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


Results are only viewable after voting.
Status
Not open for further replies.
In his first season he took over a mess in mid December and didn't sign anyone. For the first half of his second season he was forced to play with Lingard/Pereira as his main creators.

In other words: Bruno's arrival is a logical "starting point" for truly judging Ole as a coach. Had Pogba not been injured so early and so long term, then the "clock" would have started in August 2019. But then we would also probably have gotten way more points, so that hypothetical is pointless.

I could understand the skepticism if we were talking about 10-15 games, but it's been 37 games now. That is substantial. It's not longer "just a good spell" or "a half season wonder". It's the new standard.
He still had more than enough quality in his side to do better than he did. He chose to leave Greenwood out for the first half of the season, and despite having Lingard and Pereira around he still had first XIs that were better in quality than a lot of the sides faced.

If you're judging a manager, judge him from the time he joined. Not from when the wins ratio suddenly looks better.

Forgot, we arent meant to have good players to lift the team to higher heights and make the managers jobs easier, player that he asked for.


Screw that, bring lindgard back in
What the feck are you on about :lol:
 
He still had more than enough quality in his side to do better than he did.

Once Pogba got injured I genuinely think our midfield was mid-table at best. You don't get top 4 with zero creators. Not unless you have a brilliant attackers that can pull goals out of their ass(which we don't have).

If you're judging a manager, judge him from the time he joined. Not from when the wins ratio suddenly looks better.

So, hypothetically, how long must Ole keep the current good results up before you are willing to look past the first 13 months(10 in actuality, since you must also praise his excellent start then)?
 
Once Pogba got injured I genuinely think our midfield was mid-table at best. You don't get top 4 with zero creators. Not unless you have a brilliant attackers that can pull goals out of their ass(which we don't have).
Except it wasn't. We just looked that bad under Ole. There are various games last season + season prior where we had a host of our big names available and were still shit.
Take our 2-2 draw to Villa, our 2-1 loss to Palace, our 4-0 thumping to Everton, or 2-2 draw to Southampton, whatever you want. Heck even us losing to an already relegated Huddersfield 3-1. There were many games where Ole's selection was capable of beating the opposition and fell short not just in result but also in performance.
Take also some performances this season - shit performance vs Brighton, West Brom, Palace, Arsenal, Chelsea. It's topsy turvy and he selected the right team yesterday, but it's absolutely foolish to actually go out and go "Oh Bruno came in January lets just start evaluating Ole from then because he looks better that way". I mean that's just a stupid argument.

So, hypothetically, how long must Ole keep the current good results up before you are willing to look past the first 13 months(10 in actuality, since you must also praise his excellent start then)?
The underlying point just shows the problem with your logic. What current good results? He's won against Everton + West Brom and a Turkish outfit making their debut in the league. It's odd to thin that 3 wins suddenly means we're back on especially after we've seen it can go to shit so quickly. Yeah I think I'll take a bit more than that after his torrid form prior to that.

He needs to show sustained level of good performances not just results. I'm fine with losing if we play well but losing/drawing when we are shit is terrible. A manager who has form like a yo-yo needs to bring in consistency and is running out of excuses. If he beats Southampton and West Ham then I think it could certainly be the start of building momentum. But the way we've seen how Ole can crash, I'm ruling nothing out.
 
We go on a 37(!) game run of good results and then suddenly results don't matter :lol:

I give up.
Follow my posts mate. I started to believe in him until he crashed again. A manager 2 years into his time with the club can't afford to be up and down this much.
 
Except it wasn't. We just looked that bad under Ole. There are various games last season + season prior where we had a host of our big names available and were still shit.
Take our 2-2 draw to Villa, our 2-1 loss to Palace, our 4-0 thumping to Everton, or 2-2 draw to Southampton, whatever you want. Heck even us losing to an already relegated Huddersfield 3-1. There were many games where Ole's selection was capable of beating the opposition and fell short not just in result but also in performance.
Take also some performances this season - shit performance vs Brighton, West Brom, Palace, Arsenal, Chelsea. It's topsy turvy and he selected the right team yesterday, but it's absolutely foolish to actually go out and go "Oh Bruno came in January lets just start evaluating Ole from then because he looks better that way". I mean that's just a stupid argument.


The underlying point just shows the problem with your logic. What current good results? He's won against Everton + West Brom and a Turkish outfit making their debut in the league. It's odd to thin that 3 wins suddenly means we're back on especially after we've seen it can go to shit so quickly. Yeah I think I'll take a bit more than that after his torrid form prior to that.

He needs to show sustained level of good performances not just results. I'm fine with losing if we play well but losing/drawing when we are shit is terrible. A manager who has form like a yo-yo needs to bring in consistency and is running out of excuses. If he beats Southampton and West Ham then I think it could certainly be the start of building momentum. But the way we've seen how Ole can crash, I'm ruling nothing out.
You're never going to get through to him his user name is Ole boi. Good post by the way.
 
You're never going to get through to him his user name is Ole boi. Good post by the way.
Thanks. Yes I thought this too. I struggle to imagine how someone can overlook 61 points, then cherry pick a random point in time because the form looks better that way.
 
Management takes time, it's not an immediate fix to change the squad and turn a club around into a winning machine. But if you look at what Ole has achieved compared to the other Managers in their first 104 games then he isn't too bad. Now i'm not saying he''s of the same calibre as these Managers, but my point is that it's not something that can be rushed and generally takes time to reach consistent levels of results and Oles record shouldn't be dismissed. Squad building isn't easy, it takes time and patience.

Manager​
Games (All Comps)​
W​
D​
L​
CS​
Win %​
GF​
GA​
GD​
Pep​
104​
72​
18​
14​
41​
69%​
246​
95​
+151​
Ole​
104​
59​
20​
25​
39​
57%​
190​
104​
+86​
Klopp​
104​
55​
28​
21​
37​
53%​
193​
111​
+82​
Poch​
104​
53​
26​
25​
29​
51%​
174​
114​
+60​

Oh and before you say "a lot of Oles wins came in Europa", neither Tottenham or Liverpool played a single Champions League game in these 104 games.
 
Last edited:
Management takes time, it's not an immediate fix to change the squad and turn a club around into a winning machine. But if you look at what Ole has achieved compared to the other Managers in their first 104 games then he isn't too bad. Now i'm not saying he''s of the same calibre as these Managers, but my point is that it's not something that can be rushed and generally takes time to reach consistent levels of results and Oles record shouldn't be dismissed. Squad building isn't easy, it takes time and patience.

Manager​
Games (All Comps)​
W​
D​
L​
CS​
Win %​
GF​
GA​
GD​
Pep​
104​
72​
18​
14​
41​
69%​
246​
95​
+151​
Ole​
104​
59​
20​
25​
39​
57%​
190​
104​
+86​
Klopp​
104​
55​
28​
21​
37​
53%​
193​
111​
+82​
Poch​
104​
53​
26​
25​
29​
51%​
174​
114​
+60​

Oh and before you say "a lot of Oles wins came in Europa", neither Tottenham or Liverpool played a single Champions League game in these 104 games.

Im confused. Such a good record but Klopp won the league. Ole finished behind Pep in everything and Poch hasn’t managed a game in months.

How can he be above Klopp but no medals?
 
Im confused. Such a good record but Klopp won the league. Ole finished behind Pep in everything and Poch hasn’t managed a game in months.

How can he be above Klopp but no medals?

Quite certain that he's talking about the first 104 games of the 4 managers
 
Thanks. Yes I thought this too. I struggle to imagine how someone can overlook 61 points, then cherry pick a random point in time because the form looks better that way.

I dont think its that unfair to choose the point at which Bruno was signed as a fresh start of sorts. Granted it makes the numbers look a lot better, but its also the point where this new team we have really started to take shape. We desperately lacked that creative link man.

Its not a small sample size either. 10 games would be. 37 is getting on for three quarters of a full season worth of matches. Its perfectly fair to look at that period in isolation.
 
At least add the rough patches we've had under Ole and say things started to improve once we got Bruno. Don't just dismiss it and say we can start judging Ole only from a certain period we started playing well. What the hell is that
 
At least add the rough patches we've had under Ole and say things started to improve once we got Bruno. Don't just dismiss it and say we can start judging Ole only from a certain period we started playing well. What the hell is that

Its not because its just a certain period when we started playing well. Its when we signed the player that's become the most important player in the team. Im sure opposition fans would have done similar.

Its not even really about judging Ole anyway. Everyones done that already. Its just a nice statistic that we can look at and say that this team is on a sustained run of pretty good form. We all like good news right?
 
I dont think its that unfair to choose the point at which Bruno was signed as a fresh start of sorts. Granted it makes the numbers look a lot better, but its also the point where this new team we have really started to take shape. We desperately lacked that creative link man.

Its not a small sample size either. 10 games would be. 37 is getting on for three quarters of a full season worth of matches. Its perfectly fair to look at that period in isolation.

No it isn't, because we are judging a mangers results with the team. You don't just take the period where he happened to look good.

Let's go out and look at Jose solely in his second season with 81 points but and ignore the first and third season along with the patch where we went off form for about a month and a half. See what I did there?
 
No it isn't, because we are judging a mangers results with the team. You don't just take the period where he happened to look good.

Let's go out and look at Jose solely in his second season with 81 points but and ignore the first and third season along with the patch where we went off form for about a month and a half. See what I did there?

Yes that was very clever, and absolutely nothing like what's happening here.

There are certain points during a managers tenure that something happens and a team takes a leap forwards. A benchmark moment if you like. It doesnt erase what happened before that, and besides it isn't even really about Ole at all. Its about this team and how its performed since Bruno joined until present day.

Someone posted the win % for the entire 104 game spell, and compared with the others it holds up well too, so who cares.

I find it strange how you and others are unable to take a nice statistic and just enjoy it for what it is. Its almost like you want us to be shit
 
Yes that was very clever, and absolutely nothing like what's happening here.

There are certain points during a managers tenure that something happens and a team takes a leap forwards. A benchmark moment if you like. It doesnt erase what happened before that, and besides it isn't even really about Ole at all. Its about this team and how its performed since Bruno joined until present day.

Someone posted the win % for the entire 104 game spell, and compared with the others it holds up well too, so who cares.

I find it strange how you and others are unable to take a nice statistic and just enjoy it for what it is. Its almost like you want us to be shit
Follow the posts - I have no problems with the statistic to praise Bruno. I have a problem with someone quoting a complaint against the manager where we ended on 66 points, to suggest form since Bruno discounts that for the manager. It's a nice statistic, it shows Bruno made a big impact on the team. It does not mitigate Ole finishing on 66 points because as I said, we had an atrocious first half of the season where not having Bruno + a couple of injuries is not sufficient context to argue his case. We shouldn't just cherry pick and ignore the entire first half of last season because it suits an argument.

Your point about creating a benchmark is strange - it's like you're seeing us dip massively in form after a good run for the first time or something. A benchmark is when you build consistency and then dont go shit for a run of games straight after. It would be a fine benchmark if we didn't take 10 games to play well for a solid 90 minutes this season. But here we are looking to get our consistency of performances back, just like we were after his run ended after 2018.
Can he build consistency from here? Maybe, but don't try and point to form since Bruno to just evaluate a manager. You evaluate a manager by his tenure at the club.
 
Follow the posts - I have no problems with the statistic to praise Bruno. I have a problem with someone quoting a complaint against the manager where we ended on 66 points, to suggest form since Bruno discounts that for the manager. It's a nice statistic, it shows Bruno made a big impact on the team. It does not mitigate Ole finishing on 66 points because as I said, we had an atrocious first half of the season where not having Bruno + a couple of injuries is not sufficient context to argue his case. We shouldn't just cherry pick and ignore the entire first half of last season because it suits an argument.

Your point about creating a benchmark is strange - it's like you're seeing us dip massively in form after a good run for the first time or something. A benchmark is when you build consistency and then dont go shit for a run of games straight after. It would be a fine benchmark if we didn't take 10 games to play well for a solid 90 minutes this season. But here we are looking to get our consistency of performances back, just like we were after his run ended after 2018.
Can he build consistency from here? Maybe, but don't try and point to form since Bruno to just evaluate a manager. You evaluate a manager by his tenure at the club.

There's an answer to everything though isn't there. Its why this thread is such a train wreck.

Ill say 'okay sure let's evaluate his tenure' and go on about how we went from 7th to 3rd. How the squad is in much better shape than when he started (OBJECTION! you'll shout to a judge that sadly already cut his own throat months ago), and then ill mention how we're top of a tough CL group, and how many top managers Ole has beaten.....................

But whats the feckin point. You already have an answer to all of that because 9 people have said it already this week and 9 other United fans have shit all over it.
 
Quite certain that he's talking about the first 104 games of the 4 managers

Oh great. So a Premier league and Champions league soon then. Pep took 24 months. He should be close behind based on that table.
 
From where? We've been consistent for 37 games now. 24W, 7D, 6L. Is that not consistent to you? Or does the clock restart every time we lose a game?
What the feck is wrong with you, you want to talk about consistency - he's only won half of his Premier League games in the season so far. It's not even a small sample - there's 8 league games there and he's managed to win in just 4 of them, and if we didn't have 100 lives against Brighton it would probably have been 3.

Don't try and sugarcoat anything by glossing over Bruno's impact on the team. We made one of the worst starts to the league we ever have, so it's only fecking right to be concerned after a modest 66 point haul last season. Moreover it's the performances along with the results. I've spoken about how inconsistent our performances are and you keep ignoring it and reverting back to cherry picking a period of stats that looks pretty for you.
 
There's an answer to everything though isn't there. Its why this thread is such a train wreck.

Ill say 'okay sure let's evaluate his tenure' and go on about how we went from 7th to 3rd. How the squad is in much better shape than when he started (OBJECTION! you'll shout to a judge that sadly already cut his own throat months ago), and then ill mention how we're top of a tough CL group, and how many top managers Ole has beaten.....................

But whats the feckin point. You already have an answer to all of that because 9 people have said it already this week and 9 other United fans have shit all over it.
Yes or you can go deeper, away the numbers and instead look at how we play. Do we have a set system that we know he can depend on? No. Does he look like he knows his first XI? No. He wanted us to be the most hard working side in the league, are we even close to that after 2 years? No. He wanted us to press well as a unit, do we do this? No And is the quality of our performances showing like there is a direction, independent of the end result? No.

However should he be sacked tomorrow? I think not because he's still on some goodwill from meeting the minimum requirements. What is important to caveat is the up and down form can only last so long, so if we fail to build on this and go back to just a shit return in the league, 100% he should be sacked. Lets see because it's crunch time - and that's not a cliche anymore, he has a stronger squad than our form suggests and he's 2 years in now. No more excuses for dips in form. He can't win the next 3-4 games and then get 2 wins in the next 6 after that. There has to be a process of consistency relative to the teams above him.
 
Yes or you can go deeper, away the numbers and instead look at how we play. Do we have a set system that we know he can depend on? No. Does he look like he knows his first XI? No. He wanted us to be the most hard working side in the league, are we even close to that after 2 years? No. He wanted us to press well as a unit, do we do this? No And is the quality of our performances showing like there is a direction, independent of the end result? No.

However should he be sacked tomorrow? I think not because he's still on some goodwill from meeting the minimum requirements. What is important to caveat is the up and down form can only last so long, so if we fail to build on this and go back to just a shit return in the league, 100% he should be sacked. Lets see because it's crunch time - and that's not a cliche anymore, he has a stronger squad than our form suggests and he's 2 years in now. No more excuses for dips in form. He can't win the next 3-4 games and then get 2 wins in the next 6 after that. There has to be a process of consistency relative to the teams above him.

Do you think the Covid schedule has impacted our and all other clubs consistency or do you consider that an excuse? Generally curious as it seems if you look at the data that all clubs have struggled for genuine consistency.
 
Do you think the Covid schedule has impacted our and all other clubs consistency or do you consider that an excuse? Generally curious as it seems if you look at the data that all clubs have struggled for genuine consistency.
No the whole season is indeed topsy turvy. But the likes of Southampton, Leicester, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea for example have adapted well. We had a later start to the season so there is a grace period there, but thats why I said, it's crunch time now for Ole. He's had yet another crash after great form post lockdown, but this crash can't last as long as the first half of his 2019 campaign, because something close to that will certainly get him the sack.
 
Yes or you can go deeper, away the numbers and instead look at how we play. Do we have a set system that we know he can depend on? No. Does he look like he knows his first XI? No. He wanted us to be the most hard working side in the league, are we even close to that after 2 years? No. He wanted us to press well as a unit, do we do this? No And is the quality of our performances showing like there is a direction, independent of the end result? No.

However should he be sacked tomorrow? I think not because he's still on some goodwill from meeting the minimum requirements. What is important to caveat is the up and down form can only last so long, so if we fail to build on this and go back to just a shit return in the league, 100% he should be sacked. Lets see because it's crunch time - and that's not a cliche anymore, he has a stronger squad than our form suggests and he's 2 years in now. No more excuses for dips in form. He can't win the next 3-4 games and then get 2 wins in the next 6 after that. There has to be a process of consistency relative to the teams above him.

Dips in form happen to every team, and will continue to happen to us. This is a hard league and a short season with a ton of football. Its unrealistic to expect us to play consistently well, because nobody will do that.

Its not unreasonable to expect us to improve. That has always been the baseline expectation and he is delivering on that. This team is getting better. Im not even going to try to convince anybody that doesnt see that for themselves, that's up to them and frankly I don't care. I'm looking forward to seeing how this team develops this season, and Im optimistic about our chances.
 
No the whole season is indeed topsy turvy. But the likes of Southampton, Leicester, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea for example have adapted well. We had a later start to the season so there is a grace period there, but thats why I said, it's crunch time now for Ole. He's had yet another crash after great form post lockdown, but this crash can't last as long as the first half of his 2019 campaign, because something close to that will certainly get him the sack.

I'll be surprised if we continue with 2019 form tbh and if it does then his job should be under threat. As that was mainly down to injuries and our defensive reorganisation taking time to adapt. He doesn't have those excuses this season so from my perspective we need to be hitting form and now. But I will say that all the clubs have struggled with form post lockdown, the difference is that some clubs struggled last season while others are struggling this season. It's interesting looking at the results as one batch of data and then comparing as if you do that, then the win rates for all the top clubs are almost identical, but more importantly way, way below what would normally be the requirement to win the league. That tells me that this season in particular will be a carbon copy of the Leicester win, the final points total will be in the 80s bracket. That means as a club, it's not impossible for us to be title challengers this year, we just need to sustain our 2020 form going into 2021 and if we do that, then we'll be there or thereabouts.

My main concern with Ole's football right now is that we depend far, far too much on penalty goals to get us goals. Obviously with VAR in circulation we'd be given more than normal, but our open play goals is alarming and has been for a while. This is where we drastically have to improve and we need certain players to pull their weight a bit more as currently a few players are carrying us as a team. To put this into perspective, Maguire is our 5th highest league goalscorer in open play in 2020 with 2 goals. That simply isn't acceptable and with the amount of talent we have in our team, its scary how dependent we are on 3 individuals to get us the goals, Martial, Bruno and Greenwood. Rashford has a very poor record for scoring open play goals in the league. But I guess that's for a different thread.
 
Follow my posts mate. I started to believe in him until he crashed again. A manager 2 years into his time with the club can't afford to be up and down this much.
And yet it sometimes happened to SAF. In fact there were quite a few shite spells over the years (ignoring the massive 4-year shite spell after he first came here). Good managers have shite spells. You have to look over a season. We can still challenge for the title. Heck, we’ve only played 8 games.
 
Do you think the Covid schedule has impacted our and all other clubs consistency or do you consider that an excuse? Generally curious as it seems if you look at the data that all clubs have struggled for genuine consistency.

This is a tough league. People are looking at our December schedule and commenting on how tough it is, but fairly recently we'd have looked at Southampton, Leeds, West Ham & Sheff Utd and be licking our lips at the prospect. Teams are improving and there are so many strong managers in this league now.

Not to mention the shortened season. Including last night we have 13 matches in the next 5 and a half weeks, and it doesnt really stop until May. Its clearly not conducive to top quality & consistent football for anybody. Its going to be a grind for everybody. Ugly 1-0s are going to happen and will be priceless
 
This is a tough league. People are looking at our December schedule and commenting on how tough it is, but fairly recently we'd have looked at Southampton, Leeds, West Ham & Sheff Utd and be licking our lips at the prospect. Teams are improving and there are so many strong managers in this league now.

Not to mention the shortened season. Including last night we have 13 matches in the next 5 and a half weeks, and it doesnt really stop until May. Its clearly not conducive to top quality & consistent football for anybody. Its going to be a grind for everybody. Ugly 1-0s are going to happen and will be priceless
This is why those depth signings are bigger than people realise. It would have been so unwise to spend it all on one player with a heavily condensed season about to start
 
From where? We've been consistent for 37 games now. 24W, 7D, 6L. Is that not consistent to you? Or does the clock restart every time we lose a game?
I feel like your defence of Ole is just based on those 24w, 7d, 6l.

when We beat Brighton, it was due to an unbelievable amount of luck. How many times did they strike the post and bar, and how many VAR calls were needed? It’s much the same vs WBA. Results alone is not enough....because they belie some critical things : our levels of football.

There are times when we just can’t defend, and the play has swung from good to unbelievably bad at times. I’m not all out OleOut but this season has been so poor at the back, so mild and slow in the center and ok at the top due to Bruno. (Ok, and some help from Rashford). If this is all down to the players, then they are all Ole’s players...
 
Oh great. So a Premier league and Champions league soon then. Pep took 24 months. He should be close behind based on that table.

Not sure what this post achieves. No one here regards Ole to be as good as Klopp or Pep. The post was just to provide context to the fact that no manager became a champion this early.

On a side note, hypothetically, if Ole wins CL this season or PL next season (1 season sooner than it took Klopp to achieve the same feat), would you start regarding him as a better manager than Klopp? It would be a stupid argument I know and everyone in their right minds knows what the answer is, but this is how your argument sounds like
 
I'll be surprised if we continue with 2019 form tbh and if it does then his job should be under threat. As that was mainly down to injuries and our defensive reorganisation taking time to adapt. He doesn't have those excuses this season so from my perspective we need to be hitting form and now. But I will say that all the clubs have struggled with form post lockdown, the difference is that some clubs struggled last season while others are struggling this season. It's interesting looking at the results as one batch of data and then comparing as if you do that, then the win rates for all the top clubs are almost identical, but more importantly way, way below what would normally be the requirement to win the league. That tells me that this season in particular will be a carbon copy of the Leicester win, the final points total will be in the 80s bracket. That means as a club, it's not impossible for us to be title challengers this year, we just need to sustain our 2020 form going into 2021 and if we do that, then we'll be there or thereabouts.
I think you have a point regarding the covid situation, but I think even with injuries the system could have been more apparent, our work ethic and press could have been more visible etc. And it's not just that, it's Ole's approach to management which I fundamentally don't think works in the modern game in the long term. He talks of moments changing games too much, he talks about not believing in tactics as much as he does in mentality. The aren't wrong per say but it's clear he's watering down the importance of a functional system and technical application toward management. That is actually seen on the pitch and explains why we go on longer stretches of both good form and a prolonged stretch of bad form, because we appear to be a confidence team - and if that indication is genuine, it isn't sustainable.
My main concern with Ole's football right now is that we depend far, far too much on penalty goals to get us goals. Obviously with VAR in circulation we'd be given more than normal, but our open play goals is alarming and has been for a while. This is where we drastically have to improve and we need certain players to pull their weight a bit more as currently a few players are carrying us as a team. To put this into perspective, Maguire is our 5th highest league goalscorer in open play in 2020 with 2 goals. That simply isn't acceptable and with the amount of talent we have in our team, its scary how dependent we are on 3 individuals to get us the goals, Martial, Bruno and Greenwood. Rashford has a very poor record for scoring open play goals in the league. But I guess that's for a different thread.
Yeah. I mean most the pens we get are genuine pens so I don't have too much of an issue with that. @Pogue Mahone raised a good thread about Martial/Rashford being both very talented but still inconsistent. So when you have 2 very talented yet inconsistent players and no established right winger there can be an issue. I still think the attacking players are capable of big things in their careers especially with Cavan in the mix - so lets see if Ole can unlock that this season. For me, he would have to move Martial left and start Cavani if he can stay fit, that ruthlessness is required from the manager to get his team more consistent.

And yet it sometimes happened to SAF. In fact there were quite a few shite spells over the years (ignoring the massive 4-year shite spell after he first came here). Good managers have shite spells. You have to look over a season. We can still challenge for the title. Heck, we’ve only played 8 games.
I do get the comparison to Ferguson but I'd be wary of drawing parallels. If Ole was struggling today but had managerial pedigree on his CV like SAF did, then fair enough. But Ole actually has the opposite, his last job in the Premier League bombed massively and he has nothing on his CV to suggest turning fortune around. Moreover sadly, the modern game has changed and the freedom SAF had to re-stablizie a dressing room and stamp his authority won't be the same for Ole (rightly or wrongly). SAF had the authority and credibility to do this, and Ole has a lot of respect of the dressing room but it's been reported by well reputable sources such as Athletic, that several players doubt Ole's credentials as a top coach. That was never the case with SAF because he actually joined with pedigree on his CV.
 
he has nothing on his CV to suggest turning fortune around

He has last season. At this club, in this league, when things looked a lot worse than they do right now. That means more than anything else that would be on his CV.
 
I think you have a point regarding the covid situation, but I think even with injuries the system could have been more apparent, our work ethic and press could have been more visible etc. And it's not just that, it's Ole's approach to management which I fundamentally don't think works in the modern game in the long term. He talks of moments changing games too much, he talks about not believing in tactics as much as he does in mentality. The aren't wrong per say but it's clear he's watering down the importance of a functional system and technical application toward management. That is actually seen on the pitch and explains why we go on longer stretches of both good form and a prolonged stretch of bad form, because we appear to be a confidence team - and if that indication is genuine, it isn't sustainable.

Yeah. I mean most the pens we get are genuine pens so I don't have too much of an issue with that. @Pogue Mahone raised a good thread about Martial/Rashford being both very talented but still inconsistent. So when you have 2 very talented yet inconsistent players and no established right winger there can be an issue. I still think the attacking players are capable of big things in their careers especially with Cavan in the mix - so lets see if Ole can unlock that this season. For me, he would have to move Martial left and start Cavani if he can stay fit, that ruthlessness is required from the manager to get his team more consistent.


I do get the comparison to Ferguson but I'd be wary of drawing parallels. If Ole was struggling today but had managerial pedigree on his CV like SAF did, then fair enough. But Ole actually has the opposite, his last job in the Premier League bombed massively and he has nothing on his CV to suggest turning fortune around. Moreover sadly, the modern game has changed and the freedom SAF had to re-stablizie a dressing room and stamp his authority won't be the same for Ole (rightly or wrongly). SAF had the authority and credibility to do this, and Ole has a lot of respect of the dressing room but it's been reported by well reputable sources such as Athletic, that several players doubt Ole's credentials as a top coach. That was never the case with SAF because he actually joined with pedigree on his CV.

I get why we talk about all these things but the thing is it's the same with every club. No fan watches other clubs the same way as they watch their own club and hence these points pop up. I don't think anyone watches City vs Burnley games as closely as we would watch Utd vs Macclesfield. And all this does is to reinforce our biases. If you're comparing "Oof" moments in a Chelsea's game to the 90 mins of a Utd game, obviously Chelsea would come out to be better. And vice versa.

My point is really simple - we criticize him for a million things, but not even a tenth of them can be supported by numbers. For example, we say that our defence gets opened up on every attack - while it might be true in isolation, we haven't compared that to other teams, and what happens to them when they face a similar attack. Like I said earlier, since our 6-1 to Spurs, in terms of goals conceded and xGA, we're at the top of the table. Our attack has been subpar in these games, but 3 of those games were against good teams and not bottom half sides.

You criticize him for not being tactically astute enough, but look at his record vs bigger teams who have a better side than us. Not only have we won the games, we've switched formations accordingly to suit our strengths and address opponent's strengths. Hell we played 3 different formations vs PSG, and the tactics changed with each substitution
 
He has last season. At this club, in this league, when things looked a lot worse than they do right now. That means more than anything else that would be on his CV.


People over look this bit, but it gets excused away as was only finished 3rd on low points total means nothing, new arsenal.


But if he finished a point lower and finished 5th I'm sure he have got double barrels, calls everywhere to be sacked.


Said it at the time our chase and finish to the season was as good as anything we have shown in the league since fergie gone. Genuine pressure and we managed to keep the run up to win the last night game away against Leicester themselves. No one was really celebrating the coming 3rd doing a arsenal, more just feeling alot more positive going into the following season, as we shown we could hit form and go on a long unbeaten run like good teams do.


We weren't in great nick first half of season. Managed to hang in there with big wins in big matches with makeshift teams out.
 
People over look this bit, but it gets excused away as was only finished 3rd on low points total means nothing, new arsenal.


But if he finished a point lower and finished 5th I'm sure he have got double barrels, calls everywhere to be sacked.


Said it at the time our chase and finish to the season was as good as anything we have shown in the league since fergie gone. Genuine pressure and we managed to keep the run up to win the last night game away against Leicester themselves. No one was really celebrating the coming 3rd doing a arsenal, more just feeling alot more positive going into the following season, as we shown we could hit form and go on a long unbeaten run like good teams do.


We weren't in great nick first half of season. Managed to hang in there with big wins in big matches with makeshift teams out.

Yep. He wont ever get the credit he deserves for last season from the people who want him out so that's a losing battle. They'd rather talk about Cardiff because it fits the argument.
 
.I do get the comparison to Ferguson but I'd be wary of drawing parallels. If Ole was struggling today but had managerial pedigree on his CV like SAF did, then fair enough. But Ole actually has the opposite, his last job in the Premier League bombed massively and he has nothing on his CV to suggest turning fortune around. Moreover sadly, the modern game has changed and the freedom SAF had to re-stablizie a dressing room and stamp his authority won't be the same for Ole (rightly or wrongly). SAF had the authority and credibility to do this, and Ole has a lot of respect of the dressing room but it's been reported by well reputable sources such as Athletic, that several players doubt Ole's credentials as a top coach. That was never the case with SAF because he actually joined with pedigree on his CV.
It's what I've said a couple of times. I don't think Ole inners realise how much of an impact Ole's underqualfied CV has on people trusting in him. Ole's been compared time and time again to Klopp and Fergie when he should be compared more with Pep Zidane Arteta and Lampard. All of who were underqualfied at the time they took over big clubs. These type of managers have to do remarkable things for people to actually rate them

You look at Zidane who was underqualfied for the Madrid job, he's had to win 3 champions league in a row and the La Liga without Ronaldo for people to actually rate him. He had to set himself apart from former Madrid managers and other potential Madrid managers and do something spectacular for people to actually rate him and even then some still attribute his success to individual brilliance and Barcelona's decline.

Guardiola also was underqualfied for the Barcelona job. But he convinced people by also setting himself apart from former Barcelona managers and other potential Barcelona managers by implementing arguably the most dominant style of play in football and making that Barcelona team one of the best in history

Now what has Ole done for people to actually rate him? Ole inners have this belief that because he got third and he has won some big games means people should rate him as good enough for us but that's not actually enough. Lampard also did well last season after spending nothing and losing his best player and was that enough for Ole inners to think he's good enough for Chelsea or do they fear what Chelsea will become once they get a better manager. Arteta also did well for Arsenal last season and won them the FA cup and was that enough for Ole inners to think Arteta is the best they can do?

For people to believe in and rate these type of underqualfied managers they'd have to set themselves apart from the managers that came before them and any potential manager that is already seen as better than them

I don't think Ole has done anything to deserve a sack right now but he has also not done anything or done enough to prove that he's good enough to coach a club like ours. And that is my problem, I don't think he ever will based on what I've seen in his tenure here
 
Last edited:
People over look this bit, but it gets excused away as was only finished 3rd on low points total means nothing, new arsenal.


But if he finished a point lower and finished 5th I'm sure he have got double barrels, calls everywhere to be sacked.


Said it at the time our chase and finish to the season was as good as anything we have shown in the league since fergie gone. Genuine pressure and we managed to keep the run up to win the last night game away against Leicester themselves. No one was really celebrating the coming 3rd doing a arsenal, more just feeling alot more positive going into the following season, as we shown we could hit form and go on a long unbeaten run like good teams do.
So you have to ask yourself, should Ole be in a position where it's 90 minutes between success and failure against a side that had equally terrible injuries, with a manager with less time in the job and far far less money spent? Is that what it has come down to? That if he wins that game he's brilliant and if he loses he's sacked?

The evaluation lies deeper than this, and that's where you look at performances against sides where even with your injuries, you should have more than enough quality to do better. That's what hit us in the first half of the season to put us in this position.
We weren't in great nick first half of season. Managed to hang in there with big wins in big matches with makeshift teams out.
Please can you expand on this? In our big wins vs City, Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea + and our draws vs Liverpool we weren't missing that many key players relative to the other team. For example we missed Rashford when we beat Chelsea 2-0 and they missed Pulisic. We had Rashford + Martial both available for City, we had a full side available when we beat Chelsea on the opening day of the season. When we drew to Spurs 1-1 we had a virtually a full side available and when we lost to Arsenal we virtually had a full side available.

Taking some games where we lost points:

We lost 2-0 to West Ham with a better XI (Granted no Pogba/Martial but Rashford started, Mata in the 10. Lingard/Pereira were playing but we had a stronger squad and better XI than our opposition). Moreover the performance was atricious, you can park the 2-0 defeat but zero press, zero aggression, zero system. I didn't see Lingard and Pereira like that under Jose in fairness.

Same for our 3-3 draw to Sheffield, where we only missed Pogba but had Rashford + Martial.
We drew 2-2 with Villa who were a relegation fighting side all season, and had virtually a full squad again just missing Pogba.
We drew 1-1 with Everton with the same as above
Drew 0-0 with Wolves this time with Bruno's introduction
Drew 1-1 (again) with Everton this time with Bruno, Rashford and Martial playing
We lost 2-1 to Palace with Martial + Rashford playing (ironically it's Dan James who got our goal)

I want to get into how injuries in the first half of the season hamstrung Ole. Because it sounds like a narrative to just explain away a string of very poor performances. By the way, wild results with a full team go beyond that season after Ole was given the perm job. He was thrashed 4-0 by Everton with a full side the season prior. Huddersfield were already relegated and we got thrashed with a full side. I am unsure how this can be explained away when the players are actually a lot better than the opposition, he's had time in the role and extremely poor performances are too frequent to be called "occasional".

Yep. He wont ever get the credit he deserves for last season from the people who want him out so that's a losing battle. They'd rather talk about Cardiff because it fits the argument.
I'm more than happy to talk about last season. This concept that he has had a makeshift team for most the season is overcooked. He certainly had injuries but there are various matches where he had a stronger team than the opposition team and performed badly. I dont even look at the results at that stage as long as we play good football and it shows a direction, but there was too big a stretch of us looking lost along with the bad results together.
 
Last edited:
It's what I've said a couple of times. I don't think Ole inners realise how much of an impact Ole's underqualfied CV has on people trusting in him. Ole's been compared time and time again to Klopp and Fergie when he should be compared more with Pep Zidane Arteta and Lampard. All of who were underqualfied at the time they took over big clubs. These type of managers have to do remarkable things for people to actually rate them

Comparisons to Klopp and Ferguson are stupid. I don't think anyone really does that intentionally. Those two names appear frequently in this thread because its 35000 posts of back and forth where everything possible has been argued. You won't find a single fan anywhere who would seriously contest that Ole deserves to be rated on that level. That's bonkers. He has to win things first.

It is, however, fair IMO to compare his records against those managers in his first 100 or so games here, because neither of those guys did anything spectacular without time to build those teams first, so when we look at the statistics for the first 104 games there is no harm in taking that as a positive. Those guys went on to great things AFTER that point, and that is what Ole now needs to do before he is ever in that conversation. Time will tell.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.