Manchester United: Will Solskjaer Keep Up the Results and Beat PSG?

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been a revelation since joining Manchester United as interim manager, winning all 8 of his matches convincingly.

Absolutely nobody could have expected the start that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has made in his return to Old Trafford as interim manager. With away wins over Spurs and Arsenal in the Premier League and FA Cup respectively highlighting his tenure thus far, Manchester United have their eyes set on a top 4 place, the FA Cup, and maybe even on the next round of the Champions League!

The players seem rejuvenated, in a way we hardly ever saw under Jose Mourinho, especially this season. Pogba is prancing about the pitch again, Lindelof and Bailly are in superb form, and Marcus Rashford is exciting the United faithful once more. Yet, this honeymoon period may not last forever. As we saw with both Unai Emery and Maurizio Sarri earlier this season: quick starts are fantastic, but it’s maintaining the fitness and performance levels that prove to be the most difficult thing. With the fixtures coming thick and fast, Solskjaer still faces an uphill battle.

Throughout February and March, Manchester United will face a string of stern tests, across all 3 competitions in which they still remain.

When United drew PSG in the Champions League round of 16 a few months back, many seemed to think that it would be a simple task for PSG. After all, United were playing poorly at the time and PSG were flying. Fast-forward to now though, and United are the ones flying, whilst it has been confirmed that Neymar will miss both legs against United due to an ankle injury.

Boom, it’s all opened up again

I’m not saying United are now favourites to progress, since they certainly aren’t, but their chances are significantly better now than they were a few months ago.

Confidence and momentum play a huge part in ties like this, although over 2 legs, you would still expect PSG’s quality and Tuchel’s tactical nous to prevail.

Also, United face some massively difficult tests in February and March in the Premier League and FA Cup as well. They will face Chelsea in the FA Cup 5th round just a few days after their first leg against PSG, and host Liverpool in the massive derby just a week later. Then, in the beginning of March they will come up against PSG in the 2nd leg, and play Arsenal at the Emirates just a few days following that.

So, if Solskjaer is still all smiles after that run of fixtures, then we can certainly put him as the favourite to take the permanent job. There is a chance that the wheels will fall off of the honeymoon period during these tough upcoming weeks, but United have shown us their resilience and quality in recent matches – and that may continue.