Counter-attack thriving under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

[roonster09]

Opta define a fast break as an attempt created when a team turns defence into attack after winning the ball in their own half. United had three such breaks in the first 45 minutes alone - as many as in their 17 full matches under Mourinho this season.

Indeed, no team in the Premier League had fewer counter-attacks than Mourinho's United. They were joint last alongside Cardiff and Huddersfield with just three. Solskjaer's United have had seven in the past two matches. No team has had as many since he took over. They have gone from the worst counter-attacking side in the Premier League to the best.

https://www.skysports.com/football/...er-attack-thriving-under-ole-gunnar-solskjaer

There are so many changes to the team, this is one of the most pleasing part. ManUtd should always play with pace and Solskjaer gets it. From worst to best in counter attacking.

 

[Josh 76]

Did i just watch Ole following Klopps way of playing. Lingard was frimino. Rashford and martial, Salah and Mane.
Worked wonders in the first half. Just need our VVD now and Utd will be back!

 

[SirAF]

Did i just watch Ole following Klopps way of playing. Lingard was frimino. Rashford and martial, Salah and Mane.
Worked wonders in the first half. Just need our VVD now and Utd will be back!

Koulibaly

 

[redasian]

yes definitely. one of the infuriating parts of watching games under Jose would be the ball breaking for:

a) Lukaku, who'd fail to control it,
b) Mata, who'd be outrun within the first few seconds and find his passing options blocked,
c) Pogba, who'd dawdle on the ball because nobody was running past him and get dispossessed,
d) Fellaini, who'd try. I give him credit for that.

With a pace-fiend like Rashford and guys like Martial and Lingard in the squad and Pogba picking the passes (Herrera and Matic too, but less frequently/consistently), there was actually no reason why we couldn't effectively play on the counter. long may the Oleball last.

 

[baskinginthesun]

Wow. Quite a nice stat.

There was one instance in the Spurs match where you can see how fast United wants to play on the attack. Not sure if it counted as a counter but, in an instance a 3 on 2 was created because we basically played 2 incredibly fast passes forward that completely opened up the Spurs back line. It was nice to watch.

 

[crossy1686]

It's amazing what happens when you hire a manager that 'gets it'.

 

[FootyGirl88]

Well according to Souness it's nothing to do with tactics - the players are just trying harder

 

[AgentP]

Amazing stat. The United of old is back!

 

[worldinmotion66]

It's quite simple. Let more players make forward runs and you have a better chance to create something. We're finally playing to the strengths of our attacking players.

 

[Ish]

Work rate up. Intensity up. Counter attacking stats the best in the league - from the worst.

Who thought such "simple" concepts could have such drastic improvements.

 

[crossy1686]

Well according to Souness it's nothing to do with tactics - the players are just trying harder

Players are 'running' for the manager now.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

Was interesting to hear from the players that they working on counter attacks like the one we scored from, specifically for Spurs. Ole really does surprise me more and more in the tactical department.

 

[#07]

Well according to Souness it's nothing to do with tactics - the players are just trying harder

Its incredible that pundits get away with peddling such uninformed nonsense. If I was Ole I'd be getting a bit p'd off with the patronising tone the press are using towards him. Even the way the Sky interviewer asked him about putting smiles on faces after the game. This man has been a manager for the best part of a decade. Why are we treating him like he doesn't know what time it is?

 

[worldinmotion66]

Its incredible that pundits get away with peddling such uninformed nonsense. If I was Ole I'd be getting a bit p'd off with the patronising tone the press are using towards him. Even the way the Sky interviewer asked him about putting smiles on faces after the game. This man has been a manager for the best part of a decade. Why are we treating him like he doesn't know what time it is?

I'm sure he doesn't give a shit. He seems quite happy to go under the radar and get the job done. He'll be happy if people continue to underestimate his tactical ability.

 

[#07]

I'm sure he doesn't give a shit. He seems quite happy to go under the radar and get the job done. He'll be happy if people continue to underestimate his tactical ability.

Well he rolled his eyes at the question on Sky. I think it is starting to get on his nerves how the hundreds of games he's had as a manager are being ignored because of a short spell at Cardiff.

You have Pogba etc. detailing how we worked on exploiting the space between the Spurs' full backs and centre backs, we see Ole on the touchline coaching the team, and yet you have 'informed' opinion in football treating Solskjaer like some kind of cheerleader. Its disrespectful.

 

[Ekeke]

No surprise for me. People called us a counter attacking team early on in the season and I always queried it because I could barely remember a time where we did counter attack. We won the ball and very slowly worked the ball up the pitch by which point the other team were completely in shape and waiting for us. Thats not a counter attack, thats slow buildup play.

 

[morbidsaint]

Well he rolled his eyes at the question on Sky. I think it is starting to get on his nerves how the hundreds of games he's had as a manager are being ignored because of a short spell at Cardiff.

You have Pogba etc. detailing how we worked on exploiting the space between the Spurs' full backs and centre backs, we see Ole on the touchline coaching the team, and yet you have 'informed' opinion in football treating Solskjaer like some kind of cheerleader. Its disrespectful.

Well, there are people on here who said exactly the same as Souness. "Cheerleader OGS" while Carrick, Mccenna etc is doing the tactical work... Hilarious. Clueless.

 

[ArjenIsM3]

Well, there are people on here who said exactly the same as Souness. "Cheerleader OGS" while Carrick, Mccenna etc is doing the tactical work... Hilarious. Clueless.

When you think about it this whole discussion is just stupid. Who gives a feck who's responsible for what? What's important is the coaching team are performing much better than they were with Mourinho in charge. That's on Solskjaer. He's the one who'll get the blame when the shit hits the fan. He's responsible. If for example he's recognized that Phelan or McKenna is better than him at tactical work then he's absolutely right to let them do it because it's in the best interest of the team and thus the club. That's what a good manager does really.

 

[Tomuś]

Exactly what we did under Fergie. One lad on here has claimed recently that he'd watched plenty of our games from treble-winning season and that we hoofed it a lot. Easy to be mistaken for direct, long balls out wide or into the channels that immediately help the transition. The recent concept that you need to play it neat and tidy and exchange million passes needs to go. This Ole's football is far better to watch, even if you risk losing the ball immediately after getting it back.

 

[Xaviboy]

This game plan won't work with lukaku and Mata in the squad. Id rather we sold Lukaku and get in someone in the mould if Rashford and lindgard. Good movement and pace. Be happy with Martial, Rashford, Lindgard, and another attacker who has pace and movement.

 

[Pace Abuser]

I was listening to Talksport when giving Ole the job permanently started being discussed. After the first 2 or 3 wins. The presenter asked the woman from Paddy Power giving the odds if Ole should get it. She was genuinely baffled at the question expressing a condescending tone and followed it with a "what give him the job because he scored that (ucl final) goal."

The amount of disrespect and straight ignorance Ole has had to face is laughable. Ole has not only managed over 300 games I believe but has had big away wins in the Europa. Add this to the fact not one of his detractors is aware of the general footballing education and nous he has had it's really unbecoming some of tongue-in-cheek comments and eye rolling he's been subjected to.

 

[Foxbatt]

I have a question. In the first half we were brilliant and controlled the game. The second half they changed and we had difficulty in coping with it. Now other teams will look at that. How can we counter the way Spurs played the second half? Is it because we actually did not have an outlet? A player who can actually hold the ball up front? Or something else?

 

[Foxbatt]

I was listening to Talksport when giving Ole the job permanently started being discussed. After the first 2 or 3 wins. The presenter asked the woman from Paddy Power giving the odds if Ole should get it. She was genuinely baffled at the question expressing a condescending tone and followed it with a "what give him the job because he scored that (ucl final) goal."

The amount of disrespect and straight ignorance Ole has had to face is laughable. Ole has not only managed over 300 games I believe but has had big away wins in the Europa. Add this to the fact not one of his detractors is aware of the general footballing education and nous he has had it's really unbecoming some of tongue-in-cheek comments and eye rolling he's been subjected to.

Molde has topped a group that had Ajax and Celtic. His team beat even Zenith in one game.

 

[Adisa]

What the feck was Mourinho doing?

 

[ManuMou]

1. Ole gets it. Its the Manchester United way
2. Unleash our attacking forces Rash Martial Pog Lingard...hopefully Sanchez Lukaku will be able to contribute in one way or the other

Regardless of where we will be finishing, the mentality is back. The Fergie-inspired Manchester United is back.

Come On United!! It has been a long fecking 5 years+

 

[Adisa]

I'm sure he doesn't give a shit. He seems quite happy to go under the radar and get the job done. He'll be happy if people continue to underestimate his tactical ability.

H should give a shit because I think talk like that harm his chances of getting the job permanently.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Well according to Souness it's nothing to do with tactics - the players are just trying harder

I love this daft narrative. We do badly - call us shit. We do well - well, why were they doing badly before? It's such a stale perspective, people who get paid for analysing the game should be ashamed of airing such clichéd and arbitrary nonsnese.

 

[#07]

I have a question. In the first half we were brilliant and controlled the game. The second half they changed and we had difficulty in coping with it. Now other teams will look at that. How can we counter the way Spurs played the second half? Is it because we actually did not have an outlet? A player who can actually hold the ball up front? Or something else?

It was a combination of factors.

We set up to exploit the space in the channels against Spurs' diamond and got in several times first half. However, at half time Spurs went 4-2-3-1 and their full backs became more disciplined. They also used Eriksen deeper and he became their main playmaker, which significantly altered the shape of the game. As a result there was less space for us to counter into, although Pogba almost scored twice more on the counter.

Given that we had a 1-0 lead we opted to sit back much deeper than we did in the first half and pressed their defenders less when they had the ball. That gave Spurs even more impetus and they ended up camped in our half. When Ole brought Lukaku on that gave us a bit of a relief because Lukaku had the strength to hold up the long clearances and give other players the ability to join in. However, it didn't change the flow of the match. Although Lukaku should've cut it across to Dalot on the counter on 90 minutes and ended the game.

Also you have to remember Spurs are one of the best teams in the country and not many sides will be able to execute what they did, even if they copy it.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

I have a question. In the first half we were brilliant and controlled the game. The second half they changed and we had difficulty in coping with it. Now other teams will look at that. How can we counter the way Spurs played the second half? Is it because we actually did not have an outlet? A player who can actually hold the ball up front? Or something else?

Well generally we won't be facing teams as good as Spurs every week so most of the time we'll have superior quality to the opposition and now that our creative players are being allowed to actually play football we should be fine.

In the other big games it could be a worry though yeah. Lukaku coming in and doing nothing didn't help us, and we looked pretty shattered by the end. Definitely think the teams overall fitness needs improving.

Winning yesterday though will be a huge boost to everyones confidence, they now know they can go away to a top rival and play well and win, even if we did ride our luck a little in the 2nd half.

 

[Ekeke]

I have a question. In the first half we were brilliant and controlled the game. The second half they changed and we had difficulty in coping with it. Now other teams will look at that. How can we counter the way Spurs played the second half? Is it because we actually did not have an outlet? A player who can actually hold the ball up front? Or something else?

Spurs had more of the ball and controlled the game in the first half too. But that was our plan to get them to come out and we'd spring a quick counter attack.

What happened is Spurs didnt give the ball away as cheaply, had a better idea of where to play the ball in the box (backpost for Alli or balls in the air in general) and were a bit better at dealing with our counterattacks because Spurs werent pushing both fullbacks forward at the same time which they normally do, but can leave their CBs against runners up front and clearly they had a problem with that.

 

[Sereques]

I was listening to Talksport when giving Ole the job permanently started being discussed. After the first 2 or 3 wins. The presenter asked the woman from Paddy Power giving the odds if Ole should get it. She was genuinely baffled at the question expressing a condescending tone and followed it with a "what give him the job because he scored that (ucl final) goal."

The amount of disrespect and straight ignorance Ole has had to face is laughable. Ole has not only managed over 300 games I believe but has had big away wins in the Europa. Add this to the fact not one of his detractors is aware of the general footballing education and nous he has had it's really unbecoming some of tongue-in-cheek comments and eye rolling he's been subjected to.

The marks of a good manager is to make the best out of the resources you have. Ole is checking all the boxes. I will take him on permanent basis if United will support him with a very good DoF. He's man management is very sound, he's not arrogant, he understand the game. What else are we looking for?

 

[Rolaholic]

What the feck was Mourinho doing?

Pulling a Mourinho in his 3rd season...

 

[Foxbatt]

Yes better teams is what we have to play and win. So in my opinion right now we did not have an answer yesterday but Ole said he knows what happened. But I feel that we do not have players on the bench to counter these kind of tactical changes from other teams. I am also not happy with our passing but I guess we did not practice passing before Ole came.
I wish he would hire a defensive coach like Vidic to help with the CBs.

 

[Sereques]

What the feck was Mourinho doing?

He manage to convince us that Rashford and Martial cannot play together.

 

[ChaddyP]

Well according to Souness it's nothing to do with tactics - the players are just trying harder

He's such a bad pundit it's almost criminal. He hasn't a fecking clue

 

[Volumiza]

What the feck was Mourinho doing?

This question gets bigger every game that passes at the minute.

 

[Kag]

Give over.

All he’s done is put a few smiles on faces.

 

[DWelbz19]

What the feck was Mourinho doing?

I don’t think even he knows.

 

[Catt]

What the feck was Mourinho doing?

Confused as to what he tried to achieve.

 

[tidraKS]

I'm really really intrigued to see if Sanchez can get Lingard's place, and play as our false 9 as Lingard did yesterday in majority of first half.