Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

Status
Not open for further replies.
After the Jose misery it sounded so nice to hear someone with the supposed "traditional values" of the club, that little hit of nostalgia was such a refreshing change. But the truth is, if you don't look forward, you end up doing what Liverpool did for decades, chasing the past and living off the glory days of history. They're winning the league this year, won the CL last and how have they done it? A new identity, embracing modern ideas and throwing out the obsession with the old Liverpool. If we don't do the same, we're destined to sink much like they did for years and years.

So much this. We need to stop looking to 'recreate' SAF. That is impossible.
 
Don't bow to the past. Embrace progress and move forward (tactics, training, player recruitment structure). But the punditry chairs and the in-house propaganda channel are geared towards marinating in the past. Just watching Ferdinand trying to totally avoid RVP's mild criticisms tells you all you need to know about the problems at and around United.

It may sound silly and non-important to some but it's a microcosm of the ineptitude...United's Youtube channel is dire. They easily have the worst content of any 'top' club in Europe. No clips with field sound of any training ever. Every other day, it looks like they're posting videos of 'Classic Games'. And they're over 1 million subscribers less than Liverpool. Would this matter if they were winning everything? No, but in 2020 most with-it teams are tech savvy and would never neglect this aspect of marketing and doesn't EW love his clickbait revenue...Youtube content is a big generator across platforms. They've lost the fight for the younger generation. It's over.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SteveJ
Don't bow to the past. Embrace progress and move forward (tactics, training, player recruitment structure). But the punditry chairs and the in-house propaganda channel are geared towards marinating in the past. Just watching Ferdinand trying to totally avoid RVP's mild criticisms tells you all you need to know about the problems at and around United.

It may sound silly and non-important to some but it's a microcosm of the ineptitude...United's Youtube channel is dire. They easily have the worst content of any 'top' club in Europe. No clips with field sound of any training ever. Every other day, it looks like they're posting videos of 'Classic Games'. And they're over 1 million subscribers less than Liverpool. Would this matter if they were winning everything? No, but in 2020 most with-it teams are tech savvy and would never neglect this aspect of marketing and doesn't EW love his clickbait revenue...Youtube content is a big generator across platforms. They've lost the fight for the younger generation. It's over.
We're in danger of becoming Mojo Magazine in football form - a curated, 'legacy' club.
 
Don't bow to the past. Embrace progress and move forward (tactics, training, player recruitment structure). But the punditry chairs and the in-house propaganda channel are geared towards marinating in the past. Just watching Ferdinand trying to totally avoid RVP's mild criticisms tells you all you need to know about the problems at and around United.

It may sound silly and non-important to some but it's a microcosm of the ineptitude...United's Youtube channel is dire. They easily have the worst content of any 'top' club in Europe. No clips with field sound of any training ever. Every other day, it looks like they're posting videos of 'Classic Games'. And they're over 1 million subscribers less than Liverpool. Would this matter if they were winning everything? No, but in 2020 most with-it teams are tech savvy and would never neglect this aspect of marketing and doesn't EW love his clickbait revenue...Youtube content is a big generator across platforms. They've lost the fight for the younger generation. It's over.
”It’s over” :lol: because of our Youtube channel? Really
 
In fairness, he mght mean - solely - that the club's pretty much given up on recruiting the next generation of fans. Complacency is a big problem at United, IMO.
 
Last edited:
This here lies the problem. Chasing the glory that Ferguson had. We hired Moyes because he was supposed to carry on Ferguson's legacy, the chosen one. It did not work out, we panicked and started looking for quick fixes and got managers and players to quickly fix things. It did not work out.

Ole came in and performed well for the first few games. But because we're still fixated about Ferguson's glory days we interpreted it as "Ole, the legend created by Ferguson himself has brought back the United spirit of old". The game against PSG sealed this thought. Ole himself would say "This is how United should be, two goals isn't enough...... Attack attack attack". We were convinced that he had brought or was bringing back the United spirit of old after the winning run and the convincing press conferences. Since he has brought that United spirit back, Now all he needed was the time and resources to bring the glory.

Fast forward a year later, zero progression. We only look dangerous with counter attacks and when Rashford or Greenwood has the ball. You can even say the quality of our squad has declined. Even Ole's press conference went from "Two goals isn't enough" to "Hopefully instead of losing once a month it can be once in two months".

But we're rebuilding to our glory days and it takes time since even Ferguson who took us there took time. Let's give Ole time and remember 30 years ago how Ferguson took time to rebuild the squad. Let's target British players because it's what worked 30 years ago. Trying to recreate the past.

The past was Ferguson's glory. He did it himself. You can't chase after someone's glory and expect to succeed. The Ole supporters want to give him time because they are all fixated in the past. "Ole was one of us so he understands the culture of the club,"Ferguson took time to rebuild so Ole should take as long as he wants", "We used to have Young English players or academy players so we should continue doing that".

The truth is, there is no United spirit or United way or United culture. Our glory days were run by Fergie and were his glory days but it looked like United's own because of how long it was. If Guardiola or Klopp stayed in City or Liverpool and kept winning for 20 more years everything they are doing doing will become the culture of the club. It was stated that Ferguson was both DOF and Manager so everything about that United team in the past - the academy players, signing youthetc was his identity that has been translated to the culture of the club. He's gone now and we need a new identity not to replicate Ferguson's like Ole is trying to do.

A DOF is the most important thing we need right now. We need a DOF that can come and put his mark and change the whole team in his own way. Hiring coaches and players that will fit his philosophy not Ferguson's philosophy. Whether his philosophy involves academy players or British players or signing Galacticos like Perez.
If there's no United Way, and just SAF's way, who was Sir Matt Busby then?
 
In fairness, he mght mean - solely - that club's pretty much given up on recruiting the next generation of fans. Complacency is a big problem at United, IMO.

Yes you understood...hence the word microcosm of ineptitude. I forgot you had to guide certain people through each line.

Antiquated club trying to replicate past glory (while not playing an appealing style of football) and getting swamped at every level of the operation of the football club (e.g. Youtube content creation). Taken together, on the pitch, off the pitch...they've lost the people who are attracted to the club by success and style.
 
Last edited:
If there's no United Way, and just SAF's way, who was Sir Matt Busby then?
That United has only won the title under those two men in in the last fifty years proves his point, right? There is no United Way, no institutional philosophy that only succeeds when you have once in a lifetime phenomenal managers in charge, Real Madrid and Barcelona routinely win the league with average managers.
 
Last edited:
Anybody defending Ole can you seriously say he would be anywhere in contention for the United job, if he wasn't an ex player?

If you took one look at his credentials and his football, knowing that he never played for United, you'd all be disgusted at hiring such an underqualified and tactically inept manager, one that's vastly more underqualified than Moyes actually.

You can say no you wouldn't or it doesn't matter cause he did play for us, but you all know the reality is you'd have that exact reaction and that you are only defending how he's doing because he used to play for us.

Nobody here should hate Ole, he is by all rights a club legend yes, but I'm sick and tired of this chasing after the old days mentality, Fergie is retired and we're still chasing his shadow, now with explayers, trying to act all high and mighty and making sure we have to give managers time and more time and multiple windows before we judge based on absolutely nothing but our sense of moral superioty as a club.

People are right in this thread, whether a clubs in a bad place or a good place there are numerous examples of clubs where are manager comes in and you see what they are doing on the field, you see an example of that managers influence and what they want to do in terms of how that team plays, maybe not immediately, but you see it quickly. Obviously an immediate example being Brendan Rogers, he's come into Leicester and you see his influence, you just see it already. We haven't seen this with Ole, at all, we set up to counter attack, which we often do poorly, and if we can't do that we are completely clueless, that's it, that is all we do. You can say it's the players but how can anyone legitimately post here defending the way we play football in this day and age, it's a travesty.

Marco Rose, who was reportedly on our list, took over at Gladbach and he has them sitting 2nd in the Bundesliga with a real chance this season that they could win it. Nagelsmann has Leipzig 1st. They didn't need multiple seasons for this. You already see how they perform and how they play football.

So why doesn't it happen for us? Why are we seemingly the only club in world football that has to wait for our manager to take multiple seasons and transfer windows to get his act together and put his stamp on the club, at least this is what alot of people's opinions here are.

Moyes - Completely average
LVG - I'd argue the only manager to really imprint a style of play on the club, albeit it was boring as hell and he was well past it when we hired him
Mourinho - Won, but he's past his best and the football was dire
Solksjaer - Would be nowhere near the club if he wasn't an ex player.

Everyone here ridiculed the likes of wanting Marco Rose or Nagelsmann or Klopp etc, claiming they were just flavours of the month and hipster managers, they aren't, these kinds of managers are the future of this game and we should be hiring these kinds of managers that can stamp their philosophy on the team, a modern one, I really cannot buy into the looking back to Sir Alex shite, the game has moved on, why do people here refuse to do the same


Of course he is here because he was an ex player! He was never a career manager, but we wanted someone who knows the United way for the days of sir Alex Ferguson, and, while we have more than few players to choose from, he was the best option as a person to take the job. We had better players but it usually came with bigger ego, speaking of Giggs or Scholes in particular. Keane is no option, of course and Nevile gave it up. So, having someone from the golden years will revive our spirit and give us a boost. We already see it in big games, aside from Arsenal defeat we do well, once some inside situations are sorted we have every chance to move forward under Solskjaer. We can't really judge a manager based on a team he didn't want to put on the pitch every week. Liverpool would sack Klopp immediatly if they judged him as a manger based on the team he had when he took over, and he took over a lot younger and cheaper squad, easier to manage. We bloated our wage budget with big names and difficult players to work with, getting them out is not easy. Klopp only had to get rid of Sakho and Benteke to get started with rebuilding, he also didn't have massive pressure breathing down his neck. Some might say it's because Liverpool were shit for 20+ years that the pressure was so low for their new managers, but, over the last 6,7 years we've declined significantly and are in no position to demand trophies the first full season when the new manager takes over.
Give it time.
 
That United has only ever won the title under those two men serves to prove his point no? I think it proves that there is no United Way because there is no institutional philosophy that can only work when you have once in a lifetime phenomenons, look at Barca and Madrid where journeyman managers and chancers win them titles.
They have DOF's who stick to the club's principles, and hire managers based on the clubs plans. Barca and Real both have their own "ways". Ed and co have seen to it that there is no United identity anymore, that doesn't mean it never existed or it was only a SAF thing. Barca for example, have never moved away from Tiki-Taka possession football, and buy players/hire managers based on that style. United on the other hand, are just off the cuff, freestyling almost all the time.
 
I think combined they cost Liverpool about £70m, Everton paid 10m more for Gylfi Sigurdsson than Liverpool paid for Salah but the apologists will retrofit facts for their dumb talking points.
Exactly. As i recall people thought the pool
got robbed by paying £34m for Salah and Mane when he was linked with United no one really wanted him as people thought he was just a speed merchant.
 
Of course he is here because he was an ex player! He was never a career manager, but we wanted someone who knows the United way for the days of sir Alex Ferguson, and, while we have more than few players to choose from, he was the best option as a person to take the job. We had better players but it usually came with bigger ego, speaking of Giggs or Scholes in particular. Keane is no option, of course and Nevile gave it up. So, having someone from the golden years will revive our spirit and give us a boost. We already see it in big games, aside from Arsenal defeat we do well, once some inside situations are sorted we have every chance to move forward under Solskjaer. We can't really judge a manager based on a team he didn't want to put on the pitch every week. Liverpool would sack Klopp immediatly if they judged him as a manger based on the team he had when he took over, and he took over a lot younger and cheaper squad, easier to manage. We bloated our wage budget with big names and difficult players to work with, getting them out is not easy. Klopp only had to get rid of Sakho and Benteke to get started with rebuilding, he also didn't have massive pressure breathing down his neck. Some might say it's because Liverpool were shit for 20+ years that the pressure was so low for their new managers, but, over the last 6,7 years we've declined significantly and are in no position to demand trophies the first full season when the new manager takes over.
Give it time.
There is a reason why organisations ask for CVs and references before hiring someone, even clubs do that and both have the odd punt here and there based on gut feelings, sentiment etc. Liverpool in 2016 had a big reason to trust Klopp's processes because of his past achievements, what is it in Ole's past besides misguided sentiment that makes anyone think that three years and another half a billion in fees later he will take us to where we need to be? That he knows how the club operated twenty years ago or its just blind hope because on the pitch he is not showing it. Ole doesn't even have a tenth of Klopp's achievements before Liverpool and yet people want him to be granted the same benefit of the doubt as him!
 
Exactly. As i recall people thought the pool
got robbed by paying £34m for Salah and Mane when he was linked with United no one really wanted him as people thought he was just a speed merchant.

The caf sometimes is just as bad as the Glazers and Woodward.

We insist on named signings from Europe without knowing what they can do.

When we signed Dan James no one was up for that.

We need to be realistic on who we can actually attract.

Look on the threads of what do we need and you will see plenty names mentioned that are just not possible.
 
There is a reason why organisations ask for CVs and references before hiring someone, even clubs do that and both have the odd punt here and there based on gut feelings, sentiment etc. Liverpool in 2016 had a big reason to trust Klopp's processes because of his past achievements, what is it in Ole's past besides misguided sentiment that makes anyone think that three years and another half a billion in fees later he will take us to where we need to be? That he knows how the club operated twenty years ago or its just blind hope because on the pitch he is not showing it. Ole doesn't even have a tenth of Klopp's achievements before Liverpool and yet people want him to be granted the same benefit of the doubt as him!

What did Zinedine Zidane or Pep Guardiola achieve before being given charge of Real and Barca as managers?
 
Exactly. As i recall people thought the pool
got robbed by paying £34m for Salah and Mane when he was linked with United no one really wanted him as people thought he was just a speed merchant.
There were a ton of people here who wanted us to sign Mane when we were linked to him during LVG's time.
 
The caf sometimes is just as bad as the Glazers and Woodward.

We insist on named signings from Europe without knowing what they can do.

When we signed Dan James no one was up for that.

We need to be realistic on who we can actually attract.

Look on the threads of what do we need and you will see plenty names mentioned that are just not possible.
Yep. Mane was fantastic at Southampton but because he played for them instead of a fancy foreign club, they all wanted the foreign name.

Those were the types of players Fergie used to sign then turn into stars. I feel Woodward had dreams of being Hollywood (which we all loved) but realistically we just aren’t/weren’t ready for it at that point.

losing David Gill at the same time as Fergie was absolutely what’s killed the club.
 
What did Zinedine Zidane or Pep Guardiola achieve before being given charge of Real and Barca as managers?
And both weren't moaning for several windows to achieve, they got their chance and got on with it. Ole actually failed and now wants to spend years buying average British talent for hundreds of millions and what if after all that there is nothing? This club doesn't have the luxury to indulge a manager, ex player or not. This is how empires collapse, they always fall from within because nepotism makes them tolerate mediocrity and outright incompetence whilst others catch up on them.
 
And both weren't moaning for several windows to achieve, they got their chance and got on with it. Ole actually failed and now wants to spend years buying average British talent for hundreds of millions and what if after all that there is nothing? This club doesn't have the luxury to indulge a manager, ex player or not. This is how empires collapse, they always fall from within because nepotism makes them tolerate mediocrity and outright incompetence whilst others catch up on them.


They had Messi and Ronaldo.
 
They had Messi and Ronaldo.
Be that as it may be but their clubs still failed for them to get the opportunity and no one is even asking for Ole to win the CL but just show enough progression as a cohesive football team that has trained under the same manager for a year. League place take care of themselves after you get that right.

EDIT.
For openings to come for Zidane and Guardiola previous managers still failed despite having Messi and Ronaldo on their books so in essence managers can still fail even when they have the BPITW in their squads.
 
The whole CV point is IMO still missing the main point, as people with no CV's have been hired to top clubs in the past and done well. The point should be, based on what you've already seen which is over a year of Ole, is he good enough?

And for me, the answer to that is no, not really.
 
Yep. Mane was fantastic at Southampton but because he played for them instead of a fancy foreign club, they all wanted the foreign name.

Those were the types of players Fergie used to sign then turn into stars. I feel Woodward had dreams of being Hollywood (which we all loved) but realistically we just aren’t/weren’t ready for it at that point.

losing David Gill at the same time as Fergie was absolutely what’s killed the club.
Again, this is untrue. A shit ton of people on the Caf, myself included, desperately wanted us to sign Mane to inject some much needed pace and directness into our attack.
 
Again, this is untrue. A shit ton of people on the Caf, myself included, desperately wanted us to sign Mane to inject some much needed pace and directness into our attack.
It's not. You and a few others might have had sense but MANY didn't fancy him.

check the thread yourself

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/sadio-mané.408248/page-2

It seems that we were linked to Pedro at the time :lol: wonder if they still have the same opinions now?

Check what this guy thinks below

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/sadio-mané.408248/post-17977037
 
Last edited:
Ole's managerial style reminds me of the HIMYM episode where Marshall has to coach a kids basketball team and tells them to "go and have fun" (on Lily's insistence) and in they end they all get "participation trophies".

Too true. Based on his managerial career so far at United, Is there anything, be it his style/tactics/leadership that would make other clubs at least close to our level take notice and say “let’s hope United make the stupid mistake of sacking this guy so we can pounce on him”? I think this is a question those in full support of him need to ask themselves. Take away the legend status and what sets up apart from Moyes, Allardyce and Pulis?
 
It's not. You and a few others might have had sense but MANY didn't fancy him.

check the thread yourself

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/sadio-mané.408248/page-2

It seems that we were linked to Pedro at the time :lol: wonder if they still have the same opinions now?

Check what this guy thinks below

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/sadio-mané.408248/post-17977037
Haha wow.. The amount of "he's too inconsistent" or "not good enough" or "Nah get Pedro". Not gloating, but I myself did want Gucci Mane here :lol:
 
Haha wow.. The amount of "he's too inconsistent" or "not good enough" or "Nah get Pedro". Not gloating, but I myself did want Gucci Mane here :lol:
Hindsight is a funny thing isn't it. Whether he would have developed the same under LVG/Mourinho rather than Klopp is impossible to say, but some people were being very silly, IMO the guy was always going to be class.
 
Yep. Mane was fantastic at Southampton but because he played for them instead of a fancy foreign club, they all wanted the foreign name.

Those were the types of players Fergie used to sign then turn into stars. I feel Woodward had dreams of being Hollywood (which we all loved) but realistically we just aren’t/weren’t ready for it at that point.

losing David Gill at the same time as Fergie was absolutely what’s killed the club.

Exactly, but he played in the PL so he didnt have the same stats other players from Europe produce because they play in a lesser competitive league.

If you look at the CB situation, in the summer the names mentioned across Europe who would be £60m is unreal when no ones seen them play regularly.

They would come to the league take 1 season to adapt and will be called a flop and what not.
 
Hindsight is a funny thing isn't it. Whether he would have developed the same under LVG/Mourinho rather than Klopp is impossible to say, but some people were being very silly, IMO the guy was always going to be class.
To think we chose Depay over Mane! Hindsight can be painful too!
 
To think we chose Depay over Mane! Hindsight can be painful too!

Hindsight can also be made up bull. We wanted a RW failed with Pedro, turned to Mane... and decided against that money then we brought Martial.

Depay was signed in May.
 
Generals always fight the last war. As another OP said Ole is trying to play the way he played in the 90s. Now football has evolved so it needs new ways.
Furthermore he doesn't have the capacity to coach a team that needs to be challenging for trophies.
 
Somehow the people that support Ole constantly fail to recognize that the most important reason why people want him gone is because Ole has been here for over a year and our style of play is nothing like he said it would be.

A year has gone now with Ole as the manager. And the only time we look dangerous in matches is when we're counter attacking or Rashford has the ball (individual brilliance). A good manager doesn't need 3 or 4 transfer windows to be able to set up a side that knows what to do when they have possession.

You can blame it on the lack of creativity or whatever but I remember the end of last season when we faced already relegated Huddersfield and Cardiff WITH Pogba, win those two games and we would be talking about Champions league football. So how come we lost those games with better players than our opponents. This season Watford beat us at their worst and they didn't park the bus to do that.

I keep saying that 5th actually is a befitting position for the team considering the injuries and quality of players. But Not being in top 4 isn't the problem, the problem is after a year our manager set us up to look dangerous only when counter attacking or our best player has the ball.
 
Really hoping that if Ole is sacked we get Neville since he has coaching experience and understands the United way and culture. With a couple of players that are the right fit for the United way I'm sure Neville can achieve alot
 
Exactly, but he played in the PL so he didnt have the same stats other players from Europe produce because they play in a lesser competitive league.

If you look at the CB situation, in the summer the names mentioned across Europe who would be £60m is unreal when no ones seen them play regularly.

They would come to the league take 1 season to adapt and will be called a flop and what not.

Yeah right. He had very similar stats that he had in Austria, like a goal every 2.something games. He was playing very, very well at Southampton, not struggling for stats because he was playing in an amazingly competitive league.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.