Ole Gunnar Solskjaer | W15 D2 L4

Is Ole a good appointment?

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BarstoolProphet said:
My take on it as a regular viewer of the Norwegian league:

Molde have been backed for some years by a couple of the richest men in the country, enabling them to have a significant bigger budget than the club's history, location and size would suggest and the second largest behind the far most successful club in the country, Rosenborg. This led to Molde winning their first two league titles back-to-back under Solskjaer.

Despite that him winning the club's first league titles wasn't some sort extreme achievement by Norwegian standards, and that most of his critics regularly point to the financial backing he's had at Molde, he has still done very well for himself. Overall, for Molde, he has exceeded expecations in Europe and perhaps done a little above par at home*. Bear in mind, despite having a big budget, Molde's strategy has been buying young and promising players, develop them and sell on for a profit, resulting in lot of key players leaving which makes it hard to keep their best players over time. Oh, and despite the Norwegian league not being particularly easy on the eye at all, Molde under Solskjaer has easily been the most pleasing one attacking-wise over since he first took the job. A huge question mark over his shady dealings with his agent but he probably won't be in charge of transfer at all anyway so probably a moot point.

*:
- Winning the league while their main rival on both on and off the pitch (Rosenborg) went through a slump
- Went through some really bad spells where they looked like relegation candidates (that could be because the loss of key players and addition of new ones)
- Managed to recover from said slumps everytime to get back to being the best team in the league (despite not winning in the end)
- Been the most pleasing attacking team overall in his entire period
- Developed a few players and sold for a hefty profit


Pros:

- His status at United instantly bring him goodwill and respect
- REALLY knows what the fans expect of the team
- His attacking style
- History with and comments on Pogba suggest that he could get the best out of him
- Not in charge of transfers
- Positive personality to boost the atmosphere at the club both on and off the pitch
- Only a temporary gig so very low downside to it

Cons:

- Not enough of a big name to earn the players' respect
- His past experience in England
- Not sure if he's good enough tactically


For me a huge gamble and it makes me very nervous for our short-term future but at the same time I finally look forward to watching our matches again and not having someone that embarrasses the club out side of the pitch on a regular basis. Oh, and top of that you have the romantic aspect of it all. We have a universally liked club legend in charge of the team:drool:
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Great post. A perfect summary of his spell at Molde. Should be it's own thread, this.
 
Ole, Ole, Ole, You are my Solskjaer.
With Mike Phelan around their job is to steady the ship. We are not going to win anything this season but Phelan has been around and he managed Hull with 9 fit players and got some wins too.
I hope he gets us to play better football. Now our football would get a bit more interesting. Is there an interview?
 
crossy1686 said:
Come on, you'd rather take a punt on another manager despite the current manager being a good fit for the club and getting good results? What's your agenda?
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None. Just not believing he's the right manager for us long term at this stage
 
People saying Solskjaer won't earn big players respect. The man won more at United than all of them put together, he's bigger than anyone there, anyone who doesn't instantly respect him should be sold in the summer.
 
Trophy Room said:
Because they are Alex, our standards and perception of what a United-calbre player is has fallen so much that we subconsciously hope for miracles from media/fan-driven overhyped players. They are decent, don't get me wrong and will have impactful games i.e score a goal and have above average performances here and there but you can't build a team around them! Average players really. Move on mate.
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Well that's cleared everything up.

We don't know enough about either to make such sweeping statements about them. They might well not work out, but they at least deserve a chance to show what they can do, and there's no better time than now.
 
I said to my pal before the season start that Mourinho would be gone by Christmas. I didn't say that with any glee at all and wanted things to work out. My Ole prediction is that this won't work either and things will get worse for United. I also really hope I'm wrong on that. It's an appointment made by a man with a track record for failure (Woodward) based mainly on hope. Will we have a DoF? Will this help us clear the deadwood out?
 
crossy1686 said:
Well, he's not, that's why he's a caretaker until the end of the season...
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To be fair, he was responding to the hypothetical that Ole secures us 4th and plays good football, and is thus in contention to stay on as manager.
 
I know he is an interim manager but if he is successful in getting you guys play good football and manage to land a trophy (say CL), would you be open for him to be your long term manager?
 
crossy1686 said:
People saying Solskjaer won't earn big players respect. The man won more at United than all of them put together, he's bigger than anyone there, anyone who doesn't instantly respect him should be sold in the summer.
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On top, he will get a lot of respect from everyone at United, maybe even a certain buzz which can have a huge impact on the players
 
Alex99 said:
To be fair, he was responding to the hypothetical that Ole secures us 4th and plays good football, and is thus in contention to stay on as manager.
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So was I but why would you judge a man on whether or not he should be the permanent manager now when the question was would you like him to continue as manager if we make top 4 and look impressive?
 
Kaos said:
Fun thought - if he somehow manages to get us Champions League football next season while playing attractive football, would you offer him the job on a permanent basis?
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Most likely. If it takes comfortably over 70 points to get 4th, and it often does/think it will then yes. 74 would be 48 from 21 matches and seriously impressive.

I think Liverpool got 4th with 64 once, Everton with 61. In the very unlikely event that we got something like that and it was enough, probably not. 38 from 21 would still be good considering our situation now but I think I'd still look towards Pochettino if that happened.
 
The optimist in me:

Football is really not a very complicated game. We see teams play the same formation week in week out with only minor tweaks. What really sets a team apart is having skilled (and intelligent) players who can pull it off consistently and a manager who can keep them motivated 24*7. We Ole can do this.

The pessimist in me:

Football is more complicated that what meets the eye. We see teams play the same formation week in week out but the devil is in the minor details which only a top manager can pull off.
 


Molde say they've lent Ole to us and after this stint is over, he'll be back to being their coach.
 
crossy1686 said:
So was I but why would you judge a man on whether or not he should be the permanent manager now when the question was would you like him to continue as manager if we make top 4 and look impressive?
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He answer a question about whether we should keep Solskjaer on if he does well, and said no. He was quizzed on that, and said he doesn't think he'd be a good fit long term. I'm failing to see what's unreasonable about those statements?

We all know that managers can benefit from a shortlived boost in performances when they're new to a job, so it's perfectly fine to hold the stance that we should still look elsewhere regardless of what Solskjaer does.
 
.Rossi said:
I'm sure Jose will release a few bullets of his own in that regard in time
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I'd be surprised if a part of his payout/compensation, we didn't put a clause in there to make sure he doesn't spout off about the club after leaving, but who knows.
 
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I really hate to kill the positive shorts vibe, but, he does tend to stick to trackies in the winter...

Mike+Phelan+Rene+Meulensteen+Manchester+United+urA3rVinGYIl.jpg


Might have to wait til Spring to see the shorts.
 
TMDaines said:
He's (McTomminey) shite, mate. The worst youth prospect I have seen in my years watching United because a regular part of the first team. There was no prospect of him making the grade and he's been included under Mourinho for his height and as a political selection.
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100 % agree. He's slow, passes the ball like Valencias left foot and clearly isn't good enough to play as CM on a top half team.
 
crossy1686 said:
People saying Solskjaer won't earn big players respect. The man won more at United than all of them put together, he's bigger than anyone there, anyone who doesn't instantly respect him should be sold in the summer.
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I love Ole but I can still see why there's a question mark about that. Of course, his history at United should instantly earn him respect inside the club but most players probably don't care too much about that after all.
 
Ibrahimorich said:
This feels like another rash appointment (based on nothing but sentiment this time). Love Ole but he's achieved nothing of note as a manager. If the players didn't respect Mourinho, what chance they respect Ole?

Nobody wants Hughes or Bruce here as a manager, so why Ole? Frankly he's in the same category - great former player but managerial nobody. His only time in England he was crap.

If Laurent Blanc was available then he was the right choice. Clearly Pogba is the biggest personality in the dressing room - if Ole doesn't get him onside immediately, he's gonna be joking around like the clown he is and the cards will come tumbling down again. I figure Blanc has a better chance of keeping him onside for 6 months and has experience managing a big team with big egos (albeit not that well).

I really hope I'm wrong on this but I can already see this being a disaster and Ole being gone before the end of the season.
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Didn't Ole work with Pogba in the reserves?
Hasn't Blanc been doing nothing for 2.5 years?
Isn't this an interim role?
 
Trophy Room said:
Never understood this clamour for Fred and Pereira. They are mediocre players and should never be part of the first team.
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Right. A Brazil regular and our most technically proficient youngster - both mediocre.

It displays terrible judgement anyway, but what's even worse is that you're making it on the back of a half-season on Mourinho meltdown which even made Hazard look like crap at Chelsea.

Serious question: why do you think Brazil - currently ranked third in the world - selects Fred when he is apparently so terrible?
 
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Congrats Ole!

Any Utd fan not happy with this is crazy. It’s interim, whilst we plan properly for a new manager.
 
Big Andy said:
It’s actually a shrewd move I reckon, the fans will never turn on Ole, so all the blame for poor performance will be directed at the players, and they won’t be able to hide behind Jose any more...
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That's a very good point, mate.
 
Alex99 said:
He answer a question about whether we should keep Solskjaer on if he does well, and said no. He was quizzed on that, and said he doesn't think he'd be a good fit long term. I'm failing to see what's unreasonable about those statements?

We all know that managers can benefit from a shortlived boost in performances when they're new to a job, so it's perfectly fine to hold the stance that we should still look elsewhere regardless of what Solskjaer does.
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Never said it wasn't but the answer to the first question was "no he shouldn't continue, we should look for someone else", I asked what the point in that would be and the response was "because he doesn't look like the right man to take the club forward right now". Hence my response, honestly not sure why you're defending someone else's bipolar posting?
 
Hypothetically, if Ole had a great few months (similarly to Di Matteo) but we'd agreed to sign Poch in May, what would happen?

Would fans be happy to see Ole move away or would they expect him to stay?
 
Delighted that he still has a job at Molde no matter what happens with us.

I would be so upset if he sacrificed his livelihood to try and steady this shitshow.

20LEGEND
 
Am I the only one stoked to see Phelan back at Carrington? Christ sakes he was Fergies right hand man, this feels like we are going back in time! Is it a good thing? Definitely feel nostalgic
 
At least this way we learn more about our players. They can't hide behind Mourinho's tactics, personality etc.
 
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