14 Oct 2021 20:52:24
Interesting, Gary Neville who has been very supportive of his mate Ole is starting to change his tune. When you hear him it's like he now fears reality is nearly here and there isn't much time left. He talks of fear for Ole that the start of the season is worse than it looks, two points off the top yet haven't played a single team.

He talks about Ole having to try to accommodate Ronaldo, that we can't play pressing football, that we are wide open with the wrong selection.

It is going to be an interesting few weeks, the rollercoaster may well appear again.


1.) 14 Oct 2021
14 Oct 2021 22:00:36
Red Man - Ole believes he plays attacking football because he puts attacking players on the pitch however there is absolutely no attacking strategy or coherent patterns of play. I can’t see a plan to get the best out of Ronaldo and the football this season has been atrocious.

I’ve been worried for some time that our work rate off the ball is non existent . There is no plan or strategy to win the ball back other than Mctominay and Fred running around like headless chickens. At the moment I see no plan to attack or defend.

I think this might be a crisis too many for Ole because I just can’t see how he’s going to cause the likes of City, Chelsea and Liverpool problems. Ronaldo won’t press, he won’t help the team defend from the front, win the ball back and he limits our ability to counter attack. Whilst he’s still relative quick he preserves his energy so he won’t run the channels and also limits our ability to counter attack. He’s sold Dan James who’s pace and work rate was always useful in these games.

I’d be interested to hear how people think Ole will approach these games? Rashford being back will definitely help and maybe this might be a chance for Lingard to come back into the team. He works hard, presses well and has excellent movement off the ball. Rashford, Bruno, Lingard behind Rashford could give us the balance we need in the big games. Allow us to press more effectively from the front and maintain the threat on the counter.


2.) 14 Oct 2021
14 Oct 2021 22:10:17
Not that odd really, everyone comes to a point where their mind can change. I have recently changed my mind. Or at least come to the conclusion that Ole has run his course at the club in a management capacity.

Truth be told the club has been on a rollercoaster for 9 years. Nothing will change any time soon sadly. Unless we see a dramatically bad run of form I'd expect Ole to see out most of if not all of the season.

That's not what I wantx just what o expect.


3.) 15 Oct 2021
14 Oct 2021 23:57:23
Shappy i never had any problem for people changing their mind. Fair play to you (and to Neville as well) .
I believe from day one that Ronaldos transfer was the start of the end for Ole. Expectations was too low and then Ronaldo came and raised the bar.


4.) 15 Oct 2021
15 Oct 2021 00:36:14
Under Ole we have purchased one Midfielder who has no role, 2 aging forwards, a young winger for a very high fee off the back of his worst season in 3 years at Dortmund, a £35m deal for an untested player from Atalanta. We still have not resolved our defensive midfield. We still don't know where Pogba fits in, or if we do, we can't play him there because of a surfeit of attacking players. We gave a lucrative new deal to Martial. The only real bright spot has been Bruno and that should have happened half a season earlier.

The failure to correct the midfield problems has been going on now since before SAF retired. Cleverley? Djemba-Djemba? The club has been second to the ball in every way: finding the right managers, finding the right players, selling the wrong players, establishing a playing ethos. As Ed002 says, the club is run by amateurs. And that's why replacing Ole may be necessary but may also be pointless. They are unlikely to make the right appointment anyway.


5.) 15 Oct 2021
15 Oct 2021 07:53:11
Shaw its not pointless even if the next appointment is not the right one we know for sure ole isn't so its not pointless showing him the door.
But he had built a structure where his bosses are his mates a cunning move. If he was as cunning with his football tactics as he is with his own self preservation tactics the club would be a whole lot better off.


6.) 15 Oct 2021
15 Oct 2021 08:47:32
Rashford coming back fit and fresh will give a boost but also an enigma with team selection imo. The defensive injuries and rb/ lb not fully firing could well be the main cause of negative results if they do come (inevitable over the next six games I reckon) Always optimistic but realistically thought the upcoming period could define Oles xmas and starting to get the feeling we will see images of him and Bruce signing on boxing day! . I want my team to win I want my team to play with swagger and style but most of all I want them to compete!


7.) 15 Oct 2021
15 Oct 2021 09:19:36
Interesting one that funky.
Wonder where he indends playing him
He finished last session on the right which doesn't work.
Pogna has been playing a bit left as has sancho.
Ole will dump Mason out of the team becuse its they easy thing to do not necessarily the right thing.
He will find a spot for pogba i'm not sure he has played him full back yet so that's a possibility.


8.) 15 Oct 2021
15 Oct 2021 10:38:36
Ken,

Are you sure the next manager will play better football?

Are you sure the next manager won't stagnate Greenwood's development?

Are you sure the next manager won't cause unrest in the dressing room?

Are you sure the next manager will qualify for the UCL every year?

Are you sure the next manager will do what you want to see happen?

I'm not, while the people who own the club and the people who make the key decisions remain the same as the ones who hired Moyes, LvG, Jose and Ole I have absolutely no faith in them hiring the right man next.

It's a 50/ 50 chance that the next manager will improve on Ole or be worse.

I agree that Ole isn't good enough, and on that basis he has to go. But I have very little faith that the next manager will be everything everyone is hoping for.

Hopefully things get better, but that is all it is, hope. Nothing is guaranteed, if the next manager does worse than Ole then replacing him will have proven pointless.


9.) 15 Oct 2021
15 Oct 2021 11:56:51
That's hindsight shappy this one is useless so its not pointless getting rid of him.


10.) 15 Oct 2021
15 Oct 2021 12:29:34
Ken, I think this is where we differ. I don't think he is "useless" he has managed some aspects of the club better than the previous 3 managers.

Yet he still isn't good enough to get us to where we want to be.

I think people like to live life at the extremes. A manager is either perfect or useless, a person is either capitalist or communist, etc.

Yet the reality is that most things are more a scale rather than an extreme. Most fit somewhere in the middle in that grey area.

If Ole really was "useless" then he would not have the dressing room United behind him, if he was "useless" he wouldn't be the only post Sir Alex manager to finish in the top four consecutively, or even just more than once. If he was "useless" he wouldn't have got best ever season's out of several of our players.

It's clear now that his achievements aren't enough and he isn't going to develop enough as a manager to make that jump so that he can be good enough and get the club where we want it to be.

He isn't the worst manager we have ever had, but the next guy could be.

That shouldn't be enough to warrant him keeping his job, but given our track record of hiring managers I am reserving judgement that the next manager will be good enough or even an improvement on Ole.


11.) 15 Oct 2021
15 Oct 2021 14:08:28
He is the worst manager. But he isn't the worst fit.
The support he had from our club from top to bottom was second to none. He had time, money and low expectations-so a happy camp. I would go as far as to say that I don't think any manager have been supported as much as Ole in a big big club like we are-and no Fergi isn't the example because we were a different animal back there and the era was different.
So he had time, he had a lot of money and good players and he had the bar low so no expectations. For 3 years we were the good vibes United. I would say taking into account all these he couldn't make any worst.


12.) 15 Oct 2021
15 Oct 2021 18:40:01
Shappy what aspects has he excelled in?


13.) 16 Oct 2021
16 Oct 2021 09:31:01
Worst manager? In my supporting lifetime there are four really poor ones, McGuiness, O’Farrell, Sexton and Ole. The club did not carry on regardless with the first too, did not inflict them on the fans overly, so for me the worst is between Ole and Sexton. I detested Sexton for taking away the United way of playing, yet so has Ole. It’s a hard call to be honest, the football under Ole is every bit as disjointed and poor, defensive minded as under Sexton. They are both equally bad in my eyes and unsuitable for United, unless the club continue to push the sentimental amateur on us no matter what. That for me would make him and the situation worse than Sexton and then definitely the worst in our history.

As to the next guy, I fear like Shappy the amateurs will get it wrong again, I really fear Southgate. However, that is no reason not to change.


14.) 16 Oct 2021
16 Oct 2021 10:02:06
Ken, he united a very split dressing room. I'd argue that the team is all pulling in the same direction for the first time since Sir Alex left.

He has also bought well for the most part, and dramatically improved the squad from the one he took over.

He has also got career best season's out of a few of our players. Not just good form, but them playing the best they have ever managed.

He has also managed a level of stability that we haven't had under previous managers. To consistently finish in the top 3 let alone top 4 is an improvement on what we have managed previously.

That needs to be balanced against the indifferent form of the side as a whole. With great "moments" rather than great performances as a team.

The average to poor performances of some players, as well as a perceived lack on development in some players.

The inability to convert good chances to win things into trophies.

As well as the general feeling that he has peaked and is struggling to get this side playing at its full potential.

Is he the worst manager? No, he's a fairly average Joe, he can get a team playing to a certain level but lacks the ability to make them into a genuine top side that can challenge for the biggest honours.


15.) 16 Oct 2021
16 Oct 2021 10:12:16
Red Man I only go as far back as Sir Alex, with me being born around the time he took over.

Yet from what I have witnessed LvG has been by far the worst manager in my lifetime.

The football was just awful, I turned off several matches at half time as I just couldn't inflict it on myself anymore.

While his signings were pretty much terrible and I feel he sold/ let go several players that in hindsight we should have kept. Jonny Evans for example.

After that I don't think much separates the other three. None providing great football, Jose's United were a tough watch, but at least until he had his meltdown you knew that we had a chance to win something even if we were playing anti-United football.

Moyes was not here long enough, was a solid manager but a lamb to the slaughter following Sir Alex.

Ole has done some things well, but lacks the ability to raise us back to where we want to be. The football on the whole is better to watch than under LvG and Jose (although not great to watch), but there seems less chance of winning something with him.


16.) 16 Oct 2021
16 Oct 2021 10:42:15
I don't agree with any of that shappy.
Not one achievement there that warrents him keeping his job or that he should be commended for.
Pretty much all of them are subjective except your are commending him for making us regular failures.