Tag Archives: ole gunnar solskjaer

Burning Down The House

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“I will be successful here. There are players here that won’t be part of that.” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, 21st April 2019

“I might just have a look at him again because if he has changed as I think he has… he might have a career here.” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, 16th July 2019

Welcome back, readers. Good summer? Did you marvel at the spirit of those brave Lionesses? Were you surfing the wave of national pride instilled by the Cricket World Cup win? Were you one of the 17 attendees of the #glazersout protest at OT last month? Very nice. Settle yourself down and let’s crack on with a brief appraisal of the summer’s transfer dealings prior to what’s set to be another… erm… season in the history of Manchester United Football Club.

To nobody’s surprise, the great summer re-build of 2019 began slowly and never quite gathered pace. The demolition crew got called to another job and somebody forgot to order a skip, presumably. Ander ‘antithesis of the modern footballer’ Herrera went to PSG for a huge payday and Valencia packed his bags for Ecuador at long last… so as things stand it’s pretty much as you were. Having ended last season fantasising about a bloody cull of a dozen or so serial wasters, disappointingly, Woodward appeared to set about this task brandishing a dessert spoon.

At the time of writing, neither of the gruesome twosome of Pogba and Lukaku have been shifted. Both made noises and there were certainly clubs interested, but no one came up with the money funnily enough. As regards Lukaku, if Inter Milan did offer a reported £54M then I’ve no idea why United didn’t snatch their hand off. Just because United vastly overpaid 2 years ago doesn’t mean we should be so presumptuous to expect his next club to do similar. I don’t care about him offering a guaranteed 20 goals a season either, we miss out on at least another 30 due to him tripping over his own feet every 5 minutes.

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Pogba’s forlorn attempt to force a move was every bit of half-hearted as one of his typical performances. If you’re going to style yourself as some nomadic, hired-gun big bollocks a’la Zlatan, then your football has to back that up. £120M fee, £350K a week wages and a £20M Raiola dividend represents an astronomical outlay and should guarantee a return. The fact Madrid prioritised 4-5 other players before turning their attention towards him spoke volumes on how United’s abysmal ROI hasn’t gone unnoticed. Neymar is similarly tainted now too, he comes with that much baggage that willing suitors are thin on the ground.

Whilst we’re on the subject of Pogba and Lukaku, if the pair do remain at the club this season, I’ll make the prediction now that this won’t be the last time I’ll be having a pop at them. I’d better be careful, however. It’s been suggested on social media that United supporters’ criticisms of certain underperforming players carry racist undertones. Presumably this has lain dormant for years whilst the likes of McGrath, Ince, Cole, Yorke, Ferdinand and Evra were universally lauded, only to be unleashed in a ball of pent-up rage and frustration now the team struggles down in 6th place.

I made the mistake of engaging some random on twitter on this subject a couple of months back. He was an intelligent guy who was adamant that race was one of the reasons behind the onslaught of criticism Lingard and Pogba regularly face. I don’t believe that there’s any racial motive behind any such criticism, personally – but I wasn’t going to win this argument as the lad in question happened to be black. It was a genuine ‘check yourself’ moment as I found myself about to tell a black guy what did and what didn’t constitute racism. Clearly, I was hopelessly out of my depth and not fancying an internet pile-on, I extricated myself from the conversation as quickly as possible.

Just so we’re clear then (if it ever needed pointing out), when I’m calling Lingard a dick, I’m calling him a dick because he’s a dick. I’m not singling him out for abuse because I’ve got a small platform on which I can push a long-suppressed racist agenda onto a load of easily-influenced, potential white supremacists. Although there’s plenty of groups openly peddling that kind of nonsense in 2019, it’s a bit of a stretch to suggest United fans’ criticism of players is fuelled by an undercurrent of Infowars-style populism amongst our support. Sorry, not having it.

As regards incoming players, despite being linked with just about everyone in Europe, deals have been concluded at a breathtakingly slow pace. As of fanzine deadline day (last Saturday), we’ve signed only Daniel James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka. However, yesterday saw news break that Harry Maguire will be announced in due course and the proposed Dybala-Lukaku swap deal is still up in the air.

Whilst there’s a couple of capable defensive additions there, with a little over a week to go until the Chelsea game the squad still looks dangerously imbalanced. Currently we have Pogba, McTominay, Matic, Lingard and Mata… and that’s about it. If we start the season with just 5 established midfielders (I’m not counting Fred, Pereira and Sanchez) then by the middle of September I predict we’re going to be seeing Jones or Rojo featuring there. If that thought doesn’t scare the shit out of you too, then you’re either incredibly brave or completely deranged.

No one was expecting last season’s dysfunctional mess to be fixed in a single transfer window, but I can’t help feeling we’re quickly going to regret the soporific approach to squad re-structuring that’s been in evidence. Much needed pruning of deadwood like Darmian and Rojo has failed to materialise, which makes it all the more frustrating how each received undeserved, extended terms in the vain hope of maximising returns from potential buyers. As predicted at the time, we appear to be stuck with the pair indefinitely as no other club appears to be in the slightest bit interested.

Ole may well publicly bemoan the “hard” market and shortened transfer window, but surely the club should have anticipated what was awaiting them this summer? United are no longer in an exalted position where they can bully the likes of Leicester and Newcastle into reluctantly selling their prized assets. No club in the Premier League is in a position where they are are forced to sell because everybody is stinking rich now. United have spent years extolling the virtues of their commercial acumen and infinite revenue streams; rather than making a statement and demonstrating a genuine desire to get back to the game’s pinnacle, most of this summer has instead been spent splashing about and treading water.

www.rednews.co.uk

Ball of Confusion

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Firstly, I’d better explain that this was written in the aftermath of Barcelona at home, so in case there was a repeat of the le miracle de Paris during the return leg, I’ll apologise now for not being psychic. As it is, I’m left to comment on what transpired at OT the other night and as you can probably guess, I wasn’t exactly blown away by the performance served up.

The night started with my old man accusing me of being ‘miserable’ because I expressly stated during our journey to the ground that I wasn’t particularly enthused by the prospect of seeing Messi again. My Dad loves football. As well as supporting United for 50+ years he’s got a genuine affinity with Celtic and Barca too. Whereas me on the other hand, I actively dislike any football team that isn’t Manchester United.

Why would I feel excited about seeing Messi again when I’ve already seen him play a handful of times including 2 x European Cup finals when he’s made us look like rank amateurs? I know he’s an all-time great who’s racked up 900+ career goals against Osasuna and Levante, but I would honestly rather he were out injured as I’m completely sick of the sight of him in a ‘versus MUFC’ context.

In the days preceding the game there were numerous clips floating about of the meeting with Barcelona back in 1984, when the 58,000 packed inside Old Trafford witnessed one of the greatest nights in the club’s history. As well as marvelling at the fact this game took place a full 35 years ago, I was left pondering the extent to which genuine big European nights have changed during that period.

We all know the atmosphere is routinely crap these days, but previously I consoled myself that OT could still rouse itself when the occasion demanded it. Sadly, Wednesday night confirmed the fact we just can’t do it anymore – regardless of who the opposition is. I know our current team isn’t the greatest but this was still a European Cup QF at home to Barcelona and the ground should have been rocking.

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Being totally honest now, the atmosphere was pretty dire. I’m not comparing it to that night back in ‘84 alone as that would be a ridiculously unfair comparison. We’ve had so many memorable days and nights during those intervening years, but I’m struggling to recall the last time the ground crackled with excitement and the noise generated meant your ears were still ringing the next day. Sadly, such occasions have gone for good now, they really have. We were privileged to have been around when Old Trafford was something special.

Watching the opposition dominate possession has become routine over the last few years. After taking an early lead, unlike PSG or Juventus, Barca didn’t attempt to rub our noses in it and instead seemed content with stopping us scoring. Not too onerous a task when considering we’d managed just a solitary goal in the 4 previous Champions League home games this season. Watching Barca keep the ball with zero fuss and routine efficiency demonstrated just how far United are from their level. Half of our players are utterly terrified of the ball and we were incapable of stringing 3 passes together for much of the evening.

Pogba, once again, was absolutely appalling and failed to make any impression whatsoever. Despite Solskjaer’s hopes of keeping this prize bellend onside and building a team around him, it would make far more sense to take whatever money is offered for him this summer. Unfortunately, my guess is that there’ll be no firm enquiries from either Madrid or Barca because neither are daft enough to spend £100M+ on a very average midfielder who delivers so little so consistently. If you think I’m being overly harsh then more fool you. Phil Neville was a more consistent big-game, midfield performer than this clown.

‘His excellency’ was merely anonymous, however. The most inept performance award yet again went to Ashley Young, who’s fast using up any goodwill he’s earned with his wholehearted yet typically underwhelming stint at fullback over the last few years. I’m so bored of watching Young toil away, squandering possession week after week after week. He’s now reached that same stage in his career where Gary Neville realised his time was up and promptly retired with credibility still intact. The penny hasn’t dropped with either Young or the United hierarchy, unfortunately. Christ knows why he’s been given a new contract because it’s only going to get even more embarrassing for all concerned from this point.

After 4 defeats in the last 5 games, the one positive bit of news this week was that Ander Herrera could be leaving at the end of the season. We might have worse players on the books but if the club don’t cave and reward a 29 year old with a 4 year, 200K per week deal then that’s a step in the right direction as far as I’m concerned. He’s nothing special and he never has been. Shipping him out as well as a few more of the 6/10 crew would make for a very positive summer’s business.

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Still, all the usual gripes aside, we’re still in the game and we go to the Nou Camp with an outside chance of causing an upset. Stranger things have happened already this season as we’ve come away from both Turin and Paris with very unlikely victories having been given the run-around at Old Trafford. Surely it can’t happen again? Probably not, but I’ll be keeping everything crossed hoping for another freakish thunderbolt of divine intervention.

Leeds look like they’re getting promoted, City are set to win a domestic treble at the very least… and if they don’t then Liverpool will win the title. Both Liverpool and City are very well placed to reach the Champions League semi-finals. There’s a head-wrecking set of variables in place here that are pointing towards a testing next few weeks followed by a potentially horrific summer. It’s probably too late but we need to try and stop the unthinkable happening.

Help us, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. You’re our only hope.

www.rednews.co.uk

What Comes Around

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All things considered, it’s been quite a month. The remarkable upturn in form since Solskjaer took the wheel reached an almost otherworldly level on that incredible night in Paris. A fortnight later and the giddy thrill of victory still hasn’t fully subsided. It doesn’t matter if we lose the next round 10 nil on aggregate, the fact we unexpectedly made it through to the quarter finals will remain the overriding memory of this season and a fabled moment in the club’s entire history.

Only time will tell if the likes of Tahith Chong and Mason Greenwood will play major roles in attempts to return United to the game’s pinnacle in future years, but they will always have that night to look back on whatever happens. Whether they retire as MUFC legends or as mere footnotes with half a dozen appearances each, what an amazing experience for them to have been a part of so early in their careers. Titles and medals are one thing, but those rarefied moments of pure, unadulterated glory that football can deliver are far more precious. Memories, innit? Absolutely priceless.

With all this overachievement and cavorting going on, it’s not surprising that performance levels took a bit of a nosedive post-Paris and we came away from Arsenal and Wolverhampton empty-handed. The players rightly deserved all the plaudits coming their way after a stellar couple of months during which they managed to salvage a season that was looking like a complete write-off, but let’s keep things in perspective here. This whole period since Christmas has been enormously good fun but Solskjaer isn’t actually a real-life, miracle worker.

This is still the same squad containing several players who stunk the place out completely between August and December. Yes, we all know that relations between key dressing room figures and the previous manager had gone toxic, but as convenient as it might be to lay all the blame squarely at Mourinho’s feet, that isn’t a particularly accurate reflection of what was going on and nor does it tell the full story.

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Numerous players were culpable of consistently failing to perform for the previous managerial regime(s), so it figures that they are still likely to post a sudden, unexplained leave of absence now. It’s not all doom and gloom, far from it. It’s just a reminder that we’re still dealing with a couple of larger than life, hugely-revered ‘personalities’ who are eminently capable of going completely awol and failing to reach the most basic level of performance when pitted against bang-average, journeyman opposition.

To put it another way: most of the complaints aired over the last 2-3 years about the make-up of the squad and the need for further upgrades are still completely valid. 3 months of improvement and a renewed sense of optimism about the place doesn’t solve all the problems that need to be addressed. On face value, a pair of full-backs, a central defender and a wide player are what’s required at the very minimum. You could add a deep-lying midfielder and a world class striker to that list if you were going all-out and trying to fix everything at once.

Obviously, any spending spree is fraught with difficulty and doesn’t guarantee much at all. A player like McTominay has grown immeasurably in recent weeks, revealing himself as a genuine contender despite barely anyone rating him as any kind of prospect previously. If he gets a run in the side and continues to progress rapidly it could negate the need for a big money acquisition. That’s just another ‘if’, however. United aren’t in the business of ‘ifs’ and this era of football demands instant results. Solskjaer, regardless of the incredible start he’s enjoyed, won’t be granted the luxury of 12-18 months treading water. Short-termism rules so the current upwards trajectory simply has to continue.

Half the problem comes from the online fanbase United are so desperate to keep entertained. It’s mad to think that the club only opened a twitter account as recently as 2013 given their breathless enthusiasm for pumping out relentlessly banal video-clips and boasting about ‘engagement’ numbers. The Sanchez signing was a classic example of trying to make a huge statement regardless of the player’s suitability. I guess it’s easy to criticise in hindsight but was there ever any kind of plan in place to try and integrate him into the team and play to his strengths? We’ve certainly never seen any evidence of one.

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Only a few years ago, United’s transfer policy wasn’t influenced by attempts to generate memes and create a splash on social-media; everything was focused on making improvements to the team. I know that post-Ronaldo we were often frustrated by the parsimonious budget in place and Fergie’s risible attempts to seek ‘value in the market’. On the whole however, this mindful approach paid far better dividends than the scatterbrained recruitment strategy we’ve witnessed in the years since his retirement.

Given there’s evidence to suggest Ole favours a more level-headed style of management than either Van Gaal or Mourinho, it would be nice to see a more focused, coherent approach to squad-building and recruitment from now on. The twitter hoards might crave blockbuster signings and massage Woodward’s ego whenever he manages to land a big fish, but this calibre of player hasn’t done us any favours in recent times. Falcao, Di Maria, Sanchez, Pogba and Lukaku arguably… I’m struggling to see how any of these have had an entirely positive effect on the team’s progression.

Football remains a very simple game that has been over-analysed and needlessly complicated over the last decade. If the last couple of months have shown us anything, it’s that Manchester United are in a far better position doing what Manchester United have always done. Keep it simple, play attacking football and always trust in youth. If we stick to the path laid out by Sir Matt Busby and followed by Sir Alex Ferguson, history shows us everything should work out just fine.