One of the most famous hard nosed negotiators in football, versus one who is viewed as easy to fleece.

Manchester United is please to announce the signing of Son from Spurs for two hundred million plus Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Greenwood and Old Trafford.

Raiola making noises publicly to pressure United into selling, probably at a lower price. Pogba himself cannot be too happy at his position in the squad making occasional starts behind Bruno.

We do seem to have built that kinda feeling.
Everytime some momentum is built, we would lose.
And everytime Ole's job is under pressure, we snag a win.

And that comeback against West Ham is at the back of my mind now.

A few of us yesterday already had the feeling we might lose this one due to that inconsistency issue. Again, I can't be overly pessimistic.

I would not be surprised that the pressure be put on Ole and suddenly we beat City.

Our fullbacks seem to be told to tuck in alongside the CBs, which leaves the wider areas open at the far post. The benefit of this are that the speedier wingbacks can cover for the CB lack of pace, at the cost of leaving the far post open. Which is exactly where RB exploited us.

Everyone and their granny now knows of Maguire-Lindelof's lack of pace. In trying to cover this weakness, Ole has created another.

AWB positioning is highly likely a tactical instruction from Ole.
It has been there all season, from that lucky win we got at Brighton.

First time I saw it, I thought AWB's positioning had problems. But it's evident every game so it has to be a tactical instruction.
Our CBs lack pace, and at times get ghosted by strikers. Having the fullbacks tuck in negates this, but leaves the wide areas open.

Ole's zonal marking system just isn't effective. Imagine playing 5 at the back and shielded by 2 CDMs, and still conceding 2 goals in 13 minutes from those wide positions.

I really won't be surprised if we get a result in the City game.
Plus, City is exactly the kind of big team Ole prefers to play against. Lots of possession which allows him to sit back and play on the counter.

Unless he chooses to start with 5 at the back with Matic & McTominay in front again.

Any news report that Ole's job is on the line?
That's a surefire sign we might win.

WTF, we all so confident.
Then I need to revise prediction to us losing this game de.

Ole defaulted to sitting deep at home, especially in the 2nd half.
Pep this time refused to take the bait and didn't commit any more players forward than necessary so he always had enough to cover for the breaks.

Looking back at the games this season, I am convinced on Ole's substitution strategy.

Ole doesn't utilize subs as a measure to correct or change things up based on where the game is going. As in, he doesn't respond to things going on the field. His substitutions are pre-planned and he usually sticks to it. By minute x, he is going to give minutes to player z.

That may be why we spent an entire half hour against Liepzig doing nothing tactially. And sometimes why Ole makes defensive substitutions when chasing a game. Or subs a player who is actually playing well.

I maintain that Ole's substitution tactics has remained stagnant, and predictable.
He does not respond to what is happening on the pitch, but rather sticks to subs that have already been decided prior to the match.

On the VDB question, yes. Our best game, midfield-wise, was having Matic at the base with Fred-VDB paired in fron of him. Matic never needed to do the running and could position. VDB kept the supply line to Bruno ticking.
Unfortunately, Ole doesn't feel safe with our world class priced CBs having only one holding midfielder protecting them. Maguire thinks he is Beckenbaur/Mattias Sammer and keep playing himself free while his partner has to mark the opposing striker. CB lack of pace necessitates our fullbacks to tuck in and cover the back of the CBs, it is instructional. I recall seeing Lindelof getting ghosted once then subsequent games it fell to AWB to pick up the runner.

Maguire is a solid defender in my book. Like any tool, just need to use him the right way.
Ole should stop making Maguire believe he is the English Beckenbaur. Opposition will just let him walk out of defense, then pressure for the ball and counter behind him.

Maguire is a giant, walking refridgerator. His job is to attach himself to the opposition's big striker and challenge every ball that comes like Vidic does. Stop trying to defend in making every run a foot race.
Maguire should never be the free man in this instance. I feel losing the armband would be good, let him focus on just man marking. He has the ability to dominate our box when it comes to headers. Let him do it. I can't stand the sight of set pieces and who do I see marking opposing big men targets? Rashford. Greenwood. Bruno. OH PLEASE.


And a second point on Luke Shaw. I know he has a lot of haters, but allow me to say when he plays central in a back 3....he is quite decent. And faster than our 2 CBs.
I would like to see Shaw tried out at LCB while Maguire goes back to his natural RCB. Shaw has the speed to cover for Maguire, so our fullbacks can stop tucking in and exposing our flanks. That may free up Telles and AWB to position themselves higher up to offer width, and stop our central congestion issue like we see on the center-left side.

2 sen thoughts from a fan.

RB formation was different, it was 5 Def but the FBs were still told to tuck in.
With 5 def you'd expect complete coverage, but AWB was literally beside Lindelof on one side while Telles was sticking to Shaw on the other. Maguire declares himself free so what you see is occasionally having 5 defenders but nobody is really marking anyone specific because of zonal orders. Not a surprise Angelino exploited the right flank for the first goal because AWB was covering Lindelof's blind side.

What I had in mind is along the lines of :

Telles - Shaw - Maguire- AWB.

Maguire man marking. Shaw free man to sweep.
This frees up a CDM slot to play another midfielder further forward instead of having 2 CDMs.


And shouldn't Brandon Williams play on the right instead of the left?
He's right footed so he cannot make overlapping runs without cutting back on his right foot.

If I were the opposing manager, how would I trigger AWB to tuck in?

- Ball attacking on United's right flank ready for a cross.
- Get a player to make a run on Lindelof's LEFT side to ghost him.
- You will instantly see AWB tucking in to pick up the player.

Same for the right side.
Go watch the replays. Mourinho is gonna have a field day with this.

Ronaldo, at the very least even if he doesn't play on the pitch, will be able to contribute to the dressing room and establish standards within the team. Ronaldo as a leader and captain....is very different from Maguire.

He never wants to lose.

I feel old now. I remember Rooney coming on for Everton as a 16 year old and scoring against Arsenal.
Now his kid also joining MU.

All this sudden optimism is now making me pessimistic.
It's consistenly at moments like these that Ole keeps shooting himself in the foot.

I remember the Rooney hype when he joined us. And scoring that hattrick against a Turkish club on debut.

Well, speaking of his father's teammate, here is a pop quiz for the fans here.
Assuming Kai gets a debut 5 years down the road, which United player would have played with Rooney and his son in the same squad? Playing squad, not coaching. Of course assume that player still here in 5 years time lah.