It was just Christmas and United had lost all hopes. Finishing in the top four almost looked unlikely, forget about competing in CL and winning FA Cup.
Who would have thought just in few months our baby faced assassin will turn the tables completely?
It would be a miracle if Manchester United finished in the top four this season this is what Mourinho said in December. The fourth position looked almost impossible, Chelsea sitting on that spot comfortably with 11 points clear of Man Utd but in just after one and half months, Ole managed to do the impossible, miracle eh?
Jose’s Pressers had become toxic and we all detested it, what is he gonna say next about the management, the players or how is he gonna embarrass the club, it was all messed up. United needed change. At first, I was sceptical about Ole, we couldn’t afford another manager who will take his time to settle with the club but Ole knew what he needed to do.
Ole’s Paris travelling squad included 12 players who were on tour last summer but did not “belong” to Jose’s United and with the same team, Ole has written history “No team in Champions League history had overturned a 2-0 deficit from the first leg.” United are the first team to do so and without their 10 first team players. Ole passed his biggest test as United manager and he did it in United way.
With 0-2 down in the first leg against PSG and limited options Ole had to build the team with young players.
20 years on from the CL comeback against Bayern in Barcelona, United repeated the history by scoring winner goal in the extra time. United eleminated the CL “favourites”
With just eight games Ole had already made it to the history books, the first manager to win all first eight games with the club. United have won 11 games out of 13 and lost just one. United are now at the 4th position 2 points ahead of Chelsea who is on the 6th position as of now. He got positivity in the club after all those media rantings and even after almost 10 first team players injured United have managed to win the games at home and away.
Ole Gunnar understands the club and knows what the fans and the club really want and most of all he understands the United way, that belief in the team and the history was missing since the departure of SAF and I feel we have found it in Ole. United are playing the way United should.
With 10 first team players missing Ole managed to get best out of players like Lukaku who was struggling to score sitters, Pereira, Smalling, Herrera, Lindelof all have improved under him. Playing the players in their natural position, pushing the full back higher so there’s no empty gap, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Paul Pogba playing in their favoured position. All these basic changes which were needed to get the results. Fred, the player who has been constantly struggling to keep up with the rest of the team has been improving under Ole and was impressive against PSG.
These issues he had previously mentioned to Ryan Giggs:
“I was at a game next to him, and he was pointing out to me, ‘Look at the full-backs, they’re not high enough’. Things that we were used to, things that you associate with Man United teams,” Giggs said.
‘Ok you score two, we’ll score three’ and I think he’s brought, he’s instilled that back into them that we need to score goals, we need to attack and if we’re all higher up the pitch then it just poses the opposition that question. All of a sudden teams are going from, ‘Right it’s Man United, we’ve got a chance today’ to actually, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll be defending, we’ll be deeper’.
“As a supporter, it feels like we’ve got our Manchester United back,” says Phill Neville
“Ole’s done an unbelievable job. He’s embraced everything and let the players play with a smile on their face. I think it’s impossible not to give him the job.”
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