Let's all laugh at Man Utd: Istanbald

[UnitedBeard]

I think it'd be interesting if Utd won the league. Usually when a team wins the league everyone can look back and analyse how and why they won it, the journalists can write their columns praising how a coherent project has come to fruition with a distinct style of play, for example, Liverpool and City's titles.

But if Utd won the league, like, what would you write? I honestly have no idea how they win so many games beyond like 1: they have lots of talented players 2: Bruno Fernandes is very good, although it's not clear how...and 3: they win a f*ckload of penalties.

Like what would the journalist write in their column praising the great Utd victory of 2021? The way to win the league is to spend a billion pounds correcting mistakes until eventually you have a team of good players?

If you notice that Ole almost never field the same XI week in week out. His tactic/man management is based on who’s the opponent teams are. One game you will see Pogba and Matic, another game you will see Fred and McTominay, and then you will see Greenwood or Cavani or Daniel James starting and etc.

I’m not going into much further detail until we actually reach end of the season but you get the idea.

 

[dashsnow17]

If you notice that Ole almost never field the same XI week in week out. His tactic/man management is based on who’s the opponent teams are. One game you will see Pogba and Matic, another game you will see Fred and McTominay, and then you will see Greenwood or Cavani or Daniel James starting and etc.

I’m not going into much further detail until we actually reach end of the season but you get the idea.

My impression of Solskjaer is that there isn't really an overarching system or logic, what he does is basically just try to make the players feel good and he picks whichever XI plays best together. I feel like half his job is just doing press conferences and talking like a Utd manager.

Not that that's a bad thing, you don't always need an overarching logic and all that. It seems to be working more often than not for Utd these days, it's just unclear to me exactly why it's working, but then I don't pay that much attention to Utd. Also the CL exist suggests that it's probably not a truly good team, just a team with some good players in good form in a very random and chaotic season. But if that's enough to win a title then fair play, can't knock that.

 

[dashsnow17]

Like for me right now Utd and Bruno Fernandes are one and the same. I acknowledge their quality but I don't actually understand what it is that makes them good.

 

[UnitedBeard]

My impression of Solskjaer is that there isn't really an overarching system or logic, what he does is basically just try to make the players feel good and he picks whichever XI plays best together. I feel like half his job is just doing press conferences and talking like a Utd manager.

Not that that's a bad thing, you don't always need an overarching logic and all that. It seems to be working more often than not for Utd these days, it's just unclear to me exactly why it's working, but then I don't pay that much attention to Utd. Also the CL exist suggests that it's probably not a truly good team, just a team with some good players in good form in a very random and chaotic season. But if that's enough to win a title then fair play, can't knock that.

Where it began
First of all, it’s deep. It’s all started from his first summer transfer window when he started to build the squad and his decision to fully trust on unproven players like rashford, martial and Greenwood despite of losing more proven name like Lukaku & Sanchez.

The system
If you pay attention, Ole aims to have less possession, less pointless passing for having possession but instead he wants direct and risky passes that quickly can reach to attackers because the aim is to have lot of shots to increase the chances to score goals.

Bruno Fernandes
This might be unpopular opinion but the style of play suits and also get the best out of Bruno Fernandes who actually likes to give the ball away very often due to playing risky ball and that’s why you often see Fred and McTominay in certain games to compliment the weakness of this losing possession because those two are workhorse that can win the ball back. So I can make a point that he could be less effective if he plays tiki take or total football like Barcelona.

The build up play & Counter attack
Although I still don’t fancy with how we build up our play. Despite of playing 4231 ‘’double pivot’’, during the build up play, Ole often use one single pivot midfielder while the other midfielder to join in defense and full back advanced slightly higher align with the single pivot midfielder to form 334 formation.
And during transition from defense to attack, we are not wasting our time trying to play useless passes but instead we are going for quick counter attack transition and utilise the pace of our front four.

Man management
There are lot to talk about them, from the fact that he knows what the team needs in transfer window, still manage to find a way to get the best of the squad despite of not getting players/positions he wanted last summer, the way how he handled his players and the Maguire or Pogba’s case and tactically flexible and able to rotate his players and etc.

Conclusion
I can write novel here but I don’t need to because you can get the idea from what I wrote above that there are lot things what journalists can write not just penalties or Bruno Fernandes. In fact we scored the same amount of penalties (5) this season in the league as Liverpool did.

 

[dashsnow17]

Where it began
First of all, it’s deep. It’s all started from his first summer transfer window when he started to build the squad and his decision to fully trust on unproven players like rashford, martial and Greenwood despite of losing more proven name like Lukaku & Sanchez.

The system
If you pay attention, Ole aims to have less possession, less pointless passing for having possession but instead he wants direct and risky passes that quickly can reach to attackers because the aim is to have lot of shots to increase the chances to score goals.

Bruno Fernandes
This might be unpopular opinion but the style of play suits and also get the best out of Bruno Fernandes who actually likes to give the ball away very often due to playing risky ball and that’s why you often see Fred and McTominay in certain games to compliment the weakness of this losing possession because those two are workhorse that can win the ball back. So I can make a point that he could be less effective if he plays tiki take or total football like Barcelona.

The build up play & Counter attack
Although I still don’t fancy with how we build up our play. Despite of playing 4231 ‘’double pivot’’, during the build up play, Ole often use one single pivot midfielder while the other midfielder to join in defense and full back advanced slightly higher align with the single pivot midfielder to form 334 formation.
And during transition from defense to attack, we are not wasting our time trying to play useless passes but instead we are going for quick counter attack transition and utilise the pace of our front four.

Man management
There are lot to talk about them, from the fact that he knows what the team needs in transfer window, still manage to find a way to get the best of the squad despite of not getting players/positions he wanted last summer, the way how he handled his players and the Maguire or Pogba’s case and tactically flexible and able to rotate his players and etc.

Conclusion
I can write novel here but I don’t need to because you can get the idea from what I wrote above that there are lot things what journalists can write not just penalties or Bruno Fernandes. In fact we scored the same amount of penalties (5) this season in the league as Liverpool did.

Fair enough, you're the expert here so i'll trust your opinion on it. I still suspect though that a lot of the things you wrote only make sense with the hindsight of recent good form. I remember like 2 months ago everyone was saying it's a failed project. I think fundamentally this season is just very random and it's hard to pinpoint exactly why some teams are winning and others are losing.

As for the pnalties, fair enough 5 in the league this year isn't excessive. But Bruno Fernandes taking 16 pens since last January, like 30 pens in the last 60 games? Surely even the most ardent Utd fan couldn't pretend like that's not an absurd amount of penalties.

 

[Atlas]

If you notice that Ole almost never field the same XI week in week out. His tactic/man management is based on who’s the opponent teams are. One game you will see Pogba and Matic, another game you will see Fred and McTominay, and then you will see Greenwood or Cavani or Daniel James starting and etc.

I’m not going into much further detail until we actually reach end of the season but you get the idea.

So Ole is a tactical genius now? lol.

He’s just a chump with a billion pound team who can easily afford to rotate.

 

[Makingtrax]

It will just prove that money can buy you titles, no matter how incompetent you are.

Also, @Makingtrax will climax so violently they will need to fumigate London again.

Lets hope they win then. Good job London's got a flood barrier.

 

[Makingtrax]

So Ole is a tactical genius now? lol.

He’s just a chump with a billion pound team who can easily afford to rotate.

Another squad cost convert. Love it.

 

[Rimaal]

Where it began
First of all, it’s deep. It’s all started from his first summer transfer window when he started to build the squad and his decision to fully trust on unproven players like rashford, martial and Greenwood despite of losing more proven name like Lukaku & Sanchez.

The system
If you pay attention, Ole aims to have less possession, less pointless passing for having possession but instead he wants direct and risky passes that quickly can reach to attackers because the aim is to have lot of shots to increase the chances to score goals.

Bruno Fernandes
This might be unpopular opinion but the style of play suits and also get the best out of Bruno Fernandes who actually likes to give the ball away very often due to playing risky ball and that’s why you often see Fred and McTominay in certain games to compliment the weakness of this losing possession because those two are workhorse that can win the ball back. So I can make a point that he could be less effective if he plays tiki take or total football like Barcelona.

The build up play & Counter attack
Although I still don’t fancy with how we build up our play. Despite of playing 4231 ‘’double pivot’’, during the build up play, Ole often use one single pivot midfielder while the other midfielder to join in defense and full back advanced slightly higher align with the single pivot midfielder to form 334 formation.
And during transition from defense to attack, we are not wasting our time trying to play useless passes but instead we are going for quick counter attack transition and utilise the pace of our front four.

Man management
There are lot to talk about them, from the fact that he knows what the team needs in transfer window, still manage to find a way to get the best of the squad despite of not getting players/positions he wanted last summer, the way how he handled his players and the Maguire or Pogba’s case and tactically flexible and able to rotate his players and etc.

Conclusion
I can write novel here but I don’t need to because you can get the idea from what I wrote above that there are lot things what journalists can write not just penalties or Bruno Fernandes. In fact we scored the same amount of penalties (5) this season in the league as Liverpool did.

I agree with all the above but I think you are underestimating one point;
Bruno Fernandes! That's the thing that changed the team. With someone of Bruno's calibre by his side, Pogba can shine. Martial & Rashford can be released. The attack is fluid and penetrative.

One player where needed can completely and change the fortunes of a team. That's what Bruno has done. Without him, you would be languishing in midtable, regardless of Ole's tactics, in my opinion.

 

[Makingtrax]

I agree with all the above but I think you are underestimating on point;
Bruno Fernandes! That's the thing that changed the team. With someone of Bruno's calibre by his side, Pogba can shine. Martial & Rashford can be released. The attack is fluid and penetrative.

One player where needed can complete and change the fortunes of a team. That's what Bruno has done. Without him, you would be languishing in midtable, regardless of Ole's tactics, in my opinion.

Bruno Fernandes the key to United's attack this year, VVD the key to Klopp's defence last year. Suddenly Ole and Klopp look like title winning managers when they get quality players in all positions. That's why teams lower in the league have such long odds, whoever their managers are. Arsenal have never had that luxury since 2003 thanks to the new stadium.

 

[UnitedBeard]

I agree with all the above but I think you are underestimating on point;
Bruno Fernandes! That's the thing that changed the team. With someone of Bruno's calibre by his side, Pogba can shine. Martial & Rashford can be released. The attack is fluid and penetrative.

One player where needed can complete and change the fortunes of a team. That's what Bruno has done. Without him, you would be languishing in midtable, regardless of Ole's tactics, in my opinion.

I do think Bruno is quality not just based on system and he also has very good character as footballer which he comes to United to win. Contrast to Sanchez when he came here.

But I do think he will be slightly less effective if he plays in system that can expose his weakness. You also wonder how he doesn’t make lot of assists in Portugal national team like how he did with Sporting and United.

Either way, we could make the same case that Pep needs KDB, we need Bruno and Klopp needs their full backs and VVD.

 

[UnitedBeard]

Fair enough, you're the expert here so i'll trust your opinion on it. I still suspect though that a lot of the things you wrote only make sense with the hindsight of recent good form. I remember like 2 months ago everyone was saying it's a failed project. I think fundamentally this season is just very random and it's hard to pinpoint exactly why some teams are winning and others are losing.

As for the pnalties, fair enough 5 in the league this year isn't excessive. But Bruno Fernandes taking 16 pens since last January, like 30 pens in the last 60 games? Surely even the most ardent Utd fan couldn't pretend like that's not an absurd amount of penalties.

Well the penalties thing I will only discuss about this season since that was the topic between our discussion.

I know it sounds like excuse but we lack match preparation in early season which reflects to our poor start. We started late in our pre season training due to last season we finished late.

We weren’t the only ones suffered from it, PSG lost their first two league games, Bayern lost 4-1 to hoffenheim, both city and inter also had slow start.

What we know is that last season we ended our league run with 14 league unbeaten to end of the season which shows promising. And right now we are on 11 unbeaten run in the league with 9 wins.

 

[Trilly]

Skengman Ole doing the business. Up the Red Devils!

 

[Trilly]

I acknowledge their quality but I don't actually understand what it is that makes them good.

Bruno is the equivalent of playing fifa and going for the over the top throughball that puts your fast strikers through on goal, every single time with the quality to make that pass much more than average but still not in a sustainable manner.

Ole is then good enough at fifa to play these risky passes at an unsustainable rate because everyone else behind Bruno is dedicated to covering up for him losing the ball. Bruno is perfect for Ole and vice versa.

They then have a little bit of Rashford, Martial and Pogba who can win games for them on Bruno’s rare night off.

 

[A_G]

Wonder when the Arteta edition will come out.

 

[Macho]

Wonder when the Arteta edition will come out.

kmt.

 

[A_G]

kmt.

 

[Makingtrax]

I watched that twice ffs

 

[Macho]

I watched that twice ffs

You know what I posted that when my little one was asleep this is the first time I've watched this with sound

 

[Makingtrax]

Going to have to change that thread title now they're top of the league. A bit like a homeless guy laughing at a mansion he passes, saying, 'Those wallies, ha ha'.