It's our year. ™We'll be the envy of the League again this time next year, mark my words.
It's our year. ™We'll be the envy of the League again this time next year, mark my words.
I just want to specifically mention the LB & CB here.Our 11 looks good compared to the top teams?
Seriously.
Our LB is one notch above awful. It's strange so many are willing to accept a player who could down tools and stop training properly at any time. That's if he hasn't done already a few times this season.
We have no top CBs. Not sure thats up for discussion.
Pogba has wanted out for years and we've received a single bid, and it was completely unrealistic. Barca, PSG, City, Chelsea, Bayern not even paper gossip. He's not all that. Pogba against Sheffield was the best he's played for us for years but that's not a player anyone is gonna spend 100m for.
Big fan of Bruno but we need to wait and see.
As for our front line, come on. Our guys don't compare to top teams, that's just silly. You could see against Norwich why Greenwood doesn't start.
Martial having a good (for him) scoring season but if any of you think his no sprintin', no runnin' style would last longer than a season at a club with actual ambition you are very mistaken.
And then when we look at what other clubs have in the bench versus us it's no competition at all. Fred? Lingard? James?
Hopefully we can be good enough for top four next year, but that will be hard.
Oh God i'm turning into a Liverpool fan, and just when I thought my life couldn't get any worseIt's our year. ™
Good point. We have been lucky not to have injuries on any important players the past fifteen games...We're one attacking player injury away from this bubble popping. The squad isn't a next-level squad at all, most players outside the regular starting XI haven't looked like they know what the plan is at Manchester United, before or after the corona break.
I rate him not by the trophies. Who has really won trophies in the last few season? I don't rate him for his ability to motivation and change tactical changes when needed. We can't beat Norwich who is the worst team being 1-0 up. Why Rushford was brought into the game and not exploiting the Norwich defence. In his mind, Pogba will get 30mins. Greenwood will get 10min regardless if James is ineffective or no one is dominating midfield. Ole seems to be a coach who buys good players and hoping that they develop some chemistry to bring the title home. That's what I am saying.This is said about every manager until they win their first trophy or league title. It's not so long ago that people said Klopp lacked the mentality to forge his team from a team that plays exciting football into a team that can win titles. And this was despite the fact he had won league titles with Dortmund.
The same was said about Pochettino, so saying things like we haven't seen anything from a manager to suggest he can lead a team to titles is idle talk. All it takes is one season to change that, and somehow people always tend to remember that. A guy like Jose has mounted nothing close to a title challenge in 5 years and is still referred to as a "serial winner".
Ole has assembled a genuinely exciting team, he's improved the bulk of players he inherited, such as Rashford, Martial, McTominay, Fred, Shaw etc and made very good signings who have made a significant impact. He's on the right path and to hold the fact that he hasn't shown in the past he can win trophies is terribly unfair in my opinion.
Can you name one manager who won a league title with Championship level or mid table level players?? This is an absurd thing to say. Every manager needs good players to win trophies. The fact that he has bought good players and improved the existing ones is something that raises his credentials as a top manager, not diminishes it.I rate him not by the trophies. Who has really won trophies in the last few season? I don't rate him for his ability to motivation and change tactical changes when needed. We can't beat Norwich who is the worst team being 1-0 up. Why Rushford was brought into the game and not exploiting the Norwich defence. In his mind, Pogba will get 30mins. Greenwood will get 10min regardless if James is ineffective or no one is dominating midfield. Ole seems to be a coach who buys good players and hoping that they develop some chemistry to bring the title home. That's what I am saying.
The highlighted really is a massive ask & something we need terribly.The two big unknowns are:
Can one of Martial/Rashford/Greenwood explode and become a truly top tier goal threat?
Can Solskjaer coach an organised attack (à la Guardiola, Klopp, Nagelsmann, Rose, Gasperini etc)?
(we'll probably need to get a "yes" to the latter before we will get a "yes" to the former, but we need both things to happen if we're to stand any chance of racking up the number of victories necessary to amass the 95+ points needed to challenge Liverpool/City).
There's been clear progression from the top two threats in Rashford and Martial. Since the restart, I've thought Rashford has played well, not including his scoring(!), and looks to be more purposeful with his passes and in the final third. He'll get his goals. But in addition to progress, they have to have a higher floor and be able to maintain those levels of output and at least threat for the majority of the year before we can hopefully say, are United ready to make the next step.The highlighted really is a massive ask & something we need terribly.
Rashford, Martial, Greenwood or [hopefully] a Sancho type need to become genuine threats that cause whole defences to gameplan for them.
The fear we last saw with RVP that opens up space for others. I feel Rashford could but he drifts as he did when he came on vs Norwich.
I still believe we should have allocated funds differently last summer.
They already are. They have outscored the Liverpool 3 this season. That's with them missing chunks of the season injured & no Pogba or Bruno for the majority. The Liverpool 3 have played a combined 10,214 mins, ours have only played 7,272 mins. That's almost 50% less!The two big unknowns are:
Can one of Martial/Rashford/Greenwood explode and become a truly top tier goal threat?
Can Solskjaer coach an organised attack (à la Guardiola, Klopp, Nagelsmann, Rose, Gasperini etc)?
(we'll probably need to get a "yes" to the latter before we will get a "yes" to the former, but we need both things to happen if we're to stand any chance of racking up the number of victories necessary to amass the 95+ points needed to challenge Liverpool/City).
But so who is responsible for building those partnerships, if not the coach?As we have seen from Liverpool, one of the key issues is getting players to form partnerships.
Wing backs and wingers, center midfield and especially forwards.
And yes, that is down to coaching; not necessarily the manager.
I do believe that we are starting to form the basis of a good side. And we do have a number of very talented players.
But coaching definitely needs to be ramped up quite a few notches.
Understand that. It is clearly the manager to set the strategy and then his coaching staff to make it happen.But so who is responsible for building those partnerships, if not the coach?
Also, what I'm missing throughout this thread is the question of tactics. Everybody is talking about individuals, and then a few comments about partnerships. But things don't just 'click into place' with the right personnel. If Ole doesn't figure out how to properly break down low-block teams, United won't reach the level of consistency (in winning matches) required to challenge.
Looking at our squad I think there is two aspects where we really need to improve;To put it into perspective, this season Lingard/Pereira/Mata have combined 18 g/a from 5,798 mins or 322 mins per g/a.
In my opinion the next step is about being where Liverpool was in 17/18. They came fourth and lost the CL-final, but they looked very good. In hindsight it is easy to see that they were about to build somethint special at that point.The next step is what?
If that's the case then Danny Ings is also top tier one like Salah or Mane and imagine if Southampton have Bruno & Pogba, Ings could be on 25+ by now. So easy to just looking at goals alone. What makes them on different level is that they aren't only done this once but they done it in previous season, consistent basis & step up when needed. On top of it, both Salah & Mane have incredible fitness to allow them play lot of games without getting injured due to being overplayed.They already are. They have outscored the Liverpool 3 this season. That's with them missing chunks of the season injured & no Pogba or Bruno for the majority. The Liverpool 3 have played a combined 10,214 mins, ours have only played 7,272 mins. That's almost 50% less!
Mins per g/a = Martial 108 mins, Rashford 96 mins, Greenwood 109 mins. Those are extremely good returns no? considering they've mostly played with Lingard/Pereira/Mata feeding them.
Salah is at 113 mins per g/a, Mane 104 mins, Firmino 151 mins (). Juventus played more mins, Dortmund played more mins too.
To put it into perspective, this season Lingard/Pereira/Mata have combined 18 g/a from 5,798 mins or 322 mins per g/a. That's 3.5 games per goal/assist between them. Crazy stats.
Imagine if they had no injuries and a fully fit Pogba & Bruno behind them this season instead of Lingard/Pereira/Mata taking turns doing disappearing acts?
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/sco...9&compFilter=top5withClElwithNatCups&yt0=Show
2nd point, we'll have to wait and see. Pogba & Bruno have only been together a short while but there's been promising signs already, about breaking down low blocks or building up. If we're still having the same issues come the end of season/next, then that will be time to be seriously questioning things.