Quote:
Originally Posted by Buck
Ole was never as bad as people made him out to be by the end. He finished above Klopp last season and had a very good record against Pep. The only manager post-Ferguson to make it into the Top 4 in consecutive seasons. Regularly went deep into cup competitions. Set a record for unbeaten games away from home in English football. The way things unravelled for him might simply be explained that there wasn't really big expectations of him initially because it was widely acknowledged that he was doing a rebuilding job. The squad did change a lot under his management and he had a squad and dressing room under his control. This season was the first time there was real expectation to win and with the new signings people looked to him to step up a level which he probably doesn't have in him as a manager. But it didn't mean he was a bad manager. He hit his limit and clearly everything that has happened since at least shows it wasn't all his fault.
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The truth probably lies in the middle. Let's not forget that, comparatively, the verm had a dip last season and had lots of injury problems including their first choice centre half pairing for most of the season.
I think tactically under Ole we were all over the place and we relied on moments of skill or good play between the mediocrity. This season the good play has gone too and is largely mediocrity. Let's not forget that we went a goal down in most games last season too and the play wasn't great.
I honestly think Ronaldo was thrust upon Ole rather than by choice and that undermined him completely. With the contract situation of a few and them zoning out and the expectations I think it finally did for him and any cohesion the squad may have had was undermined by CR7 who has kept us going in many games this season.
Lot of factors all at once instead of Ole being great or Ole being shit but, let's be honest, he was out of his depth at United.