Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[roonster09]

Beat Conte, Bielsa, Pochettino all while shielding the whole squad from a shit storm of a transfer window. Could have easily brought out the pitchforks talking about how he got schooled by one of the above.

All goals and assists from the academy.

Stamped his identity on the team. Laid the foundations and seems to have built a strong belief and spirit in the squad this pre season.

One of the most successful preseasons in many years.

Massive contrast to Mourinho last season huh?

Yeah. How anyone can watch the preseason and come to conclusion that we don't have identity, playing style is beyond me.

Even against Milan, we were bad in first half after first 15 mins but most of their possession was just passing the ball between defenders. We had 30 touches in their box compared to 13 by Milan. Second half we did well especially after Lingard, Fred, James came on replacing the slow players.

This preseason has been very positive, hopefully we will take this to PL.

 

[Sterling Archer]

Pre season is over and from now on there is no excuses anymore.

Following problems seems to continue from last season and soon there will be serious questions about who’s responsible.

1. There is no pattern in our build ups and what’s our style? Defending with the whole team against a not fully fit second string team in pre season, is that our style?

2. Mistakes right left and centre. Heavy touches, bad passes, unorganized, players jogging around, silly fouls. A few mistakes in pre season doesn’t count but when our starting line up (except Pogba) can’t keep possession for more the three four passes in a row then something is wrong. (AC Milan had zero problems with our pressing, in fact they where schooling us in how to keep possession against a dysfunctional team)

3. We where supposed to press with intensity as high up as possible but several of our starters was jogging around more then ten yards away from action. How is it possible? Successful pressing needs to be synchronized. Are players stupid or don’t they get the right instructions? Mata and Pereira shouldn’t be near a future line up if we intend to play with intensive press. Pathetic.

4. We don’t have a midfield. Apart from Pogba we don’t have enough quality to dominate games on a regular basis.

5. Most of our chances comes from individual brilliance. The team doesn’t create enough chances. That’s a huge concern.

6. Who’s our leader and captain? It’s painful to see a bunch players without leadership. Give us a Alpha male please.

Maguire will hopefully bring stability and leadership to our defense. Getting him was a must.

Dybala should have the ability to hold on to the ball longer then three seconds so we can have some sort of possession. Hopefully he will unlock tight defenses and pass between the lines much better the we do today. Another must.

Finally we need a new midfielder. Otherwise our chances to finish top four will dramatically decrease.

Matic is finished. Pereira should be sold. Fred isn’t secure enough to partner a two man midfield. McTominay is our only good option together with Pogba but he isn’t fully ready to be a automatic starter. Expecting him to deliver top performances on regular basis is naive.

Ole has plenty of challenges in front of him. He desperately needs new players and a good start, otherwise this can be ugly.

It's hard for me to be as critical as you for one main reason:

It's almost the same squad. We have two new additions. The spine is the same that Mourinho and LVG couldn't salvage much out of.

I think we should have gone for broke this summer.

 

[Son]

Beat Conte, Bielsa, Pochettino all while shielding the whole squad from a shit storm of a transfer window. Could have easily brought out the pitchforks talking about how he got schooled by one of the above.

All goals and assists from the academy.

Stamped his identity on the team. Laid the foundations and seems to have built a strong belief and spirit in the squad this pre season.

One of the most successful preseasons in many years.

Massive contrast to Mourinho last season huh?

Mourinho actually won us trophies and got us to 2nd place before he was let down by our board & then proceeded to act like a clown.

Let’s not pretend like he didn’t handle the Rooney situation etc with dignity the summer before & tactically was on point for most games unlike we’ve seen from Ole so far!

When he wasn’t trying to get fired we won a lot of games for those 2 years.

 

[7even]

It's hard for me to be as critical as you for one main reason:

It's almost the same squad. We have two new additions. The spine is the same that Mourinho and LVG couldn't salvage much out of.

I think we should have gone for broke this summer.

We ended last season with horrible results. No style, unorganized, lack of leadership, lack of efforts and more or less in a total mess. That’s not criticism. Its the brutal reality. If we can’t be honest about how it is then how can we improve?

In this pre season the results has been fine but our fundamental problems seems to remain.

According to consensus our manager needed a full pre season to get everybody fit and accustomed to his style and tactics. OK. Yesterday’s game ended our pre season and nothing seems to have changed. After 20 minutes in our last rehearsal game our high press ended and we started to defend with the whole team deep in our own half. Some of our players couldn’t cope with the tempo. We couldn’t keep possession. Our midfield was none existed. Mata and Matic looked finished. Pereira and Rojo simply not good enough. Who in our starting line up impressed and looked better from last season?

AC Milan started with six, maybe seven starters and they didn’t look unfit. They kept possession and was in total control of the game until they changed half of the team. Between minute 20 to 60 they owned us.

Why did we start with Mata and Pereira instead of Lingard and James? What was the purpose? Matic is worse then ever, why do we continue to play him in a midfield two when he don’t have the legs to cope with the tempo?

How come we can’t synchronize our high pressing better? Is it because some of the players are stupid, unfit or don’t understand simple instructions? Simple questions.

Our goal is to finish in the top four. Ole must be ruthless and hold underachievers accountable if he wants to achieve that goal. Next game counts.

I hope from the bottom of my heart that we buy Dybala and a new midfielder, together with the addition of Maguire. Ole need better players to succeed. That’s not a opinion, that’s the brutal truth.

 

[hocane]

Worries me that Ole keeps picking Matic and Mata in his starting eleven.
It worries me badly.

 

[roonster09]

We ended last season with horrible results. No style, unorganized, lack of leadership, lack of efforts and more or less in a total mess. That’s not criticism. Its the brutal reality. If we can’t be honest about how it is then how can we improve?

In this pre season the results has been fine but our fundamental problems seems to remain.

According to consensus our manager needed a full pre season to get everybody fit and accustomed to his style and tactics. OK. Yesterday’s game ended our pre season and nothing seems to have changed. After 20 minutes in our last rehearsal game our high press ended and we started to defend with the whole team deep in our own half. Some of our players couldn’t cope with the tempo. We couldn’t keep possession. Our midfield was none existed. Mata and Matic looked finished. Pereira and Rojo simply not good enough. Who in our starting line up impressed and looked better from last season?

AC Milan started with six, maybe seven starters and they didn’t look unfit. They kept possession and was in total control of the game until they changed half of the team. Between minute 20 to 60 they owned us.

Why did we start with Mata and Pereira instead of Lingard and James? What was the purpose? Matic is worse then ever, why do we continue to play him in a midfield two when he don’t have the legs to cope with the tempo?

How come we can’t synchronize our high pressing better? Is it because some of the players are stupid, unfit or don’t understand simple instructions? Simple questions.

Our goal is to finish in the top four. Ole must be ruthless and hold underachievers accountable if he wants to achieve that goal. Next game counts.

I hope from the bottom of my heart that we buy Dybala and a new midfielder, together with the addition of Maguire. Ole need better players to succeed. That’s not a opinion, that’s the brutal truth.

There is nothing common between how the season ended and how we played in preseason. Milan were not in total control, they kept possession by passing the ball their own half and they played well for half of first half. Second half we looked better and from 60th min once James, Lingard, Fred came on we looked better than Milan. Milan had sterile possession. We had 30 touches in their box compared to 13 by Milan. They just kept the ball in the defensive half.

Possession doesn't mean control of the game and we didn't defend with everyone in our own half.

 

[Tony247]

There is nothing common between how the season ended and how we played in preseason. Milan were not in total control, they kept possession by passing the ball their own half and they played well for half of first half. Second half we looked better and from 60th min once James, Lingard, Fred came on we looked better than Milan. Milan had sterile possession. We had 30 touches in their box compared to 13 by Milan. They just kept the ball in the defensive half.

Possession doesn't mean control of the game and we didn't defend with everyone in our own half.

Milan kept the possession in their attacking third (our defensive third). They did not just kept the ball in their half, they moved it effectively forward. Also after they lost the ball they pressed harder to regain the possession and most of the time succeeded. I believe our dismal performance was due to lack of pace. We didn't have midfield who can run with the ball, or press hard. It changed once pacy players like Lingard, James, Gomes, Greenwood came on. They changed the dynamics. In defense Axel was excellent and Young as usual shite.

I was dejected by our performance but after watching new generation I feel there is hope. Where I worry most is the kind of spell Mata has on Ole. It looks like he sees Pirlo in Mata. If Ole doesn't take risk with new generation then I don't see he is lasting beyond winter, or max this season.

 

[Tony247]

Worries me that Ole keeps picking Matic and Mata in his starting eleven.
It worries me badly.

Yes. I can understand if there are no alternatives for the manager. But Ole has some good promising players at his disposal and yet if he is not willing to bite the bullet, take a leap of faith in youngsters then he can't last much as a manager. He has to find his regular 11 for this season. And I am not sure with a week to go he has the answer.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Then along comes Harry . Also Mctominay looks to have a leader in him

And gibbing Young the captaincy for a year let’s them prove if they are worthy Captaincy material.

It’s very logicaly for Young to be captain.

 

[Tony247]

McT looks natural leader. This should be the year of transitioning leadership to the new generation.

 

[Reddy09]

Hope we have seen last of Mata and Matic. If he persists to continue with them it will be his downfall.

 

[ForestRGoinUp]

And gibbing Young the captaincy for a year let’s them prove if they are worthy Captaincy material.

It’s very logicaly for Young to be captain.

There’s nothing at all logical about that bozo wearing the armband for Manchester decking United. It’s ludicrous, not logical.

 

[rotherham_red]

Pre season is over and from now on there is no excuses anymore.

Following problems seems to continue from last season and soon there will be serious questions about who’s responsible.

1. There is no pattern in our build ups and what’s our style? Defending with the whole team against a not fully fit second string team in pre season, is that our style?

2. Mistakes right left and centre. Heavy touches, bad passes, unorganized, players jogging around, silly fouls. A few mistakes in pre season doesn’t count but when our starting line up (except Pogba) can’t keep possession for more the three four passes in a row then something is wrong. (AC Milan had zero problems with our pressing, in fact they where schooling us in how to keep possession against a dysfunctional team)

3. We where supposed to press with intensity as high up as possible but several of our starters was jogging around more then ten yards away from action. How is it possible? Successful pressing needs to be synchronized. Are players stupid or don’t they get the right instructions? Mata and Pereira shouldn’t be near a future line up if we intend to play with intensive press. Pathetic.

4. We don’t have a midfield. Apart from Pogba we don’t have enough quality to dominate games on a regular basis.

5. Most of our chances comes from individual brilliance. The team doesn’t create enough chances. That’s a huge concern.

6. Who’s our leader and captain? It’s painful to see a bunch players without leadership. Give us a Alpha male please.

Maguire will hopefully bring stability and leadership to our defense. Getting him was a must.

Dybala should have the ability to hold on to the ball longer then three seconds so we can have some sort of possession. Hopefully he will unlock tight defenses and pass between the lines much better the we do today. Another must.

Finally we need a new midfielder. Otherwise our chances to finish top four will dramatically decrease.

Matic is finished. Pereira should be sold. Fred isn’t secure enough to partner a two man midfield. McTominay is our only good option together with Pogba but he isn’t fully ready to be a automatic starter. Expecting him to deliver top performances on regular basis is naive.

Ole has plenty of challenges in front of him. He desperately needs new players and a good start, otherwise this can be ugly.

It's obvious that you're judging him off the Milan game solely. If you'd seen the other preseason games then the style and pattern of play would be blindingly apparent.

Midfield is definitely an area of concern, but he's obviously having to make do with what he has due to the nature of the transfer market. The club identified Longstaff but £50m is an obscene price, so I have no issues with them holding fire. Having Pogba in there yesterday would have made all the difference in the world and he'll be here this coming season so we have given ourselves the thinking time and space to find additional midfielders for the season after. I also would prefer to focus on the positive that Fred and Pereira will be given the chances to prove themselves. You might say it's a long shot, but Lindelof looked even worse right up until October last year when Juve came to OT.

 

[FootyGirl88]

 

[Bastian]

Think he’s handled that Pogba situation really well in pre-season. No ammunition for Pogba or Raiola when Ole kills with kindness. And he’s probably needed to, given how slow we’ve been in the market. Maybe Dybala arriving will some what pacify Pogba.

 

[7even]

It's obvious that you're judging him off the Milan game solely. If you'd seen the other preseason games then the style and pattern of play would be blindingly apparent.

Midfield is definitely an area of concern, but he's obviously having to make do with what he has due to the nature of the transfer market. The club identified Longstaff but £50m is an obscene price, so I have no issues with them holding fire. Having Pogba in there yesterday would have made all the difference in the world and he'll be here this coming season so we have given ourselves the thinking time and space to find additional midfielders for the season after. I also would prefer to focus on the positive that Fred and Pereira will be given the chances to prove themselves. You might say it's a long shot, but Lindelof looked even worse right up until October last year when Juve came to OT.

Really?

Our game against AC Milan was our final pre season game. Our rehearsal before facing Chelsea. According to our manager the starting line up and the game plan we saw yesterday would be similar to how we approach our first competitive game next Sunday. With that context then I think my concerns are legitimate and has foundations.

I ask again. Why start with Pereira and Mata when it’s obvious judging from earlier pre season games that Lingard and James is a better option against quality opponents.

Next. Why paring Matic and McTominay? The only reason I can see from our managers perspective is to convince himself that Matic is done at this level.

Another one. Why is it so hard to be synchronized when we intend to use intensive pressing? Lack of instructions? Stupid players? Tell me so I understand.

From my experience the way we play yesterday is similar to how we going to play next Sunday if we don’t change players and follow tactical instructions. What it your conclusions?

 

[f_to_z]

Who also thinks we always play better with 2nd team of sub youngsters? That is in the preseason matches we just played.

Players like Gomes, Greenwood, Tuanzebe and Chong give us much needed energy and enthusiasm.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Really?

Our game against AC Milan was our final pre season game. Our rehearsal before facing Chelsea. According to our manager the starting line up and the game plan we saw yesterday would be similar to how we approach our first competitive game next Sunday. With that context then I think my concerns are legitimate and has foundations.

I ask again. Why start with Pereira and Mata when it’s obvious judging from earlier pre season games that Lingard and James is a better option against quality opponents.

Next. Why paring Matic and McTominay? The only reason I can see from our managers perspective is to convince himself that Matic is done at this level.

Another one. Why is it so hard to be synchronized when we intend to use intensive pressing? Lack of instructions? Stupid players? Tell me so I understand.

From my experience the way we play yesterday is similar to how we going to play next Sunday if we don’t change players and follow tactical instructions. What it your conclusions?

a) Perhaps to muddy the waters, knowing that Lampard and his staff will be watching our last friendly before the season kicks off.

b) To see how McTominay would handle himself in situations where we have fewer bodies in the midfield battle. To check if Matic's experience would help him in similar situations too now that his legs are gone. They both, more or less, failed although Pereira & Mata in front of them meant that they had to face 2v4 situations in the midfield many times throughout the game. This can be cruel in the defensive phase for the players who are responsible for shielding the back-four. It also serves as (yet) another lesson for the people who still fail to grasp the importance of Michael Carrick in Fergie's last winning seasons. I don't expect this to happen in competitive games but it looked like a "no go" for the thought of going 442 when we desperately need a goal against a 3-man midfield.

c) The pressing is good. Not perfect but good and it's still early days, so there's definitely room for improvement there. The thing is we don't seem intent to go full-Klopp with the pressing. It's more like how Spurs use pressing tactics, less as an attacking weapon and more as a tool to control the tempo and pin down the opponent. And although the tactics allow us to put more players in the box, the problems that stem from our inability to open tight defences up are still there.

In this sense, i'd be less concerned about the pressing and more worried with the fact that there seems to be very little chemistry between Martial and Rashford. The two goals we scored today painted a very flattering image for us. We won't get much from Rashford as a winger when we're asking him to constantly beat two or three defenders and then come up with a brilliant finish. There rarely was anyone in the left half-space to make use of Rashford's pace by allowing him to attempt the diagonal run between the FB and the CB and this will be a problem for us. As for Martial, the assist (which was an assist only because Lingard, surprisingly enough, scored from a difficult angle) papered the cracks over what can only be described as an anaemic performance for a forward.

Just my two pennies on the matter.

 

[JustAGuest]

Good video. Claims that he has no style are misguided. They probably serve to fit the narrative of him being an unqualified manager lucky to land his dream job, but with no clue of what he's doing.

 

[SuperiorXI]

I like Ole, just has that aura that he gets the club. He's making the right signings and talking the talk. Can he walk the walk?

 

[ThinkTank@Cafe]

Really?

Our game against AC Milan was our final pre season game. Our rehearsal before facing Chelsea. According to our manager the starting line up and the game plan we saw yesterday would be similar to how we approach our first competitive game next Sunday. With that context then I think my concerns are legitimate and has foundations.

I ask again. Why start with Pereira and Mata when it’s obvious judging from earlier pre season games that Lingard and James is a better option against quality opponents.

Next. Why paring Matic and McTominay? The only reason I can see from our managers perspective is to convince himself that Matic is done at this level.

Another one. Why is it so hard to be synchronized when we intend to use intensive pressing? Lack of instructions? Stupid players? Tell me so I understand.

From my experience the way we play yesterday is similar to how we going to play next Sunday if we don’t change players and follow tactical instructions. What it your conclusions?

This from my post game comments. I tried to answer Matic question:

Beginning of the game. 4-2-3-1 again. Rashford on the left = goal against pressing teams. Excellent weapon.

Build up from the back is a problem. Against KBK, it was just visible; facing a more competent team we lost the pitch for good 50 minutes.

We can’t rely on Matic to bring the ball out of defense against good teams with a lot of AM type players pressing centrally. Neither we can’t rely on him to provide cover for MCT runs. As a result we had DMs doing nothing.

They were so bad that Rashford and Martial played very deep on the flanks. Starting from 20th minute we had weird experimental 4-4-2 Strikerless formation. Ole spotted holes between Milan’s defense and midfielders and tried to exploit them.

It failed because: 1) Rash and Tony played too deep and we didn’t have anyone upfront, 2) more importantly - both Mata and Pereira can’t play when they have space. They are too slow. Mata is handy in compressed spaces (see KBK match), he’s very cunning player. When he has space he is just useless. Too slow, his passes tend to be too short and weak. Pereira should be sold. Enough is enough.

Then, Ole fixes everything. Fred has a fantastic passing range. Lingard is a king of the holes. He just destroyed Milan punishing them for the gap. Gomes and Greenwood had chances to show their skills. They are very raw tactically. People here are so fooled with turns and dribbles. Go watch youtube. l and you’ll never be upset.

Most popular question: why Matic plays? Because we don’t play Smalling. Heading issue is pain in the ass. We managed to concede a set-piece goal from Milan!

This is the reason we paid 80M for Maguire. And this is reason why Fred wasn’t played last season. Remember Mourinho saying we didn’t buy a CB to play Fred?

Given the number and size of the problems we are fixing post Mourinho, we can’t expect the team to perform at its full potential until October. Then, we can start to judge. Or panic if someone prefers.

Friendly is a friendly.

 

[Patrick08]

The problem is if Pogba gets injured ( which often happens whenever we face top teams in the league ) this system just lays down creativity burden on one player while pogba is himself not very effective from deep positions.

Also the bench options to roles of 10 and deep lying pivot are severely under par in terms or creativity and control ,Matic, Mata, lingard, pierera while fred doesn't suit this system entirely. How are we going to continue with this system over whole season without significant drop in quality in subs and second lineup? The results and form will be totally unpredictable.

 

[manunited1919]

I like Ole, but once in a while, I would like to see him show some anger in public. It’s like he respects the press too much.

 

[Tarrou]

I wonder how much influence Ole had over the Dybala decision?

It's not the sort of sensible transfer decision we're accustomed to under Ed's reign

 

[ohhrooney]

We are going into a new season with

Fred - God knows if he can play football
Matic - Old and Out
Scott - Can't depend on him for an entire season
Pogba - One Man Midfield
Perriera - Is he even a midfielder?

This scares me to bits when even Everton and Leicester have a better midfield than us.

One injury to Pogba and our season is as good as over.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

So yesterday marked the last game of our pre season game. We were probably the least convincing againat Milan, but again there were still a few positives we can take away from not only yesterday, but all our games.

- Won all 6 games. Whilst its only pre season, its always good to win and have that feel good factor going into the season

- As a unit we looked relatively solid. When the oppostion beat our press, we got back into two banks of four and were hard to break down. Can only imagine with the signing of Maguire that it will be better.

- Energy, energy, energy. Our pressing has been very impressive. We've won the ball back high up the pitch countless times. Very encouraging signs.

- Build up play has been better. We seems to have a plan on how we're going to beat the press. Struggled a bit against Milan, but all in all, it looks more structured.

De Gea
Centre Back Midfielder Centre Back
Centre Midfielder Attacking Midfielder
Full Back Winger Winger Full back
Striker
​

Above is generally how we've set up in our phase play. Again, I can only imagine with Maguire and hopefully a creative attacking midfielder, it will improve.

The one thing that slightly worries me going into the upcoming season is our attacking play. We really struggle to make the right decisions in the final third, whether it be on the counter or when we're trying to break down a team with a deep line. Hoping with game time, it will improve.

Other than that, im quietly confident going into the season. We seem to have a system, where everyone knows their roles, on and off the ball. Couple more signings and we should be set.​

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Fantastic video. Thanks.

 

[settembrini]

We are going into a new season with

Fred - God knows if he can play football
Matic - Old and Out
Scott - Can't depend on him for an entire season
Pogba - One Man Midfield
Perriera - Is he even a midfielder?

This scares me to bits when even Everton and Leicester have a better midfield than us.

One injury to Pogba and our season is as good as over.

Here is my positive take on our midfield:

Pogba - Can be world class. With the extra attacker in the 4-2-3-1 system he will have more passing options + another player to take some of the creative burden off his shoulders.

McTominay - Played well at the end of last season and in pre-season. Great attitude and improving at a decent rate.

Fred - Played well at the end of last season. The double pivot we are using now is the same system he played in at Shakhar which led to ourselves and City wanting him.

Pereira - Looked good in pre-season when played in central positions.

Matic - Okay it's difficult to be positive here.

 

[Jericholyte2]

We are going into a new season with

Fred - God knows if he can play football
Matic - Old and Out
Scott - Can't depend on him for an entire season
Pogba - One Man Midfield
Perriera - Is he even a midfielder?

This scares me to bits when even Everton and Leicester have a better midfield than us.

One injury to Pogba and our season is as good as over.

We are so fecked it’s unbelievable! Would suggest we try and hijack Everton’s bid for Doucouré but that would make far too much fecking sense!

 

[::sonny::]

Happy with him at the moment

> He is putting in order the things, with a clear way to play football

> Happy to see players like Smalling, Jones (who brought us down year by year) out of the project

> Same thing for Lukaku (a player without qualities)

> The best manager for United in this moment, because he know the place, what is needed, with a vision for the future on long terms (Mourinho vision was 3 months)

 

[Coleyoscar]

I have a concern that (possibly because he's such a genuinely nice guy) he shys way from the tough decisions that managers need to make. He hasn't shown anyone the door; he wouldn't take the captaincy off Young; he even managed to play all 22 players on every pre season game. Keeping everyone happy can be a fatal approach. When Fergie arrived he wasn't afraid to court unpopularity by selling off several star players, who were fan favourites, to sort the drinking culture he inherited. Needless to say, I hope I'm wrong, I would love to see him succeed.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

We are going into a new season with

Fred - God knows if he can play football
Matic - Old and Out
Scott - Can't depend on him for an entire season
Pogba - One Man Midfield
Perriera - Is he even a midfielder?

This scares me to bits when even Everton and Leicester have a better midfield than us.

One injury to Pogba and our season is as good as over.

Our midfield is nowhere near good enough to finish 4th.Even If Pogbas fit,is he going to be able to consistently perform at a high level for 9 months?Can Fred resurrect his United career?Is Matic irreversibly on the decline?Are Mctominay And Perreira good enough for us?

There are question marks around every single midfield player...We desperately need to sign another midfielder before Thursday...If we don’t then we will be starting with a serious handicap...

 

[Captain Paris]

Now that preseason is over and our summer window also, it's time to give a first assessement of Ole's work.

First of all the positive(s) :

- Fitness level : The players really look better than last year. It should be a prerequisite but still, I am satisfied to see our players still running past the 60th minutes.

(I wanted to add the performances of the youngsters but there is no guarantee he will play them and he shouldn't if the team is performing well. Remeber Januzaj).

Now the worries I have :

- The style of play has been largely unispired to say the least. People that we play a better brand of football but I just don't see it. Except for some pressing but again we had to, I don't see new patterns of play. It lacks something and when Pogba is not playing, it's not good enough.

- This obssession with British players. What does it mean for our future ? Since absolutely no top players in the world would want to come the 6th in PL and why would they ? Since the other teams in PL aren't willing to sell their best players (English or not), does it mean we are gonna have to keep buying players from the Championship ? Because I'm sure they all dream of United but are they good enough ?

- The new contracts to Mata and Pereira. I really think those are bad decisions. Stop rewarding limited players with new contracts just because they are "good guys".

I hope he proves me wrong and he succeeds but so far, I'm not convinced he will succeed.

 

[Roboc7]

He’s not getting anymore signings and has to work which what he’s got, it’s going to be a real struggle to try and get 4th and could even be pressure to finish in top 6. Defence looks stronger, midfield weaker and attack no different so he’s got a lot of coaching to do.

He’s got to be brave and give chances to likes of Axel, Gomes and Greenwood if he’s still relying on Jones, Mata etc then he doesn’t stand a chance.

 

[roonster09]

I have a concern that (possibly because he's such a genuinely nice guy) he shys way from the tough decisions that managers need to make. He hasn't shown anyone the door; he wouldn't take the captaincy off Young; he even managed to play all 22 players on every pre season game. Keeping everyone happy can be a fatal approach. When Fergie arrived he wasn't afraid to court unpopularity by selling off several star players, who were fan favourites, to sort the drinking culture he inherited. Needless to say, I hope I'm wrong, I would love to see him succeed.

He asked Lukaku to train with U23s, that's a very tough decision to take imo. Players who played with him says he is lot tougher than he looks when it comes to making decisions.

 

[Raven]

There's too many extremely negative people around. How can people not be excited by what's happening at the moment?

This is the first transfer window in a long time that we've bought with purpose, only addressing the main needs of the team and not using some weird scatter gun approach. Our preseason has shown us the work that Ole and the coaching staff have been doing, implementing an entirely new system of high pressing and more chance creation. The mentality in the squad seems the best we've had in years.

Surely we can find it in us to give Ole until Christmas to prove that he has it in him. We don't need to be calling for his head just yet.

 

[Grylte]

I have a concern that (possibly because he's such a genuinely nice guy) he shys way from the tough decisions that managers need to make. He hasn't shown anyone the door; he wouldn't take the captaincy off Young; he even managed to play all 22 players on every pre season game. Keeping everyone happy can be a fatal approach. When Fergie arrived he wasn't afraid to court unpopularity by selling off several star players, who were fan favourites, to sort the drinking culture he inherited. Needless to say, I hope I'm wrong, I would love to see him succeed.

As stated above, he has been tough against Lukaku, forced him to play with the u23, and fining him for not showing up at training. Literally showing him the door.
It's quite clear that Young is a leader in the dressing room and in the squad, why remove him as captain?
He said WHEN Young plays, he's a captain, the moaners on here, who thinks Ole is LvG, think it means that "my captain always plays". By saying when he plays, he means that he isn't a starter fullback, that'll be Shaw and AwB.
He didn't let everyone play all matches in pre-season to make them happy, but to make them everyone fit for the season, if we get injuries, we need the backups to be ready to play. Also it was quite hot, can't let players play 90 minutes in every match in pre-season.
He acted on Lingard's instagram shit, and Lingard seems to have become more quiet on there - i don't follow him there, but not heard anything about his instagram since then.

People keep thinking he's a yes man, who cuddles with every player, he's not, he just tries to be positive in interviews. And yes, he is a happy and optimistic person, that doesn't mean he isn't going to use hairdryer treatment if needed, players who played for him before have confirmed this.

 

[Stacks]

There's too many extremely negative people around. How can people not be excited by what's happening at the moment?

This is the first transfer window in a long time that we've bought with purpose, only addressing the main needs of the team and not using some weird scatter gun approach. Our preseason has shown us the work that Ole and the coaching staff have been doing, implementing an entirely new system of high pressing and more chance creation. The mentality in the squad seems the best we've had in years.

Surely we can find it in us to give Ole until Christmas to prove that he has it in him. We don't need to be calling for his head just yet.

I am happy to give him at least 18 more months buddy. I am just concerned that he is being hung out to dry or he has taken a poisoned chalice, like the England job. Huge expectation but not the tools to deliver it. After our worst start to a season ever and worse form since WW2, 2 1st teamers was seldom going to do it

 

[Grylte]

I am happy to give him at least 18 more months buddy. I am just concerned that he is being hung out to dry or he has taken a poisoned chalice, like the England job. Huge expectation but not the tools to deliver it. After our worst start to a season ever and worse form since WW2, 2 1st teamers was seldom going to do it

Funny that you ignore to mention the record away wins in a row.
And after he took over, we were 3rd on points, only beaten by the top 2 teams.
Shows that people just focus on the negatives.

 

[GDaly95]

Disgusted with the club at the club, but my love for Ole remains.

The signings he's made and the way he went about making them, he's going about it the right way.

I'm sure he's unhappy that we've not got more signings, I'm sure he knows the midfield isn't good enough, and I'm certainly sure that he's given a list of midfield targets to Ed. It isn't Ole's fault. He's up against it and he should be backed til the bitter end.

100% of the anger we feel and will continue to feel as this potentially horrific season unfolds should be directed at the hierarchy.