I apologise Ole!

rotherham_red

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What I don't get it and it never gets answered:

If Ole is so bad despite having us top as some say, then does that mean the squad is great and Ed / glazers deserve credit?

Because I certainly don't remember many saying we would challenge based on the squad we had.
Exactly.

And lest we forget, this squad is primarily built on the players that Jose (and a pretty large subset of the fanbase, irrespective of their views on Jose) didn't want or rate particularly highly either.
 

Number TwentyFive

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Also your point falls on itself - I don't give a shite what he is doing on the training field - if it doesn't reflect in performances on the pitch, that's his shortcoming as a coach. If having a good ol' try was enough to be United manager, I might as well get the job too, I'll try and put together some nice coaching movements in training as well. You're right we can't see what he does in training and behind closed doors, he could be a SAF/PEP hybrid for all we know. Unless we see it on the pitch though, it's all moot. Other managers are capable of implementing an identity into their teams, there's no excuse why Ole shouldn't be able to do it too.
I read through the whole post you wrote and in the end one paragraph raised my eyes. You say “I don’t give a sh**e about what he is doing on the training field.” That raises a question immediately. How can you claim that Ole isn’t good enough to coach the team and at the same time you say you don’t care about what happens on the training field? The training field is where most of the coaching happens.

Coaching is about more than putting together some nice movements in training. To put together nice movements for a training session could easily be done by looking at YouTube videos. It is always the purpose behind the drills that is important, and not just about setting up drills that looks nice.

In the end I agree the coaching has to result in good performances and an identity on the pitch, but in my view there is an identity behind United’s playing style. It isn't perfect yet, but with developing the players at the club and signing new ones it will continue to get better. At the same time United’s identity does not look like City’s or Liverpool’s identity, but shouldn't United have their own identity?
 

Rightnr

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Exactly.

And lest we forget, this squad is primarily built on the players that Jose (and a pretty large subset of the fanbase, irrespective of their views on Jose) didn't want or rate particularly highly either.
Who exactly is currently at the club who was signed by Mourinho and a player he liked? Pogba was definitely not one and neither was Fred? So, with that in mind, are people just making up things?

Solskajer has been given a lot more backing than our previous managers and we have added to an already maturing good squad. It's neither to his credit nor the Glazers/Woodward that it's taken us years of crazy spending to finally be in with a chance of winning the title in a low-scoring year
 

7even

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Think I took the right decision. We’re top of the table after almost half of the season. My timing to stop being critical and stand behind our manager was right. No regret even if he lose against Klopp..
 

shamans

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I was wrong. I realized this in December but still a bit too late. I get it now. I get even if we lose games again we need to stand behind ole.
 

ExoduS

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You guys aware if we have 2-3 bad games in a row in the league we drop about 3-4 places and it will be all over again - Ole out, Ole out. Got to love football fans - memories like fish. :)
 

city-puma

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Think I took the right decision. We’re top of the table after almost half of the season. My timing to stop being critical and stand behind our manager was right. No regret even if he lose against Klopp..
You did the right thing for sure. I give you a big thumb ups.
but really, you should have done it at least a month earlier when we had grabbed several away wins from loss position each time. Not criticizing you though.
 

meamth

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I read through the whole post you wrote and in the end one paragraph raised my eyes. You say “I don’t give a sh**e about what he is doing on the training field.” That raises a question immediately. How can you claim that Ole isn’t good enough to coach the team and at the same time you say you don’t care about what happens on the training field? The training field is where most of the coaching happens.

Coaching is about more than putting together some nice movements in training. To put together nice movements for a training session could easily be done by looking at YouTube videos. It is always the purpose behind the drills that is important, and not just about setting up drills that looks nice.

In the end I agree the coaching has to result in good performances and an identity on the pitch, but in my view there is an identity behind United’s playing style. It isn't perfect yet, but with developing the players at the club and signing new ones it will continue to get better. At the same time United’s identity does not look like City’s or Liverpool’s identity, but shouldn't United have their own identity?
It's also a young coaching team with large potential to improve.

The squad is young, the coaching team is young, we should be excited about their growth as a whole team.

I'm excited about this longevity plans.
 

rollingstoned1

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You guys aware if we have 2-3 bad games in a row in the league we drop about 3-4 places and it will be all over again - Ole out, Ole out. Got to love football fans - memories like fish. :)
yes but i've been hearing that for 2 months now. that our position is misleading because the table is crowded and 1 defeat means we will be 7th. they said that to discredit our 3rd place finish too. more fool those who still want to quaff that copium,.
 

pav1790

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yes but i've been hearing that for 2 months now. that our position is misleading because the table is crowded and 1 defeat means we will be 7th. they said that to discredit our 3rd place finish too. more fool those who still want to quaff that copium,.
Ha! Redcafe in the new age! To see copium being used here brings a tear to me eyes. :)
 

RedRonaldo

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Amazing isn’t it? Our attack and defence has been so poor at times, yet here we are, top of the league!
 

Galactic

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Wait till end of the season, peeps. Don't forget that he didn't get out of CL group stage not so long ago.
 

Berbasbullet

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You guys aware if we have 2-3 bad games in a row in the league we drop about 3-4 places and it will be all over again - Ole out, Ole out. Got to love football fans - memories like fish. :)
Or maybe we have 2-3 good results and make some day light?
 

Sylar

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Wait till end of the season, peeps. Don't forget that he didn't get out of CL group stage not so long ago.
Yeah, he missed too many chances vs PSG at home,
or conceded silly goals to Leipzig and Istanbul away.

I mean, I get what youre saying, but theres waaaay too much emphasis on Ole when things go wrong, but when things go right, its the players.
I guess thats the whole thing with management (Unless youre Jose and get ahead of this trashing your own players).

I think this thread is nice, but I can also see if we dont beat LIverpool that will be used as a stick to beat Ole (another big6 team game we havent won)
 

Galactic

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Yeah, he missed too many chances vs PSG at home,
or conceded silly goals to Leipzig and Istanbul away.

I mean, I get what youre saying, but theres waaaay too much emphasis on Ole when things go wrong, but when things go right, its the players.
I guess thats the whole thing with management (Unless youre Jose and get ahead of this trashing your own players).

I think this thread is nice, but I can also see if we dont beat LIverpool that will be used as a stick to beat Ole (another big6 team game we havent won)
Managers/head coaches take responsibility for success and failure of the squad. That's the way it is.
 

Sylar

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Managers/head coaches take responsibility for success and failure of the squad. That's the way it is.
Yet youve somehow completely missed my point.

On here, a lot of the success is attributed to players, whereas failures are attributed to Ole.
 

Galactic

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Yet youve somehow completely missed my point.

On here, a lot of the success is attributed to players, whereas failures are attributed to Ole.
I am only responding to your sarcastic comment on Ole missing the chances and conceding silly goals.

But yea, in general, people in "here" blame everyone (collectively). Managers, CEOs, boards, players, refs, VAR, other managers, agents, pundits etc. That is also the way it is :angel:
 

Sylar

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I am only responding to your sarcastic comment on Ole missing the chances and conceding silly goals.

But yea, in general, people in "here" blame everyone (collectively). Managers, CEOs, boards, players, refs, VAR, other managers, agents, pundits etc. That is also the way it is :angel:
As I said I get what youre saying but that goes back to the point you made:
wait until the end of the season.

Why should anybody do that? We have a long enough period now to see whats happening with United under his management. So if hes getting the blame for us being out the CL, he should also be allowed to get credit for us being top, three points clear having played nearly half our games.
 

AltiUn

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Things could obviously change quite drastically but as it stands he's 10 points ahead of Lampard and 13 ahead of Arteta with the same amount of games played. We lost 2 games in our first 3 matches and since then have only lost once. I mean this in a positive way but this squad isn't near its potential yet, there's still players bang out of form and holes in this squad to fill (we've still not even got a RW!) yet we're up there at the top of the table after 17 games, if we make some good signings in summer we could be looking at a very strong United team.

People will focus on the CL exit, rightly so, but I'm not annoyed that we went out, I'm annoyed we went out when we were very clearly the best team in the group.
 
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Bilbo

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No it wasn't.
It vindicates those you disagreed with for so long.
You were just late to the party.
This. This. This. This. This

I think the vast majority of Ole backers should be, and seem to be, very reluctant to even go anywhere near having their 'I told you so' moment. Firstly because who gives a shit, and also because the job isn't done yet.

However, if we are going to start seeing a rush of the old whinging posters claiming that they were bang on - "uhh yeah I nailed this man. Stopped being critical of everything right when we started winning" - then those posters can all go and jump off a bridge.
 

Jonno

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Ole has built one of the most exciting, young teams in the PL right now.

We're competing with Liverpool, a team who's core spine is full of peak players who are 28, 29 & 30 years old. This time next year, that core will be another year older. We're moving closer to the elite teams one year at a time. The core of our team is 23-28, a good 4-5 years younger than Liverpools. Sure, the average age of the squad is probably not as large, but the average age of our typical strongest 11's, there's a large and obvious gap.

So many fans wanted Ole out, because they couldn't see the progress in the squad due to some bad results. They've needed the good results to now see what many of us have seen all along, significant progress in the squad building, squad culture, and the potential.

I will enjoy every moment of this title race, if someone put a gun to my head now, I'd say we'll finish behind City, due to their experience. But this is a huge stride forward for United. We wanted to see us close the gap on City and Liverpool. You could argue, even if we finish 4th this season, we've achieved that.

It's exciting to think where we will be in 2 years when Ole gets another 2 summer transfer windows to further develop this young exciting squad into his image and that of how he thinks a United team should be.
 

SeanyC

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Let’s be honest, He’s introduce the closet thing to Sir Alex’s football we have had in a very long time. Yes he’s a novice and didn’t do well at Cardiff but he’s an ex united player coached by the best there ever was, surely he listened and uses that advice to make this group tighter, together and better. We had Jose (boring park the bus) Van Gaal who’s football was like birds not knowing how to go north, they just went south east and west. But more importantly, they brought division to changing room and club. Ole may or may not be with us long term but by god he’s certainly putting smiles back on our faces
 
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city-puma

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Ole has built one of the most exciting, young teams in the PL right now.

We're competing with Liverpool, a team who's core spine is full of peak players who are 28, 29 & 30 years old. This time next year, that core will be another year older. We're moving closer to the elite teams one year at a time. The core of our team is 23-28, a good 4-5 years younger than Liverpools. Sure, the average age of the squad is probably not as large, but the average age of our typical strongest 11's, there's a large and obvious gap.

So many fans wanted Ole out, because they couldn't see the progress in the squad due to some bad results. They've needed the good results to now see what many of us have seen all along, significant progress in the squad building, squad culture, and the potential.

I will enjoy every moment of this title race, if someone put a gun to my head now, I'd say we'll finish behind City, due to their experience. But this is a huge stride forward for United. We wanted to see us close the gap on City and Liverpool. You could argue, even if we finish 4th this season, we've achieved that.

It's exciting to think where we will be in 2 years when Ole gets another 2 summer transfer windows to further develop this young exciting squad into his image and that of how he thinks a United team should be.
I guess most of us who are truly believing us to mount a serious title challenge this season, probably feel mancity could eventually win the title. At least this is the case for me. But we are already excited about the real progress and have a thought that it is quite possible we can actually do it in a way like Leicester city did. Why not. This thought is backed by the facts on how well Ole has handled so many setbacks and steered us out of negative situations and kept moving upward.
He is adding the squad depth to naturally bring out more from players, clearing out the peripheral players in a proper way with respect and humanity, introducing new idea and technology into the coaching team, and spotting and fixing the flaw of the squad. Some of those have immediate impact and the other will take time.
I am just so pleased on the progress!
 

lysglimt

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If the board backs him to sign 3 expensive signings in the next 3 Windows - we will have one of the best Clubs in Europe. But we should only sign youngsters and expensive quality players now. No more Telles-type signings
 

croadyman

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If the board backs him to sign 3 expensive signings in the next 3 Windows - we will have one of the best Clubs in Europe. But we should only sign youngsters and expensive quality players now. No more Telles-type signings
Would you be happy with a window of

Badiashile, Zakaria & Grealish/Sancho
 

lysglimt

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Would you be happy with a window of

Badiashile, Zakaria & Grealish/Sancho
Depends on the price - Badiashile wont improve us short-term, and I havent seen enough of Zakaria to say that he is good enough. But he is the same age as McTominay - so if we were to sign him, he needs to be at least one level above McTominay.
I generally think we need to go for players at the highest level or : Grealish, Sancho, Haaland - at that level. We can afford to sign 1 player like that in each transfer window.
 

croadyman

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Depends on the price - Badiashile wont improve us short-term, and I havent seen enough of Zakaria to say that he is good enough. But he is the same age as McTominay - so if we were to sign him, he needs to be at least one level above McTominay.
I generally think we need to go for players at the highest level or : Grealish, Sancho, Haaland - at that level. We can afford to sign 1 player like that in each transfer window.
Obviously I would prefer Konate/Kounde to him but only suggested him as maybe we are only looking at LCB, which one would you prefer out of Grealish/Sancho as don't see Haaland moving until the following summer. I am confident that Zakaria is better than Scott but obviously is still recovering from a big injury so hopefully we monitor his progress from now until end of the season.
 

RUCK4444

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Ole has built one of the most exciting, young teams in the PL right now.

We're competing with Liverpool, a team who's core spine is full of peak players who are 28, 29 & 30 years old. This time next year, that core will be another year older. We're moving closer to the elite teams one year at a time. The core of our team is 23-28, a good 4-5 years younger than Liverpools. Sure, the average age of the squad is probably not as large, but the average age of our typical strongest 11's, there's a large and obvious gap.

So many fans wanted Ole out, because they couldn't see the progress in the squad due to some bad results. They've needed the good results to now see what many of us have seen all along, significant progress in the squad building, squad culture, and the potential.

I will enjoy every moment of this title race, if someone put a gun to my head now, I'd say we'll finish behind City, due to their experience. But this is a huge stride forward for United. We wanted to see us close the gap on City and Liverpool. You could argue, even if we finish 4th this season, we've achieved that.

It's exciting to think where we will be in 2 years when Ole gets another 2 summer transfer windows to further develop this young exciting squad into his image and that of how he thinks a United team should be.
This. Totally agree.

This is why I've always focused on more than merely the results in games. There was SO much that needed correcting with this club and squad that initially the progress was always going to take a while before it could be visibly seen on the pitch, but as I've said before there are a multitude of areas where Ole has quietly been doing an excellent job in improving since the moment he arrived.

The team is an exciting young team and only a few top signings away from being a different animal altogether. I just hope that Ed and the board do what's required in the upcoming transfer windows and allows Ole to finish this squad.
 

lysglimt

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Obviously I would prefer Konate/Kounde to him but only suggested him as maybe we are only looking at LCB, which one would you prefer out of Grealish/Sancho as don't see Haaland moving until the following summer. I am confident that Zakaria is better than Scott but obviously is still recovering from a big injury so hopefully we monitor his progress from now until end of the season.
If Pogba leaves, Grealish. If Pogba stays, Sancho!
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Obviously I would prefer Konate/Kounde to him but only suggested him as maybe we are only looking at LCB, which one would you prefer out of Grealish/Sancho as don't see Haaland moving until the following summer. I am confident that Zakaria is better than Scott but obviously is still recovering from a big injury so hopefully we monitor his progress from now until end of the season.
Maybe you should suggest someone who is considered as improvement. His performance has been smashed like pancake in their fans forum this season.
 

lost7

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If Pogba leaves, Grealish. If Pogba stays, Sancho!
With or without Pogba, it is about time we buy a right winger in the summer. And unless Diallo or Pellistri start showing this season that they can and should be our main right winger(s) next season, then Sancho should be our priority. Pogba's replacement could very well be VdB...
 

alexthelion

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I am only responding to your sarcastic comment on Ole missing the chances and conceding silly goals.

But yea, in general, people in "here" blame everyone (collectively). Managers, CEOs, boards, players, refs, VAR, other managers, agents, pundits etc. That is also the way it is :angel:
No they don't. As has been said, good results=players, bad results=Ole.
 

RedSky

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Let’s be honest, He’s introduce the closet thing to Sir Alex’s football we have had in a very long time. Yes he’s a novice and didn’t do well at Cardiff but he’s an ex united player coached by the best there ever was, surely he listened and uses that advice to make this group tighter, together and better. We had Jose (boring park the bus) Van Gaal who’s football was like birds not knowing how to go north, they just went south east and west. But more importantly, they brought division to changing room and club. Ole may or may not be with us long term but by god he’s certainly putting smiles back on our faces
Honestly, who gives a shit what he did at Cardiff, it doesn't matter as its a completely different skillset. At Molde he taught himself how to win trophies and manage a squad to win titles, that is by far more important than battling to keep a team in the Premier League. Those skills aren't transferable to United.

Anyway, im just happy that we have a Manager that loves the club and we have players who will fight for the shirt. Still a work in progress and we have more work to do to raise the bar up another few tiers but we're heading in the right direction.
 

city-puma

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Honestly, who gives a shit what he did at Cardiff, it doesn't matter as its a completely different skillset. At Molde he taught himself how to win trophies and manage a squad to win titles, that is by far more important than battling to keep a team in the Premier League. Those skills aren't transferable to United.

Anyway, im just happy that we have a Manager that loves the club and we have players who will fight for the shirt. Still a work in progress and we have more work to do to raise the bar up another few tiers but we're heading in the right direction.
The Cardiff experience might be truly priceless for Ole. I admire how he handled the huge negativity surrounding the team and the club from the outside every time we had a setback, and led the team continuously go upward. That’s what SAF had been the best and one of the reasons he was able to rebuild the team several times.