Manchester United Part V/Ole Sack Watch

I don't know if Ander doesn't mention himself because he doesn't consider himself one of the main players on the team, or if he's simply being humble. I do think he's been among the top performers under Ole, though. He's definitely an important part of the team.

Kids today never experienced the real Cristiano Ronaldo....pic.twitter.com/D0AobuoalN

— Man Utd FF (@ManUtdFF) February 6, 2019

He was unbelievable man.

obviously he turned into one of the greatest goalscorers of all time at Madrid but he was just insane to watch back then

Yes, in terms of goalscoring, Ronaldo at Madrid was second to none. But the dude who played for United was unplayable. He may have not scored as many goals, but he was a complete all-rounder and a ruthless beast who made defenders soil themselves. To this day, I still feel sorry for Ashley Cole and Piqué.

watching people talk about ronaldo now is a bit like that time i cought that 100lbs fish.

Phil Jones has signed a new four-and-a-half-year deal at Manchester United that will keep him at the club until 2023.

United, who signed Jones from Blackburn in 2011, have the option to extend the centre-back's contract by a further 12 months.

ole pulling them out the bag now

I don’t think Ole has any influence over transfers or contract signings, at this point. As it stands, he’s only an interim coach.

Ffs

I totally agree with you, Glory. Herrera is a beast since Ole’s appointment.

Ole is legit AF, tbh. He's not fluking wins with a strong squad, he actually has the team doing what he wants them to do, relatively perfectly. ALL IN.

cant even hate on oli tbh he is a nice guy.

This Chelsea team is fucking horrible

Kaladin wrote:This Chelsea team is fucking horrible

No doubt. But look at how we were playing under Mourinho to now, it's staggering. We've also beaten Spurs and Arsenal.

It's been 2 months and 13 games since Ole was appointed as our caretaker-manager after Jose Mourinho was sacked. What's the biggest improvement he brought with himself? It's also the easiest one to observe. Obviously, it is bringing back the cheerfulness and the pleasure of doing their job in the players' mindset. It is a strong reminder and just another proof of how important is the mentality and the general mood of a person or around a group. The atmosphere at the club is amazing.

The vibe between the players on and off the pitch, Ole's relationship with mass-media, the high spirits all over the club...this is what makes United click right now. It's like trying to work on reaching your goals being depressive in comparison to being super confident and happy with what you're doing. It's simple as that.

We've beaten Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea, all of them away. We've had a run of 10 games unbeaten, with 9 victories and one draw. Was it a bounce effect after Mou's sacking? Probably yes. Was it also Ole's positive attitude? Most likely yes. Are we playing like an elite team, truly dominating the opposition and being in total control of the games? Not really. Do we have the players to do that? Probably not. Can we compete with this squad for the EPL or UCL? I don't think so. Did Ole change a lot, tactically speaking? Not really.

He did some vital changes though (Pogba is being played more advanced, Herrera getting a more important role in the midfield near Matic, Lukaku benched etc.), but he didn't change the team upside down, which is quite a natural approach if you arrive at a club mid-season. Are we playing considerably more offensive? Yes and no. We continue to defend, especially against top teams which have many technically gifted players, but at least we have a game plan consisting in very clear and straightforward attacking scenarios which was so far implemented excellently. Therefore, when we face smaller teams, we kill the games easier.

Ole is giving the players a lot of credit publicly for what they're doing right, but he's also infusing determination and tenacity when things aren't going as smooth as he wants. So far, his presence was brilliant. Calm and focused, happy and determined, classy and polite. Reminds me of Zidane. Looking at the match on Stamford Bridge, I almost forgot the bad game our team had against PSG, because the players acted like that loss never happened.

It's exactly the opposite of what Mourinho was doing. The Portuguese liked to shame our players in his post match reactions and whenever he wanted to praise someone, he was usually praising the wrong guys. Insisted on speaking highly of Fellaini, when in fact the Belgian was incredibly mediocre. Mourinho was always defensive in his attitude, always protecting his ego, always complicating stuff, always complaining about injuries, about referees. He never cared about others' needs, only focused on his primal fears and it was the same on the pitch, a mirror perfect reflection of himself. Everybody trying to play for themselves, over complicating everything, there were too many touches.

Everything they did, they did with a defensive and negative mindset. We are still defending on the pitch, like I said above, but the mindset is that of a warrior, of a winner. We don't see cowards on the pitch, we see winners, fighters and this simple shift in mentality is probably the most important one that needed to happen.

Every time and everywhere in life, joy and passion will bring efficacy in one's job. Pogba is the greatest example. He became our top scorer in no time and he bangs them regularly, while he's also giving lots of assists. All of a sudden, the same player is brutally transformed. And that's not because of better planning of training sessions, or hugely improved tactics, it is mainly because he now has the courage, the freedom and most importantly, the support to make a real statement.

We seem to now have a solid base of principles that can guide our team to rebuild a strong philosophy of playing football, exactly like it was at City with Guardiola in his first season, at Liverpool with Klopp or at Spurs with Poch. There are many obstacles ahead, it will be very difficult and it may take 2 or 3 years, but if the team keeps winning and fighting like this, I'd say it would be a no brainer to give the job to somebody else than Solskjaer.

Vlad the Impaler wrote:And that's not because of better planning of training sessions, or hugely improved tactics, it is mainly because he now has the courage, the freedom and most importantly, the support to make a real statement.

I disagree with the boldened statement. Man United's training sessions have changed quite drastically after Ole took over. In addition to giving special attention to the progress of Rashford and Martial in training, he brought with him Mike Phelan to oversee United's training sessions. Mike Phelan has been described as, perhaps the most important person in SAF's previous coaching staff - who departed the club after Ferguson retired. The simple fact that he is on board once again, is quite a substantial change.

Thimmy wrote:

Vlad the Impaler wrote:And that's not because of better planning of training sessions, or hugely improved tactics, it is mainly because he now has the courage, the freedom and most importantly, the support to make a real statement.

I disagree with the boldened statement. Man United's training sessions have changed quite drastically after Ole took over. In addition to giving special attention to the progress of Rashford and Martial in training, he brought with him Mike Phelan to oversee United's training sessions. Mike Phelan has been described as, perhaps the most important person in SAF's previous coaching staff - who departed the club after Ferguson retired. The simple fact that he is on board once again, is quite a substantial change.

What I was trying to say was not that the training sessions are not better. I was trying to say that what's happening with Pogba is mainly because of a shift in attitude. He instantly clicked again like he did at Juve or like he does for France, right after Ole came. Pogba was already a great player and we know that from various reasons. He didn't have the right environment under Mourinho.

But yeah @Thimmy, bringing Mike Phelan was a glorious decision and a very important step in the whole process.

The way his team plays reminds me a lot of Fergie's United, especially the match against Chelsea was reminiscent of one of those days. While Fergie's United were no scrubs in controlling the tempo, when they felt they could sit back and counter they gladly did so. The counter attacks that United did were very quick but calculated, you felt the movements were repeated in training that became second nature to them.

These players aren't as bad as Mourinho made them look. Solskjær has done a great job in getting the best out of them despite having a short time with them.

Huge improvement so far, that's been said a lot of times and easy to observe obviously. I am proud of Ole and what he is doing and super happy for him, but I am sure it would be wiser to wait until the end of the season. He should be the #1 on the list right now, but it's still to soon to draw any conclusions in my opinion.

Would Andreas even be in mou's radar? Feel like if mou were still around all we would hear about is the injuries. Ole is like "injuries? No problem, I'll bring io some lad from the cantera" and here we are.