Manchester United Banter Archive January 14 2019

14 Jan 2019 17:30:18
Anylone think Sir Alex is actually secretly back in charge?

{Ed002's Note - You can tell if he is around by the damp patches in the corridors.}

14 Jan 2019 19:03:34
😂😂 spat my tea out ed002.
Ole the coaches and the players have done a great job since he started. There is hope of a top 4 spot now and a real feel good factor throughout the club the fans and dare i say it even from a lot if the press.
Players are playing well that were down in the dumps and confidence is high.
Sure we have won 5 league games in a row but we are only 2 points closer to top 4 than when he started so that shows the size of the task he inherited.
I admire the way ole has gone about just about every aspect of the job so far. He comes across as steely determined but in a humble and very pleasant way.
Im sure he will take advice from fergie not on team selection so much obviously and he will take advice from many others but i have no doubt he makes his own decisions just like he did when he refused a move to spurs as a player.
If he does guide this team into the top 4 he deserves the job long term imo, if he doesn't then i think the club will look elsewhere.
I really have no preferred candidate to takeover i'm 100% focussed and liking forward to how ole does. Feb is a monster month and i'm looking forward to the fixtures with real confidence.
At the start of the season a top 4 finish was the best we could have hoped for. At the beginning of dec it looked impossible now we have hope again as a supporter as long as you have hope everything is possible.
Jose left the players hopeless. The fans hopeless now the mood has changed and it looks like the players are up for the battles ahead everyone pulling in one direction.
Bring it on if we can secure 3 more league wins before going into our monster Feb then i think OT will be jumping like its not done for years.

{Ed025's Note - good post thst ken..

14 Jan 2019 19:11:56
I don’t think so Eric, he’s late 70’s now, he was very ill last year. He may be offering advice but I would think that’s about it.

14 Jan 2019 23:40:50
Top post Ken.

15 Jan 2019 01:44:56
Great post Ken, very true.

15 Jan 2019 09:45:40
Refreshing post Ken.

15 Jan 2019 09:44:59
Ouch Ed002 😂.

15 Jan 2019 10:28:38
Remember it was apparently Mike Phelan (according to him) who was doing it all at the end of Sir Alex reign so he is just doing it again behind Ole!

15 Jan 2019 16:14:41
totally agree brad- phelan's contribution as well as the other input must be a significent factor in the changes we see. SAF reportedly condemned moyes for discharging the backroom staff so soon.

14 Jan 2019 13:26:26
How do you think Solskjaer's got on so far Ed001? Albeit 6 games.

{Ed001's Note - he has taken you from the lowly depths of 6th into the dizzying heights of 6th. What more could you possibly ask of him? Joking aside, impossible to judge him as only Spurs you would not have expected the team to win even if Jose was still here.}

14 Jan 2019 13:47:49
That is true, win the next 4 league games (winnable on paper) and we'll be right in the mix, Spurs could possibly be in trouble with Son gone for a month and Kane possibly being injured. Definitely finishing above Arsenal, despite us being so bad for the majority of this season.

14 Jan 2019 14:19:02
Ed001 to be fair, in Mou's latter era, the idea of expected to win was out of the window. So many teams managed to get results from us that otherwise might have been 3 pointers. Soton away, Palace at home, Derby and Wolves at old trafford and west ham away. Brighton even managed to beat us 3-2.

{Ed001's Note - but that doesn't mean you wouldn't have won them and been expected to win them. Ole has achieved the sum total of nothing as a manager yet. It is far too early to judge him and the main thing a manager needs is to fit the club he is in charge of. Ole might just have that part of the job and that would be enough to make him a decent choice. So far he had an early bounce, then a couple of ropey performances followed by a win over Spurs, how much of that is down to him and how much down to you having a squad that cost many times that of Spurs' is difficult to tell yet. You only really find out how good a manager is in times of adversity.}

14 Jan 2019 15:04:41
I get your point now. Thanks for elaborating.

{Ed001's Note - welcome mate.}

14 Jan 2019 15:10:19
I'm being very careful to just not worry about next season, the opinion on whether Ole gets the job or how he has performed can't be judged on a game by game basis, it needs to be judged over time.

He has started well but as Ed says, teams often get a new manager bounce and then it can settle. We have a great team, one that finished 2nd last season so any manager should be able to get more out of them than Jose was doing this term. The difference is that under Jose we played seemingly to suit everyone's weaknesses, now we are playing to suit our strengths. We don't have the best defence so don't try and defend, it is a fairly basic change and so far it has worked.

In reality this start could be the worst thing to happen to Ole, now fans on here are saying 'we will finish above Arsenal', 'We should get top 4', the expectations have now been raised, this season was a total write off a month ago we have to remember.

I am enjoying the ride and seeing our team attack how they should, it is entertaining and sometimes as a manager you have to be lucky, Ole has been so far, that might run out at some point and then we will see what he is made of.

{Ed001's Note - you have a point there on expectations. A very good point. That is often what makes a mess of things, such as Leicester.}

14 Jan 2019 16:31:16
I guess if I post quite a lot I was always going to make a good point eventually, law of averages etc :)

{Ed001's Note - I thought it might take a bit longer than this though....}

14 Jan 2019 19:12:52
Good post GDS.
Listen for me the players are trying to be as good as they can be.
They are playing without fear and are expressing themselves in attack for sure. Movement has returned to the team and work ethic and togetherness.
Top 4 was the best we could have hoped or expected for going in to the season. Jose and the players nearly dashed that hope and expectation but now those hopes and as a result the expectations have returned and that's down to the manager coaches and players.
If he delivers top 4 he deserves to keep the job. If he doesn't i think the club will pursue someone else.

14 Jan 2019 19:15:27
Fair points from everybody but we have lost to Brighton this year, and drawn with Palace at home and Southampton away, we lost to West Ham, and drew with Wolves at home, Ole has done what was expected, something Jose was regularly failing to do. I don’t think that gives him the job but momentum is powerful so who knows what happens next?

15 Jan 2019 00:23:51
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day GDS2 😉.

14 Jan 2019 12:40:12
Hi All,

We could possibly win the next 4 games, if we did would you give it to ole or would you still prefer someone else?

My self if we are winning and finish in top 4 end of season why would you want to change that.

We are a rb cb and rw away from being a real contender.

14 Jan 2019 12:54:43
I'd give it anyone that can spot the dross in the defence. If he can't then no I wouldn't give him it.

Buzzing with the win but we have to thank DDG not the shambles defenders.

Going forward we are immense, midfield is good as well, fix defence and we can see what's next.

14 Jan 2019 13:17:23
Agree with that fzz, the defence needs to be looked at.

14 Jan 2019 13:23:54
If we get top 4 and Poch is not available then why not. Even if it is only 2 or 3 years until Poch is ready to step up.

14 Jan 2019 13:34:37
He can only work with what he has got, if the board don't invest in defence then you can't hold that against ole.

14 Jan 2019 14:37:20
Ole will have to tell Fergie and he will talk to the board, Ole needs a hand in transfers along with if it is Fergie that is giving his advice, then these 2 need to pick transfers not Ed Woodward.

14 Jan 2019 09:37:04
A brilliant display yesterday to get 3 points. But don't we feel that we were not very good in defending (2nd half) ?
DDG is not going to save us every game in this manner, one might get past him. We seriously need a defender. Jones lost Kane twice or thrice in the same way during corners.
I don't want to sound too negative here but this issue is for real.

14 Jan 2019 09:49:01
Yeah, Jones had a nightmare against Kane.
Koulibaly would be a fantastic partner for Lindelof.
He will be a threat from set pieces as well.

14 Jan 2019 10:26:47
A centre half and a right back transforms this current side onto a level that could top this league.

I hope we throw money at Koulibaly this window as it would, for me, ensure us of a top three finish.

14 Jan 2019 10:40:16
One of the most pleasing things to come out of the last few months is Lindelof.
He had a dodgy start and needed to rebuild his confidence. He had a decent world cup and brought that form back with him. He has played his way into first choice cb in my opinion. I still think him and Bailly could work. Not sure if he is staying though. I hope so. that's two powerful, athletic cb's who just need to cut silly mistakes out but a settled partner would probably take the pressure off them a bit. If we did go for Koulibaly, I would be very with those three rotating. I think Dalot will come good at rb. Once again, a settled partnership with a RW will only improve him.

There atmosphere around the club has been refreshing. We are looking forward to games instead of fearing them. We are by no means 'back' but it at least looks like we are going to give it a go in every game. Most of us are realistic and know we won't win every game but at least we are going to try to win now. that's the United way.

14 Jan 2019 10:49:46
Koulibaly is a top class centre back. He has fantastic ball playing ability from the back.
He is a colossus 6 ft 5, very few are bigger than him.
Whereas, Bailly is reckless most of the time.

14 Jan 2019 11:00:05
James, I don't think a bailly - lindelof partnership will work for us. As it stands at the moment every cross into our box has me worried. We need a defender with aerial presence who will dominate the opponents. Unfortunately I don't see that in any of our defenders. Lindelof needs this kind of partner to complement him. Smalling may have had this potential but never quite fulfilled it.

14 Jan 2019 11:17:18
Your right that defensively we did look suspect again. Not surprising really when every man and his dog can see we don't have the best options in defence.

DDG won't be able to bail us out like that every week, however, the 11 saves he made was the highest number of saves made by a goalkeeper in a single game since the 14 he made against Arsenal last year.

The point I'm subtly trying to make is we don't face that quality of opposition every week. For me Spurs have the best defence, and the third bast attack behind only City and Liverpool. So in theory we would only need him to bail us out like that against sides challenging for the title.

Also as the confidence grows and as the players settle into a new style of play, build offensive and defensive understanding the level of performances should only get better. Both offensively and defensively.

14 Jan 2019 11:41:46
A brilliant display? De Gea had to make 11 saves and spurs should have scored about 6 or 7!

Some of you have really lost your minds and forget what a brilliant display actually is!

That idiot Darren Fletcher calling it a tactical masterclass LOL a tactical masterclass would have been shutting spurs out and giving them no clear chances and not the freedom of the box!

14 Jan 2019 12:03:18
What constitutes a tactical masterclass is entirely dependent on the quality of players we have available.

With poor options in defence, the only way to shut them out completely would be to play 10 men behind the ball. But as we have seen this season with Mourinho not even that worked every time, or even occasionally in the end.

So Ole focused on what he could do with the players he had available. He used Rashford and Martial as wide split partnership meaning the centre backs had to either follow them out wide into the spaces opened up by Spurs advanced full backs or give them freedom. Lingard dropping into space, meant that Winks needed to try and pick him up. If he did then who picked up Pogba? Herrera was tasked with disrupting Spurs rhythm and got into the faces of Eriksen and Alli. With Matic picking up Kane if he dropped deep, and Jones picking him up when he was further forward.

Yes Spurs had 11 shots that DDG had to make a save for, 2 or three of those being world class, the others if made by Lloris nothing would have been said about them. We had 8 shots on target, Lloris made 7 saves.

So for all the brilliance of DDG he made 4 more saves than Lloris.

So I think its fair to say Ole got his tactics spot on, with the players available and the form and quality of Spurs I don't think he could have set up any differently that would have given him a better chance of getting the result.

He got that result, in a big game that matters Ole got the result that Pochettino on this occasion failed to.

So for that Ole does get the credit.

14 Jan 2019 12:06:37
Typical Liverpool fan :)

14 Jan 2019 12:24:41
Listen a win is a win lads fair play yous have won 5 in a row in the league which hats off for but the way some of you are talking is like it was the greatest tactical performance since fergie. Spurs gave bournemouth allsorts of chances they actually aren't that great at the back.

14 Jan 2019 12:49:48
That why we created chances and could have scored more goals ourselves. Defensively we are not great, your right DDG saved us but first half Ole out thought Poch, is why we was so good and why we scored, second we rode our luck, we are a few top players away in that back 4 of being able to keep top teams out but 1st half hats off to the team and to Ole who outfoxed Poch.

14 Jan 2019 13:38:29
Ole can do no wrong Shappy.

14 Jan 2019 14:38:24
Of course he can Shan, and when he does I'm sure many people will point it out. The site is always more vocal after a poor performance than a good one.

Unless you feel Ole has made mistakes? If so what mistakes do you feel Ole has made so far?

14 Jan 2019 07:29:01
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Review Of The Day 14th January 2019

14 Jan 2019 08:50:23
Great read!