Assessing our squad

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sheesh
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Our players couldn't do that :))
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sheesh wrote: 1 year ago

Our players couldn't do that :))
Good insight. It's gonna kick off, it's inevitable. He's so demanding and it's such a cultural shift that some players will just flat out reject him. The shadow sessions, eg relentlessly going over the same moves, sounds punishing. But it works.
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bman2
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Our ex players and supporters ridiculed Gaal for the same approach. Be interesting to see if we’ve been humbled enough in the intervening years to have accepted the need to change and evolve. My god, the intervening years have been an utter waste of time and money.
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bman2
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I suppose one clear sign of improvement is that 2022 United is at least trying to buy de Jong to be the midfield lynchpin of a possession game. 2015 United was forcing Gaal to play the possession game with Wayne bodging it in midfield :)) :))
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JoelfuckingGlazer
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Sid wrote: 1 year ago
sheesh wrote: 1 year ago

Our players couldn't do that :))
Good insight. It's gonna kick off, it's inevitable. He's so demanding and it's such a cultural shift that some players will just flat out reject him. The shadow sessions, eg relentlessly going over the same moves, sounds punishing. But it works.
ANY player who doesn't buy in, needs fucking off.
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bman2 wrote: 1 year ago Our ex players and supporters ridiculed Gaal for the same approach. Be interesting to see if we’ve been humbled enough in the intervening years to have accepted the need to change and evolve. My god, the intervening years have been an utter waste of time and money.
Fans wanted instant success at that time which led to the hiring of Mourinho cos Ed was a populist reactionary idiot who bowed to the pressure who had no football knowledge to help make a better footballing decision. Mourinho then ripped up the foundations - literally, including the special pitches Gaal had installed that suited high pressing possession football - so we find ourselves back here 7 years later.

If we'd have gone from Gaal to a Ten Hag type straight after then we might still be trophyless but we wouldn't be tanking the way we are right now. There'd be that continuity of philosophy. What we have now is a hugely expensive squad that's spent 5+ years playing dinosauric counterattack football thanks to Jose and Ole.

Speaking of philosophy, that was a toxic word at the time that inspired much rage and derision. Now it's THE buzzword in football. All the successful clubs have a philosophy.

Mad. But at least we're here.
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bman2
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Mad, I didn’t know about ripping up the pitches.
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I think they're called Desso pitches. They were cutting edge at the time. Velvety smooth surfaces for possession based football. Bayern, Barca etc were using them.

Gaal also had mud banks installed around the training pitches so that if the ball went out of play, they didn't have to run miles to retrieve it. That meant more time with the ball at their feet. Also trees to keep the wind off the pitches, floodlights so the players can play into the evening / night and panopticon style CCTV to monitor the training sessions.

He was an old cunt but he was at the cutting edge of football. All this was done to increase the focus on high pressing possession based football.

Hopefully some of that stuff is still there so Hag can use it - cos his philosophy and training methods are all similar.
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JoelfuckingGlazer
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I'm guilty there too. I wanted Gaal out because I thought his football was dull as fuck. But the reality - with hindsight - is that it was a much better foundation for future success than we probably thought. With better recruitment against that philosophy we'd likely be much better off.

I remember playing away at Anfield and Liverpool didn't get a kick. We played the entire game in their half. Our best performance there for years, better than most under Fergie.
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Yeah that game was all about control. We controlled it from start to finish. It was perfect. Rangnick also put control at the centre of his philosophy but he couldn't implement it cos this mob have spent the last 5 years playing ineffective defensive counterattack. And they're unwilling cunts. But it certainly is the foundation of a modern successful team eg Liverpool, City, Bayern etc so it's good that we're going back to that.
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