He was more than a squad player but not quite at the level of being guaranteed starting lineup. Fergie saw that he was very effective coming off the bench. “Super-sub” was the moniker at the time, as he was so prolific when coming on mid-game.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær | Managerial Watch
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He was more than a squad player but not quite at the level of being guaranteed starting lineup. Fergie saw that he was very effective coming off the bench. “Super-sub” was the moniker at the time, as he was so prolific when coming on mid-game.
He was an excellent squad player, the sort of squad players a treble winning team would need. There's nothing wrong with that. Teddy was a seasoned England's striker and possibly the best partner Alan Shearer had ever had. He was a squad player too.
LVG and Mourinho… only in his last halve of season is where it crumbled.
Like, I agree that he was never as good as Cole, RvN and RvP, but just a poacher? Get out of here, someone didn’t pay attention in class..
Were you born yesterday? Incredible ignorance...
Being a goal poacher might be a derogatory word this days which, tbf, is hilarious considering that we bought a 70m striker who struggle to score goals. Yet back in the period they were very common, they were very effective and they were pretty respected. Fowler was a goal poacher, Italy won a world cup with Pippo Inzaghi whose technique was at the pits considering the level he played in. He's also the guy that Jaap Stam struggled the most against. Even Cole started as a goal poacher and he adapted his game on his own admission at United. Ironically he was replaced by a goal poacher in RVN and I tell you, if RVN played in today's football then he would be at par to Haaland.
oh a fan boy. Ok
Read the forum rules again and consider an edit.
He looked like he was going to replace David Beckham at right mid before the injury did for him. He might have started as just a goal poacher but he worked hard on his game and became much more than that. His injury allowed Ronaldo to come through of course so not such a bad thing in the end but it was a real shame we never got to see him get a proper season as first choice.
You may insist on phrasing it that way, but it seems disingenuous.
Anybody who remembers what was what in those days also remember that he was first choice as striker in 97 when he became our top scorer and won the league, and in 2003 as a right midfield when we also won the league.
They also remember that he was maybe the most effective substitute in the world, and in our history. His way of being a ‘squad player’ was more essential to one of the worlds best teams than many key starters where for other teams.
They also understand that in 98, he was a 24/25 yo who had arrived from Norwegian league a couple of seasons before, his price was high due to being top scorer in 97, and Ferguson had Cole, and Yorke incoming. Ferguson didn’t push to sell, but he allowed it at that point, because he couldn’t guarantee the young lad the playing time he could expect at Spurs. He would later aclnowledge that that was a miscall.
Seeing as I haven’t read anywhere anybody claiming Solskjær was our best player or anything like that, it reads strange to actively revise to belittle the legacy of one of the best loved players of the club the last fifty years, which we all know Solskjær has been.
Could not have put it better myself.
I never believed that ole as RW could ever happen. The reality was that we spent big money on a young RW who was still a bit raw and we needed to ease him slowly in. In fact after oke got injured Fletcher took that role and he wasn't a RW as well
Very well said.
Whether you believed it or not the fact is it did happen and he played some genuinely excellent football there. Something a pure goalpoacher like Inzaghi could never do.
Exactly.
Fair enough, I just don’t really see Inzaghi, Solskjær and Fowler in the same mould. Solskjær had an incredible range of goals. In my mind there are vivid pictures of him placing the ball hard with the inside of his foot from all around the edge of the box and just inside (you’ve probably seen his goal for Norway v Aserbadjan? More Zlatan than Inzaghi) He could be a poacher for sure, which «that goal» (as you begrudginly put it
) showed.Inzaghi is incidentally the player I immediately think of when I hear poacher and 90’s used in the same sentence. Chicharito is the closest to a poacher in the modern era I can remember.
Solskjær had a much more rounded game. He lacked pace and maybe some physicality, but as was mentioned above here, he played RW and other positions to a high level, and was our top scorer in his first season (I think) in 96/97.
Didn’t watch a lot of Fowler, but I don’t think he belongs in this conversation (others have to be the judge of that). Solskjær is also held in such high regards for always buckling down and doing his job, and never complaining no matter what, and he was a real team player. I’d love for us to have a young Ole again now
Good lord you’re twisting shit.
The club wanted to sell him, Fergie took him aside and said he’d understand it if he left, but that he wanted to keep him.
Fergie also wrote in his biography that he benched Ole because it was easier to bench him. He took it better and put the club first, and so it was easier to keep him happy.
Fergie tried to sell him because we had 4 good strikers in the squad, but Ole stayed and played here for 9 more seasons after that (the rest of his career) and played 366 games (started 65% of them) for us (He was also quite injury prone and struggled with his knees).
He averaged a goal contribution in the EPL every 107 minutes for us without taking a single pen.
Compared to:
Saha - 133 minutes
RVN - 112 minutes (134 without pens)
Rooney - 109 minutes (117 without pens)
Cole - 117 minutes
Yorke - 109 minutes
Sheringham - 124 minutes (126 without pens)
RVP - 100 minutes (110 without pens)
Ronaldo - 123 minutes (137 without pens)
Rashford - 140 minutes (149 without pens)
Zlatan - 111 minutes (127 without pens
In other words among the most effective attackers we've had in the PL at the club.
What was Saha's shirt number again?
There's a reason the 20LEGEND banner was seen in the stadium every time we played when he was manager.
I don't understand the need to downplay his role at the club as a player. The perfect clubplayer. Come off the bench, start, whatever is best for the team.
He's definitely not our biggest legend, but he is definitely not just some squadplayer who was here for a while and moved on like you try to imply. He made a big mark here. Won 6 league titles and a CL with us.
Well put. Take out the CL final goal and solskjaer was an excellent player for us and probably the best one v one finisher I've seen at united. He scored 126 goals for us, in around 370 games, much off those appearances were from bench or out wide. He would absolutely walk into our current team as the main striker
I remember well Ole was first teamer in 97 because Andy Cole suffered a horrific injury in 1996 from Neil Ruddock. The English striker returned on the 25th December 1996 against Rapid Vienna. SAF was constantly in search for a striker at a time. He went for Shearer in the summer of 96, he brought Teddy in 97 (tbf it was in response of Cantona retiring), we tried to sell Ole in 1998 and then we went for Yorke in that same year. Sure SAF's kept him after Ole said that he was comfortable in being a squad player. However let's not inflate thing up. Ole was a squad player (though an excellent one)
And I've said it already that there's nothing wrong with being a squad player. Football is won and lost by squads. I was also against selling Ole as well. But lets not write history either. He was a squad player.
Calling him a squad player is not downplaying his role at all. Its exactly what he was ie a squad player. That was the result of the talent we had back then. If Ole played in the current side then he would be a first teamer and probably the best player we've got.
There's no doubt that he had an excellent eye for goal. I never disputed that. However there's no denying that he was a squad player.
Agree to disagree. You aren’t, and weren’t a fan of Ole personally. Fair enough.
Your exact words were: Ole was a squad striker who would probably be treated at par to the likes of Saha (actually Saha was, at one point, a first teamer but I digress) if it wasn't for that goal.
If that's not trying to downplay his role and status at the club I don't know what is.
I literally said that he was an excellent squad player, that he was an excellent goal scorer, that trophies are won by squads and that I disagreed on the club trying to sell him. Does that come across as a person who wasn't a fan of Ole as a player? All I am saying is that we shouldn't rewrite history as well. Ole was a squad player in a forward line that SAF kept trying to bring new people in. TBF Teddy was brought in response to Cantona's retirement yet Shearer/Yorke were not. Its also true that we agreed his transfer with Spurs.
I absolutely loved him as a player and he's a top bloke. Not a very good manager, but that doesn't negate how good a player he was. If he were a player today, he would be one of our best players.
What's wrong with Saha exactly? Bar his injuries, Saha was a magnificent striker who pushed possibly the best finisher the club had ever had throughout SAF's reign out of the first team. When RVN came in, Cole immediately called quits. That's how ridiculously good RVN was. Did Ole manage to push Cole out of the first team? You know the answer.
He would be one of our best players. That's true.
I didn’t refute any of that, and I agree all were better players. Sir Alex always tried to better his teams, doesn’t mean Ole was only an excellent goalscorer and squad player. I’d argue he was one of the players who showed up when we most needed it, which points to an incredible mentality as well. He also scored the winner vs Liverpool in the FA cup run if I’m not remembering it wrong.
I don’t know why your posts seems derogatory, maybe not what you say, but how you say it? Anyway, no big deal, we’re allowed to rate differently.
I am too blunt for my own good. There's a very good reason for that but I don't feel like sharing it on the public forum.
He was seen as a squad bench option but in the days when we had Sheringham, Cole, Yorke and Ole and all of them were good enough to be starting and all probably capable of 20+ goals a season. Those were the days. Now we have a kid and Martial as striker options.
Nothing wrong with Saha, but for club status the comparison is embarressing.
Ole:
366 games
126 goals
54 assists
Ole in the CL (19 goals and 11 assists)
6 PL trophies, 1 CL trophy and some cups
Was our top scorer twice and retired at the club to manage the reserves.
Saha:
1245 games
42 goals
17 assist
CL: 4 goals and 2 assists
Never hit 10 goals in a season in the PL for us.
2 PL trophies, a CL and a League cup
Moved on to play for 4 other clubs after us.
He are not even remotely on par with eachother when it comes to status at the club. Different planets actually.
Ole scored more goals for us, he assisted more goals, he won more trophies and and he didn't move on to play for 7 more clubs compared to Andy Cole.
Ole had a higher goal contribution rate per 90 than RVN for us....and he was still here when Ruud left to play for other clubs.
Can you see why Ole is not on par with Saha when it comes to status at the club.......even when you remove THAT goal from the equation?
For the record I believe that if Ole played in this squad then he would be one of our best players.
Ole was an excellent goal scorer. No one is disputing that. But there's more to the game then just goals. Its the reason why Cole was first teamer and Ole was squad player and its the same reason why Saha was able to push RVN out of the first team while Ole struggled to do the same with Cole (who was a great striker but not as good as RVN). Its a shame that Saha was plagued by injuries cause I could see him become a top top striker for us.
Regarding the rest
a- Ole played in a better side then Saha did
b- Ole wanted to remain despite the club agreeing a bid for him. Cole refused to play second fiddle to RVN
He’d be our number 1 striker 100%.
Exactly. There's a lot of rewriting history/nostalgia when it comes to Solskjaer.
Sure, we scored more goals under him. However, there were often times we struggled to score. People only seem to remember the high scoring games.
We scored a goal or less in 18 of the 38 PL games during the 20/21 season. Seven 0-0 draws in the league that season alone. Yet some fans associate 0-0 draws with LvG.
The points tallies were ridiculously low under him. Until the 21/22 season, our lowest ever PL points tally was 64 points. Solskjaer somehow secured a 3rd place finish with just 66 points. That's only 2 points better than Moyes/Giggs who finished 7th with 64 points. We were never close to accumulating a potential title winning points tally under him. Mourinho is the only manager who has gotten anywhere near it.
Having said all that... it's hilarious how bad ten Hag has been for almost a full 12 months. It makes Ole look better by the day.
And RW …
Do you understand what is meant by a phrase like ‘disingenuously twisting words’? Do you see how you can be perceived to do that in that answer?
He was more than a squad player. He was also a better all round player than you give him credit for and wouldn't have succeeded on the RW if otherwise.
He was a consistent starter for us in his first season. He then played a lesser role the following season and we did try to shift him. Thankfully he turned Spurs down but was kept on the fringes for a lot of the 98/99 season before going on to score the most important goal in this clubs history.
In the seasons which followed, Solskjaer once again established himself as a prominent member of the squad, starting more PL games than Cole or Yorke from 2000 - 2002. In the 02/03 season, he was once again a regular starter before his terrible injury problems began.
A Legend of the club and it makes me sick, the abuse he got as our manager.
I feel like some are trying to downplay his effect as a player just because his manager stint didn’t work out. There’s no need for that. The guy is a true United man through and through