Ole Gunnar Solskjær | Managerial Watch

[roonster09]

Well we didnt get CL when he was interim. He got us into top 4 position, and then bottled it with a very easy schedule.

He got 3rd most points in 2018-19 season, it's not his fault that Jose fecked up that season so bad.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

The disrespect for him as a manager still amuses me. He ultimately proved not quite good enough, but he also proved he was a very good manager in his own right that could easily steer many smaller projects.

 

[fishfingers15]

That's not bs, that's what it is. There are examples in this forum itself.

Ofcourse I don't like Jose and that has nothing to do with how I rate Ole's time. People just talk in extremes with no middle ground, it's just nonsense.

Tell the truth, you had a Jose tattoo, isn't it?

 

[DOTA]

I'm glad we appointed him. It was really fun at times. Not so much at the end... but that tends to be the case with managers.

 

[Nickelodeon]

Despite the fact that Ole turned down 'multiple' offers after being sacked by United and has been shortlisted for several jobs including Club Brugge?

He was a professional footballer and manager. He then had his dream job. Of course he doesn't need to work again.

I don't think he was good for us (helped get rid of the craziness of Mourinho but that's it) but this disrespect is crazy. If I had my dream job and enough money why would I ever work again?

I'm calling Ole 'not good enough' for the league purely based on the fact that there were 14 managers sackings in the league last season and yet, he wasn't considered a single one of them. How is calling this fact out disrespectful? Is it disrespectful to say that Elanga isn't good enough for Real Madrid?

I understand that there's a sentimentality involved with Ole and I'm personally happy to dissociate the player from the manager. Because the manager was painfully average and despite some decent moments, nowhere near good enough to manage us with the sort of CV he had. And it is clear as day for other prospective employers.

 

[Oldyella]

Wish there hadn’t been any added time in 1999. All the pain of the last 5 years would then be completely erased.

Still annoyed our defence allowed Rob Lee a free run at goal.

 

[AjaxCunian]

He was given the job full time in March.

Check your timelines mate.

Sentimentality. It was way too soon, and no reason to give it at that time.

 

[AjaxCunian]

He got 3rd most points in 2018-19 season, it's not his fault that Jose fecked up that season so bad.

He did well to get us in a good position after that patch, but then proceeded to completely bottle the end of the season.

He should never have been given that contract so soon, anyway. Was incredibly stupid business.

 

[red.knight]

Let’s get this straight, Ole needed to leave but the abuse is uncalled for. Let's not forget Ole lead Utd to top 3 and top 2 position in 2 full seasons. Yes, Ole is not a great tactician and strategist but he was a good man manager. He handled very well during the turbulent times immediately after Jose sack.

In my opinion, it's gone wrong when Ronaldo arrived. He's a world class player but before there was a team playing well and working for each other and in the end as good as he is he doesn't work hard enough getting back and helping the midfield and defence. I'd love to know if Ole was the one pushing for him to come in or whether it was a business decision made by someone above his head. I suspect it's the latter and I think it destabilized the project that was actually going better than I thought it would. I also think Pogba was a problem in that team. I'm not laying all the blame at his feet, but his lack of effort, determination, tactical discipline and passion to the cause is unforgivable. Add to that his constant whingeing and pushing for a move, he should have been shipped out earlier. He didn’t deserve a place in Ole’s team.

No matter how bad it was in his last season as a manager, I still respect and applaud Ole for the job he did bringing back the feel good factor to the club. Ole did so much more for Utd than just one goal in 1999. He scored many vital goals helping Utd to win titles. He doesn’t deserve the abuse. All the best to Ole in his future endeavors.

 

[The Boy]

Did anyone reliable in the English media report this supposed interest from the PL?

I dont think anyone mentioned any clubs aprt from this paragraph from the Athletic

Without saying it categorically, Solskjaer gave the impression he was supportive of Sir Jim Ratcliffe rather than the Qatari bidders, whom he did not mention. Ratcliffe is the owner of Nice in Ligue 1 and, though it has been kept a secret until now, Solskjaer revealed that the French club had tried to appoint him as manager.

 

[roonster09]

He did well to get us in a good position after that patch, but then proceeded to completely bottle the end of the season.

He should never have been given that contract so soon, anyway. Was incredibly stupid business.

Whether he should have got the job is a different topic, blaming him for not getting 4th in 2018-19 is just wrong. We had too much to do when he took over.

 

[stevoc]

Sentimentality. It was way too soon, and no reason to give it at that time.

Hey at the time I probably would have agreed but he was coming off the back of a 11 or 12 game winning streak in the league and had just knocked out PSG despite losing the home leg 2-0.

But to say him keeping his job between 19/20 and 20/21 was down to sentimentality is clearly nonsense.

Unless you think the Glazers get all teary eyed and nostalgic about Ole scoring the winner in 99?

 

[AjaxCunian]

Whether he should have got the job is a different topic, blaming him for not getting 4th in 2018-19 is just wrong. We had too much to do when he took over.

I haven't blamed him for not getting top 4, just that we were far too soon to give him a contract and should have thanked him after the season for his services, as the original plan was.

 

[AjaxCunian]

Hey at the time I probably would have agreed but he was coming off the back of a 11 or 12 game winning streak in the league and had just knocked out PSG despite losing the home leg 2-0.

But to say him keeping his job between 19/20 and 20/21 was down to sentimentality is clearly nonsense.

Unless you think the Glazers get all teary eyed and nostalgic about Ole scoring the winner in 99?

Was still incredibly short-sighted, I for one, will cherish the PSG comeback. But I never ever thought because of it, this is the way to go. It was an incredibky flukey win, which happens in football at times.

I don't think he deserved to be sacked after 19/20 and 20/21, especially not with proper targets for the role. However the contract extension, once again a baffling decision. And I think he shouldnt be made permanent manager in the first place.

 

[Nevilles.Wear.Prada]

I'd say the oppposite, really. Our sentimentality didn't allow as to sack him earlier, when we should have. It was obvious to everyone but he was given more time due to his status of a club legend.

He wasn't a good manager for us, he never had the credentials and was hired based on one purple patch. I'd be very surprised if any half decent club takes him.

THANK YOU!

 

[kafta]

Will always love Ole for what he did as a player. A legend of the club. He needed to step down as manager, but shitting on him is ridiculous.

 

[roonster09]

I haven't blamed him for not getting top 4, just that we were far too soon to give him a contract and should have thanked him after the season for his services, as the original plan was.

Surely below quoted post is blaming him for not getting top 4?

Well we didnt get CL when he was interim. He got us into top 4 position, and then bottled it with a very easy schedule.

 

[AjaxCunian]

Surely below quoted post is blaming him for not getting top 4?

There is no blame, in the sense of consequence or repercussion. He did well to get us there in the first place, and then did poorly to end the season so poorly against weak opponents.

So why should that purple patch earn him a contract and plaudits, but that end to the season be ignored?

For me it boils down to the same thing, he shouldn't have been given a permanent contract anyway. Unless I recall it poorly, the club intented to hire him as interim whilst searching for a permanent manager.

The way how Erik Ten Hag was signed, was through a proper conducted process. Not just, oh, he's winning games, give him the contract.

 

[stevoc]

Was still incredibly short-sighted, I for one, will cherish the PSG comeback. But I never ever thought because of it, this is the way to go. It was an incredibky flukey win, which happens in football at times.

I don't think he deserved to be sacked after 19/20 and 20/21, especially not with proper targets for the role. However the contract extension, once again a baffling decision. And I think he shouldnt be made permanent manager in the first place.

Fair enough but the guy I was originally replying to thinks he should have been and that he wasn't because of sentimentality.

The contract extension isn't baffling at all when you consider who decided to give it to him and why. Mourinho got a new contract in 2018 as well 6 months before getting sacked.

Get CL = Keep your job.

Don't get CL = Lose your job.

 

[roonster09]

There is no blame, in the sense of consequence or repercussion. He did well to get us there in the first place, and then did poorly to end the season so poorly against weak opponents.

So why should that purple patch earn him a contract and plaudits, but that end to the season be ignored?

For me it boils down to the same thing, he shouldn't have been given a permanent contract anyway. Unless I recall it poorly, the club intented to hire him as interim whilst searching for a permanent manager.

The way how Erik Ten Hag was signed, was through a proper conducted process. Not just, oh, he's winning games, give him the contract.

Weak opponents? Our games was against Arsenal away, Wolves away, Everton away, City at home, Chelsea home. Only last 2 games was vs shit teams and by that time top 4 was already done.

Our 3rd last game was vs Chelsea, we still had a slim chance but De Gea blunder gave them chance to equalise. So all these tough games somehow are easy run of games now.

Whether he deserved that contract is not the topic I'm discussing, I don't think anyone would argue he should be given that contract considering all the data we have right now but 2018-19 season failure has nothing to do with Ole.

 

[Andycoleno9]

And learn not to post just in extremes.

What exactly is extreme regarding opinion about his reign?
Did he get a job based on his legendary status? Or you think that some other manager, whos CV is relegating Cardiff and winning two trophies in Norway in 6 years, would be contender for Man Utd job?
He was populist. Everything what he said when he came in (based on which fans created wrong opinion about him) were lies.

1. He said that Man Utd must win trophies. Later he said that trophies are for ego and he talked 3 years about progress, progress, progress.
2. He said that he will play high pressing, attacking football. We played defensive football based on counters. When asked about tactics he said; "It is all about desire and passion. Who wants more will win the game".
3. He said that he wants full backs who are attacking minded and go high on the pitch. Then he spends 50 mil on most defensive full back in PL.
4. He said that he will be ruthless ("many players will not be here"). In his third season he blocked transfers even for backups of the backups (Donny, Lingard) because he wanted huge squad.
5. He allowed anarchy in team which resulted with weak trainings and awful fitness level. We were at the bottom of the league regarding running (which is opposite to his plan about high press football). Best part was when he, in biggest crisis, went on two weeks vacation and allowed players to do that too.
6. He didn't develop any young players despite saying that "In United DNA is playing local lads".
Won absolutely nothing, left huge problems to next manager ( while myth here was that he is "building team for next manager"), spent crazy money on wrong players and lowered criteria for success. That is his reign.

How and what Moyes, Lvg and Mourinho did here is another topic for another thread. We are now talking about Solskjaer.

 

[Blackbeard]

I’m not sure there is any other fan base in football that so readily shits on their legends. Liverpool fans for instance are the extreme opposite and circle the wagons to protect players where they shouldn’t ie Suarez but surely there is some healthy place in between?

 

[Oranges038]

Well we didnt get CL when he was interim. He got us into top 4 position, and then bottled it with a very easy schedule.

It wasn't just down to him though was it?

After the honeymoon period, players started to drop off. Particularly towards the end of that season DDG threw in some absolute howlers that really crippled Utd's chances of winning games.

 

[stevoc]

What exactly is extreme regarding opinion about his reign?
Did he get a job based on his legendary status? Or you think that some other manager, whos CV is relegating Cardiff and winning two trophies in Norway in 6 years, would be contender for Man Utd job?
He was populist. Everything what he said when he came in (based on which fans created wrong opinion about him) were lies.

1. He said that Man Utd must win trophies. Later he said that trophies are for ego and he talked 3 years about progress, progress, progress.
2. He said that he will play high pressing, attacking football. We played defensive football based on counters. When asked about tactics he said; "It is all about desire and passion. Who wants more will win the game".
3. He said that he wants full backs who are attacking minded and go high on the pitch. Then he spends 50 mil on most defensive full back in PL.
4. He said that he will be ruthless ("many players will not be here"). In his third season he blocked transfers even for backups of the backups (Donny, Lingard) because he wanted huge squad.
5. He allowed anarchy in team which resulted with weak trainings and awful fitness level. We were at the bottom of the league regarding running (which is opposite to his plan about high press football). Best part was when he, in biggest crisis, went on two weeks vacation and allowed players to do that too.
6. He didn't develop any young players despite saying that "In United DNA is playing local lads".
Won absolutely nothing, left huge problems to next manager ( while myth here was that he is "building team for next manager"), spent crazy money on wrong players and lowered criteria for success. That is his reign.

How and what Moyes, Lvg and Mourinho did here is another topic for another thread. We are now talking about Solskjaer.

Do you think the Glazers were sentimental about Solskjaer's playing days at United?

 

[roonster09]

What exactly is extreme regarding opinion about his reign?
Did he get a job based on his legendary status? Or you think that some other manager, whos CV is relegating Cardiff and winning two trophies in Norway in 6 years, would be contender for Man Utd job?
He was populist. Everything what he said when he came in (based on which fans created wrong opinion about him) were lies.

1. He said that Man Utd must win trophies. Later he said that trophies are for ego and he talked 3 years about progress, progress, progress.
2. He said that he will play high pressing, attacking football. We played defensive football based on counters. When asked about tactics he said; "It is all about desire and passion. Who wants more will win the game".
3. He said that he wants full backs who are attacking minded and go high on the pitch. Then he spends 50 mil on most defensive full back in PL.
4. He said that he will be ruthless ("many players will not be here"). In his third season he blocked transfers even for backups of the backups (Donny, Lingard) because he wanted huge squad.
5. He allowed anarchy in team which resulted with weak trainings and awful fitness level. We were at the bottom of the league regarding running (which is opposite to his plan about high press football). Best part was when he, in biggest crisis, went on two weeks vacation and allowed players to do that too.
6. He didn't develop any young players despite saying that "In United DNA is playing local lads".
Won absolutely nothing, left huge problems to next manager ( while myth here was that he is "building team for next manager"), spent crazy money on wrong players and lowered criteria for success. That is his reign.

How and what Moyes, Lvg and Mourinho did here is another topic for another thread. We are now talking about Solskjaer.

WTF are you blabbering about, anyone calling Ole as a complete failure is talking in extremes, it's not really that hard to understand.

Also we were bottom of the league in running? Would love to see the source for that. I know for sure that we covered least or in bottom 3 under Jose.

 

[Revan]

WTF are you blabbering about, anyone calling Ole as a complete failure is talking in extremes, it's not really that hard to understand.

Also we were bottom of the league in running? Would love to see the source for that. I know for sure that we covered least or in bottom 3 under Jose.

I believe we were in sixth position in the table when Jose was sacked. Same position we ended in that season with Ole, which gave him the permanent contract.

 

[AjaxCunian]

Weak opponents? Our games was against Arsenal away, Wolves away, Everton away, City at home, Chelsea home. Only last 2 games was vs shit teams and by that time top 4 was already done.

Our 3rd last game was vs Chelsea, we still had a slim chance but De Gea blunder gave them chance to equalise. So all these tough games somehow are easy run of games now.

Whether he deserved that contract is not the topic I'm discussing, I don't think anyone would argue he should be given that contract considering all the data we have right now but 2018-19 season failure has nothing to do with Ole.

1 point from those fictures aforementioned is really poor, and showed at the time that all the hosanna was really premature. There are some tough fixtures in that, but 1 point from 5 matches, whatever way you look at it, that's dire.

To then top it off with a draw to Huddersfield and losing to Cardiff. Just slightly better performance would have had us in top 4. Add 5 points from those last two, has us at 71 points.

Get more than 1 point out of those 15 available, has us, at top 4.

 

[roonster09]

I believe we were in sixth position in the table when Jose was sacked. Same position we ended in that season with Ole, which gave him the permanent contract.

We were 11 or 12 points behind 4th placed team when Jose was sacked, we 5 points behind 4th place team.

Finishing 6th didn't give him permanent contract, it was arguably the best run of games post SAF that landed him the permanent job.

 

[AjaxCunian]

It wasn't just down to him though was it?

After the honeymoon period, players started to drop off. Particularly towards the end of that season DDG threw in some absolute howlers that really crippled Utd's chances of winning games.

I don't think anyone is saying it is just down to him, it is never just down to the manager. But he's ultimately most responsible.

The poor form that had him sacked, wasnt just down to him either. Our players were making huge errors out of his control, that's basically how football works.

The honeymoon period was nice, but never a solid basis to hire him for. It was really ridiculous management.

He deserves credit, and plaudits for the things he did achieve. But there were also enough signs, that he wasn't the right man.

 

[roonster09]

1 point from those fictures aforementioned is really poor, and showed at the time that all the hosanna was really premature. There are some tough fixtures in that, but 1 point from 5 matches, whatever way you look at it, that's dire.

To then top it off with a draw to Huddersfield and losing to Cardiff. Just slightly better performance would have had us in top 4. Add 5 points from those last two, has us at 71 points.

Get more than 1 point out of those 15 available, has us, at top 4.

And we had players dropping like flies and on their knees by business end of the season.

Oh great logic, add the points dropped and we will have more points.

We played 21 league games in that season under Ole and got 40 points. Only Liverpool and City gained more points than us.

 

[Sarni]

It is not that simple though, every season is different. Those 2nd and 3rd finishes, no one can take it away from Ole. However, we finished with low point tallies in periods where the other top clubs were also quite poor.

We weren't really progressing, showing by our terrible displays in the CL, and ultimately the 2021/2022 season where that same Ole had us in a terrible place.

He did a quite decent job altogether though, he even overperformed at times I would say.

Were we even that terrible in CL? 2020-21 was a freak season, we had a great performance in Paris followed by thrashing of Leipzig at home, and somehow fell apart in Istanbul which cost us the group. We were not even that bad against PSG when we lost to them at home and would have probably got a result without Fred's red card, we were awful at Leipzig to start the game but nearly came back from 3-0 in the final minutes (remember a very lucky save from their goalkeeper). We then went on to make Europa League final with some very good performances on the way - very comfortable against Granada, quite OK against Milan, awesome against Sociedad and Roma in semis. I don't really get why people remember that season as us being awful in Europe, aside from 2-3 games we were largely excellent. That was probably our best European season since Fergie left.

I think we were all right in 2019-20 Europa League as well, until that loss to Sevilla, which still was nowhere near as bad as this year's loss to an inferior Sevilla team that did not even field their best players in the first leg.

2021-22 we were very underwhelming but still made it past a tough group, though largely fluking it and the crucial game Ole wasn't even in charge. That season was a complete mess overall and he was correctly sacked at the time but the revisionism of previous year, somehow painting 2019-20 and 2020-21 as those awful, terrible seasons is frankly weird.

Yes, we did not progress to an extent you would want, yes there was some bafflingly bad business done by the club but in no way were those two seasons bad. I don't even remember us getting battered by anyone in either of those two seasons in a manner that we were several times just this last season, and yet you have majority of people perceive 22-23 as this amazing overachievement of a season and putting 19-20 and 20-21 down as awful, terrible underachievement. It's honestly weird. He actually led us to the only two decent consecutive seasons we had since Fergie, Van Gaal and Mourinho had one reasonably fine season each. Honestly if he left after 20-21 I don't see how anyone could consider that a bad appointment. As an interim he did the job, he never had the tools to succeed here long term but very few managers do and we are yet to find one that will prove they can fix the club - and it's been 10 years since SAF left.

 

[izak]

Him and Moyes were the only two Managers our main competitor were never scared of.

Oppositions fan praying he doesn't get the sack says all you need to know about his time managing us, it was that bad.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

We were 11 or 12 points behind 4th placed team when Jose was sacked, we 5 points behind 4th place team.

Finishing 6th didn't give him permanent contract, it was arguably the best run of games post SAF that landed him the permanent job.

Which was idiotic to say the least.

 

[roonster09]

Which was idiotic to say the least.

Ofcourse, no one is arguing against that.

 

[Oranges038]

I don't think anyone is saying it is just down to him, it is never just down to the manager. But he's ultimately most responsible.

The poor form that had him sacked, wasnt just down to him either. Our players were making huge errors out of his control, that's basically how football works.

The honeymoon period was nice, but never a solid basis to hire him for. It was really ridiculous management.

He deserves credit, and plaudits for the things he did achieve. But there were also enough signs, that he wasn't the right man.

Maybe so, but 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing.

 

[cybertej29]

Him and Moyes were the only two Managers our main competitor were never scared of.

Oppositions fan praying he doesn't get the sack says all you need to know about his time managing us, it was that bad.

Inspite of that, we got some of our best results against our rivals under him.

 

[AjaxCunian]

Maybe so, but 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing.

It wasnt hindsight really, enough fans had their concerns and were mostly being shut down.

 

[AjaxCunian]

And we had players dropping like flies and on their knees by business end of the season.

Oh great logic, add the points dropped and we will have more points.

We played 21 league games in that season under Ole and got 40 points. Only Liverpool and City gained more points than us.

If you want to justify getting 1 point from 5 matches and then 1 point from playing vs Huddersfield and Cardiff, suit yourself.

Any other top club, and we call that a bottle job.

Not disregarding the good results prior to that, that was very good. Also very unsustainable, which the club lacked the foresight to determine.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

I know there are a billion "what if's" in football

But I'd like to know where he/United would be now if they'd thrown the extra money at Bellingham and Haaland a few years ago to get them in during his reign.

 

[roonster09]

If you want to justify getting 1 point from 5 matches and then 1 point from playing vs Huddersfield and Cardiff, suit yourself.

Any other top club, and we call that a bottle job.

Not disregarding the good results prior to that, that was very good. Also very unsustainable, which the club lacked the foresight to determine.

So 11 points behind 4th place team to 5 points behind 4th is bottle job?

So from "Easy run of games" to "should have got at least a win". Just all over the place and to make it even worse, you have very good belief that you are not blaming Ole for 2018-19 season.