Do you see the plan yet?

[momo83]

Didnt Liverpool have similiar issues Klopp's first season. Look where theyare now . just buy a few good players and have a better squad ..

People laughed when Pool payed £39m for a Chelsea reject , the signing of Robertson never made the headlines, who the heck was Matip on a free, or that CM from Newcastle, what about injury prone Chamberlain.

Point is none of pools signings, apart from VVD and Allison, stood out and if pool flopped people could have easily said the signings were crap.

 

[buckooo1978]

If you’re not backing Solskjaer now, you’re not paying enough attention. I’ve seen enough in the last two games to be fully confident about where we are going.

what about the 2 games prior?

 

[He'sRaldo]

It’s phase one. And is laying the right foundation. Once done, phase two will be to add more quality and be more proactive. I like what I’m seeing at the moment.

Precisely. Great stuff so far though, and all of a sudden, we're in 5th.

 

[momo83]

Counter attacking football against teams that dominate the ball? What a revolutionary idea.

Great win but let's not use this as a stick to beat people who think Ole is not good enough. Even Mourinho and Van Gaal acheived great results against the top 6 like this.

Funnily enough the victories vs City and Liverpool under LVG were our most dominant. We completely destroyed them for 90 mins.

 

[Sentient Meat]

I give Ole credit that he gets his players to play for him... I'm just not sure he can attract world class players. I get that is something which is built over time as one's reputation builds, but that is my main concern.

Enjoyed the two unexpected wins. Hope it's a genuine turn for the better.

 

[AR87]

There is a plan in terms of building the squad. I thought our transfer business was good at the time and even moreso now. I believe we have turned the corner in navigating the market.

The question now is whether Ole can make us not just deadly on the counter against top teams, which he's excellent at and done much better than Mourinho who was once a counter attack specialist, but also able to dominate and breakdown lesser opposition. He deserves at least the rest of this season before we make a determination imo.

 

[pacifictheme]

If you’re not backing Solskjaer now, you’re not paying enough attention. I’ve seen enough in the last two games to be fully confident about where we are going.

More points against the top 6 than the bottom 14. There are still issues. Jose and lvg won at city.

 

[DVG7]

what about the 2 games prior?

When we were missing arguably our best central midfielder, for which we have no proper replacement?

There’s a very in your face reality about our squad. And thats the fact that our first eleven is very good, very young, very capable of playing in different ways and most importantly, VERY capable of mixing it against some of the best footballers in the league. We’ve been struggling to find an identity for so long, and now that we are starting the see one taking shape, just relax and enjoy. This rebuild has the potential to end up something really, really special. I genuinely believe we are a top centre half and a motivated Paul pogba away from being able to dominate every game we play in, even if a team just sits back.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

What's the plan? I see counter attacking yes. What else can you see to tell us?

The plan is to rebuild the squad, improving players, developing the young talented ones to be top players & teaching these young ones the United Way.

 

[DVG7]

More points against the top 6 than the bottom 14. There are still issues. Jose and lvg won at city.

A few people have made this point. Which was more enjoyable to watch, what Jose did, what LVG did or what OGS did? All the managers have struggled with breaking down lesser teams, but the other two weren’t nearly as adventurous as what OGS was in that first half today. At no point in LVG or Mourinho tenures could you say they deserved to be 3 or 4 goals up at half time of a big game.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

He still needs to figure out a plan against those teams who refuse to get out their half.

Although to be fair, it's a problem we've had for 6 years so it's not just him.

We have seen it already against Norwich & Brighton. Pogba is also a candidate to help Ole to unlock it. Injuries have been massive issue for our inconsistency performance.

 

[morbidsaint]

Some people will never give Ole the credit he deserves. Waste of time even debating with them. All they see is whats 1 day a head. Go support City and feck off.

 

[hobbers]

With 2 wins, 4 draws and 4 defeats against the humdrum sides in the league, it really doesn't matter how dominant you are against Spurs, Chelsea and City over 6 matches in a season. If you average 1 point per game against the bottom 12 sides in the table you have no business managing at United.

So, and it's the third time this season I'm saying this, the next few games will definitely be decisive in determining whether Ole has a future here.

 

[buckooo1978]

People laughed when Pool payed £39m for a Chelsea reject , the signing of Robertson never made the headlines, who the heck was Matip on a free, or that CM from Newcastle, what about injury prone Chamberlain.

Point is none of pools signings, apart from VVD and Allison, stood out and if pool flopped people could have easily said the signings were crap.

Klopp is arguably the best coach in the world right now....

his system is so good and his team so well coached that players like Fabinho get injured and theres no real dip. Mane or Salah dont play and another can step in and they know their job and are supremely motivated to give everything

that's the key - Klopp is 10 times more important than any of their players. Klopp is Woodwards biggest feck up for me... even moreso than the managers or transfer mess - he would have been perfect for us

 

[pacifictheme]

Some people will never give Ole the credit he deserves. Waste of time even debating with them. All they see is whats 1 day a head. Go support City and feck off.

Good debating.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

We are great in the big games and poor against the weaker sides. Would need a qualify number 10 to help us break teams down. A better striker against the weaker teams would be needed too. Our fullbacks are also not that great in attack which is something needed mostly against compact sides.

 

[pacifictheme]

A few people have made this point. Which was more enjoyable to watch, what Jose did, what LVG did or what OGS did? All the managers have struggled with breaking down lesser teams, but the other two weren’t nearly as adventurous as what OGS was in that first half today. At no point in LVG or Mourinho tenures could you say they deserved to be 3 or 4 goals up at half time of a big game.

Well yeah but our whole style relies on opposition teams to give us space so weirdly we will always have a better chance against good teams because they will try to play football. I see someone else quoting 1 point per game against the bottom 12 sides or something like that. That is absolutely awful.

I want ole to succeed, but the jury ia still way out on whether he is the right man.

 

[momo83]

Good debating.

He pointed and screamed thief and then walked away with his stolen goods from the souk

 

[Ramshock]

If you’re not backing Solskjaer now, you’re not paying enough attention. I’ve seen enough in the last two games to be fully confident about where we are going.

I saw it months ago, then again im not a thick plastic git

 

[lysglimt]

Funnily enough the victories vs City and Liverpool under LVG were our most dominant. We completely destroyed them for 90 mins.

Those weren't exactly the same quality as they have today though - and Liverpool played 44 minutes with 10 men.

 

[Volumiza]

I genuinely believe we are a top centre half and a motivated Paul pogba away from being able to dominate every game we play in, even if a team just sits back.

Yep, I agree. If Fred and McT can keep this recent level of performance up when PP returns and he gets his head in the game we’ll be sound.

RW has been sorted for £15m, Rashford is looking like he’s really hitting some stride now. Let’s hope this run of form keeps coming.

 

[L1nk]

Why is it whenever we start playing well he decides to tell them to stop playing well and gets us to sit back, which has invited major pressure and almost cost us big time, we had the best 30 minutes of his tenure so far at the start, then City pretty much dominated us till the end, and they had us on the ropes towards the end. Needless... Neville said it best on comms, our best from of defense was to attack but instead he had us sit back and invite pressure, stupid

 

[ManRed]

I give Ole credit that he gets his players to play for him... I'm just not sure he can attract world class players. I get that is something which is built over time as one's reputation builds, but that is my main concern.

Enjoyed the two unexpected wins. Hope it's a genuine turn for the better.

Sick and tired of wanting to attract world class. It hasn't worked for us. I rather have a Scott over Di Maria or Sanchez.

 

[SteveW]

We've won 7 out of our last 8 with Fred and Mctominay. The wobble was when Pereira had to play CM.

We are clearly improving. Isn't that what we had hoped to do through good coaching??

 

[pacifictheme]

I saw it months ago, then again im not a thick plastic git

Top red alert.

 

[SteveW]

With 2 wins, 4 draws and 4 defeats against the humdrum sides in the league, it really doesn't matter how dominant you are against Spurs, Chelsea and City over 6 matches in a season. If you average 1 point per game against the bottom 12 sides in the table you have no business managing at United.

So, and it's the third time this season I'm saying this, the next few games will definitely be decisive in determining whether Ole has a future here.

Say it all you want. He's going nowhere

 

[Irwin99]

There's always been a plan... it just hasn't worked very often and it seems limited (hence why we NEEDED more players and stillneed players in January). I said after the match against Brighton who (imo) were absolutely suicidal in their tactics against us, if you give this team space it will absolutely kill you on the break. Nothing's changed in that regard since the Chelsea game on opening day and even further back than that. I do feel like other teams are underestimating us again after a poor run of results and they're paying for it The team are working for the manager and seem pretty together but I'm cautious because there's going to be a boring midtable team like Wolves or Palace that say 'yeah, we're not doing what you want us to do' and proceed to frustrate the life out of us.

What are we going to do when other teams wise up a bit and counter our attacking play? Is the technical level of the team high enough? Are the energy levels seen in these two games sustainable? Rashford is in incredible form at the mo but he's won two penalties in the last two games from really dumb decisions from defenders. Again, i'll take it but you have to wonder if teams will wise up a bit and say don't jump in when a player is really just running down a blind alley.

I'm not taking anything away from the past two results, we've absolutely deserved them and the mentality has been by far the most pleasing thing on show. These are honest questions and i'd like to hear unbiased answers from either Ole in or Ole out fans.

 

[DVG7]

Why is it whenever we start playing well he decides to tell them to stop playing well and gets us to sit back, which has invited major pressure and almost cost us big time, we had the best 30 minutes of his tenure so far at the start, then City pretty much dominated us till the end, and they had us on the ropes towards the end. Needless... Neville said it best on comms, our best from of defense was to attack but instead he had us sit back and invite pressure, stupid

This would qualify as a good post if the tactics he deployed hadn’t been directly responsible for us winning one of the toughest, if not the toughest games we will have all season.

 

[SteveW]

I saw it months ago, then again im not a thick plastic git

Same

 

[Sandikan]

I remember watching Liverpool utterly open up a quality team a couple of years ago, either City or Chelsea, and thought, they're starting to become a force here.

I had that same feeling in the first 30 mins today...

Let's hope these 2 games are the start of our emergence, and it's a case of fitting in a few more signings around the quality we have.

 

[M Bison]

Yes i see the plan, i was waivering after the Villa result i must admit but I remain in support of Ole. We're making the right inroads and are creating a solid base to work from. We've dropped a lot of points against so-called lesser clubs and late in the game which has cost us, we should have a lot more points on the board but we're playing really well (in parts) and attacking with real intent.

It certainly feels like we're moving in the right direction and we're only a few players short, seeing the youth playing is fantastic too.

The Christmas period is massive - the December fixtures are all winnable

 

[buckooo1978]

When we were missing arguably our best central midfielder, for which we have no proper replacement?

There’s a very in your face reality about our squad. And thats the fact that our first eleven is very good, very young, very capable of playing in different ways and most importantly, VERY capable of mixing it against some of the best footballers in the league. We’ve been struggling to find an identity for so long, and now that we are starting the see one taking shape, just relax and enjoy. This rebuild has the potential to end up something really, really special. I genuinely believe we are a top centre half and a motivated Paul pogba away from being able to dominate every game we play in, even if a team just sits back.

I'd love to think you are right but I don't in all honesty.....

Solskjaer's team have always been a really good counter attacking team when the frontmen are on it - that's a big but though

hes shown consistently that he can get the players up for a big game with a backs to the wall performance- Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and PSG last year. Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and City this year.

But there is no evidence of a plan against teams with a low block whove troubled us greatly. Beaten quite well at times by Palace, Newcastle, Bournemouth and outplayed by Sheff Utd, Aston Villa and Rochdale - how do you explain the dire performances in these? there's littke excuse for the shite we've served up at times. A good coach should be able to organise and motivate a team to win those games against lower league teams

you cite Pogba as an example - supremely talented but really flaky... he sums up United really. On his day fantastic but mainly average.

Rashford is on it at the minute... he's been world class the last spell of games but he's always been patchy. Martial is the flakiest player in the squad. Can Fred continue to perform. too many questions really for me to think Solskjaer will get it right long term - he's shown nothing in his career so far to suggest he will do it I'm afraid.

if Solskjaer gets a left back, 2 midfielders who are creative and a right sided attacker we might see what his plan is.

At the minute we are just a big game counter attacking side who struggle to break down teams who defend deep.

 

[Sandikan]

Why is it whenever we start playing well he decides to tell them to stop playing well and gets us to sit back, which has invited major pressure and almost cost us big time, we had the best 30 minutes of his tenure so far at the start, then City pretty much dominated us till the end, and they had us on the ropes towards the end. Needless... Neville said it best on comms, our best from of defense was to attack but instead he had us sit back and invite pressure, stupid

Because there's 2 teams in a game, and however good you are, you will never have it your own way the whole game.

We were pouring forward at 1 and 2-0 up, and had a lot of chances. City were dreadful too.

They upped their game, so we had to rely more on containment. They're still a very dangerous game, even when not on top form.

 

[spiriticon]

We have seen it already against Norwich & Brighton. Pogba is also a candidate to help Ole to unlock it. Injuries have been massive issue for our inconsistency performance.

I for one cannot wait for Pogback.

Pogba at 10 with Fred and McT protecting him just behind. It's a scenario that is hand-made to unlock the best outta him.

Also when Pogba is inspired, he can cut through the low block teams like swiss cheese.

 

[Tom Cato]

Counter attacking football against teams that dominate the ball? What a revolutionary idea.

Great win but let's not use this as a stick to beat people who think Ole is not good enough. Even Mourinho and Van Gaal acheived great results against the top 6 like this.

We have 9 wins, 4 draws, 2 losses in 15 games v the top6 sides. Let's not discredit what a phenomenal statistic that is. 14 out of 18 possible points v the top6 and leicester this season.

He's obviously doing something extremely right. We've been injury riddled, the players we have to choose between are key.

 

[waza7111]

We have 9 wins, 4 draws, 2 losses in 15 games v the top6 sides. Let's not discredit what a phenomenal statistic that is. 14 out of 18 possible points v the top6 and leicester this season.

He's obviously doing something extremely right. We've been injury riddled, the players we have to choose between are key.

10 points out of 30 against the other teams

 

[vidic blood & sand]

We wont reach the top positions by winning against the big teams and losing points to the dross. Once we know how to put the lower teams away, we will be on the right track. Easier said than done, but so far, we still dont know how to win games consistently against teams not in the top 6.

I thought we played well against dross tonight.

 

[ThinkTank@Cafe]

I’m all in support of this thread.

Guys...really take it easy. It’s just football, it’s for fun, it’s meant to bring only positive emotions. No need to overthink about tactics, stats, players, blah blah. See bigger pictures. Just in 11 months Ole delivered two things in our lives: United squad full of academy players and THAT feeling : we can beat anyone!

 

[Tom Cato]

10 points out of 30 against the other teams

Read the last sentence of my post

 

[vidic blood & sand]

We've just fecked over City and still we've got whingers.

I guarantee you that the whingers started supporting United from the early 90s onwards.