News: Impact Sub - OGS The New Gaffer Thread

said i would do this and yes a lot of it has been said before and yes most likely most have made up their minds permanently on this and you can call it making excsues/me being an apologist and whatnot but bear with me and at least consider these carefully beyond an immediate response:

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so, a few things have been said, i don't agree with:

Solskjær has no plan - disagree. he's clearly decided on 4-2-3-1 and trying to counter plus building for the future not for the now. just because it isn't working how fans might like it to doesn't mean there is no plan. is it the most optimal plan? hard to say. this group is such a jumble of parts and imo there is no clear way to optimise them. certainly not to get them

Solskjær didn't take the right path to United - disagree. nonsense. what exactly is this mythical path one should take? is his record outside of United stellar? no. mixed bag. no big club experience? sure. can't argue there. but somewhat funny especially when people are calling for Pochettino? he has "attractive" football and mostly done good things but it's no guarantee of success. why would he succeed when LvG and José failed. we had LvG and José - all the experience you want. Solskjær at least won something. maybe you can say LvG was in a slump of sorts/outdated/whatever and José was broken but in terms of path they did it all. fans will always be skeptical about anyone coming in regardless.

Solskjær sold the strikers wtf - disagree to an extent. i'd think he wanted Lukaku out as they seemed to have fallen out. his comments suggested he was going to try with Sánchez again but that didn't happen. why? dunno. i'd guess neither wanted to be here. i expected both to go (permanently) but they looked like they wanted out and because of the clear cleansing of the wage bill. Pogba staying in that regard was surprising but still.

in fact, if you look at it it seems he is against Woodward in terms of transfers and ins & outs. for example, why were Smalling and Jones signed up on long term deals again and then disappeared into the wilderness? likewise Rojo? Solskjær doesn't even have them on the bench half the time. that isn't harmonious or in sync at all. do folks really think he's that lost or dumb that he bought a clear prospect in James to be a bonafide starter? or he was going to promote Greenwood to third/fourth choice attacker?

people think Ole is dumb/confused whatever and that's fine but clearly the strategies are not aligned here. also the transfer backing is vastly inferior to what José and LvG got in their first seasons here.

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OK so why isn't it working?

well again, look at what we have. people have described it as relegation form. historically that is way off what is expected. however, for the reality of what we have it isn't surprising if you look at it carefully. like i said in the match thread when you're creativity is based around a past it Mata and Lingard who has never and is not a #10 it's no wonder you don't get goals. couple that with a squad full of players who won't score more than 10 and most not more than 5 is it surprising?

so when you can't score more than 1 most games and still give up 1 goal or so a game you will average a draw or 1 pt. 1 pt per game over a season is 38 points below the magic mark. of course i expect this to change with Martial and Pogba back but it's a huge burden to put on them.recall though, that the team wasn't scoring even under José in season 2 and 3 and we had better attackers like Mkhitaryan and Lukaku then plus the likes of Herrera and the much maligned Fellaini who were both clutch and added a few goals. this is nothing new

why 4-2-3-1?

last year we played 4-3-3 so why change? because it was last year. at first it seemed odd but when you look at this season's squad i can see reasons why.

• not enough midfielders - if we played with 3 mids who would be first off the bench? McTominay or Fred? hardly inspiring
  
  
• attackers are sub par - with 4 attackers on the field we have a slightly better chance of getting a goal from players who aren't goal getters.
  
  
• midfield imbalance - we don't even have a complimentary pair of mids much less a trio that works. we have doubts about all the mids. even Pogba

Other reasons?

• injuries? - where is our physio team on this? seems like a lot of guys are being rushed back. this season the options are so few i expect it to happen over and over but last season some odd decisions were made too
  
  
• tactics? - where are Carrick and McKenna on this? what are they adding here? serious questions
  
  
• the subs? - why so late? what can a player do with 4 mins + injury on the clock when we are chasing the game? regardless the subs have had no real impact early or late really
  
  
• square pegs? - why Lingard "at 10" ? not working. why Rashford at 9? a bit more understanding with this as the bones are that bare. odd to persist with these though
  
  
• fitness? - we were the lowest intensity and ground covering team in the league so this makes sense to up those. however, you don't really see a noticeable difference between us and the opposition. in this league being fit and mobile is the baseline. still not buying the running players into the ground stuff. they've had a lighter year under José and this isn't gegenpress we're doing. if the players don't have the quality they should have the intensity. if they can't handle it then we need a whole new squad. it isn't that intense at all. (as an aside - Pochettino likes intense too so not sure how that works with this group if that is indeed the case)
  
  
• Paris? - we still don't know what happened there? how did the form suddenly invert there? was the dressing room lost at that point?
  
  
• reinforcements? - we know about the wage bill reduction and Woodward meddling etc. why is it going to be different the next time? we're forced to fill the bench with kids and the starting XI with former depth players and loan castaways. at least McTominay is improving but how about Pereira? Lingard? Young is still a thing?

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The Good?

• shielded the kids - this is the biggest one for me. don't overburden them with saving our bacon every time. he's given Tuanzebe and Greenwood the right minutes thus far imo. hopefully Gomes gets involved as well. is it any wonder Chong looks afraid to do anything? he comes on with the single goal of pulling us out of the fire. probably afraid to make mistakes and he's never been the most assertive player anyway
  
  
• got rid of a decent amount of the dead weight? - was never going to happen in one window and you're a fool if you thought it would
  
  
• improved the mood? - the confidence might be low but it isn't toxic like before and he is always trying to be positive
  
  
• the new signings? - not sold on any of them but at least they haven't brought the quality level down

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maybe some may think this is still me making excuses etc. and Solskjær is inept and get him out. OK,sure. but i'll ask again - what do you really expect from this squad? in terms of goals for and against? league placement? cup runs?

what do you really think Pochettino, Allegri or anyone else will achieve with this squad? sure sack and replace again and berate Solskjær until he goes but what's the point? bearing in mind they'd likely have 2 years maybe 3 at most at the helm.

for Allegri/Pochettino/whoever to fail as well and then move on? piss more players off and have them leave? then who do we get as manager? will anyone of the perceived correct level even take the job?

this was a lot longer than i expected but i wanted to try cover most angles with this