L'Equipe : Zidane wants United job / all spaculation no updates

[TsuWave]

We finished second last season beating everyone in the league with a FA cup final. Only other thing we could have done is to beat Sevilla in CL and get knocked out by Bayern. We had a very good last season. If this didn't count as return i don't know what would've.

we fluked our way to second (19 points off the set pacers) with mostly dreadful football, and De Gea having an unreal season. beating everyone in the league is what now? and we lost the FA cup final, and got bodied by sevilla.

we didn't achieve anything substantial in terms of results nor in terms of style of play, hell, can't get the basics right 3 seasons in, and the board is just supposed to be delivering the bags when the vast majority of players have either stagnated and/or regressed, including the ones the manager brought in?

 

[Ace of Spades]

Zidane is not the right choice imo.

 

[Jed I. Knight]

Or maybe we'll be winning trophies in a year or two but you wouldn't have the guts to come up and admit how wrong you were.

I'm not sure if you're serious or not? I'd be absolutely delighted if I were wrong, and appointing Zidane turned it around for us, and brought us back to competing for the trophies that matter. Never again would there be a case were I would be happier to admit that I was wrong!

Unfortunately, I think there are systemic issues at the club that Zidane as a manager won't be able to fix. And until we start weeding out the root of the rot, I think we're going to continue to languish in a relative no man's land for a club of our stature.

 

[edgar allan]

We finished second last season beating everyone in the league with a FA cup final. Only other thing we could have done is to beat Sevilla in CL and get knocked out by Bayern. We had a very good last season. If this didn't count as return i don't know what would've.

The other thing we could have done last year was play more than a couple of games of decent football.
We limped into second place with Chelsea and Arsenal in disarray with managers on the way out ( i see a parallel there) and Liverpool chasing the CL.
The signs were there last year and a couple of good performances against the top 6 and a good few barely deserved wins were covering up the problems

We finished second last season beating everyone in the league with a FA cup final. Only other thing we could have done is to beat Sevilla in CL and get knocked out by Bayern. We had a very good last season. If this didn't count as return i don't know what would've.

 

[Litch]

Not sure he's the right appointment. Zidane is like the appointment after Pep where you are just adding to a well oil machine with signings that his profile will bring. It's not the appointment we need to get right, it's the club structure that still functions like SAF is still here....

 

[Sarni]

The other thing we could have done last year was play more than a couple of games of decent football.
We limped into second place with Chelsea and Arsenal in disarray with managers on the way out ( i see a parallel there) and Liverpool chasing the CL.
The signs were there last year and a couple of good performances against the top 6 and a good few barely deserved wins were covering up the problems

The rewriting of the last season is a bit annoying. We didn’t play ‘awful defensive football’ at all last year, we had maybe 5-6 games which we had approached negatively and dropped points but plenty of our wins were very convincing after good performances. We weren’t all out attack but played decent enough.

Also I have seen the argument that it was De Gea’s heroics that got us the 2nd place. Wrong again, he was actually less impressive last year than he had been for the previous three seasons.

 

[edgar allan]

The rewriting of the last season is a bit annoying. We didn’t play ‘awful defensive football’ at all last year, we had maybe 5-6 games which we had approached negatively and dropped points but plenty of our wins were very convincing after good performances. We weren’t all out attack but played decent enough.

Also I have seen the argument that it was De Gea’s heroics that got us the 2nd place. Wrong again, he was actually less impressive last year than he had been for the previous three seasons.

I think the figures for chances made and shots do support this. We were impressive for the first 6-8 weeks and then it was downhill from there.

 

[Mainoldo]

The rewriting of the last season is a bit annoying. We didn’t play ‘awful defensive football’ at all last year, we had maybe 5-6 games which we had approached negatively and dropped points but plenty of our wins were very convincing after good performances. We weren’t all out attack but played decent enough.

Also I have seen the argument that it was De Gea’s heroics that got us the 2nd place. Wrong again, he was actually less impressive last year than he had been for the previous three seasons.

Second half of the season we was crap. We had players playing within themselves we basically looked like Chelsea when they won the title in the second half of their season. We all know what happened the season after. It was like an overread book, I think he majority of us except the media would have had no issue with him being sacked in June.

 

[Godfather]

The rewriting of the last season is a bit annoying. We didn’t play ‘awful defensive football’ at all last year, we had maybe 5-6 games which we had approached negatively and dropped points but plenty of our wins were very convincing after good performances. We weren’t all out attack but played decent enough.

Also I have seen the argument that it was De Gea’s heroics that got us the 2nd place. Wrong again, he was actually less impressive last year than he had been for the previous three seasons.

Can't think of many games in the second half of last season where we had "good performances".

 

[Sayros]

Not sure he's the right appointment. Zidane is like the appointment after Pep where you are just adding to a well oil machine with signings that his profile will bring. It's not the appointment we need to get right, it's the club structure that still functions like SAF is still here....

It's very possible, but we don't know if Zidane can only succeed when he is in charge of a well-oiled machine. If he's legitimately interested in taking over this mess, it'd be a sign of intent that he's looking to expand his managerial experience by taking over a side that needs a lot of work rather than some tweaks. The fact is, we don't know how any coach would do with this squad, but one thing Zidane would bring for certain is a breath of fresh air and a new voice that I believe will benefit the team in the short-term. He may end up looking lost like the managers before him and tarnish his stellar managerial reputation he's built so far, but the potential upside is he's the one who brings Manchester United back to its prestige. Guys like Zidane live for those types of challenges, but I don't think I can see him as a long term option, I don't even know if long term options exist anymore in modern football when it comes to coaches.

 

[dove]

Some people really underrate Zidane. He may not be the best tactician in the world or reinvent football but his man management skills are one of the best. Maybe that's what we need as we surely have a talented squad. However he shouldn't be a panic appointment. We absolutely must hire a DoF. Not someone who will just take a blame for failures but someone who actually has a vision and long term plan in hiring managers, buying players etc. Ed is clueless and I feel anyone who would step in if we sack Jose mid season would fail.

 

[settembrini]

The single biggest reason we had a better league position last season was the improvement we made in taking our chances. We went from missing the most big chances out of any team in the league to missing significantly less than all our rivals for the top 4. For example in 16/17 we missed 15 more big chances than Liverpool, in 17/18 they missed 19 more than us.

By most other metrics we are either around the same or worse than in Mourinho's first season. We had fewer chances overall, less possession, our GK had to make more saves etc.

 

[RikRuud]

Tired of us picking “safe” choices. Let’s take a chance on a man who plays good football.

 

[Ban]

Tired of us picking “safe” choices. Let’s take a chance on a man who plays good football.

It's that easy. Zidane will come and got us playing great football + results cause you know he'll have a same star studded team as at Madrid..

 

[Ban]

Some people really underrate Zidane. He may not be the best tactician in the world or reinvent football but his man management skills are one of the best. Maybe that's what we need as we surely have a talented squad. However he shouldn't be a panic appointment. We absolutely must hire a DoF. Not someone who will just take a blame for failures but someone who actually has a vision and long term plan in hiring managers, buying players etc. Ed is clueless and I feel anyone who would step in if we sack Jose mid season would fail.

Getting Zidane before restructuring the club and appointing DoF would be a huge mistake and I bet in 1.5 year or so we'll be in trouble yet again.

 

[Judas]

Zidane reeks of the usual short term thinking (not even planning) that has messed this club up year after year.

 

[Sarni]

Can't think of many games in the second half of last season where we had "good performances".

Yet we had 12 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses over that period. 37 out of 51 possible points, that included wins over Chelsea, Liverpool, City and Arsenal.

We weren’t amazing, we definitely did not play scintillating football but we were very efficient and got the results. In the first half of season we actually had plenty of good attacking performances.

We are awful right now and Mourinho probably deserves to go but we don’t need to rewrite the previous two seasons and pretend like we had any reason to dismiss him last Summer. We sucked in CL and Sevilla games were probably one of the low points of United recent history but in the domestic competitions we did fine.

 

[Sarni]

The single biggest reason we had a better league position last season was the improvement we made in taking our chances. We went from missing the most big chances out of any team in the league to missing significantly less than all our rivals for the top 4. For example in 16/17 we missed 15 more big chances than Liverpool, in 17/18 they missed 19 more than us.

By most other metrics we are either around the same or worse than in Mourinho's first season. We had fewer chances overall, less possession, our GK had to make more saves etc.

I think we played much better football in 2016-17 and seemed to create more but we could not convert anything. If you combined our football from 2016-17 with efficiency from last year then we would have probably got 6-7 points more.

Right now we are miles worse than both those seasons. I think Mourinho has basically quit on us at this point as well.

 

[sugar_kane]

The more I think of this potential appointment the less into it I am... as pointed out above it’s more short term thinking / rolling of the dice.

We’ve got two to three years of serious rebuilding which needs to happen and needs to begin in earnest now, not be postponed for yet another season or two.

The next manager needs a clear attacking philosophy like Pep or Klopp. I don’t care how many trophies they’ve won.

 

[Waynne]

The problem IMO is the executive board. The club is in free fall since Fergie left because the board was too inept to plan for Fergie's inevitable retirement. As long as the club makes millions off of sponsorship deals and merchandise, the football will continue to suffer.

Mourinho wanted players, he didn't get them. The board didn't see it fit to back the manager. The board is it's own thing and thr manager another. There cannot be this disconnect between the two parties. We don't even have a director of football whereas City and other clubs have.
The rot at United that's been going on for years is at the top. The failing manager and underperforming players is the visible result of that.

 

[kr0nix]

Zidane is not the right choice imo.

Who would you prefer?

 

[Masterman]

Who would you prefer?

Someone like Nagelsmann. Someone more likely to play tactics that no one else does. The end goal is to finish above Guardiola's City, and that end goal is only going to be achievable with a manager that can surpass Guardiola. Which is not something I believe Zidane is capable of.

 

[Cassidy]

Someone like Nagelsmann. Someone more likely to play tactics that no one else does. The end goal is to finish above Guardiola's City, and that end goal is only going to be achievable with a manager that can surpass Guardiola. Which is not something I believe Zidane is capable of.

Great but name names, and not Nagelsmann since he isn't available

 

[VP89]

Someone like Nagelsmann. Someone more likely to play tactics that no one else does. The end goal is to finish above Guardiola's City, and that end goal is only going to be achievable with a manager that can surpass Guardiola. Which is not something I believe Zidane is capable of.

He's an absolute dream managerial appointment for me but he's signed with RB Leipzig from next year.

 

[RikRuud]

It's that easy. Zidane will come and got us playing great football + results cause you know he'll have a same star studded team as at Madrid..

I’d rather us play some good football and struggle than play dire football and struggle. It’s a risk but we are at a dead end.

 

[Ban]

I’d rather us play some good football and struggle than play dire football and struggle. It’s a risk but we are at a dead end.

I'd rather we had a vision and plans for the future. We can play nice football but still run into a crisis in a year or 2 if the roots are bad and the roots are disastrous right now.

 

[Zoo]

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[NotQuiteManc]

Ideal scenario IMHO would be to have someone like Hyneckes(spelling?) and how he helped steady the Bayern ship for the rest of the season, before giving it to someone else for the long term "project".

 

[DRM]

Can anyone translate this article?

https://m.lequipe.fr/Football/Article/L-ombre-de-zinedine-zidane-plane-sur-manchester-united/945058

 

[Canagel]

Ideal scenario IMHO would be to have someone like Hyneckes(spelling?) and how he helped steady the Bayern ship for the rest of the season, before giving it to someone else for the long term "project".

Heynckes. he's a great manager but the only team he would come out of retirement for is Bayern. That's what he said last season.

 

[The Cat]

Can anyone translate this article?

https://m.lequipe.fr/Football/Article/L-ombre-de-zinedine-zidane-plane-sur-manchester-united/945058

Don't think it is worth it from my basic French. Nothing new.

 

[Rash Decision]

Ideal scenario IMHO would be to have someone like Hyneckes(spelling?) and how he helped steady the Bayern ship for the rest of the season, before giving it to someone else for the long term "project".

In our context that would be SAF. Given his health I don't think he should. Also would like him to preserve his legacy of having won the league in his final season as manager.

 

[Sarni]

In our context that would be SAF. Given his health I don't think he should. Also would like him to preserve his legacy of having won the league in his final season as manager.

Indeed, I don’t want him to come after 5 years away from football to the mess we currently are and tarnish his legacy. He left as a Premier League winner, leave it as it is.

 

[Dec9003]

I don't have anything against Zidane, but the idea of sacking our current manager and bringing him in to appease Pogba makes me feel physically ill.

 

[Judas]

I don't have anything against Zidane, but the idea of sacking our current manager and bringing him in to appease Pogba makes me feel physically ill.

Yes, because thats the only reason we'd want Zidane to be our manager. Yep. Heard we're being renamed to Pogba FC too.

 

[JPRouve]

I don't have anything against Zidane, but the idea of sacking our current manager and bringing him in to appease Pogba makes me feel physically ill.

Where that idea comes from though. If Mourinho is sacked is because he is having a mare and Zidane is currently the most successful manager available.

 

[dove]

Yes, because thats the only reason we'd want Zidane to be our manager. Yep. Heard we're being renamed to Pogba FC too.

Martial FC won't be happy, we must find a compromise between the 2.

 

[pocco]

Yes, because thats the only reason we'd want Zidane to be our manager. Yep. Heard we're being renamed to Pogba FC too.

Sounds ridiculous, but I could almost guarantee it comes into Woodward's thinking. He'll want his cash cow happy.

 

[Jazz]

Heynckes. he's a great manager but the only team he would come out of retirement for is Bayern. That's what he said last season.

That's a shame really because I think he's the perfect caretaker until we get a DOF, do some restructuring, and then make a decision on the next managerial appointment.

 

[Rash Decision]

Where that idea comes from though. If Mourinho is sacked is because he is having a mare and Zidane is currently the most successful manager available.

Have seen a few arguments here and there that Mourinho is failing because Pogba caused him to lose the dressing room.