Europa league final final straw for me. He struck gold with Bruno and for a long long time he was our saviour. Like the other players he has deteriorated through poor coaching.
How long did it take you
- Thread starter Redlyn
- Start date
Leipzig wasn't worse than Basaksehir for me
At the end of his 1st season here but never wanted him as a permanent manager.
My thoughts exactly. I was buzzing at the start of the season, but so far its been a huge letdown
The club's transfer window in his first full season and that bizarre opening game against Chelsea where they walked through our midfield and were dominating us ...and we somehow won 4-0 
People forget what an abject state our team was in before Bruno galvanized the team and we just about clawed into the top 4 by the seasons end with 66 points.
2nd full season was much better but doubts remained about the playing style and tactics. Those doubts have not been removed sadly. He has done some good for the club and some progress has been made but I've never warmed to his style unfortunately.
People forget what an abject state our team was in before Bruno galvanized the team and we just about clawed into the top 4 by the seasons end with 66 points.2nd full season was much better but doubts remained about the playing style and tactics. Those doubts have not been removed sadly. He has done some good for the club and some progress has been made but I've never warmed to his style unfortunately.
Which was the game when Fred was obviously going to get sent off, like every single person watching knew it was going to happen and Ole kept him on. He gets sent off and we lost. Genius.
It was when we totally blew that amazing start to UCL last year. After we totally botched that opportunity I realized that Ole can't get the team ready for the big games. This year is just confirming my big fears that we suck.
We don't have that bad of a squad at all. The squad proved that they can beat Liverpool and Man City last year when correctly motivated and when a bit of pressure is off. Ole himself crumbles under pressure and that is projected onto the players he picks to play. If you don't have confidence in the player you choice, those players will not have confidence to perform.
I don't think this year will bring improvement. With every bad result this year pressure to perform rises as we signed some expensive players. Also... we have more players to rotate which brings even bigger pressure on the players on the field as they can be replaced far easier than last year. This year we are absolutely f***ed.
We don't have that bad of a squad at all. The squad proved that they can beat Liverpool and Man City last year when correctly motivated and when a bit of pressure is off. Ole himself crumbles under pressure and that is projected onto the players he picks to play. If you don't have confidence in the player you choice, those players will not have confidence to perform.
I don't think this year will bring improvement. With every bad result this year pressure to perform rises as we signed some expensive players. Also... we have more players to rotate which brings even bigger pressure on the players on the field as they can be replaced far easier than last year. This year we are absolutely f***ed.
Looking at the responses it seems this very poor start has probably turned over 2/3 of anyone that was still somewhat with him at the start of the season.
This season. Up until now I was of the opinion that with better quality of players he could deliver us a title challenge and trophies. He couldn’t do that with any team we could end up with, even if we suddenly added 2 top class midfielders, Haaland and a couple more £80m defenders.
For me it was worse. You can always get the odd weird result, I remember we lost to Copenhagen once in the CL, and whilst we should have beaten Istanbul, it was shocking from everyone. Leipzig I pretty much solely blame Ole, he changed formation and played for the draw which is about as anti-United as you can get & this was against a team we knew could not deal with us playing out usual, counter attack strategy. What makes it worse, is we were so good once we reverted back to type and even nearly got a draw but that loss was solely on the manager for me.
I think many people suspect he's not good enough but I trusted him until that point, that's probably the main difference now, I do not trust his ability to affect a big game or make the right choices, and that was just hammered home even more by Villarreal.
Thing is, if we beat Liverpool, most of those will flip back again without seeing the full picture.
I wavered on my support for Ole around Jan-Feb 2019 time when we looked clueless and were well beaten against Wolves and Arsenal, but decided to give it more time until he got his bearing in the club, arguably foolishly so given now he's literally admitted he doesn't know what he needs to do.
Young Boys was when my scales began to tip from Ole in to Ole out which was completed against Leicester, and I won't be going back this time around.
Young Boys was when my scales began to tip from Ole in to Ole out which was completed against Leicester, and I won't be going back this time around.
Last edited:
Kept flip flopping till last season. Even when we were losing the football was bearable compared to Jose and Ole was not a divisive figure so I was hopeful. There was always a lack of quality in the squad as well which was an excuse for Ole never being in the running for the title.
But after this transfer window and especially with Ronaldo's signing, everyone was buzzing. A good manager would've been able to leverage that but Ole has been hopeless. Even if he steadies the ship again, he's not winning much so what's the point of proceeding with him? Especially after so much investment in the squad.
But after this transfer window and especially with Ronaldo's signing, everyone was buzzing. A good manager would've been able to leverage that but Ole has been hopeless. Even if he steadies the ship again, he's not winning much so what's the point of proceeding with him? Especially after so much investment in the squad.
Well, regardless of some of the accusations that have been thrown around about 'blind loyalty' or supporting Ole because of a goal in '99, I always set goals and objectives for Ole, and I believe most other sensible supporters did too. My thought process has changed over time, as it should really. Too many people have a static good/bad opinion on something and stick doggedly to it, even when circumstances change.
Generally, when Ole was initially appointed, I believed (and still believe) the Glazers/Ed had no desire to appoint him full-time. Clearly, as we know, Ole WAS appointed full time, and I argued that he would never be, so I was wrong about that. However, I don't think anybody could have foreseen just how well we would do in those first 3-months under Ole. It really was a charmed run, and most of the performances were good, as well as the results.
Now, clearly, after Ole was appointed full-time, we saw a drop-off in results. My opinion then became, "our squad is very poor, full of no-hopers, mercenaries and players on wages they didn't deserve"...therefore I supported the idea that a 'cultural reset' (or whatever you want to call it) was needed, and I still support that idea now. Many posters forget what a sorry state our squad was in. Sure, there are still a few players who probably need to leave, but you can't accuse them of being bad professionals or not trying, and they all probably have at least some resale value. Previously, we were dealing with players were you couldn't always say that was the case.
So, if we then take the 2018/19 season and what did I think we could/should achieve...well, after selling our only really recognised CF and still being very light in several areas, I thought the absolute best we could achieve was 4th, and I thought that would be a tough ask. Again, I think posters forget that we were regularly starting the likes of Andreas Pereira, Brandon Williams, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard (post his mini-revival), Anthony Martial started every week, Fred and McTominay started every week...I could go on. I think we can/should all agree that however it was achieved, that 3rd place finish was the high-end of what that squad could ever achieve.
In that respect, again, Ole had, in my opinion, earnt the right to continue to manage the club into the 2019/20 season. How can you sack a manager who has overachieved? Who all of the players seem to be behind? Who says and does the right things, and who seems to understand the club and the fans? Going into the season, again, I thought we have no right to win the league with this squad, at the very least, we were a long way behind City, and probably behind Liverpool and Chelsea too, in many respects. So what could I reasonably expect Ole to achieve? Well, let's say 'stretch' target is 2nd/title-challenge and a cup. Minimum would be another top four finish. Again, we came very close to achieving that 'stretch' target. We outperformed Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs in the league, and had a couple of good cup runs, culminating in the loss to Villarreal, which, whilst disappointing, wasn't the be all and end all for me when evaluating our season.
One of my key points throughout all of this is that we have been going through a period of transition, but the results have still largely been there as well, with the obvious caveat that we hadn't actually won anything and the performances were not often convincing.
So what did I say going into this season? Now that Ole had been in the job for two full seasons, we needed to see a proper title challenge and obvious progress on the pitch. A more coherent, aggressive style. Consistency in games against teams who let us have the ball. Fewer goals conceded, in particular at set-pieces. Decisions made around the future of players such Lingard, Henderson, Van de Beek, Bailly etc...
Now, we are about to enter November, and NONE of that has been achieved (or looks likely to be achieved). In fact, things seem to be get worse tactically, as we try and play a more expansive style. I have said before that any manager can set a team up to defend/counter-attack but it takes a very good one to play front-foot, possession based football. So far all of the evidence is that Ole isn't up too it.
That doesn't mean to say people were wrong to support the work Ole did, and others were right to call for him to be sacked. In an alternative Universe, where Ole was sacked (or not appointed), we could still be mid-table now with an ageing squad of duds and mercenaries.
No offence but this whole post sounds a bit daft coming from a United supporter
Yeah hate is just a word but words have meaning. Hating a club legend just because he was appointed as caretaker manager. He didn't appoint himself. Bit bizarre mate but fair enough.
The loss against Young Boys.
I mean. We’re one goal up, wan-bissaka gets a red card before halftime and Ole completely chickens out. Takes Sancho off, and yeah, he wasn’t doing great, but with one man down and one goal up the game is about to change and we needed someone like Sancho on the pitch. Instead he goes to 4-4-1, with Bruno and Pogba as wingers. How are we going to attack with those two and Ronaldo alone at the top?
Right. No problem. Ole can fix this at halftime.
But no. He goes for a back five, and persists to rely on Pogba, Bruno and Ronaldo to create something forward. Right. How about putting on someone with a bit of pace instead?
They score the equaliser and Ole goes even more defensive. Subs off our only striker, whom happens to be one of the best strikers the world has ever seen, for a guy who runs a lot. Bruno, the player with the most points in recent seasons, comes off for a more defensive midfielder, Matic.
He dared to sub of Fred for Martial just as overtime was about to kick in. Like, why not? Lingard and Martial. Let’s go!
Even playing with a back five, including Varane, Lindelof and Maguire. With a central midfield of Pogba and Matic - we still conceded a goal and lost the game!
In what way is that playing “the United way”? You have this squad with huge attacking talents, and you choose to play defensively?
When Ole said that he likes to play with Fred and McTominay because they break up play so well - doesn’t that then mean our midfield is more about breaking up the opponent’s possession play, rather than being able to play possession play ourselves?
He chooses to field two players with the same qualities over a guy (Donny) whom is better on the ball and better in possession play. Yet, his option is the United way?
I mean. We’re one goal up, wan-bissaka gets a red card before halftime and Ole completely chickens out. Takes Sancho off, and yeah, he wasn’t doing great, but with one man down and one goal up the game is about to change and we needed someone like Sancho on the pitch. Instead he goes to 4-4-1, with Bruno and Pogba as wingers. How are we going to attack with those two and Ronaldo alone at the top?
Right. No problem. Ole can fix this at halftime.
But no. He goes for a back five, and persists to rely on Pogba, Bruno and Ronaldo to create something forward. Right. How about putting on someone with a bit of pace instead?
They score the equaliser and Ole goes even more defensive. Subs off our only striker, whom happens to be one of the best strikers the world has ever seen, for a guy who runs a lot. Bruno, the player with the most points in recent seasons, comes off for a more defensive midfielder, Matic.
He dared to sub of Fred for Martial just as overtime was about to kick in. Like, why not? Lingard and Martial. Let’s go!
Even playing with a back five, including Varane, Lindelof and Maguire. With a central midfield of Pogba and Matic - we still conceded a goal and lost the game!
In what way is that playing “the United way”? You have this squad with huge attacking talents, and you choose to play defensively?
When Ole said that he likes to play with Fred and McTominay because they break up play so well - doesn’t that then mean our midfield is more about breaking up the opponent’s possession play, rather than being able to play possession play ourselves?
He chooses to field two players with the same qualities over a guy (Donny) whom is better on the ball and better in possession play. Yet, his option is the United way?
When we dropped points to Sheffield United was my final straw.
This is a team that is struggling in the championship, yet we made McBurnie seem like McMessi.
This is a team that is struggling in the championship, yet we made McBurnie seem like McMessi.
The 2 goals conceded against the Turkish club were amateur hour
Leaving Matic back as last man, still gives me shudders
When his height would be more useful inside the box too. I don't get how we set up like that and none of the coaching staff saw anything wrong
He has been better if not the best manager post Fergie .. his recruitment has been top notch.. the teams have been scoring for fun..
Young players are coming in..
but looks like now is the time for a change
Young players are coming in..
but looks like now is the time for a change
It was obvious pretty early that he would need either a lot of support or a lot of luck.
Think it's been clear for years, even pre Ole, that we need better squad planning/oversight in terms of transfers in and out, that you would expect from a DoF for example. It was also fairly clear from Ole early doors that he wasn't the typical modern manager, as he doesn't speak about tactics in the same way. Not the end of the world necessarily, but a cause for concern immediately (aside from the first few months where he was willing to mix up formation and personnel fixture to fixture). Gave him the benefit of the doubt in his first full season, given the squad was pretty meh. Maybe he would have benefited from a more tactically astute assistant? Who knows. Who makes that decision anyway? The structure is so unclear. Last season, no improvements despite an influx of new signings and individuals reaching a high level, team performances were always poor. Even in wins we almost always are poor as a unit. I was surprised he survived to be honest, we could have parted ways with him in the summer somewhat amicably, before shit really hit the fan. I suppose in the summer there was some thin hope for a miracle turnaround given the big signings...but it was hope rather than expectation.
Think it's been clear for years, even pre Ole, that we need better squad planning/oversight in terms of transfers in and out, that you would expect from a DoF for example. It was also fairly clear from Ole early doors that he wasn't the typical modern manager, as he doesn't speak about tactics in the same way. Not the end of the world necessarily, but a cause for concern immediately (aside from the first few months where he was willing to mix up formation and personnel fixture to fixture). Gave him the benefit of the doubt in his first full season, given the squad was pretty meh. Maybe he would have benefited from a more tactically astute assistant? Who knows. Who makes that decision anyway? The structure is so unclear. Last season, no improvements despite an influx of new signings and individuals reaching a high level, team performances were always poor. Even in wins we almost always are poor as a unit. I was surprised he survived to be honest, we could have parted ways with him in the summer somewhat amicably, before shit really hit the fan. I suppose in the summer there was some thin hope for a miracle turnaround given the big signings...but it was hope rather than expectation.
I couldn't agree more. We could beat Liverpool and go on an amazing run, but it will be the same cycle of false dawn and nearly man. Ole always does enough to save his job. I don't see any disaster happening because he isn't like mourinho or van gaal that can loose the dressing room. The players like Ole and I am sure they will fight to see him succeed. It just that the players needs better coaching.
Not replacing Fred on a yellow at half time vs PSG.
A retarded person would know he's gonna get the second, and it's not Fred is some kind of footballing wizard who could change the game in order to keep him on the pitch.
It became apparent that Ole is simply way out depth.
A retarded person would know he's gonna get the second, and it's not Fred is some kind of footballing wizard who could change the game in order to keep him on the pitch.
It became apparent that Ole is simply way out depth.
From the minute he luckily scored that tap in v Bayern.
Am I doing it right?
Am I doing it right?
As far back as May 2019, judging by these old posts. Almost 2.5 years of euphoric ups but depressing downs since, it’s safe to say that my stance hasn’t softened. I love the man and feel he’s done an admirable job steadying our post-Mourinho ship and built our best squad post-Ferguson, but the fact remains we have no discernible style of play which is a shocking indictment of his reign and casts major doubt on his ability to close the gap between ourselves and our rivals:
I knew he wasn't up to the job before he was appointed.
When we won that PSG game in the Champions League and everyone was going absolutely insane, including Rio who was telling us to write him a blank check and that 'United were back' and 'Ole's at the wheel'
Everyone says but we won, we won, just enjoy it don't be so miserable, you want us to fail.
Reality is we played absolutely garbage that match, and PSG hit the woodwork a ridiculous amount of times and they absolutely played us off the park, if you watch the highlights, the goals we scored consisted of thus
1. Horrendous backpass to the keeper resulting in a 1v1 for Lukaku, who despite his best efforts at United, is a great finisher
2. Horrendous spill by Buffon, who doesn't make many, after a poor shot by Rashford
3. Lucky as hell penalty in the 94th minute
Other than that we barely created anything and looked awful, I admit even I got swept in the win itself, but looking at the match objectively I couldn't see what anyone was fussed about because the signs were there and it's been the story for most of his career at United if we are honest. I knew at that point we'd appoint him and I was praying on the inside we'd wait until the summer to appoint someone instead but we just couldn't help ourselves could we, an abysmal appointment that sums up Woodward's time at United, poor decision after poor decision and always having the most horrendous timing.
Everyone says but we won, we won, just enjoy it don't be so miserable, you want us to fail.
Reality is we played absolutely garbage that match, and PSG hit the woodwork a ridiculous amount of times and they absolutely played us off the park, if you watch the highlights, the goals we scored consisted of thus
1. Horrendous backpass to the keeper resulting in a 1v1 for Lukaku, who despite his best efforts at United, is a great finisher
2. Horrendous spill by Buffon, who doesn't make many, after a poor shot by Rashford
3. Lucky as hell penalty in the 94th minute
Other than that we barely created anything and looked awful, I admit even I got swept in the win itself, but looking at the match objectively I couldn't see what anyone was fussed about because the signs were there and it's been the story for most of his career at United if we are honest. I knew at that point we'd appoint him and I was praying on the inside we'd wait until the summer to appoint someone instead but we just couldn't help ourselves could we, an abysmal appointment that sums up Woodward's time at United, poor decision after poor decision and always having the most horrendous timing.
Glad, you also looked at that game objectively. That is when I knew without any doubt that something is really off. I can not explain it, but it has happened a lot of times after that game. Where we performed badly, but somehow get a good result
When he started grinning like a Cheshire Cat every time we lost! 
Oh goodness I remember that! It was vs PSG. Infuriating. And that was following on from the complete comedy capers against the Turkish side, after we'd made a decent start to the group. Those 2 games were what cost us progression from the group
And let's not forget, he threw away the League Cup as if it were beneath him this season. Yes make a couple of changes but as a manager who hasn't won a trophy, he should have tried a whole lot harder to win one of the trophies had more chance of winning....
Even if we win against Liverpool and City I won't change my mind that he needs to go and has taken us as far as he can
Last edited:
I can honestly say I never even wanted him on anything other than a caretaker basis. He was never up to the job.
Always wanted him to work, but never really believed it would. Think he did a decent job steadying the ship and giving a squad devoid of confidence what it needed.
I don't think I was ever convinced he would take us to silverware, but when you want something to happen it's often easy to ignore what's infront of your face.
Our form since we went top in January 2021 says it all really. Anyone not convinced before then, for sure has to be now.
I don't think I was ever convinced he would take us to silverware, but when you want something to happen it's often easy to ignore what's infront of your face.
Our form since we went top in January 2021 says it all really. Anyone not convinced before then, for sure has to be now.
The doubts were there after how horrifically we finished the season when he first got the job. Once the honeymoon was over. Those sort of limp lifeless performances are sort of been a staple of the Ole era.
Because although our defense got stronger our attack is so bloated and our midfield options aren’t performing at all. I liked the Ronaldo signing but only only only with a DM signing.
Also as expected Sancho hasn’t come in and sizzled at all. We would be better off with Greenwood at his position and Ronaldo up front and once again a DM signing like Rice.
The club's transfer window in his first full season and that bizarre opening game against Chelsea where they walked through our midfield and were dominating us ...and we somehow won 4-0
2nd full season was much better but doubts remained about the playing style and tactics. Those doubts have not been removed sadly. He has done some good for the club and some progress has been made but I've never warmed to his style unfortunately.
That's one of the biggest problems with this team and lack of coaching, that period is still stuck in my mind how bad we were. If Bruno is not doing it then we're back right to that midtable team struggling to pass and create. We've always let the goals in under Ole so there's no real basis for a title challenge or to play well for long periods.
The story of last year was conceding too much and coming back and being massively helped with Liverpool missing their defence and Lampard tanking Chelsea. We were never going to hit the ground running this season, Ronaldo, Sancho and Varane aren't joining a well run team, Cavani's work masks a very poorly instructed midfield and wide players.
That was too early though. It's like the game we beat Spurs 1-0 and they absolutely hammered us second half but we couldn't score. Really when he was interim and in the drop off in form after PSG we were waiting to see how the team would look the next season.
I don't think I was ever completely sold on him, the performances for me never hit levels that would take us to where we want to be i.e., winning titles. I think Europa final completely destroyed any faith I had in him of taking us to the next level, but it was in doubt for a while. With Ole we rarely play as a team.
This.
That game was a fantastic feeling but a terrible performance, if that was going to stand for how we played vs top teams, we were always gonna be in for a tough time.
When he was made permanent manager.