Ole Gunnar Solskjaer | W15 D2 L4
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
10-1-1 not good enough for some, I suppose.
Hopefully our performances vs Chelsea and Liverpool are better.
We moved the ball really well the first few games, but we've gradually gotten worse.
We moved the ball really well the first few games, but we've gradually gotten worse.
Appointing Ole after 2 months and the best start to a premier league appointment ever is a risk ???? supposedly, how did appointing Moyes a seasoned PL manager go?, what about Van Ghoul? one of the greatest managers ever? what about Mou the most successful manager in the PL except SAF?
There are clearly no guarantees, whats more if Ole gets top 4 how would that impact on the next manager if not given to Ole, the players love him, the fans love him, that next manager would have such a short leash and margin for error, the utd board cannot have had any notion or hope that Ole would do what he has so far, b ut unless Utd now nosedive then they have painted the club into a corner.... how can they not give it to him?
There are clearly no guarantees, whats more if Ole gets top 4 how would that impact on the next manager if not given to Ole, the players love him, the fans love him, that next manager would have such a short leash and margin for error, the utd board cannot have had any notion or hope that Ole would do what he has so far, b ut unless Utd now nosedive then they have painted the club into a corner.... how can they not give it to him?
B*llocks with attacking football this , united way that , attacking football with just 1 shot on target ? I thought attacking football should be implemented against anyone not just against shite teams ? On serious ,sweet talk on public won't make our players suddenly better. Our player are just not good enough. If only the players didn't down tool under Mourinho, I believe he would have somehow got a results. Who cares about attacking or defensive football anyway when both end up with 1 shot on target ? Mourinho always had a problem with players because of his personality but we can count with one hand how many times he got tactically outclassed by anyone. Meanwhile Oleball is basically is lumping or putting balls into space behind defenders for Rashford to chase , if he gets it on left he cuts and shoots, if he gets centrally , he shoots, if he gets it on right he crosses to Pogba. Someone will eventually find out. Realize that Spurs is the only top 8 team he has beaten so far , the rest are shite team over shite team. He didn't actually transform us into a better team since Mourinho. He is just putting us into the level we are capable of which is still far below European Elite.
So what do you want to say exactly? Should Ole contact the FA to schedule city and and Liverpool games for us all February?
Precisely my point. It has nothing to do with the talent and man by man, we have probably the better squad than Napoli and Lyon. But they are well coached, tactically astute with high ball retention skills and work as a cohesive unit.
So the question is , are we moving in the right direction? If yes, is it too early to see some visible changes in big games ? Tbh,We really looked lost against 2 big teams we faced ( Spurs and PSG)
Only time will tell if Ole is the right man to take us forward but I am not making any judgements on him until we play Chelsea, City and Liverpool.
People tend to ignore our finishing 2nd last season, or how we got 13/15 points against Man City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool in the second half of last season... Because it doesn't fit their narrative of an evil and "passed it" Mourinho.
That is, literally, fiction. Can we please keep made up nonsense out of this debate?
Is it safe to criticize Ole now? Too early?
I will do it. Imo he doesn't read game good. His general idea is to play attacking football in 4231 formation with giving attacking players freedom. That is good approach and with that we beat weaker teams. But when things go bad he doesn't do much. It is pure player instead of player sub. Left winger instead of left winger. Mc for mc. Striker for striker. Lets not ignore the fact that Spurs should destroy us. De gea had 11 saves. Poch outplayed him then. Against Psg he didn't adapt before and during the game. It was "just play guys". Psg is better than us, but that was brutal to watch.
As much he bought me in that smaller games, he lost my faith in big games. We shall see what will be against Chelsea and Liverpool. We all be smarter after that.
I still think that we need go all in for Poch.
Ask yourselves. Leicester, Psg, Spurs even Brighton and Burnley games. Were those games really that different comparing with Mourinho's United first two seasons?
I will do it. Imo he doesn't read game good. His general idea is to play attacking football in 4231 formation with giving attacking players freedom. That is good approach and with that we beat weaker teams. But when things go bad he doesn't do much. It is pure player instead of player sub. Left winger instead of left winger. Mc for mc. Striker for striker. Lets not ignore the fact that Spurs should destroy us. De gea had 11 saves. Poch outplayed him then. Against Psg he didn't adapt before and during the game. It was "just play guys". Psg is better than us, but that was brutal to watch.
As much he bought me in that smaller games, he lost my faith in big games. We shall see what will be against Chelsea and Liverpool. We all be smarter after that.
I still think that we need go all in for Poch.
Ask yourselves. Leicester, Psg, Spurs even Brighton and Burnley games. Were those games really that different comparing with Mourinho's United first two seasons?
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The game against PSG was a combination of errors and some of the squad froze. First ten minutes we looked fine and then suddenly we stalled. A momentary flare up of anger between Lingard and Pogba and their goalie calmed Lingard. After that we became mesmerised - a combination of youth and inexperience - and it’s clear Ole saw it and was discussing with Carrick. Then came the injuries - they maybe serious or a symptom of that moment but that happens in footy.
As to PSG - bollox to their class and better players. That result would have been a masterclass of top players if they had trounced us 5 or 6-0 but they didn’t. Their goals were our errors - we gifted them. Matic momentarily lost concentration and let the header go for their first goal and the second was a pure defensive mistake. We were drawn square and had narrowed - another sign of broken concentration.
Why: Ole was under pressure from his press conference and TBH it was of his own making. He was way over confident, and that happens too. That fed into the squad but then they suddenly doubted themselves. Around thirty minutes into the game or so his face changed, the penny dropped and he knew he was not up against PSG - but facing a problem with our players. The injuries forced a choice, he went attacking whereas I would have shuffled the midfield. Did PSG out class us - no; were their players better quality - no, and did they kill us - no.
My concern for the rest of the season lies in the alternative game plan which has to be managed into Ole’s system and a refresh over the lack of game changers on the bench. Sanchez, Lukaku and Mata are not second string options. IMO we have to develop midfield options - with 2, 3 or 4 depending on the opponents and we have to get those unused midfielders some game time.
As to PSG - bollox to their class and better players. That result would have been a masterclass of top players if they had trounced us 5 or 6-0 but they didn’t. Their goals were our errors - we gifted them. Matic momentarily lost concentration and let the header go for their first goal and the second was a pure defensive mistake. We were drawn square and had narrowed - another sign of broken concentration.
Why: Ole was under pressure from his press conference and TBH it was of his own making. He was way over confident, and that happens too. That fed into the squad but then they suddenly doubted themselves. Around thirty minutes into the game or so his face changed, the penny dropped and he knew he was not up against PSG - but facing a problem with our players. The injuries forced a choice, he went attacking whereas I would have shuffled the midfield. Did PSG out class us - no; were their players better quality - no, and did they kill us - no.
My concern for the rest of the season lies in the alternative game plan which has to be managed into Ole’s system and a refresh over the lack of game changers on the bench. Sanchez, Lukaku and Mata are not second string options. IMO we have to develop midfield options - with 2, 3 or 4 depending on the opponents and we have to get those unused midfielders some game time.
I am not convinced he has a lot more to offer than what he has done already, if he gets the job permanently I don’t see him being in the same bracket as the likes of Poch, Klopp and Guardiola. He also doesn’t have a great structure to help him with recruitment and will be operating in a market he isn’t experienced in without any competent assistance.
Having said all that he has done a very good job so far, has right attitude and is a much better fit for the club than Moyes, LVG or Mourinho ever were. In terms of our realistic options he maybe is the best bet, who knows what the board would do instead based on previous recruitment.
Having said all that he has done a very good job so far, has right attitude and is a much better fit for the club than Moyes, LVG or Mourinho ever were. In terms of our realistic options he maybe is the best bet, who knows what the board would do instead based on previous recruitment.
Sacking him was the right call, regardless of how we did the year before. The day Zlatan fecked up his ACL was the day it all started to fall apart for Mou.
The lengths people are willing to go to still defend Mouhrino baffles me. Maybe Ole is not the best thing since sliced bread, but he has gotten as many points in 9 PL fixtures and Mou got in 17, GD went from +0 to +17, some fairly easy games, but also some tough ones like Spurs and Leichester away and we dont have a manager that scowls, spews venom, sows discord in the club and tries to alienate his best players. Moyes might have been out of his depth and Van Gaal might have been an outdated clown, but at least those two did not try and destroy the club in some narcissistic temper tantrum.
If Mou was still here then Pogba and Martial would have been gone in the summer. Probably Rashford and De Gea as well. Hes a venomous fecking snake and still having him around would only seen us plummet further.
Yup. I somewhat agree with this.
My biggest reservations with Ole, after having seen him for almost two months, is that we still lack a playing style. The second a team sits back and we're in control of the ball, we seem to lack ideas of breaking them down. It's ironic that most of our goals are almost identical to what we saw under Jose last season where we'd score many on the counter.
The other day against PSG, other than when we could break quickly, we never looked like breaking them down and that's extremely worrying. And the issue is further compounded by the fact that our three best forwards are so inconsistent. The key to an effective counter attack is efficiency and Tony, Marcus and Jesse lack exactly this.
The next few weeks will be very telling. I'm going to ahead and say that the performances, for me, will be more important than the result. If we go out and take the game to the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, PSG and City, then i'll be extremely happy.
Criticizing is always fair, but only fair criticism. If your understanding is that Solskjær didn’t prepare a special strategy for the Spurs match, that he said ‘just go and play’ to the players, that he doesn’t change during games, then you quite obviously don’t know enough about football or that game to come with any relevant criticism. It becomes irrelevant if you hit right on a few points, as you clearly either didn’t watch the match, or you didn’t understand any of the tactics, and you didn’t listen to quite a few more knowledgeable people analyzing the game, or you didn’t understand anything of that either.
There is discussion to be had wether our tactics in the first half would work against any team, wether Solskjær or Poch did best all in all regarding the context, wether Spurs should have had more goals, wether our changes in the second half came fast enough or worked well enough - but if you didn’t notice how we played with Lingard as a false nine to take out Eriksen and used two forwards using the width to pin back their fullbacks in the first half, and Rashford exploiting the space around Vertongen as his pace made him a weak link when Spurs press high, and that in the first half actually worked, making Poch hugely frustrated with the game plan he himself had had a week to prepare, then it’s not worth trying to make criticism of the tactics.
If you didn’t notice how Solskjær switched Lingard to the right and pushed Rashford up top in the second half to counter Pochs changes at the break, then neither is it interesting to hear you claim that he doesn’t make tactical changes, because it becomes clear that you won’t know anyhow. You need to ask people who know a bit and listen to them, otherwise your criticism won’t make any the wiser.
Neither would you understand why Spurs chances came mainly the first seven minutes of the second half and in the last thirty minutes, while that is blatantly obvious to most who saw the tactical preparations and changes both managers did.
A dilemma indeed. My hope is that Ole gets the permanent job, say a shortterm on 1 year to build up players confidence and to show what he's made of. If he doesn't prevail, go all out on Poch. He can't do worst than Mou for example, he will still be loved and respected if it doesn't work out on the pitch. But my other side says Poch and hope to see him achieve nothing just to shut some of peoples mouth in here. If he's good, halleluja!
Lets be realistic, its clearly too early to decide who is the right man. The board has a difficult choice to do.
Lets be realistic, its clearly too early to decide who is the right man. The board has a difficult choice to do.
Spot on, get top 4 and there is absolutely no reason why OGS doesn't deserve the job full time, as you said he has had the best start as a PL manager ever! that is no fluke.
Also PSG did nothing really until we gave away that ridiculous corner (Matic
). That changed the game, on another night we win that match. OGS in 2 months has embarrassed the previous 3 managers.
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He currently lacks a plan b, which is understandable given he's only here for about two months and the busy schedule during the season.
I thought we were the slightly better team in the first half against PSG or at least equal to them. After the injuries it was a different game and we got deservedly beaten.
I think Ole is clever enough to learn from those defeats.
I would like to see him get the job. He has to improve the fitness level of the team to press teams more and also strengthen in the right positions during the transfer window with two or three additional players.
I thought we were the slightly better team in the first half against PSG or at least equal to them. After the injuries it was a different game and we got deservedly beaten.
I think Ole is clever enough to learn from those defeats.
I would like to see him get the job. He has to improve the fitness level of the team to press teams more and also strengthen in the right positions during the transfer window with two or three additional players.
Great post. I've never really thought about the fact whilst we are known for giving youth a chance, why not let our managers learn the job....
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Woodward just confirmed on the second quarter conference call that the club won’t be making any statements until they’re ready to announce the next manager, seems like it’ll be at the end of the season at the earliest.
I don't know if Ole is the best manager available or not, don't think anyone does. But if he is, I would be happy with him being appointed. I think people should remember it took Pep a full season before he got his City side playing great, consistent, winning football. That's despite taking over in much more favourable circumstances, at a club which had been literally moulded to facilitate his immediate success.
For many on these boards, the fact that Ole hasn't achieved in 2 months something it took Pep 12 months to do is a proof he is a poor manager, which is just ridiculous. Pep, Klopp, Poch, Ferguson... none of them would have done better than Ole has done in his first 2 months IMO and the facts seem to back that up. I understand that Ole has only a limited timeframe to prove himself and every poor performance is damaging for him, but a bit of perspective wouldn't go amiss.
For many on these boards, the fact that Ole hasn't achieved in 2 months something it took Pep 12 months to do is a proof he is a poor manager, which is just ridiculous. Pep, Klopp, Poch, Ferguson... none of them would have done better than Ole has done in his first 2 months IMO and the facts seem to back that up. I understand that Ole has only a limited timeframe to prove himself and every poor performance is damaging for him, but a bit of perspective wouldn't go amiss.
This criticism of Ole is ridiculous. It's something the ABUs and the media were waiting for to pounce on and some of our own fans are lapping it up. We have a manager who has come in and gone on a incredible run (and yes part of this is new manager bounce/reaction to Mourinho going and a favourable fixture list), however he has done better than anyone could imagine.
It may be part nostalgia on my part however I have been very impressed with how Ole carries himself. Sure he is 'yong and lerning' however I see see something there, something special about this guy that we absolutely need to invest in a nurture. Like Rish Sawhney said why not let our manager learn and grow into the role (like we do with young players)?
I also have this nagging feeling that Poch may not work out here. That's if we are somehow even able to prise him from Spurs (dealing with Levy, Poch may not want to come etc). Our club set-up/infrastructure regarding the football side lags behind a lot of top clubs which is why external big name managers who don't get Utd have struggled. In the current set-up (if nothing changes much e.g. no DOF) then I think Ole is the best solution as he gets the club and understands the current set-up and how to get the best out of it.
It may be part nostalgia on my part however I have been very impressed with how Ole carries himself. Sure he is 'yong and lerning' however I see see something there, something special about this guy that we absolutely need to invest in a nurture. Like Rish Sawhney said why not let our manager learn and grow into the role (like we do with young players)?
I also have this nagging feeling that Poch may not work out here. That's if we are somehow even able to prise him from Spurs (dealing with Levy, Poch may not want to come etc). Our club set-up/infrastructure regarding the football side lags behind a lot of top clubs which is why external big name managers who don't get Utd have struggled. In the current set-up (if nothing changes much e.g. no DOF) then I think Ole is the best solution as he gets the club and understands the current set-up and how to get the best out of it.
Shut up. Jesus, you like to hear yourself talk. We were hammered in that Spurs game and DDG saved our bacon. Don't make it sound like some masterclass from OGS. We were lucky.
Manchester United has been the best team in the Premier League since Ole took over as interin manager.
2nd most goals scored (was first until Manchester Citys 6-0 slaughter) - Least goals conceded. Best goal differential. Most points.
We have outplayed our nearest top4 competition by 9 and 12 points respectively under that time. Given the current trend, a top3 finish is not unrealistic (Not very likely, but not outside the realm of possible).
When criticizing our own manager after a loss, following 2 freak injuries on key players during evenly played 0-0 first half, perhaps take a look at how other clubs have faired in that time, and consider if their managers are that much better at the job currently.
http://solskjaertabellen.com/
It is not always about appointing the best manager in the world especially at a club with such an identity such as ours - it is about finding the right fit (which surely is demonstrated by our recent appointments). Ole is the right fit for many reasons and has had a fantastic start. Ole will learn from Europe just as SAF did. We have found a good fit at last and so let him develop into the nest manager for man Utd in the world! We don't have to appoint until the end of the season and so we should wait until then but if the decision had to be made right now it would be Ole 100%. Someone show me a manager who has had a better start in their first 12 matches ever? I am sure someone will and I look forward to that stat but has to be very few
Better to give time to Greenwood, Gomes and Chong than those three clowns. Can't get much worse. We'd need a new RW either way.
I was not defending Mourinho, just pointing out the fact that this team has already performed better in the previous season and what I deem as inconsistencies in how people rate performances under each manager. Last season's record against the top six shows that the team at least has the quality to be creating clear chances against the top sides, so it is not acceptable to fail to create any chances against PSG--especially when they played poorly themselves. It is not about winning against PSG, but the complete lack of threat and the inability to create anything that is the issue. I would accept a loss if we actually looked like we were going to win at any point.
The other issue is that this is the third time recently where the team have failed to control or at least look consistently threatening in matches where the opposition is not playing well. Leicester were awful in the game against us, but we only managed to be threatening for the first ten minutes. Why were we unable to be threatening throughout the entire game or at least longer than 10 minutes? I would understand more if Leicester started playing better, but that was not the case and it was all down to ManUtd playing worse: misplaced passes and poor decisions.
The other time was against Burnley. We failed to created anything of note until we went 2:0 down. The comeback looks good but we should never have been in that position in the first place because Burnley did not even play that well. I do not even think they were that great in defence and it was more to do with our tame attack. We lack any form of an attacking structure and I have not seen any signs of Solskjaer even trying to implement one. It just seems to be attack at the moment. Most of the time I find our attack looks completely disjointed and it is only random moments of brilliance that have been winning us games (Pogba and Rashford etc.).
I believe Solskjaer needs to implement some structure on the team as at the moment it looks chaotic. Half the time the attack do not look like they know what they are doing or where they are supposed to be. At the moment he has failed in this regard and that is why I would certainly not appoint him as manager at the moment.
Chelsea in the cup will be an interesting test, due to the fact that he has lost two key players to injury.
His decision making and ability to learn lessons will be tested. Will he go for the underwhelming Plan B of Lukaku central and/ or Mata right, change the formation or try alternative players?
If its the 1st, then I'd be highly surprised if we come away with anything against a misfiring and vulnerable Chelsea. It would also lead me to seriously doubt his credentials as our long term solution.
His decision making and ability to learn lessons will be tested. Will he go for the underwhelming Plan B of Lukaku central and/ or Mata right, change the formation or try alternative players?
If its the 1st, then I'd be highly surprised if we come away with anything against a misfiring and vulnerable Chelsea. It would also lead me to seriously doubt his credentials as our long term solution.
Anyone saying "we should definitely not appoint him" needs to get their head checked. Yes, there is an Argentinian manager at another club who may or may not be the second coming of Christ, but that doesn't mean he's necessarily available or even the right fit for us.
I think this is just one of those times where we need to sit back and let the club make an informed decision.
I think this is just one of those times where we need to sit back and let the club make an informed decision.
Once plan A went out the window there was no plan B the other night. We don't have a plan B as the replacement players are not dynamic enough in attack. Don't forget our plan B last couple of years has been hoof ball up to Fellani. Ole got rid of that. I think if Ole gets the job he will buy couple more dynamic players in that postion. Mata needs to go and Sanchez. 2 more direct players with pace and good movement can hurt teams. We will then have Martial, Rashford, Lingard, Lukaku and 1 or 2 dynamic attacker/winger. Once I seen Mata on the other night at half time we all knew how game was going to pan out going forward. Lukaku would of been better option then Mata.
Ah, yes... Lukaku should have gone in earlier... I know this is a bit of cherry-picking, but there's previous match-day discussion on Lukaku that contain some examples of the general attitude toward him that I distinctly felt was coming out during both games on these two pages:
After subbing in against Leicester: https://www.redcafe.net/matches/leicester-city-vs-manchester-united.264/discussion?page=51
After starting against Fulham: https://www.redcafe.net/matches/fulham-vs-manchester-united.265/discussion?page=28
But I think my favorites came from the Fulham game:
"Lukaku is Fulham's best defender." (Someone else went so far as to say we were playing with nine men)
and
"Lukaku is the new Fellaini." (For those of you lamenting the sale of Fellaini to work in the sweatshops)
Of course, since Ole held him off the field against PSG until late in the game, he obviously should not have done so...
After subbing in against Leicester: https://www.redcafe.net/matches/leicester-city-vs-manchester-united.264/discussion?page=51
After starting against Fulham: https://www.redcafe.net/matches/fulham-vs-manchester-united.265/discussion?page=28
But I think my favorites came from the Fulham game:
"Lukaku is Fulham's best defender." (Someone else went so far as to say we were playing with nine men)
and
"Lukaku is the new Fellaini." (For those of you lamenting the sale of Fellaini to work in the sweatshops)
Of course, since Ole held him off the field against PSG until late in the game, he obviously should not have done so...
You just know that most of the people suddenly saying this were all for Ole on Tuesday morning, before our loss, and Tottenham's win.
Fans are pathetically fickle.
I think he should go 352 and see what happens:
Smalling - Lindelof - Bailly
Dalot - Herrera - Matic - Pogba - Shaw
Lukaku - Rashford
Smalling - Lindelof - Bailly
Dalot - Herrera - Matic - Pogba - Shaw
Lukaku - Rashford
OGS has done well motivating the team. One of the reasons he should stay on is because fans wont turn on him when things inevitably go bad. It will be Woodward and the Glazers next. Someone like Poch would easily take the fall. Think Woodward wouldn't dare go for Allegri or Zidane. However, OGS hasn't changed a lot tactically which is expected mid-season. Most of the work seems like it is Mckenna and Carricks playstyle. We played similarly under Jose. The only difference is Matic has been told he can Pass it forward and we push both FBs forward rather than one. Under Jose the RW would come narrow and pop up everywhere, this still happens. Under Jose the left side of the pitch would be congested. This still happens. The major difference is OGS has allowed players to play out the back whereas Jose would say safety first. What we can deduce from this in a positive sense is OGS can adapt and play different ways even though I don't like the way we currently play and how much we rely on Pogba. A negative is it doesn't seem he has his own Pep/Klopp style, too much flexibility isn't always a good thing.
Those of you who think Ole was tactically outclassed vs PSG- do you think hes capable of learning from his mistakes and seeing where things went wrong or is he like the manager equivalent of a player who isn't quite top class and has a level?
Do we think if we gave Ole time he could become a top class manager given this was his first CL tie with injuries and some deadwood or do we think he will struggle to make the step up to be manager who's challenging for the CL? Eg a David Moyes- looked good at Everton but not a top class manager
Know its probably impossible to say but interested to know if anyone thinks they know. I don't really "get" tactics so wouldn't know. I would say he wouldn't be too arrogant to learn and adapt but can he and how long would it take.
Do we think if we gave Ole time he could become a top class manager given this was his first CL tie with injuries and some deadwood or do we think he will struggle to make the step up to be manager who's challenging for the CL? Eg a David Moyes- looked good at Everton but not a top class manager
Know its probably impossible to say but interested to know if anyone thinks they know. I don't really "get" tactics so wouldn't know. I would say he wouldn't be too arrogant to learn and adapt but can he and how long would it take.
Do you have any actual examples to add to this comment?
Fred and Sanchez are both struggling massively with the most basic concept of footballing. Pereira was awful the last time he got to play. Really, really awful. All of them are liabilities right now.
So that leaves Scott McTominay.
Is he a better player than Mata or Lukaku?
It would be possible for Ole to make some substantial changes to how we approach the games, if the players available on the bench were not having AWFUL seasons.
Mata and Lukaku are literally the only players that Manchester United have in their squad that are of a substantial quality to defend playing in a XI squad against Chelsea.
The manager is dealing with a squad that is currently as deep as a waterdroplet.
I think Fred need a minute, Lindelof can play as DM/sweeper so I don't think we need Matic behind 3 CB. Just two ball winner behind Pogba would be decent midfield when we play 3 CB back.
Bailly? No, it'll be Rojo or Jones, they are much better than him as LCB.
Yes. Here are the three alternatives to the failed plan B I was referring to (Lukaku central, Mata right)
1. Different formation - it would be based on two forwards, either a diamond (preferred) or a 352. In either scenario, he could use Mata as the attacking mid or Sanchez. Would also give the chance to have Lukaku pull out to the right where he has looked better this season.
2. Non-Academy Alternatives (433) - Lukaku on the right, although he still has limitations, he has been mostly competent and occasionally very good (Arsenal). The other option is Dalot, who could be used as a winger in an emergency situation (He can run, tackle, hold he ball and dribble). Both are not ideal, but both are better than Mata on the right.
That still leaves an issuevith Sanchez on the left, personally I still believe in him, but the following few ganes are the acid test on his United credentials. Appreciate that he is not in everyone's favor, so my other alternative is youth
3. Academy Options - Greenwood, Chong and Gomes all have promise and have done well at lower level. Apart from a question mark on the latter (can Gomes do well in the flank?), they all offer something different in the front line. Yes it's a risk, but they are a different solution that could succeed. This brings me on to my final point.
Lukaku (central) and Mata (right) are experienced, but as far as this season goes, they have been closer to abysmal than competent. If OGS makes the same decision to play them there, then we are asking for failure. This is my current issue with OGS, he has seen them underperform (in those positions) during and before his tenure - the big question is what is he expecting to achieve with the doing exact same thing again?
Yes we lack depth in certain positions, but that is no excuse for making the same mistake again and again. My preference would be to use youth and see if that works as it did for Busby and Fergie. If it fails, then go for the lesser of two failures.
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It is not bizarre if you remember that many forumers are not Man Utd fans.
Also, in statistics, if you ask any question to 2000 people you will always get 10% of weird answers.
And then you have those who voted a day after Ole's appointment and they never visited the poll again to change their vote.