Ole

Originally Posted by utd99

Recently he’s made mistakes and hasn’t been able to raise their game.

Fair comment there.

Starting with an unchanged line up for five matches in a row was clearly pushing it a bit in retrospect.

Originally Posted by atticusgrinch

Well, he signed Bruno, half a season too late.

Maguire was hardly some unknown gem. The previous manager had tried to sign him 12 months before.

The other two... the jury is not only out - it's been in and out with questions for the judge for days, has been given a majority direction, and the judge has dusted off his black cap...

A lot of that deadwood has gone out on loan, and might have helped what you call "barely a first 11."

James the jury is still out on, AWB is a good signing, and he actually managed to bring Maguire in unlike the negative, miserable bastard before him, who had already spent stupid amounts of money on our backline with no real improvement on the pitch.

And I'm not sure how the deadwood that has been cleared out would have helped with the first 11

If you put out what we perceive as our strongest 11, there's still several positions most would agree need to be strengthened. Not sure how Smalling and Sanchez would help with that.

Going into this season, the general consensus on the forum was that we would struggle to get in the top 4. Before the end of August there were suggestions that there is no plan, that he's left his squad too thin, and that by focussing on youth and selling Lukaku, he'd be gone by "May". At points in the season, multiple posters suggested he'd be "gone by Christmas", "Poch will be here in May", and that he was an out of his depth Norwegian fisherman, who got a lucky toepoke in 1999. After three games of the season, we had a thread begging Ole to walk, and a month later, one of the most optimistic posters on the forum was asking if Allegri was available. Reading the posts in this thread from just after the West Ham game, there was this beacon of hope in a sea of doom:

Originally Posted by Sparky***

The only things we've seen similar to this over the last 35 years are:

1) When Fergie took over in '86, briefly steadied the place and we finished 2nd in his first full season in '88. However he then got down to the business of stripping out the squad of all the old heads and we quickly plummeted down the table. Finished 11th in 1989 and then 13th in 1990, Just 5 points clear of relegation where you saw the now infamous "3 years and it's still crap tara" flag..FA cup win saved his job.

2) When Van Gaal came in post moyes and stripped away all the old guard leaving us in a similar state squad-wise as we are now. He finished 5th, won the FA Cup but was still binned off halfway through.

It's shit but the club really have to ride this one out and back the manager. We can't keep starting over every other year. It's gonna take 2-3 years to sort this and it needs to be done now.

This summed up the situation at the time for me. As bad as things got, it was always clear that Ole's plan was long-term, and removing players like Fellaini in his first window (whose presence may have got us points in those games where we struggled towards the end of last season) and Lukaku in the summer (who may have brute forced us to some points against West Ham and Crystal Palace during August) proved that. The list of outs from Ole's time reads like a who's who of players we all wanted out of the club:

Marouane Fellaini, Marcos Rojo, Alexis Sanchez, Antonio Valencia, Ander Herrera*, Ashley Young, Chris Smalling, Romelu Lukaku

Generally speaking, the players who we chose to let leave were players who realistically didn't have much of a future at the club. There are plenty more who we'd like to see leave, but a complete squad turnover takes time. Unless your City, who can sign replacements, and then replace those replacements the next year.

Given the inbalanced squad that he inherited, removing some of our attacking options was seen as a risk, as we came into this season with these players to choose from:

David De Gea - Sergio Romero - Lee Grant

Marcos Rojo - Harry Maguire - Victor Lindelof - Eric Bailly - Axel Tuanzebe - Phil Jones

Aaron Wan-Bissaka - Luke Shaw - Diogo Dalot - Timothy Fosu Mensah - Ashley Young

Nemanja Matic - Paul Pogba - Scott The Scottish Player - Fred

Andreas Pereira - Juan Mata - Jesse Lingard - Tahith Chong

Dan James - Marcus Rashford - Anthony Martial

Regardless of whether it was us not getting other deals over the line, or the manager being happy with the squad, we came into the season with very few options (particularly in midfield and attack). Mason Greenwood was promoted to the first team, as was Brandon Williams (with James Garner and Angel Gomes making up the numbers). Taking into account the fact that Paul Pogba was injured on the 31st of August, and made just two starts and two appearance from the bench between that date and the restart, the squad Ole had to chose from was seriously lacking.

Which would lead to the suggestion that he was potentially to blame for leaving the squad short. While I personally believe that Ole would've liked to have signed Bruno in the Summer, and perhaps another forward, the club had clearly taken a risk going into the season with that squad. At times it looked like the risk had backfired, and with Champions League the target, there's a chance that with defeat in the final game of the season, it will.

However, going into that game, we are 3rd in the table. While performances and results haven't always been great, it's about as high as anybody realistically believed we could finish. Manchester City and Liverpool were always going to be #1 and #2, and while not getting to the FA Cup final was a real missed oppurtinity, and these last couple of performances haven't been great, I think it's important to look at the bigger picture.

Moyes' first full season: 7th
LVG's first full season: 4th
Jose's first full season: 6th
Ole's first full season: 3rd-5th

This while having the youngest average age of any squad in the Premier League. Two years younger on average than the Manchester City/Liverpool squads. If we do get 3rd, it will be our second best finish since Ferguson left, and will show that progress has been made. When the vast majority of the forum thought we'd finish 5th or below, I don't see what more people were expecting. Klopp's first full season at Liverpool included defeats to Swansea, Hull and a draw against Sunderland. He didn't make Liverpool an unbeatable machine overnight. Pep Guardiola finished 3rd in his first season at City, below Spurs. They dropped points home and away to Boro, drew 0-0 with Stoke and lost 4-0 to Everton. You can take individual results and performance from any manager and use them as proof that they're not up for the job, but with us third in the table, I don't understand how anybody could suggest Ole has failed or underperformed.

Should we get a point on Sunday, and qualify for the Champions League, Ole has done what was asked of him.

Then it's up to the people above him to get the players he wants. Sancho IMO would represent another step in the right direction, and another long-term based decision. 20 years old, and the third top scorer in the Bundesliga behind only Robert Lewandowski (31 y/o) and Timo Werner (24 y/o), he also assisted more goals than anybody other than Thomas Muller. This while being 1/10 as good as Christian Pulisic. He fits the style of play that we're aspiring towards, and all being well, could hold down the position until 2030. While other positions may be a more immediate concern, this summer would appear to be our best chance to sign him, and I think he's too good to pass up.

Whether that depletes our budget to a degree where we can't sign anybody else is a concern, and something that needs to be weighed up. Going into Sunday's game, we're facing one of the worst form sides in the league. While last night seemed to bring out the pessimist in almost everybody, I can't imagine Leicester fancy their chances against us either.

As the poster quoted above told us: "It's shit but the club really have to ride this one out and back the manager. We can't keep starting over every other year. It's gonna take 2-3 years to sort this and it needs to be done now."

But he also said in April 2019 "He'll be gone by New Year next season. I'm telling you. Bookmark this, quote it, whatever. We've £#%&!ed up royally. AGAIN." so it's difficult to take him too seriously.



NRAT.

Originally Posted by Patty_b

James the jury is still out on, AWB is a good signing, and he actually managed to bring Maguire in unlike the negative, miserable bastard before him, who had already spent stupid amounts of money on our backline with no real improvement on the pitch.

And I'm not sure how the deadwood that has been cleared out would have helped with the first 11

If you put out what we perceive as our strongest 11, there's still several positions most would agree need to be strengthened. Not sure how Smalling and Sanchez would help with that.

You're being kind there.

He is garbage and should not be a Manchester United player. Giggs was probably pissed up when he recommended him to us.

Originally Posted by 20LEgend1999

Going into this season, the general consensus on the forum was that we would struggle to get in the top 4. Before the end of August there were suggestions that there is no plan, that he's left his squad too thin, and that by focussing on youth and selling Lukaku, he'd be gone by "May". At points in the season, multiple posters suggested he'd be "gone by Christmas", "Poch will be here in May", and that he was an out of his depth Norwegian fisherman, who got a lucky toepoke in 1999. After three games of the season, we had a thread begging Ole to walk, and a month later, one of the most optimistic posters on the forum was asking if Allegri was available. Reading the posts in this thread from just after the West Ham game, there was this beacon of hope in a sea of doom:

This summed up the situation at the time for me. As bad as things got, it was always clear that Ole's plan was long-term, and removing players like Fellaini in his first window (whose presence may have got us points in those games where we struggled towards the end of last season) and Lukaku in the summer (who may have brute forced us to some points against West Ham and Crystal Palace during August) proved that. The list of outs from Ole's time reads like a who's who of players we all wanted out of the club:
Generally speaking, the players who we chose to let leave were players who realistically didn't have much of a future at the club. There are plenty more who we'd like to see leave, but a complete squad turnover takes time. Unless your City, who can sign replacements, and then replace those replacements the next year.

Given the inbalanced squad that he inherited, removing some of our attacking options was seen as a risk, as we came into this season with these players to choose from:Regardless of whether it was us not getting other deals over the line, or the manager being happy with the squad, we came into the season with very few options (particularly in midfield and attack). Mason Greenwood was promoted to the first team, as was Brandon Williams (with James Garner and Angel Gomes making up the numbers). Taking into account the fact that Paul Pogba was injured on the 31st of August, and made just two starts and two appearance from the bench between that date and the restart, the squad Ole had to chose from was seriously lacking.

Which would lead to the suggestion that he was potentially to blame for leaving the squad short. While I personally believe that Ole would've liked to have signed Bruno in the Summer, and perhaps another forward, the club had clearly taken a risk going into the season with that squad. At times it looked like the risk had backfired, and with Champions League the target, there's a chance that with defeat in the final game of the season, it will.

However, going into that game, we are 3rd in the table. While performances and results haven't always been great, it's about as high as anybody realistically believed we could finish. Manchester City and Liverpool were always going to be #1 and #2, and while not getting to the FA Cup final was a real missed oppurtinity, and these last couple of performances haven't been great, I think it's important to look at the bigger picture.This while having the youngest average age of any squad in the Premier League. Two years younger on average than the Manchester City/Liverpool squads. If we do get 3rd, it will be our second best finish since Ferguson left, and will show that progress has been made. When the vast majority of the forum thought we'd finish 5th or below, I don't see what more people were expecting. Klopp's first full season at Liverpool included defeats to Swansea, Hull and a draw against Sunderland. He didn't make Liverpool an unbeatable machine overnight. Pep Guardiola finished 3rd in his first season at City, below Spurs. They dropped points home and away to Boro, drew 0-0 with Stoke and lost 4-0 to Everton. You can take individual results and performance from any manager and use them as proof that they're not up for the job, but with us third in the table, I don't understand how anybody could suggest Ole has failed or underperformed.

Should we get a point on Sunday, and qualify for the Champions League, Ole has done what was asked of him.

Then it's up to the people above him to get the players he wants. Sancho IMO would represent another step in the right direction, and another long-term based decision. 20 years old, and the third top scorer in the Bundesliga behind only Robert Lewandowski (31 y/o) and Timo Werner (24 y/o), he also assisted more goals than anybody other than Thomas Muller. This while being 1/10 as good as Christian Pulisic. He fits the style of play that we're aspiring towards, and all being well, could hold down the position until 2030. While other positions may be a more immediate concern, this summer would appear to be our best chance to sign him, and I think he's too good to pass up.

Whether that depletes our budget to a degree where we can't sign anybody else is a concern, and something that needs to be weighed up. Going into Sunday's game, we're facing one of the worst form sides in the league. While last night seemed to bring out the pessimist in almost everybody, I can't imagine Leicester fancy their chances against us either.

As the poster quoted above told us: "It's shit but the club really have to ride this one out and back the manager. We can't keep starting over every other year. It's gonna take 2-3 years to sort this and it needs to be done now."

But he also said in April 2019 "He'll be gone by New Year next season. I'm telling you. Bookmark this, quote it, whatever. We've £#%&!ed up royally. AGAIN." so it's difficult to take him too seriously.



NRAT.

100% this.
With the squad he inherited and the squad he has now, if we get top 4 he's done a good job and proved the value of making decisions based on the long term and putting the club before his own job. Shows balls imv, not least when #@&%!s are calling for his head every time the team underperforms.

Originally Posted by 20LEgend1999

Going into this season, the general consensus on the forum was that we would struggle to get in the top 4. Before the end of August there were suggestions that there is no plan, that he's left his squad too thin, and that by focussing on youth and selling Lukaku, he'd be gone by "May". At points in the season, multiple posters suggested he'd be "gone by Christmas", "Poch will be here in May", and that he was an out of his depth Norwegian fisherman, who got a lucky toepoke in 1999. After three games of the season, we had a thread begging Ole to walk, and a month later, one of the most optimistic posters on the forum was asking if Allegri was available. Reading the posts in this thread from just after the West Ham game, there was this beacon of hope in a sea of doom:

This summed up the situation at the time for me. As bad as things got, it was always clear that Ole's plan was long-term, and removing players like Fellaini in his first window (whose presence may have got us points in those games where we struggled towards the end of last season) and Lukaku in the summer (who may have brute forced us to some points against West Ham and Crystal Palace during August) proved that. The list of outs from Ole's time reads like a who's who of players we all wanted out of the club:
Generally speaking, the players who we chose to let leave were players who realistically didn't have much of a future at the club. There are plenty more who we'd like to see leave, but a complete squad turnover takes time. Unless your City, who can sign replacements, and then replace those replacements the next year.

Given the inbalanced squad that he inherited, removing some of our attacking options was seen as a risk, as we came into this season with these players to choose from:Regardless of whether it was us not getting other deals over the line, or the manager being happy with the squad, we came into the season with very few options (particularly in midfield and attack). Mason Greenwood was promoted to the first team, as was Brandon Williams (with James Garner and Angel Gomes making up the numbers). Taking into account the fact that Paul Pogba was injured on the 31st of August, and made just two starts and two appearance from the bench between that date and the restart, the squad Ole had to chose from was seriously lacking.

Which would lead to the suggestion that he was potentially to blame for leaving the squad short. While I personally believe that Ole would've liked to have signed Bruno in the Summer, and perhaps another forward, the club had clearly taken a risk going into the season with that squad. At times it looked like the risk had backfired, and with Champions League the target, there's a chance that with defeat in the final game of the season, it will.

However, going into that game, we are 3rd in the table. While performances and results haven't always been great, it's about as high as anybody realistically believed we could finish. Manchester City and Liverpool were always going to be #1 and #2, and while not getting to the FA Cup final was a real missed oppurtinity, and these last couple of performances haven't been great, I think it's important to look at the bigger picture.This while having the youngest average age of any squad in the Premier League. Two years younger on average than the Manchester City/Liverpool squads. If we do get 3rd, it will be our second best finish since Ferguson left, and will show that progress has been made. When the vast majority of the forum thought we'd finish 5th or below, I don't see what more people were expecting. Klopp's first full season at Liverpool included defeats to Swansea, Hull and a draw against Sunderland. He didn't make Liverpool an unbeatable machine overnight. Pep Guardiola finished 3rd in his first season at City, below Spurs. They dropped points home and away to Boro, drew 0-0 with Stoke and lost 4-0 to Everton. You can take individual results and performance from any manager and use them as proof that they're not up for the job, but with us third in the table, I don't understand how anybody could suggest Ole has failed or underperformed.

Should we get a point on Sunday, and qualify for the Champions League, Ole has done what was asked of him.

Then it's up to the people above him to get the players he wants. Sancho IMO would represent another step in the right direction, and another long-term based decision. 20 years old, and the third top scorer in the Bundesliga behind only Robert Lewandowski (31 y/o) and Timo Werner (24 y/o), he also assisted more goals than anybody other than Thomas Muller. This while being 1/10 as good as Christian Pulisic. He fits the style of play that we're aspiring towards, and all being well, could hold down the position until 2030. While other positions may be a more immediate concern, this summer would appear to be our best chance to sign him, and I think he's too good to pass up.

Whether that depletes our budget to a degree where we can't sign anybody else is a concern, and something that needs to be weighed up. Going into Sunday's game, we're facing one of the worst form sides in the league. While last night seemed to bring out the pessimist in almost everybody, I can't imagine Leicester fancy their chances against us either.

As the poster quoted above told us: "It's shit but the club really have to ride this one out and back the manager. We can't keep starting over every other year. It's gonna take 2-3 years to sort this and it needs to be done now."

But he also said in April 2019 "He'll be gone by New Year next season. I'm telling you. Bookmark this, quote it, whatever. We've £#%&!ed up royally. AGAIN." so it's difficult to take him too seriously.



NRAT.

Spot on. The bloke has worked miracles this season imo.

New to Sparky pol?

Originally Posted by dunk

Spot on. The bloke has worked miracles this season imo.

I try my best nqat.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

I try my best nqat.

Post, Ole.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

I try my best nqat.

Originally Posted by Ethers

3rd-4th

We knew.

Originally Posted by Baron

Lads

3rd-4th Reds

Originally Posted by atticusgrinch

Well, he signed Bruno, half a season too late.

Maguire was hardly some unknown gem. The previous manager had tried to sign him 12 months before.

The other two... the jury is not only out - it's been in and out with questions for the judge for days, has been given a majority direction, and the judge has dusted off his black cap...

A lot of that deadwood has gone out on loan, and might have helped what you call "barely a first 11."

People actually believe ole signed Bruno half a season to late. Like he signs the cheques. Please take your head for a massive shit

Originally Posted by 20LEgend1999

Going into this season, the general consensus on the forum was that we would struggle to get in the top 4. Before the end of August there were suggestions that there is no plan, that he's left his squad too thin, and that by focussing on youth and selling Lukaku, he'd be gone by "May". At points in the season, multiple posters suggested he'd be "gone by Christmas", "Poch will be here in May", and that he was an out of his depth Norwegian fisherman, who got a lucky toepoke in 1999. After three games of the season, we had a thread begging Ole to walk, and a month later, one of the most optimistic posters on the forum was asking if Allegri was available. Reading the posts in this thread from just after the West Ham game, there was this beacon of hope in a sea of doom:

This summed up the situation at the time for me. As bad as things got, it was always clear that Ole's plan was long-term, and removing players like Fellaini in his first window (whose presence may have got us points in those games where we struggled towards the end of last season) and Lukaku in the summer (who may have brute forced us to some points against West Ham and Crystal Palace during August) proved that. The list of outs from Ole's time reads like a who's who of players we all wanted out of the club:
Generally speaking, the players who we chose to let leave were players who realistically didn't have much of a future at the club. There are plenty more who we'd like to see leave, but a complete squad turnover takes time. Unless your City, who can sign replacements, and then replace those replacements the next year.

Given the inbalanced squad that he inherited, removing some of our attacking options was seen as a risk, as we came into this season with these players to choose from:Regardless of whether it was us not getting other deals over the line, or the manager being happy with the squad, we came into the season with very few options (particularly in midfield and attack). Mason Greenwood was promoted to the first team, as was Brandon Williams (with James Garner and Angel Gomes making up the numbers). Taking into account the fact that Paul Pogba was injured on the 31st of August, and made just two starts and two appearance from the bench between that date and the restart, the squad Ole had to chose from was seriously lacking.

Which would lead to the suggestion that he was potentially to blame for leaving the squad short. While I personally believe that Ole would've liked to have signed Bruno in the Summer, and perhaps another forward, the club had clearly taken a risk going into the season with that squad. At times it looked like the risk had backfired, and with Champions League the target, there's a chance that with defeat in the final game of the season, it will.

However, going into that game, we are 3rd in the table. While performances and results haven't always been great, it's about as high as anybody realistically believed we could finish. Manchester City and Liverpool were always going to be #1 and #2, and while not getting to the FA Cup final was a real missed oppurtinity, and these last couple of performances haven't been great, I think it's important to look at the bigger picture.This while having the youngest average age of any squad in the Premier League. Two years younger on average than the Manchester City/Liverpool squads. If we do get 3rd, it will be our second best finish since Ferguson left, and will show that progress has been made. When the vast majority of the forum thought we'd finish 5th or below, I don't see what more people were expecting. Klopp's first full season at Liverpool included defeats to Swansea, Hull and a draw against Sunderland. He didn't make Liverpool an unbeatable machine overnight. Pep Guardiola finished 3rd in his first season at City, below Spurs. They dropped points home and away to Boro, drew 0-0 with Stoke and lost 4-0 to Everton. You can take individual results and performance from any manager and use them as proof that they're not up for the job, but with us third in the table, I don't understand how anybody could suggest Ole has failed or underperformed.

Should we get a point on Sunday, and qualify for the Champions League, Ole has done what was asked of him.

Then it's up to the people above him to get the players he wants. Sancho IMO would represent another step in the right direction, and another long-term based decision. 20 years old, and the third top scorer in the Bundesliga behind only Robert Lewandowski (31 y/o) and Timo Werner (24 y/o), he also assisted more goals than anybody other than Thomas Muller. This while being 1/10 as good as Christian Pulisic. He fits the style of play that we're aspiring towards, and all being well, could hold down the position until 2030. While other positions may be a more immediate concern, this summer would appear to be our best chance to sign him, and I think he's too good to pass up.

Whether that depletes our budget to a degree where we can't sign anybody else is a concern, and something that needs to be weighed up. Going into Sunday's game, we're facing one of the worst form sides in the league. While last night seemed to bring out the pessimist in almost everybody, I can't imagine Leicester fancy their chances against us either.

As the poster quoted above told us: "It's shit but the club really have to ride this one out and back the manager. We can't keep starting over every other year. It's gonna take 2-3 years to sort this and it needs to be done now."

But he also said in April 2019 "He'll be gone by New Year next season. I'm telling you. Bookmark this, quote it, whatever. We've £#%&!ed up royally. AGAIN." so it's difficult to take him too seriously.



NRAT.

Great post even getting pulisic in. And outing sparky

Originally Posted by puressence

People actually believe ole signed Bruno half a season to late. Like he signs the cheques. Please take your head for a massive shit



Great post even getting pulisic in. And outing sparky

Pure and 20LEgend199

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Pure and 20LEgend199

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Pure and 20LEgend199

TBH I don't think they hate you at all mate

I just think they disagree and are bored with your relentless doom fairy takes on all matters Utd

Originally Posted by rubbernecker

TBH I don't think they hate you at all mate

I just think they disagree and are bored with your relentless doom fairy takes on all matters Utd

Sounds like someone is jealous they don't have a club.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Sounds like someone is jealous they don't have a club.

The People’s Liberation Army is a pretty big outfit tbf.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Pure and 20LEgend199

Don’t hate you at all just think your very over the top modern day football fan...

Absolutely. You’d never see an old time die hard red bin it off because they don’t like the manager.

Originally Posted by puressence

Don’t hate you at all just think your very over the top modern day football fan...

Yeah you’re right. Impatience and being pissed off at shit performances is definitely a “modern” phenomenon