Manchester United are at a crossroads
Manchester United appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager in 2019. It was a big call because Ole Gunnar Solskjaer only managed Cardiff City and Swedish club Malmo. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was a fantastic player for Manchester United but it’s a different challenge been manager of Manchester United. Since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been in charge he has got some unbelievable results as Manchester United boss with big wins against Paris Saint Germain, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. In the 2020/2021 Premier League Manchester United made improvements with finishing 2nd.
This Summer Manchester United made a couple of notable signings with bringing World Cup winner Raphael Varane, Borussia Dortmound winger Jadon Sancho and fans favourite Cristiano Ronaldo to Old Trafford. With making these marquee signings there was a lot of excitement around Manchester United for title prospects going into the new Premier League season. Manchester United started the new Premier League season well with a big win against Leeds United followed up with a draw against Southampton and a win against Wolverhampton Wonders. Going into the first International break of the season Manchester United were in a good place in achieving seven points from the first three games.
After the first International break Manchester United hosted Newcastle United at Old Trafford were Manchester United won by four goals to one but this was the first sign of conceding a lot of chances to the opposition. In the next Premier League game they travelled to London to take on West Ham United and Manchester United went behind as usual with relying on individual brillance to come from behind to get a lucky win against West Ham United. Since then Manchester United have gone backwards first up when Manchester United hosted Aston Villa at Old Trafford. The amount of room and chances that Aston Villa had in the first half was unbelievable. Manchester United should have been three nil down at half time only for wasteful finishing from Aston Villa. This result should have been the warning signs for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer didn’t change much for Manchester United next Premier League game was against Everton at Old Trafford. Manchester United started this match well but as the first half went on cracks started to appear but Manchester United went into half time with a lead. In the second half Manchester United were caught trying to score a second goal with been disorganised Everton were able to counter attack by scoring a equaliser. Only for VAR disallowing a goal for Everton it would have been two home defeats in a row for Manchester United.
After the second International break Manchester United faced a tricky away trip against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer team selection was surprising for this game with playing Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba in front of the bback four. Paul Pogba isn’t a holding midfielder but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is only playing him in that position because he can get all his attacking players on the pitch at the same time. The first half performance by Manchester United in this game was good with it been a draw at half time. In the second half Manchester United capitulated with having no appetite to sprint or close down Leicester City players. Manchester United are one of the lowest running teams this season which is killing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Jamie Vardy had a field day against Manchester United and Leicester City could have scored six or seven only for David De Gea making unbelievable saves. David De Gea got Man Of The Match that says how many chances that Leicester City created especially in the second half.
There was a lot of questions surrounding Ole Gunnar Solskjaer team selection for The Liverpool game. Would Ole Gunnar Solskjaer go with the same team that started against Leicester City or would Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revert to Scott Mc Tominay and Fred in midfield. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer went with Fred and Scott Mc Tominay and there was space all over the pitch for Liverpool. It looked like that Manchester United trying to play four two four formation and that never works especially when you play Liverpool. Liverpool ripped Manchester United to shreds in the first half with Liverpool going into the break four nil up. Something has been building at Manchester United for a while now and it showed against Liverpool that you can’t be open and disorganised against a good team. This result has been coming for a while you only need to look at who Manchester United have been playing recently. It got worse for Manchester United in the second half as Paul Pogba got sent off. Manchester United lost discipline in the second half with Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire lucky to not get sent off.
No structure, no game plan or tactics which is killing Manchester United at the moment and you can’t rely on individual brillance to keep digging Manchester United out of a hole in games. Manchester United next few games in both the Premier League and Champions League are tough with having to play Atalanta, Manchester City, Watford, Villarreal, Chelsea and Arsenal over the next month. Manchester United have improved under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer over the last two years but these next couple of games could be the biggest games of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s career as Manchester United boss.
In my opinion David De Gea is a fantastic goalkeeper but he needs to have Man Of The Match performances for Manchester United to get a result. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a good manager but if Manchester United want to return to the glory days of winning Premier League titles they will need to hire a more experienced manager.
Saying all this it was a massive improvement against Spurs but you can’t loose and play poorly in number of games then turn it on in one game and think everything is perfect. If you want to finish in the top four or compete for titles you need to be consistent and Manchester United need to play the same way regardless of who you are playing.