Agree, but a 2nd XI would be mainly Chelsea. That's why i believe they have a better squad.I didn't big up JamesThis is why I said they will have either Willian or Pedro in the pecking order for the third attacking spot.
I'm not sure if Hudson Odoi is ahead of Greenwood either. He has played 27 mins in PL this season and 90 mins in LC.
Chelsea's drop off in quality isn't much of a problem because it isn't that good to start with.
Abraham is a good player but still he's not better than Martial or Rashford and it would be a knee jerk reaction to say he is.
To me both attacks are full of youngsters and we have the best two when fit - Martial and Rashford.
If we make a combined 11 we will have Pogba in midfield Martial/Rashford up front and Chelsea will probably have a RW, 2 CM's and LB at a push when all are fit.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's interview
- Thread starter RedMachine03
- Start date
Probably. I'd still take United's squad as it is though.
They have a very good young players but who out of them will make it is debatable and open for interpretation.
They have one of the worst defences so far in the league and it's not a surprise since Rudiger's injury and how short they are there. You can probably have the excuse of the transfer ban for not investing.
Replace defence with attack and Rudiger with Martial and that's us.
The negativity, revisionism and lack of objectivity on this forum is ridiculous. If you can't see any development since Solskjaer took charge then quite frankly either your eyes or your brains - probably both even - are betraying you.
The players who left are players everyone agreed last year needed to go - so Ole's done that right at least. The players brought in have all proved great improvements so far - so that part too is covered he obviously knows what kind of players we need. Mentality and morale has definitely improved within the squad - the players we have now at least try their best (even if their best may be inadequate for a top-side) and looks emotionally invested in what they're doing something I've not seen for years (with a few honorable exceptions of course). Passing and movement have definitely improved and we're attempting to create chances playing attractive football rather than relying on the opposition making a mess of themselves so that too is a positive. We're focusing on youth again and building for the long term - for the first time in ages - which is delightful to observe and also our defense is looking solid again - another step in the right direction.
Also Ole is drawing the right conclusions whenever we do mess up - so apparently he's not in the dark as to which areas needs strengthening.
Our lack of results is down to things that cannot be instantly fixed - and hence must be endured. At least two of the games we lost points from this season were games where our dominance warranted three points - so yeah bad luck but luck usually evens out over time so even though it's bitter I'm not particularly worried about it. Our squad is probably the thinnest and least experienced in the league and we really should have had two more seasoned midfielders and a top-class attacker to replace those who left - in the final third we're something of a mess (though still improved from last year where we were absolutely abysmal in that area) and our attackers are far from being clinical enough - but is that down to Ole? I doubt it - he said he wanted five signings during the summer and even identified the weak areas of our team correctly - yet he only got three (of which one was an unproven youngster even) - so something tells me this was more down to either lack of available talent or the board not acknowledging how urgent it was replacing those who left (Lukaku and Herrera in particular).
And like I said we're a young and inexperienced side - Solskjaer himself included - so to judge this as a finished product is beyond moronic. We won't win the league this year - get over it nobody in their right minds would expect this not from any manager. We might make top-four if this team manages to grow as the season progresses and we're lucky to avoid an injury crisis (like the one we're suffering from at present) - but like a lot of people said at the end of last season a top-six then hoping to win the EL is a more realistic way back into the CL. However if we keep progressing and building on what they've done so far during our January and summer windows - I think we'll be able to solidify a top-four next season and then step back up as potential challengers by 2022.
Personally I don't know yet if this project is what will get us back into the top flight but neither can anyone in here and truth is we won't know until Christmas 2020 because that's how rebuilding a shattered team works - it takes time. I'm encourages so far though because every step taken up until this point has been in the right direction - and my only grief is that we should have made one more step (reinforcing our midfield and attack as mentioned above). But like I said - I don't think this is down to our current manager as he himself too identified these issues already during our last campaign so he's obviously aware of them.
Either way - this is where we are at present. Let's not pretend it's Ole's fault because it's not - he's doing his best with what he's inherited and from an objective view you couldn't expect more from him or anyone else than what we're currently seeing. I bet most of the people who are slagging him off would be way more nuanced in their views if his name was Klopp or Pochettino - then suddenly as if by some stroke of magic you'd all be able see what the rest of us are seeing. This is Manchester United Football Club as of 2019 - get behind it or feck off to be honest. Supporters turning on their own team are harmful to that team - and that's the last this club needs right now.
The players who left are players everyone agreed last year needed to go - so Ole's done that right at least. The players brought in have all proved great improvements so far - so that part too is covered he obviously knows what kind of players we need. Mentality and morale has definitely improved within the squad - the players we have now at least try their best (even if their best may be inadequate for a top-side) and looks emotionally invested in what they're doing something I've not seen for years (with a few honorable exceptions of course). Passing and movement have definitely improved and we're attempting to create chances playing attractive football rather than relying on the opposition making a mess of themselves so that too is a positive. We're focusing on youth again and building for the long term - for the first time in ages - which is delightful to observe and also our defense is looking solid again - another step in the right direction.
Also Ole is drawing the right conclusions whenever we do mess up - so apparently he's not in the dark as to which areas needs strengthening.
Our lack of results is down to things that cannot be instantly fixed - and hence must be endured. At least two of the games we lost points from this season were games where our dominance warranted three points - so yeah bad luck but luck usually evens out over time so even though it's bitter I'm not particularly worried about it. Our squad is probably the thinnest and least experienced in the league and we really should have had two more seasoned midfielders and a top-class attacker to replace those who left - in the final third we're something of a mess (though still improved from last year where we were absolutely abysmal in that area) and our attackers are far from being clinical enough - but is that down to Ole? I doubt it - he said he wanted five signings during the summer and even identified the weak areas of our team correctly - yet he only got three (of which one was an unproven youngster even) - so something tells me this was more down to either lack of available talent or the board not acknowledging how urgent it was replacing those who left (Lukaku and Herrera in particular).
And like I said we're a young and inexperienced side - Solskjaer himself included - so to judge this as a finished product is beyond moronic. We won't win the league this year - get over it nobody in their right minds would expect this not from any manager. We might make top-four if this team manages to grow as the season progresses and we're lucky to avoid an injury crisis (like the one we're suffering from at present) - but like a lot of people said at the end of last season a top-six then hoping to win the EL is a more realistic way back into the CL. However if we keep progressing and building on what they've done so far during our January and summer windows - I think we'll be able to solidify a top-four next season and then step back up as potential challengers by 2022.
Personally I don't know yet if this project is what will get us back into the top flight but neither can anyone in here and truth is we won't know until Christmas 2020 because that's how rebuilding a shattered team works - it takes time. I'm encourages so far though because every step taken up until this point has been in the right direction - and my only grief is that we should have made one more step (reinforcing our midfield and attack as mentioned above). But like I said - I don't think this is down to our current manager as he himself too identified these issues already during our last campaign so he's obviously aware of them.
Either way - this is where we are at present. Let's not pretend it's Ole's fault because it's not - he's doing his best with what he's inherited and from an objective view you couldn't expect more from him or anyone else than what we're currently seeing. I bet most of the people who are slagging him off would be way more nuanced in their views if his name was Klopp or Pochettino - then suddenly as if by some stroke of magic you'd all be able see what the rest of us are seeing. This is Manchester United Football Club as of 2019 - get behind it or feck off to be honest. Supporters turning on their own team are harmful to that team - and that's the last this club needs right now.
Not quite.
We didn't have a transfer ban and decided to ship out our senior striker replacing him with nobody.
So that's what you was getting to. Well right now West Ham are above all 3 of them but they won't finish there.
Well exactly. We probably won’t finish 10th either.
I can’t believe that we can get much worse than what we are so expect us to improve. It’s not like we’ve been playing against cannon fodder either.
I think we will get better too. But only if Ole calls it a day. Otherwise we will get worse. I think this team has a good shout of winning the Europa with a one or two (Blind faith) signings in January. But Ole wont.. he can't out tactic a good side for 2 games.
No that’s simply not right. Ole is fine tactically. The team has a long way to go but the poor performances are not due to tactics. At all.
Moyes wasn't a rookie: he was a well established and respected Premier League manager who most pundits agreed had over-achieved with Everton.
After Moyes' failure, we played safe and went for a highly experienced big name manager in Van Gaal, and that didn't work out that well either.
After Van Gaal's failure, we played even safer and went for another highly experienced big name manager, and Premier League and Champions League winner to boot, and that worked out arguably even worse.
The one thing we hadn't really tried was a comparative rookie, and now we have. Given the serious damage wrought by his 3 predecessors and the now obvious need for a major overhaul, I'm happy to give him a lot more time. He's already started to get rid of some of the dead wood in the squad, and has so far made good decisions on incoming transfers. There have also been developments behind the scenes to restructure both the coaching and scouting setups (this somewhat reminiscent of what SAF did shortly after his arrival).
We've had 3 failed managers in 6 years since SAF's retirement, and it now seems that some are keen to increase that number to 4. I'm pretty sure that anyone who came in now, faced with the present set of circumstances, would very soon find they were in line to become number 5... and who would we get anyway? The downsides of the job are clear for all to see, and it's a bit of a poisoned chalice right now. Surely it's better to let Ole continue with the rebuild. If we do, I'm sure his successor will inherit a better state of affairs than he did.
Yes. That is, pretty much, on the nail, how I feel.
I understand why some are frustrated with the results and sometimes I agree the performances should really be better than they are. But the people who are adamant that Ole makes us crap crack me up. I won’t criticise any posters but some of the stuff posted is absolutely demented.
When you're talking about developing a culture after you've been spanked by West Ham and potentially about to get spanked again by Arsenal it smells of desperation. Another defeat further exposes Ole's stupidity in letting 4 senior players leave in Fellaini, Herrera, Sanchez and Lukaku without them being replaced.
Manchester United have lost three of their last six Premier League home games (W2 D1), as many as they had in their previous 52 at Old Trafford (W32 D17 L3)
Ed, the Glazers and Ole aren't facing up to the truth or the facts. Ole has something like 7 wins in the last 20 odd games? He's developing a culture of losing.
How about I rephrase the question for you. "Ole, could you manage without Sanchez? His wages are killing us and making it difficult to afford new players / negotiate contracts with the current squad." I'm not saying either of these situations is what happened, all I'm saying is you're making up your own version of the truth by jumping to conclusions.
Without reading the thread how much abuse Ole got here?
Not as much as he's going to receive Post press conference.
Don't say this again sir otherwise you are going to be charged and sent to prison for being a glory-hunter, impatient, unreasonable enemy of the club masquerading as a fan. In fact, you don't get the club and it is only a matter of time before Ole becomes Fergie incarnate. Furthermore, you will be labeled as a spoilt and entitled fan who is not seeing all the wonderful work Ole is doing and how he has raised player morale unlike our previous coaches.
Yes if you want to win games 1-0 he's your man or if you want a fluke against a PSG. He's basically as park the bus as you can get.
Even if you don't have eyes to see for yourself - all stats points to the opposite. Someone - a guy you quoted and commended even - just addressed this in length. But hey why fall subject to facts when you can pretend being King and just make stuff up right? I swear somewhere on this planet there's a conveyor belt mass-producing numbwits. We need to shut that shit down the world is drowning in idiocy these days
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In essence, you are implying it doesn't matter how shit the manager is, we must simply keep him to continue the rebuild so we don't come across as the club that sacked it's fourth manager in about 8 years. You are more interested in keeping a manager because we tried other methods before and also bcos he is a rookie and a club legend who you automatically assume will come good. This is the difference between clubs like Barca, Bayern, Real and us. We are one bunch of sentimental fans. We really like to make the club appear special and different whereas we are regressing but at the same time stuck to old times. Modern football has moved on from Manchester United and unless we roll with the times, we are going to sink even further.
...or maybe he just doesn't agree with your assessment that Solskjaer is shit - or even the main cause of our problems at all. Maybe a lot of people don't agree with you on this - thinking instead for various reasons that replacing him at this point makes no sense - and perhaps you'd be better off reading their actual arguments as to why that is rather than speculate as to what motivates them. I'm pretty sure most people - yourself included - are better at reading actual words than minds so... Stick to what you're best at I'd say
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Spot on.
Ive made nothing up. In the hypothetical scenario you mentioned. He has to answer yes or no.
Therefore that is his call. He cannot be absolved of responsibility is what I have said. Also Woodward and the scouts all have to take responsibility.
The only person making up scenarios where Ole is absolved of all responsibility is yourself
Yeah fair enough, oles tactics control how a ball is kicked into the box, how players run into the box.
as Juan mata quite honestly says - it’s down to the players first as they’re the ones playing. If you can’t even execute simple football moves maybe you just aren’t good enough.
I'm not buying this. He may not be the main cause of our problems but do we also need Ed Woodward who by the way shoulders every conceivable club this problem has to beat the likes of Rochdale, Astana. S'oton or Palace? Replacing him makes a lot of sense. You know why? He is not a good manager. Just an average chap who got the raffle draw luck bcos he had previous ties with us. Do you really think a progressive manager even though he may not win us the league but at least he would get a decent run to start with. I can only see all of this going one way- down and you can quote me on this when his inevitable sacking happens. I have seen enough to assertively say that we are going nowhere with Ole in charge. Proper big clubs act swiftly when they make a mistake but what do we do? We have certain fans, you included defending a man who is completely out of his depth....or maybe he just doesn't agree with your assessment that Solskjaer is shit - or even the main cause of our problems at all. Maybe a lot of people don't agree with you on this - thinking instead for various reasons that replacing him at this point makes no sense - and perhaps you'd be better off reading their actual arguments as to why that is rather than speculate as to what motivates them. I'm pretty sure most people - yourself included - are better at reading actual words than minds so... Stick to what you're best at I'd say
Solskjaer on not signing a striker
"Of course, if we had the right one [to sign], if it was there, we would have. It was time for Rom to go. He knows that. He didn't want to be here. What is the point in having players that don't want to be here?
And there's no point getting players in that you're not 100 per cent sure about. When you get players in you need the right ones that are going stay here for a longer period and that's the long-term thinking we have to show. I cannot think, 'I need a player because this is my reputation'. No, it's the club.
There were strikers, but they weren't the ones we wanted. We couldn't get the one we wanted.
Naive but I actually admired this decision in the summer. I don't think he's the right man but he's the only one of our managers since Fergie who actually tried to avoid purchasing merely because the money was there. How we ended up with 800m spent with little to show. On another note maybe people can stop saying he was tricked by the board or wasn't backed based on their personal assumption
"Of course, if we had the right one [to sign], if it was there, we would have. It was time for Rom to go. He knows that. He didn't want to be here. What is the point in having players that don't want to be here?
And there's no point getting players in that you're not 100 per cent sure about. When you get players in you need the right ones that are going stay here for a longer period and that's the long-term thinking we have to show. I cannot think, 'I need a player because this is my reputation'. No, it's the club.
There were strikers, but they weren't the ones we wanted. We couldn't get the one we wanted.
Naive but I actually admired this decision in the summer. I don't think he's the right man but he's the only one of our managers since Fergie who actually tried to avoid purchasing merely because the money was there. How we ended up with 800m spent with little to show. On another note maybe people can stop saying he was tricked by the board or wasn't backed based on their personal assumption
I'm not uncritical of anything trust me - but hey if it makes you feel better thinking so go ahead. You may even be right - this might not work out. I'm hopeful that given enough time he'll get us back on track - as are many others - and we've given our reasons (often in boring detail) as to why and I have yet to see you or anyone else provide a good case for the opposite. Causes for concerns - sure I've seen those and even agree to some extent - but not dismissal. Not so far at least. And repeating over and over again that he's a bad manager unfit for this club doesn't make it so - making up false premises such as as claiming "he's got no visible direction" and "he's clueless" doesn't make you look any smarter either. And when you top it all by judging him based on totally unrealistic expectations - lacking any context and perspective whatsoever as to where we're at as a club these days - then you're just playing a simpleton's game.
We had a shit season last year - I haven't seen anything as hopeless as that since the eighties - and the only reason it didn't end even worse was because of those marvelous three months we experienced when he first came in before attrition kicked in. If we'd continued as we were when Mourinho left we wouldn't have made top-ten even far less compete for a top-four like we ended up doing - and yet you guys put all the blame on Ole because we're struggling now even though we've only made two real improvements to that side?
Yeah we should have been reinforced both in midfield and attack - huge blunder right there - and we definitely need to work on our finishing as that seems to have regressed since our previous campaign (something I'd never dream of being an issue with Solskjaer on the training ground). But those are the only things I'm able to be critical of - and based on his own statements Solskjaer too is well aware of this so my guess is they're working on it. Everything else he's done since he came in is exactly what I'd expect our next manager to do - and his own assessments makes me think they'll also address our remaining issues as the project moves along (he's not in the blank at all as to what needs improving). In short - as of now (mark those words "as of now") - there's nothing at all implying to me that he's "way out of his depth" or "just some regular chap who got hired for sentimental reasons" (the latter makes me laugh as he's lived and breathed football his entire life and achieved more success than most both on and off the pitch). All I'm seeing is a captain who's inherited a ship totally adrift and taking in water - a huge ship at that - who needs time both to repair any damage plus reinforce the hull and also to navigate it back on course. And from what I've seen so far (once more mark those words "so far") he seems like he knows what needs doing so I'm happy to sail along even though I know there are rough seas ahead.
Wow I went a bit overboard with the maritime references there - sorry about that matey. Anyways - you may be right he might end up getting sacked - this whole project proving a complete waste - but that doesn't mean you're a genius. Jumping to that conclusion as of now is definitely premature - but hey even the greatest moron gets it right once in a while (not saying you are by the way merely stating facts)
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...and there we go. Two of my main objections already being handled (though I still feel it should have been addressed this summer already and I'm not impressed with the reasons given as to why this din't happen). Now if only he could teach our current players to hit the net once in a while - especially when it's wide open - then maybe we wouldn't have to wait until February to see some good results
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What type of mythical striker do we need that we couldn't identify for the summer?
What?
Well, his record is very pitiful. He also has had some schooling performances. IMO he’s a poor buy.
No way Giroud can be regarded as one of the worst transfers of the PL era.
Yeah, probably exaggerated a bit, but still at the time I don’t think he’s a good option for Chelsea.
This guy always talk the talk but walk on crutches, true glazer puppet who are here to save money and balancing the book. We bought Maguire using Lukaku's money , bought AWB after ripping off 52M from our wage bill. We never had any intention to buy Lukaku replacement because Glazer doesn't want our balance book become minus.I am really sure nothing will get him sacked as long as he stay being a puppet, not even relegation.
But the team is "managing". They were shit last season for the most part and they're shit again this season. If the board are ok with that and don't want to either buy the required players or keep the ones they have then what can the manager do?
I know many posters on the caff will see those words and think 'knee jerk' but that's exactly what our form has been since PSG. Like I say another 15 games like the last 15 and we go from Europe to targeting a top half finish.......with half an eye on the bottom slots. The Newcastle game will be interesting.
I agree 100% and i see posts on here the size of books with bullet points left right and center. We cannot criticize him because this is a rebuild. I cannot see a pattern of play i cannot see a philosophy i cannot see any improvements in the squad. They gave Ole the job way to soon IMHO. i look at Inter and Conte 6 out of 6 on his return to Italy. Would people say that Inter on paper has a better squad than us or do you credit the manager for instilling his methods on his team.
Should we accept that we are losing to West Ham,Crystal Palace and going to penalties to Rochdale? Herein lies the Rose tainted goggles most of our fan base see the club. When Madrid are in turmoil have they ever been lower than 3rd in la Liga. The simple fact is that they do not accept mediocrity to the levels we do. I accept that we are trying to do things different but i do not think Ole is the right man for the job and i do not accept that we need to lose 10 to 15 games a season just because we a going in a different direction.
Too much talking and next to non working on the pitch. A thing I get used to from United in these 7 crap years.
Ole talks about waiting to sign the right players but I'm just wondering, if we were in or near the relegation zone coming up to January, what do you all think we'd do? Spend big or stick by our plan?