Would you sack or keep Ole? (Poll reopened)

Sack or Keep OLE?

  • Sack Ole & appoint new coach ASAP

  • Keep Ole & back him to finish rebuild


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We have

De Gea 30 years old
Bruno 26 years old
Martial 25 years old
Rashford 23 years old
Fred 27 years old
Maguire 27 years old
Lindelof 26 years old
Shaw 25 years old
AWB 23 years old
Scott 24 years old
Telles 27 years old

All these are at their prime at the moment or just about to start it. All are ranging from good to great players.

We also have from the old players Matic (32) and Cavani (33) with good contribution from the bench.

And from the youngsters we have Greenwood (19), an exceptional talent.

Now let's forget a little bit about the manager, what exactly does this squad miss to just, I mean just, mount a close title challenge ? 4 years or so from now on, several of our best players like Bruno or Martial will be close to 30 and their prime will be close to come to an end. What's the perfect time for these lot to win something big ?

Everything points to it being NOW. Within the next 2-3 years at least. Otherwise it'll be a waste, simply. Liverpool and City aren't as strong as they were the previous few seasons, and in no time they'll start entering the "rebuild phase" themselves.

So when we'll stop being content with just top 4 and "transitional period" and start thinking "yeah that's enough, time to win the big prizes in football" ?

I agree with this.

I think we're in a very delicate spot at the moment.

I think our squad should be challenging for the league this season. Look how open it is and yet we're 15th with a GD of -4.

Ole to his credit has improved players and is likely leaving the next manager with a pretty good team compared to managers before him.
 
outplayed? What game were you watching

Arsenal outplayed us first half pal. Everyone and his dog in the matchday thread agreed it was a shitty half. We only started to come to our senses after the pen.
 
Came 3rd like 3 months ago pal or did I dream it?

Then went into a window wanting Grealish n Sancho and was given DVB who let's be honest he clearly didn't ask for or he'd be playing him every game. And got a has been striker on deadline day as a panic buy.

We were never spending 200m on 2 players during a pandemic.

You yourself said the Sancho deal was unrealistic and now you're criticizing the board for it not happening...
 
Arsenal outplayed us first half pal. Everyone and his dog in the matchday thread agreed it was a shitty half. We only started to come to our senses after the pen.

i mean yes, Arsenal had the ball a bit more, and were winning the duels and pressing high. But our defence was decent and by no means outplayed. It was an even game, lucky penalty, and thats it. could have gone both ways
 
i mean yes, Arsenal had the ball a bit more, and were winning the duels and pressing high. But our defence was decent and by no means outplayed. It was an even game, lucky penalty, and thats it. could have gone both ways

Arsenal had the better chances in the first half. They had about 3 chances at least to score first while we only created 1 for Greenwood on the break. The game became even after the pen because they dropped back to defend their lead and we controlled the ball from this till the end.
 
Many questions need to be asked of him at this time of the season.

What worries me about Ole is I don't believe he fully knows what his best team and tactics are.

We look like a team desperate to just play counter attacking football.

This was supposed to be the season where we finish 10-15 points from the league leaders. It's looks catastrophic already.
 
You can have your best 11 players on the pitch but play them in the wrong positions. Tactically you need to win a match within the allocated time of 90 mins plus the time added on and not in the first 10 mins. I said before the kick off I do not think this is the right starting eleven. Unfortunately I was right. When you play Fred as the DM and Pogba in midfield we are never going to get any control. He could have put Matic in DM and started with Cavani instead of Rashford and gone with a back 3 with a 5 midfield and two up front. Bring Rashford later on. By starting with this 11 he got himself in a straightjacket. I have always said that Ole is is too inflexible. With Fred as the DM and McTominay in midfield all our passing options were nullified. Not only that because Fred was the DM our pressing in midfield was nullified too. McTominay is too slow and ponderous to do it. Plus he was getting into a DM space himself. Add to that Maguire takes ages on the ball, there was no option or space for us. Rashford and Greenwood is not going to win any battles in the air.
Even starting with Cavani and DVB may have been the better option.
 
Beat Nagelsmann 5 nil. A manager you'd probably want. Beat Tuchel twice. Another one you'd want no doubt. Beat Pep 3 times in a season. Beat Lampard 3 times. Beat Jose. First team to take any pts off Liverpool last year.

How that all happen then?

There's a cancer at this club. Poch or whoever takes over next will go the exact same way.

A convenient narrative just to suit your argument. How about the records again small teams ? Should I list down them one by one ?

Yes, this guy is great at defending and counter attack. It was quite good to watch first year. But it's the third year now and we just can't keep doing it.
 
Waste of time to comment, reading some posts its clearly that yet again mentalists took their positions in ditches and rest are in no mans land. I did giggle at " if we win our game at hand, we are 6pts away from 1st ", dunno who wrote that, because last week people were saying the same just instead of 6 it was 3.
 
Keep pretending replacing the manager will make it all better. It won't.

Ole not been here since 2013. I know a guy who has been though. Ed Woodward

Woodward doesn't choose the team. Woodward doesn't adopt moronic tactics. Woodward isn't the one finding it hard to get the best out of his players.

Ed Woodward definitely has his flaws but hovering in the 15th position with the quality of players we have got isn't one of them. I remember a certain Portuguese manager was hounded out of the club because he was finished, outdated, negative and football has left him behind. That manager is 2nd on the table as we speak.

The modern progressive attacking manager from Norway with a better squad & the anointed one by Old Trafford faithfuls is just slightly above the relegation pool. Solskjaer has dragged this great football club and has lowered expectations with his cataclysmic start of the season. 7 points from 6PL games wouldn't be tolerated by any other manager, why are we accepting this sterling mediocrity from Ole?

His squad is good enough to be in a higher position and he's had almost two years to fine-tune the team to his plan. Everyone can see what Arteta, Ancelotti, etc are trying to achieve. Ole seems to be rudderless. The board has a big decision to make. The season can still be rescued. Another season out of Europe would hit the revenue.

Man Utd are now 45/1 odd to win the league.

It's a crying shame.
 
Woodward doesn't choose the team. Woodward doesn't adopt moronic tactics. Woodward isn't the one finding it hard to get the best out of his players.

Ed Woodward definitely has his flaws but hovering in the 15th position with the quality of players we have got isn't one of them. I remember a certain Portuguese manager was hounded out of the club because he was finished, outdated, negative and football has left him behind. That manager is 2nd on the table as we speak.

The modern progressive attacking manager from Norway with a better squad & the anointed one by Old Trafford faithfuls is just slightly above the relegation pool. Solskjaer has dragged this great football club and has lowered expectations with his cataclysmic start of the season. 7 points from 6PL games wouldn't be tolerated by any other manager, why are we accepting this sterling mediocrity from Ole?

His squad is good enough to be in a higher position and he's had almost two years to fine-tune the team to his plan. Everyone can see what Arteta, Ancelotti, etc are trying to achieve. Ole seems to be rudderless. The board has a big decision to make. The season can still be rescued. Another season out of Europe would hit the revenue.

Man Utd are now 45/1 odd to win the league.

It's a crying shame.

Still remember the famous stick jose got.

2nd is nothing, miles behind city.
 
Still remember the famous stick jose got.

2nd is nothing, miles behind city.

He was toxic but he won the EL and the League Cup. Was 2nd too. LVG won the FA Cup too. Ole is not going to win anything. He has no clue apart from playing one way.
 
Woodward doesn't choose the team. Woodward doesn't adopt moronic tactics. Woodward isn't the one finding it hard to get the best out of his players.

Ed Woodward definitely has his flaws but hovering in the 15th position with the quality of players we have got isn't one of them. I remember a certain Portuguese manager was hounded out of the club because he was finished, outdated, negative and football has left him behind. That manager is 2nd on the table as we speak.

The modern progressive attacking manager from Norway with a better squad & the anointed one by Old Trafford faithfuls is just slightly above the relegation pool. Solskjaer has dragged this great football club and has lowered expectations with his cataclysmic start of the season. 7 points from 6PL games wouldn't be tolerated by any other manager, why are we accepting this sterling mediocrity from Ole?

His squad is good enough to be in a higher position and he's had almost two years to fine-tune the team to his plan. Everyone can see what Arteta, Ancelotti, etc are trying to achieve. Ole seems to be rudderless. The board has a big decision to make. The season can still be rescued. Another season out of Europe would hit the revenue.

Man Utd are now 45/1 odd to win the league.

It's a crying shame.

Should be 450/1
 
The Glazers and Woodward is the source of this rotting fish. Eddie has produced a shit product for far too long. Let him sell shirts, but get him the feck away from EVERYTHING related to football. NOTHING will improve until these slimy grifters are removed from football operations.
 
Ole has been managing his 100th games for United, at this point he should have his formation/philosophy/tactics well taught to his players. Yet each of them are clueless on what to do, what their teammates does, no cohesion at all, except when we play counter attacking, which I consider as Primal Instinct football that relies on player's basic instinct to attack empty spaces. While not every team needs to be a tiki-taka proponent I'd expect a certain savvy and swagger from a Manchester United team, we were never a very tactical team under SAF but we sure can handle our balls when pressed, we seldom dilly dallying with the balls but we do keep our balls when the push comes to the shoves. Everyone knows where everyone is, when you press one player he have avenue to release the ball, the off the ball movement is subtle yet always presence. This video is actually Ronaldo's debut compilation, but the amount of passing between our old side is visible, we seldom lose the ball. There's no fancy skills / trick necessary, just moving to the right place and making the right pass, basically football 101.



For me the greatest indication of a good coach is how systematic he can get his teams rolling, and how fast he could attain it. That's what separates the real manager and the lucky go happy manager. They might not get the best results and probably won't win a trophy but their work in the team is solid, visible, and regardless of whether they work or don't you actually see what they're trying to do.


070717b1a0fa4a50cd703c9ea842418b.jpg


It's like seeing a Roman Battle formation, they know exactly what to do, where to push, which flank to cover, even if they lose being sucker punched you know that 8/10 they'd won their fight. With Ole it's more like a bunch of savage barbarian baying for blood when they feel up for it, and meekly contained / routed when they don't feel like showing up. Ole's team leave too much to chances we're seeing what we're seeing, a very erratic result. You need defensive stability first and foremost, you need the mainframe of a tactics, the doctrine, then you tweak a little here and there to suit different opponent.

I haven't seen the big formation up until today, and it's been 100 games it's worrying. I doubt Ole has what it takes and if he indeed understand the fine arts of battle formation (cough... football tactics)

1. What are we trying to do? Was it contain? Was it counter? Was it Gegenpress? Was it route one? Most baffling stuff for me is the high press when we're actually a counter attacking team. It's just logically contradictory. I'm not a fans of counter attacking football, but if you must play it like that at least play it like Jose, soak the pressure up, defend deep, exploit spaces with pace and directness. You don't play counter attacking and camp at your opponent half, you'll only make things harder.

2. No clear vision on player purchase. The direct result of no.1, not knowing full well how we wants to play we ended up buying players that are tactically hampering our own. A slow CB, a weak going forward RB, a Left Winger who's pretty bog standard technically. Bruno was a fine player, but I chalk it up as luck, he's just good enough, but he could be much better in a more tactical team that's build correctly. When you put Zidane in our team he doesn't suddenly becomes Djemba2, but putting him in the France team he'll become something else, the Maestro. My point is that Bruno is the shit that sticks on the wall.

3. Ole is clueless to the whole situation, he doesn't know what he's lacking, he's the dwarf in the middle of the melee he can't see where/what/how/who and when things' happening. It's very simple to notice, he never got up his seat and barks instructions. It only indicates that he's either "happy with what his players are showing" or "doesn't know what to do with it" or "doesn't know that whatever it is it's not working". Pep/Klopp even SAF are animated near the sidelines, not because they're showing off, but because they see something they don't like, and constantly reminding / demanding / changing / inspecting / analyzing / watching for changes in the battlefield like a proper strategist. When the opponent make instructions, they're there to see and adapt. Our beloved Ole seems clueless that Jose is targeting Shaw and bombards our slow CB with pace, that's basic error you can't make at top level football.

Playing football is pretty basic for some of us, but I always believe that at the top level every 0.1% is the difference between winning and losing. The amount of details pep went through is insane, he even analyzed the way some players trap a ball and make improvements. Now some of us probably thinks that's a lot of bull and all we need is go out there and enjoy the game, which I think it's a lot of crap. Anyone that has any experiences in a competitive sports would know that you need a lot more than simply go out and enjoy your game. Other professions and sports such as E-sport, NFL, Basketball, Chess, even Michelin star chef pays lots of attention to the finer details, which is the 1% extra that differentiates you and the rest. Our team and fans attitude towards this is often underestimating and sniffling at, as if it's our god's given right to win a football match just by showing up.

Often we heard lines as "Play pogba in Diamond" or "Play 3 at the back" or " X is not a 6 he's an 8" as if they understand what it really meant. Do you know that between Johan Cruyff and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer they actually play the same formation : 433. Some call it 4321, some call it 433, it's just a number. Any bored kids at school used to make mockup formations,

soccer-football-strategy_13339-290757.jpg


What Cruyft draw and What I draw and What Ole Draw is probably the same thing, but the applications on the field is night and day. It's not about formation, but the finer details that lies within. What to pass, where to press, triangles, diamonds, collective positioning, 2 on 1, 3 on 2, and lot of the finer details. Any ex footballer can pretend to be a football manager, but you really need to be the master of the arts to squeeze that last 1%. And that 1% in the longer run of the campaign is the difference between champion and runner up. Even in buying player you'll devote an extra amount of attention to details, just like SAF even analyze their mentality. Our coach seems to fail at basic analyzing that his 80M defender are too slow and aren't suited to how he wants to play, and that his 50M fullbacks can't cross.

We seems to have the notion that if he served under SAF he must be good enough, if he knows where the kitchen is he must be good enough, if he knows our culture (what is our culture btw?) he definitely can make us play like one. Which is all bollocks. Most of us speaks English here quite fluently, but I doubt many of us could ended up become a BA lecturer at community college, let alone the top 1% university. Which is what we expect from Ole, a PE teacher teaching at rural Norway suddenly puts in charge at Cambridge , not only as a lecturer but as the complete package to oversee the whole University.
 
I'm still trying to understand the reasoning behind "sack Ole? what then, hire poch? Then he will be sacked in 2 years rinse and repeat as long as the problem at the top is still there". I mean first of all the problem at the top doesn't look like it's changing anytime soon so stop wasting your energy with this. And because this problem at the top will still persist we are basically relying on the manager to carry the team on his back. If a manager is underperforming whether Ole or Poch in two years then he has to go. Simple as that. You don't keep an underperforming manager because the people at the top who are not leaving the club anytime soon are not good enough
 
From the same people who are now saying "points don't matter, we finished 3rd!"

Finishing 2nd is not good enough for Manchester United. The least we could do is stick to Sir Alex's principles.

This is not Arsenal.

I think this is the point. Its not really the 'second". Its more like the first of the losers. If it was at least a battle like City x Liverpool this season would be a different history.

I think people are less outcome biased and focus more on the general level of our play/performance. In my opinion we had a lot of luck last year. Both in terms of games that went to our advantage and in other stuff (timing when we met teams etc). In addition de Gea was unreal.

Considering the resources and time Mourinho have been given I would expect close to 90 points this year. I can «accept» less if our general performance improve and we get less points due to other relevant circumstanses (unlucky or we are out of the PL-race but still compete in the CL etc).

Mourinho 2nd place has no value. He left us 19 points off the top so even LVG had finished closer in points to the top 17 or 18. Klopp and Pep is showing what a proper title race looks like.

Mourinho had spent the same as klopp. He failed. We don't need to vindicate him.
 
Yes, it's the Galzers' and Woodward's fault that Ole, almost two years into the job, cannot create a style of play. It's their fault that he cannot get Rashford, Greenwood, Pogba, and Bruno, with VDB and Cavani on the bench, to put together one single cohesive attacking move at home against Arsenal.

Arsenal! We got done by Arsenal! They didn't even park the bus. They took the game to us and at the same time, they prevented us from using the only weapon we possess: counter-attacking. It should be unacceptable. Instead, the excuses are flowing as usual.

Some people will rather go down with the captain than save the ship.
 
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Ole has been managing his 100th games for United, at this point he should have his formation/philosophy/tactics well taught to his players. Yet each of them are clueless on what to do, what their teammates does, no cohesion at all, except when we play counter attacking, which I consider as Primal Instinct football that relies on player's basic instinct to attack empty spaces. While not every team needs to be a tiki-taka proponent I'd expect a certain savvy and swagger from a Manchester United team, we were never a very tactical team under SAF but we sure can handle our balls when pressed, we seldom dilly dallying with the balls but we do keep our balls when the push comes to the shoves. Everyone knows where everyone is, when you press one player he have avenue to release the ball, the off the ball movement is subtle yet always presence. This video is actually Ronaldo's debut compilation, but the amount of passing between our old side is visible, we seldom lose the ball. There's no fancy skills / trick necessary, just moving to the right place and making the right pass, basically football 101.



For me the greatest indication of a good coach is how systematic he can get his teams rolling, and how fast he could attain it. That's what separates the real manager and the lucky go happy manager. They might not get the best results and probably won't win a trophy but their work in the team is solid, visible, and regardless of whether they work or don't you actually see what they're trying to do.


070717b1a0fa4a50cd703c9ea842418b.jpg


It's like seeing a Roman Battle formation, they know exactly what to do, where to push, which flank to cover, even if they lose being sucker punched you know that 8/10 they'd won their fight. With Ole it's more like a bunch of savage barbarian baying for blood when they feel up for it, and meekly contained / routed when they don't feel like showing up. Ole's team leave too much to chances we're seeing what we're seeing, a very erratic result. You need defensive stability first and foremost, you need the mainframe of a tactics, the doctrine, then you tweak a little here and there to suit different opponent.

I haven't seen the big formation up until today, and it's been 100 games it's worrying. I doubt Ole has what it takes and if he indeed understand the fine arts of battle formation (cough... football tactics)

1. What are we trying to do? Was it contain? Was it counter? Was it Gegenpress? Was it route one? Most baffling stuff for me is the high press when we're actually a counter attacking team. It's just logically contradictory. I'm not a fans of counter attacking football, but if you must play it like that at least play it like Jose, soak the pressure up, defend deep, exploit spaces with pace and directness. You don't play counter attacking and camp at your opponent half, you'll only make things harder.

2. No clear vision on player purchase. The direct result of no.1, not knowing full well how we wants to play we ended up buying players that are tactically hampering our own. A slow CB, a weak going forward RB, a Left Winger who's pretty bog standard technically. Bruno was a fine player, but I chalk it up as luck, he's just good enough, but he could be much better in a more tactical team that's build correctly. When you put Zidane in our team he doesn't suddenly becomes Djemba2, but putting him in the France team he'll become something else, the Maestro. My point is that Bruno is the shit that sticks on the wall.

3. Ole is clueless to the whole situation, he doesn't know what he's lacking, he's the dwarf in the middle of the melee he can't see where/what/how/who and when things' happening. It's very simple to notice, he never got up his seat and barks instructions. It only indicates that he's either "happy with what his players are showing" or "doesn't know what to do with it" or "doesn't know that whatever it is it's not working". Pep/Klopp even SAF are animated near the sidelines, not because they're showing off, but because they see something they don't like, and constantly reminding / demanding / changing / inspecting / analyzing / watching for changes in the battlefield like a proper strategist. When the opponent make instructions, they're there to see and adapt. Our beloved Ole seems clueless that Jose is targeting Shaw and bombards our slow CB with pace, that's basic error you can't make at top level football.

Playing football is pretty basic for some of us, but I always believe that at the top level every 0.1% is the difference between winning and losing. The amount of details pep went through is insane, he even analyzed the way some players trap a ball and make improvements. Now some of us probably thinks that's a lot of bull and all we need is go out there and enjoy the game, which I think it's a lot of crap. Anyone that has any experiences in a competitive sports would know that you need a lot more than simply go out and enjoy your game. Other professions and sports such as E-sport, NFL, Basketball, Chess, even Michelin star chef pays lots of attention to the finer details, which is the 1% extra that differentiates you and the rest. Our team and fans attitude towards this is often underestimating and sniffling at, as if it's our god's given right to win a football match just by showing up.

Often we heard lines as "Play pogba in Diamond" or "Play 3 at the back" or " X is not a 6 he's an 8" as if they understand what it really meant. Do you know that between Johan Cruyff and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer they actually play the same formation : 433. Some call it 4321, some call it 433, it's just a number. Any bored kids at school used to make mockup formations,

soccer-football-strategy_13339-290757.jpg


What Cruyft draw and What I draw and What Ole Draw is probably the same thing, but the applications on the field is night and day. It's not about formation, but the finer details that lies within. What to pass, where to press, triangles, diamonds, collective positioning, 2 on 1, 3 on 2, and lot of the finer details. Any ex footballer can pretend to be a football manager, but you really need to be the master of the arts to squeeze that last 1%. And that 1% in the longer run of the campaign is the difference between champion and runner up. Even in buying player you'll devote an extra amount of attention to details, just like SAF even analyze their mentality. Our coach seems to fail at basic analyzing that his 80M defender are too slow and aren't suited to how he wants to play, and that his 50M fullbacks can't cross.

We seems to have the notion that if he served under SAF he must be good enough, if he knows where the kitchen is he must be good enough, if he knows our culture (what is our culture btw?) he definitely can make us play like one. Which is all bollocks. Most of us speaks English here quite fluently, but I doubt many of us could ended up become a BA lecturer at community college, let alone the top 1% university. Which is what we expect from Ole, a PE teacher teaching at rural Norway suddenly puts in charge at Cambridge , not only as a lecturer but as the complete package to oversee the whole University.

Harsh but excellent and very detailed post.
Not something that can be accepted by a lot on here though because Ole led us to victory over Nagelsmann, Tuchel and Pep or something.

I’m going to sound patronising but it needs to be said that there is a large section of our fanbase whose brains cannot grasp the things you speak of. Who cannot see a bigger picture and instead focus on a small and very explainable sample size.

You saw it after all three of our wins this season which were greeted by emphatic glee about ‘exceptional tactics and coaching’. Because for some reason these people think people who criticise Ole for his limitations believe United will go through the season losing 38 games. We’re going to win fecking games, it’s telling how low the standards are that anytime we win a game this season half the cafe makes a big song and dance about it.

Someone even made a thread about our second goal in the Newcastle game being proof that we’re well coached.

Primal Instinct football that relies on player's basic instinct to attack empty spaces.
Nail on head with this comment and it was what I was trying to explain to someone in the debate about that Bruno goal against Newcastle.
We have good footballers at the club, players with speed, penetration and movement and we’re going to win games, were going to score great counters if given the chance. It is what we do when we are not given this chance that is vital and when a team restricts this via a low block or high compact press we are complete and utterly clueless.

100 games in and I still do not have a clue what we’re trying to do in the majority of games. Everything is mish mash and off the cuff. It isn’t sustainable long term and is exactly why we have so many mixed results and go on numerous bad runs of form.
The 1% you speak of is so important and is the key difference between a top manager and a decent manager.
Even something as mundane as touch line instructions. I do find Pep a little twatty but has there ever been a successful manager who simply sits in silence in his chair through a game? It isn’t good enough for others to do this. It has to come from the manager. It’s a simple yet crucial thing that can make that difference.
 
I'm still trying to understand the reasoning behind "sack Ole? what then, hire poch? Then he will be sacked in 2 years rinse and repeat as long as the problem at the top is still there". I mean first of all the problem at the top doesn't look like it's changing anytime soon so stop wasting your energy with this. And because this problem at the top will still persist we are basically relying on the manager to carry the team on his back. If a manager is underperforming whether Ole or Poch in two years then he has to go. Simple as that. You don't keep an underperforming manager because the people at the top who are not leaving the club anytime soon are not good enough
I don't believe the problem at the top is anywhere near as big as it's being made out to be. Woodward has backed the managers but they've wasted too much money. The £150m Ole spent on Maguire, AWB and James was poor in the context of playing a expansive game. I've made countless posts questioning those signings which contradict Solskjaer too after his admission that he wants to play a high line and expects his fullbacks to not only defend but contribute in transition and provide width which is normal at most big clubs.

I'm a big believer in the Sporting director model as long as it's a model that is defined whereby the whole football department is working towards a set philosophy. The recruitment of players and coaches must align with the philosophy which would provide continuity and stability.

But having said that even under the current model it could also work if the manager recruits the correct players for his play style. For example if we hire someone like Ralf Hassenhuttl who has good knowledge off several European leagues it would also benefit us potentially in recruiting players on top of his ability to coach players. Then we have a youth team that could potentially yield great dividends too, thanks to Ed Woodward and the people he's put in place who have done a great job in comparison to the mess left behind by David Gill. I don't think we're far from winning the league and it might well be that it will be the next man in who will benefit from our very good squad and the work done at academy level IMO.

This is a very appealing job right now and I believe if they hired someone like Hassenhuttl he'd add the missing pieces and win the league IMO.
 
JM acolytes cant resist to reveal their positions in general crowd.

When ManUtd lose, fans discuss how poor we are and where things went wrong or how we are not going anywhere under Ole. Then you have Jose fans who posts Jose worshipping posts whenever we lose, weird. Same people who said we have midtable team and should expect midtable finish btw. One of the reason it's hard to take them seriously.
 
Our league form is very poor, we can't throw away one more season. Last season first half was poor and we recovered in the second half, we can't expect the same every season. We should build on what we have achieved last season, instead of resetting and starting from 0 again.

We have had some very good games, especially against big teams but we lack consistency. IMO I don't think Ole is the right man to lead the club, don't think we will challenge for league title under him. Would be very happy if proven wrong but just don't see it.
 
Keep pretending replacing the manager will make it all better. It won't.

Ole not been here since 2013. I know a guy who has been though. Ed Woodward

If only Liverpool had this type of thinking on their Board.
 
The team looks really fecking good when they are given space to play. But give us an organised press or a compact low block and we have no clue.
 
I'd like for Ole to do well and still support him but the inconsitencies falls on his behest . You cannot go from one excellent performance to an average performance to anthoer good performance. It is his job to sort this out and has to take full responsibility. I hope he sorts it out before long.
 
This is a wind up, right? We’re 15th!!!!
It wasn't. We've been as consistent as anyone since February and the lack of preseason clearly had a big impact.

The Arsenal game was very poor though. I'm confident it won't happen too often but still a stinker of a performance. And there isn't an excuse for it. A horrible weekend in general with Nobby Stiles passing and the Bobby Charlton news as well.

Not loving life today
 
Ole has been managing his 100th games for United, at this point he should have his formation/philosophy/tactics well taught to his players. Yet each of them are clueless on what to do, what their teammates does, no cohesion at all, except when we play counter attacking, which I consider as Primal Instinct football that relies on player's basic instinct to attack empty spaces. While not every team needs to be a tiki-taka proponent I'd expect a certain savvy and swagger from a Manchester United team, we were never a very tactical team under SAF but we sure can handle our balls when pressed, we seldom dilly dallying with the balls but we do keep our balls when the push comes to the shoves. Everyone knows where everyone is, when you press one player he have avenue to release the ball, the off the ball movement is subtle yet always presence. This video is actually Ronaldo's debut compilation, but the amount of passing between our old side is visible, we seldom lose the ball. There's no fancy skills / trick necessary, just moving to the right place and making the right pass, basically football 101.



For me the greatest indication of a good coach is how systematic he can get his teams rolling, and how fast he could attain it. That's what separates the real manager and the lucky go happy manager. They might not get the best results and probably won't win a trophy but their work in the team is solid, visible, and regardless of whether they work or don't you actually see what they're trying to do.


070717b1a0fa4a50cd703c9ea842418b.jpg


It's like seeing a Roman Battle formation, they know exactly what to do, where to push, which flank to cover, even if they lose being sucker punched you know that 8/10 they'd won their fight. With Ole it's more like a bunch of savage barbarian baying for blood when they feel up for it, and meekly contained / routed when they don't feel like showing up. Ole's team leave too much to chances we're seeing what we're seeing, a very erratic result. You need defensive stability first and foremost, you need the mainframe of a tactics, the doctrine, then you tweak a little here and there to suit different opponent.

I haven't seen the big formation up until today, and it's been 100 games it's worrying. I doubt Ole has what it takes and if he indeed understand the fine arts of battle formation (cough... football tactics)

1. What are we trying to do? Was it contain? Was it counter? Was it Gegenpress? Was it route one? Most baffling stuff for me is the high press when we're actually a counter attacking team. It's just logically contradictory. I'm not a fans of counter attacking football, but if you must play it like that at least play it like Jose, soak the pressure up, defend deep, exploit spaces with pace and directness. You don't play counter attacking and camp at your opponent half, you'll only make things harder.

2. No clear vision on player purchase. The direct result of no.1, not knowing full well how we wants to play we ended up buying players that are tactically hampering our own. A slow CB, a weak going forward RB, a Left Winger who's pretty bog standard technically. Bruno was a fine player, but I chalk it up as luck, he's just good enough, but he could be much better in a more tactical team that's build correctly. When you put Zidane in our team he doesn't suddenly becomes Djemba2, but putting him in the France team he'll become something else, the Maestro. My point is that Bruno is the shit that sticks on the wall.

3. Ole is clueless to the whole situation, he doesn't know what he's lacking, he's the dwarf in the middle of the melee he can't see where/what/how/who and when things' happening. It's very simple to notice, he never got up his seat and barks instructions. It only indicates that he's either "happy with what his players are showing" or "doesn't know what to do with it" or "doesn't know that whatever it is it's not working". Pep/Klopp even SAF are animated near the sidelines, not because they're showing off, but because they see something they don't like, and constantly reminding / demanding / changing / inspecting / analyzing / watching for changes in the battlefield like a proper strategist. When the opponent make instructions, they're there to see and adapt. Our beloved Ole seems clueless that Jose is targeting Shaw and bombards our slow CB with pace, that's basic error you can't make at top level football.

Playing football is pretty basic for some of us, but I always believe that at the top level every 0.1% is the difference between winning and losing. The amount of details pep went through is insane, he even analyzed the way some players trap a ball and make improvements. Now some of us probably thinks that's a lot of bull and all we need is go out there and enjoy the game, which I think it's a lot of crap. Anyone that has any experiences in a competitive sports would know that you need a lot more than simply go out and enjoy your game. Other professions and sports such as E-sport, NFL, Basketball, Chess, even Michelin star chef pays lots of attention to the finer details, which is the 1% extra that differentiates you and the rest. Our team and fans attitude towards this is often underestimating and sniffling at, as if it's our god's given right to win a football match just by showing up.

Often we heard lines as "Play pogba in Diamond" or "Play 3 at the back" or " X is not a 6 he's an 8" as if they understand what it really meant. Do you know that between Johan Cruyff and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer they actually play the same formation : 433. Some call it 4321, some call it 433, it's just a number. Any bored kids at school used to make mockup formations,

soccer-football-strategy_13339-290757.jpg


What Cruyft draw and What I draw and What Ole Draw is probably the same thing, but the applications on the field is night and day. It's not about formation, but the finer details that lies within. What to pass, where to press, triangles, diamonds, collective positioning, 2 on 1, 3 on 2, and lot of the finer details. Any ex footballer can pretend to be a football manager, but you really need to be the master of the arts to squeeze that last 1%. And that 1% in the longer run of the campaign is the difference between champion and runner up. Even in buying player you'll devote an extra amount of attention to details, just like SAF even analyze their mentality. Our coach seems to fail at basic analyzing that his 80M defender are too slow and aren't suited to how he wants to play, and that his 50M fullbacks can't cross.

We seems to have the notion that if he served under SAF he must be good enough, if he knows where the kitchen is he must be good enough, if he knows our culture (what is our culture btw?) he definitely can make us play like one. Which is all bollocks. Most of us speaks English here quite fluently, but I doubt many of us could ended up become a BA lecturer at community college, let alone the top 1% university. Which is what we expect from Ole, a PE teacher teaching at rural Norway suddenly puts in charge at Cambridge , not only as a lecturer but as the complete package to oversee the whole University.


you can pretty much end the thread after this post. He has done some good but please just leave now before things get even worse. First home loss to arsenal in 14 years, two consecutive worst ever starts to the premier league.
 
The team looks really fecking good when they are given space to play. But give us an organised press or a compact low block and we have no clue.

Absolutely spot on and that is the only reason we beat Newcastle,not forgetting we robbed Brighton blind as well
 
Ole has been managing his 100th games for United, at this point he should have his formation/philosophy/tactics well taught to his players. Yet each of them are clueless on what to do, what their teammates does, no cohesion at all, except when we play counter attacking, which I consider as Primal Instinct football that relies on player's basic instinct to attack empty spaces. While not every team needs to be a tiki-taka proponent I'd expect a certain savvy and swagger from a Manchester United team, we were never a very tactical team under SAF but we sure can handle our balls when pressed, we seldom dilly dallying with the balls but we do keep our balls when the push comes to the shoves. Everyone knows where everyone is, when you press one player he have avenue to release the ball, the off the ball movement is subtle yet always presence. This video is actually Ronaldo's debut compilation, but the amount of passing between our old side is visible, we seldom lose the ball. There's no fancy skills / trick necessary, just moving to the right place and making the right pass, basically football 101.



For me the greatest indication of a good coach is how systematic he can get his teams rolling, and how fast he could attain it. That's what separates the real manager and the lucky go happy manager. They might not get the best results and probably won't win a trophy but their work in the team is solid, visible, and regardless of whether they work or don't you actually see what they're trying to do.


070717b1a0fa4a50cd703c9ea842418b.jpg


It's like seeing a Roman Battle formation, they know exactly what to do, where to push, which flank to cover, even if they lose being sucker punched you know that 8/10 they'd won their fight. With Ole it's more like a bunch of savage barbarian baying for blood when they feel up for it, and meekly contained / routed when they don't feel like showing up. Ole's team leave too much to chances we're seeing what we're seeing, a very erratic result. You need defensive stability first and foremost, you need the mainframe of a tactics, the doctrine, then you tweak a little here and there to suit different opponent.

I haven't seen the big formation up until today, and it's been 100 games it's worrying. I doubt Ole has what it takes and if he indeed understand the fine arts of battle formation (cough... football tactics)

1. What are we trying to do? Was it contain? Was it counter? Was it Gegenpress? Was it route one? Most baffling stuff for me is the high press when we're actually a counter attacking team. It's just logically contradictory. I'm not a fans of counter attacking football, but if you must play it like that at least play it like Jose, soak the pressure up, defend deep, exploit spaces with pace and directness. You don't play counter attacking and camp at your opponent half, you'll only make things harder.

2. No clear vision on player purchase. The direct result of no.1, not knowing full well how we wants to play we ended up buying players that are tactically hampering our own. A slow CB, a weak going forward RB, a Left Winger who's pretty bog standard technically. Bruno was a fine player, but I chalk it up as luck, he's just good enough, but he could be much better in a more tactical team that's build correctly. When you put Zidane in our team he doesn't suddenly becomes Djemba2, but putting him in the France team he'll become something else, the Maestro. My point is that Bruno is the shit that sticks on the wall.

3. Ole is clueless to the whole situation, he doesn't know what he's lacking, he's the dwarf in the middle of the melee he can't see where/what/how/who and when things' happening. It's very simple to notice, he never got up his seat and barks instructions. It only indicates that he's either "happy with what his players are showing" or "doesn't know what to do with it" or "doesn't know that whatever it is it's not working". Pep/Klopp even SAF are animated near the sidelines, not because they're showing off, but because they see something they don't like, and constantly reminding / demanding / changing / inspecting / analyzing / watching for changes in the battlefield like a proper strategist. When the opponent make instructions, they're there to see and adapt. Our beloved Ole seems clueless that Jose is targeting Shaw and bombards our slow CB with pace, that's basic error you can't make at top level football.

Playing football is pretty basic for some of us, but I always believe that at the top level every 0.1% is the difference between winning and losing. The amount of details pep went through is insane, he even analyzed the way some players trap a ball and make improvements. Now some of us probably thinks that's a lot of bull and all we need is go out there and enjoy the game, which I think it's a lot of crap. Anyone that has any experiences in a competitive sports would know that you need a lot more than simply go out and enjoy your game. Other professions and sports such as E-sport, NFL, Basketball, Chess, even Michelin star chef pays lots of attention to the finer details, which is the 1% extra that differentiates you and the rest. Our team and fans attitude towards this is often underestimating and sniffling at, as if it's our god's given right to win a football match just by showing up.

Often we heard lines as "Play pogba in Diamond" or "Play 3 at the back" or " X is not a 6 he's an 8" as if they understand what it really meant. Do you know that between Johan Cruyff and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer they actually play the same formation : 433. Some call it 4321, some call it 433, it's just a number. Any bored kids at school used to make mockup formations,

soccer-football-strategy_13339-290757.jpg


What Cruyft draw and What I draw and What Ole Draw is probably the same thing, but the applications on the field is night and day. It's not about formation, but the finer details that lies within. What to pass, where to press, triangles, diamonds, collective positioning, 2 on 1, 3 on 2, and lot of the finer details. Any ex footballer can pretend to be a football manager, but you really need to be the master of the arts to squeeze that last 1%. And that 1% in the longer run of the campaign is the difference between champion and runner up. Even in buying player you'll devote an extra amount of attention to details, just like SAF even analyze their mentality. Our coach seems to fail at basic analyzing that his 80M defender are too slow and aren't suited to how he wants to play, and that his 50M fullbacks can't cross.

We seems to have the notion that if he served under SAF he must be good enough, if he knows where the kitchen is he must be good enough, if he knows our culture (what is our culture btw?) he definitely can make us play like one. Which is all bollocks. Most of us speaks English here quite fluently, but I doubt many of us could ended up become a BA lecturer at community college, let alone the top 1% university. Which is what we expect from Ole, a PE teacher teaching at rural Norway suddenly puts in charge at Cambridge , not only as a lecturer but as the complete package to oversee the whole University.


Brilliant post. Thank you for this.
 
It wasn't. We've been as consistent as anyone since February and the lack of preseason clearly had a big impact.

The Arsenal game was very poor though. I'm confident it won't happen too often but still a stinker of a performance. And there isn't an excuse for it. A horrible weekend in general with Nobby Stiles passing and the Bobby Charlton news as well.

Not loving life today

Really wanted Ole to prove me wrong but these last six home league games are why he should not have got the job on a permanent basis
 
Lethargy and everyone takes one touch too many...it's the one thing which was different back in June/ July. We've regressed back into it
 
The same Poch many Spurs fans were saying time was up before he got the boot?

Not good enough to a team that has won 1 league Cup in quarter of a century but good enough for United?

This Poch to be the saviour stuff is BS. He's never won anything either and was shown up numerous times as Spurs coach. Even Ole got the better of him.
How many trophies has Ole got in English football or do you honestly see him winning a major trophy here? I don't want Pochettino but at least the guy knows how to set up a team for cohesive football.

I think if we really want to move forward we have to look at a DoF model and bring in a young coach who has shown an ability to imprint his style on a team. Sadly I think we can no longer spend ourselves out of trouble so there wont be any major rebuild.
 
Ole has won a league title as a manager. Okay only in Norway but that team he won it with hadn't won a title in their entire history.

So it might only be Norway league title but its more than Poch has ever won.

Sticking with our manager all the way. The real problem at the club is the pillock who sits above him.
Do you think any Norwegian league winner should be manager of Manchester united before Poch? Or just because Ole is a club legend.
 
Still remember the famous stick jose got.

2nd is nothing, miles behind city.
City should have surrendered their trophy to us, they broke FFP rules that season, by the way , anyone who said we make progress under him should try to put aside their opinion and check the actual reality instead. We are factually regressing, not improving.
 
But this squad finished 3rd, beat RB and Psg and beat multiple top 6 teams last season. I think they deserve as much credit as Ole does for those feats
We are back to the Jose era where every win was his and every loss was blamed on the squad and the board's failings. It's not like people are demanding an instant title challenge either.
 
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