The Overlap - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

[Raoul]

It's a sad reflection on the state of our squad but I think people underestimate how much better we'd have done this season if we'd kept Fred.

He may have helped a bit in terms of midfield stability, but the lack of goals, which is our main Achilles heel, wouldn't have been much different.

 

[saivet]

The other key takeaway from this interview for me (not that it was ever in doubt) was that ultimately he wasn't the right manager for us. He can talk about some issues with the players but all the sound bites from him suggest to me that we were never going to progress as he wanted to, even if recruitment had been better.

I also wouldn't give the club too much flak for not taking up Ole's advice about Haaland at Molde. I'm sure the club with have loads of experience players who are coaches, calling them up telling them to sign player X as he's going to be world class. For all we know Ole had raved about other players who turned out not to have careers at the top level too.

 

[croadyman]

While I thought sacking Ole was the right thing to do, I'd like to see him come in and replace Ten Hag for the remainder of the season. Anything to free us from his terrible football and robotic personality.

Yeah I wouldn't be against that either

 

[Gavinb33]

I think you need to compare the two squads again then. Our best players in 2024 are three under 21s who we depend on for results.

I think that says it all about the squad.

Jose wasted as much money as anyone Bailly, Lindelof, Matic, Mkythryan, Sanchez, Lukaku, Pogba to mention a few

 

[Robbie Boy]

Jose wasted as much money as anyone Bailly, Lindelof, Matic, Mkythryan, Sanchez, Lukaku, Pogba to mention a few

It's been a theme with post-Fergie managers. Zero accountability and zero expectations. They've been allowed to spend a shit tonne of money on players that by-and-large failed.

 

[Ludens the Red]

Haaland stuff - depressing hearing really. I mean they listened to Ole to sign Dan James and Harry Maguire but didn’t listen to him to sign Haaland. Just sums up the state of those running the club during that period.

Ronaldo stuff - don’t really buy the stuff about our game changing out of possession. It’s not as if Cavani was going to play all season. Greenwood and Rashford had already began becoming lazy on the pitch.
A few people have commented how that Ronaldo signing changed things. Ignoring that the many other individuals in that team whom have since been on an insane downward trajection.
Pogba and Martial became cripples that season and Pogba has become a drug cheat. Greenwood was arrested for rape and Marcus Rashford has completely lost his way as a footballer on and off the field. And I definitely remember around that period people wanted the team built around Pogba, Martial, Rashford and Greenwood. So actually it made no difference to anything long term as the collapse was on its way.

Bellingham - yeah you fecked up here Ole I’m afraid.

 

[Rossa]

That’s probably also true, although I would say that Van Gaal left a good base for a more adventurous manager to build on and we could visibly see the results of coaching on the squad and Mourinho made us winners again and probably had the best squad of players since Ferguson left.

Ole has lumbered us with some very expensive failures, and the discipline in the squad is clearly a mess following his tenure.

Of all the managers post-Ferguson, I think that Ole left the squad in the worst shape upon his exit. Both in terms of mentality and in terms of talent.

What? Van Gal completely fecked the team and the club. He changed parts of the culture, for a more hierarchical approach; he instilled the team with a terrible style of play. The squad was awful. If any one manager disrupted the team it was the crazy Dutchman.

 

[Gavinb33]

Haaland stuff - depressing hearing really. I mean they listened to Ole to sign Dan James and Harry Maguire but didn’t listen to him to sign Haaland. Just sums up the state of those running the club during that period.

Ronaldo stuff - don’t really buy the stuff about our game changing out of possession. It’s not as if Cavani was going to play all season. Greenwood and Rashford had already began becoming lazy on the pitch.
A few people have commented how that Ronaldo signing changed things. Ignoring that the many other individuals in that team whom have since been on an insane downward trajection.
Pogba and Martial became cripples that season and Pogba has become a drug cheat. Greenwood was arrested for rape and Marcus Rashford has completely lost his way as a footballer on and off the field. And I definitely remember around that period people wanted the team built around Pogba, Martial, Rashford and Greenwood. So actually it made no difference to anything long term as the collapse was on its way.

Bellingham - yeah you fecked up here Ole I’m afraid.

How? By not promising minutes no one should be promised minutes you have to earn them

 

[RedSky]

What are stats for Klop and Pep?

I do actually have those and Artetas. I'll post them up later when I get home.

 

[Swedish_Plumber]

I’m 10 mins in and I’m watching the group watch chances being missed that I can’t see. Riveting.

 

[Redstain]

It's a good interview one development that Solslkaer stated which every fan ought to objectively observe, is that the new structure isn't a magic wand and subsequently it's still going to take an exceptional manager / coach to get this team to win.

It's a very realistic outlook on the fairytale fantasy we hear often that the structure is going to fix every frailty, it's brilliant to get a first hand perspective from someone experienced within the position that essentially a successful structure must compliment a successful manager.

 

[saivet]

Haaland stuff - depressing hearing really. I mean they listened to Ole to sign Dan James and Harry Maguire but didn’t listen to him to sign Haaland. Just sums up the state of those running the club during that period.


Bellingham - yeah you fecked up here Ole I’m afraid.

I think these two examples are a little harsh. The Haaland recommendation was before Ole was manager, he basically just called the club to tell them United should sign him while he was at Molde. United did eventually go in for Haaland at Salzburg but by that there was a lot of interest in him. I can see why the club didn't listen to him to, especially before he was the United manager.

With Bellingham, I think it's difficult to guarantee minutes to a 17 year old and even if we did, again I think Bellingham would have still chose Dortmund due to how they'd developed a number of young players. Sure, Ole and the club could have done more but I think even if we did more there's a high chance we still don't get either player.

 

[Maluco]

What? Van Gal completely fecked the team and the club. He changed parts of the culture, for a more hierarchical approach; he instilled the team with a terrible style of play. The squad was awful. If any one manager disrupted the team it was the crazy Dutchman.

I think he was dated as a manager, in that his ideas were no longer really effective in modern football, but he coached the team to retain possession and they did! He had a very certain and particular style that he was able to coach the players to play.

That is more than any of the rest have done.

 

[Teja]

He’s just so fecking likeable. Didn’t rate him as a manager but will always love Ole.

The Ronaldo signing + pressure to play proactive football were his downfall. I'm still convinced if Ole / McKenna / Carrick had a better structure behind them and prioritized the right signings, they could play some decent football. He's also a fairly old school 90s / 00s type manager. If he gave up on the idea that he needed to play pro-active football and press and all that he probably would've finished better than 4th that season.

 

[CasaStreets]

The most interesting part was around minute 20 when he’s talking about trying to make the team more progressive than it was capable of being at that time, and that it wasn’t ready for that transition. That being the ultimate cause of his demise.

Feels like EtH is playing out the exact same script, albeit with some tactical differences.

 

[Oranges038]

What? Van Gal completely fecked the team and the club. He changed parts of the culture, for a more hierarchical approach; he instilled the team with a terrible style of play. The squad was awful. If any one manager disrupted the team it was the crazy Dutchman.

Yeap, the worst appointment the club made post SAF. Sold off players for peanuts and replaced them with players who weren't any better for more money.

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

Yeah the 2nd place season is looked upon far more fondly than it should be in my opinion. It was a lot of Bruno penalties, some really crap football outside of Europa while we managed to never lose away from home, and the springtime was just us falling behind before Greenwood/Cavani/ or Pogba came to save the day.

19-20 will always be my favorite United team of the post SAF era, just sucks that the peak of that season was spent in lockdown.

I long for the days where we'd come from behind to win games. Didn't that happen a record number of times that season? I can only remember us doing that a couple of times under Ten Hag. Usually if we don't score first then our players look defeated.

 

[Ludens the Red]

How? By not promising minutes no one should be promised minutes you have to earn them

I think these two examples are a little harsh. The Haaland recommendation was before Ole was manager, he basically just called the club to tell them United should sign him while he was at Molde. United did eventually go in for Haaland at Salzburg but by that there was a lot of interest in him. I can see why the club didn't listen to him to, especially before he was the United manager.

With Bellingham, I think it's difficult to guarantee minutes to a 17 year old and even if we did, again I think Bellingham would have still chose Dortmund due to how they'd developed a number of young players. Sure, Ole and the club could have done more but I think even if we did more there's a high chance we still don't get either player.

Just lie to him. Like Chelsea and city have done for years to academy players and their parents. Or find a way to get it done. The thing is as well United above probably all clubs in England have been willing to play teenagers. I dunno I just feel that deal had to get done and I think the fault lies with us for not getting it done.

 

[clarkydaz]

I long for the days where we'd come from behind to win games. Didn't that happen a record number of times that season? I can only remember us doing that a couple of times under Ten Hag. Usually if we don't score first then our players look defeated.

My memory is first half we would look a bit sluggish and ponderous, then come out 2nd half throwing the kitchen sink

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Yes, it’s hardly as if we had first dibs on them and said we weren’t interested. We tried signing both and we missed out on them just like every other top club apart from Manchester City and Real Madrid missed out on them

I don’t see what part of what you said is meant to be disagreeing with what I said

 

[poleglass red]

The Haaland thing, with his size and pace, and coming from a market where we've had success over the years, shouldn't we have been contacting Ole about him and not the other way around. Any scout watching him surely could have seen how a big, physical, quick striker with an eye for goal had potential to be a success in the PL. We signed Dalot after 6 games for Porto first team, Diallo had 4 games for Atalanta, Pellistri came from one season in the Uruguayan Primera. All those players were scouted on potential, feels like we missed out on this one.

 

[Castia]

The Overlap is one of the best weekly shows out there. Absolutely brilliant every single week

 

[ColvaleGoa]

Best one yet! Really enjoyed that one.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Bloody Mykonos. Harry was never the same after that summer

 

[Gandalf]

Ole just doesn't have the balls to say it.

Cannot express enough how much comments like the above irritate me. He did not say the mean thing you want him to say so he lacks balls? Maybe he has a touch more class than to spend his time trashing people for the likes. His actions on the pitch showed he was no coward and I appreciate the fact that he does not spend his post playing career rolling around in the gutter with the likes of Abonglahor.

 

[Flying high]

The Overlap is one of the best weekly shows out there. Absolutely brilliant every single week

Agreed. This and Rooney's were excellent viewing.

 

[Alex99]

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Bunch of cowardly fecks. Not in the least bit surprising

"Excuse me mister Phelan, can you tell mister Ole that I do want to be captain but can he make sure that my turn to be captain isn't against Liverpool because that would be scary."

 

[croadyman]

The other key takeaway from this interview for me (not that it was ever in doubt) was that ultimately he wasn't the right manager for us. He can talk about some issues with the players but all the sound bites from him suggest to me that we were never going to progress as he wanted to, even if recruitment had been better.

I also wouldn't give the club too much flak for not taking up Ole's advice about Haaland at Molde. I'm sure the club with have loads of experience players who are coaches, calling them up telling them to sign player X as he's going to be world class. For all we know Ole had raved about other players who turned out not to have careers at the top level too.

Wouldn't give the club much flak for turning down Haaland are you actually kidding me

 

[Jordi Cruyff 99]

Can’t stand any of these. It’s just the usual “lad banter”. Nothing intelligent or insightful.

 

[mintyred]

I lose respect for Ole every time he speaks. All he does is throw others under the bus to save face, he's a pure snake. No wonder our dressing room had a lot of backstabbing while he was here. It starts from the leadership and trickles down.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

I think people fail to understand that Haaland&co were never interested in going directly to a big club too soon. It was never on the cards. Dortmund gave them the dream deal, no big clubs would have agreed to such terms

Ole had worked with him before and could've persuaded him.

 

[mintyred]

Hope it's better than the recent Rooney episode

It would be hard to be worse.

 

[Mike Smalling]

I lose respect for Ole every time he speaks. All he does is throw others under the bus to save face, he's a pure snake. No wonder our dressing room had a lot of backstabbing while he was here. It starts from the leadership and trickles down.

Which specific people do you think he threw under the bus in this interview?

 

[fe33er]

I enjoyed this. At the end of his tenure I disliked the guy. Looking back I just feel he wasn’t a strong enough personality to deal with the job.

He knows deep down the club wasn’t right, yet he still went along with it because he loved being the manager of Manchester United rather than being an actual fan and realising the horrible mistakes after seeing them first hand the club was making and walking away and taking a stance.

I feel my dislike for him was not personal but rather out of frustration that the club weren’t doing what we all expected on the pitch. I know this because I went into the overlap video not having any animosity towards him at all as I deeply appreciate what he did as a player, and was looking forward to getting a small insight into what was going on around the period of signing Ronaldo and Rashford/Pogba et al downing tools again.

 

[Scanny]

I lose respect for Ole every time he speaks. All he does is throw others under the bus to save face, he's a pure snake. No wonder our dressing room had a lot of backstabbing while he was here. It starts from the leadership and trickles down.

It’s not my take from this at all. Who has he thrown under the bus? He doesn’t name anyone.

 

[Xtal]

I think these two examples are a little harsh. The Haaland recommendation was before Ole was manager, he basically just called the club to tell them United should sign him while he was at Molde. United did eventually go in for Haaland at Salzburg but by that there was a lot of interest in him. I can see why the club didn't listen to him to, especially before he was the United manager.

With Bellingham, I think it's difficult to guarantee minutes to a 17 year old and even if we did, again I think Bellingham would have still chose Dortmund due to how they'd developed a number of young players. Sure, Ole and the club could have done more but I think even if we did more there's a high chance we still don't get either player.

I believe we had zero chances of signing Haaland due to his family history, although the management should have at least tried.
Management could have done better with Bellingham, he might have been 17 but bringing in Fergie and the rest into the negotiation meant we knew there was real talent in Bellingham. Guaranteeing him minutes shouldn't have been difficult.
But above all, both Haaland and Bellingham wouldn't have been the monsters they are today if we signed them. We most likely would have stunted their careers.

 

[2 man midfield]

I lose respect for Ole every time he speaks. All he does is throw others under the bus to save face, he's a pure snake. No wonder our dressing room had a lot of backstabbing while he was here. It starts from the leadership and trickles down.

Yeah his tall tales about the club being poorly run really came out of nowhere.

 

[Spoony]

He sugarcoats a lot criticism and there's the odd sly dig.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

What about Roy driving nine hours through Norway to check in on Ole? Some man.

 

[devilish]

Not sure i understand your point.

By all means, Ole might be telling the truth and the United higher ups didn't sanction any potential deals, but apart from the "shocking story where United turned down Haaland for feck all", it's all rather irrelevant as Haaland&Co weren't interested. They didn't want a big move after Molde, they had always set out on a path to build him up and then cash in bigtime. His father made close to £30mill on the Manchester City deal alone. Haaland has had a team around him for years and it's always been about the next 10 years rather than instantly going for the top.

Ole was referring to when Haaland was at Molde. I am pretty sure that Haaland's father didn't get close to 30m at that point. What prime United would have done was to offer him a very attractive (game play + financial) package which would have made it worth their while to move here rather then Salzburg and then Dortmund. The Haalands would have accepted because prime United was a guarantee in terms of developing top tier young talent. Once he hits the 24-25 years of age then Haaland would have moved to Real/PSG for crazy money just as Ronaldo did a generation before.

The only issue here was Raiola. Prime United were wise enough to stay away from the man