Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

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Bobcat

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I'd rather have a manager being over the top with praise in public than throwing them under the bus, maybe I'm weird though.
Its not weird. Its fecking sensible. We all saw Jose breathing fire and what it did to the club. I know your stance on Ole, but at least you are not driven by agenda to a point where literally everything he does is seen as some biblical sin

At times i wonder if these fans even watched Fergie in the press. He would never criticize his own player in public, even if they had played the worst game of their career.
 

Womp

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Its not weird. Its fecking sensible. We all saw Jose breathing fire and what it did to the club. I know your stance on Ole, but at least you are not driven by agenda to a point where literally everything he does is seen as some biblical sin

At times i wonder if these fans even watched Fergie in the press. He would never criticize his own player in public, even if they had played the worst game of their career.
Simply wrong. I can remember a few times he publicly name dropped Nani. Beckham. Ronaldo. Rooney a few times - 2011 with that bizarre penalty at Chelsea iirc being an example. Smalling. People need to stop rewriting history.
 

Paxi

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That was not the point i made. The comment was about winning mentality, and it's silly to imagine that the manager lacks it
You can have all the winning mentality in the world but it will only take you so far as shown by examples above.
 

He'sRaldo

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It's interesting to me that Woodward said he hired Ole based on the long term.

My question would be, if Ole had not had that winning run but had instead shown similar form to what he's shown in more recent times, would Woodward have hired him even if he presented the exact same long term vision?
 
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ash_86

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It's interesting to me that Woodward said he hired Ole based on the long term.

My question would be, if Ole had not had that winning run but had instead shown similar form to what he's shown in more recent times, would Woodward have hired him even if he presented the exact same long term vision?
If we were showing individual player development like we are showing now with Rashford, Martial, Scott, James, Williams then why not? After all if members start producing consistently the results has to turn.
 

VP89

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If we were showing individual player development like we are showing now with Rashford, Martial, Scott, James, Williams then why not? After all if members start producing consistently the results has to turn.
James was having an impactful season under Potter and attracting some interest regardless whilst Rashford was extremely poor down the middle before Martial came in and allowed him to go back wide. Williams has barely played many first team games and Martial just returned from injury.

Suggesting Ole is great for player development is presumptious at best. I can counter with Wan Bissaka looking the same (not a bad thing given he was still good for Palace), Maguire looks no better, Lingard looks worse and Fred hasn't really improved.

It's evident Ed is an obvious crook in his job, he might as well run for the conservatives. Saying it was long term planning for Ole and basing it off 10 games of form is so hypocritical it's hilarious. If he really did say that, it's on par with him getting defensive with the "footballing minds" who are responsible for our shit transfers in the last 7-8 years. He's a massive bellend and is comletely out of his depth. When Ole gets sacked he'll put another shitty spin on it.
 

ash_86

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James was having an impactful season under Potter and attracting some interest regardless whilst Rashford was extremely poor down the middle before Martial came in and allowed him to go back wide. Williams has barely played many first team games and Martial just returned from injury.

Suggesting Ole is great for player development is presumptious at best. I can counter with Wan Bissaka looking the same (not a bad thing given he was still good for Palace), Maguire looks no better, Lingard looks worse and Fred hasn't really improved.

It's evident Ed is an obvious crook in his job, he might as well run for the conservatives. Saying it was long term planning for Ole and basing it off 10 games of form is so hypocritical it's hilarious. If he really did say that, it's on par with him getting defensive with the "footballing minds" who are responsible for our shit transfers in the last 7-8 years. He's a massive bellend and is comletely out of his depth. When Ole gets sacked he'll put another shitty spin on it.
Our issue with transfers has always been players turning to shit once they land here. We don't see that happening with James though. He was performing in championship let's not forget. He's stepped up seamlessly in the premier league which is no easy mean feat leaving likes of livepool defence to dust. He suits the system we want to play and that's why he's effective for us.

Wrt Rashford he was forced to play in position he wasn't good at and once martial was back he's form of his life. On tack to beat his best tally by two folds. This shows that the manager knows what the players best positions are and how to get best out of them. That's something we cannot say about any other manager post SAF.

Fred finally looks like a premier league player again. Our defense has generally been good with one of least amount of goals conceded. We don't leak much and sheffield was a freakish result as any with sample size of 15+ games all competitions.
 

He'sRaldo

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If we were showing individual player development like we are showing now with Rashford, Martial, Scott, James, Williams then why not? After all if members start producing consistently the results has to turn.
Fair point about Ole, but I highly doubt Woodward would have the balls to appoint Ole under such a run of draws and losses. It's the winning run that triggered it IMO, as opposed to any long term thinking. We're just lucky(?) that Ole is trying to take that approach as opposed to a short term one.
 

VP89

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Our issue with transfers has always been players turning to shit once they land here. We don't see that happening with James though. He was performing in championship let's not forget. He's stepped up seamlessly in the premier league which is no easy mean feat leaving likes of livepool defence to dust. He suits the system we want to play and that's why he's effective for us.
Yeah, transfers do tend to. But Man Utd buying James and him continuing his trajectory here doesn't mean it's all Ole. He was a raw talent with Potter and he's still quite raw with us. You're already again, presumed hes going to be the bees knees when we haven't even had half a season. Heck even the likes of Di Maria, Falcao and fecking Darmien weren't written off by then at the same stages of their United careers. I'm not saying James is going to turn out the same, but I do think you are making a wild jump.

Wrt Rashford he was forced to play in position he wasn't good at and once martial was back he's form of his life. On tack to beat his best tally by two folds. This shows that the manager knows what the players best positions are and how to get best out of them. That's something we cannot say about any other manager post SAF.
Ole is the one who keeps hyping Rashford as a striker, and the one who played him in a central position that you conceded he's not comfortable in. That is not a good evaluation of his players, especially when he has Greenwood on the bench, who did come on from time to time and operate weirdly from the right wing.

Being "on track" means very little. Martial is 24 and either injured or broadly inconsistent, that hasn't much changed.

Fred finally looks like a premier league player again. Our defense has generally been good with one of least amount of goals conceded. We don't leak much and sheffield was a freakish result as any with sample size of 15+ games all competitions.
Fred has had a half decent run of around 5 games on the trot for Ole. Again, you're being far too presumptious.

And your defence point must be sarcasm? Our goals conceded is barely better than the cavalier attacking midtable sides of Brighton and Bournemouth and a well drilled League 1 squad in Sheffield United is more resolute than us. We've spent £120m into our defence and we're not much better defensively than a lot of midtable sides. That's not a good sign of management, or improving players whatever way you want to slice it.
 

ash_86

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Fair point about Ole, but I highly doubt Woodward would have the balls to appoint Ole under such a run of draws and losses. It's the winning run that triggered it IMO, as opposed to any long term thinking. We're just lucky(?) that Ole is trying to take that approach as opposed to a short term one.
Its a combination of both imo. The run was important to get some credit on the back using which he would have sold the long term statergy to Ed.
 

Paul_Scholes18

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At home we have been pretty good apart from the terrible defeat to Palace. Hopefully we will smash Villa as we should.

Then we play Spurs and Ole need to fire them up for that one. Think we should beat Mourinho if we go for it. Although our midfield could be a big problem.
 

He'sRaldo

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Its a combination of both imo. The run was important to get some credit on the back using which he would have sold the long term statergy to Ed.
Makes sense. So you reckon if the results get really bad this season Ed would still sack regardless of his long term talk? Don't know what to make of the man at this point tbh.
 

ash_86

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Yeah, transfers do tend to. But Man Utd buying James and him continuing his trajectory here doesn't mean it's all Ole. He was a raw talent with Potter and he's still quite raw with us. You're already again, presumed hes going to be the bees knees when we haven't even had half a season. Heck even the likes of Di Maria, Falcao and fecking Darmien weren't written off by then at the same stages of their United careers. I'm not saying James is going to turn out the same, but I do think you are making a wild jump.



Ole is the one who keeps hyping Rashford as a striker, and the one who played him in a central position that you conceded he's not comfortable in. That is not a good evaluation of his players, especially when he has Greenwood on the bench, who did come on from time to time and operate weirdly from the right wing.

Being "on track" means very little. Martial is 24 and either injured or broadly inconsistent, that hasn't much changed.


Fred has had a half decent run of around 5 games on the trot for Ole. Again, you're being far too presumptious.

And your defence point must be sarcasm? Our goals conceded is barely better than the cavalier attacking midtable sides of Brighton and Bournemouth and a well drilled League 1 squad in Sheffield United is more resolute than us. We've spent £120m into our defence and we're not much better defensively than a lot of midtable sides. That's not a good sign of management, or improving players whatever way you want to slice it.
Again we can only speak of what we can see now and currently James seem to suit us and has been a good buy. When was the last time we had a functioning front 3? We really really have to think long and hard for this one. We've scored 16 goals in last 5 games or something.

If Ole thinks Rashford is a striker he would keep playing him there after martial came but that's not the case. Rashford is a wide forward and Ole knows that. Temporary stint at cf role dosent change it. Greenwood has been managed perfectly this season. Let's not forget he was 17 when season started.

We have conceded 15 goals in that 3 have come in last match which looks like a freak result. Liverpool have conceded 11. Not much far from them we aren't considering we don't have a midfield at all. Defense has not been a problem for us this season.
 

ash_86

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Makes sense. So you reckon if the results get really bad this season Ed would still sack regardless of his long term talk? Don't know what to make of the man at this point tbh.
Yup I'm afraid with Poch available Ed would be on the lookout certainly. I don't mind Poch by the way. Only worry that he might not be a hit like everyone things he would be. We don't have a structure to support Poch who is a excellent coach but he needs someone to bring in players.
 

Mockney

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As much as I have very little faith in Ole, and ultimately believe we'll eventually need another manager to take us forward, we're still undoubtedly in a very weird and uncomfortable place, where sacking and sticking with him both somehow seem potentially unreasonable, for a plethora of different, and quite understandable reasons!

In principle I don't mind sticking with him 'till the end of the season. But on the proviso that even if we somehow fluke top 4, playing as uninspiringly as we are now, and a better manager is available in the summer, we don't just pretend he needs another 15 years to prove himself because he played 400 youth players in a series of embarassing defeats, and actually agree to plump for an upgrade, just like Liverpool did when they replaced the manager who gave them their closest title challenge in 30 years, as soon as an objectively better one became available. Because thats how you actually improve a team.

So while I'm not for sacking him now in favour of Poch (though I wouldn't complain too much)....If Poch - or someone like him - still happens to be available in the summer, then I'm very much for bringing him/them on then. Which I realise doesn't make an awful lot of logical sense, but still feels more sensible for some reason?
 

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Again we can only speak of what we can see now and currently James seem to suit us and has been a good buy. When was the last time we had a functioning front 3? We really really have to think long and hard for this one. We've scored 16 goals in last 5 games or something.

If Ole thinks Rashford is a striker he would keep playing him there after martial came but that's not the case. Rashford is a wide forward and Ole knows that. Temporary stint at cf role dosent change it. Greenwood has been managed perfectly this season. Let's not forget he was 17 when season started.

We have conceded 15 goals in that 3 have come in last match which looks like a freak result. Liverpool have conceded 11. Not much far from them we aren't considering we don't have a midfield at all. Defense has not been a problem for us this season.
Agreed. Losing Herrera has hurt us badly as we have no one in midfield now who harass the opponent and as a result they can often stroll right past us and get the ball in attacking areas without much problem
 

ash_86

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Agreed. Losing Herrera has hurt us badly as we have no one in midfield now who harass the opponent and as a result they can often stroll right past us and get the ball in attacking areas without much problem

Yes certainly he's been missed. Scott is catching on well. If we add a good DM like ndidi then we would be one of the hardest team to score against . I expect our next investments to go into the midfield.
 

Garethw

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:lol: indeed. We've got fans defending losing games with such fervor, losing to a rival or seeing them win trophies is rather moot. We're all about personal growth, having a United bleeding manager and doing things the right way. Losing is totally ok so long as it's in the right spirit.
Don’t forget, you’re not doing this supporting thing right unless you back Ole no matter what.

The fan base would rather accept mediocrity than admit that Solskjær isn’t good enough.
 

Andycoleno9

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You are talking about the same person who threatened to sub every single player on the pitch during half-time, yeah?

But speaking about psychology majors. Did you know that "only focus on the positives" is a freshman lesson about a winners personality?

THAT BEING SAID. I'm pretty sure Ole has learned how to be a winner at Manchester United. You know, with all the trophies won with the club and whatnot.
Week ago he smiled and said how he is proud on boys after draw against last year's championship team.
 

Samid

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Still can't forgive him for taking off a striker for a defensive player when protecting a one goal lead. A disgraceful decision. Pep would never have done that.
 

Andycoleno9

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Still can't forgive him for taking off a striker for a defensive player when protecting a one goal lead. A disgraceful decision. Pep would never have done that.
He is so far compared with Fergie, Klopp and now Pep. For worst manager in history of PL, not bad so far. Who is next? Busby?
 

Tom Cato

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Week ago he smiled and said how he is proud on boys after draw against last year's championship team.
A good leader focuses on the positives. We scored 3 against the 2nd stingiest defense in the Premier League, after being down 2-0. It was bad being down 2-0. It was great getting up to 2-3. You focus on the positives.

HOW is this a problem for you?
 

Leftback99

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Still can't forgive him for taking off a striker for a defensive player when protecting a one goal lead. A disgraceful decision. Pep would never have done that.
Terrible in game management. Lack of coaching. Nobody drops points to Newcastle.
 

Tom Cato

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Still can't forgive him for taking off a striker for a defensive player when protecting a one goal lead. A disgraceful decision. Pep would never have done that.
Yeah I don't understand this. It's literally the only sane thing to do. Man the confirmation bias narratives on here, i swear we even got antivaxxers posting here judging by the amount of choose your own adventure interpretation of what's going on.
 

Andycoleno9

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A good leader focuses on the positives. We scored 3 against the 2nd stingiest defense in the Premier League, after being down 2-0. It was bad being down 2-0. It was great getting up to 2-3. You focus on the positives.

HOW is this a problem for you?
The way how he lowered standards in this club is amazing. Wow, we scored against SU. Lets celebrate that.
 

Tom Cato

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The way how he lowered standards in this club is amazing. Wow, we scored against SU. Lets celebrate that.
Ok, so OGS comes to the press conference and he sits there acting all snarky and negative like you.

What does he accomplish?
 

Jake

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Yeah I don't understand this. It's literally the only sane thing to do. Man the confirmation bias narratives on here, i swear we even got antivaxxers posting here judging by the amount of choose your own adventure interpretation of what's going on.
It isn’t the only thing to do at all, in fact if you think it is then you must have a limited knowledge of football.

That sub invited pressure on us when we were completely on top. Awful substitution.

I want Ole to do well here too, but that was not a good decision at all.
 

Ancient Of Days

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Ok, so OGS comes to the press conference and he sits there acting all snarky and negative like you.

What does he accomplish?
He doesn't need to praise them after delivering lackluster performances. He can either just say nothing or say the team needs to improve, rather than looking like a clown smiling and looking pleased with the performances.

The argument is that he doesn't want to throw the players under the bus, doesn't hold water. He doesn't need to turn into Jose

Saying you're not happy with the teams performances and want to see them improve isn't throwing players under the bus or being negative, it's having standards.

SAF who everyone likes to compare Ole to, never praised the team when it was blatantly apparent that the team delivered a shit unacceptable performance. He wasn't a coward afraid to upset anyone.

It's like if you have a child,and they are performing poorly at school, you obviously don't want to berate them and go to the extreme of shaming them, but then you don't go to the other extreme and say they're doing really well for the sake of masking the problem, as that only further enables their poor behavior
 

beer&grill

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A good leader focuses on the positives. We scored 3 against the 2nd stingiest defense in the Premier League, after being down 2-0. It was bad being down 2-0. It was great getting up to 2-3. You focus on the positives.

HOW is this a problem for you?

Sorry, but a winner would never be content and you'll never see a winner smile after that kind of performance. Yeah, it was "great" to come from behind and score 3 and then bottle it, but I struggle to see that as a positive as long as we were played off the park for 70 minutes, and let's be honest, we didn't even deserve one point from that game. It's not like the first 70 minutes were managed and set up by Mourinho and Ole came to rescue us and save one point from the game.No, he was the one that that set us to lose 2-0 in the first place. People talk about Jose being miserable when things are anything but great like it's an awful thing, but that's what winners do. They can't be happy with mediocrity, they can't even be happy with good results. Do you imagine Nadal or Djokovic being all smiles after coming back from 2-0 to lose it 3-2 in the decisive tiebreak against world's no 50? Hell, they wouldn't be happy even if they were playing each other with that kind of performance.
 

Chesterlestreet

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He doesn't need to praise them after delivering lackluster performances. He can either just say nothing or say the team needs to improve, rather than looking like a clown smiling and looking pleased with the performances.
That's your interpretation. And it indicates very clearly where you stand.

When a team isn't performing according to expectations (fan expectations in this case, more than anything), there really isn't anything he can say or do which won't be spun negatively by those intent on finding fault with - well - anything he says or does.

After the Newcastle match Ole apologized to the fans for the performance and said the players need to sort themselves out. He was lambasted for that too (by random Internet fans - and also by Ruud Van Nistelrooy, if memory serves), because it apparently showed how clueless he is (he doesn't know how to fix it - so throws the player under the proverbial bus).

After the last EL loss, he said a few positive things about Lingard - and again he's clueless, because those comments apparently proves he thinks J-lingz is a world beater. He was also pleased with the performance, as such, by an extremely young and inexperienced team - but, no, he shouldn't say that, because that proves he's trying to permanently lower the standards (who the feck is pleased with a loss, etc.).

And this:

He can either just say nothing...
is completely unrealistic, for one thing: he will be interviewed after the match and he has to say something. Secondly, if he actually turned up for the post-match session and said "no comment" in response to questions about the performance, how do you think fans like yourself would react? I don't believe for a second you'd sit back and go "yeah, fair enough that - better to say nothing here".
 

Alabaster Codify7

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He doesn't need to praise them after delivering lackluster performances. He can either just say nothing or say the team needs to improve, rather than looking like a clown smiling and looking pleased with the performances.

The argument is that he doesn't want to throw the players under the bus, doesn't hold water. He doesn't need to turn into Jose

Saying you're not happy with the teams performances and want to see them improve isn't throwing players under the bus or being negative, it's having standards.

SAF who everyone likes to compare Ole to, never praised the team when it was blatantly apparent that the team delivered a shit unacceptable performance. He wasn't a coward afraid to upset anyone.

It's like if you have a child,and they are performing poorly at school, you obviously don't want to berate them and go to the extreme of shaming them, but then you don't go to the other extreme and say they're doing really well for the sake of masking the problem, as that only further enables their poor behavior

Very well said.

If you do further enable their behaviour, you accept the fact you're kid will be destined for a lifetime of mild to full blown failure.
 

Ancient Of Days

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That's your interpretation. And it indicates very clearly where you stand.

When a team isn't performing according to expectations (fan expectations in this case, more than anything), there really isn't anything he can say or do which won't be spun negatively by those intent on finding fault with - well - anything he says or does.

After the Newcastle match Ole apologized to the fans for the performance and said the players need to sort themselves out. He was lambasted for that too (by random Internet fans - and also by Ruud Van Nistelrooy, if memory serves), because it apparently showed how clueless he is (he doesn't know how to fix it - so throws the player under the proverbial bus).

After the last EL loss, he said a few positive things about Lingard - and again he's clueless, because those comments apparently proves he thinks J-lingz is a world beater. He was also pleased with the performance, as such, by an extremely young and inexperienced team - but, no, he shouldn't say that, because that proves he's trying to permanently lower the standards (who the feck is pleased with a loss, etc.).

And this:



is completely unrealistic, for one thing: he will be interviewed after the match and he has to say something. Secondly, if he actually turned up for the post-match session and said "no comment" in response to questions about the performance, how do you think fans like yourself would react? I don't believe for a second you'd sit back and go "yeah, fair enough that - better to say nothing here".
I'm not in the business of bashing the guy for the sake of bashing the guy, but I think the way he has carried himself along with his attitude through interviews and pr has gone a long way in pacifying and lowering expectations/standards of the club along with supporters as a whole. And that my friend shouldn't be acceptable for a club of our stature. He deserves to be called out on it, because Real, Bayern, Pool,Juve or Inter fans wouldn't accept it and neither should we.

I never had any problems with him praising the team after the loss on Thursday. Lingard deserved praise and there were positives to take out of that loss considering the age and level of experience of the team put out.

In regards to your point of him not being able to realistically say nothing, he can easily use tact to serve around the issue as many managers often do, or simply say ''I will deal with in that private''. It makes no sense to be praising players to the press and then think he's bashing them in private.

What I think has happened, is that he's taken the kid gloves approach with the team because he sees them as a very young team going through a process of learning first hand directly through games of what it takes to play at a high level in the prem and getting to know each other. So is genuinely praising them, and being overly positive in the belief that it will build their confidence and obviously is fully aware of the backlash Mourinho received for harshly calling out individuals in public and throwing them under the bus.

That's partially fine and understandable, but we need to remember there are also senior players in the squad that have been at the club for a long time and make up a large portion of the squad who already have the experience and are already too comfortable/complacent and who don't need/shouldn't be molly coddled.

He's gone to the other extreme and become far too positive in spite of the circumstances, partly due to taking the pressure away from the team and partly due to buying himself time in the job. When really he needs to strike a balance as there is always a time and place to be either tough/aggressive or be soft/passive.

Thursday night was the right time to be positive, last weekend against Sheffield United wasn't. Likewise against alkmaar when we got played off the park and was lucky to escape with a draw, the manager shouldn't be coming out and saying we played well and were hard done by and calling for phantom penalties.
 

dove

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Desperation is real i see.
Of course, at least I am desperate to see us make an inevitable decision to sack him and get a proper manager, not someone whose biggest quality as a manager is smiling.
 

90 + 5min

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Of course, at least I am desperate to see us make an inevitable decision to sack him and get a proper manager, not someone whose biggest quality as a manager is smiling.
You mean Mourinho and van Gaal? Top class managers making us Premier League winners again? We had the best of the best and still couldn't win because of players and to many squad changes. You and anti Ole brigade must look further then Football Manager screen.
 

The Bloody-Nine

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You mean Mourinho and van Gaal? Top class managers making us Premier League winners again? We had the best of the best and still couldn't win because of players and to many squad changes. You and anti Ole brigade must look further then Football Manager screen.
Not this again. We tried good managers and it didn't work (they both won trophies), so let's try a woefully under qualified one who was relegated in his only PL job. Preposterously stupid logic.
 

dove

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You mean Mourinho and van Gaal? Top class managers making us Premier League winners again? We had the best of the best and still couldn't win because of players and to many squad changes. You and anti Ole brigade must look further then Football Manager screen.
No, I don't mean past it managers but whatever. I don't know what screen are you looking at if you think Ole is the right man for the job though.
 

Chesterlestreet

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He's gone to the other extreme and become far too positive in spite of the circumstances, when really he needs to strike a balance as there is always a time and place to be either tough/aggressive or be soft/passive.
Well, that's a more - to use your own term - balanced view than what you've expressed above (calling him a clown, essentially).

But you still base your take on what he says in front of a camera - which remains a fallacy in itself. I agree that IF he conveys a message to the players - not the fans, or the pundits, or whoever catches his public statements - which amounts to "you're doing fine, nobody can ask for more" he's doing something very wrong, because that would indeed amount to a lowering of standards.

But there isn't any reason to think that he is - we have no idea to what extent he pulls out the old hairdryer when the cameras aren't on him (beyond a few stray remarks, that is, which actually suggest that he isn't such a happy-go-lucky, perpetually smiling character when dealing with players in private).

Ole has everything to prove as a manager on the highest level. Very few, I take it, will disagree with that. But even if we go with the assumption that he's an essentially incompetent, out-of-his-depth clown whose hopeless plan is to emulate SAF without possessing any of the latter's strengths - he's nevertheless, precisely, a product of the SAF school at the end of the day: his ideas about what United should be are bound to be influenced by what he experienced as a player, and a coach, under the great man. He knows bloody well what the ultimate target is - and that isn't "doing fine". He knows this - and the idea that he's a "Glazer stooge" or someone who actively tries to lower fan expectations (I'm not saying you have accused him of this explicitly - but many have, which is nothing short of disgraceful) is plainly ridiculous.
 
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