26 Aug 2019 17:56:26
Banter please eds. I see there has been intense discussions on the current predicament at United and the direction the club is going in. It seems there are 2 camps: the 1st is the idea that what we are seeing is utterly unacceptable and that Ole is woefully incapable of leading us. On the other end of the spectrum there is full blown support for Ole and that patience is needed. I like to think I am somewhere in the middle with a few other posters. I want to assess a few important points and hopefully give a reasoned and unbiased approach to the current situation.

I want to begin with Ole. Now he seems to be the hot topic currently (apart from pogba and the penalty) . There is the view his CV is poor and therefore he is not equipped to be handling such a big job. I think on the whole you have to agree with that view. He has not shown anything in the past to suggest he has the ability to bring us back to the top, nor the credentials to compete with the likes of Pep and Klopp. He would not have been my choice in all honesty and many of you know it would have been Poch but that's another debate for another time. The thing I do like about him is that he is United through and through. I know for some that is sentimental bolloxology (thank you betty), but for me there is a sense of pride that this is a man who wants nothing but the best for us. Perhaps he can instil some of those values and principles that are so important to the club and should not be forgotten. There is no guarantee of course, but that should count for something I believe.

We must accept that we have him at the helm and the lack of support by some is nauseating tbh. There is nothing wrong with constructively criticising, but to write him off before he has had a season or so to make an impact is quite frankly ridiculous. We all have a bias towards managers and we are guilty of affording time to some and not others. I was a Jose fan and I was far more lenient on him than say Moyes. But the point is we are having reactionary and dramatic responses every time we lose a game and the knives are out on Ole. There was none of this when we went on that long run at the beginning of his tenure. A little patience and understanding that things aren't fixed over night would be nice.

The second point is on the team itself and the style of play. A blind man can see that there has been some improvements from last season. We are moving the ball quicker and defensively we do look more secure, apart from two ridiculous mistakes against Palace. There is more energy and we do move the ball quicker at times. There are two glaring issues imo: the quality of the players and the consistency of our play. The first issue is something which is going to hamper us all season. There are far too many players in the first XI who are simply not good enough and until we upgrade, you will see the same awful performances like the one on saturday. This is not Ole's fault but an issue with the powers above and the structure of the club. The last 3 managers have been let down too. So instead of criticising the manager we should be directing it towards those who are in responsible. otherwise we will have another manager gone and back at square one. The one constant through the last 6 years has been woodward. Without a DOF in place and an agreed transfer strategy/ style of play, then we will be battling for 4th.

The consistency in our game has been poor for years, there is no denying that. We have completely departed from what made us so successful. The transitioning of the passing against Palace was painfully slow and it is no surprise our goal came from quick one touch football. But there has been improvements over these past 3 games. I know it is hard to see for some, but we looked decent at times against Wolves and passed the ball far better than last season. The main issue we must consider is CONTEXT. Unfortunately whether people like it or not, we are not the United of the Fergie era. We have not been for 6 years. Whether we like it or not, we must temper our expectations and accept our current reality. We are a top 6 side and so it is unreasonable to be expecting us to be playing like a Liverpool or a City. That does not mean I am unambitious by saying that. I believe this club should be at the top of English football and challenging for the biggest honour in Europe. But we are simply not there. It takes time to get back there and so we must be patient and temper those expectations.

Football comes in cycles. We have had unprecedented success that teams can only dream of. But we have also contributed to our demise. Slowly we are trying to get back to our perch. Ole is trying to bring back some of those core values that we used to abide by. is he the right man to win us trophies? I doubt it tbh but he could surprise us later on. But perhaps he is what we need now just to stabilise the ship. To bring through some talented youth and to try and bring back some attacking football. Perhaps he will only take us as far as he can till the end of the season, but until then we get behind the team and support the manager. We are entitled to constructively criticise both the players and the managers. But come match day we get behind whatever team takes the field and go for those 3 points. There are some very young but talented youngsters in this side that need time, patience and nurturing. Unfortunately they are unlikely to get this due to our incompetence in the transfer market. However, we as fans can give them that but not jumping on their backs after one game.

I respect everyone's opinion on this site. I cannot lie, some views rub me up the wrong way and I have to take a few days off because it all becomes too much. But i return because there is no better site out there to connect with other passionate united fans. We all want success and to be entertained on the weekend. But sometimes it takes time and patience to build a side. Klopp has taken 2/ 3 years and the patience has paid off. of course he came with far better credentials, but the point is he got time and support. I don't agree with everything Ole is doing, but I can appreciate there are some improvements. let's try and find some common ground and support the team because the general toxicity in the United fanbase currently is very extreme at the moment.

1.) 26 Aug 2019
26 Aug 2019 18:35:07
Take a bow, Park.

2.) 26 Aug 2019
26 Aug 2019 18:35:41
👏👏👏 Bravo Park, possibly the best post I have read on this site in over a year.

Perfectly balanced.

Well done.

3.) 26 Aug 2019
26 Aug 2019 19:01:23
Good post park mate.

4.) 26 Aug 2019
26 Aug 2019 19:05:51
Great post Park. The Chelsea game was ideal because they were wide open. The other two games not so much. We are working a lot better off the ball to win it back, but the passing is certainly not quicker. It's still sideways, 2 and 3 touches and pass to the nearest man. In the Wolves game and the Palace would we didn't create much at all. The majority of teams are going to sit back against us. If the forward lads get a good understanding then we should be easily beating teams that sit back, but bar Pogba we have no creative spark.

Wonderful first 10 games. Absolutely appalling last 10 games last season. Can the real OGS please stand up?

5.) 26 Aug 2019
26 Aug 2019 20:08:48
Good post Park. I am on OGS side and i think we should give him time. No one could have predicted two missed penalties, Martial being dragged and Cahill had to be sent off. So, we could easily be sat here with 9 points out of 9.

OGS is not experienced and I'll be honest, i wanted Poch not OGS. But now we have OGS and he has already changed the shape of the team and is in the process of getting rid of some of the deadwood and trouble makers. 10 out of 10 for doing this.

Problem OGS and any other manager will have are the idiots in charge of the club. We all know that Pogba had to be moved on and three midfielders brought in to replace Pogba, Fellaini and Hererra. But the fact of the matter, is that our chief executive and the owners talk a good game but deliver very little. They still haven't appointed a DOF, they still have Woodward in charge when he's made some monumental mistakes (we've paid Sanchez £47m in wages so far) . So unless the Glazers get off their sorry asses and actually restructure the club, then I'm afraid that Ed002's summation of the chaotic way our club is run will continue and we will not be making any headway on the likes of City or Liverpool.
And unfortunately, OGS will pay due to their inadequacies.

6.) 26 Aug 2019
26 Aug 2019 20:47:55
I'm okay with losing games, and we did play badly, but it was far better than some 1-0 wins under LVG.
Martial had some really excellent interplay.
We missed a pen.
There were definite positives.
What does not go well with me, is the fact that Lingard has 9 lives. He keeps performing poorly and keeps missing guilt edged goal scoring chances.
Pereira is not as good as lingard with his runs and positioning. But he's really good at the final third passes and really good at shooting.

Why is Angel Gomes not in the 18. He's a terrific dribbler when he gets going and a kind of player that can make a huge difference. It will be really disheartening to see a talent like that leave because he wasn't trusted with gametime.

Chong scored twice and yet he doesn't make the matchday.

Honestly posters, rank the players below: Greenwood, Gomes, Pereira, Mata, Lingard and Chong.

I would go like:
Greenwood, Gomes, Pereira, Mata, Lingard, Chong

But Ole is like:
Lingard, Greenwood, Mata, Pereira, Gomes, Chong

Which I believe is extremely unfair and wrong.

Gomes has been really good at preseason.

I hear Garner has been scoring for fun, why is he not on the bench?

We have a group of really talented academy players and yet Mata and Lingard keep starting over them. It appals me.

Look at the difference a few games has done for mctominay.

Angel Gomes, Greenwood, Mctominay and Pereira are good enough to be in the first 18.

7.) 26 Aug 2019
26 Aug 2019 21:54:01
Top top post Park.

8.) 26 Aug 2019
26 Aug 2019 22:34:08
Post of the year so far 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏.

9.) 27 Aug 2019
26 Aug 2019 23:51:09
Thank you guys much appreciated. Mumbles I think until we get more quality in midfield, I think we will struggle to see that quick passing that is needed to break down sides. Unfortunately the whole league knows how to play against us. Sit back deep and impose a low block and let us have the ball because we could play for for 90 mins and cause no problems. Then they hit us on the break. You are right pogba is the only creative spark we have but he cannot do it alone. Imo he’s picking the ball up too deep and we are not making the most of his driving runs into the box and his link up play with martial, like the penalty against wolves.

AAA you are spot on about the problems above. We must restructure now before it’s too late. People mock arsenal but they have done that and they have put football men in the important positions. I’m not going to say we haven’t spent money because we’ve spent and absolute shed load. But it’s the way we’ve spent it is worrying and that’s due to poor strategy or lack of. Every manager has failed because of the issues with the powers above. And also every single one of our appointments have been wrong imo, even Jose. We departed straight from our philosophy.

Ole does need to sort a few things out. He needs to try something new at no 10 because lingard isn’t doing it for me. I know some are a fan, but whoever plays that position in the 4231 system has a huge responsibility in attack. We have two very good players in rashford and martial who need more service. Now he either shows some balls and plays Gomes or he pushes pogba there. And then brings in Fred or a left field choice, garner whose been simply sensational for the u23s with 4 goals and 3 assists in 4 games.

10.) 27 Aug 2019
27 Aug 2019 01:18:35
Good post mate.

11.) 27 Aug 2019
27 Aug 2019 05:30:16
Top class post Park. Perfect summarization of our current situation.

AAA, spot on regarding the woeful structure of the club.

Individual mistakes are pulling us down badly. Missed penalties and goalkeeping blunders.
Cut it out and we would have been 9 points out of 9.

12.) 27 Aug 2019
27 Aug 2019 10:21:53
Great post park 👌👌.