Podcast - United Hour - Chelsea Review & Leipzig Preview

Alock1

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This week, Nik @Rood, Alex (me) and David @Banished_Dave met up to discuss the absolute snooze fest that was United-Chelsea, the bizarre inclusion of Dan James, and look ahead to our midweek Champions League clash with RB Leipzig.

  • Where was Maguire whilst the team were in Paris?
  • What has Daniel James done to keep starting?
  • Will VDB ever start a game?
  • Is Ole a match for Julian Nagelsmann?

Listen on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Spotify or wherever else you get your pods by searching 'United Hour'


Share with your friends, tell your mothers, and please give us a 5* review on iTunes / Apple Podcast

All feedback and discussion appreciated so please keep the comments coming.
 

UmbroDays

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Good episode, but I think the presenter was talking nonsense regards Ole and his tactics.

Just because you see us beating the big teams in one off games doesn’t prove he has his tactics down to a Tee especially when we cannot break down smaller opponents who park the bus..and that’s been since Ole’s reign
 
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Alock1

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Good episode, but I think the presenter was talking nonsense regards Ole and his tactics.

Just because you see us beating the big teams in one off games doesn’t prove he has his tactics down to a Tee especially when we cannot break down smaller opponents who park the bus..and that’s been since Ole’s reign
Agree. He's shown enough to say he has a some tactical nous and can have and execute a game plan, but there are also plenty of games where we have seemed clearly underprepared and without much idea what we should be doing. It's not enough to say he is strong tactically.

Should have said on the pod but this is the type of game that worries me in that it's a team we should maybe beat on paper (player for player, name for name - not based on record or stats) but they are well disciplined, highly effective and clearly have some quality. It's similar to the Sevilla team that knocked us out of the Europa League only a few months ago.
 

buckooo1978

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Good episode but my eyes were rolling a bit as Nik went in two footed on Scottish guy

7 points in 5 games hardly gives anyone the right to crow and given our outlay we should be doing so much better. In some ways our start is consistent with what we saw at the start of last season - at the start of November after more games albeit we were 10th with 13 points in 11 games.

for every PSG there are games like yesterday were we are slow paced and lacking creativity.

when we do play well it's down to individuals not the system and I think this is the key failing for Ole in terms of tactics/style of football. Its the system and Klopp that is the real star at Liverpool for example and people talk similarly about Nagelsmann.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that although we had a great end to the season we were pretty awful until Bruno arrived. We had something to play for unlike many of the other post-lockdown teams and had Leicester not had key injuries we could have easily finished 5th.

its fine to be pro-Ole and I genuinely would love him to succeed but I think its a bit much to make out like its ridiculous that someone would think that another manager could be doing better than him.
 

Rood

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Good episode, but I think the presenter was talking nonsense regards Ole and his tactics.

Just because you see us beating the big teams in one off games doesn’t prove he has his tactics down to a Tee especially when we cannot break down smaller opponents who park the bus..and that’s been since Ole’s reign
That'll be me! I think you should relisten to what exactly I said because the question was specifically about whether Ole is able to adapt to one off games tactically and the proof is undeniably that he can as he's beaten all the so called top managers time and time again

The criticism of not being able to break down lesser teams is outdated IMO - it was valid this time last year but actually we have a very good record vs those teams in 2020 inc beating BHA and Newcastle already this season
 

Rood

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Good episode but my eyes were rolling a bit as Nik went in two footed on Scottish guy

7 points in 5 games hardly gives anyone the right to crow and given our outlay we should be doing so much better. In some ways our start is consistent with what we saw at the start of last season - at the start of November after more games albeit we were 10th with 13 points in 11 games.

for every PSG there are games like yesterday were we are slow paced and lacking creativity.

when we do play well it's down to individuals not the system and I think this is the key failing for Ole in terms of tactics/style of football. Its the system and Klopp that is the real star at Liverpool for example and people talk similarly about Nagelsmann.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that although we had a great end to the season we were pretty awful until Bruno arrived. We had something to play for unlike many of the other post-lockdown teams and had Leicester not had key injuries we could have easily finished 5th.

its fine to be pro-Ole and I genuinely would love him to succeed but I think its a bit much to make out like its ridiculous that someone would think that another manager could be doing better than him.
I never said that is ridiculous - its perfectly valid. But I do disagree with some of the other criticisms.

I was possibly overly harsh on Scottish Dave but, as I explained on the show, its because I find it difficult to understand how someone could go from thinking Ole was good enough to have us challenge for the league back in July (which is actually more positive about Ole than me!), to wanting him out after a few weeks of this season. Of course, Dave explained it was a bit of an overreaction after the Spurs debacle and that he's back to Ole In, for now!

Difficult to compare this season to last as so many factors are different. I personally put the poor start this time down to the messed up preseason and think we have played pretty well since the international break and I expect us to improve further once Martial/Greenwood are back
 
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Amir

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Obviously Solskjaer has shown he's capable of setting the team up for big matches, he's done that a lot. But I didn't quite agree with the idea that the problem is that he's incapable of setting the team up individually for a lot of the other matches, as I think the issue is deeper.

It comes back to the old debate about having a clear style of play. When you've got that, it should sustain you week in, week out, for the most part. Sure, you always learn your rivals, can do the odd adjustment for the run of the mill matches - and bigger ones for the big matches - but if you feel you have to change formations, styles of plays and lineups all the time it's a sign of weakness. You should be coming to matches regularly in order to play your football.
 

ghaliboy

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I still don't know the reason why everyone goes off out of context on Dan James. He's about 5 years away from maturing and he's been thrown in the deep end and we have to accept he'll play here and there and everywhere and be raw as feck. Everyone straight away as soon as they see him start yelling that he's shit and howling at him about why is he playing. :lol:

Be honest David, were you fuming into your mic when Nic was calling you out? :lol: I thought you handled that well and I enjoy your analysis (and accent!) but completely disagree about anyone getting more out of this overpaid bag of wank squad. It is such a mess :lol: so many of these guys are serial losers who have Houdini'd and stropped their way to wage increases and higher squad status. We need an absolute squad bomb detonated on the whole group that will leave two or three of the guys who actually are professionals with the level fitting of the club mentality/squad and wage structure. That won't happen with Woodward he keeps tossing overpaid wank on the pile.
 

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I still don't know the reason why everyone goes off out of context on Dan James. He's about 5 years away from maturing and he's been thrown in the deep end and we have to accept he'll play here and there and everywhere and be raw as feck. Everyone straight away as soon as they see him start yelling that he's shit and howling at him about why is he playing. :lol:

Be honest David, were you fuming into your mic when Nic was calling you out? :lol: I thought you handled that well and I enjoy your analysis (and accent!) but completely disagree about anyone getting more out of this overpaid bag of wank squad. It is such a mess :lol: so many of these guys are serial losers who have Houdini'd and stropped their way to wage increases and higher squad status. We need an absolute squad bomb detonated on the whole group that will leave two or three of the guys who actually are professionals with the level fitting of the club mentality/squad and wage structure. That won't happen with Woodward he keeps tossing overpaid wank on the pile.
In @Rood ‘s defence we were all fairly flabbergasted when Dave flipped so readily in the WhatsApp group!
 

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Good pod lads as usual, enjoyed that.

Chelsea game - Crap. Two teams who looked more bothered about not losing. Not much else to say.
Dan James - can only imagine he still starts due to issues with injuries and suspensions in the squad, the lad is totally devoid of confidence the now, and while his quality isn't great he would be a far more effective option on the left when the game is 60-70 mins in. Starting him is like playing with a man down at the moment.
VdB - I understand the season is less than 10 games old and whatever, but how this lad can hardly get any game time is mystifying. He cost 40 Euros million and has started 2 league cup games, and any time he is subbed on he is getting about 10 minutes on the pitch. Can't understand how he cannot feature more, and I whispered it in out Whatsapp chat - I don't think he was an Ole signing but a club signing. Fingers crossed he features more in the coming weeks.
Leipzig - Good assessment from David on Nagelsmann. Really looking forward to this game and the tactical battle to see how we get at them.
Arsenal - Very up and down, I think we should be winning against them.
 

Alock1

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Obviously Solskjaer has shown he's capable of setting the team up for big matches, he's done that a lot. But I didn't quite agree with the idea that the problem is that he's incapable of setting the team up individually for a lot of the other matches, as I think the issue is deeper.

It comes back to the old debate about having a clear style of play. When you've got that, it should sustain you week in, week out, for the most part. Sure, you always learn your rivals, can do the odd adjustment for the run of the mill matches - and bigger ones for the big matches - but if you feel you have to change formations, styles of plays and lineups all the time it's a sign of weakness. You should be coming to matches regularly in order to play your football.
Agree with this - the only reason I didn't bring it up on the episode is because it's something we discuss every single week. Plus, I wanted Nik and David to have their moment.

A level of pragmatism is good but I would much prefer Ole have a strong philosophy / style, with clear discernible patterns of play, with the team looking more and more comfortable with time as they are coached to extract the most value from the setup. Some tactical flexibility is good - we don't want to ignore strengths of other teams and if there are weaknesses to exploit, we should be capable. But the overarching system should be pretty consistent.

I still don't know the reason why everyone goes off out of context on Dan James. He's about 5 years away from maturing and he's been thrown in the deep end and we have to accept he'll play here and there and everywhere and be raw as feck. Everyone straight away as soon as they see him start yelling that he's shit and howling at him about why is he playing. :lol:

Be honest David, were you fuming into your mic when Nic was calling you out? :lol: I thought you handled that well and I enjoy your analysis (and accent!) but completely disagree about anyone getting more out of this overpaid bag of wank squad. It is such a mess :lol: so many of these guys are serial losers who have Houdini'd and stropped their way to wage increases and higher squad status. We need an absolute squad bomb detonated on the whole group that will leave two or three of the guys who actually are professionals with the level fitting of the club mentality/squad and wage structure. That won't happen with Woodward he keeps tossing overpaid wank on the pile.
We've said for some time that it's unfair on Dan James that he's starting these games at all, and being relied upon as he is. It's only harming his confidence further, which is having an impact on his game and it's very much a vicious cycle.

On the 2nd point I'm not so sure. The key thing for me is that when referring to the likes of a Nagelsmann, there are teams who are worse than United on paper (not stats, name for name) who overachieve. I have no doubts that Pochettinho could get more from this squad (that's not to say that the squad is good enough or would win titles)
 

Alock1

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Good episode but my eyes were rolling a bit as Nik went in two footed on Scottish guy

when we do play well it's down to individuals not the system and I think this is the key failing for Ole in terms of tactics/style of football. Its the system and Klopp that is the real star at Liverpool for example and people talk similarly about Nagelsmann.
Nik has shown his true colours with that outburst :lol:

Agree on the 2nd point generally. Not sure if you listened to the PSG podcast but that was the main positive for me - the system was right, the tactical change was right when Pogba came on, and all the players did what was expected of them and we got the win.

I think I said a few weeks ago that we rely on our individual brilliance in some games, and in others are undone by individual incompetence. A more robust style of play that brings a higher level of control to our play should mitigate those mistakes (the incompetency) whilst putting less pressure on our forward players to win through brilliance, by having a system that cuts teams open and is opportunistic through automatics when play allows. This should only facilitate further brilliance, as forwards are able to play on instinct, express themselves, and won't feel the additional expectation to create moments of magic.
 

That'sHernandez

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Especially since it was his bullish positivity that led to you betting with @Alock1 that we would challenge for the league this season - what was the bet again?
To be fair I started that conversation. I said if we keep Pogba and Bruno going into the new season we will mount a title challenge. £20 is the bet and given the results so far amongst rivals I am now quietly optimistic. I was tempted to pay up after the Spurs defeat though!
 

Alock1

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To be fair I started that conversation. I said if we keep Pogba and Bruno going into the new season we will mount a title challenge. £20 is the bet and given the results so far amongst rivals I am now quietly optimistic. I was tempted to pay up after the Spurs defeat though!
@Rood

Yep the bet is £20 on United being within 5 points of the title winner at the end of the season. If Ole leaves/gets sacked then it's void.
 

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@Rood

Yep the bet is £20 on United being within 5 points of the title winner at the end of the season. If Ole leaves/gets sacked then it's void.
I don’t recall the 5 points bit, I’m sure that’s the one Dave didn’t quite have the conviction to take? Happy for that to be the definition though
 

Alock1

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I don’t recall the 5 points bit, I’m sure that’s the one Dave didn’t quite have the conviction to take? Happy for that to be the definition though
I checked earlier mate, feel free to look back in the WhatsApp

How else do you define a title challenge? Gotta be a cut off :)
 

Rood

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To be fair I started that conversation. I said if we keep Pogba and Bruno going into the new season we will mount a title challenge. £20 is the bet and given the results so far amongst rivals I am now quietly optimistic. I was tempted to pay up after the Spurs defeat though!
Its an awful bet seeing as the bookies would give good odds on us coming top2 but Im rooting for you mate !
 

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Looking forward to the Julian Nagelsmann love fest again. I wonder if Ole will be given the same respect in the next pod :D
 

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Hope some of these guests don't go hiding!
Ha ha ha! Fantastic pod last time around though lads. Worrying about how you would fill in an hour, but all the Nagelsmann loving kinda took care of that.. :lol:. Can't wait for the next one, hopefully we have two wins to talk about.. If we do win against Arsenal, might I suggest a two hour pod please..:angel:
 

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The polls on Ole change more than the US Election polls.

I voted to keep him in many months ago and that ain’t changing. He deserves this year. If we fail to reach CL and go trophyless (both conditions applying), we must look elsewhere.
 

Rood

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Hope some of these guests don't go hiding!
Big respect to David for agreeing to come straight back on for the Leipzig post match, even though he knew he was getting a big 'I told you so' from me!

Ha ha ha! Fantastic pod last time around though lads. Worrying about how you would fill in an hour, but all the Nagelsmann loving kinda took care of that.. :lol:. Can't wait for the next one, hopefully we have two wins to talk about.. If we do win against Arsenal, might I suggest a two hour pod please..:angel:
New one out already, couldn't wait until the weekend - let us know the feedback in the new thread
 

Alock1

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Looking forward to the Julian Nagelsmann love fest again. I wonder if Ole will be given the same respect in the next pod :D
Hope some of these guests don't go hiding!
Looking forward to the next one!
The polls on Ole change more than the US Election polls.

I voted to keep him in many months ago and that ain’t changing. He deserves this year. If we fail to reach CL and go trophyless (both conditions applying), we must look elsewhere.
New pod up and new pod thread all