Bastian
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I've seen this line trotted out so many times when it comes to the supposed "cultural reset" Ole is overseeing. Here's one instance:
Now, my question is, is shipping out Lukaku and Sanchez (both of whom I wanted out) and buying those three players he did, the equivalent of ridding the club of negative influences? I can't help thinking Lukaku and Sanchez are here being blamed for the whole team being utter shite in the last 3 months of last season.
Our two most talented players aren't exactly immune from criticism of negative influence surely? Martial has rarely looked even mildly content (same with Cole, but Cole delivered consistently and worked hard for the team) and Pogba who openly declared he wanted to leave looked quite a few times last season like he couldn't care less. Both under Ole and Mourinho.
The point is not to bash those two players, but to question this cultural reset, this ridding the team of negative influences - is it just a soundbite, a vacuous party trick during press conferences? It seems most of the positive things that are being done "in the background" are of that nature.
And of course, after the Sheffield game where Ole backed up the players saying there was no question about their desire or attitude, just after saying Sheffield looked like they wanted it more. He also said his team believed less in its game plan than Sheffield did theirs (pretty damning of both players and manager). Adding that last season we would have imploded.I felt the team towards the end of last season didn't have the desire, didn't have the heart, didn't have the belief that this is going to turn around. This group is a different mentality.
Now, my question is, is shipping out Lukaku and Sanchez (both of whom I wanted out) and buying those three players he did, the equivalent of ridding the club of negative influences? I can't help thinking Lukaku and Sanchez are here being blamed for the whole team being utter shite in the last 3 months of last season.
Our two most talented players aren't exactly immune from criticism of negative influence surely? Martial has rarely looked even mildly content (same with Cole, but Cole delivered consistently and worked hard for the team) and Pogba who openly declared he wanted to leave looked quite a few times last season like he couldn't care less. Both under Ole and Mourinho.
The point is not to bash those two players, but to question this cultural reset, this ridding the team of negative influences - is it just a soundbite, a vacuous party trick during press conferences? It seems most of the positive things that are being done "in the background" are of that nature.