10 Nov 2021 10:39:34
Hi Ed, hope you are well?

While it doesn't look like United have any plans to replace Ole in the short term, will the situation have any impact on any potential signings or outgoings in January? Never the easiest time for transfers at the best of times anyway.

I'd hazard a guess that players like Van De Beek, Martial, Lingard and maybe a couple of others will be the likeliest to leave if Ole stays until then.

Cheers.

{Ed002's Note - No it will not directly impact January. Typically clubs do not plan for too much change in January.}

1.) 10 Nov 2021
10 Nov 2021 11:56:30
Looking at our squad I'd have thought January was more about moving on players rather than signing new ones.

Like you say Donny, Martial and Lingard will be considering their futures.

As should Jones, Tuanzebe and Bailly, maybe even Dalot.

Henderson will probably be looking to leave with DDG now re-establish first choice.

Pogba won't leave until the summer, which is probably the same for Mata, Cavani and Matic.

I don't think the sort of signings we need or would look to make will be available in January regardless of who are manager is at the time.

2.) 10 Nov 2021
10 Nov 2021 16:52:52
Of course the plan would be to buy a marquee midfielder in summer, but Ole might well be looking in January and have doubts (like the rest of the population) over whether he's going to be in place to see that happen.

Maybe he'll resort to something in January to tackle it while he has a say. That midfield is a complete mess. There are grey areas over Pogba, Matic and VDB while neither Fred nor McT are up to it. You could easily argue that Utd might need 2-3 midfielders in the next year one way or the other and they needn't all be marquee signings, just the right signings.

Much 'lesser' players are looking much more tempting than anything we've forked out a lot of money for.

3.) 10 Nov 2021
10 Nov 2021 21:15:05
Absolute travesty if VDB leaves. We should be looking to build around players like VDB, Sancho and Rashford. Not leave two of them on the bench and run the other into the ground.

I still maintain that not making a DM our top priority (maybe joint with CB) was a huge mistake this summer, but I'm gradually coming to wonder whether keeping Ole wasn't an even bigger one.

And yes, even this summer I supported Ole. I felt that he hadn't done badly with the players he had, and felt that the clubs poor running and terrible "negotiating" practices were the main problem. I thought this Summer was the time to get in the 3 or so players needed to finally make the team click. Ole didn't do that, and has failed to progress the team significantly from last season. I was wrong.

4.) 11 Nov 2021
10 Nov 2021 22:58:54
For all of his faults I don’t think Ole can be personally held account for not signing this or that player. We can assume clubs identify areas to strengthen then come up with a list of the ideal signings for those positions. At least I remember Mourinho saying this was how he worked. He was getting players 4-5th on his list. We have to at least assume Ole identified CM, but for whatever reason those above him couldn’t sign the top names on that list so maybe learned from the past and decided to wait rather than settle for 4th-5th choice names again. At least I would like to think so….

5.) 11 Nov 2021
11 Nov 2021 11:34:42
Oh, I realise that Ole won't have direct control of transfers, but surely if he sits down in the meeting at the start of the window and says:

"Look, we need someone at right wing, and a more attack minded right back would be great if someone suitable is available, but no matter what, we absolutely need two players: a more mobile partner for Harry at the back, and a proper defensive midfielder to replace the headless chicken. "

I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't have sorted something out. It's not like there weren't any decent DMs available this summer, and IMO the need was serious enough to not wait for our first choice. Even if we couldn't get our first choice, surely we want 2 DMs in the long term anyway, a first choice and a backup/ rotation option. We could easily have brought in someone who improved on Fred at the very least.

So while I realize Ole isn't directly responsible, I still blame him for not pushing hard enough, presumably because he's content with Fred.

I also find it hard to believe that McT couldn't do a passable job in the role. Give him orders to hold back and protect the back line and pair him up with VDB, can't be worse than McFred, but Ole shows no signs of even trying anything like this, despite VDB showing more ability in the few minutes he's had so far than Fred has shown in his entire time at the club.

6.) 12 Nov 2021
12 Nov 2021 01:06:54
Whilst I don't think mctominay has discipline enough to play dm at a great level, I definitely think he can do a job there. Especially with him experiencing gametime at cb with scotland.

Him with dvb is how I would go for sure. Dvb with matic some games too.