Bobcat
Full Member
Exactly. His job as a caretaker at United landed him the United job. It wasnt like we just hired some random guy from Molde and gave him a big contract.I don't quite understand your first sentence. That's exactly what happened. He was managing Molde and then United hired him as a caretaker and then on a permanent basis. It was literally a jump from Molde to United.
And yes, every managerial appointment has risks. That's true. It's just I think a gamble is better than guaranteed mediocrity. From a business perspective, I'm wrong, of course: a manager who consistently gets top 4 is fantastic. In that sense, Ole is a safe-ish bet, admittedly: the players are happy enough with him and we'll always give him enough money to qualify for the CL. He won't want to go to another club, and he won't go into a meltdown if he doesn't get exactly what he wants. So it does make a certain amount of sense, it's just a bit depressing.
You know that how? Did people honestly think we were going to fight for the big honors this year with this squad? Our defense is decent enough, but our midfield is really lacking. Pogba is great on his day, but has been injured and/or in terrible form for about half the season. McFred are decent enough rotational players, but not exactly PL winning material. In attack we have Rashford whos beyond fatigued, Martial who this season literally is one of the worst CF's in the league, a kid with second season syndrome and a crocked 34 year old stop gap whos been more injured than fit
Our squad isnt terrible, but its still a work in progress and its up against Pep and City who probably are one of the strongest PL outfits in history. Beating that is a tall order and then some
Rodgers was sacked because they started the next season terribly and i think there was a fair few reports about dressing room unrest. Also, you can really compare Klopp with the likes of Nagelsmann who have a long way to go before he can be considered his equal.Of course there's an element of risk, but you need to take risks to be successful in football. Playing it safe can usually be a barrier to a club's ambitions.
Liverpool opted not to play it safe when they sacked Rodgers - a manager who in the previous season was a slip away from gifting them their first league title in decades, and replaced him with a German who had recently left Dortmund after a disastrous season. We all know what happened next.
United also took a risk with a certain young Scottish manager to replace Ron Atkinson, who at the time was the 'safe' option consistently keeping United in the top 4. The rest as we all know is history.
Conversely, United actually opted to play it safe by hiring 'proven' managers like LVG and Mourinho who ended up being anything but safe appointments in hindsight. Go figure.
I dont know what long term vision the club and Ole has, but its pretty clear the whole project was postponed due to Covid and a disappointing summer window so it seems very likely they want to back him with a few more players and a bit more time before they start demanding the big trophies