Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[Isotope]

I still like some of the changes Ole has been making to the team and club. But he needs to do something drastic to improve the team. It's either hiring a more qualified coach (not the like of Fletcher with 3 months of "coaching experience", or hiring a nobody from small team in US). But professionals.

He needs to change his mindset on subs. He played for 10 years under one of the best Manager of all time. Why would he think his subs timing is better than SAF? That's just stupid.

And again, he needs to prioritize competitions he's in. Be smart on managing the strength of your squad.

 

[el3mel]

I still like some of the changes Ole has been making to the team and club. But he needs to do something drastic to improve the team. It's either hiring a more qualified coach (not the like of Fletcher with 3 months of "coaching experience", or hiring a nobody from small team in US). But professionals.

He needs to change his mindset on subs. He played for 10 years under one of the best Manager of all time. Why would he think his subs timing is better than SAF? That's just stupid.

And again, he needs to prioritize competitions he's in. Be smart on managing the strength of your squad.

I was honestly surprised by how much people here celebrated Fletcher joining the coaching stuff as if we are hiring Zidane or Guardiola as assistant but I didn't want to look like Mr. Negative and didn't post my opinion. I mean it's fine but were people really expecting Fletcher to be of any big effect on the team or something?

 

[Raredaredevil]

When does his contract end? Next summer? I have no doubt that the board will extend his contract because the Glazers and Ed's aim is just to make top 4 so we get CL money, we haven't win the title for 7 years, 8 if you count this coming season. Moyes and Van Gaal were sacked because they failed to make top 4. Jose was toxic and fell out with them. I just don't see Ole being sacked. He is a nice guy, knows how to say the right words and is a club legend. Even when he was being so consistently shit in our worst run of form, there was never really any danger of him losing his job. Why would he lose his job now? I've long accepted that he will be our manager for a while unfortunately and now that Pochettino is at PSG and I just don't really see any top level elite managers in the market, we will be with him unless there is a drastic drop of form like us languishing in mid-table ala Arsenal style. If not, he will be our manager for years to come. I hope I'm wrong as Ole is simply not a title-winning manager.

 

[tenpoless]

We're on a good run : "Credit to Ole"
We're on a bad run : "Players cannot be relied up on"

Feck sake man, just put Albert the kitman in charge if that's how you think.

 

[mav_9me]

What today's subs clearly tell you is he is cowardly and cautious. For someone who played for the majority of his career under Fergie I can't fathom how Ole is like this. I think this clearly illustrates his mindset. Let's first make sure we don't lose.

I am sorry but that is not good enough for United.

I have always been of the opinion we need to improve on Ole. I acknowledge a lot of the good work he has done in stabilizing things. But he is not going to take us anywhere really.

Just ask yourself this, would Bayern continue with a similar manager? They are the only club comparable to us imo. So I always ask what they would do.

Us getting top 4 and not spending much in summer and carrying on with Ole will confirm what we all know. The glazers don't have any ambition other than top 4.

 

[Water Melon]

We have run out of our steam that much is clear. When we lose to City, we will find ourselves right in the middle of top 4 war zone. Watch Pogba leave at the end of the season. See Bruno not signing a better contract. I doubt we will win EL and I expect us to be in top 4 fight right until the last the game. Will not be surprised if we bottle it. We look exhausted and clueless. Rashford, Mason and Bruno have regressed, Cavani has not been a major improvement either. Woke up, smelled coffee. Seems to be of shite quality.

 

[Cast5]

What today's subs clearly tell you is he is cowardly and cautious. For someone who played for the majority of his career under Fergie I can't fathom how Ole is like this. I think this clearly illustrates his mindset. Let's first make sure we don't lose.

I am sorry but that is not good enough for United.

I have always been of the opinion we need to improve on Ole. I acknowledge a lot of the good work he has done in stabilizing things. But he is not going to take us anywhere really.

Just ask yourself this, would Bayern continue with a similar manager? They are the only club comparable to us imo. So I always ask what they would do.

Us getting top 4 and not spending much in summer and carrying on with Ole will confirm what we all know. The glazers don't have any ambition other than top 4.

Comparing us with Bayern is one of the most idiotic things I’ve read on this OleOut thread and that’s saying something, we were Bayern when we got rid of Moyes after 10 months, Ole took over a squad that hadn’t won a league title for 7 years, hadn’t even finished top four consecutively once, Ole took over an ageing toxic dressing room and stabilised it. Why are you acting like Ole took over from a team that’s won 8 consecutive titles? Ridiculous.

All this abuse aimed at Ole for us maybe finishing in the top 4 is odd considering Ole will be the first manager to do it 2 years on the bounce since Ferguson retired. Something far more experienced managers in LVG, Jose Mourinho & Moyes couldn’t do. Did they win the League cup, Europa, and Fa Cup? Yeah they did and so they should considering they were world class managers and Ole supposedly isn’t good enough to even manage the Dog & Duck.

 

[tenpoless]

"For my name is Ole and I am the ex manager of Cardiff. I was a winner at Molde and Jim Solbakken is my best mate. Simon Stone stutters when he says my name."

 

[MoskvaRed]

The second place is a red herring - it is as much to do with problems at Liverpool and Chelsea as any positive developments at United. We have not convinced all season - a dreadful start, a series of unconvincing comeback wins (set off by a shambolic Champions League failure), followed by the current mid-table form of 0-0 draws. f there is tangible progress this season, you need a microscope to see it.

 

[Bobcat]

We're on a good run : "Credit to Ole"
We're on a bad run : "Players cannot be relied up on"

Feck sake man, just put Albert the kitman in charge if that's how you think.

It goes both ways. Both him and the players need to take blame for the poor form we have shown since Christmas

No doubt fatigue is a factor as well, but that alone cant explain how laborous we look in possesion at times. To break down low blocks you need tempo and we have showed way to little of that lately.

Matic and Fred are awful as a pair in CM, and i wonder what the feck we do in training because right now we seem to feck up the basics. I think it was confirmed a while ago Ole does little of the actual day to day coaching, but he still has the responsibility to sort it out

 

[Escobar]

I was honestly surprised by how much people here celebrated Fletcher joining the coaching stuff as if we are hiring Zidane or Guardiola as assistant but I didn't want to look like Mr. Negative and didn't post my opinion. I mean it's fine but were people really expecting Fletcher to be of any big effect on the team or something?

Thats the issue in this club, everyone is so nostalgic

 

[Skills]

Well the issue with that is we have this ingrained mentality that every manager that comes in needs to get an entirely new team before they can be judged. This is only ever the case at United. Every other club managers have to work with the players that are already there, and are judged thusly. We need to stop giving every manager carte blanche. That’s not a sensible way to run a club.

Correct good post.

 

[Skills]

Thats the issue in this club, everyone is so nostalgic

The fanbase specifically. Mourinho played our fanbase like a flute and got himself an undeserved contract extension.

Ole knows exactly what the fans want to hear and has done a great job at parroting it to the media at any given opportunity.

Some of our fanbase would have you believe we're a high pressing team just because Ole's harped on about that in the media - despite your eyes saying that's just a complete lie.

 

[Polar]

The second place is a red herring - it is as much to do with problems at Liverpool and Chelsea as any positive developments at United. We have not convinced all season - a dreadful start, a series of unconvincing comeback wins (set off by a shambolic Champions League failure), followed by the current mid-table form of 0-0 draws. f there is tangible progress this season, you need a microscope to see it.

Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and United are in trouble. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and Milan are actually also in trouble.

Only BM and City isn’t in trouble.

It’s a hard world. Feel sorry for people taking things for granted. High expectations and especially unrealistic expectations are our worst enemy!

 

[Red & White]

I must say it’s really alarming hearing him after every match say we didn’t have enough tempo, create enough chances, talking up these poor teams etc. That’s literally his job and the job of the coaching staff.

Also, what are these long periods of poor form we have with OGS where we go months playing poorly? The ability to bounce back after a bad performance/ result is what makes a team at the top. We’re back to soul destroying LVG football at this point.

 

[Giggsyking]

Some managers don't handle the day-to-day coaching of stuff like that. Fergie didn't, and Ole has already said he doesn't. They bring in other coaches and assistants to handle that.

The key is the manager has to set an over-riding plan and style, and then bring in the right coaches to achieve that. That's where the question mark is as the coaches we have are all very young and unproven at that aspect, and we aren't seeing much evidence towards improvement on the field.

Wow, comparing Ole to Sir Alex. Yes sir Alex in his last years did not handle day to day coaching but because he sat there for a long time he had a system that made it easy for any new staff member to come and thrive in. While Ole is trying to be Sir Alex from day one and he fails miserably. A monkey can do Ole's job now. Pick up starting 11 and then go to bed. Also if he is so clueless coaching wise then it is of extreme importance to choose good assisting coaches, but somehow he hire assistans that have never worked before.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

He is not a title winning manager.

We need a great manager to pip City and Liverpool to the title with their current managers.

We don't have that.

Our possession play is horrific most of the time.

 

[MoskvaRed]

Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and United are in trouble. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and Milan are actually also in trouble.

Only BM and City isn’t in trouble.

It’s a hard world. Feel sorry for people taking things for granted. High expectations and especially unrealistic expectations are our worst enemy!

The fact other teams are struggling is no consolation. We need to get our own house in order. Anyway, most of those teams have had a bad season or two after great and sustained success. We have had 8 seasons and counting of mediocrity and there is no indication that Solskjær knows how to get us out of this spiral. We are just left arguing the toss of whether he may be marginally better than the two other recent failed regimes of LVG and Mourinho.

 

[slored1]

Worrying performance. If things don't improve in the remaining league games then we won't finish top four and his time will be over, I expect. If they do improve we can finish second and have a bit of confidence for his next season in charge.

Far too early for dramatic takes, as utterly horrible a watch as that game was.

Why is it far too early? We've been shit for a month and a half now and have had zero consistency even during our little run to the top.

We either go behind in the first 15 minutes or draw 0-0 in every other game. Martial, Rashford, Greenwood have all simoultaneously regressed to the point that they're shit in almost every game. Without Pogba or Fernandes firing we can't create anything at all, there is no clear progression of the ball from the moment we cross the middle of the pitch.

When is then the right time to start having dramatic takes?

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

It isn't because every time you get a new manager that fails you have a load of players they bought that the next manager has no use for as they don't fit the new plan. It's very expensive.

Well that's just idiotic, and your fear of that is due to the idiotic appointments of LVG followed by Mourinho, followed by Ole. LVG and Mourinho have extremely strong views on the system they implement and the exact players they need to implement it, hence it was a case of "rip it up and start again" for both.

I personally believe the club realised this massive costly issue after Mourinho's second season when he wanted the likes of Perisic and William, and wanting Pogba and Martial out of the door. The whole point of appointing Ole was to bring in a coach that would work together with the new transfer board for a more sustainable transfer strategy and not lose his shit about it like Mourinho did when he got vetoed.
The mistake now would be to hire a manager that dislikes our current crop and says he needs a shit load of new players to succeed.

The squad is in decent shape due to that decision from the club after Mourinho's second season, and many good managers would love to work with it, especially with the chance to throw another 150m at it in their first transfer window. The "Ole project" from the club in that sense has been a success. I'm undecided on what we should do in the Summer with Poch off the market, Nagelsmann is the guy I'd want us to court so a lot would hang on his availability and just how well well do in the run-in; we could still win the EL and finish 2nd so....

 

[yamo123x]

He lacks presence, he lacks authority and his press conference last night in respnse to only one shot on target was..."what i saw was a team giving absolutely everything to win the game"

Deluded

 

[Roboc7]

We need 15 points from last 11 games to hit Ole’s favourite points total of 66, very possible and not convinced we’ll break 70 points barrier.

Have said numerous times Ole just has us basically where we’ve always been post SAF, it’s just rebranded mediocrity being sold by a club legend and talk about culture that people lap up. So many fans are terrified not be in top four that they are happy to accept it, can guarantee they will throw all this ‘progress’, seen or unseen as soon as we don’t finish in top four.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

He lacks presence, he lacks authority and his press conference last night in respnse to only one shot on target was..."what i saw was a team giving absolutely everything to win the game"

Deluded

Would you rather he came out and slammed the team? That is what we criticised Mourinho for?

 

[soapythecat]

He’s a lucky manager. Take out the Southampton result (where everything went in and they played gung-ho football) our goal scored isn’t that impressive. We create few goal scoring chances and we have no visible style of play after years of been in charge.
We struggle to break teams down and are desperately easy to play against. How many times have we heard ‘worst I’ve seen us play’ this last 2 seasons?
Aside from Southampton and Leeds, who have we actually really swept away? Most wins are scrappy, lucky affairs. We are god awful to watch.
I can’t wait for him to leave along with his disaster of an under qualified coaching set up. We won’t make top 4 this season and he will have to go.

 

[Fracture90]

You know that your team is coached poorly when the manager is keeping players that have been poor for the majority of the game solely because they can produce a bit of magic here and there.

Imo it just shows that he's relying on a bit of luck and individual piece of brilliance rather than a proper game plan and tactics that would enable us to create from positional play.

 

[roonster09]

Not sure which thread is best suited for this point, I will just put it here.

We used to consider 2nd position as a failure for 3 decades, it's not because "We are fecking ManUtd", it's because we had manager who was relentless in winning games and didn't accept anything but the best. That's the expectations. Now we have manager (and managers before him) who have managed to lower the expectations and somehow made fight for top 4 as our ambition and realistic expectation.

Now guess which team sees 2nd as a failure? Yes, ManCity and they have set certain standards and doing/did everything to achieve that. While we are just waiting for something magical to happen and fall everything into the place without much effort.

We need either a team of great players and good manager to win the league (like in Barca case) or we need team of very good players with great manager to win the league (like Klopp). Is Ole capable of that? In my honest opinion, No. This is his level, fighting for top 4, good run of form followed by terrible form. Something you expect from top 4 competing team.

For me everything starts from manager. People can talk about board all they want but they have invested money and if i'm not wrong only City have spent more than us. Team is nothing but reflection of manager, what you see on the pitch is the image of coach and how he wants his team to play. We are terrible to watch (except few games) because that's how we are set up, relying on quick transitions and direct passes. Most of the times it won't work and our players look clueless on the pitch.

In short, we should move on at least in the next season and hire a manager who can take us to the next level .

 

[Adam-Utd]

You know that your team is coached poorly when the manager is keeping players that have been poor for the majority of the game solely because they can produce a bit of magic here and there.

Imo it just shows that he's relying on a bit of luck and individual piece of brilliance rather than a proper game plan and tactics that would enable us to create from positional play.

Just said the same thing in the Amad thread. He’s clearly not interested in how chances are created, just so that these players might pop up with a goal. The issue is rashford gets the chances and fluffs them!

unfortunately when things go bad/going gets tough is when we see the true weight of a manager. Pep turned it around and went on to win 21 in a row, what have we done?

 

[Bobcat]

Wow, comparing Ole to Sir Alex. Yes sir Alex in his last years did not handle day to day coaching but because he sat there for a long time he had a system that made it easy for any new staff member to come and thrive in. While Ole is trying to be Sir Alex from day one and he fails miserably. A monkey can do Ole's job now. Pick up starting 11 and then go to bed. Also if he is so clueless coaching wise then it is of extreme importance to choose good assisting coaches, but somehow he hire assistans that have never worked before.

He wasn't really though and considering we lack a DoF we kind of seperate ourselves from most other clubs in that regard so Ole does more of a DoF job than a coach job. I would not want a monkey as DoF

That being said, Ole is responsible for picking his staff and it seems bringing in a bunch of ex players might not have been the best idea

 

[Fracture90]

Just said the same thing in the Amad thread. He’s clearly not interested in how chances are created, just so that these players might pop up with a goal. The issue is rashford gets the chances and fluffs them!

unfortunately when things go bad/going gets tough is when we see the true weight of a manager. Pep turned it around and went on to win 21 in a row, what have we done?

Personally i think that the biggest issue is that he is clearly out of his depth and is learning on the go, which mind you doesn't necessarily have to be to bad thing... but some people have the bigger capacity for learning, implementing new ideas, trying new stuff.

Zidane for example, he was learning on the job as well, but he had the benefit of inheriting a well coached team full of world class players which alone on itself is not a guarantee of success, but he wasn't afraid to tweak it up when it was needed.

 

[Withnail]

this is the perfect time mention that @Mainoldo you owe me a tenner

top three under Ole a year on from our bet

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/wou...e-poll-reopened.450911/page-397#post-25342668

You should have taken the hundred quid bet that Ole would still be in a job!

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

His reluctance to rest Rashford or Bruno is killing the team. Sometimes you just have to trust the squad or else risk a mid season burnout.

 

[laughtersassassin]

Would you rather he came out and slammed the team? That is what we criticised Mourinho for?

Man it's not black or white. You can be critical without being Jose toxic.

Anyway that's not Oles biggest flaw tbh. His coaching is.

 

[Desert Eagle]

Not sure which thread is best suited for this point, I will just put it here.

We used to consider 2nd position as a failure for 3 decades, it's not because "We are fecking ManUtd", it's because we had manager who was relentless in winning games and didn't accept anything but the best. That's the expectations. Now we have manager (and managers before him) who have managed to lower the expectations and somehow made fight for top 4 as our ambition and realistic expectation.

Now guess which team sees 2nd as a failure? Yes, ManCity and they have set certain standards and doing/did everything to achieve that. While we are just waiting for something magical to happen and fall everything into the place without much effort.

We need either a team of great players and good manager to win the league (like in Barca case) or we need team of very good players with great manager to win the league (like Klopp). Is Ole capable of that? In my honest opinion, No. This is his level, fighting for top 4, good run of form followed by terrible form. Something you expect from top 4 competing team.

For me everything starts from manager. People can talk about board all they want but they have invested money and if i'm not wrong only City have spent more than us. Team is nothing but reflection of manager, what you see on the pitch is the image of coach and how he wants his team to play. We are terrible to watch (except few games) because that's how we are set up, relying on quick transitions and direct passes. Most of the times it won't work and our players look clueless on the pitch.

In short, we should move on at least in the next season and hire a manager who can take us to the next level .

Amen

You know that your team is coached poorly when the manager is keeping players that have been poor for the majority of the game solely because they can produce a bit of magic here and there.

Imo it just shows that he's relying on a bit of luck and individual piece of brilliance rather than a proper game plan and tactics that would enable us to create from positional play.

What manager worth his salt chooses not to make a change to win a game with options on the bench. Not like those on the pitch were playing well. We loved him for it as a player cause he stayed "loyal" and he was a very very good player. But that same thing that made him okay sitting on the bench most of those years is the thing that makes him think just play it safe, downplay expectations so i can keep this once in a lifetime gravy train rolling.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Personally i think that the biggest issue is that he is clearly out of his depth and is learning on the go, which mind you doesn't necessarily have to be to bad thing... but some people have the bigger capacity for learning, implementing new ideas, trying new stuff.

Zidane for example, he was learning on the job as well, but he had the benefit of inheriting a well coached team full of world class players which alone on itself is not a guarantee of success, but he wasn't afraid to tweak it up when it was needed.

For me Ole is a good man manager, he knows how to keep players happy - but that's only half the job. He clearly needs a much better coaching team behind him that can see what's going wrong and fix it.

I don't understand how they think leaving fred isolated in midfield with Matic hiding in the left back position is a good ida, especially when Palace aren't even pressing and just sitting back filing midfield waiting.

I don't understand why our forwards are tucking inside so early, they just stand with their backs to goal up against a centre back and then have zero movement. It means our fullbacks are left 1v1 when attacking in wide areas. When the do eventually get a cross in our attackers are on their heels not expecting it.

The setup just looks so so poor. It's not a coincidence either, this happens every game especially against the likes or Palace who just want to sit back then counter.

 

[Fracture90]

What manager worth his salt chooses not to make a change to win a game with options on the bench. Not like those on the pitch were playing well. We loved him for it as a player cause he stayed "loyal" and he was a very very good player. But that same thing that made him okay sitting on the bench most of those years is the thing that makes him think just play it safe, downplay expectations so i can keep this once in a lifetime gravy train rolling.

He went into full self preservation mode, interested only in not losing.

 

[Fracture90]

For me Ole is a good man manager, he knows how to keep players happy - but that's only half the job. He clearly needs a much better coaching team behind him that can see what's going wrong and fix it.

I don't understand how they think leaving fred isolated in midfield with Matic hiding in the left back position is a good ida, especially when Palace aren't even pressing and just sitting back filing midfield waiting.

I don't understand why our forwards are tucking inside so early, they just stand with their backs to goal up against a centre back and then have zero movement. It means our fullbacks are left 1v1 when attacking in wide areas. When the do eventually get a cross in our attackers are on their heels not expecting it.

The setup just looks so so poor. It's not a coincidence either, this happens every game especially against the likes or Palace who just want to sit back then counter.

He may be a good manager, but not for this level of competition. No tactical nuance whatsoever, unwillingness to make a change when things aren't going your way and relying on luck as a plan B are not the traits of a good manager imo.

 

[LovelyLittlePanda]

Macheda scored a hattrick for the reserves just before his debut goal vs Villa. What exactly is your point? Did Ronaldo play in the reserves? He rarely ever signed a player that got sent to the reserves, from what I remember.

Good point, fair enough.
Just noticed we still had a sub left. Typical. Of course there was no one underperforming we could've subbed out

 

[Sky1981]

Ole dont have the balls to go for the jugular.

We're top not too long ago, nobody expected us to win, our position is actually very comfortable.

If we go for it and lose at the end it's already expected. Anything more than 3rd is already a pat in the back. But even with all the leeways ole plays a cautious football and i dont even known what he's hoping for.

SU, WBA are games that hungry managers will fight tooth and nail to win throwing kitchen sinks. A lose is 0 pts regardless of how many goals you Concede.

We're not showing winners mentality and that comes from the top.

Saf would rise up from his seat and demand more from his player. You can bet the next game they'll be hungry and dangerous. Whenever we hit a bad day at the office the next day we're somehow even more tame.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

What bugged me last night was how he waited until the 73rd minute before making a change and we didn't even end up using all three subs.

 

[philipos]

People say that we're making progress. However, if you compare our points total to last season by looking at the corresponding fixtures (replacing relegated with promoted teams), we're only 4 points better off. And after the City match which we won last year, we could be just one point better off. In our remaining 10 fixtures after Sunday, last season we got 16 point so it wouldn't be a surprise if we don't manage to match our points total of 66 from last season.