Chip butty kick and rush football.

comment by Donny The King van de Beek (U10026)
posted 3 hours, 14 minutes ago
It’s not so much boring, though it can be, it’s just not a style I particularly enjoy. It’s very reactive and individualistic, even when it’s not as conservative as it usually is. But without getting idealistic about what’s pleasing to watch, I think most people would agree that the ability to comfortably move the ball in transition - whether it’s from defence, midfield or attack - makes for entertaining viewing. And that’s the big problem with this team, regardless of how we approach the game.

Learning curve or not, this is a problem of what is being done on the training pitch. Would an experienced coach help? Maybe, it’s hard to say without knowing how involved Ole is with the training.

Some are more hands on than others, but generally the best managers/coaches come as a package, so it’s probably not that easy to just bring someone in to work for Ole.

I think we just need a better manager. That’s not to suggest we should sack him, I’ve never been keen on the idea of getting rid of him midseason - unless things are so bad our season is facked and the players lose faith in him - and would always prefer a change in the summer.

My worry is that we’ll get top four and he’ll stay, then we’ll go into the next season with the same problems. Which would just feel like a wasted season, as I think we’d be holding back the development of quite a promising side. That Ole, in fairness, has helped shape.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
That's fair enough. I've expressed my doubts about him on here too a few times but I would love it if I were wrong.

City did seem to be at their purring best on the ball last night and their passing was good and with purpose (to be fair we defended it well too) which is something we've not quite got right on a consistent enough basis.

Could Ole be doing too much in terms of 'managing' the club too? It takes a special kind of manager (SAF) to be DoF, Manager etc and maybe Ole needs help from above as well? One thing is sure if SAF of ten years ago was manager I'd be very excited about our chances in the PL this season.

How we react for the rest of the month will be interesting. If we can be top (or level on points at the top) by the end of the month then I'd consider that a decent end to January and showed we've at least moved on from good run/ bad run. Well for the time being at least.

In the next two games I'd rest Bruno and Rashford too. Trust Pogba, VDB etc to be the creative players against Burnley as Bruno looks like he could do with a good week off.

It would certainly seem that way. That we’re putting so much pressure on the ‘manager’ of Manchester United after seven failed years is ridiculous. So I have some sympathies for all of them post-Fergie, in that regard. It’s something that needs to be addressed.

Yeah I’d do the same. We’re in danger of burning them out. And the replacements will struggle to make an impact if they’ve got a lack of match sharpness.

We’ll see how things shape up over the next month. I’m not convinced we’ll keep up with City and Liverpool for the rest of the season. In a way, it they start to pull ahead in the next month or two it could help our season.

There’d be less of a need to run our main players into the ground - providing we can get a decent position for the CL - and we could have another good go at the Europa.

Hope I’m wrong and we can push for the title, but I don’t think our results are sustainable.

comment by Donny The King van de Beek (U10026)
posted 41 seconds ago
It would certainly seem that way. That we’re putting so much pressure on the ‘manager’ of Manchester United after seven failed years is ridiculous. So I have some sympathies for all of them post-Fergie, in that regard. It’s something that needs to be addressed.

Yeah I’d do the same. We’re in danger of burning them out. And the replacements will struggle to make an impact if they’ve got a lack of match sharpness.

We’ll see how things shape up over the next month. I’m not convinced we’ll keep up with City and Liverpool for the rest of the season. In a way, it they start to pull ahead in the next month or two it could help our season.

There’d be less of a need to run our main players into the ground - providing we can get a decent position for the CL - and we could have another good go at the Europa.

Hope I’m wrong and we can push for the title, but I don’t think our results are sustainable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Surely the powers that be must realise that? The manager needs help. Not all managers will be SAF!

Get them rested and trust in the squad to get the job done in some games. If a Manchester United team minus a few players aren't good enough to beat Burnley (with all due respect) then clearly the squad isn't good enough. Who knows. VDB could well give Ole a selection headache.

I don't think we'll win the PL but whilst we're up there I don't see a reason why we can't keep going for it. In a season of strange results who knows? Before Europe returns Liverpool have United H, Burnley H, Spurs A, West Ham A, Brighton H, City H, Leicester A so we could well be ahead of them by then (even though I'd expect City to be top or have the games in hand to go top). Momentum is a strange thing. It's an outside shot of course but you never know! Leicester did it in a year the other teams struggled.

As for running our players into the ground we do need to give our matchwinners a rest this week. I'd play Martial v watford though in the hope he gets some confidence from it. Cavani then returns for Liverpool.

Liverpool are due to lose at home at some point and I think it could be massive if we went there and won. The confidence that would give could just do something. I know I'm thinking best-case scenario here though!

I don’t think the squad is good enough. Too many weaknesses in terms of depth and first team quality, that’s then compounded by the manager.

But the thing we have that could work in our favour is that I do think we can perform better than we have been. And there’s quite a few players that can improve their form. If we can do that we could maybe have an outside chance.

But I’m not really getting carried away with our league position, we’ve still got 22 games to play. Hopefully I’m wrong. I just hope we can play some good football for the rest of the season. I would honestly rather that than playing shiiiiiit and winning the title like Leicester did.

comment by Donny The King van de Beek (U10026)
posted 2 minutes ago
I don’t think the squad is good enough. Too many weaknesses in terms of depth and first team quality, that’s then compounded by the manager.

But the thing we have that could work in our favour is that I do think we can perform better than we have been. And there’s quite a few players that can improve their form. If we can do that we could maybe have an outside chance.

But I’m not really getting carried away with our league position, we’ve still got 22 games to play. Hopefully I’m wrong. I just hope we can play some good football for the rest of the season. I would honestly rather that than playing shiiiiiit and winning the title like Leicester did.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Agreed - think there are too many gaps at present in the squad. We're getting there but still the next step to take.

That's almost certainly correct. Martial and Greenwood for starters haven't really go going and we can hopefully see an improvement from AWB as well. In addition giving our gamechangers a breather could be something we need to do.

Not getting carried away of course but it is nice to at least be in the conversation at this time of year. I suspect you may be overreaching with that to make a point but winning and playing well shouldn't be mutually exclusive. If we set up right against the majority of teams in the league we should be winning the game. Playing attacking football with aggression and intent in those games, IMO, is the key to that. None of this passive nonsense we've seen.

I’m really not. I’d rather have the 2010 and 2012 United seasons than the 2011 and 2013 ones. They were more enjoyable, despite the painful losses of the league - particularly in 2012. And Leicester made those teams look like Barca.

You really underestimate how much I miss enjoying watching us play. I’ve seen us win more than enough to not care if we ever win another trophy in my lifetime.

The magic of Manchester United has always been about the way we play not what win. That’s been the thing that hurts the most. And I’m not buying the line trotted out that Ole’s brought it back, as he hasn’t.

comment by Donny The King van de Beek (U10026)
posted 12 minutes ago
I’m really not. I’d rather have the 2010 and 2012 United seasons than the 2011 and 2013 ones. They were more enjoyable, despite the painful losses of the league - particularly in 2012. And Leicester made those teams look like Barca.

You really underestimate how much I miss enjoying watching us play. I’ve seen us win more than enough to not care if we ever win another trophy in my lifetime.

The magic of Manchester United has always been about the way we play not what win. That’s been the thing that hurts the most. And I’m not buying the line trotted out that Ole’s brought it back, as he hasn’t.
----------------------------------------------------------------------


That's fair enough.

Over the last few years (since the likes of Scholes, Neville etc retired) I've not really had the same 'connection' with the team/players. Perhaps it's because they're of a similar age to me.

Yeah, we were good in both those years to be fair.

I do think Ole has brought back some of the United ethos but it's not showing consistently on the pitch. Perhaps he's not good enough to coach them properly like that but I do know it won't be for the want of trying on his behalf.

I will reiterate though that when we do get back to playing consistent pleasing on the eye football the results will follow anyway.

comment by Diafol Coch 77 (U2462)

Perhaps it's because they're of a similar age to me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

just wait until you get into your 40s and spend all your time complaining about "young people today"

comment by Don Draper's dandruff (U20155)
posted 20 minutes ago
comment by Diafol Coch 77 (U2462)

Perhaps it's because they're of a similar age to me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

just wait until you get into your 40s and spend all your time complaining about "young people today"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm well into my 40s now! And yes, I do despair at the youth of today (including my step-daughter who thinks that it's the 60s again with hippy, trippy vibes!)