So Ole Gunnar Solksjær is going to need another couple of transfer windows in order to improve Manchester United! This despite continuously saying he can see an improvement in the team already. The problem is that nobody else can see this improvement!
The team is currently competing in the Europa League. When he took over they were in the Champion’s League. They sit well outside the top ten in the Premier League which was also not the case when he took over. So where’s the improvement?
Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, there have been 12 transfer windows, how many more do they need? How much more money needs to be spent?
Brendan Rodgers took over at Leicester City and has, to date, had ONE transfer window yet his team, at the time of writing, lie in third place in the table. Thanks to a transfer ban Frank Lampard has had ZERO transfer windows since taking the job and his team have made it up to fourth place!
Doesn’t this suggest that the quality of manager is every bit as important as that of the players, (if not more so in some cases)?
Nottingham Forest have only ever been considered “great” for one short period in their history. Some of the players involved in their European Cup winning teams will doubtless be remembered, particularly by Forest fans, but who is the one stand-out name who will be remembered by everybody who knows anything about football and quite a few who don’t? Correct, Brian Clough.
Despite a list including Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson remains the only truly successful United manager of recent times
Manchester United themselves experienced unprecedented success under Sir Alex Ferguson for many years and were also blessed with some great players over that time but Fergie was the one constant.
Is Ole Gunnar Solskjær going to be remembered by future generations in the same way these two are?
Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp are, currently, the two outstanding managers in Europe. They compete for the title every year and also compete at the highest level in Europe every year. Last season they won everything between them when City won the domestic treble and Liverpool won the Champion’s League.
Even the long-suffering Mauricio Pochettino keeps getting Tottenham into the Champion’s League and was only prevented from winning it by Klopp’s Liverpool.
So why does Ole need all these transfer windows and all this money when the likes of Rodgers and Lampard don’t?
That isn’t to say that Chelsea won’t spend as soon as their ban is lifted or that Leicester won’t look to improve in the future. It just illustrates what two people, one a proven manager with Liverpool and Celtic and the other a new kid on the block but with all the right credentials, can do given a group of decent players.
Part of the solution at Old Trafford would certainly be appointing a Director of Football and this man fits the bill nicely
Obviously, one of the biggest problems at United is that there isn’t a decent group of players because, if there was, surely Solskjær would be getting the best out of them. No, the players can’t be very good, a point which is illustrated by the continual selection of the likes of Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard and the occasional selection of Phil Jones, (none of these three would get in the Leicester or Chelsea teams, never mind City or Liverpool!).
But isn’t it the manager who selects the team? Doesn’t the manager decide which positions need strengthening during the transfer windows? A new striker, for example? One who would fit in with the manager’s stated policy of buying young, English players. Someone like Mario Mandžukić? Oh wait, he’s 74 and Croatian but never mind, hopefully nobody will notice!
The longer Solskjær sits in the manager’s chair at Old Trafford the more he proves he is not up to the job and the more supporters are turning against him. Not as a former player because he will always be loved at United as a player but he is losing any little respect he may have had as a manager by his decision making, tactical ineptitude and contradictory press conferences.
No, he is not the man for the job so, as soon as United appoint a Director of Football and relieve Ed Woodward of all of his team related duties, then they should look for a replacement for the Norwegian, along with Mike Phelan, Michael Carrick and the school kid whose name we can’t even remember and can’t be bothered to look up.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 