Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

So was Paul Ince right all along?

Honestly, it's starting to look that way.

Ince is still a cnut though.

 

[Sir Scott McToMinay]

Actually it is. How else is it done?

Fergie done the same in 86 by ridding the club of the drinking culture. He went to Edwards and demanded 13 new players that first summer window, did he get them? Of course feckin not! So slowly he got rid of the rotten apples and addressed key areas, namely from the back going forward.

Fergie won a European Cup and a league title with bloody Aberdeen, Ole did absolutely nothing in comparison so all you can go by is wishful thinking, that literally all there is to it.

 

[Dec9003]

Of course they are - if Man Utd wanted any of the ones listed, they'd drop their current jobs and come running mate, no doubt.

And at this point I'd gladly take an ex dipper or City manager (forgot to put Pellegrini in initial list, who I'd also gladly have here instead of OGS).

After all, our current manager grew up a Liverpool fan!

Do you reckon they would be? If so I'd have Nuno now, seems a really good manager.
I know we don't have to get a pl manager, but if we were I think my priority list would be
Poch
Nuno
Howe?
Hasssnhuttl
After that I'm not certain id be fussed about the rest, although Emery seems to be doing a good job at Arsenal.
(Obviously Klopp and Pep are better than those managers, but a Liverpool or city manager leaving their jobs to come from United would just never, ever happen).

 

[Josep Dowling]

Sadly this is what we need to change - the world has moved on from how we played under Fergie, it's about time we did too.

Exactly, all the top teams play pressing football with decent full backs and wingers. We are still leaving in the past. I still see some posters wanting 4-4-2, it’s laughable.

Until we get a progressive manager like Poch it won’t change. Ole was never the right man. Unfortunately we will have to write off another season until the board and some section of the fans realise this.

 

[Stadjer]

He got rid of Smalling, Jones and Ander from the lineup. We have the "ball playing" CB pairing people wanted for years. This is what we get

Ander left himself. Not Ole his fault and besides that Herrera isnt the quality a Manchester United starter should be anyway.

Defenders have to be good on the ball these days. It is expected of them. All the teams with succes have them. City, Spurs and Liverpool all have defenders who are good on the ball. It is just the way of modern football.

With the exception of Chiellini i dont know any central defender at big clubs in Europe who is Smalling-bad on the ball. Chiellini isnt even Smalling bad either.

And Jones, well.. he is alright until he gets injured or does something really stupid. I can fully understand Ole doesnt want to build/trust on him

Two really good midfielders, a really good RW player, a good attacking LB and a better player to partner Maguire and this could be a good, young and exciting team to watch.

 

[Enigma_87]

Literally every manager that's come and gone during Ed Woodward's time in charge, bar Ole so far since he's both still employed and in an insecure position that means he has to play nice, has complained about not getting players that they wanted and asked the club to pursue. I'm no scientist, but I'm starting to see a pattern here...

Keeping the worst one isn’t really a solution either.

 

[UnitedSofa]

Based on what we’ve seen since, yes.

I love this forum, we’re in a bad patch and all of a sudden Ole is sh*te go back to the 10 game run and most of us would have backed the permanent signing of him.

Complain Ole doesnt get rid of the deadwood at the flick of a switch, he gets rid of most of the deadwood and now complaining we’re too light in options haha!!

Fact of the matter is Ole cannot win with our fans no matter what he does.

Give it time.

Next Season will be the one where the real judgement can come out as he wouldve had 3 transfer windows

 

[Andycoleno9]

I don't see how someone still supports Ole.
1) Results are awful.
2) No progress in gamestyle. We look bad as we looked last season despite he had half of last season and pre season to prepare squad
3) His man management is questionable. He has his initial plan A( whatever that is) and when things go south it is game over
4) He decided to sell Lukaku and Alexis even when was clear that he will not get new attacking players
5) He got 150 mil worth defenders. Defence still shit.
6) Everything what he "promised" is missing. We are not playing attacking football, we are not pressing high and our full backs are not involved in attack at all

So, what are we waiting for? Do some of you think that things will be better next week? Or next year? Based on what? Just because Ole said it...

 

[UnitedSofa]

Keeping the worst one isn’t really a solution either.

We’ve played 4 games this season. Four.

 

[passing-wind]

He really needs to be fired. I said before he was made permanent that it would be an error and he would go down the same route as Di Matteo and Shakespeare. He is painfully out of depth (and it’s very enjoyable to watch as an opposition fan). He is incapable of playing anything other than counter football, which just doesn’t work at a top side. He clearly has no real idea how to impact positive and proactive changes on a game to either A) get a goal or B) see out a game. People keep saying the squad is poor etc but it’s nowhere near as poor as his results indicate. A good manager with a progressive style of football would be getting much more out of this team.

I wouldn't say fire straight away but all the points above are completely true. It's embarrassing that fans are still defending what's clearly an incompetent manager and coach.

 

[The_Order]

Would a world class manager accept going in a long season with a team like that? Pep, Klopp, anyone? You are having a laugh mate.

Where did I say Ole was world-class, some of you take a position in your heads and manipulate other people's points to suit them.

Ole is not on Pep's or Klopp's level, if you think anyone is on the other side of that argument, you're the one "having a laugh, mate"

Ole is managing a handicapped team, thems the breaks instead of directing your ire and venom at the board that has sent him out to battle naked, youre all tearing each other apart and spreading toxicity.

 

[LJJT]

The others had actually proven they had quality as a manager. Ole has done nothing.

Are you a united fan? If you are back the manager. Support the manager and the club. We are in an utter mess and it’s all because of poor player investment over 6 years. Various others managers won’t fair any better as per previous seasons.

 

[Ollie Derbyshire]

I’ll always back any United manager and it’s plain to see that we are no where close to winning the Premier League or obviously the Champions League, however no matter what players the manager has available the minimum acceptable return is gaining Champions League football, either via the league or winning the Europa, which is already looking our best route into it next season.

I’ve so far agreed with the players Ole has brought into the club and the ones he has let go. We all know that we need more to come in and more to go out and that we have left ourselves very thin on the ground this year, but if that is the price to pay for rebuilding a very mediocre squad then I’ll take it for one year. We are not the only team in this position, Arsenal and Chelsea are in the same boat in my opinion. They will be equally up and down.

If we are being honest the squad we have is shockingly poor and unbalanced, we need to rebalance it bringing in the right players. Same as City, Liverpool and Spurs have done. Football isn’t rocket science, if you get a couple of windows of transfers right your club moves forward, get them wrong like we have and it doesn’t. You can have an odd season of finishing higher than expected but couple a poor squad with poor team play and you have no chance.

 

[Jim Beam]

Fergie done the same in 86 by ridding the club of the drinking culture. He went to Edwards and demanded 13 new players that first summer window, did he get them? Of course feckin not! So slowly he got rid of the rotten apples and addressed key areas, namely from the back going forward.

You might check your facts on that one.

 

[hobbers]

What happens when you give the hardest job in football to a total novice.

 

[haram]

Are you a united fan? If you are back the manager. Support the manager and the club. We are in an utter mess and it’s all because of poor player investment over 6 years. Various others managers won’t fair any better as per previous seasons.

I am a United fan and I know Ole is not the answer. Simple as that.

 

[LoneStar]

We can't really judge Ole up until he's got 23 hungry guys

Should have kept Lukaku then. Made sure he ate all the food and then you have a squad of hungry players.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Yeah it has but man United is Man united. We should be challenging for everything, playing entertaining fast energetic football with exciting young players. Not filling it full of mercenaries for twitter followers

I get that we want to win but why do we always say the above (bolded)? This has become our go to slogan and yet what makes us so special that we get to say we have the monopoly on exciting young players, we need to rip ourselves away from nostalgia lane and genuinely decide how we feel we can get back to challenging without leaning on 'the good old days' and what used to work. Regardless of his lack of credentials, this for me is why Ole is the wrong choice because the most successful teams are always evolving and changing whereas he wants us to revert to type.

We need to be brave now as a club because we are approaching a crucial point in our history where we genuinely fall out of being considered a top 4 club for the first time in maybe 20 years. I don't think we offset this decline by harking back to the 'We are Man United' line because it is meaningless, we do it by accepting our current place in world football as a tier 2 club, taking small comfort in knowing we have the funds to still compete despite limited recent success and deciding on a direction for the academy and club and sticking to it to ensure we return to being a tier 1 team. Southampton played better football than us today and that's the most disappointing part, it wasn't a shock result.

 

[Massive Spanner]

We've replaced James with Sanchez, James already has the same amount of league goals as Sanchez.

Greenwood has a greater upside than Lukaku who simply didn't fit Ole's plans, why bother keeping him?

Herrera wanted to leave, but he was replaced with McTominay who is of the same quality. A squad level player who offers work rate. Is it that big a deal?

Darmian & Valencia are replaced by Dalot and AWB, The latter 2 are infinitely better options going forward.

Smalling wanted 1st team football but we got Maguire.

It's simply going to take time to coach and improve the younger players like Chong, Gomes and Greenwood to step up and improve the overall quality.

I don't see how McTom replaced Herrera seeing as they both played together in our best midfield three last season with Pogba?

 

[Sir Scott McToMinay]

I love this forum, we’re in a bad patch and all of a sudden Ole is sh*te go back to the 10 game run and most of us would have backed the permanent signing of him.

Complain Ole doesnt get rid of the deadwood at the flick of a switch, he gets rid of most of the deadwood and now complaining we’re too light in options haha!!

Fact of the matter is Ole cannot win with our fans no matter what he does.

Give it time.

Next Season will be the one where the real judgement can come out as he wouldve had 3 transfer windows

That “bad patch” has been going on since the PSG game, which was in March.
He was given the permanent contract way too quickly.
Getting rid of Smalling for nothing was utterly stupid and we’re going to pay for it.

 

[Enigma_87]

We’ve played 4 games this season. Four.

And what about last season?

If he survives this season finishing 7th, shall we erase the results for the next one and start over?

19% win rate since becoming permanent - worst in United history and you still want to keep him?

Have you seen our fixture list? What makes you think things will become better?

Where did I say Ole was world-class, some of you take a position in your heads and manipulate other people's points to suit them.

Ole is not on Pep's or Klopp's level, if you think anyone is on the other side of that argument, you're the one "having a laugh, mate"

Ole is managing a handicapped team, thems the breaks instead of directing your ire and venom at the board that has sent him out to battle naked, youre all tearing each other apart and spreading toxicity.

You said leaving the squad like that is not on him. I counter that any good manager will not accept going into a season like that.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

They'll probably sack him at Christmas and give it to Carrick. They're running out of ideas.

 

[AshRK]

Our average players are still no worse than what Palace, Wolves or Soton have.

Let alone Cardiff, Huddersfield or whoever we played last year during this run.

Do you honestly believe Ole will get a PL job after United?

I don't care if ole gets another job or not. I just don't think any other Pl manager (bar klopp, pep and maybe poch) would have made a significant difference. Our fans are truly gullible in believing that everything lies with the manager. Ole has to take a lot of blame but most of the blame has to be taken by the board. Why was Ole even given this job before the season got over? Why didn't we sign more players and just stick to 3?

If you want short term success then yes let us sack ole and appoint anyone but it will just last for 3 or 4 games and we will be back to what we are seeing now. Some of our players don't have basic skills and you expect other manager to make them great. That's not how football works. There is major issue with this club and I am looking beyond one or two losses.

 

[NJM78]

You need to tag in a mod and ask for one mate.

Thanks.

 

[BluesJr]

He really needs to be fired. I said before he was made permanent that it would be an error and he would go down the same route as Di Matteo and Shakespeare. He is painfully out of depth (and it’s very enjoyable to watch as an opposition fan). He is incapable of playing anything other than counter football, which just doesn’t work at a top side. He clearly has no real idea how to impact positive and proactive changes on a game to either A) get a goal or B) see out a game. People keep saying the squad is poor etc but it’s nowhere near as poor as his results indicate. A good manager with a progressive style of football would be getting much more out of this team.

This is spot on.

 

[The_Order]

And what about last season?

If he survives this season finishing 7th, shall we erase the results for the next one and start over?

19% win rate since becoming permanent - worst in United history and you still want to keep him?

Have you seen our fixture list? What makes you think things will become better?


You said leaving the squad like that is not on him. I counter that any good manager will not accept going into a season like that.

And pray tell, what would a good manager have done in his place when the board would not buy?

 

[passing-wind]

Team finished 2nd less than three years ago, how do you amass a defence for Solskjaer when the capabilities of this team is better than the results he's achieving ? Is the team bad enough to lose at home to palace, struggle with Southampton, get battered 4-0 by Everton ?

I've said this many times and will quote Mitten, Solskjaer's long term success depends on short term results. the club have spent 200 million if we finish 6th / 7th he gives us absolutely nothing long term. There's no improvements on the field compared to when Jose was in charge.

 

[haram]

Oh he's really turning it around lads.

 

[Kostur]

Well it looks like that just being positive and smiling in the press conference doesn't automatically award you points. Our players aren't playing any better just because they 'aren't thrown under the bus' anymore nor do they look to be running a lot more or be more 'passionate' about the whole shit. Jesus I like Ole like probably every one of us here but I think he's doomed to fail here and some of his decisions, or at least decisions he didn't distance himself from making it obvious those are not his, are irritating as feck and are probably going to cost his job in the end.

There's so much wrong with this fecking club it's unbelievable in how deep shit we've managed to find ourselves in. I'm way past his 'rebuilding' spiel, it's all fecking bullshit and sounds a shit excuse in LVG's 'philosophy' ilk. Woodward can feck off right now for being a clueless dick, there's no short, medium or long term plan in place for this club for the footballing matters, none at all, don't get fooled for a second. Now he's put us in a situation where Ole will have to get sacked from the job while he shouldn't have been appointed as a perm in the first place, great job giving him a permament contract before the last season end.

 

[Enigma_87]

I don't care if ole gets another job or not. I just don't think any other Pl manager (bar klopp, pep and maybe poch) would have made a significant difference. Our fans are truly gullible in believing that everything lies with the manager. Ole has to take a lot of blame but most of the blame has to be taken by the board. Why was Ole even given this job before the season got over? Why didn't we sign more players and just stick to 3?

If you want short term success then yes let us sack ole and appoint anyone but it will just last for 3 or 4 games and we will be back to what we are seeing now. Some of our players don't have basic skills and you expect other manager to make them great. That's not how football works. There is major issue with this club and I am looking beyond one or two losses.

Whose job is to make our players play better?

Can Woodward make them play better?

Can a superior coach make what we have play better? There is your answer.

 

[SungSam7]

Unfortunately I'm not that surprised given the direction he has gone since becoming permanent manager. He's basically moved the team in a direction that a lot of posters in here were suggesting. 19% win rate sounds about right for that

Without thinking its an attack on you, but what would you suggest as the way forward? Just out of interest.

 

[BluesJr]

They’d have a bounce for a few months then crash, like ole and all the others. The managers are not the problem

We haven’t had a young vibrant coach with fresh ideas and energy. What we’ve had so far is old tired coaches and a complete noob. If we had a Klopp or someone with actual tactical ability to make a team better than the sum of its parts we’d be doing a lot better. Challenging with these players? No but we’d certainly be winning games like today and last week.

 

[Roboc7]

He’s done it’s as simple as that, whether it happens this year or later in season I don’t know but he won’t get this team to finish any higher than 8th. A combination of the terrible decisions made by the club over years, his limitations as a manger and the huge flaws in the squad all add up to a disaster.

Next 5 league games I don’t see is getting more than 6 points, by then we’re already adrift of top 4 and his record will be so bad he’ll. e under huge pressure and club will be in crisis.

The lack of incomings over the summer let him down, needed at least 2 more to stand a chance.

 

[Alemar]

& replace them with who exactly?

There is no doubt Greenwood is better than Pereira on the right.

Lingard? Anyone would be better - play Fred or Matic or Garner in midfield (alongside McTominay) with Pogba higher up and we are better off. Play Gomes instead of Lingard and we are better off.

Young? Well, his set pieces are diabolical - it can’t be worse, just can’t.

 

[Enigma_87]

And pray tell, what would a good manager have done in his place when the board would not buy?

Learn your players on the fecking basics like take set pieces. Teaching them on some basic attacking moves. Has a plan B when things aren’t going well in games.

Many many things. Do you believe there is literally no one bar 2-3 managers that can make us play better? Really?

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Appalling record. He deserved to be under real pressure. Enough of the honeymoon period for Ole.

 

[The_Order]

We haven’t had a young vibrant coach with fresh ideas and energy. What we’ve had so far is old tired coaches and a complete noob. If we had a Klopp or someone with actual tactical ability to make a team better than the sum of its parts we’d be doing a lot better. Challenging with these players? No but we’d certainly be winning games like today and last week.

I agree with this stance, while I think Ole has some ideas, he's not a testing ground to prove himself, he's been thrown straight into the deep-end of things. I can't think of a more high-pressure in football for a coach of his experience levels. And with an incompetent board, its gonna get pretty ugly for him no doubt.

 

[Darlington Padgett]

We'll be fighting for relegation if he stays here a full season. That was said a thousand times before exaggerating wiht other managers but I believe it might actually happen with him. I know he's a legend and this is a transition period, but this football is as bad as it gets. He only knows how to counter, our players look clueless when given the ball. It looks like they're just told to have fun and attack as they like.

 

[Sarcastico]

No use sacking him now. Should be gone at the end of the season though.

 

[Raven96__]

get that stat from The Sun or Reddit?

Give it 20 games, see then. We've been badly managed for years, got to be patient...

Nothing will change, actually things could get worse.