Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

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If this thread is solely about analysing Ole's actual performance as a manager this season then I think all you can say really is he has been terrible - and I have always defended him.

You want a manager to impose a style and a clear set of tactics. Failed so far on that front.

You want a manager to get the players working out of their skin, shedding blood, sweat and tears for the club. I don't think you can say these players don't care or don't try, but they certainly lack the intensity of City or Liverpool.

You want a manager who makes big calls at big moments. Definitely fails on that front, seems to just want to constantly kick the can down the line. What to do about Henderson/DDG? What to do about Pogba? What to do about Lingard? Van de Beek? Even his subs take him forever to make.

I have always said Ole earnt the right to have a crack, once he had the players. Now he has the players, he HAS to deliver. I only see this ending one way, unfortunately, because not only have results been poor, we have looked shockingly ragged at times
 
soapythecat said:
I don’t think it is. OT will be chanting his name on Wednesday night. He has a lot of support. Why do you think Neville doesn’t go in on him - he plays to the numbers.
Hiring an ex players was probably Ed’s biggest win when he’s gambled. Have the fans turning on each other before questioning the club.
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I remember Moyes getting a huge ovation at OT when we were shit and he was a couple of weeks away from the sack. 90% match going fans will always support the manager and team, it doesn't really count for anything in a results business. Of course no one in the stadium is going to boo or abuse Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, it doesn't mean they want him as manager.
 
Ixion said:
I remember Moyes getting a huge ovation at OT when we were shit and he was a couple of weeks away from the sack. 90% match going fans will always support the manager and team, it doesn't really count for anything in a results business. Of course no one in the stadium is going to boo or abuse Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, it doesn't mean they want him as manager.
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Exactly.
 
Doesn’t matter what the club say. They can’t and won’t be seen to be uncertain in public. Any hint of unhappiness would be jumped on by everyone and we’d get pelted for public criticism. Not sure if there’s possible rules or etiquette to follow as well due to Utd‘s NYSE status as well. Berkshire Hathaway can’t just come out and announce “Yeah, Kevin from Accounting fecked up the Q3 figures and our dividend yield figures are completely wrong. We’re reviewing his position“
 
UnitedSofa said:
That’s been taken out of context & Ole is sharing the same sentiment that most on here would use as an excuse to bat him with:


"I’ve been here for two and a half of those years and coming in as I’ve said so many times I felt a big rebuild had to be made," Solskjaer said.

"In the league position you see if there’s any progress for me, that’s always the bread and butter of the season that you see how capable you are of coping of ups and downs any cup competition can give you a trophy but sometimes it’s more of an ego thing from other managers and clubs to finally win something.

"But we need to see progress and if we perform well enough the trophies will end up at the club again. It’s not like a trophy will say that we’re back, no”

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...-trophies-mourinho-van-gaal-b1818512.html?amp

He’s saying that if you win a trophy it does not hide the fact that there are still issues within the club, which is right, if we won the EL, it would just act as an ego boost to hide the fact we’re still shite.

He’s 100% right, admit it, you’d be happy with a trophy but we’re still shite, it counts for nothing unless you actually play well as a team. Cup’s are just one off games, you could get lucky all the way through and win it. If it was the Prem ist’s a different story, cup competitions not so much and can hide a lot of the problems within the club.
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We weren’t unlucky when we lost to Sevilla, and we certainly weren’t against Leicester & Villareal last year. We were out managed.

Bobcat said:
Since its impossible to clone players, different teams have to make do with different players. Thats just the way it is. Of course there are different opinions about a players capabilities. Lukaku for example is seen as one of the best strikers in the world and a complete donkey by others

Of course you can come up with a thousand examples of players who are looking great at one club and then completely lost at another, but generally speaking, a players talent is pretty constant, despite differing circumstances. Another example is club vs International, where largely the "key players" for an international team are also the biggest stars in their respective clubs.

Chelsea under Lampard were languishing in 9th when he was sacked, looking completely hopeless despite the wealth of talent at their disposal, and they won the fecking CL the same year.

I picked that team to illustrate we have a good spine in place to build on. Do you prefer me making some hypothetical muppet line up of what i think our hypothetical future manager would want to get?

This "failed/succeded" dichotomy you keep pushing is nonsensical, because the world is not that black and white. Yeah, if Ole gets the sack now, hes "failed" in that sense, but the squad is in much better shape now than it was 3 years ago
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Surprisingly I agree with lots of this post but you fall at the final hurdle.

You don’t spend £400mil just to have a better squad, we could have added a decent £20mil player & claimed the same thing. OgS is failing, there’s no shame there - far better managers have.
 
Amid all this still backing him talk wonder if they would feel the same IF the money making machines ever decide to give the yankee leech scumbags an ultimatum about his management of this club
 
Ixion said:
I remember Moyes getting a huge ovation at OT when we were shit and he was a couple of weeks away from the sack. 90% match going fans will always support the manager and team, it doesn't really count for anything in a results business. Of course no one in the stadium is going to boo or abuse Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, it doesn't mean they want him as manager.
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Unfortunately this is a problem and not a good thing. It has bought the previous managers more time than they deserved.
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
We weren’t unlucky when we lost to Sevilla, and we certainly weren’t against Leicester & Villareal last year. We were out managed.


Surprisingly I agree with lots of this post but you fall at the final hurdle.

You don’t spend £400mil just to have a better squad, we could have added a decent £20mil player & claimed the same thing. OgS is failing, there’s no shame there - far better managers have.
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Thats quite reductive though. The point of this whole "rebuild" buisness was having a squad that is capable of winning the biggest trophies, and this one certainly is. Adding Tom Heaton will make your squad "better", but it wont increase your chances at winning the league.

In fact, this whole rebuild thing has been ongoing since the day Fergie retired, and (i am aware this is very subjective) this summer was the first time since then i felt we had a squad that could compete with the very best. Loads of talent, a good mix of hungry youngsters and experienced winners and besides a few holes (CM), good cover an all positions

Moyes failed in that regard because he and Woody dragged their feet all summer and added two players we did not need, and all the momentum we had gained from winning the league was lost. In hindsight i think we all can agree that Moyes had a ridiculously difficult job handed to him, but he failed non the less. If he had managed a top 4 finish while adding players we needed at the time, i think most fans would have accepted that

LvG failed because he completely purged the squad of some decent talent, whilst simultaneously buying a lot of shite, most of which also were a bad fit for his very strict philosophy. He spent a lot of money taking the squad sideways instead of forward

Jose failed because he spent 70 million on two subpar CB's and then had a meltdown when he didn't get a third one. He also failed because the whole Sanchez deal turned out to be incredibly damaging to the club. I know the fans at the time were exctatic to have him, but we are allowed to be muppets about big name signings, managers are not, and Sanchez imo turned out to be the worst transfer the club has done in modern times

Has Ole failed? In terms of trophies? Definitely, but imo regarding the whole rebuild buisness i think hes the first manager since Fergie who's actually done a decent job here. Besides VdB, all of his signins range from great to decent imo, and besides Cavani and Ronaldo, all of them are fairly young as well, which means its quite a few years until they need replacing

Also, i think he deserves some credit for his handling of Greenwood who has gotten plenty of chances, but has also been benched when it was called for. For example after that whole debacle with him and Foden on Iceland, he was in the dog house for a LONG time. Now Greenwood is clearly an exceptional talent, and its hard to say how much credit goes to a manager for nurturing a young player, but based on this season its looking very good indeeed and Ole deserves some praise for that. Worst case scenario, he might have gone the way or Morrison. Honorable mentions to Fred and Shaw, who went from jokes to regulars under Ole, but i would not say he did much for them in terms of development, more a confidence boost

When Ole first took over, no one were talking about a league challenge, where as ahead of this season it seemed like 99% of fans on here saw that as a minimum requirement. That means the bar has been raised quite a bit. You could argue thats given considering hes spent north of 400 million, but actually his net spend at 325 million is less than what Jose spent at 341

Not saying its been perfect either. Buying VdB just to have him sit on his arse is a complete failure and since we added two attackers this window we really should have let someone go since we are more than stacked with attacking players right now. Not adding a midfielder is also likely to cost him his job.

All in all though, the squad is a hell of a lot stronger now than the one he inherited and in that sense i think hes succeed , because whoever comes in next is going to have a much better squad to work with and hopefully its just a few personal touches and some good coaching away from really becoming a force.

Finally i want to say that he should probably be sacked this season, based on the complete shitshow we have displayed on the pitch, as it seems Ole is not able to turn us into a cohesive unit. That does not mean we cant appriciate the job hes done in crafting a good squad
 
They say Jose was too proud to admit when he was at fault, Yea yea right!! Ole admits by holding his hands up when it's his fault. I don't like Jose one fecking bit but i can't stand Ole making daft decision that it's clear as daylight and they come up lookng all clueless infront of the cameras to say it was his fault.
 
The whole rebuild argument is setting such a low bar to judge a manager. Who on this forum couldn't come up with a list containing Sancho, Ronaldo, Varane, Maguire, and Cavani to hand to the sporting director after being given hundreds of millions in budget? Its just not impressive in itself. Impressive is being able to buy players and actually build a functioning team with them, and in our case given the high budget available, compete for trophies.
 
In his latest post match presser he said "Maybe we need more legs". Maybe this maybe that. He is 3 years on the job and still can't work out a team or how to play. The players look lost and that is not suprising if the manager is not providing direction.

Utd will persist with Ole but I don't know if he will "get it" before the supporters mutiny. I want Ole to do well but he just sticks to the same formation, same players and the same late subs. I have zero confidence in his coaching team. Ole will probably keep his job until summer but this season is going to be a cringefest. Would not be suprised if Ronaldo requests a transfer in January.
 
I've always wanted Ole to stay but something has gone wrong in the last 6 month. Then the stuff he's saying after the Leicester game, it's the kind of thing you'd expect after 3 months not 3 years.

We've seen it with lots of other managers including Mourinho and LvG. In trying to find a solution they twist themselves inside out. They no longer have a best XI, constantly changing, it becomes more hope than planning.

I think it's time.
 
RedStarUnited said:
Unfortunately this is a problem and not a good thing. It has bought the previous managers more time than they deserved.
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Yes, but it makes us better supporters, doesn’t it? I mean, it’s to the detriment of the club we support and want to do well, but we’re better!
 
Just read the Whitwell article in TA. How can it be that they won’t change the manager because Woodward is leaving in a few months and it would be hard for his successor? Woodward could do it now, and if it’s too hard for Arnold then he’s obviously not good enough. Shouldn’t Murtough be leading on this anyway? You’d think there’d be these kind of contingencies in place.
 
Rocksy said:
Just read the Whitwell article in TA. How can it be that they won’t change the manager because Woodward is leaving in a few months and it would be hard for his successor? Woodward could do it now, and if it’s too hard for Arnold then he’s obviously not good enough. Shouldn’t Murtough be leading on this anyway? You’d think there’d be these kind of contingencies in place.
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It makes sense to me and I called it earlier. Why would Woodward get his hands dirty now when he's leaving in a few months? Soon it won't be his problem and tbh, if I was in his position, I'd do the same.
 
Such a crap stance taken by the club. Results must improve or else...

We have had three years to evaluate him. Him, his ability to recruit players, manage them, build staff and the performance. Now, either you say - "naah, he's alright - we see progress even if its slow and therefore back him" - which is what I thought we were doing when we gave extensions to the immediate staff. Or you say -" nope, not working. No point giving MORE time when its already been three years".

You cant take the middle road in everything and expect things to improve. What if there are 3 good results now? Does that make him the manager to win us another title? Nope. NExt 3 games are lost? Season is over and then trudge along until the next season with whomsoever decides to takes the poisoned chalice allowing them the comfort of saying this season doesn't count.

What makes it even more frustrating is that we have a squad this season and players' form to make a good fist of things in all competitions. This isn't like last season where a new guy would've also struggled. Someone seasoned - chosen correctly - can show immediate results. Just fecking do it already. Else, Ronaldo will retire - Cavani will go - Pogba will leave and we will again start another season with a new manager who needs a CM, CDM, RB, ST and a few more positions to fill and it'll be groundhog day forever.
 
Mourinho's last season was a disaster where United had a post-Fergie all-time-low of 1,50 points pr match.
Solskjaer the last 20 games have a points pr match of 1,45. Worse than what Mourinho got sacked for, and with what most seem to agree is a far better team.
 
Ayoba said:
It makes sense to me and I called it earlier. Why would Woodward get his hands dirty now when he's leaving in a few months? Soon it won't be his problem and tbh, if I was in his position, I'd do the same.
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Because the season could be a write off by November. Because Murtough is also around whether Woodward/Arnold is in charge.
 
Him playing Maguire after the latter has been injured and only had 1 training session is just plain mismanagement. The guy was at fault for most of Leicester's goals. I think it speaks volumes about how incompetent the coaching team are that they couldn't anticipate what most people were worried about, that Maguire would struggle.

Add that decision to the fact that he could've played Bailly, Jones or even McTominay there. That Bruno and Pogba still started together while our supposed defensive midfielders like Fred and McTominay didn't is also not a good look on Ole's selection policies. We were overran on the pitch against Leicester. You can say I'm talking with a 20/20 hindsight here but I'm not the one getting paid big money to anticipate things like these.

I question Ole's judgement most times nowadays. And that's not mentioning how disjointed we've looked as a team thus far this season, and throughout Ole's reign, it has to be said. I'm fed up with his incompetency to be honest.
 
He'll be gone after Liverpool match. The gulf in quality will show and I think that'll be it.

I don't hold any ill feelings. He's done the job I expected and wanted him to do when he arrived, and I don't blame him for clinging to the job for as long as possible - any of us would also do the same.

Unfortunately, I don't have any faith in our succession plan. I think the platform has been set for the next manager to do something special with this squad, we can't afford to get it wrong really.
 
Lynty said:
He'll be gone after Liverpool match. The gulf in quality will show and I think that'll be it.

I don't hold any ill feelings. He's done the job I expected and wanted him to do when he arrived, and I don't blame him for clinging to the job for as long as possible - any of us would also do the same.

Unfortunately, I don't have any faith in our succession plan. I think the platform has been set for the next manager to do something special with this squad, we can't afford to get it wrong really.
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That would only happen if the club had any shame or pride
 
Its really frustrating for the fans. The matchday fans have supported him throughout his reign, he has given the fans nothing back.

Its getting worse, the board need to sack him asap.
 
Cardiff didn't want him 7 years ago.
8 years since he won a trophy.
£480m plus spent.

Once the rose tinted glasses & Rashfords penalty against PSG faded, what did people really expect?

Legend of a player, non-existent manager. Long past time him - and his entire, inflated entourage of blank-faced, idea-less goons, trot off into the sunset.
We can't "wait until the end of the season", why waste the time?

A football club would get rid immediately.
Unfortunately the business that is Man Utd, won't.
 
Ole can still turn this around. I hope he does. Dare to manage your big names. Bench those who unbalance the side. If he doesn't have the guts to take the risk of making big names unhappy, he shouldn't be a manager.
 
Rocksy said:
Just read the Whitwell article in TA. How can it be that they won’t change the manager because Woodward is leaving in a few months and it would be hard for his successor? Woodward could do it now, and if it’s too hard for Arnold then he’s obviously not good enough. Shouldn’t Murtough be leading on this anyway? You’d think there’d be these kind of contingencies in place.
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I see the point being made but it’s shocking to me that a billion pound business, who have known nine months in advance that the CEO is leaving, don’t have any succession plan ready. I mean, at this point surely the new guy/gal would be aware of the role they’d be stepping into in two and a half months from now, and as such could be consulted on something like this - if the footballing structure that they’ve put in place is incompetent to do so (which would be another problem, what’s the point of a DoF style function if it can’t be trusted with decisions like this?).
 
These are the kind of small stories that start coming up when the end is near, whether it is taken out of context or exaggerated.
 
izak said:
They say Jose was too proud to admit when he was at fault, Yea yea right!! Ole admits by holding his hands up when it's his fault. I don't like Jose one fecking bit but i can't stand Ole making daft decision that it's clear as daylight and they come up lookng all clueless infront of the cameras to say it was his fault.
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That was a first or just about first for Ole. He usually puts all the blame on the players, not that he got it wrong.
 
pascell said:
Ole should know that it would make headline news, he should be saying this to Rashford in a private conversation, not to the whole press. Very naïve of Ole to say it so openly, even if he is right.
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It’s madness though when Ole also said a shed load of positive things about him abs his campaigning.
 
What's alarming is not only that Ole couldn't see Maguire is not fit to play before the game and playing comically bad but continuing with him. He's barely moving and playing like a dazed boxer, A manager needs to see that and correct it by taking him off. We may have salvaged something from the game had he been taken off, he was at fault to the end.

Under Jose we played Newcastle at home and went 2-0 down, Bailly was playing similar to Harry at the weekend, just not moving well and looking dazed. Jose saw the mistake and took him off after 20 mins, we then win 3-2.

Ole should've added to the midfield of a very poorly thought out Pogba/Matic getting overrun and took Maguire off who was costing us the whole game. The mistakes keep coming.
 
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