Do any of you feel the players were partly to blame for what happened under Mourinho ? I mean clearly they didn't perform for Mourinho, and the results would never have been this bad if they had. Personally I just can't blame any of the players. When I think about how sick and tired I was of looking at Mourinho, listening to him complain etc - imagine what it was like to be a United-player and actually having to spend time with the guy. I can only imagine what a relief to walk into training the first day with Solskjaer and be met by his happy face.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer | 2018/2019 Performances
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I think Mourinho has laid the groundwork. Just as Van Gaal did for him. Both brought some bad things and they had different philosophies but largely the mentality they gave the team was good enough for a top team. Maybe a tad unbalanced at the end for both managers, but I think Ole have good conditions now. I don't see the mentality of these players getting weaker because of Ole. The thing we missed with both Van Gaal and Mourinho, is what Ole is now bringing, we are scoring the first goal. It is so important.
They did perform for 2 years. Even when things went downhill in his third year, they still did perform as they would never turn so many matches around. It wasn't Chelsea scenario.
By the end of his reign they absolutely hated to play for him though. Those 2 things can co-exist at the same time.
Perfectly timed subs. So refreshing to see him bring on fresh forwards to punish them on the counter, rather that bring on a CB or someone like fellaini to see the game out.
Loving Ole in charge, he's made me love watching football again.
Loving Ole in charge, he's made me love watching football again.
Ole hasnt but the rest of the team have gone behind a few times already this season.
Yeah but Ole might change certain things in the team, or do things differently to Jose for example.
Ole has been perfect so far, absolutely perfect. Long it may continue
Love him but just cannot understand making 5 changes, very unnecessary.
Didn’t show Burnley enough respect playing the likes of Pereira and Mata.
Didn’t show Burnley enough respect playing the likes of Pereira and Mata.
Periera was the weirdest selection for me, by far. At least Mata is a proven squad player and we know his qualities. Periera is complete unknown quantity who you’d expect would at least come on in the 70th if we’re winning, not start a game of this importance.
Sanchez has just returned from injury and Lingard has been poor in the past games. Playing Mata made perfect sense. I guess Pereira is good in training because he's never performed in a real match so far.
Lingard makes more sense than Mata, sorry. If Alexis can start against Arsenal not sure why Burnley would be an issue.
Dropping Herrera for Pereira was naive, there’s no 2 ways about it.
I’m sorry buddy but Ole got it wrong. He’s been good so far but he seriously underestimated the opposition.
He started against Arsenal a few days ago in his first game after injury and was taken off after 70 minutes.
Lingard is bad on the right. The reason Mata always plays on the right is because Lingard can't play there.
You have to rotate the squad and you have to have faith they are good enough and they have to believe you. I don't think it was a mistake. I would have said to Jones, your facing play it's ok to smash it forward. If you keep playing those balls, there's always a risk of it being intercepted. Just clear the area and then play or mix it up. I'm not going to blame Ole cause you know? Some people are like that. Someones gotta be blamed. There were times, it was Sir Alexs fault. At the end of the day, what we saw was the never say die spirit and that's encouraging. We had over 25 shots on goal - we should have been more clinical but Heaton made some good saves also.
I love what Ole has done so far. But Burnley was tactical mistake after mistake. Great comeback shows his man management is still working though and morale is high.
Too many small, lightweight, easily bullied players against big physical Burnley. They came for a battle but we put out the players least up for a battle. It was a mistake having both Mata and Pereira start. Then to bring on lingard and Sanchez - both small players - was another mistake.
Too many small, lightweight, easily bullied players against big physical Burnley. They came for a battle but we put out the players least up for a battle. It was a mistake having both Mata and Pereira start. Then to bring on lingard and Sanchez - both small players - was another mistake.
And who are these so called big physical players you wanted to see? Fellaini? McTominay? What the hell would they have added?
It was probably one change too many but then again we can't use the same XI for every game. There has to be some rotation or we will gas out fairly quickly.
Oh, and both the 'small lightweight' he subbed on were involved in both goals. One won the penalty, the other got the header on target which was scored on the rebound.
It's not his fault that he only has around 13-14 players that are good enough. With the crazy schedule coming up he is simply forced to rotate and use some players that aren't good enough. This could easily have been avoided if he was allowed to bring in just one player this window.
He's doing well now the players have picked up the tools, sadly, finishing in the top 4 will more than likely lead to further uninvestment so its all a double edged sword!
I see your logic, but that’s taking the “the glass is half empty” to an absurd extreme.
Last time we finished top 4 the club brought in Fred, Dalot, Grant, under investment no?? Its all about the top 4 for the owners than investing for a title challenge.
Unless United completely fall apart in the last 3 months, not hiring Solskjaer would be a bigger mistake than hiring Moyes, LvG and Mourinho combined.
He deserves to get the job - simply for saving the club. It's always impossible to justify not giving him the job.
He deserves to get the job - simply for saving the club. It's always impossible to justify not giving him the job.
He will get it. Cheap option, Poch wont be available. So no one better available in that scenario, unless we want a big name like Zidane, but i doubt it if everything works well so far
Alternatively, it shows that he's capable of getting the most out of his players, Mourinho wasn't doing that which caused the tension/doubt about his potential signings so the board may be more willing to back him if he wants a certain player.
Fair point, but surely you can’t be suggesting that it’s better that we play poorly and miss out on CL so that we can hope to buy a slew of great players rather than to play brilliantly and make the CL at the price of buying only 1 or 2 great players.
The same manager who brought in Fred also brought in Pogba. Fergie brought in Kleberson. These things happen.
There’s no chance that under Ole this summer that he’s going to rest on his laurels and bring in a few new players. Hopefully he’ll buy wisely, but our chances of bringing in top players are much better if we’re in the CL than if we’re out of the CL. And the only way we’re on the CL is if we’re winning matches.
Ergo, it’s a good thing and not bad thing that we’re winning matches.
Not at all, Historically the Glazers only invest significantly when they need to ie finishing outside top 4, really don't see that changing.
I am beyond impressed. Speechless really.
I don't think we can blame Ole too much for tonight's performance. You can argue that the stage fright we saw in the team is something he should have talked out of them. That would be a bit unfair though. He was very positive about the players and their capabilities pre-game. At the end of the day he can't go out there and play for them.
Ole went with the lineup everyone wanted and then hand his hands tied behind his back by losing Martial and Lingard to injury. However, I am not sure what he sees in Mata. The Reading game was a great illustration of the fact that Mata isn't built for the side Ole's creating. Lukaku on the right would have worked better given how PSG were sending their full backs forward. It was the wrong sub. That's the only black mark against him from me today.
Ole went with the lineup everyone wanted and then hand his hands tied behind his back by losing Martial and Lingard to injury. However, I am not sure what he sees in Mata. The Reading game was a great illustration of the fact that Mata isn't built for the side Ole's creating. Lukaku on the right would have worked better given how PSG were sending their full backs forward. It was the wrong sub. That's the only black mark against him from me today.
My only negative for Ole so far is, what has happened to his principals on getting the youth players involved. Yes, expectation has increased but he seems to be taking the easy way out with selecting experience for the bench.
Not suggesting this would have won us the tie, but just hope he doesn't fall into the same trap as Jose.
What matters to me is how he reacts to this.
Our bench isn’t good enough by any standards. So not much what he can do really. In hindsight it’s easy to say he should brought on Lukaku instead of Alexis but we’ll never see how that would’ve turned out.
To be fair to him, his current contract expires in the summer. He needs to do everything he can to show the board (and fans) that he is the man for the job. Blooding youngsters while we are fighting for a CL placed finish in the league is probably very low on his current priority list.
Personally I don't think that he has the experience or tactical ability to be the permanent manager. But then again, I'm sure Barcelona fans were probably saying the same thing about that prick Guardiola, or the Madrid fans were saying about Zidane, so what do I know?
I thought one of his remits was getting the young players in. I've not seen Chong or Gomes in a squad for weeks.
Personally bit worried he could be a victim of his own success and before you know it he will be playing for 1 0 wins to secure top 4...
I have to wonder if he and the coaching staff considered that PSG might try to mark Pogba out of the game (almost Mourinho-ing him) and had a plan to counter that or if they just wanted to play to our principals and that's why the players looked a bit lost when they weren't getting anywhere.
Or maybe it's as simple as losing two players to injury highlighting our lack of depth.
Or maybe it's as simple as losing two players to injury highlighting our lack of depth.
Getting top 4 is the first and most important priority of the season. Anything else is a bonus. If he gets top 4 by whatever way the job is his.
Next season we may talk about youth and such but in our current situation we can't afford it.
I thought we were horribly inflexible, because losing both Lingard and Martial with Pogba dragging a Marquinhos sized tumor around was begging for a change of shape to get players into spaces where they could succeed. Tossing Mata and Sanchez in as like for like changes was never going to work.
Anybody saying Ole wasn't tactically outclassed is denying the truth. Firstly, the subs were off with Mata coming on and Lukaku being brought on too late. Then, despite the fact that injuries rocked us in the second half, here's Wenger explaining clearly how Tuchel had a better set-up compared to ours in the first half itself, and that PSG should have scored a couple:
All this does not mean Ole is inept at this level or we are judging him by one game. He's done good job, and probably can continue to do so, but accepting he was caught out by another manager in a European tie is just being honest. Of course, if we had better personnel, even these tactical flaws wouldn't have mattered and we might have gotten something from this game.
All this does not mean Ole is inept at this level or we are judging him by one game. He's done good job, and probably can continue to do so, but accepting he was caught out by another manager in a European tie is just being honest. Of course, if we had better personnel, even these tactical flaws wouldn't have mattered and we might have gotten something from this game.
We were tactically totally outclassed. Tried to press with two of the slowest players in Mata and Sanchez, they got around us easily. Pogba was marked out of the game, that's something we knew could happen and yet we didn't adapt to it. Poor substitutions, no plan B and underrating the PSG squad has costed us big time. Hopefully he learns from this and we play like we did before.
People saying Ole is not to be blamed needs their head checked. Ole should be the first one to be blamed. He is the one who selected the team and have them play in a specific way .
Doesn't mean anything though . I am sure, no one would make a call based on one match . If its a yes or No, it will be based on whole 6 months and not just one match
Doesn't mean anything though . I am sure, no one would make a call based on one match . If its a yes or No, it will be based on whole 6 months and not just one match
Ole looked completely clueless and that is the bigger worry than the loss.
Seems a short term approach to me, and goes against some of the reasons of bringing Ole in.
Many here seems to think Sanchez is done, Lukaku is overweight/ disinterested and Mata (on the whole) is ineffective - yet all 3 are on the bench.
The squad / team / club appeared to be willing to go through a transition, yet in recent weeks we are hearing a true DoF is unlikely, contract extensions given to those who have been deemed not good enough, and squads selected on experience.
Maybe the reality of getting into the top 4 and the obvious money that brings has skewed things again, at a time when significant change appeared to be at it's easiest...
I'm not being critical of Ole by the way, just hope we don't lose focus on the bigger picture.
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