I don't find the hard thing in evaluating managers. You look on the pitch and you can obviously see how the team plays, the style tried to be applied, even if inefficiently due to lack of some key players, patterns of play, the tactical response to going down, the timing and choice of subs, and the tactical shuffling that happened after each sub. You can comment on all these after each game it's not rocket science, and developing a style of play isn't that hard, the hard thing is applying it efficiently but any manager with a clear style will apply it immediately, the question will be whether the style is good or not and how much it's missing to click.
What I told you previously is that what's happening currently in Caf isn't specific to Ole. People here slaughtered the previous 3 managers and will most probably slaughter the next one too, regardless of the circumstances of each manager of them.
No one had high expectations for Ole. The biggest expectation was just finishing top 4. However most people were fine with being around 4th and playing good football while developing youth. No one had been asking him for a title challenge and I don't think these requirements are unreasonable either.
Yesterday was great so we can all hope we will build up on it and you can bet if we produce the same football for the majority of our games with several youth developing and ended up finishing 5th or so the stance of many fans, including me will change and we will be willing to give him a new season.
Thats fair. As far as i know, the main focus up until now as been fitness and mentality. Ole had said so himself on numerous occasions and its pretty well documented that it was never a focus under Jose, both because we were rock bottom in distance covered and number of sprints, but because hes always had a style that conserves energy. How we ended last season is also a testament to how bad fitness really was, with half the squad falling victim to muscular injury after shifting to a more intense style, and everyone looking like they had ran a marathon by the half hour mark from March-May
I think its pretty clear how Ole wants us to play. Win the ball in advantageous areas and then go straight for the kill, by having inverted wingers use their pace to sneak in behind the fullback and CB, or play it in behind for the CF. A big problem earlier in the season was having Martial injured and being in forced to play Rashford there. Rashford is dreadful when being asked to play as a lone CF, and he simultaneously hit a rough patch of form as well. Another problem was Pogba being injured, and our midfield being utterly unable to transport the ball forward in any decent manner. September-October we hardly managed to get a shot on target, and with Martial back and Fred/McTomminay gaining some understanding and confidence we are suddenly creating loads of good chances.
Most of the job regarding tactics and "style" is getting the right kinds of players who fit that style. That's why you see Pep and Klopp always going for hard working and technically superb players wherever they are, and thats why every Jose team has exceptional long range passers in midfield and big strong CF's up top. That's why i think us looking clueless in many games this season is not because of lack of tactical direction or coaching, its because the players we had available were ill fitted to perform their roles
The thing is though, despite our first XI not being half bad was are just one or two injuries away from another crisis, and i can almost guarantee that if we draw or lose to Sheffield next game, the pitchforks will be out again in full force. 4/11 starting players yesterday were basically just kids from the academy and on the bench its just more kids and dinosaurs like Mata, Matic and Young
City and Liverpool are pretty much guaranteed to make top 2/3, and if Chelsea and Leichester keep delivering, that advantage they have now is going to be pretty hard to catch up. If we manage to qualify for EL next season and Ole keeps playing and developing our young players, i would say thats pretty decent considering our cirsumstances