Would you sack or keep Ole? (Poll reopened)

[golden_blunder]

Poll reopened for us fickle fans to vote. I’ll leave it open until end of season

For posterity 51% would sack him as per results of poll 20 february
20% would have him finish the season then replaced

 

[RedSky]

But he’s only managed Molde and cardiff and sir pep has got to a final with spurs!!!!

! I think that’s what gets said here

It's bewildering, we shouldn't be focusing on the draws/losses against the smaller teams. Those results will turn around when more quality is added to the squad. The hardest thing in football is beating teams that is around your level or higher on a consistent basis and Ole seems to be able to do that. Something that Pochettino for example struggled with massively.

Give him a war chest in the Summer and allow him to bring in a few more players. It's exciting.

 

[Mainoldo]

It's bewildering, we shouldn't be focusing on the draws/losses against the smaller teams. Those results will turn around when more quality is added to the squad. The hardest thing in football is beating teams that is around your level or higher on a consistent basis and Ole seems to be able to do that. Something that Pochettino for example struggled with massively.

Give him a war chest in the Summer and allow him to bring in a few more players. It's exciting.

But if Poch had a warchest would he not then beat the 3-4 big teams? Just a question.

I’ve always said that our long term view is not to have a cheque book manager. Yes we need good players but we can not sustain blowing a bag just to try and compete every year. We need create a team within that is top level.

 

[theklr]

But if Poch had a warchest would he not then beat the 3-4 big teams? Just a question.

I’ve always said that our long term view is not to have a cheque book manager. Yes we need good players but we can not sustain blowing a bag just to try and compete every year. We need create a team within that is top level.

Think they are going for a semi-solution now. Buying big but buying young (Yes, Fernandes is 26 but still) so they dont need to do it every other year.

 

[OleBoiii]

So I opened this thread in incognito mode and it seems like the poll is visible to the public? That's pretty embarrassing...

 

[Ventura]

I've always said that Ole feels like one of the fans running the team...

We all hated Fallaini & Sanchez ...Ole got rid.
We moaned that we needed a good CB, RB, Creative C and better LB option than Shaw, Ole sorted that,
Lingard & Jones have been gash, they are now backup players. Its like he sees what we all see, and what we've all been moaning about for ages, unlike previous managers.

Add to that the way he has turned round Fred & Matic, he deserves another transfer window.

Get him Sancho & a quality striker and we will be up there.

Voted to give him more time. Never changed

You know what this means, don't you? Ole is on the redcafe and he's taking notes. We're essentially running the club now!

 

[RedSky]

But if Poch had a warchest would he not then beat the 3-4 big teams? Just a question.

I’ve always said that our long term view is not to have a cheque book manager. Yes we need good players but we can not sustain blowing a bag just to try and compete every year. We need create a team within that is top level.

I don't think he would. His Tottenham team at its peak was on par with Citys as the best in the league and he still struggled to win games against the top 6. He wasn't able to shake that mentality out of Tottenham and I also don't rate him as a tactical manager, he has one way of playing and rarely mixed it up. He was therefore very predictable.

He was able to motivate his team to blow away the teams he should be beating mind and he did also manage to pick up some excellent results in the Champions League. But his domestic form was lets be real, underwhelming. He should have got Tottenham a trophy or two with the team they had and the form of his rivals being fairly shit.

I still rate him as a Manager as he's clearly very good at rebuilding squads and taking them to a very competitive level, but there's still a very big question mark on whether he has the ability to rise to the very top and win silverware on a regular basis. I wouldn't have been upset if we had brought him in last summer and didn't sign up Ole long term as I think they both would perform the same task, rebuilding us too a competitive level. But I have my doubts with both Managers on whether either can truly take us back up to the levels of Sir Alex and winning titles.

Personally, i'm happy with having either come in and rebuilding us as that was clearly what we needed as a club and if Ole cant take us the final step then he'd be able to leave the club with his head held high knowing he took us up several levels and left us in a far better position. Poch was precisely the same with his time at Tottenham.

Disclaimer, i'm not saying Ole is the same level ability wise as Pochettino as Poch clearly has reached higher peaks in his career so far. Merely that as things stand I feel Ole can take us to the same levels that Poch did at Tottenham and i'm not convinced Poch could push us any more than he did while he was at Tottenham.

 

[Strelok]

Poll reopened for us fickle fans to vote. I’ll leave it open until end of season

For posterity 51% would sack him as per results of poll 20 february
20% would have him finish the season then replaced

Or fans like me, who voted keep from the start but as the poll evolved to the new three options now must vote again

 

[e.cantona]

Can't wait for all the "finally he's doing what I said he should have done all along" posts to begin. Only seen a few "he used to be so naive, finally he's learned, if only he'd listend to me before" posts

 

[Judge Red]

We’re headed in the right direction, finally, and have a team that’s actually worth supporting again. Ole deserves recognition for that.

Still don’t think he’s cut out for a title race. Or a race for 4th, honestly. I guess we should start celebrating every Chelsea victory because their wins inspire us more than their dropped points.

 

[crossy1686]

We’re headed in the right direction, finally, and have a team that’s actually worth supporting again. Ole deserves recognition for that.

Still don’t think he’s cut out for a title race. Or a race for 4th, honestly. I guess we should start celebrating every Chelsea victory because their wins inspire us more than their dropped points.

What makes you say this? The man won many titles and knows exactly what grinding out results is all about.

 

[crossy1686]

Still not convinced he is the man to get us consistently beating the Bournemouth, Evertons, Burnleys away from home on a consistent basis, which is what you need to fight for title.

To rally the troops and make them fight in big games where everyone is watching, is something we've more or less had all throughout our bad spell.

To be fair, Fergie wasn't that man either. We probably dropped more points to Everton and Burnley away than we did any of the top 4.

And no we didn't. We have been the top 6 whipping boys for a long time.

 

[RUCK4444]

Another positive I noticed in his post match interview on sky was that he notices the missed chances, particularly the clear chances we had to cutback in the box to a player (usually Bruno) following into the box.

This is a key area we can improve, I'm certain that if we had cutback on those occasions yesterday we would have scored at least one more goal. Bruno was furious with Dan James and not too happy with Martial in the first half.

Ole mentioned all three/four occasions it happened and said that's an area he wants to improve.

He ALSO mentioned again that he wants to improve on the press and maintaining possession to avoid being under pressure towards the end of games against teams like City.

Those are two key areas I was thinking about during the match yesterday and he came out and mentioned both in his post match interview. Buzzing.

 

[ManRed]

There has been a big improvement by Ole since the break. The signings has helped him drop some of the underperforming players, return of some and improvement of Shaw and Martial has really rejuvenated the squad. My decision is still sack at end of season unless he can continue this consistency till the end and secure top 4.

Also to see his anger on the bench when James did not pass was a fresh of breath air. He needs to keep that intensity in other games.

 

[Bilbo]

Can't wait for all the "finally he's doing what I said he should have done all along" posts to begin. Only seen a few "he used to be so naive, finally he's learned, if only he'd listend to me before" posts

There will be a lot of face saving going on (and probably old posts deleted - someone with some free time could have a lot of fun digging those up) but its not necessary. When and if the time ever comes that this forum no longer feels the need to write about Ole every single minute of every day, then people should just admit they got it wrong.

 

[Keefy18]

He should still be upgraded. He’s not going to win us a title. He’s definitely not taking us back. But there are many flaws in his in game tactics. He doesn’t use subs till late in a game.

Anyone who thinks Ole can win us a title and champions league is a gowl.

Far worse managers than Ole have won leagues and CL... Di Matteo comes to mind

There's no guarantees in football at all, anything can happen.

He's clearly changed the mentality around the players a lot. Most games we bust our b*llicks to every ball now, there's a clear worth ethic shining through. There's great morale seen between players, understanding between certain units of players, like McTominay & Fred in CM, or Shaw & Williams for the left side, Bruno & Martial.

He's starting to get two formations to work in 4-2-3-1 and in matches against top sides with 3-5-2 (variations of it).

Folks keep making out he's tactically inept, he's far from it. He's not perfect, but neither is any other manager.

Amazing how harshly you judge Ole, yet what of Pep failing to address the huge issues around the left channel for the entire first half?

 

[Bilbo]

There has been a big improvement by Ole since the break. The signings has helped him drop some of the underperforming players, return of some and improvement of Shaw and Martial has really rejuvenated the squad. My decision is still sack at end of season unless he can continue this consistency till the end and secure top 4.

Also to see his anger on the bench when James did not pass was a fresh of breath air. He needs to keep that intensity in other games.

I'm very surprised that anyone would still feel this way. We are quite clearly moving in the right direction, and the feel good factor is coming back to this club. Why on earth would we even consider risking that to make a change that just isn't necessary. Top four or not, this looks like being one hell of a team next season.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Nobody has mentioned our pressing but it has gotten much better and more effective than before. Progress is all I want to see with Ole. It's what makes Klopp's Liverpool special. And it seems we have finally started making progress after players returned from injuries and we bought Bruno and Ighalo. More than happy to keep him if we keep going like this

 

[Gehrman]

I don't think he would. His Tottenham team at its peak was on par with Citys as the best in the league and he still struggled to win games against the top 6. He wasn't able to shake that mentality out of Tottenham and I also don't rate him as a tactical manager, he has one way of playing and rarely mixed it up. He was therefore very predictable.

He was able to motivate his team to blow away the teams he should be beating mind and he did also manage to pick up some excellent results in the Champions League. But his domestic form was lets be real, underwhelming. He should have got Tottenham a trophy or two with the team they had and the form of his rivals being fairly shit.

I still rate him as a Manager as he's clearly very good at rebuilding squads and taking them to a very competitive level, but there's still a very big question mark on whether he has the ability to rise to the very top and win silverware on a regular basis. I wouldn't have been upset if we had brought him in last summer and didn't sign up Ole long term as I think they both would perform the same task, rebuilding us too a competitive level. But I have my doubts with both Managers on whether either can truly take us back up to the levels of Sir Alex and winning titles.

Personally, i'm happy with having either come in and rebuilding us as that was clearly what we needed as a club and if Ole cant take us the final step then he'd be able to leave the club with his head held high knowing he took us up several levels and left us in a far better position. Poch was precisely the same with his time at Tottenham.

Disclaimer, i'm not saying Ole is the same level ability wise as Pochettino as Poch clearly has reached higher peaks in his career so far. Merely that as things stand I feel Ole can take us to the same levels that Poch did at Tottenham and i'm not convinced Poch could push us any more than he did while he was at Tottenham.

For people saying feck Poch, he also knocked City out of the CL semi finals last season without Harry Kane and without any investment in the transfer windows. But yeah I'm delighted that Ole seems to have Chelsea's and City's number. I'm more warming up to him being in charge next season. He has to get CL football though whether that's 5th or winning the europa.

 

[Gambit]

Feck Poch, don't care what his previous results were.

 

[tonnas]

I'm very surprised that anyone would still feel this way. We are quite clearly moving in the right direction, and the feel good factor is coming back to this club. Why on earth would we even consider risking that to make a change that just isn't necessary. Top four or not, this looks like being one hell of a team next season.

Not finsihing top 4 in a very poor epl season by many clubs is a big point to argue with...

 

[lysglimt]

Not finsihing top 4 in a very poor epl season by many clubs is a big point to argue with...

Yes but in theory we can win 7 of our last 9 games and still miss out on top-4. And we might win 6 out of the last 9 games and reach top-4

Top-4 is important - but missing out or reaching top 4 by a point should not be the difference between firing him or not.

 

[e.cantona]

There will be a lot of face saving going on (and probably old posts deleted - someone with some free time could have a lot of fun digging those up) but its not necessary. When and if the time ever comes that this forum no longer feels the need to write about Ole every single minute of every day, then people should just admit they got it wrong.

Opinions one can argue with, no problem. "Bullying" and cntishnes..

 

[shaky]

Not finsihing top 4 in a very poor epl season by many clubs is a big point to argue with...

If we don't finish top 4, it will be mostly down to our poor early season form. Punishing Ole for that with the sack, irrespective of the improvement since then, would be a crazy act of self harm. Progress is what we need and it's what we are showing.

 

[rollingstoned1]

Brilliant win, still not sold he's the right man for the position....we looked decent but both goals were flukes.

Balls they were both flukes. I suppose our domination throught the game was also a 'fluke' but if we lose or had lost that would not be a fluke but an accurate representation of where we are.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

Changed my vote but it's still not a true representation of my opinion.

I changed 'from' Ole Out Now to let Ole finish the season, then replace him. There's no point sacking him now, nor should he be based on current form. December was when he should have gone, that's long gone now.

But if Ole ends the season on a high and continues the form we're seeing lately, my actual vote/opinion would be "Let Ole prove himself until May then let him continue if he does so".

"Let Ole continue the rebuild" doesn't fit my viewpoint because it's not unconditional, he must prove he deserves to finish the rebuild by May. Top 4 and/or a trophy, 100% let him continue next season.

 

[theklr]

If we don't finish top 4, it will be mostly down to our poor early season form. Punishing Ole for that with the sack, irrespective of the improvement since then, would be a crazy act of self harm. Progress is what we need and it's what we are showing.

Good point. Especially seeing what kind of squad we had at our worst.

 

[padzilla]

Well if we continue our current form to the season's end it would take a very cruel turn of events to stop us being in the CL next season. I think the long term picture is what's more important, consistently playing well is the key here. I would be content if we maintained our form to the end of season and through no fault of our own failed to break into the top four.

 

[rotherham_red]

Can't wait for all the "finally he's doing what I said he should have done all along" posts to begin. Only seen a few "he used to be so naive, finally he's learned, if only he'd listend to me before" posts

The caf is blessed with footballing Einsteins, it seems...

Oh and for myself, I haven't wavered, or seen fit to change my full and unequivocal backing for Ole once during this season , or the last... *insert smug Trump gif here*

 

[rotherham_red]

Also, I predicted that this is EXACTLY how this season would go:

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/expectations-under-ole-2019-20.447263/post-24099453

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/europa-league-2019-20.447002/post-24077124

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/expectations-under-ole-2019-20.447263/post-24128154 - I was definitely off on the points total here though, haha.

 

[Keefy18]

Not finsihing top 4 in a very poor epl season by many clubs is a big point to argue with...

Thing is, many clubs are in similar situations like us.

Spurs need a rebuild, City even need some work done. Chelsea similarly are moving in a different direction under Lampard. Arsenal are just Arsenal of the last decade.

All things considered many of the sides are pretty level in that they all need to address key areas.

 

[Mike Phelan's Former Tash]

I'm keeping my vote as it was originally, to keep until he's finished the rebuild (hopefully beyond).

He gets better every time he bounces back from adversity. He's a good manager despite most 'fans' on here knowing better.

Can he become a great manager? Only time will tell but he's earning that time for us to find out imo. Just like he earned the job in the first place.

Happy Monday folks, GGMU!

 

[RollieOle]

This is actually incorrect.
Ole has been coaching for the same time as Pep.
The difference is that Ole's career has been below average, while Pep knows how to win.
Remember, winning is the main thing in pro sport. Those who claim that results don't count probably don't understand the concept of pro sport and have convinced themselves that losing is "okay".



Indeed he has.
He has shown that he can get us a very low points total in the league.
Given enough time, he will demonstrate that he can't win trophies.

You made a great point there mate. Do you think City should sack Pep and bring in Ole?? as he has just made Pep his bitch, not to bad for an underachiever ehh??


Oles at the wheel, tell me how good does it feel

 

[rollingstoned1]

People really should start respecting Ole a lot more! The guy has beaten the best sides and the best managers in the world with a squad that is in transition at best. And here he is beating some of the most 'polished' sides in England and Europe.
Becomes the 2nd manager ever to do the league double over Pep. Surely, he has done enough for people to stop questioning his every move and step

Agreed, for the cynics who are bending over themselves trying to appear balanced and logical, if ole had moyes record in big games they'd be the first ones to use it as a stick to beat him with and call him an incompetent buffoon who is out of his depth. Hell they still do it when we lose a game by saying we have the worst manager in the league and even Burnley and the likes wouldn't hire ole. This 'wait and watch' and 'careful optimism' lark isn't becoming of a bunch of spoilt and entitled lot who only seek instant gratification and failing that obstinately fall back on an agenda while still trying to enjoy our results as a release valve or coping mechanism perhaps.

 

[saivet]

Changed my vote from sack him asap to replace at the end of the season.

Given where we are in the top 4 race and with a bit of form it wouldn't make sense to get rid now.

For me it's not a case of starting again if we sack him, more of an opportunity to upgrade on him as I think we can do better.

Even this run of form, while it's been positive, I think some of us are getting ahead of ourselves slightly as we've not exactly been playing mind blowing football. The only excellent performance for me was Brugge and they offered us some generous assistance.

Either way I hope we keep up the good results, make top 4 and win a trophy...or two.

 

[midnightmare]

People really should start respecting Ole a lot more! The guy has beaten the best sides and the best managers in the world with a squad that is in transition at best. And here he is beating some of the most 'polished' sides in England and Europe.. Surely, he has done enough for people to stop questioning his every move and step

Pedant alert: Second this season alone. Nuno was first this season and that follows Conte who did it with Chelsea in his title-winning season.

I do agree though with the rest of your post - that Ole has earned credit etc.

 

[bond19821982]

I was one of those who wanted him gone right away . I still want him gone but willing to wait until end of the season to make a change. Beating top teams was never our issue. It's when we are asked to dominate the ball and beating the low block. Let's see how he does until end of the season. Of course top 4 will earn him one more season for sure.

 

[momo83]

I was one of those who wanted him gone right away . I still want him gone but willing to wait until end of the season to make a change. Beating top teams was never our issue. It's when we are asked to dominate the ball and beating the low block. Let's see how he does until end of the season. Of course top 4 will earn him one more season for sure.

Results have been good but people forget we’ve played Derby, Tranmere, Watford, Brugge, Burnley, an inconsistent Chelsea and a City that didn’t risk De Bruyne. Great win vs City, great first half. What but still no style of play. Everything is quite basic and predictable

 

[rotherham_red]

I was one of those who wanted him gone right away . I still want him gone but willing to wait until end of the season to make a change. Beating top teams was never our issue. It's when we are asked to dominate the ball and beating the low block. Let's see how he does until end of the season. Of course top 4 will earn him one more season for sure.

Well, that's a load of bollocks.

Jose was barely average in his top 4-6 record (decent at home, but still lost his fair share even there, and more often than not drew, rather than won away, and actually was on the receiving end of some embarrassingly poor results and performances - 4-0 at SB, 2-0 v Spurs, anyone?). Moyes was a disaster, as we well know.

LvG is the only one who you could compare to Ole's record, but considering who he was up against in a managerial sense and the calibre of teams that were around, his record isn't as strong as Ole's.

 

[Gehrman]

There should be a wait till the end of the season then decide option for some people. Anyway im 100% sure he will be here next season unless, we have a catastrophic run of results from now on.