I want to make a "short" summary about what i think is the reason for the state of the squad and also for why i think we are moving in the right direction, but a direction that puts us on a long road, a road that will require not just ambition and passion, but above all else patience.
I believe a number of people have made big mistakes along the years and we are seeing the results of that. I want to just point at one person and say "that's the bad guy" and be done with it, but it's not as easy as that.
The problems started in the last few years of SAFs time. To keep it short, we were abysmal in the transfer market. Instead of doing what we usually have done, and buy some of the very best young players in World football, we mostly only took gambles or bought players with PL expereince but that were nowhere near WC quality or potential, players that could do a job to complement the existing WC players that we had. Young, Buttner, Henriquez, Powell, Zaha, Diuf, Obertan, Owen; this reads like a Newcastle United list, not Manchester United. At the same time, we missed on genuine WC potential like Hazard, Aguero and probably others.
Now why do i think this period is so important to point out? It is because at the time we had a group of players that had won it all, still had some gas in the tank, but were coming to the end. It was the time the experienced group should have lead a group of young and very talented players and pass on the torch. We did not have that group of huge talent waiting to take over, we had mediocre talents and so the older generations ability to nurture was lost. SAF retired when most of the WC experienced players had already given their all. For this, i blame the Glazers; i believe the club going on the stock market made them very unwilling to spend and it lead to a failed transition of quality on the playing staff.
So why is this still relevant you might ask. It is because the mediocre talent that fallowed one of our most talented squads ever, were now the experienced ones, the backbone of the team. This is what LVG and Mourinho inherited. You can not build a successful team based on players like Jones, Young, Smalling, Evens, Cleverly, Welbeck, etc. So the job at hand was not only to continue the tradition of buying some of the most talented young players around and giving playtime to academy players, but to also reconstruct the spine of the team. And that takes players with some experience and quality.
This is where Mourinho and LVG failed. IMO they correctly identified the need to introduce quality experienced players, but failed in their selection. Matic, Sanchez, Di Maria, Falcao, Schweinsteiger had all great quality, but for different reasons, were unmitigated disasters. Zlatan is the one exception here but he came too late in his carer.
Now comes Ole. He has the exact same problem Mourinho and LVG had IMO. A spine of the team that is not good enough or already in steep decline, unable to lead the talented youth. He has to do 3 things at the same time: rebuild the spine, buy young players with huge potential and give the best of our academy players game time. This is a monster of a task in a time where no one has patience, not the fans, not the former players, not even some of our current good players (Pogba).
I said we now are on a good path, and this is why: It seems to me that the CEO and Manager are both understanding the massive job at hand, and are willing to do what it takes. The first step was to buy players that have the quality to go in to the first 11 but also to begin the process of letting go of the experienced not good enough ones (Smalling, Sanchez, Lukaku, Felaini, etc). At the same time build a solid spine. DDG new contract is a massive part of this as is Maguire. Keeping Pogba, and keeping him happy has to be a priority no matter how much some people don't like to hear this; he is a special talent.
In the next few transfer windows we have to continue more of the same: a couple of young and very good players (i believe we are after Sancho) but also add some high quality experience, probably in midfield.
No one likes to hear it, that it takes time, but it does. We messed up big time in our transitions of generations and fixing this, in the most competitive PL we've ever seen, is very difficult and time consuming. We have seen glimpses of how the team can play when everyone is fit, but at this time even if just one or two of our important players is not available or out of form, we get very poor general performances.
So patience and support our good players, the older or not good enough ones will be fazed out, but you can't do that in just one summer.
I believe a number of people have made big mistakes along the years and we are seeing the results of that. I want to just point at one person and say "that's the bad guy" and be done with it, but it's not as easy as that.
The problems started in the last few years of SAFs time. To keep it short, we were abysmal in the transfer market. Instead of doing what we usually have done, and buy some of the very best young players in World football, we mostly only took gambles or bought players with PL expereince but that were nowhere near WC quality or potential, players that could do a job to complement the existing WC players that we had. Young, Buttner, Henriquez, Powell, Zaha, Diuf, Obertan, Owen; this reads like a Newcastle United list, not Manchester United. At the same time, we missed on genuine WC potential like Hazard, Aguero and probably others.
Now why do i think this period is so important to point out? It is because at the time we had a group of players that had won it all, still had some gas in the tank, but were coming to the end. It was the time the experienced group should have lead a group of young and very talented players and pass on the torch. We did not have that group of huge talent waiting to take over, we had mediocre talents and so the older generations ability to nurture was lost. SAF retired when most of the WC experienced players had already given their all. For this, i blame the Glazers; i believe the club going on the stock market made them very unwilling to spend and it lead to a failed transition of quality on the playing staff.
So why is this still relevant you might ask. It is because the mediocre talent that fallowed one of our most talented squads ever, were now the experienced ones, the backbone of the team. This is what LVG and Mourinho inherited. You can not build a successful team based on players like Jones, Young, Smalling, Evens, Cleverly, Welbeck, etc. So the job at hand was not only to continue the tradition of buying some of the most talented young players around and giving playtime to academy players, but to also reconstruct the spine of the team. And that takes players with some experience and quality.
This is where Mourinho and LVG failed. IMO they correctly identified the need to introduce quality experienced players, but failed in their selection. Matic, Sanchez, Di Maria, Falcao, Schweinsteiger had all great quality, but for different reasons, were unmitigated disasters. Zlatan is the one exception here but he came too late in his carer.
Now comes Ole. He has the exact same problem Mourinho and LVG had IMO. A spine of the team that is not good enough or already in steep decline, unable to lead the talented youth. He has to do 3 things at the same time: rebuild the spine, buy young players with huge potential and give the best of our academy players game time. This is a monster of a task in a time where no one has patience, not the fans, not the former players, not even some of our current good players (Pogba).
I said we now are on a good path, and this is why: It seems to me that the CEO and Manager are both understanding the massive job at hand, and are willing to do what it takes. The first step was to buy players that have the quality to go in to the first 11 but also to begin the process of letting go of the experienced not good enough ones (Smalling, Sanchez, Lukaku, Felaini, etc). At the same time build a solid spine. DDG new contract is a massive part of this as is Maguire. Keeping Pogba, and keeping him happy has to be a priority no matter how much some people don't like to hear this; he is a special talent.
In the next few transfer windows we have to continue more of the same: a couple of young and very good players (i believe we are after Sancho) but also add some high quality experience, probably in midfield.
No one likes to hear it, that it takes time, but it does. We messed up big time in our transitions of generations and fixing this, in the most competitive PL we've ever seen, is very difficult and time consuming. We have seen glimpses of how the team can play when everyone is fit, but at this time even if just one or two of our important players is not available or out of form, we get very poor general performances.
So patience and support our good players, the older or not good enough ones will be fazed out, but you can't do that in just one summer.