Doing pretty much everything right. He deserves a trophy very soon. Preferably the PL trophy.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion
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I know we aren't allowed to say a bad word about Ole when we win but I still wish we had more clue what to do with the ball when teams sit deep. Bit more attacking patterns would be nice
I might ask a mod to change my username to ‘attacking patterns’.
Halfway through a season which started terribly and on course for 80 points. Definitely making progress.
Agree we do not break down teams as a unit very well, but build on individual moments.
Still I think we have got better at breaking teams down recently when we need too.
Thus I think we are working on it and Covid could be a reason why maybe we did not have a pre season for it.
Winning from a losing position always is fun 
I'm sure ole loved that in the CL final, hence why his team does it in the league away from home so often
I'm sure ole loved that in the CL final, hence why his team does it in the league away from home so often
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Going greyer by the day but we’re grinding out the 3 points and keep on ploughing through.
Crazy our away record!
Crazy our away record!
The mentality change Ole has overseen is huge. We should not keep conceeding first. However, our ability to recover over and over is astonishing. I think back to how it was under Moyes and Van Gaal. So often in those days we would go behind and give up. The fact we all feel like even if we go behind we will respond is one of the biggest plusses in Ole's column.
We are on top having our forwards fireing on two cylinders all season. Imagine what we can achieve if we kick in to rhythm we saw post lock down! We all see it mate! But all we can do is celebrate and wait
If Ole can now convince Pogba to stay, we are in for a treat next few seasons. Very few teams have as much creativity as Pogba + Fernandes in their team.
During his post match interview when he played down pogba's performance I was perplexed. Having dwelled on it though I've realised its intentional.
Its Fergie mark 2 of man managing. Remember when Ronaldo played a blinder for us and Fergie would brush it off and focus on other aspects?
Maybe I am wrong but I am definitely liking what I am seeing from Ole in regards to man management. Tactically I'm still on the fence but something is happening at the club.
Its Fergie mark 2 of man managing. Remember when Ronaldo played a blinder for us and Fergie would brush it off and focus on other aspects?
Maybe I am wrong but I am definitely liking what I am seeing from Ole in regards to man management. Tactically I'm still on the fence but something is happening at the club.
I thought he was spot on in his post match. He mentioned about bad decision making and how we don't do the offside trap and how we tried too many Hollywood passes. He also mentioned how he felt that Cavani should have got the ball more and didn't get it because of bad decision making.
I wish he would still get the game management better and bring on fresher legs a bit earlier. That said he couldn't be blamed for Rashford making stupid decisions.
I wish he would still get the game management better and bring on fresher legs a bit earlier. That said he couldn't be blamed for Rashford making stupid decisions.
Yeah we can win it. City attackers are not in the best form either. I guess we will see who starts destroying teams first?Although they concede less and grind out more wins.
The way he handled Pogba situation is brilliant. He gives nothing to the press and sorts everything internally.
Of course you're, as long as it's right it's ok I think.
For me I'd like Ole to sign a proper RW. GW was pretty anonymous last match and he's currently our best RW. You basically can't have much "attacking patterns" attacking only through the middle and the left side. 1/3 of the possible "patterns" is missing you know.
He’s on a roll at the moment!
This and Pogba looks very happy and performing to the best. Whatever it is (whether its a promise that he can leave if he keeps working or just playing him and telling him to enjoy).
Also his use of CBs and midfield has been great.
I think the one thing we all (well most) agree on is maybe some of the subs when winning and looking tired could come earlier (at least the one to change something especially when you have a player like Martial last game, or Rashford the game before).
Most encouraging for me is how much our press has improved since just last year. Last season it felt like the players just thought pressing meant chasing the ball everywhere like headless chickens, and we were easily bypassed. Now it's miles more cohesive and I believe it's one of the main factors in our huge improvement against lesser sides. We still struggle from positional imbalance (left side vs. right) and too many players wanting the ball at their feet, but because we can continuously win the ball back after failing in attack, it basically gives us more bullets in the chamber than the other team with how many attacking phases we try.
Just tonight it felt like Fulham hardly had a kick after their goal, and you knew we would eventually score. That speaks to great coaching from Ole and his staff.
I still would like to see him encourage more movement in the final third from non-strikers. It might be intentional with not wanting to get caught on the counter, but most of our issues with creating against low-blocks stem from a general stagnation in movement when in the final third. And no, I'm not just talking about making runs into goal. To beat low blocks you have to make the defenders uncomfortable and unsure about who is tracking who. Pep's sides are always masters at this, as just about everyone bar the CB's in his sides are constantly darting around after passing, pulling defenders in multiple ways opening up spaces and gaps in the backline.
Just tonight it felt like Fulham hardly had a kick after their goal, and you knew we would eventually score. That speaks to great coaching from Ole and his staff.
I still would like to see him encourage more movement in the final third from non-strikers. It might be intentional with not wanting to get caught on the counter, but most of our issues with creating against low-blocks stem from a general stagnation in movement when in the final third. And no, I'm not just talking about making runs into goal. To beat low blocks you have to make the defenders uncomfortable and unsure about who is tracking who. Pep's sides are always masters at this, as just about everyone bar the CB's in his sides are constantly darting around after passing, pulling defenders in multiple ways opening up spaces and gaps in the backline.
Just a question for those individual moments. Liverpool doesn’t score enough right now, and are 4th, even if they win their game, they are 3rd, is that because the individual brillance of Salah, Mane and Firmino is no longer working? Or is that that Klopp is not good enough to make other players of his team score goals?
There is progression there and he is shaping the squad nicely to which he deserves a lot of credit for. I think Henderson has made DDG step up his levels again after no real competition for his place for a number of years. Likewise Shaw and Telles. The Pogba situation has been handled very well too. Greenwood is the only player who has gone backwards this season.
I did think his time might be up after the Spurs game after backing him up to that point. There was a part of me that wondered if there had been a proper break between seasons would we have started the league a little better. Great effort by all involved to turn that around and even has us discussing a title challenge.
I did think his time might be up after the Spurs game after backing him up to that point. There was a part of me that wondered if there had been a proper break between seasons would we have started the league a little better. Great effort by all involved to turn that around and even has us discussing a title challenge.
The first half against Fulham illustrated our weakness or main problem.
1. Very often both our midfielders go very deep in our build up and are to much “sitting” in our possession play. One of them have to cover the room between them and Bruno better and go on small runs forward.
It was adjusted a bit in the second half. The solution is to play McT or Pogba a little bit higher on the pitch.
2. Martial, Greenwood and James are very often to static when they play on the wing. They very seldom make themselves available more inward on the pitch like Rashford.
My conclusion is we don’t have enough presence on the pitch in the centre between Fred/Pogba/McT and Bruno or perhaps the striker. The alternatives are very few; our build up or possession play gets to one-dimensional and depends very much on our backs.
1. Very often both our midfielders go very deep in our build up and are to much “sitting” in our possession play. One of them have to cover the room between them and Bruno better and go on small runs forward.
It was adjusted a bit in the second half. The solution is to play McT or Pogba a little bit higher on the pitch.
2. Martial, Greenwood and James are very often to static when they play on the wing. They very seldom make themselves available more inward on the pitch like Rashford.
My conclusion is we don’t have enough presence on the pitch in the centre between Fred/Pogba/McT and Bruno or perhaps the striker. The alternatives are very few; our build up or possession play gets to one-dimensional and depends very much on our backs.
I think what Ole has done brilliantly this season is manage the squad. Last season he almost showed a bit of naivety in the sense of picking Pogba and Matic in midfield for games they weren't suited for. But for example, this season they played against Burnley and it was the perfect game for those two.
He's handling the squad really well, and if he can manage to get the attack firing on all cylinders again then surely we will be there or there abouts come the end of the season. Obviously avoiding injuries will be key, and that's out of Ole's hands. But I think he's managed the minutes of our key players really well so that we haven't had many injuries at all this season.
He's handling the squad really well, and if he can manage to get the attack firing on all cylinders again then surely we will be there or there abouts come the end of the season. Obviously avoiding injuries will be key, and that's out of Ole's hands. But I think he's managed the minutes of our key players really well so that we haven't had many injuries at all this season.
I think we do work on it and we can see patterns of play on the pitch. However; our execution is crap.
We got the ball wide, into pogba who whipped in balls where 2 were offside. The cavani chance all similar sorts of play.
It also frustrates me how often on the right AWB runs down a blind alley and loses the ball, I mean like the understanding between him and Greenwood was non existent.
AWB really struggles when we play attacking.
Delighted with how he’s turned things around after an awful start to the season. Never thought we’d be in this position after the first couple of months. Huge credit to him.
I'm amazed at our consistency to grind out results. I'll be honest, I don't think we're playing that well but Ole has massively improved our ability to win and its astonishing. Lets beat Liverpool and finally get one over a top 6 team this season. Would do wonders for our belief.
Agreed. If we could just click going forward for 7 games and blow teams away.
With the amount of football been played, I do not expect free flowing football every week.
I just want a couple games where at 75 minutes I am comfortable, at the moment the stress every game gives me is unreal.
The big difference is MMM now compared to post lockdown last season.
All three were immense post lockdown and was scoring for fun it seemed, while this season Mason and Martial have been comparatively dire and Rashford has not been as good either.
If just one or two of those can find that same form i think we are going to get a few more comfortable wins and the occasional match where we blow the other team away instead of these nervy one goal wins
Yup. If he can get Martial, Greenwood and Rashford playing good again (not great just good)... I don't see why we can't win the league. We need those three to find the form of last summer.
I know, we need them to fire sooner rather than later, I want to win a few games by 75th minute so we can relax as fans.
@Di Maria's angel I am just hoping they start firing. I do believe there will come a point where they just click.
Longest unbeaten streak in the top 5 major leagues as well at 13.
Ole's consistent Reds
Longest unbeaten streak in the top 5 major leagues as well at 13.
Ole's consistent Reds
But how do we know it's not just a false dawn?
top of the league baby!
We need Rashford/Martial/Greenwood to re-attain their form from last season if we want to have any chances of winning the league (still find it crazy to think we're in contention this season). Right now we're scraping out wins, but I don't think long term this is sustainable. We beat Aston Villa, Burnley and now Fulham by one goal and in all those games towards the end we came under a lot of pressure, which could have easily resulted in drawing all those matches.
In a way, though, it is nice to think that we still have a couple of gears to show.
In a way, though, it is nice to think that we still have a couple of gears to show.
We haven't lost an away game in over a year, how long is sustainable for you?
Doesn't that show resilience in the team?
Villa are a good team, we played well that game
Fulham only really pressured us in the last 5 mins, when you are winning a game, you expect that from teams.Being able to handle the pressure is just as good as scoring 3/4 goals.
Since the 1st February 2020 we've won 21 games, drawn 9 and lost 3. That's a win percentage of 64% and a point per game of 2.2.
Surely what Ole has shown is that we can go on long runs of form. In an ideal world, Martial, Rashford and Greenwood would be banging in the goals every week but unfortunately apart from Rashford our other forwards are struggling. But now we have quality in the squad to cover up for when this happens and still continue to win.
We’re not scraping wins at all. Besides a couple of nervy moments here and there, which all teams have, we’ve generally been in control of most of our fixtures.
Our attack hasn’t been great lately due to poor form from our forwards, but the fact we’re consistently grinding out wins is a sign of having a tough mentality. It’s leaps and bounds on where we were 2 or 3 years ago where heads would drop at the first sign of trouble. These are all games we would drop points in not so long ago, even when our key players were in form.
Our attack hasn’t been great lately due to poor form from our forwards, but the fact we’re consistently grinding out wins is a sign of having a tough mentality. It’s leaps and bounds on where we were 2 or 3 years ago where heads would drop at the first sign of trouble. These are all games we would drop points in not so long ago, even when our key players were in form.
Delicious.
Like I said earlier: he does everything right apart from winning trophies. Yes, that's "the big one" for anyone managing United, but surely it's only a matter of time. He really deserves it for his work up until now.
This vid provides an insight into the attacking style of Solskjaer from his days managing Molde. And when Solskjaer talks about wanting to play a high line and expecting his fullbacks to attack, it's very easy to see why if you see the style/system he favours and successfully implemented at Molde from watching this vid.
Seconded!
I so love Ole and that he's one of our own making good at the club. I like his style and think the media are always just looking to pick at us to try to criticize when there's nothing there to be critical of... That said I do have one criticism and I'm hopeful he's slowly going to get this right as well. I can't see his insistence on including Martial so often. It's not just his scoring form, he can't hold up the ball thus can't plan as a target man up top, he can't make more than a 5 foot pass, has no vision. I've grown so overwhelmingly disappointed with him that when I watch him play, I begin counting his turnovers (often easily in double digits) instead of enjoying the game. He's such an interruption to how we play and what we actually need is #7 ALWAYS up top. Cavani is THE solution and makes us truly a lethal side with his movement, his finishing and his unselfishness. Cavani works his brains out for us every second and think he should play every second he's able. I'm hopeful we can acquire a truly top winger to go with Rashford and Cavani so we can play the 433 that Ole seems to want to play. I'd prefer that formation for us as well but have been excited lately to see the diamond in the midfield because that allows us to get our actual best players on the field as we have solid midfielders at this moment with Donny not even getting a real run of games and I rate him so highly. Having Fred, McTom, Pog and Bruno in the lineup is so solid in the midfield so I'm currently willing to concede the width and pace of a proper 433 for the quality of our 442.
I've seen enough of Martial's crap and I'm hoping Ole will fade him to the background as this season progresses but there are NO signs of that.
I've seen enough of Martial's crap and I'm hoping Ole will fade him to the background as this season progresses but there are NO signs of that.
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