Signing Bruno is just about the only positive legacy he leaves behind.
Solskjaer's legacy and his future
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
Ole in vs ole out, still a thing on the Caf I assume? Two universal truths: ole was out of his depth as our manager but he’s also not to be blamed for “all” our faults.
Tbf when almost all of his signed players turned into shite we cant absolve him of any blame. He played a part in our demise now. Money that can be used to sign better players and a CDM to boot
Ralf is worse
Taking Pogba off for Lingard
Taking Pogba off for Lingard
Performance wise, we have improved compared to what we were doing under Ole, and I still like RR and back him. But, despite the kind fixture list, Rangnick has gotten 26 points from 14 games, compared to 21 points from 14 games earlier. 5 points more despite us having played 1 top 6 club is poor no matter how you put it.
Well, you're essentially blaming him for spending £80m on Maguire and £50m on AWB as if he negotiated the deals himself. Hence why you keep bringing it up. By all accounts, after the LVG and Mourinho sagas, the club decided on a more democratic approach to transfers which took power away from the manager. This is how things were done with Ole in charge, it's how things are done with Ralf in charge, and it's how things will be done with the next poor soul who takes over.
I more and more realise Ole actually got out the potential of the squad and did a good job before this season. The squad wasn’t better, and it becomes more and more evident theses days. But we were still able to beat any team (good record against top-teams), and an impressive away record. To talk about 2y of luck is just stupid and agenda based shit talk.
All the other things people criticise him for (poor planning, poor recruitment, poor decision making) was actually above his decision level. It’s the board’s and directors responsibility. We can’t blame the manager for a dysfunctional system.
I agree we lacked a good plan in our possession play, but possession play also depends a lot on individual quality, which was pretty absent speaking about McFred.
On the other hand we played more on our strengths and other individual qualities, which I think was a positive thing. The team and players at least believed in them self and was enthusiastic. We shouldn’t underestimate the importance of these factors.
All the other things people criticise him for (poor planning, poor recruitment, poor decision making) was actually above his decision level. It’s the board’s and directors responsibility. We can’t blame the manager for a dysfunctional system.
I agree we lacked a good plan in our possession play, but possession play also depends a lot on individual quality, which was pretty absent speaking about McFred.
On the other hand we played more on our strengths and other individual qualities, which I think was a positive thing. The team and players at least believed in them self and was enthusiastic. We shouldn’t underestimate the importance of these factors.
Ole is largely behind Maguire. Woodward refused to get Jose Maguire at 60m because he felt he wasn't worth it. He didn't just change his mind, someone told him to get him and it was the same person(s) that made him the captain and was also set on constructing his team around a British core. After what had happened previously you can't say Ole wasn't aware we would have to pay more than 60m plus to get him. When the signing looked good everyone was praising Ole for his transfer market prowess.
So when LVG and Jose got signings, they were the "board" signings, such as Zlatan, Alexis, Martial but when Ole signings haven't worked out, all of a sudden he signed them, he decided to pay the money, he decided the wages.
Ole's big mistake, which is the big mistake Mourinho and Moyes made, is what Rangnick talks about all the time. Namely not sticking to a single approach.
At the beginning it looked like Ole wanted a super physical, tough and athletic team. A '94 regen.
I think you need more than that but at one stage it was looking pretty good.
But once that's the chosen path you have to go all in. You can't 18 months in be compromising your methods by signing or keeping players who are the polar opposite to the overall image of the team.
If you want a physically dominant team you can't have De Gea, Lindelof, Mata, Telles, this version of Ronaldo and Martial.
Instead you end up with this mixed bag of nothing and this is what every manager since Fergie has done.
Every manager will make a mistake and sign a player that's at odds with the other players. Guardiola did it with Mendy, Fergie with Berbatov. It happens.
But our managers are prolific at it and I just hope the next guy picks a way of playing, a type of player and 100% sticks to it.
Don't and he'll end up like Ole did.
At the beginning it looked like Ole wanted a super physical, tough and athletic team. A '94 regen.
I think you need more than that but at one stage it was looking pretty good.
But once that's the chosen path you have to go all in. You can't 18 months in be compromising your methods by signing or keeping players who are the polar opposite to the overall image of the team.
If you want a physically dominant team you can't have De Gea, Lindelof, Mata, Telles, this version of Ronaldo and Martial.
Instead you end up with this mixed bag of nothing and this is what every manager since Fergie has done.
Every manager will make a mistake and sign a player that's at odds with the other players. Guardiola did it with Mendy, Fergie with Berbatov. It happens.
But our managers are prolific at it and I just hope the next guy picks a way of playing, a type of player and 100% sticks to it.
Don't and he'll end up like Ole did.
With respect this sounds incredibly made up. LVG and Jose are well and truly slated for the signings under their regime.
It took you 3 years to understand the obvious, but now you think that RR is not the right appointment after 4 months?
What did you see in Ole's first season that made you think he was the right appointment? Fluking PSG? mentally collapsing in the end? Losing top four? Or winning against the mighty Cardiff and Huddersfield?
Well then it is also clear that its more than just the manager making rubbish signings.
I have been saying this for a very long time that our scouting is one of the major problems at this club.
None of our scouts have done the job, they should all be sacked. A scout has a job to identify players that will fit into team and systems. Clearly there is a massive issue in that area.
Solskjaer destroyd the winning mentality that was left in this squad. He is like that nice gym teacher you had in school who was nice to everyone, but bloody useless in his job. When you finally got a proper gym teacher you just hated him for all his demands.
He should have walked so much earlier, latest end of last season. Him and Woodward were so incompetent
Great post!
Also first manager since Fergie to get back to back top four finish.
Things went bad for him quickly in the end and he got his marching orders which is par for the course in football management at any level but I think he can hold his head high for the time he spent at the club.
He was an ok interim considering the circumstances (and perhaps exceeded the expectations given his CV), but let us not forget that he did not lift us to top-4 either. PSG game was great (although we were lucky), but we were brushed aside by Barcelona in the quarters. Improving players' mood after Jose could have been done by just about anyone, and there was no real tangible success (trophy/top-4) in the end. Had he delivered that, you could have called him a "brilliant" interim.
Not this version of Bruno
It’s a valid point, our scouts supposedly arrived at AWB after assessing 804 right backs. We ended up signing him so it’s fair to assume they influenced the signing and that same logic can be applied to others.
Was Ole extremely reliant on them, did he make poor assessments of players himself and how they’d fit in. Either way it points to Ole not being up to the job.
However it does leave question marks about the recruitment team left at the club, are they up to the job or have they been hindered by Ole’s lack of a plan and emphasis on cliches rather than detail, maybe both.
Of course he was aware, and I'm sure he was on board with the signing. What I don't agree with is the narrative that Ole went off and single-handedly blew a load of money on a bunch of players he cherry picked himself, because that quite clearly is not how transfers are executed at the club. As for your last point about "When the signing looked good everyone was praising Ole for his transfer market prowess."... Well, that's funny, because I remember him actually getting a lot of criticism for Maguire and AWB because the signings were "too obvious" and "obviously board signings".
AWB was good before we signed him, he turned to shit after being coached by Ole. Having said that I’m sure there were much better options for 50m, AWB wasnt a product of scouting, everybody in the UK knew about his good season.
Lets be honest, Ole was not up to the task, I agree.
However; it means the people who signed of on AWB are not up to the task either, to rate a RB at £50m without doing their due diligence?
Secondly, I do have some sympathy for Ole because Maguire was on Uniteds radar prior to Ole, we know this because Jose wanted him too. So again, who is authorising these sums?
Then you look at the signings of Pellestri, Amad who don't look like they'll have a future here.
On top of that you look at Donny and the contracts given out.
Its not just the manager, we need to make sure the manager gets players that fit the profile of what we are trying to do.
How on earth does Zlatan (on a free) make your list of “bad signings”?
Where have I mentioned "bad" signings?
Parting ways after EL final loss was probably the best time, as he got the team as far as he could. New manager would then have whole summer to work with the squad and think we'd be at least 4th in the league. It's all now 'what if' but it's a shame we tend to make decisions only when disaster happens. Just like it looked so clear in July 2018, when the preseason was starting, that Jose and board were not happy with each other at all, he basically stayed 5 months longer than he should've.
I think you wrote something along the lines of “it’s not just the manager making rubbish signings” in another post, and I took this to be an example of that. Mea culpa.
Greenwood was probably one of his legacies but that's gone as well. Like we're cursed
It’s too bad the owners and board were handing out awkward high fives and uncorking bottles of champagne over finishing 2nd in a blip pandemic year including Murtough who some believe will lead a revolution here. We are fecked for the foreseeable future.
After finishing 2nd last season, with a spell at top of the table, a record breaking unbeaten run away from home, an amazing record of comebacks from losing positions, and strengthening with Sancho, Ronaldo and Varane, I expected an easy top 4 finish. Maybe not challenging for the league, but certainly an improvement. Ole failed in that regard, and needed to go.
I have the same standard for Ralf — top 4. He might still achieve that, but the performances on the pitch have been pretty dire. I don’t think he’s going to get us there. We’ve dropped so many points vs subpar sides and we have a lot of tough fixtures left.
I don’t understand the love for Ralf on the Caf. Other than the fact he seems to be a nice person and gives a refreshingly honest press conference, he’s either done a poor job communicating/training his tactics or doesn’t have the support of squad to execute the tactics. Either way, he’s clearly way over his head.
Jose was right and Ole has left us in a worst position.
The fees might not be accurate but it is still very depressing. And damming for Olé.
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Liverpool had Van Dijk tapped up from the start, so that sounds like bollocks.
Cancelo and Dias would have turned to crap under us, actually. Pep's genius system is what "unlocked" their potential.
Out of interest, I digged up your old posts and in May 2019 you were saying "I’m 100% behind Ole now. Terrible end to the season, but I’ve decided to blame the players because of lack of effort", and you preferred him to Poch. Ole had similar starting conditions to Ralf - as interims they both started shortly before Christmas way off top 4. Ole did not make top-4, but you supported him and blamed everything on players. Why so different with Ralf?
For me, nether of then deserve(d) to get full-time positions. I think Ralf is a better manager and would do a "rebuild" better than Ole though, but would likely come short against the likes of Pep, Klopp and Tuchel. His CV is not good enough for United for a reason, although better than Ole's in my view.
I think we are seeing the club making the same mistakes again. Doing 180s with each managerial appointment. Ole had his faults but his arm around the players approach created an environment that worked decently, at least until the end. Then Ralf comes in with a more disciplined approach that the players can't hack and we are all at sea.
The club needs to get the next appointment right or we're back to square one. The question is is the right approach to continue with the disciplined type manager (presumably Ten Hag) and hope the players can adapt or at least be cleared out and replaced with ones who can manage in such a set up, or do we go with the player friendly approach (presumably Pochettino) and bank on the squad being able to pull its collective arse out of the shitter once the happy feels return?
The club needs to get the next appointment right or we're back to square one. The question is is the right approach to continue with the disciplined type manager (presumably Ten Hag) and hope the players can adapt or at least be cleared out and replaced with ones who can manage in such a set up, or do we go with the player friendly approach (presumably Pochettino) and bank on the squad being able to pull its collective arse out of the shitter once the happy feels return?
A few reasons:
* Ole had a great streak / new manager bounce and it seemed a weight was lifted from the squad after the poisonous Jose
* Pogba had been absolutely dire in a couple of away matches and had some terrible mistakes if memory serves. That was the bulk of my blame.
* Ole went on to finish 3rd and 2nd, seemed to get the best out of Rashford, had some away unbeaten records and we had many comebacks. To me, he was never the top choice, but as long as Tuchel and others were unavailable, I was happy to see where Ole would take us.
And, as long as you are digging up old posts, you’ll see that I thought it was time for Ole to go after the Liverpool result.
I’ve never thought much of Poch tbh. Failing to win a single trophy at a golden generation of Spurs players seemed criminal. Would I take him now over RR? Absolutely. I know that there are many on here who aren’t nuanced enough to entertain the possibility that there can be multiple factors for our poor performances, but while I blame the players to an extent, when you look at Varane, Ronaldo, Cavani, and Bruno, these are players that have proven themselves at very high levels, winning everything. Are we supposed to believe that they are now completely shite? I don’t think so. We have seen Rashford, Maguire and Shaw play at very high levels for sustained periods of time. They are capable of that.
So, given the reports of an unsettled dressing room, poor performances on the pitch, and a pretty inexperienced coaching staff, I think it’s logical to place some of the blame at Ralf’s feet.
Definitely agreed. It’s just most go into the two extremes of defending him or blaming him.
I was always of the opinion that you can let the players get their way when they have proven that their ceiling, as a collective, is high. Basically, what Real Madrid and Chelsea are doing. But to do that correctly, you also need to counterbalance it with some ruthlessness: When you know that your Rauls and Ronaldos or your Fabregas, and Hazards don't have much more to give you, you cut your loses soon. The players need to know that there will always be someone who will draw the line when things don't go as planned. Otherwise, you risk becoming an institution for overpaid and entitled footballers. By all means, bring Pochettino in to cuddle them. Just have someone at the ready to pick up the pieces 2 years down the line.
Ole thought after the dismantling we had by Liverpool we were "so close". Thats why he wouldnt offer to leave and Woodward was just a cnut.
Yeah, let's just completely ignore the fact that all this was inherited from Ole and just blame Ralf.
Ole will go down in history as one of the worst manager in our history because of how much transfer fee he squandered with terrible signings and left so many of our young players stagnant and worse off than before he took over.