Solskjær... on borrowed time + board/ownership issues

Man of Honour
OP
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Poch is a huge upgrade on Ole. They aren't even comparable.

Re Poch/Ole. It's so disrespectful to say it would be a sideways step. Utd could appoint just about any manager in the PL and it would be an upgrade on Ole. Poch has and will continue to be linked with just about every top side in Europe, where as Norwich could sack their manager tomorrow and they wouldn't even consider Solskjaer for the job should he be available.

I don't think he'd be in the frame for any Championship jobs, nevermind PL.
 
Don
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That's mad. Poch took a Spurs side with the 6th biggest budget, a distance behind even the 5th at the time, and built Spurs into a side that regularly qualified for the CL and done so playing a progressive style of football and while having his hands tied while Spurs spent every penny they had on their stadium. Moyes done very well at Everton but one season aside, he never really massively overachieved (over Moyes time at Everton they spent more than everybody outside the big clubs) and done all this playing a very limited style of football that wasn't obviously transferable to a side expected to compete at the top of the table.

There's loads of managers more qualified than Ole and Poch is absolutely one of those.
 
Soldato
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I'd take poch over Ollie every day of the week ollie is out of his depth and clueless just keeps spinning the same trash were rebuilding if the right players are available most teams now have made signings were totally short of quality players yet no signings and ollie says monies are there but then does nothing as a player ollie was great as a manager he's poor
 
Caporegime
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Poch has done a great job with what he's had in the past but there are definitely huge questions over whether he can make a side win anything. The Spurs side he built was great but the fact they won nothing is a huge black mark against his career there. That team should have been able to win at least a cup or something.
 
Caporegime
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It’s definitely not a big black mark, but I’ll be delighted if he doesn’t go manu so hope Ed and co. think the same
 
Caporegime
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That's mad. Poch took a Spurs side with the 6th biggest budget, a distance behind even the 5th at the time, and built Spurs into a side that regularly qualified for the CL and done so playing a progressive style of football and while having his hands tied while Spurs spent every penny they had on their stadium. Moyes done very well at Everton but one season aside, he never really massively overachieved (over Moyes time at Everton they spent more than everybody outside the big clubs) and done all this playing a very limited style of football that wasn't obviously transferable to a side expected to compete at the top of the table.

There's loads of managers more qualified than Ole and Poch is absolutely one of those.

I am not saying he isn't but what I am saying is he is a massive risk with very little proven track record of actually winning things. Also a lot of his core players were already at spurs when he arrived.
 
Don
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Give Pep the 6th biggest budget in the League and see what he wins, or Mourinho or whoever. He was competing vs other world class managers that were spending upwards of £200m per season (including wages) more than him.

And without taking the mick, Utd are miles away from winning the biggest prizes. They first need to build a side that's capable of competing, something which Poch done on a shoestring at Spurs.
 
Caporegime
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Give Pep the 6th biggest budget in the League and see what he wins, or Mourinho or whoever. He was competing vs other world class managers that were spending upwards of £200m per season (including wages) more than him.

And without taking the mick, Utd are miles away from winning the biggest prizes. They first need to build a side that's capable of competing, something which Poch done on a shoestring at Spurs.

Jan vertonghen, Harry Kane, Lloris, Christian Eriksson, Kyle walker and Danny Rose were all there before he arrived. Dele was free. Half of his first eleven was already there.

With the exception of Son and Alderweireld he has brought in a lot of average players.
 
Don
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I'm not exactly sure what the argument is you're making now. That Poch took a group of underperforming and inexperienced players and made them better?

You talk about him buying average player, well he took those average players plus the ones he inherited, who weren't achieving what they went on to achieve, and turned them into a side that consistently punched well above its weight. And maybe had he not had a transfer budget and wage bill closer to Everton's than even Liverpool or Arsenal's, he would have ended up with some better players.
 
Caporegime
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I'm not exactly sure what the argument is you're making now. That Poch took a group of underperforming and inexperienced players and made them better?

You talk about him buying average player, well he took those average players plus the ones he inherited, who weren't achieving what they went on to achieve, and turned them into a side that consistently punched well above its weight. And maybe had he not had a transfer budget and wage bill closer to Everton's than even Liverpool or Arsenal's, he would have ended up with some better players.

The point I am making is what you just said. He managed his existing players very well but his purchasing was poor. Man Utd need someone who can build a team and buy in the right players. What we have now is simply not good enough and the depth we have of those that are isn't good enough either.

I seem to be in a massive minority on this board but I truly believe that Solskjaer needs to be given more time. He has shown what he can do with a full squad of decent players. He is doing the best with what he has and needs to be given a few transfer windows. We will have to wait and see what comes out at January but seems the board have let him down more than anything.

Look at this season. Pogba has been out all season, McTominay 3 months, Rashford out for three months and Martial was out for two months in the beginning of the season. I understand you have to factor in these things but when you let Lukaku, Hererra, Fellani, Sanchez all leave in the past year you need to bring in replacements for them.
 
Associate
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It's interesting how this has changed to letting Lukaku go as a negative. He was terrible and the club literally couldn't believe their luck that they would get an offer like that for him. If they had held on to the lazy lump you would all be crying you were stuck with another player that lost a fortune. You all hated Felliani and didn't want him near the club, same with Sanchez. Surely putting faith in players in the youth/development teams would be better than carrying on with two of that three at such huge cost. I doubt your any worse off than had those three stayed.
 
Don
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I'm not sure I entirely agree but let's assume he bought poorly. We're basing that on what others, with far more money bought though. By all accounts Spurs wanted Mane and Wijnaldum the summer we bought them, now I don't know for certain but I bet we were able to offer both players bigger contracts than Spurs.

And anyway, if as you say, Utd have poor players then Poch is perfect for you then. After all, all he does is build a team of average players to punch well above its weight. You wouldn't even have to spend any money.
 
Soldato
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By all accounts Spurs wanted Mane and Wijnaldum the summer we bought them, now I don't know for certain but I bet we were able to offer both players bigger contracts than Spurs.
Mane in particular wouldn't surprise me, given when Poch left Southampton and Mane joined, he may well have been a player that he put on Southampton's radar (or that they put on his?)
 

fez

fez

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@adam_cool_dude

Genuine question. What do you think it is that Ole is doing at the level of any of the top managers around. McTominay has improved this season but was already doing that under Mourinho, Rashford is the same. The only player that I would give any real credit for is perhaps Fred and that is because he has been forced into playing him and he has finally adapted to the PL.

We look an absolute mess on the pitch almost every game. Players making runs to nowhere, passes not going where they should, players literally getting the ball and looking up, looking around and deciding what they should do based on what they see. Thats not how top teams play. When Liverpool and City players get the ball they know who should be making a run and where. Most of the time that player is doing what they should. Ole seems to get about as far as "lets hit them on the counter and get it up to our front 3 to attack the goal". Even then our front three aren't drilled in their movement. Its all very off the cuff and relying on someone to do something special or for all the pieces to fall into place by chance at the right moment.

How you can think that Ole and Poch are comparable is beyond me. He took Spurs to the CL final and was in the title race for a large part of the season with a thin squad and in direct competition to two of the best sides the PL has seen for a long time.
 
Caporegime
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It's interesting how this has changed to letting Lukaku go as a negative. He was terrible and the club literally couldn't believe their luck that they would get an offer like that for him. If they had held on to the lazy lump you would all be crying you were stuck with another player that lost a fortune. You all hated Felliani and didn't want him near the club, same with Sanchez. Surely putting faith in players in the youth/development teams would be better than carrying on with two of that three at such huge cost. I doubt your any worse off than had those three stayed.

He was terrible yes but as a backup striker to bully weaker teams. Especially those that sit back he wasn't half bad. It was more the fact we didn't replace him that was the problem.
 
Caporegime
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@adam_cool_dude

Genuine question. What do you think it is that Ole is doing at the level of any of the top managers around. McTominay has improved this season but was already doing that under Mourinho, Rashford is the same. The only player that I would give any real credit for is perhaps Fred and that is because he has been forced into playing him and he has finally adapted to the PL.

We look an absolute mess on the pitch almost every game. Players making runs to nowhere, passes not going where they should, players literally getting the ball and looking up, looking around and deciding what they should do based on what they see. Thats not how top teams play. When Liverpool and City players get the ball they know who should be making a run and where. Most of the time that player is doing what they should. Ole seems to get about as far as "lets hit them on the counter and get it up to our front 3 to attack the goal". Even then our front three aren't drilled in their movement. Its all very off the cuff and relying on someone to do something special or for all the pieces to fall into place by chance at the right moment.

How you can think that Ole and Poch are comparable is beyond me. He took Spurs to the CL final and was in the title race for a large part of the season with a thin squad and in direct competition to two of the best sides the PL has seen for a long time.

Solskjaer outfoxed Poch and beat spurs "away" from home twice. Not bad for totally inept manager.

Liverpool and City work well because the team has been moulded over the years. Some of Cities top players are ten years at the club. Man Utd's current squad are still very much in their infancy.
 
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