No. 4: Ole Gunnar Solskjær – Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s honeymoon period has taken a serious cliff-dive and isn’t showing many signs of changing.
For 70 minutes at Bramall Lane Sunday, Man United played some of the worst football since Ole arrived, and were outplayed by Sheffield United.
Chris Wilder’s team has been a tactical revelation since arriving in the Premier League, and Solskjær was completely out of his depth. For much of the game, Man United’s players had zero space and didn’t come close to penetrating Sheffield’s first line of attack.
Wilder’s overlapping centre-backs tend to leave space in behind, but United’s midfield trio of Fred, Andreas and partly Phil Jones, struggled to get the ball over the half-way line.
The comeback from 2-0 down was impressive, but this came only after Solskjær had to throw the kitchen sink at Sheffield. Up until the 70th minute, United did what they’ve done all season; moved the ball slowly, massively error-prone, and played without any sort of identity.
However, I’ve always felt Solskjær would be given time at United. Ed Woodward has invested confidence in him, and up until a week ago, I’d have placed some money behind Solskjær still being Manchester United manager next summer. That is until Pochettino became available.
Solskjær now reminds me of Roy Hodgson and his time at Liverpool. A yes man, who will keep the club afloat and not really rustle any feathers. Solskjær has been touted as the future for United and seen by the board as someone who is building a project, but I just don’t see that.
Liverpool didn’t see Hodgson as the man to get them back to the top and pulled the trigger on Jurgen Klopp as soon as he became available (Yes, Brendan Rodgers tried is moves in between this time). Mauricio Pochettino plays good football, has a positive history with young players, and is simply a world-class manager.
His availability will now thrust Ole into serious danger of losing his job, potentially soon. Solskjær ranks 4th favourite to lose his job next, but if the poor results mount up, don’t be surprised to see United pull the trigger sooner rather than later.