How are we SO bad?

[He'sRaldo]

If a guy can come in and get Brighton playing good football then it's clearly the coaching, simple as that. We complain about the technical level of our players but Brighton ain't got a team full of them either.

Problem is that Brighton doesn't face a low block every week.

That's our main issue, we have players who, while decent, are unable to face low blocks. Both in defence, midfield, and offence.

That's why we're becoming more and more a counter-attacking team; it's our only chance!

 

[KirkDuyt]

Hey, you've scored 10 goals in your last 5 games! We've scored 3. I was going to say how many games it took to get us to 10, but it takes every game this season! 13 in total, and if you take out that fluke 4-0 over Chelsea, we only have 9! So, you've scored more goals than us in your last 5 games than we have in every game outside of our 1st one of the season...

To be fair, we play Fortuna Sittard and Heracles and concede like 7 goals.

 

[lex talionis]

This really is the story of the season so far -- not Liverpool's dominance or even City's wobbles -- but how bad United have been so far this season. This is an online forum so even though we're beating a dead horse in talking about it again, it is our duty as forum posters to concentrate our attention on the obvious, that overall United have been horrific this season, at least so far.

I'll try to keep it brief, but I think the following are obvious statements that others have stated in their own words countless times:

• Club management have had no coherent football performance strategy since Ferguson retired.
• Ole is learning his trade at this level.
• We are short on quality at key positions.
• Key players have been out on injury (Pogba in particular).
• Players Ole relied on to come good simply haven't (Lingard in particular).

I wish I could say this has been a comedy of errors, but this is no longer funny. We're struggling to put in respectable performances and delivering positive results, while at the same developing young players into future star players. This is hard to do, but at least we're putting in solid performances against the better clubs (Chelsea, Arsenal, Leicester City and Liverpool) yet dropping stupid points to clubs like West Ham, Palace and Newcastle. It's against the lower level clubs that we need to raise our game, which starts which improving chance creation and then more clinical finishing and then better concentration on the back line.

De Gea has put his recent wobbles in the rear view mirror and Maguire and Wan-Bissaka were excellent buys. I'm still not sold on Lindelof but I see incredible potential with Tuanzebe. We know about the midfield issues and we'll have to deal with that, but if we can somehow get Rashford and Martial back into the kind of form we've seen from them in the past and if James keeps developing, we really do have a squad that should be able to crawl back into 4th place contention by March for the run-in, although we may have to place all our bets on the EL trophy to get back into the CL next season.

 

[kouroux]

Problem is that Brighton doesn't face a low block every week.

That's our main issue, we have players who, while decent, are unable to face low blocks. Both in defence, midfield, and offence.

That's why we're becoming more and more a counter-attacking team; it's our only chance!

We face a low block half the time because we are very slow to move the ball, therefore teams organize and close space very easily. I mean we're not a great team, we don't scare teams like Liverpool or City would do, they attack us more than they do for them considering we're a low level team now.

 

[He'sRaldo]

We face a low block half the time because we are very slow to move the ball, therefore teams organize and close space very easily. I mean we're not a great team, we don't scare teams like Liverpool or City would do, they attack us more than they do for them considering we're a low level team now.

It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation because we're often slow to move the ball because the opponent already decides to start their first block from a deeper position, and we're clueless under such circumstances.

No doubt it's an organizational issue as well, but just pointing out that comparisons with such teams as Brighton are not that useful due to the different circumstances.

 

[Perseus]

Problem is that Brighton doesn't face a low block every week.

That's our main issue, we have players who, while decent, are unable to face low blocks. Both in defence, midfield, and offence.

That's why we're becoming more and more a counter-attacking team; it's our only chance!

It was the low block (= deep defence) that teams played at the Amex that collapsed Brighton's home form at the end of last season. I expect Everton will do the same on Saturday. It works too well. The disadvantage of the deep defence is the sheer weight of attacks against it, mean the rub of the green, mistakes, referee decisions and wonder goals (architects and class finishers) to favour the attacking side statistically.

The idea is sometimes to tempt the defending side out of its shell and kill them on the counter. The defending side will tempt the attacking side to over reach themselves and leave gaps to be exploited.

 

[He'sRaldo]

It was the low block (= deep defence) that teams played at the Amex that collapsed Brighton's home form at the end of last season. I expect Everton will do the same on Saturday. It works too well. The disadvantage of the deep defence is the sheer weight of attacks against it, mean the rub of the green, mistakes, referee decisions and wonder goals (architects and class finishers) to favour the attacking side statistically.

Correct, and without players who can dribble or create such situations with superior technique, we struggle. The few times our attackers have shown composure and skill in the box, we're rewarded with penalties.

The idea is sometimes to tempt the defending side out of its shell and kill them on the counter. The defending side will tempt the attacking side to over reach themselves and leave gaps to be exploited.

Sarri's Napoli a very good example of this, and I don't really think we have a strategy to do so.

To be honest, I think Ole is a bit shellshocked by the defensive nature of the games; he was probably expecting more open games where pace, energy, and mentality are crucial. Unfortunately, most teams would be happy with a point and a 0-0 draw against us, so we're out of luck there.

 

[Massive Spanner]

How many EPL teams would 2 of Pereira, Mata and Lingard in current form get into the starting line up in key attacking roles every week? Not many in the top 10.

Moments of quality by top players win close games. The West Ham game was a real case in point. West Ham won that game because of 2 moments of individual quality by Yarmolenko and Cresswell that United just didn't have the quality to match.

Maybe Ole is a terrible coach but if he had Ronaldo in this team, United would be third.

So your logic is that maybe if Ole had one of the greatest players of all time and possibly the best goalscorer of all time in his team, we'd be third..

 

[Perseus]

We face a low block half the time because we are very slow to move the ball, therefore teams organize and close space very easily. I mean we're not a great team, we don't scare teams like Liverpool or City would do, they attack us more than they do for them considering we're a low level team now.

Two seasons (2017-18) ago under Mounrinho, the problem for visiting sides against United at Old Trafford was just how to hell are we they gonna score a goal from open play!? It was nigh impossible. What went wrong?

 

[Devil77]

We also have higher expectations than most other clubs.

 

[Kopral Jono]

We have a 4-6th level squad, managed by a league 1 level manager who combined are putting out 12-15th position performances. Sounds about right.

Yep, this is basically it.

 

[Bebestation]

Van Gaal inherited a squad with Nani, Valencia, Young, Zaha and Januzaj plus we bought him Martial, Depay and Di Maria.

Him crying about wingers is like Mourinho crying about centre backs after he sold Blind and bought Lindelof and Bailly.

He just had a inherently negative tactical approach plus made the ludicrous decision to build around Rooney when Rooney was already way past his best.

Van Gaal didn't cry about wingers - he cried for more technically capable players in central areas - the reason he blamed the slow creation of chances & why he preferred the team taking time to create chances than lose the ball with poor passes.


Just came out today - highlighting the thing we need & the thing Van Gaal wanted in his squad back nearly 5 years ago. It tells us why we struggle to attack - a lack of technical players in our midfield especially deeper areas.

 

[ash_86]

Lack of very good goal scorers is one of the main reason. You look at our final season under SAF. Play was piss poor play, no tempo nothing. We had to bring the then retired Scholes to get us going. But then we had van Persie. He'd score goal or two from anywhere within the box and it masked a lot of our problems. If we had XG stats then the meter would have been broken showing his stats. Same Auba at Arsenal. If you take him out , Arsenal would be below us . Great footballers wins you games. Add 3-4 great footballers and you are challenging for the title irrespective of who ever managing the team.

 

[bonothom]

I think the last time United was this bad was probably the end of 88-89. Before that, the start of the 86-87 season before Big Ron got the sack.

 

[settembrini]

Van Gaal didn't cry about wingers - he cried for more technically capable players in central areas - the reason he blamed the slow creation of chances & why he preferred the team taking time to create chances than lose the ball with poor passes.


Just came out today - highlighting the thing we need & the thing Van Gaal wanted in his squad back nearly 5 years ago. It tells us why we struggle to attack - a lack of technical players in our midfield especially deeper areas.

Sorry but you are simply wrong. Van Gaal complained about our wingers all the time. It became such a meme in press conferences that he even talked about how often he was bringing it up.

"I have said already, in my first year many times, we need speed and creativity on the wings. You have seen that now we play with Jesse Lingard, and he is not the most speedy winger in the world. Mata is also not the most speedy winger in the world." This quote is from November 2015. After he had three transfer windows and spent tons of money on players he would use on the wings on top of the existing players we had in the squad.

Lack of technically capable players in central areas was a problem for sure. But fixing that would have meant dropping Rooney, who often seemed like he could barely control or pass the ball at times. And Van Gaal refused to even consider this, hence why 'My captain shall always play' got thrown in his face so often.

 

[kouroux]

It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation because we're often slow to move the ball because the opponent already decides to start their first block from a deeper position, and we're clueless under such circumstances.

No doubt it's an organizational issue as well, but just pointing out that comparisons with such teams as Brighton are not that useful due to the different circumstances.

Maybe but since these are the teams we compete with nowadays, I'd say the comparison is fairer by the week.

 

[Bebestation]

Sorry but you are simply wrong. Van Gaal complained about our wingers all the time. It became such a meme in press conferences that he even talked about how often he was bringing it up.

"I have said already, in my first year many times, we need speed and creativity on the wings. You have seen that now we play with Jesse Lingard, and he is not the most speedy winger in the world. Mata is also not the most speedy winger in the world." This quote is from November 2015. After he had three transfer windows and spent tons of money on players he would use on the wings on top of the existing players we had in the squad.

Lack of technically capable players in central areas was a problem for sure. But fixing that would have meant dropping Rooney, who often seemed like he could barely control or pass the ball at times. And Van Gaal refused to even consider this, hence why 'My captain shall always play' got thrown in his face so often.

What's Rooney got to do with anything? Rooney was his captain, his experienced player in a team where he tried to include young players almost randomly and instantly & whilst he was deteriorating - centrally we didn't have a single player like Rooney who could even try to unlock a defence. The only one back then was Mata who was being played on the right - hence why Van Gaal cried for a winger because we have had no right winger which makes the left wingers and centre forwards jobs much harder to do due to the defensive ease and relative pressure put on the areas of attack.

Then Van Gaal talked about creative ability coming from central positions & still to this date - only Pogba is the one who can create. Not Fred, not mctomminay, not Matic, not Mata. From the video I show you the deep lying playmaker that actually does the job in midfield for us is actually maguire & this is also why some of us still talk highly about the likes of Blind.

Anyway LVG's times long gone & whilst it's just an opinion - some of us wonder how Martial, Rashford may have worked in a partnership, maybe memphis as a CF, how we would be if we got a left footed RW, how Blind, Smalling & Maguire may have worked in a back 3, how Pogba would have played in a team that had all the possession in the world & defensively could just pass the ball about etc.

Ultimately LVG's possession football was only ever going to be as good as the quality of the players & the coach. Unfortunately for United - some of us think this could have been improved especially with the decisions made post LVG. LVG himself said that he was there for 3 years before giving the job to someone else to continue & instead we scrapped the whole thing and went to a Jose way? Almost a non team built ethos and more of a singular 11 individualised players attempting to play defensive football supplying one centralised striker in comparison to possession football that tries to use the whol team?

LVG's team was slow & not creative - but this was due to the quality of the player that LVG wanted to improve whilst his tactics would also hold them back. Once that would stop after 3 years & LVG leaves- all we had to do is target a manager who could utilise possession football whether LVG was good or not - to carry the team forward.

 

[settembrini]

What's Rooney got to do with anything? Rooney was his captain, his experienced player in a team where he tried to include young players almost randomly and instantly & whilst he was deteriorating - centrally we didn't have a single player like Rooney who could even try to unlock a defence. The only one back then was Mata who was being played on the right - hence why Van Gaal cried for a winger because we have had no right winger which makes the left wingers and centre forwards jobs much harder to do due to the defensive ease and relative pressure put on the areas of attack.

Then Van Gaal talked about creative ability coming from central positions & still to this date - only Pogba is the one who can create. Not Fred, not mctomminay, not Matic, not Mata. From the video I show you the deep lying playmaker that actually does the job in midfield for us is actually maguire & this is also why some of us still talk highly about the likes of Blind.

Anyway LVG's times long gone & whilst it's just an opinion - some of us wonder how Martial, Rashford may have worked in a partnership, maybe memphis as a CF, how we would be if we got a left footed RW, how Blind, Smalling & Maguire may have worked in a back 3, how Pogba would have played in a team that had all the possession in the world & defensively could just pass the ball about etc.

Ultimately LVG's possession football was only ever going to be as good as the quality of the players & the coach. Unfortunately for United - some of us think this could have been improved especially with the decisions made post LVG. LVG himself said that he was there for 3 years before giving the job to someone else to continue & instead we scrapped the whole thing and went to a Jose way? Almost a non team built ethos and more of a singular 11 individualised players attempting to play defensive football supplying one centralised striker in comparison to possession football that tries to use the whol team?

LVG's team was slow & not creative - but this was due to the quality of the player that LVG wanted to improve whilst his tactics would also hold them back. Once that would stop after 3 years & LVG leaves- all we had to do is target a manager who could utilise possession football whether LVG was good or not - to carry the team forward.

You were talking about our lack of technically competent players in central areas, specifically with regard to poor passes. Rooney is relevant because he was a complete disaster from a technical perspective under Van Gaal with dreadful control and passing and Van Gaal refused to drop him. I was agreeing with you that it was a problem but it was a problem of Van Gaal's own making.

But anyway I am not really interested in talking about past managers and their mistakes atm. You seem to now be agreeing with me and the other guy that Van Gaal did complain about our wingers (which he did, constantly) so my work is done.

 

[Isotope]

Certainly have a point. There is something seemingly off about our talent though. So often with inaccurate passes, crosses, too many touches etc. Not just the obvious issues with our attacking plays.

You see what Maguire, Lindelof, Rashford, and Pogba can do with their National Teams. Even to lesser degree, Mata, Fred and Matic at their last Clubs. They could and should do much better than they are right now.

 

[steffyr2]

We have had the current system since prior Sir Matt so moving to a head coach/DOF system won't be easy. Hence why its ideal to have an experienced manager who had covered many different roles as manager + a DOF who knows the EPL well and had previously worked with the manager. Once the system is in place, the squad had settled down and everyone would have understood his job then Rangnick might move upstairs or retire and we'll be in a good position to maybe bring Nagelsmann in.

Regarding Ole I am not a big fan of the man. However keeping him makes sense

a- its good PR. With so many Ole's mates in punditry, the last thing a team in transition needs is to be under the scrutiny of a vindictive lot who had just seen their mate fired. They are far less likely to attack the club if there are 1-2 familiar faces at board level
b- Ole had been at the club long enough to identify the rotten apples. He might have no idea about how to handle the situation and other details such as tactics but his feedback will be necessary to cut the transition period short
c- Fans love having someone to relate to at board level. Having VDS as CEO and Ole as a board member is far better for them then a bunch of people who come from the corporate world and whom they have never even heard off.
d- when things go South, its always good to have someone who can slot in and cover a given role temporarily with no hidden agenda or exterior ambitions. AC Milan used to have Tassotti, Inter had Beppe Baresi, Ole can do the job for us.

Why are we so bad? How many people are sucking at the Utd trough at the moment? We blame people like the agents involved, but who's on the other side of those transactions?
It's a conspiracy theory, I know, but the managers are the only people who seem to have incentive to win -- because they're the only ones that lose their job if things go badly.
The reason "a" is highlighted is because that reminded me just how much good ole boy-ness is going on around Utd, which can be occasionally followed by "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours". Jose & LVG -- bad for business squeaky wheel. Ole -- inexperienced team player who will keep the press on his side and not looking into thinking too closely.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Why are we so bad? How many people are sucking at the Utd trough at the moment? We blame people like the agents involved, but who's on the other side of those transactions?
It's a conspiracy theory, I know, but the managers are the only people who seem to have incentive to win -- because they're the only ones that lose their job if things go badly.
The reason "a" is highlighted is because that reminded me just how much good ole boy-ness is going on around Utd, which can be occasionally followed by "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours". Jose & LVG -- bad for business squeaky wheel. Ole -- inexperienced team player who will keep the press on his side and not looking into thinking too closely.

People were calling me a myriad of names when I called OgS a puppet for the regime.

He’s gotten away with stuff Moyes, LVG & Jose would have been hung for.

 

[POF]

So your logic is that maybe if Ole had one of the greatest players of all time and possibly the best goalscorer of all time in his team, we'd be third..

My logic is that most of United's games are decided by one goal and a quality attacking player that a club like United should have would make a world of difference. That builds confidence and momentum (especially in such a young squad) and the whole mood changes.

United fans have come a long way from the moronic standing ovations for Moyesey as he took the champions to another meek defeat.

The way fans talk about Ole is really awful. He wasn't brought in to play a revolutionary style of football. He was brought in return the club to what made it successful in the past. Good character, strong mentality and players with the right attitude. Adding quality players to a group with that mentality and attitude will lead to a successful team.

Hopefully he gets a chance to see it through. I don't think he will though. The fans will lap up the "Ole is a shit coach" media narrative, will get him sacked, clamour for the latest available big name coach and the club will be right back to square one.

 

[Forevergiggs1]

My logic is that most of United's games are decided by one goal and a quality attacking player that a club like United should have would make a world of difference. That builds confidence and momentum (especially in such a young squad) and the whole mood changes.

United fans have come a long way from the moronic standing ovations for Moyesey as he took the champions to another meek defeat.

The way fans talk about Ole is really awful. He wasn't brought in to play a revolutionary style of football. He was brought in return the club to what made it successful in the past. Good character, strong mentality and players with the right attitude. Adding quality players to a group with that mentality and attitude will lead to a successful team.

Hopefully he gets a chance to see it through. I don't think he will though. The fans will lap up the "Ole is a shit coach" media narrative, will get him sacked, clamour for the latest available big name coach and the club will be right back to square one.

Won't be anything to do with a media narrative. The majority of the fans with 2 eyes and probably some with only 1 can see for themselves. The day this club brings in a modern, progressive manager who actually knows what he's doing is the day the club will change. I'm afraid Ole doesn't tick any of those 3 boxes.

 

[SaintMuppet]

We are not a team. We are an assortment of 11 players. We don’t have enough quality in certain positions. We have a manager who appears to not be good at managing. We have owners who only care about money.

We are doomed Captain...Doomed!!!

 

[USREDEVIL]

I just looked at the team stats. Only 4 of our players have scored so far in the EPL. 4 Players!

 

[ayushreddevil9]

I just looked at the team stats. Only 4 of our players have scored so far in the EPL. 4 Players!

Why is it even a surprise?

 

[Giggsyking]

One word
Ole

 

[sunama]

This should be obvious

We’re “so bad” for two reasons.

1) Most teams raise their game against us. We’re still a big scalp even though every team in England has had a turn at beating us.

2) Most teams still line-up 5-5-0 against us, especially at OT, because a point against Man Utd is still valued. We don’t have the ability to play the short, sharp, stick passing game required to break these teams down so we invariably look tumescent, passing it side-to-side until we inevitably over-commit and get done on the counter

If you want evidence of this, see Chelsea, Arsenal, Leicester and Liverpool games - we’re not that bad when teams attempt to give us a game

So they only way we can win is to ask our opponent to play a certain way, which suits us?
Does anybody see a flaw in this plan?

 

[Tyrion]

It’s clear this current United side is hardly vintage, especially when compared against some of our great teams.

That said, should a line up with De Gea, Wan B, Maguire, Pogba (when back), Martial and Rashford be so utterly joyless on the pitch?

I don’t want to be overly simplistic about it, but we have the quality to be outperforming most of the league – there’s only really Liverpool and City who are miles ahead of the pack.

From about 08/09 through to 12/13, we were a counter attacking, well drilled defensive team. From the moment, SAF retired, we have gone through several managers and generally been absolutely miserable to watch bar the odd spell.

Is the truth that, as a club, we have no intention to be expansive?

This isn’t just another Feed Me knee jerk – I am genuinely nonplussed as to how such an expensively assembled squad at a club with supposed heritage can consistently serve up rubbish football. We are amongst the worst five teams in the league to watch from an entertainment perspective.

What enables lesser clubs to adopt an attractive style of play in the near term, yet we are always told to be patient and wait for the transition?

Is there too much pressure?

I personally don’t buy the whole DoF thing as being the complete problem. Clearly we could do with a better hierarchy, but has that really stopped us adopting an attractive style? I don’t think so.

United, an attacking team – one of the best myths ever.

Apologies for the directionless thread, but I just don’t understand how we are quite so shit. We literally never play really well.

Which of our managers actually plays good football? Moyes and OGS arent good enough and LVG and Mourinho are too stubborn. None of our managers have been capable and willing of playing attacking football.

 

[devilish]

Why are we so bad? How many people are sucking at the Utd trough at the moment? We blame people like the agents involved, but who's on the other side of those transactions?
It's a conspiracy theory, I know, but the managers are the only people who seem to have incentive to win -- because they're the only ones that lose their job if things go badly.
The reason "a" is highlighted is because that reminded me just how much good ole boy-ness is going on around Utd, which can be occasionally followed by "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours". Jose & LVG -- bad for business squeaky wheel. Ole -- inexperienced team player who will keep the press on his side and not looking into thinking too closely.

I share your concerns however keeping Ole at board level has nothing to do with that. Football clubs are what they are, there's politics, the supporters, the sponsors, the media and the club legends whom you need at your good side especially when times are tough. Legends are treated like Gods among a big chunk of supporters and with mass media being so easy reachable, you need to do some effort to avoid having them at your neck in times of struggle. These can rile up supporters which in turn would scare off sponsors. Thus you need 1-2 of them at your side to defend your corner. Its also good to have someone whose reasonably experienced and with a can do attitude (but no external ambitions) to cover shortages that may crop up every now and then. Guys like Tassotti or Beppe Baresi had covered various roles at Milan and Inter from scouts, youth coaches to assistant managers and even caretaker managers. Ole is not Sir Alex but he can do that.

Having former players at board level is not just a United thing. Most clubs have it such as Juventus (Nedved), Ajax (VDS and Overmars), Bayern (Uli Hoeneß) and Milan (Boban and Maldini). United had it as well in the past with Charlton given far more say then he seems to be given nowadays.

 

[Listar]

It’s clear this current United side is hardly vintage, especially when compared against some of our great teams.

That said, should a line up with De Gea, Wan B, Maguire, Pogba (when back), Martial and Rashford be so utterly joyless on the pitch?

I don’t want to be overly simplistic about it, but we have the quality to be outperforming most of the league – there’s only really Liverpool and City who are miles ahead of the pack.

From about 08/09 through to 12/13, we were a counter attacking, well drilled defensive team. From the moment, SAF retired, we have gone through several managers and generally been absolutely miserable to watch bar the odd spell.

Is the truth that, as a club, we have no intention to be expansive?

This isn’t just another Feed Me knee jerk – I am genuinely nonplussed as to how such an expensively assembled squad at a club with supposed heritage can consistently serve up rubbish football. We are amongst the worst five teams in the league to watch from an entertainment perspective.

What enables lesser clubs to adopt an attractive style of play in the near term, yet we are always told to be patient and wait for the transition?

Is there too much pressure?

I personally don’t buy the whole DoF thing as being the complete problem. Clearly we could do with a better hierarchy, but has that really stopped us adopting an attractive style? I don’t think so.

United, an attacking team – one of the best myths ever.

Apologies for the directionless thread, but I just don’t understand how we are quite so shit. We literally never play really well.

If you think a midfield trio of Fred Mctominay and pereira is world class then you have rocks in your head

 

[Ali Dia]

Would Kane score a lot of goals in this side? I genuinely don’t think the creativity is there. It’s clear when we keep using players like mata and lingard in the midfield we aren’t going to get anywhere... Kane would be class though don’t get me wrong. I’d take him and Erickson in a flash. I really like son too. Same as profile of player as Liverpool but Liverpool have a better manager and spent a lot more cash.

I really miss united being amazing. It was a joy to watch the matches even when we close but it didn’t come off. I don’t mind losing but how are we so bad? It’s football it’s not rocket science. The talent is out there if you have the cash. As Keano would say Go get it!


We suck because of Ed and how the glazers underinvested post Ronaldo and Fergie being the GOAT. Just loads of tragic decisions while our competition really get their shit together. Their recruitment has been way better than ours.

 

[bonothom]

We are not quite at the level of 1974 bad.... yet! Don't want to worry anyone but after the legendary Matt Busby retired United had 4 different managers and the 4th took them down. Murphy, Mcguinness, O'Farrell and Docherty. Tommy Docherty was appointed 22nd December 1972 and United were relegated 18 months later. Since Fergie United have had 4 managers and Ole was appointed on 19 December 2018............

 

[ayushreddevil9]

We are not quite at the level of 1974 bad.... yet! Don't want to worry anyone but after the legendary Matt Busby retired United had 4 different managers and the 4th took them down. Murphy, Mcguinness, O'Farrell and Docherty. Tommy Docherty was appointed 22nd December 1972 and United were relegated 18 months later. Since Fergie United have had 4 managers and Ole was appointed on 19 December 2018............

But he was appointed as the caretaker last year

 

[Eric7C]

We are not quite at the level of 1974 bad.... yet! Don't want to worry anyone but after the legendary Matt Busby retired United had 4 different managers and the 4th took them down. Murphy, Mcguinness, O'Farrell and Docherty. Tommy Docherty was appointed 22nd December 1972 and United were relegated 18 months later. Since Fergie United have had 4 managers and Ole was appointed on 19 December 2018............

We are too big to go down..like Kodak, Xerox, Pan Am..

 

[Anders80]

If, instead of spending hundreds of millions on transfers, we'd spend some on a decent manager I'm sure it would make a world of difference. While the team needs reinforcements and more quality in some positions, the material we have should be performing way better than it is. What we have now is rather dysfunctional and lacking in dynamics. It looks as if there is no game plan, but rather a bunch of players doing their thing and hoping it's gonna click every now and then. That just doesn't work in the long run because there is no consistency. While I have nothing against Ole as a person, I do believe he lacks the experience, and I can't see how this would be an improvement over José.

 

[redIndianDevil]

We will play well as soon as we get a competent coach in. It's pointless to discuss things like player mentality when the coaching is non-existent.

Saw some tweet above showing our losing possession due to bad first touch, you know why that happens to players, lack of coaching. Guadiola makes the City team to train rondos day in and day out, that's why their passing and touch is on a different level, whereas all Ole seems to talk about is fitness and running and idiotic things like "culture", "mentality" etc, it's like he is slowly transforming to David Brent.

 

[RedRonaldo]

On paper, we are not that bad, at least we shouldn't be mid-table team or just above relegation zone.
But as a team, we are just terrible. We are playing relegation type of football.

De Gea
AWB Lindelof Maguire B.Williams
Mctominay Pogba
Pereira
Rashford Martial James
​

Our first 11 should be good enough for top 6 easily, only our no.10 position (Perreira, Mata or Lingard) isn't anywhere near the required quality, the rest of the squad I think is good enough. But of course we also have players' consistency and injuries issues needed to be resolved.

 

[R'hllor]

Think most of us understand the need for quality players but to go around and say thats the only reason why we are clueless at playing football, is just beyond deluded and horseshit in general. In our case, world class players at best would stagnate but probably regressed in most examples, if you watch us trying to play, clearly there is nothing there. Said many times but there is zero players that we bought and improved post SAF, not a single one.

 

[Bobcat]

So your logic is that maybe if Ole had one of the greatest players of all time and possibly the best goalscorer of all time in his team, we'd be third..

May seem like a banal statement, but its true though. We saw dozens of times Ronaldo/Rooney pull a rabbit out of a hat for us when we were struggling. An individual moment of brilliance that won us a tight game. Right now we only have one player capable of that in Pogba (when hes not sulking) and hes been injured the whole season pretty much. Maybe Martial and Rashford once every blue moon, but that's about it.

Remember that rush of excitement you had when you saw Ronaldo/Rooney get the ball in an advanced position and you just knew something was going to happen? None of those players we have today gives that feeling