Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[mav_9me]

I am at a point where i dont know what will happen with Ole. Clearly useless as a coach but the scary part is we have ex players and fans saying he needs time. We have lost more games than we have won this season in the BPL. Ole's record reads 50 matches 18 wins 11 draws 21 losses goals for 66 goals against 78. So i ask again where does this record belong as a coach of MUFC?

- GD??? Did not know that. Holy effin shit...this is incredible. And he needs time eh? Wow.

I used to think we have turned into Liverpool but even Liverpool sacked Daglish 2nd time around soon enough.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

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.

Yes City are run well. As someone else said Ole doing so well gave Ed the opportunity not to appoint a DOF when he has hinted he was going to. After Jose I think they are happy with someone happy to be there and will not moan too much and unfortunately at the moment taking the flak for the inept running of the footballing side of the club. It is not Ole's fault that they have failed in their appointment of managers, or have had no forward planning in recruiting players. They said they would wait until the season had finished and took the easy option.

 

[Falcow]

Some really horrible posts in this thread, the posters should be ashamed. The mood swings on this forum are shocking. Saturday was our 4th away game in 9 days, all long away trips including one overseas. Not a major shock that we lost it.

 

[reddev3]

Personally i'm at the point now where I don't think he has shown anything worthy of deserving any more patience than he has already been afforded. Chalk it down to another failed experiment and try for a highly rated up coming manager, one of the few things we haven't already tried.

 

[sunama]

I still say that Woodward is the root cause of our failures.
I'replace him first. Leave Ole as manager.
Once a new DoF is hired, he can then assess Ole and if he feels he needs replacing, then so be it.

With Woodward in charge, if we replaced Ole with a top manager, Woodward's decisions will ensure that he too, will fail.

 

[reddev3]

Some really horrible posts in this thread, the posters should be ashamed. The mood swings on this forum are shocking. Saturday was our 4th away game in 9 days, all long away trips including one overseas. Not a major shock that we lost it.

Come on it wasn't the first bad result, it's another in a long line. It was no surprise we lost because we're crap, we only had a glimmer of optimism because we had a couple of decent to good results before hand which speaks volumes.

 

[reddev3]

He has an international break and a run of kind fixtures coming up so it's now or never for him. I hope he can turn it around but of he can't in the next month or two with the break and fixtures no one can have any excuses for him.

I'm positive 99.9% of Utd fans wanted Ole to succeed but sometimes things just don't work out, the sooner we realise this and move on the better.

 

[devilish]

I still say that Woodward is the root cause of our failures.
I'replace him first. Leave Ole as manager.
Once a new DoF is hired, he can then assess Ole and if he feels he needs replacing, then so be it.

With Woodward in charge, if we replaced Ole with a top manager, Woodward's decisions will ensure that he too, will fail.

That's a given. Ole is yet another example of Woodward's many mistakes

 

[romufc]

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.

Surprise Surprise.. Only Manutd think you don't need footballing people at the club.

 

[momo83]

One thing Ole retains is the good will of the fan base.. even Ole out people will criticise his managerial skills but nothing has become personal he’s not become the caricature that Moyes did and is not hated as Mourinho is hated by some. But seriously how long can it last? How low can he take us before people take it personally? Basically the exact 360 of what got him support, people unable to differentiate liking him as a person and ex-player to seeing that he would not be a good manager..

 

[Revaulx]

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.

Well let's hope you're right. I'm a lot less confident; the same has happened to their NFL franchise since the Glazers took it over and that's a lot closer to home.

The only possibility that gives me any hope is Woodward appointing a manager who is able to guide him in a tactful way (i.e. not like LvG and Jose) on footballing matters. Maybe come up with a strategy and make Woodward believe it was his idea all along.

 

[Superden]

Some really horrible posts in this thread, the posters should be ashamed. The mood swings on this forum are shocking. Saturday was our 4th away game in 9 days, all long away trips including one overseas. Not a major shock that we lost it.

I dont think its the result that winds people up anymore, its the performances, the lack of attacking guile, the listlessness, the apathy. the lack of any visible plan. crosses no one gets on the end of, corners and other set pieces that dont seem to have any structure / routine, any team move seems to be completely off the cuff and thus not repeated, players shooting from distance out of frustration as no other options, a defence that seems to be getting more and more nervous..... could go on and on....
10 shots on target in total in the 4 games against Newcastle, Partizan, Liverpool and Bournemouth. we did have 11 against Norwich, but clearly that is the outlier, for obvious reasons.

 

[mitchmouse]

His initial Milan success was during the worst period of Italian football - possibly forever - whilst inheriting players of true world class ability. It wasn't a particular exciting Milan team and never built on from a good start, with the team slowly deteriorating (bar one decent season when El Sharaawy thought he was the next coming of Messi).

His Juve success was orchestrated by Marotta and Patirici as a long term plan to restore Juve to Italian dominance. If i recall correctly, they'd already won three leagues on the bounce before his appointment. With a robust scouting and recruitment process in place, you'd rightly expect more than Serie A titles. Even then - can anyone really say what his style is?

He's a good manager, but we can't offer him the patience or support he got with the Italian clubs. He hasn't demonstrated that he can successfully deliver a 'project' and that's very much what we are, and he's football philosophy isn't defined. I put him in the same bracket as LvG and Jose - who are both fantastic managers who found themselves unable to deliver under the circumstances.

Poch (even though I have large doubts on him ) Ten Hag, Nagglesmann, Rose, Tuchel and god forbid Brendan Ro...(I can't bring myself to say it) - would all be better fits. Even an early to mid 2000s Jose - before he lost the passion.

I don't see any benefit of sacking Ole now though . There is nobody available and we can't afford a honeymoon period swaying the decision like last time. I'd happily take Allegri on a half season, but everyone knows a good run will secure him the job.

I'd agree on some of those names, including he who shall remain nameless! but no way tuchel - allegri is definitely a better bet than him. anyway, I can't see the club firing Ole until the summer unless we drop into and remain in the bottom three for a while

 

[Jacckk1985]

One thing is that really want to see some sort of movement within market to fix the huge gaps we have in our "attacking midfield" department. It's less than 2 months til the window opens, maybe do something?

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Sky Sports piling the pressure on Emery for a couple poor results. Meanwhile Ole gets a free pass. The double standards are ridiculous.

 

[romufc]

I dont think its the result that winds people up anymore, its the performances, the lack of attacking guile, the listlessness, the apathy. the lack of any visible plan. crosses no one gets on the end of, corners and other set pieces that dont seem to have any structure / routine, any team move seems to be completely off the cuff and thus not repeated, players shooting from distance out of frustration as no other options, a defence that seems to be getting more and more nervous..... could go on and on....
10 shots on target in total in the 4 games against Newcastle, Partizan, Liverpool and Bournemouth. we did have 11 against Norwich, but clearly that is the outlier, for obvious reasons.

Spot on. How many times we get to edge of the opponent box and we get countered. We cannot sustain pressure.

When watching the game 1-0 we don't look like we will score either, the players seem to have no urgency.

Set pieces look even worse. We cannot get a head on the ball, Maguire is always offside or gives a foul away.

I watched Leicester's goal and was thinking, why can we not practice set pieces and delivery into the box?

 

[Greck]

Spot on. How many times we get to edge of the opponent box and we get countered. We cannot sustain pressure.

When watching the game 1-0 we don't look like we will score either, the players seem to have no urgency.

Set pieces look even worse. We cannot get a head on the ball, Maguire is always offside or gives a foul away.

I watched Leicester's goal and was thinking, why can we not practice set pieces and delivery into the box?

The play in Leicester's goal, oh my. Made me think how high the bar for management in the EPL is when every top half team is so well drilled they show frequent flashes of sophisticated play.

...and then you have us who go entire 90 minutes without completing a single one-two give and go

 

[romufc]

The play in Leicester's goal, oh my. Made me think how high the bar for management in the EPL is when every top half team is so well drilled they show frequent flashes of sophisticated play.

...and then you have us who go entire 90 minutes without completing a single one-two give and go

I think its simple, we are a team that rely on individual talent rather than team play.

I don't remember the last goal we scored where we actually broke a team down with good football. It has all been penalties or counter attack. Have we scored a goals this season that has not come from us winning the ball back and countering? or penalty? (In the PL)

 

[Mcking]

Sky Sports piling the pressure on Emery for a couple poor results. Meanwhile Ole gets a free pass. The double standards are ridiculous.

Is that true though?

 

[Judas]

The reason for the supposed "free pass" is how openly the club has spoken about giving him time and how much belief there is in him, I would guess.

 

[AshRK]

Sky Sports piling the pressure on Emery for a couple poor results. Meanwhile Ole gets a free pass. The double standards are ridiculous.

He is far from getting a free pass but maybe the media have realised he won't be sacked anytime soon so have shifted their focus on to a manager who is also having a torrid time (for sure more than couple poor results)..

 

[Superden]

The play in Leicester's goal, oh my. Made me think how high the bar for management in the EPL is when every top half team is so well drilled they show frequent flashes of sophisticated play.

...and then you have us who go entire 90 minutes without completing a single one-two give and go

I watched the last 20 mins of the liverpool game on sat, on so many occasions, they have the ball at the back, and then its pop pop pop and a goalscoring chance or at least some danger towards the opposition goal, players just seem to know where teammates are going to be and what runs they are going to make, so they play one and two touch, compare and contrast with us and our zombie football, so many times our full backs have the ball on halfway and they have to stop and look around for options. Leicester play delightful give and go 2 touch football, and yet rodgers has been there less than ole has been with us. they dont necesssarily have more techincally gifted players either.

 

[Shark]

He has an international break and a run of kind fixtures coming up so it's now or never for him. I hope he can turn it around but of he can't in the next month or two with the break and fixtures no one can have any excuses for him.

I'm positive 99.9% of Utd fans wanted Ole to succeed but sometimes things just don't work out, the sooner we realise this and move on the better.

This just seems like Deja Vu. How many runs ''kind fixtures'' will it take for some to realize that Ole isn't the man for the job, come on people just let it go.

 

[Greck]

I think its simple, we are a team that rely on individual talent rather than team play.

I don't remember the last goal we scored where we actually broke a team down with good football. It has all been penalties or counter attack. Have we scored a goals this season that has not come from us winning the ball back and countering? or penalty? (In the PL)

Nope. We may have the most primitive attack among top half teams. It's all counter attack, running, long balls and set pieces just like in the premier league of old.

No phases of fluent play, no moments of tactical genius to show us a glimpse of what we can expect if we gave him 3 years. These people must think managing is just about buying talented players if they can't see the red flags or want to ignore it

 

[romufc]

Nope. We may have the most primitive attack among top half teams. It's all counter attack, running, long balls and set pieces just like in the premier league of old.

No phases of fluent play, no moments of tactical genius to show us a glimpse of what we can expect if we gave him 3 years. These people must think managing is just about buying talented players if they can't see the red flags or want to ignore it

We are past the red flags. Ole has one way of managing, and those tactics only work with teams that want to play against us. Norwich away was a good result and performance because we could counter attack Norwich. Partizan away was rubbish but penalty saved us. Chelsea away was 1 penalty and 1 moment of brilliance.

If people cannot see this, then we are in big trouble. We have not been able to attack for a good 7 years now.

 

[el3mel]

He has an international break and a run of kind fixtures coming up so it's now or never for him. I hope he can turn it around but of he can't in the next month or two with the break and fixtures no one can have any excuses for him.

I'm positive 99.9% of Utd fans wanted Ole to succeed but sometimes things just don't work out, the sooner we realise this and move on the better.

We of course will win few games here and there against some crap oppositions. It doesn't going to matter on the long run because it'll be a false dawn simply put.

 

[Jerome Holland]

Agreed.

The following were huge mistakes where the clubs in question took the easy decision.

Liverpool sacking their manager and hiring Klopp
United sacking their manager and hiring Sir Alex
Chelsea sacking their manager and hiring Mourinho
Barcelona & City sacking their managers and hiring Pep

If only they had all stuck with Rodgers, Atkinson, Ranieri, Rijkaard and Pelligrini, they'd have been much better off.

1st class

- GD??? Did not know that. Holy effin shit...this is incredible. And he needs time eh? Wow.

I used to think we have turned into Liverpool but even Liverpool sacked Daglish 2nd time around soon enough.

That is my point I try to bring across, when is enough enough? Believe you me when I saw those stats I was stunned. That was the time it hit home, that made me realise its worse than I thought....

 

[Abhinav]

1st class

That is my point I try to bring across, when is enough enough? Believe you me when I saw those stats I was stunned. That was the time it hit home, that made me realise its worse than I thought....

Where are you getting these stats from? These are wrong. Ole has managed 45 competitive games for United and has won 22 of those.

 

[LDUred]

Parachuting in a manager midway through a season is kamikaze stuff. We are nowhere near the point whereby we need to take desperate measures to stave off relegation.

In any case, City and Liverpool have the top two spots sewn up between them. What's the point of bringing in someone now? What are they going to realistically achieve in a season that's already pretty much over as far as the league goes. They might get us up to fifth or sixth if there is a new manager bounce, but that doesn't really equate to anything significant in terms of silverware.

If we are going to bring in a new manager then they will need time to work with the players and a meaningful pre-season.

For that reason, Ole gets our full support for this campaign and we will see where we are towards the backend of the season. Given what has happened since SAF retired, there's absolutely no point in starting another merry-go-round situation where we draft in a new manager on a whim. We have to be sure that the next manager will have a positive impact on the players and the culture of the football club.

The squad are already showing the effect of the crazy last few years we have had. They need stability.

 

[Withnail]

I am at a point where i dont know what will happen with Ole. Clearly useless as a coach but the scary part is we have ex players and fans saying he needs time. We have lost more games than we have won this season in the BPL. Ole's record reads 50 matches 18 wins 11 draws 21 losses goals for 66 goals against 78. So i ask again where does this record belong as a coach of MUFC?

Where are you getting these stats from? These are wrong. Ole has managed 45 competitive games for United and has won 22 of those.

Those stats are from his page on the premier league site where they are stating he's been in charge for 50 PL games rather than the 32 he's actually been in charge of United for. So I'm assuming this includes his time at Cardiff.

https://www.premierleague.com/managers/8319/Ole-Gunnar Solskjær/overview

His actual win rate in the PL with United is 49% rather than the 36% he's been given based on those stats.

The goal difference in the PL for the 32 games is +12
Goals for: 46
Against: 34

I'm not sure what the goal difference is for the full 45 games but I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume it's positive as well.

 

[Withnail]

Parachuting in a manager midway through a season is kamikaze stuff. We are nowhere near the point whereby we need to take desperate measures to stave off relegation.

In any case, City and Liverpool have the top two spots sewn up between them. What's the point of bringing in someone now? What are they going to realistically achieve in a season that's already pretty much over as far as the league goes. They might get us up to fifth or sixth if there is a new manager bounce, but that doesn't really equate to anything significant in terms of silverware.

If we are going to bring in a new manager then they will need time to work with the players and a meaningful pre-season.

For that reason, Ole gets our full support for this campaign and we will see where we are towards the backend of the season. Given what has happened since SAF retired, there's absolutely no point in starting another merry-go-round situation where we draft in a new manager on a whim. We have to be sure that the next manager will have a positive impact on the players and the culture of the football club.

The squad are already showing the effect of the crazy last few years we have had. They need stability.

Agreed - a knee-jerk appointment will not be good for the long-term.

Is anyone you'd want in charge of United for the next few years even available before the Summer?

 

[Falcow]

I dont think its the result that winds people up anymore, its the performances, the lack of attacking guile, the listlessness, the apathy. the lack of any visible plan. crosses no one gets on the end of, corners and other set pieces that dont seem to have any structure / routine, any team move seems to be completely off the cuff and thus not repeated, players shooting from distance out of frustration as no other options, a defence that seems to be getting more and more nervous..... could go on and on....
10 shots on target in total in the 4 games against Newcastle, Partizan, Liverpool and Bournemouth. we did have 11 against Norwich, but clearly that is the outlier, for obvious reasons.

If the few recent good results prove to be the exception then fine. My point is that Saturday was the 4th away game in 9 days, it's very likely that the squad and management spent all of that time staying in hotels. I travel for work and feck me it wears me out staying in hotels and travelling etc so I can understand that the performance in the final game of the 4 was sub par.

 

[Macedonian Red]

How about his sense for giving new contracts to the likes of Mata and Pereira?

I'm OK with the three players he bought, but that's nowhere near enough to make someone a good DOF.

My opinion for giving Mata new contract is part of persuasion DDG to stay. This is his last season here i mean. And maybe our lack of players in midfield (after leaving of Fellaini and Herrera) is the reason for Pereira to stay.

 

[croadyman]

I know we could have been knocked out but Ole should not have played such a strong team against Chelsea. Was more important we kept the players fresh for the league game on Saturday.

I can see Ole burning our main players out if he ends up playing them twice a week when we have europa games.

 

[The Leader]

Just realized we only play few of the "tough" teams like Liverpool / Arsenal / Chelsea (if you consider them tough XD) and all play at home. How are we still at 10th place ? Standing will be getting worst during 2nd half of the season.

Thing need to be changed, IMMEDIATELY

 

[7even]

Parachuting in a manager midway through a season is kamikaze stuff. We are nowhere near the point whereby we need to take desperate measures to stave off relegation.

In any case, City and Liverpool have the top two spots sewn up between them. What's the point of bringing in someone now? What are they going to realistically achieve in a season that's already pretty much over as far as the league goes. They might get us up to fifth or sixth if there is a new manager bounce, but that doesn't really equate to anything significant in terms of silverware.

If we are going to bring in a new manager then they will need time to work with the players and a meaningful pre-season.

For that reason, Ole gets our full support for this campaign and we will see where we are towards the backend of the season. Given what has happened since SAF retired, there's absolutely no point in starting another merry-go-round situation where we draft in a new manager on a whim. We have to be sure that the next manager will have a positive impact on the players and the culture of the football club.

The squad are already showing the effect of the crazy last few years we have had. They need stability.

I understand your concerns but I think you make the wrong conclusions.

If Ole and his team continue to perform in a similar way to what we have seen so far this season there will be nothing like stability around this gigantic club. The media will be all over him and attack his leadership from every angle. Thousands of supporters from every continent will discuss his shortcomings on every social platform available. Our bad results will split the fan base to epic proportions if he continue to make us play like relegation candidates. The rumors of a Saudi take over will increase with every loss and all this turbulence together will infect almost every positive intentions from our management. You can’t steady a ship when it’s full storm around you.

Stability is the last thing you will witness with Ole in charge.

Like I said. I understand your intentions but without a competent manager in charge few things will get better, that includes both long and short term ambitions.

 

[Bobcat]

I am sure the keep Ole brigade is also intelligent but do not want to accept it for emotional reasons. The main reason why our squad is so poor is due to Ole.
Everyone now says that most teams in the PL has better players than us. OK, why didn't Ole try to get those players who are better than what we have?
Why did he tilt at windmills? If he is waiting as he says for the world class players to come to United then he is delusional and needs to be sacked for being delusional.
He should have got better midfield players than what we have for sure but seeing what is going on the pitch I do not think it would not make much difference as he is a very incompetent coach.
He needs to go now before further damage is done. Looking at our fixtures, I think we will win against Partizan and Brighton at OT. I am not sure about Sheffield United away though. We will probably win enough to keep in his job and flounder in mid table till the end of the season.

Yeah, because he was secretly pulling the strings behind the scenes for the last 6 years and was clearly the man responsible for us signing the likes of Sanchez, Darmian and Fred. And we cant just point our fingers at any player and say "that one, i want that one" and they suddenly turn into United players, thats not how transfers work. At best we might have gotten another 2 players this summer, no one buys an entire new starting XI in one window, that just does not happen

And neither you or i know why we did not get more incoming transfers. You just assume he's happy with mediocre players because it fits your narrative and because he has not openly thrown the players under the bus in the press. And the only "damage" he is doing is to butthurt fans feelings. Liverpool ended up 8th only four years ago (interestingly Klopps first season) and it clearly did no lasting damage to them

There is plenty to criticize Ole for, so why make up falsehoods?

 

[devilish]

Bayern has already sacked their manager while Emery seems to be on buying time. I hope we act quickly else we risk ending up with some rookie with no clue about football again

 

[In Rainbows]

Yeah, because he was secretly pulling the strings behind the scenes for the last 6 years and was clearly the man responsible for us signing the likes of Sanchez, Darmian and Fred. And we cant just point our fingers at any player and say "that one, i want that one" and they suddenly turn into United players, thats not how transfers work. At best we might have gotten another 2 players this summer, no one buys an entire new starting XI in one window, that just does not happen

And neither you or i know why we did not get more incoming transfers. You just assume he's happy with mediocre players because it fits your narrative and because he has not openly thrown the players under the bus in the press. And the only "damage" he is doing is to butthurt fans feelings. Liverpool ended up 8th only four years ago (interestingly Klopps first season) and it clearly did no lasting damage to them

There is plenty to criticize Ole for, so why make up falsehoods?

I don't think that's the argument put forth. When people say Ole's the reason for a poor squad, it's due to him choosing to strengthen the defense when the midfield and attack was in worse shape after losing Herrera and Lukaku. They compare this current squad to that of Mourinho's squad who had the same squad minus AWB, Maguire, and James, but also had Herrera, Smalling, Fellaini, Sanchez, and Lukaku instead. In other words, the reason for United having a different squad this season compared to last season is due to Ole's decision making and so if the squad is worse this season compared to last, it's his fault.

The comparison figures are
Mou's United = 20 pts in 11 matches
Ole's United = 13 pts in 11 matches

 

[Jerome Holland]

Where are you getting these stats from? These are wrong. Ole has managed 45 competitive games for United and has won 22 of those.

Please do your research properly before telling me I'm wrong, and when you come back let's chat further

Those stats are from his page on the premier league site where they are stating he's been in charge for 50 PL games rather than the 32 he's actually been in charge of United for. So I'm assuming this includes his time at Cardiff.

https://www.premierleague.com/managers/8319/Ole-Gunnar Solskjær/overview

His actual win rate in the PL with United is 49% rather than the 36% he's been given based on those stats.

The goal difference in the PL for the 32 games is +12
Goals for: 46
Against: 34

I'm not sure what the goal difference is for the full 45 games but I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume it's positive as well.

I never said it's his MUFC record I gave his BPL record please read properly.