We are an awfully coached team

Meanwhile, you'll continue to encourage the bullying behaviour from the likes of Wummy ? Because the 'drama merchants' on the cafe are only the negative nancies and those weirdos need humiliated and given warnings for 'quality control' if the basic e-humiliation doesn't do the trick?

It contributes to the sites toxicity and is unbecoming, and exactly what you'd expect on the likes of RAWK.

What bullying? Report it if you think something contravenes the rules. If you aren't being overly sensitive and actual bullying is occurring it will result in modmin action.

And you do realise how petulant your posts sounds I assume?
 
Best part is him placing the bottle back into the holder before going full sprint, instead of just tossing it to the ground

That's what makes this gif awesome, it's a pure drama and a pre-planned intentional move to put pressure on refs.
 
What was the thread's original title?

"We are an awfully coached team"

since then it has been

"Moanchester United are an awfully supported team"
"The modmins apologise for the title edit that implied the moaners were moaning and now fully accept that Ole is worse than Hitler", and now
"Sack Ole, sell Ronaldo, appoint Ted Lasso"
 
I’ll take your word for it that the intention is humour, but using modmin powers to anonymously take sides in the debate is inappropriate. If you need to then issue quality control warnings to specific posts that deserve them. That’s more transparent and depending on how strict your criteria is, there should be posts on both sides deserving of it. Some posts are over the top moaning and some are over the top cheerleading. I trust that the criteria isn’t biased in favour of one side or other.

There is a simple solution. If it's moaners, let them moan . Just stay out of it. No one is forcing you to post in the thread. A thread doesn't get to 100 pages just because of moaning.

The problem is that its poluting the forum to such an extent that it drowns out all other discussion. I dont think anyone has any problem with well reasoned and fair critique, the problem is that about 90% of these moaning posts are just low effort outpouring of emotion, or just hyperbolic nonsense. Every damn time we lose and/or play badly we have several of these "Ole threads" get bumped non stop of people basically saying "See, see? I told you he was shit", context completely thrown out the window.

I cant remember which thread, but i read one poster who claimed "these were much worse than the darkest Moyes days". Really?

Lastly, and what makes this whole Ole in/out thing so tiresome is the fact that judging a manager on a game-to-game basis is completely senseless. Of course subs and tactics can be worth discussing, but we know its a lot more to football than that.
 
I'd say a very large percentage of this thread is moaning or worse.

That is your personal opinion, which should not be imposed on the forum through modmin privileges. And I disagree. There is a legitimate debate on the issue of the quality of our coaching, and it has been going on for a while because many of us see issues that are not being resolved. Of course there are ludicrously negative posts, just as there are ludicrously positive posts that don’t amount to much more than cheerleading and dismissing any criticism of Ole.
 
What bullying? Report it if you think something contravenes the rules. If you aren't being overly sensitive and actual bullying is occurring it will result in modmin action.

And you do realise how petulant your posts sounds I assume?

With regards to Wummy, he's constantly making threads/posts calling large groups of users who don't agree with him weirdos and wrong. Telling them how to participate in his thinking, and gaslighting them if they have the temerity to disagree. You know that, I know that, the entire forum knows that and just how toxic the dude is. It doesn't need reported as I'm sure the modmin team are well aware of what he's up to and have decided he's operating within the rules. Which is your call; it's your site.

Apologies for the petulance, but honestly it pisses me off. I wouldn't class myself (maybe others would) as a huge spammy moaner, yet am seeing the forum split down the middle into two camps hardening on the subject without remembering we are all fans of the same club. Of course users like Wummy say/insinuate they are weirdos and not proper fans, but for most of us it's just becoming a toxic cesspit. When modmins begin to take sides on that, it becomes worse as you are encouraging one camp. Especially when you start the shit about 'quality control' for moaning. There's plenty of users who constantly make shit posts for sure, but if the modmins were to police one side of the cesspit only, it would be a sad RAWKlike day.

We are all here, on the forum, using our time and energy to discuss the club. Whether in a negative or positive way, it's still showing emotion. Emotion isn't always rational, it's not always clean, and it's not always logical. But when it's descending into war between two groups of fans supporting the same damned team, I'd expect the modmins to give it a nice wide berth and let people air their frustrations.

Again, your forum, your call. But it will drive the more moderate users either away or into a more extreme point of view if that's how you police it.

And ps: Again, sorry for the petulance/annoyance. I don't mean to upset you, I'm just being direct.
 
That is your personal opinion, which should not be imposed on the forum through modmin privileges. And I disagree. There is a legitimate debate on the issue of the quality of our coaching, and it has been going on for a while because many of us see issues that are not being resolved. Of course there are ludicrously negative posts, just as there are ludicrously positive posts that don’t amount to much more than cheerleading and dismissing any criticism of Ole.

can you find examples of Ludicrously positive posts please, I’ve asked a few people now to find examples of this.
 
With regards to Wummy, he's constantly making threads/posts calling large groups of users who don't agree with him weirdos and wrong. Telling them how to participate in his thinking, and gaslighting them if they have the temerity to disagree. You know that, I know that, the entire forum knows that and just how toxic the dude is. It doesn't need reported as I'm sure the modmin team are well aware of what he's up to and have decided he's operating within the rules. Which is your call; it's your site.

Apologies for the petulance, but honestly it pisses me off. I wouldn't class myself (maybe others would) as a huge spammy moaner, yet am seeing the forum split down the middle into two camps hardening on the subject without remembering we are all fans of the same club. Of course users like Wummy say/insinuate they are weirdos and not proper fans, but for most of us it's just becoming a toxic cesspit. When modmins begin to take sides on that, it becomes worse as you are encouraging one camp. Especially when you start the shit about 'quality control' for moaning. There's plenty of users who constantly make shit posts for sure, but if the modmins were to police one side of the cesspit only, it would be a sad RAWKlike day.

We are all here, on the forum, using our time and energy to discuss the club. Whether in a negative or positive way, it's still showing emotion. Emotion isn't always rational, it's not always clean, and it's not always logical. But when it's descending into war between two groups of fans supporting the same damned team, I'd expect the modmins to give it a nice wide berth and let people air their frustrations.

Again, your forum, your call. But it will drive the more moderate users either away or into a more extreme point of view if that's how you police it.

And ps: Again, sorry for the petulance/annoyance. I don't mean to upset you, I'm just being direct.
:
He's been around football soooooo long, yet he thinks these are 'online fan' traits? Wake up and smell the coffee son.
Not to mention, it's somehow ok to label groups of people weird and subhuman. Like we never did that with gays, jews, blacks, and the mentally ill.

Owlo, just so people can get the full picture of what you’retalking about, I’m going to post another quotation from a few days ago where you compare me calling overly toxic football fans as weird to the treatment that gays and blacks have received throughout history,

Just for the sake of balance and fairness.
 
Owlo, just so people can get the full picture of what you’retalking about, I’m going to post another quotation from a few days ago where you compare me calling overly toxic football fans as weird to the treatment that gays and blacks have received throughout history,

Just for the sake of balance and fairness.

Quote the post properly. I was reviewing the article of a Liverpool fan not you.

Stop being so dishonest in your attempts to troll me.


edit: relevant post here: https://www.redcafe.net/threads/gre...rd-online-fanbase.465401/page-2#post-27777607
 
Last edited:
Quote the post properly. I was reviewing the article of a Liverpool fan not you.

Stop being so dishonest in your attempts to troll me.

Sorry, you compared an article of aLiverpool fan who complains about online fandom to the plight of POC, gay and people with mental disabilities.
 
Sorry, you compared an article of aLiverpool fan who complains about online fandom to the plight of POC, gay and people with mental disabilities.

The only reason you are bringing this up is to change the subject and be toxic with a 'look what he did' type post.

Don't expect me to engage with you on it. Anybody is free to go back and review that post. You're simply being dishonest.

edit: relevant post here: https://www.redcafe.net/threads/gre...rd-online-fanbase.465401/page-2#post-27777607
 
The problem is that its poluting the forum to such an extent that it drowns out all other discussion. I dont think anyone has any problem with well reasoned and fair critique, the problem is that about 90% of these moaning posts are just low effort outpouring of emotion, or just hyperbolic nonsense. Every damn time we lose and/or play badly we have several of these "Ole threads" get bumped non stop of people basically saying "See, see? I told you he was shit", context completely thrown out the window.

I cant remember which thread, but i read one poster who claimed "these were much worse than the darkest Moyes days". Really?

Lastly, and what makes this whole Ole in/out thing so tiresome is the fact that judging a manager on a game-to-game basis is completely senseless. Of course subs and tactics can be worth discussing, but we know its a lot more to football than that.

I generally agree with your points, but the problem with it is many posters have a different idea of what constitutes “well reasoned and fair critique”, depending on how entrenched your own position is. And as someone who has consistently been appreciative of Ole’s achievements with us as manager while being critical of his coaching abilities, I will say that it is false to label criticism of his coaching ability as knee jerk responses to a single game. The criticism has always been there. Of course the criticism would be louder immediately after a nightmare performance.
 
The only reason you are bringing this up is to change the subject and be toxic with a 'look what he did' type post.

Don't expect me to engage with you on it. Anybody is free to go back and review that post. You're simply being dishonest.

That post is quite frankly probably the most offensive and ridiculous post I have ever seen on here and is entirely relevant to the discussion. If you think it is in anyway acceptable to discuss people disagreeing with you in a reasonable way on the forum as comparable to the plight that minorities have suffered throughout recent history you are insane and it has a massive relevance on what you are currently posting about. You’re lucky I am not a modmin because as soon as you posted any comparison between me liking Ole when you don’t and how gay people have been treated for the last hundred years you’d be gone with a message about how disgusting that truly is.
 
I generally agree with your points, but the problem with it is many posters have a different idea of what constitutes “well reasoned and fair critique”, depending on how entrenched your own position is. And as someone who has consistently been appreciative of Ole’s achievements with us as manager while being critical of his coaching abilities, I will say that it is false to label criticism of his coaching ability as knee jerk responses to a single game. The criticism has always been there. Of course the criticism would be louder immediately after a nightmare performance.

After the game on Tuesday, we had people calling Ole a pussy, saying he has no honour as he won’t resign and calling him a fraud within twenty minutes. They’re the posts that wind people up.
 
That is your personal opinion, which should not be imposed on the forum through modmin privileges. And I disagree. There is a legitimate debate on the issue of the quality of our coaching, and it has been going on for a while because many of us see issues that are not being resolved. Of course there are ludicrously negative posts, just as there are ludicrously positive posts that don’t amount to much more than cheerleading and dismissing any criticism of Ole.

It is my opinion and the opinion of all the modmins who have discussed it. And the owner for that matter. We are all heartily sick of the moaning. If it was just a reasoned debate about coaching we would have zero issue. And posts that are merely ludicrously positive aren't destructive. Posts that only insult or name call, e.g. shut up plastics, because someone just doesn't think Ole is the second coming are also frowned upon and if we see them, or better yet if they are reported, are frowned upon and dealt with.
 
The problem is that its poluting the forum to such an extent that it drowns out all other discussion. I dont think anyone has any problem with well reasoned and fair critique, the problem is that about 90% of these moaning posts are just low effort outpouring of emotion, or just hyperbolic nonsense. Every damn time we lose and/or play badly we have several of these "Ole threads" get bumped non stop of people basically saying "See, see? I told you he was shit", context completely thrown out the window.

I cant remember which thread, but i read one poster who claimed "these were much worse than the darkest Moyes days". Really?

Lastly, and what makes this whole Ole in/out thing so tiresome is the fact that judging a manager on a game-to-game basis is completely senseless. Of course subs and tactics can be worth discussing, but we know its a lot more to football than that.
The problem is many on this forum are just clubbing the poster who posts "Ole got his subs completely wrong and his overly defensive approach cost us the game" with the posters who post "Ole is a moron who runs around like a headless chicken in all games" and call them all as pollutants stinking up the place.

Or else we can go the reddit reddevils way and not allow any critical posts.
 
With regards to Wummy, he's constantly making threads/posts calling large groups of users who don't agree with him weirdos and wrong. Telling them how to participate in his thinking, and gaslighting them if they have the temerity to disagree. You know that, I know that, the entire forum knows that and just how toxic the dude is. It doesn't need reported as I'm sure the modmin team are well aware of what he's up to and have decided he's operating within the rules. Which is your call; it's your site.

Apologies for the petulance, but honestly it pisses me off. I wouldn't class myself (maybe others would) as a huge spammy moaner, yet am seeing the forum split down the middle into two camps hardening on the subject without remembering we are all fans of the same club. Of course users like Wummy say/insinuate they are weirdos and not proper fans, but for most of us it's just becoming a toxic cesspit. When modmins begin to take sides on that, it becomes worse as you are encouraging one camp. Especially when you start the shit about 'quality control' for moaning. There's plenty of users who constantly make shit posts for sure, but if the modmins were to police one side of the cesspit only, it would be a sad RAWKlike day.

We are all here, on the forum, using our time and energy to discuss the club. Whether in a negative or positive way, it's still showing emotion. Emotion isn't always rational, it's not always clean, and it's not always logical. But when it's descending into war between two groups of fans supporting the same damned team, I'd expect the modmins to give it a nice wide berth and let people air their frustrations.

Again, your forum, your call. But it will drive the more moderate users either away or into a more extreme point of view if that's how you police it.

And ps: Again, sorry for the petulance/annoyance. I don't mean to upset you, I'm just being direct.

You haven't upset me at all.

FYI I know no such thing. If there is a post that really crosses the line report it and we look at every post. We can't police what we don't see but the moaning has become next level and can be observed from the moon with the naked eye.
 
The problem is many on this forum are just clubbing the poster who posts "Ole got his subs completely wrong and his overly defensive approach cost us the game" with the posters who post "Ole is a moron who runs around like a headless chicken in all games" and call them all as pollutants stinking up the place.

Or else we can go the reddit reddevils way and not allow any critical posts.

Not at all! No one lumps these together. I think Ole has done a good job but I get the reservations. I completely understand and enjoy some of the posts that don’t want him to stay.

BUT..we need to do something about the other types of posters. There is too many of them.
 
It is my opinion and the opinion of all the modmins who have discussed it. And the owner for that matter. We are all heartily sick of the moaning. If it was just a reasoned debate about coaching we would have zero issue. And posts that are merely ludicrously positive aren't destructive. Posts that only insult or name call, e.g. shut up plastics, because someone just doesn't think Ole is the second coming are also frowned upon and if we see them, or better yet if they are reported, are frowned upon and dealt with.

I see. If that’s the case, I still disagree but it’s your forum and I respect that.
 
Can’t remember the game but basically Tottenham were playing a team and won a foul. The person who fouled the Tottenham player was on a yellow card and the AM reminded Jose of this.
It cracked me up,
I've never seen Jose move so quick.
 
The problem is many on this forum are just clubbing the poster who posts "Ole got his subs completely wrong and his overly defensive approach cost us the game" with the posters who post "Ole is a moron who runs around like a headless chicken in all games" and call them all as pollutants stinking up the place.

Or else we can go the reddit reddevils way and not allow any critical posts.

Maybe i'm blinded by subjectivity, but i honestly have never seen anyone take issue with the former. They might disagree, but i dont think anyone with any sense would lump the two together.

Regarding the bolded part though (if this is related to the YB game) i do kinda disagree, because getting a man sent off after a brainless challenge and then having one of your own players putting the opposition 1on1 with you GK are freak mistakes that cant really be pinned on anyone else than the plauyers themselves.

Ole did make a bit of a mess of it though
 
The problem is many on this forum are just clubbing the poster who posts "Ole got his subs completely wrong and his overly defensive approach cost us the game" with the posters who post "Ole is a moron who runs around like a headless chicken in all games" and call them all as pollutants stinking up the place.

Or else we can go the reddit reddevils way and not allow any critical posts.

I visit r/reddevils when I just want to bathe in positivity. Can be refreshing. But it’s an echo chamber and sometimes overly negative sentiments also get magnified. So it’s not true that they don’t allow any critical posts.
 
Feels like we're back in 2011, talking about Fergie playing obsolete zombie football 4-4-2.

There's no such thing as a "dated" system, formations aren't one-size-fits-all. Playing 4-2-3-1 didn't stop Bayern winning the CL just the other year. The problem is in how we implement the system.

And three other teams in the most recent PL top seven (much as I would love to call it a season now, no one making a point in good faith will try and say we have a "top seven" after four rounds) - Leicester, Spurs, and West Ham - played a 4-2-3-1 regularly. That's literally a majority.

You missed the point and changed half of what I wrote to fit your argument. Well done.
 
I am a longtime fan but a newcomer here with serious reservations about OGS as a manager. But even so I have to say I have steered clear of any Ole threads for the most part since joining because it is just hysterics which makes discussion difficult.

Some of the posts are indeed downright disrespectful. And then it becomes polarized because I think those with even reasoned reservations would rather not voice them because they want to take up for Olly Legend. And so forth an so on. Toxic.

We all want what’s best for the club. But he’s bloody Ole Gunnar Solskjær and so does he. And we are a damn sight better off now than we were under his predecessors. So whatever anyone thinks they should have some respect.

Just a newb’s take and obviously I’m in agreement with the mods.
 
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Apparently, it's clear to everyone except a select portion of United fans that the coaching at Manchester United is not up to scratch. I mean pretty much every neutral (who would otherwise have no agenda) and rival fans can see it is our weakness. 3 years on and we play exactly the same way we did before, just with better players. You're not gonna find a single rival fan that wants Ole out.

And yet you're seen to be moaning or an awful supporter if you point that out. Feck me. When people used to say our club is different, I thought it was just pretentious "mes que en club" bullshit but now I finally see it. We truly have some "amazing" supporters who will bury their head in the sand and just about accept anything. I don't think there's a club out there where the support would be so divided with such mediocre results. Nearly £500m spent and 3 years under Ole's reign and the "achievements" are we finished third and second in the league, conveniently forgetting all the numerous setbacks and failures on the way. Building a good squad is now the standard for being Manchester United manager apparently, never mind winning trophies.

A lot of people on here took Fergie's speech at OT to heart and will back the manager all the way.

And they pin for someone to be at the helm 10 + years.

It is what it is.
 
Formation is not a system.

I know

Wolves played 3 at the back in a most boring way possible while Atalanta plays 3 at the back with very good attacking game.
I also get that

The best team in Europe is debatable (I'm assuming you're talking about BM?) . The Champions league winning Chelsea must be in with a shout, right? PSG & Liverpool too both playing different formations/systems.

Our double pivot is still a weak point three years into Oles stewardship, is this because of personal? If so, do we not try to fit the best formation/system around the players we currently have? Is a 4231 base the best formation for the players we have? Maybe.

I'd like to see us try something else though as we are struggling to impose our style and command games. It's already been pointed out but how often to we look in total control of a game? We can get results but we head into games not knowing how we're going to look.

We have such a strong squad, the best for many years, pre and post SAF retirement, yet we are still struggling for an identity. If you watch City, Chelsea, Liverpool, West Ham, Spurs and Leicester, you know what they want to do on and off the ball. How they will attack ect.. But we still look like we wing it on a prayer most games.

I'm just a simple man and I'm sure someone with point out how wrong my post is ect.. Ect..
 
Maybe i'm blinded by subjectivity, but i honestly have never seen anyone take issue with the former. They might disagree, but i dont think anyone with any sense would lump the two together.

Regarding the bolded part though (if this is related to the YB game) i do kinda disagree, because getting a man sent off after a brainless challenge and then having one of your own players putting the opposition 1on1 with you GK are freak mistakes that cant really be pinned on anyone else than the plauyers themselves.

Ole did make a bit of a mess of it though

Both parties are guilty. When people argue that Ole is “hopeless” or whatever, most often it’s hyperbolic, usually made in frustration. But then other posters will respond in bad faith to the claim by suggesting it’s literal, making out that the other poster is the one being totally unreasonable and having an extreme position when it was clearly taking the post out of context. Then the first poster feels attacked, positions become entrenched and both sides end up arguing opposing points that they don’t even fully subscribe to.
 
I know


I also get that

The best team in Europe is debatable (I'm assuming you're talking about BM?) . The Champions league winning Chelsea must be in with a shout, right? PSG & Liverpool too both playing different formations/systems.

Our double pivot is still a weak point three years into Oles stewardship, is this because of personal? If so, do we not try to fit the best formation/system around the players we currently have? Is a 4231 base the best formation for the players we have? Maybe.

I'd like to see us try something else though as we are struggling to impose our style and command games. It's already been pointed out but how often to we look in total control of a game? We can get results but we head into games not knowing how we're going to look.

We have such a strong squad, the best for many years, pre and post SAF retirement, yet we are still struggling for an identity. If you watch City, Chelsea, Liverpool, West Ham, Spurs and Leicester, you know what they want to do on and off the ball. How they will attack ect.. But we still look like we wing it on a prayer most games.

I'm just a simple man and I'm sure someone with point out how wrong my post is ect.. Ect..

4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 3-5-2 won't change anything. We will play in more or less same playing style as that's what Ole wants to implement.

We don't dominate the game using possession as Ole isn't the manager for that, its not about players. It's about manager and what his playing philosophy is. Ole is more direct manager and that's why we are inconsistent team.
 
Apparently, it's clear to everyone except a select portion of United fans that the coaching at Manchester United is not up to scratch. I mean pretty much every neutral (who would otherwise have no agenda) and rival fans can see it is our weakness. 3 years on and we play exactly the same way we did before, just with better players. You're not gonna find a single rival fan that wants Ole out.

And yet you're seen to be moaning or an awful supporter if you point that out. Feck me. When people used to say our club is different, I thought it was just pretentious "mes que en club" bullshit but now I finally see it. We truly have some "amazing" supporters who will bury their head in the sand and just about accept anything. I don't think there's a club out there where the support would be so divided with such mediocre results. Nearly £500m spent and 3 years under Ole's reign and the "achievements" are we finished third and second in the league, conveniently forgetting all the numerous setbacks and failures on the way. Building a good squad is now the standard for being Manchester United manager apparently, never mind winning trophies.

You conveniently seem to forget that both the club and the manager made it very very clear in the summer of 2019 that this is exactly what they intended should happen - that the squad would be rebuilt, there would not be a quick fix, and the aim was to be back as a truly competitive top club in 2-3 seasons. And that is where we are. The big investments (which is the practical expression of "squad rebuild") have been made, the team has progressed, and we now have a squad that should be competitive. No one promised trophies, or consistent success, during that process, and no one had reason to expect them either. That doesn't mean this is "the standard", it means that was something we needed to go through in order to get back where we want to be. And, being now where we are, it is time to expect results. But it shouldn't be that difficult to get your head around the notion that sometimes you actually need to go through a period like that, and that expectations of results can't always be the same.

3rd and 2nd are very good achievements, given that starting points. And if you expected there to not be numerous setbacks and failures on the way, you were being wildly unrealistic in the first place. Also, the "xxx m spent, where are my trophies?" line is just about the stupidest, laziest line of reasoning around. The investment got us what it was supposed to get: A competitive team.

Is OGS the man to take us over the line? Well, we won't know will we, until he's tried with a squad that actually is good enough for that. That's what we'll find out this season. But while I think the argument you make concerning results and performance under OGS is inaccurate and fundamentally not fair, I can't say the same for the view that he's not up to it as a coach. I hope you're wrong though.
 
I know


I also get that

The best team in Europe is debatable (I'm assuming you're talking about BM?) . The Champions league winning Chelsea must be in with a shout, right? PSG & Liverpool too both playing different formations/systems.

Our double pivot is still a weak point three years into Oles stewardship, is this because of personal? If so, do we not try to fit the best formation/system around the players we currently have? Is a 4231 base the best formation for the players we have? Maybe.

I'd like to see us try something else though as we are struggling to impose our style and command games. It's already been pointed out but how often to we look in total control of a game? We can get results but we head into games not knowing how we're going to look.

We have such a strong squad, the best for many years, pre and post SAF retirement, yet we are still struggling for an identity. If you watch City, Chelsea, Liverpool, West Ham, Spurs and Leicester, you know what they want to do on and off the ball. How they will attack ect.. But we still look like we wing it on a prayer most games.

I'm just a simple man and I'm sure someone with point out how wrong my post is ect.. Ect..

I’m no expert either but I think we go with a 4231 primarily because of Bruno, and our lack of a sitting DM with Matic being the only one capable of playing that role on his own. As for why we can’t impose our game on opponents, there are probably many factors to consider. What is Ole’s ideal game plan in the first place? For example, does he want us to press high? If so, why are our players half-hearted in their pressing, and why do we still leave large gaps all over the field? Is this a coaching issue, a player ability issue, or a player motivation issue? Then, how does Ole plan for us to keep possession? Is there much focus on it in training? Do we have the players who are naturally good at retaining possession, and are we using them? Do we have a robust passing structure in possession or do we largely leave it to the players themselves? Do our players fight for every second ball, and if not, why not? We have superb attackers on paper, but what is the attacking plan? Do we have rehearsed movements that our players can fall back on when needed? Do our attackers complement each other well, or do they all share similar strengths and weaknesses?

I think these are probably more pertinent to consider than a formation change. Sorry that I don’t have answers though.
 
I’m no expert either but I think we go with a 4231 primarily because of Bruno, and our lack of a sitting DM with Matic being the only one capable of playing that role on his own. As for why we can’t impose our game on opponents, there are probably many factors to consider. What is Ole’s ideal game plan in the first place? For example, does he want us to press high? If so, why are our players half-hearted in their pressing, and why do we still leave large gaps all over the field? Is this a coaching issue, a player ability issue, or a player motivation issue? Then, how does Ole plan for us to keep possession? Is there much focus on it in training? Do we have the players who are naturally good at retaining possession, and are we using them? Do we have a robust passing structure in possession or do we largely leave it to the players themselves? Do our players fight for every second ball, and if not, why not? We have superb attackers on paper, but what is the attacking plan? Do we have rehearsed movements that our players can fall back on when needed? Do our attackers complement each other well, or do they all share similar strengths and weaknesses?

I think these are probably more pertinent to consider than a formation change. Sorry that I don’t have answers though.

We played 4-2-3-1 even before Bruno was signed. Ole started with 4-3-3 when he was caretaker manager, Pogba played more attacking role and we played some of the best football at that time. Then he dropped Pogba deeper saying we need more control of the game, that coincided with our players completely exhausted, we entered one of the worst run of results.

Next season (start of 2019-20), there were at least 2 surprising decisions. First one was switching to 4-2-3-1 which meant Pogba playing deeper role and also playing at least one of Lingard, Pereira all the time (few games both played too). Second surprising and right decision was moving Martial to CF position and Rashford to LW position. Previous season he played Rashford as CF and Martial as LW but all of a sudden he switched the positions which worked really well.

On to the main point, we played 4-2-3-1 before Bruno was signed, we played Lingard/Pereira as attacking midfielder.