Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[drmuji]

United lost 2-0 to Liverpool at Anfield. Souness, Carragher, Evra and Keane are in the post match booth. Keane looks agitated and on edge after the loss, Evra looks a bit somber.

Carragher jumps straight in with "United are one of the biggest clubs in the world and they should have the best in class. Would Bayern or Madrid put up with whats happening here? Liverpool and City have the best coaches in the world. Solskjaer has managed Molde and Cardiff, what's he done?"

Keane seething at this point. "Tell me what Pep did in his first season at Man City? Go on, you tell me what he did, best coach in the world, messiah, what did he do?"

Carragher: "He finished in the top 4"

Keane: "And that's good enough for the best coach in the world is it? He had to go to the board and ask for 4 new fullbacks before he could win anything".

This exchange goes on a Carragher gets wound up that Keane has a point. They talk about spending and United getting the recruitment wrong under previous managers. Souness jumps in with, Keane knows as well as anyone you have to get the recruitment right and give it time before you can compete.

Keane just repeats about giving it time and letting Ole continue to bring the right players in. Then he says: "Anyway, we're sitting here like Liverpool have got all the answers and United are amateurs. We've been without a title for 7 years, what we're Liverpool doing for the last 30 years? Let's not pretend they've got all the answers. They've swapped and changed managers and had some world class players over the years."

They then go on to argue about managers not being given more time. Carragher tries to say United have bought good players and made them worse, Keane says the managers weren't given the time and backing to do their thing and get the best out of 'their' players. Keane tries to say that Lampard gets a free ride despite Chelsea being bad and Carragher defends him with "he's only had the job 6 months" And Keane says "Exactly, give him time" but then goes onto say "You keep saying Frank's doing a good job, he's doing alright, he's lost 8 games, his CV is Derby, he did alright, maybe it's because he's English?"

Then they end up screaming at each other over Moyes getting sacked, and Carragher asking "how long would you give Ole?" and Keane responds with "more than a year at least".

Evra adds that the damage was done over the last 7 years and Solskajer is trying to pick up the pieces and build something.

Souness questions the board for not having a coherent hiring and recruitment policy.

Thank you mate for enlightening us.

 

[Barnslig]

That's from the Norwegian news outlet TV2 Sporten, they make these regularly and post on Twitter. Hilarious!

 

[Rolaholic]

Only just now realizing that Ole was the striking coach when we last won the CL

Quite fitting that he's the manager to really ring in our next generation of attacking talent

 

[Xaviesta]

This is an impressive stat.

 

[roonster09]

This is an impressive stat.

We have also allowed 32 passes since Bruno was signed and that's the best in the league.

This is ignoring crosses btw.

 

[youngrell]

We have also allowed 32 passes since Bruno was signed and that's the best in the league.

This is ignoring crosses btw.

How many crosses are made within 20 yards of the goal?

 

[roonster09]

How many crosses are made within 20 yards of the goal?

So many? I mean most of the crosses usually end up within 20 yards of the goal, all we have to do is, find out how many times opponent player touches the ball so that it counts as completed cross.

 

[Striker10]

I think fans would be wise not to build this season up to something it's not. We are still 5th place and have performed horridly for the majority of the season.

While it's fantastic to be in the form we are in, and be giddy due to that, the season could still turn out to be as bad as it is good. We've seen too many false dawns since Fergie's retirement.

I love Ole as much as any fan, and even if he fails here, no blame will fall on him, however I'm waiting until we secure 4th place before putting all faith into Ole the manager.

Sorry for the realism (pessimism).

Realism isn't pessimism. And it's not even realism. At the end of the day you talk about half the season but we've still 1) games to go.....and 2) if we keep winning we'll be alright. I think we're better then most teams we've dropped points too. In fact if you look at the table, we've corrected performance against 'smaller' teams and it's really the lack of creativity in the first half of the season that created this big gap. If we add Sancho we could very well be challenging next season. Now you need luck. Every team needs luck. But this season there's lots to play for so let's be positive. Because we're not 5th in the league 20 points behind.....if we do our job we finish 3rd

We can actually be quietly optimistic at this point. Not wildly. But quietly.

 

[Tom Cato]

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Such quality goals being scored during this run, the difference in class between this current side compared to any of our post Fergie squads is quite drastic

Quite fitting song choice here. This is the New Age.

I absolutely love so many of these goals.

Martials turn and lob and Ighalos hot-potato goal I think are my favorites as well as Brunos counter attacking finisher.

 

[youngrell]

So many? I mean most of the crosses usually end up within 20 yards of the goal, all we have to do is, find out how many times opponent player touches the ball so that it counts as completed cross.

I don't think many are. The penalty area is 18 yards from each goal post and that is if you are on the goal line. Every yard you move further out from the goal line the closer you'd need to be to the penalty area, even inside it at some point. Can't imagine a lot of crosses from such a close range.

 

[Anustart89]

So many? I mean most of the crosses usually end up within 20 yards of the goal, all we have to do is, find out how many times opponent player touches the ball so that it counts as completed cross.

I think most crosses are outside the 20-yard range, actually. No source, just a feeling that most crosses come from outside an imaginary line two yards outside the penalty box. .

 

[roonster09]

I don't think many are. The penalty area is 18 yards from each goal post and that is if you are on the goal line. Every yard you move further out from the goal line the closer you'd need to be to the penalty area, even inside it at some point. Can't imagine a lot of crosses from such a close range.

I think most crosses are outside the 20-yard range, actually. No source, just a feeling that most crosses come from outside an imaginary line two yards outside the penalty box. .

Yeah maybe. Just stating that stat was excluding crosses which they didn't mention. It's clearly mentioned in understat site.

 

[Lj82]

Of course we aren’t going to sustain this level of result and performance, but it’s all about making sure that the bottom level is decent.

Fair point. Ole needs the team to find a high level of consistency if we were to challenge for honours next season.

I'm optimistic though

 

[crossy1686]

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[romufc]

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These sorts of stats are pointless.

The PL does not start in Jan/ Feb or any other month that one team hits form.

City were out the race in January, so they were just really playing the season out

Liverpool had already won the league so were beginning to see signs of complacency.

 

[crossy1686]

These sorts of stats are pointless.

The PL does not start in Jan/ Feb or any other month that one team hits form.

City were out the race in January, so they were just really playing the season out

Liverpool had already won the league so were beginning to see signs of complacency.

I think the point is that United have been the leagues most in form team for a while now.

 

[hungrywing]

The High Performance Podcast interview with Ole (both links are the same interview)

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-high-performance-podcast/id1500444735?ign-mpt=uo=4

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aH...mUtYTJiMS00YzZjLTgyNjQtZGY5NTc0MzAwNGM3?ep=14

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

I think the point is that United have been the leagues most in form team for a while now.

Since the winterbreak we have been. Massive difference since then. Must have been things we worked on during the break plus having Bruno and fresh legs.

 

[edcunited1878]

These sorts of stats are pointless.

The PL does not start in Jan/ Feb or any other month that one team hits form.

City were out the race in January, so they were just really playing the season out

Liverpool had already won the league so were beginning to see signs of complacency.

ESPN FC is pointless!

 

[Foxbatt]

He has put out the best 11 now. We have to win this game and everything else too. I don't think Ole can do anything else apart from putting out this team.
I have problems with his tactics during the game when we don't get control or our set pieces.
If he can get that right we can beat any team in the PL for sure.
Should he get better players? Of course he should and would if the club buys for him.
I really am surprised at how poor we are at corners. Ole of all people should know how he scored the winner. Yet we never take a near post corner.
Why?

 

[bond19821982]

Where are the people who called me deluded when I said I will make the call end of the season ? We have been through this false dawns multiple times and I am not doing it again. Let him better qualify for top 4 now.

Why the hell he didn't go with 5th sub - furious here !!!
Tactically outclassed once again.

Feck it, I am done for the night.

 

[Rajma]

Yeah, it has all the attributes of another false down. Just get a proper manager this summer.

 

[gorky_utd]

Poor from ole. Top 4 looking really tough now.

 

[DickDastardly]

Just have one question.

Did he know about the 3 chances to use 5 subs or not?

I dont think he did. I know most of us didnt. But he should have.

Use the 5 subs for fecks sake!

 

[OleBoiii]

Anyone blaming Ole for today's draw doesn't understand football and should be banned from this thread.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Just have one question.

Did he know about the 3 chances to use 5 subs or not?

I dont think he did. I know most of us didnt. But he should have.

Use the 5 subs for fecks sake!

Yup, thats a cock up.

We just have to keep on going.

 

[Rash Decision]

Yeah, it has all the attributes of another false down. Just get a proper manager this summer.

Probably impossible unless we undergo a monumental collapse from here till the end of the season. Which could mean many other things - Pogba unsettled again, Sancho not coming, etc. The board will, not unfairly, believe that he deserves another season.

Ole has done well as a transition/squad building manager and deserves credit for bringing back much more enjoyable football, but he has yet to prove that he has what it takes to bring us to the top. He could well turn out to be good enough, or he could turn out to be merely decent. I don't think it should be controversial to be cautious about our prospects with him as our manager.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Shit, shit subs.

Awful game management.

 

[NinjaFletch]

Just have one question.

Did he know about the 3 chances to use 5 subs or not?

I dont think he did. I know most of us didnt. But he should have.

Use the 5 subs for fecks sake!

Of course he did, ffs.

He didn't expect his left back to get knocked out in the 89th minute though did he?

 

[DickDastardly]

Of course he did, ffs.

He didn't expect his left back to get knocked out in the 89th minute though did he?

Looking at his face, question marks over his head....i don't think he did.

I'm not questioning the left back dilemma and the injury, nothing he could do about that.

But why not use the 5 subs?

Not like we were cruising 5-0. And certainly not like there weren't five or six knackered players on the field who could use a sub.

 

[#07]

Some of the blame has to be on Ole this evening. He suddenly found his inner Jose Mourinho around the hour mark. Our best players weren't showing up but the very fact they were on the pitch gave Southampton something to worry about. Taking them off meant they could come forward in droves without worry. Norwich should have been the lesson. Our squad is not good enough to make wholesale changes in tight situations. The kind of players who finished the game were the kind of players who were out there when we were losing to Bournemouth in the winter. Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is a bit mad. Nobody fears what McTominay and Fred will do. Just by having Pogba and Bruno out there you gain something, cos the other team worries about that one moment of magic they will produce. Nobody thinks Fred is going to suddenly become Ronaldinho. Bad game management. Am I right in thinking we only used four subs? If so, what the hell??

 

[Jonno]

Just have one question.

Did he know about the 3 chances to use 5 subs or not?

I dont think he did. I know most of us didnt. But he should have.

Use the 5 subs for fecks sake!

Good idea, so let’s sub Williams on and off in the same moment yeah?

 

[OleBoiii]

Some of the blame has to be on Ole this evening.

Yeah, maybe 1 or 2 percent of the blame.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Anyone blaming Ole for today's draw doesn't understand football and should be banned from this thread.

He's not solely to blame but he is equally as culpable as the players. We didn't turn up for 20 minutes. Incredibly slow start, and that's not a one off, we were sluggish out of the gates against Villa and Bournemouth as well.

Completely underestimated them. We started to park the bus by the 70 minute mark, which is a tactic that has pretty much never benefited us. It was Jose-like.

We definitely should have defended that set-piece better at the end, but we shouldn't have been letting Southampton boss us at home for such long periods of the game.


I'm pro-Ole, but tonight is on him as much as anyone else.

 

[M16Red]

Ole talks a lot of sense. Doing his best to turn this into a lesson.

 

[Heinzesight]

I wish he’d not be so nice when for instance someone’s tried to snap your player’s leg.

 

[DickDastardly]

Good idea, so let’s sub Williams on and off in the same moment yeah?

You're not catching my drift.

If he knew, why not make the fifth sub?
Martial was knackered, so was Rashford.
Why not put Ighalo on and get a cheeky foul, waste time.

Of course he couldn't do anything about the injury.
We would have been with 10 players both ways.

We could have been with one more fresher player out of the 10 on the field.

 

[#07]

He's not solely to blame but he is equally as culpable as the players. We didn't turn up for 20 minutes. Incredibly slow start, and that's not a one off, we were sluggish out of the gates against Villa and Bournemouth as well.

Completely underestimated them. We started to park the bus by the 70 minute mark, which is a tactic that has pretty much never benefited us. It was Jose-like.

We definitely should have defended that set-piece better at the end, but we shouldn't have been letting Southampton boss us at home for such long periods of the game.


I'm pro-Ole, but tonight is on him as much as anyone else.

Agree with all of this.

Ole's been a hero of mine since I was in school. However, tonight he found his inner Mourinho and seemed to get amnesia about the parts of the season where we didn't have Bruno and Pogba and therefore dropped lots of points. Fortunately, if we win all our remaining games we can still get into the Champions League but surrendering the initiative against Southampton was wrong.

Also we only made four subs. Why?

Williams was injured. Is there some rule that you cannot sub off a substitute?

 

[Squeaky Bumtime]

I wish people wouldn't go so far as to claim he didn't know when he can make subs.

Fatigue is catching up on us and despite that he shouldn't have subbed both Bruno and Pogba however bad they were. Also we need at least 4 new players it seems cause quality drop from the bench is huge.
I hope people won't start with Ole cashing just cause of this game.

 

[-Supreme-]

I know most of us here wanted Ole to fill an unchanged side...I'm disappointed that he didn't rest 1 or 2 players tonight especially where we didn't look sharp last game against Villa.

We really could do with some small adjustments to bring some freshness to the game.