Manchester United Seasonal Blog 2018/19 - Ole Ole Ole Ole

[Darbyand]

I don't spend very long wondering about that

[liquidfootball2]

Pochettino has come out and said Tottenham will be spending nothing this month - meaning it'll be two in a row without a transfer.

Spurs fans may not feel too overjoyed at that with all the speculation both regarding Christian Eriksen not yet committing longer term and the future of their manager, but could such lack of spending influence Pochettino's thoughts on his own future?

The sheer expense of building a stadium in the capital can't be underestimated for a club such as Spurs who, for all that they are superbly run from a financial perspective, aren't exactly in the super rich category and operate a strict wage structure with Daniel Levy amongst the shrewdest of owners.

Arsenal restricted spending for years, even if some said unnecessarily, and undoubtedly the building of the Emirates took a heavy toll on their fortunes and chances of winning major prizes. The achievement of Arsene Wenger to consistently keep them up there in the top four throughout, even if not exactly seriously challenging, was very considerable indeed for me.

Perhaps though, in direct contrast to Spurs fans, United fans may have every reason to be quite encouraged by such a statement of likely nil expenditure. If Real look elsewhere, and they may well do so even sooner than expected considering their current plight, then United's number one target for a permanent appointment could become far easier to procure.

[Zimmerman]

yes, I’ve taken Pochs comments as a veiled threat (he’s also said that Spurs will have to think about how they operate if they truly want to compete).

Surely it’s a given he’ll end up at United.

[Bob Newhart]

https://twitter.com/TheSunFootball/stat ... .444219%2F

[liquidfootball2]

Gareth Southgate added to Man Utd's shortlist as fears grow Mauricio Pochettino will stay at Spurs


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/20 ... ricio/amp/

Sam Wallace writes ...

Manchester United are considering an approach to Gareth Southgate, the England manager, as they become increasingly concerned that Mauricio Pochettino will stay at Tottenham Hotspur this summer.

United go to Wembley Stadium on Sunday to face Pochettino’s Spurs team with no certainty yet that the Argentinian is prepared to give up on five years at his current club to become the fourth permanent manager at Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. While Pochettino remains the first choice of United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, the club are aware that it is by no means certain he will agree to come.

Southgate signed a new contract with the Football Association in October that takes him to the 2022 World Cup finals and he would be no means certain to accept a job elsewhere in the interim. The England manager is committed to the national team and although United represents the biggest job in English club football he may well believe that, at 48, it could come around for him again.....

.....An approach to Southgate would be problematic given the length of his contract with the FA and the awkwardness of taking a manager from the national team. In early 2002, United were close to appointing Sven Goran Eriksson, then the England manager, as Ferguson’s successor before the Scot reversed his decision to retire at the end of the 2001-2002 season.


Naturally there would also be concerns about Southgate. He has been out of the club game where he had just one management spell, at Middlesbrough, for three years between the summer of 2006 and October 2009. Nevertheless, his resounding success in taking England to a World Cup semi-final this summer, and his faith in young players, make him an attractive proposition.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who is in charge of the team currently since Mourinho’s dismissal, looks like the most likely candidate to benefit should Pochettino turn down the United job. The visit to Wembley on Sunday will be the first significant test of his side after four victories over Cardiff, Huddersfield Town, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Reading in the FA Cup third round.

Pochettino’s recent public pronouncements on his future have offered no great clarity on whether or not he sees Spurs as being able to match his own ambition. He has admitted himself in the account of his career published last year “Brave New World” that he is prone to changing his mind on major career decisions and in the past while in his first job at Espanyol he turned down higher profile jobs at Valencia and Sampdoria.

That is why United have been forced to explore other possibilities as they approach yet another change of manager. Southgate will be watching Everton against Bournemouth on Sunday while his assistant Steve Holland is at Wembley.  

[blahblah]

First time this season they have outrun their opponents in the league says one hell of a lot. Same players, more effort, enjoyment, energy and quick one/two touch positive football. Full backs suddenly playing 10 yards further up the pitch and bombing on (rather than wingers being told they need to be auxiliary full backs), with everyone else seemingly paying shackle free and getting into the box far quicker.

Almost as if OGS had implemented a club blueprint but as blah says such a way is imaginary and doesn't exist!

Everything I've been saying the dinosaur was preventing / restricting by his dated over-pragmatic "don't lose" approach, and look at the difference it makes. Yes, it was 'only' Cardiff; yes, it was only one game; and yes, it begs the question why weren't you applying yourself that way under Jose as a professional football despite not liking or buying into the manager? But far far better and something help lift the mood an the confidence levels significantly.

Apologies for not replying sooner, but I have had tech shite etc and wanted to explain properly, but hey ho drinkled on new phone with fooked laptop smirking away before 2nd yank rugby in body armour starts....

The weirdest bit of thr first OGS matches wasn't SAF II but more the start of that season with Jose, where Mkh got dumped. It could well have been Pog's first and I posted about the mental and physical power\stamina\strength with your lot scoring loads in tge last 20-15 mins and Pog is in my FPL shambles for the first time since. But then I did also memtion that playing like that wouldn't go far in the CL, t'was almost like SAM on acid!

So I'll defend the blueprint line as you weren't that mad under SAF, imho, and if you post the Yiutube of the 9-0 I'll post the 6-1

But OGS does seem to have brought an iron fist in a velvet glove with the sweet smile of a baby-faced assassin, which is one of the highest compliments I have paid anyone lately

I'm actually neutral etc re the top clubs, but good luck vs Spurs as I remember them kicking the shite out of my once beloved in '81 and costing us a treble

[liquidfootball2]

What a transformation since Ole arrived, United have swept aside gentle opposition with real panache, verve and no little skill, the players are enjoying themselves again and optimism is soaring. Win today and the feeling will be that United are back and going places.

Perhaps Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will turn out to be the perfect accidental candidate, and if his team beat Pochettino’s Spurs at Wembley on Sunday then that will be taken by some as a further scrap of evidence that it should be the Norwegian. But that is not really how it should work at the biggest clubs. There should be a long-term plan that is a little more durable than reading the runes from a single result, good, bad or indifferent.

City spent years preparing the ground for Guardiola, even appointing Spanish and Catalan executives, it was a long chase one designed to show Guardiola that there would be no better club more ideally suited to him than City. They pursued a plan right down to announcing Pelligrini,'s departure midseason, everything was done to facilitate Guarsiola's arrival, the ground was prepared, the club were made ready.

It was a drawn out and very long pursuit and such an approach is far easier when you're following a long term strategy, a plan to take you to the next level which means never losing sight of the future objective.

As documented numerous times, United since Sir Alex left have stumbled along and made poor choices. They apparently had targets at different times but fell back on the likes of LvG because he had a half decent record and crucially was available at the time Moyes left, Mourinho similarly, he had been a serial winner of trophies and they needed to respond quickly, to secure a big name who could match their city rival's appointment of Pep. There was no long term plan, no strategic thinking.

Ideally United would have operated along similar lines and prepared the ground for their new man, they would have approached him months out and had his assurance that if asked he would have little hesitation in coming. There are however no guarantees in place, no direct approaches made and the possibility that whoever is appointed may forever be known as the Not Pochettino Candidate.

[Zimmerman]

Win today and the feeling will be that United are back and going places.

And if they lose today?
What will that tell us?

Can’t help but feel a lot of your above post is written with hindsight in mind.

The ground was set for Guardiola because they have a MASSIVE cheque book and they had a squad that had won the league twice and been in the top four for six seasons.

It could be argued that announcing Pellegrinis leaving part way through the season hampered them (like when Fergie announced his retirement)?

The Catalan connection? Maybe it was intentional. Maybe City with all their wealth and investment were trying to emulate Barce (THE best club in the world for the previous decade). so what better way to build your own club than bring in their previous director of football. Was Arteta there because of his knowledge of the Premier league (and language capabilities ) AS WELL AS his Catalan connection. Coincidence and circumstance maybe? Brian Kidd is still there after all.


Back on to United. Ole has merely rid the club of the cloud and bad feeling. It could be argued that absolutely anybody could have done that. Just opening the windows and getting rid of the stench of Jose is sufficient to give the squad of internationals that had finished second twelve months previously a lift.

5 straight wins is great... but so is playing Cardiff, Huddersfield, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Reading.

1-5
3-1
4-1
0-2
2-0

Their next five:
Spurs (a)
Brighton (h)
Arsenal (a)
Burnley (h)
Leicester (a)

[liquidfootball2]

Yep as to the United part of that, whoever came in really was going to get this sort of reaction after the oppressive Mourinho regime. The players at the club are high quality players, and are now playing at a level they should be playing at. Nobody is playing better than they have ever played before, they are simply just functioning at their "normal" level: Pogba is a prime example, although to be fair he actually has plenty more in his locker.

Mourinho really was toxic, and he blew his chance to try and create a legacy at one of the biggest clubs in the world: his reputation has undoubtedly taken a hit, and his aged tactics have been exposed...more than that, his inability to run a harmonious changing room has once again reared its head, and that is what will ultimately put off big clubs from taking a chance on him in the future.

Manchester United will face their first proper football team since Ole has arrived today, and this can be considered the real acid test. A win, and they can go into the remainder of the season in high spirits with a view to building a platform from which to mount a title challenge next season. A defeat however will serve as a timely reminder that there is a lot of work still to be done, and the problems at the club can't be fixed overnight.

They need to guard against making this match a verdict on Solskjaer though, a win here and the bandwagon to another possibly poor choice may gather momentum.

A shortlist of Pochettino, Solskjaer, Zidane, Southgate and even Simeone smacks of a scattergun approach, where is the direction?

The appointment of the future DoF is perhaps just as important as it seems they're stumbling on successors instead of planning for them

[Tacalabala]

They need a top DoF otherwise they'll never be able to establish continuity. Fergie effectively did both roles, but you can't expect any manager to stay more than 5 years.

[murf]

Not sure where all this 'planning ahead' with managers comes from - doesn't make sense to me. Surely the plan was for Mourinho to be successful and stay - the best way to screw that up (without hindsight ) was to undermine him by manoeuvring for someone else!

Getting a DoF makes some sense for continuity if you want to be the sort of team that chops and changes every couple of years (eg Citeh/Chelsea) and don't have owners that really know the game. Alternatively you get a manager that will create a dynasty like Ferguson or Wenger did, OK you can't expect anyone to last that long again but you would like someone to stay and build for a few years like Klopp (or Pep comparatively speaking at City? or maybe Pocchetino at Spurs)

[forestfan]

I’m sure all those clubs have a shortlist of managers in mind, just in case the current man in charge decided to leave, or was taken ill or whatever... the owners/directors will know what they want in their next manager, even if they don’t know when the vacancy will arise or who will be available at the time. It’s called succession planning, all big businesses do it, and it doesn’t need to go as far as tapping people up in advance. It always baffles me when teams sack managers, or managers move onto bigger things, and their old employers seemingly have no plan whatsoever in terms of what to do next.

[Zimmerman]

So clubs DONT have succession plans?

Successions plans in football are fairly pointless hence why most clubs don’t have them.

It’s so fluid that theres no real idea about people’s availability. Similarly, if you’re in the hunt for a new manager - chances are, things aren’t going too well. So if you want a good manager - how do you convince him to come?

The Poch situation perfectly sums this up.

If going for a lesser clubs manager then your job sells itself.

[liquidfootball2]

That old cliché was never more true than at Wembley today, the proverbial game of two halves, United impressed in the first half and played with real pace on the counter, catching Spurs short on more than a few occasions with speedy breaks. The goal was top drawer too with Pogba seeing and delivering a perfect long pass to set Rashford clear who finished with aplomb.

The second half Spurs had more than enough of the game spurning gilt edged opportunities when more clinical finishing would have comfortably been enough to overturn the deficit.

De Gea was easily United's second half hero once again and almost single-handedly kept Spurs at bay. Kane and Ali shot too near him which always gave him that chance that perhaps he should never have had.

Not a lot has changed but this result will feel special and mean a lot more to everyone at United, this was a proper team they were up against and, perhaps thanks to de Gea, they came through.

Any final verdict on the current management team can wait as they are just enjoying the ride for now and things couldn't be going much better.

[buu1333]

Read in a book that football is the perfect blend between structure and choas and that makes it the beautiful game, unpredictable and the most popular sport in the world. Where others sports can have too much structure, like baseball and American football.

Even when hiring a new manager there is some structure but it won't always work out the way you want it to , so you have a list of candidates maybe? And little things like this also makes it interesting.

[liquidfootball2]

Paul Mitchell's name has often come up in connection with the search for a new technical director.

Now, according to Jason Burt, Red Bull are making moves to ward off United and try and keep him......


Red Bull are to offer Paul Mitchell a new expanded role to ward off interest from Manchester United who have been considering appointing him as their first ever technical director.

Mitchell is currently head of recruitment and development at Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and is regarded as one of the best talent-spotters in European football with a string of successes including Sadio Mane, Kieran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld. He also helped smooth Dele Alli’s move from MK Dons – Mitchell’s former club – to Tottenham Hotspur.

According to sources in Germany Red Bull are aware of United’s interest and now plan to expand Mitchell’s role and want to award him a new contract and the greater remit of being their head of global football overseeing all of their clubs.

As well as Leipzig, Red Bull, the energy-drink company, have been involved with clubs from Salzburg to New York and Brazil and have even considered making a move into England as part of their growing portfolio across the world.

Mitchell is the former head of recruitment at Southampton and Tottenham has featured prominently on the list of targets drawn up by United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward as part of a re-organisation of the Premier League club.

United accept that they need to move with the times and appoint a technical director or director of football or head of recruitment – the exact remit and role is still to be defined. They are determined to develop a more cohesive, stream-lined approach to recruitment and want an experienced figure who can work closely with the manager to head up that department.

The club wanted to make the appointment under Jose Mourinho but they believed the now former United manager would have resisted their attempts - but that change has now been accelerated with his departure last month.

Although United dispute that their recruitment since Sir Alex Ferguson retired has been scatter-gun they accept that they need a more focussed approach.

United have employed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as their caretaker manager until the end of the season with Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino remaining their first-choice should they be able to agree a deal to bring in the Argentinean.

Pochettino worked closely with Mitchell at both Southampton and Spurs.

Mitchell is highly regarded in the game and Pochettino was instrumental in bringing him from Southampton to Spurs in December 2014, seven months after his appointment as head coach. Mitchell left Spurs in Aug 2016 and joined Leipzig in February last year after serving a lengthy notice period.

The 37-year-old former MK Dons midfielder is Manchester-born and it remains to be seen whether United will try and lure him away from Red Bull who appeared determined to try and keep him.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/20 ... anchester/

[forestfan]

Red Bull... I thought it was the F1 team for a minute Add a bit of pace by fixing the aerodynamics of the midfield? New “ultrasoft” boots for extra grip?

[liquidfootball2]

And the 'temporary' manager's fairytale start continues.

He has to now be in pole position to take the job permanently but United would still be wise not to leave a definite decision until later.

There are so many points now in Olé's favour that it is looking with every game that he now has be the man.

He's shown adaptability and tactical awareness in both setting them up and the game plan.

He's extremely popular with the fanbase and knows United the club, their traditions and philosophy as regards the playing style and attacking football.

Pochettino or another may be better and worth pursuing, but aren't an automatic by any means anyway, it could well involve some very difficult and tortuous negotiations and a lot of persuasion with no guarantees. Solskjaer is here, doing extremely well and 100% wants it.

Tactically against Spurs and tonight he's shown excellent awareness of just where to hit the opposition targeting their weakest links, tonight for me was a more complete performance than the Spurs one, the latter really could have won easily but for de Gea.

So it's sensible still to wait until far nearer the end of the season when he'll have months and months of solid work and hopefully results behind him, but he couldn't have made a better fist of it.

It is developing into a fairytale and could, and possibly will now, have a happy ending for Olé.

[forestfan]

There’s still no evidence one way or the other as to whether he can sustain success, win major trophies or build a team. But given a couple of managers with glittering CVs have failed there, perhaps it is time for a different approach, and to give him a chance. It’s not a massive gamble unless their top external target is readily available, as long as they go easy on the long term contract.

[Zimmerman]

Same could be angled at Poch.

Hasn’t won anything
Finished third in a two horses race
Question marks raised about his in-game management

Arguably he has cemented Spurs’ place as a top four side... although they were already a squad that was jostling for the upper echelons.

Lloris, Trippier, Rose, Vertonghen, Lamela, Eriksen and Kane were already in place when he arrived.

Whilst he has wheeled and dealed in the transfer market (and had his hands tied)... he has still spent nearly £300m on 21 players he has brought in (over the four seasons prior to this).

League Finishes
4
5
4
5
6
—— Poch ——
5
3
2
3

Whole other debate about the transitions of Arsenal and United during this period

[liquidfootball2]

Spurs, as Arsenal did, have and will suffer from the huge burden of financing the building of a very large modern stadium in the capital, the expense and capital that soaks up is immense and has to be managed and spread over a long period.

They are not one of the richest clubs in England to start with, financially speaking they aren't even anything like as big as Arsenal were when they went through it. They have to operate a very strict wage structure and are comparatively low payers even for their top players. Poch has to a large extent performed a minor miracle to keep them anywhere near the top over recent years, its constantly an extraordinarily difficult balancing act.

He hasn't been one to complain overtly about the board, about the spending, about keeping his top players tied to contracts when they know they could get far far more with virtually any move anywhere, or more recently about the crushing injury list and no goalscorers available. Son goes to an Asian cup, its not another burden but an opportunity, the cover and reserve options such as Llorente are desperately poor too, nowhere near replacing like with like. To not bring it up as so many would, to virtually not complain at all, is a club owner's dream.

He has only recently started to offer hints on the lack of transfer activity at Spurs over a period being a drawback on ambition and the need to have a target and budget for it, where do they want to get? He may think his players are about to break ranks, there has been plenty of talk on Erikson, once one goes and contracts come up for renewal, it could lead to others.

He may now feel he's taken the club as far as it can go without strengthening, in other words new stadium or not, no spending will limit future progress.

United may find him far more willing to come than is generally expected, Levy will be difficult but it could be worth it.

Solskjaer right now, after last night, is definitely in pole position, but now isn't April or May, if then Olé can point to a lengthier and possibly sustained spell of success in his temporary role the clamour to make it permanent may well become unstoppable, but until then United won't be rushing to close other avenues down just yet.

[raoul]

I think we are remarkably fortunate to have a league with 6 teams all competing for the title and with a realistic chance (before the season begins, at least). These 6 are a mile clear of everyone else. Spurs are a top 6 team, who are currently looking top 4 largely as Chelsea and Arsenal start under new managers and Man Utd continue their attempt to find a long term successor to SAF.

I am not suggesting Poch is not doing good job. But as others have said, he is operating under a very difficult financial situation. They do well thanks to an excellent backbone and as predicted pre season were always going to have a problem if and when injuries arose. Knowing Son would be lost twice, I am amazed they did not add one marquee player in the summer, let alone now. That is just nonsense. If Mourinho was their manager, just imagine how much complaining...

If all of the top 6 had managers in place with a couple of seasons under their belts, I reckon Spurs would finish 6th.

I don't want to put OGS down. But. The fact is that Man Utd have a lot of players who want to go out and exhibition (note Lingard's reaction to scoring last night, when he ran straight past Lukaku who had supplied the pass, totally ignoring him), and Mourinho did not want this. For now OGS does not really need to do anything except wait … because 8 wins in a row will not continue, and at some point he will have to deal with temperamental superstars and their whining. That is when we find out if he is the long term solution.

SAF took no crap from anyone. Didn't matter who the player was. I doubt OGS is going to be able to stand up to players.

His legend status at Old Trafford buys him a lot of credit. If Poch is not the long term answer, maybe an ex player with a firmer hand might be the answer.

Roy Keane though probably a bit too firm a hand.

[murf]

(note Lingard's reaction to scoring last night, when he ran straight past Lukaku who had supplied the pass, totally ignoring him)

I did notice that! Team spirit? Nah!

[forestfan]

I suppose they could involve Fergie a bit more hands on in a mentoring role for a while, as per Paisley with Dalglish initially, if he’s up for it/in good enough health.

In any case, a backroom staff of true United men like Phelan and Carrick will help, all will bring their own qualities.

[Zimmerman]

(note Lingard's reaction to scoring last night, when he ran straight past Lukaku who had supplied the pass, totally ignoring him)

I did notice that! Team spirit? Nah!

Me too... thought it was quite odd. Poor Lukaku ended up having to cup his ear to try and cover the fact he’d held out his arms ready for his embrace that never came and was stood there looking a bit isolated.

[Darbyand]

Lingard was too interested in getting some space to perform his new Moonwalk celebration. I think they all had a group cuddle afterwards.

[forestfan]

Lingard was too interested in getting some space to perform his new Moonwalk celebration.

Perhaps not the day to be channelling Jacko

[thebillfella]

(note Lingard's reaction to scoring last night, when he ran straight past Lukaku who had supplied the pass, totally ignoring him)

I did notice that! Team spirit? Nah!

Me too... thought it was quite odd. Poor Lukaku ended up having to cup his ear to try and cover the fact he’d held out his arms ready for his embrace that never came and was stood there looking a bit isolated.

Think you may be looking for negatives that don't exist there chaps?

[Zimmerman]

Not at all... called it as I saw it. I’ve no desire to look for anything in the mid table also rans

That said, some footage of him moonwalking shows that other players did indeed to Lukaku whilst Jesse was off doing his thing.

[murf]

Just a selfish arogant Lingaard ego thing then?

Maybe but it shows team spirit isn't high enough to overcome all individual egos yet.