The Pogba situation particularly with the agent has been impressive behind the scenes.
Tactically I still think he has limits but he’s never come close to losing that dressing room. Moyes, Van Gaal and Mourinho all did.
Good diplomacy shown on the fan protests too.
They’ll never win tier 1 trophies with him as manager.
1 Like
Give him Haaland, Sancho and Bellingham and he just might.
Reminds me a bit of Zidane. Nothing groundbreaking, just common sense and keep the boys onside. Don’t do anything stupid, be humble, don’t outsmart yourself
4 Likes
I don’t think he’s underrated. He performs like he should. But it’s still Man Utd we’re talking about we have grown to expect more from them, no? In that sense I can understand why people think he’s performing a bit underwhelming.
This EL final is a big test for him. He desperately needs pedigree as a manager.
2 Likes
I think finishing above Chelsea in both his full seasons as manager has been impressive.
Also he has only finished behind Man City and Klopps Liverpool in his 2 seasons.
One a petro-state who are basically cheating. Another a team full of players doped out their eyeballs for one huge season, who happened to be European champions.
Van de Beek should have never gone there with Pgba and Bruno Fernandes as his competition. Not sure who signed him but those kind of moves make it so that he can’t buy players for their needs (centre back, striker).
Only 1 league defeat in 28 matches is rather impressive, gets the piss taken out of him but he isn’t as bad as people like to think.
1 Like
He’s not an impressive manager and hasn’t had to cope with any significant expectation or tough circumstances yet. United have mostly beaten teams you’d expect them to and the sheer talent that they have has bailed them out more than anything. His involvement in identifying or signing players is unclear.
Think if you’re a united fan you’re happy enough with what looks like a steadied ship under him but realistically he’s Mo ElNeny in a dugout. Someone you’re gonna want to upgrade sooner rather than later.
2 Likes
I still don’t rate him as an actual coach.
There’s not much coaching going on there, they win due to individual brilliance more often than not. The number of times they start poorly is an indictment on him, they have quality in the team that sees them through and in a normal season I don’t think its sustainable as its been.
Yes he’s been a steady hand I suppose but they run off of nothing but vibes, he doesn’t trust himself with anything but the first choice XI which is why they are routinely flogged to death.
Comparatively I don’t think he’d do well here at all, their away record is great and all but it means nothing if you don’t win the league. He won’t take them to the promised land.
He still can’t beat Arteta though
Any idea why they didn’t protest at the Roma and Leicester games?
Waah waah Glazers…lets destroy Liverpool’s team bus? Lol. What a bunch of wankers.
6 Likes
Fucking exactly
Bruno has scored 13 penalties this season, so still managed 15 from open play which is huge for a non striker.
2 Likes
Even Arsenal fans can’t beat him.
1 Like
United are going to end the season with about the same goal differential as last year and worse than last year in terms of XG.
Obviously they are in better shape than us (who isn’t) but the narrative that they are steadily improving under Solskjaer just doesn’t really hold up.
Maguire has his limitations but their defense without him looks shocking.
See that’s if you go stats only. They’ve been assured of top 4 finish since about February and looked a comfortable 2nd place team for a good while now.
Granted that second place has never been a title challenge at any time but still think they’ve done better than last season.
I still think they lack a recognisable style of play though. Id still expect them in the 4 next season again tbh.
3 Likes
But they were only comfortably second because Chelsea were a mess under Lampard and Liverpool have had a nightmare season, whereas basically everything has gone right for United (overall pretty good health, managerial stability, top players like Bruno and Shaw really hitting form).
If everything goes right while it goes wrong for several of your rivals and you still end up with only low 70s in points and 4th best by XG, then I think you need to ask whether you’re really building a title contender.
Obviously I’d love to be in their position rather than debating whether we’re just a mid-table club now…
5 Likes
Current guise I doubt it and probably not under Ole but additional talent with one or two players maybe.
Your right pointing out Liverpool and Chelsea early poor seasons that will get better next season.
This is my concern for Arsenal as I don’t see a way into that 4 as we know our recruitment won’t match any of there’s.
5 Likes