A planned exit (FA cup)?

[Polar]

Our program has been to hard and biting over to much can result in total failure.

Off course Ole gives PL the highest priority, but did he sacrifice the FA cup in order to strengthen our competitiveness in PL and EL? The road to an EL-trophy is likely easier than the FA cup.

Our setup yesterday (Matic/Fred) was a strange one. I can’t believe the number of mistakes I witnessed. Fred was Leicester’s twelfth player and Matic their thirteenth. Almost seemed liked they were ordered or paid to loose

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Lolz

 

[Pexbo]

I wish people thought even just a little before posting threads like this.

 

[Samid]

More proof of the failed newbie system

 

[Bobcat]

Bruno not starting means its not top priority.

Of course i would prefer we went through and won the whole thing, but the squad is on the ropes fitness wise so if we were going to sacrifice something it would be this.

Winning the EL should be our priority now

 

[thepolice123]

More proof of the failed newbie system

I swear I'm genuinely shocked by the quality of some posts here. What happened to the newbie system?

 

[Terminator]

If planned why not just get out in the 3rd round and save ourselves the trouble?

Once we get knocked out of the Europa, we will have a similar thread.

 

[Champ]

No white text??

 

[CG1010]

Yes we have planned it all - exit from EFL, FA cup, eventually from Europa cup and coming 2nd in the league. This is all part of Woodword's plan to buy lot's of Manchester United stock so that when we win all the trophies next year, the stock price will go up and the profits will fund Haaland.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Surely if we were to sacrifice a cup we would sacrifice the one that has two legs and forces us to play Thursday?

 

[Bubz27]

5 midweek games to win the EL and 2 reserved weekend games to win the FA Cup and he purposely loses the FA Cup? Come on.

 

[Berbasbullet]

5 midweek games to win the EL and 2 reserved weekend games to win the FA Cup and he purposely loses the FA Cup? Come on.

Not to mention that one of them would be after the season is over (the final).

 

[Ivor Ballokov]

Not everything is a conspiracy.

 

[Bubz27]

Not to mention that one of them would be after the season is over (the final).

Ridiculous thought process.

 

[TsuWave]

silent domination

 

[dove]

Imagine trying to spin yet another shambolic performance into some kind of Ole masterclass. Some of you clearly support Ole more than the club.

 

[RashyForPM]

Not going to be too harsh on this thread, but three questions:

1) How many big games have Matic and Fred started together?

2) Why did he not just lose to Watford?

3) Why did we go so far in the Carabao Cup, a cup literally no one cares about and the side with the most money and good squad players always wins?

All I’ll say is, I’m no fan of Ole, but the players were disgusting last night. Give some thought when making threads/posts.

 

[TheGame]

By the last sentence are you asking if they were asked to take a dump?

 

[RkkMan]

There is no way this was a planned exit but its not ridiculous to suggest Ole didn`t see the FA Cup as a priority this season hence all the rotation. Anyone with eyes can see this squad is on its last legs and it simply doesn`t have the depth or legs to compete for 2 top level trophies whilst being in an intense battle to finish 2nd so something was going to give in eventually. The manner in which we exited the FA Cup is incredibly frustrating but losing to Milan mid week would have been a lot more catastrophic as our chances of winning the EL are much easier than the FA Cup where you have to meet a very formidable City team. Granada are bottom 10 in La Liga, Roma are even worse than Milan who we beat even though we weren`t at our best and Ajax are not as good as they were in the 18/19 season. Assuming Arsenal make it to the final we`re due a win against them eventually even though they`ve been a bogey team for us of late plus balancing between a top 4 finish that looks almost secure with the EL is realistic so we really have NO EXCUSE not to go all out for the Europa League as its a very realistic target and our only shot of winning something and showing that we`ve REALLY progressed as a team.
On the point of our squad being on its last legs people won`t want to hear that as an excuse but look through these tweets and think again

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[Wewinsoon]

Imagine trying to spin yet another shambolic performance into some kind of Ole masterclass. Some of you clearly support Ole more than the club.

Not Ole fault, we still need better and stable players still to much dead weight.

 

[Berbasbullet]

There is no way this was a planned exit but its not ridiculous to suggest Ole didn`t see the FA Cup as a priority this season hence all the rotation. Anyone with eyes can see this squad is on its last legs and it simply doesn`t have the depth or legs to compete for 2 top level trophies whilst being in an intense battle to finish 2nd so something was going to give in eventually. The manner in which we exited the FA Cup is incredibly frustrating but losing to Milan mid week would have been a lot more catastrophic as our chances of winning the EL are much easier than the FA Cup where you have to meet a very formidable City team. Granada are bottom 10 in La Liga, Roma are even worse than Milan who we beat even though we weren`t at our best and Ajax are not as good as they were in the 18/19 season. Assuming Arsenal make it to the final we`re due a win against them eventually even though they`ve been a bogey team for us of late plus balancing between a top 4 finish that looks almost secure with the EL is realistic so we really have NO EXCUSE not to go all out for the Europa League

So we chose to stay in europa because ole had a crystal ball and saw who we were going to draw?

 

[Bebestation]

Funny how people are going ham at the OP.

We didnt pick our 3 best players - Bruno, Shaw and Rashford.

One is injured and 2 were rested.

Arguably Mctomminay is viewed as a better midfielder than Fred who played the most minutes. Pogba who is one of our most important players played only half the game. Even Cavani got to play less than half time.

Yet.. people act like we went there playing our strongest team and acting like what the OP said wasn't true

Utter nonsense acting like we went out there with giving 100% to win.

 

[RkkMan]

So we chose to stay in europa because ole had a crystal ball and saw who we were going to draw?

Re-check my post. Its edited and it`s very very possible Ole and the coaching staff assessed the possibilities as well as the fitness of some players and didn`t feel like it was worth it risking players on their last legs for a competition we weren`t favorites to win with an International Break around the corner

 

[NoLogo]

So it has been Oles Master Plan all along to get knocked out of all competitions, bar the EL, and be out of the title race come march. Genius.

 

[Sky1981]

Which is pathetic. We have nothing to play in the league. 2nd at best. 4th at worst.

Going all out in FA and EL is the logical tactics.

Why sacrifice the cup?

Nobody remember 2nd but actually winning a cup is a line in history

 

[Berbasbullet]

Funny how people are going ham at the OP.

We didnt pick our 3 best players - Bruno, Shaw and Rashford.

One is injured and 2 were rested.

Arguably Mctomminay is viewed as a better midfielder than Fred who played the most minutes. Pogba who is one of our most important players played only half the game. Even Cavani got to play less than half time.

Yet.. people act like we went there playing our strongest team and acting like what the OP said wasn't true

Utter nonsense acting like we went out there with giving 100% to win.

Do you genuinely think Ole deliberately sabotaged this game?

 

[TMDaines]

Where do others buy their tin foil hats?

 

[Bebestation]

Do you genuinely think Ole deliberately sabotaged this game?

Well if you look at his post match talk -

He said

“We’ve got too many players that have played too many games and too many that haven’t really had much football, Anthony Martial, Donny van de Beek, Paul Pogba and others are trying to get in who haven’t had enough football. We didn’t have enough against a tough team.”

Regarding the much-changed line-up he fielded that included dropping club talisman Bruno Fernandes to the bench, Solskjaer added: “I would’ve done the same again, the changes were necessary to do.

“We knew Paul [Pogba] wouldn’t last more than an hour and I don’t think I would do anything differently. What goes on behind the scenes isn’t always known.”

Even if he purposely didnt go to try to lose - I dont think he tried or picked the best team that can go and beat Leicester City either.

Everyone says we are an average to nothing team without Bruno and it showed. Pogba has come back from injury, VDB is playing a game every 2 months at max, Martial is in the worst season of his life, Shaw is our player of the season but is bought midway through the 2nd half..

Maybe he didnt want to lose, but neither did he try his hardest to win.

For me when I saw the team it was obvious from the start that he was testing out players tactics and formation.

 

[RkkMan]

Which is pathetic. We have nothing to play in the league. 2nd at best. 4th at worst.

Going all out in FA and EL is the logical tactics.

Why sacrifice the cup?

Nobody remember 2nd but actually winning a cup is a line in history

Lets wait and see how we fare in the Europa League eey?(if we throw away the EL by all means rant because I also believe we need to win something and the EL is our most realistic shot) Its annoying how we got knocked out yesterday but player`s fitness with the International Break coming up played a huge factor and we were up against a Leicester team who are no slouches and had a week to prepare physically and tactics wise

So it has been Oles Master Plan all along to get knocked out of all competitions, bar the EL, and be out of the title race come march. Genius.

Ole can never deliberately have us knocked out of the FA Cup but you must be naive if you think our best players can play at the same intensity for 90 minutes like robots when you`re playing after every 3/4 days against teams who`ve had almost an extra week of preparations. Under such circumstances SOMETHING has to cave in. From here on now though no excuses not to get top 4 and the Europa League its more than realistic especially with the level of opposition we have to face

 

[Berbasbullet]

Well if you look at his post match talk -

He said

“We’ve got too many players that have played too many games and too many that haven’t really had much football, Anthony Martial, Donny van de Beek, Paul Pogba and others are trying to get in who haven’t had enough football. We didn’t have enough against a tough team.”

Regarding the much-changed line-up he fielded that included dropping club talisman Bruno Fernandes to the bench, Solskjaer added: “I would’ve done the same again, the changes were necessary to do.

“We knew Paul [Pogba] wouldn’t last more than an hour and I don’t think I would do anything differently. What goes on behind the scenes isn’t always known.”

Even if he purposely didnt go to try to lose - I dont think he tried or picked the best team that can go and beat Leicester City either.

Everyone says we are an average to nothing team without Bruno and it showed. Pogba has come back from injury, VDB is playing a game every 2 months at max, Martial is in the worst season of his life, Shaw is our player of the season but is bought midway through the 2nd half..

Maybe he didnt want to lose, but neither did he try his hardest to win.

For me when I saw the team it was obvious from the start that he was testing out players tactics and formation.

Cool so you agree he didn’t sabotage us to deliberately lose? Then now maybe you can understand why the OP is being rightly hammered.

Changing things up/resting players doesn’t equal deliberately sabotaging our chances.

 

[GBBQ]

He said

“We’ve got too many players that have played too many games and too many that haven’t really had much football, Anthony Martial, Donny van de Beek, Paul Pogba and others are trying to get in who haven’t had enough football. We didn’t have enough against a tough team.”

A lot of this could have been mitigated if he insisted on resting those key players more. I know he's alluding to returns from injuries but at the same time that was an 11 that haven't played together all that much.

To the OP's point, Ole took a gamble that didn't pay off, the fact he brought on Bruno Shaw McT and Cavani later on proves he did want to win it.

 

[Cassidy]

Well if you look at his post match talk -

He said

“We’ve got too many players that have played too many games and too many that haven’t really had much football, Anthony Martial, Donny van de Beek, Paul Pogba and others are trying to get in who haven’t had enough football. We didn’t have enough against a tough team.”

Regarding the much-changed line-up he fielded that included dropping club talisman Bruno Fernandes to the bench, Solskjaer added: “I would’ve done the same again, the changes were necessary to do.

“We knew Paul [Pogba] wouldn’t last more than an hour and I don’t think I would do anything differently. What goes on behind the scenes isn’t always known.”

Even if he purposely didnt go to try to lose - I dont think he tried or picked the best team that can go and beat Leicester City either.

Everyone says we are an average to nothing team without Bruno and it showed. Pogba has come back from injury, VDB is playing a game every 2 months at max, Martial is in the worst season of his life, Shaw is our player of the season but is bought midway through the 2nd half..

Maybe he didnt want to lose, but neither did he try his hardest to win.

For me when I saw the team it was obvious from the start that he was testing out players tactics and formation.

Yes he refused to rest players against Sociaded second leg when we were 4-1 up

 

[Bebestation]

Cool so you agree he didn’t sabotage us to deliberately lose? Then now maybe you can understand why the OP is being rightly hammered.

Changing things up/resting players doesn’t equal deliberately sabotaging our chances.

As you agree that he didnt try his best to win.

I can see why some people think we purposely tried to lose when our best players were rested.

 

[RkkMan]

A lot of this could have been mitigated if he insisted on resting those key players more. I know he's alluding to returns from injuries but at the same time that was an 11 that haven't played together all that much.

To the OP's point, Ole took a gamble that didn't pay off, the fact he brought on Bruno Shaw McT and Cavani later on proves he did want to win it.

Where do you rest those players though? Every PL game now is difficult and a must win no matter the level of opposition and with the EL our only realistic shot at a trophy you can`t make mass changes to any game. The best we can do is take off key players at the 60-70th min mark if the game is won but "resting" key players during our crunch period is more risky than you think

 

[Barthez]

I swear I'm genuinely shocked by the quality of some posts here. What happened to the newbie system?

To be fair, there are some absolute shockers from the established members too.

 

[Judas]

I think its fair to say he gambled, rolled the dice, and risked it due to the condition of our squad, more than purposefully threw it. Anyone who thinks he genuinely wanted to go out yesterday is quite simply a moron.

We don't have the quality or coaching to withstand loads of changes taking away our best players, we always look an absolute ghost of a team when it's done. Not that our football is much better when our best team is out there, but you've got the players to make something happen.

 

[MadDogg]

We didn't deliberately go out from the cup, but it's obvious that it was considered lowest priority. We rested some of our most important players including our two best players this season.

 

[Judas]

I can see after the joke of a team selection in the semi last season, the team he put out yesterday raised eyebrows, rightfully, it was a horrible odd mismatched side. But he gambled, which you can't do with this team, because it doesn't have a backbone, too many of this squad you can't trust, not yet or not anymore.

 

[Chairman Steve]

Any manager planning exit or even throwing a game is crazy and probably should sacked on the spot. I’d say this game was prioritised lower.

The games we’ve had the past two weeks have been as hard as it gets too. We haven’t faced some bottom half team in the league or cup to make a game an obvious rotation game. We played City away and won. We played AC Milan at home and drew. We played a must win league game against West Ham who are chasing Europe and won. We played AC Milan away and basically needing to win it which we did and then to top it off we played Leicester away who are 1 point below us in the league and we lost.

I agree that OGS tactics and style of play are questionable and should be criticised, but with that run of five games in two weeks it’s basically try scrape a win from it and move onto the next one without knackering yourselves out or getting injured. We‘ve had runs of games like under SAF and even with our best teams, it was similar. We’d scrape out a win, be conservative because the game after that one is just as important and the game after that one too. Even under SAF with pone of our better teams under him, we wouldn’t win all of them.

If we went out yesterday to a team like Leeds or Soton in that manner, then I could understand the frustration people have... but we played Leicester away and as one of those above tweets pointed out, this was their 2nd game in two weeks and this was our 5th in that same period.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Yeah, when you have basically more or less secured CL spot without chance to be a champion, you plan to exit in quarter final of cup. Quarter final! 2 games away from trophy. Makes sense