Manchester United Teamtalk/Transfer Rumours/Gossip 2020/21- Mod Notes OP [17/10/20]

Wouldn’t normally quote Jamie Redknapp but he made a very good point on a sky podcast there which sort of ties in with my feelings.

His point was that we get too hung up on systems (or tactics) and have failed to really look at players application. I’ve said it before and it has happened to all levels of managers (eg players downing tools), it doesn’t matter what system a manager coaches if the players are not applying themselves to it.

I remember Jose was dropping bigger names and starting Fellaini and McT even in bigger games and it was because they were applying themselves best to his instructions. The culture of United Squads has been toxic for sometime but how much of it was down to players application but equally player competition?

Very early doors of course but is DDG getting a new lease of life with Henderson? Is Tuanzabe (even Shaw playing LCB) helping maguire And Lindleof focus a bit more. Has VDB given Ole more options which In turn Has a good competition among those in that position? Is Cavani not just a great influence in dressingroom but also putting rashford and martial under more pressure (as opposed to Igahlo).

I mean the options this season to last are chalk and cheese. People made a lot out of Ole starting the same team and burning out our first team. But then they also confirmed that Oles alternative options were not good enough which is a kind of a contradiction. I’ve said it before that last season was unique and very difficult to judge. When we came back from COVID break we couldn’t afford to drop many points if we wanted top 4 and we had to go on some savage run to even get the spot. This explains why Ole made so few changes and burnt out the squad. While people complain about it, he achieved our goal of 3rd spot.

So I think this could be a very interesting season. Don’t know what to expect and do believe we may continue a two steps forward three steps back kind of journey. But I’ve seen enough to suggest it might be worth hanging onto Ole to see what might happen. Getting the team to maintain consistency may be easier/possible with vastly better squad options for rotating and motivating players. The players seem generally happy with the manager and that’s 80% of a managers job. There’s no negative stories coming out (Romero aside) from starting or main players in the squad.

In terms of Ole I’m still in the not sure category. I’ve said it before that there is no excuse that United have not finished at least in the top 4 every season since SAF retired. But multiple managers of different quality have struggled to manage it. If we can go on a good run in the CL and finish in the top 4 again it can be hard to argue that Ole doesn’t deserve to remain as manager. Maybe he can work within the broken parameters of the club and make them work, maybe he can even fix them. But in the meantime we might have to be patient on the field and have reasonable expectations.

kerplun k wrote: »

100 matches for Ole. That’s impressive. When he took over I was guessing he’d last no longer than a month or two.

Met too. I thought Ole was the ultimate “we don’t know what we are doing signing” and I still do to be honest. It’s like they’ve stumbled onto something that just might work in spite of woodwards/Glazers relentless incompetence.

While Woodward and the glazers refuse to change their own failed ways in running things maybe a completely unconventional appointment might actually work. Ole was plucked from a nothing role and given one of the biggest roles in football. It just shouldn’t work. But relative to what we got the previous 7 seasons it’s not been worse. The actual football has at time’s been the best I’ve seen since SAF retired. The team looks happy with the manager and unlike most seasons we actually look like we might be capable of making serious inroads into our efforts to climb back up league and CL.

I am looking forward to this afternoon. With a slightly easier European game this week maybe Ole can be a bit bolder and we will see our CL form now pass into the league. I’m not excusing the chelsea draw/performance but it was sandwiched in between two savagely tough (on paper anyway) champions league games. If we win today that will be 3 wins and a draw agaisnt PSG, Leipzig, Chelsea and Arsenal. I don’t think I would of been expecting more then that.