Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[Amarsdd]

People have been talking from the pov of football, but I just want to mention a more subconscious side that has seen Ole so nonchalantly disrespected by the fans and the media and his contributions under-appreciated. Everyone can see Ole is slightly in the introvert spectrum from his shy demeanor in his press conferences and interviews (not sure if it's him or that because English is not his first language). I have seen many examples of that in the workplace whether it be business or academia. People under these sort of characters have more respect for them, but people superior or people from outside looking in always have the feeling (consciously or subconsciously) they can bully them. I have seen United fans here call him a "clown", "puppet", "norwegian level manager", "incompetent" etc etc. I have seen the pundits/journos call him "weak", "has no control", "sacked before christmas" etc. Do these people have any clue what's going on in the dressing room, what's going on in the training or even how much control he has on transfers? No. I can guarantee you, if Ole spoke with the arrogance and confidence of lets say Jose but with the same results and performance as Ole, he won't be getting this level of disrespect in both the fanbase and the media.

Let's just take Lampard for an example considering both Ole and Lampard are around the same level right now. Lampard always looks very confident and well-spoken in the media. And now let's look at his results and performance in three games. Ole has the 3rd best xG and the best xGA in the league i.e 3rd most chances created and the least number of chances created against us. Whereas Lampard has 9-10th best xG and XGA (https://understat.com/league/EPL ). So I was quite shocked to hear the same pundits/journos and people here that is disrespecting Ole, now calling Lampard "will be great for Chelsea", "I like Lampard as a manager", etc after a close win against Norwich.

So, I think Ole public-facing shy demeanor plays some part in the level of disrespect he seems to be getting everywhere whether it be consciously or subconciously.

 

[Chairman Steve]

That’s the one thing that nags me with OGS. He seems to have a lot of faith in his ‘Rashy’... to the point you could say it’s blind and hopeful faith especially if he’s saying goodbyes to Lukaku and Sanchez. I mean he could go on and score 25-30 goals and contribute 10 assists and he’ll be lauded for it, but how often does that happen? Those kinds of occurrences don’t just happen every year.

 

[minoo-utd]

What he was thinking about when he also did not sign a backup left back for that injury prone Mr.Shaw? Is it okay to stick with Young again?

 

[yumtum]

Your right they won’t but getting rid of them is easier said than done because of the idiotic contracts they are on .
Ole knows the ones he wants out ( Lukaku a prime example ) but it’s down to Woodward to find a way of moving them on for free if necessary rather than trying to be clever and giving new contracts to try and get a fee .
No interest in Darmian , Jones , Smalling , Sanchez says it all almost impossible to get rid of these guys

Agree 100%.

Problem with that is someone is giving these guys new deals, Young, Mata and Jones could have gone this summer, my worry is Ole might be giving the go ahead for these extensions, I can understand Woodward giving them contracts because he's a banker, bankers would never allow an asset go for free, even if it means sinking more money into that asset (happened with Rojo before these 3 too).

 

[YouMo90]

I have huge respect for solskjaer. But he should have never been appointed caretaker nor the full time manager in the first place. He isn't the right man at all for he job. Although all the blame cannot solely be blamed on the him. He is still part of the problem that needs fixing. He and woodward are directly responsible for overall poor transfer window in the summer that left us with huge gaps in midfield and attack, especially our strike force. failure to enforce these areas has left us severely weak within the squad.

The fact that the board picked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer over Laurent Blanc as the caretaker manager is astonishing.

Words cannot describe the massive mistake the board made in making that decision. The board overlooked an experienced, qualified, professional and capable manager over a inexperienced, unqualified and amateur manager such as ole gunnar solskjaer.

The board will ultimately live to regret in executing this decision.

 

[momo83]

People have been talking from the pov of football, but I just want to mention a more subconscious side that has seen Ole so nonchalantly disrespected by the fans and the media and his contributions under-appreciated. Everyone can see Ole is slightly in the introvert spectrum from his shy demeanor in his press conferences and interviews (not sure if it's him or that because English is not his first language). I have seen many examples of that in the workplace whether it be business or academia. People under these sort of characters have more respect for them, but people superior or people from outside looking in always have the feeling (consciously or subconsciously) they can bully them. I have seen United fans here call him a "clown", "puppet", "norwegian level manager", "incompetent" etc etc. I have seen the pundits/journos call him "weak", "has no control", "sacked before christmas" etc. Do these people have any clue what's going on in the dressing room, what's going on in the training or even how much control he has on transfers? No. I can guarantee you, if Ole spoke with the arrogance and confidence of lets say Jose but with the same results and performance as Ole, he won't be getting this level of disrespect in both the fanbase and the media.

Let's just take Lampard for an example considering both Ole and Lampard are around the same level right now. Lampard always looks very confident and well-spoken in the media. And now let's look at his results and performance in three games. Ole has the 3rd best xG and the best xGA in the league i.e 3rd most chances created and the least number of chances created against us. Whereas Lampard has 9-10th best xG and XGA (https://understat.com/league/EPL ). So I was quite shocked to hear the same pundits/journos and people here that is disrespecting Ole, now calling Lampard "will be great for Chelsea", "I like Lampard as a manager", etc after a close win against Norwich.

So, I think Ole public-facing shy demeanor plays some part in the level of disrespect he seems to be getting everywhere whether it be consciously or subconciously.

Nah. Think it’s more to do with him appearing like a bluffer

 

[momo83]

Agree 100%.

Problem with that is someone is giving these guys new deals, Young, Mata and Jones could have gone this summer, my worry is Ole might be giving the go ahead for these extensions, I can understand Woodward giving them contracts because he's a banker, bankers would never allow an asset go for free, even if it means sinking more money into that asset (happened with Rojo before these 3 too).

A banker doesn’t want to let someone go for free. So he gives them contracts worth £5+m a year. Yeah, that makes sense. Extensions are down to Ole

 

[UnofficialDevil]

A banker doesn’t want to let someone go for free. So he gives them contracts worth £5+m a year. Yeah, that makes sense. Extensions are down to Ole

Like someone is actually going to buy Young Mata or Jones.. Yeah right.

 

[Foxbatt]

Blanc wanted it full time and turned down the part time caretaker job.

 

[JustW]

People have been talking from the pov of football, but I just want to mention a more subconscious side that has seen Ole so nonchalantly disrespected by the fans and the media and his contributions under-appreciated. Everyone can see Ole is slightly in the introvert spectrum from his shy demeanor in his press conferences and interviews (not sure if it's him or that because English is not his first language). I have seen many examples of that in the workplace whether it be business or academia. People under these sort of characters have more respect for them, but people superior or people from outside looking in always have the feeling (consciously or subconsciously) they can bully them. I have seen United fans here call him a "clown", "puppet", "norwegian level manager", "incompetent" etc etc. I have seen the pundits/journos call him "weak", "has no control", "sacked before christmas" etc. Do these people have any clue what's going on in the dressing room, what's going on in the training or even how much control he has on transfers? No. I can guarantee you, if Ole spoke with the arrogance and confidence of lets say Jose but with the same results and performance as Ole, he won't be getting this level of disrespect in both the fanbase and the media.

Let's just take Lampard for an example considering both Ole and Lampard are around the same level right now. Lampard always looks very confident and well-spoken in the media. And now let's look at his results and performance in three games. Ole has the 3rd best xG and the best xGA in the league i.e 3rd most chances created and the least number of chances created against us. Whereas Lampard has 9-10th best xG and XGA (https://understat.com/league/EPL ). So I was quite shocked to hear the same pundits/journos and people here that is disrespecting Ole, now calling Lampard "will be great for Chelsea", "I like Lampard as a manager", etc after a close win against Norwich.

So, I think Ole public-facing shy demeanor plays some part in the level of disrespect he seems to be getting everywhere whether it be consciously or subconciously.

That’s right, apart from his favoritism to Lingard instead of giving chances to Pereira, Gomes or even Mata at the number 10 role, I do like the team and the way we are playing and trying to. People talking up Lampard seems to forget that when Ole came in as well, we were playing brillant football and he shows tactical nous as well by winning against some big clubs and great managers. The way Chelsea is playing, they are cut open so easily and concede so many occasions, they have no control over matches. Yeah they attack nicely but again, till now they have not played against a defensive team yet, so I will wait until they play against those teams that sit back and defend like the way wolves and palace played against us. Let’s see how they break those teams down first before we can judge Lampard’s Chelsea. My view is at the moment, opponents do not know yet what to expect from Chelsea so they try to play their own game against them instead of setting up to frustrate them like against us.

 

[MikeKing]

A banker doesn’t want to let someone go for free. So he gives them contracts worth £5+m a year. Yeah, that makes sense. Extensions are down to Ole

Doesn't make sense. Ole is in charge of a rebuild, a rebuild means new players, he is getting gradual backing from the owners. That means they wont invest in 10 new players immediately, and do a full clear out but rather extend certain players contracts to keep the numbers up in the squad while trying to move on a few players at a time. Owners are really bad at selling players and it leads to the club having to sign on a few players that should have been sold. Not to forget that in the end we actually could have let their contracts run out and instead bought new players and the owners is responsible for not doing exactly that. Not Ole as you said.

 

[dabeast]

He doesn’t seem to have the tactical nous to change lineups, instructions or formations in the middle of games. Mourinho for Chelsea once brought on 3 substitutes at halftime, changed the formation and won a losing game against us with Fergie.

Mourinho is not the right manager for us because of other reasons but, at Man Utd, that is the level of nous in a manager that we need.

 

[Mcking]

Is this thread a joke? A little early in the season lads?

A bump.

 

[SambaBoy]

Got to back him. Can't talking about changing manager after every bad result. All 3 previous managers have struggled in some way, mainly breaking down average teams at home. I feel Ole has got the counter attacking style set up well, and we will be able to beat/match most teams in that regard. A lack of creativity is stifling us when teams park the bus however and it's something we can work on the training ground/swap personnel within the team or make new signings. Let's see how OGS does as the season goes on before making any panic decisions, however top 4 is a must.

 

[Jacob]

The cycle would never end. Next manager would be questioned after 10 games too.

To be fair, finding an appropriate manager that is available is a tough ask these days.

 

[mattunited1978]

Think Ole had a shocker on Saturday, every average fan knew the front 4 wernt ideal for how the match was going to play out...It was so obvious, the average fan was right, Ole was wrong. His continued use of Lingard is a more long standing issue, if he's happy with 'lively' from his number 10, he wont be here long imo and if he cant see how rubbish Lingard is, he'd only have himself to blame.

 

[Marcus]

Let's be patient. I see improvements and a lowering of the squad age with youngsters being given a chance. If anything, maybe a stronger personality who can inspire, cajole and bully should be injected into the 'nice guy' management team. Maybe Cantona or Keane?

 

[Withnail]

That's not a quote from the manager or the club saying we would likely bring in 5 or 6.

It also doesn't even say they'd 'most likely bring in 5 or 6 new players' . It says they'd bring in 3, which they have, and maybe one or two more depending on departures.

There's an awful lot of willful negativity and toys being thrown out of prams at the moment. The rebuilding job isn't done and will take a few more windows.

Its been 3 poxy games and the performances were good enough to have won all three so people need to calm down and see how things go.

Getting rid of Ole now would destabilize the club and would the knee-jerkiest of knee-jerk reactions. Nevermind the fact that there aren't a huge amount of viable alternatives available in August (yes, it's still August).

 

[yumtum]

A banker doesn’t want to let someone go for free. So he gives them contracts worth £5+m a year. Yeah, that makes sense. Extensions are down to Ole

To sell them for £20m+ yeah? Do you know any accountants/bankers?

 

[ayushreddevil9]

Still can't understand the logic of offering him the job before the end of the season.

 

[romufc]

We have won against Chelsea and should have won against both Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton

Should have won? but we didn't. We need to stop these hypotheticals.

We are not good enough, we have 2/3 shots on target per game, you don't win games like that.

 

[Renegade]

As long as we finish top 6 I think the board will back him this season. They will then bankroll another 150 mill next summer and expect top 4 next season. If that doesnt happen, then can see him getting sacked.

Is that £150m on top of losing Pogba and potentially De Gea walking away for free?

I don’t think that’ll be enough. Should have just spent the money this year.

 

[wolvored]

Is that £150m on top of losing Pogba and potentially De Gea walking away for free?

I don’t think that’ll be enough. Should have just spent the money this year.

I think £150 mill is roughly the limit they look to spend since the first season of VG.

 

[Renegade]

Is that £150m on top of losing Pogba and potentially De Gea walking away for free?

I think £150 mill is roughly the limit they look to spend since the first season of VG.

Yeah transfer market has blown up since then. That amount of money won’t see us make any significant improvement next season especially if we lose our 2 best players at the same time.
Herrera, Sanchez & Lukaku weren't replaced this year. Then next year Pogba, De Gea,Young, Mata and Matic will need replacing. The lack of foresight by this club is scary.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

He has some tough decisions to make now:

1. Letting Jesse Lingard warm the bench for a while.
2. This might be the most important one, sitting De Gea down for a while and letting him figure his shit out while Romero gets a run. De Gea has cost more points over the past 20 or so games than anyone else.

 

[Renegade]

He has some tough decisions to make now:

1. Letting Jesse Lingard warm the bench for a while.
2. This might be the most important one, sitting De Gea down for a while and letting him figure his shit out while Romero gets a run. De Gea has cost more points over the past 20 or so games than anyone else.

This 100% won’t happen till his contract is sorted.

 

[Sarni]

To sell them for £20m+ yeah? Do you know any accountants/bankers?

How are we going to sell Mata or Jones for a material amount of money? We would be lucky to get a fee for them. I know market is inflated for good players but it's not really inflated for the bottom tier.

 

[wolvored]

Yeah transfer market has blown up since then. That amount of money won’t see us make any significant improvement next season especially if we lose our 2 best players at the same time.
Herrera, Sanchez & Lukaku weren't replaced this year. Then next year Pogba, De Gea,Young, Mata and Matic will need replacing. The lack of foresight by this club is scary.

It is. Hopefully the penny will drop with the owners that they need to add another £100 mill a year minimum to the budget, or even better sell up to somebody who will want to improve the club and not think of the bottom line.

 

[passing-wind]

People have been talking from the pov of football, but I just want to mention a more subconscious side that has seen Ole so nonchalantly disrespected by the fans and the media and his contributions under-appreciated. Everyone can see Ole is slightly in the introvert spectrum from his shy demeanor in his press conferences and interviews (not sure if it's him or that because English is not his first language). I have seen many examples of that in the workplace whether it be business or academia. People under these sort of characters have more respect for them, but people superior or people from outside looking in always have the feeling (consciously or subconsciously) they can bully them. I have seen United fans here call him a "clown", "puppet", "norwegian level manager", "incompetent" etc etc. I have seen the pundits/journos call him "weak", "has no control", "sacked before christmas" etc. Do these people have any clue what's going on in the dressing room, what's going on in the training or even how much control he has on transfers? No. I can guarantee you, if Ole spoke with the arrogance and confidence of lets say Jose but with the same results and performance as Ole, he won't be getting this level of disrespect in both the fanbase and the media.

Let's just take Lampard for an example considering both Ole and Lampard are around the same level right now. Lampard always looks very confident and well-spoken in the media. And now let's look at his results and performance in three games. Ole has the 3rd best xG and the best xGA in the league i.e 3rd most chances created and the least number of chances created against us. Whereas Lampard has 9-10th best xG and XGA (https://understat.com/league/EPL ). So I was quite shocked to hear the same pundits/journos and people here that is disrespecting Ole, now calling Lampard "will be great for Chelsea", "I like Lampard as a manager", etc after a close win against Norwich.

So, I think Ole public-facing shy demeanor plays some part in the level of disrespect he seems to be getting everywhere whether it be consciously or subconciously.

Ole could be the nicest guy on planet earth or one of the most disastrous, so long as the football is successful on the pitch I personally couldn't care less about his demeanor etc in conferences. Winning boosts morale in the team it's not enough to just keep the dressing room happy, Ole needs to deliver on the pitch from a coaching perspective.

Lampard under Chelsea are playing a more expensive system of football than anything we have seen under Solskjaer. Statistics mean absolutely nothing when your at a live game, you can clearly see the pattern of play, the momentum of the teams, which managers have given their respective teams the best foundations to win games, while our 4-0 victory over Chelsea doesn't reflect the balance of the game, Wolves and Palace have used the same blueprint to cost us results as 90% of teams last season. That to me highlights an underlying problem that neither any of the coaching staff have failed to fix despite not winning 1 game in 11 fixtures last season.

Our team has such an abundant weakness it's very problematic in the long term. If we don't aquire midfielders and an attacker in January I don't see how Solskjaer will make it beyond this season. The players aren't good enough to carry him through, I'll say it again Solskjaer's long term success depends on short term results he's not getting two years of a transfer window without top four it prohibits the capabilities of the club too much a we will end up with more stop gap signings such as James when we need established players in key positions likely being that Pogba will leave in a year or so additionally.

We have started the league amassing 4 points from three games, it doesn't matter what our rivals are doing that's a dreadful dreadful way to begin the season especially with how our last campaign ended. To finish top four you have to aim higher (3rd), the margins are to refined, there's typically five teams who are in contention to get a fourth spot. If Solskjaer finishes 6th again this season he's no improvement on Mourinho on the basis of what's being delivered on the pitch.

 

[Kurton]

To me it looks like Ole is surrounding himself with his buddies and pets, similar to how Jose tried with Zlatan, Lukaku, Matic, etc. and Moyes with Fellaini (and Leighton Baines apparently). The problem is he letting quality deteriorate as a consequence.

His pets Rashy, Lingy, Youngy, Scotty, etc. are going to be his and Utd's downfall. There is no meritocracy in our setup. It seems all the managers we appoint go down this route. I feel he doesn't rate Fred, Matic, Lukaku, Sanchez, Dalot. It just happens to be that some of them are also not rated by fans, which makes it seem to be that he's doing the right things.

I cannot imagine board pushing to send Sanchez on loan paying half his wages when we'll need him due to how thin the squad is. I seems to be Ole and mostly Phelan and carrick's idea. You have to make it work with what you've got unless you have a proper alternative. It seems that they cannot manage Sanchez into giving as much as he can.

 

[Leftback99]

For everyone going on about the last 15 games, other than the obvious 2 the grass isn't much greener anywhere else.

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[yumtum]

How are we going to sell Mata or Jones for a material amount of money? We would be lucky to get a fee for them. I know market is inflated for good players but it's not really inflated for the bottom tier.

I'm not saying we will, I'm saying that's what Woodward is expecting, unless Ile has given him the go ahead to renew their contracts.

 

[dove]

For everyone going on about the last 15 games, other than the obvious 2 the grass isn't much greener anywhere else.

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I don't understand your point here. It's painfully obvious there are 2 teams in the league that are miles ahead of everyone else. Should we be fine with that because Chelsea and Arsenal struggle as well? We should stop looking at the other struggling clubs around us and focus on ourselves instead. Our run of form is horrendous and we picked up exactly where we left off last season.

 

[Kurton]

I don't understand your point here. It's painfully obvious there are 2 teams in the league that are miles ahead of everyone else. Should we be fine with that because Chelsea and Arsenal struggle as well? We should stop looking at the other struggling clubs around us and focus on ourselves instead. Our run of form is horrendous and we picked up exactly where we left off last season.

Yeah, seems like he's already losing what he sought to prove. Except for Wolves all of them have more than double the wins we have had in a similar period. Going by that logic, we should be finishing 10th if a similar trend continues. Solskjear's win percentage is 38% currently, with 10 more goals conceded than scored. Don't know how that should give anyone confidence.

 

[Leftback99]

I don't understand your point here. It's painfully obvious there are 2 teams in the league that are miles ahead of everyone else. Should we be fine with that because Chelsea and Arsenal struggle as well? We should stop looking at the other struggling clubs around us and focus on ourselves instead. Our run of form is horrendous and we picked up exactly where we left off last season.

No we shouldn't be fine with it but should the rest of the league be looking to sack their managers as well? The reality is that this league is super competitive (as the above shows) and we've no divine right to be near the top, especially with the quality of our team right now.

We haven't picked up exactly where we left off either. We've deserved to win all 3 games so far on the balance of play, the end of last season you couldn't say that.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

For everyone going on about the last 15 games, other than the obvious 2 the grass isn't much greener anywhere else.

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Where are we?

 

[Leftback99]

Where are we?

Just below Wolves, Poch's Spurs in the bottom 3. (Doesn't have the relegated sides though).

 

[dove]

No we shouldn't be fine with it but should the rest of the league be looking to sack their managers as well? The reality is that this league is super competitive (as the above shows) and we've no divine right to be near the top, especially with the quality of our team right now.

We haven't picked up exactly where we left off either. We've deserved to win all 3 games so far on the balance of play, the end of last season you couldn't say that.

Not sure what games were you watching. Chelsea one could have easily gone the other way, Wolves was a fair draw and against CP we played right into their hands. At least 14 teams from the league have different expectations, they are probably happy with how they are doing. The form we are in is simply unacceptable, not saying Ole should be sacked right now but surely we cannot blindly expect him to turn it around if we keep struggling as we are now.

 

[Andycoleno9]

As long as we finish top 6 I think the board will back him this season. They will then bankroll another 150 mill next summer and expect top 4 next season. If that doesnt happen, then can see him getting sacked.

I don't think that board's goal is to be out of CL two years in a row. And i don't get this low expectations from fans. All of sudden, we are comparing us with Everton, Wolves and Leicester.
Liverpool and City are stronger than us and to demand from coach to be in front of them would be unrealistic. Tottenham? Well ok, i wouldn't say that we are that much weaker than them but ok, they are also bigger favourites for 4th spot comparing to us.
But Chelsea and Arsenal? Even if they are slightly better than us( which i think is not true), what does that mean? That 6th is good?
No it is not good. 4th place must be goal for any coach with this squad. Excuses for Ole are becoming ridiculous now. We are acting here like we have average squad and that every win is success. Point of having a manager is that he makes your squad better. To be 6th with this squad is just minimum what you must do. For that, we can hire any decent( average) coach in the world.

 

[Strelok]

I found this thread really hilarious, we're just three games into a new season with the youngest squad in the league FGS.