Almost as tough a job as it is to find a picture of anything relating to Manchester United without paying any royalty fees.
source - pixabay
Before I start dashing Ole's chances of any silverware this coming season, just a note on images that are free to use and not free to use. I cannot find a single picture of a Manchester United player that isn't copyrighted and costing $150+. Does anyone know if it is actually impossible to find free images of Man U (or other Premiership teams) online?
Ole's at the wheel
The wheel of misfortune though if the latter stages of last season are anything to go by.
Ole set a new premier league record after taking over as caretaker manager earlier this year, picking up more points from his first 10 games than any other manager in Premier League history after a 0-0 draw against Liverpool at Old Trafford. source His record stood at won 8, drawn two but the final 10 games of the season were not so hot - 2 wins, 2 draws, and 6 loses. Mid-table form at best.
If that form continues when the new season kicks off in August, I wouldn't be surprised if he is out of a job by Christmas. What can be done to improve the chances of this poor form not continuing? Where do I start?!
Defense
Goalkeeper, David De Gea. He did have a poor run-in and was at fault for 3/4 goals - about the same tally as in the past 3/4 seasons. His confidence seemed to drop with every error, and so would mine if I looked at the four guys trying to keep the ball away from my net. Playing with confidence again which hopefully this summers rest has provided, he is still one of the best in the world.
The back four chopped and changed a lot last year and I can go as far back as Bruce and Pallister to think of two centre halves that played pretty much the whole season together. Manchester United are missing a top class center-back - Jones, Smalling, Lindelof, Bailly, and Rojo are not top class, and at times have looked pretty poor. Out of those I would give Smalling another chance, but he needs a leader alongside him.
The fullbacks were chopped and changed too, partly because of injuries and suspensions, but when you look at what Liverpool have on offer in Alexander-Arnold, none of the following are close to that level. Luke Shaw I would say is the best we have on offer right now, Dalot looks promising but is better going forward than back. Ashley Young, is not young, and is knackered after 60 minutes, and I don't rate Darmian either.
New signings Fosu-Mensah and Wan-Bissaka had good seasons last year, but can they really develop into top class players with existing squad members behind them?
Midfield
After the departure of Ander Herrera in the summer, for absolutely nothing, the midfield looks like another big headache for Ole. Paula Pogba likely tops the reasons for the headache as his short-term future still seems undecided. Reports say he wants to leave, reports say Man U want 150 million, facts say he played like he couldn't care less at the end of last season. On his day, a world beater, as the World Cup winners medal shows, but keeping him settled could be just too much work.
Lingard, Fred, Pereira, and Mata are all too similar players to all get a game, and none of them looked that hot at any point last year. If Ole doesn't improve here, it could be Scott Mctominay who shines this coming season, and if he doesn't, teams are going to walk all over the reds, even with the aging Matic in front of the back four.
Attack
On paper, you'd like the look of an in-form Lukaku, Sanchez, Rashford, and Martial - such a pity only one of the four was close to top form at any one time last year. Personally, I think Sanchez is past it, and his ridiculous wages are the reason he's not left already. Get him out, and I can see a happier squad.
I wouldn't like to choose 2 from the other 3, and Ole did try all 3 on occasion last year which didn't really work to be fair. Rashford (and Lingard) need to get of Instagram and focus on their football and I think if they do that and Lukaku and Martial stay fit, they should cause problems for the opposition. I'd like to mention Tahith Chong, who got a few games at the end of last season, and Daniel James as wildcards for the squad. Who they might replace I am not sure, but a couple of players are likely to be unhappy.
Can Ole take Manchester United to a top four finish?
Personally, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes at all, and really do hope the season doesn't end with Old Trafford looking like this with 10 minutes left on the clock.
source - pixabay
I'm going to end on a positive note though by linking up one of the best free-kicks even seen at Old Trafford, or on a football pitch, ever.
The word 'unstoppable' can be thrown around a bit too often for my liking, but surely no keeper could ever have saved this rocket from Ronnie.
Epic!
Cheers
Asher
There is a lot of work to do for sure. He is where Klopp was three seasons ago and honestly they need time to rebuild. I would say a top 6 finish would be a fair season and anything better is a bonus. The problem is the other teams will be stronger this season and United need to offload players before they get new ones. I can't see many takers for some of their excess baggage either and Pogba wanting 150 Million it will be a tall order. A total revamp keeping some key players is needed and it will be interesting to see how he tackles this one. You can't just offload 10 players out of the squad in one hit, but that is what is needed right now.
Agreed. 3/4 years behind Liverpool, and that's if the right purchases are made.
Fergie left at the perfect time, 1500 games in charge and a bunch of aging glory days players for the next men in charge to sort out. It'll be about 10 years since he left by the time we look half decent again.
I was watching a documentary on Klopp the other day and he was offered the United job whilst still at Borussia Dortmund. Obviously he said no and he admits it was only Liverpool for him. Ole is the right choice for now as other managers wont understand what needs to happen.
After seeing Ole with the youth team before he left for Molde, I thought he was the ideal man to get the best out of the likes of Rashford and Pogba who were part of the youth setup after he retired from playing. At present i'm not so sure but would obviously love him to be given the chance and do well.
i know there is more in you than just the numbers :D
Ole did great to turn the depressing Mourinho situation and on the hype he did good, but then it just went all down.
Now reading on the squad i would really not want to be in his place :) it almost looks more depressing than Arsenal (and there you have combination of Mustafi and Xhaka, when together on the field they will make one 100% goal opportunity for the opposite team every time)
ferdinand and vidic were probably last good defense combination.
looking forward for next season on steem :D
I can string the odd sentence together too :)
The squad needs a change, but at present even this armchair viewer doesn't really have a strong opinion on what is best.
Arsenal are in a similar position with few players looking top notch.
Good call on Rio and Vidic, pretty solid at their peak. And yeah, Steem and #steemsports could pick nicely as the new season approaches.
attack should be ok for both, but middlefield and defence is to cry at some moments :D
Sounds about right 🙈
Ole will be gone by Christmas . There is only so much sentimentality brings. He took the squad to the cliff which was it’s old training ground before the city game last season. Such a waste of time. “This is where Teddy Sheringham used to sit. Ole refuses to park in Ferguson’s manager space at Old Trafford. These guys are living in the past. Watching Gary Neville interview Ole after the PSG game was the first time I’ve seen gay sex on main stream TV. The class of 92 plus a few others like Rio Ferdinand were screaming for his permanent appointment. Why appoint him? He was doing alright. Why take the risk? What did they do . Appoint him and then the drop came. The class of 92 don’t want egg on their face so they moved to criticise the players. It’s a mess. They need pochettino in to sort it out. Ole has visibly aged. He’s no longer the baby face assassin. They have no midfield and if pogba leaves they will have to bring in the academy players . It will be a disaster.
Harsh words all round!
Ole wont park in Fergie's old spot, lol, that's going a bit too far. He has visibly aged, but he can afford to buy decent wrinkle cream now I guess.
If Pogba did leave, the midfield would get steamrollered for sure. Matic is slow as, and it was Herrera mopping things up and getting stuck in the most last year.
This season is going to be shit, I can feel it.
I’m just delighted that Woodward didn’t go after Pochettino because I am sure they would of got him last year. I don’t hate Utd . Quite the opposite in fact. I just think they have many problems and don’t think Ole is the answer .
Ole until xmas then :)
I won't comment on you know who ;-)
But as for the pictures, its a big problem here. I use them from google searches and add my disclaimer notice at the end purporting fair use but to the letter of the law, I'm not sure it is. I did read this recently
In theory though, we are earning from their use so its a minefield that needs treading carefully.
Fair enough - I didn't expect a comment today but it's a fair one with regards to the photos.
As far as I am aware, we cannot use the images and be paid for doing so. Looking around the #sportstalk tag though, it seems no-one understands this!
I'm wondering if the videos that are on Youtube can be screen-shot? Youtube should be removing the copyrighted stuff and so what's there is free to use as video/image?
Well, I would only suggest that if they are being used as per fair use law that you can be paid. A newspaper gets paid, as do teachers and critics.......
No to your Youtube idea as anything shot by an individual is automatically copyright, as for them taking videos of Sports events, there are players image rights to also take into consideration. I was starting to read some issues about US sports events where you're no longer allowed to shoot inside the arena...till I got bored! but I will stick with the disclaimer notice and only use stuff easily found in the public domain. I don't believe for a minute all these micro-news sites, the sort that comes up on www.newsnow.com are all paying for photos.
I will however try and steer clear of anything that says Getty images or AP on them, or any other images that have copyright notices stamped onto them. That would just be taking the piss!!
Worst that can happen is a cease and desist notice I would imagine.
Annoyingly, I cant see this comment on sportstalksocial, only on Steem. I'll be back later to give the replies a boost.
Is it me or is the site going a bit mental today. I've been adding multiple comments and then needing to delete them.
Yeah I think using Getty images is a big no-no, but it looks like there is little concern from our peers about using pretty much anything that isn't stamped with a copyright.
I wonder if you take a screenshot of a news article with some text/image, and then source it back to the website? Probably not eh.
Bit of a bummer as a couple of nice images can really improve content.
Not just you, I have posted a new blog and it is only showing on Steemit. If you look at the New post section on Sportstalk you'll see the last posts were around an hour ago
Bit of a pain in the arse. Oh well, seems to be OK for now.
yup, it does this from time to time and it can get really slow as does Steem engine and trying to claim rewards. I guess both are related.
Yep, i think related. Seems better now.
same problem is at steemleo
Well, I would only suggest that if they are being used as per fair use law that you can't be paid. A newspaper gets paid, as do teachers and critics.......
No to your Youtube idea as anything shot by an individual is automatically copyright, as for them taking videos of Sports events, there are players image rights to also take into consideration. I was starting to read some issues about US sports events where you're no longer allowed to shoot inside the arena...till I got bored! but I will stick with the disclaimer notice and only use stuff easily found in the public domain. I don't believe for a minute all these micro-news sites, the sort that comes up on www.newsnow.com are all paying for photos.
I will however try and steer clear of anything that says Getty images or AP on them, or any other images that have copyright notices stamped onto them. That would just be taking the piss!!
Worst that can happen is a cease and desist notice I would imagine.
people still like football?
You mean that game people played back in the last century when you were a lad? :P
shots fired?
but yes that game :-)
I am probably the only German who never got into it. But I admit I am an event fan so every four years I pretend
Yep :) I'm allowed to fire them cause I'm older?
Was fun sitting in a German bar at the last world cup :D
are you actually older?
I'm 40, since December :'(
Soccer is actually the most popular sport.
really??
Oh yeah! That's for sure !!
I was one the people who did not like Manchester United's decision of sacrificing a coach for a player!! Okay, truth be told I am an ardent Mourinho fan.
I am still better because United let Jose go, anyway what did annoy me further was Woodward or whoever letting Hererra leave just like that!!!
Hererra has been a committed player this last seasons and leaving him to go just like that without a replacement was not a good decision from the board.
I do have hope in Mctominay though. Ole might lose games (coz other teams are much stronger) and he will be chased making United go to square one again hehe.
I think Jose lost the dressing room, but you could argue the board chose Pogba over him.
They definitely made a mistake letting Herrera go though, he was one of the better players last season and we have to hope McTominay can replace him.
Let us hope for the best.
Strange - I did post a comment but it seems gone - was refering to tough times of any ManU manager sicne Sir Alex left - however they suffer with a decent salary at least :-) - now hope the comment pops up
Yeah I saw it on steemworld but then I couldn't find it here at first - I see it now though :D
The salary (and likely payoff) is probably worth the stick for a couple of season I guess. The paid Jose off with something like 25 million euros, damn!
Dissappeared again on Sportstalk but appears here on Steemit - see both comments and your reply on steemd - nothing on Sportstalk, a little bit here - hmmmmm
CR7 was a war.
But it thing Man U is suffering the post-Sir Alex Fagi Affects. If Man u is to go form this effect they need to either find Fagi back into that team or let him of management which is not easy for more. Pray they do not become Liver pool
But Liverpool are an excellent team - I am praying we can be as good as they are right now!
Ole is really not finding it easy, he is faced with alot of challenges.
Too right! The honeymoon period is long gone, and not even that last minute winner in 1999 will save him if the run that ended last season continues.
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Think any manager since the end of the Sir Alex era has tough times at ManU - however they suffer at least with a decent salary :-).
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My United, My Pride.
What else can I say! I can't boost of my squad again.
The unique number 7 is nowhere to found after Michael Owen wore it and the only remarkable moment was against Manchester City as he score a 90+6 minute winner.
I must say that the United management rush into a deal with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Ole Solskjaer still need some more experience in his coaching career as I can't see him approaching any super player but going for average players.
For the current squad i would really not want to be in his place but United is all I got and I will walk this street together with them praying for better days.
Thanks 😥