Ole Gunnar Solskjær | Managerial Watch

NZT-One said:
This applies to every manager. Always. The good managers are better than others in terms of a) raising the baselevel of players, b) raising the top level of players and c) provide an environment and the conditions for their players to maximize their effect and to "have a plan" that does that for as many of the 11 players on the pitch as possible.
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I think point C is certainly true and is ultimately what management is all about.

That and having a good eye for talent in the first place.

Point A and B I'm not sure about. Never been convinced a manager can increase a players ability. A player is what he is to me.

Ole had a dynamite front four for a short spell. Greenwood coming and seeming to score with every effort for a while was a huge boost.

Just a huge shame he couldn't strengthen when all was going well. He should have spotted that even when playing well, Martial was not the option long term.
 
Marwood said:
 
I think point C is certainly true and is ultimately what management is all about.

That and having a good eye for talent in the first place.

Point A and B I'm not sure about. Never been convinced a manager can increase a players ability. A player is what he is to me.

Ole had a dynamite front four for a short spell. Greenwood coming and seeming to score with every effort for a while was a huge boost.

Just a huge shame he couldn't strengthen when all was going well. He should have spotted that even when playing well, Martial was not the option long term.
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It will always be difficult to what extent it is the managers influence and to what extent it is natural development but the ability of a player certainly changes over time. Maybe it could better be described as shaping a player to a certain role - like Pep did with Sterling for a while, what happened to Ronaldo under Fergie and even more visibly at Real.

It is obviously difficult to really pin point, but for me, the best spell of Ole was mostly connected with a) the players being freed up from Mourinhos negativity, b) many opponents not taking us seriously and still having a go at us while we relatively quickly became a very potent counter attacking weapon and c) in regards to Greenwood having an unknown entity that no team was prepared for while producing numbers like an established part of the team. I personally don't think, that had anything to do with Ole being a good or a bad manager - I think, from a character and status standpoint, he was the perfect fit to take over mid season because it had several positive effects. But I hardly doubt any of those effects had anything to do with his abilities from a football coach perspective. He was a great choice for the interim role and he did a really good job - the issue was sticking with him hoping that those effects would continue to last.
 
I don’t want Ole back for 2 very simple reasons
1. He’s not ruthless enough as a manager and tends to overindulge players leading to disciplinary issues,
2. He does not seem to have a plan against team who are contented to sit back and play low blocks against us.

Having said that, the disrespect that he gets here from our fans is mind boggling. We were playing the most exciting football of the post SAF era and he’s consistently gotten the upper hand in matches against supposedly superior managers like Pep, Klopp, Tuschel, Poch etc. Ole is also the ONLY manager who has gotten us to finish in top 3 back to back.

Meanwhile our ETH in folks were busy justifying why last season 8th position is acceptable because we have many injuries and win the FA cup final playing Ole ball.
 
FortunaUtd said:
It is interesting because it literally exemplifies how nostalgia and being stuck in the past hindered our club and its football legends from moving on in a comprehensive way.
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I am not sure it does to be honest. I mean, I see your point, from a sports perspective, it didn't make sense and to a large extent, that was very predictable. But if the article is right, then I think, Solskjaers concerns about letting Ronaldo move to City uncontested made a lot of sense. Just look into older threads, his return was very very popular back then and I am sure, the negative backlash when the move to City went through would have been enormous. I think, when Ronaldo showed his availability to City, it became a lose-lose situation for us - watching him join City or get him for your own team, at this point a player that needed certain conditions to flourish that we had no business of providing. It was a bit of a mean move from Ronaldo. And a little short sighted from him and his team as well - considering that he should have known the state our team was in and that the conditions for him to flourish couldn't be guaranteed.
 
Marwood said:
 
I think point C is certainly true and is ultimately what management is all about.

That and having a good eye for talent in the first place.

Point A and B I'm not sure about. Never been convinced a manager can increase a players ability. A player is what he is to me.

Ole had a dynamite front four for a short spell. Greenwood coming and seeming to score with every effort for a while was a huge boost.

Just a huge shame he couldn't strengthen when all was going well. He should have spotted that even when playing well, Martial was not the option long term.
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I agree.
I feel his sentimentality and positivity around everything really papered over the cracks and stopped him from building on that early success.
The Ronaldo return was the ultimate example of this.
Short term nostalgic feels over ruthless future planning.

The past players all wanted to be Sir Alex: a father to their players.
They all seem to miss the ruthless part of the man's personality out when they implement what he taught them.
 
RedDevilCanuck said:
Did he not play Rashford and Martial while they were both injured?
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I remember Ole at the time saying they were "carrying knocks". In some instances, we don't know the full extent of those knocks, but when players like Cavani were declaring themselves unfit for United games so they could save themselves for the national team, it was refreshing to see others play through the pain barrier.
 
Ole may not have a Plan B, but it's miles better than whatever concept of a plan that ETH has.
 
United's last 20 games at home 9 defeats, 9 wins, 2 losses. That's 29/60 points, at home. Absolutely terrible. I watch United every week as my best friend a United fan (lives right next to OT to boot!), just amazed ETH is still in the job. This isn't a midtable club, its one of the biggest clubs football has seen.

Before the game from BBC:
  • Manchester United have lost seven of their last 19 Premier League home games (W9 D3), including a 3-0 loss to Liverpool in their last such match.
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ArtetasHair said:
United's last 20 games at home 9 defeats, 9 wins, 2 losses. That's 29/60 points, at home. Absolutely terrible. I watch United every week as my best friend a United fan (lives right next to OT to boot!), just amazed ETH is still in the job. This isn't a midtable club, its one of the biggest clubs football has seen.
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Less than 1 point every 2 games. That’s beyond unacceptable.
 
Some said he didnt want Ole to return because he would always play Rashy well no shit sherlock who else he could play at that time? Juan Mata? Jesse Lingard? Daniel James? I'm not saying Ole should come back but his squad was dogshit compare to what we have today yet he made them play and look better than they actually were.

RedDevilCanuck said:
Did he not play Rashford and Martial while they were both injured?
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Isnt that supposed to be the medical team's fault or that excuse belong to ten hag exclusively??
 
So Max Allegri, Oli, Ruud or Tuechel? I think we missed our chance this summer.

There is lots of time left this season, so I don’t think we need a caretaker till the end of the season. I think between Allegri & Tuechel, I go with Tuechel, had great short term success at Chelsea.
 
Surely people don’t want a repeat, he was too nice and allowed the dressing to turn in to a toxic player controlled cesspit
 
Not sure I want him back cause I would hate to see him fail twice but at least we did counter attacking right under him.

 
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