McKenna

It's been reported previously that Jose wasn't a fan of Fred and he didn't block the signing as he thought he'd get no midfield reinforcements when he was signed. Other reports said that McKenna was the one who advocated the signing of Fred and even marked him out as a key player in how Shakhtar Donetsk pressed City. Fred has improved immensely and I am glad he is proving me and many of his detractors wrong.

The following is a report from the summer about McKenna:

A former Manchester United youth player, in an interview with AllAboutUnited, revealed how important McKenna is for the club and highlighted the coach’s tactical acumen in detail as well. He even shed light on the Jose Mourinho era at the club and how things shaped up when he was sacked.

"You’d be surprised how much Kieran influences it," he said.

"He does very specific patterns of play, but the first-team currently lack players to do it. His system relies on two dynamic full-backs, a ball-playing centre-back, a pivot that can protect the back-four whilst playing forward passes to start attacks, wingers who press and run in-behind and an all-around forward who presses. Lukaku doesn’t fit that, and that’s why he’s leaving.

"Kieran has massive attention to detail and an obsession with his job and football in general. Last year, around February, when we [U18’s] were playing Manchester City, Kieran was doing a performance analysis session on how to press City and he used Shakhtar Donetsk as an example.

"During his analysis, he pointed out the ‘little midfielder’, meaning Fred, and said any top team should be targetting him," he added.

The youngster made the revelations on the condition of anonymity.
https://www.allaboutunited.co.uk/mourinho-more-exclusive/?fbclid=IwAR1Vw3LLAH0NcDob1uLmzRRPgsxGUXX-yHhVdrEkGLvjFVvCypKYKg9JVIQ

We can see that he has an influence. His way of playing seems similar to what Ole had done at Molde, especially in his last season there. We can also see what they are trying to do.

We can notice the following emerging:

- Two dynamic full-backs: This area needs work though we have seen our full backs play higher and make runs supporting our wide players. They still need to work on the attacking output. For a winger at youth level, AWB needs the most work compared to Williams. Shaw may never be the player we hoped him to be although he is better defensively than the in the attacking sense. He may end up as a dependable back up when fit.
- Ball-playing center-back: Maguire, Lindelof, and Tuanzebe are the first 3 choices. Rojo, Jones and probably even Bailly now are behind them. Smalling is doing great in Italy but at 29/30 not many years left.
- Pivot: Fred is emerging as that player. While both him at McTominay play the role at times, it is he who has the more defensive responsibility and the onus on him to release the ball faster to the forwards.
- Wingers who press and run in behind: James and Rashford are doing this and while it's not always been working they are getting better at this. Their pace also frightens defenders, especially those that are attack first kind of FBs.
- An all-around forward who presses: Martial was earmarked for this under Ole at the start of the season. He saw that that's his best role with Rashford wide (while many, fans (including myself) and pundits alike, thought the opposite - some here saw the same as Ole) and we are seeing why.

Now everything isn't perfect yet as we're a work in progress. We can see from what's been said that Ole and his coaching staff do have a plan and an idea they share in how we play. If we can be more consistent and find a way to break down teams that sit back, we'll be a good team with potential to be a great one.

This is the one thing that makes me think we should give Ole time. Unlike Moyes, LVG and Jose, we can see the ideas emerging but the squad lacking in areas that need to improve either by signings or players emerging from the current set up. Unlike the others, Ole and his team have yet to get the chance to rectify it all (both Jose and LVG got at least two summer windows to do so and their signings turned out to be more miss than a hits and Moyes even wanting Fellaini shows he had the wrong idea when it came to United).

Hopefully we sign some players this January. Because we will need some.