How can Ole be this bad?

[justsomebloke]

Molde are a club in the 24th ranked league by UEFA Coefficiants. Next to the Bulgarian & Romanian leagues.

What is interesting to me, is Molde have instantly went on to better things after he left both times.

When Ole first left for Cardiff, 2013 season he finished 6th on 44 points (did win Norwegian Cup). The next season, Tor Ole Skullerud won them their first ever double (League + Norwegian Cup), setting a new league points record with 71 points, finishing 11 points ahead of Rosenborg. He lost 3 out of 30 matches, winning 22.

When Ole then left for us in 2018, the 2018 season he finished 2nd on 58 points. In Erling Moe's first full season in 2019, he too also won the league with 68 points, undefeated at home, 14 points ahead of 2nd. He lost 4 out of 30, winning 21.

In Ole's previous 4 years, he failed to win the league or Norwegian Cup once (6th 52 pts/5th 45 pts/2nd 54 pts/2nd 58 pts).

His best highlight in his 2nd spell was in his first return season in 2015, when he finished top of his Europa League group ahead of Fenerbahce, Celtic & Ajax. They got knocked out the very next round, but that's what's remembered.

Bearing in mind Molde have rich owners and are considered somewhat a cheque book team in Norway. His stint there, especially the 2nd, foresee a lot of the deficiencies he's been criticised throughout his time here.

Finally, one consistent theme in his managerial history has been his side shipping a lot of goals. Over his entire reign with Molde, the side conceded 296 goals over 241 games. At Cardiff, 57 were let in over the 30 matches in charge. When you're aware of stuff like that, what we're seeing should come as no surprise. No wonder he's always been safety first overall here.

Just....don't. Just find us a Norwegian or two who actually follows the league (as opposed to just looked up some stats to flesh out a view you already have), and who thinks OGS didn't do a very good job at Molde.

And why the feck do you care anyway? It's not interesting enough for you the problems Manchester United have right now, you also need to prove that OGS has actually been a shit manager his whole career? Why stop there? Could I interest you in some juicy gossip about his granddad?

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Cardiff and Molde. He should be making tea for an experienced manager.

 

[Max_United]

It's rambling, biased nonsense - hyping up a loss to a newly promoted team in an opening game while at the same time glossing over the fact he'd then win the league two seasons in a row?

The problem with this forum now is it's impossible to have an interesting conversation about United because 99% of what is posted is poorly worded, parroted opinions.

Yes, he won two titles (owing also to a significant degree to him being able to sign better players than rivals having resources and being a big name with connections and Rosenborg being in a bad state), but he failed to build on his initial success and finished 6th in the third season. They won the league after he left. In his second stint he failed to win the league in 3 seasons - which Molde did again after he left. So in the end he was arguably - if we are being generous - at best "laying the foundations" manager even in Norwegian League.

And this even not condidering the strength of the league. Smaller leagues are a lot less competetive and have a much lower coaching standard. A bit more resources and at least average championship/premier league level coach is like a cheat code. A prime example is Steve McLaren, who won Dutch league with Twente - more of an achievement than winning Norwegian league with Molde (much stronger league with the likes of Ajax and PSV to overcome). The highest job McLaren got after that is Newcastle and was never under consideration for a top job. You have to do something really extraordinary like winning a European Trophy/reaching latter stages to be considered for a top job directly. Or go to a smaller club in a top league as a stepping stone - which Ole did and failed.

If we signed an academy graduate who was ok/good in Norwegian League and failed at Cardiff (like Magnus Wolff Eikrem) and put him in the first team - no one would defend that. But that is at best the description of Ole's managerial career pre-United.

 

[Ludens the Red]

Because we’re Nostalgia FC

Because we’re run by a terrible board who know nothing about football and just want to sell the fans something to be excited about occasionally.

Because we’ve been desperate to return to the glory days, and desperation breeds irrationality, and boosts nostalgia

Because a large amount of our fans, drunk on this nostalgia, convinced themselves that winning with a former player - one himself drenched in nostalgic glory - would make it all so much better, and make us, as a club, more superior as a consequence, especially in the age of City and Chelsea… plus make them better and more superior fans in the process…. And the allure of all this was so potent it was worth dismissing the obvious irrationality of it all, and the gigantic red flags it presented.

Because nostalgia is generally always bad, and corrosive, and forcing current and future generations to swill down progressively weak and diluted versions of our own nostalgia, in lieu of giving them anything of their own to be nostalgic about one day, is just how this country operates now, and we - as it’s biggest club - are simply just another sad example of it.

So bring back Ole, bring back Carrick, bring back Phelan, bring back Ronnie… who cares if they’re up to it? Who cares if they have no experience. Who cares if it’s exactly how Liverpool fell from grace in the 90s… it makes US feel warm and fuzzy, and would make US twice as smug if it miraculously did work… its romantic, not selfish. It’s loyal, not dumb…Embrace it! Glory glory. Nostalgia FC till I die…

Probably the bit that grates me more than anything. You wonder if being seen as a superior fan is more important to them than United being a successful team on the pitch.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

I'm sorry what? Ramped up pressure? This is Manutd, we are meant to be challenging for leagues, this is not Leicester and the title is an expectation, no disrespect to Leicester.

Without improving the team? He has had 500m odd to spend, we signed Sancho and Varane, what else do you expect?

He is probably the worst coach in the PL at the moment, no one can name 1 good thing he has done on the pitch this season with the players he has at his disposal.

We were 2nd in the league last year and improving, then we signed Ronaldo and it made us expected to win the title when it actually made us into the 4th or 5th best team in the league because it disrupted the whole balance of the team.

You just proved about expectations, what part of this team is better than Chelsea, City or Liverpool at the moment? But we’re expected to beat them all.

It hasn’t been a good season for the reasons that he can’t strike a balance, but before this season he did a lot of good things - got Luke Shaw back in form, broke the away wins record, Bruno Fernandes was one of the best in the world, we almost won a trophy and finished 2nd in the league. These were all improvements on the past 7 or 8 years. But we’ve gone backwards this season, especially since Ronaldo arrived. The expectation no longer matches the reality. That’s partly on him but it’s also on the whole United brand and marketing and cult of United that we had to sign Ronaldo for nostalgia reasons rather than spending the money on a midfielder.

 

[Regalia]

Ole has always been nothing much as a manager. Run-of-the-mill, nothing special, someone you'll find just by plucking a manager from any Championship or bottom PL teams. He didn't do anything worth talking about in his 10 years as manager except get Cardiff relegated from the PL and almost took them down from the Championship too. The Ole cultists can play up his two Molde titles all they want, but if achievements in the Scandinavian leagues meant much, every top club would be falling over themselves trying to get Roy Hodgson to sign now. He should never have been made permanent after Jose and we have essentially thrown another 3 years and half a billion down the drain on Ole's internship stint.

Not sure why we are in disbelief he can be this bad? He was always this level, he just took on a job he absolutely is not qualified to perform. For this, I do not blame him. Almost any manager would want a shot at managing one of the biggest clubs in the world. Sadly, our players (mostly Bruno) have mostly been the ones dragging him over the line to Top 4 the last 2 seasons. Now that we actually have a few players with a winning mentality, the dressing room are hopefully waking up that to the fact that they aren't a plucky midtable team going out to 'make it hard' for Everton and scrape Top 4 every season. The sooner they turn on him (said in the nicest way possible), the sooner we make a change, and the better for the long term future of the club.

Granted, our incompetent board are another problem and will probably fk it all for another 3 years by getting in someone like Southgate.

 

[Majima]

Just....don't. Just find us a Norwegian or two who actually follows the league (as opposed to just looked up some stats to flesh out a view you already have), and who thinks OGS didn't do a very good job at Molde.

And why the feck do you care anyway? It's not interesting enough for you the problems Manchester United have right now, you also need to prove that OGS has actually been a shit manager his whole career? Why stop there? Could I interest you in some juicy gossip about his granddad?

Why has me highlighting his history before us hit a nerve so much? Does it not coincide with what we've been seeing from him all along? That maybe what we're seeing is what he is as a manager?

The narrative is always about his success with Molde, and it's never actually questioned. People might not have the time to look into it themselves, so I am simply presenting his history for anyone interested, so they can see for themselves.

 

[passtheball]

Molde are a club in the 24th ranked league by UEFA Coefficiants. Next to the Bulgarian & Romanian leagues.

Molde also never missed him, and had more success after he left both times.

When Ole first left for Cardiff, 2013 season he finished 6th on 44 points (did win Norwegian Cup). The next season, Tor Ole Skullerud won them their first ever double (League + Norwegian Cup), setting a new league points record with 71 points, finishing 11 points ahead of Rosenborg. He lost 3 out of 30 matches, winning 22.

When Ole left for us in 2018, the 2018 season he finished 2nd on 58 points. In Erling Moe's first full season in 2019, he too also won the league with 68 points, undefeated at home, 14 points ahead of 2nd. He lost 4 out of 30, winning 21.

In Ole's previous 4 years, he failed to win the league or Norwegian Cup once (6th 52 pts/5th 45 pts/2nd 54 pts/2nd 58 pts).

Bearing in mind Molde have rich owners and are considered somewhat a cheque book team in Norway. His stint there, especially the 2nd, foresee a lot of the deficiencies he's been criticised throughout his time here.

One consistent theme in his managerial history has been his side shipping a lot of goals. Over his entire reign with Molde, the side conceded 296 goals over 241 games. At Cardiff, 57 were let in over the 30 matches in charge.

When you're aware of his history, what we're seeing should come as no surprise to anyone. No wonder he's always been safety first overall here.

He'll always be a legend. He's also done a good job here against the odds, but i hope he leaves whilst that's still the case.

Great post. Makes me feel a little more warmly towards Ole actually. He is legend from his playing days and is obviously a fan of the club, but to expect him to break the pattern of his 10+ years in management was always going to be impossible. He is simply out of his depth.

The real villains at United are the higher-ups who appointed him in the first place. And who continue to persist with him.

 

[justsomebloke]

Why has me highlighting his history before us hit a nerve so much? Does it not coincide with what we've been seeing from him all along? That maybe what we're seeing is what he is as a manager?

The narrative is always about his success with Molde, and it's never actually questioned. People might not have the time to look into it themselves, so I am simply presenting his history for anyone interested, so they can see for themselves.

It hits a nerve because it is so blatantly and obviously idiotic and ill-intentioned, and would be considered an issue not even worth discussing if this was a Norwegian League discussion board.

And no, you are not "presenting his history so they can see for themselves". You're googling pieces to curve-fit claims about something you basically don't know anything about.

 

[Majima]

It hits a nerve because it is so blatantly and obviously idiotic and ill-intentioned, and would be considered an issue not even worth discussing if this was a Norwegian League discussion board.

And no, you are not "presenting his history so they can see for themselves". You're googling pieces to curve-fit claims about something you basically don't know anything about.

So first stint at Molde he leaves after finishing 6th. Next manager immediately wins them their first ever league + cup double setting new league points record total.

He comes back after Cardiff. He then goes another 4 years without a trophy at Molde (6th 52 pts/5th 45 pts/2nd 54 pts/2nd 58 pts). He leaves for us. Next manager immediately wins them the league, again setting new records in the process.

His Molde side conceded 296 goals over 241 games. At Cardiff, conceded 57 over 30 games.

3 years in, he still hasn't won a trophy here too. We're all over the place, conceding chances for fun every week, conceding goals left and right.

"You're googling pieces to curve-fit claims about something you basically don't know anything about."

...

 

[romufc]

We were 2nd in the league last year and improving, then we signed Ronaldo and it made us expected to win the title when it actually made us into the 4th or 5th best team in the league because it disrupted the whole balance of the team.

You just proved about expectations, what part of this team is better than Chelsea, City or Liverpool at the moment? But we’re expected to beat them all.

It hasn’t been a good season for the reasons that he can’t strike a balance, but before this season he did a lot of good things - got Luke Shaw back in form, broke the away wins record, Bruno Fernandes was one of the best in the world, we almost won a trophy and finished 2nd in the league. These were all improvements on the past 7 or 8 years. But we’ve gone backwards this season, especially since Ronaldo arrived. The expectation no longer matches the reality. That’s partly on him but it’s also on the whole United brand and marketing and cult of United that we had to sign Ronaldo for nostalgia reasons rather than spending the money on a midfielder.

We were not improving, we just got results. Nothing about our performances suggested we are improving. Go watch WBA, Sheffield United games if you thought we actually were improving.

I mean we have a goalkeeper on par with them, our defence could be just as good. Our attack is definitely as good if not better than 2 of those teams.

He is the manager, he said yes to Ronaldo, so stop crying. He's had 3 seasons to sign a midfielder, the one he did sign doesnt even get a look in so, we need to stop with the excuses.

When Ole came into the job he said its a 3 year rebuild to fight for the title, this is the 3rd full season, I am sorry, these are the expectations at this club, if he can't hack it or as a fan you dont think we should aim for the league, there are problems.

Wow, he improved Luke Shaw for 7 months, now Luke Shaw is poor again. Bruno was having the same numbers in Portgual so nothing to do with Ole there.

In fact, apart from Luke Shaw, Ole hasn't improved any other player. That is the problem, the coach should be getting the best out of players.

Its time, he needs to go asap.

 

[Max_United]

We were 2nd in the league last year and improving, then we signed Ronaldo and it made us expected to win the title when it actually made us into the 4th or 5th best team in the league because it disrupted the whole balance of the team.

You just proved about expectations, what part of this team is better than Chelsea, City or Liverpool at the moment? But we’re expected to beat them all.

It hasn’t been a good season for the reasons that he can’t strike a balance, but before this season he did a lot of good things - got Luke Shaw back in form, broke the away wins record, Bruno Fernandes was one of the best in the world, we almost won a trophy and finished 2nd in the league. These were all improvements on the past 7 or 8 years. But we’ve gone backwards this season, especially since Ronaldo arrived. The expectation no longer matches the reality. That’s partly on him but it’s also on the whole United brand and marketing and cult of United that we had to sign Ronaldo for nostalgia reasons rather than spending the money on a midfielder.

Your post is a prime example of shifting the goalposts to suit Ole. For any new United manager the minimum expectation in first season was always top four and good cups run, title challenge/being not far from the top in the second season and a major trophy in the third. Ole has been roughly in line with minimum expectations in his first two seasons - results being barely good enough (top 4 and cup runs but no trophies) with questions about style of play and a lot of money spent. Now suddenly we are not expected to challenge?!

Our GK, defense and attack on paper are on par or better than rivals. Have you seen who Chelsea are fielding in defense? How come that they are not leaking goals left right and center like our "150m+ spent by Ole" defense is doing?

Anyway, either you give him credit for Bruno and critisise for assembling an unbalanced team or assume that he does not have a decisive say on transfer policy - but then do not praise him for squad building. You cannot have it both ways and cherry pick and credit him only for good stuff whilst not criticizing for bad. But without "squad building" (which is debatable due to age profile of many signings and question marks over Sancho/VdB/AWB) we are left with "achieved good vibes and top four with no trophies and no free-flowing attacking football with a somewhat unbalanced but filled with quality squad given to him", which is just not good enough.

Blaming it on Ronaldo is just mind-boggling. Any top manager would find a way to fit him, use sparingly, minimize his deficiencies, maximize his strengths and so on.

Also there is a constant rewriting of history with regards to Ole - as if he took the club in total ruins. He took a team that finished 2nd on 80+ points 6 months prior and won trophies. The team was in ruins mentally, but it does not take long to heal (which Ole did and credit to him - I think he was a good caretaker) - but then you have to build on that with, well, coaching and tactics. But Ole at his best brought us back close to Mourinho-era results in his first 2 seasons with not much better football and significant spending. Which is decent/acceptable, but I do not think it should give him some huge credit in the bank (if he won a title/CL then fair enough) and insulate from sacking.

 

[YeahYeah]

How can he be so bad?
Just look at his CV. What do you expect?

But I know what you mean.
The thing is and I felt this for a long time, he doesnt have the intelligence necessary to be a great football manager. He is just not such a bright guy. He is nice and likeable and all. Thats him.
However top managers tend to be extremely intelligent and with that what also comes they tend to be quirky, big characters, single minded and very eccentric.

Ole isnt that. He is a nice guy, a corporate culture fit, a yes man, an employee basically. He will follow orders, do what told etc.

Top managers are eccentric, not really employee mentality and they cant be bossed around or controlled so much. The board knows that, they dread of someone like Conte after the Mourinho experience.

 

[justsomebloke]

We were not improving, we just got results. Nothing about our performances suggested we are improving. Go watch WBA, Sheffield United games if you thought we actually were improving.

I mean we have a goalkeeper on par with them, our defence could be just as good. Our attack is definitely as good if not better than 2 of those teams.

He is the manager, he said yes to Ronaldo, so stop crying. He's had 3 seasons to sign a midfielder, the one he did sign doesnt even get a look in so, we need to stop with the excuses.

When Ole came into the job he said its a 3 year rebuild to fight for the title, this is the 3rd full season, I am sorry, these are the expectations at this club, if he can't hack it or as a fan you dont think we should aim for the league, there are problems.

Wow, he improved Luke Shaw for 7 months, now Luke Shaw is poor again. Bruno was having the same numbers in Portgual so nothing to do with Ole there.

In fact, apart from Luke Shaw, Ole hasn't improved any other player. That is the problem, the coach should be getting the best out of players.

Its time, he needs to go asap.

That sentence is where you should have paused and thought things through really carefully, before proceeding further.

 

[romufc]

That sentence is where you should have paused and thought things through really carefully, before proceeding further.

I think you should watch our games more carefully if you think we are improving. What we do under Ole is not a sustainable way of playing.

Going a goal down in almost every game is not signs of improvement.
Conceding from set plays all the time is not signs of improvement
Waiting for a worldie is not signs of improvement

Literally nothing Ole has done in footballing terms is a sign of improvement

This will all be proved this week. We will play sit back counter against Atalanta and Liverpool. The same way Jose lined up 4 years ago, hoping not to get beat.

 

[VinzentFTW]

We need to do a Chelsea here and be proactive and sack Ole. There are several similarites for us this season, and Chelsea last season. Both Ole and Lampard are club legends who got their players added to a great squad, but none of them are proper managers. The minute Chelsea got a class manager they delivered instantly. I can see us do the same, i really can with this squad. We have so much class, but underperform as hell.

There is still time to make this season a great one, and turn this squad into serious winners. On the other side if we wait to long, it wont be possible instantly for a new manager.

 

[DarkDog]

Molde are a club in the 22nd ranked league by UEFA Coefficiants. Next to Greek, Israel, Sweden, Bulgaria & Romania leagues.

What's interesting is that Molde actually never missed him, and had instant success after he left both times.

When Ole first left for Cardiff, 2013 season he finished 6th on 44 points (did win Norwegian Cup). The next season, Tor Ole Skullerud won them their first ever double (League + Norwegian Cup), setting a new league points record with 71 points, finishing 11 points ahead of Rosenborg. He lost 3 out of 30 matches, winning 22.

When Ole left for us in 2018, the 2018 season he finished 2nd on 58 points. In Erling Moe's first full season in 2019, he too also won the league with 68 points, undefeated at home, 14 points ahead of 2nd. He lost 4 out of 30, winning 21.

In Ole's previous 4 years, he failed to win the league or Norwegian Cup once (6th 52 pts/5th 45 pts/2nd 54 pts/2nd 58 pts).

He did have some success in his return at Molde. In his first season back in 2016, he finished top of his Europa League group ahead of Fenerbahce, Celtic & Ajax.

Bearing in mind Molde have rich owners and are considered somewhat a cheque book team in Norway. His stint there, especially the 2nd asks questions considering after that he came to us.

One consistent theme in his managerial history has been his side shipping a lot of goals. Over his entire reign with Molde, the side conceded 296 goals over 241 games. At Cardiff, 57 were let in over the 30 matches in charge.

When you're aware of his history, what we're seeing should come as no surprise to anyone. They foresee a lot of the deficiencies that have been ever present throughout his time here. It's likely why he's always been so safety first overall here.

He'll always be a legend. He's also done a good job here, but i hope he leaves whilst that's still the case.

Mate, thanks for that info. I had somehow heard that they were always great when he was there and sucked when he left. But given that and what we have seen is that he is very good at bringing together talent. He finds talent from the youth and finds talent via transfers but he clearly isn't a good manager. When you put together a list of premier league managers i think he would be something like 13th best manager or even worse. I would put Dean Smith, Thomas Frank, Graham Potter, Thomas Tuchel, Benitez, Bielsa, Rodgers, Klopp, Pep, Hasenhüttl, Ranieri, Lage all above him. I would maybe even argue for Vieira, Dyche, Bruce and Moyes all above him. We arguably have the best first 11 in the premier league. We definitely had the best fixture list at the start of the season. I think most fans now have agreed that he is not good. So what will happen is that Glazers ''will give him time'', but that means that they will give him time for all the fans start hating him and atmosphere will be shite and then they will sack him in april and then bring new manager in when all the good managers are taken by other teams.

 

[justsomebloke]

I think you should watch our games more carefully if you think we are improving. What we do under Ole is not a sustainable way of playing.

Going a goal down in almost every game is not signs of improvement.
Conceding from set plays all the time is not signs of improvement
Waiting for a worldie is not signs of improvement

Literally nothing Ole has done in footballing terms is a sign of improvement

This will all be proved this week. We will play sit back counter against Atalanta and Liverpool. The same way Jose lined up 4 years ago, hoping not to get beat.

You don't get a sustained improvement in results unless you are improving something. And we had about a season and a half of very significantly improved results.

 

[flappyjay]

We all know someone who's shit at his/her job. Normally it's because of laziness, lack of focus or just being a bit dim. But Ole doesn't look like he's lazy and you don't have to be a particularly bright individual to manage a football club - I mean most of them are ex-footballers.

How is he genuinely that bad?

Self sabotage, he has sorrounded himself with a bunch of familiar/friendly faces instead of finding the best tacticians to help bridge his weaknesses that's unless he thinks himself a master tactician. I don't know about Mckenna but Carrick and Phelan to me seem to have the Ole characteristics, no one brings something extraordinarily different. He probably should have made Rene his assistant instead of Phelan.

 

[Green Arrow]

Self sabotage, he has sorrounded himself with a bunch of familiar/friendly faces instead of finding the best tacticians to help bridge his weaknesses that's unless he thinks himself a master tactician. I don't know about Mckenna but Carrick and Phelan to me seem to have the Ole characteristics, no one brings something extraordinarily different. He probably should have made Rene his assistant instead of Phelan.

I think if he bought in the best tacticians then they would have straight away exposed how tactically inept he really is. Therefore that's why he hasn't got any in and surrounds himself with his mates.

 

[romufc]

You don't get a sustained improvement in results unless you are improving something. And we had about a season and a half of very significantly improved results.

Okay he improved results, we finished 12 points behind the champions.
We got knocked out the CL in the group stages
We got knocked out the FA cup by Leicester
We played for pens in a Europa Final.

That is not sustained improvement. Started this season and we are already out of the title race into a top 4 race with Arsenal.

We could potentially go out the CL groups again.

That is not sustained level of progress, after spending 500m

 

[Rightnr]

It hits a nerve because it is so blatantly and obviously idiotic and ill-intentioned, and would be considered an issue not even worth discussing if this was a Norwegian League discussion board.

And no, you are not "presenting his history so they can see for themselves". You're googling pieces to curve-fit claims about something you basically don't know anything about.

And people say facts don't hurt... What a pathetic attempt to attack the messenger instead of overturning the obvious conclusion.

Self-delusion will be the end of this club if we let people like you win the argument on who needs to manage Manchester United.

 

[justsomebloke]

Okay he improved results, we finished 12 points behind the champions.
We got knocked out the CL in the group stages
We got knocked out the FA cup by Leicester
We played for pens in a Europa Final.

That is not sustained improvement. Started this season and we are already out of the title race into a top 4 race with Arsenal.

We could potentially go out the CL groups again.

That is not sustained level of progress, after spending 500m

I'm talking about our results from February 20 through last season. Where our PL record was extremely strong, and hugely better than the preceding 1 1/2 years. Which does not happen unless you have improved something. Which just goes back to the blatantly self-evident absurdity of "we got better results, but didn't improve". This does not happen. If you get better results for anything more than a brief period, you have improved. That's all. Over and out from me on this.

 

[justsomebloke]

And people say facts don't hurt... What a pathetic attempt to attack the messenger instead of overturning the obvious conclusion.

Self-delusion will be the end of this club if we let people like you win the argument on who needs to manage Manchester United.

Oh, get a grip. Someone with no familiarity with the Norwegian league cherry-picking a few pieces of information to fit his agenda. If that's what "facts" mean to you, you're no stranger to self-delusion yourself.

And, I am not actually even defending the notion that OGS should manage United. I think the jury's out on that at the moment. But that's no reason to invent ridiculous narratives about the past because people need to feel vindicated.

 

[romufc]

I'm talking about our results from February 20 through last season. Where our PL record was extremely strong, and hugely better than the preceding 1 1/2 years. Which does not happen unless you have improved something. Which just goes back to the blatantly self-evident absurdity of "we got better results, but didn't improve". This does not happen. If you get better results for anything more than a brief period, you have improved. That's all. Over and out from me on this.

Just shows how ignorant fans are to actual performances. Lets only focus on a set time, forget the CL and cup runs and say we have improved.

What improvement have we seen from the Leicester result to the Everton away when he was appointed? None.

 

[Abraxas]

I respectfully but completely disagree. Maguire directly caused three of our four goals. Even if we played the same, you take out Maguire gifting the goals and we don't lose. It is not just me saying it, Rogers played two forwards to specifically target and expose Maguire. He confirmed it in the post match

Even if Ole had the right to gamble with him, Maguire should have been taken off after the first blunder. Saying thay Bailly would have also been horrible has no factual reasoning behind it. He is fit, as opposed to Maguire, and any sub has lack of match fitness but they usually still get the job done. Ole is favoritist. He doesn't sub Maguire or Ronaldo because he thinks they cannot be touched. If it were somebody else playing that badly (say Lindelof) he would have taken him
off and we all know it

I don't think it's anything to do with being favoritist, except to say Bailly isn't favored due to his own frailties. Bailly has not put together 10 games in his United career due to injuries and erratic performance and now we look at it in hindsight and apparently Bailly should have played.

What has no factual basis is saying we don't lose if Bailly comes in because Maguire doesn't cost us goals. It's a different game if Bailly plays, he has his own very real weaknesses. It's pointless, the question is if it was a remarkable decision to begin with when the decision is taken and it just wasn't all that special to me. Maguire probably wasn't fully fit but obviously it's a decision taken in conjunction with the player and doctors and a calculated risk but also Bailly isn't match fit so there's another side to the gamble.

It didn't work and that's football, gambling to get back important players quickly is something most managers have fallen into at some point. I wasn't worried about that, I was worried that we didn't play any football in the game, didn't pass it well, didn't create anything, didn't defend as a unit. Pulling apart individual decisions in hindsight is a very easy pursuit.

 

[matt23]

Spend more money than we've ever spent on the defense and Dave becomes our best player again.

Sign 3 RW. Play none of them at RW.

Sign a midfielder who likes to pass the ball and move. Bench him indefinitely to watch McFred kick the ball into channels.

Watch Amad score a wonderfully inventive goal within 5 minutes of his debut. Never to be seen again..

Give Bailey a contract while loaning out Axel. Play Maguire with an injury anyway.

Have Pogba, Donny, Mata, Matic and Bruno in your squad but sit back and play kick and rush football.

Sign a set piece coach. Get significantly worse at both attacking and defending set pieces.

Sign Cristiano Ronaldo and become worse in every single measurable way.

Completely run Rashford into the ground last season while clearly injured - and the week he finishes rehab suggest he needs to concentrate more on football than child poverty.

He's this bad because he's completely lost the plot and doesn't know how to coach good players.

 

[Majima]

Oh, get a grip. Someone with no familiarity with the Norwegian league cherry-picking a few pieces of information to fit his agenda. If that's what "facts" mean to you, you're no stranger to self-delusion yourself.

And, I am not actually even defending the notion that OGS should manage United. I think the jury's out on that at the moment. But that's no reason to invent ridiculous narratives about the past because people need to feel vindicated.

Why are you speaking so arrogantly? How am I taking his past at Molde out of context exactly I wonder? He didn't win any trophies in a four year period before us, even at Molde. Then why should we be surprised that he hasn't in the 3 years here either?

People are inventing all sorts of wild reasons to explain away our failings. But the simplest explanation is, looking back at his past history suggests that he never actually was good enough to begin with. After all, even if we finished 2nd last season, we were just as disjointed and chaotic last season if we're being honest. (Look at the amount of times we conceded first, and had to come back). The only difference is that we managed to find the result out of nothing more often that not. But that was never sustainable, and what we're seeing now is our performances getting what we actually deserve.

 

[Acheron]

Yeah, there is no way he gets any appointment outside Norway after this. Which is why he is trying to fake it till he makes it. But he has no survival instinct, either. If he had any, he would be firing that incompetent coaching staff of his and bringing capable professionals who maybe can help him hide his own shortcomings, but he isn't even doing that.

Regardless of him being sacked or backed by the club, or even if he somehow manages to get another job in premier league or somewhere else, he does need to change his coaching staff. He would get more credit if was playing a more attractive and modern football style but as it is there's no way to justify the poor results and keeping him.

 

[Wilt]

How is he genuinely that bad?

Ole has been bad/poor through most of his tenure at OT. He’s been saved by either a combination of individual player brilliance or sheer luck (mostly the latter).

 

[MUFC OK]

This truthful take of Ole is as brutal as our football under him.

It's crazy that these kind of runs that we are currently seeing have been a fixture of his managerial career to date. It surely points to one thing, that he doesnt know how to turn things around quickly when they go wrong. The previous post is damning.

 

[criticalanalysis]

Why are you speaking so arrogantly? How am I taking his past at Molde out of context exactly I wonder? He didn't win any trophies in a four year period before us, even at Molde. Then why should we be surprised that he hasn't in the 3 years here either?

People are inventing all sorts of wild reasons to explain away our failings. But the simplest explanation is, looking back at his past history suggests that he never actually was good enough to begin with. After all, even if we finished 2nd last season, we were just as disjointed and chaotic last season if we're being honest. (Look at the amount of times we conceded first, and had to come back). The only difference is that we managed to find the result out of nothing more often that not. But that was never sustainable, and what we're seeing now is our performances getting what we actually deserve.

You should ignore him.

He's mentioned several times 'let's wait until a Norwegian poster can provide another POV' whilst criticising your post. He's basically saying 'I don't like what you're posting and think it's bias and untrue. However, I don't have the facts or first hand knowledge myself to actually counter your points. Instead I will criticise your attempt at discussion based on stats and hope somebody else can post something on my behalf to defend Ole and suit my agenda'

 

[roseguy64]

He’s never been good. Most Cardiff fans call him their worst ever manager ffs. Only succeeded in Molde because he was given the best resources and the other best team was in transition. The signs were there with that dreadful run when he got the job full time. It’s an absolute travesty that this guys in charge of the 3rd biggest club in the world.

How many Cardiff fans is that? What 2? FFS. I don't even need to do the research to know Cardiff have had worse managers than Ole there.

 

[roseguy64]

You can't be lucky for 2 seasons straight. So people bringing up other teams having problems doesn't count. We had problems the previous two seasons as well. We just coped with them better because of Ole, his staff and the players. We were definitely the 3rd and 2nd best teams the last two seasons.

There's vastly more pressure this season to win things with the additions we've made. It seems that the entire team and coaching staff can't handle it and are falling fast. It's possible that Ole was good enough to bring us to being challengers but just can't get the team to take the last step.

He's clearly not a bad manager, just looks like he's one of the many who can't get an elite team to the final hurdle. He's not the first and won't be the last. There have been much more worse managers than him at big clubs than there have been good ones.

 

[roseguy64]

I don’t think he’s a ‘bad manager’. To be fair, I thought he was growing in his role and becoming a better manager. I’ve been very supportive of him since his appointment, quick to defend him when the kneejerkers jump in after a loss/draw here or there. Managers should be given time.

But what we are seeing now, in my view, is his ceiling. This season was the big one for him in terms of judgement, with no excuses. Injuries happen, form loss happens, bad calls against you happen. Its in your role as manager to get results and organise in spite of all that.

I do hope he can turn it around. I hope we get a trophy this year, I hope I’m wrong about him hitting his limits as a manager. Time will tell, but he doesn’t have much more of it left.

This is where I am too. I still think he can turn it around but won't cry for him if he gets sacked. I don't think he will unless he loses the players and/or doesn't get Champions League for next season.

 

[roseguy64]

I think if he bought in the best tacticians then they would have straight away exposed how tactically inept he really is. Therefore that's why he hasn't got any in and surrounds himself with his mates.

If he genuinely thought that way then he wouldn't have bothered adding coaches since he came in and would have stuck with the initial few he had. We've consistently added people to both the coaching and analytical teams since he's been here to try and improve the team.

He just likely genuinely believes in the people he has around him. And according to some journalists players believe in the work the coaches are doing.

 

[passing-wind]

Pending a massive run of consistent wins I think it's almost a given that this is Ole's last season pending a miracle. The comments around the media, player post match interviews there's only a few months left of Solskjaer at the top level in football.

 

[RedBanker]

The fact that he didn't walk after Saturday makes it clear that the legend stuff is just for the books. He is just another guy managing a big club waiting for a payout. Which is sad really. Given that I thought he could have walked and still have a future at the club management in some other capacity. Walking would have substantiated all those "has the club in his heart" claims. But sadly no. Now tic toc it is.

 

[EatableTea]

I just don’t get people saying he can turn it around, he hasn’t just been getting outplayed this season, even on his hyped interim run we were getting outplayed most games never mind when he got the job full time. The match against PSG what got him the job we were outplayed, go back and look at the state of the goals we scored ffs, sums up his stint here.

 

[AjaxCunian]

You should ignore him.

He's mentioned several times 'let's wait until a Norwegian poster can provide another POV' whilst criticising your post. He's basically saying 'I don't like what you're posting and think it's bias and untrue. However, I don't have the facts or first hand knowledge myself to actually counter your points. Instead I will criticise your attempt at discussion based on stats and hope somebody else can post something on my behalf to defend Ole and suit my agenda'

Spot on, he'll be considered one of the "good posters" on here.