Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[tenpoless]

Ole Solskjaer [Manager]
Tactics :

• Likes to play on the counter
• Plays defensively against bigger teams
• Plays more attackingly against smaller teams (but still relying on the counter)
• Likes fast as feck players
• Likes players to play it fast
• Likes players to press fast
• Likes easy fast goals
• Passing aren't very important, just be fast
• Always confident

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

He parked the bus and played on the counter against all these. Nothing really extra ordinary here. Good defensive set up but that's about it. That's how small teams play exactly against us, park the bus and counter then score. Weird that Mourinho was getting hammered for same tactics against big teams but now for Ole it's "out thinking the opposition". I for one doesn't have much problem with parking the bus tactics but the contraindications of opinions between now and 18 months is weird for me.

So are you suggesting his tactics are on par with Mourinho in big games? If counter attacking was so easy, why were Jose's United team struggling so bad at it? There were articles on how good his counter attacking tactics were not so long ago, not to mention that was the same tactic Ferguson used in big games while he was so successful with infinitely better quality squads.

https://www.skysports.com/football/...er-attack-thriving-under-ole-gunnar-solskjaer
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/feature...ster-united-counter-attack-possession-chelsea

He's responsible for fecking up the squad. He sold most of our useful squad players like Smalling, Fellaini, Herrera and Lukaku, decided to prioritize defense by paying 80m for Maguire instead of focusing the budget on a midfielder and forward. He always said during summer and before Maguire deal he's interested in 1 or 2 singing, one of them was Maguire, which means one more player he didn't get. Was that the one who was going to solve everything? Till now he keeps saying we are waiting for the right target and we couldn't get the one we wanted in summer, further evidence that we were only interested in one more player only in summer. If anything the summer proves he's incapable of building the squad. His management of it was pretty poor.

This is utter bullshit. He has come out and said he wanted Herrera to stay, its not his problem that his contract was allowed to run down so he could come to an agreement with PSG in January. Neither Fellaini nor Lukaku would have done anything to address the creativity issues and Jose explored every other alternative to Smalling with Bailly, Lindelöf and even Jones before spending all of a summer moping about because he could not get that alternative so its not Solskjær alone.

The only reason Ed is defending him like that is he's desperate for him to succeed to prove he unscathed a hidden gem and all the problems in the club were thanks to Mourinho only. That's why he's defending him more than any other previous manager he hired. He's already feeling the pressure form the fact he fecked it really big this time, more than with his other previous recruitment.

Sure, if you're going to blame Woodward, that's a topic for a different thread.

Poch and Nagelsmann have a better track record of being better coaches, building teams and doing well with inferior teams at high level, unlike Ole.

Poch's team are exactly one point higher than United right now and he has the benefit of working for a much more stable club and management.

A) Clueless tactically when we have possession of the ball.

When your midfield is Fred, McTominay and Pereira, even Matt Busby or Ferguson can't device a tactic to do shit in possession.

B) In game management is terrible. His subs are always late. His reading of the game is very bad and takes ages.

Who are these wonderful subs that can turn games? A 17 year old Greenwood? Lingard? Brandon Williams?

C) His tactics in big games is parking the bus and hoping for a counter. Something people slaughtered Mourinho for and now are fine with it because Ole.

Addressed before.

D) His management of selling and buying is terrible. You know your budget and how many players you can get, you prioritize more the positions you lack in than others. I liked Maguire, but feck me, if he knows that budget and after mass selling Lukaku, Herrera and Fellaini, I would have preferred to keep Smalling for 1 more season and spend the money on a midfielder or a forward. It's not like someone else was interested in Maguire anyway.

Addressed before again and there is no evidence he was working on a limited budget. His idea of not buying only to saddle the club with players they can't get rid of in the future is probably much more sound than anything else he has done. This is another thing an actual director of football can fix.

E) Once we concede first it's literally game over. Look at him saying pee and post Bournemouth game. He said it's very important to get the first goal. He knows that he's clueless in turning up games and making comebacks. The players hardly give any reaction under him.
F) Finally he is uninspiring on the touch line. Extremely LVG esque. Hardly animated and just sit there watching when we go down in result.

So what's the reason for him to stay? He's an ex legend, he loves the club, he needs more time, Woodward is bad, the squad is bad, no one else is available, we can't keep sacking managers.. Etc, etc. Hardly any reasonable argument happening on the pitch says he deserves more time. Bring any manager and let him do what Ole has been doing and there wouldn't have been any division among fans on him.

This is pointless criticism and there is no evidence that a manager losing his shit on the touchline is in any way productive.

Like I mentioned several times in this thread, this is the exact fate any manager is going to suffer unless the football management is improved and decision making is done by footballing men rather than hedge fund managers whose expertise is debt leveraged purchases.

 

[el3mel]

So are you suggesting his tactics are on par with Mourinho in big games? If counter attacking was so easy, why were Jose's United team struggling so bad at it? There were articles on how good his counter attacking tactics were not so long ago, not to mention that was the same tactic Ferguson used in big games while he was so successful with infinitely better quality squads.

https://www.skysports.com/football/...er-attack-thriving-under-ole-gunnar-solskjaer
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/feature...ster-united-counter-attack-possession-chelsea



This is utter bullshit. He has come out and said he wanted Herrera to stay, its not his problem that his contract was allowed to run down so he could come to an agreement with PSG in January. Neither Fellaini nor Lukaku would have done anything to address the creativity issues and Jose explored every other alternative to Smalling with Bailly, Lindelöf and even Jones before spending all of a summer moping about because he could not get that alternative so its not Solskjær alone.



Sure, if you're going to blame Woodward, that's a topic for a different thread.



Poch's team are exactly one point higher than United right now and he has the benefit of working for a much more stable club and management.



When your midfield is Fred, McTominay and Pereira, even Matt Busby or Ferguson can't device a tactic to do shit in possession.



Who are these wonderful subs that can turn games? A 17 year old Greenwood? Lingard? Brandon Williams?



Addressed before.



Addressed before again and there is no evidence he was working on a limited budget. His idea of not buying only to saddle the club with players they can't get rid of in the future is probably much more sound than anything else he has done. This is another thing an actual director of football can fix.



This is pointless criticism and there is no evidence that a manager losing his shit on the touchline is in any way productive.

Like I mentioned several times in this thread, this is the exact fate any manager is going to suffer unless the football management is improved and decision making is done by footballing men rather than hedge fund managers whose expertise is debt leveraged purchases.

Mourinho was doing pretty well in big games in his second season with same tactics. What are you talking about? We had the second best record in big games after City in this season. Got 6 points from Arsenal, 4 from Liverpool, 3 from Chelsea, 3 from City and 3 from Spurs. However he was getting slaughtered for his defensive tactics, but now it's totally fine for Ole. Very weird hypocricy.

Fellaini, Lukaku and Smalling were all important players for us as starting or from the bench that helped us in multiple occasions and scored plenty of goals with exactly the same set of players around them. Selling them without replacing was stupid. Splashing 150m on CB and RB and prioritizing them on midfield and attack is his own doing as simple as that. We have never spent anything more than 150m in any of the previous 6 seasons under Moyes, LVG and Mourinho, so our budget is usually in that range and he decided to use it entirely on defense. Why shouldn't he take blame for fecking up the squad then? What prevented him from organizing his priorities if he believes the midfield is that shite and needs more important signings than splashing 80m on Maguire?

Any time we bring Poch in discussion it's always about this season and not the previous 5 seasons in which he built up Spurs to become a regular top 4 team and reaching CL final despite them before him finishing 4th twice in the last 15 years before he got appointed. Unlike Ole he has a track record, no one can deny that.

Of course bringing the likes Greenwood earlier and making changes is better than waiting for the 70th or 80th minute while the opposition manager is making his own changes and gaining momentum and upper hand on the game.

Actually blaming the squad depth is pointless because first again he chose to build the squad in this way and he himself said in pressers he took decisions that will harm us short term but supposedly will benefit us long term (don't know how) and second you can't convince me Bournemouth, Newcastle, WHU or these other teams have better squad depth than us ffs.

An animated manager on the touch line inspire the players and give them more willing fight especially when we are losing unlike what Ole or previously LvG were doing which ultimately transferred to players and no suprirse we were terrible under both whenever we went down in any game.

A better upper football management will sack Ole. There's no way a club will keep on with an incompetent manager who has been failure from every single perspective. As I said there's not a single reasonable arguement for him to stay. The only reason he's staying is because of that same incompetent board you are criticizing for not supporting him. In fact he should be glad Ed is our CEO because in any other club, even midtable PL clubs, he would have been long time ago.

Our squad isn't great but sure as hell isn't a 10th position squad with 3 wins out of 11 matches and more losses than wins. Shieffled United who just got promoted are ahead of us, won more games, scored more goals and have a better GD than us ffs. Are you telling me that have a better upper footballing structure than us? Also Palace, Bournemouth, and Brighton are all ahead of us with better stats in the league.

 

[Cloud7]

Moyes, LvG, Mourinho and now Ole have tried to work with this squad of players at some point. All very successful in their coaching at other clubs who failed to a certain extent with this group. There's certainly a debate to be had to say the players are simply not at the standard required to be successful at a club of United's stature. I'm not saying Ole is a brilliant coach, mind. Results and performances have not been great to suggest Ole has been successful. However, there's a lot of collectives going wrong at the club, and to point fingers exclusively at Ole is not right or fair.

No they haven't. Off the top of my head the only players around for all of them have been DDG, Young, Jones, and very recently Smalling and Felliani. Moyes had the shell of the last SAF team which are all gone. Both LVG (Di Maria, Falcao, BFS, Schniederlin, Blind, Darmian, Herrera, Rojo, Shaw) and Mourinho (Pogba, Ibra, Bailly, Mkhi, Lindelof, Matic, Lukaku, Alexis, Fred, Dalot) signed essentially completely new teams and still failed.

We really need to stop repeating this trope about 'Multiple managers failing with this group of players' when it's been different players each time.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

You're not going to have a Klopp or Pep walking through the door juat because you sacked your manager. Often times you end up with the likes of Sherwood, Andres Villas Boas, Emery, Blanc or any number of average managers if not other failures.

Yes but we already have a Sherwood at our very club. Keep our Sherwood because there are more Sherwoods out there? Does that make any sense at all? It's like saying I'll stick to this terrible plan because the next plan I might come up may also be terrible. Do you realise how that sounds?

Even Liverpool had to go through dalglish, Rodgers etc before ending up with Klopp and their act came together only after fixing the structure above the manager to begin with, making it attractive for a klopp to consider them.

Yeah, and as soon as they realised that Dalglish was crap they got rid of him. That's something that's become just as clear right now with Ole. Also Rodgers was and is a very good manager - incomparable to Ole IMO. He was a poor manager they went through. He nearly achieved what is the holy grail for them.

Does anyone fancy being the next scapegoat for Woodward at United?

They'll be the scapegoat if they aren't good enough. Stick to your failing manager because it's a tough job that leads to accountability? Again, it doesnt make any sense.

I've said before that no qualms with those in favour of giving him more time. I myself shuttle between get rid now/two more months/till january and so on. However, I can't understand some of the poor defences being thrown in favour of keeping him. It's as simple as this - Ole needs to be an excellent manager to succeed at Manchester United. If he's not that, then he needs to go. He doenst have to be Okay/decent because managers of that level can ply their trade in the championship (or probably lower). And nobody should be manager here because "sacking is bad". They should be here because they are good enough.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Yes but we already have a Sherwood at our very club. Keep our Sherwood because there are more Sherwoods out there? Does that make any sense at all? It's like saying I'll stick to this terrible plan because the next plan I might come up may also be terrible. Do you realise how that sounds?


Yeah, and as soon as they realised that Dalglish was crap they got rid of him. That's something that's become just as clear right now with Ole. Also Rodgers was and is a very good manager - incomparable to Ole IMO. He was a poor manager they went through. He nearly achieved what is the holy grail for them.


They'll be the scapegoat if they aren't good enough. Stick to your failing manager because it's a tough job that leads to accountability? Again, it doesnt make any sense.

You're not going to have a top manager walk into the club just because you sacked Ole. First of all, all top managers already have jobs and they won't be switching clubs midseason, the ones without jobs are unemployed for a good reason.

Secondly, just like Klopp told Woodward to go feck himself, another top manager will say the same thing. Until and unless you clear the mess and creative a productive atmosphere, you won't have any luck bringing in a top recruit, especially not when a properly run club like Bayern is also seeking a manager. You'll end up competing with many other clubs for the same top hire and they can choose the best option.

What you lot are asking for is a different person to blame. Its ok, we routinely want a person to blame when things go wrong and often times a manager is the easiest target. You've seen the same film on repeat for 6 seasons now. A managerial change will not help until and unless bigger things are fixed in upper management.

If you hire better footballing executives, you let them decide on who to appoint at that time rather than letting Woodward spin his fecking roulette wheel once again.

I'm done with this thread now.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

You're not going to have a top manager walk into the club just because you sacked Ole. First of all, all top managers already have jobs and they won't be switching clubs midseason, the ones without jobs are unemployed for a good reason.

Secondly, just like Klopp told Woodward to go feck himself, another top manager will say the same thing. Until and unless you clear the mess and creative a productive atmosphere, you won't have any luck bringing in a top recruit, especially not when a properly run club like Bayern is also seeking a manager. You'll end up competing with many other clubs for the same top hire and they can choose the best option.

What you lot are asking for is a different person to blame. Its ok, we routinely want a person to blame when things go wrong and often times a manager is the easiest target. You've seen the same film on repeat for 6 seasons now. A managerial change will not help until and unless bigger things are fixed in upper management.

If you hire better footballing executives, you let them decide on who to appoint at that time rather than letting Woodward spin his fecking roulette wheel once again.

I'm done with this thread now.

Well at least we all agree that Woodward is at the root of most of the clubs problems.

 

[UnitedSofa]

100% the players fault, or at least a large portion.

Ole on the verge of tears at the end of the Bournemouth game:

 

[dove]

100% the players fault, or at least a large portion.

Ole on the verge of tears at the end of the Bournemouth game:

Just proves he is not only not good enough tactically but mentally as well.

 

[Withnail]

I'd love to see any manager get results from Fred, Pereira, Mata and lingard as his creative axis.

You can't turn shit into strawberry smoothie.

Ole is the least of the problems right now. The systematic mismanagement is the root cause and until that abscess is removed, any manager will end up with the same date.

I don't believe Ole should be sacked at this stage but this argument is a bit ridiculous. Put someone like Klopp in charge of this squad for the guts of a year and they'd be playing better football and scoring more goals.

My opinion is that if there isn't a viable long-term candidate then stick with him. More disruption and another caretaker situation isn't what's needed.

However, the club should be seriously looking at who the next man will be and if we have to deal with a mediocre season until the right man comes in I'm ok with it.

In saying that I don't trust the board to organise a piss-up in a brewery.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

Jesus fecking Christ. That video above of Ole after the game.

The club has broken him already, not even in December and Ole is a broken, shattered shell of a man. Remember when Moyes famously said, during the peak of his collapse, with a blank face "I don't know what we have to do to get a win"?

Remember that.

Well, Ole's face above before he starts speaking is like the physical embodiment of that sentence. He is DONE. He has no idea how to stop the rot, and he has already proven to be incapable of stopping the rot during our spiral at the end of last season.

He's a confidence manager, he's good at raising spirits and initially motivating 'the boys' but he lacks the tactical acumen to stop the decline when problems arise. This is also highlighted by his in-game management.

The longer he's in that dugout, the further we will fall.

 

[Gehrman]

Jesus fecking Christ. That video above of Ole after the game.

The club has broken him already, not even in December and Ole is a broken, shattered shell of a man. Remember when Moyes famously said, during the peak of his collapse, with a blank face "I don't know what we have to do to get a win"?

Remember that.

Well, Ole's face above before he starts speaking is like the physical embodiment of that sentence. He is DONE. He has no idea how to stop the rot, and he has already proven to be incapable of stopping the rot during our spiral at the end of last season.

He's a confidence manager, he's good at raising spirits and initially motivating 'the boys' but he lacks the tactical acumen to stop the decline when problems arise. This is also highlighted by his in-game management.

The longer he's in that dugout, the further we will fall.

God it's devastating to see Ole cry because of this mess. It's definitely over for him. The question is just who we can get instead

 

[Rooney24]

I think everyone is well awqare the problems are higher up than Ole as many are Posting.

The point remains though that if all those problems upstairs were fixed and the club was running smoothly, Ole is still a pretty bang (below) average Manager.

 

[devilish]

100% the players fault, or at least a large portion.

Ole on the verge of tears at the end of the Bournemouth game:

I think its a mix of many things

a-the board is not good enough. Thus complacency had kicked in as players know that irrespective how they play they will never be sold (the likes of Jones and Mata were given long term contracts)
b- the squad is not good enough
c- the manager is not good enough

Ultimately it boils down to the owners. They chose Woodward which in turn lead to this incompetence both in terms of team's assembly + retention and the manager's appointment. I criticise Ole like any other person in here but lets not forget who gave him the job

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

I think everyone is well awqare the problems are higher up than Ole as many are Posting.

The point remains though that if all those problems upstairs were fixed and the club was running smoothly, Ole is still a pretty bang (below) average Manager.

I think given the situation the fans will not let the board off this time.

However, that doesn't mean we perservere with a below average manager who wouldn't get a job at any other club in the division

 

[tenpoless]

I don't see tears.

I sigh like that all the time and I'm not broken. He's just frustrated.

 

[7even]

Holy Moly! The club must do the decent thing and help Ole to end this in a civil manner.

I don’t want us to brutally sack him in the eyes of the public, there must be better ways. Healthy reasons or whatever just do it so he can walk away with his dignity intact.

 

[Ish]

And needs at least 5 transfer window and 800m...
No matter what, Ole had a year to show something positive. Yet he failed on all levels

Yeah man. Agreed. I wouldn’t personally say failed at all levels, but he’s looking completely out of his depth.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

100% the players fault, or at least a large portion.

Ole on the verge of tears at the end of the Bournemouth game:

So sad to see. Wanted/Still want him to turn it around.

 

[soapythecat]

My heart goes out to Ole - his love for the club must be making this oh so difficult. I was disappointed with him post match comment about having to make do with the players we have and get the quality out of them (or words to that affect) - does this mean he has been told there will be no incomings?
We are not playing as bad as many would make out, but we are operating on the limit of fine margins making or breaking results, which is not good but it's where we are at. If we had one real player of quality to come into the midfield to play alongside McT, then I think we have a chance of resurrecting this season and making a push for top 6. Pogba should be our number 10 in this 4231 formation, not playing deep - he is our most creative player and that front 3 against Bournemouth just needed that spark behind them on Saturday and we could have had early goals - they faded as the game went on as nothing was happening for them.
I still think Ole should be getting more out of this side though. If Woodward doesn't buy in January then I do worry about being in the bottom half and a couple of defeats away from the relegation zone for the rest of the season.

 

[Revaulx]

Likeability/cult hero status
Lowered expectations
Our squad is shit rhetoric
Long term process

Another factor may be that Woodward is unwilling to accept a cock up at his end. But this will depend on how much more time Ole gets.

I’m absolutely certain that it’s entirely about Woodward planning to minimise his loss of face. As will be the appointment of the new manager. He will convince everyone that the “long term strategy” is the correct one and that it’s only Ole’s execution of it that’s at fault. Which is why Southgate will be at least considered.

 

[SweetRightFoot]

So caretaker period doesn't count any more? It was someone else supervising over and managing the club then?

Caretaker means just that...

You don't get to imprint your identity, dictate transfer decisions, help run the club etc etc.

You are just focused on getting results and, for us, salvaging our season.

 

[Amir]

Caretaker means just that...

You don't get to imprint your identity, dictate transfer decisions, help run the club etc etc.

You are just focused on getting results and, for us, salvaging our season.

A caretaker certainly gets to imprint his identity on the team and the style of football.

Even If I'm not treating Solskjaer as someone who has been the permanent manager for 10 months, which he wasn't, he's got a huge head start on your usual summer appointment.

 

[Cassidy]

Caretaker means just that...

You don't get to imprint your identity, dictate transfer decisions, help run the club etc etc.

You are just focused on getting results and, for us, salvaging our season.

Maybe thats why he was doing so well as a caretaker then

 

[Greck]

100% the players fault, or at least a large portion.

Ole on the verge of tears at the end of the Bournemouth game:

He isn't on the verge of tears . Ole just has a really sincere face that people mistake for fear or cluelessness. He does seem incredibly frustrated here. Having to maintain positivity after so many bad results can't be easy

 

[SweetRightFoot]

A caretaker certainly gets to imprint his identity on the team and the style of football.

Even If I'm not treating Solskjaer as someone who has been the permanent manager for 10 months, which he wasn't, he's got a huge head start on your usual summer appointment.

Took Klopp about 18 months to turn Liverpool from a team of almost challengers to CL winners but we're expecting Ole to take a disjointed, bloated and in parts entirely non competitive squad who have been playing tumescent anti football for the last 4 years into something special in almost half the time?

 

[dove]

Took Klopp about 18 months to turn Liverpool from a team of almost challengers to CL winners but we're expecting Ole to take a disjointed, bloated and in parts entirely non competitive squad who have been playing tumescent anti football for the last 4 years into something special in almost half the time?

Another comparison with Klopp

 

[VP89]

Took Klopp about 18 months to turn Liverpool from a team of almost challengers to CL winners but we're expecting Ole to take a disjointed, bloated and in parts entirely non competitive squad who have been playing tumescent anti football for the last 4 years into something special in almost half the time?

Literally no one is expecting Klopp esque acheivements. Just don't go out there second best to a range of teams no better than you, like Newcastle Palace Bournemouth. And then lose to teams that don't even need to get out of 2nd gear like West Ham. Struggle to perform against Rochdale Astana fecking Partizan.

You know, maybe showcase a consistent pattern of play, a system where the strikers don't look lost for ideas. Maybe not resort to going wide and whipping it in when there's no target man. The simple stuff.

 

[R'hllor]

You can be Ole in or out but all those comparisons...bloody hell

 

[momo83]

Sacking the manger is the easiest cop out in football. United have done it thrice already with no substantial improvements in team performances or quality of football.

Why not try continuity for a change?

Yes because since SAF left it’s always been like this.

 

[devilish]

100% the players fault, or at least a large portion.

Ole on the verge of tears at the end of the Bournemouth game:

Poor lad. I guess it takes more then positivity and a British core to get United back to their feet.

 

[Amir]

Took Klopp about 18 months to turn Liverpool from a team of almost challengers to CL winners but we're expecting Ole to take a disjointed, bloated and in parts entirely non competitive squad who have been playing tumescent anti football for the last 4 years into something special in almost half the time?

I'm not expecting trophies, I'm not expecting great achievements. Not this season, not next season. I'm expecting decent football, a football identity, something to build on for the future. It took Klopp literally days and weeks to do that. If you have a clear style, you don't need more than that in order to leave a clear imprint.

 

[elnorte]

Took Klopp about 18 months to turn Liverpool from a team of almost challengers to CL winners but we're expecting Ole to take a disjointed, bloated and in parts entirely non competitive squad who have been playing tumescent anti football for the last 4 years into something special in almost half the time?

No. It would be wrong to expect anything of him at all whether now or at any point in the future.

 

[Escobar]

I think everyone is well awqare the problems are higher up than Ole as many are Posting.

The point remains though that if all those problems upstairs were fixed and the club was running smoothly, Ole is still a pretty bang (below) average Manager.

Yes we have problems with our board and structure, but Ole really is doing a terrible job anyhow. He did not do anything at all to improve us, only made us worse. He really needs to go

 

[AneRu]

I’m absolutely certain that it’s entirely about Woodward planning to minimise his loss of face. As will be the appointment of the new manager. He will convince everyone that the “long term strategy” is the correct one and that it’s only Ole’s execution of it that’s at fault. Which is why Southgate will be at least considered.

After Mourinho the club decided to bring in a DOF before the appointment of a new manager. Then Ole exceeded expectations and Woodward saw this as a ticket out of restructuring the club in a way that would have taken him away from the limelight that he enjoys during the transfer window madness and made his appointment permanent. Then it was easy to convince the uninterested owners that the system was ok and that all we needed was a manager who got United so its hard to go back to the same owners and say my fourth managerial appointment has gone bust when it had been agreed to make changes before making another major decision. Now the club has to pay off another manager and go through the divisive process of sacking a club legend, no matter how tight Woodward is with the Glazers he ain't emerging from this unscathed.

 

[Revaulx]

After Mourinho the club decided to bring in a DOF before the appointment of a new manager. Then Ole exceeded expectations and Woodward saw this as a ticket out of restructuring the club in a way that would have taken him away from the limelight that he enjoys during the transfer window madness and made his appointment permanent. Then it was easy to convince the uninterested owners that the system was ok and that all we needed was a manager who got United so its hard to go back to the same owners and say my fourth managerial appointment has gone bust when it had been agreed to make changes before making another major decision. Now the club has to pay off another manager and go through the divisive process of sacking a club legend, no matter how tight Woodward is with the Glazers he ain't emerging from this unscathed.

I'm sure he's thinking of ways of doing so. Putting Ole into some sort of ceremonial DoF role would get round both the "sacking a legend" and compensation issues.

I'm all for Ole out, and think there are countless managers who could do a better job, but very much doubt we are going to see the sort of hard reset we need in terms of structure/management/coaching. Rather it'll be more of the same with a face or two changed. If I'm right, we might as well keep Ole.

 

[acnumber9]

Took Klopp about 18 months to turn Liverpool from a team of almost challengers to CL winners but we're expecting Ole to take a disjointed, bloated and in parts entirely non competitive squad who have been playing tumescent anti football for the last 4 years into something special in almost half the time?

I think most would be happy with not actually making us worse. We have 7 points less than we had this time last season and that was with Mourinho throwing his toys out of the pram. And that wasn’t good enough for most from a manager with a history of winning the biggest trophies in the game.

 

[el3mel]

Caretaker means just that...

You don't get to imprint your identity, dictate transfer decisions, help run the club etc etc.

You are just focused on getting results and, for us, salvaging our season.

So you are saying the only good period since he was appointed was the period he wasn't focusing on imprinting his identity? Hmm OK. If you just understand what you have just said though.

 

[AneRu]

I'm sure he's thinking of ways of doing so. Putting Ole into some sort of ceremonial DoF role would get round both the "sacking a legend" and compensation issues.

I'm all for Ole out, and think there are countless managers who could do a better job, but very much doubt we are going to see the sort of hard reset we need in terms of structure/management/coaching. Rather it'll be more of the same with a face or two changed. If I'm right, we might as well keep Ole.

I think this time it could be different because the push back will be and should be from the Glazers themselves, they would be complete idiots if they can't see that their man is the major problem in this case. The decision to rush the appointment of Ole as substantive manager was laughably poor, at least Chelsea had a CL trophy to sidetrack them. If I am a club owner and my guy has led me into 4 expensive pay offs of poorly thought out appointments I know I will be making changes before going into the fifth one. I doubt Woodward will have much influence over what the post Ole era will look like, he is done on the football side. Either the Glazers will dilute his influence on the football side or the fans will hound him out.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

Think they just know we are desperate. With regards to City, they know that Pep has pulling power and if someone asks a ridiculous price he will just say no and look elsewhere.

City made fine signings long before Guardiola though...

Aguero
D. Silva
Sterling
Yaya
KDB
Fernandinho

All before Guardiola.

They invest well because their owners actually seem to understand how to run a club and have employed knowledgeable football people to make those decisions.

They've also managed to win the PL with 3 different managers that they've employed - none of which have been a 'City Legend' before joining.