My vote has remained Ole out... not because I want him out right now... ( he's earned any benefit of the doubt for now by achieving Champions League) but because I'm still not convinced he's a brilliant coach and I can't be arsed to change it.
Everything changed when Bruno joined the team... I've always had faith in the young strikers... so their performance is what I expected.
I attribute the success to finally playing midfielders who could provide them with service.
If we didn't have Fernandes, would things have changed? I think it would have been pretty poor.
I do give him credit for playing Greenwood over Lingard though
I also give him credit for improving the overall morale of the team.
If Ole was the main driving force behind the identification and selection of Bruno... then that would be a huge point in his favor.
If Ole is able to keep Pogba... that would be another big one.
If he is able to retool the defense (cut losses on Maguire and teach Wan-Bissaka how to play the ball a little more effectively) that might be another one.
I'm very happy with the season and if I can see continued growth, then I will reevaluate accordingly.
But in the same way I wouldn't call Frank Vogel a genius coach for winning with LeBron James and Anthony Davis... I can't really be convinced about Ole until I see him coach his way to true contention for Premier League title or a Champions League victory
66 points seems like underperforming for this team. I think they are better than that.
But Ole seems like a bright guy... so maybe he will find his way.
For now he's earned his right to operate without an axe hanging over his head. I hope he can take us to the next level.
Referring to the bolded parts;
1) I’m curious to know what you make of managers like Pep, Klopp, Zidane? Also of managers like Poch? Because according to you, a manager is only great if his coaching abilities can shine without a galactic squad. None of the first three managers I pointed out, managed to win anything until they had a full squad full of talented individuals. Then comes Poch, who for all his coaching prowess, failed to win a single trophy. And then his downfall was so abnormal that being champions league finalists, he somehow managed to feck it all up in a matter of months and get sacked before December. End of the day, you need to have a squad decent enough to comprehend and implement your tactical demands and expectations.
2) 66 points you say. I can’t seem to understand how you think this squad was projected to score more points with the injuries we had this season, the lack of personnel available. Literally need a miracle like Bruno in January to get to where we are now. It’s not Ole’s fault that all the incompetent players we had available couldn’t seem to get in any goals/assists. I mean even if Poch had to come and manager Lingard/Pereira/Mata/James & co., I’m not sure he’d fair any better. Pep came to city with a squad full of winners and yet some of them made tremendous blunders in his first season. Same with Klopp. Only Henderson is left from the squad he inherited. The point is, if Ole had gotten 66 points with our squad being justifiably good enough to get to 75/80 then I’d say okay fair enough. But technically we could’ve reached 70/75 even with this current squad if it wasn’t for DDGs blunders. Or Bruno being signed in Jan instead of when the season started like we all cried for. But these factors had nothing to do with Ole.
In all respect, I think you’re just making our squad seem a lot more than they are and you really need to be practical and realistic when you start making statements like that.
To conclude, coaches don’t become ‘brilliant’ over night. Pep would’ve never become brilliant if he didn’t have an amazing squad and good infrastructure around him. That is where he got his footing from and that is why he was trusted with the job. Everyone knows Ole is yet to prove his brilliance but he too, has a good infrastructure around him, and the clubs support. For me, he’s already done much better from an overall perspective than what LvG or Mou managed to do. There is only so much a manager can do.
This is why many of us want to give him another season when we can fairly judge him. Same way Pep or Klopp didn’t get judged in their first season(s) while their project was incomplete.
But having said that, I did appreciate the humbleness in your post where you have left yourself open to changing your perspective if things continue to Improve. Even though it didn’t sound like that when you began your post saying he’s not a brilliant coach and can’t be arsed to change your thinking. Perhaps you first need to stop contradicting yourself to be able to see the bigger picture.