I'm curious as to what has caused the change in Utd this season? For the last couple of seasons it has been great watching them play boring and predictable football with no sign of progression.
In the last few months the players have turned it around with pretty much the same players and are now playing confident, expansive football and the results are showing that.
Do you put this down to the Manager or the players. If it's Ole, what has he done differently?
I think you'll be slightly shy of toppling City this season, but certainly with a few additions and some offloaded you'll be in with a strong shout for next season.
As Pool fans we've been blessed with watching great football for the last few seasons with the bonus of Utd doing nothing. Are we on a blip, or do you think the tide has turned and we are likely to suffer a similar fate as Utd over the last 4 seasons or so?
Here's to a close final run to the finishing post, I'm sure you'll be close, just maybe coming up short.
What's Changed
posted on 5/2/21
We at least know that Ole hasn’t come into the club and told the scouts, transfer committee or Woodward that the club should be looking at Maguire or Eriksen, for example.
We’d been after the pair of them, Maguire in particular, long before Ole joined.
posted on 5/2/21
But they are players we did sign, or try to sign. It’s not really a stretch to think they were players he wanted. Regardless, it still shows our recruitment isn’t the best.
posted on 5/2/21
Not sure we ever really wanted Dybala though.
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We did but he didn't want to join, same as Eriksen. The BBC reported we were interested in both.
We weren't sure about Bruno that summer from what I've read and looked at other targets instead.
Fortunately that decision didn't come back to really bite us.
posted on 5/2/21
But they are players we did sign, or try to sign. It’s not really a stretch to think they were players he wanted. Regardless, it still shows our recruitment isn’t the best.
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He still approved the signing of these players at the end of the day.
I doubt we'd sign anyone that Ole really didn't want.
posted on 5/2/21
Exactly. And the pursuit of the players mentioned doesn’t indicate that Ole has a particular type of player that is right for him anyway - he’s not that idealistic. If he was, he would have turned Maguire and AWB down for players more suitable for what he was apparently going to do with the team. And Eriksen and Dybala wouldn’t have chased, only to fall back on Bruno.
It’s still a transfer policy lacking direction. Granted it’s difficult to have the sort of policy City and Liverpool have when you have clowns like Woodward running things. But we make signings that create problems elsewhere.
posted on 6/2/21
Agree with all of that.
posted on 6/2/21
comment by Donny The King van de Beek (U10026)
posted 8 hours, 29 minutes ago
Exactly. And the pursuit of the players mentioned doesn’t indicate that Ole has a particular type of player that is right for him anyway - he’s not that idealistic. If he was, he would have turned Maguire and AWB down for players more suitable for what he was apparently going to do with the team. And Eriksen and Dybala wouldn’t have chased, only to fall back on Bruno.
It’s still a transfer policy lacking direction. Granted it’s difficult to have the sort of policy City and Liverpool have when you have clowns like Woodward running things. But we make signings that create problems elsewhere.
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I am wary of getting into this again but take Maguire as an example.
Ole comes into the club and finds an existing transfer committee which he joins. The other members of the committee remain the same.
The club has been actively scouting, and enquiring about, Maguire since he was at Hull. The previous manager wanted the player, we can assume that others on the transfer committee did, and the club pursued him the previous summer. He’s a long-term target of the organisation.
*If* he wanted to, just how easy would it be for Ole to say, “Nah, tear up all of your years of work, and change your minds, he isn’t the player the club wants”?
Could he have killed the pursuit or vetoed the transfer? Maybe, yes. Definitely? I don’t know.
You know I agree 100% that we have problems with transfer policy; you’ve used the word direction, and that’s the biggest problem: there hasn’t been one. That extends beyond the transfers to our entire sporting blueprint and development.
But I can’t consider the managers primarily responsible for that. We’ve learned too much from them about the failings at the club under Woodward’s mismanagement.
Just one more example. When LVG was set to sign, he sat down with Ed and gave him his famous wishlist. LVG has said himself that in that list were:
Mats Hummels
Sergio Ramos
James Milner
Riyad Mahrez
N'Golo Kante
Thomas Müller
Sadio Mané
Robert Lewandowski
Gonzalo Higuain
Neymar
OK, a couple of those are ridiculous. But he didn’t get a single one of them.
“Those were my top targets, but we couldn’t get any of them. I don’t know why, because as the manager I wasn’t involved in any negotiations.
“But it didn’t happen: we only got third, fourth or fifth choice players.”
What do you do as a manager in that position? Do you just say, “Actually, no, don’t bother signing anyone, I’ll just stick with what I have.” Or eventually do you just acquiesce because having that new top CB, even though it isn’t the one you wanted, is better than continuing with Bailly and Jones
posted on 6/2/21
There was also this of course:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/aug/09/manchester-united-veto-jose-mourinho-wishlist-cash-fears?CMP=fb_gu
Which basically reads: Woodward knows the profile of galáctico he wants and will chase them whilst happily vetoing the manager’s own targets.
In this case, I’m actually happy that the board vetoed some of Mourinho’s targets. But that absolutely shouldn’t be part of its role.
posted on 6/2/21
I am wary of getting into this again
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Shouldn't have bothered.
posted on 6/2/21
The only thing that has really changed from last season is a mini shift back towards the state of league positions being determined by quality of squad. Last season was just plain weird. Won by an ordinary set of players and yielded by the poor attitude of city and Chelsea's players.
And even though Chelsea are still underperforming - that has been down to a continuation of confidence & motivation rather than ability. City started slow again but it looks like their attitude problems have been somewhat reduced. They could, and should, batter their opponents this weekend, but then that was also true last season as well, and yet they just played like they didn't care too often.
United have, well acknowledged, big problems in their absence of a centre forward/striker, strong keeper and a partner for Maguire. Problems that, in all seriousness, should have been resolved years ago. But because United have real quality in the likes of pogba, fred, shaw, Matic, Mata and more recently fernandes & DvdB, they were able to compensate/cover for the weaknesses of the other deadbeats. And had/have the only other squad that can be held up in favourable comparisons with our two blue shirted rivals.
Normal service appears to be just around the corner.