Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

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Ali Dia

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What is the opinion of anybody else about that?

Personally I am happy to agree that the signings before Ole were mostly not great. And I think, the Bruno transfer is fantastic. But it is more fantastic as it could have been expected.He was mostly the most inform player in Europe for around a year or so, fitting our "unstructured" way of play like a glove.

Maguire was the best available solution at the point in time, I would have gone for him probably as well. But it isn't a great signing in my book: it was mega money and, considering we want to have a go at the opposition team and play on the front foot, the relatively slow Maguire is an odd choice. Especially considering to partner him with Lindelof. So we spent premium money to only be in a situation to spent mega money again. That makes it an alright transfer, but not a great one.

AWB more or less the same, for now a good transfer, but not a great one. To spend the kind of money we did on a fullback that would have been the best in the world 20 years ago is good, but these days, fullbacks have to be so much more than just defenders. AWB is young and I think he has gotten a bit more comfortable on the ball after Christmas so there is hope and the jury is still out and he still can become a great transfer but until now - a lot of money spent to be in a situation where we speak about adding a player there...again.

James was a cheap punt, just fine I guess. Not great, not shit. DVB hopefully at least the same. Even if his first season was pretty underwhelming. The two teenagers are shots for the future. Pretty expensive for potential I'd say but nothing I would criticize the manager for.

That for me makes the current manager alright for transfers. Which is better than what we got before. But I'd say there is pretty much room for improvement still.
I think James is looking like a good cheaper signing that provides variety on either wing. Having a very good euros so I assume his value is rising.

The hope is AWB pulls a Shaw and becomes more complete as he matures. I’d be willing to bet if we get a rotation option for him and kept him a bit fresher we’d see better stuff from him. He has the tools to be one of the best RB in the league and he’s got another 10 years left in him. Solid so far.

Bruno : you’re right he was the most in form player in Europe and we were lacking creativity. Seemed like a no brainier but he’s become our most important and vocal player.

Cavani is the best striker we’ve had since Lukaku x Zlatan

VDB is going to come good next season if Ole gets over his mental block and starts trusting him. God knows Fred got run into the ground last season. He needs to stop doing that to players. Donny is making all the right noises about being ready for next season. I have confidence in him to improve but I feel like he’s a system player so it may not work out. Decent proactive work by the club bringing in pogbas replacement to bed in early before he leaves.

Maguire is one of our most important players. Too expensive sure but he’s a hit and we've missed him.

Amad genuinely looks like a future world beater.

Pellistri looks exciting. A younger more technical Dan James.

Sancho is going to be an amazing signing. The amount of strong combinations we will be able to field could actually be transformative.

I think it’s good stuff and we are getting better all the time.
 
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anant

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No we will fail. I hope he gets sacked. That’s what I hope for.
Just like he was supposed to fail last season? And the one before that?

You're a fecking WUM if you hope for the club to fail just to gain internet points.
 
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rotherham_red

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Oh buhu... We all missed you and your unconditional and encouraging support :D

Maybe get over yourself. If you don't want to discuss - don't discuss.


What kind of discussion do you expect if you go into the debate with BS like that? There was a poster we all know is critical of the manager, just like some other posters. He raises the thought, that the argument that we need better players to reach the next level is somewhat flawed because Southgate has quite a few of the aspired players and it still doesn't result in great results. Is this the best point to make? The most sophisticated and thorough analysis? Even a good comparison? Probably not but it was enough to get people like you out of your holes and continue your jihad. Well done.


If you consider our season as very difficult, how would you describe the season of City, Pool and Chelsea? I know what you mean and the fixture congestion was quite bad, but it is kind of a cheap shield because it affected other teams as well. So even if we were handicapped by I don't know 8%, City was handicapped by 5% and Liverpool by 15%. These are our competitors and we have to deal with them on the battle ground we are on. If many games and a problematic pre-season is a difficult season, then I think, we can expect such a season next year as well. Lets see, what happens if we get a few injuries to keyplayers...

We earned that 2nd place and it is something to be acknowledged, but lets not act as if the challenge was bigger than it was. And lets not act, as if this 2nd place weighs significantly more than CL-group exit and EL-final loss against an inferior team. It is all part of the season. It is progress, the extent is debatable but it surely isn't success. And "being the best team since SAF days" would be something we would laugh at seeing it on RAWK. The ancient glory days. If we want to keep laughing at them, we should do our best to not morph into them.
It affected other teams but we actually had the worst of it across pretty much the whole of Europe. If we're in such dire straits what do you make of Liverpool and Chelsea? Who both objectively had better squads than us and who actually did more to strengthen their team than we did last season?

I'm all for a debate and questioning every aspect of the club but it's a massive reach to somehow equate Southgate and England with what Ole has done here. Especially considering the fact that it's been under Ole's management that our best attackers have all had their career best seasons (Pogba, Rashford, Martial, while Bruno broke the PL record for goal contributions from midfield in a single season). To equate the insipid displays of England with Utd is just plain stupid, I'm sorry.
 

Andycoleno9

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Ive had a few months off to be honest. But I’m strapped in ready for the slander for the new season. I hope we get all his players so we can see him do a Lampard.
That is amazing really. Most of Olein guys were very objective towards Pirlo and Lampard and knew that they are not good enough. But Ole (despite shit CV and serial losing semis and finals) will become great.
Yeah, right.
 

U99ted

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One-off results have literally been part and parcel of football since eternity. Banging on about how we lost a one-off game makes zero sense, and arguably makes the point of Ole-outers weaker especially when you're ignoring what happened in the other 60 games.
That one off game was the culmination of 15 European games, including 6 Champions League games. We are a better team than Villareal and couldn't get the job done. There were other poor or lethargic performances outside of the EL final.
Hmm, that's a stupid argument if I'm being honest. It literally is the definition of an upset. I doubt you'd say that Rodgers is shit because they were upset against Newcastle when other teams managed to beat them? Literally every manager in the world has faced upsets. Football isn't some simulation game where the better side always ends up winning the game.
We keep getting these "upsets" against us though. When it happens multiple times in important ties (Sevilla semi-final, Istanbul group stage, Leicester quarter-final, Villareal final), it's natural that people will question the players and the manager. Don't see what's so stupid about that.
As long as there is progress, we are backing him. If things go south, change him as the club is bigger than the manager
I agree with this at least. Part of that progress will be in getting over the line in crucial games, like putting together title challenges, winning cup finals and making a mark on the CL. Next season I don't want wishy-washy talk of upsets and simulations, unless it's about us pulling an upset of our own in the CL final :)
 

anant

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That one off game was the culmination of 15 European games, including 6 Champions League games. We are a better team than Villareal and couldn't get the job done. There were other poor or lethargic performances outside of the EL final.

We keep getting these "upsets" against us though. When it happens multiple times in important ties (Sevilla semi-final, Istanbul group stage, Leicester quarter-final, Villareal final), it's natural that people will question the players and the manager. Don't see what's so stupid about that.

I agree with this at least. Part of that progress will be in getting over the line in crucial games, like putting together title challenges, winning cup finals and making a mark on the CL. Next season I don't want wishy-washy talk of upsets and simulations, unless it's about us pulling an upset of our own in the CL final :)
Had EL been a league and we failed to win, ofcourse I'd be angry and disappointed as we were the best team, but like I said, you're going to have upsets.

Every team has "upsets". City against Wigan, Arsenal x2, Chelsea, Lyon, Spurs, Monaco. Pool under Klopp have lost to WHU, Sevilla, Stoke (over 2 legs), Southampton (over 2 legs), Wolves twice, WBA, Leicester , Arsenal, etc.

The point is better teams dont always win and that's the reason why football is played, else just give the title to the team that has the strongest side on paper at the end of transfer window. To win titles, you need a quality bench as well and avoid upsets, you need a good bench as well - something we dont really have,
 

Berbasbullet

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Ive had a few months off to be honest. But I’m strapped in ready for the slander for the new season. I hope we get all his players so we can see him do a Lampard.
Surely the thing you hope for is to get the players and go on to win the league, right? RIGHT?!??!
 

NZT-One

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It affected other teams but we actually had the worst of it across pretty much the whole of Europe. If we're in such dire straits what do you make of Liverpool and Chelsea? Who both objectively had better squads than us and who actually did more to strengthen their team than we did last season?
Surely their squads are factors but they are factors along with others. We had no major injuries, no managerial shake up, no period of really bad form, no major referee or VAR problems. So even if we had a few disadvantages - the majority on here was sure that the first stint of bad form was due to the preseason issues and was gone after 4 to 5 games. Fixture congestion applied to our competitors (City, Chelsea, Liverpool) as well, maybe a tad less but certainly not to a high agree. Liverpool had very bad luck with injuries and Klopp probably made a mistake by shaking his whole team to mitigate that issue. Chelsea were unable to defend for half a year, City wasn't an otherworldly force but turned it up on Christmas. So all of the competitors had difficult seasons. If everybody has a difficult season, than nobody has. It is just a season, you know what I mean?

I'm all for a debate and questioning every aspect of the club but it's a massive reach to somehow equate Southgate and England with what Ole has done here. Especially considering the fact that it's been under Ole's management that our best attackers have all had their career best seasons (Pogba, Rashford, Martial, while Bruno broke the PL record for goal contributions from midfield in a single season). To equate the insipid displays of England with Utd is just plain stupid, I'm sorry.
Agreed. Even though I am sure the poster didn't spent half a fraction of the thoughts on his initial post than thoughts went into viciously replying to it.
 

Mainoldo

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Surely the thing you hope for is to get the players and go on to win the league, right? RIGHT?!??!
Well yes. I do hope that but we also need a Tuchel like manager for it to work so that’s why I hope he does a Lampard because we all knew he wasn’t winning it :lol:
 

Mainoldo

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Just like he was supposed to fail last season? And the one before that?

You're a fecking WUM if you hope for the club to fail just to gain internet points.
Ive never known a place use Wum so much to disbelieve someone not backing an average manager.

What next I’m wumming if I say McTominay will never be Zidane. Good grief our fanbase needs help.
 

Mainoldo

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That is amazing really. Most of Olein guys were very objective towards Pirlo and Lampard and knew that they are not good enough. But Ole (despite shit CV and serial losing semis and finals) will become great.
Yeah, right.
It’s called club bias. Liverpool fans convinced a whole league Jordan Henderson was worthy of a player of the season award. A whole Jordan Henderson.

But the game is the game. We got to love it.
 

UnofficialDevil

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Forget Ballon then, how many of those you listed were the best in their position during their career? Barring a couple, I don't think they were. As I said England has generally been seen by the ROW as a team one tier below the best teams at any given point in time. But English fans continue to over regard their teams and then get surprised at their performances during the tournaments (which I feel is mostly deserving). And then blame everything like manager, tactics, team coherence, selections, individual players etc. Its been going on for a long time and these Euros are no different.
Again they don't have to be the best in their position, being one of the best in the world at their position is enough, and we have had many of them. What we haven't ever had is the proportional manager for those players. And that includes Cappelo and Eriksson. I can't agree that our players are overrated. We have had some of the best players in the world in some of our teams and that includes this team too. Which national team do you support out of curiosity?
 
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Peter van der Gea

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Well yes. I do hope that but we also need a Tuchel like manager for it to work so that’s why I hope he does a Lampard because we all knew he wasn’t winning it :lol:
Tuchel only won one cup in ten years before getting the oil money of PSG and Chelsea...
 

rotherham_red

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Surely their squads are factors but they are factors along with others. We had no major injuries, no managerial shake up, no period of really bad form, no major referee or VAR problems. So even if we had a few disadvantages - the majority on here was sure that the first stint of bad form was due to the preseason issues and was gone after 4 to 5 games. Fixture congestion applied to our competitors (City, Chelsea, Liverpool) as well, maybe a tad less but certainly not to a high agree. Liverpool had very bad luck with injuries and Klopp probably made a mistake by shaking his whole team to mitigate that issue. Chelsea were unable to defend for half a year, City wasn't an otherworldly force but turned it up on Christmas. So all of the competitors had difficult seasons. If everybody has a difficult season, than nobody has. It is just a season, you know what I mean?


Agreed. Even though I am sure the poster didn't spent half a fraction of the thoughts on his initial post than thoughts went into viciously replying to it.
Are the lack of injuries not a credit to the management team, who were able to navigate the excessive load of the season well? Especially so when you compare it to how it was in previous years? I'll have to disagree with you on the referees and VAR considering how the PGMOL literally apologised for the referee's feck ups in the Sheffield United and West Brom games, which cost us 5 points alone, or the Everton 3-3 game where the referee mysteriously added extra time on to the added time despite there being hardly any stoppages during that period.

The fact is we lost 6 league games all season and 5 of those games had pretty big asterisk marks against them with no preseason (Palace, Spurs, Arsenal) and the other coming during a period where we had to play 4 games in 7 days (Leicester, Liverpool). None of the circumstances around those games were in any way replicated for any of our rivals (bar City in the early stages). Liverpool had injuries but so did we the season before. I certainly wasn't seeing anyone throw us a pity party, either on here or elsewhere. Chelsea had finished level on points with us the season before and had then proceeded to spend £250m on adding to their first team. We had no right to finish ahead of them, irrespective of their defensive and managerial woes considering that for many on this forum, our manager is a joke figure/embarrassment who should not be in the job...

Also, City literally won 15 games in a row to get themselves ahead of the chasing pack (one of which, against Villa at the Etihad) was massively referee-assisted). Please tell me how often that has happened in the league? If, as I suspect, it hasn't happened very often at all, then I'm not sure where this idea was that they weren't an otherworldly force has come from? Especially since they were literally two good games away from an unprecedented quadruple.
 

CG1010

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Again they don't have to be the best in their position, being one of the best in the world at their position is enough, and we have had many of them. What we haven't ever had is the proportional manager for those players. And that includes Cappelo and Eriksson. I can't agree that our players are overrated. We have had some of the best players in the world in some of our teams and that includes this team too. Which national team do you support out of curiosity?
I am from India and our national team is a joke, so I don't have a horse with my bets on. I would 'like' England to win the tournaments because that would mean maximum number of United players are winners but I don't see it. So I hope for a realistic country to win it which has a United player I have a soft corner for. This time its Portugal because I want Bruno to win it (although they may not even make it past the group stages!).
 

Eriku

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This thread is moving along nicely. We finally have people openly being gleeful about the prospect of seeing Ole fail and get fired. How people square that with being a United fan I do not know.
 

anant

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Ive never known a place use Wum so much to disbelieve someone not backing an average manager.

What next I’m wumming if I say McTominay will never be Zidane. Good grief our fanbase needs help.
Finally a statement from you that I can agree with. You do need help- lots of it
 

Peter van der Gea

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It’s literally the same thing. So I don’t see how I can back one and not believe in the other.
They are different people doing a different job in a different way. Just because you wrote it down, doesn't make it "literally the same"
 

Mainoldo

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Well, seeing as you think Ole is a poor manager, and Ole has two trophies in the same period, then Tuchel must be doubly poor without oil money.
Just because you wrote it down, doesn’t make it literally the same.

Remember that when you start comparing apples and oranges. Like Germany and Norway.
 

AjaxCunian

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Where abouts in that post am I celebrating anything?
Do the players get a free pass from you?
Did fixture congestion never happen?
Was our pre-season ideal?
We have improved under Ole, and when that stops, I'll imagine the pressure will grow on him, maybe justifiably.
You outers have just planted your flags, and refuse to consider that he may be the best available man for the job, in spite of any evidence of progress, or at the very least, worthy of patience.

Second to City is going to be as good as any team can expect, with the hope of occasionally going one better. They are a bottomless pit of money.
Trying to underplay 2nd as "not good enough" doesn't make you look more ambitious as a fan. It makes you look clueless to anything beyond your own desires. Entitled by definition.

It won't be impossible to get the better of them, but it is not the metric to judge any manager, unless they are given the same resources.

Why I wasted my time writing that, I don't know. I doubt any of it will sink in.
Seems like a bunch of excuses and merely focusing on 2nd place, bottling CL, losing to Leicester in a semi-final, losing to Villareal in a semi-final never happened. And if it did, it is all because Manchester City is a club with a never-ending pit of money whilst United has spent significantly more than PSG, Leipzig, Basaksehir, Leicester, Villareal in recent years. Yeah right.
 

Peter van der Gea

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Just because you wrote it down, doesn’t make it literally the same.

Remember that when you start comparing apples and oranges. Like Germany and Norway.
I was just comparing what they did without money. Manage a team and get them to win. Ole's done it double the amount of Tuchel.

Trophies aren't literal, they are solid objects, you can count them. It's more like comparing "Granny Smiths" to "Pink Ladies", apples, but different apples
 

Mainoldo

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How are they literally the same thing?
Come on. Have you not seen how England play and his persistence to select his favourites?

If Southgate managed us I’m convinced he’d play McFred and he’d probably want Trippier.. oh wait!!
 

crossy1686

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Come on. Have you not seen how England play and his persistence to select his favourites?

If Southgate managed us I’m convinced he’d play McFred and he’d probably want Trippier.. oh wait!!
Who should Solskjaer play instead of Fred and McTomminay? And what's wrong with signing a La Liga winning right back, who Atleti seriously struggled without when he was injured and PSG are also trying to sign?
 

Mainoldo

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Who should Solskjaer play instead of Fred and McTomminay? And what's wrong with signing a La Liga winning right back, who Atleti seriously struggled without when he was injured and PSG are also trying to sign?
Nothing. I was just comparing him and Southgate. I believe they think the same.

I can also see Southgate taking this squad to second in the league and getting knocked out of the Champions League group stages.
 

Berbasbullet

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Come on. Have you not seen how England play and his persistence to select his favourites?

If Southgate managed us I’m convinced he’d play McFred and he’d probably want Trippier.. oh wait!!
Honestly mate you’ve lost your marbles. :lol: happy Monday buddy!
 

U99ted

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Every team has "upsets". City against Wigan, Arsenal x2, Chelsea, Lyon, Spurs, Monaco. Pool under Klopp have lost to WHU, Sevilla, Stoke (over 2 legs), Southampton (over 2 legs), Wolves twice, WBA, Leicester , Arsenal, etc.
Yes, and to bring you back to my original point, these teams that have suffered upsets have also won things. Pep's City with 3 Premier Leagues & a stack of domestic cups, Klopp's Pool a PL & CL. France the World Cup. It's Ole's United that still have everything to prove.
 

Halftrack

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No we will fail. I hope he gets sacked. That’s what I hope for.
An actual supporter would frame it as "I hope the club moves swiftly if/when it becomes clear that we're not going to challenge" not "I hope Ole does a Lampard." The latter says "I hope Ole fails and takes us out of contention in the league so that I can be right on the internet, because that has now become more important to me than actually supporting the club."

That is amazing really. Most of Olein guys were very objective towards Pirlo and Lampard and knew that they are not good enough. But Ole (despite shit CV and serial losing semis and finals) will become great.
Yeah, right.
"Most Olein guys..." I trust you've done a survey to be able to state this with such confidence.
 

Andycoleno9

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"Most Olein guys..." I trust you've done a survey to be able to state this with such confidence.
Yes, my bad. You are right there. I hate that argument and i used it.
But i can start now. :D
Do you think that Chelsea and Juve should have kept Pirlo and Lamps?
 
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