Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[Fracture90]

Honestly, the way he's unable to coach anything past counter attacking, Swansea and the clubs in that ilk might just be his level.

 

[Shimo]

Disastrous. Overall I think the way he speaks to the press, how he has man managed and in cases improved some players, he's been terrific. However, today is what I would expect of an Ole team on many days.

He picked a right side of Daniel James and Timothy Fosu Mesah. Then he picks a Scott McTomminay as the holding player, one that has not played that role in like forever. Then puts in Pogba who has just come back from contracting Covid and is no where near ready to start. And the worst part is that he thinks that this Lindelof / Maguire partnership that has repeatedly shown of shitting the be any time a team attacks is the way to start the season. Conceding after 8 minutes a goal no different to just a few weeks ago in a semi final. Then conceding another goal because the starting CB is too weak.

I think he is bit of a joke because he talks about people fighting for their spots but, he's literally bent over backwards to keep the weakest CB partnership in the league as our starting pair. If he can't see what has been blatantly obvious over the course of last season, doesn't matter what we do going forward because we will draw or lose many a game while he insist thats it is to be more like Gareth Southgate and priortiize "play out the back" than have CBs that can defend.

 

[AneRu]

I found it interesting that his signings seemed at the start to be good, since at Cardiff recruitment was a weakness of his.

I don't view Maguire and Dan James as money well spent, and for most of the others the jury is still out. So maybe his recruitment hasn't really changed that much. I think now that the "new signing" shines are off most of the players this season, we'll see their true evaluation.

The problem, for me, is the basic architecture of this side in the context of how great modern teams have been built.

Look at Bayern and Liverpool, two sides that have recently won the CL without Messi and Ronaldo, for instance: they have great attacking fullbacks, ball playing CBs, physically dominant CMs and inside forwards that are serious goal threats and creative forces. Because of Arnold and Robertson Liverpool can afford to have a non prolific central striker as Mane and Salah will make up the numbers in the box hence when those two cross balls into the box they have more targets, their midfield enables them to win balls early and maintain pressure whilst Fabinho, Van Dijk and Gomez create a three men defensive axis against counters.

It's simple but effective, same with Bayern - but when you look at our midfield the lack of work rate is striking, Pogba is slow and the fullbacks are archaic. Mark Martial and Bruno out of the game and you destroy us as an offensive force because we have virtually no threat out wide. Our midfield doesn't win too many balls, we can't push up the pitch because we have two eighteen wheelers in central defence and our inside forwards are dead as creative forces.

Like I said before, the most worrying thing us that these mistakes were made fairly recently e.g the Maguire and Wan Bissaka signings.

 

[Mercurial]

Absolute horror show of a managerial performance.

- Benching Greenwood for what reason exactly?
- starting James and Mensah on the right
- starting a blatantly completely unfit Paul Pogba
........

Starting that 'Championship' right side was a pre taste of our lacking depth in the season to come, who knows but perhaps he was sending a signal up the ranks?

A Greenwood of any form >>> James,
An AWB of any form >>>> TFM vs an in form CP for an opener.
It all feels intentional to show our squad holes the hard way for all to see. During opening interviews he really had no good explanation for his lineup omissions, going on about them being overplayed and so on.
Ole; 4d chess? Or plain naive?

 

[Bobcat]

We were obviously not match fit at all so not reading too much of yesterdays disaster, but we need to massively improve the next couple of games.

Palace packed the middle and played very narrow so we had plenty of space on the wings. Shame though we have no actual wingers in the club and no fullbacks that can cross

 

[AJ Bullet]

Dont want to stick the boot in after one game but it was shockingly poor, not just a bad result.

I fear he achieved his best last season by getting us 4th but now the likes of Everton and Leeds seem to have a better coach and ethos to the game than Ole has. I just dont think he has that ruthless streak in him to succeed, SAF told the likes of Staam, Ince, Hughes to get out the club when they were no longer required. Ole should have done that with Mata, Lingard, Jones etc etc on his first day but they're still kicking around the club in 2020.

Even if we get better in the following weeks I think most will have that nagging doubt that when it comes to the crunch Ole's teams will fold when even a hint of pressure is applied when it comes to actually achieving something of actual note.

 

[Krits]

Ole has been good with handling the press, the players and getting us to play some good football(in spurts). But I think he relies too much on individual brilliance over a set system. You need a bit of both. You need a system for when your individuals are not firing. Unfortunately for us for years now the low block has been an Achilles heal and no one that has come along has been able to unlock it. Every single mid table to lower team should just park the bus and they know they can get a result against us. Its been going on for years and its been 3 different managers with 3 different "philosophies" and they have all failed to overcome this. I feel the only way to overcome this is to identify a young and upcoming manager who has a modern and fresh system. It will be a risk, because the pressure of managing us makes the job a lot harder. I love Ole, I still haven't really given up on him. But I don't see a system. I don't see what the game plan is. He wants numbers up top, and the boys to be brave. But all its doing is making everything super crowded. Our own players seem to be getting in the way of each other.

 

[Fracture90]

Reddit might just be the biggest cesspool of all. Any criticism of Maguire and Ole is meet with torches, pitchforks and hangman gallows.

 

[Skills]

Starting that 'Championship' right side was a pre taste of our lacking depth in the season to come, who knows but perhaps he was sending a signal up the ranks?

A Greenwood of any form >>> James,
An AWB of any form >>>> TFM vs an in form CP for an opener.
It all feels intentional to show our squad holes the hard way for all to see. During opening interviews he really had no good explanation for his lineup omissions, going on about them being overplayed and so on.
Ole; 4d chess? Or plain naive?

So he intentionally sabotaged us.

Why isn't that a sackable
offence?

 

[mattunited1978]

Had a shocker yesterday

The CB pairing...The whole world can see these 2 dont complement each other, against a team who are going to rely on getting a few favorable 1 on 1 match ups, we offer them them the most favorable 1on 1 match up duo in the league.

Dan James...Rubbish at the best of times, against a team guaranteed to sit deep? Basically like starting a man down

Mctominay at DM, zero, and i mean zero nous on how to play the position, no angles given to receive or recycle possession, no ability to see or play through lines, no ability to identify who and when he needs to cover ...Being a big lad who gets stuck in dosnt make someone a DM, he's a high energy, average ability, average fotballing intelligence box to box, that was played in a position he's not suited for.


The players were all appalling in there own right aswel, some worse than some mentioned above, sometimes players have a shocker that a manager cant forsee... but Ole set us up for a hard day before we even kicked off with the poor tactical choices above.

 

[Mercurial]

So he intentionally sabotaged us.

Why isn't that a sackable
offence?

Doubt he sabotaged us, I got eliminated from last man standing to this same CP team (granted my pick was dumb and 50-50 to begin with), they have something extra for sure so far this season and looked physically very imposing, and mentally loaded for bear. Zaha clearly also had a personal score to settle with the club. Chances are Ole underrated them while trying to prove a point and got 'had' hard.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

People blaming Ole for the right hand side.

1. Wan Bissaka has had just 4 training sessions. He decided to go to Dubai which the club advised against yet he went anyway. Had to quarantine so that's hardly Ole's fault.

2. Greenwood also had to do something similar after his 'naughty' episode in Iceland. Probably trying to ease him back in.


Stop blaming Ole. We've been royally shafted this pre season by a totally unfair schedule and also by some of our own players who have been totally unprofessional.

 

[Red_toad]

Does Ole know his best team?
Does he know his best formation?

Dave
AWB, ?, Maguire, Shaw
Matic, Pogba
Bruno
?, Martial, Rashford
​

I‘d guess this is something like what he sees as his best team, but it doesn’t really work.

 

[Giggsyking]

I wonder how long is it going to take for everyone to realize that he is not good. A club in the size and the prestige of Manchester united deserves the best players, the best board, and the best coaching staff, and he is not only not the best, he is not even good. People saying he is learning, ffs it is Manchester united, not a place to learn how to manage, he should go and learn how to manage and coach somewhere else.

 

[Pearl's a minger]

Don't understand the amount of free passes ole gets. He comes into the club and we go on a superb run but the minute results go tits up the ole apologists saying it's not his team and he has to rebuild. He then brings in james,Harry and wan bissaka who have all flattered to decieve and now almost 2 years down the line people say he's not getting the players in he wants he's not being backed by the club.Can you really blame the club for being abit sceptical about shedding out another fortune on oles say so? The man has steadied the ship and no more.Can anyone say our style of football is that much better than 2 years ago? Yesterday was like groundhog day,with the exception of the goal how many saves did the palace keeper make during the last hour if the game? Yes we've been dealt a shitty hand with the extended season but lack of fitness and pre season friendlies didn't seem to hinder Bayern when their season started,unlike us who have just been played off the park at home by crystal palace. I'm sick and tired of the same generic excuses.Let's also not forget, someone in the club needs to be held accountable for the issue of dishing out contract renewals it's hardly any wonder we can't shift half these charlatans.

 

[Idxomer]

I wonder how long is it going to take for everyone to realize that he is not good. A club in the size and the prestige of Manchester united deserves the best players, the best board, and the besting coaching staff, and he is not only not the best, he is not even good. People saying he is learning, ffs it is Manchester united, not a place to learn how to manage, he should go and learn how to manage and coach somewhere else.

I'm not sure how well he's learning either because he keeps making the same mistakes which are obvious to anyone before we even set foot on the pitch.

 

[Wumminator]

Don't understand the amount of free passes ole gets. He comes into the club and we go on a superb run but the minute results go tits up the ole apologists saying it's not his team and he has to rebuild. He then brings in james,Harry and wan bissaka who have all flattered to decieve and now almost 2 years down the line people say he's not getting the players in he wants he's not being backed by the club.Can you really blame the club for being abit sceptical about shedding out another fortune on oles say so? The man has steadied the ship and no more.Can anyone say our style of football is that much better than 2 years ago? Yesterday was like groundhog day,with the exception of the goal how many saves did the palace keeper make during the last hour if the game? Yes we've been dealt a shitty hand with the extended season but lack of fitness and pre season friendlies didn't seem to hinder Bayern when their season started,unlike us who have just been played off the park at home by crystal palace. I'm sick and tired of the same generic excuses.Let's also not forget, someone in the club needs to be held accountable for the issue of dishing out contract renewals it's hardly any wonder we can't shift half these charlatans.

Our style of football is better.
The signings he has made have improved us massively.
He improved our performances in all cups and the league.

Free passses? The man literally turned around our club. Can people not forget how bad we were under Mourinho? Yesterday was our first loss in fifteen league games and there are obviously mitigating factors for this match.

 

[redsunited]

Till Ole didnt start coaching our players, to a system, We will be schooled by coaches and their well trained teams. Sevilla showed the mediocrity of United and the level of Ole. Sack him and get a proper coach. Before that sacking Woodward is the first step to recovery.

All the teams around us has strengthened. Chelsea, Arsenal & Everton are going to have a better season than us if we didnt improve our team.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Its not surprising that he managed 2 more points than David Moyes in his first full season with 200million spent. They're on the same level.

 

[7even]

My first question is on what criteria did Ole select our starting lineup?

You don’t have to be a United supporter to see the glaring weakness on our right side. Dan James and TFM together in our first game of the season. Seriously?

Don’t we do any sorts of physical test before our first match of the season?

Don’t we analyses our opponents?

Why start the match in a slow tempo without of any sorts of designed game plan. When will we ever learn that a ball possession without quick passings and vertical movements will make us static and predictable. Seriously?

What do we do at Carrington?

I refuse to believe that this is our tempo and designed movements that our players train before the game. Many of our players looks like they don’t know what to do when we have ball possession. How is that. Lack of instructions?

How come some of our players play with no urgency when we need goals. Why are some many of our players and coaching staff so relaxed, almost apathetic, when our game plan doesn’t work?

How come that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to often can’t implement his game plan, his tactics and install a winning mentality to our players?

In the end of last season Bruno, Martial and Greenwood often saved us when our game plan didn’t work. Where is our plan B? Sorry, but I can’t see it.

The last question is the most important one.

When Ole has finished his rebuilding project probably at the end of next summers transfer window what’s the next step?

 

[Andycoleno9]

Again bad preparation for the game. Players looked without desire and too casual. Again without solution for deep defence despite everybody know how Palace play. Sticked with James who proved many times that he can't play against deep defence. Dominated by Palace at OT. Did nothing to change the game.

 

[Beachryan]

Don't think we can read much into that match, he gets a pass given the circumstances imo.

But.

How many times in the last calendar year have we actually been genuinely good for a full match? And how many of those were counter-attacking?

I think we'd struggle to name a half dozen matches of a sample of about 50 where we looked good against a defensive team.

Results have been okay of course, but we can't deny how much of that came from a penalty a match during the run.

I watch so many other teams - not just the top ones - and they look so much more coherent than us, despite us coming 3rd.

 

[jeff_goldblum]

I find it difficult to fault Ole too much tactically against Palace.

We don't have players who can routinely pull goals out of absolutely nowhere (think Bale at Tottenham before he went to Madrid). Against teams which sit deep we are dependent on quick passing in and around the box to set up chances. If too many players are off the boil (or if the opposition plays well) we struggle to create those chances. The answer to that is, unfortunately, to have multiple players with the individual ability to create and score when the team isn't playing well. It's clear to anyone we need an injection of quality.

At the other end, personally I'd have liked to have seen Smalling brought in as he has the strength and mobility we were clearly lacking against Palace's attack, but he's nearly 30 and hasn't played for the club for a fair while, so for all I know there are perfectly valid reasons for him not being in contention. As it is, we conceded 2 goals from open play because of avoidable defensive errors, not because of poor tactics.

 

[Glideman]

Don't think we can read much into that match, he gets a pass given the circumstances imo.

But.

How many times in the last calendar year have we actually been genuinely good for a full match? And how many of those were counter-attacking?

I think we'd struggle to name a half dozen matches of a sample of about 50 where we looked good against a defensive team.

Results have been okay of course, but we can't deny how much of that came from a penalty a match during the run.

I watch so many other teams - not just the top ones - and they look so much more coherent than us, despite us coming 3rd.

I really do feel like fans have really really short memories. In the 25 odd games we were unbeaten and the 3 semi finals we went to, we didn’t play good for 90mins in any of them? Seriously?

I think the highlights culture might be messing with people because they only see the best of other teams. Not every team for 38 - 60 games a season will have perfect 90min matches, it’s impossible. Even mighty Liverpool have games where they play well for 45mins but scrape a win, it’s football.

I think a lot of fans hold man united to unrealistic standards and then disappoint themselves when it’s not met.

 

[AshRK]

He has to use his squad better than what he did last season. Needs to rotate more but not kill the momentum. For example using James as a right winger just doesn't make sense. If we are not going to sign sancho then better have james comes as a sub and replace rashford in rw. Mata can play games here and there to give Greenwood or Bruno rest. Fred has shown he can play as a dm and so has matic so stop playing Mctominay there. Starting both fred and matic together doesn't make sense. These are things Ole has to be smart about.

 

[Amadaeus]

Never seen a more lucky manager in football. The board are just delaying the inevitable the longer he stays here. This type of performance will continue as long as he is here. We will get a boost if we sign a world class player like Sancho, but things will revert back to being shite and repeat itself.

 

[DatIrishFella]

Give em the benefit of the doubt for now.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Every time when he goes in full bus mode, we concede goal. And he still is doing that. 15 minutes before end he brings defender instead of attacker. And then 6 minutes until the end he brings mc instead another attacker. If Jose did it...

 

[drdoityourself]

Would like to see him more animated. Just sits there looking at that Ipad.

 

[lRed]

Would like to see him more animated. Just sits there looking at that Ipad.

Since when it's good to be hysteric on the touchline ?
Klopp does it, alright Ole doesn't need to be like him.

Once he set up the team, he doesn't need to bounce on his bench, that's not his attitude so let's stop.

 

[Shane88]

Would like to see him more animated. Just sits there looking at that Ipad.

It's fecking annoying. His lack of enthusiasm is contagious.

Amazing goal? Slight smile.

Bullshit decision against us? Twist of the lip.

98th minute winner? Polite golf clap.

 

[Adisa]

Sorry for you if you think lack of enthusiasm from Ole is our problem. He's a limited coach. That is the real problem.

 

[shahzy]

Looking like mourinho 2.0 more and more without the toxicity. Out his depth

 

[jem]

It's fecking annoying. His lack of enthusiasm is contagious.

Amazing goal? Slight smile.

Bullshit decision against us? Twist of the lip.

98th minute winner? Polite golf clap.

It's like he's developed a lockdown screen addiction. I don't remember him being so inert before. It really doesn't look very inspiring. With the constant feck-ups in defence, you'd kind of expect him to be on the touchline barking instructions.

 

[jem]

Since when it's good to be hysteric on the touchline ?
Klopp does it, alright Ole doesn't need to be like him.

Once he set up the team, he doesn't need to bounce on his bench, that's not his attitude so let's stop.

So because it's not his attitude it is immune from criticism?

 

[TsuWave]

This guy is getting such an easy ride

 

[415]

I feel that we will do well in the Champions League this season where we will be able to play counter attacking football.

In the premier league I already feel disapointed, there is no attacking patterns nothing the ball is constantly played out to the wings where nothing happens. No one twos. I’ve seen midtable teams better drilled than us. We lack basic tactics.

It’s as if the players are competing against each other instead of the opposition.
Hopefully Ole does well this season or else he will probably get fired or maybe get the DOF role.

 

[redDNA]

We are probably the worst drilled side.I have seen Palace, Leeds, WBA,Brighton doing quick one twos,creating passing lanes and triangles, we can't even do the basics.
In the match against Brighton, the guy at the left side of their defense was having acres of space,time and time again, he couldn't even fix it by simply telling AWB to spread wide rather than tucking in,or instruct the left winger to drop back,the problem persisted after he brought in Bailly.
He should also be bold enough to try out other players for example Pogba-Bruno Matic may not be our best midfield combo, Maguire and VNL too.

 

[arthurka]

If he wants to be taken seriously he needs to take control and give some. How Lindelöf is still starting games for us is not something that a manager with authority looks like. Also not being fit is inexcusable. That said nothing will change bringing in a new manager.

 

[Tarrou]

I agree with those saying there are mitigating circumstances to our poor form at the start of the season, but the managers job to cope with problems and get us performing on the pitch. He doesn't get a complete free ride from me - we should be better than this even with a lack of preseason and transfers.

That said a little perspective is needed too with 10 wins, 5 draws and 1 defeat since January.

My issue with changing the manager now is that although he might not be the answer (not saying he definitely isn't) he's definitely not the real problem - if we sack him we just go through the same bullshit cycle again with a new manager, with the same mistakes holding them back, starting the season on the back-foot.

I hope we back Ole and give him time to succeed or fail, but if we do end up sacking him I'd just hope we've at least moved forward as a club so the next manager has a better chance. Whether that's moving on from the Glazers, Woodward, or just getting a DoF I don't know. But if we fire Ole and keep the same structure for the next manager, it's a waste of time.