OGS has Nathan Blake worried too...

The whole article is suitably bleak, with him also saying he reckons we need 18 points t guarantee survival -1.5 a match.

But what he highlights is the difference between what happened to us and Fulham compared to what happened to Sunderland and Palace post management change. The latter two picked a core of 16 players and has played them week in week out with success, they get to know each other and the team starts to gel and punch higher than they probably should. OGS and Fulhams new manager (whoever that is by the time I press post) don't really know who their best side is, and the eleven that emerge is too different every match thus far to let the players figure out the system. Having jones up front encourages high balls, but then suddenly it's Campbell instead and he wants an entirely different sort of chance. Same with the midfield, the other players don't know who likes to run and who likes to pass, and it gets really difficult to really climatise.

He also highlights OGS game plans at time stink of desperation. He played two holding midfielders against Wigan and yet Cala, the centreback, was rushing forward time and time again. That's baffling tactically.

Summarised, people with better reputations than any of ours are starting to highlight that OGS may be starting to show he's been pushed in the deep end when he's only just learnt to doggy paddle. He needed much more time to get used to the league, the players and the challenge of a team threatened with relegation. This season may now be a write off, but it's next season - whether that's in the championship or premiership - which will really define OGS' credentials as 'the best young manager in the world'.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/nathan-blake-ole-gunnar-solskjaer-6714966

Sorry.......the article is a complete load of b*ll*cks! I despair of WalesOnline!

Sunderland's and Palace's managerial changes were made 8 October and 23 November, i.e. outside the transfer windows. Poyet and Pulis had no option but to run with the squads they inherited until January.

On the other hand, OGS had immediate access to new players and he has been looking at how best to use the seven he brought in. That is bound to involve a certain amount of tinkering.

Yes I keep being frustrated by the comparisons when OGS has had far less time to bed in his tactics. You simply can't compare our situation to that of the other sides at the bottom as most have better squads or made their management changes much earlier

TDA wrote:Sorry.......the article is a complete load of b*ll*cks!  I despair of WalesOnline!

Sunderland's and Palace's managerial changes were made 8 October and 23 November, i.e. outside the transfer windows.  Poyet and Pulis had no option but to run with the squads they inherited until January.  

On the other hand, OGS had immediate access to new players and he has been looking at how best to use the seven he brought in.  That is bound to involve a certain amount of tinkering.

Why?

Yes they had changed managers earlier, but even after the window the players they bought slotted straight in - they have still used far less players than we have. Comparatively half of our transfers line the bench most the time.

I think some people just don't want I face that OGS is starting to look a little worrying.

We can't start saying OGS is failing after six weeks and having inherited the most negative side in the division. He is having to retrain the players and it's correct to say that it is probably too late to be changing the philosophy but ultimately that's not how OGS sets his sides up and trying to keep clean sheets at the expense of not scoring was never going to keep us up anyway.

Ultimately, Pulis and Poyet have had far more time, and Poyet has had a stronger, Premiership hardened team. Comparisons aren't fair or relevant so Wales Online are simply padding out their paper

Of course it's relevant! You can't argue against the likes of Sunderland or West Brom 'because they are premiership hardened'. In that case what's the point, the promoted sides always go straight down again don't they?

Just please, stop slagging off every single article that is negative against him and just acknowledge he's not had the impact everyone wanted him to have. Whether it's the squad, the manager, Malky, the schedule, anything - we have lost 6 in 9 matches since he took over, often convincingly. The attacking football hasn't shown up, and the defensive side has fallen apart. I'm not saying it won't turn around maybe even as early as next week, but right now we are failing - the table doesn't lie.

Ironic that we're not allowed to judge OGS after 9 matches and yet people were calling for Malky to go even before he played a single game in the premier league. I think there's an awful lot of subconscious bias going on here. I'm guilty of it too, I'll be the first one to hold my hand up and admit I've defended Malky while now in hindsight I regret it.

Red614 wrote:Of course it's relevant! You can't argue against the likes of Sunderland or West Brom 'because they are premiership hardened'. In that case what's the point, the promoted sides always go straight down again don't they?

Just please, stop slagging off every single article that is negative against him and just acknowledge he's not had the impact everyone wanted him to have. Whether it's the squad, the manager, Malky, the schedule, anything - we have lost 6 in 9 matches since he took over, often convincingly. The attacking football hasn't shown up, and the defensive side has fallen apart. I'm not saying it won't turn around maybe even as early as next week, but right now we are failing - the table doesn't lie.

Ironic that we're not allowed to judge OGS after 9 matches and yet people were calling for Malky to go even before he played a single game in the premier league. I think there's an awful lot of subconscious bias going on here. I'm guilty of it too, I'll be the first one to hold my hand up and admit I've defended Malky while now in hindsight I regret it.

The difference is that we had had two seasons to look at Malky Mackay and it was clear to some of us that he was not the right man for the Premier League......and I based that judgement on 50 years of watching football at all levels.

Nobody doubted that we would be in the bottom three after the end of January, regardless of who was manager.  Saturday's game was an ideal opportunity to look at the more marginal players OGS had bought.  I, for one, believe that he has bought players now with half an eye on a Championship campaign next season.  Our squad was, by far, the weakest of those teams at the bottom.  Even with the new players, it probably isn't going to be enough to keep us up.

At the moment, it is far too early to make any judgement on OGS.

Players not playing as a team yet, it always looks bad and usually the results show it up how bad.
But I believe we have a decent squad, and if they should click will prove good enough for the PL.
It might be better to get things running right than parking the bus and hoping for something.
It will look bad and we will lose games until Ole gets it right, unfortunately that would seem to indicate championship football is just around the corner.

I think Ole has made mistakes. I think he's come in and tried to change too much, too quickly. We needed to improve our attack, and I think that's been focussed on to the detriment of our pretty solid defence.
However, I truly believe that we're really close to being a good side. We just need to continue the hard work, maybe get a bit of luck, and raise our confidence. If we could take our attacking one step further, produce an effort on goal, we'll start scoring. Then we'll gain some confidence, and everything will start to fall into place.

Imo, Ole has taken the long term approach. Whether things will come together quickly enough to save us from relegation, I don't know. We're being given every chance by the footballing Gods. One or two wins and we could be out of the relegation zone, or even mid-table.

I do think that we need to decide on our first choice 11, and even our first choice 18. The players need to get used to playing together, and swapping and changing every week isn't helping.

I strongly disagree with the game plan 'stinking of desperation'. We were crying out for Malky to have a plan B, and now that we have a manager willing to try different things, we're moaning about that?? I'd much rather see him try something new, even if it goes wrong. I believe he's still learning, and if we have to put up with him getting a lesson or two, fine.

Sorry that's such a mess, I wrote it as I thought it.

SteWells wrote:Sorry that's such a mess, I wrote it as I thought it.

Reads fine to me and makes perfect sense..............  

Yup, I agree SteWells!

I take your point too Red - but let's give him a bit more time and support before we start tying the knot on Ole's noose, eh?

I agree SteWells, well said