Random points in no particular order.
Robbie Mustoe said on NBC Sports before the kick off v Palace that OGS has been badly let down by the Manchester United Board.
I agree with this. After reaching 3rd the squad should have seen at a minimum four new signings come in that were better options than what we already had for the squad. We got one with no others in sight with one week to go in the window.
The Formation 4-2-3-1. I hate it, we can't play it, we don't have the right personnel to play it, so stop persevering with it.
Defence. Even last year I said our defence, despite a statistic of being the 3rd best, wasn't that good. It isn't as we are now seeing. Lindelof is a really poor CB. I am struggling to find any aspect of his game that I can see as good.
He isn't the only one. AWB is frequently out of position and more often or not the wrong side of the player he is marking. He has also been figured out when he keeps going to ground. He still needs good defensive coaching and I have no idea who should be doing that.
Passing. Our passing is absolutely shocking. It is like we don't do passing drills in training. Some of this I pointed out at half time on the match thread.
A major issue is that Matic, Pogba and Bruno all try the Hollywood pass way to often instead of keeping it simple. Keane and Scholes were the best because both of them kept it simple and kept the ball moving. Yes it happened but it was very rare you saw either of them hold on to the ball for more than a couple of seconds.
Fitness. This has been a major issue for some time now. Pogba quite clearly is not fit enough to be starting. So stop starting him until he is.
Plenty for the manager to think about including how not to see out tight games.
My Take So Far
posted on 29/9/20
comment by scholayScholes (U13961)
posted 8 hours, 24 minutes ago
comment by Elvis: King of Cult (U7425)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by scholayScholes (U13961)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by rosso - for your protection, we’ve installed this camera (U17054)
posted 33 minutes ago
comment by Elvis: King of Cult (U7425)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by rosso - for your protection, we’ve installed this camera (U17054)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Diafol Coch 77 (U2462)
posted 12 minutes ago
To be fair I think that showed that SAF was pragmatic and would change accordingly. That's one of the criticisms of Ole in that he sticks quite rigidly to his tried and trusted.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SAF would also switch things up depending on the opposition, particularly in Europe.
He’d use man-marking, deploy defensive wingers, drop a forward back into midfield, tuck his wingers in or push them wide, etc.
He had underlying principles, and you could identify modes of play and a baseline tactical continuity across seasons, but he certainly was a pragmatist.
It makes me laugh when people say that Ole doesn’t have a style of play though. Our approach is so consistent that after watching three fecking games it’s patently clear how we play.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Agreed. There are a few similar comments that people like throw about in relation to Ole without actually thinking through what they are saying.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I don’t know whether they do it because they’ve made their minds up about him and decided to use any and all of the common criticisms thrown at managers to attack him regardless of applicability, or that they just don’t understand what they’re watching when they tune into games.
It isn’t uncommon to read the same posters criticising the squad as being full of mid-table (or Championship level) players, then lambasting the manager in their next breath for failing to compete with City and Liverpool
Which is it? You can’t have both.
There are sticks to beat Ole with, if people really want to do that. Not developing a style or mode of play and a clear tactical approach isn’t one of them.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The idiots that make those comments feel free to refer to them. Our squad is good enough to challenge for top 4. It is my believe with even better players this manager will not mount a challenge against Klopp or Guardiola.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
So the squad is good enough for top and Ole achieves that, but you don't belive he'd mount a challenge for the title were the squad good enough? Strange logic.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Only strange for someone like you. Getting top 4 and winning this league two different ball games. It is also the job of the manager to find these players to (1) improve and (2) turn the team to a winning machine ala Klopp. This is simple stuff.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It isn’t the job of the manager to find those players, sorry. That’s not how the club works.
That’s been explained to us by all of Woodward, LVG and Mourinhox
posted on 29/9/20
It isn’t the job of the manager to find those players, sorry. That’s not how the club works.
That’s been explained to us by all of Woodward, LVG and Mourinhox
-----------------------------------------------------
...and as someone mentioned on another thread I think, Liverpool's recruitment operation has made a huge but not widely appreciated contribution to Klopp's success. Yes, Klopp is a great coach and better than Solskjaer. But it turns out that massively successful buys such as Salah and Robertson weren't his choices, but recommended by the transfer team.
This is where we've failed more than anywhere else: think about not just the quality of recruitment, but the ROI that Liverpool have achieved over the last few years thanks to having the right structure around the manager. (This stretches back to before Klopp when you think about the spectacularly successful Suarez and Coutinho purchases.) Spurs have similarly punched above their financial weight with consistently smart recruitment.
posted on 29/9/20
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 1 minute ago
It isn’t the job of the manager to find those players, sorry. That’s not how the club works.
That’s been explained to us by all of Woodward, LVG and Mourinhox
-----------------------------------------------------
...and as someone mentioned on another thread I think, Liverpool's recruitment operation has made a huge but not widely appreciated contribution to Klopp's success. Yes, Klopp is a great coach and better than Solskjaer. But it turns out that massively successful buys such as Salah and Robertson weren't his choices, but recommended by the transfer team.
This is where we've failed more than anywhere else: think about not just the quality of recruitment, but the ROI that Liverpool have achieved over the last few years thanks to having the right structure around the manager. (This stretches back to before Klopp when you think about the spectacularly successful Suarez and Coutinho purchases.) Spurs have similarly punched above their financial weight with consistently smart recruitment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is where we’ve most frequently and consistently failed. Even when the right targets have been agreed on and acquired, we’ve often signed them at the wrong time (Maguire and Bruno) or paid way over the odds (Maguire, AWB, Fred, if he can be counted).
The most serious and damaging failure has been in the scattergun approach to the appointment of managers, which has seen the players’ on-pitch progress overturned and squad go through the grinder four times in eight years. They just don’t understand how to build a footballing strategy.
posted on 29/9/20
Agreed Rosso.
Incidentally, while the blame for this resides with Woodward and the Glazers, I'm sceptical at the notion they are utter, preening morons. I suspect in addition to personal failings and unwillingness to lose control, there may be a sense that there's more than one way to run a club and a belief, held in good faith, in the Fergie model with footballing decisions all dictated by the needs of the manager. After all, there are examples of clubs doing badly with a DoF in place. It's not a panacea. Maybe that legacy has created a blind spot. The Fergie model worked when Fergie was there and he was complemented by Gill.
I suspect that apparently winning formula was their starting point, and then lack of specialist knowledge, reluctance to cede control, and confused thinking makes it hard to eliminate that blind spot.
posted on 29/9/20
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 7 minutes ago
Agreed Rosso.
Incidentally, while the blame for this resides with Woodward and the Glazers, I'm sceptical at the notion they are utter, preening morons. I suspect in addition to personal failings and unwillingness to lose control, there may be a sense that there's more than one way to run a club and a belief, held in good faith, in the Fergie model with footballing decisions all dictated by the needs of the manager. After all, there are examples of clubs doing badly with a DoF in place. It's not a panacea. Maybe that legacy has created a blind spot. The Fergie model worked when Fergie was there and he was complemented by Gill.
I suspect that apparently winning formula was their starting point, and then lack of specialist knowledge, reluctance to cede control, and confused thinking makes it hard to eliminate that blind spot.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, that all makes sense.
And you can stir in, from the Glazers’ perspective - the business perspective - an unwillingness to change something that isn’t broken, particularly when they may have had thoughts about cashing in in the backs (or even fronts) of their minds.
You don’t commit to undertaking a significant and potentially risky restructuring when you don’t see an obvious and immediate business case for doing so if you’re also considering realising your investment in the near term.
posted on 29/9/20
Good point
posted on 29/9/20
If the squad isn’t at the level of City’s or Liverpool‘s and isn’t helped up close to that level by the money men, should he be sacked if he still manages to make top four?
-
If only that’s how football worked. If we don’t get top four then there’ll need to be exceptional circumstances that allow Ole to keep his job. Unless the Glazers have totally given up on United.
Brady - Evans connection looking good for the Buccs so fare. Gronk beginning to look like his old self... I can see why their attention would be elsewhere.
posted on 29/9/20
comment by The Lambeau Leap (U21050)
posted 7 minutes ago
If the squad isn’t at the level of City’s or Liverpool‘s and isn’t helped up close to that level by the money men, should he be sacked if he still manages to make top four?
-
If only that’s how football worked. If we don’t get top four then there’ll need to be exceptional circumstances that allow Ole to keep his job. Unless the Glazers have totally given up on United.
Brady - Evans connection looking good for the Buccs so fare. Gronk beginning to look like his old self... I can see why their attention would be elsewhere.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think we’ll get top four.
But some people seem to think a top three or four finish isn’t good enough and that he should be out of the door regardless.
posted on 29/9/20
Top four is absolutely good enough based on my personal opinion on the squad. I think that’s the best we can realistically aim for, and might in fact be an overachievement given the transfer window we’ve had. Our squad is somewhere around 4th-6th, but I think Ole is for the chop if he doesn’t get at least fourth.
posted on 30/9/20
comment by The Lambeau Leap (U21050)
posted 11 hours, 38 minutes ago
Top four is absolutely good enough based on my personal opinion on the squad. I think that’s the best we can realistically aim for, and might in fact be an overachievement given the transfer window we’ve had. Our squad is somewhere around 4th-6th, but I think Ole is for the chop if he doesn’t get at least fourth.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think that we are probably about 4th in terms of the squad. Chelsea have moved ahead of us now. That said, Lampard is struggling with the defence, so we will see. We certainly need to got a couple more players in before the window closes though. Which I think we will.