United Thread - 2021/22

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Haha, bottom of the barrel, well and truly scraped.

Wreck it Ralf, indeed!

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

So he gets players to run harder and press better?

Wow, a real footballing visionary on the horizon.

As I've said before, I can drive a car really fast, but Lewis fucking Hamilton, it does not make...

 

[petrusha]

This morning wreck it Ralf is being touted as one of the greatest thinkers in football by the media....the rags certainly have them in tow when it comes to propaganda I will give them that !
And yet 99% of rags are saying Ralf who ??
It's fuckin hilarious....

My summary of his record is a bit disingenuous, and he's certainly an eminent figure in his field with a decent track record of success. But the circumstances around his appointment do show what a dysfunctional institution the rags have become. And there are certainly reasons to question whether the appointment will prove tpo be the masterstroke everyone's hailing it as:

1. He's achieved some outstanding things in his past, but these tend to involve having built teams to unexpected heights from a lower base. He's never had to handle a dressing room that's populated with the sorts of egos theirs currently is and, while he might manage to handle it, there isn't a guarantee - especially as he doesn't have the level of authority conferred by a long-term contract. The players will know he's gone in the summer.

2. His preferred playing style is a high-energy pressing game, exactly the sort of football United have very definitely moved away from this season to accommodate Ronaldo. How's he going to handle that? Drop the star man and risk the ructions that would undoubtedly follow from such a move? Or compromise in terms of the way he wants to play, which means he'd be working in a way completely different from that with which he's achieved the past success he's had.

3. He was available as a Sporting Director when they were supposed to be overhauling their football operations, and they passed him up. Now, as of the end of the season, he'll be a consultant with contractual guarantees that they'll take notice of him, but he'll be operating on top of the existing structure and with Ferguson still haunting the place like Banquo's ghost. Lots of potential for trouble there.

It's not impossible that he'll do well there, but it's not the given the British media would have you believe. And, as I said, the appointment clearly shows what a train-wreck that club currently is.

 

[feedmpenzaandhewillscore]

So he gets players to run harder and press better?

Wow, a real footballing visionary on the horizon.

As I've said before, I can drive a car really fast, but Lewis fucking Hamilton, it does not make...

In business you surround yourself with the best people around to achieve a goal. Go get the director of football who recruited and put together arguably one of the greatest teams to play the game in Barcelona 2009-11.

Go get the Bayern Munich manager who was regarded as one of the top coaches in the world who was also the architect of that great Barcelona team.

The rags don’t seem to have that no one but the best in key positions philosophy like City do. Probably the reason why they haven’t won anything for nearly half a decade and haven’t finished above City in a decade.

Ask yourself would their new hope be on Khaldoon’s call list when Pep or Txiki trundle off into the sunset? I very much doubt it.

 

[Coatigan]

Is he the one that is everywhere on tv now, and brings his mum to all his shows?

 

[SPIDERBOY]

So,we've had Ole at the wheel,the wheels fell off,and now,Ralf's gonna wreck it.......is that right?

 

[the blue panther]

Is it the old rag hero, Ralph Brand, with a name change and glasses, thinking we'll never know?
Back to work with the old pisscan, at long last?

 

[Bonzo Nododo]

The Internet went down yesterday as over a billion rags fans desperately searched under Ralf Ragnick to find out who he is before spouting how good he is.

The media were pretty active to try to find out somthing, anything to glorify his appointment. If I am allowed to mention the BBC, they seemed to have been caught out and didn't even have their sports report around 0740. Their local news report merely stated they had signed him to replace Ole 'after a run of poor form'.

Happy days continue.

 

[Marvin]

If this footballing visionary has in mind a Liverpool MkII for Man Utd then it's going to take a long time, and a lot of investment. Imagine Harry Maguire organising a high defensive line and Ronaldo pressing up at the top of the pitch.

My guess is that Utd fans think their squad is massively under-achieving and that they should be more competitive. But this guys footballing philosophy is Liverpool. From where Man Utd start that is going to take a lot of time and pain and he is an interim manager. They are making a huge decision with this, basically committing themselves to a long term project but I don't think their executives realise what is in store. This not going to work out in 6 months.

Perhaps they realise this but their fans certainly don't. I had a look on their fan You Tube channel and they think this is fantastic but for this to work they need a period of rebuilding whereas they think they've got a ready-made squad with great players and just need to flick a switch.

It may be something like this is necessary for Utd but I suspect that they are not ready for a period in the wilderness, and they will jettison him after 6 months of inevitable struggle. Rome doesn't get built in a day. Liverpool got completely run down. Their ambitions were low. Man Utd are not humbled yet. Their fanbase isn't ready for the pain that awaits. My guess is they will struggle and at the end of the season they'll jettison him completely believing that they have a title-winning squad that just needs the right man.

 

[The Black Shed]

The BBC have called Ralph 'one of football's greatest thinkers'!!
I think about football an awful lot, so does that make me a managerial candidate too?