Manchester United Banter Archive December 23 2019

23 Dec 2019 20:13:08
All rivalries aside, bit early but I expect to be boozed up tomorrow 👍 and for such reason would just like to wish ya all a merry Christmas. See you next year for banter and p*ss taking all the best guys.

23 Dec 2019 20:20:21
Scouse, it's amazing and thanks. Maybe this New Year you don't need a resolution to pray u win the league. Well done on becoming the friendly cup of the world winners as well. 😜.

23 Dec 2019 20:25:28
Top lad John. Have a great Xmas everyone.

23 Dec 2019 22:14:39
Happy xmas john, all the best pal, best team around by a mile enjoy your successes.

23 Dec 2019 23:02:41
Ditto john.

24 Dec 2019 00:17:08
scouse john it will be your turn to take the piss for 30 years if we do not sort ourselves out. have a good one.

23 Dec 2019 10:21:52
Serious question - if Ole had not done what he did in 99, would he still have this much support or patience from some fans? I seem to remember Jose and LVG losing support far earlier and quicker despite being far better managers with glittering CVs. To put it simply, The nostalgic rose tinted glasses some fans have towards Ole is masked by what he did as a player. I love him for what he has done as a player, he’s a legend. But he’s a manager now.

And so he should be judged by the same stick as those before him. The general consensus does seem to be that he is not the right man, but I just don’t understand how some are clinging onto the idea we are ‘progressing’. We are meandering towards mediocrity and if we are not careful the damage will be so deep it will take years to recover. I must admit I’ve never ever been so worried about our future as I am today. The worst thing is that Ole seems to have full support from the powers above. You have two top managers in Allegri and Poch out of a job and we are sitting with our fingers up our arses hoping it will all magically fix itself. Time to wake up and smell the coffee.

23 Dec 2019 10:46:47
Ole is not a single issue.

- Squad has been mismanaged and left to age and stagnate.
- Poor signings have come and gone leaving a weakened team.
- No clear football strategy and amateurs running the club.

Until the above is sorted EVERY manager will fail.

23 Dec 2019 11:12:57
He possibly wouldn't Park. Ultimately Ole has a huge amount of good will among the fans (quite rightly) for what he did on the pitch but we're not in a good state.

The club is in a difficult situation, if we sack Solskjaer, it's back to square one. However, if we don't, I think it's clear that we have a manager who isn't cut out for the job. At the moment I think the plan is to get through the next year or two with Solskjaer in charge. Possibly with reduced expectations as we are letting the younger players in the side develop at a more comfortable pace. Then in a year or two we have a more competitive team, which either thrive with Solskjaer or he is moved on and another manager comes in?

Alternative is Solskjaer goes soon and we appoint someone like Poch, Allegri etc who may get more out of the team right away but also might not? Will they want some of the players we have, will we need to switch transfer targets again? Will we actually change the structure of the club to suit a new manager as we have failed to do so with the last 4.

At this moment, I'd give Solskjaer to the end of the season. Do I think he is out of his depth, yes, is he the manager to take us forward to becoming competitive again, no, but the club has mismanaged its way into this situation and I don't think sacking him will help that despite his shortcomings.

League positions and cup runs are one thing, however, my biggest concern with the team at the moment is that we have a former CF as a head coach and none of our forwards can make a half decent run except Greenwood. We also have one of the best CM's of the PL era in our coaching squad and we haven't a clue how to play an effective pass.

The above is basically a long way of saying, the whole club is in a mess and changing manager, players, coaches might help but the main change that needs to happen is in the structure of the club to try to avoid such mismanagement for another 5-10 years.

23 Dec 2019 12:17:11
Utd Road

He is definitely not the single issue and that is very well documented and understood by all in the fanbase. But what we see on the the pitch in terms of team selection, tactics and performance/ results is solely on Ole. We just lost to the bottom side in the league. That has nothing to do with the owners/ powers above. That is on Ole who spends the week coaching, training and supposedly meant to be improving the players so that they go out on the weekend and put in a performance to beat whoever we play.

RJ

That's a good post mate. Well balanced and thought out and I do agree in parts with you. But I cannot stand the narrative that nobody else would do better than how Ole currently is. We are so so poor and there are many managers who would get more out of this squad on a consistent basis. Yes there are problems at the top and that does need sorting, but the impact of a top manager at a club the size of United should not be underestimated. Liverpool were not exactly thriving before Klopp and look where they are now. Yes there structure has massively helped, but a manager with proven quality and ability has got them to where we all want to bed. But simply put, none of the coaching staff should be here. How a club as big as United has ended up with Ole as manager is beggars belief.

23 Dec 2019 16:27:12
Park, I agree with your sentiments. Solskjaer is being given time due to his history with the club. I would love him to be a success, but he's shown no signs of improving the team. And more so, as I've been saying for some time, Carrick and Phelan are not up to the job either. The whole coaching staff are not of the required standard.
United Road, I take your points, however, we are on the same points total as Newcastle, are we seriously suggesting joelinton, Cameron and Carroll are the same level as Martial, rashford Greenwood and James, or the Newcastle midfield and defence st the same level as United's? I think our team has underperformed massively this year, we have not got enough to challenge, but we certainly have enough to be at the same level as leicester and chelsea. Only reason we're not, is Solskjaer and his two coaches. They are all clueless.

23 Dec 2019 16:29:26
Until a DoF and a restructure up above us done we could have Pep, Klopp and Fergie in the dugout and we would flounder.
Poor recruitment and strategy are to blame, Ole is not the ideal manager either but he is and a lot players are simply not good enough.
As per my post yday, change will breed more instability, why we should've stuck by the LVG > Allegri plan, and Ole has bought 3 players, all good signings imo and needs by us and the club to be allowed to have Jan and the summer to continue the long needed transition.
The club have found a man in Ole who can transition the club without fans on their or his back and hopefully he can bring in the right players if only to hand over to someone who can then take us on.

23 Dec 2019 18:38:42
Park3Lung, I totally agree mate. Many posters on here would say that we would not take Steve Bruce, Roy Keane, Mark Hughes or Gordon Strachan. All were great United Players, but rubbish managers. Why is OLE any different.

23 Dec 2019 18:54:29
WRD

Seriously, you think “the club have found a man in Ole who can transition the club without fans on their or his back”?

The longer this goes on the greater the risks and if we miss out on proper managers whilst this farce continues the club would deserve the mess.

23 Dec 2019 20:04:17
Top post AAA I couldn’t agree more.

Cantona - I agree mate. At the end of the day Ole is Ole the player, he is now Ole the manager. It’s his job to sort these boys out and get the playing at the standard which is expected at this club. If he can’t do it, which in all honesty it’s obvious he cannot, then he must go. You could give him 10 more windows and we wouldn’t be challenging.

WRD - whilst I agree changing and sacking managers can breed instability, sometimes keeping someone longer than their sell by date is even more damaging than keeping them. What we are seeing is not a transition, it’s a decline. Transition means there is change but there is a way to a bigger plan or objective. You can see the steps that must be taken to get to where you want to be. I cannot see any steps, progress or signs of what we are trying to do, and even worse, where we want to be. We are leaderless, rudderless and disgraceful at the minute. Red man is right, keeping him increases the risk of losing out on a top manager. We will be in the wilderness for years if that happens. I agree managers need time, but they don’t when they are clearly the wrong fit and choice for the club.

23 Dec 2019 23:15:51
Not here to bash anyone and I respect everyone's opinions on here. All I want is consistency from posters. So those bashing Ole, we all no that the inevitable will happen, but I will like that you'll bash him when we win also and not only when the side loses a game. be consistent ok😁.

24 Dec 2019 10:37:15
St Lucia - bash Ole when he wins? I don't really know what you are trying to say but nobody on this thread has said anything that is not backed up by reason or evidence as to what they have been seeing. When Ole got us the wins against Spurs and City, many posters including myself, praised him but were aware that those wins only papered over the cracks. So just because we criticise now does not mean we are 'inconsistent'. It seems if you say anything negative about Ole then the 'OleIn' brigade will jump all over you. It is so odd tbh. Ask any united fan and of course they want Ole to succeed but it is quite clear and obvious he does not have the ability to do so. Anyway merry xmas and here is to a better 2020 for United.

24 Dec 2019 12:54:44
Am definitely not part of the Ole in brigade. I personally want him gone (sooner the better) cuz his ideology is stuck in the past. All he talks about is his days under Sir Alex. What worked for Sir Alex back then doesn't mean it will work now, plus Ole doesn't have the necessary skill set to implement Sir Alex's methods. All this talk of the past is why we're stuck in this rut. We need a forward thinking manager and forward thinking board.

23 Dec 2019 05:37:39
Emotions are running high as would be expected after such an abject performance. Playing against the worst team in the league we simply didn’t show up, didn’t press, didn’t harrie, didn’t have energy, a very flat and poor performance. However, the ‘we are an average team’, ‘our players are poor’, and ‘Ole out’ refrains are perhaps not accurate.

We play well against the top teams, we are right up there in the top 6 league and the displays against Spurs and City show what we are capable of. Yet put us up against an ‘average’ team and we look bereft of ideas. But is that true? The biggest difference I have seen in games against top vs ‘average’ teams is one of application, energy, passion, and commitment. That isn’t about physical attributes, or playing badly, or ability, that is a mental issue that needs to be urgently addressed. Against City we pressed them, chased them, broke at pace, and left them floundering for the first 45 minutes. Liverpool struggled against us, the only team who has taken points off them this season. Yet against Bournemouth we looked disinterested and lethargic, same today. These are the same players, this is not about quality, this is about mentality.

Is this down to Ole? Probably. Did Jose have the same issue? Yes he did. Do I have any idea how to solve it? Absolutely not.

Ole has shown himself to be tactically astute on occasions, but then against Watford (and other lower teams) he seems to have no idea how to change things. I love the average age of the team. I love that Lukaku and Sanchez have left, I love watching us when we are on fire, but the inconsistency is driving me potty.

DDG is on borrowed time for me, this is the second season when he has looked decidedly dodgy. Lindelof is unconvincing, Maguire has not had the impact we hoped he would (has he had any impact? ), James drifts in and out of games, Jesse has energy but not much else, and Martial is a passenger for 95% of the time.

4th place is there for the taking, even 3rd in what is a poor league with only 2 stand out teams. That means we should be able to experiment and integrate some youth whilst still competing yet we look bereft of ideas against anyone other than the top 6.

I’m at a loss, I think this team is good enough to be 3rd but inconsistency around attitude and commitment is killing us.

{Ed047's Note - seriously, you guys can write all the long stories you like but you are a poor team.

I don’t speak from strength as an Arsenal supporter but how many excuses are you going to make about this side.

I seriously would want but maybe two of them at a push in my side.

When Arsenal were languishing this far behind you when you were last winning titles did you think no actually they are quality, our usual 2 players away from being great, no I’m sure you didn’t.

The squad is just so poor AJH, miles away with a hopeless manager who gets it right on occasion as have other mid table managers.

We are both as sorrowfully bad as each other and you can big up players after a decent game or constantly believe someone like Martial is going to do it, but it’s not happening.

23 Dec 2019 06:27:50
I put it down to attitude. I think there's to many who think there to good and when they play lesser teams they think they don't have to turn up, yet when you play the bigger teams they perform well.

23 Dec 2019 06:58:12
The club needs to stop this utter baloney of a culture reset under this Manager. We are heading in a direction that no one knows whether it will be the right one. We are letting a totally failed manager give direction to one of the worlds biggest clubs, then wonder why yesterday happened. Reset is needed, start by reviewing the present direction and immediately make logical not sentimental decisions over the capabilities of the tactically inept manager.

23 Dec 2019 07:33:54
OLE has no clue when it comes to trying something different, he just can't get over 4-2-3-1. One-dimensional approach won't last long with average players at his helm, Pogba is the only world class talent we have who showed that last night and he deserves to leave and play for a better club (slate him as much as you want but he is World Class) .

23 Dec 2019 08:17:36
I didn't get the chance the see the game yesterday as I'm away for a couple of weeks, so I followed the BBC text commentary, the amount of comments about the poor quality of the passing was overwhelming. These are technical basics. I saw an interview recently, I can't remember from who, but they mentioned that football basics are not covered in training as they are meant to be a given. We have players who for some reason are very short on the basic technical aspects of football. After the Everton game Old said he instructed the players to play with pace, one or two touches then pass, but they lingered on the ball, he believes it's about time and the players learning, but I just think they do not have the ability to play that way consistently. The big side performances seem to see players pushing beyond (their passing is still rather poor, but they show more fight) .

23 Dec 2019 09:01:02
Liverpool fan in peace guys. Really don't know where you guys get this world class tag for pogba from. From outside looking in he seems to be the root of the problem at Manchester United. Both he and his agent have on more than one occasion disrespected your club. He has created a divide in the playing staff which can be traced back to Jose's time. Players like mctominay etc might never had his ability but you can rest assure he will leave everything he has out on the pitch. How often has the world class pogba done this? . To me a world class player rallies the troops when things are down or who grabs a game by the scruff of the neck when its slipping away from you. Pogba might have world class ability but he rarely brings it for Manchester United. Come to think about i actually don't think he ever wanted a return to United and when he didn't get his move to madrid he seen the chance of a big payday.

23 Dec 2019 09:39:39
Redmick. Most don't think he is world class. Just the odd one.

23 Dec 2019 10:31:19
Ed, I did point out half of our first team aren’t doing it right now. Irrespective of how good or bad we are, the difference in effort and application is unacceptable.

23 Dec 2019 10:52:48
Lingard is world class :)