Feed Me
I'm hungry
Almost all the apparent ills outlined in that piece can be attributed to lack of squad depth.“the lack of anything remotely resembling a process, a plan, a blueprint: something that sustains you through the tough parts, that gets you over setbacks. Here, against the wily Sevilla, it manifested itself most clearly in the lack of composure, an inability to concentrate for the full 90 minutes, on the inability to find solutions on the pitch, on Solskjær’s unshakeable faith in his starting XI, to the point that he resisted a substitution until the 87th minute, despite his side’s increasing fatigue.
Marcus Rashford had a poor game after winning an early penalty. Bruno Fernandes faded from view after converting it. The full-backs Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Brandon Williams looked increasingly adrift as the game went on. And perhaps tellingly, it was a loss of possession high up the pitch by an exhausted Mason Greenwood that led to the move from which Sevilla scored their winning goal: the final act of a team that, in more ways than one, had run itself into the ground.
Of course, United have a loose philosophy and style of play, based largely on their electric front five with its multiple options for cutting you to pieces. But insofar as they possess a strategy, it seems to consist largely of letting their gifted individuals do their thing, and entrusting the rest to timing and self-expression, good feelings and blind faith. Here again, as in their other losing semi-finals, against Chelsea in the FA Cupand Manchester City in the League Cup, Solskjær and United discovered that momentum is not a tactic.”
Like I said, Ole’s United is pure vibes and not much else. Just vibes. Wouldn’t be surprised if team talk consisted of: “enjoy yourselves. Go out there and give the supporters something to cheer for”.
People say that Ole lacks tactical nous, but he managed to get us to completely strangle Sevilla for the opening 20 minutes of the second half with a noticeable shift in tactics, only for the players to fail to put the ball in the net.
Okay, so we have lost in three semis in succession but we are also a work in progress and need to supplement the existing players with three or four characters who will get us over the line.