It would have been interesting to see what he’d have done if the Liverpool and Leicester fixtures were reversed. But honestly, I don’t see what choice he had.
Was Ole a coward?
- Thread starter SAred
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
It wasn't about City or Liverpool despite what the fans might think. It was about protecting players from injury.
Not sure how it would be considered cowardly. Surely brave, if anything, to risk vilification of media, fans, journos and sanctions from the FA by playing a B team. Definitely the right thing to do (even though resting Henderson absolutely f****d my FF team).
Wondered this too. I can’t imagine him gifting the title to City.
What team would you have put out if you were Ole?
Wouldn't he have been called a coward and clueless for not trusting his squad if he played all of the first team and nackered them all?
Who else could they have played without doubling up? Pogba and Rashford are both needed against Liverpool so it’s ridiculous to start them.
He brought on the big guns in the second half, genuinely don’t know what else we can expect.
Hardly gifting, they had one hand and 4 fingers on the cup. As great as SAF was, I think he would have done the same and gone in on the likes of the FA.
This fecking forum.
If he didnt do what he did, we would have a thread "ole doesnt understand Manchester United'
'We were never going to win the title anyway so why burn out our players needlessly'
And tbh, we were 1-1 at the point he made changes to win the game with Rashford and cavani coming on.
If he didnt do what he did, we would have a thread "ole doesnt understand Manchester United'
'We were never going to win the title anyway so why burn out our players needlessly'
And tbh, we were 1-1 at the point he made changes to win the game with Rashford and cavani coming on.
Ole did the right thing for the first XI players who were placed in an unhealthy situation with 3 full games in 5 days. He made that choice with the Europa League final on the fast approaching horizon and with top 4 more than already secure.
While doing this he ruined Liverpool’s chances of making the Champions League next year and helped to further cement their rough situation.
The trade off was a plastic proxy club for oil money won the league without anyone having to see them do it and none of their 17 fans able to celebrate? I’ll take that 11 times out of 10.
While doing this he ruined Liverpool’s chances of making the Champions League next year and helped to further cement their rough situation.
The trade off was a plastic proxy club for oil money won the league without anyone having to see them do it and none of their 17 fans able to celebrate? I’ll take that 11 times out of 10.
We got to rest some legs and send a feck you to Liverpool, well done in my opinion.
@SAred what’s the 11 you’d put out?
I would stick Rashford on the Left, Pogba instead of Mata that's all not the entire first team, we had no options at the full-backs and Centre halves.
Those feck you have a habit of coming back not to mention a feck you to Chelsea too.
The same Rashford who has been playing with injuries and the same Pogba who has been fairly injury prone the last year or so?
Would you also play those 2 v Liverpool?
Presuming this is a thread isn't a wind-up then no, definitely not. His job is to do the best for his team and the club, he had to change things given we have 3 games in 5 days to try and ensure that the teams picked for all 3 games had some level of energy and to mitigate the risk of injury (there was never any chance of the league and top 4 is secured while we do have a Europa League final to worry about) and given that the middle game of the 3 is the obvious one in which to make changes.
Now it's perfectly reasonable to discuss why our options are so limited given the money spent on this squad, albeit that's much more a question for other people at the club than the manager, and there have also been times when Ole's use of his squad hasn't been perfect, there have probably been games where he could have brought in a few at a time to keep them sharp and to give key players a break, but I don't think any such criticism can be thrown at him for last night and to accuse him of being cowardly would be incredibly unfair.
Now it's perfectly reasonable to discuss why our options are so limited given the money spent on this squad, albeit that's much more a question for other people at the club than the manager, and there have also been times when Ole's use of his squad hasn't been perfect, there have probably been games where he could have brought in a few at a time to keep them sharp and to give key players a break, but I don't think any such criticism can be thrown at him for last night and to accuse him of being cowardly would be incredibly unfair.
Not necessarily a similar situation but I will always remember your 8-2 win over the arse for the weak squad you fielded...
DeGea
Smalling Jones Evans Evra
Nani Cleverly Anderson Young
Rooney Welbeck
The squad you could have playedSmalling Jones Evans Evra
Nani Cleverly Anderson Young
Rooney Welbeck
DeGea
Raphael Ferdinand Vidic Evra
Nani Carrick Scholes Giggs
Rooney Berbatov
Subs: Owen, Park, Hernandez, Fletcher to name just a few!Raphael Ferdinand Vidic Evra
Nani Carrick Scholes Giggs
Rooney Berbatov
Ridiculous OP
So this is Elvis' burner account.
You can't play a strongest 11 over 3 games in 5 days. Not wise when part of the focus is going to be the upcoming cup final.
Ole did the right thing. A heavily rotated team of squad players did well against a team 3rd in the league, that is relatively pleasing. I'd rather our best team go up against Liverpool. A win tomorrow pretty much secures 2nd (unless Chelsea can pull the GD back) and probably stops Liverpool finishing top 4.
Ole did the right thing. A heavily rotated team of squad players did well against a team 3rd in the league, that is relatively pleasing. I'd rather our best team go up against Liverpool. A win tomorrow pretty much secures 2nd (unless Chelsea can pull the GD back) and probably stops Liverpool finishing top 4.
I actually think the approach he has taken probably gave us the best chance of winning all 3.
He obviously couldn’t go full strength (or minor rotation) in all 3 games as the intensity would massively suffer.
If he had heavily rotated for Villa and gone full strength vs Leicester then we would be heavily rotating again for Liverpool.
If he had played a hybrid of starters and backup players in all 3 games it might have worked, but equally there’s a reasonable chance that we lose the Villa game and then the pressure is massively on getting a result vs Leicester or Liverpool with a less than full strength team.
What Ole did was absolutely the right thing. Play as strong an XI as possible in the first game to secure our CL finish, fully rotate for Leicester which was arguably the easiest game on paper with their form and potentially one eye on the cup final, and then back to as strong as possible for Liverpool.
I would stand by this not only being the safest approach to secure our CL finish but also being our best chance of getting the maximum 9 points.
We had to roll the dice against Leicester to have any chance of winning all 3 and with the game at 1-1 at half time with plenty of firepower to come off the bench, I don’t think Ole was that far from pulling it off.
He obviously couldn’t go full strength (or minor rotation) in all 3 games as the intensity would massively suffer.
If he had heavily rotated for Villa and gone full strength vs Leicester then we would be heavily rotating again for Liverpool.
If he had played a hybrid of starters and backup players in all 3 games it might have worked, but equally there’s a reasonable chance that we lose the Villa game and then the pressure is massively on getting a result vs Leicester or Liverpool with a less than full strength team.
What Ole did was absolutely the right thing. Play as strong an XI as possible in the first game to secure our CL finish, fully rotate for Leicester which was arguably the easiest game on paper with their form and potentially one eye on the cup final, and then back to as strong as possible for Liverpool.
I would stand by this not only being the safest approach to secure our CL finish but also being our best chance of getting the maximum 9 points.
We had to roll the dice against Leicester to have any chance of winning all 3 and with the game at 1-1 at half time with plenty of firepower to come off the bench, I don’t think Ole was that far from pulling it off.
It couldn’t have been more gifted if we‘d wrapped it in ribbons. Leicester were there for the taking, think SAF would have made a few changes, enough to win the game then took them off.
Nonsense, they were 10 points ahead with 4 games to go, did you really think they would lose 3 games against the likes of Newcastle, Brighton and Everton?
Nope. Weird thread. They were winning it regardless.
If you don't think they were able to get 3 more points by the end of the season then I'm not sure what to suggest.
If you don't think they were able to get 3 more points by the end of the season then I'm not sure what to suggest.
hilarious, the lack of respect for Leicester is hilarious and City won’t lose the next 3 games.Ole was left with no choice. Playing Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday is fecking stupid.
Get the feck out of here with these threads
Rubbish. He did excellent there. EL final is all what is matter now
You don’t get it do you ...we’re talking about Fergie here, we all know City just needed a couple of points, but SAF would have made them go and get them.
Why would SAF give City an easy ride before the CL final?
& yet we still only lost 2-1. Not like it was a battering
No he fecking wasn’t you fool. He rotated his squad so the other half of the pathetic moan about anything United fans were not crying about potential or possible injuries by playing players into the ground 3 times in five days.
I can’t believe I and others have even bothered replying, it just beggars belief what I see on here sometimes
OGS was helpless. He had to rotate. If you want to vent do it on the people who disrupted the Liverpool match at OT. Without that our schedule would not have been so punishing.
Noooooo, he should have played the best 11, meaning they were absolutely clapped out against Liverpool, meaning we lose to them, potentially get players injured for the cup final, and even more clown threads on here.
Spot on
I genuinely don’t understand how this has to be explained to people.Silly thread.
If Leicester had to play on the Thursday there would have been uproar and they would have rested their whole team. Two days before a cup final.
He gets regular abuse on here for not rotating enough so no.
I'm not sure stranger things have happened. Not when you take into accpunt the quality of the team we're chasing.
Obviously not a coward and really this word, connected to Ole, is banded around far too much.
Precisely, admins should close this troll thread.
He fielded a team he thought would be more than enough for this out of form Leicester team.
Liverpool getting fecked in the progress was an added extra sweetness.
Liverpool getting fecked in the progress was an added extra sweetness.