Would anyone explain why this season all went to hell?

[Strelok]

We were second last season. This season we're supposed to be even stronger with the arrival of Sancho, Varane and Ronaldo. Lot of talks about us challenging or even winning the PL before the season started.

Why and wth went so wrong in your opinion?

 

[He'sRaldo]

We were second last season. This season we're supposed to be even stronger with the arrival of Sancho, Varane and Ronaldo. Lot of talks about us challenging or even winning the PL before the season started.

Why and wth went so wrong in your opinion?

2 main reasons.
1) Ole’s abysmal squad management which left a bunch of unhappy fringe players stinking up the dressing room.

2) Upper management’s lack of standards being finally laid bare for the world to see, when they failed to immediately sack Ole after the shambolic Liverpool result.

These two incidents tanked the morale to a permanent low state, one which only a true overhaul can reverse.

 

[horsechoker]

African shamans

 

[Jacob]

We've rewarded mediocrity so long it has finally become embraced by the squad.

 

[MonkeysMagic]

Because we have a bunch of imbeciles for players.

 

[Leftback99]

- Didn't strengthen the biggest weakness in the team, central midfield.
- Overrated, imbalanced squad.
- Too many injuries.
- Too bloated a squad in the first half of season.
- Too few forwards in the second half of the season.
- Too many games for non PL level players like Telles, Dalot, Lindelof, and McTominay.
- The worst possible interim appointment coupled with the exodus of Carrick and McKenna.

 

[Irwin99]

We weren't actually that great last season or the year before that and we tried to transition to a more expansive style of football this season and take the next step....with disastrous results.

Also a poor interim manager with a squad full of players that can't/won't run doesn't help.

 

[Gazza]

Loads of reasons, but ultimately you can’t just wing it through a season without having a functioning midfield. We have had years and years to sort out the midfield and yet we started this season with McFred and the Bruno/Pogba conundrum. Our midfield is upper-mid-table quality, and that’s where we’re going to end up in the table.

 

[Tango80]

The second place last season papered over a lot of cracks. We were coming from behind to win in so many matches, but there was only a matter of time that we'd stop doing that.

After Ole left, it was all downhill. Yes, the players clearly weren't having the manager. That's evident from how they spoke - when they did win, they did it for personal pride rather than anything to do with the manager.

It looks badly on the players. I think they would have struggled regardless though - hard to buy into someone's methods when you know you won't be doing so after a few months.

 

[VorZakone]

I think a key problem is that a couple of star players and the forwards are simply not providing enough.

Talent-wise Paul Pogba is world-class. He should be dominating opponent midfields but we've seen nothing of that.

Rashford should be at least providing 25+ goals and assists in total. Martial, Greenwood & Sancho should be providing 15 minimum.

Cavani should be providing 5-10 goals.

Take a look at the player stats, it's grim.

 

[Drizzle]

Our midfield is upper-mid-table quality, and that’s where we’re going to end up in the table.

Genuinely think it's lower mid table quality. Which is where we'd be without Ronaldo and De Gea.

 

[Red_toad]

Start with the owners and work your way down for blame.

 

[Champ]

Now people are saying Carrick and McKenna leaving are to blame, despite months of claiming we're an undercoached team with them onboard?!?

The muddled confused thinking of the Caf.

 

[LJJT]

Ole was good when we were defensive counter attacking team. He got took to pieces as we tried to play front foot progressive football. Cos the players are mainly lazy mercenary cun&s

 

[JPRouve]

Last season we were a one good half team and didn't pay for it. This season we paid for it and the players completely lost confidence.

 

[lex talionis]

We've beaten up this subject pretty good over the last few months, but a summary of what went wrong is in order.

• Second place last season flattered us. We were actually pretty shit most of the season and of course we were nowhere close to first.
• Ole should have been sacked but instead was given a contract extension.
• We failed to bring in a proper CDM.
• Something is terribly, terribly wrong with Rashford and Maguire.
• Mason Greenwood.
• Capitulation set in after the thrashing by Watford and the interim manager was unable to stop the self-carnage.

 

[Idxomer]

- Didn't strengthen the biggest weakness in the team, central midfield.
- Overrated, imbalanced squad.
- Too many injuries.
- Too bloated a squad in the first half of season.
- Too few forwards in the second half of the season.
- Too many games for non PL level players like Telles, Dalot, Lindelof, and McTominay.
- The worst possible interim appointment coupled with the exodus of Carrick and McKenna.

Somehow you managed to overlook the biggest factor, incredible effort.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

• Last season was as false a position as you could imagine.
• Squad was left bloated with an incredible amount unhappy fringe players or players desperate to leaveZ
• The above was compounded after begging Cavani to sign despite him being desperate to leave, only to them make him immediately another unhappy fringe player.
• Too many years of shit coaching/tactics.
• Sudden change from counter attack tactic.
• Ole allowed to stay on waaaaaay too long, until everyone was utter shot and had their confidence in the gutter.
• Greenwood
• Bringing in what has turned out to be a poor interim, compounded by him having no actual coaching staff when everyone left and he was left desperately calling random coaches from the MLS etc.

So yeah, loads of stuff.

 

[crossy1686]

 

[Ralph1386]

2 main reasons.
1) Ole’s abysmal squad management which left a bunch of unhappy fringe players stinking up the dressing room.

2) Upper management’s lack of standards being finally laid bare for the world to see, when they failed to immediately sack Ole after the shambolic Liverpool result.

These two incidents tanked the morale to a permanent low state, one which only a true overhaul can reverse.

I agree with you on your analysis.

And above upper management, I bet Joel Glazer didn’t even know or care that United were playing today.

 

[James35]

We have played 48 games this season.

W20 D13 L15 which is grim.

Exited all the cups early and have had some of the worst coaching and playing performances in my 36 years supporting the club…absolutely shocking!

In my opinion, the main reason is the players are generally not good enough, especially our Championship level midfield partnership of Fred and McTominay. The club as a whole from ownership, recruitment, coaching, playing staff has been well below par, bordering on pathetic for a long time now.

Last season was an anomaly with no crowds, other clubs in injury crisis or turmoil and near zero pressure. Plus Bruno, whether you rate him or not, basically carried us along with De Gea. This season, poor form, attitude, entitlement and general cnutishness has produced such a rotten squad that I’m not surprised at all by how it has all gone so terribly, I only predicted 4th at best when season started.

As for the buys - which were not the one position we desperately needed - Varane has missed so much of the season and looks a shadow of his best, Sancho pretty similar despite some recent glimpses. Luckily Ronaldo the “problem” has basically kept us from finishing in the bottom half of the table and is the only real plus. Although I’d certainly be fecking off out of here if I were him.

We are just not a very good football team and drastic measures are needed for us to become one again, ETH has one hell of a job on his hands.

 

[90 + 5min]

We were second last season. This season we're supposed to be even stronger with the arrival of Sancho, Varane and Ronaldo. Lot of talks about us challenging or even winning the PL before the season started.

Why and wth went so wrong in your opinion?

Players. Their performence on and off field.

 

[hobbers]

We were second last season because Chelsea and Liverpool had nightmare seasons. We finished with 74 pts. We were shit, just less shit.

The reason we are where we are is Ole built a team around Maguire, AWB, Shaw, McTominay and Rashford and they’re all either shite or had shite seasons. And all the squad players are either justifiably pissed off and/or toxic characters.

 

[Gazza]

Genuinely think it's lower mid table quality. Which is where we'd be without Ronaldo and De Gea.

I guess I am being kind -- after all, Bruno is not a terrible player. Fred is not a terrible player. But as a unit, our midfield probably is one of the worst in the league.

 

[BehemothTerror]

Lots of reasons people have already said but I'd highlight just how low in confidence we've been showing. I'm not going to pretend to know exactly what is the main cause as its likely a range of things but even when we've been poor at times in the last few seasons there's always been 2-3 players doing great in order to course correct or mitigate damage were as now its maybe 1 player per game.

Maguire has been shot pretty much since the debacle in Greece
Greenwoods stupidity has limited our options in the final third
Entitled cases such as Lingard spreading dirt on the club
Not enough warriors in the squad. When Fred is the most combative player you can play it shows problems.
The Pogba circus despite the fact he's literally spent half of the last 3 seasons injured

Not having a specialist DM or Deep Playmaker was something we could all see asking for trouble. McT and Fred can help cover and may be decent squad options but they are not defensive destroyers or good enough in transitional play so they limit our options. Then our attack is either too ponderous or too prone to silly mistakes.

 

[charlenefan]

2 main reasons.
1) Ole’s abysmal squad management which left a bunch of unhappy fringe players stinking up the dressing room.

2) Upper management’s lack of standards being finally laid bare for the world to see, when they failed to immediately sack Ole after the shambolic Liverpool result.

These two incidents tanked the morale to a permanent low state, one which only a true overhaul can reverse.

This is a wrong take on what went wrong

We weren't actually that great last season or the year before that and we tried to transition to a more expansive style of football this season and take the next step....with disastrous results.

Also a poor interim manager with a squad full of players that can't/won't run doesn't help.

This is more along the right line. Ole hit his low ceiling when we tried to transition away from what had brought us the bare minimum of success (back to back top 4 finishes for the first time post SAF) and when the squad needed evolution in terms of coaching the club brought in a fraud of a individual instead. Even a few short weeks ago when we beat Spurs top 4 was achievable and that's how bad RR has been that we could even build from there let alone the months before that

People will blame previous regimes but the fact the only new manager bounce we got under RR was 30 minutes against Crystal fecking Palace whereas other clubs with supposed far less talent than ours can claw their way out of relegation battles when a new manager comes in again says it all regarding RR and how the squad have taken to him

 

[RonaldoVII]

Solskjaer not up to it. Unhappy squad. Long-term planner brought in to do a short term job.

 

[acnumber9]

Piss poor management. It was obviously coming for a long time but anybody who said we weren’t making any real progress who had the nerve to complain about performances were told to stop being so miserable and enjoy the wins. Anybody paying any attention could see it coming.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Tbf, that famed 'second place finish' from last season felt just as false as Jose's iteration.

 

[m1tch]

Jose and Ole getting second place with this team was the greatest feat of their managerial careers.

 

[Cutch]

We convinced ourselves into thinking we were good finishing second last season when in reality without crowds you could play walking pace football. Now with the crowds back we're still playing walking pace football, yet everyone else is energised while we've shown a complete lack of bottle and character and physically incapable of playing with any sort of speed and intensity

 

[Someone]

2 main reasons.
1) Ole’s abysmal squad management which left a bunch of unhappy fringe players stinking up the dressing room.

2) Upper management’s lack of standards being finally laid bare for the world to see, when they failed to immediately sack Ole after the shambolic Liverpool result.

These two incidents tanked the morale to a permanent low state, one which only a true overhaul can reverse.

Spot on. In addition I believe that having a short term manager for the rest of the season had a negative impact. I appreciate the input Ralf will have about the team, but I think players were never going to full embrace someone they know won't be here for long. It also meant no investment in jan, and no long term decisions can be made about any player.

The whole thing was a recipe for disaster.

 

[Idxomer]

Jose and Ole getting second place with this team was the greatest feat of their managerial careers.

Neither of them got it with this team and our performance in those two seasons anyway didn't deserve that 2nd place.

 

[AndySmith1990]

It's been building up to this for years. Standards have gradually fallen and so many fans accepted it. Imagine thinking a fecking Molde and Cardiff manager was the right choice to close the gap to two of the best managers football has seen. The stupidity on display by everyone associated with United has been staggering

 

[Crashoutcassius]

I think the pressure was on old to put together a title challenge, without the players or the coaching accumen to make that realistic. He brought in Ronaldo in the hope that would do something. When it was clear we weren't good enough he lost the dressing room right away.

We hired Ralf and we probably taken in by his PR just like all the redcafe fans seem to have been. He isn't qualified to be our coach and we have gotten steadily worse.

Hopefully new things in the horizon.

 

[BorisManUtd]

Last season we were a one good half team and didn't pay for it. This season we paid for it and the players completely lost confidence.

Basically this, it was never going to last forever.

 

[Jibbs]

It went wrong the minute we did not sign a proper DM which we desperately needed. Signed a past it Varane instead of Pau Torres.

 

[Elcabron]

Genuinely think it's lower mid table quality. Which is where we'd be without Ronaldo and De Gea.

But we didn't have Ronaldo last season. DDG wasn't great last season and yet we finished second......

 

[glazed]

Loads of reasons, but ultimately you can’t just wing it through a season without having a functioning midfield. We have had years and years to sort out the midfield and yet we started this season with McFred and the Bruno/Pogba conundrum. Our midfield is upper-mid-table quality, and that’s where we’re going to end up in the table.

Yeah a decent midfielder instead of Ronaldo plus Greenwood not imploding, it could have been a finish third season. But those things happened for the same reason - the club is decadent. So even had things been slightly different it would only have postponed the inevitable because so much else is wrong.

 

[CloneMC16]

Our 2nd place last season wasn't great. We played awfully in a good 70% of our games, but somehow kept coming back and winning them. No crowds massively helped this. We went the whole of last season not losing an away game. That never happens with crowds in the grounds. We only finished on 74 points. Liverpool and Chelsea had disastrous seasons. If they had more 'normal' seasons, at best, we'd have finished 3rd. The squad as a whole were better last season.

We didn't get the players that we really needed. We needed a defensive midfielder and right winger. We had players that weren't happy, but were kept at the club. We tried to play more attacking football. It massively failed. It then took way too long to sack Ole. He should have been sacked after the Liverpool game. I think some of the poorer performances at the start of the season really hit the players' confidence. There were way too many games where we almost abandoned defending. We got countered so easily. A big chunk of the goals we conceded were on the counter. I kept reading so many people saying that we're playing Fred and McTominay, so we we're being defensive. I must have been watching different games to them. Our whole team were pushed into the oppositions half in most games when we had the ball.

When Rangnick came in, we started to defend a bit better, but our finishing was absolutely dreadful. We went through a good couple months when our xG was looking good, but Ronaldo and Bruno were missing chances for fun. The manager can only do so much. I think losing Greenwood during this period really cost us. I think he would have played and scored some goals when Ronaldo needed a rest. Some goals during this period easily finishes us 4th. After going out of the CL, I think the confidence was completely gone. The wheels have really fallen off since then. Any of the progress we made under Rangnick has gone.

A big issue is our key players have been woeful this season. Maguire, Shaw, Bruno, and Rashford. We count on them to perform and they've been nowhere near good enough.