The Overlap - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Would the Ronaldo signing have worked out if we brought in a better winger than Sancho?

Ronaldo was on the slide but his goal return was decent that season and in a better team he might've been just enough to do something serious.

Perhaps Ole had a plan for Sancho, I don't even think he was regular starter in the short time they worked together. Ole spoke about identifying the right kind of player for United but Sancho has proven to not be that so I wonder if he met him enough or he misjudged his character.
 
It's funny, maybe he's over simplifying it intentionally just for the discussion but his whole explanation of how that last season went is pretty much also cementing why he didn't work out and why he didn't have enough as a manager here. You can't just decide... "Ok we will be more proactive this season", there's a high level of coaching that has to go into actually implementing that. Even talking about went with this or that formation in this or that game, is just looking at things the wrong way I'd say and not acknowledging that he has to coach then to implement a proactive, dominant way of playing that is balanced. It doesn't just happen.

Other parts of the interview very good though. And I'm glad he brings up that he had too big of a squad. I keep saying it, but you don't need that much depth. You need 2 players per position, but even then, that backup 11 you can't have strong competition for every guy. You have a fringe 4th CB and a stronger 3rd CB. You have a strong competition for the wings as a 3rd choice winger, but someone like Amad is fine to be 4th/5th choice. You don't need 6 excellent midfielders, you look at what you have and always have to ensure the players you have will be happy with their realistic amount of games. It fecks your squad morale otherwise. Probably a group of 14-15 players who are regularly starting games, a group of 3-4 or so who are regular subs, and the other 4-5 are fringe guys who come in on cups or full rotate games. The others who make up a squad of 25 should really just be youth players or emergency subs in positions where you have injury prone players (but working on getting rid of them for reliable players).
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
“Jude was in the building, we sold it to him”

Well obviously not.

“He knew what he wanted.”

Well what’s the point having him in the building if you’re unable to change his mind?

I said it at the time & I will say it again. We should have moved heaven & earth for that boy.

Ole Gunnar Wenger, the nearly man.
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We got Sir Alex, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and Ole give him a tour round carrington. If that doesn’t do it then nothing will, we didn’t feck it up Aaron Ramsey style.
 
Aside from his debut season, Martial played his best stuff under Ole so I'm not surprised. He gets a bad rap but he was also one of our best players when Mourinho was fighting to stay in a job.
 
horsechoker said:
Would the Ronaldo signing have worked out if we brought in a better winger than Sancho?

Ronaldo was on the slide but his goal return was decent that season and in a better team he might've been just enough to do something serious.

Perhaps Ole had a plan for Sancho, I don't even think he was regular starter in the short time they worked together. Ole spoke about identifying the right kind of player for United but Sancho has proven to not be that so I wonder if he met him enough or he misjudged his character.
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What would be the baseline for him working?

Ole was never going to take us from a solid top 4 team to a dominant team. Ronaldo was at the point in his career where he had too many deficiencies in his game to be part of a balanced top team unless you are a perfectly coached side like Peps sides. So by that logic, it was never going to work, as we were never going to compete with Pep and Klopp for the title with Ole, and Ronaldo wasn't bridging the gap.
 
Murder on Zidane's Floor said:
Nostalgia but gimme 442, two centre forwards, two traditional wingers, two inverted full backs and give me the perfect players for that system.
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I wouldn’t even be bothered if we stayed a counter attacking side tbh. Very few things in football more enjoyable than a perfect counter attacking goal.
 
Robbie Boy said:
At least people can stop saying now that the club forced him to sign Ronaldo.
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This is the same as Jose signing Alexis Sanchez and the decision backfiring. The manager has a veto decision, but when a big player falls in your lap, it is quite difficult to say no, unless you are 100% sure it won't work.
 
What a genuinely nice guy. So well spoken as well. Has a lot of characteristics to be a good manager, just think he lacks the tactical knowledge to be a great. Deserves a shot with a decent premier league club.
 
Lee565 said:
If there was ever a lesson to be learned from stop signing ageing high profile players, this was it, this one signing had such a detrimental effect to what in fairness to ole was looking like a club going back in the right direction but he was completely undermined in his 3rd season by ronaldo ego and he may not say it publicly but fergie as well with that infamous clip of fergie saying ole should not have subbed ronaldo in a specific game (think it was everton)
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You're right. On the bolded part, Ole alluded to that Fergie clip in the podcast when saying Ronaldo wouldn’t react well to being dropped and the noise surrounding dropping him was unhelpful.
horsechoker said:
Would the Ronaldo signing have worked out if we brought in a better winger than Sancho?

Ronaldo was on the slide but his goal return was decent that season and in a better team he might've been just enough to do something serious.
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Nope. As you said in an earlier post, he was a self-centered, ageing egomaniac who set us back, as his style of play went against what we were building in terms of a hard-working team.
 
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I don't think he gets enough credit for his two full seasons. He was working with some serious patchwork in his starting XI. Mourinho still brags about his 2nd place finish, but I would argue that the team(s) Ole finished 3rd and 2nd with were even weaker on paper.

Mourinho had peak De Gea, Pogba (pre injury problems), Herrera and Matic (before he lost his legs). This makes a significant difference in my opinion.
 
From these quotes, I find it interesting that he did not positively name drop certain players - like Rashford whom I’m surprised by not being one of those who is willing to do match interviews considering Marcus loves his little essays.
 
Gabriel Djemba-Bebe said:
Nope. As you said in an earlier post, he was a self-centered, ageing egomaniac who set us back, as his style of play went against what we were building in terms of a hard-working team.
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That's true but in an alternate history where we have better players we might have gotten away with it.

Or let's suppose we don't sign Ronaldo at all, would the Sancho signing have bitten him in the arse? What happened with Greenwood would've happened so Sancho would've probably been playing a lot more, maybe Elanga might have been developed more.
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
“Jude was in the building, we sold it to him”

Well obviously not.

“He knew what he wanted.”

Well what’s the point having him in the building if you’re unable to change his mind?

I said it at the time & I will say it again. We should have moved heaven & earth for that boy.

Ole Gunnar Wenger, the nearly man.
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You quite clearly haven't got a clue what went on during his visit with us. You wouldn't have posted such tripe if you did.
 
Gehrman said:


Signing Ronaldo was the right decision but then says it was a wrong decision?
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I think he means the thought process behind bringing in someone who was still one of the best goalscorers in the world and club legend into a squad without a consistent top striker (Cavani and Martial were very injury prone and Greenwood was still developing) was a good one. But ultimately the decision was wrong as they didn’t factor in the effect he would have out of possession on the team as well as how much of a focal point the squad would make him as well.
 
RedDevil@84 said:
This is the same as Jose signing Alexis Sanchez and the decision backfiring. The manager has a veto decision, but when a big player falls in your lap, it is quite difficult to say no, unless you are 100% sure it won't work.
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Yeh, it’s gas how people interpret some signings.

There’s so many signings United have made that were players signed cause the club could sign them, not necessarily because they are players we needed.

It started with Mata, who never fitted into anything , continued with Di Maria who just wanted to leave Madrid (like Sanchez at arsenal) and continued on with other signings you could say were not ones managers vetoed but not necessarily the right ones to make

On paper United sign a lot of good looking players. But we are like a child playing football manager just making random signings with no real meaningful strategy.

In terms of United managers past and current, people need to remember they have to be very careful about what they say. I’d be surprised if there aren’t some sort of clauses that limit how factual they can be. I mean Man United doesn’t pay ambassadors simply to promote the club, they are hardly gonna say a bad word about the glazers while on the payroll (or can get a job at the club).

The issue of recruitment and squad imbalances is and has been the United setup, not managers. If people can’t understand that at this stage, then there’s no point in discussing it with them.
 
The Haaland thing is so fecking annoying. Ole put him on a plate for us.
 
horsechoker said:
Would the Ronaldo signing have worked out if we brought in a better winger than Sancho?

Ronaldo was on the slide but his goal return was decent that season and in a better team he might've been just enough to do something serious.

Perhaps Ole had a plan for Sancho, I don't even think he was regular starter in the short time they worked together. Ole spoke about identifying the right kind of player for United but Sancho has proven to not be that so I wonder if he met him enough or he misjudged his character.
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He only signed for two years, so its unlikely it would've worked out any better than it did, particularly given that he had to deal with 3 different managers in 15 months, each with different approaches. That's not an ideal situation for any player, nevermind CR7.
 
horsechoker said:
That's true but in an alternate history where we have better players we might have gotten away with it.

Or let's suppose we don't sign Ronaldo at all, would the Sancho signing have bitten him in the arse? What happened with Greenwood would've happened so Sancho would've probably been playing a lot more, maybe Elanga might have been developed more.
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Personally I don't think Sancho’s time at United would've been as disastrous had Ole been in charge for another year or two. He was less strict than Ten Hag and likely wouldn't have gone in as hard on Sancho’s timekeeping issues.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
Disagree with this too. They’d have elevated United. There’s nobody here who would suddenly be the best player at city or Madrid if they’d joined them instead of us. Fact is we’ve just missed out on the 2 best players of this generation when we could have had them both. Awful recruitment which needs a giant overhaul
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How on earth is it a fact.
 
RedDevil@84 said:
This is the same as Jose signing Alexis Sanchez and the decision backfiring. The manager has a veto decision, but when a big player falls in your lap, it is quite difficult to say no, unless you are 100% sure it won't work.
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Yeah, agreed. It was obvious Ole wanted Ronaldo, and I don't blame him. It was the people pretending that he was forced upon him, that I found odd.
 
Very interesting indeed, maybe he was “forced” to sign Ronaldo, despite what he said in the interview about him, which was quite diplomatic anyway…

 
Have been dreading him being on there because knew the Haaland and Bellingham stuff gets dragged up. Has to be two of the stupidest decisions this club has ever made,why on earth wasn't Bellingham told he would go straight into the first team squad.
 
horsechoker said:
Would the Ronaldo signing have worked out if we brought in a better winger than Sancho?

Ronaldo was on the slide but his goal return was decent that season and in a better team he might've been just enough to do something serious.

Perhaps Ole had a plan for Sancho, I don't even think he was regular starter in the short time they worked together. Ole spoke about identifying the right kind of player for United but Sancho has proven to not be that so I wonder if he met him enough or he misjudged his character.
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No, because out of possession, Ronaldo wasn't willing to do even the bare minimum in regards to pressing the opponent.

This is why I believe the reports that Rangnick wanted to get rid of him in January 2022, not long after he took the interim job.

Add to that that Pogba was also often a passenger on the field, when we didn't have the ball, as well as De Gea not being suitable for keeping possession, I feel like shoehorning the three of them into the lineup was his undoing in the end.
 
crossy1686 said:
Still the best manager we've had since Fergie. Nice to hear him speak on the things that happened, sounds more clued up than any of the managers we've had.
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The only manager who has us actually playing football.
 
Betson said:
Ole said when he was at Molde he rang Utd and told them they have to go for this kid , he is going to be phenomenal. He said 20m would have def got him before he moved to Salzburg , no big club was looking at him at the time.

I am not saying the club were negligent or anything , you can't act on every tip you get about an unknown player but looking back it was a missed opportunity.
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Say it because club were clearly negligent and boy have we paid for that in the last 5 years
 
UnitedSofa said:
Very interesting indeed, maybe he was “forced” to sign Ronaldo, despite what he said in the interview about him, which was quite diplomatic anyway…
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Ole - "the club asked me, 'would you want us to try this?', and I said YES. It was my decision. It didn't work out for me and Cristiano, but it was the right decision"
Ole at a different point in interview - "It's got to be somewhere I can be myself, without people dictating you need to do XYZ, you learn a few things and want to do it your own way"
United fan - maybe he was forced to sign Ronaldo

:lol:

The guy just said that wasn't the case. Couldn't it simply be that he's referring to something else entirely when talking about learned experiences?
 
Don’t wanna hear about anything to do with Ed Woodward. Every decision seemed like was made by a scouser on the WUM. Biggest moron ever to step foot in the club.
 
Adore Ole as a player, like him as a manager and respect him as a person. Lovely interview.
 
Berbaclass said:
Found this part most interesting

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From the impression I got, the players were asked if they wanted to play the second half or not because they were upset. Rashford and McTominay seem like they would have been close to Ole, so it's fair enough. I don't think there's any significance in the players coming on really.
 
Robbie Boy said:
Yeah, agreed. It was obvious Ole wanted Ronaldo, and I don't blame him. It was the people pretending that he was forced upon him, that I found odd.
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Top clubs weren’t looking for Ronaldo for a reason.

The main reason he was “perfect” for us was because it’s a proper United/woodward kind of signing. Nothing to do with what the team needs or fitting into any sort of plan, but a big name who will bring positive attention and vibes. A more cynical view is that it was the glazers “apology” for the super league nonsense.

There was a lot of pressure on Ole and given United have been getting players like Ighalo and Weghorst for managers, who wouldn’t snap their hands off for Ronaldo.
 
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Woodzy said:
From the impression I got, the players were asked if they wanted to play the second half or not because they were upset. Rashford and McTominay seem like they would have been close to Ole, so it's fair enough. I don't think there's any significance in the players coming on really.
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There are two ways of looking at it. That is one of them.
 
Chumpsbechumps said:
Top clubs weren’t looking for Ronaldo for a reason.

The main reason he was “perfect” for us was because it’s a proper United/woodward kind of signing. Nothing to do with what the team needs or fitting into any sort of plan, but a big name who will bring positive attention and vibes. There was a lot of pressure on Ole and given United have been getting players like Ighalo and Weghorst for managers, who wouldn’t snap their hands off for Ronaldo.
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From Ole's perspective, it was absolutely terrible planning, I fully agree. From a giddy fans' perspective, it seemed like a good signing for many people. But as the manager, Ole should have thought it through better.
 
Feel bad for Ole, we easily played the best football since SAF under Ole, He knew the style of football he wanted to play and generally executed it well enough. Everything changed with the Ronaldo transfer though. I think he's being a bit diplomatic commenting on it there, but it forced him to change his whole style of play to accommodate Ronaldo up front. And alot of the time it just didnt work, as (some might not like it) but Ronaldo just wasnt up to it in some games. And eventually alot of the players simply downed tools on him. Which to me is unforgivable. The players that done that and have that mentality, they shouldnt be anywhere near this club. & I hope INEOS & EtH do everything they can do root out this kind of weak mentality in the squad.
 
Betson said:
I don't think the Bellingham one was one that got away , as Ole said did everything to convince him but his mind was set on elsewhere and getting regular first team football straight away. At 17 and then unproven he was never going to get that assurance at any top Premier league club.

But listening to Ole the Haaland one was there early in his career and we turned it down , Ole seems convinced for 20M and it would have been a done deal but the club ignored Ole's recommendation and never considered him.

Ole also seems to suggest we(The club) never put any effort into trying to sign Rice and we should have and maybe could have got him if we really wanted to.
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Jeez we could have got Rice as well,didn’t think it gets any worse but clearly I was wrong on that
 
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