Mourinho Sacked! Solskjær new interim manager

[Thekwango]

I know Liverpool fans are the most deluded but you can't seriously look at the United squad and think its **** and then look at Liverpools and think its that much better.

of course they do, because delusion!

Why they extended his contract and then didn't back him in the next window is incredibly strange.

because the club at the very top hasn't got a ******* clue. if you extend his contract you have to back him. if you don't intend to back him don't ******* extend his contract.

there's a whole lot needs to change at the club right now, not just the manager.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

So you don't reckon that a lot of this is form and management. I mean Chelsea have been super lucky that their players went from relegation material to league winners in the space of a year and a half. Must have been a hell of a coach to take the sort of players in a relegation position to the top of the league...

I know Liverpool fans are the most deluded but you can't seriously look at the United squad and think its **** and then look at Liverpools and think its that much better. The difference is a top manager and a well coached team full of confident, happy players.

that same chelsea team won the league? so mourinho took them from league winners into relegation material.

united won the league due to others being bad and them being consistent.

the team is full of mediocre players. look at van dijk he's always looked a class above at every team he's been at. that is with several manager changes, several team changes even changes in league.

where united needed to spend £60m+ on a player they spent £30m.

where united did spent £60m+ on a player they bought Lukaku (LMAO) instead of Griezmann or a real world class striker.

money has been spent on very very poor signings. it all started with fellaini. again his best attribute is being good at elbowing people in the face. which is why he warms the bench for £35m.

the team has 4-6 players at best which should be considered first team starters for a top 4 club. none of which are defenders. every team mourinho has been successful with has had absolute solid defenders.

Cole, Carvahlo, Ivanovic, Terry, Ramos, Pepe, Lucio (brazil captain and arguably one of the best CB's in history), Maicon, Samuel (legend), Zanetti (another legend), etc.

he had Luiz, Azplicueta (arguably the best full back in the league), Cahill, Terry (albeit he was past it by that last season mourinho had at chelsea).

he has always been rubbish at signing players tbh. name his top 5 signings? as in players who weren't already world class when he signed them?

so he's went from teams with very very good defenses with his defensive style of play to a team with one of the most laughable defences you have seen.

Phil Jones, Smalling, Shaw, Ashley Young (lol), Bailly, Blind (gone now to dutch league)

How can you build a defensive team around that? he needed to play offensively as that is their strongest part of the team but he can't do that.

 

[Thekwango]

Actually I do think you squad is tripe. It's full of overpaid, work shy, overrated players who just engineered to get a manager sacked. Tell me, who from your 11 gets in ours?

The answer is none so I can comfortably say your squad is utter dross and ours isn't.

you didn't understand what he was actually saying. on current form no, of course very few if any make the Liverpool squad (though arguably De Gea walks into any first 11 but you're never going to concede that)

 

[Sui]

I'd say Southgate in there to see how he does, but I quite like him as England boss so leave him alone.

It was fun whilst it lasted, maybe United might be worth watching now and actually have some flair about them rather than trying to park a bus with no pedals.

 

[Thekwango]

again his best attribute is being good at elbowing people in the face

give him his dues, he's pretty damn good at that!

 

[BaZ87]

Moyes has 0 history of building for the future. He was an average manager at an average club doing an average job. No aspect of his management was above average. LvG had done well in the past but 2 seasons is enough to see if a manager is on the right track. Klopp is a prime example of a manager who hasn't done anything at Liverpool. Should he be sacked? Of course not because Liverpool are showing progress. This idea that a rebuild takes 5 years and you put up with 4 years of **** then suddenly it all comes good is bizarre. This doesn't happen. No one does this. If you are on the right path as a manager you will improve but be erratic.

To say Moyes had 0 history of building for the future is nonsense. He took over an Everton side that were regularly battling relegation or finishing at best mid table and took them to the fringes of CL qualification. But besides that point, you've misunderstood the point I'm making - there is no clear idea at Utd of how they're going to move forwards. They've gone from appointing long term managers with the view to building something sustainable to making kneejerk decisions and appointing the one man I am sure they never wanted to appoint because they were striving for short term results.

How anyone can suggest Moyes was building for the future or is a manager with a track record of that is beyond me so I won't even get into that. The idea that managers are fired if they don't get CL is also a fallacy. Managers get fired because their lack of top 4 is just a very easy metric to put into a contract to allow the club to part ways with a manager who isn't working. Moyes and LvG got fired because they were not showing any signs that they could improve the team. Exciting football? No. Players enjoying their football? No. Players wanting to join United under these managers? No. Results? No.

If we get a new manager in who plays good football, entertains the fans, has the players support and shows improvement season on season then missing top 4 won't get them fired. Would Mourinho be sacked right now if United were erratic but entertaining and he was positive and the players and management liked him? No.

It's a fallacy? Moyes didn't get fired the moment it became impossible for him to qualify for the CL? LVG didn't get fired the moment the season ended, after missing out on the CL on the final day but wasn't sacked the previous season when he did qualify, playing the exact same footbal? Mourinho wasn't tolerated for the past 12 months while you were qualifying for the CL last season/believed that you would qualify this season, only to be sacked now that you're effectively 12 points off the CL spots and almost certain not to qualify? You're kidding yourself. Your owners and board don't care what progress is or isn't being made as long as you're qualifying for the CL and not causing too much trouble/spending too much money. Manchester United is a business and CL qualification is a massive part of that business. It's not just the £50m odd you get from taking part, there will be clauses in sponsorship agreements, matchday revenue and so on.

Maybe the issues of the last 3 managers will make something change and they will think more long term, put a plan in place and trust a manager/dof to implement that plan, accept that it might not be smooth all the time but that's just a maybe right now.

We have got a bit of a mish-mash of players but I think we have a pretty good high energy team in there. I think the idea that a manager can spend £360m along with 2 free signings (Sanchez and Zlatan) that didn't cost him anything and claim that he wasn't backed is ridiculous. The idea that Mourinho didn't want these players is also ridiculous. He probably didn't get everyone he wanted but who does. Poch has spent £29m net apparently over the last 4 years. There has to come a point where the management says "play with the toys you have".

The reason people think we have such a disjointed set of players is because Mourinho has told everyone so many times that its not his fault and that its the players and the squad that people believe it. When you put out half a high energy side and then stick Matic and Fellaini in the middle of that you can't expect much more than you get. His selections, tactics and motivation of the squad were rubbish.

For clarification, I 100% am not saying Mourinho hasn't been back financially. He was and then he lost the trust of the club and they were no longer willing to keep throwing money at him, knowing he'd just be asking for another CB, CM or whatever in 6 or 12 months time.

I completely disagree that Utd have the players to play how a Pep, Klopp or Poch will want to play though. Of your midfield and attacking options I only see Rashford, Lingard, Herrera and Fred as the ones disciplined enough and physically capable or willing to put the work in that these managers insist on.

The state of Utd's squad is a direct consequence of a lack of direction at the top that I've been mentioning - going from one manager to the next, allowing each to sign their own players with no consideration to any overall direction or philosophy. Nobody can guarantee that any manager will be successful but if you've got your house in order, if and when you have to change manager then you'd hope that it's not going to result in half a new side being signed to get things back on track.

 

[fez]

Actually I do think you squad is tripe. It's full of overpaid, work shy, overrated players who just engineered to get a manager sacked. Tell me, who from your 11 gets in ours?

The answer is none so I can comfortably say your squad is utter dross and ours isn't.

OK, so lets put it another way. How many of your players would get into Citys squad at the moment?

Maybe 2.

Even better, how many of your first XI would get into the City over their subs bench? Maybe 3?

Its almost like a team is a bunch of players that need coaching and directing to work as a unit and you can't just stick 11 guys on a pitch who don't want to be there and hope its going to work out. Liverpool are a well coached side with a few top players and a load of hard working support players and City are a star studded squad with a top manager. Who is top of the league currently? You don't need XI superstars to do well but you do need a good manager.

If you think that Uniteds players under Jose are playing to anything near their potential or level you must be mad.

 

[BaZ87]

Certainly sounds like it's going to be Blanc until the summer, then a Director of Football, followed by Poch/Simeone/whoever suits. No reason Blanc couldn't keep the job if he did well I suppose.

I've no idea where these two names have come from, your personal preference, media speculation or whether they are two possible names Utd are looking at but if there's anything in it then I'd be worried. They're two completely different mangers, playing completely different styles of football. If Utd are considering both of them then it will show again that they have no idea what they're doing and just looking for any manager that might be good rather than a manager that fits into an overal plan.

OK, so lets put it another way. How many of your players would get into Citys squad at the moment?

Alisson, Trent, Gomez, VVD, Robertson & Salah would fairly easily.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

give him his dues, he's pretty damn good at that!

well worth £35m then as at least united can say they have somebody truly world class. just a shame it's for elbowing people in the face.

 

[BaZ87]

From when he was appointed:

I'm actually half looking forward to Mourinho at Utd. All season Utd fans have been complaining about the style of football, the likes of Herrera and Mata being benched for Fellaini, will things under Mourinho change?

I've seen people trying to convince themselves Mourinho plays attacking football. When things are going great and you're playing far inferior sides, for the odd month, maybe (even LvG had spells where you played decent football) but when it mattered or when things weren't running smoothly he always reverts back to defensive football. Even with Real, where he had the most expensive squad if the history of football, packed with incredible attacking players, he'd go back to his old ways when it mattered - reportedly 1 of the reasons half the squad turned on him.

It's going to be really interesting to see how this works out. Unlike his previous jobs I think he'll struggle to make an immediate impact - the state of this Utd side and the level of competition he'll face makes it so much harder than before. Will he adopt the Utd way and play attacking football, bringing through young players or will we be seeing more lumping it to Fellaini? My gut feeling is it'll be similar to Chelsea 2nd time around - he'll start off trying to play the way people want and with the likes of Mata but ultimately it won't work and he'll use that as justification to reverting back to what he knows. As above, the biggest question will be whether he can be as successful in the short term as he has previously.

Whatever happens before, the meltdown in ~3 years should be fun.

If anybody wants the lottery numbers then message me

 

[Purdy]

Some weird logic in here

 

[Psycho Sonny]

I've no idea where these two names have come from, your personal preference, media speculation or whether they are two possible names Utd are looking at but if there's anything in it then I'd be worried. They're two completely different mangers, playing completely different styles of football. If Utd are considering both of them then it will show again that they have no idea what they're doing and just looking for any manager that might be good rather than a manager that fits into an overal plan.


Alisson, Trent, Gomez, VVD, Robertson & Salah would fairly easily.

firminho would too. he is very underrated. he would get the best out of sterling, sane, etc. i don't think gomez would though.

their is a left back available right now for less than £30m which would walk into uniteds team and he can play centre half and right back too. He would walk into most teams tbh left back is a hard position to fill. It's crazy how Scotland have 2 world class players both playing the same position left back. They have to force Kieran into other positions to get both him and Robertson in the team.

Kieran Tierney

the same team Wanyama, Fraser Forster, Virgil Van Dijk, Di Canio, Henrik Larsson all came from plenty others too.

 

[fez]

Alisson, Trent, Gomez, VVD, Robertson & Salah would fairly easily.

Alisson and VVD would and Salah would if he started showing the form he was in last season. Thats it. The City back line is much better than Liverpools bar VVD.

 

[drunkenmaster]

SAF is also part of the reason we are having the issues are are now. He did a bit of a Zidane and bowed out when it was clear that we were heading towards a rebuild. United hadn't had the best squad for years when Fergie left and huge holes were apparent in the first XI but Fergie was a good enough coach and United still had most teams going to play us already half beaten.

I think in general SAF actually left Utd with a great chance to rebuild under a good manager. What he could have done is spent massively on players he wanted then left but made it very expensive to rebuild Utd for a new guy in that all the brand new expensive players would be expensive to get rid of and less money to actually buy who they wanted. On the other hand Fergie left a squad with almost no out and out stars, plenty of guys nearer the end of their careers and near the end of their contracts. SAF left a team perfect for rebuilding imo and left money to do it. The problem was Moyes was a gigantic vagina. He acted like it wasn't his place to change the great Fergie's team so he brought in his guy for the dressing room who he trusted and that was basically it. If another manager with balls came in and said you 5 are out, these are the 4 new starts and 5 new squad players we'll rebuild this side with then things could have been very different.

It's not entirely Fergie's fault, lots of managers do very little then get a great chance at a better team and seize it with both hands, others just sink. Personally I thought Moyes had far to big a 'loser' attitude, Everton were pathetically timid against big teams and I never saw a single sign he would be capable of stepping up but ultimately Fergie gave him the chance to do things differently and Moyes instead chose to be a follower, basically asking the players to keep doing whatever they were doing under Fergie and in doing so showed the players he couldn't lead them. They lost confidence and the results dipped because moyes wasn't actually managing them, he was just hoping they'd keep playing the same.

 

[jonneymendoza]

Some weird logic in here

Your just happy about united flopping lol

 

[BaZ87]

Alisson and VVD would and Salah would if he started showing the form he was in last season. Thats it. The City back line is much better than Liverpools bar VVD.

I respectfully disagree but just quickly on Salah's form - he's the top scorer in the league still Anyway, none of this matters too much to the topic at hand.

 

[fez]

I think in general SAF actually left Utd with a great chance to rebuild under a good manager.

United had been under funded on the transfer front for years. It was like watching a car age. You keep patching things up and spending what you need to keep the car running but eventually you need to buy a new one. United squad was old, lacking real quality in most of the team and full of players who were about to hang up their boots or were in decline. Fergie wasn't going to rebuild a United team in the last season or two he was there, he should have been maintaining the level of the team from when we had the likes of Tevez, Ronaldo and Rooney leading our line. Ferguson watched the quality of player decline slowly until he left.

I would put good money on the fact that City will win the league this season and then spend a lot of money on top players in the summer despite being far stronger than everyone else in the league. When you are at the top you should consolidate your strength, not watch it ebb away as other teams slowly catch up with you.

 

[BaZ87]

Solskjær and Phelan until the end of the season is being reported by a few journos.

 

[davejh666]

name his top 5 signings? as in players who weren't already world class when he signed them?

Ajen Robben. Eden Hazard. Didier Drogba. Michael Essien. Petr Cech. Ashley Cole. Mesut Ozil. Raphael Varane.

None of those were 'World Class' when he signed them. Quite a few of them turned into world class players.

 

[antijoke]

Howard Webb to take the interim managerial job with Martin Tyler as his number 2.