Appointing Solskjaer was a mistake

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Sterling Archer

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This thread is a bit preemptive. Not only that, there's a nice recent precedent of club legends that have had spells with their youth team doikg well with a full time appointment. Indeed, the first dozen games for Ole seemed the same. The next bunch have been awful but I'd reserve my final judgment until the end of the season after next .
 

HailtotheKing

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Juries out but he's certainly made a few questionable decisions today.

Everton were always gonna press us, so why the hell did he...

1. Play Matic in center mid instead of McTominay
2. Move our best Center back to right back
3. Have two non-ball playing center halves in Jones and Smalling, thus putting even more pressure on de Gea.


Did he leave Scott out cos he wanted to rest him for City? Thats the only thing I can think of.
But that's stupid because that game takes care of itself in my opinion.

Such an absolute mess though.

If he's to be successful Ole needs leaders to help guide him.

But we have no leaders on the pitch, no director of football and no real experience on the bench bar Phelan.

Still don't understand how we could play so bad today though. I mean literally NO player played well.
That doesn't speak well of Ole does it?
 

Cnaiür urs Skiötha

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I have been thinking about how it is possible that we seemed to be playing better for 10-15 games before we started to perform even worse than under Mourinho.

Probably it was the simple idea of letting our attacker play more freely.
However, the other teams found out pretty quickly how to nullify our players and as we are missing an overall attacking plan with automatic movement patterns etc. we are completely screwed.
Mourinho had enough experience to at least get something out of this unbalanced squad and knew how to avoid complete debacles even though it looked ugly.
Not saying I wanted him to stay and I believe he was not the right one but it was naive to suddenly call him a bad manager etc.

I really hope that Ole has a real plan and not just “we need more British players”.

At the moment it is really depressing and it feels like the wishes from our rivals (Ole producing good results until getting the permanent job before everything falls apart) became true.
 

Water Melon

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Could never see such a horrific run of games after Ole's first games managing us. I hope the Board will give him enough authority to decide who should be brought and who should be let go, no matter how much a player costs, earns or brings to the club in terms of image rights. Not sure if the Glazers will back him financially to carry out this major surgery though. The big positive is that the gaffer is already fed up and seems to be bent on becoming a successful Man Utd manager. He won't tolerate being on a fence from any of his players. You are either with him in his ultimate mission to get United back to the very top or you play elsewhere.
 

JEredDevil

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Juries out but he's certainly made a few questionable decisions today.

Everton were always gonna press us, so why the hell did he...

1. Play Matic in center mid instead of McTominay
2. Move our best Center back to right back
3. Have two non-ball playing center halves in Jones and Smalling, thus putting even more pressure on de Gea.


Did he leave Scott out cos he wanted to rest him for City? Thats the only thing I can think of.
But that's stupid because that game takes care of itself in my opinion.

Such an absolute mess though.

If he's to be successful Ole needs leaders to help guide him.

But we have no leaders on the pitch, no director of football and no real experience on the bench bar Phelan.

Still don't understand how we could play so bad today though. I mean literally NO player played well.
That doesn't speak well of Ole does it?
Could it be because Ole wanted to give Matic, Jones and Smalling a chance to prove that they are still worthy of the shirt? Pretty sure Ole has already a list of players he wants to clear out and he might be giving them a last chance to show if they have what it takes to stay.

Truth is the team that we put out yesterday was more than capable of beating Everton (no disrespect to them though) and im sure Ole didnt set us up to lose 4-0.
 

francobaresi

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No, that is not the answer.

The reason I feel Ole is the right man, is because Ole knows what the true traditions and nature of the club are. That is the difference between him and Mourinho, Moyes and LVG.
Sick of hearing this. What does that even mean? Absolute rubbish
 

dannyrhinos89

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The only reason we are in a top 4 race in the first place is because of him. Out of the last 17 premier league games, only City and Liverpool have more points than us so perhaps get your facts straight.

So what though, can’t you see that stat is completely irrelevant considering we’re still sitting in sixth. We also had a really easy run of fixtures too. Maybe spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea didn’t get more points than us in that period but we’re still below them So ultimately it means nothing. Plus arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and spurs are all still in Europe and city have a final at Wembley to look forward to.

Meanwhile in that same time period we’ve been dumped out of the cups and our league season is pretty much dead.
 

Charlie Yu

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He is a club legend, so it is easier for him to do the dirty job of clearing deadwood. What replaces the deadwood though, I still don’t think Woodward will bring the quality players Ole needs.
 

clarkydaz

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So what though, can’t you see that stat is completely irrelevant considering we’re still sitting in sixth. We also had a really easy run of fixtures too. Maybe spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea didn’t get more points than us in that period but we’re still below them So ultimately it means nothing. Plus arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and spurs are all still in Europe and city have a final at Wembley to look forward to.

Meanwhile in that same time period we’ve been dumped out of the cups and our league season is pretty much dead.
If the players actually turned up yesterday and won that game we would now be 3rd in the table.
 

Red_toad

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Owners should have been active on the last transfer window. Regardless of whom manages the team, it’s been obvious for years that there are massive voids in our squad being filled by players who simply are not going to perform the role.
Imagine being a manager of a team that has no right wing or right back options that would get a game time for Cardiff. Then be expected to qualify for the champions league.
 

7even

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To the point. To sack him at the end of the season isn’t an option. If Edward Woodwood and the owners take this road then the British media will hunt them down and kill them slowly over a open fire. And I haven’t even mention internet warriors, match going fans, former players and the Twitter mob. So that’s not going to happen.

Keeping him needs patience from all of us. He isn’t the finished article. The club is in such a mess that nobody will turn this around without time and a little bit of luck. My advice to Ole Gunnar is to get rid of the yeas sayers, turn of internet and stop reading newspapers for a while. Clear the deck inside the dressing room from now until the end of the season. Promote academy players who are loyal hard workers with the right mentality.

After that he can starts to buy new players.
 

dannyrhinos89

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If the players actually turned up yesterday and won that game we would now be 3rd in the table.

But we didn’t win so again it’s irrelevant. City up next so god only knows what that score will be. Cardiff and Huddersfield relegated but still to play and knowing this terrible squad we will feck that up too.
 

MackRobinson

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This thread shows that football fans of big clubs are definitely the worst.

Between the calls to sack the manager who is the only reason why top 4 is attainable, the scapegoating of Pogba, and the revisionism of just how terrible Mourinho was this place has lost the plot. Grim days ahead.

These two quotes more or less sum up the thread:

The issue with this is it knee jerk to think Ole should go? i'd say it was knee jerk to give him the job, letting him go would just be reverting to rational thinking.
The board, and therefore the club, would look ridiculous if they sack someone who was appointed a few weeks ago and who hasn’t been able to buy one player yet.
 

Treble

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Sick of hearing this. What does that even mean? Absolute rubbish
It is rubbish indeed. There is no special United way of succeeding known only to people who "get" the club. Either your ideas of how to play football can work in the PL and you can implement them successfully or you are not good enough. Mourinho was past it and this was the main reason why he failed, not because he didn't get the club. His last success with Chelsea came in a weaker league, league with no Klopp, Guardiola, Pochettino, etc.

Appointing Ole wasn't a mistake. If there is some mistake it was to appoint him before the end of the season - before seeing how the team will react to adversity. I think the reason was that uncertainty about transfers and contracts forced the hand of the board and they decided to appoint him to secure a stable atmosphere around the club. If Ole manages to get top 4, however, the appointment would be probably justified. But we can't say that before seeing how next season is going to pan out.
 

TheGame

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So what though, can’t you see that stat is completely irrelevant considering we’re still sitting in sixth. We also had a really easy run of fixtures too. Maybe spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea didn’t get more points than us in that period but we’re still below them So ultimately it means nothing. Plus arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and spurs are all still in Europe and city have a final at Wembley to look forward to.

Meanwhile in that same time period we’ve been dumped out of the cups and our league season is pretty much dead.
We are 3 points off third place despite the poor season we have had, hardly dead. In those matches we beat Arsenal, Spurs and Leicester away. Plus Chelsea and PSG in the cups. Barca was always going to be tough. The performance against Wolves was poor.

To have the 3rd best form over the last half of the season shows how good a job OGS has done. The performance against Everton was poor but he has made us compete again the league for a CL place considering we were 12 points off when he took over.
 

Speedy30

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No, that is not the answer.

The reason I feel Ole is the right man, is because Ole knows what the true traditions and nature of the club are. That is the difference between him and Mourinho, Moyes and LVG.
I've heard this a lot about Ole but wouldn't it be the same at any club that a legend goes back to? If Steve Bull tipped up at Wolves, I'm not sure they'd be in a better position than they are now even though he 'gets it'. We used that reasoning with Kenny Dalglish and it got us nowhere.
I think the Utd board were too quick to hand a contract over to him and although there might be an improvement next season with new signings, is anyone expecting him to have you fighting for the league in 2-3 years time?
 

Micky Targaryen

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Who would you appoint that you know would fix this mess then?
I've always said from the beginning that we should decide who to appoint at the end of the season, so we can properly assess Ole's appointment. No doubt Ole started well, credit to him for that, but look what's happening now. Again, I'm not necessarily saying Ole is the wrong appointment, but I just feel it's a hasty decision.

For what it's worth, I've always been Team Poch. I feel Poch has done brilliantly with the Spurs squad and with that budget. And it's because he simply is a great coach, not because he "understands" the club and he "bleeds" white. Same goes to Pep. I don't think Pep gives 2 shits about City's history and yet he's winning game after game, albeit with a larger budget of course. But nevertheless, he's fulfilling what he's being paid to do.

So now back to Ole, we should be giving him the job based on his performance at the end of the season, and his ability to motivate the squad, and not because he is a former United legend and he "understands" the club and the United Way. The bolded bit never fails to make me cringe. Having said all that, since Ole is now at the wheel, hopefully he can turn things around sooner rather than later, and he gets full backing from the board for transfers.
 

OLLY ORANGE

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There seemed yesterday a total lack of response and respect towards management.
Total lack of fear for their actions.
Why wasn't there a reaction after half time after a shocking first 45 mins?
Was there any kind of hairdryer treatment given out?
For players not reacting an inch after being in the dressing room is criminal and concerning for next season.
If Ole can't shift a large amounts of personal onwards in the summer what is he going to do?
 

crossy1686

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I've always said from the beginning that we should decide who to appoint at the end of the season, so we can properly assess Ole's appointment. No doubt Ole started well, credit to him for that, but look what's happening now. Again, I'm not necessarily saying Ole is the wrong appointment, but I just feel it's a hasty decision.

For what it's worth, I've always been Team Poch. I feel Poch has done brilliantly with the Spurs squad and with that budget. And it's because he simply is a great coach, not because he "understands" the club and he "bleeds" white. Same goes to Pep. I don't think Pep gives 2 shits about City's history and yet he's winning game after game, albeit with a larger budget of course. But nevertheless, he's fulfilling what he's being paid to do.

So now back to Ole, we should be giving him the job based on his performance at the end of the season, and his ability to motivate the squad, and not because he is a former United legend and he "understands" the club and the United Way. The bolded bit never fails to make me cringe. Having said all that, since Ole is now at the wheel, hopefully he can turn things around sooner rather than later, and he gets full backing from the board for transfers.
Throwing Pochettino into this mess is the definition of setting someone up for failure.

It about time we all realised that this is a player issue, not a staffing issue. We've got players that can't wait for offers from Madrid, Barcelona, PSG or Bayern to come in so they can set themselves up for success, they've got absolutely zero ambition to make it at United. We need massive reinforcements of players who aren't going to leave but are also good enough to play for United, which is why I'm not surprised we're looking at the best of the British now.

What we don't need right now, is also a manager who would come to United and try to be successful until Madrid come knocking.

With Solskjær as manager we don't have to worry about that and we know that he sees United as the biggest club in the world and also knows what it takes to be successful here. That's what people mean by him understanding the club, it's not cringe worthy, it's actually having someone who understands what playing for United is about because right now, we might as well be Chelsea, Milan, Inter or any of those other shit clubs who don't know what they are but are hoping throwing money and managers at the problems will make it all go away.
 

Nou_Camp99

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Not signed a single player yet or had a chance to do much with this team. This is still Jose's mess.

Some of you are an embarrassment to this club. Plastics.
 

crossy1686

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Not signed a single player yet or had a chance to do much with this team. This is still Jose's mess.

Some of you are an embarrassment to this club. Plastics.
Spot on Solskjær hasn't even had a transfer window yet and people are blaming him for players like Martial who clearly don't want to be here.
 

DomesticTadpole

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Think announcing Ole so early was the mistake, but now I think they will use him to clear out the players who either don't want to be here or are not up to high energy football. Then it will just be wait and see if we make the right signings and how Ole starts next season. Hopefully it works, if not is could be disastrous and then Ed and the owners have to take the blame.
 

DomesticTadpole

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It was the fact they said they would take their time over a managerial appointment, then a few good results and bingo. The board is lazy and the easier the route to take, the better they like it.
 

dannyrhinos89

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We are 3 points off third place despite the poor season we have had, hardly dead. In those matches we beat Arsenal, Spurs and Leicester away. Plus Chelsea and PSG in the cups. Barca was always going to be tough. The performance against Wolves was poor.

To have the 3rd best form over the last half of the season shows how good a job OGS has done. The performance against Everton was poor but he has made us compete again the league for a CL place considering we were 12 points off when he took over.

I feel like I’m stuck on repeat here, yes I agree he made results improve I’m not disputing that but it doesn’t change the fact that we are still SIXTH, out of every cup and on a streak of 6 losses in the last 8 matches so coming 3rd in a form table doesn’t matter in the slightest when it’s looking likely we will miss out on top 4 now.


It’s like arsenal fans that were bragging about their 14 game undefeated run (many draws) they went on in the league earlier in the season. At the time it was irrelevant as there were teams above them.
 

Mcking

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I feel what the players needed was a change from the toxicity of Mourinho's reign. Anyone to give them a jot, motivate them to start playing and show what they could do in the absence of Mourinho. The new manager bounce seem to be over, and we've completely underwhelmed in the tactical and coaching aspect. It is back to everyone looking completely clueless every game, beaten most games, and outplayed every other game. I would say that what we've been seeing lately is no worse than our nadir since Ferguson.
I always advocated for patience till the end of the season, and made this post long before he was named permanent manager:
I don't think he necessarily has to get us into top 4 to get the job. What Chelsea, Spurs does is beyond his control and the most he can do is beat them. He has only had the Job for a few weeks, so he shouldn't be wholly expected to close such a gap against managers who've had their jobs for much longer - although he has done a great job so far. I would give him the job if we manage to sustain the obvious signs of improvement, do well in the games we're expected to, show some signs of very good coaching and pattern on the pitch , compete and play well against the top teams, and maybe some decent cup runs too - top four or any trophy would be a very welcome bonus imo. I'd give him more time to really make the team his own if the team shows some very good signs, especially the bolded part. No point taking the risk of appointing another manager.
So far I've been unimpressed. My concern isn't even all about results, it is that we look completely clueless on the pitch and seem to be getting worse with time. We really should have stuck to our DOF-manager plan, and waited till end of this season before considering him for the permanent gig. It would be a massive shame if we spend millions come July and he proves to be the wrong manager.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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Sick of hearing this. What does that even mean? Absolute rubbish
It's the main argument people have for Ole turning it around.

I don't get it.

Mourinho, Van Gaal and Moyes didn't fail because they 'didn't get the club' or 'understand United'. They failed, because all 3 were terrible at their job.
 

Bestietom

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All this talk about wanting the manager sacked already is ridiculous. We can all see that a big drop in performance levels by a lot of players is the reason we have not been able to win games lately.

Now I don't know what is going on inside the club but some players hearts are not here anymore, and this is not down to the manager. I forecasted that this would happen because of the wage structure and players knocking on the door for more money. This all started because of Woodward opting to pay over the odds in wages to beat City to Sanchez and Fred's signing.

Herrera is on 75k a week when players around him were on treble that. What do you expect. I would say that most of the unrest is about wages. It is like a union in the dressing room, and agents getting into it outside.

We have had a lot of injuries lately and MAYBE some were prolonged in wanting to come back quicker. We went fourteen games without defeat with these same players, so the fall in performances lies with the results lately. I don't know how Ole can lift them for the remaining 4 games but a Derby should definitely lift any player who has their heart in this club. We shall see on Wednesday night.

The summer is going to be the start of rebuilding this Club and if Ole and his loyal assistants are allowed to bring in the players they choose ( from Their List) and Woodward stays clear, then I believe things will start to change for the better. Other problems will be to get rid of the deadwood ASAP and this includes ANYONE who wants to move on. It is the only way that this club will have any chance to get back to the top of the pile.

Some fans may not like to see some players going, but if their heart is not here then move them on. For Now we have to hope that ALL players that Ole put on the field for the remaining 4 games perform well above the level they are playing lately. THEY OWE IT to this club.
 

Verbalkint

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This thread is a mistake. You judge Ole based on the current bunch? They don't seem to give a damn and that's not something any manager can change. If the board was short sighted and hurried Ole's contract, so is this judgement. We need to back him on a couple of transfer windows, let him buy the players he wants, throw out some of these useless wankers we currently pay millions to - give him some time ffs. And no, Poch couldn't have done shit either with the current first team.
 

Pacificgi

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Moving Lindelof to right back feels like a Ferguson move.

Thread is premature and shows no respect to Ole.
 

Lookatu

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Get a new manager now, if he doesn't get us top 4 sack him as well.
Some of you lot are a tragedy.
Really play into the idea that people have about United fans being plastic and fickle.
If you can't back solskjaer and see the passion he has for this club please do one, I'll back you up and say you always supported city.
Same cancer that kills old Trafford most weekends if we start slow, no passion and no pride, we've got a group of players more interested in pricking around on Instagram and a group of fans that can't understand why Ole can't get this Ford Mondeo of a squad to compete. Same clowns that bashed the last 3 managers, common denominator anyone?
 

Red00012

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Juries out but he's certainly made a few questionable decisions today.

Everton were always gonna press us, so why the hell did he...

1. Play Matic in center mid instead of McTominay
2. Move our best Center back to right back
3. Have two non-ball playing center halves in Jones and Smalling, thus putting even more pressure on de Gea.


Did he leave Scott out cos he wanted to rest him for City? Thats the only thing I can think of.
But that's stupid because that game takes care of itself in my opinion.

Such an absolute mess though.

If he's to be successful Ole needs leaders to help guide him.

But we have no leaders on the pitch, no director of football and no real experience on the bench bar Phelan.

Still don't understand how we could play so bad today though. I mean literally NO player played well.
That doesn't speak well of Ole does it?
Good post. He should have treated this game as more important than city. Get the 3 points against Everton because let’s face it we’re not going to get anything off city wed night.
The majority of us want us to lose Wednesday night anyway.
 

RedorDead21

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The biggest issue is how does it harm the players if they fail here. His threat of some of them won’t be here next season. It’s hardly a stick for them to fear. Pogs, De Gea, Lukaku and Martial will land on their feet with comparable contracts I’m sure. Sanchez will have to be paid off so that’s him set. The better ones will most likely end up with CL football. They’ll be leaving behind what’s widely acknowledged as the biggest project in European football with no garantee it’s a worthwhile place to spend another few years of your career. For the younger ones, sure, they’ll want to stay but equally right now they ain’t the answer for us. We seem to be in a very weak position no matter what angle you look from. I think Pogs is a fantastic player and will do great things in his career but I think we need to set an example and sell him for the highest fee possible. Get some quality workers in the middle of the field and set the tone of what’s expected. Kante would be a great start for me.
 

Tom Van Persie

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He's actually quite a defensive minded manager. Lots of sitting back, relying on the counter.
No he's not defensive minded. It's quite clear why the intensity in our play has dropped off in the last month or so. Our fitness is piss poor Ole basically said it after the match yesterday and if we carried on playing the way we were playing when Ole first came in the players would be fecked and we would be struggling to field a team because of injuries. This is still Mourinho's team.
 
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