PBP: UCL - Manchester United FC vs Villarreal CF - Sep 29, 2021 [R]

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The question still remains as to how long some on the team will tolerate putting up with this. It is simply not sustainable and as we've already seen with the 3 recent losses, the bubble will burst eventually.

 

Love this quote from Goldbridge - "The experiment of how bad you can play and still win a game of football, he's the master of it"

 

Link didn't work.

 

Awful first 2/3's of the game,then a decent last 20 where Ole's job was saved, somehow. De Gea saved the day and continues his good run of play, both fullbacks were defensively so poor, Dalot is starting to cement himself as not good enough unless he somehow turns things around because even his crossing was shocking. Again no proper holding midfielder costs us, Matic is the only decent option and he's a decrepit body who can only last 45/60 minutes playing top quality stuff a week. Ronaldo was gassed and poor today, probably should have been taken off, but that's what he brings even when not playing well. Lethal. Cavani needs to play/start a lot more often, fantastic work rate and a big presence.

Being a coached team is evident, Villareal occupied the half spaces far better and moved far more intelligently, they possess a system. With Ole it seems he just relies on individual brilliance, there is no style/system, or ability to defend and attack as a team and provide intelligence ball/off the ball movement.

 

Bumbling and stumbling football at his finest. Surely the "Let's Give Ole a Chance" contingent from pre-season has seen enough.

 

It's a very good bet that Ole and the team would have been seriously booed had the result was anything but the win we eventually got. Ronaldo literally saved Ole today and bailed him out in a huge way.
The discontent from the fans, even the local and match going ones who were/are the staunchest Ole inners, are starting to doubt. And today only bought him time. Not out of the woods just yet and I still believe that the next 2 months will go a long way in dictating his fate.
Big win today but we still have to play Atalanta and if anyone is familiar with them (or just watched them YB today), they are not easy to deal with, even if their style is probably more conducive to our counter attacking game. Going to Spain vs Villareal will be no piece of cake either. And then, there are the league fixtures. We'll see what happens and still plenty of opportunities for things to go south, if Ole does not figure it out.
The hope, once again, is that this result today will serve as some kind of springboard for the games to come (and that Ole will continue to mix things up). But that seems to become an all too familiar song, so we'll see.

 

Game won that is all that matters. I don't care that we played like shit. Saturday is a different story.

 

I agree. I just don't think he can be any worse, so the more he plays the better he should get. One thing that I like about him is he is always in the right place positionally he just does not execute. His football intelligence is there, his technique is there, maybe it's pressure/confidence/experience.

 

He is....INEVITABLE!

 

I hate seeing Ole's gurning face after that win. Because you can tell he has no clue that they should have lost. That his coaching was terrible. That he has no idea on this earth that he should be doing things differently.

 

I had my doubts about Cavani at this stage in his United career. Part of me still thought he wasn't fully on board. He had racism issues last season. That mysterious "head" injury. And then this season he didn't play against So'ton when really it was a perfect chance for him to strut his stuff. But whatever goes on behind the scenes doesn't matter to him on the pitch. He never compromises. A truly great player.

 

Dalot when anyone is running at him pic.twitter.com/zYs7eqMwOA

— Imran (@imranhussainn_) September 29, 2021

 

I had started writing during the match something along the lines that it's very obvious at this juncture that Ole is looking seriously clueless: clueless/oblivious in how the match is unfolding, clueless in what subs to make and when to do them.
And whoopie, they paid off today but just like Ronaldo bailing him out at the last moment, most of them were confusing and kind of random.
I'm all but done at this point. Enough: think it's only fair for him to have the opportunity to save himself so he's got 2mos. But I'm not confident in the least and I think that the cracks are slowly starting to show with some of the players. Pogs clearly snubbed him when he was taken off and we've seen Donny's reaction of disgust and just being fed up.
The team better keep on finding ways to win otherwise it's going to start getting real ugly real fast. I've asked earlier in this thread what difference there was with the football we're seeing now and the one we were playing under Mourinho and van Gaal that got them fired (when they at least won us some trophies). The team on paper is much improved, with some serious talent but we have no clue how to use the likes of Donny and Sancho (among others) and we're regularly being played off the pitch by teams technically that are inferior to us.
Get us a proper manager and odds are, we'll start seeing some real progress, with the personnel we currently have. Chelsea had a legend in Lampard, they let him go, Juve fired a football Don in Pirlo. The list goes on and on: being a legend of a club or the game in general does not buy anyone some kind of immunity if things don't go as they should.
Ole has until December to shape up or it's time to go.

 

Ole could have made life easier for United today, but it's not something he could have accomplished with the flick of a switch. Some of his selections have cornered him and there's less room for him to change the way the team plays.

I think a 4-3-3--or rather a more fluid 4-2-3-1--is the best way to go with what is available to him now, but at this rate Donny is set to leave in January and Ole's half-hearted attempt at a 4-3-3 today may be the last we see of it.

 

No need to be a piece of shit

 

No argument there. His form so far has almost been vintage Dave from a few years back and it's been great to see.

 

The difference between Mourinho/Van Gaal and Ole is under those two the play was by design. Van Gaal was the endless passing without much end product and Mourinho was ultra conservative park the bus and no freedom to express going forward. With Ole, at this point it doesn't look like there is much of a plan or strategy. What is our style nowadays? Can someone explain it? Because I certainly can't. And we can't just say it's based upon moments of individual brilliance because that isn't a style.

 

Don't agree with his view that Cav has to start (especially with Ronaldo). Cav played great when he came on and there certainly will be times again when he will be lined up alongside Ron or even start outright. Going to be needed, no doubt, but him being a spot starter (for Ron primarily) or a sub are probably the best use for him going forward, with Cristiano sure to be in the team most of the time. Brought great energy (and workrate) off the bench, which was badly needed and def was a catalyst for the win yesterday.
Certainly disagree with him also with his comments regarding Donny, quasi justifying Ole's treatment of him, which frankly is a joke. As I mentioned yesterday, his subs might have worked out in the end, but most of Ole's subs hardly made any real sense in the context of the game at the time.
Not to mention, that I still believe there was a very valid shout for including Donny right from the start in this. Probably would have never the initiative the way we did had he played, on top of helping our attack which was pretty toothless (particularly in the opening period).
Howson comparing him to Mc, as a 6 was funny as well, considering that is not what Donny is, and that is before we even note how mediocre Mc is in the holding role when Fred is not next to him but that is neither here, nor there at this time...

 

Specifically for this game Ole decided to go 4-3-3 which sometimes looked like 4-1-5 during our attacks, basically splitting the team. The idea was to move the ball vertically as much as possible with long passes behind Villareal's defenders, relying on our speed advantage in attack, opening the game (again, the idea was probably that a more open game favored us more than positional attacks). Villareal took advantage during counters by almost exclusively going through left wing where Dalot kept losing 1-1 battles to Danjuma.

In the second half after we conceded we actually started being even more aggressive with high press with both Dalot and Telles actively participating (they weren't doing much attacking/pressing in the first half). That led to an even more open game, but Ole didn't have much of a choice at that point. We finally started generating good chances (Sancho shot, Cavani header). Of course we could've easily conceded during this time too, but we were a better team over the past 35 minutes.

So overall it's totally fine to place blame on Ole for having a bad game plan, but he certainly had a plan for this game.

 

Van Gaal/Mourinho's play might have been by design but whether Ole's is or isn't, the net result is the same when it's all said and done. In truth, under Ole we've really seen one type of play that has been noticeable and works: and that is playing on the counter against opposition who will enjoy the lion share of the possession (ie top teams for the most part).
That is the only discernable style of play we've seen in Ole's time in charge. The rest of the time, it looks like some kind of possession based style, but one with no real aim and that is not very effective in the end. Been evident for some time that, for whatever offensive talent we may have on the team, getting the ball to them and chance creation have been a problem. And that is because there is ho real patterns of play that can make out.
It's a problem, one of a few, when it's all said and done. Ole is a great man manager: that can certainly can not be taken away from him. But that is not going to be enough, especially if the rest of the staff can not make up for those deficiencies in other areas...

 

Given Cav's occasional unavailability, I'm not sure he can be relied upon to compete consistently enough to warrant a starting place, but I do think he and Cristiano are fearsome together. Bruno behind them pulling the strings can work marvels. I have a hard time seeing any defense keeping those three under wraps when they get going.

But with Sancho now at the club, he will need to be given the kind of role that I think will take away from what Bruno does. And I think United aren't really struggling to score, rather United are having trouble controlling the tempo and putting defenses under proper pressure. Having the extra center-forward isn't as an immediate concern as having an extra man (or more quality players) in the middle. Getting Sancho to perform to expectation and sorting out the midfield are things Ole will need to address most of all in my mind.

To Ole's credit, he's by and large a good man manager. His initial success came down to his ability to motive the players after Mourinho had soured the atmosphere in the dressing room, but I think at this stage a number of his players are showing him doubts. It's not at a stage that will cost him his job, but the cracks are there.

 

thank you for commenting on my comment, I am sure that added alot of value.

 

💔

https://t.co/1V6IHL5g07

— United Zone (@ManUnitedZone_) September 30, 2021

This really is all kinds of sad. The guy was warming hoping this would be a game where he might have a chance to figure in and help the team (given the situation and what he provides). The guy just wants to play and contribute in some fashion and he's barely given the chance to do so by Ole. Real shame...
Feels like the best case scenario when it comes to him is to go on loan this Jan and have a Lingard type stint somewhere, where he can finally catch Ole's attention. From a practical/pragmatic point of view, don't really want to think about the possibility of losing both he and Pogs in the same summer. One of them at most would be tolerable at best but not both.