With purchases of Varane and Sancho and the seeming likelihood of a few more (possibly Trippier and DM), I don't think I've been as confident with our squad going into the season for quite a while.
I think even if Pogba leaves we are in decent shape. Last season we had a glimpse of a title challenge which fell apart v Sheff Utd at home.
So what would constitute delivering...the short answer is trophies. I think Ole has to win one for this to be a successful season.
Having said that what would constitute a successful season and what Ole has to do to stay in a job can be two different things. For example a comfortable top 4 finish (possible title challenge) and a run in the cups would be enough to give Ole more time.
Dangerous thought but I'm very excited by the upcoming season.
Time to deliver?
posted on 28/7/21
The ifs and buts of a season is always suggestive.
What if the form of Rashford and Bruno did not crater into the pits in the last 3rd of the season? We would have run the league closer and most definitely won the Europa.
In any case, I believe Ole and whoever is in charge of transfers are really just trying to undo 7 years of woeful transfer business. I maintain that we where the worst squad of the top 4. If any manager out there had his choice of squad, his first or second choice will not be United. So we have 2 serviceable defenders, they do not match the pace and quality of Man Citys defenders (or liverpool to be honest) One injury to Shaw or Maguire and Westham will probably have a better defence talent wise.
Our midfield remains an absolute joke. McFred IS STILL GOING TO START IN MIDFIELD THIS SEASON!!! I do not think you all understand how behind we are in this position.
Our starting striker is 33, Injury prone and clearly at the end of his career. Are we saying that is enough to challenge for anything? Because Ole is in charge?
We have a young and mostly average squad I believe Ole is getting the best out of. We are not going out to sign players on the wane on long term contracts or buying players because they are a big name. We at least see buy for positions we are weak in. This is revolutionary trend for us in the last decade since Fergie left. If Varane pans out, it would be the first time we have had Centrebacks we can rely on since Sir Alex. They need to develop an understanding. Rashford is going under the knife too.
This article and the comments are a bit disingenuous. A lot like last season where people said they wanted better performance was expected but then got disappointed at getting second.
Ole is not the best at the moment but he is definitely what we need now and whoever comes next is definitely not going to be allowed to fack everything up either. Till we can find someone like that, Ole should stay.
posted on 28/7/21
comment by IAmMe (U18491)
posted 5 hours, 5 minutes ago
Without Pogba, United's leaque campaign would be a lot weaker than any of the seasons since his arrival, regardless off who else has been bought in so far.
The only way to compensate for his possible departure would be if better were found to replace him, and that would be very difficult and pretty pointless.
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Nah, what does Pogba bring week in week out?
Now if his good performances were consistent he would be missed, however they are not!
Get rid of him
posted on 28/7/21
I also think Solskjaer is learning and that's OK. He isn't a hugely experienced manager and should really keep improving. He has shown he can win matches through tactical decisions and he's beaten Pep more times than he has lost to him - something other managers have not been able to. I think Klopp has only beaten him twice in 6 attempts, Tuchel twice in 5 with Solskjaer also getting the better of him twice. These elite managers don't exactly have him over a barrel and he's enough results against them to at least deserve some credit and not have them written off as a fluke.
Against top teams, we're actually pretty decent and where we let ourselves down is typically against teams you would be expecting us to beat, such as Sheffield United at home.
I also think he's a better man manager than a tactical one and again, that's OK but he does need to build a team around him who can help plug that gap. Ferguson did the same, he wasn't a tactical genius. With his age, knowledge of the club, handling of the media and man management, I think he can still develop further.
posted on 28/7/21
comment by RED666👺. (U6562)
posted 26 minutes ago
comment by IAmMe (U18491)
posted 5 hours, 5 minutes ago
Without Pogba, United's leaque campaign would be a lot weaker than any of the seasons since his arrival, regardless off who else has been bought in so far.
The only way to compensate for his possible departure would be if better were found to replace him, and that would be very difficult and pretty pointless.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, what does Pogba bring week in week out?
Now if his good performances were consistent he would be missed, however they are not!
Get rid of him
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He divides opinion so much and whilst some will go too far in how good he's been, others seem to disregard so many times he hasn't been awful as well.
Consistency would be over the course of a season and over the course of the season he is in the top 10-20% of midfielders across Europe in multiple metrics. You don't get that by showing up 4 times a season or being as inconsistent as some people try and make out. There are things he does exceptionally well and the facts are there to support that he doesn't just do it a handful of times.
Pogba is an example of why eye witness testimony is so shaky. People will swear blind he only had a handful of good games last year, which simply isn't correct. I do think we'd be OK without him but given the choice, I'd keep him at the club every time. I'd personally hate to lose him this year because it would feel very much like one step forward and then half a step back again.
posted on 28/7/21
I still think the gap between City, and probably Liverpool if they’re anything like their title winning form, is too big for us to close.
However, if we are there abouts come April, or finish within 6-8 points, I think it’s a good season. I’d like to see a trophy of sorts.
posted on 28/7/21
comment by TheFoxOutsideTheBox (U20459)
posted 2 hours, 6 minutes ago
comment by RED666👺. (U6562)
posted 26 minutes ago
comment by IAmMe (U18491)
posted 5 hours, 5 minutes ago
Without Pogba, United's leaque campaign would be a lot weaker than any of the seasons since his arrival, regardless off who else has been bought in so far.
The only way to compensate for his possible departure would be if better were found to replace him, and that would be very difficult and pretty pointless.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, what does Pogba bring week in week out?
Now if his good performances were consistent he would be missed, however they are not!
Get rid of him
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He divides opinion so much and whilst some will go too far in how good he's been, others seem to disregard so many times he hasn't been awful as well.
Consistency would be over the course of a season and over the course of the season he is in the top 10-20% of midfielders across Europe in multiple metrics. You don't get that by showing up 4 times a season or being as inconsistent as some people try and make out. There are things he does exceptionally well and the facts are there to support that he doesn't just do it a handful of times.
Pogba is an example of why eye witness testimony is so shaky. People will swear blind he only had a handful of good games last year, which simply isn't correct. I do think we'd be OK without him but given the choice, I'd keep him at the club every time. I'd personally hate to lose him this year because it would feel very much like one step forward and then half a step back again.
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3 goals and assists in the PL last season pretty poor!
posted on 28/7/21
Playing deeper or out wide though, that's going to take a bit of a hit but if you expand what you're considering and include a wider picture such as:
Dribbles attempted and completed, passes into the penalty area, switches, shot creating actions, successful pressures, passes under pressure, goal creating actions, aerial duels won, progressive passes, fouls won, players dribbled past, passes received, through balls, successful tackles, successful carries, ball progression, amongst others, then over the course of the season he's in the 90+ percentile of all midfielders across the top 5 leagues. So he's somehow excelling in all of these areas and performing well in others as well, over the course of a season but is somehow still poor and only had a handful of good games?
He's generally used as a more deep lying play maker with the ability to push forward. He can do better and I'm not saying he necessarily covered himself in glory but he's consistently better in a lot of areas than he's given credit for.
I feel like half of the damage to his reputation is less what he does or doesn't actually do and largely down to pundits/perception of him as a person. He more than likely can produce more consistent quality and his ability to have those world class moments draw people away from his all round game and when those moments don't happen, he's immediately labelled as having a bad game.
I'm sure I'll be misinterpreted as saying he's been the best player ever so I'm putting a disclaimer in that I'm not arguing that. I'm just saying he really isn't as bad as people will say. It's just the accepted thing, to say he's been a flop or a disappointment.
He's a top player and capable of absolute genius. I'll admit I'm biased because that's the sort of player I love watching. Kante also had his share of pretty poor games last year and if you consider something like whoscored match ratings as yet another data sample, pogba actually scored higher overall in match ratings, achieving a score of 7.25 as a central midfielder vs Kante's 7.
Another disclaimer, my opinion isn't because of the data, my opinion is that he's a top player, people disagree, so I have to then use data to backup my opinion and what I see. So I'm trying to make an objective evaluation based on me watching every game he played for us as well as different independent data analysis which all together, paint the picture that how bad he is is actually pretty blown out of proportion. Kante had a good amount of stinkers last season, nobody seems to care. Kante is generally 'liked' though, so I'm sure that plays a pretty hefty part.
posted on 28/7/21
The point that we only finished second was because others had a bad season is an interesting one to me. Can that not be said almost every year?
...............................................
Erm no it cannot really. One of the main reasons people were saying this was down to the amount of injuries Liverpool had. Safe to say if they had VVD fit, they would've finished above us, as their makeshift defence conceded less than us- farcical. We would've then finished 3rd, disgraceful lost in Europa and just a poor season.
We finished 2nd, okay season. Manager now has to deliver end of.
posted on 28/7/21
comment by scholayScholes (U13961)
posted 47 minutes ago
The point that we only finished second was because others had a bad season is an interesting one to me. Can that not be said almost every year?
...............................................
Erm no it cannot really. One of the main reasons people were saying this was down to the amount of injuries Liverpool had. Safe to say if they had VVD fit, they would've finished above us, as their makeshift defence conceded less than us- farcical. We would've then finished 3rd, disgraceful lost in Europa and just a poor season.
We finished 2nd, okay season. Manager now has to deliver end of.
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You haven't said what delivering entails, so not end of.
posted on 28/7/21
comment by The Post Nearly Man. Jadon & Marcus & Bukayo. (U1270)
posted 2 hours, 29 minutes ago
comment by scholayScholes (U13961)
posted 47 minutes ago
The point that we only finished second was because others had a bad season is an interesting one to me. Can that not be said almost every year?
...............................................
Erm no it cannot really. One of the main reasons people were saying this was down to the amount of injuries Liverpool had. Safe to say if they had VVD fit, they would've finished above us, as their makeshift defence conceded less than us- farcical. We would've then finished 3rd, disgraceful lost in Europa and just a poor season.
We finished 2nd, okay season. Manager now has to deliver end of.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You haven't said what delivering entails, so not end of.
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Getting out of the group stages of the champions league, and still being in a title race with 10 games to go would be a start.