Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[kiristao]

What does he say at half time? Even we play well first half we turn to shit second half. I have a feeling that he is happy with draw in away games

There have been a lot of matches where we have looked far better in the second half than we did in the first. We were pretty good first half and maybe he didn't know how to get them to keep it going or couldnt react to what changes Everton did or we were just tired after the Europa League game

 

[el3mel]

I think he got the formation wrong. He should have either dropped Matic or Mctominay and played Greenwood on the right, Martial on the left and Ighalo upfront.
AVB isn't aggressive enough going forward to play the RB and RW role so Mactominay was forced to play RW and looked completely lost.

I think he started well. We don't have James or Rashford who are our prime wide players so he decided to play a narrow formation. Only thing I would have changed was starting Ighalo ahead of Greenwood to hold up the ball and bring others into the game.

The main problem is once we lost the midfield second half and Everton got on top of it, he didn't react at all and waited till very late - again - to make changes. We let them get set pieces after set pieces and he didn't react. Unforgivable for me.

 

[Tom Cato]

What does he say at half time? Even we play well first half we turn to shit second half. I have a feeling that he is happy with draw in away games

Going by what the players themselves have said int interviews, Ole is usually quite angry in the half-time if they're not doing their job.

He subbed on two offensive substitutions, of course no one here is happy with a draw. But it sure as hell beats a loss.

 

[Tom Cato]

I think he started well. We don't have James or Rashford who are our prime wide players so he decided to play a narrow formation. Only thing I would have changed was starting Ighalo ahead of Greenwood to hold up the ball and bring others into the game.

The main problem is once we lost the midfield second half and Everton got on top of it, he didn't react at all and waited till very late - again - to make changes. We let them get set pieces after set pieces and he didn't react. Unforgivable for me.

Should he have told them to no give away set pieces..?

 

[Leftback99]

You give him credit for the first sure, but the fact he couldn't adapt after Ancelotti adapted should tell you all you need to know about how limited he is surely.

So is it a sign how 'limited' Ancelotti is for the first half? I'm sure that's how you would see it if the game was the other way round, "we were 1-0 up and couldn't see it out" would be the cry, "shows how limited he is".

A decent in form team came out fighting in front of their home fans in the 2nd half, didn't score. That's about it. No need to go way over the top either way.

 

[el3mel]

Should he have told them to no give away set pieces..?

That's what I don't get with Ole supporters. They think every single mistake isn't his problem but only the players'. Of course when we're losing the midfield battle and giving Everton too many chances our manager should have called for the defenders and told them to be ware of that and make early changes to regain control of the match. Some times I think some here think the manager's role is to put the lineup and set down on his chair watching peacefully as he doesn't have anything else to do. Of course his job as a manager is to react quickly when things go out of control and when players are making mistakes.

 

[Dec9003]

He had us set up really well in the first half.
In the second we looked leggy, which given how much we’ve played isn’t surprising.
I don’t think there’s a lot he could have done in the second half, Everton played well and tactically there’s not a lot you can do against a team like that.
Maybe he could have fetched Lingard or Pereira in instead of Mata to help the midfield more, but I think he’s rightfully fed up with them.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

He is just not good enough to take us to the top. I hope we try someone that might and have a more offensive style.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Despite burning money every summer, it's pretty much same story every season. Conceding in most ridiculous circumstances and it's not just De Gea, almost entire defense had some blunders and we're still exactly where we are.

Something will need to change for better, because it's really taxing watching this circus year after year.

 

[tonnas]

He is just not good enough to take us to the top. I hope we try someone that might and have a more offensive style.

This. At the moment his tactic is to give it to Bruno and hope for the best. With a proper coach this squad will do wonders.

 

[arthurka]

Don't know what his half time speeches are because we always look like shit in the second half.

 

[Jonno]

This. At the moment his tactic is to give it to Bruno and hope for the best. With a proper coach this squad will do wonders.

This squad is probably 4th or 5th best in the league, and Ole has got us to 5th, pushing for 4th.

Do you think we’re better than that?

 

[Feed Me]

He has no clue how to stem the tide when it turns

We were in control at half time but had no clue how to deal with Everton taking over

The team is a mirror of the manager – passive and a bit underwhelming

 

[Majima]

So is it a sign how 'limited' Ancelotti is for the first half? I'm sure that's how you would see it if the game was the other way round, "we were 1-0 up and couldn't see it out" would be the cry, "shows how limited he is".

A decent in form team came out fighting in front of their home fans in the 2nd half, didn't score. That's about it. No need to go way over the top either way.

Not really. Everton scored a lucky goal in the 3'. Scoring that early, their lead doesn't make any difference really. We were by far the better team in the 1st half, which resulted in Everton kicking us & dragging the game quality down, hanging on for dear life. So we were in full control going into half-time.

Then the 2nd half, Ancelotti's changes had them on the front foot from the start to the end. We relinquished full control of the match straight away, and Solskjaer had no answer to Ancelotti's tactics. We never looked like regaining the control once in that 2nd half. We were actually very lucky to come away with the draw by the end.

Do you seriously believe the manager doesn't have a direct influence in this happening time & time again? Isn't this what separates the very best?

 

[Tom Cato]

That's what I don't get with Ole supporters. They think every single mistake isn't his problem but only the players'. Of course when we're losing the midfield battle and giving Everton too many chances our manager should have called for the defenders and told them to be ware of that and make early changes to regain control of the match. Some times I think some here think the manager's role is to put the lineup and set down on his chair watching peacefully as he doesn't have anything else to do. Of course his job as a manager is to react quickly when things go out of control and when players are making mistakes.

I'm just curious what you think Ole himself could have done here. it's like you imagine whatever course of action you would have taken would have completely anulled anything Everton has to come with. This isnt some pedestrian side that can't cause you problems. Everton is a very, very good home team.

 

[Sweet Square]

Why does this thread still get bumped after every single result ? No one is going to change their stance after 90 minutes.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

This squad is probably 4th or 5th best in the league, and Ole has got us to 5th, pushing for 4th.

Do you think we’re better than that?

I think a top manager could have us challenging very high with our full squad and 1-2 attackers added.
Given the injuries we have the position is not that bad given we have so little depth up front.
Although we are not playing that great or implementing a style I have faith in for our full squad.

Ole is grinding out results ok enough so no need to fire him right now. Although not seeing anything beyond a decent caretaker in him and we should aim higher this summer.

 

[el3mel]

I'm just curious what you think Ole himself could have done here. it's like you imagine whatever course of action you would have taken would have completely anulled anything Everton has to come with. This isnt some pedestrian side that can't cause you problems. Everton is a very, very good home team.

Of course he should have called the defenders and told them Everton are getting dangerous from set pieces and they should back down and control themselves a little bit. We were giving them shite ton of FKs and corners as if there's no end to it. Another better team with much better set pieces taker would have won the game easily, however we kept giving them set pieces after set pieces after set pieces, non stop. At this point the manager should have interfered. It's his duty to react when things aren't going in the desired direction.

Again, I don't get what some think the role of the manager in the games is. If you think he should put on the lineups and do subs and nothing else only then it's wrong sorry, and I won't even go into subs and how late they were.

He started well and had a pretty good first half but once we lost control in second half he had no clue how to regain it and let it slip. Unfortunately this happens so many often under him it's not a one off.

Everton have only won 10 games this season and are 11th in the league. They're not that great. We were close to winning in first half. We just lost control in second one and Ole failed to solve that.

 

[kiristao]

Not really. Everton scored a lucky goal in the 3'. Scoring that early, their lead doesn't make any difference really. We were by far the better team in the 1st half, which resulted in Everton kicking us & dragging the game quality down, hanging on for dear life. So we were in full control going into half-time.

Then the 2nd half, Ancelotti's changes had them on the front foot from the start to the end. We relinquished full control of the match straight away, and Solskjaer had no answer to Ancelotti's tactics. We never looked like regaining the control once in that 2nd half. We were actually very lucky to come away with the draw by the end.

Do you seriously believe the manager doesn't have a direct influence in this happening time & time again? Isn't this what separates the very best?

What exactly do you think Anchelotti changed on the 2nd half? Am genuinely asking as I didn't see any major formation or tactical change other than them winning more of the 50-50 and doing a better job pressing Fred.

 

[RollieOle]

Ha. It was just a week ago where we drew to a pathetic Belgian team in the EL. How is that long?

I thought we hammered them and are now through to the next stage? Silly me.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Why does this thread still get bumped after every single result ? No one is going to change their stance after 90 minutes.

We can discuss his performance. I think he could not change the game around in the second half when they took over. First half was better for us.
The diamond worked alright, but not sure it is the way forward. Mctominay didn't get into the game well. Fred and Matic liked it more.
Think Bruno does best with more options in front of him in a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1.

 

[Leftback99]

Not really. Everton scored a lucky goal in the 3'. Scoring that early, their lead doesn't make any difference really. We were by far the better team in the 1st half, which resulted in Everton kicking us & dragging the game quality down, hanging on for dear life. So we were in full control going into half-time.

Then the 2nd half, Ancelotti's changes had them on the front foot from the start to the end. We relinquished full control of the match straight away, and Solskjaer had no answer to Ancelotti's tactics whatsoever. We never looked like regaining the control once in that 2nd half. We were actually very lucky to come away with the draw by the end.

Do you believe the manager doesn't have a direct influence in this happening time & time again?

Enlighten us to what we should have done with our bench options? You would not be praising Solskjaer like you are Ancelotti if the result was reversed i'm sure of it.

I've watched enough Premier league football this weekend alone to know that one half of good football does not guarantee anything, especially if you are hamstrung by gifting the opposition a goal.

 

[The United]

He tried to outsmart Ancelotti. It could have worked if we didn't gift the goal in first 3 mins.

But, I think he should have used 3 - 5 - 2 to close down their width on 2nd half.

 

[Majima]

He has no clue how to stem the tide when it turns

We were in control at half time but had no clue how to deal with Everton taking over

The team is a mirror of the manager – passive and a bit underwhelming

Say what you like about Mourinho. Whilst he was here there were matches where he would directly influence the result in the 2nd half with his changes. The most vivid example i can remember off the top of my head was West Ham away 2017. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38433519.

We were typically sluggish, but Mourinho was quick to make changes at half-time to the shape, taking advantage of a red card. He moved Carrick to CB, Mata came on, then on came Rashford. Our goal was made shortly after by Carrick swinging it out from CB to Rashford on the wing, then he cut it back for Mata to finish. Goal made by Mourinho's changes.

I have yet to see Ole make such an impact on us in a game, and that's the sad reality.

 

[The United]

Say what you like about Mourinho. Whilst he was here there were matches where he would directly influence the result in the 2nd half with his changes. The most vivid example i can remember off the top of my head was West Ham away 2017. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38433519.

We were typically sluggish, but Mourinho was quick to make changes at half-time to the shape, taking advantage of a red card. He moved Carrick to CB, Mata came on, then on came Rashford. Our goal was made shortly after by Carrick swinging it out from CB to Rashford on the wing, then he cut it back for Mata to finish. Goal made by Mourinho's changes.

I have yet to see Ole make such an impact on us in a game, and that's the sad reality.

Eh, Jose was not much better with us. In fact, at least Ole usually tried to outsmart the opposition against some top teams from the first. Jose would go into those games with the same negative sit back game plan. Then, put afro up front to play long balls.

 

[Kush]

De Gea did cost us a goal, but are we forgetting him saving us in last minute?

We were poor in the 2nd half, can't pin any adverse result solely on players while praising the manager to heavens for seemingly every good one.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

No, I give him credit for the initial set-up sure, we have been playing very well of late. But teams do end up getting the better of us in the 2nd half a lot. That's not by coincidence is it? He's too slow to react to changes. Whether that's Ancelotti making tactical changes in his midfield (increasing numbers around Bruno, pressing higher up, stopping us from building play in midfield), or making subs/changes himself, it seems to take him forever. He had no answer to Ancelotti in the 2nd half btw.

Mourinho was one of the best at it, as soon as the oppo manager made a change, he would react straight-away within the next 5 mins, sometimes changing shape, or he would keep something under his sleeve to surprise the opponent in the 2nd half. It was one of his traits that made him such a top manager. We almost never see Ole react similarly to an opponent. I just don't see Ole as being sharp enough for the highest level.

This was talked about quite a bit earlier in the season, and there's a lot of truth in it. For the most part, Ole seems quite adept at setting up his team and initial tactics but his in-game management and ability to adapt to his opponent is quite frankly, horrible. There was a stat in the matchday thread showing how we have tendency to drop off massively in the second half of games - I put this down to opposition managers sussing Ole out and him being unable to react well enough.

He has some strengths, of course he does. But his greatest characteristic is a weakness - his in-game management is awful.

This. At the moment his tactic is to give it to Bruno and hope for the best. With a proper coach this squad will do wonders.

Imagine we hadn't signed Bruno? The plan seems to literally consist of giving it to Bruno, at the moment. Basically, Jose-esque management - forget attacking play, just expect your top player to produce individual magic.

 

[Majima]

What exactly do you think Anchelotti changed on the 2nd half? Am genuinely asking as I didn't see any major formation or tactical change other than them winning more of the 50-50 and doing a better job pressing Fred.

They started pressed us higher up in the 2nd half, got numbers around Bruno forcing us wide. By matching up with a diamond of their own in possession, but with width, they managed to drag McT & Fred into wide areas. They also threatened the spaces between our full-backs & center-backs. DCL & Richarlison were constantly 2v2, so Shaw/AWB had to stay back, so when we were forced into wide areas higher up, we had no support. It was a mess.

 

[Majima]

Enlighten us to what we should have done with our bench options? You would not be praising Solskjaer like you are Ancelotti if the result was reversed i'm sure of it.

I've watched enough Premier league football this weekend alone to know that one half of good football does not guarantee anything, especially if you are hamstrung by gifting the opposition a goal.

There was lots to be done. Sort out Maguire & Lindelof being constantly exposed to a 2v2 at the back for a start. Our solution seemed to have AWB/Shaw become an extra man, but by playing an extremely narrow midfield, that meant we had no support in the wide areas going forward. Martial & Greenwood were totally starved of support. Mata was subbed for McT playing rcm, Ighalo then for Greeenwood. A poacher whilst we had no width? We were a mess in the 2nd half.

Why didn't we change to a more suitable system like 3-5-2?

He brought on Williams in the 89'. Crazy. He could have subbed him on much sooner to provide some much needed width going forward.

 

[Red_toad]

He has no clue how to stem the tide when it turns

We were in control at half time but had no clue how to deal with Everton taking over

The team is a mirror of the manager – passive and a bit underwhelming

That'd ususally involve changing players, we had our best players in the team and an uninspiring bench to replace them.

 

[Majima]

That'd ususally involve changing players, we had our best players in the team and an uninspiring bench to replace them.

You can make changes to your shape without changing players?

They had DCL & Richarlison 2v2. If your solution is to keep one of the full-backs back & you're playing a narrow diamond to begin with, it doesn't take a genius to work out you will then have no wide support, thus inviting the pressure onto yourself even more.

We carried on with the same disjointed shape, subbing on square pegs in round holes (Ighalo & Mata) and almost paid the price for it in the last mins if it wasn't for De Gea's save & disallowed goal.

 

[Andycoleno9]

"We defended well in the second half, defending all they threw at us in the box so I'm pleased with a point.”
So much wrong things said in one sentence. This is small club mentality ffs

 

[Majima]

"We defended well in the second half, defending all they threw at us in the box so I'm pleased with a point.”
So much wrong things said in one sentence. This is small club mentality ffs

The reason we had to defend so many crosses into the box to begin with, was because he never found the solution to their long ball tactic with DCL & Richarlison. In fact, we invited the pressure onto ourselves even more because, by keeping AWB/Shaw back but still playing a narrow shape with zero width, we had no counter threat = allowed Baines to push up and create even more width vs us = allowed Kean to create a 2v1 vs AWB & so on...

Him saying that is an admittance he had no clue how to deal with them in the 2nd half, and all we could do was defend for our lives. That's the very definition of small club mentality.

 

[ManchesterYoda]

De Gea did cost us a goal, but are we forgetting him saving us in last minute?

We were poor in the 2nd half, can't pin any adverse result solely on players while praising the manager to heavens for seemingly every good one.

Pickford saved Everton. Making saves is what the GK is supposed to do. It's not "made an error, not the best in the world, made a save, best in the world again".

 

[Sultan]

United out-played Everton first half and both teams could have won the game in the last few minutes. A very difficult game with an in-form team and we got a draw. There's always if's and buts after games.

 

[Majima]

United out-played Everton first half and both teams could have won the game in the last few minutes. A very difficult game with an in-form team and we got a draw. There's always if's and buts after games.

Everton also outplayed us the 2nd half, to the point we were actually quite fortunate to come away with the draw. The problems were there for all to see. Didn't adjust to Everton's long balls into DCL & Richarlison. No counter threat, we invited the pressure onto ourselves, allowing Everton to push forward even more. Square pegs in round holes (Ighalo & Mata). Very late changes.

When the whole team ends up looking out of place, isn't it reasonable for questions to be asked?

 

[Giggsyking]

Why was he so happy with a point from Everton?

 

[MadMike]

I think you have to say he got the tactics right for the start of the match, considering how we dominated the first half. Had it not been for De Gea's brainfart or had we been a bit more lucky with the finishing, we would have gone into half time in the lead.

We struggle a bit with containeing their strikers, but I can't criticise Ole for picking Lindelof ahead of Bailly. Bailly is not great in the air either and he is very inconsistent and rash himself. It's by no means guaranteed he would have handled DCL and Richarlison better.

Now for the second half, I have different views to the rest. For the first 5-10 minutes the game was just scrappy and both teams were trying to find a rhythm. A lot of fouls were breaking up the tempo. Martial started drifting out of the match at 60-65 minutes, with Bruno now doing way more pressing/running and even playing more advanced. Where we really retreated were the last 20 minutes, after the subs.

I think Ole made the wrong subs, with the power of hindsight. Mata really struggled in midfield and we missed the combativeness of McT. In physical games, when teams press us, Mata is the wrong player to bring on. If McT needed taking off, for rest, I would have brought in Pereira on who's at least a bit of a shithouse and presses/tackles/fouls a lot in midfield. He suits an RM position of a diamond way, way more than Mata. Up front Martial and Greenwood were both poor, so it's a crapshoot about who to take off so I can't blame him keeping the more experienced and mature player on the pitch.

Overall, I think Ole did well today but question marks remain over his subs. They rarely pay off and they more often than not make us even worse than we were.

 

[UpWithRivers]

We are still on course for our worst points total. We would have to win another 8 games which is not going to happen. Thats worse than Moyes and everyone else. Yeah in the context of a one off game away to Everton a draw is not a terrible result. But if you look at it in context of our season then its a disaster of a result. We just cant afford not to take advantage when teams around us slip up. Its squeeky bum time. We still might get top four but it will be more to do with failures around us than our own success. Today Ole made more basic schoolboy errors. The formation was sht, the substitutions were ridiculous and we looked happy with the draw. Fail in my eyes. Id give him a 4 out of 10 for todays game and Id give him 4 out of 10 for the season only if he gets top 4 because its been a terrible season.

 

[Utdstar01]

When has he ever made any changes mid game to the shape/structure or tactics and it paid dividends? I actually can't think of any.