Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[Bastian]

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Ole, is that one of those games where you almost need to clear your head to analyse it?
"It's football. Sometimes it's beyond tactics...cause the passion and drive of the supporters first half and the energy of their team compared to ours. Such a big difference. Then we get a goal and our energy comes back in and belief comes back in and the difference between this team and last year's team is huge cause."
In what way?
"At two nil down I'm thinking, my mind is going back to Everton. No doubt about the drive, the energy, the attitude of these boys. They never give in. Last year we would have been 3-4-5 down. This is such a big stride forward for them, coming back from 2-0 to 3-2 up and of course towards the end some things like that happen."
Why do you think you were so poor for over an hour?
"It's not something you can put your finger on here and now but they looked like they wanted it more than us, believed more in what they did than us. But sometimes it's little margins here and there but we never had a shot on target. Maybe had one first half, that's not acceptable. It's not good enough. But the response after they went 2-0 up was fantastic."
What was the catalyst for the change in your mind?
"When you're 2-0 down you've got to go for it, play with less fear, just express yourself and just make things happen. First time Dan probably got round them and put a good cross in, and what a finish by Brandon. And then Mason scores, so the average age of the goals today, they were less than 20. That's something we're proud of. It's great experience for Brandon, Mason, Marcus to come back, cause at a stadium like this it's never easy."

I don't know what it takes for people to realise that he's so far from being capable that it's tragic. I mean, I love him, but he's a terrible terrible manager.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

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Embarrassing comment.

 

[Greck]

Ole, is that one of those games where you almost need to clear your head to analyse it?
"It's football. Sometimes it's beyond tactics...cause the passion and drive of the supporters first half and the energy of their team compared to ours. Such a big difference. Then we get a goal and our energy comes back in and belief comes back in and the difference between this team and last year's team is huge cause."
In what way?
"At two nil down I'm thinking, my mind is going back to Everton. No doubt about the drive, the energy, the attitude of these boys. They never give in. Last year we would have been 3-4-5 down. This is such a big stride forward for them, coming back from 2-0 to 3-2 up and of course towards the end some things like that happen."
Why do you think you were so poor for over an hour?
"It's not something you can put your finger on here and now but they looked like they wanted it more than us, believed more in what they did than us. But sometimes it's little margins here and there but we never had a shot on target. Maybe had one first half, that's not acceptable. It's not good enough. But the response after they went 2-0 up was fantastic."
What was the catalyst for the change in your mind?
"When you're 2-0 down you've got to go for it, play with less fear, just express yourself and just make things happen. First time Dan probably got round them and put a good cross in, and what a finish by Brandon. And then Mason scores, so the average age of the goals today, they were less than 20. That's something we're proud of. It's great experience for Brandon, Mason, Marcus to come back, cause at a stadium like this it's never easy."

I don't know what it takes for people to realise that he's so far from being capable that it's tragic. I mean, I love him, but he's a terrible terrible manager.

Downplays tactics to talk up passion, lack of fear, running and energy. I don't think it's the players that are holding him back, he just doesn't seem to know much about football systems relative to his managerial peers

 

[DVG7]

Solskjær deserves some credit for the change at half time. It was blatantly obvious that the two in the middle against their three wasn’t working. We conceded the second because of a very poor touch by Pereira, nothing to do with set up. It eventually paid dividends, because their players were trying to play the same way but now finding that our extra body in the midfield swung possession back in our favour and it was only a matter of time before tiredness got the better of them.

the substitution was bad, and cost us the game. It was clear as day that they were almost dead and buried. Martial wasn’t upset because he was missing his chance to score, it’s more likely because he was on the field and feeling the flow of the game, seeing the defeat in their players eyes and was ready to keep bombarding them. Taking martial off sent a message to everyone on the field, and that’s “protect the result”. I don’t care how educated top coaches are, what methodology they use to determine their tactical changes, but when a team has been on top and then concedes three goals in less than 8 minutes, they are completely deflated and more than likely saying to themselves “ah well that’s the game over, all that effort for nothing”. The change opened up some space for them to get a foot on the ball again and start advancing up the pitch, and surprise surprise they get some confidence from it and go on to score. If it’s a tight game where the score is 2-2 for a while and then we score to make it 3-2, by all means, protect the lead. But any team conceding the way SU did, you have to go for the 4th.

 

[Bastian]

Solskjær deserves some credit for the change at half time. It was blatantly obvious that the two in the middle against their three wasn’t working. We conceded the second because of a very poor touch by Pereira, nothing to do with set up. It eventually paid dividends, because their players were trying to play the same way but now finding that our extra body in the midfield swung possession back in our favour and it was only a matter of time before tiredness got the better of them.

the substitution was bad, and cost us the game. It was clear as day that they were almost dead and buried. Martial wasn’t upset because he was missing his chance to score, it’s more likely because he was on the field and feeling the flow of the game, seeing the defeat in their players eyes and was ready to keep bombarding them. Taking martial off sent a message to everyone on the field, and that’s “protect the result”. I don’t care how educated top coaches are, what methodology they use to determine their tactical changes, but when a team has been on top and then concedes three goals in less than 8 minutes, they are completely deflated and more than likely saying to themselves “ah well that’s the game over, all that effort for nothing”. The change opened up some space for them to get a foot on the ball again and start advancing up the pitch, and surprise surprise they get some confidence from it and go on to score. If it’s a tight game where the score is 2-2 for a while and then we score to make it 3-2, by all means, protect the lead. But any team conceding the way SU did, you have to go for the 4th.

In the same way that he deserved praise for subbing off Bailly against PSG away (when he'd chosen him at right back)? If you go with a fairly obvious bad decision into a game, should you be applauded for correcting it later on? Rather, I think you merit criticism for making a bad decision in the first place. That midfield was asking for trouble.

 

[el3mel]

This is apples and oranges though. Or more like apples and potatoes because it is incredibly hard to compare.

Poch took over a young and very talented Spurs squad when most of their main rivals were in varying degrees of turmoil, we struggled post Fergie, At Arsenal Wenger had run his course and they could not replace him, Chelsea and City were as volatile as ever and Liverpool has only sailed up as a real power the last two years.

His points haul is 64, 70, 86, 77, 71 = 73,6 avg
Since 2010/11 they had: 70, 62, 69, 72, 69 = 68,4 avg

Considering Kane came through, who is one of the best, if not the best striker in England, right as he took over thats not really that much of an improvement and considering you "usually" need at least 70-75 points to get into the top 4 he only really managed two seasons where they really were banged on to get there. He could also work under almost no pressure. Simply getting top 4 was enough for him to be hailed as a genius

Just look at this thread. Go from 0-2 to 3-3 and Ole is getting absolutely slaughtered by some posters because he put on a defender to defend a lead. And this is away to Sheffield United who have been incredibly solid this year in the middle of a rebuild and starting Phil fecking Jones in midfield because everyone else is injured.

Considering how different the circumstances are i dont really see how Poch would have "guaranteed" to be better.

You trying so hard for giving him zero credit for everything he did there even in case of Kane you don't want to give him any credit for improving him and that he just came through when he was hired, all this is honestly laughable and hurt your argument. No one ever predicted Kane to be the best striker in the world at any point as he was now. A good striker at best but not the best in the world.

Anyway the point of the squad being poor is simply not true. It was till the Leicester season only when the league was shite. Since then the rest of the big teams improved a lot, appointed top tier coaches and spent feck loads more than Spurs and he was still finishing close to or even ahead of them. He finished ahead of Pep, Klopp, Mourinho and Conte at several points, both spent more and are all top tier coaches.

On the other hand this Spurs was nothing special when he took over. He was the one who improved Kane and Alli to world class level and made Eriksen achieve his potential. He didn't spend that much money and had to work with what he had and improve them, which he did to a great lengths.

You can defend Ole as much as you want but continuous bashing of a manager who every Tom, Dick and Harry know he's far better is really illogical and very weird. It's like self defense denial of real facts.

Poch will be hired by a top team soon while Ole will disappear after we sack him, I doubt he will get a PL job anytime soon. That's the levels of both.

 

[7even]

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I can’t find another word then delusional. He don’t understand. There is no connection between his intellect and his mouth.

 

[Forevergiggs1]

Solskjær deserves some credit for the change at half time. It was blatantly obvious that the two in the middle against their three wasn’t working. We conceded the second because of a very poor touch by Pereira, nothing to do with set up. It eventually paid dividends, because their players were trying to play the same way but now finding that our extra body in the midfield swung possession back in our favour and it was only a matter of time before tiredness got the better of them.

the substitution was bad, and cost us the game. It was clear as day that they were almost dead and buried. Martial wasn’t upset because he was missing his chance to score, it’s more likely because he was on the field and feeling the flow of the game, seeing the defeat in their players eyes and was ready to keep bombarding them. Taking martial off sent a message to everyone on the field, and that’s “protect the result”. I don’t care how educated top coaches are, what methodology they use to determine their tactical changes, but when a team has been on top and then concedes three goals in less than 8 minutes, they are completely deflated and more than likely saying to themselves “ah well that’s the game over, all that effort for nothing”. The change opened up some space for them to get a foot on the ball again and start advancing up the pitch, and surprise surprise they get some confidence from it and go on to score. If it’s a tight game where the score is 2-2 for a while and then we score to make it 3-2, by all means, protect the lead. But any team conceding the way SU did, you have to go for the 4th.

Spot on. I've never seen Martial as upset on being subbed off. As you say he knew there were more goals to be had. Just wish his manager thought the same way.

 

[Ludens the Red]

In the same way that he deserved praise for subbing off Bailly against PSG away (when he'd chosen him at right back)? If you go with a fairly obvious bad decision into a game, should you be applauded for correcting it later on? Rather, I think you merit criticism for making a bad decision in the first place. That midfield was asking for trouble.

Took the words right out of my mouth. It was patently obvious against a workaholic midfield like Sheff Utd’s going in with just two and at that two of such poor quality of Fred and Perreira was obviously going to be a disaster.

 

[DavosOfManc]

Hilarious seeing people saying Ole deserves praise for anything tonight in all honesty. I've always wanted him to do well, i really have, but tonight just highlighted just how out of his depth he really is.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I can’t find another word then delusional. He don’t understand. There is no connection between his intellect and his mouth.

It's the fact it is his decisions that we could have been 3/4/5 goals down, if we were playing City or Liverpool we would have been, lucky for him it was Sheffield United who are not know for their goalscoring prowess. Oh and his goalkeeper DDG who saved our necks a couple of times as well.

 

[Sandikan]

Trying to save his job. It was cringe listening to it.

The last thing I'd want to do is listen to the manager's jabber after a game. Not sure why people do it to themselves? Just to get themselves further irritated?

 

[Bilbo]

It

Trying to save his job. It was cringe listening to it.

He definitely doesnt give off the impression that he is fighting for his job

 

[momo83]

When would 81 points won the league on many occasions?

Do your research and see.

 

[mu4c_20le]

The last thing I'd want to do is listen to the manager's jabber after a game. Not sure why people do it to themselves? Just to get themselves further irritated?

Well our previous two were far more interesting to be fair. With Mou you never know who would get thrown under the bus, and with LvG to see if he would snap at a journalist or say something unintentionally hilarious.

 

[Sandikan]

It


He definitely doesnt give off the impression that he is fighting for his job

Correct. Without any doubt at all, he's been given this season as a freebie.

 

[Godfather]

Doesn't work like that though. Once we’re in front we’re in front. They only played like that because they were chasing the game. His decision to shore up the defence was 100% correct in that situation, shame the players didn’t have the bottle to pull it off.

This doesn't make any sense. So we revert back to a system that we conceded 2 goals with to defend a lead? Great logic that.

 

[Godfather]

The last thing I'd want to do is listen to the manager's jabber after a game. Not sure why people do it to themselves? Just to get themselves further irritated?

Especially under Ole. Under Mou they were funny at least but his delusion is just something I cannot bear to listen to.

 

[Bilbo]

Ole, is that one of those games where you almost need to clear your head to analyse it?
"It's football. Sometimes it's beyond tactics...cause the passion and drive of the supporters first half and the energy of their team compared to ours. Such a big difference. Then we get a goal and our energy comes back in and belief comes back in and the difference between this team and last year's team is huge cause."
In what way?
"At two nil down I'm thinking, my mind is going back to Everton. No doubt about the drive, the energy, the attitude of these boys. They never give in. Last year we would have been 3-4-5 down. This is such a big stride forward for them, coming back from 2-0 to 3-2 up and of course towards the end some things like that happen."
Why do you think you were so poor for over an hour?
"It's not something you can put your finger on here and now but they looked like they wanted it more than us, believed more in what they did than us. But sometimes it's little margins here and there but we never had a shot on target. Maybe had one first half, that's not acceptable. It's not good enough. But the response after they went 2-0 up was fantastic."
What was the catalyst for the change in your mind?
"When you're 2-0 down you've got to go for it, play with less fear, just express yourself and just make things happen. First time Dan probably got round them and put a good cross in, and what a finish by Brandon. And then Mason scores, so the average age of the goals today, they were less than 20. That's something we're proud of. It's great experience for Brandon, Mason, Marcus to come back, cause at a stadium like this it's never easy."

I don't know what it takes for people to realise that he's so far from being capable that it's tragic. I mean, I love him, but he's a terrible terrible manager.

Do people still think that post match interviews represent reality? You can only hurt yourself as a manager in these things, so it's best just to find some positives and get to work in the dressing room

 

[el3mel]

Correct. Without any doubt at all, he's been given this season as a freebie.

LVG was saying consistently he had a 3 years contract and will complete it, and was fighting journalists for their sacking reports. He was so confident he's staying no matter what.

I don't think he'll be sacked till end of the season but if we keep on around 7th-10th till May with Poch available, Ed will pull the trigger.

 

[Judas]

He's a dinosaur. Compare him to say Lampard who has about 10 years less managerial experience, it's quite tragic.

 

[Halftrack]

Poch had 3 excellent seasons at Spurs and reached a CL final in his last one. It was an end of a cycle. Ole's been dreadful since being appointed on permanent basis. And the buck did stop with Poch as he got sacked and rightfully so. Best managers in the world get sacked. Sir Alex been sacked. Lippi, Cappello, Mourinho, Del Bosque, Ancelloti were all sacked at different times of their career and went on to have success elsewhere.

The manager is ultimately responsible for the teams performance, but there will always be extenuating circumstances. You have posters on here who brush away any attempt to point to such extenuating circumstances as excuses, proclaiming that "the buck stops with the manager", only to then go on to make them same kind of excuses for Poch. Clearly then, the buck only stops with the manager if they don't rate said manager.

You trying so hard for giving him zero credit

Just as you're trying incredibly hard to downplay how much Spurs had been improving in the years leading up to his appointment.

 

[hp88]

Ole, is that one of those games where you almost need to clear your head to analyse it?
"It's football. Sometimes it's beyond tactics...cause the passion and drive of the supporters first half and the energy of their team compared to ours. Such a big difference. Then we get a goal and our energy comes back in and belief comes back in and the difference between this team and last year's team is huge cause."
In what way?
"At two nil down I'm thinking, my mind is going back to Everton. No doubt about the drive, the energy, the attitude of these boys. They never give in. Last year we would have been 3-4-5 down. This is such a big stride forward for them, coming back from 2-0 to 3-2 up and of course towards the end some things like that happen."
Why do you think you were so poor for over an hour?
"It's not something you can put your finger on here and now but they looked like they wanted it more than us, believed more in what they did than us. But sometimes it's little margins here and there but we never had a shot on target. Maybe had one first half, that's not acceptable. It's not good enough. But the response after they went 2-0 up was fantastic."
What was the catalyst for the change in your mind?
"When you're 2-0 down you've got to go for it, play with less fear, just express yourself and just make things happen. First time Dan probably got round them and put a good cross in, and what a finish by Brandon. And then Mason scores, so the average age of the goals today, they were less than 20. That's something we're proud of. It's great experience for Brandon, Mason, Marcus to come back, cause at a stadium like this it's never easy."

I don't know what it takes for people to realise that he's so far from being capable that it's tragic. I mean, I love him, but he's a terrible terrible manager.

It's like we have jumped into a time machine and gone back to the Moyes era.

 

[Bastian]

Do people still think that post match interviews represent reality? You can only hurt yourself as a manager in these things, so it's best just to find some positives and get to work in the dressing room

The positive is to identify one major negative and correct that. And yes, I do think it can be very telling how people put across their ideas in interviews. Not least when it's almost impossible to see evidence of their supposed ideas on the pitch.

 

[Mainoldo]

It


He definitely doesnt give off the impression that he is fighting for his job

Really? He chats more rubbish as the weeks go on.

 

[Sandikan]

LVG was saying consistently he had a 3 years contract and will complete it, and was fighting journalists for their sacking reports. He was so confident he's staying no matter what.

I don't think he'll be sacked till end of the season but if we keep on around 7th-10th till May with Poch available, Ed will pull the trigger.

I think Poch isn't as high on our radar as people think, especially with his last year of work and sacking.

Failing a catastrophic run of defeats, or going out of all cups as soon as possible here on in, I think we'd even tolerate lower than 6th as a finish.

 

[Mainoldo]

It's like we have jumped into a time machine and gone back to the Moyes era.

With the same bloody excuses. I’m actually going grey. Which is odd as my family are the lose hair type.

 

[el3mel]

The manager is ultimately responsible for the teams performance, but there will always be extenuating circumstances. You have posters on here who brush away any attempt to point to such extenuating circumstances as excuses, proclaiming that "the buck stops with the manager", only to then go on to make them same kind of excuses for Poch. Clearly then, the buck only stops with the manager if they don't rate said manager.

Just as you're trying incredibly hard to downplay how much Spurs had been improving in the years leading up to his appointment.

I'll like to see whoever predicted Spurs to be finishing 2nd and 3rd and reaching CL final while developing the best striker in the world and at one point the best English midfielder when Poch got the job at 2014.

All I'm seeing is people wanting to ridiculously underrate what Poch did that in favor of keeping an out of his depth manager. Ironically enough, back in Mourinho days the notion was completely the opposite here on Caf, Poch was the Caf darling that was example of playing without having a big budget, now with Ole's at the wheel people want to force the idea he did nothing special there, the players were improving on their own as he came and it was leading to where they went to.

Anyway unless Bayern steps up I'm 100% sure Poch will be our manager next season and will be fun looking back at all these arguments.

 

[tonnas]

How can people still be Ole in, dreadfull record, tactically inept, more bad performances, more dropped points, we will never win anything major with him even if he has the squad of man city. He is simply not good enough and there are still people deluded.

 

[el3mel]

I think Poch isn't as high on our radar as people think, especially with his last year of work and sacking.

Failing a catastrophic run of defeats, or going out of all cups as soon as possible here on in, I think we'd even tolerate lower than 6th as a finish.

I highly doubt that. We'll see. I'm 100% sure he won't be here next season.

 

[VanHaal'sRedArmy]

Take a shot every time Ole mentions the word "character" in a post-match interview.

 

[Gasolin]

Some autocritic would be nice for a change, he just keep repeating the same things over and over like a broken record “we will learn from this” “we take it and improve for next game”.

At this point is not positivity anymore its plain mediocrity.

The mediocrity is to undermine the players publicly when we need them to perform.
Whatever happens in the lockers rooms is what matters. I am glad this s*** is not happening outside, that's all.

 

[momo83]

Well our previous two were far more interesting to be fair. With Mou you never know who would get thrown under the bus, and with LvG to see if he would snap at a journalist or say something unintentionally hilarious.

LVG was a classic “horny” “sadomasochist Football” hilarious. Tbh Mourinho lost his charm and just looked like he was depressed but was good to occasionally hear the subtle indirect dig at the board

 

[Gasolin]

Do people still think that post match interviews represent reality? You can only hurt yourself as a manager in these things, so it's best just to find some positives and get to work in the dressing room

I agree, what matters is what happens behind the scene. Ole must inculcate his winning spirit. We almost got there, now it's time to keep winning.

 

[Bilbo]

Really? He chats more rubbish as the weeks go on.

I think it was quite clear what he was saying in his post match, but it gets twisted.

The "Tactics don't matter" comment was quite obviously him saying that when the hunger isn't there it doesnt matter how you set the team up. Hes right.

The comment about the Everton game was simply a pat on the back of sorts that the team didn't drop their heads and fought back to get a result. Again, nothing to see here

The criticisms will happen I'm sure and they'll stay in-house, and these things should.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

With the same bloody excuses. I’m actually going grey. Which is odd as my family are the lose hair type.

You sure you haven't already lost your hair and it's your head that's gone grey?

 

[momo83]

Correct. Without any doubt at all, he's been given this season as a freebie.

That’s my fear. And next season after we’ve spent another £200m around December there will still be no style of play no noting. Also remember, players are not stupid when it comes to their careers so the worse Ole performs the less the quality of players we will get in the summer

 

[Gasolin]

I think it was quite clear what he was saying in his post match, but it gets twisted.

The "Tactics don't matter" comment was quite obviously him saying that when the hunger isn't there it doesnt matter how you set the team up. Hes right.

The comment about the Everton game was simply a pat on the back of sorts that the team didn't drop their heads and fought back to get a result. Again, nothing to see here

The criticisms will happen I'm sure and they'll stay in-house, and these things should.

I am tired of those comments but happy we score goals again. This is important, as we've been struggling. Bring the confidence back, and go for better defensive structure. Scott is too important for us in that regard but worst case, maybe we try 4/4/2 against small teams.

 

[Paxi]

The manager is ultimately responsible for the teams performance, but there will always be extenuating circumstances. You have posters on here who brush away any attempt to point to such extenuating circumstances as excuses, proclaiming that "the buck stops with the manager", only to then go on to make them same kind of excuses for Poch. Clearly then, the buck only stops with the manager if they don't rate said manager.

Just as you're trying incredibly hard to downplay how much Spurs had been improving in the years leading up to his appointment.

Spurs were in disarray before he took over. He inherited a team of players who were happy to collect a pay cheque.

 

[Bobcat]

You trying so hard for giving him zero credit for everything he did there even in case of Kane you don't want to give him any credit for improving him and that he just came through when he was hired, all this is honestly laughable and hurt your argument. No one ever predicted Kane to be the best striker in the world at any point as he was now. A good striker at best but not the best in the world.

Anyway the point of the squad being poor is simply not true. It was till the Leicester season only when the league was shite. Since then the rest of the big teams improved a lot, appointed top tier coaches and spent feck loads more than Spurs and he was still finishing close to or even ahead of them. He finished ahead of Pep, Klopp, Mourinho and Conte at several points, both spent more and are all top tier coaches.

On the other hand this Spurs was nothing special when he took over. He was the one who improved Kane and Alli to world class level and made Eriksen achieve his potential. He didn't spend that much money and had to work with what he had and improve them, which he did to a great lengths.

You can defend Ole as much as you want but continuous bashing of a manager who every Tom, Dick and Harry know he's far better is really illogical and very weird. It's like self defense denial of real facts.

Poch will be hired by a top team soon while Ole will disappear after we sack him, I doubt he will get a PL job anytime soon. That's the levels of both.

The squad is poor though. When everyone is fit we can field a strong enough staring XI, but a couple of injuries and the quality drops substantially.

Of the players we started with today, who would you say are banged on top 4 quality players? DDG, Maguire, AWB, Martial and Rashford? Maybe James? 6 players maybe and 3 of those very recent arrivals

We had "world class" managers LvG and Jose and they usually got beat by Spurs as well so what does that say? Is Poch better than those too?