Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[Beachryan]

The club are clearly not going to sack him this summer, so he needs backing. It's that simple.

Maybe he ends up just being the guy that does the clear out, and is replaced when a more 'proven' option becomes available - in which case he'll still have done a job.

But at this point imo the question is moot. He will be the manager in August when we start the season.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

What happened when we got so called "qualified" managers? A squad that is on the 2nd highest wage bill who cant keep hold of a football?

And clearly you didnt watch the first months of Ole? when Utd were pressing with decent football. With the right balance and players I am optimistic Ole can get us into top 4.

We signed 2 world class managers who were clearly on the decline and whose philosophy was fundamentally different from our philosophy.The challenge is to find a world class manager who’s in his prime and who remains committed to playing on the front foot.

And you”ve clearly not watched the last 2 months of the season.7 defeats in 9 games....The worst run of results in the last 6 years,.....1 point from 6 against 2 relegated teams...,,He should have been sacked after the last game of the season....

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

But same way I can ask what makes you think COnte or allegri would make us play great football when they have failed to show anything when managing a team with better players. Again I am not saying Ole is a better manager than the names you mentioned or he would play attacking football. Jury is still not out on that but after having LvG and Jose, two managers who couldn't make us play attacking football, Conte and Allegri would not be well received. Unless fans suddenly want to act hypocritical and behave negative football is fine as long as it is a coach with pedigree.

My argument is that LVG and Mourinho had the resume,track record and experience of managing the club but unfortunately they were both past their prime when they took over United.Plus their philosophy was fundamentally different to the United way of playing football....The challenge is to find a top class manager who’s in his prime and who remains committed to attacking football.

My point is that until we find THE man,let’s atleast give it to someone like Conte and Allegri who can hold the fort for atleast a couple of seasons.Managers who can get us back in the top 4....With Ole we are heading towards disaster next season....

 

[Yakuza_devils]

I don't know about others, to me the next season already looks very depressing.

1) Ed still in charge of football matters
2) No DOF
3) No structure
4) Rookie Manager in charge of the biggest rebuild in Premier League history
5) We are linked with players like Longstaff and James. No players being signed yet and no big name linked.
6) The problematic players and deadwood are still here.

It makes no difference whether we sack or back him. The whole structure of the club is not working. We are so far away from City and Pool.

 

[In Rainbows]

Those people should stop trying to re-write history just because it doesn't align with their own rather biased views.
If Ole somehow manages to get us to 2nd place next season with 81 points, he will be hailed as a genius and rightly so.

In terms of your question, the explanation is perfectly obvious.
- Jose always demands the maximum from the players and demands that they implement his particular tactics. Proven tactics I might add.
- Once those same players saw that he was not being backed by the club, they stopped playing for him.
- That led directly to a breakdown of trust between manager and players and the rest is history.
- Ole comes along and tells them what they wanted to hear and there was an immediate bounce until he was given the job.
Then the same players gradually put in less and less effort and reveted to type and the recent run of terrible results are testiment to that.

2nd place last season was a fluke. We had conceded the most chances of any of the top 6 sides, and we had created the least chances of any of the top 6 sides. United were 6th in shots on target. We had the most saves of any of the top sides. We basically relied on de Gea.

Normally I wouldn't use stats to just flat out conclude something, but when they're so consistent, it shows how awful United were.

Why did Mourinho want a CB? Why did he get a RB? Using your logic everything was fine as we had only conceded 28 goals last season, only 1 more than City. Could it be the results didn't tell the true story? Maybe Mou realized de Gea bailed he and our entire side out last season.

And 2nd place wasn't anything to write home about. The title race was over in December. That's not a title race. At least Liverpool made it to the CL final and it was clear they were focusing on that, just as it was clear United were focusing on the EL final the season before.


Also, just to make it clear, it's not like I wanted Mou sacked based on only results. It's also because his football was boring, and we didn't even resemble anything close to a typical Mourinho side. Mourinho has always had boring football. I knew that going in. Even when his side scored a lot of goals, it wasn't done in this super entertaining way. What he did have is a great counter attack embedded in the team and a rock solid defense. I can't even remember the last time we had done some successful counter attacks. It just proved that after so many millions spent, getting his own players, he still couldn't get the side to look like a typical Mourinho side regardless of the results.

 

[LoCalXT]

Even though I feel he is not the right manager for us, I will back him simply for the fact that he has the right mindset for the club.
He knows the team is lazy and is dead set on rebuilding the right way.
Yes Jose has the rebuild mindset but I couldn't support his idea of buying aging players for big money...oh and the park the bus was getting stale

 

[JohnnyKills]

The club are clearly not going to sack him this summer, so he needs backing. It's that simple.

Maybe he ends up just being the guy that does the clear out, and is replaced when a more 'proven' option becomes available - in which case he'll still have done a job.

But at this point imo the question is moot. He will be the manager in August when we start the season.

This is my feeling too.

 

[sillwuka]

The end of season blip hasn't filled me with alot of confidence but I'm still behind Ole. He has a huge task ahead of him next season and if he wants to stay in this role for the foreseeable future, he will have to be ruthless and calculated in the summer.

I'm excited to see who we bring in and this will show his ambition for next season. One thing I will say is.. i'll be dissapointed seeing Young starting on the 1st day of the season.

 

[Leftback99]

Yet another defeat for Zidane. Easy this management lark.

 

[JustAGuest]

Yet another defeat for Zidane. Easy this management lark.

How come he's not having this 15 game new manager bounce?

 

[Phil Osophy]

Those results at Real are such a mystery. We were told by the experts that any new manager can win easily for months just by clapping his players a bit, but there's no sign of honeymoon period there. They should have signed Paul Ince instead, I guess.

 

[Treble]

I'm afraid the board will come to regret not sacking him. 2 wins from the last 11 games was a shocking return and in those 2 wins the oppositon (Watford and Wham) outplayed us at Old Trafford. The team was in free fall in the last 2 months.

 

[Mcking]

Those results at Real are such a mystery. We were told by the experts that any new manager can win easily for months just by clapping his players a bit, but there's no sign of honeymoon period there. They should have signed Paul Ince instead, I guess.

Or they might improve the more time they spend with Zidane, rather than having a new manager bounce and then being showed up for a clueless team when the dust settles and the manager actually tries to make his mark.

 

[Fully Fledged]

 

[sugar_kane]

seeing the shit Zidane is coming out with about Bale and Real’s current struggles shows the grass isn’t always greener

We unfairly compare Ole to Pep and Klopp - arguably the two best managers in the world who have had years to hone their craft and build their current teams

We also compare to Poch who again has had that chance to build but also isn’t averse to a terrible run of form.

We have to back Ole, 100%.

 

[The UTD Way]

seeing the shit Zidane is coming out with about Bale and Real’s current struggles shows the grass isn’t always greener

We unfairly compare Ole to Pep and Klopp - arguably the two best managers in the world who have had years to hone their craft and build their current teams

We also compare to Poch who again has had that chance to build but also isn’t averse to a terrible run of form.

We have to back Ole, 100%.

Great post, at last common sense

 

[matherto]

He's Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Now that the heat of the season is over we have to wait and see but the waiting is easier when it's Ole and not some random manager that you don't care about.

I hope we go for youth and we get it into the player's heads from the beginning that they need to work insanely hard once they're back and if they don't then they don't play.

 

[tjb]

You say that, but everyone who believes that also believes that Young and Jones will stay. In other words, he won't get rid of the rot. The same rot that has been here since Moyes, which then got Moyes sacked. The same rot that was there for LVG, who then got sacked. And the same rot that was there for Mou, who was the last to get sacked. They've been there for Ole's crap period too.

U can't expect him to get rid of everyone in one window. I mean, he got rid of fellaini. The guys we need out at the moment are the ones who provide no form of value to the team at the moment or the ones who want to leave/ have a negative impact on the dressing room. Smalling and Jones were fine when they were back ups, the problem came with them being pushed to the forefront after vidic and rio left. I would not mind one of them being given a back up role as they seem like decent characters, but they CANNOT be first teamers for an elongated period of time.

 

[Fox outside the box]

It's concerning how fickle fans are. You can't go from chanting songs about your manager and clamouring for him to get the full time position to calling for him to be sacked, in the space of 3 months. It was an absolute love in, fawning over everything he was saying in press conferences, talking about how he understands the club and spamming happy emojis.

It was only a couple months back everyone was adoring Ole and talking about what a bottler Poch was. Let's not also forget that save a few results, Spurs could have gone from outside title contenders to outside the top 4.

We can't have this knee jerk reaction every time we go through bad spells. He should get at least a season, give him the summer window. At least.

There are issues which predate his appointment. It appears he is looking to bring a particular profile of player in and I'm sure we'll see some moved on. It will take a huge effort to challenge the top 2 next season, let's think more long term and start shaping the squad so that in 2/3 years, hopefully, we have a squad of a good age, have brought through a few of our most promising youth products, cleared out most of the aged/not good enough within the squad and can start pushing forward.

There's no quick fix and I honestly don't feel there's any manager that will walk in and do a job the online fanbase is happy with. Other clubs have had issues this season. Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs have all had blips and poor performances, we aren't miles away from them and that's with an upside down, turbulent season.

Part of the problem is that the grass is always greener. We always want the next thing we think is better and we're getting less and less patient what if Poch comes in, struggles in the first 15 or so games? What then? Sack him mid season and go for who? He hasn't done much better with a far more settled squad. Sure, they've scraped through against City and Ajax but they had to rely on late come backs and a chunk of good fortune in both ties, it isn't like he setup a masterclass and controlled the whole thing. He knows it, he was in absolute tears when they went through. He knew he was pretty much helpless and relying on some luck/magic from the team out on the pitch.

Let's see how the summer goes and how the season goes. We need stability and a strategy to go forward. That doesn't come with changing manager every 6 months.

 

[crossy1686]

Allegri's now unemployed. Sucks Ed didn't wait until the end of the season to give Ole a long term contract.

I keep seeing this but I have no doubt the people saying it have no clue what Allegri's football teams play like.

 

[40year red]

It's concerning how fickle fans are. You can't go from chanting songs about your manager and clamouring for him to get the full time position to calling for him to be sacked, in the space of 3 months. It was an absolute love in, fawning over everything he was saying in press conferences, talking about how he understands the club and spamming happy emojis.

It was only a couple months back everyone was adoring Ole and talking about what a bottler Poch was. Let's not also forget that save a few results, Spurs could have gone from outside title contenders to outside the top 4.

We can't have this knee jerk reaction every time we go through bad spells. He should get at least a season, give him the summer window. At least.

There are issues which predate his appointment. It appears he is looking to bring a particular profile of player in and I'm sure we'll see some moved on. It will take a huge effort to challenge the top 2 next season, let's think more long term and start shaping the squad so that in 2/3 years, hopefully, we have a squad of a good age, have brought through a few of our most promising youth products, cleared out most of the aged/not good enough within the squad and can start pushing forward.

There's no quick fix and I honestly don't feel there's any manager that will walk in and do a job the online fanbase is happy with. Other clubs have had issues this season. Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs have all had blips and poor performances, we aren't miles away from them and that's with an upside down, turbulent season.

Part of the problem is that the grass is always greener. We always want the next thing we think is better and we're getting less and less patient what if Poch comes in, struggles in the first 15 or so games? What then? Sack him mid season and go for who? He hasn't done much better with a far more settled squad. Sure, they've scraped through against City and Ajax but they had to rely on late come backs and a chunk of good fortune in both ties, it isn't like he setup a masterclass and controlled the whole thing. He knows it, he was in absolute tears when they went through. He knew he was pretty much helpless and relying on some luck/magic from the team out on the pitch.

Let's see how the summer goes and how the season goes. We need stability and a strategy to go forward. That doesn't come with changing manager every 6 months.

Sensible. After all this is the truth since Ole took over:
1. Manchester City - 54 points
2. Liverpool - 52 points
3. Manchester United - 40 points
4. Arsenal - 35 points
5. Chelsea - 34 points
6. Crystal Palace - 34 points
7. Tottenham Hotspur - 32 points
8. Wolves - 32 points
9. Everton - 30 points
10. Leicester - 30 points

 

[Loublaze]

seeing the shit Zidane is coming out with about Bale and Real’s current struggles shows the grass isn’t always greener

We unfairly compare Ole to Pep and Klopp - arguably the two best managers in the world who have had years to hone their craft and build their current teams

We also compare to Poch who again has had that chance to build but also isn’t averse to a terrible run of form.

We have to back Ole, 100%.

I haven't seen any comparisons to Klopp, but Pep came out the gates flying with only experience at Barcelona B while Ole had a season in the PL, the championship and top flight league in Norway with some Europa league and CL preliminary rounds experience

 

[George The Best]

No choice but to back him now as that is where we are. For me I don’t think it was the right appointment, but nevertheless he will now have my full support. Not sure we will need to wait for pre-season or the first few games of the season to see how it works out. Acid test, for me, will be who we are able to attract and sign, and who we get rid of, before even a ball is kicked or they start running a bit more.

 

[Ziggy Starduster]

I think the board will back him - they have to in order to maintain sponsors support, surely.
Woodward must know that he is also in the last chance saloon with the Glazers. Once we start losing out on shirt sponsorship from lack of CL football and the likes, then he is in for the boot. He has to make this appointment work.
I oddly expect our biggest window ever.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Not even sure why this thread is a thing - clearly the board are supporting him and are going to back him.

Whether he will be backed to the level we require is another thing

 

[John Blund]

I see people calling for Zidane. After he came back this season, he's only managed to get a win ratio of 45 %. When he left last summer, he had around 70 % win ratio. Ole got a 55 % win ratio. And taking over Man United should be way harder for Ole than taking over Real Madrid for any successful manager 11 months after you've had them for 3 years. Jupp Heynckes came back to Bayern after 3-4 years and kept his win ratio.

 

[Samid]

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is still “pretty deadly” in front of goal, according to the Manchester United keeper who faced him during a recent finishing drill at the Aon Training Complex.

“We had a shooting session and I was doing some one-on-one work with Romelu [Lukaku] and Paul [Pogba]. The manager came over and I could see he was limbering up in the corner of my eye.

“He got involved and he was still pretty deadly, I have to be honest. He had some bad luck because he kept hitting the same post in the same spot. But the touch was there and the instinct was still there. He is very, very clinical still. He did well and I am looking forward to seeing that game on Sunday.”

How did we go from having Ole as a third/fourth choice striker to having first choice options not fit enough to lace his boots?

 

[sunama]

It's concerning how fickle fans are. You can't go from chanting songs about your manager and clamouring for him to get the full time position to calling for him to be sacked, in the space of 3 months.

I'd agree with you 99% of the time.
The issue is that during that 3 month period we went from title winning form, to relegation candidates. Never in my life have I seen such a turn around.
We were basically unbeatable until the PSG game. Had we played MCFC, we'd probably have beaten them, too.

Then after the PSG game, we struggled to get wins or even draws. Even the 2 wins we did get, our opponents outplayed us and deserved at least a draw, if not a win. The low point came in our last 2 matches when we played against the bottom 2. We drew against the bottom team. And then lost to the 2nd from bottom team. Basically, we were/are getting worse at an astonishing rate.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

I'd agree with you 99% of the time.
The issue is that during that 3 month period we went from title winning form, to relegation candidates. Never in my life have I seen such a turn around.
We were basically unbeatable until the PSG game. Had we played MCFC, we'd probably have beaten them, too.

Then after the PSG game, we struggled to get wins or even draws. Even the 2 wins we did get, our opponents outplayed us and deserved at least a draw, if not a win. The low point came in our last 2 matches when we played against the bottom 2. We drew against the bottom team. And then lost to the 2nd from bottom team. Basically, we were/are getting worse at an astonishing rate.

Probably the only time that I am glad we didn't.

 

[sunama]

I think the board will back him - they have to in order to maintain sponsors support, surely.
Woodward must know that he is also in the last chance saloon with the Glazers. Once we start losing out on shirt sponsorship from lack of CL football and the likes, then he is in for the boot. He has to make this appointment work.
I oddly expect our biggest window ever.

Where did this come from?
During the last 6 years, year on year, our profits have increased. All our financials are improving.
If anything, the Glazers should be giving Woodie a big fat bonus, every season for increasing our profits so consistently.

 

[Lexxxzi]

Sensible. After all this is the truth since Ole took over:
1. Manchester City - 54 points
2. Liverpool - 52 points
3. Manchester United - 40 points
4. Arsenal - 35 points
5. Chelsea - 34 points
6. Crystal Palace - 34 points
7. Tottenham Hotspur - 32 points
8. Wolves - 32 points
9. Everton - 30 points
10. Leicester - 30 points

Which of course again shows how clueless most of the Utd fans actually are. They just want to believe what they want to believe and can't see past their own noses.

 

[Fox outside the box]

I'd agree with you 99% of the time.
The issue is that during that 3 month period we went from title winning form, to relegation candidates. Never in my life have I seen such a turn around.
We were basically unbeatable until the PSG game. Had we played MCFC, we'd probably have beaten them, too.

Then after the PSG game, we struggled to get wins or even draws. Even the 2 wins we did get, our opponents outplayed us and deserved at least a draw, if not a win. The low point came in our last 2 matches when we played against the bottom 2. We drew against the bottom team. And then lost to the 2nd from bottom team. Basically, we were/are getting worse at an astonishing rate.

Which needs addressing but a new manager won't come in and wave a wand to fix everything. It took Klopp time to get Liverpool going. Yes we hit poor form but it was also at the end of what was probably an absolutely exhausting season, both mentally and physically. We forget that these players are people and they are people contending with pressures that we won't ever have to consider. We can't just chop and change manager, it isn't healthy in any work place environment. You have to account for how the players would feel. From anything I've seen, the club and players really back him and I don't think anyone is under the illusion that this is a quick fix but to just remove that manager and put someone else in could just drive the team even further down in terms of confidence, both in themselves and the club.

We were still the third highest placed team from when Ole took over. You can't choose to ignore the good form because we hit bad form.

The abuse, stick, pressure these lot have had could have taken it's toll. Throw in that many of them played in the world cup as well and coming away from the situation, having a proper break, moving some players on and bringing in some fresh faces could rejuvenate the team.

Football isn't played on spreadsheets and it isn't an algorithm you can set and let go. We need to regroup and have a good summer, let at least give them time. Players don't get good and bad week by week which is how it's seem sometimes. I think we needed the end of the season badly. I know they are paid a lot but they're human and the season was a mental roller-coaster. Some of these lads are at an age where others are still getting to grips with doing their own washing. Stability and guidance is key. The direction Solskjaer seems to be wanting to go in is the correct one in my opinion but we need more than a few months before we down tools and change it all up. We weren't far off finishing in the top 4, Chelsea and Arsenal didn't have considerably better seasons than we did, Chelsea just pipped us to the post which means the pressure is falling on us It's fine line and if we had squeezed a few more points out and swapped placed with Chelsea, everything would seem very different, despite the general situation actually being exactly the same. We'd still have the same task ahead that we have now.

 

[soaphroniscuss]

1) Football management is a crapshoot - a manager could be great at a big club and flop at another - there are many variables that fans are not privy to, nor are they privy to the minutiae of management.

2) No-one ever achieves anything, until they do. Having a better CV does not guarantee better managerial performance at any given club. Do people actually think Poch, for instance, if he wins the CL, suddenly learned how to be a better manager in the few weeks leading up to the final. Of course not - his actual managerial ability is the same as it was previously, yet people will say he is now 'qualified'. Please.

3) What constitutes a better CV is different from what fans think. Given point 1) above - what makes people so certain that getting 80 points in the EPL with a club with the resources of Man Utd is a better performance than getting 40 with Huddersfield?

In short, give Ole a real shot. If you don't any new manager is going to want to do his evaluation of the players, meaning no clearout. Which means more redcafe chaos.

It is not random so clubs are generally best served by using the predictive power of that non-randomness to their advantage.

 

[adexkola]

1) Football management is a crapshoot - a manager could be great at a big club and flop at another - there are many variables that fans are not privy to, nor are they privy to the minutiae of management.

2) No-one ever achieves anything, until they do. Having a better CV does not guarantee better managerial performance at any given club. Do people actually think Poch, for instance, if he wins the CL, suddenly learned how to be a better manager in the few weeks leading up to the final. Of course not - his actual managerial ability is the same as it was previously, yet people will say he is now 'qualified'. Please.

3) What constitutes a better CV is different from what fans think. Given point 1) above - what makes people so certain that getting 80 points in the EPL with a club with the resources of Man Utd is a better performance than getting 40 with Huddersfield?

In short, give Ole a real shot. If you don't any new manager is going to want to do his evaluation of the players, meaning no clearout. Which means more redcafe chaos.

This will go over a lot of people's heads unfortunately

 

[Foxbatt]

It may all be correct but then he make Young the Captain. For that alone I think he should be sacked.

 

[Sterling Archer]

Sensible. After all this is the truth since Ole took over:
1. Manchester City - 54 points
2. Liverpool - 52 points
3. Manchester United - 40 points
4. Arsenal - 35 points
5. Chelsea - 34 points
6. Crystal Palace - 34 points
7. Tottenham Hotspur - 32 points
8. Wolves - 32 points
9. Everton - 30 points
10. Leicester - 30 points

Being 12 points off the leaders and only 5 from the rest of the pack below us puts us right back to square one at the end of last season. Sure, the team can go on a run here and there when they're arsed. They can just as easily fall flat on their face and embarrass the name of the Club against relation fodder. It confirms that:

1) the squad is not up to par with United standards of quality
2) the players lack the consistency in form and fitness. Whether that's due to their issues with a manager, another player, their personal lives and social media , or their general drive and ambition is a moot point

The manager and coaching staff should be given time and backing to deal with the above. Because that seems to be at the heart of many a problem, along with Ed Woodwards role.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

It may all be correct but then he make Young the Captain. For that alone I think he should be sacked.

Yep. Rewarding mediocrity is a sackable offense.

 

[Ziggy Starduster]

Where did this come from?
During the last 6 years, year on year, our profits have increased. All our financials are improving.
If anything, the Glazers should be giving Woodie a big fat bonus, every season for increasing our profits so consistently.

I meant more in regards to having the day over managers and players. Clearly, as a money man he is untouchable.

 

[Swordsman]

back him all the way... sack him doesn't make a difference.. due to woodward whichever "godly" manager come in, the result is still the same.

 

[Celoti23-81]

Which of course again shows how clueless most of the Utd fans actually are. They just want to believe what they want to believe and can't see past their own noses.

That table means nothing! Ask Mike Phelan when he was manager at Hull having received manager of the month in his first month, ala Ole. All went south from there!
All this is, is that we have Ole now, anything can be better than Mourinho. Exactly what happen after Moyes with LVG, and the same with Mourinho after LVG.
It was a knee jerk appointment after the PSG result! And I will give my honest opinion on Ole the manager, when we were losing he looked clueless, he looked bereft of ideas, hid in the dugout.
Would I be surprised if we have lost 6 or 7 games by Xmas! Not at all