Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

Status
Not open for further replies.

dove

New Member
Joined
May 15, 2013
Messages
7,899
Fair point but that wasn't the comparison I was trying to draw, I was pointing out that when we sanction a clear-out of dead wood and spend only £75 million of our own actual money (net spend allowing for sales) and don't then ensure we replace our top goalscorer - that has to factor heavily in what follows in both performances and ultimate league position.

Then when you add injuries to best players on top of the above how do we not factor that in if we are to form a fair appraisal on Ole?

I expect you think I'm a die hard Ole fanboy, not true. When it comes to the club I put success first every time, I am a massive Rooney fan and yet one of the first to agree he needed moving on well before he did.

I am of the belief that in order to gain long term progress we need short term stabilization. A steady hand to re-balance a truly disjointed squad, a pause to the merry-go-round of managers and the varying styles and signings that has culminated in the mess that Ole took over.
Not replacing top scorer, injuries, not enough money spent etc etc. One thing you forget is how we finished last season when we didn't have injuries and had our top goalscorer who everyone wanted to get rid of. If you did forget I will remind you - we finished it disgracefully, just like how we are playing for 5 months into this season.
 

RUCK4444

New Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2015
Messages
9,553
Location
$¥$¥$¥$¥$
Not replacing top scorer, injuries, not enough money spent etc etc. One thing you forget is how we finished last season when we didn't have injuries and had our top goalscorer who everyone wanted to get rid of. If you did forget I will remind you - we finished it disgracefully, just like how we are playing for 5 months into this season.
Yes we did, however said striker was playing like a complete donkey, Ole had inherited (and still has currently) a disjointed mess of a squad with poor mentality. They reverted to type and played how they did under Mourinho earlier that season.

Ole has now tried to change the style this season but using the mess of a squad we had as as starting point I believe takes more than one summer window to rectify, regardless of the manager.

I'm not saying Ole is working wonders, I just try to see it from a realistic standpoint.
 

tenpoless

Full Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2014
Messages
16,176
Location
Fabinho's forehead
This whole rebuild thing needs to die, it never works. It's not really rebuilding anyway if you look at the players We still have now, compared to 2 years ago. If someone walks in and can't get our players to at least play football (to be at least decent at passing, crossing, retaining possession when needed AS A TEAM) then it's the wrong manager We appoint and We need to replace him. The 'rebuilds' We had have set us back years. We've been wasting money and time due to putting so much commitment to the wrong people. Like Ole, just how many more proofs do you need? if We keep him for 1-2 seasons more after the end of season then We'll be in a worse position than when We first start with him (aka when Jose leaves). No more rebuild but more concrete improvements. I might be skeptical but the word 'rebuild" have been used by our managers for too many times now. It's an easy get away card. Oh you're losing? still rebuilding. You don't need to rebuild to make footballers play football. And due to how our club operates, where the manager still have the biggest say in transfers or anything related to the football We're playing, He shouldn't be excused so easily, if things only get worse than the previous manager then He's doing a bad job. It's as simple as that. No need for sentimentality. Even Arsene Wenger's "Top 4 with limited budget and young players" was way better than our "rebuilds".
 
Last edited:

Caesar2290

New Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2019
Messages
1,283
In truth I'm just letting things play out, before being able to actually, you know, form an opinion.

In my opinion you cannot judge Ole for relegating a TERRIBLE Cardiff, I know all too well how awful that team was and importantly how awful it was run, trust me I'm from Cardiff and attend most home games taking customers to hospitality. They were and are a terrible team and the owner at the time was at his absolute worst, picking the team and changing the club colors for a start!

Ole at Molde, again what sort of benchmark is that? Are we expecting a CL final or something to deem him decent enough at Molde?

Now for the above reasons I believe his only true test is what is playing out right now at United. It's not looking great from a coaching perspective however Fred is looking a different player, McTominay progressing steadily prior to injury, Rashford having his best season. Shall we just forget that? Mourinho struggled with these things meanwhile playing what I believe was a worse brand of football.

To answer your question regarding Poch, it's hard to say, I don't remember Poch having such bad luck with injuries over a course of a season and how that might have affected him. I'm trying to form a fair opinion on whether Ole is good enough. That said Poch has won nothing, did well with a talented Spurs side to get to a CL final, finished 2nd in the league and ultimately bottled it. He's the only option however and I would opt for him if Ole was sacked tomorrow.
I'm sure however a couple of bad performances and no trophies would have the same bunch of posters longing for him to be sacked as well, so the cycle continues.
Of course you can. Simply stop twisting the facts. Not only did Ole get them relegated, but next season he left them in the relegation battle in the fecking championship. This is why he was sacked. He also made 11 signings all of which where bad. And guess what, the same "terrible" Cardiff side made it back to the Premier League a year later. But for some reason it's never Ole's fault.

Fair point but that wasn't the comparison I was trying to draw, I was pointing out that when we sanction a clear-out of dead wood and spend only £75 million of our own actual money (net spend allowing for sales) and don't then ensure we replace our top goalscorer - that has to factor heavily in what follows in both performances and ultimate league position.

Then when you add injuries to best players on top of the above how do we not factor that in if we are to form a fair appraisal on Ole?

I expect you think I'm a die hard Ole fanboy, not true. When it comes to the club I put success first every time, I am a massive Rooney fan and yet one of the first to agree he needed moving on well before he did.

I am of the belief that in order to gain long term progress we need short term stabilization. A steady hand to re-balance a truly disjointed squad, a pause to the merry-go-round of managers and the varying styles and signings that has culminated in the mess that Ole took over.
I'm sorry, but is the deadwood free now? Klopp had a net spend of 5m in his first summer. The result? He finished fourth.Yet for some reason our very own manager needs a gazillion net spend before we can judge him.

If you are a good manager, you can work with what you have. Look at Poch in his final season at Spurs. He didn't make a single signing, yet got the to the CL final and Top4 to boot.

And as for injuries: both of our key players were injured by Ole's decision to play them. Rashford when he had a back condition and Pogba being played the whole 90 minutes against Rochdale after a long injury layoff. Jesus, this alone would get him sacked at most of the other self respecting clubs.
 

SlothIsLove

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jul 27, 2017
Messages
76
Location
The Jungle
Sure, as if rebuilding is just about selling and buying players, and being a manager is just about picking your best 11 players. How about making game plans, giving players instructions?

Our players look clueless on the pitch. When someone has the ball, the others don't know what to do, they just wait for him to do something then react. And they even bump into each other a few times. I don't need to watch City or Pool to see the differences, just look at Wolves, Sheffield, or even Burnley, Newcastle. Their players know where their teammates would go, and how they want to receive the ball. Meanwhile, our players don't, they just stand still, waiting for something to happen first.

I'm fine with missing out of top 4 this season, because of the injuries and the quality of our squad (these are on Ole too, but I don't want to talk about it here). I just want to see the improvement in our play style to be convinced that we have a rebuilding plan. But I see nothing, we are as bad as before, with even worse result.
Don't tell me that it will be sorted when we get better players. Good coaches will instill their game plans and tactics into the team first, then upgrade the weak links, the clueless ones will do the other way around.
Sorry for the long post.
 

hobbers

Full Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
27,356
It's not looking great from a coaching perspective however Fred is looking a different player, McTominay progressing steadily prior to injury, Rashford having his best season. Shall we just forget that? Mourinho struggled with these things meanwhile playing what I believe was a worse brand of football.
Mourinho's brand of football was obviously not worse than our brand right now. At least we could fecking win games while playing ugly, rather than just losing to all and sundry and looking abysmal while we're at it.

But Fred would have had improved regardless, second season and all. McTominay was progressing fine under Mourinho anyway. Rashford was having a great season before Ole caused his injury, but he certainly hasn't improved his in-the-box number 9 game at all under Ole, which is absolutely baffling. All of his best stuff has come from cutting in on the wing as before, Ole has still totally failed to turn him into a centre forward.
 

VP89

Pogba's biggest fan
Joined
Dec 6, 2015
Messages
31,121
Yes we did, however said striker was playing like a complete donkey, Ole had inherited (and still has currently) a disjointed mess of a squad with poor mentality. They reverted to type and played how they did under Mourinho earlier that season.

Ole has now tried to change the style this season but using the mess of a squad we had as as starting point I believe takes more than one summer window to rectify, regardless of the manager.

I'm not saying Ole is working wonders, I just try to see it from a realistic standpoint.
A realistic standpoint is still to expect better than 9 wins over the course of this season. There's no spin you can make to ease how bad Ole looks. He is responsible entirely from coaching standpoints and materially from a transfer standpoint. Even after fecking the transfer window in the summer, he was still given a group to work with that is capable of more than what it has delivered.

The "mess of a squad" argument only works when you face teams that are better than yours, and the fact remains he's had us dicked by the likes of Palace, Bournemouth, Watford and West Ham to name a few, resulting in us where we are. 8th place in the Premier League with an away game to Stamford Bridge in hand, where we have a terrible record. It's actually not implausible to expect we will be 10th-14th in a few weeks.
 

Daft Lad

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jul 30, 2018
Messages
25
I look at it really simply: is OGS getting the best out of the squad, is he perfor. ING just about right or is he not getting the best out of the squad. Under this lens I believe we should be further forward. Therefore I believe OGS isn't meeting the mark right now. Can OGS get there in the future, yes maybe, but is United the kind of club that allows managers to make mistakes before reaching their potential or do we expect the manager to be at a high performing level.
 

JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo

Full Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2019
Messages
1,716
Location
Norn Iron
To answer your question regarding Poch, it's hard to say, I don't remember Poch having such bad luck with injuries over a course of a season and how that might have affected him. I'm trying to form a fair opinion on whether Ole is good enough. That said Poch has won nothing, did well with a talented Spurs side to get to a CL final, finished 2nd in the league and ultimately bottled it. He's the only option however and I would opt for him if Ole was sacked tomorrow.
I'm sure however a couple of bad performances and no trophies would have the same bunch of posters longing for him to be sacked as well, so the cycle continues.
In fairness Poch had Kane get injured at the worst time possible and rushed him back for the Champs League final.
 

Forevergiggs1

Full Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2019
Messages
3,443
Location
Barcelona
Supports
United
@RUCK4444

If Ole does somehow get another season what sort of players do you think he could attract in the transfer market in the summer?

I'm very happy getting Bruno but had surprisingly little competition for him which made the deal a lot easier. In the summer I could see us going in for Grealish which I would be very happy with as well but I can also see us going back in for Josh King or even signing Ighalo if he manages to score 4 or 5 goals. Personally I think players like Sancho would be just pipe dreams because I honestly can't see top players wanting to play under Ole. Of course I have no hard evidence to back it up just a gut feeling but I'd be interested to know your thoughts on the subject.
 

Paul_Scholes18

Full Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2014
Messages
13,891
@RUCK4444

If Ole does somehow get another season what sort of players do you think he could attract in the transfer market in the summer?

I'm very happy getting Bruno but had surprisingly little competition for him which made the deal a lot easier. In the summer I could see us going in for Grealish which I would be very happy with as well but I can also see us going back in for Josh King or even signing Ighalo if he manages to score 4 or 5 goals. Personally I think players like Sancho would be just pipe dreams because I honestly can't see top players wanting to play under Ole. Of course I have no hard evidence to back it up just a gut feeling but I'd be interested to know your thoughts on the subject.
Yeah I can't imagine any players that would be cheap enough and what we need.
Immobile could maybe be possible for a big sum. Lazio often sells.
Maybe Richarlison, but doubt that. Calvert Lewin as an option maybe too.
I would like Isak, but he will be crazy expensive if he carry on.
Ziyech is the dream, but doubt he wants to join us under Ole.
 

ranxerox

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Feb 12, 2014
Messages
100
Facts and empirical evidence that are directly affected by vigorously undertaking a rebuild that should have started 3 seasons ago. The Ole Out blame Ole instead of lauding him for attempting the clear-out with gusto. Was it somewhat Naive? Sure. Needed? Definitely.

Add in a terrible season for injuries to our best players. A steller season for introducing youth, top four still to play for.

But hey don't take any notice of influences such as these, just points on the table and league position. That's the only thing we should consider eh.

It's not as black and white as it seems and it's not some naive perspective people are placing on it purely because it's Ole.
In the end it’s always about results and managers are accountable. The owners won’t fire themselves, you can’t sell the whole team at once, so when it goes tits up you bin the manager. Always been, always will be.
Woodward likely survives this time but it will be his last mulligan
 

Forevergiggs1

Full Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2019
Messages
3,443
Location
Barcelona
Supports
United
Yeah I can't imagine any players that would be cheap enough and what we need.
Immobile could maybe be possible for a big sum. Lazio often sells.
Maybe Richarlison, but doubt that. Calvert Lewin as an option maybe too.
I would like Isak, but he will be crazy expensive if he carry on.
Ziyech is the dream, but doubt he wants to join us under Ole.
If our scouts did their jobs I wouldn't be so worried but their track record leaves a lot to be desired. I can see us going down the PL path looking for players once again and massively overpaying for a little better than average players. Add that to having an average manager and its just a recipe for disaster.

I remember at the end of last season Ole saying they had a long list of players wanting to come to OT. Where the feck did they all disappear to?

Best I'm hoping for is Ole isn't here in the summer because if he is I think it's going to be the most depressing transfer window since Moyes.
 
Joined
Jul 31, 2015
Messages
22,545
Location
Somewhere out there
Fair point but that wasn't the comparison I was trying to draw, I was pointing out that when we sanction a clear-out of dead wood and spend only £75 million of our own money.
Makes no sense that. He cleared out deadwood and then spent €159m.
The money from the “deadwood” was our money and he spent it, if he spent too much of that €159 in one area, that’s on him.
Whichever way you paint he, he got rid of shit he didn’t want and has now spent €214m.
Our next interview process for any manager should include one question, do you need €350m to get us top 4? If the answer is yes, tell the bloke to piss off and work on management/coaching and come back in a few years with a different answer.
 

NewGlory

United make me feel dirty. And not in a sexy way.
Joined
Jul 13, 2019
Messages
4,239
Makes no sense that. He cleared out deadwood and then spent €159m.
The money from the “deadwood” was our money and he spent it, if he spent too much of that €159 in one area, that’s on him.
Whichever way you paint he, he got rid of shit he didn’t want and has now spent €214m.
Our next interview process for any manager should include one question, do you need €350m to get us top 4? If the answer is yes, tell the bloke to piss off and work on management/coaching and come back in a few years with a different answer.
If you think we are not going to need more than €350m for any manager to get us back to top4, and if you insist to refuse to tell the diff between net spend vs cash spend - then you need to find some other sport to be a fan of. Any interest in curling? They dont spend millions and are big on coaching
 

RUCK4444

New Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2015
Messages
9,553
Location
$¥$¥$¥$¥$
Makes no sense that. He cleared out deadwood and then spent €159m.
The money from the “deadwood” was our money and he spent it, if he spent too much of that €159 in one area, that’s on him.
Whichever way you paint he, he got rid of shit he didn’t want and has now spent €214m.
Our next interview process for any manager should include one question, do you need €350m to get us top 4? If the answer is yes, tell the bloke to piss off and work on management/coaching and come back in a few years with a different answer.
Net Spend. What you have actually spent allowing for what you have raked in from sales.

Just google the difference in net spend between United and Madrid in the summer.

See how a similar size club with similar revenues decided to spend, night and day.
and they had a better team in a weaker league and ‘better’ manager
 

Relevated

fixated with venom and phalluses
Joined
May 3, 2011
Messages
25,995
Location
18M1955/JU5
Im looking at highlights of Pogba and Im thinking, wow what a player, when hes back we will definitely compete
Im looking at highlights of Scott McTominay and Im thinking, wow what a player, when hes back we will definitely compete
Im looking at highlights of Rashford and Im thinking, wow what a player, when hes back we will definitely compete

Then I remember that when we had them fit we were absolutely shocking at times. I dont know how much longer this will go on but Im so confident we have better players than people make out we do.
 

Utdstar01

Full Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
Messages
5,420
Im looking at highlights of Pogba and Im thinking, wow what a player, when hes back we will definitely compete
Im looking at highlights of Scott McTominay and Im thinking, wow what a player, when hes back we will definitely compete
Im looking at highlights of Rashford and Im thinking, wow what a player, when hes back we will definitely compete

Then I remember that when we had them fit we were absolutely shocking at times. I dont know how much longer this will go on but Im so confident we have better players than people make out we do.
Exactly. We've already been down this road.
 

jamesjimmybyrondean

Full Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2019
Messages
7,052
I think people that want to keep Ole just don't rate Pochettino or any other manager. I can't understand why you would want to give Ole to continue the rebuild he's been doing when Pochettino is out there.

You think Ole should stay because he's signings are very solid and are the right fit for the rebuild and bringing back the culture, so you want him to continue with this new recruitment strategy. Well, two of Ole's signings - AWB and Bruno were targeted by Pochettino. Grealish who is our summer target was also wanted by Pochettino. So if we appoint Pochettino he's signing would hardly be a stark contrast to the type of players Ole has been recruiting.

You want Ole to stay because he's cleared deadwood and promoted youth and improved players and plays high press? Pochettino is famous for all this.

I'm just amazed why people want to keep Ole just so they can see what he can do when he gets 'his squad' or more of his type of signings next season. But even if Ole signs the right fit again next summer, are we really experimenting with a manager that relegated Cardiff and spent 8 years in Molde and so far has the lowest point tally in years for us to manage the solid squad we could get next season. Because it seems like an experiment to me

A question to people that want to keep Ole. Would you rather see a team of Henderson, AWB, Maguire, Tuanzebe, Williams, Fred, Bruno, Sancho, Rashford and Jimenez under Ole or under Pochettino? If your answer is Ole then why?
 
Joined
Jul 31, 2015
Messages
22,545
Location
Somewhere out there
Net Spend. What you have actually spent allowing for what you have raked in from sales.

Just google the difference in net spend between United and Madrid in the summer.

See how a similar size club with similar revenues decided to spend, night and day.
and they had a better team in a weaker league and ‘better’ manager
Yeah I know what net spend is but the money doesn't vanish all together, we sold some players the manager didn't want and we spent €165m on new players the manager did like. We didn't sell Pogba or Rashford or anyone the manager didn't want to sell and felt he had to panic about replacing.
@RUCK4444 you keep harping on about Real Madrid but we're behind Everton (net spend €40m), Sheffield United (net spend €65m), Chelsea (net spend €-100m).

As I said earlier, we're not at the stage Madrid are, none of the players Madrid brought in would even be interested in joining us, right now we're lower down the ladder and dropping down to 8th won't fecking help us climb back up it, in fact it'll make next Summer much harder for the club to get any of our first choices.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 31, 2015
Messages
22,545
Location
Somewhere out there
If you think we are not going to need more than €350m for any manager to get us back to top4, and if you insist to refuse to tell the diff between net spend vs cash spend - then you need to find some other sport to be a fan of. Any interest in curling? They dont spend millions and are big on coaching
Net Spend, the old time Liverpool excuse, and here are our own fans are peddling it... the transformation is complete.

We sold Lukaku, he was second choice, we spent €165m on 3 new players the manager sees as first choice. Why is net even important here? If we'd sold a player the manager saw as a first choice player it'd make sense. We've now spent €214m on players Ole sees as first choice.

We gave Martial back the number 9, and the plan was 100% that he'd be the man up top. We were linked with 2 strikers in the Summer, neither of whom were meant to be anything more than backup to Tony.

If you think €350m needs to be spent just to get top 4, look at Chelsea and Leicester ffs, 2 real life examples in front of your face. You should watch curling in that case as clearly seeing actual real life evidence of this €350m and massive net spend NOT being required to take a side to top 4 isn't enough for you and your fantasies, it appears this aint the sport for you.
 

RUCK4444

New Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2015
Messages
9,553
Location
$¥$¥$¥$¥$
Yeah I know what net spend is but the money doesn't vanish all together, we sold some players the manager didn't want and we spent €165m on new players the manager did like. We didn't sell Pogba or Rashford or anyone the manager didn't want to sell and felt he had to panic about replacing.
@RUCK4444 you keep harping on about Real Madrid but we're behind Everton (net spend €40m), Sheffield United (net spend €65m), Chelsea (net spend €-100m).

As I said earlier, we're not at the stage Madrid are, none of the players Madrid brought in would even be interested in joining us, right now we're lower down the ladder and dropping down to 8th won't fecking help us climb back up it, in fact it'll make next Summer much harder for the club to get any of our first choices.
I'm not sure you understand net spend. It bare's no relevance if the players Ole wanted to keep weren't sold - !?

If you sell a car for £20k and you buy a car for £30k you've spent 10k overall. £75 million net spend for Manchester feckin' United - during our biggest rebuild in memory - was pitiful.

The only comparison I'm drawing with Madrid is the size of club and club revenue. We should be spending a LOT more when you consider that arguably every position in the starting 11 needed upgrades (depending on your thoughts on Pogba and De Gea's form at the time.)

The clubs that you listed are nowhere near the size of United. Regardless of where we are in league position we can, and feckin' should, outspend every one of those clubs.

My opinion on this is directed more at the owners (parasites) and Ed the clown rather than using it as an excuse for Ole this season, nevertheless a club of this size with a new manager and a major rebuild needs to be spending more than a Richarlison!
 

Nicoseth

Full Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2013
Messages
2,582
Location
Andrei Kanchelskis made me fall in love with Unite
I remember people saying that Ole had a massive job to do at United when he got the job. I think people overlook what that actually means. It means breaking up that squad and basically starting almost from scratch. We had big names on big money with the wrong attitude. Ole has been working to get those players out and get the right ones in. People also say that he should be doing better than he is with the current squad - really? Look at the state of that midfield and forward line. We're 6 points off fourth and still in with a shout of CL. I think that's fair enough especially considering the injuries we've had. Many also praise Lampard at Chelsea, saying what a great job he's doing. Again - really? How many games have they lost? And they have a much better squad than us imo.

I'm not saying for a second that 8th place represents an acceptable performance for us in a normal season. I don't think this is a normal season and may be the short term pain for the long term gain. I believe in what Ole is building. A couple of decent signings in the summer and we'll be competitive at the very top again.

My 2 cents.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

Full Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
Messages
16,977
I don't know how some of you can keep up this 'Chelsea have a much better squad than us' line. It's embarrassing.

No one on here predicted them to be in the top 4 back in the summer.
 

Mockney

Not the only poster to be named Poster of the Year
Joined
Jan 27, 2009
Messages
40,954
Location
Editing my own posts.
I don’t really get why “stability” has come to mean “sticking with an unproven manager through a terrible, elongated period, and hoping that comes good” ... It’s not very stable if your results and stature are in freefall. Or if your better players stop believing in the project and want away. Or if the project can’t attract the kind of players required to push it to the next level (and thus "fairly" prove the manager’s worth - i.e. with benefits afforded to literally no other managers, ever!) because a manager with no reputation is not an attractive prospect..

It feels like an exhausting viscous circle.

It’d be amusing if it weren’t tragic that there are still many fans casually proposing we sign the likes of Sancho before properly judging Ole, as if globally hot properties like Jadon Sancho would chose to join a Europa league level Man Utd, under the promise that an inexperienced, unsuccessful, widely ridiculed manager is his best bet for long term career success...

Even IF Solskjær does end up becoming a good-to-great manager one day (or at least one whose learned the basics of contingency squad management!) it’ll take us twice as long to build a squad capable of challenging under him, than it will under even someone with the exact same level of questionable talent, but a slightly higher reputation!...since right now the global allure of playing under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is more likely a turn off than an attraction.

Inexperienced novice manager David Beckham? - maybe a few good players care?

Inexperienced novice manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer? - Literally only we care!

So we seem stuck in this bizarre, doomed limbo-land where Ole can only be judged on his long term rebuild once he’s got a load of WC new players, but also can’t attract any of those players because he’s shown nothing to make that rebuild look plausible, let alone attractive!

And since the Klopp comparisons are en vogue again, it’s probably worth mentioning how, whatever their early (overblown) inconsistency, Klopp noticeably installed his brand of passionate never say die crunch/clutch mentality, pretty much instantly..

All the last minute winners from Liverpool or City in the last couple of years are no more of a fluke than they were when it was called Fergie Time... they’re the product of a well drilled team full of purpose, confidence and imbibed with their manager’s personality...

In contrast, what would you say the mentality of the current Ole’s side was, so far? ‘Cos I reckon it’s a fair shout to say it’s one that can perform only when there’s no pressure, but consistently fail when there’s even the slightest hint of progress....His one big celebrated comeback came when we were almost comedy underdogs and he was still a caretaker, and was followed by us spectacularly buckling when in very real sight of the top 4 (despite having a fully fit squad, fwiw) and this season we have failed to win on 8 of the 9 times Chelsea have dropped points... most of which were easily winnable games, where our now high-fabled excusatory “injury crisis” shouldn’t have really factored (because however much you spin it, we shouldn’t need Paul Pogba to beat the likes of Watford, Villa or Burnley!)

But sure, let’s build on that “stability”... They will come!... and if they don’t?...feck 'em, their loss.... probably?
 
Last edited:

NewGlory

United make me feel dirty. And not in a sexy way.
Joined
Jul 13, 2019
Messages
4,239
Net Spend, the old time Liverpool excuse, and here are our own fans are peddling it... the transformation is complete.

We sold Lukaku, he was second choice, we spent €165m on 3 new players the manager sees as first choice. Why is net even important here? If we'd sold a player the manager saw as a first choice player it'd make sense. We've now spent €214m on players Ole sees as first choice.

We gave Martial back the number 9, and the plan was 100% that he'd be the man up top. We were linked with 2 strikers in the Summer, neither of whom were meant to be anything more than backup to Tony.

If you think €350m needs to be spent just to get top 4, look at Chelsea and Leicester ffs, 2 real life examples in front of your face. You should watch curling in that case as clearly seeing actual real life evidence of this €350m and massive net spend NOT being required to take a side to top 4 isn't enough for you and your fantasies, it appears this aint the sport for you.
I am looking at Chelsea and Leicester. And I am seeing that they have better players + more balanced squad. So, what was your point, exactly?

Net spend is how money works, it has nothing to do with Liverpool or United. If you sell players that cost as much as players you buy, club as a financial organization has in effect spent 0. That is the reality, whether you like it or not. You seem angry at me, as if I am trying to excuse the idiotic recruitment we've done in the last several years, but - I am not!

What I am telling you is that no manager in the world will be able to make a decent team out of the squad that we have. Pereira, Lingard, Shaw, Jones, Matic, Mata - half of our team is nowhere near top4 quality. Jury is still out on Lindelof, DeGea (in his current dip of the form) and Martial (with his incosistency). So, how much investment do you think replacing half of the team (at least!) is going to cost?

You really think the players I listed - majority of them will play at the top level under ANY coach? Maybe 1 or 2 will improve, but most will be the same mid-table level.
 

Mockney

Not the only poster to be named Poster of the Year
Joined
Jan 27, 2009
Messages
40,954
Location
Editing my own posts.
I remember people saying that Ole had a massive job to do at United when he got the job. I think people overlook what that actually means. It means breaking up that squad and basically starting almost from scratch.
This is something virtually every new manager does given a decent budget and 3 transfer windows though? I don’t know why we’re acting like it’s some uniquely hard or special righteous crusade ... let alone even really that true!

Most of the players we got rid of were either overpaid squad players, or those the majority of fans had never warmed too anyway... 90% of it could’ve been decided by an online poll.

Our brand new, completely fresh and different Ole team consists of almost testimonial worthy David De Gea, two Mourinho starting defenders, two Mourinho starting midfielders and two academy midfielders given their debuts by Mourinho (one of whom he even invented an award for!) a new signing we wasted half a season pretending we didn’t want, a promising Championship winger we’ve already over played, an LVG striker, an academy striker promoted by LVG and frequently started under Mourinho, and an academy striker who may be a singularly prodigious talent who would’ve made it under anyone! Yet who we’ve also already over played! ... Oh, and a former 30 year old Watford striker signed on deadline day from the Chinese League..

So, erm... yeah... this drastic, dramatic, exciting revolution at Man Utd is basically just... signing Harry Maguire and then making him captain after 6 months..

...And then acting like we’re the first club to ever need a partial rebuild, because we’re so inoculated from how football has worked everywhere else for the last 30 years, that we‘re intent on being uber-reactionary towards anything that seems even remotely normal and modern, just so we can prove some weirdly romanticised point to... ourselves... I guess??
 
Last edited:

Adnan

Talent Spotter
Joined
Oct 5, 2013
Messages
29,861
Location
England
The biggest worry for me is that both McKenna and Dempsey are the chaps thought to be coaching the players. Dempsey was the headcoach at Molde for instance.
 

Big Ben Foster

Correctly predicted Portugal to win Euro 2016
Joined
Mar 19, 2008
Messages
12,454
Location
BR -> MI -> TX
Supports
Also support Vasco da Gama
I look at it really simply: is OGS getting the best out of the squad, is he perfor. ING just about right or is he not getting the best out of the squad. Under this lens I believe we should be further forward. Therefore I believe OGS isn't meeting the mark right now. Can OGS get there in the future, yes maybe, but is United the kind of club that allows managers to make mistakes before reaching their potential or do we expect the manager to be at a high performing level.
What potential? He's been a manager for over a decade - how he's currently performing is his level.
 

momo83

Massive Snowflake
Joined
Dec 5, 2013
Messages
1,463
Results have been poor, no denying that. However, again, it's down to opinion on how various factors have affected these games.

*Namely being hamstrung by injuries to key players, our best performing players, throughout the season being one factor.
*Another huge factor for me was the paltry net spend in the summer, a net spend of £75 million during a rebuild of this scale is pathetic (see Real Madrid this summer if you want to see a football juggernaut in transition.)
*Anybody who believes Ole let Lukaku go without being promised a replacement is naive at best or thick at worst in my opinion. Either that or they have much more faith in Ed Woodward than they should by now.

I can see the poor results, i'm not blind or even remotely biased towards Ole however I don't chose to ignore the above in order to fit an Ole-Out narrative.
Who’s the striker that United were linked with throughout the summer only for the deal to fall through? From my recollection we were linked at the last minute to Dybala and Mandzukic.
So this talk that Ole was promised a striker really doesn’t make sense. All the evidence points to him coming in playing to the audience by getting rid of Fellaini and pushing Lukaku out only to then have no idea who he wanted to replace them... or in the case of Halaand not being able to convince the player to join him.

As history has proven when a manager knows who he wants the media tend to find out. Eg Mourinho last season, all the times SAF didn’t get his man because of wage structure etc
 

RUCK4444

New Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2015
Messages
9,553
Location
$¥$¥$¥$¥$
Who’s the striker that United were linked with throughout the summer only for the deal to fall through? From my recollection we were linked at the last minute to Dybala and Mandzukic.
So this talk that Ole was promised a striker really doesn’t make sense. All the evidence points to him coming in playing to the audience by getting rid of Fellaini and pushing Lukaku out only to then have no idea who he wanted to replace them... or in the case of Halaand not being able to convince the player to join him.

As history has proven when a manager knows who he wants the media tend to find out. Eg Mourinho last season, all the times SAF didn’t get his man because of wage structure etc
If you want to use the media as a tool to form your opinion on everything the club and manager does then that's up to you my friend.

Ed and his chum have the say and dealings when it comes to signings, sure the manager tells him who he would like. That said, Ole wouldn't and more importantly couldn't just walk in and say 'ya know what fella's, get rid of these 4 guys and we will see what happens.'
The manager has an influence but ultimately the decisions are made by Ed.

You can argue that Ole is out of his depth but he's not a stupid person, no manager walks into this job, arguably the hardest job in world football and decides to make a hard job even harder by selling without believing his boss would follow through and recruit accordingly.

I find it find it a huge stretch to believe that Ole would willingly do that. What I find far more likely is that Ed spouted his 'disneyland' speech to Ole and in turn Ole believed he would be heavily backed.
We should have gotten Bruno in the summer - we didn't. That's Ed's fault for whatever reason - not Ole's. Why is it so hard to believe the same happened with Ole's suggested striker options?

If we had signed Bruno and a Striker in the summer (big summer I know), then Ole would have addressed the major flaws in the side whilst simultaneously ridding the club of deadwood players who many on here were desperate to get rid of for years. I believe Ed fecked that up and it's not the sole reason for our current form but it doesn't exactly help our situation does it?
 

Chairman Steve

Full Member
Joined
May 9, 2018
Messages
6,897
I think that’s one thing people tend to forget with OGS. He’s been in senior management for a decade. This is not someone who’s having their first furore in first team football like Guardiola in 2009, or Zidane 5 or so years ago or Lampard now. OGS is an experienced manager and in that time he’s managed in Norwegian club football and about 10 months in English football. That doesn’t sound like someone who’s going to be wrangling a club the size of Manchester United any time soon.

Either he’s been content to be at Molde which is all fine and good for him, if he knows that’s his level or he can enjoy being back home in a lower pressure working environment compared to the Premier League. I can’t see it being like the alleged Giggs mindset of just being expected to be given the job because of playing career. I think he couldn’t believe his luck when Utd called then went on one of the purplest of purple patch periods and our idiot board offered him the full time role.

Now we’re seeing what OGS is really like. He sadly just isn’t good enough and he has no good previous experience to fall back on to make people think he can come good. OGS hasn’t got achievements on par with taking Aberdeen of all teams to Scottish league titles and beating Real in a European final.

When OGS leaves, I can’t see Barcelona, Real, Bayern and PSG fighting over OGS like some people rate him to be.
 

momo83

Massive Snowflake
Joined
Dec 5, 2013
Messages
1,463
If you want to use the media as a tool to form your opinion on everything the club and manager does then that's up to you my friend.

Ed and his chum have the say and dealings when it comes to signings, sure the manager tells him who he would like. That said, Ole wouldn't and more importantly couldn't just walk in and say 'ya know what fella's, get rid of these 4 guys and we will see what happens.'
The manager has an influence but ultimately the decisions are made by Ed.

You can argue that Ole is out of his depth but he's not a stupid person, no manager walks into this job, arguably the hardest job in world football and decides to make a hard job even harder by selling without believing his boss would follow through and recruit accordingly.

I find it find it a huge stretch to believe that Ole would willingly do that. What I find far more likely is that Ed spouted his 'disneyland' speech to Ole and in turn Ole believed he would be heavily backed.
We should have gotten Bruno in the summer - we didn't. That's Ed's fault for whatever reason - not Ole's. Why is it so hard to believe the same happened with Ole's suggested striker options?

If we had signed Bruno and a Striker in the summer (big summer I know), then Ole would have addressed the major flaws in the side whilst simultaneously ridding the club of deadwood players who many on here were desperate to get rid of for years. I believe Ed fecked that up and it's not the sole reason for our current form but it doesn't exactly help our situation does it?
As opposed to using “nothing” like you are?

I’m using something logical and proven and I will back it up. Mourinho wanted Maguire and the Spurs CB it was covered in the media. Then the reasons for not getting them were covered in the media. Just like Ole chasing Maguire, AWB and James was covered in the media before they signed, same applies to Fernandes.

Now you randomly say Ole was promised a striker which is why he let Lukaku go.
1) Ole started pushing Lukaku out from the minute he arrived.

2) Who is the striker that Ole identified and chased as Lukaku’s replacement only to be let down by the board. I can assure you if there was striker that Ole was chasing the media would have reported it in the news.
 

passing-wind

Full Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2013
Messages
3,041
.
You can argue that Ole is out of his depth but he's not a stupid person, no manager walks into this job, arguably the hardest job in world football and decides to make a hard job even harder by selling without believing his boss would follow through and recruit accordingly.

I find it find it a huge stretch to believe that Ole would willingly do that.
I don't mean this in any slight at all but what makes you think Solskjaer comes across as intelligent or having his witt's about him in management ?

On the basis of what Ole's shown I certainly don't think he portrays the aptitude to have any indepth knowledge or capacity to think outside of a basic telemetry. He comes across as being void of sense in his post match interviews with ridiculous needless comments that reflects delusion more than reality. The whole agenda of Solskjaer being a United manager feels like a "see how it goes" type of conundrum from his career standpoint. He's done nothing to implement his authority in the team nor the results / performances.

The only cards Solskjaer has played right is signing the contract on his weekly wages being one of the highest paid managers in the league. He's played an absolute blinder on that one, fair play to him.
 

Seij

Full Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2014
Messages
1,398
I think that’s one thing people tend to forget with OGS. He’s been in senior management for a decade. This is not someone who’s having their first furore in first team football like Guardiola in 2009, or Zidane 5 or so years ago or Lampard now. OGS is an experienced manager and in that time he’s managed in Norwegian club football and about 10 months in English football. That doesn’t sound like someone who’s going to be wrangling a club the size of Manchester United any time soon.

Either he’s been content to be at Molde which is all fine and good for him, if he knows that’s his level or he can enjoy being back home in a lower pressure working environment compared to the Premier League. I can’t see it being like the alleged Giggs mindset of just being expected to be given the job because of playing career. I think he couldn’t believe his luck when Utd called then went on one of the purplest of purple patch periods and our idiot board offered him the full time role.

Now we’re seeing what OGS is really like. He sadly just isn’t good enough and he has no good previous experience to fall back on to make people think he can come good. OGS hasn’t got achievements on par with taking Aberdeen of all teams to Scottish league titles and beating Real in a European final.

When OGS leaves, I can’t see Barcelona, Real, Bayern and PSG fighting over OGS like some people rate him to be.
Don't you know? Klopp, SAF, and Guardiola succeeded in this league so all we need to do is give Ole more money, time, and support and he'll follow their steps in soon enough and give us many years of dominance. It's only logical.
 

momo83

Massive Snowflake
Joined
Dec 5, 2013
Messages
1,463
Don't you know? Klopp, SAF, and Guardiola succeeded in this league so all we need to do is give Ole more money, time, and support and he'll follow their steps in soon enough and give us many years of dominance. It's only logical.
6 windows and he’d still finish 2nd in a 1 team league
 

Seij

Full Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2014
Messages
1,398
6 windows and he’d still finish 2nd in a 1 team league
You can't be looking at it that way.

6 windows is nothing for a complete rebuild. If we still look like shite after 6 windows, it's Woodward's fault for not getting the players in. It's the players' fault for being shite and not being good enough for Ole. Give Ole a minimum of 10 years before any criticism is warranted.

He is 99.2% United DNA. Everything he does is for the club out of his deep love for the club. Let's double his wages to reward him.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.