the audit of ole gunnar solskjaer

Originally Posted by Coracao

He was shite. Some serious straw clutching to suggest he did a good job.

First manager since Frank O'Farrell to add zero to the trophy cabinet, and spent a fortune in doing so.

At least they went out there and enjoyed themselves. Shame we didn't...

Originally Posted by shenwen

Nice guy but didn't have the character for the job. That interview where he was angry about something (can't remember what is was) and he was almost in tears. Was clear then it was too much for him.

Oh god id blocked that out.

https://youtu.be/nItswuwEEBc

Looked like he’d read a self help book on asserting yourself and that was his first go.

Originally Posted by windy waffles

At least they went out there and enjoyed themselves. Shame we didn't...

So you didn't enjoy it when he came in and we won something like 12 out of 14? Didn't enjoy the wins against city, some of the excellent attacking football in his first 12-18 months or so?


It fell apart and he should never have been the long term option, everyone knows that, but the only 'revisionism' going on in this thread is that he was 'shite' from day 1 until the end. It's simply not true.


Hard to rate his transfers when we don't really have a clue how much involvement he had. LVG alluded to the fact that he had players effectively bought for him that he didn't want.

As someone said above, the entire period (i.e. woodward's) was a complete cluster£#%&! and it feels like you can't really judge any manager too harshly. Difficult to underline just how much of a shambles the club was.

Originally Posted by shenwen

Nice guy but didn't have the character for the job. That interview where he was angry about something (can't remember what is was) and he was almost in tears. Was clear then it was too much for him.

Some awful decision making as well. All managers do that, but Ole near seemed to learn. Playing Maguire when he was clearly still injured

Pretty much this.

Mad though that we’d go on runs and actually played some decent stuff (I don’t agree it was excellent) but we’d also go on runs where we couldn’t buy a win and lose to shit like Cardiff etc, we were so inconsistent.

As for transfers I mainly blame Woodward, although I think Ole had more of a say on signings than Mou and Van Gaal, and he was fully onboard this ‘British re-set’ that was rumoured. I’ve no proof but that’s just the feeling I got from it all.

He was completely broken by the end which was sad to see.

Originally Posted by AK14

Pretty much this.

Mad though that we’d go on runs and actually played some decent stuff (I don’t agree it was excellent) but we’d also go on runs where we couldn’t buy a win and lose to shit like Cardiff etc, we were so inconsistent.

As for transfers I mainly blame Woodward, although I think Ole had more of a say on signings than Mou and Van Gaal, and he was fully onboard this ‘British re-set’ that was rumoured. I’ve no proof but that’s just the feeling I got from it all.

He was completely broken by the end which was sad to see.

We were brilliant at counter attacking football under Ole. It worked across the board initially because teams were happy to get at us when he first arrived - when Mourinho left we were really poor in attack, lacking in confidence and seemed to have no cohesion across the pitch. Ole didn’t quite park the bus, but he had us sit deep and wait for the quick transition into attack when we won the ball back.

Teams like City don’t ever really seem to change their tactics, it’s all about pressing high up the pitch, keeping possession and waiting for the opportunity to pounce, which sort of played into our hands and is likely why we kept a decent record against them. The mid table teams and those at the bottom couldn’t afford to play this way so they began just sitting deep themselves, and we had nothing. So one week we’d beat a team you’d expect us to struggle against, and then the next we’d lose to some absolute shite. Then that began to drain us and we ended up looking bereft of confidence and as bad as, if not worse than at the end of Mourinho’s tenure.

The big difference last season for me is that we actually managed to break a lot of teams down who were sitting deep, and what cost us in some of those games was our lack of clinical finishing. Lost count of the amount of games we had umpteen chances and failed to convert. It’s why I’m hopeful about next season, so long as we bring in a consistent centre forward.

I don’t hold solksjaer responsible for any of it because he should never have been given the job on a permanent basis. Jumped to manage the club he loved and who can blame him. It was just More idiotic decision making from Woodward who got giddy after Paris.

Amazing acting period and then it quickly went to shit after Paris. When his first season ended you already knew it wasn’t going to be a successful time.

He stayed in the big way too long for me. When we went out of the CL group stage with the loss at Leipzig you knew it wasn’t going to happen and him staying on beyond Villareal was just madness.

why are we dragging up the past, its not going to change anything or is this a thread to say I told you so as you pat yourself on the back?

Originally Posted by Seamus

why are we dragging up the past, its not going to change anything or is this a thread to say I told you so as you pat yourself on the back?

just discussing him.

I’m doing lvg and then ralf.

Not sure if i want to do a mourinho one.

Can you do a Ron Atkinson one please

Originally Posted by marlo

I’m doing lvg and then ralf.

Why?

Can you do one please?

Originally Posted by marlo

just discussing him.

I’m doing lvg and then ralf.

Not sure if i want to do a mourinho one.

Looking forward to the LVG one mate. Until ETH, he was my favourite manager post-Ferguson.

Club legend, lovely bloke. Had some good moments but needed to go in the end. Love him

Originally Posted by NedKelly

Looking forward to the LVG one mate. Until ETH, he was my favourite manager post-Ferguson.

The football under LvG was dire. The revisionism with him is ridiculous.

Originally Posted by Seamus

Can you do a Ron Atkinson one please

Loved Big Ron - couple of FA Cups, should have won the league in the 85/86 season. Our reliance on Robbo became very apparent once he got injured.

Holocaust of a season the following one, resulting in Fergie being brought in and that didn't turn out too bad.

Massive racist as it turns out, which was very disappointing

Originally Posted by MUFC One Love

The football under LvG was dire. The revisionism with him is ridiculous.

Utterly dreadful. Entertaining man away from the football but barring a few golden performances, it was turd

Originally Posted by armchair

He was a reaction to the outright depression we were in. He was a great temporary manager but should've never been offered the job permanently. Very hard job for him to turn down, so I don't blame him.

Pretty much this.

And yet he still did a better job than one of the successful managers ever.

Don’t understand the reds who seem to revel in slagging him off, odd behaviour.

Originally Posted by NedKelly

We were brilliant at counter attacking football under Ole. It worked across the board initially because teams were happy to get at us when he first arrived - when Mourinho left we were really poor in attack, lacking in confidence and seemed to have no cohesion across the pitch. Ole didn’t quite park the bus, but he had us sit deep and wait for the quick transition into attack when we won the ball back.

Teams like City don’t ever really seem to change their tactics, it’s all about pressing high up the pitch, keeping possession and waiting for the opportunity to pounce, which sort of played into our hands and is likely why we kept a decent record against them. The mid table teams and those at the bottom couldn’t afford to play this way so they began just sitting deep themselves, and we had nothing. So one week we’d beat a team you’d expect us to struggle against, and then the next we’d lose to some absolute shite. Then that began to drain us and we ended up looking bereft of confidence and as bad as, if not worse than at the end of Mourinho’s tenure.

The big difference last season for me is that we actually managed to break a lot of teams down who were sitting deep, and what cost us in some of those games was our lack of clinical finishing. Lost count of the amount of games we had umpteen chances and failed to convert. It’s why I’m hopeful about next season, so long as we bring in a consistent centre forward.

Tbf I think a lot of what we saw early on was as simple as the shackles being taken off and the positive vibe after Mou left. By the end of Mou’s time it was so depressing and the players completely downed tools. People make fun of the “go out and enjoy yourself” line but I do think a lot of it was that simple and it worked perfectly and was needed at the time.

We looked pretty good during Covid football too but again it came to nothing and he completely failed his big test in the europa final.

Set an away record for any club that’s ever played association football signed garnacho overlooked obviously by the Turkish agent. Finished 3rd and 2nd and bar klopp has the best head to head v pep beating him 3 times in one season beaten them home and away in a season which we haven’t done for a while. Beat a team by 9 was building up something nice Ronaldo came along and completely derailed it all. Oh and he’s still a club legend you @#%&!

Originally Posted by puressence

Set an away record for any club that’s ever played association football signed garnacho overlooked obviously by the Turkish agent. Finished 3rd and 2nd and bar klopp has the best head to head v pep beating him 3 times in one season beaten them home and away in a season which we haven’t done for a while. Beat a team by 9 was building up something nice Ronaldo came along and completely derailed it all. Oh and he’s still a club legend you @#%&!