04 Apr 2019 17:03:30
So United Addict (Ahem Maze), has decided to go in double footed on OGS.

I have said that Ole isn't the perfect manager, but I feel he might be the right fit for us currently as he should be able to reinstate certain qualities we have lost since Sir Alex departed.

For me there are 4 main criteria for a United manager, in order of importance to me they are:

1, Play offensive and entertaining football.

2, Promote youth, develop and improve the players under their command.

3, Challenge for titles and cups.

4, Respect the traditions and history of the club.

Now if for me if you do the first two well then the third one will automatically follow. The forth one is a new one I have added after some of the comments made by previous managers. It should just be a given, yet for some reason in modern society that isn't the case.

So Maze, sorry United Addict gave forward these names as manager he feels fit the brief, Allegri, Tuchel, Pochettino, Nagelsmann and Blanc.

So let's go through them. Allegri is a great manager, I wouldn't say his style was particularly offensive but he isn't a park the bus coach. His record with young players is patchy at best, often preferring to buy in players rather than promote youth. However, the real issue is that he has been messed around by the club before and is unlikely to want to get involved again. Plus Ed002 has said he is likely to move elsewhere this summer.

Tuchel is an interesting one. His sides play good football, he has developed and improved his players and he has won a title or at least he is about to, albeit with PSG. That will be his first title win and only his third cup win after the DFB-Pokal with Dortmund and Trophee des Champions with PSG. However, he is under contract with PSG currently. He could be an interesting option, but as shown he is far from guaranteed to bring success.

Pochettino, ticks the style and youth boxes well, and is settled in England. However, he is yet to prove himself a winner and at least presently is a nearly man. Does he have the ability to breed a winning mentality in his players?

Nagelsmann is an excellent young manager who has torn up trees in the Bundesliga. He has shown ability in developing players. Yet you would have to seriously stretch your imagination to say his style if offensive or entertaining. His team stifles the life out of teams and rely on goals from set pieces or the occasional counter attack. He also he has yet to win anything with his approach.

Blanc is the last name thrown forward and actually probably the best for steadying the ship. His style of play is relatively balanced, possession based approach. He has had some success developing players, but should probably have done better with some players he has managed. He has also had success in France with Bordeaux as well as PSG. However, he has been out of work for a couple of years for a reason. And has never managed outside of France.

None of these managers guarantee to tick all or even half of the four criteria I put forward or are even available.

Ole, has shown he is prepared to try and bring back a more offensive style in keeping with our traditions, he has given youth a chance and has improved some of our players in a very short space of time. He clearly values the clubs traditions and history and will obviously respect them. The only one he can't guarantee is winning titles. However, we should consider he won the title with Molde for the first time in their history against teams with bigger resources. Which means he has won more titles as a manager than Pochettino. Ole might not be the right person long term, but he might yet be the perfect man for right now. He can steady the ship and get us pointing in the right direction again while hopefully the boardroom and behind the scenes gets sorted.

1.) 04 Apr 2019
04 Apr 2019 17:33:59
no one knows if anyone will be good long term,

im sure if this site was around back when fergie started maze sorry addict would be calling for his head.


we have tried proven managers and its got us to where we are now.


Woodward is the biggest problem atm but i'm sure the YES man as described won't stay around if he isn't going to be backed, the difference with previous managers is that OLE is one of us a fan and give him TIME to make his stamp on the team.

2.) 04 Apr 2019
04 Apr 2019 17:48:57
👏👏 good points Shapps.

3.) 04 Apr 2019
04 Apr 2019 18:33:48
There are questions surrounding 1 and 2 with Ole.

I haven’t seen much evidence of Ole playing attack orientated entertaining over the last two months. The team has started reverting to the Jose posture of sitting deep, and trying to hit teams on the counter. After the initial bounce in performances, in the immediate aftermath of sacking Jose, the performances have dropped, and we have, generally, played quite uninventive boring football.

In addition, Ole hasn’t really given youth a much bigger role. There have been a few cameos, but nothing substantial. Last week people were criticising Chelsea for not playing Hudson-Odoi, but Ole has played Mata, Sanchez, and players who weren’t fully fit rather than giving Chong a chance. As for improving the players we have, performances have declined the more time he has had with the squad.

Maze is obviously exaggerating things, but we should be honest about what Ole has done. I want him to succeed, but he needs to start leaving his mark on the squad and pushing us to play a faster more intensive game.

4.) 04 Apr 2019
04 Apr 2019 18:46:54
Shappy

Will the boardroom get sorted though? I can only see that happening if we get new owners who demand a different structure. A DOF is unlikely to be as successful as they should be, if they report to Woodward. There is an argument, a very good one, that all of those managers bar Blanc should be considered in front of Ole, but it appears they weren’t even considered and that is my major bugbear. I see we tried proven managers argument, which ones, Moyes? Give me a break, LvG was past his best and should have been to set up the structure for Pep, but it seems we had no plan. The only one proven was Mourinho and whilst he created problems, he also wasn’t supported and the players were allowed to dictate. One proven manager out of four, why?

I know you say he has given youth a chance but where were they on Tuesday, not one even on the bench? Ole went with experience because I believe he thinks the stakes are so high.

Ole may work, heaven knows we all want him to but it is a high risk roll of the dice that slaps of what I said weeks ago, sentimentality. The risk and the downside if it goes wrong is serious.

5.) 04 Apr 2019
04 Apr 2019 18:53:15
Style wise, Ole started bright, but we seem to have reverted to a counterattacking style more often than not. Of the managers listed above, I would say that Allegri is practical and flexible, Blanc is possession based, Pochettino sets his teams up well with possession and pressing. Of all of them, I think that Tuchel would bring the most striking tactical imprint. But with all of them, the question remains. And even as we learned with Jose, a winning resume does not guarantee winning in the future.

6.) 04 Apr 2019
04 Apr 2019 19:13:52
Danny has got it spot on, look at it without Ole tinted glasses and things haven't improved that much. A few great results lifted the mood, but the football in the main has been unexciting apart from a few quick counters and some late dramas. I want Ole to succeed, I would love nothing more than to bring back the good times under the guidance of a legend, but we are so far behind City and Liverpool in quality and entertainment, I worry Ole hasn't got the experience to change so much. Still I think he should get at least 3 years to turn round 7 years of Sh*t. I would like to see us buy young hungry talent, that wants to become United greats. No more big names just to sell shirts. Players like Declan Rice, David Brooks, Wan bissaka, and James Maddison.

7.) 04 Apr 2019
04 Apr 2019 20:15:22
The boardroom won't get sorted, not by any new manager, not by any director of football or technical director and not by the fans.

It could be by the fans if we could all pull together, but as we can't even get behind a club legend then it's clearly not going to happen.

Ole needs time, I think injuries mostly brought about by the change in intensity and style have caused the management team to have a slight rethink about how they approach this season. Let's give them time, a transfer window and a pre-season and let see how they do.

8.) 04 Apr 2019
04 Apr 2019 21:14:29
Fully agree Shappy good posts.

9.) 04 Apr 2019
04 Apr 2019 22:11:07
I think one of the eds mentioned somethung about Phelan and how it is who is setting the teams up in terms of how they play.

The way we are playing is the way fergie used to play but without Rooney, Giggs, Scholes etc.

I sont think thwre is any manager out there that could miracles with what we have.

If we are not going to be serious about signing top. player and replacing them with mediocre players then it is best to stay with Ole.

I don't think we are going to be challenging for the premeir league or championes league in the n3xt five years with the way the likes of City and Liverpool are playing and setting up for the long term future we should just forget about winning and lower our expectations.

10.) 04 Apr 2019
04 Apr 2019 22:19:57
Shaps. I think most of us are behind Ole. I certainly am. But if one believes what Ed02 said at the time of his appointment as interim manager, that there was no intention whatsoever to hire him on a permanent basis, then doesn't this point to issues of a different sort. Yesterday I suggested that maybe there simply wasn't anyone coming forward who might be regarded as better than Ole. I also suggested that it looked like Ferguson's hand was in this decision and that the problems at United are part of a conflict between an outdated old guard and a management team that has no idea what they are doing in football terms. I got roundly disagreed with! But it hasn't changed my mind. The problems rest squarely on a club structure that after 5 years hasn't yet adjusted to the new realities.

I hope Ole can bring us around next season. Given the gaps in the team, and what appears to me a toxic management team that has no ability at all to acquire the very best players, and the second best ones at well over the odds, I have to say it's a tall order. May they prove me wrong.

11.) 04 Apr 2019
04 Apr 2019 22:55:22
Ole was bought in to steady the ship and that's where it should have stayed, why he got the job is beyond me, now I like ole but that shouldn't give him the job smiles and all that,
And so what if the posters name was maze or whatever it was, that's his own business, and he is entitled to his own opinion, and he hasn't said anything wrong,
United addict good posts, your only saying what your seeing in front of you.

12.) 04 Apr 2019
04 Apr 2019 23:02:20
Think people need to keep things in perspective.

The squad of players we have is not good enough and we all know that. It is also universally known that we need to get rid of a number of players and ideally bring in 4 (RB, CB, RM/ RW and CM) .

Ole has only been in the hot seat for just over 3 months he hasn’t had a pre-season or any new signings to bed in.

Hi win ratio has been good and if we had something similar for the 17 games before he arrived then we would be 3rd and comfortably in a CL place. Even if we accept losing at City and Liverpool plus losing at home to Spurs etc. We would of picked up more points in some of the away games at Brighton, West Ham and Southampton plus the home games against Wolves, Palace and Arsenal.
Add one extra win and change a draw to a win and we are currently 3rd. All ifs, buts and maybe’s I know but Ole is getting the basics right and putting the sides outside of the top 8 to bed.

Until we get the defence solid we can’t plas as we would ideally like.
We can’t have balance in our attacking play until we have a recognised quality right sided forward player.

You can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

13.) 05 Apr 2019
05 Apr 2019 05:53:50
Excellent post Shappy, deserves to pinned on the top for sometime.
We need to be practical in terms of our expectations.

Firstly, until Woodward remains in charge of footballing side, we cannot expect to match the progress of top teams.

Secondly, we need to recruit the right type of players starting this summer.

Finally, back the manager. He needs our support.

14.) 05 Apr 2019
05 Apr 2019 10:21:11
Out of those 5 none really convince. Nagelsmann has the wrong style. Poch can't win anything. Blancs out of work for a reason. Allegri is totally the wrong fit so is no surprise he almost got the job. And Tuchel is probably the best of those.

15.) 06 Apr 2019
05 Apr 2019 23:40:35
Let's see how next season goes before we judge Ole. He has made a promising start, nothing more nothing less. He has made a lot of Utd fans enjoy their football again and that is very important. However, the true test is how his methods translate to a full season. Until then everything is moot and anything we get out of this season is a bonus.

16.) 06 Apr 2019
06 Apr 2019 09:19:10
Finally some common sense, 12 days.