More ole stuff... Giggs related
Giggs, though, has revealed that Solskjaer identified the position of United’s full-backs as a weakness when the pair watched the Red Devils lose against Juventus at Old Trafford in October.
Luke Shaw is positioned far higher up the pitch under Solskjaer (Picture: Getty)
‘Well, reminding the players how good they are,’ said Giggs, when asked what Solskjaer has changed.
‘It’s little tweaks. It’s like you see with golfers. Just a little tweak to the game that someone else on the outside might have seen. Ole’s been to a few games before he took over.
‘I was at a game next to him, and he was pointing out to me, ‘Look at the full-backs, they’re not high enough’. Things that we were used to, things that you associate with Man United teams.
‘OK you score two, we’ll score three’ and I think he’s brought, he’s instilled that back into them that we need to score goals, we need to attack and if we’re all higher up the pitch then it just poses the opposition that question. All of a sudden teams are going from, ‘Right it’s Man United, we’ve got a chance today’ to actually, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll be defending, we’ll be deeper’.
‘With the front players that United have got, not only the starting players but the ones coming off the bench, you’ve seen Sanchez, you’ve seen Lukaku now having an impact. It rivals any team within the Premier League the firepower that United have got.’
Contrast this and the other pundits going crazy for Ole with Paul Ince's take:
https://www.goal.com/en/news/ince-solskjaer-is-nothing-special-i-could-have-done-that-job/xqskly809hqr1c8rwyvnvnd1k
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may have revitalised Manchester United, but Paul Ince claims things “couldn’t get any worse” after Jose Mourinho and anybody could have overseen an improvement.
Solskjaer has earned plenty of plaudits for turning things around and bringing the best out of the likes of Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford, but Ince believes he could have done the same job.
The former Red Devils midfielder told Paddy Power: “We can’t get too sucked in with what Ole’s done.
“Let’s be honest, it couldn’t get any worse at Manchester United before Jose Mourinho left.
“There was a dark cloud over the entire club, the players, the fans and the staff. It was impacting performances on the pitch.
“Ole’s come in, a friendly face at the club with a calming influence and it seems as though the players have upped their effort as a result.
“The shackles are off, but that doesn’t mean that Ole is the right man for the job.
“I could have gone in and done the same thing, so could Steve Bruce.
“Anyone could have gone in and done what he has done, it wasn’t a hard thing to do to give those players freedom and improve the mood.”
With Ince yet to be convinced that Solskjaer has earned an extended stay in the Old Trafford hot-seat, he still believes that a more experienced coach – such as Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino – should be sounded out.
He added: “For the next few years what the club need to do is bring in a manager that can seriously get United competing with City and Liverpool. And of the options available, Pochettino is the man to do that.
“The club shouldn’t be making rash decisions, picking a manager just because he’s had six wins on the bounce, all of which came against below average sides bar one.
“You’d like to think that even under Mourinho they’d have won those games.
“If he gets the club into the top four, and into the final of the Champions League, then that would be the time when the board should be swayed. But we need to be careful not to get carried away – the decision shouldn’t be made just yet.
“If Pochettino is available, then I believe he should be Man United’s number one choice for the job and they should do whatever they can to get him.
“And do I think he’d want to come to United? Of course I do.”
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Some of what he says isn't wrong. I think removing Jose has a lot to do with the mood, but Ole should be applauded for how he has handled coming into the situation. Would Ince have done the same? Don't know. I accept Ince's caution at naming Ole for beyond this season, but disagree with not giving Ole any credit.
But they are from Colorado - I went to school in North Carolina - and my recollection of Greg was that he was from Florida.
