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fez

fez

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City got 14pts less, they should sack that Pep guy. Or maybe points totals can't be compared like that across seasons? Here is an interesting alternative. City got 86% of what they managed that season. 86% of what Jose got is 70pts, so less than Ole managed this season.

It was an example of a manager who was largely given grief and told "thats not a massive achievement" vs Ole who some fans seem to think has done really well this season. I wasn't happy with our season under Jose either. I don't watch football to analyse stats or see what league position we are in. I want to watch exciting football and see my team progressing. Watching Oles United is far better than Joses but its probably more infuriating.

I think it's funny that people claim Bruno has carried us, I don't remember anyone complaining that Lewandowski carries Bayern. The really funny thing is De Gea had a far greater impact on that Jose season and people conveniently forget it when talking about it.

They don't complain that Lewandowski carries Bayern because Bayern still play brilliant football and are a great side even without him. They aren't as good without him but they will only lack in that final finishing moment, not everywhere else on the pitch. We look clueless and crap with Fernandes half the time and when he isn't on the pitch we are god awful.

We've made progress under Ole, it's undeniable but there needs to be more. This season was a ****fest and nobody was ever going to be able to compete with City on squad depth in a year where you're playing every 3 days. To achieve second with a squad that had zero first team 11 signings is an impressive achievement, despite some acting like we're hovering around midtable.

No one says that we haven't made progress but do you genuinely think that we have made 250m worth of progress under Ole? Do you think he has done well in the areas of management that are the hardest? I think most managers would love it if their only requirements were to keep players happy and spend millions of pounds of players. Most managers are expected to extract more from their players. Ole has done the best he can but hes nowhere near good enough to take us to competing with Klopp, Pep and the best of Europe.
 

fez

fez

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Fez do you read what you post? We look clueless and crap half the time but came second? You haven't half been posting weird lately.

So you haven't seen us like like utter crap repeatedly this season and still scrape wins? You haven't seen us lose to the bottom teams in the league and get outplayed by god knows how many bottom half teams. We have a good set of players. There is a reason we came second and its a pretty simple combination of having a team with a load of quality players and almost all our direct rivals having some of their worst seasons in years. We have a pretty happy set of players who can cobble together wins.

Liverpool have had ridiculous injury issues to a lot of key players.
Chelsea sacked their crap manager and since then have got top 4 and won the CL.
Tottenham had the classic Mourinho implosion.
Leicester had a good season until the tail end where yet again they were found wanting.
Arsenal have a crap manager they haven't sacked yet and have had an awful season.

Purely based on xPts and xG we should have finished this season in 4th.

But no you're right, we won't struggle next season when Liverpool and Chelsea are back to normal and we still have all the same issues but with perhaps a few upgraded players.

I'm just astounded that anyone can look at Ole and this United team and think hes doing a good enough job.
 
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We've had poor games, who hasn't? But suggesting we've been crap in half our games is just pure and utter nonsense. You're making it out like the league winner is the only team that is good and everyone else is crap.

xG and xpts is not everything. Sadly the misunderstanding of statistics is one of the big problems with fans in the modern game.
 
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I'd also like to add that Bruno has been far more important than Ole, he's carried the club single handedly since coming in. Ole would have been gone ages ago without him.

Eric Cantona carried SAF the greatest manager to have ever lived? He was pretty much the catalyst that rose them to the top and the 20 odd years of dominance.

Does that make SAF a bad manager. I wonder why we lost the league title and FA cup in 1995. Who was missing that year ;).

SAF never won anything for 4 years and 7 years till first league title. You need to invest in your manager to see the rewards. The Europa League final was a huge blow but it is not the end of it. I will lay my judgement until next season has finished. Ole so far has only gone in an upwards spiral since coming in. That is fact. If he doesn't continue that into next season then there is reason to rationalize getting rid of him.
 
Soldato
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I just think it’s sad our fans expectations have dropped now. Doing ‘ok’ is fine with Ole.

Years of mediocrity await. I hope I’m wrong.
Or you could say that ever since last summer was a non event for Utd that this season was always going to be a challange even without the particularly short "summer" compared to the rest of the EPL.

We started the season badly (which was completely predictable) yet still led the Prem in Jan - albeit for far too short a period, when two of our main goal scorers were in dreadful form and were for the majority of the season.

There is still a lot of dead wood to get rid of, and lets not forget of how much of that Ole has already shipped out.

I dont think some people are really giving credit where its due after the utter mess Utd were on and off the field after SAF left, and really didnt improve at all until Jose left.

If you consider how bad a shape OT itself is in, the ever increasing debt (nearly £600m I read the other day) - how shambolic they treat the women's team , its a minor miracle we even got 2nd with the back room management the way they are currently.


We scored more goals than 19/20 season, but the conceeding of more goals is a concern admittedly (although our already leaky defence did get considerably worse after HM's injury late in the season).

Im sick and tired of Fred conceding daft free kicks on the edge of our penalty box which he seems to do quite regularly.

At the end of the day despite the very highly paid and regarded managers we have had since SAF this is still the 1st time we have finished in the top four in back to back seasons since he left.
 
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Soldato
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Fred sums up the squad the moment. Works hard, decent player, but ultimately isn't consistent enough to be title-winning standard.

We've got too many players that are prone to complete brain fades....which unfortunately includes both our first choice CBs.

There's no doubt our defence got a lot worse without Maguire, but he has cost us games. If we could pair him with someone consistently solid, it would work, but not with two potential clangers at the back.
 

fez

fez

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So its the fan forum meet with the Glazers today to talk about the future of the club and the general **** show of the last god know how long. What do we reckon? Lots of the following:

"We know we need to do better"
"We have let the fans down and haven't met the high standards we set for ourselves"
"Its been a hard year with COVID"
"The Super League had the club and its fans best interests at heart but we understand the frustration with the way we approached it"
"We always prioritise results on the pitch and feel we are heading in the right direction"
"United are still one of the biggest clubs in the world etc etc"

Whatever Glazer rocks up will put down the mic, kiss a United badge and walk off with a knowing smirk on his face.

Basically I load of generic BS that promises nothing and changes nothing. We are the perfect cash cow they always hoped we would be and we will continue to be that for the foreseeable future.
 
Soldato
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So basically the same as any Director or CEO of a company in this day and age. I’m not condoning it, but they’re hardly going to say what their actual intentions are to a angry set of fans of whom they don’t give a **** about.

It’s a nonsense exercise, and a rather depressing one.
 

fez

fez

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So basically the same as any Director or CEO of a company in this day and age. I’m not condoning it, but they’re hardly going to say what their actual intentions are to a angry set of fans of whom they don’t give a **** about.

It’s a nonsense exercise, and a rather depressing one.

Oh I completely agree. Part of the reason they can do it is because no one actually pins them down and says "no, you haven't answered our question". Its all just a performance piece.
 
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Last season for the Ole experiement imo, and a big summer coming up for transfers. A trophy is needed to confirm that he the right guy for one of the biggest jobs in football, and not just a stooge for the Glazers.

It's great that he has removed the toxicity of Jose, and the football is easier on the eye. The players are happy to play for him. These are the positives I will remember manager Ole for, but his tactics rely too much on individual performance compared with Pep or Klopps teams. His subs and use of the entire squad are highly questionable. Defending set pieces have been laughable, school boy stuff.

You can guarantee Liverpool and Chelsea won't be as bad next season. Liverpool have their players back from injury and are reinforcing. Chelsea ended their Lampard experiment and went on to win the champions league. Big season for United as the fans are getting beyond restless with how the club is run.
 
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Ajax sold us a lemon lol

There was never any talk of moving him on, he needs another season at least. Fred didn't play much in his first season and when he did he was pretty rubbish. But look at him now, a slightly above average player on his day. Can't wait.
 
Soldato
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Im not sure there are/ were any plans to move him on, yeah ok he struggled, but its not exactly the easiest time to join any top club with the restricted season in many ways.

There is a good player in there undoubtedly, and hopefully we can unlock him next season with a good pre-season. Really gutted for him with the injury though, really hoped for a good summer in the national squad for him
 
Soldato
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Rashford likely out for two months due to shoulder surgery.
Can’t say I’m overly bothered to be honest based on his performances in the last 4-5 months. Hopefully he’ll come back rejuvenated and more consistent… plus also gives some other players a chance for a few games hopefully.
 

fez

fez

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Think that could be a big miss but we will see. I assume Martial will be back fit, we have Cavani and then perhaps Greenwood will get some time as the main striker. Glad we have got Sancho though.

Would have been good for him to get this done as soon as the season finished. Southgate barely played him in the Euros but I guess he might not have known that Rashford needed surgery or didn't realise that he wasn't going to really bother with attacking players.
 
Soldato
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Wouldn't do Rashford any harm to have to rest, he hasn't been playing 100% for a while. Good opportunity for Amad to get some game time.

Still hoping to see some news that Martial is going...
 
Soldato
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Wouldn't do Rashford any harm to have to rest, he hasn't been playing 100% for a while. Good opportunity for Amad to get some game time.

Still hoping to see some news that Martial is going...
Yeah exactly. Would be great to see Amad a bit more this season.

Fingers crossed regarding Martial. I think if nothing happens with him in the next couple of weeks then it probably won’t though.

I want the Varane saga sewn up sooner rather than later too so we can crack on with the final few signings and focus on pre-season properly for once.
 
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