Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[BenitoSTARR]

I like him. Top manager be patient. Obviously this result was shocking but we’ve had far more positive than negative.

We lost under Sir Alex it happens build a bridge get over it.

 

[Chairman Steve]

I feel like this run of form since the embarrassment of Leipzig is balanced very precariously like a house of cards on a tightrope. I understand there’s going to be some tight games with tight wins but is this too many tight wins? Surely we should have a few more comprehensive wins for us if we were that good?

I worry of a repeat of 2019 again after PSG and a miserable run of form... and Arsenal away was the starting point of that one

 

[JustAGuest]

Not because of the squad, which is a very good one with a lot of depth plus we’ve had no injuries compared to other teams.

I don't think any manager is going to win the league with this squad, barring a freak season. Why not strengthen? Ole is staying for the foreseeable future. Hoping for him to be replaced right now is unrealistic.

 

[arthurka]

Again with the Pogba, Matic shit..
That said I felt our whole mood reeked of overconfidence and sloppy approach. Ole talked about us being to casual Vs them the last time. But that said Ole cannot be blamed for that second goal but Martial playing 90min, not making changes at half time and just lacking urgency was the thread through this game from him and the team.

Got a lot of time for Ole but this was not good enough by any stretch.

 

[Foxbatt]

He should have changed it when he found out it's not working. We were shite most of the game. He doesn't have any way to break down teams. If we different options rather than play in thru the centre we will beat teams like Sheffield United. He should have taken off Rashford and Martial much earlier on. Put on Fred in midfield, and I would put Scott up front and put some pressure on their defense. Telles is someone who can cross but there is no point in crossing for Martial.
He doesn't know what to do.

 

[Ronnie O'Sullivan]

Agree, something like this was coming. Look at our recent results...

Inched past Liverpool.
Scraped past Fulham.
Bore draw against Liverpool.
Scraped past Burnley.
Limped past Watford.
Toyed with by City.
Scraped past Villa.
Fluke win against Wolves.
Drew against Leicester.
Scraped past Everton.

Our last convincing performance was the 20th of December against Leeds.

Precisely. His luck finally ran out today and I can only fear what's going to happen starting at Arsenal.

 

[Silverman]

I think Ole deserves respect and he is obviously a decent coach but he's not the man to get us to where we want to be.
He's not tactically strong enough as we don't seem to be able to break down teams that sit deep against us. We rely a lot on counter attacks which although isn't a bad thing in moderation, we do it too much for a team that wants to win trophies.
Also, his substitutions can be bizarre at times.
Cavani should have been on for Martial at HT.

 

[AshRK]

I fear under him we are this " Nearly side". We always have that poor performance and poor result around the corner. It's still a work in progress for me. This title challenge amd being on top for me is a false dawn. We are just not there yet.

 

[PureCantona7]

Agree, something like this was coming. Look at our recent results...

Inched past Liverpool.
Scraped past Fulham.
Bore draw against Liverpool.
Scraped past Burnley.
Limped past Watford.
Toyed with by City.
Scraped past Villa.
Fluke win against Wolves.
Drew against Leicester.
Scraped past Everton.

Our last convincing performance was the 20th of December against Leeds.

And beaten by the worst team in premier league history

 

[pocco]

A couple of things that have bugged me tonight, other than the obvious ie subs, lack of clear gameplay to break them down etc.

Not playing Fred, who has been one of our better players this season. Has only started 2 of our last 6 games. Why does he need so much rest? Apart from beating Liverpool, we've been very laboured in general over the last few weeks.

Another strange decision was moving Rashford around so much when in good form, and he's been gradually getting worse. We finally put him back into his regular position tonight and, lo and behold, he's crap. Played him into bad form. He's needlessly messed about with things like that and now we're suffering.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Agree, something like this was coming. Look at our recent results...

Inched past Liverpool.
Scraped past Fulham.
Bore draw against Liverpool.
Scraped past Burnley.
Limped past Watford.
Toyed with by City.
Scraped past Villa.
Fluke win against Wolves.
Drew against Leicester.
Scraped past Everton.

Our last convincing performance was the 20th of December against Leeds.

Plus this was happening while other teams were very unexpectedly dropping points Liverpool mainly for having no defenders for the whole season and suddenly we were top of the table.

 

[SirScholes]

So no one performed even close to an acceptable standard, yet the manager made no significant change until the 82nd minute, and you think it’s on the players???

What is a managers job if it’s not to spot that it’s not working and change it @Lash??
He might as well just name the team and fecking stay at home.

He got the team wrong but what you said isn’t true, he changed Cavani at 62

 

[passing-wind]

The lack of familiarity in our play and a clear strategy is still a major issue under Ole.

It will eventually catch us up. The exact same trajectory happened when we finished 2nd under Mourinho. It sounds like a fancy position but our performances didn't merit the results.

The problem here is how does the team assess its improvement if the performance is continuously underwhelming. Strangely this is only a perspective that is needed for winning competitions. If our directive is to be in around the top 4 I think Ole gives enough for this to be done. It's when more is expected that we will begin to experience difficulty.

 

[MadDogg]

He didn't need a rest, he's played just 3 90 minute matches this month, but yes I do agree Ole taking so long to bring him on was also a BIG issue.

He's played the full match in our last two (and three of the last four) matches, and with Arsenal, Southampton, Everton and West Ham coming up in our next four matches this was the obvious one for him to take a rest in.

 

[Dec9003]

So no one performed even close to an acceptable standard, yet the manager made no significant change until the 82nd minute, and you think it’s on the players???

What is a managers job if it’s not to spot that it’s not working and change it @Lash??
He might as well just name the team and fecking stay at home.

Didn't Cavani come on before the 70th minute? Probably still a little later than we'd have liked but I think if you put something in bold it should be accurate.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

I don't think any manager is going to win the league with this squad, barring a freak season. Why not strengthen? Ole is staying for the foreseeable future. Hoping for him to be replaced right now is unrealistic.

I’m all for strengthening obviously, but we do have a very good squad and at some point we are going to have to strengthen the manager position too.

 

[FrankDrebin]

The only familiarity with us is you know exactly how we're going to set-up against Arsenal.
Here's a hint : we wont be the ones taking the initiative.

 

[friendlytramp]

Reality:

The board aren’t the best. They will invest but aren’t going to blow the bank to try and win trophies when they can spend less and maintain a top 4 spot. We could do much worse.

Ole isn’t the best manager in the world and has a lot of learning to do, but he loves and understands the club has done a great job at changing the profile and mentality of the squad bringing through the younger players and regaining a level of control over the wage bill. He’s the best man for the job.

The squad are a work in progress and are very much heading in the right direction. We could do with adding an element of world class/special in the form of Sancho or Haaland but which club couldn’t?

We’re not title worthy but very much heading in the right direction and there are no changes that could be made that would positively and significantly impact on the clubs trajectory. Bad day today but we’ll get over it.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

I don't think any manager is going to win the league with this squad, barring a freak season. Why not strengthen? Ole is staying for the foreseeable future. Hoping for him to be replaced right now is unrealistic.

I’m all for strengthening obviously, but we do have a very good squad and at some point we are going to have to strengthen the manager position too. Plus this is a freak season and the title was winnable with this squad.

 

[Andycoleno9]

At the end of the season, regardless of our position (except if by a miracle we win the league or at least fight to the last weeks) we should thank him for his service and end his contract. He did a good job in building the foundation of a good team, but he is a mediocre/novice tactician.

I will give you one advice. I made my piece with it. He will stay here next few seasons and that is it. So no point in thinking is he good or not. I think that he is not good enough but also i changed my mind about his level. He is not bad manager. Not good enough to win us stuff but also not bad to put us outside top4 with this squad.
So i don't expect titles while he is here but maybe we will catch some cup.

And btw, his contract is ending soon so i am 100% sure that this month he will get new contract

 

[Mainoldo]

Nothing new here. Let’s just hope they done knee jerk a contract like they did 2 years ago.

 

[MadDogg]

Do you genuinely believe this?

The only way to judge it is using the table, and we'd be on top. Maybe you can argue Liverpool took their foot off the pedal last season as they knew they'd already won it, but that's about it.

 

[RedDevil@84]

I never understand his subs part. It is mostly weird, one way or other. Be it the timings or the players who are pulled off.
Anyways, hope he learns from his mistakes and makes amends

 

[Godfather]

Question will be whether this club wants to win trophies in the near future or not. With him we simply won't.

 

[Matt851]

I feel like tonights result is a product of not learning from issues that have been apparent in previous games but havent been focussed on because we have got the result.

For example we have seen a midfield two of pogba and matic not function properly before. Obviously martial shouldnt be playing at the moment, mata or even james should play instead of him. Ole is also pathetically slow to make changes mid game

 

[FrankDrebin]

I remain sceptical that the club will back any one of our managers regarding improving the first eleven.

 

[Wayne's World]

Do not dear give him a new contract If we don't show signs of winning the league, not just being in a title race for two fecking weeks.

 

[Mainoldo]

I will give you one advice. I made my piece with it. He will stay here next few seasons and that is it. So no point in thinking is he good or not. I think that he is not good enough but also i changed my mind about his level. He is not bad manager. Not good enough to win us stuff but also not bad to put us outside top4 with this squad.
So i don't expect titles while he is here but maybe we will catch some cup.

And btw, his contract is ending soon so i am 100% sure that this month he will get new contract

He’s not getting a new contract but he will probably get another season. However the scary thing is you cannot build a team on being nearly men the good players will lose interest. Underperform or leave.

 

[MadDogg]

He started Telles who only really offers crosses, doesn't offer penetrating runs like Shaw does nearly as much. We then went with Martial as our starting striker who is hardly known for his movement or heading ability. We randomly gave Tuanzebe a game. It was arrogance and complacent.

It wasn't really random. Lindelof has been struggling with a back injury for ages so the idea is obviously to try to give him enough rests to nurse him through the rest of the season, and with Bailly seemingly injured (yet again) Tuanzebe is the next in line. In hindsight maybe we should have just played Lindelof but if his back starts really giving him trouble and he's out for a while we'd then be blaming Ole for not resting him enough.

 

[Crustanoid]

Ed needs to get his fecking finger out and improve the squad. Grealish in January is a fecking minimum

 

[Mainoldo]

Ed needs to get his fecking finger out and improve the squad. Grealish in January is a fecking minimum

To play where?

 

[Red_toad]

Poor team selection and poor substitutions. Once more I see no style of play, simply relying on a moment of brilliance from Bruno or Rashford to win us the game. Arsenal is going to be a tough one, I expect him to be ultra defensive now, which should actually work in our favour.

 

[sizzling sausages]

I like him. Top manager be patient. Obviously this result was shocking but we’ve had far more positive than negative.

We lost under Sir Alex it happens build a bridge get over it.

I find myself agreeing with your posts quite often so I'm interested, what have you seen that makes you think he's a top manager?

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

He got the team wrong but what you said isn’t true, he changed Cavani at 62

Didn't Cavani come on before the 70th minute? Probably still a little later than we'd have liked but I think if you put something in bold it should be accurate.

You think bringing on 1 forward is significantly changing it?

Yeah I don’t, we were an absolute horror show that required significant change, significantly earlier.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

We have done well in the easier games this season, but we rarely dominate games or really destroy teams. Eventually Bruno will have a poor day like today and we fail to win.

Don't think Ole is the right manager long term if we want to become a top force again. Hope we can win something this season though. On our day we are deadly.

 

[Leftback99]

We had to lose eventually, we've been over achieving for a while. It's a shame pretty much every single player on the pitch put in their complacent worst tonight.

Back to a battle for top 4 as expected before the season which will be very tough.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Ed needs to get his fecking finger out and improve the squad. Grealish in January is a fecking minimum

Really.. to beat Sheffield United. Ok.

 

[Smores]

I'm not sure i agree with all the assertions above but for me the mentality showed today is on Ole. Far too often do we show poor mentality it's not a one off.

I think the manager and players share a defensive attitude so as soon as we hit good form smugness creeps in. The manager has to stamp that out at all times, enough with the self-praising interviews. We're not good enough not to give 100% every game.

 

[Crustanoid]

To play where?

To galvanise the team. That’s what Bruno did. Do a few history lessons on our previous seasons in the 90s

 

[Giggsyking]

loosing to the worst team in the league and he bring on subs on 82 min. You should have used your fecking brain and brought them earlier.