How long did it take you

Officially it was the last match. Secretly fooling myself, it's been since last season. Ole's too stubborn in his selections. He has his favorites and that will ultimately seal his fate.
I do think he will last longer than most and will make it to the end of the season with us bailing out of CL in round of 16, FA Cup, and top 4. Although, I don't think we will be far away from top4.
However, if by some chance we drop a lot of points over the next 5-6 matches, CL included and don't make it past the group stage, I could see the board pulling the plug sooner. The question they need to ask is how much of a gamble do they want to take.
Bring in someone sooner who can salvage something from the season and maintain CL for next season, or wait to see if Ole can turn things around. Another question is, how many times is he going to get to turn things around? If he gets into knockout rounds and maybe even the quarters of CL, goes deep in the FA Cup, and manages to get top 4, will that be considered a success for the board or will they have learned from previous seasons and decide it's beyond his capabilities?

I'm also having a hard time seeing a lot of positives during his tenure. You can say he got rid of some players that were not a fit for United. Fellaini and Lukaku. Moved on Smalling and Young. Signed some good players but yet also signed some head scratchers.
He's overplayed several players when injured which ended up causing more time for recovery. At least we have Bruno, for now at least.
 
Europa league final for me. We should have easily won that game, similar to how we dominated Ajax before (with Jose). His record in the knockout games, where we are expected to win is pretty poor.

But this season pretty much confirms it in stone. He doesn't know how to adapt to the players he now has. And there are no more excuses to hide under. We don't need Carrick in his prime (or a similar DM) to beat the teams we have lost against.
 
Day zero, I didn’t want him to get the permanent job at all. He did a decent job as care taker, and to his credit the squad is in the best shape in over a decade, but he’s just not a good manager.

I wish it worked out and he was the manager some thought he would be. He would have stayed with United for life. I don’t dislike him the way I did with LVG or Mourinho at the end of their time at United, but staying with Ole has meant possibly missing out on other managers who would have done a better job.
 
For a long long time.

We've generally been pretty rubbish to watch under him, and have been carried by individual brilliance from Bruno/Rashford.

When Bruno goes out of form, you see how bad the side becomes.
 
I was always against Ole signing for us as manager. The reason wasn't him but the club. I knew that this club is simply not mature or cynical enough to judge one of their own with an open mind. If a club legend signs with us and do badly then it will take us a ridiculously amount of time and money before we showed him the door.

Once he signed on a permanent basis I wanted him to succeed. However I expected him to surround himself with something he really lacked ie experience. TBF he started well by signing Phelan. However everything went to the shitters after that. The deal breaker was when he kept Carricky-Mckennicky as his assistants and brought half of Molde/former Cardiff's coaches with him. We ended up like some school academy for managers/coaches.
 
The end of last season, yes we made it to the EL final but the football has been awful, superstars coming up with brilliant moments, no structure no team work
 
I have many receipts but just to keep it simple. When he was on the bench against Bournemouth taking everyone’s opinion Before making a sub.

Good managers lead not collaborate.
 
Before he was even made permanent manager. The only reason he's lasted this long is because we brought Bruno in who then had an extraordinary two season purple patch, but that's over now.
 
Somewhere in the middle of last season where it became clear that he’s not going to improve tactically but I’ve always had my reservations. The difficult thing is that, unlike Moyes or Mourinho, I love him so it’s hard to actively wish for his sacking even when you know full well that he’s not good enough. I’m getting there though.
 
I never wanted him to get the job permanently in the first place. Once he did though you had to back him as he was never getting sacked anytime soon. The Europa League final loss was the final straw though and confirmed he just isn’t capable of getting us across the line to actually win silverware. Now that we’ve signed 2 world class players and a very exciting young winger and have somehow gone backwards just emphasises that point even more.
 
I had my doubts last season after the Villarreal final. Doubts grew after the window ended with us not prioritising a centre midfielder signing. Then the Southampton game made those doubts worse.

I was firmly Ole out by halftime of the Villa home game. I don't really talk football to a lot of people in my life but I have been banging on about us needing to get rid since the Leicester game. If it were up to me, Ole, McKenna, Carrick et all would've been gone at half time. The total mismanagement was clear for everyone to see by that time.
 
Can you guys not just chat about the same thing on one fecking thread?!

I want football discussion, not a million opinions on a million threads on why Ole is shit. Why is it just blame, blame, blame?

Where's the new ideas or nuanced discussion?

Make a thread about a formation that might work. Make a thread about a new set piece idea. Give us an idea about how to work with the keeper we have, with his strengths and weaknesses.

I don't want to ignore anyone on here, because any one of you might stumble on the right idea, and if it's heard out, maybe it's repeated, and if enough people talk about it, maybe it gets through to the ears that matter.

But we can't hear new ideas because they are lost in the cacophony of high pitched whining voices saying the same thing.

Yes. We know you think he's shit. We know you want to replace him, we know you have an opinion on which of the ten or so possible replacements there are to replace him. That's two, maybe three threads.

Can we use the rest for the present? Support him, support the club, support the players who are playing for us right now. What could change, on the pitch right now? That's the only positive influence you could give right now aside from commenting in the two or three threads I theorised about above.

I don't blame so many posters saying that they're putting the whole of the football forum on ignore.
 
Start of last season. We had limped over the line with the 4-2-3-1/give it to Bruno strategy and I thought this had been out of necessity just to get top 4 despite it becoming less and less effective. Start of last season lo and behold it's the exact same system. No evolution at all. We then somehow crash out of the group stage of the CL thanks to some of the most laughably basic errors you could imagine and that's when the red pill really kicked in. Adored him as a player but so spectacularly out of his depth as a manager I now basically never want to hear him talk again.
 
stevoc said:
:lol:

So the minute he became caretaker manager you decided you hated him? Why?
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Hate is a strong word. I mentioned in another post that it was just a word.
Why? Simple, because Man United should aim for the top and, instead of aiming for the top, we aimed for a coach that Cardiff relegated.

I'm not going to support a coach because he's coaching the club I love, I'm going to support him if he's good or not. Supporting a manager just because he manages United and was a legend at the club, while being obviously a shit coach, is a bit daft, isn't it?
 
gerdm07 said:
His smile? I think his smile is genuine.

He cleared out a lot of the deadwood players in the club and that took some balls.
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Clearing deadwood don't think is that ballsy(jeez this sounds so bad), it's more of a basic management principle.
Knowing when to change your ways, play other players, don't play players in shit form just because they have a name on the back of their shirt, that takes balls.
 
I've never felt we'd win titles under him however the Europa Final was the first time it felt his job here was done

Clearly the Villa, Everton and Leicester games have now accelerated matters as after the summer transfer window we had to challenge and that already now looks dead in the water
 
The question isn't directed at me because I was against the appointment in the first place, but I'll still answer.

When we sacked Mourinho we had a decent plan: Bring in Solskjaer until the end of the season, and meanwhile appoint a DOF and use him to select the next manager - whether it's Solskjaer or someone else. But then Solskjaer won a few games and the plans changed - the same people who appointed LVG and Mourinho gave the job to Solskjaer.

It was silly because Manchester United did not have people able to truly evaluate Solskjaer's work (rather than short term results, which is superficial) and decide wisely whether it's good enough for United.
 
I think losing the Europa final to Villarreal was the first time I started to seriously question the job he was doing. There were a few blips and the monkey on his back of falling at the last hurdle prior to that game but I thought that would be put to bed if we won the Europa League.

I still think he's done a decent job in terms of rebuilding. There was tangible progress season on season and the recruitment was largely good, the best of any manager since Ferguson, but it's clear he's not the man to get it over the line on the evidence of this season. I just hope the board don't drag their feet to the extent that it undoes that good work by delaying the inevitable.
 
When we went 5 wins in 24 games after that night in Paris. I saw him for what he was then. And hes done nothing to prove me wrong since.
 
I was willing to give him a chance until after his first transfer window(Sept 2019). From then I've known he is not good enough to manage our club.
 
Did any of us really...deep down..think he'd be the next Sir Alex? No. We're probably all similar. Caretaker that started insanely well so we said give him a go as there was no reason not to (well sort of). That reason came next year unfortunately. Since then it's been boom/bust and no titles. Burnley loss was where i said, it's not going to work long term. And then the Leicester loss made me think that his luck in getting a run of results after a poor run was over. So now it's like we really have to make a change.
 
Peter van der Gea said:
Can you guys not just chat about the same thing on one fecking thread?!

I want football discussion, not a million opinions on a million threads on why Ole is shit. Why is it just blame, blame, blame?

Where's the new ideas or nuanced discussion?

Make a thread about a formation that might work. Make a thread about a new set piece idea. Give us an idea about how to work with the keeper we have, with his strengths and weaknesses.

I don't want to ignore anyone on here, because any one of you might stumble on the right idea, and if it's heard out, maybe it's repeated, and if enough people talk about it, maybe it gets through to the ears that matter.

But we can't hear new ideas because they are lost in the cacophony of high pitched whining voices saying the same thing.

Yes. We know you think he's shit. We know you want to replace him, we know you have an opinion on which of the ten or so possible replacements there are to replace him. That's two, maybe three threads.

Can we use the rest for the present? Support him, support the club, support the players who are playing for us right now. What could change, on the pitch right now? That's the only positive influence you could give right now aside from commenting in the two or three threads I theorised about above.

I don't blame so many posters saying that they're putting the whole of the football forum on ignore.
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Why don't you do it, if that's what you're interested in? When did @Niall sell you the forum, for you to dictate what people should be talking about?
 
harms said:
Somewhere in the middle of last season where it became clear that he’s not going to improve tactically but I’ve always had my reservations. The difficult thing is that, unlike Moyes or Mourinho, I love him so it’s hard to actively wish for his sacking even when you know full well that he’s not good enough. I’m getting there though.
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Yeah. Feel the same way. I'm ok with him finishing the season and making the whole thing a bit more "digestible." Don't think we'll win the league regardless of who comes in anyways.
 
Oranges038 said:
Is there really any need for a new thread everytime someone has a different thought on Ole.

It's the same old tiresome shite in each one.
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Posts like this remind me of the Ricky Gervais joke about the person who rings up after seeing a sign advertising music lessons. "I don't want music lessons". Fair enough, move on if it's not for you.
 
Skills said:
Why don't you do it, if that's what you're interested in? When did @Niall sell you the forum, for you to dictate what people should be talking about?
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I'm not saying don't talk about it, but does there really need to be a new thread for every half thought out thought that people have about the same fricking thing?

1.Ole not good enough and where, 2. Ole should leave and why, 3. Who should replace him.

We don't need a new thread for everyone saying the above three in a different way.
 
I did not want Ole as the manager when he was appointed, thought we should have moved him time and again, and still think Zidane is the one we need.
 
Peter van der Gea said:
I'm not saying don't talk about it, but does there really need to be a new thread for every half thought out thought that people have about the same fricking thing?

1.Ole not good enough and where, 2. Ole should leave and why, 3. Who should replace him.

We don't need a new thread for everyone saying the above three in a different way.
Click to expand...

But if the thread is getting engagement, I don't understand what your problem is?

This thread has 4 pages to it, so clearly people are interested enough to talk the specific topic the OP has posted about.
 
The loss to PSG after he stubbornly refused to substitute Fred which cost the game shocked me.
And then Europa loss, again due to stubbornness and simply refusing to sub anyone in and try to win it in 90 mins was pretty much the one that sealed it.

It was classic Ole sabotage.

But after signing Varane, Sancho and CR7, I had hoped, but quickly saw nothing has changed.

It is sad. I have always wished for Ole to come here and become a successful manager. I even discussed that with mates back in 2013 or so.
 
I kind of want him gone and see it as an inevitability but I'm deluded so I'm still holding out a tiny bit of a hope that there's going to be a fairytale turnaround and we'll go on a crazy winning run.
 
I remember clearly. 12th February 2019. 2-0 loss to PSG at home in CL. Tuchel schooled us that night. Comfortably outplayed in the first half, it was up to Ole to turn things around; counter Tuchel's plan, lift the players, I waited... but it never came. It was the first time I saw Ole freeze on the big stage. Which we would come to see many more times after that (Fred walking red, CL groups capitulation, playing for penalties in the Europa Final). It was after that match I really started doubting whether he was actually capable of achieving success for us.

After the PSG away, he was then made permanent manager off the back of two consecutive defeats (Arsenal & Wolves in FA Cup).

After he was made permanent, getting outplayed by everyone we came across. When we were getting outplayed by Javi Gracia's Watford, Santo's Wolves and Marco Silva's Everton all in the space of a month. We won 2/10 remaining fixtures (lost 6), culminating in 2-0 loss at home to relegated Cardiff on the final day.

Forget matches vs. City, those are the matches that i form my opinion on. If he can't even get the better of them, what chance has he got vs the rest of the top 6?

Once again freezing watching the walking red card Fred get sent off vs. PSG, the Cl group stage embarrassment, playing for penalties vs. Villareal in the Europa final.

Our cowardly performances vs. Top 6 last season. We finished 5th, with 11 points. Played: 10 Won: 2, Drawn: 5, Lost: 3, Goals for: 8, Goals against: 11, Goal difference: -3. Even Arsenal who everyone laughs at had a better record than us with 13 points.

The list is endless really. Time has only strengthened my lack of belief in him.
 
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Istanbul. Imagine seeing a poor defensive setup for a set piece. Oppo players unmarked, short defenders that never score goals in the penalty box (Shaw), etc. Then not correcting it in an empty stadium.

Just now, LVG managed to set up Holland's set pieces properly in 1,5 days, training the assignments mostly indoors.

He had Frans Hoek and Giggsy doing it for us from day one. Didn't need to hire a set piece coach 2 years in.

Playing for pens and not subbing off De Gea in the EL final was the nail in the coffin for me. I knew then he hadn't improved and wasn't going to take us further.

I was willing to give him this season because I found the gradual improvement acceptable, but the people that were moaning about points totals were mostly right. Chelsea and Liverpool having a terrible season made our second place finish look better.

I still think once McFred find form again Ole can steer the ship and challenge for top 4, but regardless of the end result I want him out. This season he needed to challenge and win a trophy and he's already failed in October.

Not bringing in a DM but spending 150m on 3 wingers and an attacking midfielder in the span of a year was baffling. I hope the board starts contacting replacements and coordinating transfers with them.
 
This is the third time in Solskjaer's spell in charge of us that I've entered "I will have no complaints if he's sacked now" mode. Previous two:

1. the loss to Burnley in January '20. Didn't think there was any chance of making top four after that game, happy to be proven wrong
2. any point between the Arsenal loss and crashing out of the CL - essentially November to December - last season. That unbeaten run in the league immediately after the CL exit helped, but it was an underwhelming season and I knew we'd be in trouble if we didn't hit the ground running this time around.

Still hoping we can turn things around this season, but it's looking more and more likely now that it's time to move on.
 
I knew it wasn't it when his interim season ended but we already gave him the job. Thought he did enough to keep it the next season but I was all in on Ole-out after the start to last season. Tuchel coming in for Lampard shows that there can be a benefit to getting rid midseason so that just reinforced my belief Ole was a clueless nepotistic appointment. Unfortunately the squad was good enough to get second last season despite being an embarrassment in going for trophies so in the eyes of the board he was safe. This season is just borrowed time and honestly it's getting baffling to me why United is filled with cowards.
 
For me, I was willing to give him a chance when he was appointed, even though Inwould have never appointed him in the first place.

However, what made me so certain was the night in Paris where fans on here was jubilant about that magical night. Unlike most fans on here, I saw that the result was not indicative of our performance and I knew that this guy didn’t have a clue what he was doing. I am not surprised that that theme continued and we have seen many times, where we gotten result but played badly. I even gotten banned for saying that we showed no pattern of play and was fortunate to get wins when we should have lost. This has been the same ole that I knew and that my granny united fan knew as well. Ole has successfully conned a lot of fans and know with the pressure of what a top club should be, he is unable to handle it. He needs to go and we need to get a proper manager like ten hag, Pochettino, potters, Luis Enrique, Conte(temporary) or a better man manager in Zidane.


posted this video awhile ago and it still holds now. Surprising? Not for me



she knows more than some fans on here. So spot on, it is amazing.
 
The Guardian, 26 May, 2021

As Manchester United manager in a helter-skelter, pandemic-affected season the challenge for Ole Gunnar Solskjær has been to perform a quasi-renaissance act. Human resources expert, player counsellor, social media abuse fighter and the man charged with moving the team on from last season’s third position and triple semi-final disappointment: all are roles he has had to play and have been carried off impressively.

The Guardian, 26 July, 2021

Solskjær has generally learned quickly, his man-management has been mostly terrific and United have definitely made progress under him.

The Guardian, 16 October, 2021

How long can this drift be allowed to go on? How long can nostalgia insulate against the recognition of mediocrity? How long can the same problems be allowed to keep recurring?

This is just crazy, really. Opinion is a fickle bitch.
 
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