Would've been worse had we not signed Bruno.
I think we would be looking at 6th/7th and no matter what Woodward or Ole says about a rebuild the fans would have gone insane by now. Thank feck for Bruno.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion
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I think we would be looking at 6th/7th and no matter what Woodward or Ole says about a rebuild the fans would have gone insane by now. Thank feck for Bruno.
My thoughts exactly and I think the Norwich game played into his thinking after that. That was a few players chance to shine and they'd showed very little.
One thing that is clear with Ole's style is he likes to have a longer preparation time. I still think he should have managed the squad better. His sudden lack of trust at even the likes of Fred/Mctominay/Ighalo/James is wierd. He should have started Mctominay yesterday instead of Matic and we wouldn't have been any worse. He could have started Ighalo against Chelsea and we could have been better. I agree our squad depth is not good but the likes of Fred, Mctominay, Ighalo and James are more the ok to do a job atleast against the likes of West ham. Maybe James wouldn't have made much difference but Ighalo should have been brought much earlier and Matic should have been subbed too and Mctominay or Fred could have done a half decent job in the final 30 mins.
If he is expecting to have 15 great players to pick from like City then he is living in a dream. He has to better use the squad.
If he is expecting to have 15 great players to pick from like City then he is living in a dream. He has to better use the squad.
I believe this, was thinking the lack of rotation and subs in comparison to other sides is a clear and damning indictment on some of the more fringe players since the restart. Ole would rather run his preferred XI into the ground than trust some of them so I do expect a bit of a culling in the summer.
The huge gulf in quality between our first 13-14 options and the rest of the squad will never be conducive towards us challenging for top honors again
Is this not the kind of shit people used to whine about Mourinho doing? Also, we heard the same shit about a purge after the Everton game last season. What will happen is that our manager will want to get rid of players but because we can’t sell them and can’t sign replacements we’ll still be stuck with half the players the manager doesn’t want. This is the same merry go round we’ve been on for the last 6 years.
I totally see his point of view regarding the subs. After lockdown he simply had to do it this way or else there's no chance in hell we'd be in a position where we control our top 4 destiny before the final game. The subs simply aren't good enough. The drop off in quality is staggering the moment we try to rest even a single player.
So who do people want to see instead? We can't start the likes of Mata, Lingard, Pereira, James, Ighalo in must win Premier League games. Not one of them. We simply can't. The only players we're then left with are McTominay and Fred.
McT has had a good season on personal levels. He has played to the best of his ability but the reality is that he's a limited player. Against the calibre of opposition we've faced post lockdown he's pretty useless. Just watch some of the games from earlier in the season. He's not a DM, he doesn't have the defensive awareness. We were leaking goals while he was playing and as soon as he got injured we starting holding clean sheets. Not a coincidence. He's not a proper B2B mid either, doesn't make those driving runs, simply isn't attack minded. It's not a coincidence either that his best games have come against better opposition. We defend in bigger numbers so his defensive frailties are masked. We run around more and play with a higher energy, his best attributes. And the onus isn't on us to dominate the ball so his attacking frailties are also hidden.
Fred is a weird one. He clearly has the ability but a bit like Carrick it takes him 6-8 games to hit form. But Carrick was a nailed starter, we could afford playing him into form. Fred is nothing more than a rotational player when everyone is fit. Rotational players need to be able to slot in immediately and do a job. They need to be ready whether it's a sub appearance or they're handed a start for injury/fatigue reasons.
So no complaints from me regarding the starting lineups in the league. Has his use of subs been good enough? No but then again, look at the options. Fred got 30 mins vs Soton and we barely touched the ball after he came on. Lingard vs Palace has probably been our best sub the last month or so and he did nothing apart from running around and be... Lingard. Our bench options are simply hideous.
Only sub I feel he should have done was bring on Ighalo vs Soton for his hold up play. He did Bruno > McT but Bruno > Ighalo would have been so much better. Bypass their press by hoofing it to Ighalo, with James, Martial, Rash providing support to keep the ball in their half. Yes the Williams injury was unfortunate but we got into our shell and ultimately paid the price with two dropped points.
Where I'd say Ole got it totally wrong was the FAC game. He got caught up in several minds: 1) He speaks highly of the FAC, it's a competition he loves and wants to win. Heart says go with a strong team. 2) CL is more important, more trophy opportunities will come down the road, plus we have 48h less rest than Chelsea. Head says rest as many players as possible. 3) Don't make too many changes or else it will get sluggish like the Norwich game. In the end the approach wasn't one or the other. He made some changes
The last few games haven't been pretty but if we get over the line on Sunday it'll sure be worth it. Ole is sending a quite obvious message that he'd rather run the 11-12 best players into the ground than trust fringe players that simply aren't good enough. In the summer there needs to be serious discussions between him, Woodward and the hierarchy regarding the squad depth. Look at Chelsea's bench last night. Look at the two players they've already signed. Look at the player they're almost certainly going to sign. And then look at our bench. We're 3-4 class players short. We simply have to invest.
So who do people want to see instead? We can't start the likes of Mata, Lingard, Pereira, James, Ighalo in must win Premier League games. Not one of them. We simply can't. The only players we're then left with are McTominay and Fred.
McT has had a good season on personal levels. He has played to the best of his ability but the reality is that he's a limited player. Against the calibre of opposition we've faced post lockdown he's pretty useless. Just watch some of the games from earlier in the season. He's not a DM, he doesn't have the defensive awareness. We were leaking goals while he was playing and as soon as he got injured we starting holding clean sheets. Not a coincidence. He's not a proper B2B mid either, doesn't make those driving runs, simply isn't attack minded. It's not a coincidence either that his best games have come against better opposition. We defend in bigger numbers so his defensive frailties are masked. We run around more and play with a higher energy, his best attributes. And the onus isn't on us to dominate the ball so his attacking frailties are also hidden.
Fred is a weird one. He clearly has the ability but a bit like Carrick it takes him 6-8 games to hit form. But Carrick was a nailed starter, we could afford playing him into form. Fred is nothing more than a rotational player when everyone is fit. Rotational players need to be able to slot in immediately and do a job. They need to be ready whether it's a sub appearance or they're handed a start for injury/fatigue reasons.
So no complaints from me regarding the starting lineups in the league. Has his use of subs been good enough? No but then again, look at the options. Fred got 30 mins vs Soton and we barely touched the ball after he came on. Lingard vs Palace has probably been our best sub the last month or so and he did nothing apart from running around and be... Lingard. Our bench options are simply hideous.
Only sub I feel he should have done was bring on Ighalo vs Soton for his hold up play. He did Bruno > McT but Bruno > Ighalo would have been so much better. Bypass their press by hoofing it to Ighalo, with James, Martial, Rash providing support to keep the ball in their half. Yes the Williams injury was unfortunate but we got into our shell and ultimately paid the price with two dropped points.
Where I'd say Ole got it totally wrong was the FAC game. He got caught up in several minds: 1) He speaks highly of the FAC, it's a competition he loves and wants to win. Heart says go with a strong team. 2) CL is more important, more trophy opportunities will come down the road, plus we have 48h less rest than Chelsea. Head says rest as many players as possible. 3) Don't make too many changes or else it will get sluggish like the Norwich game. In the end the approach wasn't one or the other. He made some changes
The last few games haven't been pretty but if we get over the line on Sunday it'll sure be worth it. Ole is sending a quite obvious message that he'd rather run the 11-12 best players into the ground than trust fringe players that simply aren't good enough. In the summer there needs to be serious discussions between him, Woodward and the hierarchy regarding the squad depth. Look at Chelsea's bench last night. Look at the two players they've already signed. Look at the player they're almost certainly going to sign. And then look at our bench. We're 3-4 class players short. We simply have to invest.
Woodward is the man we need to be discussing, not Ole. Ducker's article today states Ole identified the need for nine new players when he took the job, he has four so far and there is a zero chance of the other five coming anytime soon. This will be a slow, slow process under Woodward. Klopp is in his fifth season at Liverpool, I'd expect something similar before Ole has the necessary squad. Ole is improving, the decision makers on top do not help.
Yeah not really. Mourinho was throwing players under the bus in public, creating toxic rivalries between young players, and was a self-obsessed sourpuss at all times. Amongst many other things. And if you did as little as one small thing that he didn't like he'd blacklist you for the rest of his time at the club.
Ole is the complete opposite. You won't hear him say one bad word about his players in public but behind the scenes he's phasing out players that don't deserve to be here. He's not holding grudges against anyone, if you deserve to play you'll play. Matic and him had a few disagreements at the start of the season but they sorted it out like grownups should be doing.
If you look at the 18 man squad from the Everton game, 12 of those players are either already gone or aren't even trusted to play a single minute at home against West Ham. We had 5 subs last night but only used 2. Shipping all the deadwood takes time, you can't sell them all overnight. Pool still have Lallana on their books and he has been surplus to needs for quite a while now.
The difference between now and the previous 6 years is that we're seeing a definite plan. Under Ole there's a method to the madness in the transfer window. Yes Maguire was overpriced and he isn't the best CB in the world but him along with AWB have shored up the defence. We've conceded 18 fewer than last season. Maguire is 90 minutes away from becoming our first ever present outfield player for 25 years.
Bruno doesn't only improve us quality wise but his work rate and character is also great. Under the previous regimes we had back-to-back-to-back windows where we signed Fellaini, Mata and Di Maria. Three completely different players who prefer to occupy more or less the same positions on the pitch. No real plan, no background checks, just random stabs in the dark and hope something works. Gross mismanagement for so many years.
Mourinho's was a complete misfit for Manchester United. If it was up to him we'd be seeing Perisic and Willain on the flanks hoofing it to Lukaku and Feliiani in the box right now. Rashford and Martial would be tearing it up for other teams and be our versions of Salah and KDB. No one outside of the club would have even heard of Greenwood.
Players like Sancho are willing to join because they can see A) a great environment for young players (which was one of the main reasons he joined Dortmund in the first place), and B) a solid team in the making which will start challenging for trophies in due course.
We did hear about it last season and Solskjaer said something along the lines of a clear out which prompted Woodward to come out and talk about getting 7 players in one market was impossible, which in turn made Solskjaer tone down the purge talk.
We give outrageous wages to average / over the hill footballers. That's why we struggle to shift them and it won't be any different this summer.
Hopefully for once we will be aggressive in the transfer market. Need to sign few players and let go of players who are of no use.
Can't beat a good purge.
I didn’t say there weren’t other things people didn’t like or stick up for him. None of that changes the fact people complained him using the team to prove points. McTominay in defence etc. It’s probably a load of shite but deliberately sabotaging your team to prove a point isn’t a particularly good idea whether he would be right to not trust our backups or not.
In fact it is probably going to be considerably more difficult this summer.
Spot on.
Confirmed Ole fanboy here but have been a bit pissed off with his approach in the last couple of games.
1. he should have 100% rotated more vs. Chelsea, the line-up was literally the worst of both worlds. It was changed enough so to disrupt our overall flow and make us play shite, but not changed enough so to give anyone any actual rest (and we ended up with our first team on the pitch by the end anyway. Very indecisive stuff.
2. I think he may have killed Fred's confidence by instantly dropping him when Pogba returned, this was really poor man management which is unusual for Ole. Would it have killed him as well to give Mata some game time? He's past his prime but he's a supremely talented, professional and experienced footballer all the same. We need players like him around.
3. STOP PLAYING IT OUT FROM THE feckING BACK ALL THE TIME. It's like watching someone who is average at FIFA but desperately wants to play like prime Barcelona. The opponent knows what we are going to do every single fecking time. If they're good they'll press the life out of us, if they're average they'll just sit back and wait.
1. he should have 100% rotated more vs. Chelsea, the line-up was literally the worst of both worlds. It was changed enough so to disrupt our overall flow and make us play shite, but not changed enough so to give anyone any actual rest (and we ended up with our first team on the pitch by the end anyway. Very indecisive stuff.
2. I think he may have killed Fred's confidence by instantly dropping him when Pogba returned, this was really poor man management which is unusual for Ole. Would it have killed him as well to give Mata some game time? He's past his prime but he's a supremely talented, professional and experienced footballer all the same. We need players like him around.
3. STOP PLAYING IT OUT FROM THE feckING BACK ALL THE TIME. It's like watching someone who is average at FIFA but desperately wants to play like prime Barcelona. The opponent knows what we are going to do every single fecking time. If they're good they'll press the life out of us, if they're average they'll just sit back and wait.
I totally understand we need to rotate in a season. I just think that every game we had was a cup final.
We lose any of those games and we’d of needed Chelsea and Leicester to drop even more points, West Ham was the one blip for me but I think that over the last almost 20 games we were always going to get a bump.
Chelsea rotated Leicester may of ( I don’t know) and as you look at the table now they seem to be paying the price for dropping points at a crucial time.
anyway it’s done now, we only need to avoid defeat against a team in shocking form at their ground without any fans, it’s really bloody good position to be in
I agree with this, atleast until we get a better cb, it’s a good tactic when you have the players
We don’t and it’s so dangerous, mix it up and teams won’t camp in our half as much
Totally agree.
We'd deffo have taken this position before the lockdown.
The teams he put out got us where we are so as long as we avoid defeat on Sunday it'll have paid off.
It's different though. Mourinho didn't know what is his strong XI with us. People also used Mourinho being stubborn to keep playing players who are under-performed like Lukaku didn't score for 10 games & Matic looked shite. While right now, the manager know what his strong XI is and our XI are performing very well.
That’s a completely different point you’re making. If it’s true he’s overplaying players to make a point it’s the same kind of thing as playing McTominay in defence to make the point that your centre backs are shite. I doubt that it is true though.
We'll get rid of a couple of players but it won't be an exodus. Unless we have replacements lined up then I can't see too many leaving. Perhaps some can be replaced with academy graduates but I don't see this happening across the team.
I also doubt it's true. Mourinho was publicly making ridiculous excuse on the board before he even throwing McTominay in defense so it was strongly evidence that Mourinho did it to make his point to public & the board. However, that article about Ole was mainly just a journalist opinion, I see it as 2 completely different cases.
The main reason why we are overplaying these players right now because every of our remaining game is like final game. These same players have been performing very well and have carried us throughout since the restart, close the massive gaps points and sending us to 3rd spot now. Lampard didn't make a single change against Liverpool because players were performing very well against us, good example that manager likes to play their on form players in important games so it wasn't just Ole.
I'm not going to fully buy on that article about Ole. I think we wouldn't overplay our XI & play the likes of Fred & McTominay to rest players if this is still in mid season.
Purging while extending contracts with some before, good stuff
Fun fact that doesn't matter to anyone other than us Noggies.
Tomorrow Solskjær will become the first ever Norwegian Manager in the Premier League or the Championship to stay in the job for a full season. He's also the only one to last over a year.
The closest before was Egil 'Drillo' Olsen who was brought in to Wimbledon in the 1999-2000 season and was fired 2 rounds before the season ended after 10 months and 23 days in the job. Getting 7 wins, 11 draws, 18 losses. Wimbledon drew and lost the final two matches to then get relegated after 14 years in the top flight.
Wimbledon was bought in 1999 by two Norwegians, who brought in Drillo that bought a bunch of Norwegian players. Ultimately known as the people who ruined the club and why it got moved and turned into MK Dons instead.
Another reason why us Noggies feel extra pride now as Solskjær is (at least so far) somewhat restoring our reputation over here.
Tomorrow Solskjær will become the first ever Norwegian Manager in the Premier League or the Championship to stay in the job for a full season. He's also the only one to last over a year.
The closest before was Egil 'Drillo' Olsen who was brought in to Wimbledon in the 1999-2000 season and was fired 2 rounds before the season ended after 10 months and 23 days in the job. Getting 7 wins, 11 draws, 18 losses. Wimbledon drew and lost the final two matches to then get relegated after 14 years in the top flight.
Wimbledon was bought in 1999 by two Norwegians, who brought in Drillo that bought a bunch of Norwegian players. Ultimately known as the people who ruined the club and why it got moved and turned into MK Dons instead.
Another reason why us Noggies feel extra pride now as Solskjær is (at least so far) somewhat restoring our reputation over here.
Pretty solid.
I'd like to have your opinion regarding Ole's tactic. I'm a big Ole in but I don't really like his recent system.
It seems to work well with teams happy to sit deep as Pogba and Matic has more space and time to pick a pass. Bruno does what Bruno does. All good.
But imo once we face a team that can high press well enough then:
1. Bruno became too isolated from Pogba and Matic
2. Pogba's lack of concentration and awareness exposed and exploited
3. Matic is too slow and old to handle all the defensive works and he's not really pressing bulletproof either
Why doesn't he push Pogba forward to help Bruno ? That way if he has a brainfart it wouldn't hurt as much. And as he and Bruno could do more damage we may force the opposition back to their half to defend. Instead of them not worrying much about our attack and come to our own half to press.
3rd place in his first full season, while bringing through and putting faith in youth. Not bad.
I fecking love the man.
Saw a man
Just yesterday
Said he’d seen the Norwegian Fergie
So I asked
Who is he
He’s fecking class and his name is Ole
Saw a man
Just yesterday
Said he’d seen the Norwegian Fergie
So I asked
Who is he
He’s fecking class and his name is Ole
Haters can take a break for a couple of weeks.
Give this man some fecking credit!
Thank you Ole, great job this year. Still you'll get people who'll give no credit and want a new toy.
I make no secret of the fact I adore Ole and I'm delighted he's turned our season around. All the people calling him a PE teacher, the Poch lovers, the pundits. People were expecting him to turn Andreas Pereira into Andres Iniesta. We don't have the depth for that. However, somehow he kept us alive until we added some real quality by buying Bruno Fernandes. After that we've seen a little glimpse of the kind of team he wants us to be.
I hope we go and win the Europa League now, and Ole shows all the doubters that he's a manager who can bring silverware to Man Utd.
I hope we go and win the Europa League now, and Ole shows all the doubters that he's a manager who can bring silverware to Man Utd.
Think he navigated the match really well and his subs were effective at the right time.
Spoke of us being tired and it being obvious, which is a different tune from him, but he can't of course go blasting that in the media until now.
He needs serious backing in the summer. Time for them to prove they're trying to close the gap and not just rest satisfied with a CL qualification.
Spoke of us being tired and it being obvious, which is a different tune from him, but he can't of course go blasting that in the media until now.
He needs serious backing in the summer. Time for them to prove they're trying to close the gap and not just rest satisfied with a CL qualification.
Genuine statement.
can we ban anyone who wanted him sacked?The IQ of this board would go up and we would have a great set of posters posting.
Everyone else would have to admit they know nothing about football and I could tutor them.
can we ban anyone who wanted him sacked?The IQ of this board would go up and we would have a great set of posters posting.
Everyone else would have to admit they know nothing about football and I could tutor them.
This is what I expected of him for now. To get us into CL.
No he needs to get it on and win the EL and get ready for next season to challenge for trophies next season.
No he needs to get it on and win the EL and get ready for next season to challenge for trophies next season.
Basic requirement was top 4 and he has achieved it ( doesnt matter quality of the league was bad or not). Not that I am happy with his management but he has earned more time with today's result.
Congrats Ole.
Congrats Ole.
Ole is boss.
And to all his haters, Ole is the boss too.
So give it a rest and take the rest of the summer off.
And to all his haters, Ole is the boss too.
So give it a rest and take the rest of the summer off.
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