Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

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The idea of playing 4-3-3 is all to get Pogba and Bruno in the team together. But we clearly don't have a decent number 6 and both are poor in ball retention and defensively. It doesn't work and never will with what we have.
But it does work when we play Matic as the 6? At least it did against Newcastle. Obviously it doesn't work when you play McT there because 1) he's terrible & 2) he's not got a defensive bone in his body.
 
Meh, after a last minute winner from Ronaldo at the Stretford end. Viva oleball.
 
Because opponents run through us like a dodgy curry through yer belly. The double pivot gives us a more secure platform.
But it does work when we play Matic as the 6? At least it did against Newcastle. Obviously it doesn't work when you play McT there because 1) he's terrible & 2) he's not got a defensive bone in his body.
 
If the game is tied or my team is behind and there's 30-40 minutes left to play, then there's no better manager than Ole these days.
 
He’s the luckiest manager in the world. Out played at home again and we scrape a win (which is a wonderful feeling) but it could have easily been 0-3 at HT. look at the chances we conceded compared to the scraps we created - we are very easy to play against.
We aren’t winning anything under him but it’s his last season at the club so enjoy moments like tonight.
 
But it does work when we play Matic as the 6? At least it did against Newcastle. Obviously it doesn't work when you play McT there because 1) he's terrible & 2) he's not got a defensive bone in his body.
I wouldn't call that a 4-3-3. Pogba played alongside Matic. Also its Newcastle at home which is about as easy as it gets.
 
But it does work when we play Matic as the 6? At least it did against Newcastle. Obviously it doesn't work when you play McT there because 1) he's terrible & 2) he's not got a defensive bone in his body.

Matic is seemingly unable to play a lot of high intensity games in succession, so that doesn't really help us.
 
Matic is seemingly unable to play a lot of high intensity games in succession, so that doesn't really help us.
He last played against West Ham though, wouldn't exactly say that was in succession. Could absolutely have played today.
 
Ole needs a top notch assistant. He really shouldn't be stubborn about that. Improve the back room staff with the very best we can get. Managers will never 100% know how to do everything. He needs to reinforce the areas where he's not the strongest imho.

Agreed, this would be very interesting. Fergie did always did that, of course. Another one is Guus Hiddink who used to love to do that to throughout his career, at PSV Eindhoven they made the CL semi's in 2006, having a great assistant in Fred Rutten who's a great coach when it comes to tactics and training sessions, but lacks authority and charisma to be a proper manager at the top level.
 
Dire first half, made adjustments and we looked proper!

When Cavani gets going and match fit, when Sancho and Rashford gets going we will be a really good side.

Season has just started, we've done okay and will get better. People need to calm down. Ole ain't going nowhere this season and we all know it
 
In football you get what you deserve. And today we didn't deserve anything. Probably the worst performance of the season except for the atmosphere and intensity. The quality on the ball was shocking. Simple things in football not done right. Tactics ridiculous. Dalot was getting done again and again and the manager sits there in the stands like he's on holiday. Subs again poor. Lucky but poor. We will eventually get a string of poor results probably starting at the weekend or after the international break but it's what the performances deserve. Talk about papering over the cracks.
 
Subs 100% spot on, and change of tactic.
Dalot was horrible, and Pogba was almost at the same level.
7 shots on target from both teams.

95th min winner, what a feeling <3
 
Very poor performance. We need to step up, but you never feel we will reach the next level with Ole.

Great feeling if you ignore the bigger picture with a late winner.
 
He last played against West Ham though, wouldn't exactly say that was in succession. Could absolutely have played today.

Matic didn't start against West Ham. He's being strategically introduced by Ole to maximise what we can get out of him.

Nobody is expect Matic to start the next 30 United games and that is a major problem, even for our existing set up. We can't go to a 4-3-3 and expect Matic to play at the base as our default. He just doesn't have the legs for it.
 
With the amount of quality players he's got we'll win plenty of games in spite of the lack of coaching quality, but it's a blueprint for top 4 and nothing more, the performance tonight wasn't any different to the one against Aston villa, just tonight we got a worldie goal and then arguably the greatest goal scorer ever bailed us out.
 
In football you get what you deserve. And today we didn't deserve anything. Probably the worst performance of the season except for the atmosphere and intensity. The quality on the ball was shocking. Simple things in football not done right. Tactics ridiculous. Dalot was getting done again and again and the manager sits there in the stands like he's on holiday. Subs again poor. Lucky but poor. We will eventually get a string of poor results probably starting at the weekend or after the international break but it's what the performances deserve. Talk about papering over the cracks.
That first line is a nice bit of accidental Brent
 
Matic didn't start against West Ham. He's being strategically introduced by Ole to maximise what we can get out of him.

Nobody is expect Matic to start the next 30 United games and that is a major problem, even for our existing set up. We can't go to a 4-3-3 and expect Matic to play at the base as our default. He just doesn't have the legs for it.
Yes, he did?
 
Ole completely honest in the post match interview with Danish TV. "No we cannot keep playing like this and expect to win. We need to be much less open down the mid"
 
Ole completely honest in the post match interview with Danish TV. "No we cannot keep playing like this and expect to win. We need to be much less open down the mid"
"We need to be much less open down the mid" but keeps playing McT because pashun.
 
Yes, he did?

Oh you mean the Cup game? Sorry I'd actually forgotten that happened. League Cup very forgettable. I thought you were talking about the one that mattered in the Premier League.
 
Can someone explain to me what was the idea of having McT as the sole midfielder basically and having Pogba wander about ? I refuse to believe a player can do what Pogba did positionally speaking without the manager's blessing.
It's impossible.
 
Subs 100% spot on, and change of tactic.
Dalot was horrible, and Pogba was almost at the same level.
7 shots on target from both teams.

95th min winner, what a feeling <3
Did you watch the game though? If so, you can’t be using that as a stat to show parity when ours were long range and little threat and theirs were all god like De Gea saves. Plus they missed a load when through on goal.

Ronnie’s goal brought a tear to the eye.
 
That celebration by him at the end confirmed what we already knew...

Ole loves a late winner!
 
Oh you mean the Cup game? Sorry I'd actually forgotten that happened. League Cup very forgettable. I thought you were talking about the one that mattered in the Premier League.
No, the league cup game but that was literally a week ago so I'd expect Matic to still be capable of a game after 6 days rest. If he's too tired to even play once a week then he has to be being managed poorly by Ole. Are we tiring him out with too much training? Or maybe Ole really thinks McTominay is the better player? The latter would be insanity.
 
Ole didnt have any idea or plan how to beat Villareal other that hope Pogba or Ronaldo might come up with something which happened. Villareal looked more dangerous and more compact than us,its just adds to a long list of games under Ole where we were very bad but won. Nothing new.
 
Thanks for the 3 points.

Now sack him. We need to be ruthless, like he is with Donny. Nothing personal, but someone boot him out
 
No, the league cup game but that was literally a week ago so I'd expect Matic to still be capable of a game after 6 days rest. If he's too tired to even play once a week then he has to be being managed poorly by Ole. Are we tiring him out with too much training? Or maybe Ole really thinks McTominay is the better player? The latter would be insanity.

Ole clearly doesn't think Fred and McTominay are better than Matic. That's why he relied on Matic after project restart. However, I think he learned from that experience that Matic can only be played so much until he's run into the ground. Its been like that since his first season with us under Mourinho: Started really well and gradually got worn down. I think if Ole thought he could play Matic week in week out he would. However, he probably feels that Matic just doesn't have that in the tank. So he's managing his minutes.

United would not be consistently linked with #6s across Europe unless the club scouts were actively hunting one. Ole knows the problem. He just also knows Matic can't start 40-50 games a season.
 
Hopefully getting away with that can be a catalyst for this team to increase the intensity and build some momentum
Won't. We'll have some good moments but disappointing ones as well, like Young Boys and Villa (and tonight, we were just very lucky), so we'll be far away from teams challenging for title and Champions League. Ole seems to somehow win every time there's a pressure so won't be sacked before our chances of any kind of success are over. Sad reality.
 
Ole clearly doesn't think Fred and McTominay are better than Matic. That's why he relied on Matic after project restart. However, I think he learned from that experience that Matic can only be played so much until he's run into the ground. Its been like that since his first season with us under Mourinho: Started really well and gradually got worn down. I think if Ole thought he could play Matic week in week out he would. However, he probably feels that Matic just doesn't have that in the tank. So he's managing his minutes.

United would not be consistently linked with #6s across Europe unless the club scouts were actively hunting one. Ole knows the problem. He just also knows Matic can't start 40-50 games a season.
It could also just be the media making links that people will buy because every man and their dog can see we need a midfielder. I'm not giving Ole that excuse because he had all summer to get a midfielder in but instead he wasted budget on keeping Mata, Lingard, Donny (if he's not going to use him) & even Sancho as things stand.
 
Yes he did.

Yes, yes, I know the league cup game. Sorry it meant so little to me I forgot. Great night for Mark Noble though. :rolleyes:

When it comes to Matic I'm thinking can he start Premier League, Champions League, Premier League consistently throughout a season. I wish he could. However, his dips in form every year since 2017-18 have coincided with being overplayed. I don't think his body is up to it anymore. I'd be shocked if Ole was seeing something massively different in training, given how Pogba and Matic was his favoured midfield.
 
I see “individual brilliance” has become the new “no patterns of play”

thought the team selection was fine
thought the subs were good
we won

Cheers.
 
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