You can talk as much as you want about quality and players doing this and that, but you should never underestimate the psychological aspect in the game. It’s the real reason behind the problems at Manchester United, and not player material.
Bruno Fernandes is a great example. When he first arrived at the club he had been playing with great optimism and had loads of self confidence, the same to be said about Aaron Wan-Bissaka, one of the best full backs around, but in a strange way not really seeing him getting better in a Manchester United shirt, and the progress has stalled.
It’s a difficult job to be manager at Manchester United and to follow Sir Alex Ferguson is somehting that few or no one can handle in a way that the maestro did, so it’s time for a new life and system at this football club, and as we did see at Liverpool when Kenny Dalglish left it took even a short new period for Sir Kenny before Jurgen Klupp after a 30 year wait could life the top league trophy again.
Since Sir Alex left Manchester United they have not managed to lift the league title trophy, but finished runners-up and all credit to Ollie last season winning a Champions League ticket by ending third, which is not bad at all.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did the total opposite of Sir Alex Ferguson, playing almost the same team week in and week out getting his short term success, but will he long term be able to keep just eleven players happy, not at Manchester United.
This is how Sir Alex Ferguson never got punished as he managed to keep a load of players happy and never get so many dips in results as we can see today, and instead of trying to get the best out of players like Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez, and then also keep Paul Pogba fresh and happy to play in the games he should be involved in.
The squad at Manchester United is today in a bit of unbalance as you have a group of players who looks a bit away from perfect harmony and especially players such as Chris Smalling (sold to Roma) and Phil Jones looked a bit away from being themselves and a shamble really as they two are in that age that should see them top of their careers and not shipped out or left behind.
You also lack the type of players that could win you a Premier League trophy and keeping the ship steady as you are moving along, instead you get strange results as being defeated by Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace at home, not acceptable.
So why are almost every player at Manchester United underachieving and not playing to their best level. Psychological aspects surely as the manager might have difficulties to keep a steady line and not really easy to understand to understand what Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is talking about at times.
If he talks the way he do in interviews also to his players, it will be boring over a period of time as he often use floskels and always talking about how great Man Utd are. Sir Alex just focused on answering questions directly and not having this “glory hat” on his head. Ollie is a bit like a priest at times talking about Man Utd as it should be Jesus. He has led Man Utd to a Champions League spot, but he needs to stop slipping up so much then he will annoy pundits and fans with his heavy up’s and down’s and he has to be more direct in his talk.
Over time, to be a great manager and being at a football club such as Manchester United, you will need to deliver great tactical acts and also having a plan in training that works well towards the strategy you are building, but for OGS it’s that long term plan and not these heavy dives that his team suddenly goes into, and of course if he is able to bring home a Premier League trohpy, he will be the man, that special one, that Man Utd have looked for. So how can Man Utd solve their problems, by sacking the manager again, it doesn’t work does it, but there are a few names out there that would be interesting to look at, with the two Germans Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann both candidates that would be exciting to see in this seat, and the man currently coaching Everton FC might be the best object as he has everything that would suit him to be the Manchester United manager.
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