Ole Gunnar Solskjær | Managerial Watch | Reports: Being considered for Canada job
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Jose finished 6th, 2nd, then imploded (on course for 6th) when Ole took over. Ole finished 6th, then 3rd, then 2nd, then imploded (on course for 8th). Ole very clearly improved the team over 2.5 years, quite a long time. Is Ange piggybacking off Jose now? Did Nuno do it wrong earlier?
Why do you think players just decide this? Just, we will work with Jose for 2 seasons, with Ole for 2.5, with ETH for one, and then do nothing. When do they make this collective decision?
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Ole's time here was far, far from perfect but personally I appreciated plenty of things in that time:
-After LVG boring possession and Mourinho's bus (added to his toxic, miserably attitude) Ole was a breath of fresh air. He allowed the team more room to attack and score. I felt connected with the team the most I've been since SAF.
-Our average position after SAF (removing Ole's time) is around 5th. We were the 3rd best team in his first season as interim/full time manager (from December to May). 3rd in his first full season, and 2nd the following one. He got results above our average level under the Glazers for 2'5 years. Even if nothing extraordinary it could have been worse.
-125 goals in his second full season, the most in 15 years. Some freaks like 9-0 against Soton (even with 10 men), 9 goals against Roma in the EL, 5 against Leipzig (CL semifinalist the previous season) etc.
-At this point (January in his second full season) we were leading the Premier League, not 9th and 3 points away from 11th and on negative GD.
-Plenty of comebacks and ability to change a game from the bench.
-We were competitive away from home. The unbeaten record lasted a year and a half. If it was easy because of Covid and no fans, where is this record for the rest of the teams?
-The only manager who has beaten Pep more times than he was beaten by him (Ancelotti too maybe?). It doesn't mean he's better, obviously. But he's no fool either.
-Got Mourinho sacked after beating him in London which made me laugh a lot.
-Team spirit. He made these bastards likeable at some point.
-Went deep in many tournaments, but he lacked something to capitalize. A top manager would have won something once we reached those positions, but overall he wasn't the catastrophic manager many pretend.
Nobody can't tell me beating City 3 times in a season with these players, winning twice at Paris, the first win at Stamford Bridge in 5 years (in the cup during his interim period, playing with a diamond formation that nobody expected) the goals, the records, 3rd-3rd-2nd etc. it's just luck and vibes.
Ole, Carrick and McKenna are smart guys, and they were a good team despite the lack of expertise at that level. With the right structure maybe we could have signed some of the good players we chased as Haaland, Rice, Grealish, or Bellingham.
We would have avoided Ronaldo under serious directors and reinforced midfield instead, while not renewing players 'to protect value' getting the dressing room stacked with people aiming for playing time, and getting angry when it wasn't the case.
It wouldn't have made Ole successful, as our play never evolved enough to beat City in a 38 games run. But we could have got another decent season doing at least the bare minimum, he would have left in a positive manner in the coming summer and not the way it happened, and I think his time would be remembered in a better way.
I hope one day Ole reunites with Haaland in the NT, as there would be some poetry about it after their time at Molde. I have the feeling that he'd do well there.
-After LVG boring possession and Mourinho's bus (added to his toxic, miserably attitude) Ole was a breath of fresh air. He allowed the team more room to attack and score. I felt connected with the team the most I've been since SAF.
-Our average position after SAF (removing Ole's time) is around 5th. We were the 3rd best team in his first season as interim/full time manager (from December to May). 3rd in his first full season, and 2nd the following one. He got results above our average level under the Glazers for 2'5 years. Even if nothing extraordinary it could have been worse.
-125 goals in his second full season, the most in 15 years. Some freaks like 9-0 against Soton (even with 10 men), 9 goals against Roma in the EL, 5 against Leipzig (CL semifinalist the previous season) etc.
-At this point (January in his second full season) we were leading the Premier League, not 9th and 3 points away from 11th and on negative GD.
-Plenty of comebacks and ability to change a game from the bench.
-We were competitive away from home. The unbeaten record lasted a year and a half. If it was easy because of Covid and no fans, where is this record for the rest of the teams?
-The only manager who has beaten Pep more times than he was beaten by him (Ancelotti too maybe?). It doesn't mean he's better, obviously. But he's no fool either.
-Got Mourinho sacked after beating him in London which made me laugh a lot.
-Team spirit. He made these bastards likeable at some point.
-Went deep in many tournaments, but he lacked something to capitalize. A top manager would have won something once we reached those positions, but overall he wasn't the catastrophic manager many pretend.
Nobody can't tell me beating City 3 times in a season with these players, winning twice at Paris, the first win at Stamford Bridge in 5 years (in the cup during his interim period, playing with a diamond formation that nobody expected) the goals, the records, 3rd-3rd-2nd etc. it's just luck and vibes.
Ole, Carrick and McKenna are smart guys, and they were a good team despite the lack of expertise at that level. With the right structure maybe we could have signed some of the good players we chased as Haaland, Rice, Grealish, or Bellingham.
We would have avoided Ronaldo under serious directors and reinforced midfield instead, while not renewing players 'to protect value' getting the dressing room stacked with people aiming for playing time, and getting angry when it wasn't the case.
It wouldn't have made Ole successful, as our play never evolved enough to beat City in a 38 games run. But we could have got another decent season doing at least the bare minimum, he would have left in a positive manner in the coming summer and not the way it happened, and I think his time would be remembered in a better way.
I hope one day Ole reunites with Haaland in the NT, as there would be some poetry about it after their time at Molde. I have the feeling that he'd do well there.
Reckon national team manager would suit him, never rated him as a top club manager but would be delighted with him here.
But he got results with the “dire midfield” of fred and Mctominay and got us to 3rd and 2nd. And eth the tactical mastermind couldn’t get them firing. Who is the better manager here then, one who can get mediocre players to up their game or one who can make world class players look shite(Casemiro)
This is absolute bull imo. Mourinho was playing peak allardyce football with the players he had. You can say he piggybacked on mourinho’s work in the half season that he managed after mourinho was sacked. After that he had two seasons where we finished 3rd and 2nd consecutively while playing champagne football with players who are deemed to be not fit for the job under the current tactical mastermind.
What use is press triggers and statistical dominance when we concede 7 goals without reply against our bitter rivals. At least Ole’s team was never spanked so badly by any of our main rivals. What about our statistics against top 6 teams under eth?? We haven’t won against one of our top 6 rivsls in ages. What use is tactics when you turn up against your rivals and its a given that you will not win.
I know I am apparently supposed to despise Ole and wish him the worst, and hope that he never enjoys life and only bad things happen to him, but I honestly perceive his time here as pretty much the only post Fergie era where I actually enjoyed watching us play.
His final months were a disaster but the two seasons prior to that were quite OK with some great moments.
The best ever Norwegian team won 2 games against the worst ever Swedish team. Good jobb. But sweden has and will always be better than Norway. Norway is to Sweden what Wales is to England. You always been the little brother who looked up to Sweden. A few years here and there won't change that fact.
In the long run Sweden will always be a better football nation,as we have been in the past. Just like England will always be a better football nation than Wales.
That famous "Norwegian inferiority complex" is really strong in you. I didn't think that existed anymore but here you are.
If I’m generous I’m gonna say this is more than a bit disingenuous, considering:
a) Casemiro looked every bit World Class last year, and has barely played a handful of games this season.
b) Pogba & Matic both made over 100 appearances for Ole.
c) Pogba looked utter shite under Ole.
“Champagne football”
For all the love you give Ole, his best ever season brought us 74 points, ETH beat that in his first season (75), and Ole brought us zero trophies, ETH also beat that last season.
ETH is also doing a fair bit better in the league this season than Ole was when he was sacked.
Now don’t get me wrong here, ETH is fighting for his life and if he can’t improve he’ll be gone, but him struggling this season doesn’t make Ole’s shite reign any better.
Yeah least we have a plan with ETH. Its a plan towards 10th place and not scoring goals, but its a plan.
And pogba looked shite under Ragnick and under his current manager at juventus when he hasn’t been a sick note or on a PED induced suspension. Bit strange to hold ole responsible for it.If I’m generous I’m gonna say this is more than a bit disingenuous, considering:
a) Casemiro looked every bit World Class last year, and has barely played a handful of games this season.
b) Pogba & Matic both made over 100 appearances for Ole.
c) Pogba looked utter shite underu Ole.
“Champagne football”
For all the love you give Ole, his best ever season brought us 74 points, ETH beat that in his first season (75), and Ole brought us zero trophies, ETH also beat that last season.
ETH is also doing a fair bit better in the league this season than Ole was when he was sacked.
Now don’t get me wrong here, ETH is fighting for his life and if he can’t improve he’ll be gone, but him struggling this season doesn’t make Ole’s shite reign any better.
Beat ole’s best season points tally by one whole point. Tell me how many times have we scored more than 4 goals under eth. We are currently on course to score the least number of goals since LVG and that takes some doing. We cant beat mid table teams like Brighton and brentford ffs let alone our top 4 rivals. But that doesn’t matter as EtH has a tactical master plan right.
What do empty stadiums have to do with it? Were we the only team playing in empty stadiums? Only team advantaged by it? Only team not disadvantaged by it?
A fair bit better
Ole: 8th place: 12 games, 5-2-5, 17 points, 20-21 (-1)
ETH: 9th place: 20 games, 10-1-9, 31 points, 22-27 (-5)
Also CL since you conveniently left that part out:
Ole: 1st place: 4 games, 2-1-1, 7 points, 8-7 (+1)
ETH: 4th place: 6 games, 1-1-4, 5 points, 12-15 (-3) - in a group with Copenhagen and Galatasaray!
Standards were way higher back then.
If he comes (looking unlikely now) ill back him for sure! Maybe a national team suits him better. Yes, Mellberg and i think Thelin. Wasn't very happy with the Mellberg rumours but Thelin is an interesting manager but dont think he is interested atm.
If Ole comes i hope he proves me wrong, and i agree, he was treated badly at United.
Yes, you are correct, Fredrik Reinfeldt.. Maybe the worst PM we've ever had, and that says a lot since we had two absolute idiots as PMs from the Socialist democrats since then.
No one really know how he got the gig, the people and most clubs were against it. Sad times
That’s one of the strangest excuses given by ole’s detractors. It is pure cope as otherwise they will have to accept tgat he was a decent manager.
Bit of a BS point. Ole had no way near the injuries that ETH and still got thumped by worse teams, be it Everton or relegation battlingWatford 4-0 or 4-1.
The XG in his thumpings to city and Liverpool were worse if I recall and there was no real structure in the approach outside of sit back and hope.
You can analyse a subset of stats and try and vindicate Ole but in the grand picture he wasn't a coach, he had an extended purple patch in empty stadiums that made him look half decent, but he was found out quite quickly as not having a progressive style, not having tactical appreciation of how management takes place, not having any discipline and failing to keep players fresh and clear of injuries. Our longest trophy drought was under his watch and he set any new manager back years. He is comfortably the worst manager we've had in 30+ years.
AHH scoring goals..... Hope he does well with Sweden.
What’s with thus empty stadium jibe. It wasn’t like he was the only manager playing in empty stadiums.
So somehow ole is a bad manager for not being able to keep players from being injured but ETH is a master manager despite us having a worse injury record under him. That is some hypocrisy.
What use is having a tactically rigid approach if you can’t win a match against top 6 rivals to save your life. If anything i would say that ole was a better tactician who adjusted his tactics according to the opposition and got a result against them more times than not. The amount of times we came back from losing positions to win or draw under ole points to the fact that ole was a better tactician than many give him credit for.
May I remind you, we have lost more games than Bournemouth and Wolves this season, both with new managers and have scored less than every team not named Burnley (1 goal away) and Sheffield United. This is as bad as it has been. Ole at least has some fantastic history with the club, ETH is a nobody for United.
Good luck to Ole if he joins Sweden. I never got the hate for him, he's a club legend and the best manager we've had since SAF.
Wish it had've worked out better as we were much more entertaining under Ole than under ETH.
Wish it had've worked out better as we were much more entertaining under Ole than under ETH.
We also won a cup and finished with more points than Ole ever did last season. And we also have a terrible injury situation for half a season. Ole managed to look like a clown manager for a prolonged period with without the same level of injuries.
Ole was a manager who didn't rate tactics and had nothing outside of a counter. He didn't even know how to set up a press.
Saying we came back from behind a lot is such a soft point, to go behind in the first place that frequently was a big worry. He won nothing, his best season didn't even accumulate more points than ten hag in Year one. He had no discipline, he overplayed certain players into the ground and he allowed a terrible culture to develop.
Ole: 1.41 points per gameA fair bit better
Ole: 8th place: 12 games, 5-2-5, 17 points, 20-21 (-1)
ETH: 9th place: 20 games, 10-1-9, 31 points, 22-27 (-5)
ETH: 1.55 points per game
Standard weren’t better at all, Ole was shite for 3 years, managing zero trophies and his best points finish was 74 points. Standards were shite.
If EtH drops to 1.41 (losing the next two), he’ll be fired I’m sure.
Not sure I agree but everyone has their own opinion I guess.
Dude Sweden are barely page 1 on the coefficients. You're not relevant at this stage. No idea why you're comparing yourself to England
Like feck he is
One manager had 2 full seasons, the first earning a Europa League and league cup, the second our only post-SAF 80+ points finish.
The other managed zero trophies and his best points haul was 74.
It could be good for him, he doesnt need to do coaching because he is clueless in that, he cant waste your money, only thing he can do is to waste time, thats all.
Yeah I was also surprised by that part, thought both season were similar except Ole did OK in CL while ETH got marginally more wins in the league. But the bar for ETH is much lower for some reason.A fair bit better
Ole: 8th place: 12 games, 5-2-5, 17 points, 20-21 (-1)
ETH: 9th place: 20 games, 10-1-9, 31 points, 22-27 (-5)
Also CL since you conveniently left that part out:
Ole: 1st place: 4 games, 2-1-1, 7 points, 8-7 (+1)
ETH: 4th place: 6 games, 1-1-4, 5 points, 12-15 (-3) - in a group with Copenhagen and Galatasaray!
Standards were way higher back then.
Didn't we finish 6th that year and had to qualify through the europa cup?Like feck he is
One manager had 2 full seasons, the first earning a Europa League and league cup, the second our only post-SAF 80+ points finish.
The other managed zero trophies and his best points haul was 74.
I will never get this argument. You do realize every team was playing in empty stadiums, they didn't just become empty when Utd came to town. Ole was rightfully sacked due to the poor performances in his final season but I don't get the need to downplay his overall stint.
It was easily some of the best football we played post SAF.
At least we had players capable of individual brilliance....better than having to constantly watch Antony perform circus tricks down the touchline and then give the ball away.
Is this the Sweden in League C or is there a different Sweden? Bit weird to be talking about Sweden around all these League B teams.
Not that it changes much in the general picture, but we finished Ole's first full season in August because of the european games during Covid after the leagues had already ended, leaving us with a small margin for pre-season as the league started again around mid September.
While some teams were playing some friendlies here and there our players were resting, and when we played the first league games we got completely overrun. I remember how some of the clubs that played those late european games started poorly that following season. I think it was Bayern the ones I saw having a pair of blunders in the first weeks and I realized that we were playing our pre-season games in the league.
At the end of that season and as we reached the EL final the team just focused on it and we didn't win much in the final month. I recall we won one game with plenty of youngsters but we were playing for nothing. We could have got 2-3 wins more that season in normal conditions leading to 80 points and close to 80 goals too, but it wouldn't have changed anything. We were clearly the second best team but in the same way the gap with City was noticeable.
Considering the state of the club and the disgrace of a window they had that second summer (20-21), with 65 M spent on Van de Beek, Telles, Pellistri and Amad (who didn't even join that summer), and Cavani as a free agent, I think Ole did very well that season to get 2nd, the EL final lost on penalties and the big amount of goals scored, with plenty of good games throghout the season.
I don't know much about Sweden's NT but if he finally goes there they're getting a good manager.
While some teams were playing some friendlies here and there our players were resting, and when we played the first league games we got completely overrun. I remember how some of the clubs that played those late european games started poorly that following season. I think it was Bayern the ones I saw having a pair of blunders in the first weeks and I realized that we were playing our pre-season games in the league.
At the end of that season and as we reached the EL final the team just focused on it and we didn't win much in the final month. I recall we won one game with plenty of youngsters but we were playing for nothing. We could have got 2-3 wins more that season in normal conditions leading to 80 points and close to 80 goals too, but it wouldn't have changed anything. We were clearly the second best team but in the same way the gap with City was noticeable.
Considering the state of the club and the disgrace of a window they had that second summer (20-21), with 65 M spent on Van de Beek, Telles, Pellistri and Amad (who didn't even join that summer), and Cavani as a free agent, I think Ole did very well that season to get 2nd, the EL final lost on penalties and the big amount of goals scored, with plenty of good games throghout the season.
I don't know much about Sweden's NT but if he finally goes there they're getting a good manager.
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Ole finished 3rd and 2nd in his two full seasons. Was sacked in November when he was 8th in the league and top of CL group.
ETH finished 3rd in his first season. 9th in the league in January, finished bottom of the CL group. Breaking new negative records every week. 3rd fewest goals, only the bottom 2 clubs have fewer. Has never beaten anyone decent away from home (and will never do it either because he's clueless). Still has 50 % support.
9 of the 10 wins are by a one goal margin. Several flukey wins. On the xPTS table we are 14th. So 9th on the real table is flattering us massively. Imagine that.
Standards are at an all time low.
This is exactly how I feel. I agree with everything especially that bit about connection to the team. Some people feel like it's uneducated or immature to be romantic and football but it's a fecking sport. It means something that it was Ole. Even if offer things weren't perfect, I carried more about Ole finishing second in the league than I ever could about mourinho doing the same. That's the nature of an emotional connection. Those that deny it are often the ones defending ETH cause they think he's a smart philosopher type and Ole was just vibes. But feck it, football is a vibes business, give me fecking vibes any day.
It's pointless comparing Ole with ETH. Ole was twice the manager for us. The only debate here is between Mourinho and Ole who remained competitive for years until they lost the group. 2-3 years cycle before losing a dressing room is very common in football.
ETH's poor results in this second season are not about dressing room problems, is pure mismanagement. The players are trying but they're completely shot in terms of confidence as they're being set up to fail. The day he faces a dressing room revolt he's getting 7-0ed every week.
ETH's poor results in this second season are not about dressing room problems, is pure mismanagement. The players are trying but they're completely shot in terms of confidence as they're being set up to fail. The day he faces a dressing room revolt he's getting 7-0ed every week.
“we won a cup” - give Ole the teams ETH faced in the carabao cup and he would win that too. One of the easiest runs to a trophy. How many home draws it? The season ticket holders had to get second jobs it was that many
I don’t recall ever finishing bottom of an easy UCL group under Ole. Injuries or not, a team that spends £450m should get out of a group consisting of Galatasaray and Copenhagen.
Ole was shite, I’m not advocating that he was a good manager but ETH is shite too. But for some bizarre reason, he’s getting way more excuses even though he means absolutely feck all to the club in comparison to Ole.
If we lose tomorrow and Wolves and Bournemouth win their games in hand, we are 12th!
I share the feeling more or less, but in my case I wouldn't back a legend if we were as bad as we're now under ten Hag. I think results are important too.
The thing with Ole is that he kept us in that spot behind City and Liverpool for years. The second full season we reached a respectable level of performances so I had time for him, to see what he was capable of, if allowed more time.
I don't think the club is structured to reach the +90 points step or fight for the CL under any manager (which is what I undertand as success at a club of our size and resources) so I gladly took the 3rd and 2nd finishes, and just seeing what happened next while hoping for improvements at club level.
Once he lost the group and it became a mess he had to go. It's sad but it happens. If there isn't the bare minimum at least there's no margin for romanticism, in my opinion. But I appreciated the job he did for years in difficult conditions. Those who were super-critical must be realizing now that things are not easy at this club.
All I can say is, irrespective of his stint as manager, he’ll always be my Solskjær, and he’ll always make me happy when skies are grey.
I’m sure many fans will agree, and that connection is something that will never fade. Wish him nothing but success and happiness wherever he lands next.
I’m sure many fans will agree, and that connection is something that will never fade. Wish him nothing but success and happiness wherever he lands next.
Twice the manager with none of the trophies.