Is this the worst run of awful football since Fergie retired?

It is up there. We were boring as feck under LvG, but we still had some positive qualities. We kept the ball well.
Hated us under Jose, so cynical and negative, but we defended well and rarely fell apart.
We had some rough spells in the Ole/Rangnick season, we were very close to being this bad. But this takes the cake, players are everywhere where they shouldn`t be, teams literally walks through us. We push for something in attack but there is absolutely nothing that seem to work in attack. No connection between the players except for the odd 1-2 pass, but then it dies.
 
Gordon S said:
It is up there. We were boring as feck under LvG, but we still had some positive qualities. We kept the ball well.
Hated us under Jose, so cynical and negative, but we defended well and rarely fell apart.
We had some rough spells in the Ole/Rangnick season, we were very close to being this bad. But this takes the cake, players are everywhere where they shouldn`t be, teams literally walks through us. We push for something in attack but there is absolutely nothing that seem to work in attack. No connection between the players except for the odd 1-2 pass, but then it dies.
Click to expand...
With LVG it was pass pass pass .
And counter and 1-0 down
 
Some of the worst football I have seen since the opening day of the season.

The worst part is that our handful of wins have been very lucky for the most part.
 
berbatrick said:
I think so. Even comparing between the end of the tenures:

Moyes ended with a double humiliation at home to City and Liverpool and symbolic destruction by Everton, but a month before that there were decent performances with Januzaj, Mata, and Nani.

LvG's end wasn't that bad - the West Ham game that cost 4th was terrible, but was at least a fight, and then the last game was an honest-to-god Cup final win. It was his Christmas that was insane - but again, it wasn't heavy defeats, but boring 0-0 or 0-1 defeats.

Jose's was a long funeral procession from the moment the 3rd season started - parallels with this one, actually. Previous season has been decent, with a dip at the end, new season an unmitigated disaster...though the players in 2018 delivered better than the guys now (3-2 Newcastle, 2-1 Juve, both with some nice goals and passages of play that just don't exist now). Once again, Liverpool made a fatal cut.

Ole - well, the season started with a 5-1 and some less spectacular wins, then Ronaldo started with a 4-1...and then, in a few weeks, it TOTALLY collapsed. The Moyes-esque Liverpool-City double followed by salt-in-wounds at Watford.

Ralf - literally no memory.

EtH - a worse version of Jose's end. Even the smaller teams dominate. No plan. No style. No results. Is there a Liverpool game coming up soon?
Click to expand...
It’s funny because that game felt so bad at the time. And it was because it cost top four, but more so because I thought we’d win going into it. In the same situation now, I’d have absolutely no hope at all that we’d win that game. The standards have fallen so unbelievably far since then.
 
I think we’ve played worse football in the last ten years, but this reminds me most of the final weeks of Ole: it has all gone to pieces and you can see the manager’s influence and power slipping through his fingers. Both men look shocked, unable to comprehend how things arrived at this point after such a good start for each of them. Perhaps ETH has reached the point where he knows the situation can’t be rectified, the tipping point has been passed.
 
berbatrick said:
I think so. Even comparing between the end of the tenures:

Moyes ended with a double humiliation at home to City and Liverpool and symbolic destruction by Everton, but a month before that there were decent performances with Januzaj, Mata, and Nani.

LvG's end wasn't that bad - the West Ham game that cost 4th was terrible, but was at least a fight, and then the last game was an honest-to-god Cup final win. It was his Christmas that was insane - but again, it wasn't heavy defeats, but boring 0-0 or 0-1 defeats.

Jose's was a long funeral procession from the moment the 3rd season started - parallels with this one, actually. Previous season has been decent, with a dip at the end, new season an unmitigated disaster...though the players in 2018 delivered better than the guys now (3-2 Newcastle, 2-1 Juve, both with some nice goals and passages of play that just don't exist now). Once again, Liverpool made a fatal cut.

Ole - well, the season started with a 5-1 and some less spectacular wins, then Ronaldo started with a 4-1...and then, in a few weeks, it TOTALLY collapsed. The Moyes-esque Liverpool-City double followed by salt-in-wounds at Watford.

Ralf - literally no memory.

EtH - a worse version of Jose's end. Even the smaller teams dominate. No plan. No style. No results. Is there a Liverpool game coming up soon?
Click to expand...

Agree. Not seen an uglier end than Ten Hag.

LvG’s end was unfortunate. It really seemed that he stumbled upon a system that worked which revolved around Martial and Rashford. We also controlled games from start to finish. I’m certain we would have improved the following year especially given how weak the league was the following season and that we were making progress. But ultimately Jose was available and we got him 3 years too late.

At the end of Jose, we were still tactically set up well and Jose had his reliable lieutenants like Matic and Herrerra that were guaranteed to leave everything on the pitch. We also had the quality of Pogba, Martial and Mata to bail us out, alongside always having the Fellaini option.

Ole’s end was ugly but it was clear to see that Ronaldo’s inability to press was the problem. We were so easy to play through and what looked like players being lazy was really players being fatigued from having to cover so much space. Ole should have stuck to the 3-5-2 and conservative press to accomodate Ronaldo’s inability to run, as he did at Spurs. While Ole’s tactical nous was questionable, his man-management never was.

Ten Hag’s end is the most bizarre and ugly I have seen. There isn’t enough quality to bail him out beyond Rashford and Bruno and even then the system exposes their weaknesses and hides their strengths. He’s lost the players and the Sancho issue has likely backfired spectacularly. He keeps persisting the same ineffective tactics which are so blatant to see because we keep conceding the same types of goals and chances. I feel lied to. I thought we had finally got a tactical manager after the so-called Norwegian PE teacher? But Ole’s tactical sense was better than Ten Hag’s!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Member 56313
It is certainly up there with the very worst of the post-SAF era, hard to say if it is the very worst.

He's certainly put out some teams that look absolutely hideous on paper and kill off any sense of optimism before a game.

And that's in no small part thanks to his own dealings in the transfer market and his unwillingness to see mistakes as clear as the nose on his face. Like continuing to start Casemiro and/or Eriksen in big games, playing Bruno on the wing and McTom at DM. Or just basically having no width at all in his side despite him blowing a third of his transfer budget on a tall, physical centre forward.

In terms of being infuritatingly stubborn, he's definitely the worst.
 
It’s about the same as the worst days of Ole and Mourinho. But I know stat wise this time could be even worst. But my feeling is that we play worst football with Rangnick, and most inspiring football with LVG.

But I wouldn’t blame Rangnick as much, as he literally spent 0 and didn’t have the time to implement the football he want with our existing players.
 
Last edited:
THE ZOL said:
Ole’s end was ugly but it was clear to see that Ronaldo’s inability to press was the problem. We were so easy to play through and what looked like players being lazy was really players being fatigued from having to cover so much space. Ole should have stuck to the 3-5-2 and conservative press to accomodate Ronaldo’s inability to run, as he did at Spurs. While Ole’s tactical nous was questionable, his man-management never was.
Click to expand...

Of course his man-management was questioned eventually. During the last weeks of his tenure, players in the squad were annoyed that he was always picking his favourites no matter how badly they were performing.
 
Amir said:
Of course his man-management was questioned eventually. During the last weeks of his tenure, players in the squad were annoyed that he was always picking his favourites no matter how badly they were performing.
Click to expand...

I categorise that as squad selection, but I can see how that falls under the man-management category. In that case, I do remember how Bailly was disgruntled about Maguire’s unlimited opportunities and ultimately it was Maguire that cost Ole the job.

The thing is - while Ole did not give chances to Donny, Dalot and Bailly, I don’t think they were influential enough to turn the dressing room against him.

However, as reported in the Telegraph today, Ten Hag’s treatment of Sancho and Maguire is playing a part in his issues with the players.
 
What you've got to remember is that Ted Lasso took Richmond to second place eventually.

Don't @ me
 
Still feel like the end of Rangnick's run was worse performance wise but this is up there.
 
I'm afraid to say your players and indeed crowd just look and sound like they don't believe in this system.

If Amorim wasn't so wedded to his style then I'd say it would be better just to limp through to the summer with 4-2-3-1. Garnacho back in so you have pace either side of the CF and Amad more advanced. Fernandes as a deep lying 8 looks a deeply misguided tactic at this point. You struggle to score so he needs to go back to advanced midfield and popping up on edge of the box to get shots away.

Difference in a few previous seasons is you've played uninspiring football in the top half of the league. Now you're doing it in the bottom half.

I've been there with Paul Lambert and his style reminds me a bit of this given how flat everyone at Old Trafford is.
 
Roy Keane "no energy in the stadium."

Don't always agree with him but he's spot on here.
 
Nick. said:
Still feel like the end of Rangnick's run was worse performance wise but this is up there.
Click to expand...

RR was bad, but I dont remember us losing to many home games under him.

This is infinitely worse and cannot carry on.
 
Nick. said:
Still feel like the end of Rangnick's run was worse performance wise but this is up there.
Click to expand...

I use to think that but im really not sure. Factor in that we needed a rebound here, and that we're home, late night kick off, versus an abysmal team - this is as bad as anything ive ever seen. I dont even want to say im disgusted or angry or anything - im just completely demoralised by what im seeing. it hardly seems real, i cant think of anything even close to positive from what we just watched.
 
This is the worse it’s ever been. When have we ever lost six out of eight at home. Barely scoring a goal in the process. It eclipses the worse days under all the previous manager. Absolute shambles right now:
 
So far, Ole has been the best post Fergie manager... the least qualified of all the ones we have hired..
what a shit show..
Lets hope Amorim works out
 
This is the worst probably in like half a century or more.
 
This is the worst it's been by some distance.

We don't look like an average team in bad form, or a team full of players who have downed tools. We've become a genuine terrible team full of terrible players. We're absolutely fecked and I don't see how we turn this around
 
FortunaUtd said:
The fans are not superhuman
Click to expand...

I think he just meant the fans are just bored by the style already so they're not really buying into Amorim's plan. Plenty of other times in the past when you're poor and "UNITED! UNITED!" rings round the ground.

Going to need some summer window on a relatively limited budget if you don't make Europe in any form.
 
prateik said:
So far, Ole has been the best post Fergie manager... the least qualified of all the ones we have hired..
what a shit show..
Lets hope Amorim works out
Click to expand...

It's Jose. By far. Don't let the Paris fluke or empty stadium era fool you.
 
SuperiorXI said:
The LVG run was bad and seemed to go on for ages but I think this maybe has surpassed that now. Absolutely shocking.
Click to expand...
LVG football was boring but honestly that team is miles better than this lot, the only period we were truly bad under LVG for a consistent run was that December in 2015 from the Wolfsburg game, i only remember one game when we were hammered and that was Arsenal away
 
prateik said:
So far, Ole has been the best post Fergie manager... the least qualified of all the ones we have hired..
what a shit show..
Lets hope Amorim works out
Click to expand...
Because he kept things simple and gave freedom to the talented players. But he wasn't very good tactically and couldn't contain the egos in the dressing room.
Amorim is a tactical disaster, that is the reality, worse than everything we had.
 
Without a doubt. We’ve been consistently shit for nearly two fecking years. And I see absolutely no sign of it improving anytime soon.
 
Is he gonna last longer than Ashworth..

Every single aspect of this club is an utter mess.

To think what we were 20 years ago.
 
Captain Barnacles said:
LVG football was boring but honestly that team is miles better than this lot, the only period we were truly bad under LVG for a consistent run was that December in 2015 from the Wolfsburg game, i only remember one game when we were hammered and that was Arsenal away
Click to expand...
I remember a game vs city I think it was LVG, it was the first time I felt like we had nothing about us after so many years of being big dogs. Nowadays that feeling is almost every game.
 
Oh my. Hard to watch. A result though. Garnacho needs to come off the pine. End product is still not good enough. That being said, we don’t have enough runners to get on the end of it.
 
The football is the worst I’d say. I’m nowhere near as exasperated as I was way back then, though. I’ve just accepted this as par for the course. When we were shite at other points post-Ferguson there was always some hope that we’d get good again, which fanned the flames somewhat.
 
SuperiorXI said:
I remember a game vs city I think it was LVG, it was the first time I felt like we had nothing about us after so many years of being big dogs. Nowadays that feeling is almost every game.
Click to expand...
I remember LvG’s era, and does anyone else remember it as I do, like this? When he first took over, we had a match, maybe a friendly, an early Fa Cup match, etc. (Edit: it was the MK Dons Carabao match) and it was a very odd match where he seemed to be evaluating quite a bit of our fringe options. The match was awful, and he made up his mind about a ton of players after that one match. He was absolutely ruthless after that match. It felt it was incredibly unfair on some of those players.

After that, in the league, we were actually playing better for awhile, the results were good, the football seemed to get better… we were seeing some progression. Then we lost to Arsenal and LvG was under pressure. I also recall that Rooney, in particular was very poor and starting to really show his age and LvG was adamant. It was the “my captain shall always play” and the - we tried to be too adventurous and have to get to basics match. After that, we were diabolically defensive, LvG went off the deep end, the football was boring as hell…
 
You must log in or register to reply here.