Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[sammsky1]

Im one of Ole's biggest fans, but I think he got the tactics and team selection wrong today. It transpired that we didn't cope with Southamptons press well at all. So I think we'd have been better if we'd had more fresh legs in the team and intended a more workmanlike 'Mourinho' type performance.

In hindsight, he should have gone with a midfield diamond: Matic, McT, Fred and Bruno/Pogba at the tip, with Martial and Rashford as wide forwards. Allow Southampton some possession and then kill them on the counter attack. Once we were in front and controlling the game, we could have adjusted into a more attacking formation.

He should also have taken Greenwood off far earlier as he was invisible and only ended up using 4 subs.

I've advocated some rotation over past 2 games, and think OGS has missed a trick now on that front: he will have to make changes now for Palace and Chelsea, which may disrupt our rhythm even more.

 

[criticalanalysis]

The first 10-20mins against Bournmouth, Villa and Sheffield all showed that if you pressed our team, our superior talents become nullified. In those games, our class showed but truth be told, all of them backed off massively and respected us far too much.

I feared any well coached team would do what Southampton did tonight. It was fecking shameful that we got pinned back in our half for long periods of the game ffs.

Ole deserves massive credit for getting the players on board with his man management and he deserves a long pass for now but when will we see some nuanced coaching, in-game tempo changing instructions or just a verbal rocket to the get the players fired up? He's giving far too much freedom and trust in the players at the moment. It's got him to where we are now and that should be complimented but he's got to build on this and look to constantly improve.

I don't think the minute management of Matic/Pogba/Bruno and their understudies have been great to be honest. We had won most of our games by the 60 minute mark yet your Freds, McTs and James are coming on for 10-15 minutes at most.

Those collective minutes has put fatigue in the trio and lost any sort of rhythm for the subs. Same can be said of your Maguire and AWB, who are looking knackered.

 

[sammsky1]

I don't think the minute management of Matic/Pogba/Bruno and their understudies have been great to be honest. We had won most of our games by the 60 minute mark yet your Freds, McTs and James are coming on for 10-15 minutes at most.
Those collective minutes has put fatigue in the trio and lost any sort of rhythm for the subs. Same can be said of your Maguire and AWB, who are looking knackered.

Strongly agree.

And we are now screwed for Palace and Chelsea cup game, in that our favoured trio are totally knackered and our back ups, who were superb pre lockdown, have no rhythm or form.

 

[Foxbatt]

I thought he got his starting 11 spot on. His game management was where I had issues with him as it went on.
I said that Greenwood should have changed places with Martial and Rashford.
Then I don't know if it was on him or DeGea didn't take responsibility for organising the defense. I don't think any coach is going to over rule the keeper in organising his defense.

 

[Sylar]

For all this talk, we didn't win the game due to a last minute set piece (where we were a man down due to bizarre circumstances)

We also had great chances to make it 3-1

 

[kkj25]

I think he made a mistake by not resting players, we are playing too many games to play against such an high intensity press side with the same midfield that has been playing week in week out since the restart. Matic has looked like he needs a rest for the last couple of games. Bruno whilst doing a job has not been his absolute best in a couple of games. I think maybe tonight it should have been Fred and Mct with Pogba in the Bruno role. Also Pogba was particularly poor today yes he created the goal but he was getting caught on the ball too much trying to hold on to it for too long. But I think we need at least one capable player that can adequately cover for one or the other next season to allow us to rest one of them for a game. Obviously this is extenuating circumstances that we are playing this many games this close together but I do believe it is a necessity for next year with other competitions.

 

[Bojan11]

For all this talk, we didn't win the game due to a last minute set piece (where we were a man down due to bizarre circumstances)

We also had great chances to make it 3-1

The issue is how we basically surrendered the last 30 minutes and barely could keep the ball. Didn’t help by defensive subs.

 

[Sylar]

The issue is how we basically surrendered the last 30 minutes and barely could keep the ball. Didn’t help by defensive subs.

I had no issue with the sub's except I would have added ighalo to it.
This was a tricky game and was expected to be tricky.

I think hindsight obviously helps but teams have games like this. If this was a pattern it would be more of a worry but for this we needed luck. We didn't get it today and saints did them gaining a man advantage

 

[RedSky]

Since Sir Alex Retired:

Well, a fairly disappointing 2-2 draw with Southampton. Should have got the win, but alas shit happens and we got fecked at the last minute.

Ole now passes Jose's best run at United and Poch's best run at Tottenham. Remain unbeaten for 2 more games and he nets us a top 5 run, going to be tough though.

Club​	Manager​	Games Unbeaten​	Start Date​	End Date​	Goals For​	Goals Against​	Clean Sheets​	Win %​
City​	Guardiola​	28​	27.04.2017​	03.12.2017​	78​	18​	14​	86%​
Chelsea​	Jose​	23​	04.05.2014​	03.12.2014​	53​	16​	10​	74%​
Arsenal​	Emery​	22​	25.08.2018​	13.12.2018​	50​	19​	8​	77%​
City​	Pellegrini​	20​	30.10.2013​	29.01.2014​	69​	22​	7​	90%​
Liverpool​	Klopp​	19​	12.01.2019​	26.04.2019​	44​	12​	10​	74%​
Arsenal​	Wenger​	19​	20.08.2016​	27.11.2016​	45​	14​	8​	68%​
Liverpool​	Klopp​	19​	22.09.2019​	14.12.2019​	44​	18​	5​	84%​
Chelsea​	Sarri​	18​	11.08.2018​	11.11.2018​	38​	12​	9​	78%​
Chelsea​	Jose​	18​	27.01.2015​	10.05.2015​	25​	12​	8​	61%​
Liverpool​	Klopp​	18​	28.10.2017​	14.01.2018​	55​	16​	8​	72%​
Manchester Utd​	Ole​	18​	26.01.2020​	14.07.2020​	48​	8​	12​	72%​

 

[mancan92]

Clearly some of our players were dead on their feet he really should have switched it up. But I understand not wanting to change a winning formula

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

He always rest the players after 60th minute and been effective. The idea was always try to kill the game off by 2 goals or 3 goals difference so XI was spot on imo. We had chances to finish it off and we didn't, players got tired and he had no choice to make the change. Some people also mentioned to bring Mata & Pereira, do people really believe they are good enough against Southampton pressing? It was the correct choice of subs or you could also say the only subs we could make.

Anyway it was very unfortunate that we went down 10 men. I would say we could have won it with 11 v 11. However, this game should be a big lesson for our player's mentality. Whether they will ever fix it, Big Question Mark.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

People actually have issue with his decisions today?

Funny why the silence saying it's right before the match started.

We had many chances, but we didn't scored and kill the game. Only one goal lead. Not enough, and Southampton kept on going and scored at the dying minutes past the 5 mins mark. That's it.

One weakness in Ole's ability is still clear though in this game and actually even against Villa first half -- coaching teamplay.

 

[bosnian_red]

Easy to say after the game but I felt it before the game and against Villa too - you have to trust your squad. Fitness isn't the only reason to rotate and I think that was part of the reason today. McTominay and Fred should have started one of the last few, or today. Understand it's hard to rotate when you're winning but you just have to do it. We haven't started the same 11 5 in a row since 93 before today, that's part of the reason why. Just need to rotate the positions that you have good enough cover to do it.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Easy to say after the game but I felt it before the game and against Villa too - you have to trust your squad. Fitness isn't the only reason to rotate and I think that was part of the reason today. McTominay and Fred should have started one of the last few, or today. Understand it's hard to rotate when you're winning but you just have to do it. We haven't started the same 11 5 in a row since 93 before today, that's part of the reason why. Just need to rotate the positions that you have good enough cover to do it.

You would have started both?

I could understand maybe starting one, but both?

 

[bosnian_red]

You would have started both?

I could understand maybe starting one, but both?

Rotated Matic out (guys level drops every time he plays multiple times a week), and then took turns to give Pogba and Bruno a rest at least one of these games each. Fred and McTominay are very good midfielders, and were at the heart of a lot of the good stuff we did before lock down. Trusting them more brings their own level up and probably keeps the starters on their toes, while also keeps them more fresh. Villa would've been the game to do it IMO (McTominay and Fred for Pogba and Matic), and then probably Palace to rotate Bruno out and start Pogba as the 10 in front of McTominay and Fred. Williams as well for one of the games, as Wan Bissaka has been very mediocre for the last bit IMO.

Anyway, it's a unique situation right now, but next season it's something that Ole will need to embrace more. The players served him well earlier, even when you're winning it's still healthy to rotate small amounts.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Rotated Matic out (guys level drops every time he plays multiple times a week), and then took turns to give Pogba and Bruno a rest at least one of these games each. Fred and McTominay are very good midfielders, and were at the heart of a lot of the good stuff we did before lock down. Trusting them more brings their own level up and probably keeps the starters on their toes, while also keeps them more fresh. Villa would've been the game to do it IMO (McTominay and Fred for Pogba and Matic), and then probably Palace to rotate Bruno out and start Pogba as the 10 in front of McTominay and Fred. Williams as well for one of the games, as Wan Bissaka has been very mediocre for the last bit IMO.

Anyway, it's a unique situation right now, but next season it's something that Ole will need to embrace more. The players served him well earlier, even when you're winning it's still healthy to rotate small amounts.

I'm not sure if Fred and McTominay are very good midfielders. They were in the midfield the entire season and we looked well off the pace for top 4. You could argue both of them have been poor in every game post lock-down(albeit in limited minutes).

It's only since Bruno came in and Pogba returned that the midfield finally resembled a top team.

If Ole did rotate the squad today and we had the same result, there'd still be criticism.

Maybe we should have rotated vs Villa, but I highly doubt Fred and McTominay would have fared better vs Southampton today.

 

[bosnian_red]

I'm not sure if Fred and McTominay are very good midfielders. They were in the midfield the entire season and we looked well off the pace for top 4. You could argue both of them have been poor in every game post lock-down(albeit in limited minutes).

It's only since Bruno came in and Pogba returned that the midfield finally resembled a top team.

If Ole did rotate the squad today and we had the same result, there'd still be criticism.

Maybe we should have rotated vs Villa, but I highly doubt Fred and McTominay would have fared better vs Southampton today.

They're very good midfielders for sure, they just aren't super creative. Different roles, but they can and should be used as a pair for sure at times. You need squad players like them. Us being well off the pace for top 4 isn't down to them. If we had 1 of Bruno or Pogba to play as the 10 in front of them, we wouldn't be well off the pace. We had Pereira though, and no cover for anyone anywhere else. Over this 3 game spread of Villa/Southampton/Palace, I said it before but we should have had a combo of Fred/McTominay/Bruno once, Fred/McTominay/Pogba once, and Matic/Pogba/Bruno once. Pick how you want, but it's the best way to keep them all fresh while still putting out a really strong team, and we still have the others on the bench to come on and change the game if we need it for whatever reason.

Yeah of course, we can still drop points. But you need to rotate and use your squad, at least in small degrees like this. We have a group of probably 15 players that Ole probably trusts. The 11 that's been playing every game, then Fred, McTominay, Williams, James and Ighalo I'd guess. There's enough there to rotate the squad and keep everyone fresh and hungry and raise everyone's level with inner competition, but you don't get that if you play the same starting 11.

 

[Ludens the Red]

Since Sir Alex Retired:

Well, a fairly disappointing 2-2 draw with Southampton. Should have got the win, but alas shit happens and we got fecked at the last minute.

Ole now passes Jose's best run at United and Poch's best run at Tottenham. Remain unbeaten for 2 more games and he nets us a top 5 run, going to be tough though.

Club​	Manager​	Games Unbeaten​	Start Date​	End Date​	Goals For​	Goals Against​	Clean Sheets​	Win %​
City​	Guardiola​	28​	27.04.2017​	03.12.2017​	78​	18​	14​	86%​
Chelsea​	Jose​	23​	04.05.2014​	03.12.2014​	53​	16​	10​	74%​
Arsenal​	Emery​	22​	25.08.2018​	13.12.2018​	50​	19​	8​	77%​
City​	Pellegrini​	20​	30.10.2013​	29.01.2014​	69​	22​	7​	90%​
Liverpool​	Klopp​	19​	12.01.2019​	26.04.2019​	44​	12​	10​	74%​
Arsenal​	Wenger​	19​	20.08.2016​	27.11.2016​	45​	14​	8​	68%​
Liverpool​	Klopp​	19​	22.09.2019​	14.12.2019​	44​	18​	5​	84%​
Chelsea​	Sarri​	18​	11.08.2018​	11.11.2018​	38​	12​	9​	78%​
Chelsea​	Jose​	18​	27.01.2015​	10.05.2015​	25​	12​	8​	61%​
Liverpool​	Klopp​	18​	28.10.2017​	14.01.2018​	55​	16​	8​	72%​
Manchester Utd​	Ole​	18​	26.01.2020​	14.07.2020​	48​	8​	12​	72%​

Erm, is this a joke? I swear Liverpool went on a 40 something unbeaten run under Klopp?

Edit - all competitions I’m guessing

 

[Giggsyking]

Compete for the league? he shits himself every time he comes near top 4.

 

[Feed Me]

I don’t think you can really blame the manager, although maybe we can question his failure to rotate which has led to certain players looking gassed.

Goals win matches and Martial and Rashford passed up gilt edged chances to score, while Pogba did his classic edge of the box dawdling routine.

Highly heralded players failed to do the business when it really mattered and I hope they can come up trumps against Palace to make amends.

 

[Stretender]

He should have refreshed the team yesterday. When Rashford got injured before lockdown, it was because of his poor team management. He has brought unity to the squad and a professional attitude but hes not a top coach

 

[tenpoless]

I'm sure that game was the first experience for him, a case where everything just went wrong when you had the lead. Two left backs getting injured is a joke, you couldn't make it up. On top of that, we also need more depth. I'm sure the coaching staff will learn from that game.

The other day I posted something about his tactical decision being disappointing sometimes and while in this particular game I don't think he could have done much and I don't want to blame him, my point about how we need to wait and see remains the same. He's not Pep or any other experienced, 'proven' managers, he should not be blamed for most things that we usually blame the manager for. He's learning, the team is learning. Carrick and McKenna are also still young. It's alright, just keep going. There's no way Leicester and Chelsea will win all the rest of the matches anyway. Enjoy the process. It's always going to take some time.

What I don't get is, some of the posters that always defend Ole as if he's made no mistakes whatsoever and shit on other people who think otherwise. Especially after winning, that is when they are most aggressive. After losing? still aggressive to whoever that thinks Ole isn't the new Sir Alex.

 

[Fracture90]

This loss is on him imo, tactics was not so good and how can you be left with not a single substitution left in a day and age when you've got 5 subs on your disposal ffs?

 

[Sylar]

This loss is on him imo, tactics was not so good and how can you be left with not a single substitution left in a day and age when you've got 5 subs on your disposal ffs?

It wasn't a loss it was a draw
Also we had a sub left just not a slot to sub
One was used for Shaws injury

Unless you're blaming Ole for not keeping one in case we get an injury, which is a crazy thing to say.

 

[groovyalbert]

Can't blame Ole for last night, and did anyone think we should change the starting XI before kick off?

In hindsight we needed more energy in midfield, and maybe could have sacrificed Greenwood to get an extra body in there.

Biggest worry for me though isn't tactics but our fitness looked really down. We know there's such a big drop off in quality once we tinker with our first XI, it seems like we really need them to get us over the line.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

He should have refreshed the team yesterday. When Rashford got injured before lockdown, it was because of his poor team management. He has brought unity to the squad and a professional attitude but hes not a top coach

It's been working up to now and to be honest some of the options we have on the bench would have had us losing. Mata is too old, Pereira is useless, James just runs about and never looks up. Only McT, Fred, Williams and possibly Ighalo are of the slightest use. He has a great first team, but his options after that are paper thin and that has been the problem for years and what needs addressing. We need strength in depth. I do agree with people that he gets the timing of subs wrong. We should have won if we had taken our chances, not because Ole got it wrong.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

@Fracture90 - so if Martial had tucked away his one-on-one, Rashford had scored his open goal would you still be saying Solskjaer didn't do well enough? He can't control everything. The team is creating chances and, again, should have put away at least 3 or 4 goals.

One small criticism though is that Solskjaer doesn't get angry enough for my liking. Imagine if Romeu had done that challenge on an 18 year old Rooney, Fergie would have exploded. I wanted Solskjaer to come out in that press conference and put pressure on VAR, that was an abysmal unacceptable decision.. not even a yellow?! Should have a 10 game ban in retrospective.

 

[Giggsyking]

Being pressed for 80 minutes by fecking Southampton on your turf. This man on top of being a bottler, is spineless.

 

[Squeaky Bumtime]

It's sad to see these one liners, like above and similar, bashing him. It's clear some have an agenda against him. Whatever happens these will pop out and especially after a draw yesterday.
We had more than enough chances to close that one out. Southampton pressed us yes, but after 20 or so minutes we managed to counter that. Southampton was pretty blunt in the 2nd half until we subbed first Pogba and then Bruno. One of them should have stayed. Also he should trust Fred and McTominay more. In the sense that, while it's good to finally have a best 11, players are clearly fatigued and against Palace one of them should start instead of Matić.
Saying all that, as I said, if we had scored the chances we had we would be out of sight before that dreaded corner. One goal change a whole perspective for some posters as if Ole got it all wrong which he clearly didnt.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Being pressed for 80 minutes by fecking Southampton on your turf. This man on top of being a bottler, is spineless.

They have done that to a few of the top teams, difference is those teams put the chances they got away. If Ole had been playing we would have scored a lot more.

 

[Striker10]

It's so sad that many people react and are unable to use their brain. 9/10 we would have won last nights game. They were lucky not to go a man down. They were lucky with our injuries and were lucky to score so late. We just have to accept it and win the next one. Unless he wins every game - someones going to be critical. People always have to blame this or that. What's lets us down this season in general - was our lack of goals. We should have got Fernandes in the summer market - but hindsight and all that. Him and Pogba out is like the drop in midfield when we had Keane and Scholes out during the 99 final. We just need to try to be positive.

 

[romufc]

He should also have taken Greenwood off far earlier as he was invisible and only ended up using 4 subs.

The problem with this is bringing on Dan James. Other than running he gives us nothing. With Greenwood at least you know under pressure he can keep hold of the ball.

I think he made a mistake by not resting players, we are playing too many games to play against such an high intensity press side with the same midfield that has been playing week in week out since the restart

Absolutely not. We have seen what happens when we make changes. If we rest Rashford or Greenwood we bring on James who is pointless.

We cannot rest Pogba or Bruno because we get no control of the game whatsoever.

 

[RUCK4444]

Being pressed for 80 minutes by fecking Southampton on your turf. This man on top of being a bottler, is spineless.

I’ll tell you what’s spineless, turning on people the second something doesn’t go your way as a fan.

We are unbeaten in what 17 games or something?

Southampton are very well drilled both on and off the ball and we made it hard for ourselves yesterday gifting the first goal away, then proceeding to throw away possession all second half - neither of these things Ole would have instructed the players to do ffs.

We looked leggy yesterday against probably the fittest team in the league.

I do think there is an element of bottling among the playing staff, but you can’t claim Ole is a bottler, the man made a career in the game scoring coming off the bench often with the pressure very much on. He’s no bottler.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Being pressed for 80 minutes by fecking Southampton on your turf. This man on top of being a bottler, is spineless.

I mean... that's just their game they press, not like we can ask them nicely to stand off of us?

Only one team created openings, I remember a small amount of Southampton chances despite their apparent dominance.

Just need to be more clinical.

 

[fps]

Lots of Captain Hindsights here. "Errr, having seen the result I wouldn't have done things as we did."

Brilliant work brain trust.

 

[Fracture90]

It wasn't a loss it was a draw
Also we had a sub left just not a slot to sub
One was used for Shaws injury

Unless you're blaming Ole for not keeping one in case we get an injury, which is a crazy thing to say.

Yeah i meant draw. I know that you've gotta use all 5 subs without the usual 3 regular subs. True, can't really blame him for the sub considering Shaw went off due to an injury.

 

[romufc]

I’ll tell you what’s spineless, turning on people the second something doesn’t go your way as a fan.

We are unbeaten in what 17 games or something?

Southampton are very well drilled both on and off the ball and we made it hard for ourselves yesterday gifting the first goal away, then proceeding to throw away possession all second half - neither of these things Ole would have instructed the players to do ffs.

We looked leggy yesterday against probably the fittest team in the league.

I do think there is an element of bottling among the playing staff, but you can’t claim Ole is a bottler, the man made a career in the game scoring coming off the bench often with the pressure very much on. He’s no bottler.

Very well put. The amount of knee jerk reactions on here is crazy.

You think Ole went out there and didnt expect them to press? in his pre match he said they will have energy, press high. Is it his fault that Pogba, AWB, Matic were slow sloppy on the ball?

Southampton are a very good team playing with no pressure so they could express themselves.

Regarding bottling it, we were never 10 points clear, we were never 3 points clear, we are chasing the pack. How is that bottling it when we are not in the position to bottle it?

This is the PL, Southampton have the 4th best away record.

 

[Fracture90]

@Fracture90 - so if Martial had tucked away his one-on-one, Rashford had scored his open goal would you still be saying Solskjaer didn't do well enough? He can't control everything. The team is creating chances and, again, should have put away at least 3 or 4 goals.

One small criticism though is that Solskjaer doesn't get angry enough for my liking. Imagine if Romeu had done that challenge on an 18 year old Rooney, Fergie would have exploded. I wanted Solskjaer to come out in that press conference and put pressure on VAR, that was an abysmal unacceptable decision.. not even a yellow?! Should have a 10 game ban in retrospective.

Mate "if" can't be a viable excuse, because what if Saints tucked away their chances, what if DDG hadn't saved that one from Redmond etc? My critique is in relation to them completely shutting down our MF and prevented us from playing from the back. We were catching them on the break and creating chances out of nothing due to Martial's brilliant interceptions in 2 occasions.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Being pressed for 80 minutes by fecking Southampton on your turf. This man on top of being a bottler, is spineless.

So what do you think of Guardiola? they lost 2-0 at least we nearly won

It was a tough match, yes we could/should have performed better but when the players just aren't at it there isn't much you can do.

Neither Pogba or Fernandes were having good games, so do you suggest he subs them both?

Let's not forget we were 2-1 up and looking fairly comfortable until the last 10-15, then the injury to Shaw completely ruined his plans.

Teams rarely play every match and win comfortably, Fergie had plenty of these smash and grab type wins and we were very close to getting another, it just wasn't our day.

If Martial and Rashford had taken their chances we should have won that 4-1.

 

[JohnnyKills]

The one thing I'd reproach Ole for is picking Bruno against Norwich and bringing the other big guns on. We should have played a reserve team in that game to conserve players for the top 4 push, which is the priority.