Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

The idea is that, in hindsight to the injuries and some players not performing, with some better players that we were linked with, we could have more points and be in a better position right now. Then all of a sudden he wouldn't look like the worse manager in the league anymore.

So all of this debate to end up right back where we began, with me saying:

But the statistics disagree with you. That's my point.

Everything else, believing in him or not believing in him is pure personal opinion tainted with either optimism or pessimism depending on which side of the fence you are one.

You jumped in, claimed there are statistics that suggest otherwise, and after rounds of posting back and to, we end up with simply your own personal opinion tainted with the Ole optimism I spoke of.

Thanks, for a massive waste of time.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

If results go against us, we could quite easily be in the bottom half in a couple of weeks. Ole needs to hope Bruno gives the team a shot in the arm and we can start grinding out wins.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

If results go against us, we could quite easily be in the bottom half in a couple of weeks. Ole needs to hope Bruno gives the team a shot in the arm and we can start grinding out wins.

Yeah the Chelsea game is massive. If we win then we are in the top 4 race at least for the moment. Defeat and we are pretty much out of it unless we start getting wins every week pretty much.

 

[fergieisold]

Problem with Ole is he’s tactically poor. Counter attaching while sitting deep is not a viable tactic for a season for a club of our statute. I remember LVG bossing Liverpool & Man City at home possession & chances wise. That will never happen with Ole no matter what players he gets as he’s not good enough.

Until he goes we’ll be going nowhere

He isn't aiming to play purely counter attacking football. We don't sit deep. United have always played top counter attacking football when needed so not sure what you are on about!

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Before the summer window the only players that didn't want to be here were Herrera Lukaku and Darmian. So I don't think anybody should criticize Ole for letting them go. With those three players gone or going Ole would have had this squad to work with going into the this season. However, Ole was given 140m in the summer to spend and do what he likes with this squad

--------------------------De Gea---------------------------

-Young-----Smalling ------Lindelof----Shaw

-----------------Fred------------Pogba---------------

--?----------------------Pereira -----------Rashford--

-------------------------------?------------------------------

Bench - Romero, Lingard, Mata, Matic, Mctominay, Martial, Jones, Bailly, Rojo, Tuanzebe, Dalot.

It is clear as day from this lineup what was needed first. In order of priority, that lineup needed a striker, right winger, RB to replace Young because he was terrible, AM to replace Pereira or Lingard because they were both terrible and CB to replace Smalling. Ole had 150m to spend on these priorities.

It is only common sense to first buy players for the positions that are vacant in your lineup is it not? So we needed a striker and RW first with the 150m. However, Ole decided to convert Martial who hasn't played as a striker in a long time and then decided to promote Greenwood to be back up to fill up that vacant striker position in the line up. The 140m stayed with him. The next position that was vacant was the RW and we didn't have one in the team. Ole spends 15m out of the 140m for a left winger and starts playing him on the right to fill in that position.

Now the vacant positions in the line up have been filled up by Martial and James. Time to remove the worst players and get in better ones. The worst players in the squad at the time were Young RB, Lingard AM and Smalling CB. We desperately needed a right back because Young was terrible. Ole spends 45m of the remaining 125m on a very solid right back and replaces one of the three worst players in the lineup. With Lingard and Smalling being the other two worst players, Ole has 80m left to replace them both or the worst out of them at least. Ole spends the entire remaining budget to replace Smalling.

Before the summer, in order of priority we needed ST, RW, RB, AM and CB to have a very solid side. Ole decided to spend the budget on 2 out of those 5 positions - RB and CB. If you think Ole didn't recruit smartly then that's your perspective. But he's policy has always been to wait for the right fit. Ole explained the neglect of the vacant striker position and said "there were strikers available but none were the right fit"(look at how we rushed to get Haaland, deemed as the right fit when he was available). The neglect of the RW position has also been explained by reports saying we are waiting for Sancho next summer as stupid and as risky as that sounds. The neglect of the AM position has been dealt with already this January with the signing of Bruno.

I think Ole has a plan when it comes to recruitment or rebuilding the squad. He's policy of waiting for the right fit has been what we've needed for a long time. I don't like him as a coach and I want him gone but I believe in his recruitment strategy so far and that's one thing I think he has gotten right and should hardly be criticized for. I even think if he got all the players he deemed the right fit, even if he were sacked all we need to do is get a modern progressive or attacking coach because the players he would inherit would not need much replacing

 

[Rafaeldagold]

He isn't aiming to play purely counter attacking football. We don't sit deep. United have always played top counter attacking football when needed so not sure what you are on about!

He is- we have no patterns of play except to counter attack to our pacy players.

Wake up

 

[fergieisold]

He is- we have no patterns of play except to counter attack to our pacy players.

Wake up

Rubbish, we are looking to get more and more control on the ball. We play out from the back, we looks to dominate possession against the lesser teams. We have to use counter attacking football as a tool, all top clubs do it.

 

[dove]

Before the summer window the only players that didn't want to be here were Herrera Lukaku and Darmian. So I don't think anybody should criticize Ole for letting them go. With those three players gone or going Ole would have had this squad to work with going into the this season. However, Ole was given 140m in the summer to spend and do what he likes with this squad

--------------------------De Gea---------------------------

-Young-----Smalling ------Lindelof----Shaw

-----------------Fred------------Pogba---------------

--?----------------------Pereira -----------Rashford--

-------------------------------?------------------------------

Bench - Romero, Lingard, Mata, Matic, Mctominay, Martial, Jones, Bailly, Rojo, Tuanzebe, Dalot.

It is clear as day from this lineup what was needed first. In order of priority, that lineup needed a striker, right winger, RB to replace Young because he was terrible, AM to replace Pereira or Lingard because they were both terrible and CB to replace Smalling. Ole had 150m to spend on these priorities.

It is only common sense to first buy players for the positions that are vacant in your lineup is it not? So we needed a striker and RW first with the 150m. However, Ole decided to convert Martial who hasn't played as a striker in a long time and then decided to promote Greenwood to be back up to fill up that vacant striker position in the line up. The 140m stayed with him. The next position that was vacant was the RW and we didn't have one in the team. Ole spends 15m out of the 140m for a left winger and starts playing him on the right to fill in that position.

Now the vacant positions in the line up have been filled up by Martial and James. Time to remove the worst players and get in better ones. The worst players in the squad at the time were Young RB, Lingard AM and Smalling CB. We desperately needed a right back because Young was terrible. Ole spends 45m of the remaining 125m on a very solid right back and replaces one of the three worst players in the lineup. With Lingard and Smalling being the other two worst players, Ole has 80m left to replace them both or the worst out of them at least. Ole spends the entire remaining budget to replace Smalling.

Before the summer, in order of priority we needed ST, RW, RB, AM and CB to have a very solid side. Ole decided to spend the budget on 2 out of those 5 positions - RB and CB. If you think Ole didn't recruit smartly then that's your perspective. But he's policy has always been to wait for the right fit. Ole explained the neglect of the vacant striker position and said "there were strikers available but none were the right fit"(look at how we rushed to get Haaland, deemed as the right fit when he was available). The neglect of the RW position has also been explained by reports saying we are waiting for Sancho next summer as stupid and as risky as that sounds. The neglect of the AM position has been dealt with already this January with the signing of Bruno.

I think Ole has a plan when it comes to recruitment or rebuilding the squad. He's policy of waiting for the right fit has been what we've needed for a long time. I don't like him as a coach and I want him gone but I believe in his recruitment strategy so far and that's one thing I think he has gotten right and should hardly be criticized for. I even think if he got all the players he deemed the right fit, even if he were sacked all we need to do is get a modern progressive or attacking coach because the players he would inherit would not need much replacing

I kind of agree with that but on the other hand, it looked like LVG made perfect signings in the positions we needed but it turned out all of them were shite. Ole already spent over £200m on players (not counting sales) and all of the players we signed have serious faults (except Fernandes which I haven't seen play so won't comment). I think we could have done a better job and I wouldn't praise Ole so much for the signings we made. I will give him credit for selling players though, if he can manages to get rid of Lingard and Jones too, would be great.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Rubbish, we are looking to get more and more control on the ball. We play out from the back, we looks to dominate possession against the lesser teams. We have to use counter attacking football as a tool, all top clubs do it.

Thats why Ole is not good tactically. We play out from the back but we're pretty shit doing it especially when the back line is pressed. We dominate possession majorly when teams sit back to defend, we then look clueless trying to break down the defense. The only we really look dangerous is counter attack. We're being labeled as a counter attacking team if you don't know

 

[fergieisold]

Thats why Ole is not good tactically. We play out from the back but we're pretty shit doing it especially when the back line is pressed. We dominate possession majorly when teams sit back to defend, we then look clueless trying to break down the defense. The only we really look dangerous is counter attack. We're being labeled as a counter attacking team if you don't know

We're not a counter attacking team in my opinion. So pep and Klopp play out from the back, but Ole doing it is tactically stupid?

 

[L1nk]

We're not a counter attacking team in my opinion. So pep and Klopp play out from the back, but Ole doing it is tactically stupid?

It's not tactically stupid, it's just poorly coached on our end, we are garbage at it and it gets us in trouble every time, even though we bought defenders specifically to do it, don't forget these aren't peasent defenders, Harry Maguire cost 80m and Lindelof, if nothing else, is known for his style as a passing along the floor defender. There shouldn't be a reason we are so shit at it.

 

[fergieisold]

It's not tactically stupid, it's just poorly coached on our end, we are garbage at it and it gets us in trouble every time, even though we bought defenders specifically to do it, don't forget these aren't peasent defenders, Harry Maguire cost 80m and Lindelof, if nothing else, is known for his style as a passing along the floor defender. There shouldn't be a reason we are so shit at it.

Disagree, we have done it reasonably well so far. Always a chance of fecking it up, as City did time and time again when Pep first came.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Disagree, we have done it reasonably well so far. Always a chance of fecking it up, as City did time and time again when Pep first came.

They still get in trouble every now and then but they persist with it.

 

[TheGame]

Would love for us to play 4-4-2 against the so called midtable to weaker teams to provide more attacking intent although with Bruno there now, that won't happen.

 

[RedNed77]

No, he has to prove that he's competent for a club as big as this to be given another season. If a team needs 3 years to rebuild (under the right manager) you don't give a struggling manager the full three years when it's obvious that he's not up to the mark. We don't have a divine right to keep fecking up every year without consequences. So without a shadow of a doubt Ole has to keep proving himself, and every manager has expectations he has to meet. It's just that the expectation has to be in line with the circumstances, and 4th place is.

Who's expectations? Anybody who thought a top 4 position was an expectation after our summer business and intention to blood half of the u23 team was quite frankly being a fecking idiot.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Who's expectations? Anybody who thought a top 4 position was an expectation after our summer business and intention to blood half of the u23 team was quite frankly being a fecking idiot.

Anyone who pretends Chelsea and Leicester were favourites for a top 4 finish aehad of us for either the media or themselves at the start of the season, only to turn around and play the victim/underdog card when Ole has eventually managed us poorly, is quite frankly a fecking idiot.

 

[RedNed77]

Anyone who pretends Chelsea and Leicester were favourites for a top 4 finish aehad of us for either the media or themselves at the start of the season, only to turn around and play the victim/underdog card when Ole has eventually managed us poorly, is quite frankly a fecking idiot.

Both spurs and Arsenal who finished top 4 last year were favourites to make up the top 4 with City and Pool as well you know.

 

[roonster09]

Both spurs and Arsenal who finished top 4 last year were favourites to make up the top 4 with City and Pool as well you know.

Arsenal didn't finish top 4. City, Spurs, Liverpool were favorites to finish top 4 but people had written off Chelsea because of Hazard and transfer ban. General feeling was top 4 was there for the taking, it's still there if we can get injured players back quickly.

 

[KekiZeki]

Hopefully our major new signing will bring some shame in to Ole out voices

 

[Mainoldo]

Both spurs and Arsenal who finished top 4 last year were favourites to make up the top 4 with City and Pool as well you know.

Both managers sacked because of it too.

 

[Leftback99]

Who's expectations? Anybody who thought a top 4 position was an expectation after our summer business and intention to blood half of the u23 team was quite frankly being a fecking idiot.

To be fair we were favourites for 4th with the bookies (close to Chelsea and Arsenal) but if they had known Pogba would miss basically the whole season and Rashford the second half we wouldn't have been close.

We're 6/1 now to finish top 4. Anyone who thinks we should 'expect' to finish top 4 at this point is plainly wrong.

 

[AshRK]

De Gea - world class

AWB- claimed best defensive RB in the league

Maguire - 80m

Lindelof - Best CB last year

Shaw - he ain’t the best but he’s not as bad as Cancelo this season

Williams - Is he not better than Shaw currently?

Matic - League winner; experienced
Fred - Our best CM
Lingard - pants
Martial - Top quality

Greenwood - young superstar in the making.

I’m sorry. What was wrong with our team mate?

Actually find that abit disrespectful.

 

[He'sRaldo]

Problem with Ole is he’s tactically poor. Counter attaching while sitting deep is not a viable tactic for a season for a club of our statute. I remember LVG bossing Liverpool & Man City at home possession & chances wise. That will never happen with Ole no matter what players he gets as he’s not good enough.

Until he goes we’ll be going nowhere

Don't think he's poor tactically. He's just not good on the training ground, similar situation to Jose.

He's able to think of ways to nullify opposition and control the game, but it all breaks down in the last 3rd if we don't have space. That's where IMO he could use a better assistant to help him think of and translate ideas better.

 

[Wolfmother]

Don't think he's poor tactically. He's just not good on the training ground, similar situation to Jose.

He's able to think of ways to nullify opposition and control the game, but it all breaks down in the last 3rd if we don't have space. That's where IMO he could use a better assistant to help him think of and translate ideas better.

He is not responsible at the training ground. He leaves that to his coaches. It never stop to amaze how little some you posters pay attention to details. It seems the louder the poster is, the less do he actually know.
We have lots of space, and we have movement, albeit not enough and clever enough. What we do have is fringe players not being able to make those passes, although getting better at it given the game time.

 

[He'sRaldo]

He is not responsible at the training ground. He leaves that to his coaches. It never stop to amaze how little some you posters pay attention to details. It seems the louder the poster is, the less do he actually know.

That's pretty much what I was saying, that he needs a better coach/ assistant in that regard. Why the aggressive tone?

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

He is not responsible at the training ground. He leaves that to his coaches. It never stop to amaze how little some you posters pay attention to details. It seems the louder the poster is, the less do he actually know.
We have lots of space, and we have movement, albeit not enough and clever enough. What we do have is fringe players not being able to make those passes, although getting better at it given the game time.

He instruct the coaches what they should focus on and which ideas he wants to use. Obviously they work as a team and when people blame Ole they blame the full coaching staff since we do not know exactly what everyone wants or does in training.

 

[Wolfmother]

He instruct the coaches what they should focus on and which ideas he wants to use. Obviously they work as a team and when people blame Ole they blame the full coaching staff since we do not know exactly what everyone wants or does in training.

Having watched these players over the years. Ever thought you can’t teach old dogs new tricks? The fringe ones are just the same as they always was. A few has had progress under Ole. Some has not. There was made one exclusive interview, I think it was after playing Perth? It explained in details on who does what and how they wanted to play. Watching the team after that, often watching the game two times, it is evident it is down to ability. It’s freakin obvious. I’m sure Ole could have done something different at times. But when it comes down to it, the shit he gets on here is ridiculous.

 

[L1nk]

Hopefully our major new signing will bring some shame in to Ole out voices

Why would it? Whatever Bruno does on the field has absolutely zero bearing on whether Ole is or isn't good enough, he isn't by the way.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Having watched these players over the years. Ever thought you can’t teach old dogs new tricks? The fringe ones are just the same as they always was. A few has had progress under Ole. Some has not. There was made one exclusive interview, I think it was after playing Perth? It explained in details on who does what and how they wanted to play. Watching the team after that, often watching the game two times, it is evident it is down to ability. It’s freakin obvious. I’m sure Ole could have done something different at times. But when it comes down to it, the shit he gets on here is ridiculous.

I am pretty sure you can teach better attacking cohesion. Teaching players like Lingard to produce top quality passes like De Bruyne will not work so you probably need to adapt the attack to the players as well. I am pretty sure we tries to improve most technical abilities in training for all our players like all football teams do. Probably focused on the roles and skills we want each players to use, but also tries to just generally improve everyone.

Although with better movement and better knowledge about what everyone should do in certain situations things can improve as a collective. We have not improved much in those areas. I don't think it is down to the players we got, but about the coaching.

 

[Joga Bonito]

Who's expectations? Anybody who thought a top 4 position was an expectation after our summer business and intention to blood half of the u23 team was quite frankly being a fecking idiot.

In the Next Season Expectations thread.... Even before the signing of Maguire.

I reckon we'll surprise a few and start strongly and in a promising manner. I think we'll burn out around christmas and the results will be a lot patchier in the new year. I still reckon we'll get fourth though. In addition to the promising start, i think the fans will see and be pleased with the implementation of the new style which will help us look more even with the top two and laying bare the positions we need to improve on in the summer.

I expect McTominay to make the CDM position his own, with Pogba earning the fans respect again, getting a new contract and being sold for a small fortune next summer.

I also expect Greenwood, Gomes & Garner to have made serious inroads into the first team setup, getting close to twenty goals and assists between them.

This is all assuming we dont sign anybody else. If we get Maguire I'd expect us to be more resillient defensively when we struggle in the new year and we'll take 3rd rather than 4th.

 

[L1nk]

Has anybody noticed Ole and the transfer situation, again, it's coming to the end of the window and we've been after multiple players that are contracted to Solbakken, the Norwegian agent, who is Solskjaer's agent, best friend and business partner, Josh King is one, Ighalo is another. Ole was scrutinised and criticised for this at Cardiff and Molde where he signed multiple players for both clubs, some of questionable fit and ability, all under Solbakken, infact there were allegations that he was doing it on purpose and lining his own pockets in the process. Now obviously, hopefully, there isn't and never was anything in it but it's hard to ignore the connection and the evidence of it happening multiple times, including now at United.

 

[TMDaines]

In the Next Season Expectations thread.... Even before the signing of Maguire.

Lovely work

 

[Dve]

Yep. Spot on. We'll renew his contract and he'll get overplayed again and by March/April he'll be injured or spent. The past few games should have convinced Ole just how crucial it is to sign a full-time REPLACEMENT for Matic, more than anything.

Forgot about McTominay? Pogba? Players are coming back from injury, and we´ll soon have rotation options. We don´t need another DM more than anything, that´s just ridiculous. More than anything, we need a striker, then a winger.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Forgot about McTominay? Pogba? Players are coming back from injury, and we´ll soon have rotation options. We don´t need another DM more than anything, that´s just ridiculous. More than anything, we need a striker, then a winger.

Yeah we need options up front mostly. I guess Ole counts on Greenwood to play a lot, but not sure he is ready to play all the time.

 

[Camy89]

In the Next Season Expectations thread.... Even before the signing of Maguire.

Damn. You're like my ex digging up shit she remembered from 5 years ago on a certain date. Well played.

 

[elnorte]

In the Next Season Expectations thread.... Even before the signing of Maguire.

Oh my god

 

[Water Melon]

In the Next Season Expectations thread.... Even before the signing of Maguire.

Well done lad. Game, set and match. The poster you quoted was expecting us to finish even 3rd rather than 4th, if wr signed Maguire. Now he is basically calling himself an idiot.

 

[el3mel]

In the Next Season Expectations thread.... Even before the signing of Maguire.

That pretty much sums the majority of Ole in posters, with few to spare. They simply keep twisting every single narrative to make Ole look blameless, even if it means contradicting themselves in the process.

 

[zenith]

Ole is not blameless, nobody is, not least the manager of the club. Though if one is being totally unbiased and rational about things then he's done something right as well.

For me, the fact that all the players are giving it their everything for him is a great big takeaway as this was really not happening all the time under the previous managers. He's also been playing a much better brand of football. I've really enjoyed watching us on occasions and again this is something I have craved to see, ever since Fergie left. He's been good with spotting the obvious in terms of playing players in the right positions and filling gaping holes in the squad with good solid signings. Again that's something the earlier managers have failed to do. That is how we landed up with Rojo, matic, dalot, Bailey.

The situation with injuries is a combination of poor management and bad luck. If he runs players into the ground, he's got to expect injuries to catch up. Also the in game management and coaching has left a fair bit to be desired.

Bottom line being that he may not be the guy to take us to the top again but deserves more time, especially with new signings coming in and the squad taking on some kind of identity. Call me stupid but I think we are for the first time in a long time heading somewhere

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

In the Next Season Expectations thread.... Even before the signing of Maguire.

Lovely stuff