Would you sack or keep Ole? (Poll reopened)

[Paul_Scholes18]

Are you serious? Out of all out managers since Fergie, he's had the best transfer strategy.

For once, our signings are coming good.

We can agree to disagree with that. Our position has been pretty low in the league. The players have been up and down a lot.
Our best players pre Bruno has been Rashford who has been here for a long time.

Things can improve and it did look much better near the end. Still it has not been overall good enough. You can say that it is down to coaching rather than the players we bought.
Still not seeing great value in those we got in. Maguire has been average and poor a lot. Wan Bissaka lacks in attack although has improved near the end in that area. James started well, but has struggled more as the season moved on.

 

[Brightonian]

I am not convinced by our transfer strategy under Ole.

What?! Maguire, AWB, James, Fernandes, Ighalo... allowing for how cheap James was, that's a 100% success rate!

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

What?! Maguire, AWB, James, Fernandes, Ighalo... allowing for how cheap James was, that's a 100% success rate!

Given that we are 5th I would say no. We can all blame other players like Lingard who barely start, but these guys have not been amazing and all have big flaws. Which are fine, but people tend to look at only the positives for the new guys. Bruno has only played like 5 league games. 3 wins, 2 draws and being very good in most of them is a good record. Still it is too small of a sample to judge them. Ighalo as a backup did well in the cups too, but also not that many games.
The main problem I have is that we waited to invest in the attack that needed investment the most. That do not give me confidence for future signings being in the right areas.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Still sack for me.

 

[Brightonian]

Given that we are 5th I would say no. We can all blame other players like Lingard who barely start, but these guys have not been amazing and all have big flaws. Which are fine, but people tend to look at only the positives for the new guys. Bruno has only played like 5 league games. 3 wins, 2 draws and being very good in most of them is a good record. Still it is too small of a sample to judge them. Ighalo as a backup did well in the cups too, but also not that many games.
The main problem I have is that we waited to invest in the attack that needed investment the most. That do not give me confidence for future signings being in the right areas.

That's not how football works. You don't assess a handful of signings by looking at whether their team has immediately won the league. You assess them by looking at their performances. All five have, to different degrees, been successful. There is more to come from all of them, too.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

That's not how football works. You don't assess a handful of signings by looking at whether their team has immediately won the league. You assess them by looking at their performances. All five have, to different degrees, been successful. There is more to come from all of them, too.

Let us agree to disagree regarding the performances so far. It is a team effort and we have not been good enough as a team. They are all not bad players obviously. We have a good squad. Although I am not sure they was the right types of signings we needed to be doing to get back towards the top. Before Bruno came we fighted around 5-10 in the league.
Bruno probably is a player for the very top. I have been very impressed by him, but it is a small sample. Will be interesting to see him with Pogba and if that can work.

How much more to come remains to be seen. I think this is the Maguire we got and he will always be flawed and not the quickest. Wan Bissaka can certainly improve his attack. Still he will always be a defensive fullback and Shaw is not the most attacking one either. James can certainly improve too and should function as a squad player at least.

 

[romufc]

We can all blame other players like Lingard who barely start,

The players we say are not good enough are Lingard and Perreira.

Lingard has played 35 times this season and Perreira 41. Only Maguire 45 has played more than Perreira.

How much more to come remains to be seen. I think this is the Maguire we got and he will always be flawed and not the quickest. Wan Bissaka can certainly improve his attack. Still he will always be a defensive fullback and Shaw is not the most attacking one either. James can certainly improve too and should function as a squad player at least

Maguire will be flawed? in which way?

AWB is 21 and is the best defensive RB in the league, he will improve.

James will improve, he was never thought to have been a first choice.

So I am not sure how they are unconvincing?

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

The players we say are not good enough are Lingard and Perreira.

Lingard has played 35 times this season and Perreira 41. Only Maguire 45 has played more than Perreira.



Maguire will be flawed? in which way?

AWB is 21 and is the best defensive RB in the league, he will improve.

James will improve, he was never thought to have been a first choice.

So I am not sure how they are unconvincing?

Maguires reacton time is pretty low. He gets turned pretty easily at times. If we want to play more expansive it could be a problem with less shielding from midfield if Pogba plays over Mctominay/Fred.
AWB is probably not the best right back in the league. He has a long way to go. Pereira, Walker and TAA has been better. Azpilicueta as a right back maybe too.
In terms of pure defending he is up there with his speed and power. Although he needs to read the game better at times.
We need a right winger for sure if James is not going to improve much. Greenwood might step up too hopefully.

The problem is not with what we got, but what we have not got. We still lack attacking options even if we now got a number 10 in Bruno.

 

[He'sRaldo]

Even if you think he's the right man, given our showing this season, it's fair enough if there are people who don't.

What to me is peculiar is, I sometimes feel like the rebuild talk gets a bit into brainwashing territory. To the point where people are comfortable going seasons without trophies or even CL football, all because of the rebuild. We can't just drop all standards due to a rebuild we're not 100% sure will work, that's a sure-fire way of turning into Arsenal.

And the other aspect of the rebuild talk is emphasizing passion, work rate, etc over talent. I think they're equally important, and one shouldn't be viewed as overtly superior to the other. Looking at our season, despite the passion and work rate the players have shown, if we're honest very few have shown genuine consistent quality, and that's something which was evident when real quality briefly entered the pitch in the form of Bruno and Pogba.

With all that said, I'm still on the fence. There have been a lot of mistakes and lucky breaks for Ole, but there's also a huge amount of promise in what he's doing. He's gone far in both the FA Cup and Europa League, and we may have very well won both had the season not been cut short. As a fan of Ole, the club, and the whole concept really, I'm more inclined to be on the hopeful side... but not yet brazenly hopeful. Obviously he'll stay until the next season, but there needs to be some consistency at that point. We can't be in an inconsistent rebuild forever.

 

[romufc]

Maguires reacton time is pretty low. He gets turned pretty easily at times. If we want to play more expansive it could be a problem with less shielding from midfield if Pogba plays over Mctominay/Fred.
AWB is probably not the best right back in the league. He has a long way to go. Pereira, Walker and TAA has been better. Azpilicueta as a right back maybe too.
In terms of pure defending he is up there with his speed and power. Although he needs to read the game better at times.
We need a right winger for sure if James is not going to improve much. Greenwood might step up too hopefully.

The problem is not with what we got, but what we have not got. We still lack attacking options even if we now got a number 10 in Bruno.

I think Maguire will grow into his position at United, likewise AWB. We will see how they fair when we get the season starts back up, and we can judge them then.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

I think Maguire will grow into his position at United, likewise AWB. We will see how they fair when we get the season starts back up, and we can judge them then.

Certainly should keep them and hope things improve. It did look better in the last 4 games after the break for everyone. Maybe we worked on something that helped or it was just getting some rest and Bruno into the team that gave us a boost. Maguire getting some goals should probably help his confidence too. Our poor set pieces have been interesting given that it should help having Maguire around for them.

 

[romufc]

Certainly should keep them and hope things improve. It did look better in the last 4 games after the break for everyone. Maybe we worked on something that helped or it was just getting some rest and Bruno into the team that gave us a boost. Maguire getting some goals should probably help his confidence too. Our poor set pieces have been interesting given that it should help having Maguire around for them.

The problem is that we have looked good in 4 games before and then fallen off a cliff. Hence certain fans are vary of the resurgence.

I agree on the set pieces, how we are so poor at both ends of the box is beyond me. Ideally we should be really dominant considering we have Maguire, Matic, AWB, McTominay in our team.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

The problem is that we have looked good in 4 games before and then fallen off a cliff. Hence certain fans are vary of the resurgence.

I agree on the set pieces, how we are so poor at both ends of the box is beyond me. Ideally we should be really dominant considering we have Maguire, Matic, AWB, McTominay in our team.

Yeah the Corona virus hit us at a very bad time. We had great momentum for once and a chance to win two cups as well.
I can't see the EL starting again so it is just the league if it starts.
Pogba and Rashford back could be good though. Although might take time to get them ready to play at peak level.

 

[romufc]

Yeah the Corona virus hit us at a very bad time. We had great momentum for once and a chance to win two cups as well.
I can't see the EL starting again so it is just the league if it starts.
Pogba and Rashford back could be good though. Although might take time to get them ready to play at peak level.

UEFA have stated they want the CL and EL completed in August.

I think it will take time for all players to get to peak, 2 months off is best part of the summer break. I hope we can start with real rhythm

 

[BenitoSTARR]

Maguires reacton time is pretty low. He gets turned pretty easily at times. If we want to play more expansive it could be a problem with less shielding from midfield if Pogba plays over Mctominay/Fred.
AWB is probably not the best right back in the league. He has a long way to go. Pereira, Walker and TAA has been better. Azpilicueta as a right back maybe too.
In terms of pure defending he is up there with his speed and power. Although he needs to read the game better at times.
We need a right winger for sure if James is not going to improve much. Greenwood might step up too hopefully.

The problem is not with what we got, but what we have not got. We still lack attacking options even if we now got a number 10 in Bruno.

I’m sorry but there’s no evidence of this with regards to Maguire. I cannot think of a single instance he’s been turned easily. Can you tell me who we were playing against and when this happened because I’m calling this out. Show me an example.

AWB is the best defensive RB I’ve seen in the last 10+ years for United and if you watch him in game you’ll see he’s good with his feet always available and is much better offensively than given credit for. He’s not picking up assists left right and centre but that’s not his job in our current set up. Reading the game better sounds vague to me again any examples?

I agree with your last points about RW and the issues now being more what we don’t have then what we do. We have a good basis of a first XI now and the squad needs adding too but there isn’t much I’d take away from the first XI.

 

[BenitoSTARR]

In fact look at our clubs stats for this season...

Maguire most passes 1824
Maguire most aerial battles won 136
Maguire most clearances 132
Maguire joint most interceptions with AWB 53
Maguire 0 errors leading to goal

Seems to react well to me...

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

I’m sorry but there’s no evidence of this with regards to Maguire. I cannot think of a single instance he’s been turned easily. Can you tell me who we were playing against and when this happened because I’m calling this out. Show me an example.

AWB is the best defensive RB I’ve seen in the last 10+ years for United and if you watch him in game you’ll see he’s good with his feet always available and is much better offensively than given credit for. He’s not picking up assists left right and centre but that’s not his job in our current set up. Reading the game better sounds vague to me again any examples?

I agree with your last points about RW and the issues now being more what we don’t have then what we do. We have a good basis of a first XI now and the squad needs adding too but there isn’t much I’d take away from the first XI.

I think against Liverpool it did happen for sure on the counter. It was in the last game at Anfield. I think it did happen against City too in the second cup game. Hard games and teams though. Normally we have shielded our central defenders well to not be very exposed in 1vs1. Just do feel like Lindelöf is quicker and better to deal with those situations if they should happen.

No specific example just feeling he do not always know when to bomb forward and who to pick a pass too. He reads his tackles well though.

 

[BenitoSTARR]

I think against Liverpool it did happen for sure on the counter. It was in the last game at Anfield. I think it did happen against City too in the second cup game. Hard games and teams though. Normally we have shielded our central defenders well to not be very exposed in 1vs1. Just do feel like Lindelöf is quicker and better to deal with those situations if they should happen.

No specific example just feeling he do not always know when to bomb forward and who to pick a pass too. He reads his tackles well though.

Reactions and speed are very different though I think that’s what I take issue with. I don’t see any evidence in those two instances of poor reactions to situations perhaps a lack of physical speed absolutely so reframe it as being slower then I’d agree. But where I still disagree is the idea of easily being turned. He doesn’t get turned easily as you first said. If there are only two instances in the season against excellent opposition with let’s face it a weaker United without a fixed DM then you can’t say easily. You could say against the best in the league he’s shown a potential weakness but that also comes with the caveat that he’s still topping our defensive charts in key areas which we’ve struggled with.

I agree Lindelof is quicker and more able to make lateral movements which make him better suited as a 1v1 against a dribbler but Maguire holds his own and I think you’ve been overly harsh in your wording.

Again I’d disagree he does get forward the issue for me down the RW is there isn’t the consistent forward player. AWB has had James, Greenwood, Mata, Lingard, Pereira Rashford, Chong etc in rotation so developing an understanding of when to go is more challenging but he is able to carry the ball very well and recover well. I think personally I’d hold judgement until next season where hopefully you’d have a solid RW in place to support.

 

[Adnan]

Compare what we have today - with what we had 18 months ago - and it should be a no-brainer. Maybe he will prove not to be good enough to take United to the top, but at the moment he is making the job a hell of a lot easier for whoever is in charge in 12 months.

I agree..

 

[Striker10]

You keep Ole. People use his inexperience against him. But we've had experienced people come in and they ballsed it up. We're going in the right direction. We're a young squad but we've options. We're short but we've made good signings. The club maybe should have bought Bruno in the summer but I think we are seeing a healthier state forming. Oles the man for the job for me. The squad appear happy. We've seen improvements in various players. We've bought well and yes certainly Bruno has added quality in a key area for us. Where we needed quality, because Mata and Lingard, Andreas (at the minute) can't produce the numbers. For me, it's a non brainer at this point. I think we struggled early in the season but would have done better with a fit Pogba and/or Bruno from the start. The old United used to be you score 3 we score 4. The problem was we were leaking goals without enough quality going forward. We have that now but of course we need more

 

[Acole9]

It's amazing how much my opinion has changed, a few months ago I wanted him gone but now I'm content with him sticking around and seeing how he continues to rebuild the squad.

 

[BenitoSTARR]

I do find it funny how many people have switched. It’s almost like a manager needs time to make significant changes and you do need quality investments to develop.

 

[red woppit]

The problem with some people today is that they want things to happen immediately, they are not prepared to wait a year or two for things to develop. Not one manager can go into a club and get everything running their way from the first day (admittedly there can be a new manager spike, as with Ole, but then that tails off), even SAF took three years before he had HIS team at Old Trafford, and started to win things, the same with Pep and Klopp. You can see where Ole has started to create his vision of how he feels the club should be run, starting with the academy, the path from academy to first team, and with the first team itself (all within 12 months of being the manager). My gut feeling is that everything feels right about the club now (apart from the owners and Ed, but to be fair to them, the decisions the club has made during the Covid outbreak have been exemplary), there are very good younger players coming through, who can see a path to the first team (although only a handful will make it here), some of the so called 'deadwood' have been moved on (still ongoing), and the signings made have all worked well (James was always going to be a gamble, and possibly a year or two before he develops into what they hope for). A lot of posters point to the fact that Ole is not 'experienced enough' to get the club back to where it belongs, but he is learning every day, as is the coaching staff, and with SAF and Phelan to fall back on, and with new ideas that always comes with a new management system, I see a lot of positives. We have gone down the 'experienced' route twice now, and we all now where that took us. There obviously will be decisions made over Pogba, Ighalo, Sancho, Grealish, Saul etc over the coming weeks/months, but I have full confidence in Ole to get those decisions right, and to get this club back to competing at the very top.

 

[Withnail]

Reactions and speed are very different though I think that’s what I take issue with. I don’t see any evidence in those two instances of poor reactions to situations perhaps a lack of physical speed absolutely so reframe it as being slower then I’d agree. But where I still disagree is the idea of easily being turned. He doesn’t get turned easily as you first said. If there are only two instances in the season against excellent opposition with let’s face it a weaker United without a fixed DM then you can’t say easily. You could say against the best in the league he’s shown a potential weakness but that also comes with the caveat that he’s still topping our defensive charts in key areas which we’ve struggled with.

I agree Lindelof is quicker and more able to make lateral movements which make him better suited as a 1v1 against a dribbler but Maguire holds his own and I think you’ve been overly harsh in your wording.

Again I’d disagree he does get forward the issue for me down the RW is there isn’t the consistent forward player. AWB has had James, Greenwood, Mata, Lingard, Pereira Rashford, Chong etc in rotation so developing an understanding of when to go is more challenging but he is able to carry the ball very well and recover well. I think personally I’d hold judgement until next season where hopefully you’d have a solid RW in place to support.

On the Maguire thing, I agree that he isn't the quickest but I think he's suffered due to not having an adequate partner,, with pace to complement him and how little protection the defense had from midfield for much of this season.

Let's not forget either that it's his first season at the club. I'd be confident he will improve and (maybe foolishly) I'm hopefully Bailey can get back to his best and be consistent with it as on form I think he'd be an excellent partner for Maguire.

I'd also agree the team is crying out for a proper RW but that's not exactly news.

I'd also echoe what others have said, in that the thread is kind of moot now as with all of the upheaval of the Covid situation there's very little chance he'll be sacked especially given the, albeit brief, turn-around in form.

It really was a pity as things looked to have finally clicked into place.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

On the Maguire thing, I agree that he isn't the quickest but I think he's suffered due to not having an adequate partner,, with pace to complement him and how little protection the defense had from midfield for much of this season.

Let's not forget either that it's his first season at the club. I'd be confident he will improve and (maybe foolishly) I'm hopefully Bailey can get back to his best and be consistent with it as on form I think he'd be an excellent partner for Maguire.

I'd also agree the team is crying out for a proper RW but that's not exactly news.

I'd also echoe what others have said, in that the thread is kind of moot now as with all of the upheaval of the Covid situation there's very little chance he'll be sacked especially given the, albeit brief, turn-around in form.

It really was a pity as things looked to have finally clicked into place.

I disagree with the midfield protection. I think that has been our strongest point this season. Matic, Mctominay and Fred hasve given very good protection. Particular in some of the big games.
It could get worse if we say play with Pogba deep in midfield.
We did see against Sheffield and Villa how bad it could be with Pereira in midfield though. Maguire really struggled in those games without the extra protection.

Will be interesting to see how things change now when we start again. It just feels like a new season is going to come.
I personally do not think we would have got top 4. Although I do think we might have won the EL. We showed great european form and the opponents left were not the strongest.

 

[mancave bear]

Its unbeliveable that some fans dont see the great job Ole have done. I bet those who actually watch the game every week, following the team real close, are in favour of letting him finish the rebuild before they judge him. We have allready tested two world class super experienced managers, who did not fix it. I say give Ole the time to get at least 4 more top players, and then a full season, befor we judge him.

 

[Adnan]

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[RUCK4444]

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Rich coming from Mourinho.

 

[Random Task]

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Is there any proof Jose even said that beyond some random person saying so on twitter?

 

[Devil81]

Gotta say I was starting to doubt him during the course of this season but from Christmas onwards and with the results in the big games I think he's proven he's on the right path.

• Promotion of youth
• Clearing out the problem players
• Giving us an identity again

This might sound crazy but I'd rather keep him and see where we end up than take any other manager in the world football at the moment. He's one of our own and he's following the Sir Alex blueprint, I think he's going to get us back where we belong.

 

[Adnan]

Is there any proof Jose even said that beyond some random person saying so on twitter?

Daniel Taylor is the source.

 

[Rolaholic]

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Love the picture used here

Was a cheeky play by Ole

 

[Zoo]

What rubbish. Yeah let’s make a judgement as the world recovers from a global pandemic playing football in bizarre, unprecedented circumstances .

 

[Adnan]

This news from Daniel Taylor should be taken as a positive and used as extra motivation against Spurs.

 

[Gehrman]

Poch is going to Newcastle now and Ole seems to be doing a good overhaul of the squad. Personally no point in discussing change of manager atm. Eager to see how we end the season and how next season unfolds.

 

[Adnan]

Why Woodward spared Solskjaer amidst the bad form early in the season.

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[Bilbo]

What rubbish. Yeah let’s make a judgement as the world recovers from a global pandemic playing football in bizarre, unprecedented circumstances .

People will. There are still some sections of our fanbase waiting for the next opportunity to sharpen the knives. Some because they just dont rate him, but many more because they just need to be proven right.

Ole has done an outstanding job so far, and for me there is a 0% chance that he is not our manager next season.

 

[Rolaholic]

Yea I don't think Ole's job security is really under threat or in question at the moment.

The team was showing a lot of positive signs of improvement and building something just before the layoff and now he's got as good a squad at his possible than ever before with the return to health of Rashford, Pogba and McTom.

Maybe things change if we have a disastrous final month of the season after the restart and we miss out of CL football, which I doubt, but he looks to be safe right now as he should be.

Just funny seeing that bitter cnut Jose reportedly sullying his name to others, what a sad old man if true

 

[Lynty]

Why Woodward spared Solskjaer amidst the bad form early in the season.

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Interesting

I've always said that our poor form in before January had mitigating circumstances/injuries that had to be taken into consideration, but never thought about blaming Jose.

 

[Chairman Steve]

It looked like it was picking up again from memory (feels like forever since that LASK 5-0 match), and if the players that have been mooted to join such as Sancho, Grealish, Van De Beek, Havertz, do indeed join then all well and good.

But it does mean then that there will be more pressure on him to get results. It's going to get hard to defend his ability, if two of those mentioned names or any other similarly gifted player joins and Utd still look uneasy on the eye and more importantly the results are inconsistent 3-4 months later.