Would you be happy with Ole Gunnar Solskjær? Now with added poll.

[tomd2103]

Well nothing is certain, of course. All we can go on is what they've done previously. Solskjær has played a very defined passing game, Lambert hasn't.

Whenever I seen Norwich play this season, they have played decent, attacking football.  I would say they play the kind of football that we have played at our best under the likes of Graham Taylor, Ron Atkinson and O'Neill.  OK they don't play an intricate passing game like Swansea, but how popular would that be at Villa Park?  They play an awful lot of backwards passes (including lots to the keeper) and I don't think it would be long before the moans, groans and shouts of "get it f**ckin' forward" would start. 

I honestly do think that Lambert would be the best fit for us at the moment, but saying that i wouldn't be too disappointed with OGS, Rodgers or Martinez either.   

[olaftab]

I do think that was our best "run". Something had clicked v Arsenal but than .....he resorted to type!

[Monty]

Whenever I seen Norwich play this season, they have played decent, attacking football.  I would say they play the kind of football that we have played at our best under the likes of Graham Taylor, Ron Atkinson and O'Neill.  OK they don't play an intricate passing game like Swansea, but how popular would that be at Villa Park?  They play an awful lot of backwards passes (including lots to the keeper) and I don't think it would be long before the moans, groans and shouts of "get it f**ckin' forward" would start. 

I honestly do think that Lambert would be the best fit for us at the moment, but saying that i wouldn't be too disappointed with OGS, Rodgers or Martinez either.   

Well for a start, I'm sure those fans wouldn't complain when we scored more goals than last year. Anyway, I'd hardly say all the fans would think that, so you're never going to please everyone.

Secondly, and most importantly, I think we all recognise that the game is very, very different to how it was back in the days of SGT and BFR, and I think we also agree that MONball was discredited as too old fashioned as, despite all that investment, it had such an obvious glass ceiling. I think Lambert is much more tactically sophisticated than MON, but his attacking template has so far proved to be a bit too similar for my liking.

This club needs to be dragged into the 21st century. GH had started this, but Eck has been thoroughly retrogressive. We need more radicalism than reactive steadiness right now.

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

For OGS to play the football with his philosophy and style of football there would have to be a total radical change with the players we have. Dunne and Collins are terrible at playing the ball out and he would have to replace them. Makoun would definitely play a roll in his team. OGS would need a whole season to adjust the team and bring in players which would compliment his methods. I feel he is exactly what we need right now and already there is a feeling amongst fans we have not felt for a long time ........

[Legion]

I stand corrected aftab I forgot that mini purple patch in our season.   

I think I blinked and missed it.

[jembob]

For OGS to play the football with his philosophy and style of football there would have to be a total radical change with the players we have. Dunne and Collins are terrible at playing the ball out and he would have to replace them. Makoun would definitely play a roll in his team. OGS would need a whole season to adjust the team and bring in players which would compliment his methods. I feel he is exactly what we need right now and already there is a feeling amongst fans we have not felt for a long time ........

I would suggest that one of the main reasons Messrs Dunne and Collins don't play the ball out so well is that they don't have an easy option i.e. none of their team mates are moving into space to provide a simple pass. The lack of movement is the problem. If you watch Vorm at Swansea pass it out, he's always got a couple of options for simple passes - in many cases I don't blame defenders hoofing it when nothing else is available to them.
This is the sort of basic activity which the new manager needs to get going and I don't believe that it will take long for most of our players to pick this up.

[damon loves JT]

I can't watch the Molde live stream on a work computer. Is th game nearly over? Has Ole thrown his cardigan into the crowd and burst into tears?

[tomd2103]

Whenever I seen Norwich play this season, they have played decent, attacking football.  I would say they play the kind of football that we have played at our best under the likes of Graham Taylor, Ron Atkinson and O'Neill.  OK they don't play an intricate passing game like Swansea, but how popular would that be at Villa Park?  They play an awful lot of backwards passes (including lots to the keeper) and I don't think it would be long before the moans, groans and shouts of "get it f**ckin' forward" would start. 

I honestly do think that Lambert would be the best fit for us at the moment, but saying that i wouldn't be too disappointed with OGS, Rodgers or Martinez either.   

This club needs to be dragged into the 21st century. GH had started this, but Eck has been thoroughly retrogressive. We need more radicalism than reactive steadiness right now.

I am not sure we need to overhaul the whole club.  The  structure at the club under first team level (Academy and Reserve Team) seems to be in decent shape, so I don't think huge changes are needed at those levels. 

I agree that we need a massive overhaul at the first team level of the club though and not just at management level.  Roy Keane wrote an interesting piece in one of the papers today questioning the senior pros at Liverpool.  He wrote that in his opinion, the likes of Gerrard and Carragher need to help the youngsters at the club and said that when he was at Man Utd the likes of Bruce and Robson helped him greatly.  We need those kind of players in our team as well.

 

[eastie]

Whoever takes the job needs to make huge changes to the back four, makoun would be an asset in midfield and id like to see new blood in the strikeforce- gabby , dunne, collins, warnock, hutton are not good enough- and i hope we have a much changed team in august and a season of exciting football ahead.

[pauliewalnuts]

Why I am so much hoping that OGS does become our manager is that the level of "success" that he has the potential to deliver is very much greater than the level of "success" Lambert, Rodgers or Martinez has the potential to deliver. 

That is my opinion too, Brian.

It is riskier but potentially far more rewarding. He is also quite clearly the man with most support of the fans, which would do an awful lot to rebuild the bridges that were burned by last summer's events.

[Legion]

A very good point.

[cb]

Just in response to other posts: As for OGS being the next superstar manager, where is that idea coming from?  This is nothing but groundless hype as far as I can see.

To respond to this, whether or not he is the next superstar manager, I haven't a clue. But what you seem to want is greater certainty, which I can understand.

However, even with Randy's backing, there was no chance of us signing someone like a Mourinho after he made his breakthrough at Porto. Unfortunately, we're now too small to pull off such a signing. All I'm saying is there is some initial evidence that OGS could be great, he by no means has enough on his CV yet to convince us that he definitely will be, but if/when he does then we wouldn't be able to sign him due to the level of competition from other clubs. The same applies to any of the other great up and coming managers out there. They undoubtedly exist but are somewhat under the radar. If we ever want such a manager then we have to take the gamble early in their career. It will breed some degree of loyalty and it could work really well or it could fail. I realize it's something of a gamble.

My feeling with someone like Lambert is that it will ultimately fail, maybe a bit like MON failed in the end. He's clearly a good manager, and would most likely steady the ship and probably have external commentators saying what a good job he did with Little Old Aston Villa, before eventually the crowd will grow impatient and want success. I just want a bit more than that for us this time. Otherwise I fear we are forever destined to go through our four/five year cycle of initial success, followed by desire to go to the next level, followed by disappointment, followed by disaffection with manager, followed by poor team performance, followed by sacking and repeat... Of course OGS could follow this exact template, or could do even worse, but he just brings that possibility of really achieving higher things. Admittedly it's only really a feeling and there are safer options, but we haven't had a manager in over 15 years who you felt could really compete with the big boys. I just want someone we can get behind from the beginning without having that nagging doubt that he'll only ever be able to take us so far and no further. I really think with OGS potentially the sky is the limit and that's why I'm so in favour of him and that's why there's 'hype'. 

[damon loves JT]

We've had a whole season of trying to 'play it safe', and I'd say most of up are fed up with it.

Maybe the reaction against safe pairs of hands is reckless, but unless we rediscover our ambition we are going to die slowly.

[Monty]

We've had a whole season of trying to 'play it safe', and I'd say most of up are fed up with it.

Maybe the reaction against safe pairs of hands is reckless, but unless we rediscover our ambition we are going to die slowly.

Exactly. I'd rather we died in a blaze of glory than slowly resign ourselves to mediocrity.

[tomd2103]

Just in response to other posts: As for OGS being the next superstar manager, where is that idea coming from?  This is nothing but groundless hype as far as I can see.

To respond to this, whether or not he is the next superstar manager, I haven't a clue. But what you seem to want is greater certainty, which I can understand.

However, even with Randy's backing, there was no chance of us signing someone like a Mourinho after he made his breakthrough at Porto. Unfortunately, we're now too small to pull off such a signing. All I'm saying is there is some initial evidence that OGS could be great, he by no means has enough on his CV yet to convince us that he definitely will be, but if/when he does then we wouldn't be able to sign him due to the level of competition from other clubs. The same applies to any of the other great up and coming managers out there. They undoubtedly exist but are somewhat under the radar. If we ever want such a manager then we have to take the gamble early in their career. It will breed some degree of loyalty and it could work really well or it could fail. I realize it's something of a gamble.

My feeling with someone like Lambert is that it will ultimately fail, maybe a bit like MON failed in the end. He's clearly a good manager, and would most likely steady the ship and probably have external commentators saying what a good job he did with Little Old Aston Villa, before eventually the crowd will grow impatient and want success. I just want a bit more than that for us this time. Otherwise I fear we are forever destined to go through our four/five year cycle of initial success, followed by desire to go to the next level, followed by disappointment, followed by disaffection with manager, followed by poor team performance, followed by sacking and repeat... Of course OGS could follow this exact template, or could do even worse, but he just brings that possibility of really achieving higher things. Admittedly it's only really a feeling and there are safer options, but we haven't had a manager in over 15 years who you felt could really compete with the big boys. I just want someone we can get behind from the beginning without having that nagging doubt that he'll only ever be able to take us so far and no further. I really think with OGS potentially the sky is the limit and that's why I'm so in favour of him and that's why there's 'hype'.

I'm sorry, but I just can't see where this kind of blind optimism is coming from.