Time For Ole To Show His Mettle

JPRouve

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Jesus, some of the reactions in here are ridiculous.

You'd think I was advocating getting rid of him or slagging him off ffs. All I'm saying is the time might be here where he needs to make use of a different approach to keep us on the right track.

Fitness may be a part of it as some have suggested, bit switching off is an issue too, and one we need to resolve.
To be fair with your point, we do seem to have an issue with the midfield. It's by far the most experienced area of the team but they have zero character, at the first sign of adversity they fold.
 

The Stain

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I bet Ole knows this and thought the exact same thing, but didn't have any options on the bench. We need reliable and class players from the bench which we currently don't have. Subbing Matic or Herrera off for Pereira would be a risky move for example.
I was thinking more along the lines of sending Lukaku and Sanchez on around 60-65. Lingard was poor and Martial looked kinda disinterested.
 

EwanI Ted

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Is it a fitness issue, though? I'm not so sure. We've got a squad full of internationals here. Top class athletes with best facilities available and we're talking as if they're making a jump from semi-pro to pro level football. I just don't buy it.
If that true all the top teams would be about the same fitness and they’re clearly not.
 

Posh Red

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Is it not just the case that there aren’t really any easy/straightforward games in the premier league anymore? I mean Liverpool nearly dropped points at home against palace today and they are top of the league. I think the assumption that we should dominate lower level teams is a falsehood and just won’t happen. The only team that is capable of that is Man City and we are never going to spend like they do. We’ve won seven games in a row. That can’t be underestimated.
 

breakout67

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Who manages the fitness coaches?
Depends on the club and player. For example Pogba has his own personal fitness coach that he works with. He also has his own rehab team. De Gea has his own goalkeeping coach that stays regardless of the manager. When it comes to the specifics of our club, our heads of fitness have been here since the SAF days and are most likely managed by directors.

Are you being serious?
Yes. I can't really think of a club where player fitness is left up to the manager. I doubt any clubs would be so nonchalant in looking after their investments. Gary Walker who is our strength and conditioning coach has been in every Mourinho training session caught on video, he's been here since 2010. He is the one responsible for our strength and conditioning not the manager.
 

Harry190

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Broski, you don't need to ace all the games if you still end up winning them.
 

Paxi

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If that true all the top teams would be about the same fitness and they’re clearly not.
Well most premier league teams have similar fitness levels, don't they? I mean, as I said, it's not like there is a night and day difference between fitness levels between us and other teams. If it were, it would be way more apparent.
 

Jordielaforge

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Fitness will play a big role going forward. Under Jose we were pedestrian due to the lack of speed in his play. We were always bottom of the stats. We haven’t played high intensity, pressing, counter attacking football in 6 years.
We need to be fitter for longer periods, that will come with rotation and training.
 
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CG1010

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We have glaring gaps in our CB, CM, RB and RW position still. If Ole can help to hide them and continue to win, he definitely deserves the credit. But I feel this forum will get into an overdrive of hyperreaction at the first instance of losing points with a bad performance.
 

EwanI Ted

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Well most premier league teams have similar fitness levels, don't they? I mean, as I said, it's not like there is a night and day difference between fitness levels between us and other teams. If it were, it would be way more apparent.
There’s a clear difference between fitness of teams, I’m surprised anyone could think otherwise. Spurs have been lauded for their fitness levels in recent years, and it took Klopp til his second season to have his teams playing at his preferred level m, they used to look knackered after an hour.
 

Kag

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We have glaring gaps in our CB, CM, RB and RW position still. If Ole can help to hide them and continue to win, he definitely deserves the credit. But I feel this forum will get into an overdrive of hyperreaction at the first instance of losing points with a bad performance.
Mourinho’s men are frothing at the mouth for this to happen.
 

el3mel

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Were you at the game? It was fecking freezing by the second half. I’m not surprised both teams struggled to do much second half. It would have been difficult to get going for any team without the adrenaline rush from nicking a goal when behind or needing to score.
Must be the strangest excuse I have ever heard for being too lax while the game isn't done yet.
 

Van Piorsing

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Tougher matches ahead, Ole doesn't have much time to assess whole group of players but good news is one habit was already dropped when we're finally looking not addicted to Fellaini scheme.

Keep things like that further and Ole will be the only candidate for the job. There are definitely good signs.
 

Sir Scott McToMinay

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Fecking hell this place, just won 7 games in a row and yet it's been poor for a few games now

Some fans deserved Mourinho, they just cannot stop moaning
Oh absolutely. People forget how we used to win leagues under SAF, they probably remember us as being dominant on Pep’s Barca levels or something, that almost never was the case.

7 wins in a row ffs, when was the last time it happened?
Enjoy it!
 

Flexdegea

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Jesus, some of the reactions in here are ridiculous.

You'd think I was advocating getting rid of him or slagging him off ffs. All I'm saying is the time might be here where he needs to make use of a different approach to keep us on the right track.

Fitness may be a part of it as some have suggested, bit switching off is an issue too, and one we need to resolve.


That's the thing we are so far on the right track as it stands......what more are you seriously wanting?


It's 7 wins on the bounce..............I find your opening post a ridiculous reaction relative to whats been going on this season to where we are at the moment.

Ole doing everything asked of him..........as someone said in another thread........sensation
 

EwanI Ted

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Depends on the club and player. For example Pogba has his own personal fitness coach that he works with. He also has his own rehab team. De Gea has his own goalkeeping coach that stays regardless of the manager. When it comes to the specifics of our club, our heads of fitness have been here since the SAF days and are most likely managed by directors.



Yes. I can't really think of a club where player fitness is left up to the manager. I doubt any clubs would be so nonchalant in looking after their investments. Gary Walker who is our strength and conditioning coach has been in every Mourinho training session caught on video, he's been here since 2010. He is the one responsible for our strength and conditioning not the manager.
The Board of Directors manage the fitness coaches? Is that a joke? The fitness team are unquestionably managed by the overall manager.
 

The Stain

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Watching the post match presser with Ole and again he mentions the need for us to keep the ball better in the second half. He mentioned this in another game as well. That's great to hear. He knows we need to rest on the ball more in the second half after an intense first half. That is the game plan and i love it. Go for the win in the first half and try to control the game in the second. I'm sure we'll see improvements going forward.
 

Paxi

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There’s a clear difference between fitness of teams, I’m surprised anyone could think otherwise. Spurs have been lauded for their fitness levels in recent years, and it took Klopp til his second season to have his teams playing at his preferred level m, they used to look knackered after an hour.
Hmm maybe you've a point. It's just bizzare that top level athletes can lag behind so much in terms of fitness.
 

BluesJr

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Depends on the club and player. For example Pogba has his own personal fitness coach that he works with. He also has his own rehab team. De Gea has his own goalkeeping coach that stays regardless of the manager. When it comes to the specifics of our club, our heads of fitness have been here since the SAF days and are most likely managed by directors.



Yes. I can't really think of a club where player fitness is left up to the manager. I doubt any clubs would be so nonchalant in looking after their investments. Gary Walker who is our strength and conditioning coach has been in every Mourinho training session caught on video, he's been here since 2010. He is the one responsible for our strength and conditioning not the manager.
We clearly lack the fitness to press for the full game and that is due to previous tactics implemented by the last manager over 2.5 years. The players are obviously kept fit but they aren’t used to the intensity they are now being asked to achieve. That is a fault of Mourinho.
 

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Didn't see the game so can't comment on the match but am I hoping for too much in thinking that Smalling returning could be key for us in tightening our defence? Looking at people's complaints it seems our full backs were poor and Jones didn't win enough headers in the box. If anything is going to cost us a top 4 spot it seems the defence might be the biggest reason.
 

breakout67

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The Board of Directors manage the fitness coaches? Is that a joke? The fitness team are unquestionably managed by the overall manager.
This is distinctly false. The head coach does not have authority over head of departments. He brings in his own fitness coaches that work along with heads of fitness that are already at the club. The only coach relevant to this topic that was managed by Mourinho was Rui Faria and he left a while ago.

We clearly lack the fitness to press for the full game and that is due to previous tactics implemented by the last manager over 2.5 years. The players are obviously kept fit but they aren’t used to the intensity they are now being asked to achieve. That is a fault of Mourinho.
No that would be the fault of the fitness coaches. Mourinho complained about intensity for a good part of last season, we also struggled with intensity under LVG who also complained about intensity. There are certain constants here and they aren't the manager.
 

MacabbiUnited

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If having a game with 20 shots on goal cobsidered a drop in form, than Ole has truly done a remarkable job.

Obviously not amazing bit good game, need better finiahing
 

RedPed

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The clamouring for Poch will reach fever pitch when we lose our first game. What's everybody going to do next season if we appoint a new manager and start off not winning every game 4-0 but scraping the odd win here and there?

Having been 13-odd points behind last month, it looks like we'll be 3 points behind Chelsea in 4th by the end of the day. That's ridiculous!

Seriously don't know what more people expect OGS to do.
 

BluesJr

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This is distinctly false. The head coach does not have authority over head of departments. He brings in his own fitness coaches that work along with heads of fitness that are already at the club. The only coach relevant to this topic that was managed by Mourinho was Rui Faria and he left a while ago.



No that would be the fault of the fitness coaches. Mourinho complained about intensity for a good part of last season, we also struggled with intensity under LVG who also complained about intensity. There are certain constants here and they aren't the manager.
Sorry but that is complete bollocks. The manager is in charge of training and the team. The way we play is on him and him alone.
 

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The players arent used to this kind of style and you could see most of them fade pretty badly in the second half. That being said, if Lingaard scores that sitter at 2-0 we could i think Brighton would lose all hope and we would be a lot more comfortable in the second half
 

Zen

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Wonderful.

Can't wait for the "told you so" after the first loss.
 

Ace of Spades

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Looks to me a problem with fitness. We have looked tired at the end of games, where we just stop pressing as a team. We start dropping more and more deeper.
We had full control of the game, had some chances to kill the game off. Then they score, and we panic. Also, our defense being cowards means we can't even circulate the ball around and frustrate them. A little pressure and our defense falls apart.
 

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This is distinctly false. The head coach does not have authority over head of departments. He brings in his own fitness coaches that work along with heads of fitness that are already at the club. The only coach relevant to this topic that was managed by Mourinho was Rui Faria and he left a while ago.



No that would be the fault of the fitness coaches. Mourinho complained about intensity for a good part of last season, we also struggled with intensity under LVG who also complained about intensity. There are certain constants here and they aren't the manager.
Do you not thinks it’s relevant that Mourinho generally didn’t ask his team to press? Surely playing ninety minutes of pressing football every week has an impact on a players fitness improving?
 

ivaldo

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I think this might be down to personnel, and their inabillity to keep any sort of defensive structure. We have a worse defence than any of the top 6, with the exception of Arsenal.

Lindelöf has come on leaps and bounds, but he is not a leader or organizer. We only need to look at Liverpool to see what having one of those can do.
Is that the Liverpool who just conceded 3 at home to a team that have scored just 23 goals in 23 games? :D
 

Ramshock

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That second half was not a good performance and we were hanging on for the last 20 minutes. The Spurs game was not good either but that was a much better team at the end of a run of games.

I'm not necessarily saying the honeymoon is over, but I've felt (as have many others) that the fresh take on things and the smiles and positivity wouldn't do the job forever and there's going to come a time when he needs to get the hair dryer out, so to speak.

I think it might be that time; he needs to rid some bad habits from the squad and not allow us to go from cruising to being under the hammer.
Knee jerk thread. Look at Brightons scores all season they have only been beaten by 2 goals once
 

Ramshock

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I think this might be down to personnel, and their inabillity to keep any sort of defensive structure. We have a worse defence than any of the top 6, with the exception of Arsenal.

Lindelöf has come on leaps and bounds, but he is not a leader or organizer. We only need to look at Liverpool to see what having one of those can do.
They just conceded 3 at home v Palace. Do people see the pattern here? Its called other teams are allowed to try to win.
 

SwansonsTache

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Is that the Liverpool who just conceded 3 at home to a team that have scored just 23 goals in 23 games? :D
Arnold Alexander Trent missing, Keita being his usual shit self and a rusty Matip. Liverpool statistically has the most solid defence in the league, and that is quite something considering what a laughing stock it was last season.
 

ivaldo

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Arnold Alexander Trent missing, Keita being his usual shit self and a rusty Matip. Liverpool statistically has the most solid defence in the league, and that is quite something considering what a laughing stock it was last season.
But the leader was still there though, right?
 

The Irish Connection

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Nobody is dominant every game. You go a run of games winning youre going to have slower performances or whatever. Today was excellent and fully dominant til their goal out of nothing, and then it got nervy to hold on in the last 20. Nothing too unexpected, nothing to overreact about. We arent a flawless team obviously and need to improve, but theres not all that much to draw from this game. Was still dominant for 3/4 of the game. Better finishing and we wouldve been out of sight.
Yes. Lindelof slipped before the cross came in and should have gotten closer to stop it, Jones should have cleared it and Dalot was on the back foot for their goal. We were complacent and dropped 10% in intensity. We had chances to get 3 so on another day could have got that. Ultimately, we need a top centre half and until we get one, we will leak goals a bit.
But 7 wins in a row, let’s enjoy that and the fact that we’re playing some lovely football for the majority of games under Ole.
 

#07

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The game was badly managed by both United and the manager, I didn't see the wisdom of bringing on Mata when Brighton were going direct and I thought Rom should've come on earlier to give us someone to hit it up to when we were under pressure.

That being said this thread is a little OTT. Ole's done a fantastic job and continues to do a fantastic job. Every manager has days where he makes decisions that are tough to explain. The important thing is we won and that is in large part a product of what Ole has done since he got the job.

Ole's in game management has been pretty solid since he's been in the hot seat. The subs against Huddersfield, Newcastle, Spurs all good. Call this an off day (on which we got away with it anyway) rather than a reason to raise doubts.
 

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I’m not sure if a bollocking is what is in order but agree with the gist of your post @Rado_N.

I think the issue is a mixture of fitness and lack there of (we seem to have been running on adrenaline and now our fitness work under Jose is exposed once again) we don’t seem to be able to keep intensity up through entire game and tactically - the team needs to defend high up the pitch and as a team, we are far too easy to get through and IMO sitting off and being passive will only create more problems.
This is the big thing that no one seems to be noticing. We're outrunning teams most weeks now after hardly doing it at all under Jose. The players aren't used to the work they are now getting through and it's showing late in games. It's not something that can be coached in a short period of time and working on fitness mid-season is never something you want to do.

We'll likely stay the same until the summer when some proper work can be done on the players fitness levels.
 

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There are no such managers who use the "hairdryer" anymore. SAF got away with it for so long because he was a living legend. Do you expect Ole to shower them with spit and then kick a shoe into Martial's face?? He's about the last manager on earth who I think would do that! The players don't need motivation from a manager to be better, they can take care of themselves and sense the what the crowd in the stands is feeling. They just looked a little lazy today in the 2nd half and to be fair, defensively we have been sloppy for too long. That is a personnel problem not an effort one. Some of the deadwood needs to be pruned!
 

Inigo Montoya

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The game was badly managed by both United and the manager, I didn't see the wisdom of bringing on Mata when Brighton were going direct and I thought Rom should've come on earlier to give us someone to hit it up to when we were under pressure.

That being said this thread is a little OTT. Ole's done a fantastic job and continues to do a fantastic job. Every manager has days where he makes decisions that are tough to explain. The important thing is we won and that is in large part a product of what Ole has done since he got the job.

Ole's in game management has been pretty solid since he's been in the hot seat. The subs against Huddersfield, Newcastle, Spurs all good. Call this an off day (on which we got away with it anyway) rather than a reason to raise doubts.
Off day? Take our chances and we are 4-0 up. Tactics had nothing to do with it, we just finished badly then let Brighton loft high balls into the box
 

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Only after Brighton scored did our performance levels drop. Before that goal we could and should have been up with 3-4. After the goal came they got nervous. Not surprised after the the horrible management they have been through for 3 years prior to this. They probably came scared to training this season.

6 out of 6 in the PL. 18 out of 18 possible points. You couldn't demand nor ask for more.
 

EwanI Ted

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This is distinctly false. The head coach does not have authority over head of departments. He brings in his own fitness coaches that work along with heads of fitness that are already at the club. The only coach relevant to this topic that was managed by Mourinho was Rui Faria and he left a while ago.



No that would be the fault of the fitness coaches. Mourinho complained about intensity for a good part of last season, we also struggled with intensity under LVG who also complained about intensity. There are certain constants here and they aren't the manager.
So he had a coach before, then chose to leave it to others when he left, but it’s not his responsibility and he couldn’t choose anyway?

Sure.

Edit: typo
 

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@ the OP, I just said this during the match.

Ole has brought back the happiness to OT and also played the players in the right position to bring the best out of them. Plus brought back attacking football. Winning 7 our of 7 is amazing and I am so happy.

BUT, the first 4 matches we should have won with any decent manager in charge. We were great against Spurs in the first half and were blessed with DDG in the 2nd but I feel Sir AF would have changed tactics to combat what Spurs did to us to not rely on DDG. This match we were great again in the first half but tactics needed to be changed in the 2nd. Ole didn't.

Love the guy, love his enthusiasm but I'd still pull all the stops out for Poch as he still plays attacking football, still promotes youth but has more tactical knowledge from what I can tell