Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

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ReddBalls said:
Stamina is everything, really. Ever seen Biathlon? None of the athletes, even at youth level, will have any problem shooting down the targets rested. Even you and I would probably knock them all down.

But in a race with 5, 10, 20 km of skiing between the shootings, even the best of them hardly hit them all.
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If there is one thing I trust Ole Gunnar to improve it’s our fitness and stamina. I fully expect him to have full access to all Norwegian experts in this specific subject. Maybe some Beta2-agonist in the future...
 
Dr. StrangeHate said:
I hate Ed but atleast he has a very clear CL qualification or you are out policy. This should never change for any manager. LVG was let go for falling one point short.
More years out of the CL, less sponsors, less players wanting to join us. It is a vicious cycle which is the only thing the board actually understands.
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I don't think they would be so quick to sack ole. They havnt a clue what to do with the club and it would be another failure on Eds regime
 
It will take two seasons for our players to fully adapt to the pressing play Ole uses. Fitness and Stamina will not come over that fast.
We saw what happened at the Liverpool match when we hit the wall.
The young players will be much stronger in a couple of seasons.
But we still need to add quality to the squad.
We need four more players, but will be lucky to get two.
 
The United said:
The reason why Greenwood is playing out wide is pretty obvious as many mentioned already. Playing 17 years old unless your physical at that point is as good as like Rooney in the middle might ruin his development.

Stamina actually plays a huge part with controlling ball and doing something with it. Once general fitness improves, their ball control should as well.
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Agree with stamina part. In modern football, physique and teamwork becoming more important than technical ability at highest levels.

Developments in kids coaching, nutrition, health tech and digitalized statistics driven tactics in the last 20 years made a lot easier for footballers with poorer natural technique to compensate it by reading the game and physical prowess.

Examples? Smalling and Lukaku. Or Mata on the other side of the fence. Our squad is not that worse than Liverpool’s one. The difference is that their players get the ball in better positions, have more space and time to work with it. The speed of ball delivery is lower, passes are more precise and weighted, again, because the passing player in a better position to do so.

Hence, their players first touch LOOKS better.

And opportunities for passes are created with relentless but well thought and drilled running. Tactical prep, which is often overlooked as a factor of fatigue by many, requires near perfect level of fitness.

A match demands a hell lot of stamina, which is a TRAINED attribute. How do you expect our players to have a (PERCEIVED) first touch on par with Klopp’s players when fitness and fitness intensive tactics got, say, 20% of time the Klopp’s guys enjoyed.

The importance of transfers at RedCafe is blown out of proportions. We are not good at transfers, It’s truth. But people often equal bad transfers to lack of strategic planning. Transfers are just a tip of an iceberg called Strategy. It is most visible but least important its part.

Strategy starts from vision, mission and other “boring” things. Identity is at the core of any existence. Especially of a sports brand or business. United is both.

As a sports brand we can sell our history for some time. Our financial might relies on our impeccable history. Best of the best. However, in the world of Social media depreciation accelerated. Fan base is less loyal and more demanding. United’s business identity is as important as Sports brand identity.

As a business we need new customers. Yes, new customers from all over the globe, who are often Pictured as ignorant glory hunters by God blessed United fans who live in Greater Manchester area. Well, those “dumb” fans also pay. Pay for that priceless feeling when your local childhood team buys a galactico or wins Champions League.

No value attached to a business’ product = no new customers. What is value? What are we selling as a business?

The Answer to this question is the same as for Sports brand. We sell our history. History being made today.

Solskjaer’s appointment, be it success or failure, is a sign that the Glazers finally realized that the monetary value of United’s brand is related to its identity.
 
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ThinkTank@Cafe said:
Agree with stamina part. In modern football, physique and teamwork becoming more important than technical ability at highest levels.

Developments in kids coaching, nutrition, health tech and digitalized statistics driven tactics in the last 20 years made a lot easier for footballers with poorer natural technique to compensate it by reading the game and physical prowess.

Examples? Smalling and Lukaku. Or Mata on the other side of the fence. Our squad is not that worse than Liverpool’s one. The difference is that their players get the ball in better positions, have more space and time to work with it. The speed of ball delivery is lower, passes are more precise and weighted, again, because the passing player in a better position to do so.

Hence, their players first touch LOOKS better.

And opportunities for passes are created with relentless but well thought and drilled running. Tactical prep, which is often overlooked as a factor of fatigue by many, requires near perfect level of fitness.
A match demands a hell lot of stamina, which is a TRAINED attribute. How do you expect our players to have a (PERCEIVED) first touch on par with Klopp’s players when fitness and fitness intensive tactics got, say, 20% of time the Klopp’s guys enjoyed.

The importance of transfers at RedCafe is blown out of proportions. We are not good at transfers, It’s truth. But people often equal bad transfers to lack of strategic planning. Transfers are just a tip of an iceberg called Strategy. It is most visible but least important its part.

Strategy starts from vision, mission and other “boring” things. Identity is at the core of any business. Solskjaer’s appointment, be it success or failure, is a sign that the Glazers finally realized that the monetary value of United’s brand is related to its identity.
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Lots of sensible stuff here.
 
conor said:
Not sure how you could be anything but excited and positive after the pre-season so far. Young academy players getting proper minutes and contributing goals, older academy players taking on more responsibility, players putting in more effort than we've seen in a long time, and the whole team looking very sharp.

Expectations have to be realistic at this stage(~7 years into the post Fergie era shitshow), if you can't take joy in seeing a youthful team playing attacking football, and looking like we can give top 4 a run, I don't know why would would bother still following us. Of course, a few more signings would be great, but you can see Ole knows we need them, and I'm happy he's not throwing his toys out of the pram in public like Mourinho did.

So far, I don't think Ole has put a foot wrong(a few teething problems aside), and I'm happy to live in hope that such a great Utd character can possibly bring us back to where we belong(eventually).
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Your enthusiaam is (almost) infectious, and that is commendable. Unfortunately, I do not share that enthusiasm. May I ask you a couple of questions, very basic points ok:

  1. Are you happy with the squad?
  2. Do you think Ole is happy with the squad?
  3. Do you think anything has changed from last season?
  4. Do you think our activity in the transfer market has been good? (and I know 'good' is a subjective term, but I hope you understand my point. My thoughts are that I think our summer transfer activity has been poor, unclear, and to a degree, disruptive)
  5. Do you think Ole is feeling more confident than he was last season, or less so?
  6. Do you think we will perform better than we did last season, or perform worst than we did last season?

Be interested in your thoughts and responses.
 
Jeffthered said:
Your enthusiaam is (almost) infectious, and that is commendable. Unfortunately, I do not share that enthusiasm. May I ask you a couple of questions, very basic points ok:

  1. Are you happy with the squad? NO
  2. Do you think Ole is happy with the squad? NO
  3. Do you think anything has changed from last season? YES (some academy grads bedded in, showing a lot of promise)
  4. Do you think our activity in the transfer market has been good? (and I know 'good' is a subjective term, but I hope you understand my point. My thoughts are that I think our summer transfer activity has been poor, unclear, and to a degree, disruptive) Very poor
  5. Do you think Ole is feeling more confident than he was last season, or less so? More confident
  6. Do you think we will perform better than we did last season, or perform worst than we did last season? It cant get any worse than last season, plus he's had time now to work more on training, tactics and fitness. Still think top 4 will be a big struggle if at least 1 more signing isn't imminent.

Be interested in your thoughts and responses.
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ThinkTank@Cafe said:
Agree with stamina part. In modern football, physique and teamwork becoming more important than technical ability at highest levels.

Developments in kids coaching, nutrition, health tech and digitalized statistics driven tactics in the last 20 years made a lot easier for footballers with poorer natural technique to compensate it by reading the game and physical prowess.

Examples? Smalling and Lukaku. Or Mata on the other side of the fence. Our squad is not that worse than Liverpool’s one. The difference is that their players get the ball in better positions, have more space and time to work with it. The speed of ball delivery is lower, passes are more precise and weighted, again, because the passing player in a better position to do so.

Hence, their players first touch LOOKS better.

And opportunities for passes are created with relentless but well thought and drilled running. Tactical prep, which is often overlooked as a factor of fatigue by many, requires near perfect level of fitness.

A match demands a hell lot of stamina, which is a TRAINED attribute. How do you expect our players to have a (PERCEIVED) first touch on par with Klopp’s players when fitness and fitness intensive tactics got, say, 20% of time the Klopp’s guys enjoyed.

The importance of transfers at RedCafe is blown out of proportions. We are not good at transfers, It’s truth. But people often equal bad transfers to lack of strategic planning. Transfers are just a tip of an iceberg called Strategy. It is most visible but least important its part.

Strategy starts from vision, mission and other “boring” things. Identity is at the core of any existence. Especially of a sports brand or business. United is both.

As a sports brand we can sell our history for some time. Our financial might relies on our impeccable history. Best of the best. However, in the world of Social media depreciation accelerated. Fan base is less loyal and more demanding. United’s business identity is as important as Sports brand identity.

As a business we need new customers. Yes, new customers from all over the globe, who are often Pictured as ignorant glory hunters by God blessed United fans who live in Greater Manchester area. Well, those “dumb” fans also pay. Pay for that priceless feeling when your local childhood team buys a galactico or wins Champions League.

No value attached to a business’ product = no new customers. What is value? What are we selling as a business?

The Answer to this question is the same as for Sports brand. We sell our history. History being made today.

Solskjaer’s appointment, be it success or failure, is a sign that the Glazers finally realized that the monetary value of United’s brand is related to its identity.
Click to expand...

Good post.
 
Jeffthered said:
Your enthusiaam is (almost) infectious, and that is commendable. Unfortunately, I do not share that enthusiasm. May I ask you a couple of questions, very basic points ok:

  1. Are you happy with the squad? No
  2. Do you think Ole is happy with the squad? No
  3. Do you think anything has changed from last season? Yes, attitude(which as we've seen can do a lot by itself)
  4. Do you think our activity in the transfer market has been good? (and I know 'good' is a subjective term, but I hope you understand my point. My thoughts are that I think our summer transfer activity has been poor, unclear, and to a degree, disruptive) No opinion until the window is closed
  5. Do you think Ole is feeling more confident than he was last season, or less so? More, he's had time with the current squad and has brought some players in
  6. Do you think we will perform better than we did last season, or perform worst than we did last season? Better

Be interested in your thoughts and responses.
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I don't think we're near the finished article, but what I've seen so far, and the noises made regarding potential incomings has me optimistic.
 
ThinkTank@Cafe said:
Agree with stamina part. In modern football, physique and teamwork becoming more important than technical ability at highest levels.

Developments in kids coaching, nutrition, health tech and digitalized statistics driven tactics in the last 20 years made a lot easier for footballers with poorer natural technique to compensate it by reading the game and physical prowess.

Examples? Smalling and Lukaku. Or Mata on the other side of the fence. Our squad is not that worse than Liverpool’s one. The difference is that their players get the ball in better positions, have more space and time to work with it. The speed of ball delivery is lower, passes are more precise and weighted, again, because the passing player in a better position to do so.

Hence, their players first touch LOOKS better.

And opportunities for passes are created with relentless but well thought and drilled running. Tactical prep, which is often overlooked as a factor of fatigue by many, requires near perfect level of fitness.

A match demands a hell lot of stamina, which is a TRAINED attribute. How do you expect our players to have a (PERCEIVED) first touch on par with Klopp’s players when fitness and fitness intensive tactics got, say, 20% of time the Klopp’s guys enjoyed.

The importance of transfers at RedCafe is blown out of proportions. We are not good at transfers, It’s truth. But people often equal bad transfers to lack of strategic planning. Transfers are just a tip of an iceberg called Strategy. It is most visible but least important its part.

Strategy starts from vision, mission and other “boring” things. Identity is at the core of any existence. Especially of a sports brand or business. United is both.

As a sports brand we can sell our history for some time. Our financial might relies on our impeccable history. Best of the best. However, in the world of Social media depreciation accelerated. Fan base is less loyal and more demanding. United’s business identity is as important as Sports brand identity.

As a business we need new customers. Yes, new customers from all over the globe, who are often Pictured as ignorant glory hunters by God blessed United fans who live in Greater Manchester area. Well, those “dumb” fans also pay. Pay for that priceless feeling when your local childhood team buys a galactico or wins Champions League.

No value attached to a business’ product = no new customers. What is value? What are we selling as a business?

The Answer to this question is the same as for Sports brand. We sell our history. History being made today.

Solskjaer’s appointment, be it success or failure, is a sign that the Glazers finally realized that the monetary value of United’s brand is related to its identity.
Click to expand...

I disagree strongly with the underlined parts, and I'll tell you why. Yes, without a doubt physical fitness and preparation, general wellness, speed and power, are all highly coveted attributes in modern football. Many of them are essential, to the point of being the difference between making it and not. But the notion that they are more important than technique, is patently nonsense. The two players you cite as examples, are derided universally for their lack of technique. A failing that is stopping them from reaching the top, top levels. Centerbacks for example are coveted now for their ball playing and passing skills, more than ever before. Those that marry it with with exceptional physical qualities, do better than ever. The best players in the world are all highly technical players.

The game has become much, much more technical over the last 20 years. There is nowhere to hide for physical players who just work hard, or are strong, but don't have much else to offer. Those are precisely the players that have been exposed. They are not the ones who have benefited. Better pitches, better coaching, and critically....far more protection from refs to prioritize the smaller technical players are all the key drivers in this. To be a top player these days you have to marry work rate with technical ability, there is no other way. But technique will always be king. Physical fitness just supports that.
 
Why is he obsessed with Lingard? He may run a lot but against busses you need creativity in those positions not runners.
 
simonhch said:
I disagree strongly with the underlined parts, and I'll tell you why. Yes, without a doubt physical fitness and preparation, general wellness, speed and power, are all highly coveted attributes in modern football. Many of them are essential, to the point of being the difference between making it and not. But the notion that they are more important than technique, is patently nonsense. The two players you cite as examples, are derided universally for their lack of technique. A failing that is stopping them from reaching the top, top levels. Centerbacks for example are coveted now for their ball playing and passing skills, more than ever before. Those that marry it with with exceptional physical qualities, do better than ever. The best players in the world are all highly technical players.

The game has become much, much more technical over the last 20 years. There is nowhere to hide for physical players who just work hard, or are strong, but don't have much else to offer. Those are precisely the players that have been exposed. They are not the ones who have benefited. Better pitches, better coaching, and critically....far more protection from refs to prioritize the smaller technical players are all the key drivers in this. To be a top player these days you have to marry work rate with technical ability, there is no other way. But technique will always be king. Physical fitness just supports that.
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I didn’t say that technical ability is not important or that the game became less technical.

Without certain technical level you can’t be a pro. Once you reach that level and qualify to be a pro, excellent physical and tactical attributes can drive one to be a top player. I am talking about general trends in that game, not about ideal players.

You don’t argue that Lukaku is technically gifted, do you? But he cost us 85 million pounds. And, as rumors say, we are offered a highly technical player in return.

This was my point. I would recommend you to pass a comprehension test before labeling someone’s text as nonsense.
 
Ole's head will be on the block if we don't bring in a few more players. The Bus will be ready. Would be a shame though.
 
Bestietom said:
Ole's head will be on the block if we don't bring in a few more players. The Bus will be ready. Would be a shame though.
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Despite all the progress made, Ole needs to get a striker who can convert half chances in tight areas and attacking midfielders who can score from outside the box against these types of teams. Our current attackers are not good enough for us to guarantee a spot in top 4.
 


"We've been working on a few cases over the summer, it's never easy, the club has been very good, but the market is very hard."
 
I'm keeping quiet in this thread until the window closes. I'm close to blowing on the bloke, to be honest, but I want to see how he 'spins' or addresses our situation come the deadline.
 
If we can finalize the deals with Maguire and Dybala then our squad starts to look decent.

Best case scenario is off course these two together with a quality dm to partner Pogba. McTominay looks very good but his best position seems to be as a b2b, not as a holding mf. I can’t see us buy both Dybala and Bruno F but maybe the manager has other plans we don’t know about yet.

Regarding interviews and pressers.

I saw a interview with Ole on NRK (Norwegian television) where he spoke Norwegian. It was interesting to compare his attitude and body language from when he speaks English. Much more secure in his answers. He didn’t hesitate when answering difficult questions. His in depth answers was well articulated and you could see that he was comfortable with the environment around him. It’s good to see.

Part of the job is to handle the press but I’m starting to think that the English press is a little bit more “demanding” compared to the Scandinavians. Nothing wrong with that but I starting to realize that handling the narrative and give “intelligent” answers is much harder when you have vocabulary limitations.

I
 
Rish Sawhney said:
Don’t you know he’s supposed to say the club sucks and the owners and and the CEO are incompetent and if he’s not saying that in public he’s clearly a yes man.
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:lol:.. lets not forget throwing youngsters under the bus.
 
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Spielmacher said:


"We've been working on a few cases over the summer, it's never easy, the club has been very good, but the market is very hard."
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Not blaming him personally but that's a poor excuse. They've known about the deadline for well over a year. It's as if the club doesn't start planning for transfers until the window actually opens.
 
Big Ben Foster said:
Not blaming him personally but that's a poor excuse. They've known about the deadline for well over a year. It's as if the club doesn't start planning for transfers until the window actually opens.
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He seems like SAF, when he would say "there's no value in the market". Protecting the Glazers, because there's nothing else he can do without jeopardizing his job. Still better than agitating like Mourinho did tbh, at least this way the morale of the current playing squad won't take a nosedive.
 
he's not saying the early deadline is a problem because of incoming transfers, but because teams from other leagues can come knocking for PL players afterwards ... he's not making excuses, it's a valid point. Listen to the man before you throw him to the wolves.
 
There has been a lot of criticism towards Ole (luckily not from the majority of people in here) - but I wish to sum up where we were 8 months ago and where we are today. And I am not talking about Points and League tables.

DDG - likely to leave with 18 months left on his contract
Today likely to sign a new 4 year contract

Pogba - out of the team, desperate to go after falling out with Mourinho
Today - still wants to leave but is still doing his best on the pitch. Might even be captain

McTominay - 18 months left on his contract
Today - signed a new contract - would however probably have signed it anyway as he was a player Mourinho liked

Jones - 18 months left on his contract
Today - signed a new contract. And I know a lot of People don't rate Jones, but he is a very good player to have as backup.

Martial - 18 months left on his contract - almost certain to leave
Today - signed a new contract

Rashford - 18 months left on his contract - rumours that Barcelona were interested
Today - signed a new contract

Mata - 8 months left on his contract
Today - signed a new contract

Fellaini - important player under Mourinho
Today - sold

Andreas Perreira - 18 months left on his contract
Today - signed a new 4 year contract

Dean Henderson - 18 months left on his contract
Today - signed a new 4 year contract

Ashley Young - 8 months left on his contract
Today - signed a new 1 year deal. Not my first choice but a perfectly good squad player and a leader in the dressing-room.

Alex Tuanzebe - 18 months left on his contract
Today - signed a new 4 year deal.

The only negative imo - was that OGS couldn't save Herrera from leaving. But even Herrera has admitted that he had already made his mind up when United offered him a new contract. EDIT (and that we still haven't offloaded Rojo and Darmian)


Mood was awful - everything was negative.
Today - People genuinely seem happy - and there is very little negativity around United (apart from some United-fans)

Dan James - 21 years old - signed
Aaron Wan Bissaka - 21 years old - signed
Harry Maguire - 26 years old - will likely be signed today
And possibly Paolo Dybala

What we have now is a group of young, talented players - what could easily be the core of the future England squad (AWB, Maguire, Rashford, Henderson, Greenwood, Garner and Gomes).

Are we missing something from the squad ? Absolutely - we are still too weak in midfield - and we need to get more consistency from Martial and Rashford. But if OGS can make that happen in the coming 12 months, and the 3 G's (Garner, Greenwood and Gomes) develop as we hope - I am really looking forward to the next years as a United-fan

So stop moaning about wanting Pochettino and get behind OGS - he has worked miracles.
 
Big Ben Foster said:
Not blaming him personally but that's a poor excuse. They've known about the deadline for well over a year. It's as if the club doesn't start planning for transfers until the window actually opens.
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It’s not an excuse. I think it’s an issue for all PL clubs - most transfers happen at the end of the window. The early deadline does limit the ability to buy players from other leagues.

There will no doubt be clubs that don’t want to sell a player until they have a replacement, if they only get that replacement after the English deadline has passed - no transfer to the PL.

I think it’s right that the deadline is before the start of the season, but we should push this to be a UEFA wide deadline, or start the league later in line with others.
 
Getting Maguire - eventually - might indicate that Ole dug his heels in and got the player he wanted. Looks like his opinion matters.
 
7even said:
If we can finalize the deals with Maguire and Dybala then our squad starts to look decent.

Best case scenario is off course these two together with a quality dm to partner Pogba. McTominay looks very good but his best position seems to be as a b2b, not as a holding mf. I can’t see us buy both Dybala and Bruno F but maybe the manager has other plans we don’t know about yet.

Regarding interviews and pressers.

I saw a interview with Ole on NRK (Norwegian television) where he spoke Norwegian. It was interesting to compare his attitude and body language from when he speaks English. Much more secure in his answers. He didn’t hesitate when answering difficult questions. His in depth answers was well articulated and you could see that he was comfortable with the environment around him. It’s good to see.

Part of the job is to handle the press but I’m starting to think that the English press is a little bit more “demanding” compared to the Scandinavians. Nothing wrong with that but I starting to realize that handling the narrative and give “intelligent” answers is much harder when you have vocabulary limitations.

I
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His English is better than 90% of English peoples.
 
Really not sure what he’s trying to have us do in the pitch, that team is simply all over the place from a tactical point.
 
Happy with him trying to implement hard press, serious work ethic etc, but can't get over the fact he gave new contract to Young, Mata and Jones. Not to mention Matić who looks like he cemented his place in the first eleven, while he offers nothing on the pitch.
 
His expressions today showed he knows that he is not going to get any more players this season and the jig is up.
 
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