Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[Betson]

To be fair to him I think Ole has done well with the players he has brought in , early days but all three look like they have something positive to offer and are good additions.

Also I don't think he did much wrong tactically against Southampton.

It is just that he has a very poor squad of players to work with compared to the expectations of a Club like us , Mourino who has won titles almost everywhere he has gone could not get much more out of them either , no manager could.

Like it or not we been shambolic in the transfer market over the last six or seven years and will take far more than one decent transfer window to get us back challenging again , no matter who is managing it is going to be a very long way back. There is no quick fixes here and sacking another manager just as he starts that rebuilding is not going to do much for stability at a club that is already in such a mess from the very top down.

As for Ole saying he is happy with the squad , what else is going to say publicly? You can be sure in the back ground he has a long list of demands to make this squad acceptable again but fact is we can't attract the elite players anymore unless we break the bank on salaries etc which is no sustainable long term.

 

[Beachryan]

Listen, I don't pretend to have played at a great level. Or that watching on tv can possibly compare to actually being on the pitch. But. There are a few things that, as a sports fan of many different disciplines, absolutely terrifies me about Ole's United:

1. The goalkick rule changed this year, and our response is to be f*cking terrible: So hot news, you can put you're CBs in the box now. Ole's clocked that. But. We put the two of em on either side of De Gea. And every single team so far has worked out that our full backs can't handle a quick ball into feet. So they man mark, and literally every damn time against Southampton De Gea has punted it long. To Marcus Rashford. Who won exactly 0 aerial duels. All match. I can forgive the first half, it's hard to speak to the keeper from the halfway line. But we kept doing it all second half.

2. Ashley Young and the mystery of the floated cross: There was a time when we had a big lump of a striker, and even better, a giant tree of a midfielder who would take up excellent positions at the back post. In those halcyon days, a left full back could be forgiven for attempting such lofted chips constantly, especially when chasing a match. But it's the f*cking manager's responsibility to tell the daft idiot to stop when our forward line is as likely to win the national lottery as a ball in the air. Admittedly, young Ashley must bear a chunk of the blame here, but it speaks to a pattern.

3. Paul Pogba holding the ball when just outside our box: I get it. Paul's mercurial. Our best outfield player. Someone who needs freedom. Also someone who would get loads more fouls from refs if he wasn't, well Paul Pogba. But he keeps punching himself in the face, so to speak, by trying daft sh*t in dangerous situations. Again, I don't blame him per se, it's what Paul does. But it's the manager's job to stop it happening. It is costing us goals every other week, and yet it continues. If Ole can't change the behaviour, move the player out of dangerous situations.

4. We are one of the worst teams in the league on corner kicks. Both sides of the pitch. We concede more, and we score less. This is not some spur of the moment, random chance encounter. This is one of the few pieces of football a coaching team can prepare for. And we're god-awful. That is inexcusable for an 'elite' coaching team.

5. Tempo and game management: Palace absolutely schooled us at the dark arts/game management. And how did Ole's United respond? By taking it and being nice. They wasted time from minute 1, had the trainer on the pitch 5 times, committed cynical tackles all the way through and what did we do about it? Nothing. Enjoyed the water breaks as far as I could tell. You think a top-level manager allows that to happen?

6. Letting opposition dictate which centre back to target: So we have two centre backs, and only of them appears to know how to win the ball in the air. What does the opposition do? Obviously hoof it at the other one. What do we do in response? Pray?

I love Ole, and desperately wish things would work out. I love what he's doing with the squad, and I'm optimistic that he's convinced the ownership about a better direction in terms of recruitment. But I cannot overlook these and many other gaping f*cking holes in his managerial ability. And if it's not him, and it's the coaching staff - well guess what that's his fault too.

I don't believe there is a single United fan that wouldn't have dreamed about a world where Ole's United had us back at the top, and further, would have put up with us back in the top 4. But I see nothing - and I really want to - from his managerial and coaching ability to date that suggests he's an elite level manager. And if we want to succeed, that's what we need. If there is a chance to move him to a DoF role, and recruit an elite coach, I'd be on that in a heartbeat.

 

[Foxbatt]

It is heartbreaking to see our great club in this dire situation from the owners to the Chairman to the manager. There is no way we are going to get into the CL. It is going to be either Liverpool or City to win with Spurs and Arsenal in the top 4 spots. Us back in the EL if we are lucky.
Even Fat Sam would make this team play better and more organised.

 

[7even]

@Foxbatt @Beachryan

I agree with both you and I can’t understand that more Redcafe posters/supporters can’t see this. It’s happening in front of our eyes almost every game and and our coaching staff don’t react. It’s so frustrating.

Apart from using the wrong formation and starting the season with a thin squad we continue to do a couple of fundamental mistakes over and over again who clearly is coachable. I ask the same question almost every game wtf is going on at Carrington?

1. Misplaced passes.

Example. Lindelöf often pass the ball one yard behind Maguire instead of one or two yard in front of him. This cost Maguire time to correct himself and in this time we have lost the momentum of being in possession and the opponents has time to correct their formation and press the ball holder a few yards extra further up. If this happening a few times every game I wouldn’t react but we see it frequently with almost all our players.

2. First touch and moving forward.

Example. Best way for a player to create extra time with the ball on his feet’s is to create a vertical or horizontal movement simultaneously as make his first touch. All great players do this. First touch and movements happen at the same time in order to create open space and extra time. Look at Liverpool. Robinson is a master to react ultra quick when receiving the ball and move it forward with his first touch whenever he gets a chance. It gives him open space and he often use it to bomb forward. His technique isn’t superior to any of our players, it’s that Klopp has coach his players to use this movement to push his team forward whenever they have a chance. Liverpool play almost their entire game on their front feet’s, United do the opposite.

3. Synchronized movements and pressing the opponents.

Example. To make this work a team needs almost ten players involved at the same time. If one or two don’t react quickly enough or lagging in their movements the pressing become less effective, United often ends up with that five or six players chasing the ball holder but our fullbacks and one of our midfielders stays inactive or far away from their opponents. On top of that our center backs don’t hold the defensive line high enough and with all these small mistakes our pressing often after 15-20 minutes becomes powerless. Our attacking players can’t run around in full pelt all the time when the rest isn’t participating. It’s madness and this is one reason why we often lose momentum later in the game. We end up unorganized and tired and suddenly we don’t play as a team. In order to create momentum or chances we need individuals to step up and when our best players has bad games we’re often toothless in the later parts of the game.

All this is coachable and on the managers table. Do we practice designed movements? Do we use passing patterns so we know in advance where to move and what to do? Small details.

From what I can see, and maybe this is the problem when I only see the games on television, is that we don’t look organized enough. We don’t use designed routes or passing patterns in order to gain advantages. We don’t practice details like passing in front of each other’s instead of passing behind or on the next players wrong feet’s. Our set pieces are nightmares almost all the time. Why? Don’t we learn from earlier mistakes?

I don’t blame Solksjaer to be responsible for all of it, that’s unfair. It’s not his fault that Shaw, Lingard and many others sometimes looks brainless when they get the ball. It’s not his fault that many players react like zombies. He can’t coach players to concentrate put he can learn them to pay attention to details. He can practice the team to be more organized, to have synchronized movements. He can learn them moving routes, use triangles. He can make the accountable to mistakes. Just to mention the fundamental parts.

Things like that is on the manager.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

When you have a young manager you need an experienced sporting director who'd advise him and check his impulses when he wants to clear out every senior attacking player left at the club without bringing replacements. This club is failing Ole like it failed every other manager before him.

 

[dev1l]

He knew Lukaku was going because he was the one who wanted Lukaku out. It makes more sense to buy a replacement and then sell. It’s not as if the sale of Lukaku on the last day caught Ole by surprised at fecked up all his plans. He was the one chasing Dybala and Eriksen, very akin to Moyes sending Woodward chasing the beginning of the rainbow for Bale and Fabregas

You give the impression that he have total control on transfers - very naive if you think so

 

[Fahad Jawaid]

We are just a stupid and mindless club, who is run woefully. People point out that we have spent alot, to which i agree, but where we are lacking is finding players who have low release clauses or players who are free agents or players in the last years of the contract etc.

This summer we could have signed Rabbiot for free, kept Herrera if we offered him a better deal, signed Ziyech for 30 odd million, paid 10 million for Mandzukic and on top of that could have also opted for Cebellos on loan.

Therefore we could have signed realistically 5 players for 50 odd million, assuming there was loan fee for Cabellos. Hell even without Rabbiot we could have signed these 4 players. Which would have been such smart business. Our midfield could have been revamped with Herrera and Cabellos with Pogba ahead of them, thats an amazing midfield for a cost of 0 million.

In the attacking third we could have played Ziyech on the right and Mandukic could start as a forward and we would not be relying on inconsistent Rashy and 27 year old (young) Lingard to disappoint us every match.

We are left soo much behind of other clubs, i actually think none of the big 6 would want our front 6 except maybe Chelsea would but no one else. Infact it was depressing seeing Arsenal was Tottenham yesterday and seeing Spurs have proven quality players like Son, Eriksen, Kane and having the likes of Moura, Le Celso and Dombele also to come in their team. While Arsenal with the front 3 of Pepe, Auba and Laca with the likes of Cabellos and Ozil on the bench. While our best option off the bench is a 17 year old who has played 20 minutes in the league.

Inorder to make up the gap we need to act like Juve and Bayern and pick up quality players on a cheap so that we can sign quantity aswell as quality because after the firesale we are left with very few reliable players.

Lastly it needs to he established who was behind this disastrous summer. If it was Ole then he needs tp be sacked alongside Ed. You are extremely naive if you think this team is good enough for top 4, thus he will deserve to be sacked for his incompetence. Whereas, if it was Ed, then there should be protests and banners to vent our frustration and only that might get him sacked.

 

[hocane]

Why are people talking about top 4? I'm baffled. That was never realistic with our midfield.
Said it before the season started. Ole done well if he get us into the top 6.

 

[#07]

Interesting claim that Ole is trying to coach our forwards to make near posts runs but they seem unable to replicate that in game, which is frustrating him.

At least its clear that he sees the problem, and we're not all losing our minds.

 

[Slysi17]

Well basically I feel Ole's obsession with just signing British will cost him his job and he won't be here at the end of the season. Why only focus on the English leagues/British players when there are tons of quality players around the world who would come who aren't British.

 

[Sultan]

Ole needs support and time from the decision-makers. He's purchased players who have been our best performers over the last 4 games and also got rid of a number of players who were not wanted and a drain on the club. Purchase of a couple of extra players would have been ideal but we don't really have a clue whats' going on behind the scenes.

A few more windows and some patience with inconsistencies expected of young players and we could be on the road to recovery.

Another problem for Ole is the emergence of City and Liverpool, which is hardly his fault.

 

[rotherham_red]

Absolute fecking coward. Greenwood should be starting in a situation like this. He plays Pereira who offers nothing at all. Then he brings Mason on last in the second half. No Gomes in the squad. Fecking coward.

He put Mason on after 55 minutes v Palace and he was ineffectual. Throwing in kids in such circumstances is never a good idea, no matter how good the kid is. Ten minutes at the end, when the game is frantic and there's more space opened up against tired legs is more than fair.

Gomes not coming on the trip was bad though; we've struggled for the last 3 games from creative areas and while Pogba is in the double pivot, that will continue. I'm not sure what more we can do in that position than to give him his shot. Thankfully now that there are 2 games per week, he'll get his chance and it'll be up to him to take it with both hands.

 

[rotherham_red]

Ole needs support and time from the decision-makers. He's purchased players who have been our best performers over the last 4 games and also got rid of a number of players who were not wanted and a drain on the club. Purchase of a couple of extra players would have been ideal but we don't really have a clue whats' going on behind the scenes.

A few more windows and some patience with inconsistencies expected of young players and we could be on the road to recovery.

Another problem for Ole is the emergence of City and Liverpool, which is hardly his fault.

Fully agreed.

 

[Wolff]

He put Mason on after 55 minutes v Palace and he was ineffectual. Throwing in kids in such circumstances is never a good idea, no matter how good the kid is. Ten minutes at the end, when the game is frantic and there's more space opened up against tired legs is more than fair.

Gomes not coming on the trip was bad though; we've struggled for the last 3 games from creative areas and while Pogba is in the double pivot, that will continue. I'm not sure what more we can do in that position than to give him his shot. Thankfully now that there are 2 games per week, he'll get his chance and it'll be up to him to take it with both hands.

There are already a lot of “kids” playing and building relations. Throwing even more on while they are bedding would be very foolish.
They will get their chance.

 

[rotherham_red]

There are already a lot of “kids” playing and building relations. Throwing even more on while they are bedding would be very foolish.
They will get their chance.

This as well.

We're a young team who will have peaks and dips in form from game to game, and even within games.

The issue is though, that Gomes does provide the guile that we have lacked in the last three games. I understand that Ole went with what he knew and throwing kids en masse is a potential recipe for disaster, but I can't help but think Angel would have done something against the packed defences of Palace and Wolves particularly. Especially when you see that Jesse does only half of his job well.

 

[Wolff]

Well basically I feel Ole's obsession with just signing British will cost him his job and he won't be here at the end of the season. Why only focus on the English leagues/British players when there are tons of quality players around the world who would come who aren't British.

There isn’t any obsession. The team is being built with a British stem. That is not foolish at all. And stepping away from paying 70mill on 30 mill players isn’t foolish either. The project is long term, and it is actually going very well!

Some knee jerk fans don’t seem to think so, but Ole isn’t going anywhere for at least one year. If people watched the matches so far AND looked at the statistics they might get their head around that. But I guess some people treat life with a moan. Focusing on what is wrong rather than building on things well. From where I’m sitting, they are doing a lot of right, and even if needing new players, they have the patience to make it the right ones.

 

[johanovic]

talk of missing the point endlessly. I tell you Woodward didn't support yet another manager enough in the window, like he HAS over 4 seasons.

You offer up a ludicrous defence of Woodward, centered around 'he spends heavy' but 'buys were bad' which I declare is nonsense. Asking YOU, in particular, to tells us then who you think spent 'both heavily and badly'. And the best you can come up with is that some how I (the person who ALREADY told you Woodward regularly screws over his managers in the window) supposedly think Solksjaer 'recruited badly'.


I always get amazed at the lengths people on here will go to avoid admiring woowward is a terminal problem to Manchester united and whoever takes the managerial seat
.....

Do you think throwing money out the window fixes things? Go and compare United signings over the last years to our rivals and tell me that again. "You declare it´s a nosense that we have spent a lot of money of substandard players" Then in your wisdom tell me apart from Van Persie and Ibra what players that we have signed have proved to be great signings over the last years?
Fred? Dalot?Lukaku?Matic?Sanchez?Mkhitaryan?Bailly?Schneiderlin?Deapy?Darmian?Schweinsteiger?Di Maria?Herrera?Rojo?Blind?Falcao?Mata?Fellaini? You can perhaps see I left out Shaw,Martial,Romero,Pogba as I would like to belive they can be a important part of our future.
Fact 1: We have the second highest net spend in the PL after Man City
Fact 2: We have(had) the biggest salary cost in the PL
Fact 3: While we spent all this money on sub standard players our rivals signed:
Liverpool signed Fabinho,Vand Dijk,Salah,Mane
Spurs signed Son,Alderweireld,Davies,Moura,Eriksen
Arsenal signed Aubameyang and Lacazette
Even Leicester have signed players that would have turned out well for us in Kante,Ndidi,Maguire,Maddison

I think you could say these players signed by these 4 clubs could all be classed as very good signings. And if you compare this to City and top european clubs the misses in the transfer market only get worse. I bet we could have used some of these players.

How you get it into your head that Woodward regularly screws over his managers while providing them with a lot of money for recruitment just does not add up. The facts are there if you want to look at them but hey perhaps we should have let Moyes,Van Gaal and Mourinho spend more money as their track record over the past years while United managers was good. No the fact is these managers decided on what players they wanted and the there is no hiding from that.

 

[Patience]

Worst start since 92/93. Seems the new way is successful eh?

Dude... you don't seem to get this:

This season is not about being successful; it's about building towards success for the future.

We are steam-cleaning the squad from the mess created by Woodward who insisted on quick fixes; a bit like you are. Now he has seen sense though and is implementing a long-term plan. The same type of plan that was afforded to Busby in the late-40s and Fergie in the late-80s.

We are clearing the decks, creating a young and hungry squad and building towards long-term success (not just quick fix success)... This will take years. Strap yourself in mate. Or maybe emigrate for three years if you can't cope.

We are currently laying down the foundations for this house... we haven't even started to put the brick work on it, let alone the home furnishings... It's a long way off before anyone can move into this house... and the sooner our fan base realise that, the better. I'm sick to death of reading "fans" moan about our long-term strategy... simply because they don't have the patience.

 

[Phil Osophy]

Like it or not Solskjaer will be here for a long, long time, unless we reach some catastrophic situation at some point.

Letting Herrera go without replacement, not replacing Lukaku when Ole said that any player sold would be replaced, seeing the squad being trimmed, and depending on the youngest XI out of 20 teams every week, it's obvious the club is trying to rebuild the squad and readjust the wages spend, considering we had the 3rd biggest salaries in the world before this summer, while the squad was far from being the 3rd best one. It will be the same with De Gea probably, with some others in the exit door already like Matic, Bailly, Rojo, hopefully Jones, Young and we'll see with Fred.

There was so much dross to offload there and they're trying to sell as much as they can, but it's impossible to replace everyone in one window. We don't have a proper football structure to identify good players on a cheap and come up with a list of 10 alternatives for every situation like professional clubs do, so it will take time.

Every manager can be judged and criticized, but it's evident we're in a different stage as a club compared to 4 years ago, when we spent around 200 M one summer and 200 M more the next one without significant sellings.

That money was spent poorly and we're paying the bills now, so the bar needs to be set now a little bit lower. My feeling is Solskjaer will be here to lead that transition period, introduce youngsters and develop them as much as he can, make accurate signings looking to the future, try to instill a more energetic approach compared to the last 6 years, leaving a good basis to push hard again probably with another manager.

This is why I can understand certain level of criticism and I share part of it, but I think it's pointless to over analyze things as we're there fighting for major achievements, and ask for radical measures or any manager to improve immediate results at any cost. That's not the story now.

I keep reading also about the wonderful 2nd place team with Mourinho, but nobody says we were the 6th team with more shots in the league and 7th with less conceded. Certain players were hitting good form before World Cup, a superman De Gea, Lingard looking like a proper player, Lukaku still didn't look like Bob Sapp, but once they came back from the World Cup they couldn't save us anymore when we played poorly.

If that second place had been on Mourinho tactics and management, he could have replicated similar results next season despite not signing many players, as Pochettino did with no one actually, but that second place was nothing but a farce, and a sum of circumstances not related with Jose.

Now the same people who were pleased with that team after 400 M invested, loses his head with the current manager after our 52 shots in the last three games while we only conceded 21, because you know, there's flaws in the team, Solskjaer is not doing a perfect job, in some certain moment we allowed a player to cross a ball, and we defend set pieces poorly. Look around all those teams doing everything perfectly, while this guy can't do anything right after taking over the great, supreme 2nd team of Jose Mourinho that was close to midtable teams in December. Goodness me.

I think the club should communicate more and better to educate the fans to be patient when it's needed and understand the current situation, this talking generally. The problem is they're the main ones without any football education. And about the last three games, if these guys didn't bottle it time and time again and had won these three games as they should, we would be higher up the league table and we wouldn't see the crap and the noise around the manager there's been here in the last weeks, I'm convinced of it.

 

[Jerome Holland]

Listen, I don't pretend to have played at a great level. Or that watching on tv can possibly compare to actually being on the pitch. But. There are a few things that, as a sports fan of many different disciplines, absolutely terrifies me about Ole's United:

1. The goalkick rule changed this year, and our response is to be f*cking terrible: So hot news, you can put you're CBs in the box now. Ole's clocked that. But. We put the two of em on either side of De Gea. And every single team so far has worked out that our full backs can't handle a quick ball into feet. So they man mark, and literally every damn time against Southampton De Gea has punted it long. To Marcus Rashford. Who won exactly 0 aerial duels. All match. I can forgive the first half, it's hard to speak to the keeper from the halfway line. But we kept doing it all second half.

2. Ashley Young and the mystery of the floated cross: There was a time when we had a big lump of a striker, and even better, a giant tree of a midfielder who would take up excellent positions at the back post. In those halcyon days, a left full back could be forgiven for attempting such lofted chips constantly, especially when chasing a match. But it's the f*cking manager's responsibility to tell the daft idiot to stop when our forward line is as likely to win the national lottery as a ball in the air. Admittedly, young Ashley must bear a chunk of the blame here, but it speaks to a pattern.

3. Paul Pogba holding the ball when just outside our box: I get it. Paul's mercurial. Our best outfield player. Someone who needs freedom. Also someone who would get loads more fouls from refs if he wasn't, well Paul Pogba. But he keeps punching himself in the face, so to speak, by trying daft sh*t in dangerous situations. Again, I don't blame him per se, it's what Paul does. But it's the manager's job to stop it happening. It is costing us goals every other week, and yet it continues. If Ole can't change the behaviour, move the player out of dangerous situations.

4. We are one of the worst teams in the league on corner kicks. Both sides of the pitch. We concede more, and we score less. This is not some spur of the moment, random chance encounter. This is one of the few pieces of football a coaching team can prepare for. And we're god-awful. That is inexcusable for an 'elite' coaching team.

5. Tempo and game management: Palace absolutely schooled us at the dark arts/game management. And how did Ole's United respond? By taking it and being nice. They wasted time from minute 1, had the trainer on the pitch 5 times, committed cynical tackles all the way through and what did we do about it? Nothing. Enjoyed the water breaks as far as I could tell. You think a top-level manager allows that to happen?

6. Letting opposition dictate which centre back to target: So we have two centre backs, and only of them appears to know how to win the ball in the air. What does the opposition do? Obviously hoof it at the other one. What do we do in response? Pray?

I love Ole, and desperately wish things would work out. I love what he's doing with the squad, and I'm optimistic that he's convinced the ownership about a better direction in terms of recruitment. But I cannot overlook these and many other gaping f*cking holes in his managerial ability. And if it's not him, and it's the coaching staff - well guess what that's his fault too.

I don't believe there is a single United fan that wouldn't have dreamed about a world where Ole's United had us back at the top, and further, would have put up with us back in the top 4. But I see nothing - and I really want to - from his managerial and coaching ability to date that suggests he's an elite level manager. And if we want to succeed, that's what we need. If there is a chance to move him to a DoF role, and recruit an elite coach, I'd be on that in a heartbeat.

I agree with your points 100%, i dont live in the UK but i support United 110% and i cannot be discounted because of where i was born. The reason i bring this up is because being geographically situated seems as if we do not have an opinion as a match day going supporter. I buy the merchandise i know all the songs but i see we get told we do not attend matches so we cannot form an opinion on certain things.

Anybody can see that Ole is being caught out tactically week in and week out. It is 1 thing to go around and slate people for seeing what is glaringly obvious. He has a plan yes, in his head its going to work but in reality what divine right does he have to be a good Manager. this world is filled with mediocre coaches and not everyone can be a Klopp or Pep.

I dont believe he is good enough not because of the bad results but by what my eyes are showing me. His in game management is not good enough and he has an inexperienced team with Mike Phelan being the exception. He could be given time but if results do not change he will inevitably be sacked.

 

[dove]

Like it or not Solskjaer will be here for a long, long time, unless we reach some catastrophic situation at some point.

Doubt it very much. If we finish hopelessly out of TOP 4, he will be deservedly sacked.

 

[Rozay]

He put Mason on after 55 minutes v Palace and he was ineffectual. Throwing in kids in such circumstances is never a good idea, no matter how good the kid is. Ten minutes at the end, when the game is frantic and there's more space opened up against tired legs is more than fair.

Gomes not coming on the trip was bad though; we've struggled for the last 3 games from creative areas and while Pogba is in the double pivot, that will continue. I'm not sure what more we can do in that position than to give him his shot. Thankfully now that there are 2 games per week, he'll get his chance and it'll be up to him to take it with both hands.

Yes but Martial was not injured against Palace. The circumstances were different.

Also, it doesn’t work like that. Because he didn’t come on and save your ass from the bench you don’t punish him the next game.

My main point is that Ole has implied he is next in line. He didn’t inform us that he’s behind Pereira in the forward line.

Gomes is another matter too. I don’t have a huge problem with these kids not playing in and of itself, it is more in the context that we have no senior options that are good enough, and even simply in terms of numbers, yet they still can’t play.

 

[Phil Osophy]

Doubt it very much. If we finish hopelessly out of TOP 4, he will be deservedly sacked.

It's fair, time will tell.

 

[7even]

Dude... you don't seem to get this:

This season is not about being successful; it's about building towards success for the future.

We are steam cleaning the squad form the mess created by Woodward who insisted on quick fixes; a bit like you are.

Now we are clearing the decks, creating a young and hungry squad and building towards long-term success (not just quick fix success)... This will take years. Strap yourself in mate. Or maybe emigrate for three years if you can't cope.

No no no... another one who wants to move the goal post.

One window and improving fitness! Get his own players! Using the pre season to make us play the way he wants! Have I missed something?

Now it will take YEARS. Three (3) years of I understand you correctly.

I (we) don’t looking for instant success. Nobody except us to challenge City or Liverpool the next coming three years but top four is well inside our reach. Anything less is a failure no matter how you look at it.

I’m all in on clearing the deck. I’m also on in all building towards long term success. We all are onboard on that train.

But I’m not onboard keeping a manager who don’t have the knowledge and experience to make our players better. Someone who continues to do the same mistakes over and over again by using a formation who doesn’t work. I’m not at that train.

So far Solksjaer is worse then Moyes, that’s fact. David Moyes was sacked at the end of the season. History will repeat itself if we don’t dramatically improve our results, mark my words.

 

[rotherham_red]

Like it or not Solskjaer will be here for a long, long time, unless we reach some catastrophic situation at some point.

Letting Herrera go without replacement, not replacing Lukaku when Ole said that any player sold would be replaced, seeing the squad being trimmed, and depending on the youngest XI out of 20 teams every week, it's obvious the club is trying to rebuild the squad and readjust the wages spend, considering we had the 3rd biggest salaries in the world before this summer, while the squad was far from being the 3rd best one. It will be the same with De Gea probably, with some others in the exit door already like Matic, Bailly, Rojo, hopefully Jones, Young and we'll see with Fred.

There was so much dross to offload there and they're trying to sell as much as they can, but it's impossible to replace everyone in one window. We don't have a proper football structure to identify good players on a cheap and come up with a list of 10 alternatives for every situation like professional clubs do, so it will take time.

Every manager can be judged and criticized, but it's evident we're in a different stage as a club compared to 4 years ago, when we spent around 200 M one summer and 200 M more the next one without significant sellings.

That money was spent poorly and we're paying the bills now, so the bar needs to be set now a little bit lower. My feeling is Solskjaer will be here to lead that transition period, introduce youngsters and develope them as much as he can, make accurate signings looking to the future, try to instill a more energetic approach compared to the last 6 years, leaving a good basis to push hard again probably with another manager.

This is why I can understand certain level of criticism and I share part of it, but I think it's pointless to over analyze things as we're there fighting for major achievements, and ask for radical measures or any manager to improve immediate results at any cost. That's not the story now.

I keep reading also about the wonderful 2nd place team with Mourinho, but nobody says we were the 6th team with more shots in the league and 7th with less conceded. Certain players were hitting good form before World Cup, a superman De Gea, Lingard looking like a proper player, Lukaku still didn't look like Bob Sapp, but once they came back from the World Cup they couldn't save us anymore when we played poorly.

If that second place had been on Mourinho tactics and management, he could have replicated similar results next season despite not signing many players, as Pochettino did with no one actually, but that second place was nothing but a farce, and a sum of circumstances not related with Jose.

Now the same people who were pleased with that team after 400 M invested, loses his head with the current manager after our 52 shots in the last three games while we only conceded 21, because you know, there's flaws in the team, Solskjaer is not doing a perfect job, in some certain moment we allowed a player to cross a ball, and we defend set pieces poorly. Look around all those teams doing everything perfectly, while this guy can't do anything right after taking over the great, supreme 2nd team of Jose Mourinho that was close to midtable teams in December. Goodness me.

I think the club should communicate more and better to educate the fans to be patient when it's needed and understand the current situation, this talking generally. The problem is they're the main ones without any football education. And about the last three games, if these guys didn't bottle it time and time again and had won these three games as they should, we would be higher up the league table and we wouldn't see the crap and the noise around the manager there's been here in the last weeks, I'm convinced of it.

Good post. Almost totally agree. I still have some hope that he's the man to see it all come to fruition, but it's understandable that others don't.

On Jose; these are the facts: He took LvG's team who finished level on 4th and missed out on GD, and took them to 6th. He then relied on a freak season from De Gea to get 2nd when everyone else could see we really should have been nowhere near, and then proceeded to take us back to 6th and dangerously close to being overtaken by Wolves, Bournemouth and Everton.

The love he gets from the Jose Truthers is downright scary.

I think there is a massive disconnect also, between the online fanbase, and the matchgoing crowd. You don't see anywhere near the extent of discontent at a game than you do on the forums and social media. People can dress it up how they like, but the fans at the game can see the effort that's being put in by the players, the tactical set up that Ole's implementing, etc - things that you don't really fully appreciate on a TV/laptop screen.

We can see that in its broadest sense, Ole's doing things the right way on the pitch but we are letting ourselves down with these 10-15 minute periods where we lose our concentration and grip on the game. It's natural that this will happen - we have the youngest team in the league after all, and it will most likely end up even younger once the likes of Greenwood, Gomes, Garner, Chong etc break through fully.

The onus is on us as a fanbase to be patient; take the rough with the smooth, and watch a young and exciting team develop. If we don't get top 4, then so be it, but stick to the plan. Not sticking to any semblance of a plan for the last 6 years is what has put us in this position.

 

[johanovic]

Good post. Almost totally agree. I still have some hope that he's the man to see it all come to fruition, but it's understandable that others don't.

On Jose; these are the facts: He took LvG's team who finished level on 4th and missed out on GD, and took them to 6th. He then relied on a freak season from De Gea to get 2nd when everyone else could see we really should have been nowhere near, and then proceeded to take us back to 6th and dangerously close to being overtaken by Wolves, Bournemouth and Everton.

The love he gets from the Jose Truthers is downright scary.

I think there is a massive disconnect also, between the online fanbase, and the matchgoing crowd. You don't see anywhere near the extent of discontent at a game than you do on the forums and social media. People can dress it up how they like, but the fans at the game can see the effort that's being put in by the players, the tactical set up that Ole's implementing, etc - things that you don't really fully appreciate on a TV/laptop screen.

We can see that in its broadest sense, Ole's doing things the right way on the pitch but we are letting ourselves down with these 10-15 minute periods where we lose our concentration and grip on the game. It's natural that this will happen - we have the youngest team in the league after all, and it will most likely end up even younger once the likes of Greenwood, Gomes, Garner, Chong etc break through fully.

The onus is on us as a fanbase to be patient; take the rough with the smooth, and watch a young and exciting team develop. If we don't get top 4, then so be it, but stick to the plan. Not sticking to any semblance of a plan for the last 6 years is what has put us in this position.

Agree with both of you and OGS has got rid of 7 players with the need to get rid of another 7 to 8 players in the coming windows. Matic,Mata,Young,Rojo,Jones,Fred,Bailly,Lingard and Fosu Mensah are hardly going to be big parts of a future United team. At least those not those in the latter stages of their careers will have to step up big time if they want to be here.

 

[rotherham_red]

Yes but Martial was not injured against Palace. The circumstances were different.

Also, it doesn’t work like that. Because he didn’t come on and save your ass from the bench you don’t punish him the next game.

My main point is that Ole has implied he is next in line. He didn’t inform us that he’s behind Pereira in the forward line.

Gomes is another matter too. I don’t have a huge problem with these kids not playing in and of itself, it is more in the context that we have no senior options that are good enough, and even simply in terms of numbers, yet they still can’t play.

Apologies if I'm wrong, as I was at the game and my view wasn't the best; but I thought Pereira was in the middle, or started on the right and moved centrally?

Maybe Greenwood could have started, but at the end of the day, he's 17. The pressure that he'll be under starting such a game (which due to the previous result was close to a must-win) is going to do him no favours. This isn't like us coasting at a 3 or 4-0 and putting him on, and it's not like we're in a good space right now where the kids can be played with little to no worries. Greenwood playing substantial minutes in a period where we're not doing so well can be counterproductive.

I'm not saying it's a punishment, I'm just saying calling Ole a coward for not doing something he literally did the week before is a bit much. Also, considering how many appearances he's had off the bench compared to Pereira this season (4 compared to the 2 starts and 1 sub appearance predominantly from midfield that Pereira has had) I think it's fair to say that Greenwood is the next in line.

At the end of the day, the season is 4 games old, and there are at least another 45 or so games to go. If Greenwood isn't getting starts in the league by Xmas, then it's either because he hasn't done enough in the EL and LC games, or Ole is at fault. If it's the latter, then I'll get off the Ole bandwagon, but he's shown just how much he rates him by selling Lukaku and binning off Sanchez. Actions speak louder than words, and one game away at Southampton isn't enough to tell us one way or the other as to how Ole sees Greenwood.

I don't necessarily disagree re Gomes, but throwing in all the kids when we already have the youngest team in the league is potentially very counterproductive. We need to take our time with this rebuild, it might be that we take one step back to take two forward. This is where the board badly let Ole down. A midfielder & a 10 were absolutely essential and Ed was derelict in his duty.

 

[ThinkTank@Cafe]

I’d like to sum up the most popular questions/issues raised by “Ole is not good enough” posters.

Why Lukaku, Fellaini, Herrera has not been replaced?

Sounds a good question, a legit concern for a caring fan. The key word is “sounds”. Here we have a good example of how modern journalism and mass mind function. Replacing someone who left with someone who is new has nothing to do with the entity operations. it’s just a slogan. Buying players and selling players are different processes.

In short, the answer is because now we have a transfer policy. Transfer policy means a set of rules on HOW the club should buy players. If available players don’t fit our vision, we don’t buy. This also makes our transfer approach more club oriented rather than a manager oriented.

“I have to replace Lukaku, Fellaini, and Herrera” is a short term coach argument, basically it says “if I don’t get whatever I want, I will not guarantee the results and start power games in media”. That is how we ended up with the squad full of useless players. An experienced CEO would tell the manager to f**k off. Woodward, being a newbie decided to follow managers vision and got us in trouble.

As a result, we have two different tasks: 1. getting rid of deadwood. This process brings benefits on its own (I mean no “replacing” complications): optimizing wage structure, improving atmosphere, etc.

2. Building the squad, I.e. buying right players for the right prices. This requires right timing. Scouting department should adapt. Did we scout Championship enough? Dan James says hi. A lot of processes being altered.

PROs and CONs
PROs are obvious: better squad, better atmosphere, motivated players, better cooperation in clubs hierarchy, better prices when we sell, better transfers, etc.

CONs
Short term results suffer. “No midfield”, “basic mistakes”, “only two strikers” - most of these concerns are completely legit. People right to point them out, but too fast to call OGS “rookie”, “inept”, “yes man”.

Ole taking big risks, he risks HIS reputation to help the club. Just be patient, Ole is a different story. He is not Moyes, LVG or JM.

 

[rotherham_red]

I’d like to sum up the most popular questions/issues raised by “Ole is not good enough” posters.

Why Lukaku, Fellaini, Herrera has not been replaced?

Sounds a good question, a legit concern for a caring fan. The key word is “sounds”. Here we have a good example of how modern journalism and mass mind function. Replacing someone who left with someone who is new has nothing to do with the entity operations. it’s just a slogan. Buying players and selling players are different processes.

In short, the answer is because now we have a transfer policy. Transfer policy means a set of rules on HOW the club should buy players. If available players don’t fit our vision, we don’t buy. This also makes our transfer approach more club oriented rather than a manager oriented.

“I have to replace Lukaku, Fellaini, and Herrera” is a short term coach argument, basically it says “if I don’t get whatever I want, I will not guarantee the results and start power games in media”. That is how we ended up with the squad full of useless players. An experienced CEO would tell the manager to f**k off. Woodward, being a newbie decided to follow managers vision and got us in trouble.

As a result, we have two different tasks: 1. getting rid of deadwood. This process brings benefits on its own (I mean no “replacing” complications): optimizing wage structure, improving atmosphere, etc.

2. Building the squad, I.e. buying right players for the right prices. This requires right timing. Scouting department should adapt. Did we scout Championship enough? Dan James says hi. A lot of processes being altered.

PROs and CONs
PROs are obvious: better squad, better atmosphere, motivated players, better cooperation in clubs hierarchy, better prices when we sell, better transfers, etc.

CONs
Short term results suffer. “No midfield”, “basic mistakes”, “only two strikers” - most of these concerns are completely legit. People right to point them out, but too fast to call OGS “rookie”, “inept”, “yes man”.

Ole taking big risks, he risks HIS reputation to help the club. Just be patient, Ole is a different story. He is not Moyes, LVG or JM.

Totally agree. I understand their frustration at the micro elements of Ole's tenure (Lingard always playing, subs etc) but I don't get the people who want a scorched earth policy and razing the ground all over again. For the first time since Fergie, I can see a plan and we need to stick to it. If we don't get 4th, then the failings of Ed in failing to back the manager are what have caused it. Ole with a midfielder or two and a 10 would have been so much better. Right now, we have 8 or 9 players who are an XI, and it shows.

 

[Hawks2008]

Well basically I feel Ole's obsession with just signing British will cost him his job and he won't be here at the end of the season. Why only focus on the English leagues/British players when there are tons of quality players around the world who would come who aren't British.

Foreign players don't get us, they just want to play tippy tappy shite in farmer leagues. Homegrown players have so much passion and love for United they bleed red!

 

[7even]

I’d like to sum up the most popular questions/issues raised by “Ole is not good enough” posters.

Why Lukaku, Fellaini, Herrera has not been replaced?

Sounds a good question, a legit concern for a caring fan. The key word is “sounds”. Here we have a good example of how modern journalism and mass mind function. Replacing someone who left with someone who is new has nothing to do with the entity operations. it’s just a slogan. Buying players and selling players are different processes.

In short, the answer is because now we have a transfer policy. Transfer policy means a set of rules on HOW the club should buy players. If available players don’t fit our vision, we don’t buy. This also makes our transfer approach more club oriented rather than a manager oriented.

“I have to replace Lukaku, Fellaini, and Herrera” is a short term coach argument, basically it says “if I don’t get whatever I want, I will not guarantee the results and start power games in media”. That is how we ended up with the squad full of useless players. An experienced CEO would tell the manager to f**k off. Woodward, being a newbie decided to follow managers vision and got us in trouble.

As a result, we have two different tasks: 1. getting rid of deadwood. This process brings benefits on its own (I mean no “replacing” complications): optimizing wage structure, improving atmosphere, etc.

2. Building the squad, I.e. buying right players for the right prices. This requires right timing. Scouting department should adapt. Did we scout Championship enough? Dan James says hi. A lot of processes being altered.

PROs and CONs
PROs are obvious: better squad, better atmosphere, motivated players, better cooperation in clubs hierarchy, better prices when we sell, better transfers, etc.

CONs
Short term results suffer. “No midfield”, “basic mistakes”, “only two strikers” - most of these concerns are completely legit. People right to point them out, but too fast to call OGS “rookie”, “inept”, “yes man”.

Ole taking big risks, he risks HIS reputation to help the club. Just be patient, Ole is a different story. He is not Moyes, LVG or JM.

Nothing wrong with the long term plan, the new philosophy. Nobody has major concerns about taking the club in a new direction.

Our concerns is if our manager is the best candidate and best suited to take this club forward. That’s the real question!

 

[Jerome Holland]

Nothing wrong with the long term plan, the new philosophy. Nobody has major concerns about taking the club in a new direction.

Our concerns is if our manager is the best candidate and best suited to take this club forward. That’s the real question!

Perfectly summed up.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

I have nothing against Ole,it’s not his fault that he’s simply not good enough to manage at this level...I”m sure he’s giving his best day in,day out.I”m furious with Woodward and the Glazers for giving him the job after a good couple of months....A staggeringly foolish decision that will push us further down the abyss....Ole will be gone at the end of the season...and then we have to start the process all over again...

 

[Rozay]

Apologies if I'm wrong, as I was at the game and my view wasn't the best; but I thought Pereira was in the middle, or started on the right and moved centrally?

Maybe Greenwood could have started, but at the end of the day, he's 17. The pressure that he'll be under starting such a game (which due to the previous result was close to a must-win) is going to do him no favours. This isn't like us coasting at a 3 or 4-0 and putting him on, and it's not like we're in a good space right now where the kids can be played with little to no worries. Greenwood playing substantial minutes in a period where we're not doing so well can be counterproductive.

I'm not saying it's a punishment, I'm just saying calling Ole a coward for not doing something he literally did the week before is a bit much. Also, considering how many appearances he's had off the bench compared to Pereira this season (4 compared to the 2 starts and 1 sub appearance predominantly from midfield that Pereira has had) I think it's fair to say that Greenwood is the next in line.

At the end of the day, the season is 4 games old, and there are at least another 45 or so games to go. If Greenwood isn't getting starts in the league by Xmas, then it's either because he hasn't done enough in the EL and LC games, or Ole is at fault. If it's the latter, then I'll get off the Ole bandwagon, but he's shown just how much he rates him by selling Lukaku and binning off Sanchez. Actions speak louder than words, and one game away at Southampton isn't enough to tell us one way or the other as to how Ole sees Greenwood.

I don't necessarily disagree re Gomes, but throwing in all the kids when we already have the youngest team in the league is potentially very counterproductive. We need to take our time with this rebuild, it might be that we take one step back to take two forward. This is where the board badly let Ole down. A midfielder & a 10 were absolutely essential and Ed was derelict in his duty.

We are not going to be coasting 3-0 or 4-0 in games. We’re not that team. We are less likely to be doing that if we line up with Pereira on the right.

Ultimately, the principle of not starting a 17 year old is very easily comprehended. I get it. I don’t believe it fits our context is all. We have gotten rid of two senior forwards. Then one got injured. Mason is not a youth player, so people need to be less hung up on his age. He’s now a full-time first team player. He hasn’t appeared in one academy squad. Not even in the glorified academy squad that made their ‘first-team debuts’ against Rotherham. So he is a first team forward. One of a very small number of first team forwards we have. So when one of them got injured, I think it was cowardly for Ole to bring Pereira into the team instead of Mason.

The whole point of me calling it cowardly is because Mason is 17! There in lies the braveness, playing a young player! If he were 23 and did not blame him, it would not be cowardice, it’d be something else. However, not replacing one forward with your next forward because he is 17, would suggest to me that he was not brave enough to do so. He is a better forward than Andreas Pereira after all. We may win the game if we had an additional forward who could provide some threat. If Mason is unable to provide that threat because he’s 17, that is fine too, but then we are obviously short in attack then because we need someone who can. If we feel Mason can’t be the cover, don’t make him the cover. Keep Sanchez. Or sign Llorente. But we didn’t do those things, citing Mason’s ability, but when it came down to it, we played Pereira. We could have all seen that was not a suitable alternative, so why sell Sanchez and Lukaku?

It would be fine if Greenwood was still in the reserves and we went with more senior forwards. However, he isn’t, he’s been brought up to the first team, yet we are playing Andreas when Martial is injured.

 

[Patience]

Like it or not Solskjaer will be here for a long, long time, unless we reach some catastrophic situation at some point.

Letting Herrera go without replacement, not replacing Lukaku when Ole said that any player sold would be replaced, seeing the squad being trimmed, and depending on the youngest XI out of 20 teams every week, it's obvious the club is trying to rebuild the squad and readjust the wages spend, considering we had the 3rd biggest salaries in the world before this summer, while the squad was far from being the 3rd best one. It will be the same with De Gea probably, with some others in the exit door already like Matic, Bailly, Rojo, hopefully Jones, Young and we'll see with Fred.

There was so much dross to offload there and they're trying to sell as much as they can, but it's impossible to replace everyone in one window. We don't have a proper football structure to identify good players on a cheap and come up with a list of 10 alternatives for every situation like professional clubs do, so it will take time.

Every manager can be judged and criticized, but it's evident we're in a different stage as a club compared to 4 years ago, when we spent around 200 M one summer and 200 M more the next one without significant sellings.

That money was spent poorly and we're paying the bills now, so the bar needs to be set now a little bit lower. My feeling is Solskjaer will be here to lead that transition period, introduce youngsters and develop them as much as he can, make accurate signings looking to the future, try to instill a more energetic approach compared to the last 6 years, leaving a good basis to push hard again probably with another manager.

This is why I can understand certain level of criticism and I share part of it, but I think it's pointless to over analyze things as we're there fighting for major achievements, and ask for radical measures or any manager to improve immediate results at any cost. That's not the story now.

I keep reading also about the wonderful 2nd place team with Mourinho, but nobody says we were the 6th team with more shots in the league and 7th with less conceded. Certain players were hitting good form before World Cup, a superman De Gea, Lingard looking like a proper player, Lukaku still didn't look like Bob Sapp, but once they came back from the World Cup they couldn't save us anymore when we played poorly.

If that second place had been on Mourinho tactics and management, he could have replicated similar results next season despite not signing many players, as Pochettino did with no one actually, but that second place was nothing but a farce, and a sum of circumstances not related with Jose.

Now the same people who were pleased with that team after 400 M invested, loses his head with the current manager after our 52 shots in the last three games while we only conceded 21, because you know, there's flaws in the team, Solskjaer is not doing a perfect job, in some certain moment we allowed a player to cross a ball, and we defend set pieces poorly. Look around all those teams doing everything perfectly, while this guy can't do anything right after taking over the great, supreme 2nd team of Jose Mourinho that was close to midtable teams in December. Goodness me.

I think the club should communicate more and better to educate the fans to be patient when it's needed and understand the current situation, this talking generally. The problem is they're the main ones without any football education. And about the last three games, if these guys didn't bottle it time and time again and had won these three games as they should, we would be higher up the league table and we wouldn't see the crap and the noise around the manager there's been here in the last weeks, I'm convinced of it.

First off; you are absolutely right. 100 per cent correct.

This is a slow build, but the kind of slow build in which we have seen our greatest ever successes in the past

But just to answer your point in bold above. It would obvioulsy be great in some respects to get absolute clarity on where the club are headed and what they are thinking.

But there is a danger in this: The club don't want to put out in the media that we are looking at a 3-4 year rebuild to get back to the top for the simple reason that when we go into the market next summer to buy a Jadon Sancho or a Declan Rice (whoever) we don't want them knowing, through the media, that we won't be challenging for titles until 2023/2024... So there has to be caution taken with what the club communicate. We are unlikely to get the signings in we want if EVERYBODY is privy to our long-term plan.

The big problem with this lack of clarity though is that some - A LOT - of our fans don't understand the nature of a rebuild and are fecking screaming for Ole to be sacked and Allegri to be brought in. This is the problem with being a United supporter in general - a lot of our fan base only judge us on a match-to-match basis. A lot of fans do not understand long-term strategy.. they just don't get it. The good news is; the regular match-day fan gets it - it's just idiots on keyboards in internet forums and in comment sections on news sites that we have to suffer with unfortunately. It's up to them to educate themselves and to be open minded about what the club are doing... the club shouldn't have to spell it out to them.

But I definitely know where you're coming from. I wish - like you - everybody could see what we are doing.

The worst thing about being a United fan is other United fans, am I right?

 

[Phil Osophy]

Good post. Almost totally agree. I still have some hope that he's the man to see it all come to fruition, but it's understandable that others don't.

On Jose; these are the facts: He took LvG's team who finished level on 4th and missed out on GD, and took them to 6th. He then relied on a freak season from De Gea to get 2nd when everyone else could see we really should have been nowhere near, and then proceeded to take us back to 6th and dangerously close to being overtaken by Wolves, Bournemouth and Everton.

The love he gets from the Jose Truthers is downright scary.

I think there is a massive disconnect also, between the online fanbase, and the matchgoing crowd. You don't see anywhere near the extent of discontent at a game than you do on the forums and social media. People can dress it up how they like, but the fans at the game can see the effort that's being put in by the players, the tactical set up that Ole's implementing, etc - things that you don't really fully appreciate on a TV/laptop screen.

We can see that in its broadest sense, Ole's doing things the right way on the pitch but we are letting ourselves down with these 10-15 minute periods where we lose our concentration and grip on the game. It's natural that this will happen - we have the youngest team in the league after all, and it will most likely end up even younger once the likes of Greenwood, Gomes, Garner, Chong etc break through fully.

The onus is on us as a fanbase to be patient; take the rough with the smooth, and watch a young and exciting team develop. If we don't get top 4, then so be it, but stick to the plan. Not sticking to any semblance of a plan for the last 6 years is what has put us in this position.

I think the same about the social media phenomenon, but it's probably just a matter of numbers. There's millions of fans around the world, so there will be always an unhappy percentage with the manager.

That percentage means a lot of angry international fans, while at OT it would be a minority of the stadium, surely isolated in different zones and seats, but there will be always different opinions and it's part of the game after all.

In any case I think people would understand better if the club explained things better, more concretely the current plan that I'm sure is highly influenced by the wages issue. It's not just that we have a vastly overpaid squad, but with those wages being paid to mediocre players any decent one would want crazy numbers like Herrera, like Alexis did or De Gea asking for the moon, so the snowball was getting bigger and bigger and it had to end at some point, and it means doing a big reset.

From that point, I don't think any manager with certain reputation would have accepted to lead that process, and being given a bunch of kids from the academy to fill the holes. Any manager at certain level want assurances and proper backing to accept a job because that's his reputation in play, and clearly the club wasn't ready to get crazy with the spending so the options were always limited.

The thing is even in this situation the man is improving our football with still important margin to improve of course, but they did the schoolwork in the summer and the team is better prepared physically, there's good intentions on the field and more attacking intent than we had in the last 6 years. We clearly deserved more in the first 4 games and I'm sure the general feeling would be better, like after beating Chelsea with (in my opinion) a very questionable first half. Out of curiosity the rest has been fine for me, far from perfect but decent enough, and we couldn't win anyone. It's football.

 

[momo83]

You give the impression that he have total control on transfers - very naive if you think so

Ok. Ed told Solskjær that Lukaku and Fellaini had to go and it was nothing to do with Ole who clearly wanted them to stay, as we saw from the moment that he arrived he made them integral to his team.

 

[momo83]

To me it is more than if the board supported him or did not support him. He was all for selling Lukaku and Fellaini. In fact he got rid of him in January. Getting rid of Lukaku is not an issue but getting a replacement is the issue. Clubs do not buy players like at the pound shop. It is never instant cash transfer so getting a replacement for him before he goes would have been good management. Ole could have refused to sell Lukaku unless he gets a replacement.
Anyone decent would have been better than what is happening right now.

I also have issues about the basic coaching of the team. Forget about the style. The basics of defending is not in the team. It definitely is a coaching issue. We do not know how to defend against any set pieces. These should be practiced daily until mistakes are eliminated. Look at how our full backs defend against crosses. They turn their backs on the opposing player and also let them cross. These are fundamental mistakes that anyone can see yet it is not being corrected. Look at the goal Wolves scored against us. Why is there no United player putting pressure on the Wolves player? Why was he allowed to shoot from that range?

Look at our own set pieces. It is always beyond the far post to Maguire. Always. Either that or hit the first defender in front of the near post. No variation at all. No near post flicks at all. This is utter madness. I really wonder what do they do at practice? The players cannot make a decent pass, no decent free kicks, no decent movements off the ball. Not even a decent throw in. These things must be put on the manager's responsibility. Yes they press sometimes and when we get the ball, the players do not know what to do with it.
Ole has no clue when it does not go according to his plan. In reality it never goes according to plan. Only a fool would play Pogba and McTominay in a two man midfield. Especially when Pogba is the holding player. He is bound to lose possession in dangerous areas because the opposition can afford to press him closer to our box than theirs. This means when they have two players on Pogba he loses possession and they are closer to our goal. It does not matter much if they cannot get the ball of him too if he is so deep in our own half.
If he is closer to their own box, then they have to also put two players on him but by doing this they are reducing two players in midfield and making it easier for our midfield to deal with anything that may come. Furthermore, Pogba up forward can create more dangerous situations and also can shoot from long range. This is crazy so far this season to play with a two man midfield of Pogab and Scott.

This. Sadly, with Moyes “support your manager” blinded many to his incompetence for many many months.

With Ole it’s the fact that he’s a legend of a player for us and probably people have delusions of him doing a Pep/Zidane that blinds them to his incompetence... I really fear for this season.

Fact is past several years we’ve been in or near abouts the top four. If Ole stays this is the year where we lose touch completely.

 

[7even]

I think the same about the social media phenomenon, but it's probably just a matter of numbers. There's millions of fans around the world, so there will be always an unhappy percentage with the manager.

That percentage means a lot of angry international fans, while at OT it would be a minority of the stadium, surely isolated in different zones and seats, but there will be always different opinions and it's part of the game after all.

In any case I think people would understand better if the club explained things better, more concretely the current plan that I'm sure is highly influenced by the wages issue. It's not just that we have a vastly overpaid squad, but with those wages being paid to mediocre players any decent one would want crazy numbers like Herrera, like Alexis did or De Gea asking for the moon, so the snowball was getting bigger and bigger and it had to end at some point, and it means doing a big reset.

From that point, I don't think any manager with certain reputation would have accepted to lead that process, and being given a bunch of kids from the academy to fill the holes. Any manager at certain level want assurances and proper backing to accept a job because that's his reputation in play, and clearly the club wasn't ready to get crazy with the spending so the options were always limited.

The thing is even in this situation the man is improving our football with still important margin to improve of course, but they did the schoolwork in the summer and the team is better prepared physically, there's good intentions on the field and more attacking intent than we had in the last 6 years. We clearly deserved more in the first 4 games and I'm sure the general feeling would be better, like after beating Chelsea with (in my opinion) a very questionable first half. Out of curiosity the rest has been fine for me, far from perfect but decent enough, and we couldn't win anyone. It's football.

Most supporters perfectly understands what’s going on. Don’t underestimate people’s intelligence. That’s the first step to arrogance.

I’m not sure about your second part about “the man improving our football with still important margin”.

I let the results the last 10-15 games speaks for itself. Improvements...

 

[rotherham_red]

This. Sadly, with Moyes “support your manager” blinded many to his incompetence for many many months.

With Ole it’s the fact that he’s a legend of a player for us and probably people have delusions of him doing a Pep/Zidane that blinds them to his incompetence... I really fear for this season.

Fact is past several years we’ve been in or near abouts the top four. If Ole stays this is the year where we lose touch completely.

As opposed to last season, where Jose left us closer to the relegation zone in terms of points to the top 2? Or that we were perilously close to being overtaken by Wolves and Everton? How about his first season, where he finished one place higher than David Moyes despite spending over £180m net?

No, in your infinite wisdom this is the season where we'll lose touch to Arsenal, Spurs, and Chelsea. The former we're currently only two points behind, and the latter two, we're ahead on GD...