Ole Gunnar Solskjær needs more time and respect at Manchester United

Tom Cato

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Is it really a ruthless edge though? There are a good 6/7players still here that many people would have been calling to get rid off last summer as well that we are seeing on peoples deadwood and outs lists.

I personally am very much on the fence with SOlkjear so far. I like that he is trying to do things the United way in terms of playing style, transfer purchases, youth player focus and I like his optimism. I do also think he so far whether it is him or the board hasnt done enough each window liek I mentioned. Another 2/3outs last summer could have been one more incoming signing. I expect 3 in this summer and 4/5 out.....8/10 out could be 4 signings.

I like his optimism and drive. But I am still not so sure of the tactical nouse, man management and motivation is there to keep consistency with the players throughout the season. You watch us and we are like the late Wengers Arsenal days. There are periods you start to believe we can start to challenge and then periods you start to believe we simply are nowhere near good enough.

Post lockdown was a perfect example of this. The firs half of it we were enjoyable to watch again, scoring goals and playin gexciting football against admittedly fa weaker sides. The second half of it, we were mainly absolutely dreadful and outplayed in most of the games despite the results.

The current premiership is of course very difficult to challenge in when there are two sides, with two fantastic managers and points tallies the last two years that would have won any premiership season in history. Solkjear has done a good job so far, has been the only manager since Ferguson who seems to understand the club at all, all the predecessors were actually cluseless and two of them far too stubborn and arrogant to adapt to the club expecting the club to adapt to there philosophies.

But is he the man to take us back towards the top, Im really not so sure
No, he's being super nice and cozy because he doesnt get rid of 10-15 players in the one whole transfer window he's been the permanent manager.
 

UnitedSofa

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Is it really a ruthless edge though? There are a good 6/7players still here that many people would have been calling to get rid off last summer as well that we are seeing on peoples deadwood and outs lists.

I personally am very much on the fence with SOlkjear so far. I like that he is trying to do things the United way in terms of playing style, transfer purchases, youth player focus and I like his optimism. I do also think he so far whether it is him or the board hasnt done enough each window liek I mentioned. Another 2/3outs last summer could have been one more incoming signing. I expect 3 in this summer and 4/5 out.....8/10 out could be 4 signings.

I like his optimism and drive. But I am still not so sure of the tactical nouse, man management and motivation is there to keep consistency with the players throughout the season. You watch us and we are like the late Wengers Arsenal days. There are periods you start to believe we can start to challenge and then periods you start to believe we simply are nowhere near good enough.

Post lockdown was a perfect example of this. The firs half of it we were enjoyable to watch again, scoring goals and playin gexciting football against admittedly fa weaker sides. The second half of it, we were mainly absolutely dreadful and outplayed in most of the games despite the results.

The current premiership is of course very difficult to challenge in when there are two sides, with two fantastic managers and points tallies the last two years that would have won any premiership season in history. Solkjear has done a good job so far, has been the only manager since Ferguson who seems to understand the club at all, all the predecessors were actually cluseless and two of them far too stubborn and arrogant to adapt to the club expecting the club to adapt to there philosophies.

But is he the man to take us back towards the top, Im really not so sure
First half of the return we had lots of energy and players were fit, second half of the return those same players were F****D and knackered by 60/70mins.

Ole more or less named the same squad every single game that was played in a 48hr period between games.

That says more about his thoughts on our squad players than it does the ones he has starting.

We were knackered towards the end of the season and were grinding out results, no matter how dirty it looked. That's what champions do. That's what Man Utd players do. Remember the good ol' days where we would STILL grind out wins when we played poorly.

A cultural reset has definitely occured and the players on the pitch fight for their position and play for the shirt.

I for one am happy with Ole and have been a huge defender of Ole since the start of his reign, long may it continue, he's making all the right noises and all the right moves as far as I'm concerned.
 

jesperjaap

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Also in terms of reshaping the squad, only Rashford, McTominay and Lingard have come through really post Ferguson. Lingard never really looked good enough for me in the first team, McTominay is a very good squad player massively over rated by many on here though. Rashford really is the one find.

Then look at the riches SOlkjear has from the youth...Greenwood possibly the best we have had come through since the fledglings, a more mature Rashford and McTominay, WIlliams, Tuanzabe all be it on the treatment table. He has also had Gomes who has now gone at the right age. Then there is Laird, Mengi coming through.

He has had great youth at his disposal that the other managers havent in terms of numbers all at the club before he arrived not to mention Mjebri. No gurantees any of them make it of course but that is an embarassment of riches numbers wise to add to your squad.

Not criticising him, I liek him and want him to succeed, but he does have all the opportunities at his disposal to build a good squad when he has 9/10 player she can sell and 4/5 youngsters could immediatley replace a few of them squad wise
 

AaronRedDevil

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United got very lucky with the virus stopping the season and giving us time to get Pogba and Rashford back from injury. We wouldn’t be talking about top 4 right now and you lot asking for the sack and replacing him with Poch. Strange how things turn out sometimes. Obviously I’m happy out with Ole. Hope he stays for a long time.
 

jesperjaap

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No, he's being super nice and cozy because he doesnt get rid of 10-15 players in the one whole transfer window he's been the permanent manager.
Many have had clear outs like that before, it isnt a case of having to buy anywhere near that number to replace them with our youngsters either. Lets see how many go this window then
 

pascell

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I've been one of his biggest critics this season but there's no doubting he's forming a United squad of old. Hopefully more exit through the door and we bring in another one or two.

My only reservation is how he handles a title challenge and when it gets to the nitty gritty games, those are the ones he needs to get his in-game management (ie substitutions) and tactics spot on.
 

jesperjaap

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First half of the return we had lots of energy and players were fit, second half of the return those same players were F****D and knackered by 60/70mins.

Ole more or less named the same squad every single game that was played in a 48hr period between games.

That says more about his thoughts on our squad players than it does the ones he has starting.

We were knackered towards the end of the season and were grinding out results, no matter how dirty it looked. That's what champions do. That's what Man Utd players do. Remember the good ol' days where we would STILL grind out wins when we played poorly.

A cultural reset has definitely occured and the players on the pitch fight for their position and play for the shirt.

I for one am happy with Ole and have been a huge defender of Ole since the start of his reign, long may it continue, he's making all the right noises and all the right moves as far as I'm concerned.
I totally agree with you on the squad situation and tired players. Other sides suffered the same problems as well though. Players liek Fernandes were poor the last few games and it was obvious why, others were just poor though.

The clutural reset is also a very good point, that is definately the main change, is that due to Ole though and some of the players that were toxic sold, or is it coincidence the complete change in many of the squad since Fernandes has arrived and a couple of youngsters have broken through?

And finally yes, I liek Ole too, am not slating or criticising him, liek you say, so far he has mainly been doing the right moves, even if though I personally think more numbers wise could have been done. What I am saying, is he desereves more time of coruse, I am just not certain long term that he is actually the answer
 

RUCK4444

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Is it really a ruthless edge though? There are a good 6/7players still here that many people would have been calling to get rid off last summer as well that we are seeing on peoples deadwood and outs lists.

I personally am very much on the fence with SOlkjear so far. I like that he is trying to do things the United way in terms of playing style, transfer purchases, youth player focus and I like his optimism. I do also think he so far whether it is him or the board hasnt done enough each window liek I mentioned. Another 2/3outs last summer could have been one more incoming signing. I expect 3 in this summer and 4/5 out.....8/10 out could be 4 signings.

I like his optimism and drive. But I am still not so sure of the tactical nouse, man management and motivation is there to keep consistency with the players throughout the season. You watch us and we are like the late Wengers Arsenal days. There are periods you start to believe we can start to challenge and then periods you start to believe we simply are nowhere near good enough.

Post lockdown was a perfect example of this. The firs half of it we were enjoyable to watch again, scoring goals and playin gexciting football against admittedly fa weaker sides. The second half of it, we were mainly absolutely dreadful and outplayed in most of the games despite the results.

The current premiership is of course very difficult to challenge in when there are two sides, with two fantastic managers and points tallies the last two years that would have won any premiership season in history. Solkjear has done a good job so far, has been the only manager since Ferguson who seems to understand the club at all, all the predecessors were actually cluseless and two of them far too stubborn and arrogant to adapt to the club expecting the club to adapt to there philosophies.

But is he the man to take us back towards the top, Im really not so sure
Third place is 'towards the top' from where we were. We are continuing to add improvements and when we are firing on all cylinders we play better football than at any time in the last 6 years, that's for sure.

We are clearly heading in a positive direction, it's feckin painfully obvious to be honest. Every other clubs fans can see this apart from sections of our own. I'm certain that's down to what I can only describe as some type of snobbery among fans who believe we deserve a 'famous' manager and some who think the grass is always greener.
 

RedSky

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United got very lucky with the virus stopping the season and giving us time to get Pogba and Rashford back from injury. We wouldn’t be talking about top 4 right now and you lot asking for the sack and replacing him with Poch. Strange how things turn out sometimes. Obviously I’m happy out with Ole. Hope he stays for a long time.
After 29th games had been played the League form guide was as following. Reminder that we were unbeaten in 5 league games and 11 in all comps. I'd actually disagree and say that although it allowed us to get Pogba and Rashford back, it actually helped our rivals more as we were coping fine without them. Our rivals were struggling big time at this point.

Form Guide:
Liverpool - 12 points
Arsenal - 11 points
United - 11 points
Sheffield Utd - 10 points
City - 9 points
Wolves - 9 points
Burnley - 9 points
Crystal Palace - 9 points
Chelsea - 8 points
Everton - 7 points
Tottenham - 7 points
Leicester - 5 points
Newcastle - 5 points
Brighton - 4 points
West Ham - 4 points
Watford - 4 points
Bournemouth - 4 points
Norwich - 4 points
Aston Villa - 3 points
Southampton - 3 points
 

jesperjaap

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Third place is 'towards the top' from where we were. We are continuing to add improvements and when we are firing on all cylinders we play better football than at any time in the last 6 years, that's for sure.

We are clearly heading in a positive direction, it's feckin painfully obvious to be honest. Every other clubs fans can see this apart from sections of our own. I'm certain that's down to what I can only describe as some type of snobbery among fans who believe we deserve a 'famous' manager and some who think the grass is always greener.
I agree with the first paragraph totally.

Same token though, you are saying this from a position of us having a run of good results and sneaking into the top three which is of course a very good achievement this year. Go back to Christmas time though and would you say the same thing when we were 7th in the league after an absolutely shambolic last few months of the season before?

I agree with what you are saying, but at the same time, there have been just as many periods under Ole where we have been absolutely horrific as there have times of optimism. We are moving in the right direction and I like what he is doing I do just wonder deep down though if he has what it takes in terms of managing the players and in game to take us to the top, time will tell
 

MalcolmTucker

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Is it really a ruthless edge though? There are a good 6/7players still here that many people would have been calling to get rid off last summer as well that we are seeing on peoples deadwood and outs lists.
Yes it is. He couldn't get rid of all of our deadwood in one go otherwise we'd have a squad of about 15 players. It's not so much the volume of players he got rid of, both LVG and Mourinho did plenty of that, but rather the status of them. Lukaku was our most senior and a £75m striker, Sanchez was the highest paid player in the league and Young was our captain. He got rid of them and trusted younger players to replace them and that shows he is not only ruthless but willing to suffer short-term pain for long-term gain. It was a risk that paid off despite injuries pre-lockdown.

Also in terms of reshaping the squad, only Rashford, McTominay and Lingard have come through really post Ferguson. Lingard never really looked good enough for me in the first team, McTominay is a very good squad player massively over rated by many on here though. Rashford really is the one find.

Then look at the riches SOlkjear has from the youth...Greenwood possibly the best we have had come through since the fledglings, a more mature Rashford and McTominay, WIlliams, Tuanzabe all be it on the treatment table. He has also had Gomes who has now gone at the right age. Then there is Laird, Mengi coming through.

He has had great youth at his disposal that the other managers havent in terms of numbers all at the club before he arrived not to mention Mjebri. No gurantees any of them make it of course but that is an embarassment of riches numbers wise to add to your squad.

Not criticising him, I liek him and want him to succeed, but he does have all the opportunities at his disposal to build a good squad when he has 9/10 player she can sell and 4/5 youngsters could immediatley replace a few of them squad wise
You listed a bunch of players who have proven nothing at senior level.

2 years ago people had TFM replacing Matic in their starting line-ups. During LVG's reign people thought our full-backs were going to be Varela and Borthwick-Jackson going forward. Ravel Morrison was going to be the next Gascoigne; Januzaj the next Ronaldo.

Generally, our fanbase overrate our youth players. It's not like we've dominated the youth and reserve leagues so I'd wait and see how good they are before calling it an embarrassment of riches. One thing is for certain, if they are good enough then Ole will give them a chance to prove it which might not be the case with other managers.
 
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OleTheGreat

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may have been posted already in one of the threads but I think this message deserves more exposure against the growing tide of hate aimed at Ole.

Ole Gunnar Solskjær needs more time and respect at Manchester United
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...r-more-time-respect-manchester-united-manager
The choice is simple: potential long-term success under Solskjær or guaranteed long-term failure under a load of different managers

It has been widely reported, not entirely without glee, that Manchester United have had their worst start to a league season since 1989-90. Plenty of those reports have excluded one not insignificant detail; that the manager of the club back then was Alex Ferguson.

It is easy to forget how truly abysmal Ferguson’s United were between 1988 and 1990. They made the current lot look like freewheeling entertainers by comparison. In April 1989, United scored one goal in five games – and that was an own goal by Tony Adams, all his own work.


The subsequent success of Ferguson should logically carry the power of a judicial precedent. But giving managers time is an endangered concept, and there is a good chance that Manchester United’s endless transition will continue with a fourth change of manager in six years.

There are understandable concerns that the scale of the job is too great for Ole Gunnar Solskjær. But no one really knows; not Solskjær himself, certainly not Twitter’s finest. And the rush to print another P45 wilfully ignores both mitigating circumstances for their recent form and the good work that Solskjær has done since taking over.

Solskjær is the first manager since Ferguson who has attempted to rebuild rather than live hand to mouth and game to game. United have been decaying since the Glazers pillaged them in 2005. Ferguson’s genius masked that for a time, but now United are back where he found them, in urgent need of change from top to bottom.

Of the four managers at Old Trafford since Ferguson, Solskjær has been easily the best in the transfer market. His signings so far are both instant hits and part of a long-term plan. His predecessors bought all kinds of wrong, in terms of ability, character or both, and José Mourinho in particular has some front playing the mistreated sage given all he had to show for spending £350m.

Solskjær has been widely criticised for not replacing Romelu Lukaku, but he recognised that teams with Lukaku in them don’t win trophies. Solskjær wanted more from a No 9, and effectively replaced Lukaku with Anthony Martial (who in turn was replaced by Daniel James). That decision looked inspired in the first few games, with Martial sharper than at any stage since his first season at the club. Then he injured a thigh against Crystal Palace.



Solskjær was without six of his first-choice team in the last match at Newcastle. United may be 12th in the league but they are flying high in one table; only Norwich City have more players out through injury. Solskjær inherited an inadequate, poisonous mess of a squad, put together by four managers, and now he has a major injury crisis as well. In any sane culture these are mitigating circumstances.

Those who aren’t injured are painfully low on confidence; and, unlike his predecessors, Solskjær does not have a peak David de Gea turning defeats into draws and draws into wins. Good luck to anyone in those circumstances. Pep Guardiola could defect to Old Trafford tomorrow, citing a long-standing ambition to work with Phil Jones, and it would make no difference in the short term. There is no quick fix at United. The mess is too great. They hired the king of instant success in Mourinho and even that didn’t really work out. United have a simple choice between potential long-term success under Solskjær and guaranteed long‑term failure under a load of different managers.

It would be unfair to say there is an anti-Solskjær agenda in the media but there is certainly an anti-Solskjær mood

This should be an exciting time for United supporters, a chance to potentially experience a modern equivalent of the magical rebirth under Tommy Docherty. And any success under Solskjær would be worth far more than under somebody such as Mourinho or David Moyes.

There is no point denying that United’s attacking play in recent matches has been dreadful. The team look like they have forgotten how to shoot, never mind score, and it’s hard to reconcile some of Solskjær’s recent decisions and demeanour with the shiny, happy manager who took over at the end of last year. But the fact he won 14 of his first 17 games counts for something.

Under Solskjær, United have been both thrilling and boring; aggressive and passive; tactically smart and tactically rigid. It’s unusual and confusing, but until we see more – a lot more – we can’t know which is representative. Given the scale of the job, and especially his status at United, he deserves time to come to terms with it. Even Ferguson – Sir Alex Bloody Ferguson, the greatest manager in history – looked out of his depth for a few years. Solskjær also deserves far more respect, particularly from United fans. (On this subject, I speak with the evangelical zeal of the reformed moron.)


Ole Gunnar Solskjær is operating amid ‘a culture of instant gratification, unrealistic expectations and brattish demands’. Photograph: Nigel French/PA
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It would be unfair to say there is an anti-Solskjær agenda in the media, both traditional and social, not least because that would give far too much credit to a scattergun process. But there is certainly an anti-Solskjær mood. There are probably a few reasons for this – the reliability of a United bad-news story, residual hatred from the Ferguson years and a frankly pathetic snobbery about Scandinavian football. Most of all, there is a culture of instant gratification, unrealistic expectations and brattish demands that has made football management harder than ever.

That mood has, probably unconsciously, contributed to a certain economy with the truth in the reporting of United this season. There has been little talk of their injuries and markedly improved defence, and hardly any of the fact they were robbed by VAR against Crystal Palace and Arsenal. Even our new friend Expected Goals, who normally has plenty to say, has gone quiet.

At the end of last season there were plenty of self-satisfied observations that Solskjær should not have been given the job permanently because his xG wasn’t very good even when he was winning twice a week. Few have commented on United’s xG this season, which has them third in every table we could find on the internet. Even those of us who don’t really care for xG would accept that, if the prosecution is able to use it as evidence, then the defence should be allowed to as well.

Solskjær is second on the expected sackings list, behind Everton’s Marco Silva. There isn’t just a sacking culture in football; in the media, certainly, it’s a sacking cult. Every time a manager is under pressure we get the same rituals; the same bloodlust; the same grave expression on newsreaders’ faces as we are solemnly informed that so-and-so’s weekly press conference is scheduled for 10am.

There is no greater indictment of football’s descent into reality TV than the infantile nonsense that has made it normal, almost compulsory, to get rid of a manager at the first sign of trouble. That big old mess in the White House; he’d have sacked Solskjær already. There has to be a moral in that.
Wow! You are so right in the way you have put across the facts in Ole's favor. He truly deserves respect and I've been saying that for a long time. He has done so much with this team. I simply cannot imagine the team that looked like this only a season or 2 ago

De Gea
Valencia Smalling Jones/Blind Young
Matic
Herrera Fellaini
Mata Lukaku Rashford/Martial and i was so mad. Ole has completely bought in players that have changed the way we play. I'm not saying we have completely changed in terms of free flowing football but i do really think we have a lot of potential to unlock in this team now that it ever was. Offloading Fellaini was on my mind for a long long time and Jose was a total ball buster regarding that. I should actually accuse Moyes for bringing him here in the first place. What a useless tree he was! Totally not how i wanted United to play with him in the team. Now we have Pogba, Bruno, Fred, Mctominay and Matic in midfield with Rashford, Martial and Greenwood upfront and and also with the likes of Sancho joining us. It's gonna look even better next season. I simply cannot wait for a proper defensive midfielder to replace Matic so Pogba and Bruno can play as two #8s and make a super strong front 5. I really hope Ole makes us play 4-3-3 instead of 4-2-3-1. Pogba needs to go up the pitch or he will lose interest and the ball from time to time. Oh how i wish we get back to winning the title ways very soon. Ole at the wheel, so glad!!!
 

Foxbatt

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He needs to get a better coach or assistant. His tactics ( subs) and game management and set pieces has been extremely poor. Not even good for any team.
Our corners are a disgrace.
 

hmchan

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Ole has already been given a lot more time and respect compared to previous managers. Period.
 

jesperjaap

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Yes it is. He couldn't get rid of all of our deadwood in one go otherwise we'd have a squad of about 15 players. It's not so much the volume of players he got rid of, both LVG and Mourinho did plenty of that, but rather the status of them. Lukaku was our most senior and a £75m striker, Sanchez was the highest paid player in the league and Young was our captain. He got rid of them and trusted younger players to replace them and that shows he is not only ruthless but willing to suffer short-term pain for long-term gain. It was a risk that paid off despite injuries pre-lockdown.



You listed a bunch of players who have proven nothing at senior level.

2 years ago people had TFM replacing Matic in their starting line-ups. During LVG's reign people thought our full-backs were going to be Varela and Borthwick-Jackson going forward. Ravel Morrison was going to be the next Gascoigne; Januzaj the next Ronaldo.

Generally, our fanbase overrate our youth players. It's not like we've dominated the youth and reserve leagues so I'd wait and see how good they are before calling it an embarrassment of riches. One thing is for certain, if they are good enough then Ole will give them a chance to prove it which might not be the case with other managers.
Totally disagree on the first part. EVerybody saw YOung was ageing a year or so before he took charge, Sanches was diabolical and everybody wanted him moved on. Lukaku should never been signed in the first place, was toxic, out of shape and though scorign goals extremely poor for us. These were all players needed moving on, nothing ruthless in that. It is hardly like Ferguson axeing Ince, Keane, Hughes, Stam for example. Ole simply moved on players that needed moving onthere was no ruthless foresight as Ferguson showed knowing players had reached there peak or had the wrong attitude (wrongly in Stams case of course). The only one player you could say he was ruthless with was Smalling and he looks liek showign that with Dalot possibly. But there are so many other deadwood players or wrong players, he could have moved on one or two of them. Sorry callign him ruthless in the window is utter rubbish in my opinion, most fans wanted the players moved on that he did and most wanted others as well, he was just sensible, not ruthelss.

The second paragraph, yes I agree with you. They havent done anything yet at all and we do get over excited at youth products. As you show in your response,often very talented players dont make it as they arent actually that good when they step up or there are other issues with them mentally. My point though really wasnt the sheer quality of the youth at the moment, though its obvious with Greenwood of course. it was more the number of them coming through at the moment. I am sure I am missing players but Moyes really only had Januzaj, LVG had RAshford, Lingard, Blackett and Paddy McNair (the latter two were obviously not good enough) and Mourinho had mcTominay . There are others such as Varela and TFM (should have been played as a centre back for me, never a full back in a million years).

But SOlkjear already has Greenwood, Tuanzabe and Williams at his disposal all o fwhich look worthy of squad places at least and another three very promising players without even mentioning the likes of Garner and Levitt. Who knows only maybe 1 or 2 make it here but he does have a higher number of good youth players at his disposal than any of the previous managers, you cant dispute that.
 
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Is it really a ruthless edge though? There are a good 6/7players still here that many people would have been calling to get rid off last summer as well that we are seeing on peoples deadwood and outs lists.

I personally am very much on the fence with SOlkjear so far. I like that he is trying to do things the United way in terms of playing style, transfer purchases, youth player focus and I like his optimism. I do also think he so far whether it is him or the board hasnt done enough each window liek I mentioned. Another 2/3outs last summer could have been one more incoming signing. I expect 3 in this summer and 4/5 out.....8/10 out could be 4 signings.

I like his optimism and drive. But I am still not so sure of the tactical nouse, man management and motivation is there to keep consistency with the players throughout the season. You watch us and we are like the late Wengers Arsenal days. There are periods you start to believe we can start to challenge and then periods you start to believe we simply are nowhere near good enough.

Post lockdown was a perfect example of this. The firs half of it we were enjoyable to watch again, scoring goals and playin gexciting football against admittedly fa weaker sides. The second half of it, we were mainly absolutely dreadful and outplayed in most of the games despite the results.

The current premiership is of course very difficult to challenge in when there are two sides, with two fantastic managers and points tallies the last two years that would have won any premiership season in history. Solkjear has done a good job so far, has been the only manager since Ferguson who seems to understand the club at all, all the predecessors were actually cluseless and two of them far too stubborn and arrogant to adapt to the club expecting the club to adapt to there philosophies.

But is he the man to take us back towards the top, Im really not so sure
Post lockdown, it was basically a 9 game shootout, he found a, on form, system and kept it. Hopefully now over a full season he can be a bit more flexible, playing that extra midfielder when needed.
 
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TwoSheds

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Totally disagree on the first part. EVerybody saw YOung was ageing a year or so before he took charge, Sanches was diabolical and everybody wanted him moved on. Lukaku should never been signed in the first place, was toxic, out of shape and though scorign goals extremely poor for us. These were all players needed moving on, nothing ruthless in that. It is hardly like Ferguson axeing Ince, Keane, Hughes, Stam for example. Ole simply moved on players that needed moving onthere was no ruthless foresight as Ferguson showed knowing players had reached there peak or had the wrong attitude (wrongly in Stams case of course). The only one player you could say he was ruthless with was Smalling and he looks liek showign that with Dalot possibly. But there are so many other deadwood players or wrong players, he could have moved on one or two of them. Sorry callign him ruthless in the window is utter rubbish in my opinion, most fans wanted the players moved on that he did and most wanted others as well, he was just sensible, not ruthelss.

The second paragraph, yes I agree with you. They havent done anything yet at all and we do get over excited at youth products. As you show in your response,often very talented players dont make it as they arent actually that good when they step up or there are other issues with them mentally. My point though really wasnt the sheer quality of the youth at the moment, though its obvious with Greenwood of course. it was more the number of them coming through at the moment. I am sure I am missing players but Moyes really only had Januzaj, LVG had RAshford, Lingard, Blackett and Paddy McNair (the latter two were obviously not good enough) and Mourinho had mcTominay . There are others such as Varela and TFM (should have been played as a centre back for me, never a full back in a million years).

But SOlkjear already has Greenwood, Tuanzabe and Williams at his disposal all o fwhich look worthy of squad places at least and another three very promising players without even mentioning the likes of Garner and Levitt. Who knows only maybe 1 or 2 make it here but he does have a higher number of good youth players at his disposal than any of the previous managers, you cant dispute that.
Tuanzebe who's played about 3 games for us all season? And how have Garner and Levitt contributed anything noteworthy either, nothing against the lads of course. Same with Laird, arguably the biggest talent in the reserves at the moment but never fit. I generally agree that the standard of our youth players is a bit higher now than under LVG for example, but the bar for getting into the first team is also far higher. McNair and Tyler Blackett would get nowhere near this side.
 

MalcolmTucker

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Totally disagree on the first part. EVerybody saw YOung was ageing a year or so before he took charge, Sanches was diabolical and everybody wanted him moved on. Lukaku should never been signed in the first place, was toxic, out of shape and though scorign goals extremely poor for us. These were all players needed moving on, nothing ruthless in that. It is hardly like Ferguson axeing Ince, Keane, Hughes, Stam for example. Ole simply moved on players that needed moving onthere was no ruthless foresight as Ferguson showed knowing players had reached there peak or had the wrong attitude (wrongly in Stams case of course). The only one player you could say he was ruthless with was Smalling and he looks liek showign that with Dalot possibly. But there are so many other deadwood players or wrong players, he could have moved on one or two of them. Sorry callign him ruthless in the window is utter rubbish in my opinion, most fans wanted the players moved on that he did and most wanted others as well, he was just sensible, not ruthelss.
I'm not interested in arguing the meaning of ruthless with you. While it was right for Ole to move Sanchez, Lukaku and Young on in hindsight, they were senior, experienced and/or highly valued players.

Trusting Martial and Rashford above Sanchez and Lukaku showed a ruthless streak imo, but if you don't like that word then you can call it a brave and risky decision. I feel most managers would have kept them and we might have fared better in the first half of the season but Ole showed trust in our young forwards and thankfully they repaid him and it was a risk that was rewarded. The fact that many were lambasting Ole for leaving our squad thin up front and had us outside the top 4 at the beginning of the season is a testament to that.

The second paragraph, yes I agree with you. They havent done anything yet at all and we do get over excited at youth products. As you show in your response,often very talented players dont make it as they arent actually that good when they step up or there are other issues with them mentally. My point though really wasnt the sheer quality of the youth at the moment, though its obvious with Greenwood of course. it was more the number of them coming through at the moment. I am sure I am missing players but Moyes really only had Januzaj, LVG had RAshford, Lingard, Blackett and Paddy McNair (the latter two were obviously not good enough) and Mourinho had mcTominay . There are others such as Varela and TFM (should have been played as a centre back for me, never a full back in a million years).

But SOlkjear already has Greenwood, Tuanzabe and Williams at his disposal all o fwhich look worthy of squad places at least and another three very promising players without even mentioning the likes of Garner and Levitt. Who knows only maybe 1 or 2 make it here but he does have a higher number of good youth players at his disposal than any of the previous managers, you cant dispute that.
Moyes had Januzaj who had a similar hype to Greenwood during that season and was being compared to Ronaldo. He also had James Wilson coming through who was being touted as the next Michael Owen and was scoring for fun in the youth and reserve leagues - many thought he was going to be the next big thing. He also had Lingard and Michael Keane who have both become England internationals.

LVG had those players plus Nick Powell, who bafflingly everyone wanted to see play more although I never understood the hype. Tyler Blackett, Paddy McNair. Borthwick-Jackson and Varela all played for LVG and many assumed that at least a couple of them would still be here at least as serviceable squad players for us at that time, all of them fell by the wayside. Zaha was a 20 year old coming back from a loan and has proven to be a good premiership level talent but LVG didn't use him. Rashford came through and is now one of the biggest young talents in the world and would go for £80m+

Mourinho had Dean Henderson, Pereira and McTominay coming through. He only gave McTominay a chance and he did well.

You list Greenwood, Williams and Tuanzebe as squad options and while I agree with the first two, Tuanzebe has barely played in the premier league and has been injured all season so what use is that to Ole anyway? So that's just two players who have proven they are good enough for the squad since Ole has been in charge (and many are on the fence with Williams, although I'm a fan). I have high hopes for Laird and Gardner but until they actually prove they are good squad players, calling them an embarrassment of riches and using it as a stick to beat Ole with is daft. Look at Angel Gomes, he was meant to be the biggest talent since Ravel but is going to be playing for Boavista next year - it's just impossible to predict these things so don't count your chickens before they hatch.
 
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jesperjaap

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I'm not interested in arguing the meaning of ruthless with you. While it was right for Ole to move Sanchez, Lukaku and Young on in hindsight, they were senior, experienced and/or highly valued players.

Trusting Martial and Rashford above Sanchez and Lukaku showed a ruthless streak imo, but if you don't like that word then you can call it a brave and risky decision. I feel most managers would have kept them and we might have fared better in the first half of the season but Ole showed trust in our young forwards and thankfully they repaid him and it was a risk that was rewarded. The fact that many were lambasting Ole for leaving our squad thin up front and had us outside the top 4 at the beginning of the season is a testament to that.



Moyes had Januzaj who had a similar hype to Greenwood during that season and was being compared to Ronaldo. He also had James Wilson coming through who was being touted as the next Michael Owen and was scoring for fun in the youth and reserve leagues - many thought he was going to be the next big thing. He also had Lingard and Michael Keane who have both become England internationals.

LVG had those players plus Nick Powell, who bafflingly everyone wanted to see play more although I never understood the hype. Tyler Blackett, Paddy McNair. Borthwick-Jackson and Varela all played for LVG and many assumed that at least a couple of them would still be here at least as serviceable squad players for us at that time, all of them fell by the wayside. Zaha was a 20 year old coming back from a loan and has proven to be a good premiership level talent but LVG didn't use him. Rashford came through and is now one of the biggest young talents in the world and would go for £80m+

Mourinho had Dean Henderson, Pereira and McTominay coming through. He only gave McTominay a chance and he did well.

You list Greenwood, Williams and Tuanzebe as squad options and while I agree with the first two, Tuanzebe has barely played in the premier league and has been injured all season so what use is that to Ole anyway? So that's just two players who have proven they are good enough for the squad since Ole has been in charge (and many are on the fence with Williams, although I'm a fan). I have high hopes for Laird and Gardner but until they actually prove they are good squad players, calling them an embarrassment of riches and using it as a stick to beat Ole with is daft. Look at Angel Gomes, he was meant to be the biggest talent since Ravel but is going to be playing for Boavista next year - it's just impossible to predict these things so don't count your chickens before they hatch.
Im not interested in arguing the meaning of ruthless to you....goes on to argument the meaning of ruthless for the rest of the paragraph

Will leave it there, you have made your point and I have made mine so not going to go round in circles regarding the rest of your post
 

jesperjaap

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Tuanzebe who's played about 3 games for us all season? And how have Garner and Levitt contributed anything noteworthy either, nothing against the lads of course. Same with Laird, arguably the biggest talent in the reserves at the moment but never fit. I generally agree that the standard of our youth players is a bit higher now than under LVG for example, but the bar for getting into the first team is also far higher. McNair and Tyler Blackett would get nowhere near this side.
Was making the point of the sheer number of youth team players available or coming through at the dispense of SOlkjear in comparison to past managers and did state NOT even including Garner and Levitt.

But yes, though as the othe rperson mentioned a lot of them havent even done anything yet I am also of the opinion the quality or potential is a lot higher with these players as well as I too dont think McNair or Blackett woul dhave got anywhere near the current squad either.
 

jesperjaap

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Post lockdown, it was basically a 9 game shootout, he found a, on form, system and kept it. Hopefully now over a full season he can be a bit more flexible, playing that extra midfielder when needed.
I completely agree, the main reason he kept to it as he didnt have game changing options from the bench in may of the positions. A fair few of the games that we were clinging on to, he didnt seem to trust his bench. That is why somebody liek Grealish adds so much to this squad
 

MalcolmTucker

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Im not interested in arguing the meaning of ruthless to you....goes on to argument the meaning of ruthless for the rest of the paragraph

Will leave it there, you have made your point and I have made mine so not going to go round in circles regarding the rest of your post
What I meant was that ruthless is an adjective and therefore unquantifiable. It's like when there are pages of people arguing about whether x or y player is world class when it's impossible to prove as everyone has different definitions of the word. Plus I also didn't want to get into a conversation about semantics with someone whose first language is clearly not English.
 

jesperjaap

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What I meant was that ruthless is an adjective and therefore unquantifiable. It's like when there are pages of people arguing about whether x or y player is world class when it's impossible to prove as everyone has different definitions of the word. Plus I also didn't want to get into a conversation about semantics with someone whose first language is clearly not English.
No just go into personal insults instead, well played. That was ruthless.......deary me
 

Rood

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Who's responsible for this?

I managed to completely miss this bump and actually came to bump it myself to expose some of the most moronic opinions from so called United fans (yes I'm that bored with no footy)

Although I have no clue what this video is about ?!
 

Foxbatt

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He needs more top quality players. Giving him time is not going to do any good without giving him top class players.
 

Devil may care

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If the feckery from the board continues in this window then Ole should only be required to get top 6 to keep his job, Liverpool are miles ahead, you don't make up a 33 point deficit without serious investment, while City and Chelsea are arming Pep and Lampard with the players they need to take on the scousers. So that leaves us, Arsenal, Leicester, Spurs and Wolves competing for that 4th spot, Ole has no quality in attack to bring off the bench to try and change a game, he only has 1 holding midfielder who only has patches of form and is often exposed and can only manage a few games back to back, and last but not least the CB partnership clearly isn't a fit, so he can only be judged by the what he has at his disposal.
 

Floyd

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He’s here to stay, at least he seems to think so. He’s selling his cabin in Norway. If you have £800.000 lying around the house you can buy yourself a nice place:)

Ole’s place
 
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Bastian

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He’s here to stay, at least he seems to think so. He’s selling his cabin in Norway. If you have £800.000 lying around the house you can buy yourself a nice place:)

Ole’s place
Why are there 11 photos of it from the outside and none from within?
 

Relevated

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Why are there 11 photos of it from the outside and none from within?
Since hes our manager it is to suit the mood at United, everybody can judge from the outside but nobody knows what the hell is going on within the club.
 

meamth

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Nah, he won't get sacked if we didn't buy a player. That will cause more damage to the club fan base, they won't dare to sack him.

Imagine the chaos.
 

NorLogs

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What's the point of keeping them as bench option when he doesn't play them anyway?
Surely you are aware that a club must be willing to buy in order to sell. And selling at any given price is something United are trying to move away from. Getting rid of players without a better option to fill that void is not a great idea, even if the current bench players arent at the level we would like them to be at.

As this season, and all the seasons previous to this one shows, players get injured. Having a mediocre player to fill that gap is probably better than gambling on a hot young prospect to play week in and out and carry the pressure that comes with being a United player on his shoulders. There is right and wrong way to introduce up and coming players to first team football.

I am all for critique, but please use your brain cells if you are going to criticize someone or something.