Ole's man-management and playing his favorites

SAred

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So Ole has been raved about by his man-management skills and built a loving Waltons atmosphere at Old Trafford BUT continues to shelve certain players while playing his favorites no matter what form those players are in. How is that good man management?
 

stw2022

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His man management skills are not upsetting players. Occasionally there are obviously planted press stories about how he loses his temper in dressing room but the angriest he’s been on the touch line seems to be that time he grinned and poked his tongue out. These ‘hard man team talks’ stories are as convincing PR as Elton John’s first marriage
 

Skills

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He's probably not a bad man manager. Especially for most of the squad that suffered from Mourinho PTSD.

Again there's nothing really exceptional there.
 

OmarUnited4ever

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So Ole has been raved about by his man-management skills and built a loving Waltons atmosphere at Old Trafford BUT continues to shelve certain players while playing his favorites no matter what form those players are in. How is that good man management?
I wonder why he started Maguire? Maguire who was injured for weeks and only trained for one day when he could've started Bailly, not saying Bailly is great or anything, but he was match fit and ready to go, and that is his role and Lindelof's role in the squad basically, which is a cover when your starting CBs are injured, so why rush Maguire back?

I mean i get that a manager would have a set of players he trusts and usually prefers them to start games, which is mostly a good thing, in order to bring consistency in the side, but, if a player is injured and only recently returned to training after being injured for weeks, then a manager should use a squad player, not an ideal situation granted, but that is what a "squad" is for. Look at Chelsea, Sarr & Chalobah played to cover for the unavailable starters in Silva & Rudiger.
 

Deery

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I think it does, of all of Oles's flaws his man-management skills are raved about. I just don't see it.
Could have been written in the Ole thread, but his man management has been shocking said it ever since he put Rashford in with a broken vertebrate and he then went and broke a second, absolutely criminal man management.
 

SAred

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Who are his favorites that wouldn’t be picked by another manager?
His Favorites Harry - how did that work out against the Foxes oh and how does Eric feel - Great Man Management. Luke and AWB there on some great form those guys how does Tellies and Dalot feel. Fred - How does Donny 40 million pound bench warmer feel. Rashford last season, Bruno. He Plays Sancho the only creative winger United has on the Left. The only position in the Oles team that is up for grabs from his favorites is Scotts the rest no matter what form those players are in will play. Great man-management. Safety first and let's hope that his favorites play themselves into some kind of form. 8 games in and the so-called League challenge is pity much dead in the water, it will certainly be when Salah rips Luke and Harry a new one this weekend.
 

Ixion

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Neither of them played on Saturday and we shipped 4 goals to an average team.

I’m not really pro Ole, but I don’t see your logic here.
Well McTominay came on and we shipped 2 goals after he did.
 

Spaghetti

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His Favorites Harry - how did that work out against the Foxes oh and how does Eric feel - Great Man Management. Luke and AWB there on some great form those guys how does Tellies and Dalot feel. Fred - How does Donny 40 million pound bench warmer feel. Rashford last season, Bruno. He Plays Sancho the only creative winger United has on the Left. The only position in the Oles team that is up for grabs from his favorites is Scotts the rest no matter what form those players are in will play. Great man-management. Safety first and let's hope that his favorites play themselves into some kind of form. 8 games in and the so-called League challenge is pity much dead in the water, it will certainly be when Salah rips Luke and Harry a new one this weekend.
This is a bit contradictory to your argument. Sancho was bought for the right, but Greenwood’s form forced him onto the left or the bench.

Maguire is the captain and in the absence of the other starting CB, he was perhaps brought back too soon. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in being relieved to see Maguire’s name on the team sheet on Saturday afternoon.

Dalot, Telles and Beek have done nothing with their chances to deserve a better shot in the first xi.

The only player that seems to get an easy ride is Bruno. He could do with a couple of games on the bench with Pogba or Lingard jn
 

padzilla

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Pogba and Fernandes are two players who will be picked regardless of form, the fact Pogba is messing the club about over a new contract but still starts and seldom produces tells you everything about where the power lies at the club.
Solksjaer seems to be a counsellor to get the players in the mood rather than a manager instilling tactics and workrate into the squad.
 

jackamus

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IMO Ole is terrible at man management, take the Lingard debacle he sends him out on loan to boost his confidence it works he comes back only for Ole to shatter his confidence again with 5 minutes here 10 mins there….. Recently as this weekend McGuire we hear 1 training session straight back into the team, what does that say to Bailly, Jones and any of the youngsters! ( ok Bailly and Jones are useless, but you get the point) he buys players that are just not good enough, but then just goes on to shatter there confidence, (DVB & Sancho) Sancho was a strange buy for me yet he tried for other a year to sign him, no one else was beating a path to buy him, he is just not good enough, does not have good attitude and besides we already had Rashford & Greenwood who are better anyway! DVB not shown nothing but Ole insist on keeping everyone like a child who wants more toys but don’t want to get rid of any of his existing one!
 

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This is a bit contradictory to your argument. Sancho was bought for the right, but Greenwood’s form forced him onto the left or the bench.

Maguire is the captain and in the absence of the other starting CB, he was perhaps brought back too soon. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in being relieved to see Maguire’s name on the team sheet on Saturday afternoon.

Dalot, Telles and Beek have done nothing with their chances to deserve a better shot in the first xi.

The only player that seems to get an easy ride is Bruno. He could do with a couple of games on the bench with Pogba or Lingard jn
The form of Greenwood has been one of the shining lights, Sancho which has been brought for his creativity plays in a position to accommodate Greenwood, a position which he hardly played at his previous club now with Ronaldo in the team the lack of creativity and supply to CR7 limits his effectiveness but difficult to remove Greenwood has his form his good so In this case, its swings and roundabouts would United get more benefit in utilizing our expensive new toys in their best positions at the expense of Greenwoods great start. We agree about Harry, now the amount of chances offered to Oles favorites over their understudies is quite criminal how many games do the likes of Fred, Luke, and AWB get to the 3 understudies it's not as if the Oles favorites have been pulling up trees this season would the other 3 be any worse at least Tellies will put some crosses into the box for a certain Mr. Ronaldo to but his head-on.
 

Jippy

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IMO Ole is terrible at man management, take the Lingard debacle he sends him out on loan to boost his confidence it works he comes back only for Ole to shatter his confidence again with 5 minutes here 10 mins there….. Recently as this weekend McGuire we hear 1 training session straight back into the team, what does that say to Bailly, Jones and any of the youngsters! ( ok Bailly and Jones are useless, but you get the point) he buys players that are just not good enough, but then just goes on to shatter there confidence, (DVB & Sancho) Sancho was a strange buy for me yet he tried for other a year to sign him, no one else was beating a path to buy him, he is just not good enough, does not have good attitude and besides we already had Rashford & Greenwood who are better anyway! DVB not shown nothing but Ole insist on keeping everyone like a child who wants more toys but don’t want to get rid of any of his existing one!
He rushed Maguire back because Varane was injured, there's no major surprise or conspiracy there. Bailly and Jones have their issues and there is no young CB anywhere near the squad, let alone the first team.
I wouldn't write Sancho off after a handful of games, several of which he's not looked fully fit for. We've needed options on the right side forever and Rashford is awful when he plays there. DVB is a harder one to fathom though.
 

jackamus

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The form of Greenwood has been one of the shining lights, Sancho which has been brought for his creativity plays in a position to accommodate Greenwood, a position which he hardly played at his previous club now with Ronaldo in the team the lack of creativity and supply to CR7 limits his effectiveness but difficult to remove Greenwood has his form his good so In this case, its swings and roundabouts would United get more benefit in utilizing our expensive new toys in their best positions at the expense of Greenwoods great start. We agree about Harry, now the amount of chances offered to Oles favorites over their understudies is quite criminal how many games do the likes of Fred, Luke, and AWB get to the 3 understudies it's not as if the Oles favorites have been pulling up trees this season would the other 3 be any worse at least Tellies will put some crosses into the box for a certain Mr. Ronaldo to but his head-on.
I disagree
 

jackamus

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I disagree
Sorry that should have been I disagree that Sancho was bought for the right that’s only speculation, otherwise when Greenwood diff not play couple of games ago why was Sancho not deployed on the right, surely if your big signing is struggling would you not play him in his supposedly best position to help him get confidence!!! Apart from that it’s well known In football that Sancho as a terrible attitude….
 

Sparky Rhiwabon

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Neither of them played on Saturday and we shipped 4 goals to an average team.

I’m not really pro Ole, but I don’t see your logic here.
They would have played if they were both fully fit and available. I think another manager would have addressed the midfield by now, I’m not saying that they would have been constrained by what we currently have. Although I think a better manager may have got more out of Pogba I’m a midfield role. Do you honestly think that if we’d appointed, say, Pep three years ago that the midfield would still be this bad?
 

justsomebloke

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So Ole has been raved about by his man-management skills and built a loving Waltons atmosphere at Old Trafford BUT continues to shelve certain players while playing his favorites no matter what form those players are in. How is that good man management?
I guess maybe there may be a possibility that he's playing those players because he genuinely thinks they're the best option, rather than because he is prone to pathological favoritism. But of course, there is no way we can verify that, so who am I to stop you from going right ahead and assuming exactly what you want to? After all, you couldn't make threads based on pointless rethorical questions if you didn't, and this place would surely be so much poorer for that.
 

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The only time I think this has really happened is the final when he played Rashford who had been in terrible form leading up to it and shifted Pogba back to CM when he had been playing well out on the left.

The reason Fred and McT play is because they’ve shown they are the best combo we have.
 

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I guess maybe there may be a possibility that he's playing those players because he genuinely thinks they're the best option, rather than because he is prone to pathological favoritism. But of course, there is no way we can verify that, so who am I to stop you from going right ahead and assuming exactly what you want to? After all, you couldn't make threads based on pointless rethorical questions if you didn't, and this place would surely be so much poorer for that.
You can't tell me that the likes of Harry, Luke, and AWB not to mention Fred have actually been setting the world on fire. Yes, Luke came right last season after a slow start so do we wait again for Luke and Harry to get back into the groove. That seems to me that he is sticking to his tried and trusted to play themselves back into a form no wonder we have to try and make up large point gaps while the tried and trusted play themselves into form. So with the undroppable playing rubbish they fear not because no matter how they perform they will be back in the lineup for the next game.
 

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The only time I think this has really happened is the final when he played Rashford who had been in terrible form leading up to it and shifted Pogba back to CM when he had been playing well out on the left.

The reason Fred and McT play is because they’ve shown they are the best combo we have.
Fred and McT shown that they are the best combo we have cause they always play. Ole never really gives another combo a run of games. Matic & DVB looks good though we only have tried here and there, DVB & Mct?, Heck give Pogba & Matic a run of games and see how they go.
 

justsomebloke

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You can't tell me that the likes of Harry, Luke, and AWB not to mention Fred have actually been setting the world on fire. Yes, Luke came right last season after a slow start so do we wait again for Luke and Harry to get back into the groove. That seems to me that he is sticking to his tried and trusted to play themselves back into a form no wonder we have to try and make up large point gaps while the tried and trusted play themselves into form. So with the undroppable playing rubbish they fear not because no matter how they perform they will be back in the lineup for the next game.
You really need me to point out that the fact some starters haven't been as good as we could wish doesn't automatically mean that a) we have better options who would have done better and b) they are being played not because the manager thinks they are the best option, but because he suffers from favoritism?
 

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If Ole's man management was crap then he would have lost his job months ago. This team had bailed him out again and again, often with an individual act of genius. The reality is that every loves Ole. His players loves him, his coaches love him, his teammates love him, his former manager loves him and even Roy Keane loves him.

However love can take you to a certain level. Top players tend to want more then smiles, giggles and an arm on their shoulder. They want to show the world they are the best, they want the generous performances bonuses who are often tied to trophies won and they aren't easily dazzled by the opportunity of playing for Manchester United simply because they can or had played with top clubs already. If Ole can't provide that then they'll push for someone who could. Which is why Ole should have had his house in order in terms of coaching and tactics before signing the likes of Varane and Ronaldo. Players like him can't and quite frankly wouldn't wait for Ole, Carricky and Fletchery to complete their on the job training. At this point you can add players like DDG, Bruno, Pogba, Cavani and Maguire to the list
 

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I mean every manager has a tendency to play their favourites whether they are inform or not so holding that against Ole seems odd.
Ole’s limitations aren’t playing his favourites it’s not been able to create attacking structure to his teams play. Or adapt in games when things are going wrong.
 

red4ever 79

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I mean every manager has a tendency to play their favourites whether they are inform or not so holding that against Ole seems odd.
Ole’s limitations aren’t playing his favourites it’s not been able to create attacking structure to his teams play. Or adapt in games when things are going wrong.
No its complaining during the Friday press conference that the reason we lost last year's Europa final was because the players were tired. The same manager who played the same 14 players 3 times a week last season. And what does he do the day after that. He picks an unfit Maguire. The guy is an absolute parody. His man management and use of the squad is abysmal. Not to mention his lack of coaching expertise
 

SAred

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You really need me to point out that the fact some starters haven't been as good as we could wish doesn't automatically mean that a) we have better options who would have done better and b) they are being played not because the manager thinks they are the best option, but because he suffers from favoritism?
Let's look at this Weekend a returning Harry was chosen over a fit and raring to go, Eric, man-management is not just 11 on the pitch but the whole squad. He has promised playtime to his not-so favorites but has failed to deliver on his promises, why is his first choice playing so well no he is not ruthless enough and has a safety approach that certain players give him. Last season Rashford was called Rashford Ole played him now we know when he was injured are you telling me that he did not have a better option than a half-fit Rashford. Ole has his favorites and sticks with them even if they are so out of form his moto is they will play themselves into form while the rest of the squad lives on false promises.
 

Nytram Shakes

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No its complaining during the Friday press conference that the reason we lost last year's Europa final was because the players were tired. The same manager who played the same 14 players 3 times a week last season. And what does he do the day after that. He picks an unfit Maguire. The guy is an absolute parody. His man management and use of the squad is abysmal. Not to mention his lack of coaching expertise
I think his man management is what has kept him the job as he is in general a very likeable person.
I don’t disagree that his squad management could be better. There were times last season where Fernandes and Maguire looked like they had ran a marathon before the match had started. But then considering how the defence fell apart when Maguire wasn’t there, or how badly we struggled to break teams down before we signed Fernandes it’s hardly surprising that Ole played them when ever he could. But there were defiantly some cup games they should not have fully rested, instead of what normally happened of them being in the bench and brought on when things went inevitably bad without them.

For me though that points towards Ole failings as a coach. Relying on individual skill of players rather than been able to construct a team full of good players capable of defending or attacking as a unit.
 
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I hate this stage when a manager's time is obviously up and we get a thread for every little inane thought that pops into someone's head about Solskjaer.

That being said, as the thread is here I may as well contribute, Solskjaer's man-management is pretty much the only thing that's kept him in the job as long as it has. It's hard to deny it's been anything but superb and he brought a lot out of previously marginalised players.
 

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I think his man management is what has kept him the job as he is in general a very likeable person.
I don’t disagree that his squad management could be better. There were times last season where Fernandes and Maguire looked like they had ran a marathon before the match had started. But then considering how the defence fell apart when Maguire wasn’t there, or how badly we struggled to break teams down before we signed Fernandes it’s hardly surprising that Ole played them when ever he could. But there were defiantly some cup games they should not have fully rested, instead of what normally happened of them being in the bench and brought on when things went inevitably bad without them.

For me though that points towards Ole failings as a coach. Relying on individual skill of players rather than been able to construct a team full of good players capable of defending or attacking as a unit.
And there is your problem Ole is loved well by everyone except Donny. He is not ruthless enough if his manager style is dependent on individual skill to get the team over the line it's just not good enough to compete at the very top. Pep has dropped Sterling and basically said get back into form or you don't play. Look at Chelsea's coach 6 months won the champions league he won it by not being nice but ruthless. I love Ole myeself however unless he decides to take charge and rock the boat a little United will not win anything under this Ole.
 

choccy77

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Ole's biggest failure will be that after 4 years, the Midfield was so poor that it cost him his job and trophies.

United clearly decided not to do anything with that midfield area until they sold Pogba or he signed new contract.

He has done neither, they panicked bought VDB and seem to refuse to spend the money to fix the giant hole.

Ole has made many mistakes doing and not doing anything for sure, but United, have to look at themselves for this Midfield mess because it was there before Ole.
 

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Ole is nice to the players but he doesn't motivate them to perform at their highest level. Some aspects of his man-management are great and some are awful. It's a mixed bag.

He is guilty for picking his favourites. He doesn't know what to do with a large squad. I get the feeling that he has a very fixed plan for the team and he lacks a bit of versitility.
 

Kurton

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Neither of them played on Saturday and we shipped 4 goals to an average team.

I’m not really pro Ole, but I don’t see your logic here.
Doesn't it highlight his mismanagement of the squad, bring in players in crunch time when they haven't played much or played in an unfamiliar position (in Pogba's case) to accommodate his favorites? And then wonder how they shipped 4 goals.
 

flappyjay

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So Ole has been raved about by his man-management skills and built a loving Waltons atmosphere at Old Trafford BUT continues to shelve certain players while playing his favorites no matter what form those players are in. How is that good man management?
The only player who hasn't got a fair chance from Ole is Van De Beek, I don't think he is playing favorites.