Watching Manchester United currently is like a breath of fresh air compared with the dark days of Ole Gunnar Solskjær and the one-hand-tied-behind-his-back management of Ralf Ragnick.
Whilst Eric ten Hag has brought in a couple of experienced midfielders, a young left back and a centre back in the same mould as Roy Keane the major changes he has made have been those of discipline and mentality.
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As England manager, the choice of decent centre backs is extensive. The England manager also has a wide variety of left backs at his disposal.
Manchester United’s manager, realistically, has to choose from four centre backs to fill two positions and two left backs for that one position. Given his limited options why would Erik ten Hag choose to start with Varane and Martinez whilst benching Maguire and Lindelof? Also, why would he choose to start Malacia over Shaw?
Having comfortably lost their first two games of the season, the above players became the manager’s preferred choice and, apart from a European hiccup when he reverted to the prior selection, United have not lost a game since.
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Let’s be honest, it was time for Ole Gunnar Solskjær to deliver from the day he took over from José Mourinho as manager of Manchester United. If he had been many people who aren’t Ole Gunnar Solskjær then he would have been shown the door long ago.
The debit side of his account whilst in charge at United, which may be of interest to future potential employers, includes the signing of several, (reportedly), world-class players at a cost of nearly £400 million. The losing of three domestic semi-finals, one European semi-final and one European final. It also includes many strange team selections, tactical formations and substitutions or, in the case of the latter, lack of substitutions.
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We had to do it! After years of berating England national football team, it’s manager and it’s perpetually, but unrealistically, (most of the time), optimistic supporters, finally we have to hold up our hands and admit that they have actually played quite well in reaching the semi-final of Euro Not 2020.
Despite occasional attempts by the manager to derail the English train it has kept steadfastly on track and is on course for a first final in forever and possibly, (whisper it), a first trophy in even longer!
Well done gawpy Gareth and the boys. This was teamwork and management above and beyond. Who would have thought we would beat the Ukraine without the Stockport Iniesta and ‘Union’ Jack Grealish, arguably our two best and most creative players?
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We here at WSA have finally worked out the progression of Manchester United. Yes, that’s right, we have finally seen what loyal fans of an ex-substitute with no managerial experience to speak of, (unless relegation from the Premier League counts), have been banging on about for the last three years.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær has progressed from being an abject failure in semi-finals, (four of them to be precise), to being an abject failure in a final! Granted, he has only lost one but, the main reason for that, is because he has only reached one. So, having improved his loss percentage in semis from 100% to a mere 80% in one fell swoop, he has immediately started his appearance in finals with a 100% loss record.
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We here at WSA are all for modernity. We live for the now, not the then or the was. Just because most of our life is in the past does not mean that we choose to live there although, to be fair, it is often a much better alternative to what we have nowadays.
What we have nowadays, for example, are words and expressions attached to the game of football which would have drawn a more than quizzical look if used in the not too distant past.
Take Manchester United, (we wish somebody would take it, at least off the Glazers), for example. A massive club with millions of fans/supporters worldwide.
It is now very easy, through social media, for these fans/supporters to “talk” to each other and boy, do they talk to each other!
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After nearly three years it is starting to feel as though time may be finally running out for Ole Gunnar Solskjær. There is probably no need for his loyal fan club to panic just yet though because he has been in this situation on more than one occasion in the past. What usually transpires is that he, or rather his team, manage to dig out a totally unexpected result which then sees his stay of execution extended further.
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After losing at home to Arsenal then away to Basaksehir Manchester United went on to record four wins on the bounce with victories over Everton away, Basaksehir at home, West Bromwich Albion at home and Southampton away.
Performance-wise there were ups and downs. For example, the defeat to Arsenal was poor and the defeat in Istanbul even poorer. The Everton win showed spirit and a determination which had seemed missing in the previous two games but then it was back to a poor showing against West Brom which at least resulted in a win this time.
The Southampton game, apart from a twenty minutes spell when the hosts scored two goals, was an example of how well they can play and how good a player Edinson Cavani is.
But with all these inconsistencies, can United challenge for any of the trophies this season?
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The number 7 shirt at Manchester United has been worn by some great players. So what? Exactly the same can be said about almost every number throughout the team particularly back in the sensible days when the team wore the numbers 1 to 11.
The number 10 shirt has been worn by David Herd, Denis Law, George Best, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, to name but 5. The number 8 shirt has been worn by Denis Law, George Best, Wayne Rooney and now by Juan Mata.
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So Manchester United have paid the agent of Edinson Cavani €10 million to get the deal done. Granted there was no transfer fee as he was a free agent but the fact remains that if they had added that €10 million to their original offer for Jadon Sancho then he would now be a United player. So what was the thought process of Ed Woodward when making this deal?
The answer is pretty simple in that there wasn’t one. This was another panic signing to try and make it look as though the club had achieved something during this transfer window.
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WHY SAY ANYTHING? 