22 Mar 2021 11:06:11
I have read a few posters on here call this season / squad a roller coaster. I fundamentally disagree with that. Every team has good performances and bad – Arsenal, Tottenham and even Fulham can say they have had some really good performances this season, but they sit 6th, 9th and 18th. Having good and bad performances is just a part of the game – not a characteristic of a team, so using that as an explanation is pointless. It’s the number of poor performances and gap between the good and bad performances that counts. On both accounts, our current squad does not fare well and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
Shappy says that our squad isn’t good enough to meet our expectations – damn right it isn’t! Fred would not get into a top half midfield in the league – maybe villa, but doubtful. Same goes for McTominay. Our main striker who earns £200k has scored 7 in 36. Let that sink in. Since the turn of the year, Rashford has a similar ratio - 4 in 20. Every once in a while these players put in a 9/ 10 performance and sucker us into thinking that they could be good enough to mount a serious challenge. The trouble is the players have to play at their max to be good enough for a decent man utd team performance, not something that happens often – we need players who can do that every game.
So I agree that our squad isn’t anywhere good enough to compete at a level expected from Man Utd and the recruitment and board (not to be mistaken with investment) is entirely to blame. Trouble is the same people making the decisions earlier will continue to do so with a different job title.
But my main issue is with Ole. The three areas you want any football manager to be good at are – squad mgmt. and tactics, team performance and improving individual players. All 3 need to be present, consistently to have any chance of winning trophies.
Ole’s squad mgmt. has been poor – yes, he may not have enough players he trusts, but examples like rashford’s injury last year, not playing Donny enough / playing Bruno too much etc. leaves much to be desired.
Also, for the second year running he seemed to be saving the squad for the league by not playing his best 11 in the FA cup. Last year in the tight race for top 4, I can understand, but this year it makes no sense. We are 8 points clear of 5th, with the international break coming up, so why not play your strongest 11? He used to get it right in the big games, but our tactics against the top 6 in the league and the approach to the FA cup, RBL games suggests he is getting it more wrong that right of late.
Yes, our league position is better than last year – but we have had Bruno for a full season and Pogba hasn’t been injured as much– surely this is worth the 10-ish points we are better off. Also, other teams have been very inconsistent, so I refuse to use the “we were third, but now we are second” argument in favour of progress. I doubt in a normal season, we would find ourselves ahead of Chelsea and Liverpool. You could say we have scored more goals – the 6-1 and 9-0 freak results aside, have we really? That too with a fit Bruno and Pogba and Cavani when he is available. One the other hand we have conceded more, even taking the 1-6 thrashing into account.
Ok, the squad Ole has had to work with is possibly the 3rd or 4th best in the league, so finishing there would be par for course. But a Man utd manager should be able to extract more from the players and improve them. This is not happening either and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
I don’t expect Ole to last till the end of next season. I think Liverpool’s injuries, Jose being Jose and Lampard’s inexperience have given him a lifeline this year. The lack of investment hasn’t helped, but his failings are obvious and don’t seem to be going away. Next year, it may be 5 without a trophy – unimaginable a decade ago.

1.) 22 Mar 2021
22 Mar 2021 11:14:41
Space the text out mate its very difficult to read all that.

2.) 22 Mar 2021
22 Mar 2021 11:22:08
to be fair to rashford he has played through how many injuries to play a game, he's had injections in multiple games and he never seems to be put in a position long enough to get some kind of form.

mctominay is a good player i think its a bit harsh to label him the on the same level as fred.

but its clear to see when we don't play rashford bruno and shaw we struggle they have been our 3 best players

why ole rested players when we have a break coming is daft.

you can't keep using the " in a normal season" bs were are where we are on merit regardless of other teams we have still had to do our own job to be where we are.

i agree we have been shocking in games but regardless the table doesn't lie, how ever you want to look at it.

ole is not the man to win things but he is doing what the owners want.

TOP 4 is the aim and we all need to get use to it, anything else is a bonus.

and if people think we are going to spend 100s of millions in the summer are in for a shock.