Ole Gunnar Solskjaer | W15 D2 L4

[Ban]

Si predictable. So any decent manager would have won 10 games and we were lucky many times.... There was even a post about just smiling not being enough anymore.

Dont get me wrong, jury is still out but fans can be so damn fickle....

 

[Ace of Spades]

I think more than the manager, we need a good DOF that can stop giving contract extension for these pensioners. Just hope that Ole can be ruthless if he is given the job.

 

[FootyGirl88]

I think more than the manager, we need a good DOF that can stop giving contract extension for these pensioners. Just hope that Ole can be ruthless if he is given the job.

I agree - no one seems to have a long term vision for this squad and you can see it on the pitch. Young playing at RB sums it all up.

 

[Un4givableB]

Spanish football is a different beast than the EPL, you have all the money, one rival sometimes two at the most, a trained monkey would get Champions League place with Real or Barca. So you can afford the time to groom a manager, afford to make mistakes we can't. Real have supposedly had a rotten season this year, could still win the league and go far in the Champions League. Spanish league only a bit less shite than the French League.

 

[Bojan11]

Jury is still out. Can’t believe people are calling for him to get the job already and people saying he shouldn’t get the job. Both sides are wrong in my opinion.

Let’s wait and see what sort of position we are by the start of April.

The next few weeks will define the season.

 

[hellohello]

I still don't quite get the love in for Pochettino and that he's somehow used as a yardstick to (beat?) Ole's record so far.

These are Spurs' last 9 seasons point totals (oldest first). If you didn't know, you'd be hard pushed to say where AVB/Sherwood et al left and Pochettino began:
70, 62, 69, 72, 69, 64, 70, 86!, 77 - he took over the season they managed 64 points. Spurs average points in the 4 seasons prior to his appointment was 68, after, 74. He inherited Kane (who back from loan would go on to be top scorer) and Eriksen (second top scorer). To be fair he brought in Dier (summer) and Alli (Jan). The rest of his purchases though that first summer were pretty shite with hindsight.

Looking at the whole, isn't it fairer to say that Spurs 'success' with regard to league position has come because of failures of the teams around them as opposed to some managerial magic wand? Combined with our shite since Fergie retired, the traditional yo-yo form of Abramovich's Chelsea reign, Wenger gradually getting worse / retiring, the red-hot form of Kane etc the stars have certainly aligned for Pochettino. Has he really improved them that much at all? Is 6 points a season average enough of an improvement? If he hits around 87 points this season (which they're on target for), it would bring his average gains to 8 points over Spurs' previous level. It could be argued that they're being a bit flattered at the moment too, since they haven't drawn at all this season. They've lost the joint most out of the top 6 clubs.

But of course, he's clearly not a bad manager, yet even his Southampton season wasn't all that special. That also coincided with several players coming through at the same time - many of which were snapped up at season's end by the traditional bigger clubs, including two of them to us in Shaw and Schneiderlin. At the time it was thought that these players, our two, the load Liverpool bought, etc, were good enough for the bigger clubs, yet he managed only 8th, 8 points off our poor return in 7th. The following seasons for Southampton were marked by continually selling their star players which has ultimately led to a massive downturn in results. Do we think had Pochettino stayed there, he would have ridden out the storm despite player losses? I'm not so sure.

Back to his time with Spurs, even in the season when everyone else lost their collective shit and Leicester won the league, he could only manage third. They had the league's top scorer that year in Kane, finished with the highest goal difference, the fewest goals conceded, but fluffed the race finishing 11 points off the pace in a three-horse race.

In the 86 point season (his third with Spurs), which was Pep's first at City, Klopp's second at Liverpool, Jose's first with us and Conte's first at Chelsea, he was the most experienced manager towards the top of league outside of Wenger. He again had the league's best striker in Kane. Yet still when all around him was falling apart, Conte rocks up and finishes 7 points clear. He still couldn't get them over the line. Thing is, if you have a striker that's averaging almost a goal per game then you're going to be there or thereabouts come the end of the season - see Leicester and Vardy. His teams lack discipline when under pressure, which I think is partly where the bottling accusations stem from. In the Leicester season, you could pretty much set your watch by Spurs, that if on 70 minutes they were losing / not winning, tempers would fray.

Overall, his consistency, points wise, seems to rely on a well-coached defence (could he polish ours, I don't know), and having one of the best strikers in the league combined with the failure of clubs around him. I'm just not sure he's all that, or if, at this cycle of the Premier League, he's just the best of a bad bunch behind Klopp and Pep.

I personally think you're being unfair although I also think you got some good points as well, and there are always more than one way to interpret things.

My view is that the idea that everyone else were so strong before Poch and weak after he took over is slightly exaggerated. City weren't as strong, Liverpool got stronger under Klopp except that one season with Suarez and Sturridge firing. United got weaker obviously, but Chelsea continued to be a yo-yo team as you mention and were strong under Mourinho and also Conte.

Regarding getting Kane, it's not like other managers didn't have great players. We had Bale and Modric who largely carried our team. And it should be noted that the team he took over wasn't the team that had previously performed for Redknapp. We had no Modric, no Bale, no VDV, no King etc. Instead he took over a team in need of a major overhaul which he did. He completely renewed the squad by improving players already at the club such as Rose and Walker and Demble and buying players cheaply. He also sold our established players in favour of academy players such as Mason. This resulted in a bad first season, but we could see the direction he was taking the club.

After this was the season Leicester won the league. We started slowly, and we were in major transition. Yes we eventually picked up pace, but we were 4th (I think) around Christmas and never managed to cut the gap with Leicester enough despite playing very well eventually. We collapsed after the title was out of reach, but didn't lose the title, it was always Leicesters to lose that season. I strongly disagree with the idea that Spurs crumble under pressure with Poch. One of the best things with him is that he has instilled a strong mentality in the team, before Poch we would falter under pressure, but that's no longer the case.

I personally think he's just as good as Pep and Klopp, and just like you could make arguments that he couldn't have spent as well as Pep and got a 100 point season I'm not sure Pep could do what Poch has done with no spending. He regularly has to make do with what he has available at the academy or cheap options, he has to deal with an unstable stadium situation as well as being majorly outspent. Yes he has a top striker, but let's not pretend that there aren't some top players at the other clubs as well.

 

[Fracture90]

Reactionary verbal diarrhea aside it's all part of the learning process. Better team with more quality and depth, led by a more experienced manager won last night, no shame there.

Has Ole made some mistakes last night? Yes he did.

Will Ole make more mistakes in the future? Yes he will.

Can Ole learn from them? Yes he can.

He's been here less than two months and changed things for the better, before his appointment me were all resigned about this PSG fixture, but the way he got us playing, gave us hope we can do something .

Ole still had a lot to learn and a mountain to climb, but the most important thing is that he's willing to do so.

Whatever happens, the decision on who'll be our next manager should be made when the season has ended and not before.

 

[Westerkerk]

He is learning as a manager how to get the best out of his squad and how to properly improve it. We need to go into the transfer market in the right way, with someone behind the decisions who cares about the long term future of the club and not solely after short term success.

Ole plays the humble nice guy routine but he will know that this squad isn't equipped to compete at the top of the premier League or with the elite clubs in Europe.

I believe given time and resources and trust he can identify what we need more so than Pochettino

 

[Ish]

Just a couple of things to add: the mere fact that we're all a bit disappointed with the performance and loss is great testament to our recent resurgence under OGS. Those clamouring for Poch/whoever else - I'm not entirely sure how anyone can use these matches as a yardstick to "assess" OGS? He's done more than what was expected i.t.o getting results against the "smaller" sides plus a few big victories in there (Arsenal, Spurs & Leicester all away) which have put us back in the top 4 contention.

How do we use PSG/Spurs as a measure for OGS? I bet the same people who'd want Poch here (read my post history, I've been wanting Poch here but recently I've swayed towards OGS) would be preaching to the rest of us to give Poch "time and resources" (his "own" players) before we judge him.

So why is it any different for OGS? How do we expect him to compete with the top teams with a) a team which he's not had more than a couple of months with & b) not signed a single player for & c) a team we all know lacks real quality in certain positions?

 

[Rockets Redglare]

Jury is still out. Can’t believe people are calling for him to get the job already and people saying he shouldn’t get the job. Both sides are wrong in my opinion.

Let’s wait and see what sort of position we are by the start of April.

The next few weeks will define the season.

I agree. We need to see how we get on in the league against Liverpool and City, and if we can manage to get top four.

If we get top four he deserves the job, if we go on a losing streak then maybe we should look elsewhere.

 

[crossy1686]

I think the last few matches show that Zidane is a better in game tactician than Ole. I'm not sure he has it in him to outfox Klopp and/or Pep.

 

[crossy1686]

Good interview, needs to show some ruthlessness and get rid of Sanchez/Mata and give time to some of the younger players coming through, they can't be any worse at this moment in time. He needs to take some risks.

Agree to a degree but he isn't in a position to take risks. You don't stand on a table and whip your dick out in a job interview because the interviewer says they're looking for someone with balls. I'm sure if he got the summer he would let some of the players know their time is up but he just can't do that right now unless we want to surrender the top 4.

 

[Jaae]

After taking over midseason and with a squad that is not his own, Ole could end May with a 90% win rate and for some it still wouldn't be enough.

PSG have a far better squad with far more CL experience and it showed.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

Out of his depth last night,not a big deal.

 

[We need an rvn]

Jury is still out. Can’t believe people are calling for him to get the job already and people saying he shouldn’t get the job. Both sides are wrong in my opinion.

Let’s wait and see what sort of position we are by the start of April.

The next few weeks will define the season.

Exactly this. It needs more time to see how he handles defeat, what he learns from it, how the squad handle it under OGS etc.

The run in he's had to date, bar the few away matches which he's won, has been favourable and he's done amazing to get the squad to where it's at.

Does he need to get a result against the likes of City / PSG / Liverpool and a decent run in the FA & Top 4 to get the job, I really don't know yet.

But we'd be silly to give him the job now, just as we'd be silly to assume Poche would have done any different with the squad vs PSG.

 

[Matt007a]

Whether he is the man to get the job full time is still open for debate, but it absolutely doesn't come down to this single game. Anyone expecting us to outplay and beat PSG has fallen victim to hype I'm afraid. Their quality and squad depth is well beyond ours.

We were OK in the first half where they kept misplacing their passes and letting us off the hook, but they still had a couple of clear cut openings, even if VAR might have marginally called them offside.

The opening 20 minutes of the 2nd half they got their act together and pretty much blew us away. Once they got the 2nd goal they were happy to soak up pressure and we created nothing at all. No tactical changes or substitutions would have changed the result of the match. We lack quality options from the bench, as is evident from Lukaku, Mata and Sanchez coming on. Two of them are bang out of form and the other is too slow to play the style of football OGS has been implementing.

SAF was unique and made us competitive with some very average players at times, but you can't expect others to do the same. He was the exception to the rule and there is no one else like him.

I'll reserve judgement on whether we should keep OGS until the end of the season. Form can be temporary and his true level will be more clear come May when he has 20+ games under his belt.

 

[Bobcat]

Are you seriously suggesting that at present, Pochettino isn't a better manager than OGS...? That's crazy.

Look at his work with Southampton, look what he's built with basically nothing to spend (compared to our squad) at Spurs.

He's got the PL down, finishing 2nd and 3rd regularly with a squad whose wages and cost is a lot less than this United side.

Pochettino with United backing would be a terrifying prospect.

OGS is a great interim, but for feck sake we're SO sentimental as a fanbase it's actially dangerous for the club.

OGS has shown that he's worth another go at another PL club, and that's a big compliment to him, but those clubs, right now, would be a Watford, a Southampton, a Bournemouth.

He's not ready to be the manager to wrestle Klopp and Guardiola.

That's just my opinion.

1) "Better manager" is imo a bit of a imprecise term, because different managers excel at different things. Allardyce and and Pulis are very adept at making small sides hard to beat, but they would probably do awfully in a big club. Put Pep in Fulham and he would probably get relegated. Even if a manager "fits" a club based on past experience and achievements its not guaranteed he is the right man for that club. Most United fans thought Mouhrino would bring us glory based on past achievements, and look how that turned out. The reason i am not completely sold on Poch is that he has turned average/good sides into better sides, but he has not yet turned good sides into champions. In other words, him being the right man for Tottenham does not mean he will be the right man for us

2) Using us a yardstick the past six years does not really say a whole lot, we've been a complete mess and a clubs wage bill does not accurately reflect a squads quality. We and other rich clubs pay way more in wages for the same players as less prosperous clubs since agents know we are able too. Just the fact that Sanchez is one of the highest paid players in the league says a lot

3) "Pochettino with United backing would be a terrifying prospect." He might, but as recent history has shown there is no guarantees.

4) I dont think we are any more sentimental than any other fan base. As a manager and a team, you can only beat what is in front of you, im sure most would agree on. Hypothetically if we hired Poch instead of Ole in December and he went on an identical run, no defeats until yesterday. Would you been calling for his head then?

Luckily the season is not over just yet so we still have time to decide. If we collapse now, get trashed by City and Pool and end outside the top 4, i think even the most diehard Ole fans would admit hes not the man for the future. On the other hand, if we more or less continue our league form and get top 4 and then hire Poch, the pressure on him to deliver from day 1 will be unreal

 

[Cardboard elk]

Ole deserves backing from the fans. it is a shame that a lot of people blame him for many years bad management and the mess he took over. really

and regarding Poch, here are the stats from HIS 12 first matches in 2014/15, after having a pre-season and summer transfer window :

West Ham 0 - 1 Tottenham
AEL Limassol 1 - 2 Tottenham
Tottenham 4 - 0 QPR
Tottenham 3 - 0 AEL Limassol
Tottenham 0 - 3 Liverpool
Sunderland 2 - 2 Tottenham
Partizan 0 - 0 Tottenham
Tottenham 0 - 1 West Brom
Tottenham 3 - 1 Nottm Forest
Arsenal 1 - 1 Tottenham
Tottenham 1 - 1 Besiktas
Tottenham 1 - 0 Southampton

Thats 6-4-2 and he did not play any team with PSG level in those. Lost 3-0 to liverpool at home.

He got to continue though and improved.

 

[AJ10]

This

I hate to say it but l partly agree with Paul Ince(but not him because his personality stinks) that a decent manager should have won most games he won, we lucky against Spurs and unlucky against Burnley.

He's simply not a top-level manager let alone an elite one, l have a simple rule in accessing if players/managers good enough for us. Are they good enough for Real, Barcelona, Juventus or Bayern?

I hope Ole gets a bigger job than Molder off the back of steadying the ship at United but we are on the job training for United old boys, we should raiding our rivals for their gettable best talent.

You were nearly there but then the bold part

 

[Skåre Willoch]

People really, really need to calm the fudge down.

I don't even understand how people are as disappointed as they seem to be. Did people really expect us to beat Paris?

I get that people had hopes of winning, or at least getting a result, but let's not forget where we were some 60 days ago. Solskjær hasn't brought in a single player, and half of this squad is deemed "not good enough" (and rightly so) by most people in here.

Solskjær got beat alright, but did he get "outclassed"? Not really imo. The first 50 minutes were two teams neutralizing each other, with neither team creating anything at all really. Then they scored a goal on a brilliant corner, with terrible marking by Matic (correct me if I'm wrong). Not outcoached at all, that's on the player(s). The second goal was different, but when you're forced to play Young on the right against Di Maria, you're bound to be at the receiving end of a few crosses. And when Di Maria, a brilliant crosser, can aim for Mbappé, probably the quickest player in the world, you're in trouble. We could have set up more defensively, but then again, conceding one goal from open play with that back line is really, really not that bad. Also, haven't we been screaming "ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK" for the past four or five years? Is that only relevant when we lose while playing defensively?

We could've conceded more for sure, and probably should've, but hey, with a proper back four the game might have looked quite different. And PSG, even though they had three important players injured, still has a way deeper and better squad than us at the moment. They have the depth to put Marquinhos as a CM, solely to take Pogba out of the game. Smart move by Tuchel for sure, but ultimately made possible by having the squad to do so.

Solskjær is still 10-1-1. How we bounce back from this is the important part. It should take more than 1 loss against a superior side before people come out of their caves with the "Pochettino is Gandhi". Would he have beat this PSG side with the same players available? I bloody think not.

The one thing that disappointed me the most yesterday was Old Trafford. That's where we got beat the most. 3 500 frenchmen outclassed the other 71 500. What happened to our "unique atmosphere" on nights like this?
To many norwegians at the game, I suppose.

 

[Slevs]

He came up with a game plan and nullified his opponents in the first half with Lingard (one of the better players in the first half) and Martial (terrible but was being man marked).

Both got injured and were replaced by inadequate substitutes (through no fault of Ole's but rather his predecessors).

Don't see what else he could have done. It was a tactical 50-50 game in the first half, our lack of quality on the bench cost us when we had to change our main players for this specific game plan.

 

[crossy1686]

He came up with a game plan and nullified his opponents in the first half with Lingard (one of the better players in the first half) and Martial (terrible but was being man marked).

Both got injured and were replaced by inadequate substitutes (through no fault of Ole's but rather his predecessors).

Don't see what else he could have done. It was a tactical 50-50 game in the first half, our lack of quality on the bench cost us when we had to change our main players for this specific game plan.

Agreed 100%.

Tight game and losing two of our first 11 was the main difference. We looked out of our depth as a team in the second half due to amount of experience we have at this level of competition. A few more reinforcements and more time than 8 weeks will see this squad go from strength to strength.

 

[Zoo]

Ole looked completely clueless and that is a bigger problem than the loss.

What does that even mean?

 

[crossy1686]

What does that even mean?

Pure conjecture is what it is.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

The Ole situation is actually really fecked up. With any permanent manager you'd laugh at the idea of calling him a flop if we lose against top opposition, before he's had a chance to sign a single player. But that's exactly the scenario Ole faces in his audition for the job. Managing with one hand tied behind his back.

Of course, if we do keep getting shown up every time we play a big team from here on in (and, let's be honest, if we played that Spurs fixture five more times, we'd lose four of them) how do we know how much of that is down to inadequacies of the squad that Jose/Woodward created vs Ole not being able to go toe to toe with managers that have a lot more experience at the top level?

In a way, our recent run of good results has done a lot more harm than good. If we'd bumbled along dropping points left right and centre then we could remain 100% focussed on recruiting Poch (or whoever) but now the board have an infinitely more difficult decision to make. Has our "new manager bounce" been primarily down to the feel good factor of Jose leaving? Or the feel good factor of Ole joining? I can't shake a nagging suspicion that the absence of Jose has been a much more important factor, seeing as we've seen the same resurgence at previous clubs (e.g. Di Matteo winning the CL) All of which makes giving Ole the job permanently a potential disaster in waiting. And feck knows, we REALLY don't need another disastrous managerial appointment...

So yeah, it is just one game but one game that raises a lot of difficult, shitty questions about where we go from here. Liverpool, Chelsea and City all coming up soon. We could easily lose all three games. Would that make us any more certain about whether Ole is a good long term appointment or not? I'm not actually sure it would. Which is a dreadful state of affairs, when you think about it.

 

[thedano]

This place sometimes.....

He came up with a game plan and nullified his opponents in the first half with Lingard (one of the better players in the first half) and Martial (terrible but was being man marked).

Both got injured and were replaced by inadequate substitutes (through no fault of Ole's but rather his predecessors).

Don't see what else he could have done. It was a tactical 50-50 game in the first half, our lack of quality on the bench cost us when we had to change our main players for this specific game plan.

Exactly this, the poster above who said he was clueless on the touch line....he had one sub left was 2-0 not sure what he was meant to do.

End of the first half I thought we had done well but the injuries killed us. Losing one game makes no difference he’s still doing a great job and I’d be happy for him to get it full time.

Get rid of Sanchez and Lukaku buy players who fit his/our system fast press,front 3 interchangeable so if we lose players to injury it doesn’t change our plan.

 

[Bratt]

This, for me at least, won’t affect whether he should be our next manager or not.
That’s a decision which will/should be made in may, and not after a single loss, or a single win for that matter.
That being said, all games count, and he’s definitely much, much closer to yes than no imo.

The most important thing for me; yesterday I was so disappointed and furious after the game, that tells me I really have faith in this team and the manager again. I promise you, I would not have been this disappointed if Mourinho, Van Gaal or Moyes had still managed us, then it would have been totally expected.

So yeah, it was a hard result to take, but to be honest, until Martial and Lingard got injured, we were in the game, and anything could’ve happened.

Now, let’s go for top three!

 

[Godfather]

The Ole situation is actually really fecked up. With any permanent manager you'd laugh at the idea of calling him a flop if we lose against top opposition, before he's had a chance to sign a single player. But that's exactly the scenario Ole faces in his audition for the job. Managing with one hand tied behind his back.

Of course, if we do keep getting shown up every time we play a big team from here on in (and, let's be honest, if we played that Spurs fixture five more times, we'd lose four of them) how do we know how much of that is down to inadequacies of the squad that Jose/Woodward created vs Ole not being able to go toe to toe with managers that have a lot more experience at the top level?

In a way, our recent run of good results has done a lot more harm than good. If we'd bumbled along dropping points left right and centre then we could remain 100% focussed on recruiting Poch (or whoever) but now the board have an infinitely more difficult decision to make. Has our "new manager bounce" been primarily down to the feel good factor of Jose leaving? Or the feel good factor of Ole joining? I can't shake a nagging suspicion that the absence of Jose has been a much more important factor, seeing as we've seen the same resurgence at previous clubs (e.g. Di Matteo winning the CL) All of which makes giving Ole the job permanently a potential disaster in waiting. And feck knows, we REALLY don't need another disastrous managerial appointment...

So yeah, it is just one game but one game that raises a lot of difficult, shitty questions about where we go from here. Liverpool, Chelsea and City all coming up soon. We could easily lose all three games. Would that make us any more certain about whether Ole is a good long term appointment or not? I'm not actually sure it would. Which is a dreadful state of affairs, when you think about it.

Couldn't agree more. We are in a clusterfeck of a situation. Imo though he HAS to be judged by his games against the top teams. There is nothing else we can do. So if we go down against them from here on now I don't think he should be given the job permanently. Even if it turns out to be down to the players. But we just cannot take any more risks with our managers. Players are easier to replace.

The problem is that this wouldn't leave us with a lot of time to hire a manager if Ole turns out to not beeing good enough. The most pragmatic way to go from here would to simply see him as an interim solution as it was planned from the beginning.

 

[Tony247]

Ole's immediate challenge is 2 injuries and motivate the squad again. I am more interested in seeing how the team reacts next.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Couldn't agree more. We are in a clusterfeck of a situation. Imo though he HAS to be judged by his games against the top teams. There is nothing else we can do. So if we go down against them from here on now I don't think he should be given the job permanently. Even if it turns out to be down to the players. But we just cannot take any more risks with our managers. Players are easier to replace.

The problem is that this wouldn't leave us with a lot of time to hire a manager if Ole turns out to not beeing good enough. The most pragmatic way to go from here would to simply see him as an interim solution as it was planned from the beginning.

Agree 100%. Which is why that run of easy fixtures and great results has been, paradoxically, a bit of a nightmare.

 

[Kostov]

I'm very interested to see how we react to this under Ole. The Chelsea game will be interesting and will give us a better view on things. A bad result was bound to happen sooner rather than later, how we recover is what we find out on Monday and afterwards.

 

[reelworld]

fecking hell, some of you lot just can't wait to stick it to Ole can you?

Reading some of the comment Ole must be unbeaten for the rest of the season just to be considered good enough for the job. His tactics are fine at the start, his mistake was when two of our most important attacking player went injured. He didn't have a good enough plan B to counter a team as good as PSG. This is Champions League where smallest margin of error got punished severely.
You all wanted how Ole respond after a defeat? Here's your fecking chance.

 

[Bobcat]

Couldn't agree more. We are in a clusterfeck of a situation. Imo though he HAS to be judged by his games against the top teams. There is nothing else we can do. So if we go down against them from here on now I don't think he should be given the job permanently. Even if it turns out to be down to the players. But we just cannot take any more risks with our managers. Players are easier to replace.

The problem is that this wouldn't leave us with a lot of time to hire a manager if Ole turns out to not beeing good enough. The most pragmatic way to go from here would to simply see him as an interim solution as it was planned from the beginning.

That's incredibly short sighted. Nothing tastes as sweet as a win against the likes of Liverpool or City, but over the course of a season you have to be consistent when facing the smaller teams as well. A win vs Fulham gives the same amount of points as a win vs City.

IIRC Van Gaal had a pretty impressive record against the big teams when he was here and he was hardly a success. Of course doing well vs your rivals is important, but we have to look at the entire picture here

 

[Grylte]

I'd rather have a manager who destroys weaker teams, and lose or draw once in a while against top teams.
Mourinho was pretty much the opposite, he's good at setting his team up against the best teams, but lost too many against teams we should beat with half of our first 11 out.

Give Ole some better defenders, and some better depth, plus a DoF, and i think he'll do well.

Isn't one of the arguments against Poch, and Klopp for that matter, lack of a good plan B?
I don't follow Spurs, but pretty sure i've read it a few times, and i don't think their stats vs the other top teams are very good either.

I was against Ole as caretaker from the start, maybe because as a Norwegian i've been burnt a few times with Norwegian managers in England - the one that fecked up Wimbledon is one example
But Ole's done really well, and i think he deserves it. That said, too early to decide yet, but people turning against him after losing to one of the best teams in Europe (and therefor also the world), without having had the chance to strenghten the squad, are just being stupid.

 

[NinjaFletch]

The Ole situation is actually really fecked up. With any permanent manager you'd laugh at the idea of calling him a flop if we lose against top opposition, before he's had a chance to sign a single player. But that's exactly the scenario Ole faces in his audition for the job. Managing with one hand tied behind his back.

Of course, if we do keep getting shown up every time we play a big team from here on in (and, let's be honest, if we played that Spurs fixture five more times, we'd lose four of them) how do we know how much of that is down to inadequacies of the squad that Jose/Woodward created vs Ole not being able to go toe to toe with managers that have a lot more experience at the top level?

In a way, our recent run of good results has done a lot more harm than good. If we'd bumbled along dropping points left right and centre then we could remain 100% focussed on recruiting Poch (or whoever) but now the board have an infinitely more difficult decision to make. Has our "new manager bounce" been primarily down to the feel good factor of Jose leaving? Or the feel good factor of Ole joining? I can't shake a nagging suspicion that the absence of Jose has been a much more important factor, seeing as we've seen the same resurgence at previous clubs (e.g. Di Matteo winning the CL) All of which makes giving Ole the job permanently a potential disaster in waiting. And feck knows, we REALLY don't need another disastrous managerial appointment...

So yeah, it is just one game but one game that raises a lot of difficult, shitty questions about where we go from here. Liverpool, Chelsea and City all coming up soon. We could easily lose all three games. Would that make us any more certain about whether Ole is a good long term appointment or not? I'm not actually sure it would. Which is a dreadful state of affairs, when you think about it.

I think the thing that worries me is the spate of recent contract renewals of players that are fecking shite. Renewing the likes of Jones, Young and (as rumoured) Mata suggests, to me, little appetite to change the underlying culture of mediocrity that exists at the club and is a painful reminder that the man still making the decisions at the club is Woodward. I know we're in a position where a lot of contracts are running down, but there's no reason we couldn't have sorted the DoF appointment more quickly if, as was reported, we had begun looking in the summer and gone from there.


If we're making long term plans already then it suggests that we're not making any changes at the top. If that ends up being the case then the primary reason for our constant missteps is going to be the one still calling the shots in the summer and I can't see how anyone can realistically expect us not to continue making terrible decisions at every level of the club.

 

[Godfather]

That's incredibly short sighted. Nothing tastes as sweet as a win against the likes of Liverpool or City, but over the course of a season you have to be consistent when facing the smaller teams as well. A win vs Fulham gives the same amount of points as a win vs City.

IIRC Van Gaal had a pretty impressive record against the big teams when he was here and he was hardly a success. Of course doing well vs your rivals is important, but we have to look at the entire picture here

It is short sighted but that's exactly what we are faced with. Either he will be promoted as our manager after this interim spell or not. All that based on half a season so not much to judge him by. Games against crap teams after everyone is in a happy mood because Jose is out will not be enough to judge him. It has to be the big games and how we bounce back after defeats.

 

[El Zoido]

It’s pretty grim how many of our fans seem desperate for Ole to fail and for us to lose, just so they can say “told you so”. There was some genuine glee in the post match comments from some people, apparently delighted to point out how rubbish we really are.

 

[buchansleftleg]

I thought we would be taken apart by a full strength PSG. Their recent injuries made me feel there was a chance of a game.

In the first half we were competing with them without being totally negative. Given the injurues we then suffered I think Ole had restricted options...

We lacked pace and threat upfront but what could Ole do? We should be able to depend on Sanchez or Lukaku but they are busted flushes. If he went with a youth prospect like throwing Greenwood or Chong on he would be massively criticised.

I think a better measure of Ole will be how the team react against Liverpool. I'm not saying he has to win it, just be competitive and positive.

 

[Davie Moyes]

He isn't a manager for the Elite level - yet. This has been a tactical loss really.

And his football, even in the first half, has looked dated and lacking vision.

Hopefully a wake up call to the board - Ole could be one for the future, but he isn't ready yet.

Serious question would you guys really want Ole now? not even just on this loss but in general. United next appointment is so and I cant emphasize this enough SO important or United risk falling into Liverpool levels of shet and really falling behind the other teams in the League. Ole is a great guy and everyone loves him but is he the right choice ?

I'm convinced 100%. I have been so impressed by this guy, how he carries himself in interviews and in general. I don't think I've come across a manager who communicates so well. He says exactly what we the fans are thinking. He ways replies with honesty, intelligence, insight and simplicity. Even his interview after the PSG game was spot-on by admitting they are better, we are not on their level but that's where we want to be.

Also we've already gone down the hiring the biggest names in Mourinho and LVG but those did not work out because they did not get Utd.

This guy just gets us. It's so obvious that he has studied Fergie's methods and style inside out. At this stage I don't care about trophies , I'm just happy to have our club back, with the team improving and providing enjoyment to us. I'm also loving that he is the anti-Mourinho. Is there a nicer guy in football?

 

[Grylte]

Imagine a scenario where the top 4 teams and United had the same form for the rest of the season, from when Ole took over. Or same amount of points atleast.
Ole would have done just as well since he took over, as the PL winners, but did not get the job because of a gap up to top 4 made by our previous manager.

Mourinho/the board didn't buy better defenders, we all agree our defense is our weak point, but now it's used against Ole, who literally had nothing to do with it.

Some unfair requests from our fans, especially considering we've caught up with top 4, score a lot more goals, and most people i've spoken to (or read on here), now are actually looking forward to watching matches again.