What in the 2nd season when they got Walker, Mendy, Ederson, Bernardo Silva etc?
Managers will always have their input into who they would like. But at the top level these days those decisions are taken away from the manager for exactly the reason we now see at Utd. Managers come and go but the clubs must protect themselves from bad investments which is what Utd have not done. Woodward has made bad managerial decisions and bad purchases. For an attack minded coach now to come in the entire midfield needs replacing. Not one of them can pass a ball or has the creativity to open things up.
Just because mendy has been injured (I don't believe he had bad injuries prior to arriving which might have indicated a health problem) doesn't make him a bad player
Bernardo Silva IS a good player without a doubt.
Walker seems to work well in their system but even if he doesn't, everyone gets the occasional transfer wrong.
There appear to be considerable evidence that Pep agreed to KDB, Stirling and I believe Otamendi at the very least a year before he officially joined the club....I believe there were even some signings the summer before that Pep ok'd as well.
No managers do not usually have input on those signings significantly before they join the club (and Im discounting players that join in the same summer as the manager as you would expect this, or afterwards)
Does sound like it will be Solskjær at this stage. The main job now is to get the squad together and instil some sort of attacking tactical philosophy - something he's done very well albeit at a much lower level.
Im not convinced to be honest (that it would be a good move for anyone involved....apart from the paypacket -which is of course the last reason to take a job like this from the fans or club p.o.v
As a player he is an absolute hero , no question but for this subject has to be ignored
1) He is proving himself a decent manager at a lower level....and leaving the job for an 5 month appoiitnment at a massively higher level
2) His Cardiff time didn't really prove anything either way (admittedly this was a few years ago now)...but he could ruin his managerial reputation at this or even between levels beyond repair if it goes wrong
3) He is out of a job no matter what in the summer if he leaves his current position (will Molde take interim manager in the mean time - who knows but guess its a possibility)
Clubs pov
1) Very little Managerial experience at this level - could easily get worse
2) He knows and loves the club, but that wont mean a thing if results go against him
3) Media will give him time and knowing him he will be good to the media
4) He will respect the badge first (where JM didn't a lot of the time) and the players
5) Given its an interim appt will the players respect him as a manager - results/ performances may improve because of the change (even though some stats seem to suggest this doesn't actually happen) but will they be good enough to sustain top6 let alone improve? Very hard to say right now
If we cant make top 4 (which as I said previously is unlikely but possible) personally I would say do a Chelsea and drop low enough to be out of Europe all together so the new manager only has league / league cup / FAC to deal with come 19/20 season. At this point its imo worth more to not play in Europe at all (even allowing for the ~£30m? payoff) so the season is "easier" for the incoming manager. Europa doesn't prove anything to the biggest clubs and with the state of the squad it needs nearly a complete refresh before the incoming manager will be happy.
