As usual, context was entirely ignored when posters were doubling down on their snap decisions about Ole.
The progress we made last year was for all to see. The long term injury to Pogba meant we were playing without any creative players in midfield. Instead of taking that on board when considering how he was performing, it was decided he was tactically inept. Yes, the signing of Bruno lit a fire under us, but that was as much to do with actually having a creative player in the side as it was Bruno undoubted ability. The narrative then changed to Ole relying on the individual brilliance of a single player, rather than actually having the pieces needed for a competitive side.
And then, quite understandably, we flagged towards the end of the season. A combination of injuries, a lack of quality in depth, and the busiest schedule of any top division team in Europe, meant Ole was forced to rely on the same few players two, sometimes three times a week. To expect us to keep up the incredible standard we had been playing at was, at best, naive.
Then, we had the shortest possible preseason, played one preseason friendly against Watford, and had Palace the first game of the season, who were already playing their 7th game. Is it any wonder we didn't look sharp? We could've started our preseason earlier, but it was abundantly clear the lads needed a rest.
We're now seeing what Ole can do with the proper resources. He's built a balanced squad, we have depth, and as a result of that, we're top of the league. You only have to look at Liverpool's struggles to see what a few key injuries can do. When we had no Rashford for several months, Pogba out for most of the reason, DDG injured, with Martial and Shaw missing plenty of games, the same level of sympathy wasn't given to Ole.
I always maintained that even if Ole ultimately failed to take us back to the top, his time here can't be viewed as anything but successful. He has quietly gone about rebuilding the squad, moving on and freezing out the perennial losers, rejuvenating players we thought were dead and buried, while completely reenergizing the entire club. If he resigned tomorrow, then he'd be leaving the club in significantly better shape than it was when he first took over the reigns.
The point is the majority of the criticisms leveled at Ole over the last 18 months were entirely unfair, and were compounded by the reservations people had about him before he took the post. Instead of judging his performance objectively, it was viewed through the prism of a manager who couldn't possibly be good enough.