Been lucky to keep it this long. That form after the Covid break saved his arse (and a few games before to be fair), easy to forget that he was pretty much a dead man walking up until that point.
Like both LvG and Jose before him, managed to cling on to the job a little bit longer than he should due to a small patch of form.
Sadly as I like him and how he comes across not just for what he did as a player.........I agree. I think you are slightly wrong though, that it was the signing of Fernandes saved his arse. Both the purple patch of form he had (as he isnt ever going to consistenly be that player over a season he was for three months) and the lift it had upon the rest of the team was absolutely huge.
People can talk of how well we did last season and finishing 3rd theoretically we did, but I think defensively the quality of the premiership was poor last year, I also think bar Liverpool, Wolves, Leicester and Chelsea, the top half of the table, majority of teams form was poor, especially the bigger clubs in comparison to what they are capable of.
He did well to finish 3rd, but lets be honest we stumbled into that position, we were actually poor the last month or so of the season and helped out by others especially Leicester falling apart at the final hurdle.
However this season I do think Everton who have bought really well, Arsenal who are now buying in to Arteta and a couple of other sides will also competing for the top four, maybe even SPurs, we wont finish top four on last seasons performances let alone these so far.
Fo me the biggest problem isnt the manager of course, it is the board and also several of the players.....but the most important thing right NOW, huge cracks showing that he might not have the dressing room on his side, when that happens, its only a matter of time.
Personally I like Ole with the media, I like he is trying to continue the proper United philosophy.....I am not convinced he is astute enough at actually managing a side though. By that I mean partly tactically, though ironically I dont think that is as huge as people think for me, Ferguson for example to me at least wasnt tactically a great manager....what he was great at was his ability to adapt to the times both with players and interacting with them and motivating them, he was a master at getting respect and trust from his players....I just dont see that in Ole at all sadly and that is why I fear of him losing the dressign room, as already seems to be happening.
It doesnt matter who the manager is though. What needs to change is the people who are in charge of recruitment, making deals and selling players as its a shambles. Not only are we mssing out on players we should be getting we are also failing miserably to offload fringe players let alone ones should be moved on even just as importanly, the inconsistent players without the right attitude or ability or fitness....I know its always a divided opinion, but what I read *yes its press" but mainly what I see over a season players like Pogba and Martial....sorry Mourinho was right, they need to go in my opnion, both very talented, both seem toxic and at times disinterested and neither have been consistent enough to merit the fees and wages they are on. There realy are better players in terms of how I would expect them to perform than these two and certainly easy to manage as part of a cohesive side.
Amazing that this window we have signed 5 players and spent pretty much the same as Everton. Of course ours havent played yet so maybe prejudging....but there signings have transformed them from a mid table side to a real top four contender and a proper looking side. Our still looks to have leaks in several areas and we had a better side than them to start with?
We keep hearing about a project and phases over time. ALways hear people each summer "we wont sign more than four it takes time" blah blah ruddy blah stfu, we are no nearer a title challenging team after several windows than when we heard Jose saying similar things after his first season. For any new manager there is STILL a huge job to be done with mayb eup to 10 players to get rid of and for me at least four top signings needed, thats a joke and no manager can do that without being backed.
On the positive side, I am quite excited to see how the likes of Greenwood, Mengi, Diallo, Mjebri and a few others in the youth develop over the next couple of years.....but of course, no guarantees with youngsters as we have seen with several talented ones over the las few years but there are at least SEVERAL at the moment, thats our possible saving grace moving forward
