Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[finneh]

That's more than Pochettino has had to net-spend in every window until the last one. The alleged lack of spending is just about the weakest excuse going.

This is also why Spurs have been declining for a few years.

The difference with United is Ole didn't take over with a core team consisting of Kane, Eriksen, Verhonghen, Walker, Dembele and Lloris... Six players who've been central in almost everything good at Spurs since Pochettino took over and whose aging/leaving is causing you to struggle.

Pochettino is of course a better manager who gets more out of his team though.

 

[owlo]

Can you stop insulting posters? What are you trying to do here? Get free likes with showing how you are top red?
We get it, you disagree with everybody who thinks that Ole is wrong choice. Good for you. But insulting posters in every thread will not make your opinion about Ole more important

It just seems like a troll to me. Not worth the time or energy to respond to.

 

[FootyGirl88]

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[Foxbatt]

I feel so sad for him. He is a nice bloke and always a legend but this is humiliation for him.
I don't want him sacked but he needs to go. It's called mutual understanding. The club and Ole will come to an agreement and Ole leaves without getting the sack.
People give him credit for getting rid of players but at the same time he should be blamed for not replacing them.

 

[TRUERED89]

Seriously I have seen enough naivety from him to be 90% sure he is just out of his depth. Saying you would be impressed if he’s even close to the top 4 says it all about this club.

His career as a manager

P309 W163 D55 L91 %52.8

At Utd
P36 W19 D6 L11 % 52.8

What the feck

 

[midnightmare]

I'm surprised there's fans out there that still back him and reckon he'll come good. We all love Ole he did great job as caretaker manager and I believe he deserved to be given a fair chance but it's clear to see he's out of his depth and I'm afraid it's only going to get worse. He's reminding me of Moyes.

I'm not going to advocate blind backing, but step back a bit. Poch was flavour of 3 seasons. He went big in the market to strengthen an already good squad - and is currently level on points. With this squad, can we really say that someone else would get more out of them? Really? Is there anyone that can make Mata, Lingard, Matic or Andreas a great footballer - and make a great time while being forced to play all of them? At the end of the summer, it was painfully obvious that the coaching staff wanted all of Sancho, Maddison and a striker. Ole pointedly said that he'd want replacements for outgoings; we got none. At this point, it was obvious that RW would be a glaring hole with "stand-in" players all season and that our entire MF performance rested on Pogba staying fit, available and on-form. Our defence too consists of 2 good defenders (AWB and Maguire), 2 just-about-competent ones (Lindelof and Shaw), a youngster (Tuanzebe) and dross.

When Pep had a crap defence, he tanked the league, signed 200+ Mn worth of defenders and romped home. Klopp tanked, bought VVD and then won CL. We started well behind them, bought less and are seeing the results. It's not rocket science.

Now, I reiterate that this does not mean Ole is the right man. Just that as things stand, it is Ed that let him down in the market - and we don't know how much stock to place in his "I'm happy with our attacking options" being the way he really feels, since he's not Jose! He was never going to stand and wail in public about not being backed. Therefore, one can only judge him if we feel that there is something wrong tactically or if he's lost the dressing room. From the sounds emanating, the latter is not true - and given the players on display, I don't see who else he can play.

Gomes - fades after 50 odd minutes even against very poor opponents; is he strong enough for PL games?
Chong - doesn't seem ready for this level either; not writing him off, mind, but right now, doesn't seem ready
Dalot - again, not ready for this level; the Astana game showed exactly what the issue is; though if he can learn to cross, maybe he can play RW? Still, not ready for even that right now
Garner, Levitt and co - again, not ready yet by any means

Let's face it; hoping that a 17 year-old kid will be our saviour (without even having seen him play much at this level) speaks volumes for where even we realistically see our squad. We're in the crapper. And we know it, or at least, we should know it when we see the squad list.

So, unless the feeling is that Ole should be playing Fred and not playing him is sack-worthy, I just wonder what options he has. With these injuries right now, the team is slow (Matic, Mata, Andreas) and lacks creativity (Matic + McTominay behind Mata, Lingard, an off-form Rashford and the Speed Merchant does not create much). This combined with our FBs being better defensively (and that's when we play Shaw; with Young that's yet another hole to fill) leads to us just lacking the bite needed.

 

[midnightmare]

I feel so sad for him. He is a nice bloke and always a legend but this is humiliation for him.
I don't want him sacked but he needs to go. It's called mutual understanding. The club and Ole will come to an agreement and Ole leaves without getting the sack.
People give him credit for getting rid of players but at the same time he should be blamed for not replacing them.

Wait - so now it's Ole's fault for not buying? Isn't he the guy that said he'd want replacements for outgoing players? And isn't Ed the man tasked with buying? Ole has been ruthless in culling and making it clear that a player has no future. But it's Ed and the Glazers who decided not to spend for Maddison, not to sell Rojo and to not get in any replacement strikers or a right winger. Again, fault Ole for not making subs on time - if you feel he has better options on the bench. Definitely fault him for not getting the players fired up for games (yesterday was disgracefully flat) and blame him for a tactical inflexibility once it becomes apparent.

Most of all, blame him for trusting and liking Jesse Lingard. I feel if he'd binned Lingard last season / the summer as he should have done, maybe Ed would have been pressurized into buying another player. Maybe. But Ole talked up Jesse and seems to like and trust him. That's on him. Squarely. Probably his biggest flaw - and something I said last season could well be his undoing.

But blaming for not buying is something I'd not say is justified.

 

[Foxbatt]

Wait - so now it's Ole's fault for not buying? Isn't he the guy that said he'd want replacements for outgoing players? And isn't Ed the man tasked with buying? Ole has been ruthless in culling and making it clear that a player has no future. But it's Ed and the Glazers who decided not to spend for Maddison, not to sell Rojo and to not get in any replacement strikers or a right winger. Again, fault Ole for not making subs on time - if you feel he has better options on the bench. Definitely fault him for not getting the players fired up for games (yesterday was disgracefully flat) and blame him for a tactical inflexibility once it becomes apparent.

Most of all, blame him for trusting and liking Jesse Lingard. I feel if he'd binned Lingard last season / the summer as he should have done, maybe Ed would have been pressurized into buying another player. Maybe. But Ole talked up Jesse and seems to like and trust him. That's on him. Squarely. Probably his biggest flaw - and something I said last season could well be his undoing.

But blaming for not buying is something I'd not say is justified.

Tilting at windmills? Any decent midfielder in the PL is better than what we have. We can blame Woodward for not paying to buy top of the world players but this is not what we are talking about now.
Any midfield player in the PL is better than what we have apart from Pogba.
Are you saying that Woodward decides who plays for our midfield now? Don't be ridiculous.
There are many players who are much better than what we have who will come but Ole didn't want them. No world class players are going to come to United to be coached by Ole and at the same time not to play in the CL.
Take off your glasses as an Ole fan and think reasonably.

 

[Devil may care]

I'm surprised how surprised some are over the results, it was obvious when the transfer window closed that this squad wasn't good enough and would struggle to get top 4, how anyone could think otherwise was baffling to me.

For me it's not the results that are disappointing, it's the performances in the games, truth is the last 3 games have all been garbage performances, the only difference was the results. In the first few games, regardless of results, I saw us trying to implement a style of play, we lacked quality and creativity but we knew that, but we seemed to have a direction, now we are back to negative football with two has-beens taking up game time, at least if we were losing with young players they'd be getting experience and could build on it and progress, the likes of Young, Matic and Mata are done, playing them and still failing just makes it even worse as there's not even a glimmer of hope.

 

[Stubble]

Ole was naive and it shows his level as a manager and those above him who agreed to his strategy.
He thought we could clear out experienced players and rely on youth this year to replicate some type of 'previous era' United team.
He thought we could play with one DM, pacy youth and overpower teams on the break. He thought having inconsistent and injury prone youngsters as the only striking options was just fine.
This hasn't worked out the way he planned and he (like previous managers) is now quickly reverting to the negative tactics of playing the old guard (Mata, Matic, Lingard, Young) and 2 x DM against the likes of bleedin' West Ham in order to try and save his job - unfortunately like previous managers this strategy is much more likely to cost him his job.
People will stick with Ole if they see him developing something, playing and developing the kids, putting the consistently underperforming old guard and dross out to pasture. Even with poor results fans will see we are trying to change something and will stick with it through the ups and downs you get with youth. Reverting back to the mistakes of previous managers (playing Mata, Matic, Young etc) will lose him any credibility and support pretty fast imo especially after all his previous statements of intent..

 

[rotherham_red]

I'm not going to advocate blind backing, but step back a bit. Poch was flavour of 3 seasons. He went big in the market to strengthen an already good squad - and is currently level on points. With this squad, can we really say that someone else would get more out of them? Really? Is there anyone that can make Mata, Lingard, Matic or Andreas a great footballer - and make a great time while being forced to play all of them? At the end of the summer, it was painfully obvious that the coaching staff wanted all of Sancho, Maddison and a striker. Ole pointedly said that he'd want replacements for outgoings; we got none. At this point, it was obvious that RW would be a glaring hole with "stand-in" players all season and that our entire MF performance rested on Pogba staying fit, available and on-form. Our defence too consists of 2 good defenders (AWB and Maguire), 2 just-about-competent ones (Lindelof and Shaw), a youngster (Tuanzebe) and dross.

When Pep had a crap defence, he tanked the league, signed 200+ Mn worth of defenders and romped home. Klopp tanked, bought VVD and then won CL. We started well behind them, bought less and are seeing the results. It's not rocket science.

Now, I reiterate that this does not mean Ole is the right man. Just that as things stand, it is Ed that let him down in the market - and we don't know how much stock to place in his "I'm happy with our attacking options" being the way he really feels, since he's not Jose! He was never going to stand and wail in public about not being backed. Therefore, one can only judge him if we feel that there is something wrong tactically or if he's lost the dressing room. From the sounds emanating, the latter is not true - and given the players on display, I don't see who else he can play.

Gomes - fades after 50 odd minutes even against very poor opponents; is he strong enough for PL games?
Chong - doesn't seem ready for this level either; not writing him off, mind, but right now, doesn't seem ready
Dalot - again, not ready for this level; the Astana game showed exactly what the issue is; though if he can learn to cross, maybe he can play RW? Still, not ready for even that right now
Garner, Levitt and co - again, not ready yet by any means

Let's face it; hoping that a 17 year-old kid will be our saviour (without even having seen him play much at this level) speaks volumes for where even we realistically see our squad. We're in the crapper. And we know it, or at least, we should know it when we see the squad list.

So, unless the feeling is that Ole should be playing Fred and not playing him is sack-worthy, I just wonder what options he has. With these injuries right now, the team is slow (Matic, Mata, Andreas) and lacks creativity (Matic + McTominay behind Mata, Lingard, an off-form Rashford and the Speed Merchant does not create much). This combined with our FBs being better defensively (and that's when we play Shaw; with Young that's yet another hole to fill) leads to us just lacking the bite needed.

Spot on and pretty much sums up my thoughts.

This is what I was worried would happen once the transfer window ended. Thankfully it seems that the rest of our competition for 3rd and 4th are in similar predicaments, so it could still work out, but that squad is fecking awful.

I desperately want him to work out. I really, really do. But he a) needs to be backed properly in terms of transfers; and b) needs to stop persisting with Matic and Mata when Pogba et al are out. These guys just aren't fit for purpose now, and in Matic's case, outside of his first 3 months, never was.

I think it will eventually come to a head, and he'll throw the kids in out of desperation but I do worry about the effects on their development and the fallout in terms of morale if it doesn't work out.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

It's poor squad management from Ole and the board.

Right, you're Ole. You know (well, I'm actually assuming here that Ole has a definitive plan) that you want to play with 2 x midfielders and 1 x #10 or CAM.

So essentially three midfielders, with different responsibilities. You want to do that for the majority of the season. Let's assess the options:

Pogba - great.
Matic - past it, not really in my plans and will likely be leaving in the near future. Extremely immobile and unable to play consecutive games.
McTominay - fine.
Fred - I barely play him because I'm unsure about him, and also he's not the fittest at present.
Pereira - Jose didn't rate him, but I do, so I'm making him a first teamer.
Mata - past it, can't play consecutive games, extremely ineffective everywhere.
Garner - nowhere near ready.

So of 7 x midfielders, only TWO of them are realistically of the right quality to be playing week in week out, injuries notwithstanding. You need reliable rotation options not past-it players.

If you are the manager, you say to Woodward - "Ed, I NEED another midfielder here to put my plans into action effectively".

If Longstaff was the only man Ole wanted, then we have an even bigger problem. Either way, Ole should have identified that our midfield options were going to be a serious hindrance to his success considering he wants to play a variation that includes three midfielders on the pitch.


Likewise, strikers.

You'd look at the options and think "right, this is football and injuries are going to happen. In a best case scenario, I might have Rashy OR Martial injured. Worst case, BOTH. Is Mason Greenwood, 17yrs old, enough in terms of backup?"

Ole is either incredibly naïve (like, League Two naïve) or he's been completely shafted by the board and is just trying to toe the company line and prevent panic setting in.

 

[midnightmare]

Tilting at windmills? Any decent midfielder in the PL is better than what we have. We can blame Woodward for not paying to buy top of the world players but this is not what we are talking about now.
Any midfield player in the PL is better than what we have apart from Pogba.
Are you saying that Woodward decides who plays for our midfield now? Don't be ridiculous.
There are many players who are much better than what we have who will come but Ole didn't want them. No world class players are going to come to United to be coached by Ole and at the same time not to play in the CL.
Take off your glasses as an Ole fan and think reasonably.

1. That's an over-reaction
2. Buying "would be better than nothing" players is what landed us with a bloated and useless squad on huge wages that we can't offload
3. Yes, Woodward does indeed sign the checks so he does, in a way decide our players too; if they're not in the squad, Ole can't pick them.

When reports emerged of our interest in Maddison and how Ole wanted him, people mocked and despaired at our "falling standards". Well, now we have people saying that "any midfield player" at all would be an upgrade.

Not sure about you, but I feel that we desperately needed to stop "madcap" buying and be selective in getting players who will make the cut, long-term. Like AWB and Maguire. Getting Maddison, Sancho etc. would have been great. Now however, stop to consider what would have happened if we'd just bought some random midfielder who's better than Matic, but not good enough for a top team. Would we have had to sell and replace in the next window? Is that how we should want to go? So yes, I do blame Ed for not buying the players the manager wanted - specially now, when hindsight shows that those players were exactly what we needed.

And yes, I am an Ole fan, but I'm a United fan first. If Ole isn't the right man, he should walk - but I just don't see how he can be blamed for not buying players specially when we know that Ed is "playing god" right now.

 

[Mainoldo]

1. That's an over-reaction
2. Buying "would be better than nothing" players is what landed us with a bloated and useless squad on huge wages that we can't offload
3. Yes, Woodward does indeed sign the checks so he does, in a way decide our players too; if they're not in the squad, Ole can't pick them.

When reports emerged of our interest in Maddison and how Ole wanted him, people mocked and despaired at our "falling standards". Well, now we have people saying that "any midfield player" at all would be an upgrade.

Not sure about you, but I feel that we desperately needed to stop "madcap" buying and be selective in getting players who will make the cut, long-term. Like AWB and Maguire. Getting Maddison, Sancho etc. would have been great. Now however, stop to consider what would have happened if we'd just bought some random midfielder who's better than Matic, but not good enough for a top team. Would we have had to sell and replace in the next window? Is that how we should want to go? So yes, I do blame Ed for not buying the players the manager wanted - specially now, when hindsight shows that those players were exactly what we needed.

And yes, I am an Ole fan, but I'm a United fan first. If Ole isn't the right man, he should walk - but I just don't see how he can be blamed for not buying players specially when we know that Ed is "playing god" right now.

Maguire cost us £80m how much to you think Maddison would have cost? If you owned United would you spend £100m on Maddison? Then think about if you could that would mean selling Pogba. So where exactly is the improvement?

We need to start being more realistic and expecting the club to blow money everytime we are in a mess. The facts prove we blow more money than most clubs in world football clearly this is not the problem!!

 

[Kush]

It's not like we've been battered in all these games, context is important.

We've been unlucky not to win some of these, unlucky to lose some. It's obviously a very poor run but you have to understand we're in a period of evolution.

We're moving on the trash and sometimes you have to take 1 step backwards before 2 steps forward.

Context is also important when you see the trash we've played in last 20. We haven't actually played many top sides in that period save for 3 matches versus Barcelona and Man City. So, I can assure you those 'batterings' are on the horizon.

 

[Foxbatt]

I don't like The Glazers as much as anyone else but in reality they have made money available to managers. Jose wanted two CBs. He got them and after one season decided they are no good. It's obvious the Board will ask questions about it.
He wanted Matic and they got him. He wanted Lukaku and they got him. He wanted Pogba and they got him.
So I can't see any reason why they would reject any decent midfielder for Ole. Even Bruno Fernandez would have been a good addition but according to reports the coaching staff refused him.
If United thinks top players are going to come we are delusional. We need to get better players than what we have now and improve our position, get into the CL and win some minor trophies before it will become attractive for top world class players.
Realistically, who would any top player prefer to be coached by? Pep, Klopp or Ole?

 

[InspiRED]

I agree that a failing has been overestimating the players. I remember when he was reserves coach he described Darren Gibson as being a "rolls royce of a player" even though couldn't "always get him out of the garage". Bit of a red flag. He gambled big on not replacing Lukaku - whom he could have kept him even if the player wanted out - the risky gamble has backfired and he's now running out of chips. Part of the reason Lukaku even wanted out - even though he was definitely wanting as a Man Utd player - was that Solskjaer made it clear Rashford was way above him in the pecking order, even as a #9. Fine, but replace Lukaku or don't let him leave. Chickens are coming home to roost now and he has to take the main responsibility for it. If it turns out he hasn't put his foot down about not replacing Lukaku it's spineless. He definitely shouldn't say he is totally happy with the squad as it is.

Having said all that he's a really likeable fella and a club legend so I hope things don't get nasty for him as he doesn't deserve it. Job just too big for him.

Edit: And if you're gonna gamble, it's pretty dumb to do it with where your goals are coming from.

 

[Foxbatt]

Maguire cost us £80m how much to you think Maddison would have cost? If you owned United would you spend £100m on Maddison? Then think about if you could that would mean selling Pogba. So where exactly is the improvement?

Why should we try to buy Maddison for 100? Any midfield player in the PL is better than what we have apart from Pogba.
There are plenty of players around in Europe too who are much better than what we have who is not going to cost even 30 million.

 

[R'hllor]

Said many times, everything whats coming good and bad, he deserves it. He had a great start and by his own admission the moment we got close to top 4 pack, he turned everything off and went back to JM route of getting results on performances expense, which is funny because at start results were product of our performances, performances are the ones that put us in that position. He decided to betray that for lure of magical top 4, guess he was thinking that would cement his chances for perma job, while Woody was probably behind him drooling for that CL money.

 

[bsCallout]

Really starting to think the Ajax manager would be our ideal replacement. I'd even consider moving Solkjaer to Director of football, if Edwin didn't want it.

 

[dev1l]

I don't like The Glazers as much as anyone else but in reality they have made money available to managers. Jose wanted two CBs. He got them and after one season decided they are no good. It's obvious the Board will ask questions about it.
He wanted Matic and they got him. He wanted Lukaku and they got him. He wanted Pogba and they got him.
So I can't see any reason why they would reject any decent midfielder for Ole. Even Bruno Fernandez would have been a good addition but according to reports the coaching staff refused him.
If United thinks top players are going to come we are delusional. We need to get better players than what we have now and improve our position, get into the CL and win some minor trophies before it will become attractive for top world class players.
Realistically, who would any top player prefer to be coached by? Pep, Klopp or Ole?

Re Fernández.. Other reports suggests that we didn't meet their asking price because they didn't want to go down

 

[greendevil]

People looking for a new manager need to realise the same crap players will still be here in January and next summer because half of them are on ridiculous wages/contracts that no other club will match. This isn't Ole's doing and its gonna take time to rectify. Ole's brought in Maguire, Wan-Bissaka and James who have all been an improvement on who was already there. The rest of the squad is from Fergie's, Moyes, LVG's and Mourinho's stints and are average or just plain rubbish. It'll take time and people need to be patient.

 

[crossy1686]

Really starting to think the Ajax manager would be our ideal replacement. I'd even consider moving Solkjaer to Director of football, if Edwin didn't want it.

Nope. Even the Ajax fans don’t rate him.

 

[bsCallout]

Was this your thoughts as well against Wolves and Crystal Palace earlier this month?

No, Palace was atrocious. Wolves on the other hand was a game that we seemed comfortable and should have really won. Ole will lose this job, and the fans on one thing, playing Mata and Matic regularly.

My points are still valid; he would have wanted more reinforcements.

 

[Mainoldo]

Why should we try to buy Maddison for 100? Any midfield player in the PL is better than what we have apart from Pogba.
There are plenty of players around in Europe too who are much better than what we have who is not going to cost even 30 million.

Well you have to read what I’m responding to. My point is we blame the board but if as claimed in post I’m responding to; that’s Maddison is our target. What the hell are we suppose to do.

I mean if Solskjær was hell bent on get Idrissa Gueye (sensible solution in my opinion) then I’m sure the board could have delivered that.

That makes sense to me. But looking at his line ups he is hell bent on this stupid two man pivot with Pogba being one of them.

 

[Mainoldo]

Nope. Even the Ajax fans don’t rate him.

Why?

 

[bsCallout]

Nope. Even the Ajax fans don’t rate him.

Rate who? The manager? His 70% win percentage and clear style of play seems a good start for us.

 

[OrcaFat]

This line of thinking has to stop.

Pretty much every manager in PL can do better than him at this point.

My mum could probably have got more points than Ole has. But that wouldn’t make her a better manager.

Ole is managing the whole club, long term. I still think he’ll come good.

The players aren’t good enough. Which would get a sniff of getting in the 08 squad? The performances and results will improve when the squad improves. Meanwhile Ole must do a bit better with these cretins, I freely admit.

We have missed Pogba and Martial more than anticipated.

 

[GlastonSpur]

This is also why Spurs have been declining for a few years.

The difference with United is Ole didn't take over with a core team consisting of Kane, Eriksen, Verhonghen, Walker, Dembele and Lloris... Six players who've been central in almost everything good at Spurs since Pochettino took over and whose aging/leaving is causing you to struggle.

Pochettino is of course a better manager who gets more out of his team though.

We reached the CL final at the end of last season - that's way better than anything preceding it in the CL for Spurs.

 

[FootyGirl88]

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[Foxbatt]

Well you have to read what I’m responding to. My point is we blame the board but if as claimed in post I’m responding to; that’s Maddison is our target. What the hell are we suppose to do.

I mean if Solskjær was hell bent on get Idrissa Gueye (sensible solution in my opinion) then I’m sure the board could have delivered that.

That makes sense to me. But looking at his line ups he is hell bent on this stupid two man pivot with Pogba being one of them.

Sorry. I agree with you. No one plays a two man midfield anymore. It's blinking obvious that we are going to get overrun. We were getting overrun with a much better team under SAF.
This bunch of players can't play football so what is the point in trying to get them to play football?
What is needed right now is to win games and try to get into the CL spot. Ole has to be pragmatic and change the players and style.
That means not trying to play out from the back but a robust midfield and narrow and more compact team. We are getting cut through the middle. Drop Matic and play Jones. Push Pogba up into the role where Mata is playing and play Rojo on the left side of midfield with Scott on the right. Play Martial and James as the two front men.
This is the only way now till we get reinforcements.

 

[Idxomer]

People advocating him for the DoF job must be kidding.

He blew more than half of his budget on a defender that wasn't a huge upgrade on what he had on that position and they wasted most of the summer chasing him till he signed because he had to get his 1st target whatever it takes.

The only midfielder we heard any concrete rumors about all summer was a 21-year-old Longstaff who was coming from a longtime injury and only played 9 pl games.

The only attacker he added while he looked good so far is another player who excels more on the left which adds more to the imbalance the team has been suffering for years due to not having any attacking quality on the right.

That also left our new signing at right-back who is still very raw attacking wise completely isolated and in turn exposing more his limitations going forward.

No manager or DoF worth his salt would do that with the options the club had at midfield and attack.

 

[finneh]

We reached the CL final at the end of last season - that's way better than anything preceding it in the CL for Spurs.

Watford reached the FA Cup final last season and are tipped for relegation this season.

A fortunate cup run doesn't tell the full story.

 

[VeevaVee]

People advocating him for the DoF job must be kidding.

He blew more than half of his budget on a defender that wasn't a huge upgrade on what he had on that position and they wasted most of the summer chasing him till he signed because he had to get his 1st target whatever it takes.

The only midfielder we heard any concrete rumors about all summer was a 21-year-old Longstaff who was coming from a longtime injury and only played 9 pl games.

The only attacker he added while he looked good so far is another player who excels more on the left which adds more to the imbalance the team has been suffering for years due to not having any attacking quality on the right.

That also left our new signing at right-back who is still very raw attacking wise completely isolated and in turn exposing more his limitations going forward.

No manager or DoF worth his salt would do that with the options the club had at midfield and attack.

I highly doubt Ole had much involvement in any of the above though, other than discussing some names before the window.

 

[Sterling Archer]

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Coaching. It's not like we are playing with 10 men because we didn't sign a midfielder and Pogba's injured.

 

[Enigma_87]

My mum could probably have got more points than Ole has. But that wouldn’t make her a better manager.

Ole is managing the whole club, long term. I still think he’ll come good.

The players aren’t good enough. Which would get a sniff of getting in the 08 squad? The performances and results will improve when the squad improves. Meanwhile Ole must do a bit better with these cretins, I freely admit.

We have missed Pogba and Martial more than anticipated.

Making it in the 08 squad is irrelevant.

You will never get a whole squad of players you feel comfortable with without losing some or having underperforming ones.

It's the job of the manager to improve the players he's working with, get results and implement a tactical plan on the pitch. He isn't doing either of those things.

He spent 150m this Summer. How long until Maguire, James and AWB begin to stall in their development because he's a poor tactician, coach and generally manager?

 

[Majima]

This has been a long time coming since he was made permanent manager. The football & 'coaching' was very poor back then. I said it many, many times last season. The writing was on the wall with Ole getting outwitted by numerous managers. It was every week. Nuno Santo easily outsmarted him twice in a row, then we were lucky to beat Watford at home under Javi Gracia, even Shaw had to admit it afterwards. Then we were again fortunate to beat West Ham at home under Pellegrini, they had 58% possession with more passes & shots at our goal. We needed a lucky penalty at the end from Pogba to beat them and the less said about our embarrassing 4-0 loss away to Everton the better.

That was all in the space of a month.

So he couldn't even compete with managers at the lesser clubs last season and we expect him to get us back competing with the even bigger clubs in the future? Based on what exactly? Doesn't that sound extremely unlikely?

I am a fan of his efforts off the pitch to instill a work ethic back into the club but definitely not a fan of him on the pitch.

I am very much aware that the Glazers are the biggest problem at the club, but Ole and his coaching staff are doing an extremely poor job at coaching this side. They've been here 8 months now. He hasn't created a coherent structure for the team. Every week, we look like an amateur setup and i'm left wondering afterwards what we do in training every week. We still rely on individual skill to create anything. Still clueless at attacking vs deep defences. His in-game management is non-existent. Players are regularly played out of position. None of our players are showing any signs of further development. They are regressing even. It's just not good enough at all.

I truly believe Ole and his coaching staff are one of the worst in the league. They are relegation level coaches and we are getting the results from that.

 

[Kamprad]

I like Ole and I think he should be given one season or two to develop youngsters and continue giving them minutes. But the reality is that United after Ole need a better manager. A top manager. I continue listen to people complaining about the players but reality is the manager is more important. I’m not sure City or Liverpool would finish ahead of United if only the managers would have been swapped. If Ole took over city when Pep did had the exactly same player bought to the club, or Liverpool instead of Klopp. And if Klopp or Pep managed United with the same players.

 

[Greck]

When the pace of his team's play was questioned in the press conference, Solskjaer attempted to downplay the issue by pointing out that it made no sense to question United's pace with Rashford and James around. But there is more to it than that, as he surely knows. Moving the ball quickly, playing with purpose and a real tempo, is another matter entirely.

There was no intricacy to United's play in the final third, none of the subtle interchanges that are the hallmarks of a top-class team. No signs at all of the sophisticated movements and patterns of play that hint at ideas being put into practice on the pitch. Instead, there were only balls to chase. Often, those balls to the forwards did not even come.


Now this is what some have been questioning. His idea of "moving the ball with pace" is having fast players? Was this misquoted?

 

[Enigma_87]

I like Ole and I think he should be given one season or two to develop youngsters and continue giving them minutes. But the reality is that United after Ole need a better manager. A top manager. I continue listen to people complaining about the players but reality is the manager is more important. I’m not sure City or Liverpool would finish ahead of United if only the managers would have been swapped. If Ole took over city when Pep did had the exactly same player bought to the club, or Liverpool instead of Klopp. And if Klopp or Pep managed United with the same players.

I'm not sure on what basis this should buy him time.

Who has he developed so far that has shown significant progress? He has absolutely no track record in developing young players to reach their maximum potential.