a lack of synchronicity and chemistry as all your players have very different play styles.

The age profile of your team is also very wrong. Ole likes to point out your team is young but your squad is either at the beginning of their careers or the end. Pogba and De gea aside, who else is mature and at a peak level befitting your club? Jones, Fred, lingard are not the right level.

It also has a clear lack of leadership in your team. The more experienced pro's seem to have a lot of personal issues with the club and outside the club and often seem too distracted to lead your younger players. Having Ashley Young as captain, with little to no previous captains experience really says it all.

Second obvious problem is pitch side staff and their level of coaching ability.

I said it yesterday about Jones and I'll say it again. Your recent history of developing young players is horrific. Jones was a solid up and coming centreback who was messed about playing in 3 or 4 different positions and is now jack of all trades. Macheda, Januzaj, Fosu-mensah have all showed promised and disappeared. Rooney never became World class, was allowed to smoke, eat burgers and get over weight and never quite got over that line from elite to world class.

On match days, your coaches all sit there very glum and bored and say very little (Carrick I'm looking at you).
Ole has admitted he doesnt get too involved in the training side.
Who is leading this team!?

Finally Ed has to go. I cant think of one good thing he has done for your club besides getting a ton of sponsorships. On the footballing side it has only gone downhill since his arrival.

While it's unfair to pin everything on Ole, he also hasn't helped the situation and he sanctioned the departure of players that would have at the very least, bolstered your paper thin squad. His CV is nothing to write home about and there are serious reservations he is capable and qualified to get you back to where you need to be.

I’m not really sure how this post got a like by @JPRouve

There ‘’was“ something very wrong with the club but if you look at what we did recently we are actually going to the opposite of what we did since what we did in the past wasn’t working and proven to be “very wrong”.

I would like to point out some of your point where I disagree and also where there is slightly improvement.

Recruitment, what we did in the past was disaster. However, our recent summer signings show some changes & improvement compared to what we did in the past. Three of our signings (James, Bissaka & Maguire) easily settled in with the team and have performed very well, three of them are not short term ageing signing, & instead of wasted our money on attackers again this time we have a faith in Martial & Rashford because we believe we can improve & develop them.

I'm not really sure what's your point about this age profile, not sure what is very wrong with that, in term of age profile our squad is not any different to yours. Our squad is full of young age players, the young squad is filled in with mix of young players with good or decent experienced in international or top competition level like Rashford, Martial, James, Bissaka & McTominay & teenagers who just recently graduated from academy and supported by more mature or proven experienced players like Maguire, Pogba & De Gea.

Are you telling me that the likes of Abraham & Mount are not at the beginning their career while the likes of Azpi & Willian aren't reaching to near the end of their career? Just to remind you that United have field the youngest XI this season in the league not Chelsea. I'm not really sure why do you even mention Lingard & Jones. Both of them barely starting for us this season.

The lack of leadership is not something we can fix easily but it's something we are working on ever since Ole in charge. We are in rebuilding process from zero where our ex true leader like Vidic, Rio, Giggs, Neville, Evra have long gone from the club. People need to be realistic that the only way to add leadership into our squad (given the situation that we are starting this from zero) is by develop the young players with leadership talent or signing players who has potentially good leadership talent & captain material. That's why we signed Maguire and trying to develop young players with good leadership talent like Rashford & McTominay. Unlike previously, our signings (Matic, Sanchez, Mkhy, Fred & etc) are not type of players who has the talent of captain material and we never have a single clue who should be our captain. But now we have a vision who can be our permanent captain and also for the future one.

Staff & Coaching ability
You cannot use Jones as an excuse because he's an injury prone. Players who hit injuries, no matter how talent he is, the player will not be developed properly, I also think both Brown & Evans were a talent centre back in his younger days but due to injuries they struggled to develop.

You also need to understand we have changed our manager multiple times & each of them have different standard or philosophy in the way how they expect from the players, how they develop the players & how the players will suit the manager's philosophy. Januzaj is a good example of victim of manager who can't develop the player due to player doesn't suit the manager's philosophy. Van Gaal loves possession football and it doesn't suit Januzaj who is more direct.

I'm not really sure where did you get the info of Ole doesnt get too involved in the training side. However, compare to other coaches he's not a coach or head coach, he's a manager, his job is being a manager not just full time coaching. So of course he's leading the team.


To conclude this, basically;
I can't predict the future whether what Ole & the club are doing will give us future success but recently we have shown changes of our management and there are sign of positive or improvements in them.

Our latest recruitment have been a sign of improvement & positive, we have a good young talented squad which the manager's aim is to develop & improve them to be superstar and so far that's what he is doing having faith in the likes of Rashford, Martial, McTominay, James, Bissaka and etc and slowly giving minutes to teenagers like Greenwood, Garner, Williams and etc. We started to see some players in our squad now who can be the next United captain, compared to before we aren't even sure about it show that we are working on this leadership issue right now. Results have been inconsistent but at the same time when you look at the injuries we got & also the amount of young players we have, you will expect up & down.

Ed will not go in shortly from now, so in reality is we are stuck with him and need to find a way to make it work. What keep changing manager can do if Ed is still in charge? changing manager now might be potentially getting rid the sign of positive & improvement that we have made recently.

 

[Bobcat]

There is no way he is going to be successful simply because he has no clue. Are you telling me that 9 international players do not know how to take a corner for 6 months at least? That they cannot work out a variation that they are practicing day in and day out? Put half of CAF who can kick a ball properly and head a ball and they would do a better job on the corners at least.
It shows that we are not practicing this at all. We have a players like Maguire, McTominay. Lindelof, Pogba and even Jones and Rojo and even AWB who can head a ball. Yet we never, even seem to get a near post or any variations. I have really no idea what they do on the training ground. We don't even seem pull one back on the corners for a long range shoot. It is always into the keeper's hand( we do not even try to block him) or to the far post looking for Maguire. A Sunday pub team would organise a better set piece.
And people are saying Ole is going to take us forward? Don't be ruddy ridiculous.

Mate, we have been shit at corners for years now. Even under Jose with his preference for tall players we barely scored from corners. The problem is we have lacked a good corner taker since Giggs retired.

Young just floats them in with no pace, same with Mata. Rashford gets good pace on them but cant aim for shit. Ironically Pereira seems to be our best corner taker, but he should not really be on the pitch in the first place. We lack a set piece specialist and have done for years. Maybe Rashford can become that one day, but right now hes way to erratic

Why we are shit at corners