But he said right from the start that this was a 3 year project, this is year 2. For me he's ahead of schedule, I would have been happy with solidifying top 4 this season but I genuinely think we're in a title race now.
I apologise Ole!
- Thread starter 7even
- Start date
As usual, context was entirely ignored when posters were doubling down on their snap decisions about Ole.
The progress we made last year was for all to see. The long term injury to Pogba meant we were playing without any creative players in midfield. Instead of taking that on board when considering how he was performing, it was decided he was tactically inept. Yes, the signing of Bruno lit a fire under us, but that was as much to do with actually having a creative player in the side as it was Bruno undoubted ability. The narrative then changed to Ole relying on the individual brilliance of a single player, rather than actually having the pieces needed for a competitive side.
And then, quite understandably, we flagged towards the end of the season. A combination of injuries, a lack of quality in depth, and the busiest schedule of any top division team in Europe, meant Ole was forced to rely on the same few players two, sometimes three times a week. To expect us to keep up the incredible standard we had been playing at was, at best, naive.
Then, we had the shortest possible preseason, played one preseason friendly against Watford, and had Palace the first game of the season, who were already playing their 7th game. Is it any wonder we didn't look sharp? We could've started our preseason earlier, but it was abundantly clear the lads needed a rest.
We're now seeing what Ole can do with the proper resources. He's built a balanced squad, we have depth, and as a result of that, we're top of the league. You only have to look at Liverpool's struggles to see what a few key injuries can do. When we had no Rashford for several months, Pogba out for most of the reason, DDG injured, with Martial and Shaw missing plenty of games, the same level of sympathy wasn't given to Ole.
I always maintained that even if Ole ultimately failed to take us back to the top, his time here can't be viewed as anything but successful. He has quietly gone about rebuilding the squad, moving on and freezing out the perennial losers, rejuvenating players we thought were dead and buried, while completely reenergizing the entire club. If he resigned tomorrow, then he'd be leaving the club in significantly better shape than it was when he first took over the reigns.
The point is the majority of the criticisms leveled at Ole over the last 18 months were entirely unfair, and were compounded by the reservations people had about him before he took the post. Instead of judging his performance objectively, it was viewed through the prism of a manager who couldn't possibly be good enough.
The progress we made last year was for all to see. The long term injury to Pogba meant we were playing without any creative players in midfield. Instead of taking that on board when considering how he was performing, it was decided he was tactically inept. Yes, the signing of Bruno lit a fire under us, but that was as much to do with actually having a creative player in the side as it was Bruno undoubted ability. The narrative then changed to Ole relying on the individual brilliance of a single player, rather than actually having the pieces needed for a competitive side.
And then, quite understandably, we flagged towards the end of the season. A combination of injuries, a lack of quality in depth, and the busiest schedule of any top division team in Europe, meant Ole was forced to rely on the same few players two, sometimes three times a week. To expect us to keep up the incredible standard we had been playing at was, at best, naive.
Then, we had the shortest possible preseason, played one preseason friendly against Watford, and had Palace the first game of the season, who were already playing their 7th game. Is it any wonder we didn't look sharp? We could've started our preseason earlier, but it was abundantly clear the lads needed a rest.
We're now seeing what Ole can do with the proper resources. He's built a balanced squad, we have depth, and as a result of that, we're top of the league. You only have to look at Liverpool's struggles to see what a few key injuries can do. When we had no Rashford for several months, Pogba out for most of the reason, DDG injured, with Martial and Shaw missing plenty of games, the same level of sympathy wasn't given to Ole.
I always maintained that even if Ole ultimately failed to take us back to the top, his time here can't be viewed as anything but successful. He has quietly gone about rebuilding the squad, moving on and freezing out the perennial losers, rejuvenating players we thought were dead and buried, while completely reenergizing the entire club. If he resigned tomorrow, then he'd be leaving the club in significantly better shape than it was when he first took over the reigns.
The point is the majority of the criticisms leveled at Ole over the last 18 months were entirely unfair, and were compounded by the reservations people had about him before he took the post. Instead of judging his performance objectively, it was viewed through the prism of a manager who couldn't possibly be good enough.
While I have nothing to apologise for. I do want to say thank you to Ole. Since he came in I started looking forward to our games again.
"The mob is fickle brother, they will have forgotten him in a month"
"There was once a dream that was Chelsea. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile"
Very good
Ole never lost the dressing room or the match day fans. He had a mix of twitter morons and pundits giving him shit every single day, but unless you lose the hardcores and the players, you will always stick to your gameplan. He's done unbelievably well this last year. Built a great team, got rid of the dead wood and got the players who were hear before playing well. It looked an impossible job when he showed up, but he's doing fantastic.
I think the last line is the most crucial one. When Ole walked into the job, no one could see how Manutd improve. The whole club was toxic, players v manager, manager v board, every signing came in and flopped. Rivals getting so far ahead of us.
Ole has reset the whole club, a very big task in hand, players that were coached to play possession football, to park the bus football.
His man management has definitely helped him through some difficult times because he has never lost the dressing room, even players that are not playing.
He didn't get the players he wanted this season, instead of moaning and crying all season, he got on with the job.
Desire, belief, courage to play, never give in, iron mentality, youth, hunger.
He’s basically instilled it again, the one thing that has surprised me is his tactical astuteness, Klopp, Guardiola, Mourinho, the German hipsters, he’s done a number on them all.
If we get Haaland, the rest of the league best be fearful. Actually can that, if we get whoever Ole believes can improve us, they should be fearful.
Long term plan and great man management defines Ole. Keep going Ole.
He’s basically instilled it again, the one thing that has surprised me is his tactical astuteness, Klopp, Guardiola, Mourinho, the German hipsters, he’s done a number on them all.
If we get Haaland, the rest of the league best be fearful. Actually can that, if we get whoever Ole believes can improve us, they should be fearful.
Long term plan and great man management defines Ole. Keep going Ole.
I think Ole should stay because I really like the way he says "loads and loads of" at every opportunity in his funny smurf voice. Also the tactical acumen when he shouts 'give the ball to Bruno.'
Ole has never been the problem or the solution. The problem has always been the Glazers.
Ole has never been the problem or the solution. The problem has always been the Glazers.
Painting what this place was until not long ago as some beacon of balanced criticism that was misunderstood is disingenuous if not an outright falsehood. There is a difference between that and the kind of jibes we got to see from the instant gratification plebs who might have all but made a blood sacrifice for the club to sign poch and bump off the glazed shill, pe teacher.
Well considering that are no match days fans - it's hard to lose
That's a pretty lousy apology. You just need to admit you were wrong.
Our form as been amazing since the loss of fans. If he didnt lose them prior to January, he never was going to.Well considering that are no match days fans - it's hard to lose
Ole was never as bad as people made out - just not especially good either. Nor is he as good as the Top Red Brigade now wants to claim. But he is much more entertaining to watch than his three predecessors and he's now getting good performances out of some already very good players.
The problem then and now is the club structure. And in a modern success hungry club structure, there would have been no Ole. Ole is the pimple on Joel Glazer's wrinkly butt.
Digging that whole deeper. The outers started criticising him 5 games into the season, we had a red card against Tottenham and had the least rest out of anybody.
There’s criticising a manager and there’s panicking and wanting him out after 5 games
.I want us to win it but let’s not be spoilt if we finish in the top 4 that’s the first time we would have done it consecutively for 7 years. Consolidation.
The bolded statement makes no sense. You have no idea if Ole would have been hired under a different structure. And the pimple comment is pretty insulting to Ole.
That's too sensible, not like City, Wolves, etc had a bad start either due to the lack of pre season.Digging that whole deeper. The outers started criticising him 5 games into the season, we had a red card against Tottenham and had the least rest out of anybody.
There’s criticising a manager and there’s panicking and wanting him out after 5 games
I want us to win it but let’s not be spoilt if we finish in the top 4 that’s the first time we would have done it consecutively for 7 years. Consolidation.
It was an excuse that Ole Iners used they say.
Had we played 3/4 pre season games, I don;t think we lose the Palace game and Spurs in that fashion.
I've always said Ole's been doing a great job here. He's taken the exact steps to bring us back to the glory days and it has been evident from the point he sold Fellaini.
He still needs to bring in a few players, just 2-3 and we will start gelling better as a unit. It is still so easy on the eyes to watch us play these days. Gone are the days of LvG and Jose, Ole's at the wheel. If only we managed to keep more possession, we can outplay many more teams and look really really dangerous.I can't abide impatient plastics
Ole deserves a huge deal of credit for correcting the tailspin we were in. It might still go tits up from here but rebuilding this club was a huge task that proved to be beyond a couple of really good managers (and David Moyes).
It's all well and good apologising now we're top of the league and on a roll, just don't start throwing hissyfits again when we inevitably hit the badtimes again, which we most certainly will.
This is a team in transition, ofcourse we will hit bumps, we all need to understand that. What we saw yesterday was progress, 2 months ago we were a million miles of Liverpool, to now play them and not play complete park the bus was very exciting.
What Ole has done is realise he cannot take risks in the League, he plays it safe, its in the cup competitions where he experiments. E.g Diamond V Leipzig and now slightly more attacking V Liverpool.
If you told anyone that we will start Pogba in CM, Donny, Rashford and Greenwood infront, we would have all said it is a recipe for disaster considering Greenwood and Rashford dont track as much and then to go out there and limit them whilst creating chances ourselves was very encouraging.
If we can continue to see progress like that, I will take it.
Let's be honest, most of us saw progress a year ago. Being top of the league and dumping Liverpool out of the FA Cup is the result of progress, not progress itself.
Mistakes have been made, show me a manager who hasn't, but the trajectory we're on has been there for all to see for some time.
It makes perfect sense - you just don't understand it. Not the same thing.
What about delusional Top Reds?
I agree with you, we have seen progress and some of us know why results were not all coming.
Look at the sympathy Liverpool get because of injuries, we had to suffer from that last season but the narrative was different, it didn't suit the agendas.
This season, without a pre season, we have seen good progress, I feel there is another 25% to come from this team before even adding signings.
Yep. Come across more than enough comments on here as to how Ole should be able to manage with injuries, not having key players is no excuse, shouldn’t rely on players so much, etc etc.
I still come across those, we are a moments team, need special moments to win games.
This is why Manchester United buy the best players, so they can produce special moments... isn't that the reason you pay big wages and transfer fee?
No one talks about special moments when Aguero, KDB produce moments instead its all hail Pep.
No one talks about special moments when Mane and Salah have produced over the last 3 years, instead its all hail Klopp.
Must be a United thing, I remember plenty called us a ‘one man team’ when Ronaldo was here as well. Incredible when you look at the quality in that side
There’s a cult of manager trend in recent years. Some people act as if it almost doesn’t matter who the players on the pitch are, as long as there’s a “philosophy” behind them.
I think the most important thing is that we get our identity back.
This is a very good and fair observation! I always have faith in Ole and have felt blessed we have him. Thank you for summing up and they are mostly what I thought too. I truly believe he can go on to make us great again.
The other day when he walked off after saying "Couldn't care less" when asked if he thought Liverpool is potential title challenger this season, we were laughing so much!! That was brilliant!
Here is you September 27, 2020:
"We aren't even that coherent unfortunately. We are defensively unorganised or badly organsed . In attack we are relying on flair, not positional coaching. And god knows what that midfield is supposed to be. Old man Matic shuffling about on his zimmer trying to shield so that Bruno and Pogba can run around and do what they like."
I guess it's all turned around in 4 short months.
We were going to get relegated last season if you believed some of the drama queens
I don't see what's wrong with any of that.
We were all over the place in September, and neither Matic nor Pogba were playing well.
Yeah, one word - overreacting.
That it's too late to apologize
It's too late
I said it's too late to apologize
It's too late
Everyone makes errors.....And in football, errors are often a difference of opinion. We don't have everything in front of us. People need to learn to have some patience and a little faith. There is no divine right to win anything. We don't have certain teams budget and it's questionable if we have a board who will always back their manager financially. We've had to rebuild not just the squad/team but the mentality of the group. It takes time.
But also, some people just lusted after Pochettino. The grass is always greener and all that. Building something takes time and in that process, it will look like errors are made if you're not winning every game etc...
Last edited:
I think that was a fairly accurate depiction. Defense has improved somewhat and Matic has been dropped in favour of McT and Fred. That has made a difference to results but the underlying problem remains - no strategy except reliance on Bruno being brilliant.
All this goodwill will evaporate in moments when we draw/lose our next game
Great post.
You've summed up the situation very well. I'm still hearing pundits trotting out the same lazy line that United under Ole have a boom-bust cycle while completely ignoring all of the various underlying reasons for the periods of bad results.