So much to respond to here. I'll get started.
Ole told a few players to get fecked too and those players don’t play for our club anymore so what’s your point? We can’t get rid of everyone right away can we? Takes time and money. Our squad was overly bloated and with the wrong players too so while I have my reservations with Ole, kudos to him for atleast making us finish in the top 4 consistently when many didn’t think he would.
This does nothing but prove my point that this idea that managers like Conte and Zidane need to keep everyone happy is rubbish. SAF fell out with players, Pep did, all managers do. Also I'm not going to congratulate him for helping us finish in the top 4 consistently, he's spent enough money to be winning Champions Leagues and Premier Leagues. Top 4 is a way to buy you some more time - it's not an achievement in itself.
This also correlates to your point about other managers like Potters or Rodgers. While I like how Brighton play, they don’t have to play against teams that sit back and try to claw them open. We do, but we haven’t always had the right personnel to do it with. Rodgers is the best example you could’ve mentioned which I completely disagree with. Ole has finished above him every single time so he’s really no better at all. In fact I might even go so far as to argue that Leicester should’ve finished ahead of us two seasons ago and they royally fecked it up while we made a solid kind of comeback and finished 3rd.
That's besides the point. Potter has a fecking wank team and his team play some of the most efficient offensive football in the league. His team last season had an xP that wasn't far off ours . Your point about him not having to play against deep defences is a valid one, bu he also doesn't have footballers who are amongst the best in the World in their position though, so it's relative. His system has proven they are very good at moving the ball and creating passing lanes - aspects of the game which are required to break down deep defences. Whether or not he could translate it at a bigger club is of course anyone's guess, but no manager comes without risk.
Also Ole finishing above Rodgers is hardly justification he is better than Rodgers. He's won trophies whilst Ole has been here, operating on far lesser resources. Ole has won feck all and the issues with the play style still exist, over 3 years and hundreds of millions of euros in. Ole finished above Klopp last season too, I'm assuming he's also a better manager than Klopp? It's relative. When your best player is a striker approaching his mid 30's, as opposed to a team stacked with some of the World's best players, you'd expect the latter squad to perform to a higher standard, that's a given.
My assessment of Zidane you asked - is based on how he handled a transitional/rebuild phase during his second stint which I already mentioned. He spent huge sums of money to bring in players that weren’t good enough (Jovic, Rodrygo, V Jr to name a few) and that’s why he didn’t continue to win as many titles that he did during his first stint. While Ole has made smarter acquisitions with the funds he was given which make sense for us long term wise. If Zidane had bought he bought for Madrid I’d be fuming.
So... because he made some bad signings, you've come to the assumption that a manager who has broken records in his short time in management would be a failure in the premier league? Ole has made some dud signings too. Dan James, AWB can barely control a ball, VDB etc. No manager is perfect. How exactly does that even relate, regardless? It's hardly as if he would need to rebuild the whole team, the majority of our squad is young and for the future. Once again, Tuchel came in and instantly impressed, he didn't struggle with how 'difficult' the EPL was. It's a myth by this point. Pep has proved it, so too Klopp, Tuchel, Conte etc. Great managers can win here, it's really not that different.
You also mentioned Pep and Tuchel making their teams better. Pep literally bought a new team so your thought of Ole fooling us into needing 22 players is actually more true for Pep then it is for Ole. Ole has shown trust in a handful of academy players (Greenwood, McT & Henderson) since he couldn’t buy them all like Pep and he can’t change formations like Tuchel did till he doesn’t have the right personnel. There’s talk of switching to 4-3-3 but how can we do that with Matic/Fred/McT as a DM?
Pep bought a new team because his team were on their last legs, but you could still see what he was implementing. The football they were playing was evident to see. Doesn't change the fact that he improved Sterling, KDB, Silva, Foden etc. etc. the list is endless. Hell, Sane has never even came close to the performances Pep was getting out of him since. This ridiculous nonsense that coaches can't improve players is fecking laughable. I ask you the question - if they can't improve players, what the feck is even the point of hiring coaching staff?
Ole 'showing faith in academy players' is fecking laughable tbh. Greenwood is a borderline generational talent, Mctominay was already somewhat of a regular under Jose and Henderson has had like 3 games. Also, you use that point to suggest Ole hasn't changed the whole squad like Pep has but that's simply put wrong. Let's consider the positions Ole has signed players in. He has signed a RB, a LB, a CB, two midfielders, a RW, a LW and multiple strikers. Let's not try and rewrite history that poor old Ole hasn't been backed. That's most of the positions on the pitch. His reluctance to buy a DM is on him, not because funds weren't made available. He chose to sign VDB and refused to utilise him, for example. That could have been used on funds for a holding midfielder.
Also that 'talk' of moving to a 433, was rubbish to try and inspire hope. There has been no signs at all of moving to a 4231. You're extremely naive if you thought so. The rumours about that came weeks ago. If your theory that the fact that we have no DM is the reason he cannot implement this make belief system is true, then why has he not signed a DM? The rumours about this super attacking 433 were out weeks ago.
Lastly - why is it that Tuchel can change the formation without making any further signings, but Ole can't until he gets the right personnel? What more does he fecking need? A lack of a DM isn't the reason we can't press for shit, are extremely predictable and slow in our passing, don't make runs off the ball etc. The teams that do that better than us the majority of the time have far inferior squads to ourselves. No team is perfect, no team has no issues. It's just a poor excuse.
And let’s please not argue that better managers will make Fred a better passer. He played for Brazil in the copa and did fairly well. The problem is not that he’s not good enough. The problem is he’s being played in the wrong position which highlight aspects of his football that aren’t necessarily a weak link but do seem like one because that’s not his strength and neither is it his preferred position. Fred needs to play ahead of a DM, not as one. If Pep was managing us, he wouldn’t turn Fred into a Fernandinho or Rodri but he’d play him ahead of them. There’s a huge difference. But with us Ole has to play him because he isn’t being given a better alternative. He tried Matic with Pogba first, didn’t work. Then he tried Fred with Pogba, didn’t work. Now he’s having to do with Fred & McT until a new player is brought in.
The problem is that he's being utilised incorrectly, yes and that he plays in a system that doesn't elevate this squad. He wouldn't be misplacing so many passes if he wasn't constantly isolated in midfield, being pressed by 2-3 players with no players making runs off the ball/into channels, which allowed him a pass out to relieve pressure. His passing would certainly improve in that case. It would improve if we were a team that played on the front foot, which focused on build up and not rushed superhero passes. His passing would improve if this team placed more emphasis on posession, keeping possession and winning it back once it was lost. His passing would improve if our players had better movement, made themselves more available for passes.
Fred may not be a DM, but that wasn't even the fecking argument, so I don't know what you're talking about. It was a strawman. The argument was that a manager couldn't improve Fred's passing ability, which is quite frankly, ridiculous. Great coaches can improve players in countless ways. Your point about a DM once again is a strawman argument, noone is arguing that we have a proper DM or that Fred is one - once again, argument is, you don't need a complete 11 to start playing some progressive football, it's a lazy excuse. It's even more lazy given the reason we don't have a DM is on his feet as much as anyone's. He should have signed one by now, if he thought it was such a pressing issue.
Lastly, referring to the bolded part, you kind of contradict your own self. The whole argument you made was Conte/Zidane are better alternatives but then you agree that they aren’t the ideal route so which is it? Simply put, would you risk the harmony of present and immediately dump Ole for one of them or wait for a better alternative at a better moment in time? I’d certainly wait and go for the latter option.
I think Zidane and Conte would be better for this team than Ole, whilst still personally thinking which should go for a different type of manager. I'm not sure what's so hard to understand about that. Would I take Zidane and Conte over Ole? Any day of the fecking week. Would I prefer them over a progressive manager, like Nageslmann for example? No. Either way, regardless of which route you want to take in regards to managerial style, there are countless better options than Ole. That was the point.
I would choose to dump him now, personally. The harmony is irrelevant. This is under the assumption this theoretical manager we get is a cnut who the players hate. If the club is winning, the harmony of the club will be there. The fans will be happy, players will be buzzing to play. Media surrounding the club will be more positive etc. Harmony is easy to build - winning is what's required.
