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Originally Posted by lacoruna69
I still can't quite figure out why the team can play so well when he was interim manager...then goes downhill once appointed as perm.
likely he introduced something new training methods or playing style which doesn't go down too well w the players??
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The first thing he did when he took over was to get the team to work harder than the opponent, push higher and not be afraid to express their creativity. Which they did to great effect at the beginning. Apparently the fitness level of the team was nowhere near what is required to do that. And while they were winning there is always that extra one can push oneself. Perhaps once OGS was permanently appointed there was some unconscious relaxation mentally. And physically they were drained towards the end of the season - leading to the collapse.
They supposedly sorted out the team fitness during the summer, but I guess we haven't had much luck with injuries. I think we have mostly played with less than half the team that thrashed Chelsea 4-0 on opening day, and even when Pogba was back for a couple of matches, he was playing with an ankle problem that was not fully recovered. Just shows we are not only incomplete as a first team - we are also severely lacking in depth. 8 more top-level players required before we can mount any kind of sustained challenge.
Latest news for stop-gap transfer - Mario Mandukic in January. Apparently verbal agreement reached.