I disagree. Neither Lampard or Rodgers bring off Bruno and Pogba and replace with Fred and McTominay when the game needs closed out or won, the latter two offer nothing in either scenario by comparison to Pogba and Fernandes. He then proceeds to bring off a goal threat, the best natural finisher on the pitch and replace him with the biggest pile of **** on the books, because he can run fast, but not as fast as the lad he’s replacing A calamity **** up of management from minute one last night. There are plenty of managers out there better than Ole, regardless of their availability. Allegri Pochettino - who didn’t have £200m to spend, in fact he had nothing to spend and still got a Spurs side to a CL final. Erik Ten Hag Julian Nagelsman Nuno Santos Hell I’d even consider the guy who sat in the opposite dugout last night. Anybody who’s not a dithering ****wit who spends £200m on players and still struggles to get 4th.
£200 million is four decent players in today's market. Or at least the pre covid market. He inherited a pile of **** from two previous managers who had bought poorly, at least Solskjaers purchases have all been good (I know who have an issue with James but i'll ignore that) so that if he does leave he leaves good players behind, unlike the previous two managers. I think top four is a good result, considering the quality of the top two, and I don't think we're struggling to get there at all. Where's the struggle? Because we drew one game? Agree his substitutions blew it last night but don't agree that Rodgers and Lampard are any better in that respect. At all.
Think it's harsh to judge Poch purely on his last 6 months at Spurs personally, yes it went a bit stale for him towards the end, after getting zero backing, but he did a brilliant job there all round on a shoestring budget. Certainly improves young players too. Think it's harsh to say he's won nothing when he's managed Espanyol, Southampton and Tottenham. Vast majority of managers would would struggle to win anything with those clubs. Definitely a better manager than Ole anyway. Though probably not the best United can get. Nagelsmann is the one you should be going for imo.
He did well...there’s only so much you can do without the backing of the owners. personally I don’t pay much attention to some United fans whims. I’m still waiting for Ole to better the last man they had in charge.
How are we not struggling to get 4th? We haven’t been in the top 4 all season. He bought James and utilised him as a first choice winger for practically the entire season prior to lockdown despite the fact that he’s shockingly poor and a couple of goals don’t make up for that. He has consistently given in to De Gea when he ****s up, when we probably have the best deputy GK in the world on our bench. Let’s be honest here, if it wasn’t for Bruno Fernandes we’d be in the mix for 10th and he’d be getting sacked. If you wanna hand him the credit for Fernandes then he has to also accept the responsibility for not signing Fernandes when he was chasing after that useless clown James instead.
I've got no problems with Ole. We're playing well, better than we ever have in 7 years and getting results. We're in 2 cup competitions near enough to the end. Another thing is the way we've played against the rest of the top 5/6. I've felt all season we can go into any game and hold our own, and get the reesult. Done the double over City, battered Chelsea a few times and performed well against all the top 5/6. I don't see enough (if any) of a reason to criticise the bloke. Yesterday was a lack-lustre performance coupled with a well organised, resurgent and aggressive Southampton side. We still need to strengthen in defence, need another creative midfielder imo and definitely a RW. Get those 3 sorted and I'd fancy us to be as good as anyone in the league.
What Poch did with a small team was fantastic, he managed to get them top 4 a few times and even to a champions league final, something they won't see again for a long time if at all. I think he would like the Madrid job, but that ain't happening soon. Ole is treading the line of just doing well enough to keep the job, but not bad enough to get sacked.
I give him the credit for all our signings, because he signed them. I don't see us currently being in fifth on goal difference behind current fourth having not lost in the previous eleven league games as a struggle to be honest. If we end up third behind City and Liverpool then I would accept that as where we currently are as we're still a good way behind City and Liverpool and it isn't Solskjaer who put is in that position so far behind.
We have a defence that has cost us about £280m so far in acquisitions. We probably need a Sporting Director to manage this sort of calamitous ****up if we still need more investment in the back 4. My opinion is the defenders have no faith in the ****wit between the posts anymore and he creates a weak mentality at the back. Get rid, Fergie would have dropped Schmeichel like a stone if he’d bombed from BITW to circus act in the space of 2 years. Another £200m incoming for Ole to ‘fix’ the squad, when Jose managed to set up a back four of Young, Jones, Smalling and Valencia and concede just 28 goals in an entire season.
Solskjær got the gig due to the massive turn around in results after he took over. That quickly went sour, and United finished last season on a horrendous run of form. The performance I witnessed at Goodison was the worst I’ve ever seen from United. Again this season, there was a long run of poor performances and form, that was only really tuned around when Fernandes arrived. My question mark over him is his ability to consistently deliver results and then when a blip inevitably arrives how quickly he can turn that around. So far the evidence suggests that he’s not adept at doing so quickly, and that points to his lack of presence in the dressing room for me.
Can't stand him? Pretty much yes, it is just you. I'll reserve judgement, if we get top four and win a cup then he'll stay, how could they possibly get rid? If we don't get top four them he's not up to it, which I've maintained as a stance all along. I agree on de Gea by the way, I think its time for him to move on. Bring Henderson back and give him and Romero a go. I also think we need one centre half and am assuming that player won't cost £200 million so no idea where that figure has come from. Maguire and wan Bissaka are both good signings, Shaw and Williams are fine as left backs, and Lindelof and Bailly are decent centre half back ups. Maguire needs a solid partner, and that's it as far as defence requirements.
On paper you'd think that back 4 is just about good enough. Maguire, Bailly, Lindelof individually I like, but the weakness for me is the cb partnerships rather than the individuals. Something just doesn't gel between them and it doesn't look commanding - maybe a lack of a leader there still and De Gea definitely doesn't help and I agree his time is up. Yesterday when Shaw went off, Southampton immediately switched the pressure to Williams but he held his own. He was brilliant. James came on and they then targeted the left towards Redmond and we just couldn't cope. I do think Greenwood and Pogba were tiring though and subs were needed. I'd rather he'd brought on Dalot (if he was on the bench) to play RW playing in front of Wan Bissaka and made that right side solid and they're players who could carry the ball out. I think every United fan saw those subs and thought "oh fck". It was a mistake by Ole no doubt but not enough to be calling for his head tbh.
As it goes, I also don't trust Pogba to show any consistency or commitment going forward so would definitely pursue someone as a replacement and also go for Sancho. Grealish probably fits that bill.
Forgot to mention Micky Phelan in my earlier post. Don't think I've seen him since matches resumed. He's a cautious fcker but has a massive influence on our defence and should be there.
Sancho will be £80m without a doubt. Then you want another centre half, who? Then we probably need somebody who is a better option than Ighalo, ie an experienced striker, maybe a CM, maybe a new GK... replacements for Mata, Lingard, Pereira. The squad is weak, our strongest option off the bench is the Welsh kid who is so far from good enough it’s unreal. Plenty of folk don’t have faith in the manager by the way, I’ve stood at matches and fan zones this season and last season and heard many opinion on him, it’s more than just me who thinks he’s out of his depth. I’d sack him on the spot if we could even if he finished 3rd with 2 trophies.
TBF I’ve been calling for his head all season, he’s not good enough and a run of form as Tobes said isn’t enough to convince me he’s changed into a good manager. Inevitably he will get at least one more season so let’s look at the end of 20/21 and see what he’s achieved.
What would he need to do to give a belief he's good enough? I'm guessing a genuine impression he can make us challenge for the league. That's the doubt really.
