Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

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Wolff

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I was behind Ole, and parts of what he’s doing I fully agree with. That said, there are other key areas in which he’s clearly fecking clueless to me.

The weakest area of our team, by far, is the shambles of a midfield. It wasn’t that bad when he took over. He has weakened the balance of it, massively, by changing the structure of the midfield to a 4231 and putting Pogba deeper. We had something that worked at least.
People keep saying that, but it’s simply not true. Point one, Pogba was getting a lot of special treatment after Oles good start. He was marked out of games. From a tactical point of view it makes sense to drop him deeper. He isn’t limited to stay there, he has the freedom to roam, and it gives him so much more space. The tactics argument isn’t valid. You can see the same with Savic at Lazio. He comes deep, and he pushes high. Even Odegard does the same. Point two. Lack of midfielders with quality. He has a job to do.
 

Rhyme Animal

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Nonchalantly scoring the winner...
Stop the dumb argument. What was agreed? That you said you will check with me and I said hopefully we don't have to do that.

I do it when I feel like doing it, not because some lazy arse wants it to be done.

And what specific angle? That I'm supporting Ole? Instead of looking for silly arguments, if you read posts you will see where I stand on that.
It's not a dumb argument mate, as much as you're trying to make it one - it's a genuine question based on my last conversation with you.

Obviously you're not about engaging unless it's to back up whatever ludicrous angle you're pushing so we'll leave it at that - but at least I upheld my end of the agreement, even if you're not gonna do the same.

Oh, and drop the personal insults ;)

Pointless argument aside, I've just checked for you and according to Talksport who checked with I think Opta? This is our worst first seven league matches since 1989 (30 years)
I think it's 2 points worse off from Van Gaals first season, not sure about mourinhos last, might be one worse?
I think last week (match week 6) it was joint with Van Gaals first season, according to the premier league website.
Thank you, Crossy. It's a very bad start, especially given the opposition.

Hopefully he turns it around - a win against Newcastle is obviously a must, and is a nice game for us to have next. And then a draw against the dippers and I think OGS would start turning the corner to better momentum.
 

roonster09

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It's not a dumb argument mate, as much as you're trying to make it one - it's a genuine question based on my last conversation with you.

Obviously you're not about engaging unless it's to back up whatever ludicrous angle you're pushing so we'll leave it at that - but at least I upheld my end of the agreement, even if you're not gonna do the same.

Oh, and drop the personal insults ;).
Liar. Won't look out of place in Sun paper, quoting half of the posts and leaving out other parts.
 

roonster09

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Not in the slightest - I told you I would run it by you, and I have.

You might not like it, but I did exactly what I told you I would.

End of.
Liar. Won't look out of place in Sun paper, quoting half of the posts and leaving out other parts.
Bold part is still true when you repeating the nonsense like 'Even if you're not gonna do the same."

Go ahead and quote the posts where I said I will verify the stats. When you keep repeating the same thing even after saying pointing that out (that I asked you to check Wiki and hopefully we won't be needing to check stas), all I can do is call you liar because that's what you are now.
 

Strats

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Ole won’t be sacked. He’s the perfect “yes-man” Woodward and the Glazers want.

His delusion in thinking that we’ve improved and his faith in Lingard just screams incompetence.
 

Rhyme Animal

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Nonchalantly scoring the winner...
Bold part is still true when you repeating the nonsense like 'Even if you're not gonna do the same."

Go ahead and quote the posts where I said I will verify the stats. When you keep repeating the same thing even after saying pointing that out (that I asked you to check Wiki and hopefully we won't be needing to check stas), all I can do is call you liar because that's what you are now.
What on Earth are you even talking about now...?

I told you that I'd run it past you -

I would suggest to double check before believing all the troll accounts.
Unless it's from an official source I shan't take it too seriously.

And even if it is, I'll try to remember to run by you personally to check it's authenticity!
Hopefully you never have to check that for the sake of the club.
Lose the next 2 and I honestly reckon he's done...

Win them and at least he will've coached us out of this form.
And that's what I've done - little did I know that you were being facetious and had no real interest unless the stats backed your own agenda...

I thought you were actually interested in them, like @crossy1686 for example - who disagrees with me but is capable of flying straight.

Let's leave it there as the thread being ruined by our squabble isn't really a good look.

PM me if you wanna carry on with the goalpost shifting, and I'll do my best to keep up with you.
 

roonster09

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What on Earth are you even talking about now...?

I told you that I'd run it past you -

And that's what I've done - little did I know that you were being facetious and had no real interest unless the stats backed your own agenda...

I thought you were actually interested in them, like @crossy1686 for example - who disagrees with me but is capable of flying straight.

Let's leave it there as the thread being ruined by our squabble isn't really a good look.

PM me if you wanna carry on with the goalpost shifting, and I'll do my best to keep up with you.
fecking hell, you still don't get it. Where did I say that I will verify those stats?

So When you keep posting "but at least I upheld my end of the agreement, even if you're not gonna do the same." you are just lying, that too after pointing that out at least 2-3 times.

So you lie about something and then accuse me of shifting goal posts :lol:

When that argument was made I told you to check wiki if you want to verify stats and now after few days you want me to check it for you and then lie about it, saying I didn't upheld my agreement or some nonsense like that.
 

rotherham_red

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I was behind Ole, and parts of what he’s doing I fully agree with. That said, there are other key areas in which he’s clearly fecking clueless to me.

The weakest area of our team, by far, is the shambles of a midfield. It wasn’t that bad when he took over. He has weakened the balance of it, massively, by changing the structure of the midfield to a 4231 and putting Pogba deeper. We had something that worked at least.
Something tells me that these highly paid managers are setting us up in a 4-2-3-1 for a reason, and while it may not be ideal, they must have thought long and hard before they went with it. It's literally our last three managers now who have chosen to set us up in this manner, it's not as if Ole woke up one morning and thought you know what, I'll play my best player in a deeper position for the shits and giggles. Especially since he backed up what he said before he even joined and put Pogba as the 10. And while yes, it worked in terms of short term results, it also meant our balance as a team was way off because we were conceding far too many chances to the opposition (which came to a head during that horror run at the end) cos Pogba is next to useless off the ball. And with a team that's been set up to press from the front, playing a half arsed Pogba in that role is less than optimal.

And it's a piss poor midfield btw, and that's with Pogba included. Herrera leaving was the killer blow for it because simply due to the lack of numbers it's necessitated a 4-2-3-1. Why play a 3 in midfield as your default formation when you literally and barely have 4 midfielders at the club? I'd say that's more clueless than anything you've accused Ole of.
 

rotherham_red

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People keep saying that, but it’s simply not true. Point one, Pogba was getting a lot of special treatment after Oles good start. He was marked out of games. From a tactical point of view it makes sense to drop him deeper. He isn’t limited to stay there, he has the freedom to roam, and it gives him so much more space. The tactics argument isn’t valid. You can see the same with Savic at Lazio. He comes deep, and he pushes high. Even Odegard does the same. Point two. Lack of midfielders with quality. He has a job to do.
Also, this @Rozay - a 4-2-3-1 under Ole is very different to the 4-2-3-1 with Jose. Hell, his Molde teams played 4-2-3-1 with at least one, if not both of the midfielders at times pushing up ahead of the ball. They are there to pick up the ball and progress the play, not just sit and block passing lanes. It's not happening at Utd for whatever reason, but the 4-2-3-1 is not much different to the 4-3-3. The numbers are just semantics.
 

Rozay

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Also, this @Rozay - a 4-2-3-1 under Ole is very different to the 4-2-3-1 with Jose. Hell, his Molde teams played 4-2-3-1 with at least one, if not both of the midfielders at times pushing up ahead of the ball. They are there to pick up the ball and progress the play, not just sit and block passing lanes. It's not happening at Utd for whatever reason, but the 4-2-3-1 is not much different to the 4-3-3. The numbers are just semantics.
There isn’t a massive difference between any type of midfield set up if we want to nitpick. It’s not so much the midfield set up on the whole as it is with Pogba’s role in it. If we played a 4231 with him as a 10, then I agree - the makeup would not be massively different. However, we have effectively swapped what he gave us last season with fecking Lingard, and asked Pogba to replace Herrera. This has made the whole unit massively worse off I think.
 

Sir Scott McToMinay

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Just a thought and I’m not trying to discredit Ole here, but maybe he won the league with Molde because of who he is?
He is the the most famous Norwegian player of all isn’t he?
Maybe most of these matches were won in the tunnel just because he was the manager and rival players were in awe of him?

Anyone here watched Molde under Ole enough to know whether or not he has shown enough to suggest he is a decent coach?
 

Wolff

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Just a thought and I’m not trying to discredit Ole here, but maybe he won the league with Molde because of who he is?
He is the the most famous Norwegian player of all isn’t he?
Maybe most of these matches were won in the tunnel just because he was the manager and rival players were in awe of him?

Anyone here watched Molde under Ole enough to know whether or not he has shown enough to suggest he is a decent coach?
I think you should do some research. The reason he is at Utd is that Fergie thinks he is very very good. I think you will find that most say he has a very good understanding of football and amazing man management. It’s all there if people wasn’t so fecking lazy and loud about things they know nothing about.
 

C'est Moi Cantona

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Just a thought and I’m not trying to discredit Ole here, but maybe he won the league with Molde because of who he is?
He is the the most famous Norwegian player of all isn’t he?
Maybe most of these matches were won in the tunnel just because he was the manager and rival players were in awe of him?

Anyone here watched Molde under Ole enough to know whether or not he has shown enough to suggest he is a decent coach?
No, he was probably just a good manager in a limited league., it's not hard to believe.
 

Sir Scott McToMinay

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I think you should do some research. The reason he is at Utd is that Fergie thinks he is very very good. I think you will find that most say he has a very good understanding of football and amazing man management. It’s all there if people wasn’t so fecking lazy and loud about things they know nothing about.
Yeah I don’t think it was Fergie’s idea for him to become a permanent manager, a caretaker yes, but we don’t know whose decision was it to make the appointment permanent so needlessly early, doubt it was Fergie this time around.
 

beer&grill

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Looking at Barca-Inter, I’m baffled how people can think Conte is a boring defensive coach while Ole plays attacking and beautiful football.
 
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el3mel

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I think you should do some research. The reason he is at Utd is that Fergie thinks he is very very good. I think you will find that most say he has a very good understanding of football and amazing man management. It’s all there if people wasn’t so fecking lazy and loud about things they know nothing about.
Fergie thought the same about Moyes. Terrible point to make.
 

Lee565

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I think he is doing a lot more harm than good with this reliance on the youngsters.

I know he has the fixation of trying to copy fergie but fergie was never this reckless and naive to go into a season by putting such pressure on the youngsters to carry the season on their shoulders like ole has done.

You can see it with rashford who we forget is still only 21 and is getting overly frustrated with himself and theres no real senior striker like lukaku was to handle that burden of being the main goalscorer, even martial is still very young to depend heavily on him when he's fit. I also fear for greenwood now having all the expectations thrown on him to come good already because of rashfords form and James as well having to come good straight away because of being down to the bare bones with winger options all the time Ole persists with 4231.
 

Dve

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Some of the current players in the squad needs to improve, because I don´t think Ole will get to buy both attackers and a new midfield next summer. Ole may buy Mandzukic in January and Haaland in the summer. And maybe Sancho. And maybe that´s it.

But let´s see. In all bad results, I think the midfield is getting better. McTominay, Pereira and Fred are showing some improvement.
 

Samid

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Some of the current players in the squad needs to improve, because I don´t think Ole will get to buy both attackers and a new midfield next summer. Ole may buy Mandzukic in January and Haaland in the summer. And maybe Sancho. And maybe that´s it.

But let´s see. In all bad results, I think the midfield is getting better. McTominay, Pereira and Fred are showing some improvement.
We're not getting Sancho in the summer if Mandzukic is the only incoming in January.
 

Dve

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I think he is doing a lot more harm than good with this reliance on the youngsters.

I know he has the fixation of trying to copy fergie but fergie was never this reckless and naive to go into a season by putting such pressure on the youngsters to carry the season on their shoulders like ole has done.

You can see it with rashford who we forget is still only 21 and is getting overly frustrated with himself and theres no real senior striker like lukaku was to handle that burden of being the main goalscorer, even martial is still very young to depend heavily on him when he's fit. I also fear for greenwood now having all the expectations thrown on him to come good already because of rashfords form and James as well having to come good straight away because of being down to the bare bones with winger options all the time Ole persists with 4231.
But you are forgetting a few players who are also getting a chance for a run of games, i.e. McTominay, Pereira, Tuanzebe. The season just started, and they´ll get to play a lot. It can´t be bad for James´s development either to play games. But it´s regrettable, and a bit overoptimistic not to buy a striker. Ole is a gambler. And Martial is badly needed, because Greenwood at age of 17 has not developed speed and strength enough to play as nr. 9 in the PL. Ole seems to agree with you on him.
 

Acole9

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People need to give up on Sancho coming here, absolutely no chance the way we are a complete shambles.
 

In Rainbows

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People need to give up on Sancho coming here, absolutely no chance the way we are a complete shambles.
I said from the start that Chelsea were a major threat, but with the transfer ban and losing Hazard, that tipped the scales towards United a bit. They have to be very attractive right now for someone like Sancho, if they can secure top 4. And if that's the case, our road to the top would become very steep. It would be no good to let Chelsea have Hudson Odoi and Sancho on both wings.
 

Mainoldo

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I said from the start that Chelsea were a major threat, but with the transfer ban and losing Hazard, that tipped the scales towards United a bit. They have to be very attractive right now for someone like Sancho, if they can secure top 4. And if that's the case, our road to the top would become very steep. It would be no good to let Chelsea have Hudson Odoi and Sancho on both wings.
I think we all know what’s more attractive right now. If he wants to develop go Chelsea. We will stagnate him.

Can’t believe I’m still saying we don’t develop players after 3 years. It’s a joke.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Any manager won’t do well anyway with our current attackers. They are mediocre attackers. Ole already said that it will take time. This summer we were focusing on improving the defense and we did. Next summer I’m expecting lot of signing for attackers.

At least he has shown us the right platform to build a team in United way unlike the previous managers.

Signing players with the right mentality like Maguire & James and player who can settle in quickly like Bissaka.

Developing young players instead of spending money on random. For example:
Having faith in Martial as his striker (although he’s injured).
Having faith in McTomminay, a player with the right mentality & attitude to be united player.
Making Tuanzebe as his 3rd CB option over the likes of Rojo, Smalling, Jones.
Although Pereira hasn’t been doing good enough but at least you can see that Ole isn’t afraid to give young player chances.

And now what excited the most is the potential of youth player Mason Greenwood

The negative one is obviously giving Mata a new contract instead of moving on from him & trusting Lingard in our XI. But overall there are some positive & he’s done the right thing to start the platform.
 

Mainoldo

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Any manager won’t do well anyway with our current attackers. They are mediocre attackers. Ole already said that it will take time. This summer we were focusing on improving the defense and we did. Next summer I’m expecting lot of signing for attackers.

At least he has shown us the right platform to build a team in United way unlike the previous managers.

Signing players with the right mentality like Maguire & James and player who can settle in quickly like Bissaka.

Developing young players instead of spending money on random. For example:
Having faith in Martial as his striker (although he’s injured).
Having faith in McTomminay, a player with the right mentality & attitude to be united player.
Making Tuanzebe as his 3rd CB option over the likes of Rojo, Smalling, Jones.
Although Pereira hasn’t been doing good enough but at least you can see that Ole isn’t afraid to give young player chances.

And now what excited the most is the potential of youth player Mason Greenwood

The negative one is obviously giving Mata a new contract instead of moving on from him & trusting Lingard in our XI. But overall there are some positive & he’s done the right thing to start the platform.
The defence looks as crap as it did last season. So he’s failed there.

Greenwood actually scares me.. that he’s coming through under this coach. I can see next season already. He’ll be wearing number 11 after doing nothing in his career.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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The defence looks as crap as it did last season. So he’s failed there.

Greenwood actually scares me.. that he’s coming through under this coach. I can see next season already. He’ll be wearing number 11 after doing nothing in his career.
Defensively there are only 2 teams in the league who are conceded less than us. If only we can score 2 goals or more in a game, we would have have been in better position in the league. The attack has been letting us down not the defense.

At this point I’ll just view the positivity instead of being sink in with the negativity from the media.
 

André Dominguez

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Defensively there are only 2 teams in the league who are conceded less than us. If only we can score 2 goals or more in a game, we would have have been in better position in the league. The attack has been letting us down not the defense.

At this point I’ll just view the positivity instead of being sink in with the negativity from the media.
It usually works that way, this football thing.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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It usually works that way, this football thing.
You are acting so stupid if you think I meant it that way.

I was just making a point that games like Wolves, Southampton, & Arsenal are games we could have won if we have better attackers instead of having mediocre attackers.
 

Sir Scott McToMinay

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You are acting so stupid if you think I meant it that way.

I was just making a point that games like Wolves, Southampton, & Arsenal are games we could have won if we have better attackers instead of having mediocre attackers.
We could be challenging for the treble if we had a better squad, CEO, manager, owners and staff.
Could’ve, should’ve,... football doesn’t work that way.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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We could be challenging for the treble if we had a better squad, CEO, manager, owners and staff.
Could’ve, should’ve,... football doesn’t work that way.
Explain what did I say wrong? & Explain how is your football term working in this reality?
 

Wolf8312

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I think he is doing a lot more harm than good with this reliance on the youngsters.

I know he has the fixation of trying to copy fergie but fergie was never this reckless and naive to go into a season by putting such pressure on the youngsters to carry the season on their shoulders like ole has done.

You can see it with rashford who we forget is still only 21 and is getting overly frustrated with himself and theres no real senior striker like lukaku was to handle that burden of being the main goalscorer, even martial is still very young to depend heavily on him when he's fit. I also fear for greenwood now having all the expectations thrown on him to come good already because of rashfords form and James as well having to come good straight away because of being down to the bare bones with winger options all the time Ole persists with 4231.
Good point. Ferguson had a team that was not facing anywhere near the amount of pressure/negativity and expectation that the present team is facing.

It was clearly too much for many senior players and managers for that matter!

Throwing young kids into this situation and hoping they float might end up doing more harm to their development/confidence than good.

I think the biggest problem United face right now is psychological, and my hunch is it’ll get worse before it gets better, only beginning to improve when everyone, fans/media/players/ management begin to relax.

Unfortunately this probably won’t happen until the team itself becomes a bit more of an uninteresting nonentity that everyone has forgotten about!

No nation, and no football club stays on top forever.
 

André Dominguez

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You are acting so stupid if you think I meant it that way.

I was just making a point that games like Wolves, Southampton, & Arsenal are games we could have won if we have better attackers instead of having mediocre attackers.
I know what you meant. I was just making a dry humor statement, nothing else. Sorry if offense was taken.
 

dove

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Don't worry lads, Alkmaar have far better squad. 0-0 at HT while being absolutely toothless yet again is overachieving from Ole.
 
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