Himannv
Full Member
I think there's a difference in how all the manager's you mentioned like to play.I would absolutely get that argument two years ago but clearly the club decided to go a different direction in Mourinho’s third summer. That direction wasn’t because of Ole, Ole is following that direction. Ever since then it’s been a policy of purchasing young players with high potential and their peak in front of them. How is Poch, Rose or Leipzig man who I can’t spell continuity issues? They’d all favour young talent to develop with a high pressing game. Any squad Ole leaves behind is going to capable of playing their styles.
Nagelsmann for example has a side that generally played 4-4-2 when defending, which morphed into 4-2-2-2 when attacking. Poch typically used to go with a 4-2-3-1 that morphs into a 4-1-4-1.
Saying Liepzig is a team that presses is correct, however, they way they press is fundamentally different to how maybe a Poch team presses. The goal of the Liepzig press is to push the ball wider to opposition fullbacks and then cut out all passing lanes to win the ball at that point - Then the wide player who wins it slots into the AM role and the mobile front two are brought into play. Poch teams sort of press in zones and each player knows their zone to a point where they will drop away as soon as they reach the end of their zone and others in the next zone take over. Unlike, maybe an Ole team, every single player is expected to press or they get shipped out (e.g. Adebayor). While a Poch team aims to win back possession and use it meaningfully, a Nagelsmann team wins back possession to launch a direct attack through the heart of the opposition.
Like an Ole team, Nagelsmann likes his teams to be able to play out from the back. That's not necessarily a Poch tactic. In a Poch team, 3 outfield players are always stationed to prevent counters when in possession. Often this involves the two CBs. Nagelsmann, on the other hand, relies on the likes of Upamecano to unlock defences with his passes and latch onto the runs of the forwards or AMs.
So, what I'm trying to say is that even though Ole seems to be building a nice team, there's no guarantee that all his players will fit the philosophy of the next coach, because fundamentally they have different ideas and the people recruiting them are not football people.
The advantage of the DoF ensures that if Ole loses his job, the effort put in will not be in vain as the new manager ultimately is one who has the same (or at least vastly similar) philosophy. As such he will have a set of players who will match that philosophy without the club having to reinvent the wheel and sign new players always for the new man. It also ensures that there is continuity and structure in terms of playing style from the academy upwards.It’s also going to be one of the most exciting in Europe if we spend the next few windows. It’s precisely because we’re trying to sign the right players and supposedly monitoring the right managers that I don’t get the clamour for a DOF. For years I was moaning on here when we got LVG and then Jose signing Zlatan/Mikhi/Angel/BSW etc about us not having a clear strategy. We just went from one short term whim to the next. That isn’t the case anymore. There is now an actual vision and it’s starting to show on the pitch. We’re still 18 months away but I think we’ll get there.
We're looking for sustainability and continuity for many years with that particular hire. Someone who will give us a football vision for a decade or more and make Manchester United successful with efficient operations targeting the long term.