Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[Andycoleno9]

Is it just me or anyone else felt we might concede whenever opponent had a set-piece sent in to our box ???

Glad to see Ole saying we need to improve, learn to kill the game off.

Yeah, my worry too. I think that we must start to play man to man. Zonal defending is a mistake. In this way of defending Maguire (our best player in air) is not used well.
When you look our squad. All these players are tall guys. Even our full backs are decent in air.

 

[LUC1f3R]

Apart from set pieces whenever a cross comes in our defenders both at near and far post seems to switch off and just expect Maguire to play the ball. Maguire tries but he can't always win all the balls and need support from rest.

I believe coaching can help here (Hope Ole brings in more experienced coaches in his staff)

 

[Bilbo]

Top post and really insightful as I wasn't there back then.

@Bilbo asked me earlier why I haven't dropped off my enthusiasm and support for Ole, and while I can go into the specifics, for me it's more down to the parallels I see with us now, and what we saw in 2003-2005. Those two years were tough (now they seem like child's play compared to the 7 years we've gone through!). We saw Fergie being questioned and called past it, Ronaldo was seen as a circus act and we increasingly were looking stale and disjointed, but all the while we were building ourselves back up in response to first, the invincibles and then Jose's Chelsea. This inconsistency and the disjointed performances continued all the way up to 2005/6, where we got knocked out in an embarrassingly easy group in the CL for the first time, and we looked like we'd be finishing 3rd at best. However, in the latter half of the season it seemed like we flicked a switch and really started to get a head of momentum. We won the League Cup and we went on a good winning run which even gave us an outside shot of the title. Unfortunately a 3-0 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in April put paid to that, but the momentum we had was undeniable and we rode that momentum all the way through into the 2006/7 season, despite only making the one signing in Michael Carrick.

Right now with Ole, I'm seeing some of those parallels now with us. He's totally reshaped a team that was seen as a lost cause with only 4 real first team signings and this team is now riding a crest of a wave similar to what the 2005/6 team had. However, while Fergie was able to get Evra, VDS, Carrick, Saha, and Vidic to complete his side after the cock ups he made in 2003 with Bellion, Djx2, Howard, et al; Ole really hasn't had the chance to do the same so I don't think we'll see us anywhere close to functioning and firing on all cylinders like that 2005/6 team did until at least 2 of the following purchases are made: a CB, DM, RW, and maybe a striker. If two of those signings are made, I think you'll see a much, much better Utd than what we're seeing now.

I think you misread my post dude. That wasn't what I was asking you at all

 

[iato89]

I am still very sceptical on Ole. In the past two years we had great results and very bad results, we starting great when he took over but then faded away after that psg win, then we started his first season badly optimized by the January loss to burnley (lowest moment of his tenure) and fans wanted him out, then Bruno game and he lifted the whole club up, and had a decent run, lockdown happened and after lockdown we had a great run whilst other teams faded. This year we started the league very bad, went out of the CL and now we have a good 8 game run which, in my opinion, performance wise we did not do well in eh majority of the games and we got some lucky results to be honest (Leeds, Sheffield, Vila were great performances whilst Westham, Saints, Westbrom were ''lucky'' ones and city and lei were fair results).

We are joint top now ad its great but when having a look back I am still more on the out side rather then in, performances need to improve big time overall as I believe during a whole season the luck will even out. Come May we will have a much clearer vision on were we are at, although this is a very bizarre season and anythng can happen.

 

[Xaviesta]

When Leipzig knocked United out of the Champions League, I suggested United would be smart to look at some possible replacements for OGS and to put a dampener on things, they may still need to do that with a long way to go this season. Since their Champions League exit, you can't argue with the results United have put together. It's very difficult to criticse 24 points from a possible 30 since United last lost in the Premier League.

Before I go any further, I'm not advocating that United go back to the sterile football they played under LVG. However, if I had one criticism, it would be that United could get better at keeping possession but obviously doing so in a productive manner and in a way they can kill the game late on if they're hanging on to a fragile lead like they were against Villa.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

When Leipzig knocked United out of the Champions League, I suggested United would be smart to look at some possible replacements for OGS and to put a dampener on things, they may still need to do that with a long way to go this season. Since their Champions League exit, you can't argue with the results United have put together. It's very difficult to criticse 24 points from a possible 30 since United last lost in the Premier League.

Before I go any further, I'm not advocating that United go back to the sterile football they played under LVG. However, if I had one criticism, it would be that United could get better at keeping possession but obviously doing so in a productive manner and in a way they can kill the game late on if they're hanging on to a fragile lead like they were against Villa.

Possession was never our thing. It’s about playing more direct and trying to move the ball to near the dangerous area as much as possible to give us more chance to score goals. Goals & fluid link up play in the final third = exciting football. People say counter attack, not really because if both teams play defend when they are under attack and then not playing sideways when on possession but attack as soon as they have the ball, that’s called entertaining. It’s like basketball isn’t it.

 

[Falcow]

When Leipzig knocked United out of the Champions League, I suggested United would be smart to look at some possible replacements for OGS and to put a dampener on things, they may still need to do that with a long way to go this season. Since their Champions League exit, you can't argue with the results United have put together. It's very difficult to criticse 24 points from a possible 30 since United last lost in the Premier League.

Before I go any further, I'm not advocating that United go back to the sterile football they played under LVG. However, if I had one criticism, it would be that United could get better at keeping possession but obviously doing so in a productive manner and in a way they can kill the game late on if they're hanging on to a fragile lead like they were against Villa.

I very much agree with the part on keeping possession better and not giving it away so cheaply. This is what frustrates me more than anything else, the entire team are guilty of this except for Maguire who never seems to give it away in fairness to him. DVB is also excellent at retaining possession and I was disappointed not to see him brought on last night.

Mctominay (in particular) Bruno, Rashford, Martial, Pogba and Fred were all guilty of giving it away needlessly last night.

I dont however agree that it warrants a change of manager but it is something bn I would very much like us to improve upon.

 

[Withnail]

When Leipzig knocked United out of the Champions League, I suggested United would be smart to look at some possible replacements for OGS and to put a dampener on things, they may still need to do that with a long way to go this season. Since their Champions League exit, you can't argue with the results United have put together. It's very difficult to criticse 24 points from a possible 30 since United last lost in the Premier League.

Before I go any further, I'm not advocating that United go back to the sterile football they played under LVG. However, if I had one criticism, it would be that United could get better at keeping possession but obviously doing so in a productive manner and in a way they can kill the game late on if they're hanging on to a fragile lead like they were against Villa.

We absolutely need to learn how to close a game and one of the ways of doing that is through sterile possession football. Sterile possession isn't bad when you're 2-1 up and have 5 mins on the clock.

 

[Withnail]

Can I just say, posting old quotations from yourself here to make yourself look in anyway smart or like you understand football is outrageous.

Previously you have said:

“ We have, without any question, the worst manager in PL. And i would even include championship in that.
Moyes is Alex Ferguson comparing to Solskjaer.” You have called Ole a “clown” and a “fraud” numerous times.

I mean look at this

“
He killed any joy in watching games for me. Blessing in disguise threads were very popular during Mourinho era so here is one top red post from me.
We should have lost against Spurs and City. Maybe this fraud would have been sacked after that. Because now agony will go on and on.
We will lose nearly every away game but we will win at home against low table clubs and have some lucky away win then and there so he will keep his job. And he will convince Ed how he is preparing this team for next season. So it will be another season ruined by him.

Moyes, Jose and Lvg together didn't damaged this club like this so called manager is doing this season.”

You actually don’t deserve to enjoy this run of good fortune. You were spoiled and arrogant and thought you could just throw insults around until you got what you wanted. But instead of reflecting on the fact that you got everything so completely and utterly wrong you come in here acting like you are somehow a footballing genius.

I hope you learn from this.

Ouch

 

[Godfather]

Fair fecks to him. Since the PSG and Leipzig disasters he seems to have turned the corner and get some consistency out of our lot. I like what I see.

 

[POF]

As i said....

442 brings absolutely the best what this team have. Pogba in attacking role, forwards on their positions, two dmc have two creative midfielders with them, Shaw's attacking game (yes, that is right) and then we can balance from dominating from counters.

Anyway, for me, the best game under Ole.

What game? Villa?

Do you think Ole played 4-4-2 against Villa?

 

[Gungne]

Please explain this to me

According to media (and some members here):

- Bielsa = genius
- Solskjaer = clueless idiot

 

[Matriac]

Please explain this to me

According to media (and some members here):

- Bielsa = genius
- Solskjaer = clueless idiot

Patterns of play. Whatever that means.

 

[FatherWolff]

Please explain this to me

According to media (and some members here):

- Bielsa = genius
- Solskjaer = clueless idiot

Same thing. They want to be right. They don’t know the ins and outs of his managerial attributes and history. Unintelligent impatient people who rely on simplistic conclusions, without any true understanding of the magnitude of the rebuild.

The self righteousness fan who found identity through Utd winning is different to the envy of outsiders who will put a knife every time they get a chance.

But they both want to be right. Be somebody.

Bielsa isn’t a genius, but a very methodical manager true to his values. The same as Ole. But people don’t want to believe that, because they don’t know the ins and outs of his attributes and history.

 

[RedSky]

Fair fecks to him. Since the PSG and Leipzig disasters he seems to have turned the corner and get some consistency out of our lot. I like what I see.

Consistency has been here for a full year, we just had a minor blip at the start of the season due to a tough run of tricky home fixtures all condensed down into a few weeks. We're going to have the same thing happen with our away from too as we've got tricky away fixtures this half of the season.

 

[Foxbatt]

His talk is different now. He talks about what we need to do now.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Now we can reach our first final which could be our first trophy under Ole. Let's win this now and not fail in another semi final.

Just go with strongest team and then rest everyone in the Fa cup!

 

[Matriac]

His talk is different now. He talks about what we need to do now.

Of course. You don't slag the team off in the media if we are underperforming, you'd be dragging them down further.
But you also don't lavishly praise the team in the media when we are getting results, cause no matter there are always things you can improve on. And to keep players on their toes throughout a season.

This is just basic man management.
You give praise in public (although not overdo it as said) and give criticism in private.

 

[anant]

Consistency has been here for a full year, we just had a minor blip at the start of the season due to a tough run of tricky home fixtures all condensed down into a few weeks. We're going to have the same thing happen with our away from too as we've got tricky away fixtures this half of the season.

Personally, I believe it's the consistency in results that came in from post-Bruno signing. If we look at the performances side of it, it was there from pretty much the start of the season (obviously, we weren't on the level of City or Pool, but we were 3rd or 4th best team even in the 1st half). What we were lacking in the 1st half of the 19/20 season was the mentality to keep going, to not lose heart when things aren't going despite playing well, and ability to take the games by the scruff of the neck (in addition to obviously players missing from injuries, and a WC player like Bruno)

 

[Foxbatt]

Of course. You don't slag the team off in the media if we are underperforming, you'd be dragging them down further.
But you also don't lavishly praise the team in the media when we are getting results, cause no matter there are always things you can improve on. And to keep players on their toes throughout a season.

This is just basic man management.
You give praise in public (although not overdo it as said) and give criticism in private.

You may not have understood what I said. Now he is talking in depth about the things he needs to do. Before he wasn't. I feel he is getting more confident in himself. Of course winning matches will give him confidence as he is competing with managers who have won all.

 

[Sylar]

You may not have understood what I said. Now he is talking in depth about the things he needs to do. Before he wasn't. I feel he is getting more confident in himself. Of course winning matches will give him confidence as he is competing with managers who have won all.

It might be easier to talk about the things we need to do more in depth now when it's a small amount compared to previously.

Previously that answer would probably take longer than 30 minutes
Now it's probably 2 or 3 things which is a good sign as we can always improve and get better and shows the huge improvement weve made under him and getting close to where we want to be

 

[Matriac]

You may not have understood what I said. Now he is talking in depth about the things he needs to do. Before he wasn't. I feel he is getting more confident in himself. Of course winning matches will give him confidence as he is competing with managers who have won all.

I understood perfectly what you wrote. By saying that he is now saying the right things by mentioning what we have to fix, that he has changed his approach. You are implying that earlier he didn't know and that he just suddenly learned something new.

I'm saying he was of course aware of our troubles before, but nothing would be gained from talking about it in the media. Just leads to headlines along the lines of "Ole unhappy with his team/specific player.. are personnel changes coming in the next window?" He'd just be feeding into a negative narrative around the club.

There was no need for him to talk to us about our problems. He took it directly with the players. Now that we are performing relatively well AND getting decent results as well, then he can talk to us/media about the small improvements here and there we should aim for, the media becomes a tool to motivate the players instead of just them talking us down.

 

[Foxbatt]

I understood perfectly what you wrote. By saying that he is now saying the right things by mentioning what we have to fix, that he has changed his approach. You are implying that earlier he didn't know and that he just suddenly learned something new.

I'm saying he was of course aware of our troubles before, but nothing would be gained from talking about it in the media. Just leads to headlines along the lines of "Ole unhappy with his team/specific player.. are personnel changes coming in the next window?" He'd just be feeding into a negative narrative around the club.

There was no need for him to talk to us about our problems. He took it directly with the players. Now that we are performing relatively well AND getting decent results as well, then he can talk to us/media about the small improvements here and there we should aim for, the media becomes a tool to motivate the players instead of just them talking us down.

Why shouldn't he be gaining more experience and learning as time goes.? Was he infallible before?
He was horrible early on. We played terrible football. Now he has changed the way we play and also the mentality and our setpiece too.
All managers learn as they get more experienced. Why should Ole be any different?

 

[ReddBalls]

I understood perfectly what you wrote. By saying that he is now saying the right things by mentioning what we have to fix, that he has changed his approach. You are implying that earlier he didn't know and that he just suddenly learned something new.

I'm saying he was of course aware of our troubles before, but nothing would be gained from talking about it in the media. Just leads to headlines along the lines of "Ole unhappy with his team/specific player.. are personnel changes coming in the next window?" He'd just be feeding into a negative narrative around the club.

There was no need for him to talk to us about our problems. He took it directly with the players. Now that we are performing relatively well AND getting decent results as well, then he can talk to us/media about the small improvements here and there we should aim for, the media becomes a tool to motivate the players instead of just them talking us down.

As well as not letting the players, the fans or the media go into hyperbole about winning the league.

 

[ReddBalls]

Why shouldn't he be gaining more experience and learning as time goes.? Was he infallible before?
He was horrible early on. We played terrible football. Now he has changed the way we play and also the mentality and our setpiece too.
All managers learn as they get more experienced. Why should Ole be any different?

He is obviously learning all the time. People who are not idiots do that.

Ole uses the media to manage the players confidence. The amount of criticism the United players have gotten the last seven years is crazy, so he gave them belief by calling them all "fantastic" in the media until they started to believe in themselves and perform. Now that everybody starts to talk about a title race, he is talking about how they need to improve, so that they don't start to believe the hype and become overconfident. He is using the media straight out of Fergie's playbook.

 

[Silverman]

I still don't think he's the right man for the job but I think it's important people respect him. He's done some good work and hopefully it continues.

 

[lysglimt]

Can I just say, posting old quotations from yourself here to make yourself look in anyway smart or like you understand football is outrageous.

Previously you have said:

“ We have, without any question, the worst manager in PL. And i would even include championship in that.
Moyes is Alex Ferguson comparing to Solskjaer.” You have called Ole a “clown” and a “fraud” numerous times.

I mean look at this

“
He killed any joy in watching games for me. Blessing in disguise threads were very popular during Mourinho era so here is one top red post from me.
We should have lost against Spurs and City. Maybe this fraud would have been sacked after that. Because now agony will go on and on.
We will lose nearly every away game but we will win at home against low table clubs and have some lucky away win then and there so he will keep his job. And he will convince Ed how he is preparing this team for next season. So it will be another season ruined by him.

Moyes, Jose and Lvg together didn't damaged this club like this so called manager is doing this season.”

You actually don’t deserve to enjoy this run of good fortune. You were spoiled and arrogant and thought you could just throw insults around until you got what you wanted. But instead of reflecting on the fact that you got everything so completely and utterly wrong you come in here acting like you are somehow a footballing genius.

I hope you learn from this.

Probably not - there is a reason why he is on my ignore list

 

[Zlatan 7]

I don’t know who was being quoted there but he’s certainly no Nostradamus, wonder if there’s any enjoyment these days as it the most I’ve enjoyed our football in years

 

[Atheist]

I've personally oscillated quite a bit between wanting him out and wanting him on a big contract. Our results and performances have essentially mirrored this pendulum. I do think the consistency we've shown in the last couple of months has to be applauded and we are doing a much better job of winning against lower-half opposition than we were in the earlier run of games we had when Ole was caretaker. If we can sustain this for the rest of the season and finish close to the champions, that'd be a very good achievement. While we can technically win the title, it still seems too unrealistic to me, unless our defence dramatically improves.

He's done a decent job managing the squad and in getting rid of the deadwood but I hope he can accelerate on that in the summer - Phil Jones, Lingard, Mata and Rojo have to go. It really doesn't make much sense to keep them, although finding any takers (especially for Jones and Lingard) will be tough. It's going to be interesting to see whether we do end up going the DoF route in the summer, as it's been rumoured (although there's one every summer).

 

[theklr]

I am still very sceptical on Ole. In the past two years we had great results and very bad results, we starting great when he took over but then faded away after that psg win, then we started his first season badly optimized by the January loss to burnley (lowest moment of his tenure) and fans wanted him out, then Bruno game and he lifted the whole club up, and had a decent run, lockdown happened and after lockdown we had a great run whilst other teams faded. This year we started the league very bad, went out of the CL and now we have a good 8 game run which, in my opinion, performance wise we did not do well in eh majority of the games and we got some lucky results to be honest (Leeds, Sheffield, Vila were great performances whilst Westham, Saints, Westbrom were ''lucky'' ones and city and lei were fair results).

We are joint top now ad its great but when having a look back I am still more on the out side rather then in, performances need to improve big time overall as I believe during a whole season the luck will even out. Come May we will have a much clearer vision on were we are at, although this is a very bizarre season and anythng can happen.

While I get your point, the hallmark of a good team is that they get result even if playing badly.

And when we do play good, like against Villa, we are a truly dangerous side. Its no coincidence that we do so against an opponent that is attack minded like us.
But we really do have it in us to do so.

Its hard to get amazing performances against teams that sit back and defend which to be fair is most of our games this year, even against the likes of Chelsea (and Arsenal lol).

I dont agree we have been THAT lucky this year, we've had some unlucky moments as well. That evens out on a whole season.

But yes, there are lots of things we need to improve if we are to hold out an entire season.
Thing is though, when we do scrape by results and have an winning mentality as they seem to do, its easier to improve those last 5-10% of our game than if we go up and down all the time and pressure is mounting on everyone.

Just see how "critical" Ole was after the Villa win. I guarantee you that if we would have lost or drawn he would have look at the positives, because that is how you manage a team.

 

[Samid]

He has one of the better first touches in the squad.

 

[Volumiza]

I have to admit, after months of flip flopping and thinking he's out of his depth, I have come to the conclusion he's actually doing a great job. I said ages ago that when you're out of your depth you either drown or learn to swim pretty quickly and after times where he seemed to have gone beneath the waves he always seems to struggle back to the surface and crack on. Very admirable and I can't help but feel I have been very wrong about him.

I've always loved Ole for the obvious reasons and I have also loved how he has got rid of the bad (and overpaid) apples, phased out the players who aren't good enough, bought in some good players and given us a proper team that we can fully get behind, something we've been missing since SAF. Great work. Now, tentatively I'm trying to believe he's figured out the key to some sort of consistency. Coupled with that we're playing some flashes of fantastic football and even seem to be getting results even when the performance maybe isn't that great.

Good to see, really good to see and I'm really pleased for Ole and I'm glad to admit I may have been wrong. Of course I may turn out to be right, you never know, but for now I'm just going to enjoy the ride.

 

[Tony247]

Loving some positivity around the club after a long long time. May the success continue in new year and ever after.

 

[united for life]

Felt like passing by here after Liverpool’s loss.

This man has built a team capable of challenging for the title. After lots of debates and lots of fans calling him weird things like PE teacher and stuff, I can comfortably say that he has proven he is a very good manager who’s leading the club in the right direction. Today we’re joint top, in 7 days, we can become the league leaders. He’s done that firmly and surely despite all the criticism and all the “hate” from some. He kept a smile (yes, a smile from a “too nice” manager) and stayed focused on what he is doing. Instilled confidence in the team, lifted this team’s character, harmony and performance. We’re enjoying football, we’re happy fans (i can’t imagine a fan not happy where we’re at in the league at least). Great reaction from the players as well!

i trusted Ole, trusted the building, trusted the process and i’m just happy it’s all paying off! May this last!

 

[DRJosh]

Interested to see if anyone on here has a more nuanced view on Ole's managerial tenure thus far. A manager can be both good and bad, just depends if his strengths peak at the right time for a title challenge (e.g. his awesome work in building team morale and providing youth with a chance) and if his weaknesses (e.g. tactical decisions under pressure and in-game subs ) remain in check.

None of this is black and white.

 

[justsomebloke]

Personally, I'd like to see more people with the good sense not to have too many strong opinions on the issue. The reason for this is that most of what goes into being a good manager is invisible to fans. We don't see what they do on the training field, we're not there when they talk to their players or see how they treat people, we don't know their tactical discussions and decisions, we don't hear them addressing the players as a group before or after matches, we don't know their discussions with the board, we aren't aware of all the different factors that go into naming the squad or making substitutions. Some of the things you call for more nuanced opinions on are things that I doubt anyone on this board has a basis for assessing.

All we can do is observe the results. When someone has been around for a long time at the top level, like Jose Mourinho, then observing the results gives you a strong basis for assessing a manager. But with someone who hasn't, you just don't know. You just have to wait until you find out. Instead, a lot of people assume that inexperienced equates to unqualified, or that decisions they disagree with means that the manager is incompetent.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

He needs to be more proactive in his changes.

Feels like he hesitates for too long.

 

[cyberman]

I like the way we were more toe to toe with City today. It wasnt just low blocks and through balls.
He has a few months to prepare for the game at the Etihad. Thats twice Pep has played like that against us. He has to adapt to it.

 

[AaronRedDevil]

Not too fussed about the match. But he could have done a bit better with the subs. And got off his ass. The match clearly meant more to Pep, he wouldn't stop screaming hah.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

He is terrible in the big games when it matters. PSG is probably the only big win under him and that was a lucky one.

Something needs to change with how we approch these games mentally and tactically.