I've been meaning to make this thread for a while. There seems to be some people who think that there are fervent Ole inners who can't take any criticism of the club. That is simply not true. What I (and others evidently) on this forum can't stand are illogical and stupid arguments. Here are some of them:
1) Ole is inept tactically
The fact Manchester United have just set a record for the longest unbeaten record is evidence of this. You simply can not go that long in the most competitive league unbeaten if you don't have a clue what you are doing. The fact that Ole has the best record against Pep of anyone who has ever played against him (as far as I am aware) should also go to dismissing that fallacy. If you want to argue that tactics can be improved, then I would love to read your posts. I don't really understand a lot about football myself. But the idea that he's completely useless is thrown around here a lot and it doesn't follow.
2) Ole is poor at changing the game
The simple fact that we have come from behind to win so often is proof that this is also nonsense. We gained thirty-one points from being behind at different points last year. That is insane. The idea that follows that Ole doesn't react quick enough or is poor at making subs is therefore silly as well. Are there instances where Ole didn't make the exact decision you would have done? Sure. Is Ole clearly understanding the pattern of the games and adapting accordingly. Well obviously.
3.) Ole has ignored the midfield problem
Not at all. He just can't solve everything at once. We are now seeing Ole assembling the most exciting United team for almost a decade. But there probably is an issue with our midfield. The problem is before this window there was also a problem with our right wing and our CB. At centre back we've just signed a world class defender (as far as we can assume so far) and means we now have a great back up option in Lindelof to rotate. Otherwise we were one injury away from relying on Baily and Tuanzebe. Sancho will hopefully prove to be an exceptional talent in a role where we literally had Greenwood and Dan James. Now of all the pressing concerns we had, CB and RW seemed to be a massive priority. Effectively we've spent 90 million this summer and upgraded both significantly.
4.) Ole has kept the deadwood around/we are fleeced for our player sales.
Now this one I get but some people have both these views simultaneously. We know there are some players in the squad that are not up to our standard. However, you simply can not get rid of these players for nothing else you will have a weaker position in the transfer market next time. I've seen some people say we should just accept a couple of million for Lingard and get him to West Ham. If you do that, you won't get £25 million for James later in the window. Ole has absolutely turfed out around 15 first team players in his time at the club who weren't good enough and now we finally look to have a squad of players ready to contribute. Lest you forget that Young, Valencia, Rojo, Darmian, Fellaini, Sanchez, Smalling, Perreira were all around the first team when he arrived and have since been deemed no longer good enough.
Again, there are issues with the team. If you want to point out we often go behind in games and make it hard for ourselves, that is fair enough. If you want to argue that Ole should have strengthened midfield rather than CB that is also fair enough, it's just much more complicated than flat out saying he has ignored it.
No-one wants a forum where people can't complain. We just want reasonable posts and some of you have clearly decided Ole is not good enough and make up any old reason to justify your opinion.
So I'm still torn two ways on Ole.
I don't think he gets enough credit for the improvements he's made, or any of the positive things he's done. Our squad compared to when he took over undeniably has more quality in it. The attitude and level of performance of almost every player has improved. We are much more fun to watch in spite of the kind of fair criticisms about us not having a clear style of play. We show character now, the team is more likeable. We have had some great moments even without a trophy. Some of it you can put on the players, but Ole is the manager so you have to give him the credit where it is due.
But...a lot of the criticisms to be honest are fair. I wouldn't say he is tactically inept. We don't set up and spend 70 minutes not trying to score a goal, or with wingers playing up front and strikers in midfield and everything just hoofing the ball to Fellaini so he can head it to no one, as we did under known tactical genius LVG. He is though a bit tactically unaware...but I would say there are few managers who are tactical geniuses, partly because a football game isn't actually a game of chess, so it's not a massive criticism. Sir Alex for example would do some very strange things and Pep at times is bafflingly stubborn and seems to insinuate it's the other team's fault for not playing football correctly if they tactically outsmart him.
He is undeniably poor at recognising when a change is needed in a game for me. Last season for example...Brighton away...9-10 times they get a chance at the far post due to Bissaka being exposed there. Ole does nothing and it should cost us the game if it wasn't for us being awarded a penalty after the game had finished. Everyone watching this game could see that we should have changed it, and this is a frequent pattern in our games. Sometimes it is obvious before the game even starts...last week for example. I knew before the game that Matic would sit too deep and our midfield would struggle with Fred there on his own...and a lot of other people watching would have thought/known this as well, and this is exactly what happened, and it didn't get addressed at any point. Firstly, if as a fan you know where your team is going to struggle before the game starts, then it is perfectly fair to criticise the manager if he cannot spot this. Secondly, the problem isn't so much making the mistake in the first place, it's the fact he will make the same mistake again within the next few weeks. Indicating that he is actually completely oblivious to it.
He has clearly ignored the midfield problem, in that the midfield is clearly a problem. Even if you really rate Fred and McTominay, there are only two of them and we play 50+ games over a season. We have spent £80m on Sancho, then signed Varane and Ronaldo. The midfield has either been ignored or whatever attempt to address it that there was has failed. Its also not a problem that has cropped up overnight. The midfield has been a problem since before Ole took over. The one bit of progress Ole has made is recognising that Pogba is far better suited playing in front of it, but then every 2-3 games he still sticks him back there again because we have no one else. We can argue about whether midfield was a bigger priority than signing a centreback, Sancho, etc...but the midfield has not been addressed, that much is just a fact.
I don't care about the deadwood argument. I would be with you on that. "deadwood" has been a buzzword on here for years. As soon as we sell one player who is supposedly deadwood, people just lable someone else as it. Its quite childish really. Often it'll be used to describe players who are actually important over the course of a season. We do have too many players now, but I think that's more a legacy of Woodward's ridiculous attempt to run down the contracts of half our squad at the same time a few years ago. It's certainly not something Ole is the main culprit for.
The other thing though, is that these criticisms aren't unique to Ole. As someone else in this thread rightly pointed out, you can put fair criticisms at any manager. Sir Alex was guilty of a lot of the things Ole is. He spent nearly a whole season playing KEane at centreback and O'Shea/Phil Neville in midfield. He brought on O'Shea as a striker when we needed a goal against Bayern Munich. Pep/Klopp do some very silly things. The difference with these managers is that they are exceptional in other areas so the mistakes might cost the odd game here and there, but are generally eclipsed by the fact they drive the team to being a succesful one. This is what Ole hasn't quite been able to do. The mistakes he makes almost seem to be the difference between the team being succesful or not. His weird management in the Europa League final you could argue was a major contributor to us not winning it. What gets lost in the frustration is the recognition that maybe if it wasn't for Ole the team wouldn't be there in the first place.
So for me he either needs to cut down on the errors (unlikely as he doesn't seem to learn from them), or prove he can be succesful in spite of them, which I have doubts about but am still not at a point where I have given up hope...especially not after 3 games...but it is very frustrating to see us struggle in games for the same reasons over and over. We have had three games this season, and the midfield problem has surfaced in two of them, and we also won a game 5-1 and then thought it was clever to pick a completely different attack for the next one. Its hard to understand at times. I think overall he is doing a good job, and the issue is that the expectency at United for a long term manager would be "great" rather than "good".
