Thread. A lot of people say Ole has done a good job of rebuilding the squad but there's a limit to the level he can take us, that he's laying the foundations for a better manager to come in to be successful, not himself. I don't agree with that, here's why.

A common argument is we don't have a style of play, & as such we can’t get consistent results, but that couldn't be further from the truth. What’s actually the case is we're missing certain key pieces for the way Ole wants to play to use the system he wants to consistently.

As such, Ole has had to adapt. To explain what I mean, first we need to look at the way Ole wants to play, and to do so here's a superb description from Maram outlining Ole's preferred system and style. https://twitter.com/UtdMaram/status/1317212319873699848?s=20

The thing to remember is, with that system, we have a starting XI capable of playing it, but don't yet have a full set of options in the squad who can, there’s a couple of areas missing. So when certain players are unavailable or out of form, we've had to adapt to other solutions

For instance, as described in the linked analysis, Matic drops in between the CBs in a back 3 in build-up and is a big part of our ball progression from deep.

He's currently the only profile of midfielder we have who can do that consistently, that's not Fred's game, he's a ball winning midfielder, and McTominay is still in the process of learning the role, he's progressing with it, but not there yet.

Matic wasn’t in the squad at the start of the season, and when he was available, like the rest of the squad started the season in poor form. Couple that with the fact that our defence after the Spurs game in particular were low in confidence.

This meant that Ole decided to change on a more regular basis to his big game double pivot, providing us more defensive solidity. This has worked, its led to results improving & it shows one example (of many) that Ole can adapt to different situations.

Currently, due to the lack of a RW in the squad, we’re having to explore various makeshift options. Its through no fault of Ole’s that we didn’t get his key RW target over the summer, but he’s the one wrongly getting blamed for the incompetence of the hierarchy above him

Our best option now is Mason, a #9 playing out of position at RW due to his immense natural talent. He hasn’t been available recently, so Ole’s been trying to make the best of who is. No manager can play a system effectively with such a key profile of player needed for it missing

We've seen one significant sample of Ole's system in action, we went on a 19 game unbeaten run post lockdown. Both Matic and Mason were available for that run. So when people say we still don’t know the way that Ole wants to play, that simply isn’t true.

We know exactly how he wants to play – fluid attacking football, but the answer to the question how can you play that system without certain profiles of players is: quite simply you can’t.

As such, when those players aren’t available, we’ve had to adapt. A lot of people on here look at that as a negative that we’re not playing a consistent system, but I strongly disagree with that, being comfortable in different systems is absolutely a strength.

Ole has tried to address one key piece missing for his system for instance externally, he's tried to sign a right winger. We have two right wingers incoming that fit Ole’s values of building for the long term in Pellistri and Diallo.

It’s a testament to Ole’s superb man management that he would put what’s best for the player’s development over his own managerial security, giving time for Pellistri to settle & adapt in the u23s before he puts him in the senior team.

He's trying to address the issue of only one proper DM/6 in the squad by moulding Scott into one. While he isn’t where he needs to be yet to play the role, there’s clear improvement, he’s making progress. The contrast between his passing now & 6 months ago for example is stark.

While we will likely go into the market for a Matic successor in the not too distant future given his age, that’s in the future, not now. For now, Ole is showing through coaching that he & his staff can work with players in moulding them into different roles. That’s a big help.

We've seen the way Ole wants to play, we've seen it can be successful. We now need to have the patience while he addresses the final pieces in the puzzle, and when he does, we're going to be well placed for challenge for the title.

Our squad is missing a couple of key pieces to consistently play the system that Ole wants, but he’s working on addressing those.

You can couple that with the fact that he’s shown he can adapt to playing different systems well, he’s utilised both the 352 in particular, but the diamond as well in big games to good effect.

He isn't setting the club up for success with a future new manager, he's setting it up for him to lead the club to the top. We just need to give him the time to finish what he's started. End of thread.