5 years without a trophy - Further away than ever

Status
Not open for further replies.
Brilliant article here, that could cause a few of us who have extremely short term memories to look over:

When Skies Are Grey

I’m an Ole In man (through the end of the season) but this was a weak analysis. United supporters are not being capricious in their criticisms of the manager. The issues are real and go back to the early part of last season. And here we are now, still early in the season, staring down the barrel of another top four finish but with little hope of a proper PL challenge as things stand right now, despite bringing in three world class players.
 
So very surprising that so many ‘Utd fans don’t really appreciate/know about Sir Alex’s achievements pre his Man Utd days.

if someone has the time a well written new thread would be great. Someone who knows and can provide context, like the strength of the Scottish league at that time. The level of achievement in breaking the strangle hold of the big two. Some video clips of the big games and defining moments.

Scottish football was good those days. They always qualify for the WC in the 70s, and 80s. They had world class players like Dalglish, Souness, Gemmill, Strachan, Hanson etc. Keepers were poor though. Celtic won the EC and Rangers and Aberdeen the cup winners cup when only the champions played in the EC.
 
With any experienced manager we should have already won the Europa League last season. Its like out strikers struggle to score goals sometimes like drosophila fruit fly. I'm just saying we should be scoring more goals this season. Lets go! More goals. More scones. More Paul Scholes.
 
The club owners are a huge sham. I find it ridiculous that they spent 73 odd mil on Sancho and 40 odd mil on Varane and think the fans will be happy with the business they did. When we all full well know that that was supposed to be the money they wanted to spend on Sancho last summer, actually even more. We all know since Bruno joined that we need a defensive midfielder but to hell with that, the owner forked out the sum to buy CR7 regardless of it being paid over 5 years. It is all still a PR game and the owners care not about anything else but money.
 
The club owners are a huge sham. I find it ridiculous that they spent 73 odd mil on Sancho and 40 odd mil on Varane and think the fans will be happy with the business they did. When we all full well know that that was supposed to be the money they wanted to spend on Sancho last summer, actually even more. We all know since Bruno joined that we need a defensive midfielder but to hell with that, the owner forked out the sum to buy CR7 regardless of it being paid over 5 years. It is all still a PR game and the owners care not about anything else but money.
Last season it was generally agreed we needed to cover 4 positions. RW, CB, DM and an out and out forward. We covered 3 of those with WC/potential WC players and yet the complaints keep coming. I'd be willing to bet large amounts of money if we had of signed Rice and not Sancho you'd be complaining we didnt sign a RW and that's why we're not playing well.

The owners deserve to be shit upon from a great height for many things but squad investment isn't one of them. The squad put together for Ole is one of the best on the planet and if he can't get a tune out of them the maybe Olethegreat isn't so great after all.
 
Last season it was generally agreed we needed to cover 4 positions. RW, CB, DM and an out and out forward. We covered 3 of those with WC/potential WC players and yet the complaints keep coming. I'd be willing to bet large amounts of money if we had of signed Rice and not Sancho you'd be complaining we didnt sign a RW and that's why we're not playing well.

The owners deserve to be shit upon from a great height for many things but squad investment isn't one of them. The squad put together for Ole is one of the best on the planet and if he can't get a tune out of them the maybe Olethegreat isn't so great after all.

World Class Squad, League 1 manager
 
For me its simple. I didnt have a lot of expectations about trophies at first because I thought if we kept bringing in more qualities, which we did and the coaches + manager know what they want to build, the trophies will come.

So far:
1. No trophies = Okay for me although if we end this season without winning anything it would look bad on Ole after spending so much money
2. Better players and transfers = Very good, very satisfied with this so far, cant ask for more especially during pandemic where most clubs tighten their spending
3. Ole not causing problems off the pitch = Good. We have seen how Jose ruined his own relationships with the players and how it all quickly went downhill
4. Clear playstyle or performances that get better and more consistent over time = Very bad. We were a pressing team at the beginning then became a counter attacking team then became a team that relied on AM as our creative outlet and then we tried ball playing CBs to control the match. But right now, we dont press hard anymore, our AM plays like a striker, our CBs playing from the back causes us more problems than they do good (although this is also down to lack of passing options provided by our midfielders) and it looks like we are starting to put more crosses into the box for Ronaldo. Ronaldo is good at heading but that doesnt mean you need to do a Moyes everytime. This is the biggest concern. Not consistent and I still have no idea what kind of team is this United team after 4 years.

So Ole did okay - good in 3 out of 4 aspects. But you need all 4 to win the big prizes considering how ridiculous the PL is. So many top players and managers in one league.
 
Sir Alex used 6 years for the first trophy.
In Ole, we trust.
I don't think anything annoys me more than seeing Solskjaer being compared to one of the greatest managers in the history of football. Just stop it already. It's as ridiculous as comparing Maradona to Tom Cleverley.
 
Last season it was generally agreed we needed to cover 4 positions. RW, CB, DM and an out and out forward. We covered 3 of those with WC/potential WC players and yet the complaints keep coming. I'd be willing to bet large amounts of money if we had of signed Rice and not Sancho you'd be complaining we didnt sign a RW and that's why we're not playing well.

The owners deserve to be shit upon from a great height for many things but squad investment isn't one of them. The squad put together for Ole is one of the best on the planet and if he can't get a tune out of them the maybe Olethegreat isn't so great after all.
I do agree that Ole isn't get the best out of the squad and I'm tired of the style and brand of football we're currently playing but I will definitely also blame the owners because like I already mentioned, the money we spent on Sancho was earmarked for him last summer and I would definitely be pissed off of the owners bought Rice and not Sancho because we need both and I would think they would address that. Secondly, Ole can and must do better.
 
This is just MY personal opinion, but for me, I didn't care about Solskjaer winning a trophy.
For me, the objective was for Solskjaer to get the club out of the Mourinho depression, and address a piss poor squad that had been randomly cobbled together over years of bad management and bad decision making by the three preceding managers.

In that respect, Solskjaer has done a very, very good job.
He now has a quality squad, with players such as Darmian & Fellaini shipped off, and Varane & Bruno coming in.

But, in my opinion, Solskjaer has pretty much completed that task now, and has reached his ceiling.
It's time for a better footballing manager to inherit this squad and take it to another level.
I just cannot see Solskjaer having the ability to do that.

Its obvious, but we should have won a UEFA Cup last season, probably season before too.
They were the golden opportunities to get silverware.

After that Villareal game, I just thought well we won't win either of the PL or CL anytime soon, which leaves the League & FA Cups, and frankly, City & Chelsea et all, take those competitions seriously, and so I don't really fancy our chances in winning either of those.
But unless it's a domestic Cup, I just don't know where our next trophy will come from, unless we get relegated back into the Europa league again...?!?!:rolleyes:
 
Lots of positivity here - good luck Man Utd fans as we get back to proper football, this weekend.
 
Apparently ten years without a trophy according to Martin Keown.
 
We must prioritize the CL and FA Cup, the league is gone. We should be resting players for the midweek.
 
Well Man Utd. certainly aren't going to win any prizes for helping in the fight against Climate Change.... I have just read in my Sunday paper that they took a private jet from Manchester to Leicester yesterday.

I'm pretty disappointed that they would do that.
 
It's getting embarrassing and mediocre from the club and many supporters that keep on constantly moving of the goal posts to defend ole, last season a lot of people gave ole a pass for not winning anything and even his buddies in the media like g.nev said that we should expect to make a serious challenge for the title this season which is still generous really but all of a sudden now that it looks highly likely that we will be in a top 4 scrap and nowhere near challenging for the title, those expectations have conveniently disappeared.

I wonder what excuse they will make for ole when we crash out of the champions league in group stages in a bang average group, I am guessing it will be this - "but we never had a chance to win the champions league so what is the point of being in it, at least we have a chance of winning a the Europa league(which we have already failed in)".
 
I marvel to this day people have actually bought into the nonsense that for 2 seasons running. A manager with no game plan whatsoever has twice gone through 19 games plans and finished second and third in a domestic league season. Supposedly individual brilliance defeated those 19 game plans. Like his squad is packed with Pele, Maradona, Maldini and Di Stefano level of talent that or needs no coaching what so ever to navigate games.


That the zero game plan has some how bested Pep 3 times in a row with largely inferior individual talent.
A Tuchel twice with the same
Bested a Bielsa. It's an absolute Marvel.....
 
It has to be conceded that there really are only 2 targets left now: CL and FA Cup. The FA Cup didn't save Van Gaal so for Ole, he really needs to focus on the Champions league.
 
At this point, we are entering into the 'fallen giants' category rather than 'the biggest/best club in the world'. 2-3 more years and it will be firmly in the former.

Our last league title was in 2013, feels so sad. Since then City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Leicester have won it. We are also categorised with the big clubs (Bayern, RM, Barca) who have all won CLs in this timeframe too
 
It has to be conceded that there really are only 2 targets left now: CL and FA Cup. The FA Cup didn't save Van Gaal so for Ole, he really needs to focus on the Champions league.

Ole should focus on himself. He shouldn't be given the opportunity to win anymore trophies at United.

He should be gone before our next game
 
Ole should focus on himself. He shouldn't be given the opportunity to win anymore trophies at United.

He should be gone before our next game

It looks like (in the press) that he is getting 3 games to save himself - or is it just a case of three tricky games coming up and that would not be fair on the new person coming in?

However, I believe there is often a new manager 'bounce' and I think the fans would like a boost of a win against Manchester City, after what just happened on Sunday. So put him out of his misery, even if it means getting Giggsy in for a few matches whilst the club lines up a long-term replacement. He won 2, drew one and lost one last time, that's not so bad.
 
It looks like (in the press) that he is getting 3 games to save himself - or is it just a case of three tricky games coming up and that would not be fair on the new person coming in?

However, I believe there is often a new manager 'bounce' and I think the fans would like a boost of a win against Manchester City, after what just happened on Sunday. So put him out of his misery, even if it means getting Giggsy in for a few matches whilst the club lines up a long-term replacement. He won 2, drew one and lost one last time, that's not so bad.

Giggs haha. You magnificent troll….
 
I’m more concerned by the fact that by the end of next season we’ll be 15 years past our last Champions League and 10 years past our last Premier League wins
 
Serious question..... after how many years of zero trophies do fans say enough is enough and start to point a finger at the people who have caused those years in the wilderness?

Or is it a case that the memories of the triumphs in the 90s & in the 2000s means the people responsible for that success will always be treated as legends, despite what harm they may have done to the club in recent times?
 
Serious question..... after how many years of zero trophies do fans say enough is enough and start to point a finger at the people who have caused those years in the wilderness?

Or is it a case that the memories of the success in the 90s & in the 2000s, means the people responsible for that success will always be treated as legends, despite what they may have done to harm the club in recent times?
I be more worried about the years of no trophies and being unsuccessful will lead to a generation of fans not turning to support United anymore and resulting into us slipping down and down the table until we are just an average run of the mill premier League team.
 
Really need to win at lunchtime on Saturday, or Chelsea will be starting to get uncatchable.
 
Utd. need to be careful - City very dominant today and despite what OGS said, within Manchester right now they are second best....

I'm surprised there isn't a banner at City's ground with some sort of timething on it, as Utd did to them.
 
Lots of ill-feeling towards Manchester Utd and the manager on BBC 5 Live (606) this evening, specifically the barren patch and the fear it could go on and on.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.