If he loses to Leeds? No chance.
I doubt Ole but he has us a point above Chelsea with a game in hand. He has a buffer here, not that I think it's acceptable to lose on Sunday.
Would you sack or keep Ole? (Poll reopened)
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Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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I doubt Ole but he has us a point above Chelsea with a game in hand. He has a buffer here, not that I think it's acceptable to lose on Sunday.
It's a very weird situation with him. If you look at the table, he is not doing THAT bad to be sacked and our away record is impressive. On the other hand our performances are average at best, we simply cannot defend, usually winning games during very good 20-25 min spells even though we are crap for the rest of time and our points total in the league is not great with him, luckily other teams suck too. I just think that he achieves a bare minimum any manager would with our squad.
It would be a mistake to let Ole go. Here are my arguments:
- He proved that he is capable of long-term "team-building", which arguably was not the case with our three previous managers. He successfully dodged the pressures of a big club and got rid of characters that were not suiting his vision, even if they were superstars.(see Lukaku, Sanchez, Smalling, Herrera etc). His acquisitions were mainly positive, and were based on personnel character, carefully considering both their short term and long term impact on the group. This for me, was straight up from SAFs book of man and club management.
- He is a positive character, arguably very well liked within the club. During his time here as a manager, he didnt have any big arguments, and players were generally up there for him every time he was at risk of questioning his position. Maybe not a "leader" on the classical sense, but a pretty modern club manager for me. He seems to be well suited with our group of players, which was not the case with our previous manager. Every other manager linked to us lately is basically in a similar management style as him.
- He proved that his general tactical approach is modern, suits our personnel better, and mainly he didn't need "his" type or "specialty" players for that. Of course, he had his mistakes, but every manager including SAF had them too, pretty late in his career even. Main positive is that, Ole in my opinion correctly identified some of our tactically problematic areas and positively worked on improving them i.e:
- Classical central defensive setup (non ball playing, hoof the ball types) was a problem with our player profiles we had; a midfield that require ball in their feet with space and time in their disposition, and speedy attackers, that are generally worthless if you don't have enough balls in the space. Additionally most of the teams lately utilize man-mark pressing in the opposition half, so you would not see the ball much, if you cant get the ball to your midfielder.
- Not prioritized, makeshift, injury prone and aging full-backs. Basically our full backs are revamped from what we had when he came. Our past setup was requiring heavy support from our wide attacking players, taking time and energy from their main priorities(attacking). Arguably his acquisition of AWB is not 100% of what he had in mind (better quality on attacking half), but given his age jury is still out on him, attacking wise.
- Classical attacking setup (target man + very wide feeders)- was not suiting us especially against deep playing teams. Our target man, one of the best in the world in that role (Lukaku) was struggling against very aggressive and physical defensive setups and our wide players were not utilizing their best abilities staying very wide and supporting our full backs. Ole totally changed this system, bringing wide forwards closer to the vertical half spaces (where they are the most dangerous) by freeing them from their defensive duties they had more chances of counter attack too. He opted out from using a target man mainly because he wanted better ability to hold the ball and pull the opposition defenders out of their shape.
- While his general tactical approach under Ole is positive and spot-on we seem to struggle to get much "trained" or "schemed" goals in our repertoire. We score much less from set pieces than any "big team" for example or our forward players seem to be very predictable at times. I think the simplest solution for this is "modernizing" our coaching staff with specialties additions. See recent Chelsea's Anthony Barry addition which arguably helped them way score way more goals from set-pieces or Meulensteen's role in our last title winning setup, RVPs interview regarding this (http://en.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/191858.html).
Jose‘s United was fast & direct? There is a reason why all United fans in here said that our best football is coming from Ole and nothing from Moruinho, you cannot deny this and call it debatable. If both plays the same way, people wouldn’t say our best football have been coming from Ole. Ole is fast, risky taker and fluid direct. Jose at United was slower and long ball direct and sometime scored goals from long goal kick. There is a reason why we always have more shots under Ole than under Mourinho.
If anything Mourinho and Conte style is more identical than Ole. Both Mourinho & Conte want their teams to be compact both horizontally and vertically and doesn’t want their oppositions to play through the center. Both want their oppositions to play through flanks. Both are defensive approach manager, need very good discipline players and doesn’t put too much attackers in the lineup. Azpilicueta, Cahill, Matic tick the box. Costa & Hazard were top class players that suits both manager’s style.
We finished 80 points under Jose with Lukaku, Sanchez, Fellaini & Herrera. We lost 4 of those players without even replacing them. Conte won the league without losing Mourinho‘s players that won the league a year before. As soon as he lost 3 of them even though with replacement, what happened? He got fecked! From league title winner to shite.
Cheers mate
Firstly, it is debateable...that's why this forum exists. Secondly, being fast & direct doesn't equate to being good or bad, it's just a style. Jose is a big believer in sitting deep, playing a defensive double pivot and trying to catch teams in transition ('possession is for philosophers') there is very little positional build up play and it's the same for our side under Ole. As said, not a criticism but an observation. Neither Spurs or United are long ball teams though, we're not Burnley or Sheffield United, it's more that both Spurs & United will generally keep possession in 'safe' areas and won't really try to play through the middle and build play around an opponents box as you might see at City or Chelsea. On that last point if United play someone like Sheffield United or WBA, you probably will see more of this advanced possession but in general we are happy to cede possession.
I disagree re Conte being similar to Jose, they play very differently in my opinion and Conte is more like Ole, his style is quick direct passes through the lines and through balls. Ole also loves a 5 at the back in bigger games although I'm not sure it's our best option personally and the results are very mixed. All three of them are defence first coaches, with Jose being the most extreme example of the three.
I don't really get your last point, he still won the league with a team that been terrible the season before. Your examples for United are a stretch...Martial outscored Lukaku's best ever tally for us in the PL, Fellaini was always a sub, Herrera was solid for us but hardly incredible (and replaced with Fred) and then, this is honestly the worst point I have ever seen on redcafe, in case you were unaware, Sanchez wasn't quite the player we'd hoped he would be and to attribute him to us coming second with Jose, as if he was some key player for us, and suggest him leaving made it harder for Ole...I have no words.
I'm pretty much Ole out but given how the league table looks and the fact we actually in the mix after some of our performances is hard to fathom, like someone else said we've been good in patches of games. Ole needs to stick with a formation, we'll always score, if he can sort out defence then we will be challenging, I'd stick with him for now, unless it goes totally tits up
The shit, miserable football must’ve clouded my memory.
Did you ever stop to think Ole is not the same, but the style is also in transition? After all, we have a few players left from the Mou era.
Everyone in here said our best football and most exciting football were coming from Ole and contrast to Jose. It’s not debatable. That alone should tell you the difference approach and style under Ole & Jose. Otherwise, you are the only one in here who didn’t think we played best football and most exciting one compare to Jose.
This is Jose:
This is Ole:
We played with much quicker, more fluid and more risky. Otherwise we ain’t have those amount of shots, we would have play cowardly, slower and less risky like Jose.
Using your argument, Conte is also similar to Jose, sitting deep, playing a defensive double pivot (Kante & Matic) and trying to catch teams in transition ('possession is for philosophers') there is very little positional build up play (look at below).
So whether it uses your argument or my argument, it’s still the same thing that the difference is not the style for Ole & Conte case. The difference is that the quality of players. Conte inherited a title winning squad with players that suit his style.
I was replying to this quote of yours:
The argument doesn’t work both ways.
Jose finished 80 points with Sanchez, Herrera, Fellaini, and his top scorer Lukaku, Ole lost 4 of them last season, in logic the team he had last season was weakened compared to the ones when Jose finished with 80 points.
On the other hand, Conte inherited the title winning team and he didn’t lose the player that won the league under Jose. As soon as Conte lost or replaced 3 players (Matic, ageing Cahill and Costa) he got fecked from league title winner to shite.
Got it now?
That's why I said I genuinely can't remember
I fecking love Ole
Getting Sancho or even Harland is not going to solve the issues we have at the back and in midfield. The reason he plays Fred and Mctominay is because (1) our CBs are not good enough to cope on their own. (2) Our one DM is not good enough to cope on his own. Because he is playing two midfield players in Fred and McTominay he is removing a midfield player who can be attacking. So why on Earth is he not (1) Get a better world class CB or get a better world class DM so that we can play one DM instead of two holding midfield players. Our attackers as good as any other club. I think he is naive or simply doesn't get the bigger picture. Surely for 90 million which United was willing to offer for Sancho we could have got a world class CB or a DM? Instead of buying DVB, we could and should have sold Maguire and got another top class CB.
Who is this world class centre back we could have got?
We could have bought Partey.
Edit: I thought you said DM
my point still stands, we should have bought partey so we didn't need to constantly play 2 meh defensive players.The weird thing is he hasnt exactly failed though has he?
What is getting to the round of 16 of the CL going to do? We were never strong enough to win it and we had a hard group in the first place. The people that use that as a reason for chucking the manager out have a poor expectation in comparison to the time and what has been built here.
Then there is the other side - the PL, he isnt exactly struggling like Arteta is he? Some say he is reliant on Bruno like he is not his player, whilst Rashford scores goals, defenders try to defend and McFred try to create a midfield etc - the fact is statistically we are one of the best teams in the PL from different viewpoints. That may change and get worse but that also has the ability just as well to change and get better with some more players that are able to cover our weak spots.
Do I think he is Klopp? No. But maybe he isnt trying to buy 11 Widjnaldums & Henderson's and stick them on the pitch with some predefined tactics either. Maybe he can slowly increase the quality of the player at United bit by bit and use his tactics to overplay the opposition.
What is getting to the round of 16 of the CL going to do? We were never strong enough to win it and we had a hard group in the first place. The people that use that as a reason for chucking the manager out have a poor expectation in comparison to the time and what has been built here.
Then there is the other side - the PL, he isnt exactly struggling like Arteta is he? Some say he is reliant on Bruno like he is not his player, whilst Rashford scores goals, defenders try to defend and McFred try to create a midfield etc - the fact is statistically we are one of the best teams in the PL from different viewpoints. That may change and get worse but that also has the ability just as well to change and get better with some more players that are able to cover our weak spots.
Do I think he is Klopp? No. But maybe he isnt trying to buy 11 Widjnaldums & Henderson's and stick them on the pitch with some predefined tactics either. Maybe he can slowly increase the quality of the player at United bit by bit and use his tactics to overplay the opposition.
Sorry let me get this straight, we sell Maguire at a loss, plus he's our best centre back, to go buy a world class centre back to fill the holes when really we still got the same holes plus you currently would be hard pressed to find any real world class centre backs who are available in the world at the moment, as well as cheap to cover the Maguire loss and the fee on top, it end up costing more than Maguire did.
Sounds legit. Lay of the football manager
Oles, so far been doing ok. This season and end of last has been difficult in terms of no crowds etc. I think it affects some teams.
We could do with a top striker and CB . Also a right back that can do more going forward than AWB, not giving the boy hard time his defending is excellent, improving going up the pitch he needs,that may well come hes young. A good league finish this season build on that in summer.
We could do with a top striker and CB . Also a right back that can do more going forward than AWB, not giving the boy hard time his defending is excellent, improving going up the pitch he needs,that may well come hes young. A good league finish this season build on that in summer.
Do we want to win the PL or the CL or we just want to qualify for the CL? Yes Manchester United should sell Maguire at a loss. He is not worth 80 let alone 40 for this side? I would say even Axel and Lindelof could be better than the current pairing. It is a team game and Maguire has no sense in leading a defence. Maybe if Ole takes the captaincy away from him he may be led by Lindelof. But not while he is the Captain. He is way too slow to operate a high defence line and it is exactly because of this and lack of a good DM that we are struggling. Ole does not trust Maguire and Lindelof to play with one DM.Sorry let me get this straight, we sell Maguire at a loss, plus he's our best centre back, to go buy a world class centre back to fill the holes when really we still got the same holes plus you currently would be hard pressed to find any real world class centre backs who are available in the world at the moment, as well as cheap to cover the Maguire loss and the fee on top, it end up costing more than Maguire did.
Sounds legit. Lay of the football manager
Nearly everything you wrote is jibberish or hyperbole.
I don't even know if its worth dissecting.
My original point stands, absolute bonkers to sell your best centre back at a loss to buy someone else while the worse centrebacks stay
I do think we are trying to transition, never said anything to the contrary. It's fair to say we have not made that transition yet though. My criticism of Ole has always been the same - he is definitely trying to do the correct thing and has the right ideas, I just want to see evidence of it more often.
I appreciate the effort you have gone to here but you are flying off on a tangent. I have already said in my earlier post Jose is the most defensive of the managers we are discussing, therefore your stats make sense and I didn't think we were discussing the aesthetics of Ole's style versus Jose's but the fact that they both are defensive coaches whose style is not that different in how they setup. I have a spreadsheet I use for betting which tracks GF, GA, Shots, Shots conceded and what you are saying is generally correct and our general attacking play is more 'active' under Ole but also, as your own stats back up, both of them cede possession and sit in unless playing much weaker teams. I will also say in the spirit of being balanced towards Jose, that City team compared to the one Ole faced is chalk and cheese but I don't disagree about entertainment factor given I'd rank Mou around the excitement level of Hodgson.Everyone in here said our best football and most exciting football were coming from Ole and contrast to Jose. It’s not debatable. That alone should tell you the difference approach and style under Ole & Jose. Otherwise, you are the only one in here who didn’t think we played best football and most exciting one compare to Jose.
This is Jose:
This is Ole:
We played with much quicker, more fluid and more risky. Otherwise we ain’t have those amount of shots, we would have play cowardly, slower and less risky like Jose.
Using your argument, Conte is also similar to Jose, sitting deep, playing a defensive double pivot (Kante & Matic) and trying to catch teams in transition ('possession is for philosophers') there is very little positional build up play (look at below).
So whether it uses your argument or my argument, it’s still the same thing that the difference is not the style for Ole & Conte case. The difference is that the quality of players. Conte inherited a title winning squad with players that suit his style.
I was replying to this quote of yours:
The argument doesn’t work both ways.
Jose finished 80 points with Sanchez, Herrera, Fellaini, and his top scorer Lukaku, Ole lost 4 of them last season, in logic the team he had last season was weakened compared to the ones when Jose finished with 80 points.
On the other hand, Conte inherited the title winning team and he didn’t lose the player that won the league under Jose. As soon as Conte lost or replaced 3 players (Matic, ageing Cahill and Costa) he got fecked from league title winner to shite.
Got it now?
Re Conte, please do me the favour of not cherry picking. Here is their detailed stats from this seasons Serie A, not one random CL game, and you can clearly see what you're saying is erroneous.
FC Internazionale Milano Stats, Results, Fixtures | FootyStats
Furthermore, now look at how similar Ole's stats are to Conte's and how much lower Jose is than them both re possession. Conte is marginally the more attacking, then Ole and finally Jose.
Manchester United FC Stats, Results, Fixtures | FootyStats
Tottenham Hotspur FC Stats, Results, Fixtures | FootyStats
Might also be interesting for you to see we have less possession on average than teams like Soton (56%), Leeds (61%) and the same as Leicester (54%). As said, no debate that Ole's football is more exciting than Jose's but the stats back up the fact he is a generally cautious manager.
Re the four players Mou lost, the argument actually favours my side given Ole had big transfers, unless you are claiming Lukaku, Sanchez, Herrera and Fellaini were the heartbeat of our team. Lukaku was poor for us (Martial outscored him so he was an upgrade), Herrera I really liked but, let's be honest, he was not a top player (and was directly replaced by Fred who I think is the superior player overall). Fellaini was a last resort for Mou to pump long balls to and then Sanchez, I honestly can't believe you aren't just conceding on this one. Alexis Sanchez was never a key player for Mourinho. Alexis Sanchez was a disaster.
So in answer to your somewhat inflammatory sign off of 'Got it now?' I understand what you are saying but I think the stats you have shown ironically prove my point (given I never argued for the aesthetic value of Ole versus Jose), the stats I have shown disprove your point on Conte and prove my point on his similarity to Ole & then the last point you have I just think is bonkers given your pedalling of Sanchez being a key player under Mou.
Very detailed analysis of the events that led to that goal. And very accurate. Dean Henderson would've learnt from it - to me, it's rust from not having played many games. When in form and fully match fit, he doesn't do that.
Come on. Tottenham has allowed 12 goals in 13 games. Liverpool, despite playing with a ridiculously high level of risk, allowed the fewest goals of any team last year. Chelsea's looking pretty good to me with Silva and Zouma and have 5 clean sheets, which is why you no longer hear pundits going on about their defence. Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte would both have walked right into this United team and strengthened it, and you know it. What all of these teams have in common is that no one's talking about how they need to strengthen at central defence in order to contend. Is that the case with United?
You are just choosing to compare the fullbacks because Liverpool have better ones than us? Very selective to prove your opinion. I'm waiting for you to compare all of them to Maguire and Lindelof, no problem.
Selective? Absolutely. Indeed, that was the whole point. I was detailing exactly the several positions where United are weaker than their competitors. Offensive contributions from full back being one of them.
Rest of the post has nothing for me to reply on. You just said that my argument has wrong things in them and nothing else, you didn't provide any counter arguments for me to reply on, so nothing to comment on here.
I did yes. That you've no reply to them is another thing.
But by all means, don't bother.
You know don't have to rebut every instance of doubt right? You can admit the CL group stage failure while insisting it's not enough to offset the other positives, same way Ole doubters who think he's not good enough can try to admit he's done some good things in his time here.
Spurs allowed this goals maybe because they're now a defensive compact team playing with 2 double pivots in Hojbjerg and Sissoko ? Will you take Eric Dier in our defense ahead of Maguire and Lindelof ? Will you take Zouma ahead of Maguire and Lindelof ? (Because their defense was a joke before Silva joined), will you take playing a youngster like Williams and a midfielder like Fabinho in defense for Liverpool vs Spurs ahead of Maguire and Lindelof ? Will you take Ake from City ?
United last year had the 3rd best defense in the league behind Liverpool by 3 goals and City by one goal. Hell, GD was the reason we finished ahead of Chelsea after all. Stats wise, the only poor defensive year we had recently was 2018/2019, but otherwise always top 3 best defense in the league. In 2017/2018 we were second best, 2016/2017 second best as well, 2015/2016 joint best with Spurs.
Maguire and Lindelof have their own faults and problems but if you compare us to the rest of the league it's ridiculous to think that Dier's Spurs, Zouma's Chelsea and a Liverpool without VVD have better quality than us in defense.
Otherwise, you really didn't provide any counter argument to what I said regarding how to win the league. You said it has many holes then jumped straight to the next point, and finished your post with rehashing the same idea about how our squad falls short in comparison to other rivals and can't expect...etc etc etc. No counter argument and nothing new.
Is this squad good enough to beat 90 % of the league ? Yes it's. The quality in the squad in both main lineup and even in some sub bench options are far more than enough to defeat the majority of the league teams, and if this is possible we're good enough to challenge for the league and even win it all. Is Liverpool's better than us ? Yes but we're not facing Liverpool every game.
League is a points game and not head to head competition like CL or cup games. You're consistent enough and defeat the majority of your games against midtable and relegation fodders, you challenge for the title and win it. You beat top teams then drop points consistently against Palace and West Brom, you'll struggle to finish top 4.
I don't even know how can anyone disagree with that. Our main problem post SAF was hardly beating top teams or being trash against them. Except for Moyes season and ever since LVG arrived, we have been mostly great in getting points against top 6 clubs even those who have better "squads" than us. The reason we struggled to finish top 4 all those years wasn't because Chelsea and Spurs were beating us, but it's because we kept on being crap against midtable and fodders and dropping ridiculous points to them.
The current squad is good enough to gather a lot of points from fodders and it's only missing one thing which is consistency in performance, but can this squad win the league ? Yes it can and ruling this possibility isn't the kind of mentality we should have learned from Fergie. Hell, on paper imo City had better squad than Fergie's last 2 years at United and the end result was losing one on GD and winning the next. It's a points game, not squad vs squad one.
He could loose or draw the next 5 games and he will still be here till the end of the season at least. The board need a “yes man” and they are happy with current arrangements. Football isn’t their priority.
I am Ole out camp but he won't be sack this season which I guarantee. If he successfully navigate these fixtures to still be in top 4 then I think we have a good chance to finish the season well. I won't be surprised that we finish 2nd and I won't be surprised that we finish 6-7th. If Ed truly wants to Ole to do well, clear some players off our books (Rojo, Jones, Lingard, Romero), buys 1 decent CB and DM then I think we have taken another step of improving the team. Who knows that we win end up finishing as champion which is very possible as nobody is running way with the league this year.
If we do somehow get through to January within a point or two of the top, Woodward has to at least try to do some serious business in January. Upgrade on Lindelof, a proper replacement for Matic, right winger, maybe a proper number 9 depending on how they view Cavani's fitness... even if it's just one player brought in, or a couple of promising youngsters. This season is wide open and we should be throwing everything at it. Probably the best chance in 5 years to win the title.
We're going to need extra bodies anyway. Ole's sides seem to have awful fitness as it is, and they're going to run out of steam even faster this season than they did in 2019 with the fixture congestion. Might as well be sacking Ole there and then if we do nothing in January because, much like squad fitness, our immense luck is not going to hold out.
We're going to need extra bodies anyway. Ole's sides seem to have awful fitness as it is, and they're going to run out of steam even faster this season than they did in 2019 with the fixture congestion. Might as well be sacking Ole there and then if we do nothing in January because, much like squad fitness, our immense luck is not going to hold out.
You would certainly hope so, regardless of our position or points total in January I’d argue Ed needs to make up for not fully backing Ole in the last window anyway.
I guess for someone who has never played at any decent level it would be difficult to understand. it is not the individual that is important. it is how any player who can play as a team. Lindelof is a better team player as we found out against PSG in Paris.
Did you even check the stats or you think you can fool me around here because I don't know how the stats you gave me prove your point at all. Using the stats/links you gave me and your argument about possession, it still shows that Ole had more possession than both Conte & Mourinho.
Conte Chelsea 1st season had 53% average possession and he won the league with that less possession. 2nd season had 55% average possession.
Conte Inter last season had 54% possession. This season so far 55% possession.
Ole's last season 56% possession. Ole's this season so far 55% possession.
Clearly shows that based on your logic, the ones who are more cautious manager between Conte & Ole is Conte.
Quality of the players what Conte inherited & what Ole inherited was the difference mate.
We are not talking about your opinion of what you think about the players. We are talking about the players that Ole inherited and you used 17/18 squad as your argument.
Fact is that:
Lukaku was our main striker and top scorer with 16 league goals that helped us to achieve 80 points.
Herrera was one of our regular midfielder in that season, Fred wasn't part of the squad that achieved us 80 points so don't include him into what you called ''inherited 17/18 team''.
Sanchez, Fellaini, Smalling & Valencia were part of the squad 17/18.
Ole didn't inherit the same quality squad as the 17/18 season. The squad he inherited wasn't the same but actually weaker because he lost Valencia, Smalling, Lukaku, Herrera, Sanchez & Fellaini. Ole spent the money last year to sign Bissaka & Maguire to replace Valencia & Smalling which both were 17/18 regular right back & centre back. But he still didn't inherit the same quality squad as 17/18.
Conte on the other hand in 16/17 didn't lose any of the Mourinho title winning players. He used the exact same squad when Mourinho won the league and boosted with more signings.
Got it now? Ole didn't inherit the same 17/18 squad, but Conte inherited the same title winning 14/15 squad.
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Can someone explain
1) Why is Ole sticking with Maguire as captain when we can see that he is not inspiring the team? Would love someone who yells at team to get them to concentrate better
2) When it can be seen from time and again that our zonal marking is not working, why stick with it?
3) Ffs can't ole get a good coach than people who is learning on the job with him?
1) Why is Ole sticking with Maguire as captain when we can see that he is not inspiring the team? Would love someone who yells at team to get them to concentrate better
2) When it can be seen from time and again that our zonal marking is not working, why stick with it?
3) Ffs can't ole get a good coach than people who is learning on the job with him?
It's fair to say massive match weekend against the scum, has been nearly 17 years If there had of been fans it would of been a match not to miss under any circumstances.
Will Ole get his tactics right for this one? Question is will Bielsa go with two CB or three? With their counter attacking football will be very interesting how Ole sets his formation.
I know it was only Newcastle but they ripped them to bits and credit where's it's due was good viewing. Now we know they will leave themselves open at the back so does Ole put all his potent strike force out?
If there had of been fans it would of been a match not to miss under any circumstances.Will Ole get his tactics right for this one? Question is will Bielsa go with two CB or three? With their counter attacking football will be very interesting how Ole sets his formation.
I know it was only Newcastle but they ripped them to bits and credit where's it's due was good viewing. Now we know they will leave themselves open at the back so does Ole put all his potent strike force out?
Ole’s sides have awful fitness? Are you serious?
Go and look at the running stats for Ole vs Mourinho and day that again. Not to mention we are one of the top teams for scoring in the last 15 of games when the fatigue sets in... honestly don’t know what planet some you you lot are living on.
I can have a go...
If Ole were answering these questions I would imagine it would go something like this:
1. you don’t see inside the dressing room or the training ground or the player socials. The best placed person to decide whether he is doing his job is Ole;
2. If you look at the zonal against Sheffield and West Ham it was much better. The boys are clearly working on it in training and Ole clearly expects it to come good (not saying he’s right mind, but as a fan I watched Kompany peel off of smalling in a man marking system enough times to be willing to see it out) Ole May also point to the fact that our main aerial defence is Maguire, after him we are pretty weak in that area so it could be an attempt to compensate for that and prevent Maguire being dragged away from danger zones;
3. This is one thing where I completely agree with the caf. Imagine Ole would say his coaches are doing a great job, but I personally believe that we have suffered due to coaching ever since Moyes cane in and gutted the premier league champion set up... the clown.
I'm sure it would be great for the dressing room and the player himself, if we changed captain halfway through a season.
I agree with what you are saying and it doesn't necessarily have to be done contingent upon us being in the title race or not. We need to do it to give the team the best chance to achieve its season objectives, we have already failed on one.
I also think, however, that the technical team doesn't help themselves. Apart from Telles, Diallo and Pellistri we seem to confine ourselves to expensive players even if the quality is dubious at best. We need more in the fee range of Telles - veteran journeymen who can do a job rather than the likes of Bailly, Jones and Lingard. I think we should be able to replace Lindelof for £30m or thereabouts and achieve our season's objectives then go all out for a starter next summer.
So that is how we are able to turn games around in the second half - time and time again - because we have awful fitness. Yes that makes perfect sense.
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