What would SAF do with this team?

[manunited1919]

Win another treble? Would he rotate players more?
One thing is for sure, if we lost the way we did against CP, Spurs, and Gunners, his face would be red and his speech polite but very tense but polite in the post-match interview. Like a volcano about to explode.

 

[Valar Morghulis]

Martial
Bruno
Rashford Van de Beek McTominay Greenwood
Telles Lindelof Tuanzebe Wan-Bissaka
De Gea

Probably lines up with something like this (4-4-1-1) and challenges for the title...

 

[Cee90]

Make them win more games of football.

 

[el3mel]

SAF would easily dominate the league for 2-3 years with this team.

 

[UDontMessWith24]

How is this even a question

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

He'd win the league and get to the CL QF minimum with this side. Personnel wise we are stronger now than we were in 2013.

 

[Red00012]

Martial
Bruno
Rashford Van de Beek McTominay Greenwood
Telles Lindelof Tuanzebe Wan-Bissaka
De Gea

Probably lines up with something like this (4-4-1-1) and challenges for the title...

Lindelof
Challenging for a title

Behave

 

[Green_Red]

Pogba gone.

McT and Fred midfield.
Martial Bruno and Rushford up front.
Telles, Shaw, Lindelof, Maguire and AWB.

Thats our best team. Forget about individuals, thats our most balanced team.

 

[Footy van de Geek]

Sign Dele Alli according to Mourinho.

I think even the greatness of SAF would struggle to wrap his around the modern player. Social media was just starting to take off when he retired. Seeing how vocal Rio, Evra, Scholes and Neville are over the past few years, it’s incredible that he was able to keep them relatively tightlipped during his time in charge. I would never have known Evra is the way he is without his Instagram presence. We saw glimpse of Rooney’s idiocy on Twitter circa 2011/2012. But that didn’t last long.

If he were still in charge, we would have made sure he has a top assistant coach next to him to help on the tactical side of the game. Man management, motivation and leadership were his key skills. His mere presence and the players knowing that he’s unsackable would help keep them toeing the line.

 

[Valar Morghulis]

Lindelof
Challenging for a title

Behave

Clevereley Anderson Welbeck have played important roles in title wins so...

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Lindelof
Challenging for a title

Behave

SAF won titles with John O'Shea, Tom Cleverley & Danny Welbeck as starters, he'd make Lindelof look like prime Rio.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

It's hard to imagine a Sir Alex side that doesn't have a #9 that's always delivering.

 

[Red00012]

Clevereley Anderson Welbeck have played important roles in title wins so...

I miss SAF

 

[yumtum]

He'd sign a few players with some mental resilience - most of this lot would piss themselves if they had to endure his wrath.

 

[AaronRedDevil]

He'd win the PL and the CL with this squad. He did great with far worse.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Challenge for the title.

This squad has more talent than our 2012-2013 title winning team.

Mix in SAF's genius and we'd challenge for the title.

 

[united_99]

Sign Dele Alli according to Mourinho.

I think even the greatness of SAF would struggle to wrap his around the modern player. Social media was just starting to take off when he retired. Seeing how vocal Rio, Evra, Scholes and Neville are over the past few years, it’s incredible that he was able to keep them relatively tightlipped during his time in charge. I would never have known Evra is the way he is without his Instagram presence. We saw glimpse of Rooney’s idiocy on Twitter circa 2011/2012. But that didn’t last long.

If he were still in charge, we would have made sure he has a top assistant coach next to him to help on the tactical side of the game. Man management, motivation and leadership were his key skills. His mere presence and the players knowing that he’s unsackable would help keep them toeing the line.

And the myths continue.
SAF has been successful over a period of 30 years with many different assistants while his assistants haven’t been successful without him.
And in terms of social media or managing modern players he managed all the drama surrounding Beckham and his wife (no current player comes even close to the Beckham hype and fame) for whole 6 years extremely well. Only when Beckham started to decline a bit and the off field hype started to overshadow his on field performances, SAF decided it was best to let him go.

 

[Footy van de Geek]

Challenge for the title.

This squad has more talent than our 2012-2013 title winning team.

Mix in SAF's genius and we'd challenge for the title.

You‘re not wrong. The one thing that squad had over this current squad were proven PL winners. And also the motivation that comes from losing a title on GD.

This current squad also has winners in it, but more so outside of England.

 

[Red_toad]

It's hard to imagine a Sir Alex side that doesn't have a #9 that's always delivering.

Don't be upsetting the Martial fans, he's vital to the team don't you know....

 

[Theonas]

It's hard to imagine a Sir Alex side that doesn't have a #9 that's always delivering.

How about arguably his best side that had a front three of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez?

 

[MattofManchester]

It's hard to imagine a Sir Alex side that doesn't have a #9 that's always delivering.

This is a good point.

 

[Wilt]

He'd win the PL and the CL with this squad. He did great with far worse.

Without doubt he’d win the prem with this lot ...and would be hot favourite to do so.

Not so sure about the CL, though I reckon he’d certainly fancy his chance ...and I wouldn’t bet against him doing so.

 

[Foxbatt]

He will sell Pogba the first thing. He will make Martial a much better player. He will be on the tech area screaming blue murder at them all the time. They will be shite scared of him that they will run for 90 minutes non stop and pass to a team mate most of the time. That means winning most games.

 

[Footy van de Geek]

And the myths continue.
SAF has been successful over a period of 30 years with many different assistants while his assistants haven’t been successful without him.
And in terms of social media or managing modern players he managed all the drama surrounding Beckham and his wife (no current player comes even close to the Beckham hype and fame) for whole 6 years extremely well. Only when Beckham started to decline a bit and the off field hype started to overshadow his on field performances, SAF decided it was best to let him go.

You do realise that some people are only good at one thing?

Warren Joyce, for example, pretty meh at senior level. But an excellent U23 manager.

Just because a No.2 fails at trying to become a manager, doesn’t mean he wasn’t an elite assistant or coach.

Kidd, McClaren, Queiroz and Meulensteen were all very important to Ferguson.

You can look up ex players who say Queiroz improved us tactically. Evra is a big supporter of this stance. Even Keane, who dislikes Queiroz, said he knew his stuff as a coach.

Papers were still a thing when Beckham was butting heads with Ferguson. The rags were read by the masses. Now it’s all online. We can actually see what the players are doing each day via their Social media. New haircuts, cars, etc. AWB getting exposed as a love rat recently. No denying it either, like you could against headlines in the papers.

 

[Champagne Football]

He'd have had a better transfer window than the one we just had. He'd probably have convinced Bale to come.

 

[R77]

He'd sort out what is arguably the biggest problem, which is the mentality. None of this super switched on and focused one game, then looking like Frank Bruno on acid the next. They'd be on their toes all. the. fecking. time.

And if they couldn't do that, they'd be thrown out the door without compulsion.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

How about arguably his best side that had a front three of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez?

They were all delivering?

 

[bosnian_red]

He'd challenge for the title. It's a very good squad. We have quality in every position. Not performing at this point, is down to the manager and coaching staff. We have all sorts of players who can play a lot of different styles of play, we have quality and depth in every position, at very good ages. There's nothing to hide behind anymore. The players work hard for Ole, but Ole has no clue on how to set them up to press properly off the ball, move off the ball to create gaps and progress up the pitch, no clue on how to instill any style of play that can create chances regularly. If we aren't countering, we are relying on a mistake from the opposition or a low percentage shot to go in. There is nothing else.

 

[markhughes]

Martial and Pogba wouldn’t be Man Utd players, both these players have seen us trying to “get the best out of them” for a long period of time. Sir Alex was ruthless enough to let players go after any kind of perceived dip and certainly wouldn’t suffer these two (never mind their agents)

 

[Kamprad]

One thing that strikes me when hearing him speak in post-match interviews but also other times is that I can never guess what he’ll say. Where he’ll start. Maybe he’s playing tricks or maybe he just has a special way of thinking. He doesn’t answer questions like other people.

 

[bosnian_red]

He will sell Pogba the first thing. He will make Martial a much better player. He will be on the tech area screaming blue murder at them all the time. They will be shite scared of him that they will run for 90 minutes non stop and pass to a team mate most of the time. That means winning most games.

Martial is a good player, he'd probably make Pogba to play a lot better but also being scared of the manager or working hard isn't our issue. Our issue is all down to the actual coaching. The players work hard for Ole, we run a lot and they give their all. Ole just doesn't have them doing anything creative that will actually win the games for us. It's not a mentality thing, it's a coaching aptitude thing. He only knows how to tell them to sit back and counter, and if we don't have that, it's down to individuals to do what they can rather than any sort of play style.

 

[Ali Dia]

Pogba would have never been signed. I don’t think we’d have let haaland and bellingham slip through our fingers but as we all know the great man didn’t always get the players he wanted either....

Apart from the Pogba situation I think Ole is pretty much doing exactly what Sir Alex would have done. English core. He’s tightened it up after conceding a shed load. Counter attacking. Hard working midfield is often preferred over flair. He’s protecting the players even when they let him down and he’s trying to create a good atmosphere behind the scenes. I think the real issue is coaching and tactical rather than the actual management of the players. That obviously still falls on oles shoulders to fix and if he can’t he will pay with his job. We need to still be able to win ugly and get a lot more aggression in our play.

 

[united_99]

You do realise that some people are only good at one thing?

Warren Joyce, for example, pretty meh at senior level. But an excellent U23 manager.

Just because a No.2 fails at trying to become a manager, doesn’t mean he wasn’t an elite assistant or coach.

Kidd, McClaren, Queiroz and Meulensteen were all very important to Ferguson.

You can look up ex players who say Queiroz improved us tactically. Evra is a big supporter of this stance. Even Keane, who dislikes Queiroz, said he knew his stuff as a coach.

Papers were still a thing when Beckham was butting heads with Ferguson. The ragswere reads by the masses. Now it’s all online. We can actually see what the players are doing each day via their Social media. New haircuts, care, etc. AWB getting exposed as a love rat a recently. No denying it either, like you could against headlines in the papers.

Everything was there in SAF’s days as well, all the media attention, all the trouble with different players. SAF was just very good at dealing with it. We are talking about 7-30 years ago, not 50!
Also of course his assistants must have been good at certain things, otherwise he wouldn’t have chosen them. But all managers have assistants. Nowadays the managers have even more coaches in their team than a few years ago. But people talk like SAF had nothing to do with tactics and all he did was man management. Man management and leadership alone doesn’t make you that successful for 3 decades! SAF is not a tactical revolutionist or someone like Bielsa or LVG, but he had a very good tactical understanding, flexibility and ability to adapt to changing tactics.
Queiroz especially was good as assistant, but him setting us up against Barcelona is not that different to Simeone, Mourinho or even Moyes getting a result against better players.
If his assistants were any kind of geniuses they for sure would have more success outside United than just being successful with some youth teams.

 

[Theonas]

They were all delivering?

None of them were 9s and if we are talking about delivering. Greenwood/Rashford/Martial scored 44 league goals last season which is only 5 less than Cole/Yorke/OGS/Sheringham in 1999. They would have surpassed then if we added Fernandes' half season contribution. They were also13 goals behind Tevez/Rooney/Ronaldo in 2008, a trio that included the best player in the world. If we are going to talk about the list of problems with this club, the quality of our forward line is hardly on the first page.

 

[acnumber9]

McT and Fred midfield.

Absolutely no chance. At no stage did Alex Ferguson put up with a midfield as limited as that. Even our often criticised midfield in his later years was superior to that.

 

[acnumber9]

Challenge for the title.

This squad has more talent than our 2012-2013 title winning team.

Mix in SAF's genius and we'd challenge for the title.

We have a worse defence, a weaker midfield and no Van Persie with Rooney and Hernandez as back up. That squad was better than this. By a lot and it had winners.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

We have a worse defence, a weaker midfield and no Van Persie with Rooney and Hernandez as back up. That squad was better than this. By a lot and it had winners.

Defense is thereabouts. We conceded 43 goals that season. Our defense wasn't good that season. The only good midfielder we had that season was Carrick. We have more quality in midfield now. The only midfielder I'd take from that entire squad then would be Carrick(and he would start obviously now).

Current squad has winners too(albeit on an international level).

The biggest caveat is no RVP and no SAF.

 

[Footy van de Geek]

Everything was there in SAF’s days as well, all the media attention, all the trouble with different players. SAF was just very good at dealing with it. We are talking about 7-30 years ago, not 50!
Also of course his assistants must have been good at certain things, otherwise he wouldn’t have chosen them. But all managers have assistants. Nowadays the managers have even more coaches in their team than a few years ago. But people talk like SAF had nothing to do with tactics and all he did was man management. Man management and leadership alone doesn’t make you that successful for 3 decades! SAF is not a tactical revolutionist or someone like Bielsa or LVG, but he had a very good tactical understanding, flexibility and ability to adapt to changing tactics.
Queiroz especially was good as assistant, but him setting us up against Barcelona is not that different to Simeone, Mourinho or even Moyes getting a result against better players.
If his assistants were any kind of geniuses they for sure would have more success outside United than just being successful with some youth teams.

I don’t think he was great tactician, no. I think he was smart enough to minimise his weaknesses by bringing in people with skills he didn’t have himself. By the latter parts of his career, he wasn‘t even that hands on with training. Delegated to others. A skill in itself. As United manager, and I mean manager, he didn’t just coach the 1st team. He has control over many areas of the club. Things we don’t even realise. He was taking on the workload of 10 people. Now there are people for each individual task. He looked after many different areas of the club. He was the Glazer’s greatest asset. He could keep the club wining trophies to appease the fans with a very low net spend during their 8 year working relationship. Success on the pitch while making them very wealthy. A genius.

Football became a lot more tactical in England with the arrivals of top foreign coaches in the early 00’s. Mourinho and Benítez helped influence the league tactically. English clubs became more flexible. We enjoyed our best spell in Europe from 2006-2009 under Ferguson. SF, F, F. Queiroz was huge part of this. United were often naive in Europe in the 90’s and early 00’s.

 

[Johnson Yip]

One thing I'm 2000% sure - Sir Alex will kick Pogba into exile!

He could also make Phil Jones becoming Duncan Edwards reborn.

 

[bosnian_red]

We have a worse defence, a weaker midfield and no Van Persie with Rooney and Hernandez as back up. That squad was better than this. By a lot and it had winners.

Fergie made them winners. Van Persie was a perennial "loser" until he became a "winner" with Sir Alex.

That defence definitely was not better than the players we have now. They were all old and at their ends, capable of some decent performacnes but on the whole did not do well defensively that year. Midfield not even close to what we have now. Don't confuse better coaching for better individuals (unless you think Ole and Sir Alex have pretty much the same impact from a coaching perspective?). Hernandez is and was worse than any of our 4 attackers. Rooney had already declined a bit that season, was still a good player but so is Rashford/Martial/Greenwood/Cavani.

The personnel we have right now are better than what we've had for the best part of the last decade, probably best group we've had since our defensive players declined of that last great Sir Alex side.