Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: I'd rather have a hole in Man Utd squad than 'an a***hole'

[romufc]

I know plenty of Real fans who consider Ramos a total arsehole, they understand how he played his cards in order to get the contract he wanted couple of years ago, there was also an incident with some youth player The others you mentioned are also fine examples of players who in parts of their careers acted like dickheads in order to protect their own interests.

The thing is he might be one but you can agree that Ramos puts the team first when on the pitch? Secondly, the thing about his contract and all has come about after he has been in a successful team where he has proved himself to be one of the best defenders.

No one at United has done such a thing, so when you are building a team from nothing, you cannot afford those characters, you need everyone who will want to get the team to that level.

Do you not think Rashford or Martial if we win a league or CL will be asking for money or create a few more issues? ofcourse they will but Ole knows they will play for the team.

 

[Bebestation]

I'd rather not have Lukaku here and avoid top 4 for a year.

What Ole is doing is building a hard working dedicated squad for the next manager even if he is fired.

Everyone who cant be 'arsed' are out of here whether we achieve our goals or not.

Forget our achievements & focus on work rate for once - god damn.

How can anyone not see that, pure gold diggers.

 

[romufc]

I'd rather not have Lukaku here and avoid top 4 for a year.

What Ole is doing is building a hard working dedicated squad for the next manager even if he is fired.

Everyone who cant be 'arsed' are out of here whether we achieve our goals or not.

Forget our achievements & focus on work rate for once - god damn.

How can anyone not see that, pure gold diggers.

This.

I have said it a few times, I would rather see us have a thin squad this year and pin point exactly where we need to improve than keep giving chances to players.

We can see how even with results not going well, the team harmony is there and players are starting to believe in what the manager wants done.

The players have said it themselves, Ole has improved. Why can our fans not see that Ole is improving as a manager too.

I am starting to like this team, closed doors or not, I am quite excited to see what Pogba, Bruno, Martial, Rashy can do.

 

[ti vu]

I take your point, if Ole is saying 'I don't want to work with any fiery geniuses, I only want compliant puppy dogs' he can feck right off as you're right to say every great side had its characters (i.e. assholes). However I'm willing to give Ole more credit than that. I don't think he was saying he'd turn down prime Keane because he's a bit of a nasty man, I think it's more likely he means he doesn't want dickheads who are not only not pulling their weight but who are poisoning the atmosphere in his dressing room. It seems like he's had at least one of those in Sanchez, which is why he feels it necessary to state this fairly obvious fact.

Everyone get the point that manager would like players to stay in line, the line of manager's thinking.

The issue is how the message was delivered. Still a WIP. Nothing to show for as success, so this came off as a declaration to the players, former and future included: instead of a discussion of philosophy for an interview.

I can't recall SAF did something like this, even when he was in position where everyone was silent. Even his opening up after retirement, he's downplaying his hairdryer treatment, and stuffs. There is something that is always known, but shouldn't be telling in public in every trade. This is one of it.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

Everyone get the point that manager would like players to stay in line, the line of manager's thinking.

The issue is how the message was delivered. Still a WIP. Nothing to show for as success, so this came off as a declaration to the players, former and future included: instead of a discussion of philosophy for an interview.

I can't recall SAF did something like this, even when he was in position where everyone was silent. Even his opening up after retirement, he's downplaying his hairdryer treatment, and stuffs. There is something that is always known, but shouldn't be telling in public in every trade. This is one of it.

The Metro have certainly framed it as a swipe against Sanchez and Lukaku, and to be fair I'd be surprised if he didn't have the former in mind if not the latter. But the truth is we don't know how the conversation went and exactly what Ole had in his mind wen he made this comment. For me it reads as a fairly obvious statement of fact; that you don't want bad apples in your squad and that the mental strength of your players is as important as their physical attributes/footballing talent etc. with the added context that we can infer Ole wasn't particularly happy with Sanchez's contribution during his time as manager, ad probably not Lukaku's too.

If you think he's been too candid in this interview that's fair enough, personally I've not seen anything here to cause me much disquiet.

 

[ti vu]

The Metro have certainly framed it as a swipe against Sanchez and Lukaku, and to be fair I'd be surprised if he didn't have the former in mind if not the latter. But the truth is we don't know how the conversation went and exactly what Ole had in his mind wen he made this comment. For me it reads as a fairly obvious statement of fact; that you don't want bad apples in your squad and that the mental strength of your players is as important as their physical attributes/footballing talent etc. with the added context that we can infer Ole wasn't particularly happy with Sanchez's contribution during his time as manager, ad probably not Lukaku's too.

If you think he's been too candid in this interview that's fair enough, personally I've not seen anything here to cause me much disquiet.

Just as I wrote in my previous post, everyone want the same thing: no bad apple. A team of individual looking at same direction.

Wanting something is one thing. Making it happened is another thing. Someone like SAF who could silent his distractors didn't talk these kind of obvious talk. Ole is not there. The bad apple can achieve success elsewhere, where Ole has everything to prove. Wenger's Arsenal post Highbury has everything to boast about team building, their fan base calling players leaving as traitors; until reality hits home. Arsenal was declining, players had a point to leave to salvage something for their career.

Many times, you don't have to tell the obvious. Just let the result speak for itself, or you're only digging your own grave.

"Rather having a hole in the squad" is quite a statement, when most of other managers wouldn't bat an eyelid to spend and give it a try. Arsehole or not, especially in cut throat situation. Are Ole feeling too comfortable in this rebuild project? Are we certainly fail proof from here on? Time will tell.

 

[Tom Cato]

[

Why don't you just stick back to climbing into Ole's arse since you enjoy being there. He has achieved feck all and he is not someone who should blubber about teams and personalities. His team is 37 points behind the leader. There are plenty of arseholes into plenty of great teams, good managers know how to deal with them.

- Ole Gunnar Solskjær has won 6 Premier League titles, 1 Champions League title, 2 Intercontinental cup titles, 2 FA cup trophies and 4 English Super Cup titles. I know you're refering to his coaching career, but I'll just gladly remind you that this isn't some novice who's not used to being in a winning environment. He thrived in one for a solid decade. His banner hangs on Old Trafford. He understands extremely well what it takes to win from a players perspective. We can safely assume that he's trying to ingrain that into the squad. SURELY that is what we want, right?

For all we know he is lucky the league was paused, he might have been out of the door by now.

- I'm going to make a bold statement: You're making things up. Here's our stats the last 11 games before the season paused: 11 Games played 29 goals scored 2 goals allowed - 9 clean sheets | 8 Win 3 Draw in that time period. NINE clean sheets in 11 games. We've beat Manchester City twice and Chelsea once to name a few games. Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba was slotted for returns, further strenghtening the squad.

Both Chelsea and Leicester have a harder fixture list than we do to finish the season. Our current pace of games, combined with Chelsea and Leicesters form, have us not finishing 4th, but third. 8 points behind a Leicester team in the middle of a hard slide is not unsurmountable. Leicester have won 4 out of their last 13 Premier Leauge games. They are massively out of form.

There are plenty of arseholes in many successful teams. Plenty of world class players were absolute arseholes, the best managers know how to manage them.

Sure there are many arseholes in football teams. For example you have Sergio Ramos who is a bit of a d*ck, but who at the same time will absolutely die on the pitch for Real Madrid if he needs to. Then you have Mario Balotelli who gets shipped around because he's just a disturbance. You want warriors with attitudes, not troublemakers. I'm sure you get the difference.

Zero chance, don't be so sure about that. We went into the season pause on the back of couple of solid results, but we are far from being where we need to be.

I'll help your honesty: We went into the pause as the most in form team in Europe with the stingiest defense in Europe, with a foot and half into the next stage of the Europa league, with a CL spot very much in reach, after a string of very good results, including giving Pep Guardiola his first ever double loss to a team in any season in his career. But don't let some negativity get in the way of excellent pessimism

Now he has no "assholes" in the team and is still 5th, for all we know those last few results were another false dawn and we are back to being shit and beaten by the likes of Crystal Palace.

Sure, no one can predict the future. Just as you are allowed to see things from a broader perspective than "Ole Bad".

 

[diarm]

He should probably stick more to his coaching and try to achieve something significant, something like finishing in the top 4 at least before mouthing off shit like this. As it stands he could be sacked by September and this will come to bite him on the ass.

Posts like this make me wish we could apply the Solskjaer philosophy to the Caf.

 

[Brightonian]

Good comments, I like to hear that. For the most part he seems to be making it happen, too. So many of the players who have improved under him - Rashford, Fred, McTominay, Martial, Shaw - have done so as part of a unit that finally looks cohesive, tactically and mentally.

 

[golden_blunder]

Well done Ole

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Do not like comments like this. Is it not up to the manager to inspire and get players to function in the group? I am not sure the players that left would be impossible to work with.
They have shown better desire and attitude at Inter already.

Although maybe it had gone too bad here. I am not sure what Lukakus problem was, but it is ashame we couldn't get a world class striker like him work here.
Pogba out next I guess too. Although I think the Corona situation might actually help us keeping him.

 

[macheda14]

Do not like comments like this. Is it not up to the manager to inspire and get players to function in the group? I am not sure the players that left would be impossible to work with.
They have shown better desire and attitude at Inter already.

Although maybe it had gone too bad here. I am not sure what Lukakus problem was, but it is ashame we couldn't get a world class striker like him work here.
Pogba out next I guess too. Although I think the Corona situation might actually help us keeping him.

I think the comment is regarding transfers in rather than transfers out. He would rather not buy someone than buy the wrong person.

 

[Kostov]

The thing is he might be one but you can agree that Ramos puts the team first when on the pitch? Secondly, the thing about his contract and all has come about after he has been in a successful team where he has proved himself to be one of the best defenders.

No one at United has done such a thing, so when you are building a team from nothing, you cannot afford those characters, you need everyone who will want to get the team to that level.

Do you not think Rashford or Martial if we win a league or CL will be asking for money or create a few more issues? ofcourse they will but Ole knows they will play for the team.

Put Ramos in a team like ours, with no other characters like him to keep his ego in check and he will show his colors. And I completely agree about the part that no one at United has proved much at club level. But that same thing applies to the manager imo. We have characters like Pogba and Lingard who are far from your perfect player but one of them (Pogba) is worth the hustle. That same Pogba let his agent blubber shit about his own manager and he is okey? At the end of the day I am not sure what he means by assholes, but at this age where it is difficult to obtain world class players, and unproven manager like Ole should be much more open to compromise since most of the best players in the World have an asshole element.

I take your point, if Ole is saying 'I don't want to work with any fiery geniuses, I only want compliant puppy dogs' he can feck right off as you're right to say every great side had its characters (i.e. assholes). However I'm willing to give Ole more credit than that. I don't think he was saying he'd turn down prime Keane because he's a bit of a nasty man, I think it's more likely he means he doesn't want dickheads who are not only not pulling their weight but who are poisoning the atmosphere in his dressing room. It seems like he's had at least one of those in Sanchez, which is why he feels it necessary to state this fairly obvious fact.

He might mean something completely different, but as I just pointed out, I think he is far too unproven too claim I don't want this kind of asshole or that. Most of today's superstars are morons with unlikable and hard to manage personas.

Posts like this make me wish we could apply the Solskjaer philosophy to the Caf.

I wish you write something worth discussing, Solskjaer philosophy? What the feck is that? Are you teaching it? It might be something new, I guess you love it.

 

[Handré1990]

Do not like comments like this. Is it not up to the manager to inspire and get players to function in the group? I am not sure the players that left would be impossible to work with.
They have shown better desire and attitude at Inter already.

Although maybe it had gone too bad here. I am not sure what Lukakus problem was, but it is ashame we couldn't get a world class striker like him work here.
Pogba out next I guess too. Although I think the Corona situation might actually help us keeping him.

Reported for abusive language!

In all seriousness though, that term is bandied about way too much. It’s so watered out you could subsist on it. Lukaku isn’t, and has never been «world class». He has never been a striker in the absolute top tier.

As for the rest of the thread, caf’s gonna caf. His point is pretty simple, he’s looking for the right fit in any new player brought in, and they have to work hard both on and off the field.

All you posters who are getting your knickers in a twist are simply showing your true colors. How is it possible to react strongly either way at some generic comments like these?

 

[diarm]

I wish you write something worth discussing, Solskjaer philosophy? What the feck is that? Are you teaching it? It might be something new, I guess you love it.

Rather a hole than an arsehole mate.

 

[Handré1990]

Posts like this make me wish we could apply the Solskjaer philosophy to the Caf.

Nah, he’s right. Can’t you see our manager should keep his mouth shut until he’s won everything with us! I mean, I guess I agree with @Kostov that he can speak while coaching (I assume that’s fair game Kos?).

 

[Kag]

It’s a brilliant quote; one that was in all likelihood delivered with a bit of a grin.

Trust the resident weirdos to pick fault with it, however.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Reported for abusive language!

In all seriousness though, that term is bandied about way too much. It’s so watered out you could subsist on it. Lukaku isn’t, and has never been «world class». He has never been a striker in the absolute top tier.

As for the rest of the thread, caf’s gonna caf. His point is pretty simple, he’s looking for the right fit in any new player brought in, and they have to work hard both on and off the field.

All you posters who are getting your knickers in a twist are simply showing your true colors. How is it possible to react strongly either way at some generic comments like these?

We can agree to disagree regarding Lukaku. It is fair enough that he wants to build his own team with the right fit for him. Although most managers have to work with what they got first. Not sure his view is the best one for us either. I guess it depend on our goals.

We will see if his plan is working out this summer. We really need to bring some players in. Although Corona might have effected our plans sadly.

 

[Tiber]

Well said Ole

 

[romufc]

Put Ramos in a team like ours, with no other characters like him to keep his ego in check and he will show his colors. And I completely agree about the part that no one at United has proved much at club level. But that same thing applies to the manager imo. We have characters like Pogba and Lingard who are far from your perfect player but one of them (Pogba) is worth the hustle. That same Pogba let his agent blubber shit about his own manager and he is okey? At the end of the day I am not sure what he means by assholes, but at this age where it is difficult to obtain world class players, and unproven manager like Ole should be much more open to compromise since most of the best players in the World have an asshole element.

I think you are completely missing the point and are dwelling on the term asshole a bit too much. He went onto say he wants players who want to play for the team when the team is not playing well. Ramos is 32 and signed for Madrid in 2005, so he knows the club. He done exactly what Rooney done under Fergie when he wanted the contract. No one here saying Rooney is asshole, but if Rooney did that without achieving what he has, he would have been one. that is the difference.

None of the players Ole might be hinting to have done anything at United. The same applied for the manager? Is he coming across as an asshole to you? Is he egoistic? With respects to Pogba and Lingard, Ole knows their character better than most managers having worked with them at youth level, alot can be said about Pogba off field but on the pitch he will try for the team.

What you are referring to is off the field things about Lingard and Pogba. Lukaku and Sanchez didn't have the best attitude on the pitch.

If you are talking about Pogba, clearly you don't know the type of person he is, every player at United speaks highly of him, saying he is a good person etc.. he is a leader and has shown it.

I get it you do not like Ole.

 

[Kostov]

First of all what Ole has won as a player was not my point, nor is relevant when we discuss his present actions. As it stands he is a very unproven manager who's won 45 points in the league, while he just spent 150m on new players. Based on previous criteria for previous managers, he was likely to be sacked.

Regarding the 11 games undefeated and 29 goals scored, 16 of those goals were scored against LASK, Tranmere and Brugge, not that they were bad results but a bit of context. I am also very excited to see the team in full force, but also very cautious. I've been drawn into false hope way too many times.

Regarding the Ramos and Balloteli part, yes Ramos would die for his shirt, but not because he is not an arsehole, but because of the club and team culture. Ole speaks about not wanting arseholes in his team but then gives countless of chances to clowns like Lingard, gives contract to players who do not deserve ones. How do you expect if we had a character like Sergio Ramos he will behave? As it stands Ole is not in a position to come out with comments like that.

And that last part, I won't base my opinion on Ole on 11 games in which we won against City and Chelsea and beat some absolute shit teams. I base my opinion on his time here, and I am genuinely undecided on what is expecting us. Yes the latest part of the season was positive but also we had some very easy games. Not so long ago Burnley beat us and we were embarrassed by Arsenal. There are positive aspects of his management, but I feel he should not come out with comments like that while he is still very unproven.

 

[Bebestation]

Do not like comments like this. Is it not up to the manager to inspire and get players to function in the group? I am not sure the players that left would be impossible to work with.
They have shown better desire and attitude at Inter already.

Although maybe it had gone too bad here. I am not sure what Lukakus problem was, but it is ashame we couldn't get a world class striker like him work here.
Pogba out next I guess too. Although I think the Corona situation might actually help us keeping him.

Inspire what?

Lukaku was saying that he was thinking about leaving United from his 2nd game.

I wanted Smalling to stay but the more I look at it - if he wasnt willing to stay here and fight for his spot, what exactly makes him think he wouldn't have got a chance to oust Lindelof or be level playing field with Lindelof in the first place.

Rojo is smoking.

Sanchez is or was a technical player seeming like he was not giving the right amount of effort.

Herrera needed a big contract and enjoys sitting on the bench.

Do we have holes in the squad? Yes. Do we miss them? Absolutely not - because for the first time we have started to get rid of the players that dont have the right blend of attitude for each other & the players who 'potentially' dont will stand out easily too (like Pogba) whilst the players who do will also stand out like Bruno, Rashford, Mctomminay & so much more.

Just forget the top 4 for one season & forget about the players that maybe would have scraped getting in to there - doing that then ditching half the players to potentially get Sancho & Grealish whilst promoting Greenwood doesnt make sense either does it?

They had go because they didn't want to be here & for ole to show a solid base or core of some sort of a team that he wanted to see, even if it's not for him next year.

 

[Kostov]

Nah, he’s right. Can’t you see our manager should keep his mouth shut until he’s won everything with us! I mean, I guess I agree with @Kostov that he can speak while coaching (I assume that’s fair game Kos?).

Yeah that's a great taking from such a lovely lads, you want some cherry while you kiss?

 

[He'sRaldo]

While he is right technically, there's always a danger on focusing too much on one specific aspect and magnifying that to be the be all and end all. I reckon this is all just soundbites for the fans, and behind closed doors he actually takes a more holistic approach to management; at least I hope so.

And in the fans' case, we tend to view attitude as top of the pile but I think we should be more realistic, especially if we actually want to achieve something again. Attitude is just one important part of a successful team; not the only part, or the most important.

 

[Handré1990]

Yeah that's a great taking from such a lovely lads, you want some cherry while you kiss?

I’m sorry, but you’re being ridiculous, so you get ridiculous answers. I do love cherry though!

Also, you haven’t won anything so you should shut your whore mouth!!1

 

[7even]

With a couple of months without football and time to reflect I must say that Ole Gunnar is in a totally different position then he was six month ago. Good results is everything.

Making a statement like this (regarding bad personalities) will strengthens Ole’s position even more when recent results is in his favor and our future looks good. United is one the right track and with that in mind Ole’s comments was spot on. Almost the whole United nation is behind him so he is in a good position to talk.

With that in mind I think it’s also worth to mention that it’s a thin line between saying the right things or talking to much. Let the results so the talking is the general rule and to much yada yada will only create unnecessary distractions.

Hopefully Ole learn from this and notice that every little things he says will be scrutinized but as it stands he’s in a very strong position to take this club forward.

 

[JJ12]

Why don't you just stick back to climbing into Ole's arse since you enjoy being there. He has achieved feck all and he is not someone who should blubber about teams and personalities. His team is 37 points behind the leader. There are plenty of arseholes into plenty of great teams, good managers know how to deal with them.


For all we know he is lucky the league was paused, he might have been out of the door by now.


There are plenty of arseholes in many successful teams. Plenty of world class players were absolute arseholes, the best managers know how to manage them.


Zero chance, don't be so sure about that. We went into the season pause on the back of couple of solid results, but we are far from being where we need to be.


I've got many issues, you want to be my psychiatrist? There are plenty of arseholes who are top notch players and contribute to a successful team. Good managers know how to deal with them.


Now he has no "assholes" in the team and is still 5th, for all we know those last few results were another false dawn and we are back to being shit and beaten by the likes of Crystal Palace.

No. Theres no way he was or is being sacked before the start of next season.

 

[SAFMUTD]

He was talking about Alexis/Lukaku 100%

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

He was talking about Alexis/Lukaku 100%

Sure it is pretty obvious. What he should ask is why he could not get more out of them here.
Although Mourinho is to be blamed mostly for that. He got the sack as a result though.

 

[Sylar]

I mean this thread is judging him based on words with no context. Did he say it as a joke? Did he say it seriously? Context matters.
And its quite funny too.
A-hole rather than an ahole. I mean if people dont get the humour in that, then its too much.

And even then, its the right way we should be going. IF we need a RW, you dont just buy for the sake of buying. Weve tried that approach and it hasnt resulted in glory. You have that missing piece until the right one comes along. Anything else is madness.

 

[lukepowell1988]

We won't be signing Grealish then!

 

[Nickelodeon]

-No they are just not the exclusive metrics like I said. Do you honestly not think this team looks better than it has in previous years?
-Great let's do the top 4 shuffle again and bring in a new manager and start all over even though we actually look half decent.
-And I'd say this autonomy on transfers has gone pretty well so far, wouldn't you? Or do you think Maguire, AWB, James and Fernandes have been failures?
-Come again? A severe depletion? What team are you watching?

I don't know what age you are but maybe this is a generational thing. This new breed of United fan depresses the shit out of me.

First of all, calm down before all spouting all this "new breed of United fan" nonsense. Just because an opinion is different than yours doesn't make you right or wrong. Please be a little more tolerant. Now, addressing each of your points:

-No they are just not the exclusive metrics like I said. Do you honestly not think this team looks better than it has in previous years?: We have looked better in the past 11 games and have done in the bigger games in general. But there have been games where we've looked worse than ever (Newcastle (A), Burnley (H), Watford (A) to name a few). Which is why I firmly believe that there are some tangible (top 4 or UCL in anyway) and some intangible metrics (half decent style of football, not being poisonous like Jose) that need to be defined and if either are not met, the manager should pay the price. We gave all the 3 prior managers more time than they deserved.
-Great let's do the top 4 shuffle again and bring in a new manager and start all over even though we actually look half decent.: Ultimately, in my opinion, there are some targets which if they are not met, the manager should pay the price even if it seems harsh. The league table doesn't lie. We're 37 points behind the leaders. Only in the top 4 race because Chelsea are almost as shite as we've been. If Ole has brought us to a half decent level, then a better manager might be able to make us top 4 regulars/title challengers. We've seen the turnaround managers have in their first seasons (Ex: Conte at Chelsea, Rodgers at Leicester). No reason why we can't do the same if our recruitment remains focused for managers as well/
-And I'd say this autonomy on transfers has gone pretty well so far, wouldn't you? Or do you think Maguire, AWB, James and Fernandes have been failures?: The point for autonomy of transfers is to highlight that Ole has been equipped with resources to achieve our targets for the season. Yes, the recruitment has been better than previous seasons, but if we don't even get into the top 4 ahead of Leicester (who finished behind us last season), then what's the point?
-Come again? A severe depletion? What team are you watching?: Please recall the season we've had prior to the last 11 games. FFS, we had Lingard as our CF in the West Ham (A) fixture. There was a conscious decision to not replace Herrara and Lukaku and we did pay a price in the first half of the season and were extremely frantic in our search for a striker before we signed Ighalo. Ultimately, it is the managers decision and if he achieves our targets for the season, then brilliant, otherwise there have to be repercussions.

Summarizing in context of the topic of the thread, Ole hasn't yet earned the stripes to be openly lauding his strategy of removing "a**eholes" from the squad. We haven't achieved anything yet. Such statements would be more suited to hindsight if and when we can claim 2019/20 to be a successful season.

 

[jem]

He should probably stick more to his coaching and try to achieve something significant, something like finishing in the top 4 at least before mouthing off shit like this. As it stands he could be sacked by September and this will come to bite him on the ass.

Mouthing off? Who exactly are you worried about him offending? Assholes? If he gets sacked, I seriously doubt that this quote will feature on his epitaph.

 

[TrustInOle]

Love it!

 

[TrustInOle]

I think the comment is regarding transfers in rather than transfers out. He would rather not buy someone than buy the wrong person.

Nail on the head. People love to take things out of context. Nothing wrong what-so-ever with his comments and I fully back them.

 

[Guapa]

Spot on Ole.The team/club are the most important thing and will bring success.No room for a'holes is right.

 

[Zlatattack]

He's 100% correct. We need the right player - we've wasted too much time with players who didn't want to be here and get stuck in for the team.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Ole threads are the best

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

This.

I have said it a few times, I would rather see us have a thin squad this year and pin point exactly where we need to improve than keep giving chances to players.

We can see how even with results not going well, the team harmony is there and players are starting to believe in what the manager wants done.

The players have said it themselves, Ole has improved. Why can our fans not see that Ole is improving as a manager too.

I am starting to like this team, closed doors or not, I am quite excited to see what Pogba, Bruno, Martial, Rashy can do.

Isn’t this exactly what OgS was claiming to be doing when our form fell off a cliff at the end of last season only to not sign players in key positions in the window?

The squad seem more harmonious, yes. The results leading up to the Covid break had improved, yes but over the course of the season we’ve had so far OgS has been found wanting as much as having impressed.

I’ll never be ok with selling a 20 goal a season striker & not adequately replacing him all for the potential we ‘may’ sign one at some point in the future. Lukaku from his comments alone was quite obviously not the guy but the overstating of OgS’s ‘achievements’ this season are as bad as the overt criticism.

 

[romufc]

Isn’t this exactly what OgS was claiming to be doing when our form fell off a cliff at the end of last season only to not sign players in key positions in the window?

The squad seem more harmonious, yes. The results leading up to the Covid break had improved, yes but over the course of the season we’ve had so far OgS has been found wanting as much as having impressed.

I’ll never be ok with selling a 20 goal a season striker & not adequately replacing him all for the potential we ‘may’ sign one at some point in the future. Lukaku from his comments alone was quite obviously not the guy but the overstating of OgS’s ‘achievements’ this season are as bad as the overt criticism.

Yes, and we have seen a change where the team changed. A year on and look at the players shipped out, he has done well to ship them out.

Ole clearly wanted another striker but did not want to rush into spending £60m on someone who will not fit in, there is no point of panic buying.

It was definitely not in Ole's mind that he will lose Martial, Rashford and Pogba for large chunks of the season.

Even with a massive squad, City have struggled without Laporte

Liverpool would struggle if they lost VVD, Salah, Mane for large parts of the season.

No one is overstating his achievements, he has done a good job. I am not saying he has worked miracles neither am I saying he deserves the sack.